#tried to find good sources. dunno if I succeeded

[apocalypselog]

Apparently there’s ethnic cleansing happening (like right now) in Masafer Yatta

[anistarrose]

Amphitrite (Stan Twins Bithday Event Week 1: Seaventure)

Word count: ~2000

Summary: Ford is having a bad day trying to track down a sea monster when Stan unexpectedly returns to the boat with a cat.

Warnings: None

For @thestanbros Stan Twins Birthday Event Week 1: Seaventure, and partially inspired by this art by @nightstories123!

(Did you guys know that cats can be polydactyl? And that sailors thought such cats were good luck? It was meant to be.)

The tiny kitchen table in the Stan O’ War II wasn’t meant to hold very many things at once – it just didn’t have the surface area for much more than a few plates and cups. It luckily wasn’t in danger of collapsing, since most of the things Ford had on it were fairly light, but tracking down the aspidochelone was frustratingly inefficient when there was only enough room to spread out about one and a half maps at a time for comparison.

Normally Ford just would have used the desk in his on-board lab, but at the moment that entire room was crammed full of specimens that he didn’t have anywhere else to put. In a week’s time, he would be able to pass them on to a contact who would then arrange for them to be donated to a local cryptozoology museum, but for the time being, that desk had even less free space than this one.

Ford had almost decided to take everything up on the deck of the boat and spread it all out there, but the last few days they’d spent on the Maine coast had been full of rain, and only about half of his maps were waterproof. Besides, Stan liked to hang out on the deck and sing, which Ford found genuinely funny only when he wasn’t trying to concentrate on anything.

Had there been any room on the table, he would have slammed his head into it. None of their sources could even agree whether the damn monster was a whale or a turtle. It had been sighted in Maine plenty of times over the past century, having apparently migrated over from the Mediterranean, but with the sheer number of normal islands off the state’s coast, trying to find a sentient one was nearly impossible.

“Heyyyyy, Ford! Old pal!” he heard Stan call from abovedecks, finally back from his supply run. The tone Stan took concerned him: it was a tone Stan only used when he’d (quite deliberately) done something wrong and knew that Ford was going to be at least moderately annoyed about it. “I’m back, and I brought you a surprise!”

“What did you steal?” Ford yelled back as he heard Stan open the hatch. He didn’t turn around, partly because he didn’t really want to know what Stan had with him and partly because there was too much stuff on his lap for him to move without sending it all spilling over the floor.

“What? Steal?” Stan asked with mock horror. He must have been carrying something (concerningly) large, Ford realized, since he was taking a lot of time to get down the stairs. “I may have, you know, a criminal record and stuff, but this is the most serious investment I’ve made in my entire life!”

He set something on the floor – it sounded fairly heavy, but Stan set it down gently, then very quickly added under his breath: “Although, I might have shoplifted some of the food maybe, oh well too late to do anything about that now.”

Ford was about to say something in response to all of that, but he was interrupted by the sound of a latched being flipped, and then… meowing?

Why was there meowing? Not even Stan was impulsive enough to randomly buy a cat, Ford thought – except that as the current evidence seemed to suggest, he apparently was.

“Stanley, what the hell were you –”

Ford made the mistake of trying to turn around and see the cat, inadvertently activating a practical Rube Goldberg machine of falling objects. The book in his lap fell to the ground, dragging with it a map that had been spread out with one end under the book in Ford’s lap and one end under the laptop on the table, and as the computer fell Ford dove forward to catch it – which he succeeded in doing, but not before he faceplanted on the floor and the cord on the mouse snagged on the handle of his coffee mug, causing its contents to be emptied all over Ford’s sweater.

Stan laughed until there were tears streaming down his face. And from beside him, green eyes stared at Ford as if amused, from within a pile of brown fluff.

“Well,” Stan cackled, “I guess the –”

He paused to catch his breath. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag! Literally – well, pet carrier, but pretty close!” He started laughing uncontrollably again.

As Ford attempted to get to his feet, seething, the cat happily trotted over to him and bumped its head against his knee. Ford wished it hadn’t. It was harder to be pissed at Stan with an affectionate cat in his lap, a cat he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with no matter how frustrated and confused he was by Stan randomly bringing it back to the boat.

Stan finally got a hold of himself as his laughs turned to coughs. “Man, I’m too old to be laughing this much. You gotta stop bein’ so clumsy, Ford. It’s hazardous to both of our healths.”

“Stanley, why?!” Ford asked. “Why is there a cat?!”

Stan ignored him. Instead, he rummaged around in the kitchen for moment, procured a roll of paper towel, and then tossed it to Ford. “Ford, meet Ford Junior. She’s friendlier than most dogs I’ve meet and gonna bring us good luck.”

“You named a female cat after me?”

Stan gave him a sinister grin. “So if we adopt a male cat one day, you’re okay with me naming that one after you?”

“No! And we’re not adopting any more cats!” Ford immediately regretted his phrasing, since it implied they’d be keeping the one currently headbutting him and purring… but then again, he didn’t have the heart to make Stan send it back, did he? It was currently purring at him, after all. And he’d be lying if he said he’d never wanted a cat.

