#like. lore is so fun!!!!!! i see little dots connecting things but i'm like a 3 year old trying to connect them and failing miserably lol

[torgawl]

if wriothesley doesn't appear in any quest once we get to remuria, what even is the point?

the parallels between wrio and king remus are crystal clear. remus who descended upon meropis (a name very familiar to anyone who knows of the fortress of meropide) in his golden fortuna, the legendary ship of remus that is also called the bringer of civilization and glory (wrio who built a ship to deal with the misfortune upon fontaine) is an example of it.

wrio also has connections to hades with the cerberus motif as guardian of the underworld. it's curious that the tower in remuria is described not only as not built to receive heavenly oracles, serving as a guide to ships traveling between islands, but also as a border of reality and dreams. if this is not necessarily literal but a metaphor or allegory, it could fit very well with the idea of a portal between domains or realms, like life and death.

wriothesley also parallels another character in the genshin universe and that person is arlecchino. they were brought up as orphans, taken in by an institution with corrupted leaders, which they reformed and achieved a leading position of. and funnily enough, she has ties to purgatory (a place for punishment, much like the fortress). as i have said in another post, purgatory has been described by dante as a tower leading to heaven. but we also know that celestia in the genshin world is associated with the demon realm - archons being named after ars goetia, an anonymous grimoire on demonology. although the concepts aren't the same in theory, is it impossible that the game has used elements of both? wriothesley and arlecchino's themes are similar enough to overlap. even though i don't expect wriothesley to be lore revelant anymore, i do think his ties to remuria and his role as someone who punishes others for their sins, much like arlecchino, is very much purposeful.

[hush-house-yard-sale]

The Hush House Card Catalogue

@baja-blasted @terephin (please ignore the crabs)

//So the software I'm using to keep track of my books, lore bits, etc. is called Seatable! It wasn't my first choice for this project, I'm more familiar with Airtable (I've used it professionally), but Airtable's free plan doesn't let you color-code :c

//Seatable is a website that looks a lot like google sheets, but instead of building a spreadsheet, you're building a database. I knew I wanted a database rather than a spreadsheet for my card catalogue because it became pretty apparent early on that a spreadsheet would mean a lot of duplicate entries and be a lot more work to maintain, as well as monumentally more work if I wanted to use it for reference.

//My database isn't finished, and so I'm not really comfortable making it public, but I'm happy to walk through some of the things that I like most about it, that made me choose to make a database rather than a spreadsheet.

//The main things that were really important to me was being able to have (and filter by) multiple items in the same column, having lots of cross-linking between the different sheets in the base, and having different views depending on what I was looking to reference.

//These are my different tables right now, and the way they work is that each table has the most detailed information on each item, e.g. Books has the most detail on books, and Skills has the most detail on skills. But I have columns in each table that allow me to crosslink between them.

//So for each book, I have listed the skill and memory they give, but instead of writing each out individually it links to the corresponding entry in skills/memories

//And then over in the memories tab it has all the detail on the aspects, which wisdoms it can be committed to...

//...and every book this skill can be found in and every item it can be used to craft. And those boxes can be expanded so they're easier to read as well!

//I can also group and sort things in different views. My default view for books, for example, splits them into two categories—whether I've read the book or not—and then sorts the books in each category alphabetically. But I also have one that groups them all by mystery and then sorts them from low to high, and I have another that groups them by topic. Each of these views also omits columns that aren't relevant to that particular view, for example, if I'm searching for books by mystery to give to a visitor, it's important to know the author because it's fun to give people books they themselves have written, but I don't really care about what memories that book gives, or when I'm trying to connect lore dots, it doesn't matter whether or not the book is cursed and I don't need to include books I haven't read yet (and thus don't have topic tags for). The rows on the topic one are also bigger so I can better read the blurbs.

//Well, the topic one actually groups by location, because when I group it by topic, it splits it into every combination of my topic tags, rather that giving me "here are all your books about the mansus" "here are all your books about Longs and Names" so I've stored them all in different places in the house depending on what books I think are relevant to one another.

