#not warriors though we're not getting back into that lmao

[burnyourtrains]

Sorry I can't, I'm busy reimmersing myself into things that I found joy in as a preteen

[bonefall]

Since she was mentioned briefly in the previous post- can Fernstripe and Sunbeam have at least a single conversation together? Something like “hey, what were your trials like and what should I expect?” It doesn’t have to give anything away by having her go “my trials were done under Bramblestar, not Squirrelstar, I can’t promise our trials will be remotely similar”. Though I just want Sunbeam to have friends outside of her in-laws and it’d be cool to see Fernstripe do something outside of “oh yeah she exists” without her actually appearing.

Fernstripe and Shellfur got blorboified. They're one of my favorite background character ships entirely because of BB additions, lmao

They bonded over Shellfur asking her for "niceness lessons," because Spotfur wasn't going to have her husband's bully of a brother know his nespring if he didn't figure his shit out.

I used them for framing what a Gathering and Aftergathering look like at the Lake

Fernstripe can't cook for shit

I am once again, much like a firm guardian telling the kiddies to not get too attached to all of the foster kittens we're sponsoring, saying that I can't say how exactly I'll be using Fernstripe in ASC quite yet. But I CAN promise you for sure that she is going to have waaaaay more of a role.

Both as a fresh migrant to ThunderClan just like Sunny-B, and also as a member of the Graykin family through her mateship to Shellfur. The Graykin family gets a lot more focus in BB because I can't be normal about them.

Assorted thoughts;

I want Sunny to have a bit of a concern, through Fernstripe. See, SHE belongs because she's mates with Shellfur. But what would that mean for Sunny if Nightheart never comes back?

Fernstripe should be someone that Sunbeam gets to know very well, if I do end up going to her having more agency over "constructing" teams of cats for her trials.

And she explicitly should realize, "Fernstripe is my friend which makes me want to pick her; but she's intelligent, not powerful. I can't put her on any tasks that involve that."

"............or anything food-related. of course. good lord"

Someone will mention that Fernstripe was grandfather-claused under any revision that bumped up the 1 task to 3. Most of ThunderClan is pretty openly rolling their eyes about even the 1 task, so they're definitely not going to make Fern do 2 more.

It's funny that there are now 3 cats with Fern prefixes in ThunderClan lmao.

And there's been even more ferns, historically

Brackenfur was named after a type of fern. His daughter, Honeyfern, was named after him before earning that Honor Title

Ferncloud just died, Spotfur named a kit after her (not graystripe), there's also Fernsong, and now Fernstripe. In Clanmew these are all different types of fern, but they're still ferns.

It should be a running joke in other Clans that they use "fern" as the prefix for random hypothetical warriors.

Kinda like how if you're talking about Americans you'll be like, "John Hamburger visits 200 diners a minute and consumes half of the world's oil," or if you're talking about Brits you're like "Kingsley Bigglesworth is repelled by spice like a vampire to the sun, must have an IV drip of blended beans-on-toast to survive."

"Fernface hears a cat sneeze across the lake, arrives with 15 clerics and a bowl of fruit juice they call "soup", cries when you don't say thank you more than twice."

Fernstripe must have been mortified when she realized that her parents named her Fern and then she ended up joining ThunderClan, lmao

[strqyr]

you most likely talked about this, but given that in Beacon, teams are also separated into duos of partners (ruby&weiss, blake&yang), who do you think got partnered up in STRQ? (assuming that this buddy system was already in place during STRQ days)

i know i'm going against the tide with this one, but: summer & taiyang, raven & qrow. for few reasons.

one: the boy meets the warrior in a forest, and says he fell for her the moment he saw her silver eyes <- this is a story tai relates to, and eye contact is beacon's manner of forming partnerships.

two: as fun as all the "qrow's semblance gets in the way of him partnering with raven" scenarios are, i really don't think there's anything that would get in the way if raven wanted to partner with qrow (which i think she would) + qrow, who thinks his semblance makes it difficult to be near his family, would likely see partnering with raven more as a bad luck than he would partnering with some stranger.

and three, and this is what it really comes down, for me: i really do think the emotional core within strq is summer reuniting with tai, and raven reuniting with qrow. like the twins smiling at each other in the epilogue? that's the emotional goodness right there after everything they've been through; the disagreements, the fights, "we're not family anymore"s, learning the truth, finally reaching some sort of an understanding, to standing side-by-side once again.

and while there's less for summer and tai, they still included that scene in the flashback. they could have had summer sneak out with tai none the wiser, but they didn't; instead, summer promised she'd be back soon, and tai answers with a resolute "i know" (and he's still waiting, hoping against hope for her to return) ("no, come back!" <- when ruby's message gets cut short at the worst possible moment, tai's reliving the past right there).

idk really how to explain it, but there's this general feeling too that's like... if i had to split strq in two halves, summer & tai / raven & qrow makes the most sense to me. like, that's where the story is, not to say there isn't any story between anyone else, but especially qrow is like. who else do you partner him with? he doesn't really have anything to do with summer or tai emotionally story-wise, so if partnership is meant to be this Special Bond between two people, with what the show has presented us with, that really just leaves raven.

then there's also the fact that summer & tai went on oh-gods-another-patrol missions ("i think he misses adventuring with you." t. ruby rose) while raven & qrow went on spy missions (probably not on same ones, but i bet they still communicated what they were up to bc that's what intelligence gathering kind of requires). would ozpin separate partners like that? who knows. maybe? would be kind of rude though lmao

...it also makes the naming convention of RW | BY and ST | RQ the same, which doesn't necessarily prove anything, rather it's just a neat little bonus on top :)

(this got longer than i thought lol apologies for rambling OTL)

[ageless-soul-au]

If someone was to start getting into asau, which order would you recommend? (Asking for a friend) (Definitely not for me) (Not at all) (Nope) (Nu uh)

I recently reordered the ao3 series, so it should be accurate now! Counterpart, Confidential, and Altars are the only ones you need to read for the main au (in that order) (and even then you could probably skip Counterpart but it's a short read so it's up to you. The series doesn't really start until Con). If you want to read the nsfw (P&C), some of it relies on plot things and some of it doesn't. It's different per chapter since Peaches & Cream is a catch-all.

If you wanna read the spinoff stuff, we have a separate au series for that! It's also linked in the pinned post. Faction is its own thing which receives semi regular updates, and the Lifeblood series is also separate (porn with plot, solely written by me). I need to go back and edit the fic Lifeblood since I wrote that first and then wrote the prequel. I'm kind of working on the third installment but it's slow going.

We're actively updating Altars and Faction, with an Altars chapter lined up for tomorrow (Sunday, Sept 1). Reading the main series is not required to read the spinoffs, though the characterization slightly differs between mainline, Faction, and Lifeblood.

A Condensed Guide to ASAU Fics:

Do you want to read slowburn romance that takes 30+ chapters to resolve? Confidential. Legend and Warriors spend that fic picking up (almost) every hero and having several miscommunications while learning about each other and falling in love. They deal with ✨traumaaaa✨ (and sexuality and gender) with kind of a B plot of the Quest Setup.

In The Stolen Altars, it picks up right where Con left off. With pretty much everyone assembled, it's time to get started on The Quest finally... After almost 300k words... They encounter dungeons and monsters and talk to deities, all while being toyed with by the main antagonist! A few more heroes join the cast! Be forewarned that this fic includes temporary death of major characters. It's tied in with the plot, you'll understand when you get there. This fic has surpassed Con's word count and we still have two more eras to go. It will be followed by a sequel. The main fics will maybe turn out to be a trilogy?????? But if it stretched to a 4th fic I wouldn't be surprised. The timeline on this is years lmao, I can't predict how wordy we'll get.

Faction is a political drama dealing with international relations and war, with a side of romance. It's got all the characters you know and love, but some slightly to the left! General fantasy setting with a bit of Zelda lore mixed in. It'll most likely be completed in one fic! WAOW!!!