“I suppose can keep this one,” Ford conceded, not so much to Stan as to himself. “But you’re going to be the one in charge of taking care of her, and we’re going to rename her to something that doesn’t resemble my name whatsoever.”

“Really, Sixer?” Stan asked him, a huge smile on his face like he knew something Ford didn’t. “I really thought you two would hit it off. I mean, I got her because of you, after all.”

“What do I have to do with…”

Ford thought back to an old book about sailors and cats that he’d read as a self-conscious kid. What had Stan said about the cat – that she’d bring them good luck?

Gently, he picked up one of the cat’s paws to count the toes. There were six.

“I thought you’d never notice!” Stan had a proud smile on his face.

Ford had always wanted a polydactyl cat as a kid, and even more so after finding the Stan O’ War and reading that polydactyl cats were supposed to be good luck for sailors. But first his parents deemed it too expensive, and by the time Ford had the resources to adopt a cat for himself, he was too absorbed in his studies…

“Are you crying?” Stan asked him. “Or are you allergic, ‘cause that would really be a shame.”

Ford rubbed his eyes as Stan kneeled down next to him to give the cat a back rub. She happily purred in response.

“I can’t believe you remembered that I wanted one,” Ford said.

“When we turned thirteen, I tried to find one up for adoption that I could give you as a birthday present,” Stan told him. “Mom shot that one down when I asked her for help, but I remembered looking.”

“We’re still giving her a different name,” Ford told him.

“Yeah, the Ford Junior thing was just a joke. Her real name is Amphitrite, but the people at the shelter said they usually call her Ammie.” Sure enough, Ammie’s ears perked up at the sound of her nickname.

“The Greek goddess of the sea,” Ford mused. “Even the name is perfect.”

“I know, right? I was actually thinking about gettin’ us a cat when our birthday rolled around, but when we decided we’d be stopping here, I looked up the town’s shelter and found out there was a six-toed cat up for adoption. I couldn’t not bring her with us.”

“Stan Pines, using the Internet out of his own free will.” Ford shook his head. “What’s next, reporting your actual income on your tax forms? Actually admitting you like soap operas?”

Ammie meowed at the last one, and Ford chuckled. “I think Ammie likes them too; she’ll watch them with you!”

“Oh, gimme a break!” Stan said. “The cat’s already teaming up with you?”

“I suppose you were right that we’d really hit it off,” Ford told him as Amphitrite headbutted his hand. “I wonder if I could teach her to give me a high six.”

He held his hand in front of her, fingers stretched out, but she just continued headbutting him. “Ah, well. Close enough for now.”

Stan put on an exaggerated grumpy frown. “Anyways, the adoption fee is paid and I bought her a bed and a couple types of food. She’s supposed to get plenty of meat in her diet but I dunno what type she likes, so once we figure that out we can stock up.”

“Stan, I’ve… never seen you this well organized about anything.” And as simple as it was, it warmed Ford’s heart to know that Stan had done as much for him.

“Yeah, well, I don’t wanna get our boat cat mad at me and ruin our good luck. Anyways, are you gonna change out of that sweater or what?”

Ford had completely forgotten his right sleeve was soaked in coffee. “You couldn’t have activated that good luck a few minutes earlier, could you?” he asked Amphitrite.

She meowed at him happily.

“She likes seeing you make an idiot of yourself,” Stan told him.

“Who gave you the authority to translate?”

“If you can say she wants to watch soaps with me, I can say she’s laughing at you being a klutz. Besides, you saw her when you fell. She thought it was hilarious.”

“Fine, I’ll concede that she looked amused,” Ford admitted. “But I object to the notion that I fell. I dove to catch my laptop and heroically sacrificed my sweater. It was all… it was mostly intentional. More intentional than unintentional, at the very least.”

“Have it your way, Sixer,” Stan said, then added: “By the way, Ford, from now on when I say Sixer I mean Ammie, not you.”

Ford promptly left the room without a word to search for a new turtleneck, and deliberately avoided making eye contact with Stan. Amphitrite excitedly followed him, happy to explore her new surroundings.

“You know what we need to do?” Stan asked when Ford finally returned to the kitchen in a new, dry sweater.

“No, what?”

“Show the kids!”

Ford booted up the laptop, careful not to place anything under it this time, and called Dipper and Mabel, which took several tries because Ammie kept stepping on the keyboard. But the kids’ reactions, of course, were worth it.

“Ohmygosh, Grunkle Stan, you really got one! What’s its name?!” “Is it polydactyl? Where’d you find it? Are you bringing it to Gravity Falls next summer?”

“It’s gonna be best friends with Waddles and Gompers! Hey, Waddles, come over here to the camera and say hi!”

As Stan introduced Amphitrite and explained the process of adopting her, Ford found himself relaxing more than he had in weeks. The monster hunting could wait for a few days. They had a cat to get to know.

“Thank you, Stanley,” he said after Dipper and Mabel ended the call to go eat dinner. “I don’t think I ever actually said so, but this means a lot.”

“Hey, I saw an opportunity and I took it,” Stan told him, but Ford noticed him briefly wipe at his eye. “I’m glad you liked it.”

DPPLH DFWXDOOB SUHIHUV IRUG’V VFL-IL VKRZV WR VWDQ’V VRDSV

(Thanks for reading, feedback is appreciated!)

