#lost connections book

[stormingfrost]

Kinda obsessed with the historical context of Rise of the Guardians. Pitch wanting the Dark Ages to come back, which historically was the decline of culture and records. The Guardians rose at the same time as the Renaissance with the rise of culture, knowledge, and science. (Tooth in particular mentions that she hasn’t been out in the field for 440 years, give or take, which would put that smack dab in the middle of the Renaissance) 

The way Pitch doesn’t want the world to change, the way the Guardians change in tune with the world. The way Jack, who lived in has a human in the 17th or 18th century, who lived in the time after the Renaissance and lived witnessing the world all the way to the modern era, is there to show the Guardians how much they missed and how they can further change and improve for the more modern world. These characters are immortal beings who have so much power over the world, it makes so much sense that when they fall and rise in power it impacts the world that they want to influence, for better or for worse. 

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Man I honestly kinda miss the cage lockers we used to have in elementary school

this kinda stuff

yes they looked scary (especially ours which were dark blue-green and in a shaded hallway with small windows) but that was part of the charm. it felt badass. especially when we'd try to climb on them when the teachers weren't around

[sketchy-tour]

Perhaps the minatour was in the friends we made along the way.

[welcometogrouchland]

I miss them so bad (Dick and Damian)

[simplepotatofarmer]

like the for me, the thing about the 'failure' of c!dream's plan isn't that it actually failed. he did what he set out to do. his plan, objectively, worked insofar as he was successfully implemented the whole thing and got the end result of being locked in prison.

it's just that it failed in the sense of it didn't get him what he wanted because he didn't even know what he wanted.

[thewingedwolf]

luther: the golden child

diego: the mastermind

allison: the peace keeper

klaus: the clown / mascot

five: the rebel / truth teller

ben: the lost child

viktor: the scapegoat

is this something i think this is something

[talaofthevalley]

I have no clue why they didn't make Amity more akin to a rival character instead of a bully. Because it would have solved A Lot of problems in regards to Amity and Willow, and Lumity becoming a thing.

The thing is that Lumity feels Super Weird at the start when Luz is trying to befriend Amity long before the girl shows any remorse for bullying Willow and making up for it. And it's not something easily brushed off when Amity is introduced being condescending and a dick to Willow. The bullying isn't something of the past, it's still going on.

Willow comes off as an afterthought in this dynamic, when she's the one who's been wronged by Amity the most. Their arc never feels like it resolves itself either, it just kinda peeters out.

If you've watched Little Witch Academia, Diana is who I think Amity should have emulated more. Diana is the top student at the school, she's stern and no-nonsense, a bit stuck-up, she comes from a prestigious family, she gets in conflict with the protagnoist, Akko, not because of bullying but because they have very different personalities and butt heads because of it. Akko considers Diana her rival, but this is one-sided on her part.

Willow and Amity could still have been friends in the past, but Amity instead pointedly ignores Willow's existence after their friendship has ended. She doesn't call out her friends for bullying Willow(that would make it seem like she cares) but she doesn't participate or encourage it. She's still not a good person, she still has to apologise to Willow, but changing their relationship from 'active bullying' to 'pretending Willow doesn't exist' would do a lot going forward for them I think. Still terrible, but more palatable in my eyes.

[fatehbaz]

.

[aureentuluva70]

It struck me a while ago that Lùthien's creation of her magic cloak and escape from Hirilorn as told in the Book of Lost Tales strongly parallels the creation of the Two Trees from BoLT, to the point that I am 100% certain it was no coincidence on Tolkien's part.

In the BoLT, in preparation for the making of the Two Trees, "Ulmo rose from his deeps and fared to the blazing lakes and the pools of brilliance. Therefore he drew rivers of light into vast vessels, pouring back waters in their place, and with these he got him back to Valinor. There was all the light poured into two great cauldrons that Aulë fashioned in the gloom against his return, and those are called Kulullin and Silindrin."