The Lifeblood series is vampires and smut. What else do you need to hear? (Real talk tho, The Copper Kettle is higher quality/more cohesive in theme than Lifeblood the fic, gimme a little bit to fix the inconsistencies hxhdbsbsn)

Hope this helps! Happy reading! And don't forget to COMMENT!!!!! (probably with some context bc in some cases it's been years since we wrote this hxhxhsjs)

-Kio

[melishade]

I love how careless Marley is handling the literal blood of Satan when one wrong move means imminent death lol. Them mfs are going to be responsible for the fuckin' zombie/terrorcon apocalypse and the best excuse they can give at this point is "we did a lil oopsie". This is not even that far-fatched too when you remember how zombie like Berthold was before his death and take the episode "Thirst" into consideration. It also makes me wonder, is a human terrorcon possible? Like in theory it should be since it's just dark energon possessing a corpse. If Dark Energon can bring even Ratchet's broken tool and Skyquake's arm to life what's stopping it from doing that to alien lifeforms? An Outbreak AU with Megatron going "I TOLD YOU SO!" every 5 seconds would be fun to read lmao.

So...we're having a Zombie AU now? Okay, I guess.

I mean, it's highly possible for that to happen with how reckless Marley has been depicted to be in the show and how dangerous dark energon is. It did turn Cylas into a terrorcon, even though his circumstances were extremely different from a regular human. But he was still a human who had succumb to the effects of dark energon.

Not to mention Raf has nearly died from it, but we've never seen what would have happened if he had died from it. Would he have respawned as Unicron's minion? We'll never know.

As for the Zombie AU

TW Violence TW Death

Let's say during the skirmish of Bertholdt scumming to dark energon, instead of beating a scientist to death, he bites a scientist before he gets shot by Magath. The scientist starts feeling unwell and he's kept under quarantine to be checked over. A day later, the scientist gets worse before straight up dying. One of the scientists checks the bodies and the scientist's corpse respawns before biting into the neck of another scientist.

Basically it's an infection frenzy. But it becomes worse with Eldians. Because while non-Eldians fall victim within a day, Eldians fall victim in a matter of hours. So you can imagine just how fast shit hits the fan once Eldians start getting infected. Megatron starts feeling a weak pulse of dark energon, which gets stronger in a matter of hours. He informs Optimus and Hanji about it before going back to the mainland...and is literally met with everything being in shambles. Non-Eldians are slow walking zombies. Eldians unfortunately sprint.

So now just picture Megatron running in holoform away from the horde to get answers.

Megatron ends up finding some Warriors and Warrior Cadets, but it's not looking too good. The Warrior Cadets are screaming for their lives as some infected Marleyans and Eldians are trying to grab at them. Pieck is doing her best to fend them off but they are climbing all over her titan form. Megatron manages to grab the Warrior Cadets and pull them to safety, but Gabi ends up getting bit in the leg during the skirmish.

Megatron demands to know what the hell is going on. But the Warrior Cadets are in complete confusion. Megatron demands to know where the Warriors are, but they don't know. Porco speaks up hearing rumors about a titan ritual happening and says they might be in the science division. Megatron tells them all to stay outside of the science division as he ventures there alone to figure out what's going on. He somehow manages to find an unconscious Annie in her cell. No one even bothered to go in, and quickly makes a move to grab her and run. Whatever was happening, he wasn't going to let a titan shifter get infected. It looked like it was too late for the Cart Titan anyway.

Megatron then spotted all the Marleyan soldiers, including Calvi, huddled in a bunker and ignored them for the time being. He then finds Zeke and Magath gathering weapons and Reiner begging the both of them to go get Bertholdt out of here. Megatron ends up speaking in his regular voice demanding what the hell happened, causing Reiner to understandably freak out and for Magath to be on the defensive. Zeke has no choice but to explain what happened and Megatron can't help but chew all of them out for being so careless with dark energon in the first place. Megatron immediately hands Zeke Annie and goes to look for Bertholdt. Megatron sees patient zero spazzing out due to the dark energon. Megatron tries to kill him, but there's a cave in that causes him and Bertholdt to be separated from each other.

Megatron and the others realize that Pieck has completely succumbed to the infection and is wrecking the compound. Pieck ends up killing Zofia in the process and Megatron has no choice but to reveal his titan form and crush Pieck, killing her, and any other people who have become infected. He could feel the pull of dark energon in him but he refuses to utilize it. He refuses to succumb to its alluring call.

Megatron then tells them all he's taking them to the island. Some try to retort, but Megatron proclaims that the entire world is no doubt going to hell and the island is the safest option. He has to transport them two at a time, and as he's getting them to the island and having to explain what's going on. Gabi succumbs to her infection and starts going haywire. She starts attacking people, and ends up biting Jean's hand. Optimus in holoform quickly subdues him, and as she's thrashing in his grip, Optimus notices the really nasty bite mark on her legs. Optimus remembers the horror movies that the kids on Earth used to watch and quickly explains that infection spreads through bite marks or bodily fluids. Jean is staring at his bitten hand in horror, but Mikasa ends up thinking fast and cuts off his arm, causing him to scream in pain. Everyone's yelling in frustration at her but Hanji quickly gets to work to stop the bleeding.

Optimus and Megatron are arguing in holoform about Gabi's condition and Megatron is proclaiming they need to kill her. Optimus is trying to retort but Megatron reminds him that she's not coming back. Optimus tries to retort, but Gabi ends up biting Optimus and distorting the holoform arm. Gabi bolted for Megatron, but Megatron grabs Mikasa's sword and decapitates her. Reiner is obviously devastated, and now Optimus and Megatron are arguing in their bipedal mode about what Megatron just did. Because the conversation can go any further, Megatron's optics turn purple due to the amount of humans that got infected with dark energon, and the strength is starting to fuck with his head. On top of that, Megatron didn't check if Bertholdt was dead, so now there's a Colossal Titan infested with dark energon. So Megatron is kind of dealing with that.

So plot points for the Zombie AU:

-Bertholdt is undead. Has dark energon in his system. Colossal Titan with dark energon. But he still has some conscious thought. He ends up climbing out of the rubble of Liberio, but his mind is so warped that he thinks Paradis attacked and wants revenge.

-There's discussion about how to proceed with this information. Majority are suggesting that they bar themselves off from the rest of the world. Hanji is the one advocating that they fight to help the world and cure the populus. Because it could only be a matter of time before this infection comes to their shores. It almost did. And their complacency left them unprepared for the Colossal Titan attack. They need to find a solution.

-Megatron's optics are purple now due to the high rate of infection. Megatron hates it. Hanji has to consistently ask about Megatron's experience with dark energon in order to come up with a solution. They're trying to come up with a cure.

-Jean ends up dying due to the blood loss and the dark energon still in his system. So when Jean respawns, Mikasa is ready to kill him, but Hanji asks to keep Jean alive so they can study him. He could be help for a cure. Everyone else thinks its inhumane for obvious reasons, but Hanji reminds everyone that they could ultimately be facing trouble.

-There's a lot of drama between the Warriors Cadets, Warriors, Magath, and the island, but some are won over by Optimus and Hanji's integrity. However they hate Megatron for obvious reasons.

-Annie wakes up to a whole nightmare.

-Marleyan officers are still huddled underground. Haven't decided if they live or not. We'll see.

[scumbagjaeger]

COLLEGE! PORCO HEADCANONS

starring: Porco Galliard

rating: sfw, 18+

notes: just some random ideas and headcanons I have for Porco, maybe something I'll work on more in the future! I'm a sucker for the enemies to lovers trope and I think there's a lot of potential with this one! Please enjoy, drop an ask for more!

I also wanted to dedicate this to @hangeslefteye for always being there and for getting me on the Porco bandwagon (: a true inspiration fighting for the cause (the cause being more Porco content hahah)

So before I get into these head canons (which predominately take place in a gym setting), here's some context

I'm a big fan of the Warriors being a soccer team? Maybe that's their college team! Meanwhile (y/n) is on a volleyball team, maybe just the intramural level team though because she's busy being a main character hahah :) my friends on the college team had no social lives but we're going to give (y/n) okay

But yeah definitely in one of those situations where the intramural volleyball games run late, which pisses off the Warriors who have practice immediately after? Cue Porco and (y/n) bickering a lot!

Okay so yeah they don't like each other

But just imagine that you're at the gym and you notice Porco there? With his beefy arms on full display

And you're kind of like "what?" y'know, giving him a look from across the room

You're just doing your thing, finishing up your reps on the machine and you look up again and Porco is walking towards you?

You roll your eyes at him when he's in close proximity and take your headphone out. "Can I help you?"

"It seems like you can help out the creep who's drooling over you across the floor," he scowls

You didn't even notice, but you glance behind Porco and see some random guy staring at you while he lifts weights

Porco just kind of just watches over you for the rest of your time at the gym? And it's nice? You don't want to strangle him for once?