[thederailedtrain]

The Mark of Oblivion: Loose Ends [One]

As if to answer Kira’s question, Cedric’s cellphone began to ring. Kira actually jumped at the sound, coming back to reality. For a moment, she’d forgotten that the world was bigger than the shop basement and the four people occupying it. Bigger than herself and her magical meltdown from just moments ago.

“Oh, hello, Alvaro,” Cedric said into the receiver. He gave Kira one last once-over before slowly standing. “Is everything alright on your end? I notice you didn’t come back to the shop with the rest of us.”

Suddenly, Kira felt a wave of self-consciousness wash over her. She wiped at the still-drying tears on her face, even though she knew Alvaro couldn’t see them. Cedric could, however. Kira felt his eyes on her as he listened to whatever Alvaro was saying on the other line.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten,” Cedric sighed. “I’ve been trying to think of solutions on my end, but we got a little-“ He paused, gaze meeting Kira’s. “Sidetracked.” He blinked a couple times at the response Alvaro gave, then began moving into a more private corner of the basement to continue the conversation.

Kira struggled to her feet, limbs feeling like jello. She was so drained that she nearly fell over once she was fully upright. However, Gus was there to catch her. Kira muttered a quiet “thank you” in his ear as she leaned against him. She hadn’t even heard him make his way down the stairs, but now both he and Toni were standing at her sides.

“What’s he talking about?” Toni asked, pointing a thumb right at Cedric. The incubus continued to listen to Alvaro silently, but threw a frown in her direction.

“It’s Mill,” Gus answered after a moment, blinking at the realization.

Mill. The name sent wave of anger rolling through Kira’s chest. She had yet to forgive him for attempting to kill her back in the fall, but farther away she got from the incident, the easier it was to forget. And then he’d done nearly the same thing to Cedric earlier that night. Kira had been inside Cedric’s mind for the entire thing. She felt his fear, his confusion, his betrayal. This time, she knew forgetting wasn’t on the table.

“Oh, yeah,” Toni spoke up before Kira could say anything particularly biting. “What are you gonna do about that guy? Something tells me he won’t get the same ‘community service’ treatment I was saddled with.” Her tone was so casual, only added to by her use of air quotes.

“That’s what they’re trying to figure out,” Gus replied. “Apparently this is going to be a Council decision. Cedric’s working on where to hold him until then.”

It was still fascinating to Kira how good Gus’s hearing had become after the change. She could barely make out Cedric’s lips moving from this distance. “Where are they going to hold him?” Kira asked once she processed Gus’s previous answer.

“Oh, I don’t think you’re going to like the answer to that,” Gus winced.

Before he could clarify, Cedric hung up and began walking back over to them. “I assume you caught our conversation just now?” He asked.

“Part of it,” Kira nodded, readjusting her stance, but keeping her arm over Gus’s shoulders. “What did you decide on?”

“Well, now that Salazar’s in hospital, my guest room is again free,” Cedric trailed off with a sigh.

Oh, god, Salazar. If Mill’s name hit her like a wave, then this was an explosion. Kira was bombarded with emotions of all kinds; panic, loss, hope…Something in her chest called out to the familiarity of the name. Her free hand flew to her heart. The skin was still warm and the sensation of touch burned. Kira winced through the pain and kept her hand there, willing both her panic and the thrumming magic to subside.

Once it was back to something manageable, Kira found herself left with anger. “Gus was right. I don’t like this,” She grimaced.

“Unfortunately, it’s not as if there are magical holding cells. At least, not in my Ward,” Cedric shook his head. “The basement is, of course, another option. But Mill is a nymph. Nymphs need things like sunlight and we’re not…”

“Dicks?” Toni supplied. Cedric opened his mouth to object, only to find himself nodding in reluctant agreement.

“But what about Mill’s magic? It’s not that hard to find your way out of a bedroom,” Kira argued back.

At that, Cedric gave her a look that was almost a smile. “That’s where you come in,” he told her. “The bedroom isn’t that large. It should be easy to set up anti-magic and binding wards around it.” Cedric offered her an encouraging nod. “Actually, Alvaro was hoping we could bring him back at our earliest possible convenience.”

“I…” Kira stumbled. She looked around at each person’s face, feeling her confidence waver. “I can’t. It’s too dangerous for me to go anywhere right now. I don’t know if you felt it earlier, but I nearly had another telluric meltdown. Keeping me in the basement where I can’t hurt anyone is probably for the best right now.”

“Alright,” Cedric sighed, but his nod was one of understanding. When he spoke again, he was looking right into Kira’s eyes. “Please get some rest, okay? You’ve had a hell of a night.” Not really sure what to say, Kira just nodded and looked away. “What do you say, Toni? I still need some magical assistance.”

Toni shrugged. “Why not?”

“I’ll stay here!” Gus spoke up. He even raised his hand like he was in class. “You know, keep Kira company.”

“Well, that sounds like something resembling a plan,” Cedric said, glancing at the other three. Then, to Toni, “What do you say we head over to Central Park? The traffic shouldn’t be that bad this late at night.”

“Why bother with a car?” Toni smirked. She placed a hand on Cedric’s shoulder. “I know a shortcut.”