The Valar dig two great pits in Valinor, and "In the one did Ulmo set seven rocks of gold brought from the most silent deeps of the sea, and a fragment was cast thereafter of the lamp that had burned awhile upon Helkar in the South. Then was the pit covered with rich earths that Palúrien devised, and Vána came who loveth life and sunlight and at whose song the flowers arise and open...There sang she the song of spring upon the mound, and danced about it, and watered it with great streams of that golden light that Ulmo had brought from the spilled lakes..."

"But in the other pit they cast three huge pearls that Ossë found in the Great Sea, and a small star Varda cast after them, and they covered it with foams and white mists and thereafter sprinkled lightly earth upon it, but Lorien who loveth twilights and flittering shadows...sat nigh and whispered swift noiseless words...and the Gods poured upon that place rivers of the white radiance and silver light which Silindrin held even to the brim..."

"Then came Palúrien, even Kémi the Earth-lady, wife of Aulë, mother of the lord of forests, and she wove spells about those two places, deep enchantments of life and growth and putting forth of leaf, blossoming and yielding of fruit - but she mingled no word of fading in her song."

Sometime later Laurëlin sprouts and begins to grow very fast for twelve hours until it is full-grown, and once those hours have passed, "the Valar saw a shoot arise in that place whereto the pools of Silindrin had been poured" and thus Telperion begins to grow also, like Laurëlin taking twelve hours to become fully grown.

Now compare this to the scene in the Tale of Tinuviel where Tinuviel creates her magic cloak in Hirilorn:

"The next day she asked those who came to her to bring, if they would, some of the clearest water of the stream below, "but this," she said, "must be drawn at midnight in a silver bowl, and brought to my hand with no word spoken," and after that she desired wine to be brought, "but this," she said, "must be borne hither in a flagon of gold at noon, and he who brings it must sing as he comes," and they did as they were bid, but Tinwelint was not told."

Soon enough, having everything she asked for, "...Tinuviel took the wine and water when she was alone, and singing a very magical song the while, she mingled them together, and as they lay in the bowl of gold she sang a song of growth, and as they lay in the bowl of silver she sang another song...Then did she lave her head with the mingled water and wine, and as she did so she sang a third song...and the hair of Tinúviel...began suddenly to grow very fast indeed, and after twelve hours had passed it nigh filled the little room..."

Both creations require the use of water which is gathered into two vessels, one made of silver and the other gold, the gold brought while singing, the silver brought in silence. The creations of the Trees and Lùthien's cloak requires the singing of three different songs, and only after the third does the magic truly begin to take effect. Both Lùthien's hair and each of the Two Trees takes twelve hours to grow.

Looking at all this, the parallels are way too strong to simply be a coincidence. Like cmon. I wanna talk about this.

[annadeusxoxo]

there's no happiness in making love to you, but you're the only one who feels like home to me.

[katiekatdragon27]

Y'all can't cage my cringe! *starts breakdancing and explodes*

Oookayy, this is gonna be interesting to explain lol.

SO! My siblings (@rainbow-wolf120) and I have gotten back into DND recently and we unanimously decided to base our characters on our latest fixations. That means we have a halfling bard/thief Rayman clone, a dwarf fighter Skylanders fusion, and a human cleric AU A. Sphere lol.

However, I decided to take some liberties with him and instead of using his canon movie personality for the character, I used his personality and design for post-"A Heightlander's Escape" (yes, my flatland 4th dimension AU has a name now lol, feel free to refer to it as either idc.)

More lore below lol (note: there is like a whole story synopsis, and it is very long):

First off, backstory.

A. Sphere (or Abel Spherious as he is refed to in this campaign) was a very powerful cleric of dimensionality. He was incredibly gifted with magic at a very young age, so his grandfather proposed he joined the ministry to continue his magic evolution. Although he did not truly believe in there being higher dimensions than his own, he would do the usual rituals and sacrifices to maintain his phenomenal power. He even tried to teach lower dimensional being the 3D dimension to gain more favor of this supposed 4th dimensional god, but little did he know that was his downfall.

Abel's old kingdom had been attempting to deal with the "flatlander" ecosystem that was just on the outskirts of town. Labeled "Flatland," some wanted it preserved, others wanted it wiped out. The ministry would henceforth pray on the issue in hopes of some divine intervention that would give a clear answer to this dilemma. However, Abel was not one to wait on answers from gods he did not believe in.