He keeps an eye on the stranger, glaring at him whenever he gets up from his machines

But he also spots you while you're doing your chest press? And helps you set up for hip thrusts?

"You're doing your pull ups wrong, dummy. You should be angling your hips forward, not arching back," "Shut up, Porco, what do you know." "More than you, I'm minoring in kinesiology. Now here lemme--" and he waits for your nod before gently moving your hips forward.

It turns out he's finished his workout like thirty minutes ago but he's just hanging out with you now, pushing you to do one more rep and bickering to you about being able to do a heavier weight "What, you going easy today or something, (l/n)? You can add an extra 5 pounds, easy. I'll spot ya."

At one point he shows you how much he can bench because, yeah, he hates you, but he's a guy who will take any excuse to show off his muscles lmao we know this man is disciplined as hell in the gym

But when you lean over the bench to spot him, you notice the twinge of pink on his ears?

Unrelated but his hair from chapter 119? That's what his hair looks like while he's working out oh lord

Let's say you already did your cardio earlier? Too bad Porco is guiding you to the treadmills

Okay but let's say you suck at running and Porco gives you so much shit for it? You just hate treadmill-running though, and you don't really need to run much for volleyball anyway, just a couple laps to warm up

You're sweating and miserable and Porco offers to buy you a post-workout smoothie as a reward for running ten minutes lmao

"If you don't like treadmill-running, I take this one route through the town that ends near Liberio Park? My brother and I used to run that when he went here" (Marcel is a doctor and alive in this AU)

And you kind of look at him like * "I don't really like to run alone either?"

"What? Why not?"

"It's not really safe?"

And he gets kind of quiet and mutters to you, "Well, I usually go in the mornings, if you wanted to come with?"

And you just look at him, incredulous. And he looks away and sips his smoothie "--only if you want to, I guess."

And so you agree to meet him outside of campus the next day and you start your run together! He definitely has way more endurance than you as a soccer player though oops

It's so obvious that he could be going way faster but he jogs to keep up with you, and stops to walk with you when you need a break

You catch him smiling at you when you stop to admire some of the flowers that are blooming outside of the park. "What?"

"Your face is all red and sweaty," this man has W rizz

Turns out there's also a wellness-type cafe near the park so you both get post-workout smoothies again and walk back towards campus

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this or if you'd like more! My dream would be to start a college series with the main boys, maybe even developing fics for each of them!! If this is something you're interested in, please let me know! Leave an ask for any ideas or requests for Porco or the others!

[theasterous09]

OKAY SO RANDY WITH POWERS IG

Let's start off with me explaining him actually having powers. I like to think that the longer he's the Ninja, the more he gets a hold of his powers outside the suit. Take a look at the earth attack episode, where we see him using a magical spell without having the mask on.

Some powers are easier to use than others. He can easily use the Earth Attack so long as he says the rhyme, but summoning air fists and hydro hands are a bit harder without the suit on. Though, he'd later learn how to use them sans suit in the future.

NOW FOR ACTUAL POWERS.

Does anyone remember the "Temple of Forbidden Knowledge of the Shadow Warrior"? Where there were a bunch of art forms that includes the art of healing and (im assuming, cuz it's been a while since I've seen that episode) disguise?

Yeah, we're diving deep on that temple, especially it's art forms. First off, we have the one and only "Art of Flying" and my first instinctive thoughr when I first saw that was:

"ART OF FLYING!?!?!? THAT'S SO *CENSORED* COOL!!! WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK? I HOPE THERE'S AN EPISODE FOR THAT ONE!"

The Final Episode Later...

"... Damn it."

Anyway, back to topic. The "Art of Flying" is pretty simple. It's an art form that, I suppose, Randy was supposed to learn to help him with his Ninja duties better when bigger threats appear. I like to think that in the first few times he had to use it, he could only use the flying power as a way to boost how high up he can leap, but overtime, he would learn how to properly levitate until he can reach as high up as he can.

And unlike the Art of Healing (which I'll be talking about in a bit), Randy can use this power without his suit. By just reciting a chant, he could start levitating himself.

Not only that, but I also like to think it's more specific name is "Art of Levitation" rather than just flying, as I imagine it being able to also levitate objects and other people than just Randy himself.

Now on the next power, "Art of Invisibility"

Like art of flying, this one is self-explanatory. It's a power that can make you invisible. It has similarities with the Art of Stealth (which is the camouflage episode), but I love to imagine that their key differences is that Art of Stealth would still make him tangible, but being invisible does not. Like, he'd be an invisible ghost, with no one to hear, see, and touch him.

This is one of the hardest powers to master, as it can be hard to make oneself invisible and visible again. It would take a matter of great control and discipline before the Nomicon would even let Randy learn that power.

Being invisible also has its weaknesses. Being stuck as invisible for too long might make him feel detached from everything around him as he basically doesn't exist to the people around him. Randy is also forbidden by the Nomicon to use this technique often, as it could damage his already thinning sanity and the remaining braincells he keeps in that head of his.

Ehem. That's all the rambling I can give for tonight. I'm tired and I have a theater play tomorrow lmao

[just-a-normal-regretter]

Can. Can I ask to hear more of the it was only Tuesday AU? It sounds really neat (plus powers in the real world is my JAM).

Thanks for the ask anon! o7

And yeah, I'd be happy to talk about one of my many crossover fics (seriously I have a ton lmfaooo).

Recapping "For Me, It Was Only Today": CL/MLB AU with combining lores, Lyoko powers sprouting irl, and some Odd/Adrien rarepair shipping

Okay I'll admit straight off that I didn't realize how much content I made in the trio AUs for a CL/MLB crossover. I thought it was just Cherrybird with all the stuff I wrote up but I'm looking at this one and Strays and it's hitting me my notes are so deep haha

They were so thought out that I got stuck for a moment thinking about how I'd explain this but here I'll try my best:

I mentioned this above but this fic of the trio I do plan to mix the lores together without going uh, too crazy. I don't want to reveal my hand given it's supposed to be a big plot point properly unveiled in this version's take on the episode Franz Hopper (I had to specify episode but it's also fun adjusting Hopper the character in this lore shift).

If this got posted this would likely be a fusion type of crossover I think.

This fic in particular is limited to Ulrich's POV given I want to have the story be about the Warriors seeing Odd's shifting relationship with Chat Noir. The wacky lore is just stuff that goes on in day-to-day. Also sorta open ended to leave room for additional content given the lore of this particular fic is pretty big + the cast leaves ample other stories to tell from their perspectives.

But I digress, we're talking about the Ulrich POV for this fic in particular.

I'll first start off by focusing on the format of this fic in particular. There should be about 12 chapter to match up with the Subdigitals album because I'm a bit corny and wanted to pair that up haha

Each chapter takes the premise of a episode (whether it be CL or MLB) and meshes it together with the crossover/lore shift.

An example I can throw out is the first chapter, which would just be Ulrich and Odd chatting while watching some of the events of Prime Queen happen from their phones (given Nadia did host her segment etc etc).

The CL powers though I agree I'm also a big "powers in the real world" enjoyer haha. Sometimes I just think about this AU in a bubble without the crossover and ponder the shenanigans that can crop up if you just play the power exposure as comedy instead of the angsty potential it is.

Love this AU because the kids are not alright. They have to adjust to shifting into things very much not human, despite having some of the basic human traits.

Odd gets the worst of it given he's a literal cat-boy in Lyoko. The Digitization process is subtle at first but then it becomes extremely difficult to hide that he's growing purple fur, he's nursing intense migraines whenever a Future Flash decides to crop up, his vision nearly landed him some glasses, etc.

Yumi and Ulrich don't have it as bad, but the pains that settle in once Telekinesis and Super Sprint respectively show up for each of them is exhausting. Their clothing tends to get shifted by their exposure, so there's a bit of a running gag of swapping shoes out so they don't constantly lose them (at one point Ulrich has more sandals than shoes lmao)

I also toss in some new abilities because as they grow older aka as the chapters progress in the fic. Odd deals with camouflage that glitches whenever his emotions get out of control (it changes the color of his purple fur like it's a mood ring), Ulrich has to keep a certain mask on him (the one on the back of his S1-S3 outfit) just to make sure he's not phasing through the earth every few minutes, and Yumi has to be very cautious when it comes to stepping in shadows in fear of getting stuck in them.

