#sparklepuff squad

[raayllum]

4x07 / 6x01

[thebigbroodingyellowtulip]

I present to you the goo-spitting homunculus and little bug pal.

Aaravos' skin killed me

[kradogsrats]

So I just wanna talk about this and the Sea of the Castout for a sec:

Here's the Sea of the Castout and its surroundings on the map:

We have the Sparklepuff Squad coming from the north down one of the rivers (red arrows), and the Dragang coming from either the east... or there is a slight possibility that Finnegrin, not having any particular urgency about getting there, chose to go all the way around the Far Reaches to give Callum some time to think things over.

(Could he have taken it even slower and gone all the way around to enter past the ruins of Elarion, thereby putting the statues of Aaravos and the Merciful One there? My opinion is that at that point Sea Legs would have to be going fast enough that the speed would be hard to ignore. The Ruthless is similar to a sloop and so would probably have a normal cruising speed of around 6-8 mph. Sea Legs can supposedly go faster than that, but sailing around to approach the Sea of the Castout from the southwest would add like... rough estimate 100 miles or more to the trip, so either they take an entire day or more doing only that or Sea Legs is going at constant top speed and that speed is really fucking fast.)

As the Dragang make their way into the Sea, we can still see the rocky horizon behind them, but not ahead:

Claudia and Terry, however, can see the shoreline in at least three directions from the center:

We also cannot see the opposite shore when Claudia enters the water:

Assuming you can see the same distance in Xadia as you can here on earth (which is a big assumption, but also a reasonable one to make), that's about 3 miles—as in, the furthest away you can see something as tall as you are before the curvature of the earth obscures it is about 3 miles. However, the rocky sides of the Sea of the Castout are a lot taller than any of the characters, so they can be seen from further away. Based on extremely unscientific googling, the Sea of the Castout is probably in the range of 20-30 miles-ish across, which is consistent with the fact that it's around the same size on the map as the distance between Katolis castle and the Moon Nexus, and that's a reasonable distance for the trio to have gone in the time it takes them to get there.

We also have a shore that looks like this oh god don't look too closely at it, that's a horrible render:

Now, you may consider how much of the edges of the Sea of the Castout appears to be mountainous, then look at the map again and wonder what the hell is going on. Well, first of all, those aren't mountains.

The basin of the Sea of the Castout was presumably created by a catastrophic impact. If it's based visually on a real place, I'd bet it's somewhere like Crater Lake in Oregon:

Crater Lake is a volcanic crater, not an impact crater, but same concept applies: instead of being a natural point of low elevation in the landscape, it's a reservoir that was violently punched out of the ground. That elevated rocky horizon isn't mountains, it's the edge of the hole. Crater Lake is quite a bit smaller than the Sea of the Castout probably is (only 5-6 miles across), but the elevation between its surface and the caldera rim is about 1,000 feet, which looks plenty high.

Impact crater lakes do exist, of course, but they tend to be either a lot smaller or a lot older. On earth, all the impact craters the size of the Sea of the Castout are hundreds of millions of years old. Lakes formed in older craters are also more likely to have connected with the surrounding water features, similar to the Sea of the Castout. Crater Lake is less than 10,000 years old and not connected to any rivers or other lakes (unsurprising, given that it used to be the top of a mountain).

So yeah, it's absolutely possible that Aaravos is at the Sea of the Castout. But let's take a look at the opening:

Yes, that's definitely the same place as Aaravos. Is it literally the Sea of the Castout? Well, the thing is that every other time we see this place, it's in a very... metaphorical or symbolic context. Like the opening. Or here:

Or here:

We also have that Aaravos is kneeling practically on the surface:

Which suggests that either the "OG Aaravos was gigantic" theory is correct, or this is not a normal place where water and lakes behave normally. I'm not a huge (ha) fan of the giant Aaravos theory, but as I've said before... if I had a nickel for every Aaravos-related thing we all assumed was metaphorical but turned out to be literal, I'd have etc.

Basically, this is definitely a place that is connected to the Sea of the Castout thematically and possibly magically, but I don't think Aaravos is literally kneeling in the literal Sea of the Castout on the mortal plane of Xadia.

After all, where do the fabled Great Ones hide?

[newtwithtdp]

- i find interesting that a title of the story most probably refers to Claudia herself, but inside of the story the word 'child' is used to refer to sparklepuff, who during the most part of the story is mirroring Claudia.

- i also find interesting mirroring itself and at all this new dynamics between Claudia and Sparklepuff. Would she start to revise her actions more meticulously and go further away from her tendency to ignore nuances, dark sides and inconsistencies now, when sparklepuff is here, mirroring darker and more questionable parts of her actions without understanding of her goals and reasoning?

- speaking of Claudia's tendency to ignore what she doesn't like, i love how the story shows her usual cheerful appearance as part of it, as a way to hide and neglect her pain, longing and somewhat hate towards her mother, her great tireness, grief and fear from two years in darkness and isolation and her insecurity. This is the kind of angst i love and I'm here for it.