Realization flashed in Cedric’s eyes and he looked up at Kira and Gus. “Just sit tight while we-“ was all he managed to get out before he and Toni disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

“So, that just happened,” Gus said to the space Cedric and Toni used to occupy. He turned to Kira. “Alright, you heard the bossman. Start getting comfortable. I’m gonna bring, I dunno, a couch down or something.”

Kira found herself shaking her head. “No, I shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t what?” Gus asked. “Sleep?”

“Yeah,” Kira replied, with probably a little more force than was necessary. “Look, I’m barely holding onto this as is. There’s no way I can keep a lock on it in my sleep.” She sighed, letting go of Gus and attempting to stand on her own once more. “Actually, um, why don’t you head upstairs anyway? Make sure everyone’s doing alright up there.”

“Sure, sure,” Gus said slowly, watching her. Kira hated the careful tone of his voice. “Do you want me to start sending them home or something?”

Yeah, that was probably a good idea. Kira nodded back to him. “If they’re able,” She answered. “Tell Josie she’s in charge of making sure everyone’s alright. Actually, just make her in charge of everything.”

After nodding a few more times, Gus disappeared up the stairs. The moment she was alone, Kira collapsed to the ground once more. She was really running on fumes. Holding the power of the Mark at bay took more out of her than she thought she had. Only the knowledge of what would happen if she gave in kept Kira awake.

That was the only clear, coherent thought in her mind. The rest of her thoughts were a jumble of emotions, none of them positive. Alone, she was forced to sort through them. There was anger, confusion, doubt, depression, and something else familiar that she couldn’t name.

It was loss, Kira realized eventually. She’d grown accustomed to the lingering frustration of not finding the grimoire in their weeks of fighting the Harbingers, but she hadn’t dealt with a loss this serious since the Harbingers had first stolen the book. Actually, this time was worse. The Harbingers had finally succeeded. They had actually raised Layla.

“I’m not afraid of you!” Kira had told her numerous times in her dreams, and finally aloud just hours ago. She wasn’t sure that was true anymore. Coming face-to-face with the embodiment of Chaos was different than seeing her in a vision. Layla was so much more powerful than she could’ve imagined. Just her presence was enough to take almost everyone out of the fight. What was she capable of if she actually used her powers?

“Kira!” Gus’s shout of her name broke through her thoughts.

Suddenly, Kira found herself not on the Great Lawn, but on the floor of the magic shop’s basement. One hand covered her heart, the Mark, while the other kept her from falling over. Just like before, Kira could feel the magic thrumming from it threatening to take her over. She shouldn’t have allowed it to get this bad, but she’d let her guard down.

“Kira, are you alright?” Gus repeated, materializing at her side. She tried to nod, but it wasn’t exactly convincing. “What can I do?”

This was just magic, Kira thought. It was ruled by her emotions like everything else. The source of every flare was the same. Anything she could feel in her chest, that made her heartbeat speed up.

“I need a distraction,” Kira realized the same moment she said it out loud.

“I’m great at distractions!” Gus blurted. Kira actually found herself laughing, or trying to. She certainly couldn’t disagree with that statement. “Hey, now! It’s a skill I carefully honed after the whole ‘being turned into a werewolf’ thing.” He paused, considering. “This is a bit like that, actually.”

“You’ve always been good at distractions, Gus,” Kira told him. “I nearly forgot to submit a term paper junior year because of you.” She shook her head at the memory, attempting to move into an actual sitting position. Cold concrete was uncomfortable under the best circumstances, but being cross-legged was a lot less harsh on the knees. “Not complaining. I could use some of that right now.”

Gus joined her on the floor. “Alright, that’s fair,” he sighed. Scratching his head, he added, “Argh, I’m usually so much better at pointless conversation than this. What do you want to talk about? Umm, the- the battle just now was...that was a lot, huh? Was Layla like that in your dreams too, or-”

“Not that,” Kira cut him off sharply. The hand over her heart tightened. “Anything but that.”

Before Gus could say anything, something chimed. Kira vaguely recognized it as the victory jingle from a video game, but mostly as Gus’s text message alert. She couldn’t see the message from where she was sitting, but based on her friend’s reaction, it wasn’t great.

“You want something unrelated?” Gus grumbled, holding up his phone for Kira to see. ‘new message from SOPHIE❤️’ the screen read. Oh.

“Wait, but I thought you went to see her last night? Well, the night before last, I guess,” Kira amended. “Did it not go well after you said ‘I love you’?”

In lieu of a response, Gus just let out one of the most put-upon groans she’d ever heard and flopped backwards onto the floor. “I don’t know how it went. After I said it, I kinda...left.”

He’d said it so quietly, Kira almost didn’t hear him. Even then, she was almost sure she hadn’t heard him right. “You did what?” Kira blinked. She would’ve laughed if she weren’t so mortified for her friend.

“My fight or flight response kicked in,” Gus said, rolling back so that he was almost sitting again. “And I definitely wasn’t about to fight Sophie. I mean, I kissed her and she seemed into it, but then I panicked and legged it out of there before I could even hear her response. That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“It’s not good,” Kira said, eyes wide. When she spoke again, her voice was a lot softer. “Are you...not sure anymore?”