//It's still in progress, I don't have everything written down yet, and I want more data for workbenches, and I want to try and see if there's a way for it to, say, auto-match skills/souls to workbenches for committing to the tree or crafting certain recipes. Also my color-coding is in shambles bc I'm waiting for a friend to recover from covid so that they can make me a greasemonkey script to make it a little less... corporate...

//But yeah! I like it a lot, and it works really well for my purposes. I highly recommend trying it out, and I'm happy to answer questions!

[yuikomorii]

As a fellow Ruki stan I'd love to know how you'd rank his routes 🌸

// Sure thing! ^^

1. More Blood

You probably didn't see this coming, but I really enjoyed his MB route! I'm aware of how hated it is because of the cat scene, and while I disagree with Ruki's actions, they didn't ruin him for me. I just love how SASSY Ruki can be, even if some of his roasts are really mean, but I'm sure they're just there to make the audience laugh. I think the funniest one was when he told Yui "Today we will go home on foot. Why? Because a person such as yourself who doesn’t know how to stop when eating is very prone to put on some pounds after all.” He's so savage, and I love it, but I wouldn't want to deal with such a person in real life, lol. Aside from that, his last Ecstasy chapter was the first to make me cry, and his Vampire Ending was stunning, especially the kissing cg!

2. Chaos Lineage

Another unpopular choice because I've seen a lot of people complain about it being boring and lacking significant romantic interactions due to including his brothers too much, and while I can't say his route was very good, I still really like it! I'm glad Ruki was less obsessed with Karl there, and he seemed more relaxed and genuine overall. He even pouted at one point, which was so cuuute! I love the Mukamis, so I'm always up for family moments, and the romance was adequate, neither exaggerated nor non-existent.

3. Dark Fate

Would have given it a higher rating if Ruki hadn't been such a jerk in the first half, and what bothered me the most was how he treated his brothers. Kou had very good reasons to be mad at him, and it's already becoming frustrating because they're supposed to be best bros, yet Ruki and Kou always find a way to fight. What did I love about it? He got down on his knees and apologized to Yui for saying such horrible things. I was moved to tears by the scene in which he cried for her because I had not expected Ruki to do such a thing. Furthermore, his Vampire Ending is probably my favorite of all games; it's simply the best possible outcome for him and Yui.

4. Lunatic Parade

I don't remember much about LP, but his route was fun, and I think he was more flirty than usual there, which is a plus! Well, everyone had great LP routes in my opinion because that game was truly lighthearted!

5. Lost Eden

He was ideal in the first half of the route, but the second half irritated me greatly. Maybe I have high expectations, but are you really going to tell me that in the previous game, a "dummy" character only heard ONE thing about Karlheinz yet immediately connected all the dots about all his victims, realizing that he's truly the root of all evil because he was using everyone for his selfish desires and then… there's Ruki who 1) was told by Christa that Karl was Trismegiste aka the person who ruined his life, 2) went to Romania to read about the Revolution, where Trismegiste was mentioned, 3) had his ghoul-father tell him that Karl is Trismegiste and that he slaughtered a bunch of people to make ghouls out of them only to have Ruki say this "I'm sure Karlheinz-sama regretted his actions, that's why he gave our lives back". If he had regretted, he would have rewinded time long ago. I'm aware that different writers exist, but they should be more careful when writing these parallels because it can cast their own characters in a negative light, since one reaction will always be better than the other. Still really liked the lore and the fact Rejet learnt something about Romanian history.

6. Vandead Carnival

I enjoy VC as a game, but Ruki was a little too stiff for my liking. It wasn't bad, but I felt like Ruki was babysitting Yui for almost the entire route. :”)

[altontowersfireworks]

rough and really unpolished concept of a sequel of sorts to "Smile. Always."