Digitization (i.e. the term Jeremie coins to explain the shifts the four are going through) is not completely defined all at once. It takes time and as they grow older, their forms will only grow stronger and more defined.

The process isn't immediate for anyone. It shows up with frequent scanner usage, though it isn't until the events of Frontier that it truly settles in that Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi are not exactly humans anymore.

Will also mention that I abuse the concept of TransWatches that Evolution introduced and rehash them to be a temporary solution to let the kids blend in as proper humans. It doesn't prevent some of their glitches from leaking out though, just hides away their outfit changes or their cosmetic changes (i.e. Odd's fur or Yumi's makeup).

Aelita does not immediately experience Digitization given she only used the scanners once then stayed on Lyoko for a long time. Throughout S2 she'll deal with her own changes and will catch up in time with her creativity ability being very uh, destructive when it comes to her nightmares making the power flare. This fic in particular glosses over it given it's not her perspective focus but I feel like I should mention Aelita since I don't give her a lot of love in these recaps ;-;

I also feel extremely bad for Jeremie since he always has the weight of the world on his shoulders all because of his decision. He's the leader of the group and sometimes his plans don't pan out which result in him being extremely cautious to give them another shot unless he's forced to.

One of these plans was trying to enlist Ladybug and Chat Noir for help at the very beginning of this mess. A RTTP stopped the duo from trying to get rid of the machine to prevent XANA from ever harming the real world again. So it's obvious why he wouldn't be the biggest fan of Odd turning around and trying to court Chat Noir.

I'll talk about the Chat Noir in the room. Why him? Why not Ladybug? Well besides my own shipping agenda, I do have a bit of a fic logic haha

The fic in particular starts in the midst of MLB S2. Ladybug and Chat Noir have been established in Paris enough. The whole reason Adrien gets involved is due to Fluff.

She's the one able to sense all this time phenomenons and wants to know more. Fu is already busy with training Marinette to be the Guardian atp, so he decides to give this investigation mission to Chat Noir to satisfy Fluff's curiosity.

Hence Adrien gets his own time companion and has to keep this secret from Ladybug (Fu doesn't want it to leak out to anyone that Chat currently possesses another Miraculous, that and he worries Ladybug would become distracted if she found out that Chat is working on other things not involving her).

MLB S2 is working around the same time as CL S1. So thanks to Fluff's Miraculous, Adrien can feel the time shifts too. He just can't completely remember things.

This is how Adrien gets to remember some of his interactions with the Warriors, and how he and Odd start to bond a bit. A Great Day is when Fluff can finally fulfill her satisfaction and Burrows herself, Adrien, and Plagg into these Time Phenomenons.

After that the shenanigans can properly ensue where Adrien can remember everything after a RTTP has been done. He also has to give Fluff back as she's perfectly fine with these phenomenons now that she can properly access them in her Burrow.

Adrien couldn't leave well enough alone though, way too curious about why these things were happening in the first place. It's why he continues his investigation to the other plot points that happen generally in the fic.

I'm sorry if this one seems pretty jumbled haha. I have been having some issues with sleep so my brain was just all over the place trying to convey this recap without like giving up everything plotted out.

Once again thank you for the ask anon, and thanks to anyone who reads this o7

[quietbluejay]

Ahriman Sorcerer 3

oh that's interesting POV on the Space Wolves who have been hunting Ahriman

oh, and Grimur is trying not to go berserk and, i think it's kind of implied, eat his fallen foe, because this time they're honourable opponents mwah i love it almost as if when you create a category of people that it is okay to treat in a certain way, it allows you to put more and more people in that category he's realized what they have become

lmao silvanus: uhhh maybe you shouldn't say that we're all slaves so loudly hemellion: why? they all know ah. back to Ahriman and Carmenta

tbh i'm finding the writing around her getting absorbed into the ship to be a little…repetitive?

huh

everything from the end of the first book is basically other characters either succumbing or gracefully bowing out while ahriman forges forwards

man I feel like it says something when you're an Inquisitor who spooks Grey Knights

okay it's time to debug a prophecy! i mean, decipher ‘The moon broken at midwinter looks at us,’ - yeah i got nothing ‘Silver are the warriors of blade and book, and they come to the fire.’ that sounds like Grey Knights ‘The king without a land, with a blade like the moon in his hand,’ and pretty sure that's a reference to Hemellion killing Carmenta oh!!! back to Astraeos he keeps dreaming about the time the imperium burned his homeworld i wonder if they did that on purpose or if it's just his brain after having dredged up the memories it's a bit weird it's on repeat

i've made this joke already, but the grim darkness of the future should really invest in some sunlamps

okay there's a lot to unpack here AHRIMAN IS JUST FLOATING IN MID AIR. as you do. okay. why are tzeentchians like this

i'm finding it really interesting to compare ignis' view here vs lorgar's of the effect of death in the warp something something the mathematics of music

meanwhile, Hemellion is kinda being mind controlled i don't really have any commentary on this confrontation between Sanakht and Ahriman other than fast eyes emoji

im chewing on this meanwhile it's time to add Ahriman to the list of protagonists with chronic pain in wh40k! Ahriman: Sanakht, I knew the entire time wait why do i feel like I missed a chunk I definitely feel like I missed a chunk of the book

anyone else getting Itachi vibes here?

JOHN FRENCH IM GOING TO BITE YOU FOR THAT TOLKIEN REFERENCE actually, there's been a bunch of other helms deep esque stuff going on too astraeos got free and is going on a rampage of destruction

and he. stopped. when he saw the grey knight's face

that sounds awful tzeentchy of you oh boy

okay so, now i'm going to try and piece out if i can follow the logic for Astraeos' chapter im going to bite something this was not adequately foreshadowed and when you're doing time shenanigans like this you really SHOULD

the first time I read this i was like "okay i'm cool with it, it's all thematic " but. you know if i had a nickel for every time i read something with a stable time loop and was fine with it the first time but not the second readthrough i'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice

i do love the prose of this book though huh a Space Wolf flashbacking to Prospero didn't expect that

so! Ahriman was the one guiding the space wolves the whole time haha rip ahh okay

you know this raises so many questions about how causality works in 40k annd Astraeos is starting to prepare for his own revenge on Ahriman dude's had enough and that's the end of Ahriman: Sorcerer It had a lot of strong moments but I think it was too high on fluff and low on substance tbh going to take a break before reading the third book and maybe read some other book or two note from future bluejay: and then she read Angel Exterminatus

Okay, some housekeeping, I found my original (pretty bare) notes from the first time I read Ahriman Unchanged from back in January. SO, probably will be posting that because I made myself laugh when rereading the notes. I'll probably reread the actual book and do a detailed commentary...later. Who knows when.

[elegybeatty]

Got tagged by @zoroarkthief for a "9 people you'd like to get to know better" game, so, here I go!

Three Ships:

MariHilda (Fire Emblem Three Houses) - Got tagged by a FE fan, so I'm starting with a FE ship, lol. Anyway, IntSys are cowards for not giving Marianne a can9n monster form and I owe every artist who gives her one my life. UPBEAT POWERFUL WARRIOR × TIMID MONSTER GIRL MY BELOVED!!!

Pearlina (Splatoon 2) - I have very generic feelings about this ship, but they're basically my OTP, so I couldn't not include them. They're just...SO damn cute 😭😭😭

Ninten × Lloyd (Mother 1) - OKAY, this one's gonna take some explaining, fjsbbsbsbdbshsh. This is kind of a crackship I started thinking about for a really random reason. I thought up this idea of Lloyd being a trans woman when he gets older and that eventually evolved into a whole ass AU in my head about the Mother gang as adults and Ninten and Lloyd catching up and falling in love and yeah hfvdgdgvdhsbshshd. Idk if this ship counts since I don't really ship the canon ones, just the versions of them I imagined in my head, but, yeag, gender affirming childhood friends to lovers slowburn fic coming...never, but just imagine it, okay?

First ship ever: Depends on what you count as a ship. First time I shipped two characters genuinely knowing what shipping is was prooooobably Lapidot? But my memory's real bad, so maybe not. If we're counting dumb childhood stuff, it was probs, like, Mario and Peach, lmao.

Last Song: Eternal Nausea by Black Dresses. Weirdly enough, that song calms me down when I'm feeling anxious.