This time, Gus took his time to respond. “It’s more complicated than that,” He replied quietly. His hazel eyes bored pleadingly into Kira’s own. “I nearly told her, Kira. About this. About- about everything! She started figuring things out. Not magical things, I mean, but she definitely knows you’re involved somehow. I was this close.”

“Gus, you can’t…” Kira trailed off.

“And I didn’t because I know it’s not just about me,” Gus sighed, glancing back down at his hands. “That’s why I wanted to ask you and Cedric first. See what you were okay with letting her in on and all that.”

“This isn’t a question of what I’m comfortable with sharing,” Kira replied. “There are really strict laws about magical exposure. Otherworld laws - which, as the Warden’s second-in-command, I’m sworn to uphold. Even the Harbingers don’t risk magical exposure.”

Gus only shrugged back. “I don’t see how I can move forward in this relationship without letting Sophie know that she’s dating a werewolf. Cedric didn’t seem to mind when you let me in on everything.”

“Because I think he knew you were an Otherworlder all along,” Kira offered her friend a concerned look. “Normal humans aren’t meant to know about magic.” Gus didn’t seem convinced. In fact, he looked like he was just about to argue the point. However, a simple raise of Kira’s hand was enough to stop him in his tracks. Oh, history and magical law; this was just the distraction she needed. “Gus...have I ever told you about what really happened in the Dark Ages?”

[dreams-of-headcanons]

Oh boy I was not tagged xD

I just saw it on @skelltales and wanted to do it.

hooo boy I spotted a few I’m kinda nervous about answering

Name: Caitlin

Nickname: Chamomile

Age: 25

Date of Birth: October 18th, 1991

Nationality: American

Heritage: A lot of my Ancestors are from the British Isles. Mostly England. I had some relative on my dad’s side within the last maybe 100 yrs that were straight from Ireland.

Religion: None. Not my thing. I used to be interested in Wicca and Paganism. I was raised by Baptist Christians though.

Current Place of Residence: North Carolina

Education: Still in College... trying to figure out what I’m doing with my life.

Car: I don’t even have my license because I don’t get much chance to practice and when I do I get too nervous and my mom isn’t much help. But. I had a Blue 2001 VW Beetle I was gonna drive and used to practice in but an important metal pipe on it got rusted and there was a hole in it. So all the fluid leaked out and it won’t run anymore (｡•́︿•̀｡) I think it was the coolant. And VW Beetles are way expensive to take care of, so we gave up on it.

Skills: Writing, Drawing, Being Helpful, Giving Advice, Video Games, I know how to run a register minus some of the more confusing parts, Cooking, I love cooking, Did I mention video games? xD

Pets: 1 pretty little pupper, 1 big fat cat, and 1 smaller cat. All 3 of them are assholes.

Marital Status: Single and NOT ready to mingle. I am perfectly happy as a single pringle. Now I want pringles.

Children: Zer000. None. Nope. There was a point in the past that I had considered them but fuck no. Maybe adopt in the VERY far future if I find an s/o that wants kids but I would MUCH rather stick to animals. I want to own a bird or snake one day. 

Siblings: I’m a spoiled only child (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

Height: 5′3″

Weight: kinda self conscious about this one but last time I checked it was between 220-230. It used to be higher but I’ve steadily been working on losing weight and succeeding. Could probably succeed more faster if I tried harder but I’m too lazy.

Eye Color: Blue. sometimes they look kinda greyish or greenish. But mostly Blue.

Hair Color: I don’t even know sometimes tbh. It was dark ass brown when I was an infant. Strawberry blonde when I was little. Dirty blonde as I got old. Now it’s like a dark? blonde? or a darkish ash blonde. sort of.

Disorders/Disabilities: I’m near sighted. I have astigmatism in my right eye. Which means that that eye is warped. What’s weird is that if you look close enough you can tell because the pupil isn’t a perfect circle. I’ve been wearing glasses since 1st grade.

Some Traits About Me: Passionate about the things I believe in or love, I’m a total nerd, I’m kindhearted (sometimes to a fault), If someone messes with me or especially my friends I go from sweet quiet shy to go fuck yourself before I punch you in the face, even though I hate confrontation, but sometimes it just can’t be avoided.

Favorite Food: omg pasta and pizza, one of the reasons why I’m so slow to lose weight. also one of the reasons I love Papyrus so much.

Favorite Drink: Earl/Lady Grey tea, other types of Tea, Water is always good from the right source, and if we’re talkin’ soda then I love Root Beer and Cream Soda. Or just about any flavor of Fanta because I love fruit sodas.

Top Five Movies: Fantastic Beasts and where the find them, Warcraft, Sweeney Todd or just about any Tim Burton movie tbh, the How to Train your Dragon movies, and Into the Woods

Top Five Tv Shows: Steven Universe, Avatar: the Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, Castlevania, and I don’t know to put for #5. Maybe Danny Phantom or the old Teen Titans... or Rurouni Kenshin.

Top Five Songs: Ffffff I dunno I can’t think of shit right now. Saria’s song from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and covers I’ve heard of it, Bonetrousle from Undertale(also the covers), Holiday by Green Day, Wolf in Sheep’s clothing by Set it Off, annnd Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold

Favorite Sport: Not much into Sports anymore but I used to always really liked Baseball and Basketball. I used to love shooting hoops. Michael Jordan was one of my idols when I was growing up.