This sequel is named "Smiling. Everywhere.", it all begins with the few entries of a late 2013-early 2014 blog that belongs to a long-time Alton Towers fan going by the username of "towerskinsley047". The blog at first seems like a typical small park blog with little to no following, weirdly enough this 'Kinsley' hasn't posted in a while. Perhaps the blog entries might give an answer to that question...

BLOG ENTRY 1

The first entry is quite casual, recorded in a room filled with things related to the park, with "towerskinsley047" introducing herself happily to the camera followed by a small tour of her room and all the park trinkets she has, in between one of her rambles she states ''I'm recently getting interested in 'X-Sector', especially things related to its story and all the wacky things surrounding it! I'm currently writing a few theories i have on certain topics of its lore even if isn't much to look around currently...'', the rest of the video goes fine with nothing odd going on.

BLOG ENTRY 2

The second entry is about 'Kinsley' speaking about her story on how she got into the whole lore thing of the park, with 'X-Sector' on the lightspot. She excitedly explains things like how despite there wasn't much, she has been researching a few possible connections and implications surrounding the sector since, including the whole deal with ''Smile. Always.'' and what could have happened in the aftermath.

BLOG ENTRY 3

The third entry isn't a camera recording but rather a 2013-2014 style windows movie maker video with those cheesy transitions, effects and low quality towers music in the background, titled ''Weird stuff at towers!! 0_o!!". The video begins with that usual blue-and-white text screen, where she explains that she had gone to the park alone a few days ago, she states that she had fun and took pictures. The video continues with the pictures being shown in a not-so-good quality but enough to see what's up, then it changes back to the text screen with ''i thought they were normal pictures...but!! at closer look there is weird people in all of them!! omg o-o!!", followed by the pictures being zoomed in to see that in all of them there is people in formal black outfits wearing hats and glasses that seem to be observing 'Kinsley' from a distance or are just there, followed by another text screen with "who r they??? perhaps its just ppl in a business trip or a promo for a new ride soon and im being a scaredy cat, silly me!! what do u guys think??? leave ur thoughts in the replies!!" and the video ends.

BLOG ENTRY 4

The fourth entry returns to camera recording in her room, 'Kinsley' looks quite tired with clear signs of no sleep, she begins by apologizing about no uploads for a while, saying she had problems with sleeping and that 'weird nightmares' about the park had been chasing her lately no matter what she did in an attempt to solve her troubles. She thought that it was just her mind playing games on her, there was no way this was the doings of...something else...right? She continued on saying some of her friends were doing the same things as her and didn't show any signs of said nightmares or similar, wondering why was it happening to her only.

BLOG ENTRY 5

The fifth entry is now located in somewhere a bit more closed like a basement of sorts. Her face is obscured and a board with a few connected dots and pins is behind her, 'Kinsley's' voice sounds very raspy and exhausted. She explains that she has been extensively researching everything of the ministry and 'X-Sector' from start to present, finding any information she could get her hands on even if it seemed there was dead ends at times, then casually stated she felt a strong need 'to see it all' that grew on with time and that she hasn't slept in two days but that it was 'worth it' and that 'she was really happy about her efforts anyway'.

BLOG ENTRY 6

The sixth entry is surrounded in a dimly lit room, the board behind 'Kinsley' is now filled from top to bottom with dots and pictures of different things like pictures of people involved, the rides, parts of said rides, specific items, pictures of black holes and so many other things like sticky notes or scrambled writings. Her voice sounds panicked, trying to fake a tone of calm in the process. "H-hey, um...it has been a while, those nightmares keep getting worse and uh- yeah- um- i don't want to disclose much but it has been a while since i've gone outside though...i guess a small break for a few days at towers can't be bad, i need to distract myself from this rabbithole."

LAST ENTRY (BLOG ENTRY 7)

The last entry shows a recording with vague audio, 'Kinsley' is nowhere to be seen but the camera is simply laying in the table of a room in somewhere unknown. The room is mostly dark with the few details of it visible being the front door of said room outlined by bright artificial lights of what seems to be a hallway, a few papers filled with rapid doodles of spirals and happy faces stuck to the walls with some on the floor and the oddly patterned table, all of the sudden sounds of flashing lights, machinery noises and laughter erupt in the distance, the laughter becomes louder and louder as the recording abruptly cuts.