- and also a sign that it is the same for terry.

- and the whole vibe of the squad, lost in a foreign land, left to themself in darkness and mist, despite how bright and clear everything around them seems to be, having nobody and nothing but each other to rely on, tired and desperate, yet persistently reaching for the shadow of hope. Imhereforthisimhereforthisimhereforthisimhereforthis

- want more dynamics between Claudia and Aaravos.

-still wonder what sparklepuff is made for. Was what it can potentially do to Claudia part of Aaravos's intention? For hwat?

[baatarthefirst]

?Winner? Goes to the next round.

[raayllum]

And honestly?

I love that Viren’s moment of refusal was with a creature he didn’t really care about. 

In his dream flashbacks, we see him walk through almost every meaningful relationship in his life - his king and ‘brother’ and possible victim in Harrow; Soren, back before their relationship was fractured and afterwards, and Claudia of course, following in his footsteps; Kpp’Ar, the man who helped him learn dark magic in the first place and who he coined for unknown but suspected reasons - save for his wife, whose absence speaks volumes, I think, in the levels of isolation Viren has routinely felt. (“Tell no one. Not even Claudia. You must carry this weight alone. It won’t be easy, but you are strong.”) Stoic, strong, lonely, y’know?  And these dreams highlight Viren’s willingness to do whatever it takes for the people he loves, no matter what. We also saw in S4 that he wasn’t particularly engaged in living beyond the set 30 days; happy to be alive, yes, but Claudia was still primarily the one pushing their mission forward.

But I don’t think it’s an accident that when Viren rejects dark magic, he also rejects the dehumanization - the de-personalization - of a creature that would be very easy to depersonalize. Because that’s what dark magic inherently is, either dehumanizing yourself or others in order to commit the acts you deem necessary. or both.

If his moment of refusal had been about someone he loved, it would’ve been about love, not the morality of it - and morality is what he’s always, arguably, needed more of, at least in that way.

It had to be a magical creature, a non human, a monster - that he saw as a person, or innocent (which Claudia is not), if nothing else, and refused to sacrifice it for his own gain. That’s the point. 

[raayllum]

i do wonder how much Viren refusing to kill SS — his child, according to Aaravos — to save his own life is yes, an inversion of S1 Viren offering up the guards to save Harrow and asking Soren to kill the sons of his best friend, but also of his decision all the way back pre-series to kill the Magma Titan (another non human person who had to be harvested for "the greater good") and more than that, he and Harrow's "decisions" to murder Zym, an innocent child. While Viren didn't go through with it, he still ultimately saw Zym as a weapon to safeguard if not use. Now in the wake of his own subconscious as well as Claudia's trauma tearing down his justifications — "No choice? Ha! You made the same choice you've always made: the one that gives you power" — he can't justify making a self serving choice again, even if that means lying down to quietly die and accept the fate handed to him. Because he went to kill a child once, and now his daughter is the one paying the price

[raayllum]

“—it wasn’t an ordinary dream, Terry,” she snaps. “I know what I saw. What I heard. Aaravos doesn’t—”

“I believe that you saw Aaravos in your dream. But are you sure that he meant

“He told me that a sacrifice is key to getting him out,” Starlight says, her voice harsh and hoarse. “Why else make a life, rather than just tell me to go to Umber Tor—?”

He looks at her plainly as she approaches, knowing what she plans on doing. Sir Sparklepuff doesn’t fight her. He won’t. If he has to die so Two-Face can live, perhaps that is his final purpose. What he’s always been meant for. Maybe that is what Starlight has always meant by need. Not what you want to do, but what you must. And there are worse things, he thinks, than giving your life so someone you love can live, even if his heart thumps painfully and he can’t quite breathe right, even before she takes him by the neck. Maybe this is what it takes to be Good. Is this what Creator intended? What if Antlers is right, and she’s wrong? He swallows hard, trembling sideways in her lap, their faces staring into one another’s, like reflections in a mirror.

“I’m sorry,” she sobs, kneeling to an indifferent god, hands wrapping around his throat like a hug. He lays very still, blinking up at her with clear eyes. “I’ll make it quick, I promise, I—” Her hands shake and tighten, his breath becoming a wheeze. She squeezes, her eyes shining with unshed tears. He waits for the snap. But it doesn’t come. Starlight releases him, sitting back with her palms pressed to her eyes, diamonds leaking out underneath.

—twice as many stars, july 10th, 2023 / infantis sanguine, july 23rd, 2023

[raayllum]

twice as many stars

summary: Sir Sparklepuff has thirty days to live. (He doesn’t know it, yet.)

a/n: i took sir sparklepuff and his existential horror story of a life far too seriously and cried. i hope you will too. also TWs for abusive relationships (hi Aaravos), dubious morality, character death, some on page violence, and elements of Christian religious trauma. :))

word count: 8.7k

Tomorrow when the farm boys find this freak of nature, they will wrap his body in newspaper and carry him to the museum.