Favorite Book: Harry Potter books, Abhorsen Trilogy, and some of the Warcraft books

Favorite Color: Rainbow. I don’t know. It depends on my mood. Lately I favor some shades of purple but I also love red and some shades of blue or pink. I’ve also always loved Turquoise.

Broken Bones: Never broke a bone but I sprained my pinky toe once. I landed weird on my trampoline when I was little. My toe bent outward away from where it was supposed to be. I had to stay home the next day. My mom called a nurse and the nurse told her to put a cotton ball between my toes and tape them together, like a splint. The toe and some of the area around it was also very bruised. Darkly bruised.

Fears: Failing and roaches except lately they make me react more violent than scared, also when I take my dog out to potty in the front yard while it’s dark the edges of the house make me really nervous because I can’t see anything and I feel exposed. Unless there’s a full moon and a clear enough sky.

I’m not tagging anyone. Any of you can do it if you want to. 

[vizell]

Rising Tide - SidLink story idea

I have and story set up idea about Prince Sidon and Link but since I suck at writting fanfics I will just spill it out here xD The idea is that Zora is clan close to the water. They are more human like than shown in game but still have gills, have some kind of swimming fins between the fingers, broad shouldered for swimming all the time and bulkier that normal people, maybe scales on some parts of the body. The rich hair or some kind of feather/leaf made helmets/accessories would replace the extensions on their heads. (Or just scale down the Zora’s to the point where Link wouldn’t be considered child’s height next to Sidon!). And they wouldn’t be long livers here! -----

The Zoras live around small islands near the main land and build their houses above water while the palace and temple of Van Ruta would be located on island. They are really strick about their territory and don’t like uninvited quest in their waters for sea creatures being their only food source. So all fishers that got on their territory accidentally or not were pretty much in mercy of the Zoras.  Sidon is younger son of the clan’s leader, Dorephan, and will be succeeding him in future, for his older sister Mipha was chosen to be champion of their people. Young adult is really positive and encouraging, caring and protective of his people by whom he is repsected. But despite Zora’s slightly hostile position about main land, Sidon is secretly interested in it. Reason for that is his sister’s stories, about what she saw there and particular Hylian knight’s adventures, that she admits to adore greatly. However something happens and that brings clans apart. To restore this Princess Zelda sends her only trustworthy knight and friend, Link, to deliver word of a good will and peace to Zoras. This is how Link and Sidon would meet for a first time.

At first, Sidon is at his alert about outsider who just arrived but after finding out who he is and he doesn’t know how to contain his excitement. Link would be forced to stay at Zora’s domain for some time, reason being for example elders going through Zelda’s letter and trying to think how they could use this situation, ending up with idea to marry Hylian legend to their Champion. Mean while Sidon tries to spend every free moment with Link, talking with him and asking about the world on the main land. And of course about Link’s heroic deeds. Link being first slightly overwhelmed by such interest but goes with the flow and ends up befriending with prince finding his presence quiet enjoyable. They would try out different kind of hunting together and Sidon would introduce the knight to Zora’s culture. 

One day Sidon dares to reveal his secret so he invites Link for a swim taking him to the shore of mainland. He guides him to the underwater cave in which there is a tunnel to the pound at the bottom of a small waterfall far away from a shore. He tells him about his obsession and interests and how it isn’t welcomed among his people to dream in the way he does. About unity and more open borders. Link is glad to hear it and encourages Sidon telling him that he will be great leader in the future. With the light mood they will enjoy swimming there while Hylian would point out different things like fruits or some animals to Prince. At one point Link decided to prank the Zora as he jumped down form a top of a waterfall and pretended it to go wrong. In panic Sidon would rush to help him out only to get laughed on right into the face. After moment of shock he would join the laugh as relief while floating on his back, Link resting on his chest. However as they eyes meet it suddenly creates silent, tension moment to which both of them would give in. A sudden spark of passion however is quickly put down by Sidon, since he knows about Mipha’s feelings toward Link. And realization that he might be feeling the same thing creates a whole bunch of struggle. 

-----

What then? I dunno! That’s why I don’t write fics! I can come up with setting and some moments but not complete story. Plus I’m horrible writer! I only can add to this that Mipha wouldn’t be this horrible woman who is bothering the main ship! She would be is as much struggle as she doesn’t want to bother or force anyone but going against elders is hard for her. Mipha is wise and kind person who just happens to be slightly too soft.  Plus I acutally don’t know much about LoZ universe so sorry if I said something wrong!

AAAAAAANd screw this, now this is out of my system! I’m out to sleep! PEACE

[mc-and-elise]

How Vanderwood and Elise became friends

(AKA HOW A BRIT AND AN AMERICAN MANAGED TO TAKE DOWN A DRUG RING. Also while I’ll be using them/their for Vanderwood, they will be at times refered to as “boy” or “man” as I assume they are physically male (I dunno, but I didn’t want to keep putting “person”  or “Brit” for things like “She helped the male up to their feet” Soooo yeah. Derp.))

Saeyoung: Ok kiddies! I’m going to tell you a story about our two favorite agents! You see, Mary was working at a maid cafe-

Vanderwood and Elise: *hold up tasers*

Saeyoung: Fu- *is tased*

Elise: This is what really happened.