Currently Reading: Just finished a book I picked up back in highschool and never read for whatever reason, Dreadnought by April Daniels. It was really good, though got way more intense than I was expecting, but in a good way! Not sure what to read next, I'm not much of a bookworm. If y'all have recommendations, lemme know!

Currently Watching: Uhhhh, nothing, haven't watched tv much at all lately. Just watched an hour long youtube video on Steven Universe: The Movie earlier today, that was nice.

Currently consuming: Lemonade, yummy :3

Currently craving: MORE LEMONADE

I'll tag @transmasckirby @quaintpanic @florrrfauna @metroid-fusion @baconator-deluxe @malicious-face @swagtomomo @thethirdstrongestsylvi aaaaaaand anyone else who wants to join in. Also, apologies if any of y'all don't like being tagged and also no pressure to join in, wawawaw

[digitalagepulao]

How does the Ironwood section work in your AU? And what about Gryla?

it, doesn't xvx or at least not at all like in-game

GOWR spoilers below

in my AU, the Ironwoods is a known factual location in Jotunheim from where wolf giants and sorceresses hail from. as such, it's not a safe place for anyone to hide in, so Angrboda doesn't. instead she's sent by her parents to be hidden in the Elysium fields, inside of an oak tree.

i'm, a bit on the fence about the Ironwoods section because, while it's a vital plotbeat for Atreus to meet more peers of his age, and one who can teach him Giant stuff as well as counter his father's narrative about his powers (rage is not inherently negative and to be kept sealed away), I'm on the fence about the handling of Angrboda and Gryla because it's good representation but, i think they could have used a few more writers of color for smth so sensitive like addiction, grief, and generational trauma, plus the "sidekick girl of color who's a LI for the white male protag" trope is touched on but... meh, i felt like it could have gone deeper. that's just my criticism tho

in this segment, Atreus does end up in Ironwoods and runs into Vidarr (he's half-giant in the mythos but in this he's on the side of the Jotun), who had been scavenging items from the land. he's a teen as well and one of the giants rescued by Loki before Lokasenna, and they start chatting. Vidarr shows him some more stuff about the woods, and after some hesitation, invites Atreus to the little hidden land he and the others are biding their time until Ragnarok is done. not all giants are warriors after all. there Atreus meets a whole bunch of Jotun who welcome him easily, adults, elders and youth alike.

he learns a lot in that short time among them, including the details of how Týr arranged for their sanctuaries, tales about his mom and how beloved she was, and of course the Ragnarok prophecy. he does head back to Midgard eventually, and we're back in canon land.

an extra bit though, is a rite of passage ceremony Jotun do when children reach a certain age, to incite their first prophecy (usually one unheard of before) and officially welcome them into adulthood. Loki mentions it's usually done with their closest living relatives and the oldest Jotun among them leading the ceremony. technically Loki can fill in both roles (can't get any closer than his actual double lmao), but Atreus asks for Kratos to be there. So Grýla and Kratos lead the ceremony, with Loki, Angboda, and their children leading the chants.

it's set to happen late in game, so it's all just heartwarming calm before ethe storm vibes TvT

as for Grýla, she and Angrboda work through their issues prior to the game's timeframe, which is a rather mindfuck cus it's soon after Angrboda left with Týr that her older, more mature and very much married and in love with the Champion of the Jotun show up ajhawbdjh

[tameila]

Was kindly tagged by @belphegor1982 to participate in this 20 questions for writers trend! thanks for the tag! 💕 tags for anyone who sees this and wants to take a whack at it. tag me in your responses, if you do!

How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 10 works on ao3 with plenty of little one-shots posted here on tumblr and at least triple that many WIPs lmao

What's your total AO3 word count?

My current ao3 word count is 165,375 words. TSAR is responsible for, like, 70% of that word count.

What fandoms do you write for?

On ao3, I've only posted for Critical Role, and I do not foresee that changing, but who knows! Before Critical Role, I never really saw myself as a writer that posted on public forums, and it's not as if I haven't entertained and dabbled in other fandoms.

Overall, including collaborative writing/roleplaying, I have written for Warriors (yes, the cat books), Bleach, Naruto, Hetalia (im sorry you have to learn this about me), Glee, Dragon Age, and Digimon.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Sun Always Rises (550 kudos), multichaptered modern AU Pikelan

give my regards to soul and romance (186 kudos), one-shot based in @jabletown's rejoice AU, Pikelan with Dadlan and Pike & Kaylie bonding

le petit encore (145 kudos), my mediocre TSAR 'verse smut fic. every time it gets another kudos i am pushed closer and closer to continuing my smut WIPs because i swear!! i promise!! i can write better smut!...but i am rather proud of this piece because it was my first serious foray into the world of smut and i gotta recognize my own hustle lol

As Easy as Riding a Bicycle (113 kudos), modern AU/college-aged Pikelan, Pike's bike gets stolen and she turns to a dating app to try and find it and finds love instead. super love this piece. everyone should read it and give it more kudos so it can be my third most kudo'd piece teehee

TLC is a Two-Way Street (104 kudos), TSAR 'verse, Pikelan, Pike looks after Scanlan while he is sick

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, yes, yes! Even as I free myself from the shackles of needing that validation and feeling discouraged if I don't reach some arbitrary number of engagement, I cannot deny that comments are inspiration and writing fuel. So, when I get a comment, I think it's the least that I can do to respond, even if it's just to say thanks.

I am definitely guilty of sitting on comments that make me particularly happy for weeks on end before actually remembering to respond tho

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

the things we know and the things we wish they knew, which was my first CR fanfic and written in response to ep 85 iykyk

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I mean, it's gotta be The Sun Always Rises

Do you get hate on fics?

No, thankfully not!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

As mentioned previously, I only really have one serious smut fic, though I have written a couple other bits and bobs....and maybe I have a couple WIPs that may or may not see the light of day. I'm not sure what kinds of smut there are...but I guess I would describe my approach to smut as 'I am a sex-repulsed asexual and idk what's really going on here but I'm here to express closeness and intimacy and love in this strange new world' lol

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

If we're talking crossovers in the sense that characters from two separate fictional stories meet and interact, I have written in roleplays back in middle school like that but never explored the concept in fanfic.

If crossovers also includes taking the concept of one fictional media and inserting the characters of another into it (e.g., Hogwarts AU or HDM AU) then I've definitely written and have plans for various fanfics like that. I don't think that I have any that I would consider "crazy", but I do think my brief notes and writings for a OTGW-inspired Nygmobblepot/Riddlebird fic were v inspired.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of and hopefully not! Very little gets posted in the Pikelan fandom that I don't see, so I like to think I'd be hard to pull a fast one on

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet, but I would love to see The Sun Always Rises translated into other languages someday!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've entertained a couple co-written fics that have unfortunately never gotten off the ground much, but I'm not closed off to the idea. I see it as being quite similar to roleplaying!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Oof. As a lifetime shipper, that's a tough question. I never truly let go of a ship, even after I've moved on from a fandom, but there are definitely some that are far more enduring in my heart than others.

Of course, if we're going off of writing alone than it's Pikelan. Writing TSAR got me through some of the hardest years of my life and, despite what's become of them and what I'm forced to endure by continuing to engage in the fandom space, they're special to me in a way that a lot of other ships can never be, no matter how much I love 'em.

Also, in the case of writing, FenHawke. selfishly, of course, Fenris with my Hawke. I love writing for them, and I consider the pieces that I've written for them to be amongst my best. They're the Dragon Age ship for me.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

.....[shamefully hangs head] A-Side and B-Side, the sequels to TSAR. I'm gonna keep writing them for as long as I am able but, if there ever comes a day that I post an update and get zero engagement, then I think I'll just have to move on. but! if even one person keeps coming along for the ride, then I'll stick to 'em. I just don't know if there's anyone who loves my writing enough to stick around for, like, another 5 years lol

The other big one is Vex's Delivery Service...which is exactly what it sounds like. A Kiki's Delivery Service inspired AU but it's about Vex. though truly, it's a thinly veiled excuse to write about domestic Pikelan is what it is. I have the whole thing planned out. I just can't ever seem to get it off the ground and, at this point, with the way I'm halfway out of the CR fandom, I don't think I ever will.

What are your writing strengths?

I have been extremely lucky to have been complimented on multiple facets of my writing over the years. However, I think what I pride in myself the most is my ability to let each scene breathe and take its time. It means that I take forever to write and nothing's ever short, but I don't think I would like writing quite as much if I wasn't allowed to let each moment have its breathing space.