But tonight he is alive and in the north field with his mother. It is a perfect summer evening: the moon rising over the orchard, the wind in the grass. And as he stares into the sky, there are twice as many stars as usual. —Two Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sir Sparklepuff has thirty days to live.

(He doesn’t know it, yet.)

Or technically, he has twenty-nine, but he can’t count. His fingers are too long and too few to count, his eyes too busy blinking and taking in the wonder of the fascinating world around him with all his large, yellow rimmed gaze of possibility.

There are three creatures like him, one in black on her knees, one crouched by her in white, and one with something akin to his antenna atop a green head, and what can only be described as purpose-purpose-purpose tugs in his chest. Sir Sparklepuff twitches forward, standing and then loping forward on all preferable fours.

His mind is a scrambled synapses of information and snatches at sentience, and the world is so very big and wide and bright.

It is, he thinks, a deeper voice within his mind supplying the proper word, beautiful.

He hopes he will get to enjoy it.

read the rest on AO3

[raayllum]

So the season looks Fun

[raayllum]

Sir Sparklepuff's specific mimicry of Claudia could serve a few purposes, I think. The first is that it consistently gives him something to do in the background, particularly since he can't really weigh in on conversations. The second is that of course, according to Aaravos, he and Claudia are both Viren's children (alongside Soren). But the mimicry reminds me the most of how Ezran and Zym's in S2 foreshadowed their unique connection. So this is one of the reasons, I think, the pay off will ultimately be that Claudia's blood was enough of a sacrifice to keep Viren alive, as opposed to SS's whole essence being required (bc he, comparatively, only had one drop of Viren's blood lmao).

Also he's Baby:

[raayllum]

just under 5k into the next fanon s6 chapter, behold a snippet of a scene / plot point i've been waiting a Long time to get to

At the very least he could get some shut-eye and reinvigorate his— The hallway door banged open, followed by stomping feet and loud voices. “—there is some moss here but don’t get any funny ideas,” said one of the male guards, a fellow named Branden if Viren remembered correctly. Soren had always beaten him in swordplay.  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” came an oddly, fiercely familiar voice, and Viren sat right up. “You folks have rather grippy hands, you know that?” the elven boy continued, as crownguard escorted him into a cell opposite Viren’s, expression lightly dour and green hair drooping, and— “Terry?” Viren gaped.  Terry looked round with wide eyes, and then spied him through the bars as he was pushed into his own cell. “Lord Viren?” His mouth curved up in a broad smile. “You’re alive! You’re—” The guards exchanged confused looks. “What are you doing here?”  Viren stared gobsmacked at him. “What are you doing here?” Both of them, here of all places, here in the Katolis dungeons. Last Viren scarcely remembered, they’d been by the Sea of the Cast Out in southwestern Xadia—not far from Katolis, but not a mere hop-skip either.

[raayllum]

Having thoughts specifically about why, as always, TDP chooses to do certain things (from a character/theme standpoint, not a “let’s peer and judge behind the curtains” type thing) re: Terry and Claudia dealing with Viren presumably being passed out for a couple of episodes. Because like, they don’t have to. Viren could just be passed out for a couple of hours, with only ep passing by, ad his flashbacks crammed in there. But it is, seemingly, being stretched out over a longer period of in-universe time (possibly days) if Terry and Claudia are desperate to have to move his dead weight in the rain. So like, why?

Three reasons, I think

1) Re-establish Claudia’s trauma, desperation, and drive. Her father being even close to being a corpse again is not going to do wonders for her, and 

2) Affirm her dependence on Terry. In S4, Claudia doesn’t actually rely on Terry for a lot. She asks him to be lookout when they go up the mountain and he helps her get the map from Rex Igneous in terms of physically helping her up, but Claudia - and sometimes Viren - are very much the ones calling the shots in their dynamic(s) with Terry, even when it comes to the father-daughter dynamic. But Claudia literally cannot carry Viren longterm at all on her own, so she needs to rely on Terry, and the early episodes could affirm that. But why do that, you ask? Well...

3) If Terry does defect, it’ll have more impact. Think lines like “I’m so glad you’re here” and “I don’t know what I’d do without you” etc etc, as he could possibly develop more reservations about what they’re doing as the stakes grow higher, more is revealed about Aaravos, etc. Terry may also begin to prioritize more of what Viren wants rather than going along with Claudia’s steamrolling (4x02), putting them at odds with each other. Simultaneously, it would also help explain and show why Terry stays in spite of what’s going on, even with the reservations he may have.

[raayllum]

A pretty butterfly man (for both of them)

I do think it's interesting that we keep seeing the glowing butterflies this season that Viren would use to rejuvenate his appearance, yet Sir Sparklepuff is the one repeatedly actually consuming them. A nice metaphor in 1) Viren no longer attempting to hide his corruption/flaws in the way that he had been, and 2) he rejects his old ways of covering that up in rejecting killing Sir Sparklepuff as well

[raayllum]

In the name of love, you may perform acts that are so unforgivable... 

+ Bonus:

[raayllum]

i just Love him So Much