“Vanderwood. Come here.”

The new agent looked up from where they were sitting towards the door to their boss’s office. They had only been there for a month, and already made a rival with a fellow agent. Plus botched a mission with said rival. Hopefully this meeting wouldn’t result in their body being discovered in a ditch somewhere.

Entering the room, they were dismayed to see a familiar woman sitting in one of two seats in front of the boss’s desk. She looked behind her to make eye contact and scowled. “Oh. You again.” “I’m not happy to see you either, Elise.” They hissed, taking the seat next to her. One look from their boss caused the two to become silent.

“Alright you two. Here’s you new assignment.” The man slid a folder across the desk towards the two agents. Vanderwood snatched it before the dirty blonde had a chance to grab it. Opening it, a report of a drug ring caught their eye, along with several photos of dealers trading with suppliers. “Your job is to take them down. Get rid of the leaders. Don’t let anyone know the ring even existed. We already have hackers wiping the identities of the leaders.” “Alright... then why is she here?” Vanderwood asked, glaring at Elise. His rival glared back, her piercing green eyes filled with hatred. “You two are going. Together.” “WHAT?!” They both exclaimed, jumping to their feet. “That is all. Leave.” Their boss waved them out, ignoring the shocked rookies.

“So. What’s the plan, Sherlock?” Elise asked, looking out the car window. Vanderwood gripped the wheel tightly; they had asked her to stop calling them that multiple times. She seemed to refuse to call them by their name, instead saying “You” or “Sherlock”. It was rather annoying. “It’s Vanderwood,” they corrected, “And I’ll go in and take them out. You wait in the car so we can make a quick get away.”

That was a mistake. “Excuse me? I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself! Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I’ll just wait here!” Elise protested, gripping her pistol tightly. “Besides, you’ll need backup.” “Why can’t you just let me deal with this?!” They snapped. It wasn’t like they thought she couldn’t handle herself-they knew she could fight, and fight well- it was more of the fact they couldn’t see a girl kill someone. Totally not because they couldn’t stand to see her hurt. Nope.

After all, she was annoying, sarcastic, pretty- no! What were they thinking?! They shook their head to clear their thoughts. Elise was giving them a weird look before going back to looking out the window.

It took about four hours to get to the HQ of the drug ring.Vanderwood had somehow convinced Elise to let them go in first. If they didn’t come out in 15 minutes, she was to go in after him. She tried to argue they should go in together, but eventually agreed that it was better not to go in as they would be more noticeable. Knocking out one of the guards and sneaking inside, they soon found what appeared to be a storage room. There were paperwork and crates everywhere, and the smell was horrible. Vanderwood gagged a bit at the smell of urine and garbage. Obviously these people didn’t care if the place was a shithole as long as they got their money. Just as they were hoping to get this mission over with quickly so they didn’t have to remain in that mess, footsteps came in the direction of the exit. Cursing silently, the agent ducked behind a crate as several men walked in, speaking in Korean. They could only catch a few words as they were not yet fluent in the language, but could understand that the men had found the unconscious guard and were searching for the intruder.

Hoping to slip out, they started to slowly jump from crate to crate. Their freedom was so close, then they could go and get Elise for back up- BANG! Vanderwood cried out as a sharp pain came from their right arm. Falling to their knees, they felt something warm running down their arm and immediately knew it was blood. A pair of feet entered their vision, and looking up they were faced with a gun aimed at their face. Shit.

Elise had lost track of how long the Brit had been inside. Watching guards patrol the building from the hidden vehicle, she had quickly become bored. She was beginning to fall asleep when a loud bang came from the building and several guards went running towards the source. It wasn’t from any of the firearms the agency had provided them, so it couldn’t have been Vanderwood. Elise suddenly felt sick at the idea of the other agent being injured or shot dead. It was a surprise, as she never had cared if they got themselves killed before, so why now all of a sudden? She shook her head and grabbed her gun, now was not the time to think about that.

Vanderwood woke up in some kind of makeshift cell. Their arm was throbbing now, and their sleeve was stiff with dried blood. Groaning, they held their head. They remembered the gun in their face, being hit with said gun, then nothing. “Must’ve been knocked out..” They mumbled, looking around for a possible way out. Nope. Nothing. And nothing they could use as a weapon either. Great. Just great. No way they could fight with their arm in its current state. Hopefully Elise had gotten out of here and called for backup.

Elise... They’d probably never see her again. Never argue with her again. Never hear her voice, her beautiful voice with a faint accent... What. Her voice was not beautiful! She was the most irritating, rude, bitchy person they had ever met! And yet... they acted the same way. Besides, she wasn’t all bad; she seemed to observe the situation instead of running head first into a mission, unlike most agents who come up with a plan as they go. Plus she was the only agent who actually acknowledged their existence. Maybe if they apologized, they could maybe be friends?

Yeah, like I’ll ever get the chance to do that. It was obvious they were going to die here. No way these men would let them live after what they’d seen. They were probably only alive so they could torture them later. Hearing the door open, they looked up to see the men from earlier walk inside.