What are your writing weaknesses?

It's a bit of an oddball pick maybe, but it's something that I feel like I have to own up to as a notorious modern AU writer:

People say that modern AUs are uninspired and boring, especially when you're taking characters out of a magical fictional world just to put them into our world and....the rumor's are true. I just don't get that into the lore of a fictional universe to ever feel comfortable writing in it. I do just find it easier to write everyone as humans in a modern-esque society. Now, I will stand by the fact that part of the fun of modern AUs is taking these magical characters and interpreting into a modern space (I often do the opposite with modern era characters into a fantasy world of my own design), but I just want to fully own up to the fact that...yes, I am too lazy to research the intricacies of canon in order to write a proper canon compliant/adjacent fic.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it has it's place.

For me, if it's a language that the POV character understands/that the reader should understand alongside the POV character, then there's no reason to write it in that language. Simply include a dialogue tag to explain what language the character was speaking in. and I say this mostly from a logistical/ease of reading standpoint. Having to scroll down to the bottom of a fic or switch to a separate tab with the translations interrupts the flow of reading.

If, however, the language is included, untranslated, to reflect the POV character's own lack of knowledge of the language then that makes more sense. because you, as the reader, are meant to keep reading at the same level of understanding as the POV character and there's no pressure to be rushing for a translation just to make sure you're not missing an important line of dialogue.

but of course, as with most things, it's writer's choice!

First fandom you wrote for?

Warriors, probably...maybe Hamtaro. I definitely read fanfic for it and had my little daydream musings, but I don't think I wrote anything down.

Favorite fic you've ever written?

Oooh, we talkin' fic fic? That's long gone, and it's up in the air which of those many early fandoms that it was for.

If we're talking that's readily available on ao3, then my first was the things we know and the things we wish they knew. though, I was writing and posting Dragon Age one-shots on tumblr before that one.

Coming back because, for some reason, I misread this question as what was the first fic I'd ever written lol. Obviously, the answer to favorite is The Sun Always Rises.

[bonefall]

First off, obviously this is a WC blog so I won't go further but THANKS for the brief dunk of The Lion Guard, that's one of my biggest problems with the show. Second off, are you seeing this shit Elder Bones?! * Points at the Thunder Spoiler Thread at WCRPForums * Do try to avoid reading the posts that aren't chapters though, they're bad as usual for that site lol.

Maybe one day I'll grumble about Lion King on the side blog lmao.

Anyway... that spoiler thread. I try to take these threads with a pinch of salt, but... overall feelings are really getting negative. If I had a Vibes Barometer, the needle would be dipping out of positive right now.

We're 2 books away from the conclusion and I don't know if they have time to turn this around... and they chose to spend time traveling. It's partially a travel book, guys. Several chapters of pointless bullshit.

(Spoilers under the cut-- remember we are getting this secondhand from a spoiler thread. Some of this may turn out to be misrepresentation.)

NIGHTHEART STUFF

We start off where the preview left off. They jerk the shit out of your chain with Squirrelstar teasing but spoiler we DO got her

(CELEBRATORY SQUIRRELSTAR MUSIC)

We get a BrambleSquirrel screaming match. Please for the love of god divorce these characters, this is fucking insufferable

They also had to give Bramblestar a smug little gotcha moment where he's right about his argument, Squilf accidentally walks to SkyClan camp for the plot and it turns out that Bramblestar, the guy who was apparently supposed to have memory issues and brain fog, was right that Squilf forgot how to navigate her own territory

Im dead serious she like... accidentally walked to SkyClan.

This is a clever literary trick called bad writing <3

While they're there, Nightheart says, "HEY WASNT THERE A MEDIATOR THINGY? ISNT HE SUPPOSED TO SOLVE DISPUTES?"

*I look directly into the camera. Right at you. Reader I am glimpsing across the magical threads of the internet, directly into your soul.*

Leafstar

says

"I Forgor"

if this thread is to be believed. Then the canonical explanation for why Tree was not mediating up to this point. Is because every single cat around the lake. Including the geniuses who came up with a unique role JUST for the specialest little boy. Just fucking forgot about him.

(bestselling young adult series)

Do I laugh? Do I cry?

I think im unlocking the emotion that those lizards who shoot blood from their eyes feel just before a squirt

Anyway

There is also an absurd amount of Bramblestar winking at Nightheart and teasing him about his new mate and reminding the audience about how much Nightheart wuvs him. This is probably supposed to be charming?

it just feels unsettling, ngl.

It's even more Bramble Worship than normal, like the writer is trying really hard to stress how cool and awesome their special boy is :D and how dumb and mean his wife is >:( and it's so fucking forced.

They pad the book by having it be cloudy so that StarClan doesn't show up the first time they try to do the Squirrelstar thing

I kept thinking, "What if this wasn't a willing abdication?? What if the Clan didn't have a second chance to do this?? What if this was Nightstar 2 all over again and she died of plot convenience before coming back?! This dumbfuck system has fixed NOTHING"

Plumstone and Dewnose have a moment where they antagonize Nightheart over the fact he was chosen to accompany Squilf and Bramble to the Moonpool, because he just got back and it's not fair

And you know what? They're right actually

Nightheart huffs that Squilf was giving him a Chance To Prove Himself but he doesn't fucking get it! His whole life's been nothing but chances he threw tantrums about being offered or blew up through wrecklessness, like a spoiled brat nepobaby, and he keeps getting more and more

Meanwhile Plumstone here has been in the background just being this consistently steady warrior, and has never gotten a chance to shine

He also has a moment where he whines about Sparkpelt and Finchlight being mean to him in the past when Sunbeam shares they've been super nice to her.

Sunbeam offers that they're probably trying to make up for it and he agrees.

Folks. I REALLY. REALLY HOPE. That this ends with Sunbeam telling him, "Nightheart, you are the problem. They've treated me like Kin, and they treat their Kin well. Do YOU?"

Anyway something happens and suddenly Nightheart's on the trip with Frostpaw.

The rest of his chapters so far (at time of writing the spoiler thread is at chapter 14-ish) are traveling chapters.

The traveling chapters suck diet discount dick. They look like they were rejected submissions for the various travel shenanigans that happened in Riverstar's Home.

For me, this is the most disappointing part of the Thunder Spoiler Thread. I love Nightheart because I really like the idea of him learning to grow, consider his actions, and realize that he's actually been very loved in his life.

I like the impulsive Nightheart from Book 1 who doesn't know what's wrong with himself, shooting down every attempt others make to bond with him, making shocking descisions that frustrate the entire Clan and not realizing how much he gets away with. I hoped that maybe, just maybe, the writing could be a little clever for once.

But, no. On this trip he's still whining to Frostpaw about how his family "wanted him to be like Firestar" and this is treated as something Frostpaw is able to bond with him about, somehow, because Curlfeather wanted her to be a Medcat??? And now she's choosing to be a Medcat again anyway????

FROSTPAW STUFF

WC Writing Team: "Everyone is super invested in Frostpaw's story where she learns to choose her own path! Especially the idea that she chose to not be a medcat of her own will and made a brave choice for herself! Lets fix that"

Literally, I guess lol

Smoky Cameo. Fuck Smoky. I hate this character and I hate seeing his deadbeat ass.

Gotta love how Daisy's one major role in ASC so far has been to be a source of negative emotions for Nightheart, but Smoky gets to be the new Barley with a cutesy barn rest stop.

He calls for a human to come get Frostpaw because she's got wounds.

Like. Cat MEOW MEOW calling. And this summons... a magic vet?

She has the world's fastest field surgery, as if she's some kind of endangered wild leopard and a top-notch vet staff rolled out of a research truck.

They even inject her, by hand, with tranquilizer. Who the fuck carries cat tranquilizer around?

Is this barn in the back of a fucking vet office???

Does this universe have roving surgical vans that drive around and play music like an ice cream truck, waiting for cats to call them over?????

Frostpaw wakes up back in the barn

But now her neck wound is fixed and she's spayed.