"towerskinsley047" hasn't uploaded since.

[t-u-i-t-c]

4, 12 & 16 for the toku ask

4. Thoughts on what you’re currently watching/watched most recently?

Currently I'm watching King-Ohger and rewatching Ryusoulger.

I'm very happy with how King-Ohger has been going, especially with handling Racules' reveal. I really appreciated how they made it clear that he had done bad things and things that really were unforgivable, such as doing nothing during the Fury of the Gods. I like that he says himself that people should not sympathize with him, as even though he'd been in a difficult circumstance it was no excuse to endanger others. I also really like how the dots connect, like how each little slip of information he gave or each little tactic he pulled had relevance. It was all very meticulous and I really do like how they planned everything out for him, including only letting Masato know what was going on with his character. It made his scenes feel all the more impactful knowing that the King-Ohgers as well as the actors playing them were unaware of Racules' plans most of the time. I just think it's nice to see Racules accepting accountability and putting in the work to help the King-Ohgers in their final battles and with menial tasks.

Another thing I'm liking is the relationships between the characters. I do think one of the highlights of Super Sentai is the group dynamic and I think the King-Ohgers have a really solid and strong group dynamic amongst them. I think it was good that they put a time skip in the middle of the series, because it allowed us to realistically believe that the relationships established in the first half could naturally end up where they are now due to the time that passed between those two years. It makes it so we don't have to bother with the King-Ohgers questioning one another or falling out over small things, but also allows the civilians' opinions to change as well. Really the time skip has the most impact on Jeramie and Gira, as they both became kings not long before the time skip and were able to get comfortable in their roles as kings without us having to see them learn how to be kings over an extended period.

I do have more thoughts on King-Ohger but I'll leave it at that for now.

As for Ryusoulger, I have made multiple posts throughout my rewatch liveblog. I do have a lot of thoughts on the lore as I am trying to document it but there's a lot. I will probably make a post about it at some point in the future though.

12. Weirdest thing you’ve seen?

Aside from Mario's working cow costume, Kakuranger episode 7... If you know you know.

16. Do you collect any merch?

Yes, it's part of the fun of it all for me. I collect all sorts of things from plushies to photobooks to figures and more. I have a tag where I post things in my toku collection from time to time here.

Toku 20 Questions

[cc-kote]

I've been working on this fic for the past few months and my friends convinced me to start posting it :P I have about half? Of it actually written and the rest is all planned out in a rough draft, but I'm gonna be releasing chapters weekly until I catch up to myself. I'm happy to put it out there for people who want to see it, but pls be nice to me and don't leave mean or critical comments. This is purely for fun and comfort, and I just wanted to make something for the sake of doing it, not perfecting it. If this isn't your thing, I'm sure something else out there is!

I'm still a relatively new fan so there may be some inaccuracies surrounding lore/characterization/in-universe details so forgive me, I'm still learning. I have more WIPs on the go so hopefully they'll be a little better in that sense, but again this is just a silly fun time. Yes the first section is ripped right from the movie, I felt like doing that laid down the foundation for what I wanted to change and made it easier to transition from canon to fanon. I wanted to see what I had to twist and bend to put them in a scenario where they both survive the events of TROS and have to confront and unpack the things they did/why they did them/how they cope with the aftermath. It's not exactly a redemption arc, moreso focused on them facing the reality of their Situations and what lead them there, a look at the parallels and contrasts in their stories, and all the little things about their dynamic that make my brain rattle. It's also a bit of a personal, self indulgent fix it fic for me. I took what I wanted to see that the sequels didn't implement/expand on and I did it meself, ie. Finn is force sensitive, Finnpoe is canon, Ben and Rey's dynamic isn't romance driven and leans more towards estranged siblings. That last one I'm excited about bc it's not something I see often but it's really fun to explore because I love both of them and their interactions but personally in my brain it jives better platonically. I might be biased tho because I can't shake the kylux brainrot lol.