Taking matters into his own hands, the Head Cleric decided to make contact with these aquatic flat creatures one-on-one attempting to prove that they were more intelligent than the public gave them credit for. Needless to say, it went poorly.

Desperate to spread this ideology and save these creatures, Abel did something you were never supposed to do; pull a 2D creature into a 3D world. He completed his goal of by teaching a small square lawyer of the 3D gospel, but the news spread like wildfire, leading to fear, disgust, and unbridled anger towards both the flatlander and Abel. After going to royal court with his square companion, he was ex-communicated from the ministry and lost his status as Head Cleric. It was there that war was declared by their rival kingdom that wanted Flatland exterminated.

As the war broke out, Abel did everything in his power to ensure that the flatlander (who he had started calling "Anthony") got back to Flatland safely, even at the cost of the cleric's own life. As a massive fire raged through the forest where Flatland was held, Abel fled with Anthony to get the little square stabilized back in his home environment.

Abel's efforts paid off, getting the square back in the lake just in the nick of time, but Abel ended up engulfed in flames, accepting his death as his actions caused this whole mess in the first place.

However, his efforts did not go unnoticed. Just before Abel was completely consumed, a young 4th dimensional goddess, the Tender-hearted Angelica, scooped him up and saved his life.

The two's relationship started very rocky. Angelica knew that Abel was supposed to die in that forest, but she intervened. If she was found out by their superiors, they were sure to get more than an earful. With the possible chance of being executed for saving this unworthy cleric, she takes Abel to a pocket dimension up in space. She gives him an angelic halo that allows for him to breath freely with little consequence.

Abel was very angry and sad for the few weeks his spent in the 4th dimension. Having basically lost everything, he felt that there was nothing left for him and that still living was meant to be a cruel joke just to punish him farther for going against these powerful gods and using their magic without deserving it. However, Angelica keeps insisting that he did deserve to live, but not as a punishment. Instead, he was meant to expose the hypocrisy in the teachings of the ministry and recreate a new one with the proper values (much like what Abel told Anthony when showing him 3D).

As the two spend more time together hiding from other 4D gods in the pocket dimension, they get closer and eventually become very close friends. They learn that they have more in common that initially thought, with their wishes to teach and preserve dimensional beings others may deem as disgusting and deplorable. They also learn that they have a common connection in Spherious (Abel's grandfather and Angelica's first real apostle).

If given the opportunity, Angelica would have gladly kept Abel in this pocket dimension to provide her company, but a mission is a mission. It needed to be completed.

After the war had ended, leaving both kingdoms in ruin, Angelica decided to finally bring Abel back to Earth. They briefly explained Abel's mission to him one more time. As Abel shows his understanding, Angelica provided him with a gift of companionship. Using her divinity, she managed to track down the "Anthony" Abel spoke very fondly of. They granted the square a blessing that allowed him to be out of the water and accompany Abel in his travels.

As a last parting gift, Angelica blessed the halo still around Abel's head with magic properties that allowed him to be a cleric once again. He was no longer part of a church, but with the favor of this goddess, he could still do his magic. It was significantly weaker for a plethora of reasons, but it was better than nothing. Although Angelica did not want Abel to dedicate his life to her, they did want him to send her updates on his mission by burning letters during his rituals for her.

As of now, Abel has joined this rag-tag group of adventurers into the unknown after living in the woods for a couple months. He is still needs to complete his mission, so maybe Chipa Chapa and Brawler Dude (yes my siblings named their dnd characters these shush) can help him out.

Second off, design choices.

Like my last post on "A Heightlander's Escape", Abel still has the eye scar. However, when he was brought down to Earth once again, he was placed down "on the wrong side", so his scar switched sides.

Also, since Abel isn't transparent, the scaring is actually visible and impacts his ability to hold things and walk and stuff. His right hand can no longer use magic, but it is able to use weapons, hence the mace. The glove he wears on that hand helps with gripping and preventing blisters. His left hand is still able to use magic, although it is much weaker than before he went into the heavenly 4th dimension. He is working hard to get back to his stronger original self.