She looks down at the fresh cut on her abdomen and is like "what's this"

Smoky: "dont worry abt it"

If Frostpaw is okay with being sterilized, this will be the first time in the series that a cat being fixed will be seen as a good thing

Which, irl, it is. To be clear. Spay and neuter your animals

But dudes, this is really massively unsettling me. It seems like she doesn't know what has been done to her. This has never been treated as a positive thing in this series before. In the last book she was talking about the sort of life she would like to live

Once again she has been stripped of her own choices in a massive way

And if Smoky apparently lives so close to a vet that they just come when he calls,

I have so many questions im losing my marbles

Why is Smoky not neutered

Why were none of his 3, possibly 4 wives spayed

Why are his kids not fixed

Why were his kits with Floss taken "when they were too young to even open their eyes" back in TNP if their humans are so loving and educated

SO EDUCATED THEY WALK AROUND WITH CAT TRANQUILIZER

Anyway through the power of the writers not caring anymore, Frostpaw can now talk to StarClan whenever she wants.

They have magically bestowed a connection onto her.

This is apparently something they can just do now. Maybe it's tied to near-death experiences or the vet or something

Remember Shadowsight having a whole thing about this at the end of TBC?

Remember Mothwing and how upsetting it was to have no connection to them and how finding Willowpaw was a big thing in TNP?

Yeah apparently they could just do this whenever. Sorry.

Frostpaw is just cool with this because fuck the last book where she found out she likes being a warrior

Agency? What's THAT

It's not ok if your mom encourages you to be a doctor nun, but StarClan rips your organs out and forces you to be their mouthpiece and that's peachy-fucking-keen.

Then she goes traveling for several chapters i want to commit crime

Riverstar does the usual alarmist moaning, "ooooouuugh this newest crisis could destroy riverclan!!! Oooooooooooooouuououou it's for real this time!!!!"

Everything's gonna destroy the clans. A light breeze has just reduced ThunderClan to rubble. A beetle has landed gently upon Harestar's nose, 34 dead 25,430 injured

Girl help frostpaw is being followed by clickbait headline ghosts

And, also, for no good reason, the ghosts can't just answer a question. Why? Who fucking knows. Never explained. They can summon Frostpaw into a Ghost Zoom Call whenever they want now, but they're forbidden from revealing anything useful.

Average autistic experience with zoom calls though, can confirm, that is what every zoom call ive ever been in was like.

Im serious though, she tries to ask Reed who killed him, he just says no i cant :(

She tries to ask where her mom is. They don't tell her she's downstairs.

Riverstar says nothing useful

I have never been more frustrated with StarClan as a plot device. This is actually fucking insufferable.

They're annoying enough when they send vague signs and prophecies that amount to nothing, but now they can pop up like shitty unskippable cutscenes and STILL add nothing of value to the plot

Something I was ENJOYING was how much more grounded ASC was compared to previous arcs, and that StarClan was back to being difficult to access directly. Gone. Goodbye.

SUNBEAM STUFF

The highlight of the book everyone leave me alone i need to speak directly to sunbeam

I like how she's finding more reasons than just Nightheart to stay in ThunderClan, but is also struggling with the shift in culture

It's in a Sunbeam chapter that we FINALLY get Squilfstar. Everyone say Thank You Sunbeam

If you even LOOK at the Sunbeam wrong I will smash you to death with my hooves

For once it actually feels like we're using the cast in ThunderClan. Cherryfall, Dewnose, Plumstone, Myrtlebloom, Bayshine, Finchlight, Sparkpelt, and Lionblaze all get some significant little lines to add to this.

In particular I like Cherryfall throwing a bit of a fit about being a senior warrior and acting high and mighty, which Sunbeam immediately dislikes because ShadowClan doesn't do as much posturing. It's fun to see how she percieves ThunderClan cats.

I have a softness for these sorts of stories though, to be fair. The idea of moving to a new place and having to adjust.

It's also neat that she's growing frustrated with how Nightheart has now ditched her THRICE.

Girl please steal his family and dump him.

Be a legend. Marry his sister. It would make you the queen of pettiness you would become my favorite forever

Ivypool's exams are also pretty neat, they all test teamwork abilities. I'm going to be happy when I finally get to read them in full, if nothing else, these trials have been delightful to see.

Anyway the next emergency gathering comes up and it descends into an argument

Dovewing gets to yell at Ivypool and tell her to back off <3 "You're not going to manipulate my mate through me, screw you"

Tigerheartstar and the other leaders eventually agree to meet with the mediator off-screen because the writers don't feel like showing us Tree's madd skillz which definitely justify having this unique role that we completely forgot about until just now

It doesn't accomplish anything meaningful because they only acknowledged the mediator role to make the fans stop complaining

Tigerheartstar agrees to not station more warriors in RiverClan territory but nothing else. Waow.

aaand Berryheart's planning something and Sparrowtail, Sunbeam's father, accidentally spills the beans to his daughter. I like this because I have always imagined him as a himbo

so... yeah. It's not looking great. I'm not having a good time in this spoiler thread. I am hoping that a fair amount of it is misrepresentation, because if it's what the leaker says it is, I'm not going to be a happy camper

[havocs-wc-stuff]

SorrelClan - Moon 9

It is now Leaf-Bare!

------

SorrelClan woke to a new day and snow gently falling down around them. The kits huddled against their parents for warmth, while the clan's warriors prepared for a hard moon of hunting ahead of them.

------

Yellowkit was wary of the falling snow, and though the other kits began playing together outside she buried her muzzle further into Leapheart's fluffy coat. He couldn't help but laugh at his daughter, but he curled his tail around her all the same.

Meanwhile Stagkit, Rainkit, and Echokit held a race around camp to see who was the fastest. Rainkit was in the lead but accidentally tripped over a tree root and Echokit got ahead right at the end.

------

Duskpelt's sprain finally healed, and she was eager to return to patrolling as soon as possible. Dazzlemurk cautioned against it but he knew the deputy wasn't listening anyway.

He instead went over the clan's herbs in storage and made sure to note which ones he was running low on. He silently prayed to StarClan that next moon he would get an apprentice, so he wouldn't have to manage all of this alone.

------

A kittypet approached the camp entrance one afternoon, and Marigoldfreckle was about to try and scare her off when he noticed the kit held in her mouth. She tearfully told Marigoldfreckle that she could no longer care for the kit and ran away soon after. Slightly stunned by the event, he decided he and Quiverspots would adopt it themselves.

Almondkit (tom; lonesome; careful listener) has joined the clan!

------

Softcrash didn't want to admit it, but Olivepaw had been slowing down for a while now. He refused all food and would only lay in his nest staring at the wall. It was more cruel this way, he thought. His mind went back to their time as kits in the nursery, dreaming of the day when they'd be warriors together. Together...

StarClan must be playing a horrible joke on the both of them. Softcrash dug his claws in the dirt as tears began to fall. Dazzlemurk came to sit next to him at some point, but no words were said. The healer simply sat close and silently comforted him as he cried.

A day had barely passed before Olivepaw took his place in StarClan. Everyone in SorrelClan mourned during the vigil, Softcrash the most out of all.

------

Ok wow. A lot happened this moon. Leaf-bare brings tragedy it seems.

I knew it was probably going to happen eventually, but Olivepaw's death really hurt :( He hung in there for a long time though, holy hell. He was hurt for like 7 moons and was still kicking up until now.

Other than that, yet another kit added to the list lmao. I wonder how many we're gonna get before next spring...

[rudjedet]

Do you have any favorite movies that you would recommend to anyone?

So apart from The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean, my two favourite films that anyone who has spent more than a few months here already knows are my favourites, this weirdly short-circuited my brain? I'm trying to think of movies I've seen that I've enjoyed that aren't as completely grifted in pop culture memory as either those two (or the original Star Wars trilogy/LotR or the first Matrix film, which are also childhood/later childhood faves), but... yeah, unexpectedly difficult, this.

I'm just going to cycle through some films in hopes it's jogging some stuff. Mentioning the Matrix reminded me of Equilibrium, which may not be a terribly fair comparison and tbh I haven't seen it for years. I enjoyed it at the time, the action sequences and overall story to me were entertaining.

El labirinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) is a film I think everyone should have watched at least once. The same goes for Children of Men. Both are films I wouldn't necessarily watch again, but I'm very glad I did see them.

Oh! See, now we're getting somewhere with the brain. Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) is a French history horror film that left a definite impression and which I've been meaning to give a rewatch for a while now. I'm also very fond of Chinese wuxia films, to name three specifically: Yīngxióng (Hero), Shí miàn mái fú (House of Flying Daggers) and Tiāndì Yīngxióng (Warriors of Heaven and Earth). And I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest G.O.R.A.: Bir Uzay Filmi (G.O.R.A.: A Space Movie), an absolutely batshit Turkish scifi comedy (though unfortunately about half the puns are lost in translation).