The title/chapter names are all based on songs that I felt fit the theme best because my autistic ass cannot stop making Connections™️. The title is a lyric from This Is How I Disappear by MCR, and ch1 is named after the song The Bitter End by Placebo.

AnYway, what I'm trying to say is that I had a lot of fun putting these guys in Situations and deciphering how they might react, and rewatching/researching/connecting dots with other media for inspiration. I hope it can bring someone as much joy reading it as I got from making it, and if it doesn't, that's ok too! I'm just happy I finally sat down and made something :D

[ourladylennon]

1/2) About Fraser, a couple of quotes that caught my eye:

"Robert represented to me freedom, freedom of speech, of view"

"The most formative influence for me was Robert Fraser. Obviously the other Beatles were very important but the most formative art influence was Robert. I expect people to die so I don’t feel a loss but there’s a vacuum where he used to be"

"The way Robert lived, which became the way I lived for a couple of years and which I now figure for a rather aristocratic way of life, would be that he’d ring early in the day and say, ‘What are we doing for dinner tonight?’

'Once I got to know Robert, a nice thing would be going to the gallery and helping install an exhibition. Just sit around and smoke a bit of pot while somebody else was installing the exhibition. Helping. Play a little music for him.’ 

"There were many good times in Robert’s flat. Through my Beatle connections I’d hire a 16mm projector for the evening […] and I started off with Wizard of Oz. Robert got into this, wow, and he’d get some art movies. We got a lot of Bruce Connors, showed a lot of that. It was a very exciting period."

The boy sounded smitten, didn't he? Maybe nothing physical happened, (Robert was allegedly into darker men) but it looks like Paul liked the idea of being "romanced" by this handsome and sophisticated guy. There was an undertone of cozy, easy intimacy between them. You can tell by the way Bob would call to plan what they'd do for dinner. How Paul would sit there playing music for his eyes only while someone else was installing the exhibition. It speaks volumes that someone as image oriented as Paul went to Paris with an openly gay man without caring what others would say. It suggests a deep connection. The story about their "netflix and chill" encounters in Robert's flat is so suggestive as well. Paul could've been anywhere and yet there he was watching Wizard of Oz with this dude. I'd say those encounters were not about Paul's love of cinema. He just wanted to be around Bob. They most likely drank, did drugs and in my opinion, fooled around a bit, for the fun of it. It sounds like a fantastic way to spend the time, 10/10 recommended.

Paul also had a strong relationship with Tara for the short time they knew each other. The fact he did LSD with him before the other Beatles implies a lot of trust. Tara was very responsible and sweet in that occasion, staying sober to look after Paul in case he had a bad trip. I loved that about him. He was really concerned about keeping Paul safe and giving him a good time. They always hung out when they had the chance and John really disliked the guy. Then there is Tara's Christmas trip to Liverpool. I'm aware he knew Paul's brother Mike first and they were friendly but there was such an air of "meet the parents" about this situation. I'm not entirely convinced they were physical but I could sense a romantic crush. Tara was married but as a beautiful society swan in the Rolling Stones' circle, I think he was quite open to experimentation.

part 2 and my answer below read line :)

2/2) Again, I would never call Paul bisexual but I do think he was more attracted to men in a romantic/platonical sense than people realize. He enjoyed immensely the attention and the company of some guys. He would open up emotionally with them, learn their craft and incorporate their habits in a way he rarely did with his women, not even Linda. It looks like Paul wouldn't unlock certain corners of his mind unless a man he was drawn to gave him that permission. This is probably why he associated Fraser with freedom.