The halo was first used for breathing, but then changed to be a magic amplifier. Without it, Abel cannot use any sort of magic. He has a mace for when his magic fails (which is common now) and a shield for protection.

Abel original "priestly" outfit was basically destroyed in the fire, so Angelica decided to help him make a new one, which explains the major contrast (but still similar design) between the two.

All the other design choices were because I thought it looked cool. I think he deserves it after all the shit I put him through.

Also, Anthony sits in Abel's cloak fluff. Its soft and assists in Anthony's sensitivity to gravitational forces.

Third off, A. Sphere and A. Square;s friedship.

These two as so similar in motivation now. At first, the meeting was transitional. I do something for you so you do something for me kinda deal. However, the two learned that they get along incredibly well, and when Abel comes back from 4D, realizes he is the farthest thing from a god and beings treating Antony more as a partner than a subject.

Anthony still "worships" Abel and all his powerful magic but knows that Abel is not the god his initially thought he was. Although he failed his mission on spreading the 3D gospel (and low-key dying oof), he can definitely be there for Abel's mission. He is there to be supportive, and that is what he will do. Maybe he'll learn some spells of his own too lol.

They are very much friends here. Imagine a witch and her familiar lol.

More on A. Square.

In this world, Flatlanders are very fishlike. They still represent amoebas, but they have little fins on their arm and legs, and they make fish croaking sounds to communicate. Some can even be as loud as frogs, but that is pretty uncommon.

Mini Update: I've thought about it more, and I lied about flatlanders not being as loud as frogs. Women are as loud as frogs regularly and sometimes louder. Thanks cilekixxes 👍

They cannot truly learn a language other than the croaking. They can learn tone of voice and what it means, or they can pick up on certain sounds and do tasks. You cannot have an "intelligent conversation" with them without magic. Through magic, 3D beings can properly communicate with 2D beings, although there could be accent barriers that magic cannot translate.

Also, Anthony has a head injury from trying to share the gospel. While concussed, he gets into the crossfires of war and sort of dies (c'mon, most of you have seen the movie). When the light speaks to him, it is actually Angelica granting her blessing to him.

Although he does miss his family, he would not have made it there anyway without divine intervention. Angelica lets him say his last goodbyes to his family after explaining the situation. After some back and forth, an understanding is reached, and Anthony joins Abel's journey. His family is granted a blessing of protection from the war conflict and a prosperous future.

Geez this was a lot of writing. Thank you so much if you made it to the end, you're a real one. All of A. Sphere's AU lore will be explained in a later post outside of this DnD campaign, but this AU of an AU follows the original premise essentially.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I love this story to an unhealthy degree lol so people showing interest really boosts my morale.

Expect more "A Heightlander's Escape" (both fanon and canon) in the future. Have a lovely day fellas :)

[devilemon]

listening to starchild from ghost quartet and thinking about Rodion bc she's such an emotionally loaded character and i think abt her a lot

there's such a specific flavor of burnout gifted kid syndrome that she like. both does and doesn't have (chat me fr)

especially surrounding her general view of herself and how she handles things

she wants to change things and she's tried and yet it's all been pointless and she feels helpless and she's holding it together w/ a facade that's gonna slip

part of me wonders if she's gonna 'join' the other side for awhile/'betray' the sinners solely to do a lil' backstabbing, in similar fashion to like. raskolnikov

but who knows lmfao

[kanansdume]

The Mandalorian switched from writing a story following the arc of Ice Age (2002) to writing a story following the arc of Shazam (2019) in-between seasons 2 and 3, and this is why a perfectly satisfying ending to a two season miniseries got ruined.

[autisticburnham]

While Michael's tragedy obviously isn't the same as Book's in that she still has a number of loved ones with her, I'm surprised there isn't more textual acknowledgement that neither of them can ever see their families again

[bunnihearted]

🧸♡ ⋆｡˚

[lostdeadpoets]

All your life, you feel like you know love— you have met a lot of people, liked a few of them, loved even fewer.

Then someone comes along, redefining all your concepts and ideas, making you question whether you’ve really loved anyone before? Nothing existed before them and nothing would exist after them.

It’s true they say, we’re all just passing by, but to you, they become an absolute point.