I think it's a testament to how much TV I watch nowadays that none of these recommendations date past 2006 lmao. I've been meaning to watch all three Joseon Myeongtamjeong (Detective K) films after seeing the first half of the third film on the plane back from Japan, though. I'm a massive fan of the Judge Dee books by Robert van Gulik, and Detective K hits that exact historical detective sweet spot for me.

[kobblefort]

Daarunbay Detevay 1

Before I finish up with Rushsly, I'd like to do something a little different and dig through Legends mode for a bit to see the ancient history of our world, Daarunbay Detevay, the Dimensions of Portent. I know it might seem kind of like a pacing killer to pull back right before the end, but I'm going to want to get into my next fortress after Rushsly right away, and this stuff will be relevant far beyond the peaceful retirement (or total destruction) of Rushsly.

Along with the in-game Legends mode, I'll be using Legends Browser 2 to navigate the fucking 4gb XML file that Dwarf Fortress spat out at me when I asked it to export all the legends information. Obviously, we're not going to go over everything, that just physically isn't possible. But trying to wrap up all these little events into a brief(-ish) history of the world interests me, so that's what we're going to do, and there's no better place to start than at the beginning of time.

Well, Dwarf Fortress does put some events before the calendar starts, just to make sure that you can have stuff like forgotten beasts and titans who aren't literal babies if you try to start the game at too early of a year. But as you can see, among the myriad births of many civilizations, there's us!!! The Comedy of Sweating, first led by Otsu Trailedspurted. And there's the very first kobblefort before any others: Landsswallow!

Otsu's accomplishments are... well, few. She fell for another girl right after setting out to Landsswallow - a stockkeeper named Dicr, and their relationship had a bump or two, but by the time they died, they seem to have patched it up. We can't even know how old she was when she died, due to so much of her life taking place before the recording of time, but we can learn about what killed her!

One of the first known forgotten beasts - Gronane Kupaanugos - Divedmenace the Evil Moistness - lmao - a great one-eyed chicken with a poisonous bite. The kobbles of Landsswallow were not hardy like the ones of Rushsly; one has to wonder if they ever even learned steelworking in their limited time on earth. The record of Divedmenace's life shows it facing almost no resistance, besides just two warriors who came to confront it.

It has been dormant since the year 80, but in addition to its fifty-four notable kills, it did away with sixty-three creatures. What happened to Landsswallow?

170 years after its tragic destruction, just around the time that Rushsly started, a few outcasts settled in its long-abandoned ruins. But let's go back to the early days.

If Landsswallow was the only fortress, we would have never been kobbles, and thus never have settled our kobblefort. There were two more, Plantershred and Phlegmsunders. How long did those last?

Plantershred, a hillocks that kept livestock and apparently ran quite a decent tavern which let in ratfolk and gnolls, made it a good 32 years before being destroyed by a single hill titan, a great humanoid made of coral with massive mandibles called Yssyushu Rocktufts. Their sacrifice was not in vain - the beast never fully recovered, and just two years later was defeated by another kobble. Also, I don't know where else to put this, but I really like how one guy tried to settle in the ruins of Plantershred and just got fucked up by a bronze colossus, not even the same hill titan, just some other overpowered bastard showed up to ruin his day.

But what of Phlegmsunders? Well, this might be exciting after those last two: Phlegmsunders still exists! Well, almost.

Though it survived agonizingly close to our own time, it was unfortunately taken over by a group of ratfolk necromancers, The Doomed Muds. Actually, 237 was a great year for the ratfolk, and thus a terrible one for us.

That's five entire settlements that were taken over by The Doomed Muds, all too recently, and thus explaining the modern hostilities between ratfolk and kobblekind - the wounds of war have barely even started to scab. The strangest thing about The Doomed Muds is that they are not even ruled by a ratfolk: their first leader was a Stella Elf named Tarus Orangerelief, and once she was captured and sealed away by a different group of ratfolk, ones who weren't quite as keen on necromancy, the position was changed over to a human necromancer, Ismir Glistenedclustered. And while evil is always evil, it's not always banal - the story of Tarus is an interesting one.

Once a humble soap maker, her first love was a nine-year affair, and her second was ten - this only seems to make sense, as her lifestyle seemed quite nomadic. In the midst of it, a strange vanity overtook her: one that made her feel she could not age, could not die, that it would not be acceptable. So she trained under a necromancer, changed her name, moved away and became a butcher - possibly so that she would have an ample stock of corpses to practice with - and took on her own apprentices, along with a third husband. She even wrote a book at one point to try and spread the necromantic arts!

Two years after she penned it, she began the string of vicious attacks that would greatly damage The Comedy of Sweating and kick off what came to be known as "The Fell War" - which continues to this very day. Speaking of wars...

Our first lasted 55 years, against a splinter group of kobble necromancers. Our second was the aforementioned Fell War, which continues to this day against the ratfolk necromancers. There was one war that lasted only a year and was in fact made up of only a single battle against the humans, with 86 casualties: The Squeezing War.

Just a few months after, they accepted a peace offering from the kobbles, but it only lasted 11 years before tensions flared up again. And as of just a couple years ago, we have been embroiled in The Conflict of Wars against a ratfolk civilization known as The Nightmare of Tunneling. They have been around as long as us, and changed warlords 21 times in that length. The current one, who menaces us now, is named Vakeek Malignreason.

Once a humble planter in a peaceful hillocks, at least when she was not out raiding and pillaging, Vakeek was standard-order rank-and-file cannon fodder, with something of a talent for bonding with her comrades. But as far back as 78 years ago, after already putting literal hundreds of battles beneath her, she began dreaming of taking an artifact for herself: The Conflagration of Sport, an iron spear made by a lapine 71 years before she made up her mind on it. Knowing how long it might take, she became obsessed with immortality in order to make sure she could not be stopped from her goal even by death.

For a time, she was even enslaved by a group of gnolls known as The Ace Seductions, and made to work as a butcher before apparently earning the privilege of working as a poet, authoring three poems before escaping to become a scout back with her kin, The Nightmare of Tunneling, taking a husband and finally settling in the NoT hillocks Shockedhate after blowing her cover as a necromancer once more in Plaguejuices. For twelve years after that, though she was nominally a "gelder" at home, all she did was fight. Joining and eventually leading assaults, sometimes upon the same place over and over until the ratfolk could finally take it, she was finally crowned warlord in 241 and settled in the fortress of Towermaligned. Her life since then has been nothing but battle and training, and no doubt she has some hand in the many ratfolk attacks Rushsly must weather, along with the many other Comedy of Sweating outposts, towns and fortresses. The martial nature of Rushsly is no outlier to the world, especially not The Hill of Scars where all these warring factions live, but is simply a reaction to it; an extension of it.

What does all this mean? Well, nothing, really, but nothing "means" anything. All of this is just a series of random "events" generated by a computer with no real rhyme or reason besides a certain pre-programmed internal logic to what can and can't happen. Without someone to interpret it, it is literally just garbage data, and it has taken me the much better part of the evening just to scry even this little bit of meaning from the four gigabytes of literally just words that were generated so that I could play a funny little computer game.

But when you do play that funny little computer game you get to imbue the garbage data with meaning. Our pattern-seeking human brains find narratives and extract stories from the endless spaghetti of code. We learn things that were never actually taught and understand things that never actually made any sense because that's what we like to do. Life is also a bunch of random shit happening with no real consistent logic to it besides certain rules we know as "physics" or "causality" that are so iron-clad they may as well be computer code too. In our time alive we can only ever really be one person, or well, only ever inhabit one body, and so the easiest way to pull out strands of meaning from the swirling ramen broth of the universe is by focusing on characters.

We can try to see things through Alsrta Moltenend's eyes, a vagrant who had the job of caravan voice randomly thrust upon her as a matter of convenience, whose only real material contribution to the world was a nice wooden bin, whose eldest son was killed by a were-beaver, who tried to have a random kobble put to death for not making anvils or necklaces or whatever for her fast enough.

We could look at it with the perspective of Zhasrca Foldcounselled, an otherwise completely unremarkable miner besides the fact that he is one of the only Yekal worshippers in Rushsly.

After all, his life just might be about to get vastly more interesting.