John was the most important of all because in a way, Paul would've never discovered and accepted himself without him. He used to kill frogs and engage in unruly behavior as a child to repress that soft, romantic persona he would become so famous for. Meeting a charismatic, brilliant boy who appreciated that vulnerable side of him must've been exhilarating. As they became a songwriting team, they both started seeing creation as sex, a view they'd carry for the rest of their lives. It's telling that once Paul lost John permanently, he went looking for the next man to fall in love with. But not even Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson were enough to fill that gap.

Which convinces me of the eroticism of his relationship with John. It was the one connection he didn't have with all the others (with the possible exception of Fraser) and this is why the collaborations would often end up somewhat unfulfilled. He might've loved them intellectually but the erotic element wasn't there and it made a difference in the results.

About McLennon, few people dispute they were in love with each other these days. But what are the odds that two people who felt so strongly about each other and had plenty of chances to consummate their feelings in a physical way not doing it? They would crash and burn within six months. It's all speculation because Paul won't tell us but I don't think it's that much of a radical idea. I think a lot of stuff will come out once Yoko passes away and Paul faces his own mortality.

P.S: juicy bit about Heather, I'm bummed that we don't get enough info about this period because of that divorce NDA.

//

Anon, you are a well-researched individual and I’m impressed. This was the first thing I read this morning it was like a morning newspaper lol, thanks.

I entirely see what you mean about intimate undertones. "Cozy” seems like a good word to describe the general feel. I *tried* reading up some more on their relationship and I get a sense that Paul in general had a great admiration for Robert and your right- has that element of creation which is so essential to Paul’s being and probably his attraction. Robert seems to have given him a different side of creating than John did: art. That clearly created a bond for them and had some impact. Like with the movies and projectors, yeah cool and all, but “an exciting period” goes a bit deeper than that for sure. He clearly learned a lot from him about art, but whose to say about what else? The way Paul talks seems like he really admired, respected and trusted the man at the very least (I am even reading this quote that seems to imply Paul and Robert did hallucinogenic drugs together unless I’m misreading? That’d be a big leap of trust just like with Tara which still boggles me).

It’s not too big of a stretch to think Paul did enjoy being romanced, in exactly the way you put it, by some guy who was “handsome and sophisticated” who he found to be interesting, different, above average, with a new exciting form of expression. And not romanced in the obvious sense; more so unassuming things like having an intimate understanding of art with one another, who felt his equal in terms of that area of art, who was putting in the effort of engaging with him, showing him something others hadn’t, being so willing to share with Paul and to open his mind. You can definitely be romanced in friendships too though so I’m not saying this is exclusively any one thing in particular, though I myself do sense an undercurrent of more-than-standard interest after reading some more. In a nutshell, pretty much what you said:

I do think he was more attracted to men in a romantic/platonical sense than people realize. He enjoyed immensely the attention and the company of some guys. He would open up emotionally with them, learn their craft and incorporate their habits in a way he rarely did with his women

I still don’t think he would ever connect the dots of what that meant or what it could mean. I think to him, it just was what it was.

With John specifically, yeah there’s just no question for me. To me, they are every bit of the lore and legend of what soul mates are made of. Fire & passion on all levels. No disrespect to any of their longterm relationships outside of each other, because they clearly had deep feelings for their other partners, but I sincerely don’t think it that it connected on every level like it did with John/Paul. But of course, I still fall on the side of thinking nothing sexual ever happened (for more reasons than one I could see why they wouldn’t have fooled around imo). With 67/68 being that turning point where they *did* crash and burn because perhaps someone tried something- words or other- or perhaps nothing happened and that could have precisely been the cracking point.

I do find it interesting that Paul’s hanging around with Robert was right around this tumultuous period of John and Paul’s relationship...kind of makes you think doesn’t it? Like does this have any influence on what happened in India sort of thing; John seeing Paul being good, close friends with a gay man. Could it have stirred something up for John? Made him see a possibility where he hadn’t before? Interesting to think about and which I hadn’t thought about before....

I genuinely hope that Paul shares anything important with us before he passes. He doesn’t owe us anything, but my god would I die to know everything that happened between them and everything they felt.