Elise noticed that the building was eerily quiet. Walking down a hallway, gun at the ready, she kept thinking this was some kind of trap. She had a secret weapon to make sure the mission succeeded even if she died- a bomb. Having discovered the boiler room after sneaking into a basement entrance, she set up the bomb to go off when she pushed the detonator in her pocket. She only planned to use it after she found Vanderwood. She assumed they were dead, as they never came out of the building.

Vanderwood... She would most likely find them dead. Never again to bicker over stupid things, or call them Sherlock, or see their beautiful eyes- What was she thinking?! There was no way she.....liked them, right? Then again, they weren’t that bad. Maybe she had been a bit mean to them, but they were the only person who spoke to her at the agency, and she wasn’t used to other people... I’ll never get to apologize and tell them I’d like to be friends...

Elise was dragged out of her thoughts by screams of pain coming from a room ahead accompanied by laughter. She recognized the scream. “Oh God....” she whispered, hurrying ahead and peeking into the room. A crowd of men were gathered in a circle around someone. One of them bent down and grabbed the person by their hair and yanked them up. The woman had to bit her tongue to keep from making a sound.

The person they were torturing...was Vanderwood.

They looked horrible. Blood was streaming from a gash on their head, and one of their eyes was swollen shut. She closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see the rest of their injuries. “So you think you can sneak in here without anyone seeing you, huh? Stroll right in here and kill us all with your little gun?” One man sneered, speaking in heavily accented English. The man remained silent, using their good arm to grab at the hand holding them by their hair.

“Is there any more of you little sneaks?” Seeing fear briefly appear in the agent’s eyes, the leader of the group grinned and tossed them to the floor. “Oh so you do have a friend running around, do you?”

“Leave...leave her alone.”

“What was that? Your little girlfriend is around here somewhere?” Looking at the rest of the men, the leader gestured towards the door. “Let’s go find his little lady friend. I’d hate to kill these lovers separately.” Laughing, the group exited, slamming and locking the door behind them. Vanderwood lay on the floor, terrified at this point. How did this mission go wrong so fast? Was Elise long gone, getting help? Or was she somewhere in the building, clueless the the hunt for her?

A loud creak brought them back to reality as the door opened again. Expecting one of the gang leaders, they kept their eyes closed. “Sherlock? What happened to you?!” Their eyes shot open at the sound of the familiar voice. She was alive! “E...Elise? You need to get out...to get out of here.” They croaked, every word hurting to say. The girl instead ran over and fell to her knees, assessing the damage. The boy was a bloody mess.

“Dear Lord..... C’mon. I’m getting you out of here.” She finally said after a long silence. Helping them to their feet, she wrapped her arm around their waist to support them. “Why...Why are you helping me? You could easily get out of here and get backup.” Vanderwood asked, leaning against her for support. “Don’t take this the wrong way. It’s not like I like you or something. I... I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I left you here to die.”

The duo slowly made their way out of the building, Elise doing her best to keep Vanderwood up and on their feet while Vanderwood limped alongside her. Finally making it to the car, she laid them in the back seat before getting into the driver’s seat. That’s when they both heard shouting and looked out the back window to see several guards heading towards them. “Shit shit shit shit!” The American squeaked as she shoved the key in the ignition and started the car, slamming on the gas and speeding away. As soon as they were a good distance away, she pulled out the detonator and pressed the button, destroying the building and anyone inside.

Elise walked over to Vanderwood, holding a first aid kit. The two had managed to escape, but to be safe they agreed to hide out in an abandoned warehouse for the night, in case any survivors were looking for them. They had left the car a mile or two away at a motel, where Elise had rented a room in hopes any survivors would think they were staying there. Luckily it seemed no one had survived.

Sitting on the ground next to the Brit, she opened the first aid kit and got out some antiseptic. As she started cleaning the bullet wound in their arm, Vanderwood turned to look at her. “.... Thanks.”

“Hmm?” Elise looked up from what she was doing, having gotten the bullet out and was bandaging their arm.

“I said thanks. If you hadn’t gone in after me, I’d be dead.” They repeated, blushing faintly. They suppressed their pride and continued, “And we would have never finished the mission.”

“....Sorry for being mean to you all the time.” She mumbled, moving to the gash on their head. “I’m not used to people actually giving a damn and acknowledging I exist. So, thanks for doing that.”

They remained silent as she finished tending to their wounds. “We better get some sleep. We have a long drive back to the agency tomorrow.” She finally said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah. We do.” More awkward silence. Noticing her shivering, Vanderwood spoke up. “Hey uh... maybe we should sleep together. For warmth.” They awkwardly said. She merely nodded and laid next to them, a faint blush on her cheeks.

“Thanks.... Vanderwood.”

[mesaaana]

All right, so The Well of Ascension. I finished it. In like four days. Even though i’m back at school. But anyway.

Also, I’m actually writing this from a computer rather than a phone app so...warning for excessive italics. Yes, I’m one of those people

It’s one of those books where, after finishing it, I had to take a break rather than immediately start the next in the series like I usually might. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, the ending - and the pace in about the last 200 pages or so - was exhausting. It was like the Battle of Hogwarts or something in there, is what I’m saying.

so, that downer ending though. is it just me, or do second installments in trilogies almost always have a downer ending? Empire Strikes Back, Catching Fire (and yes, I DID read The Hunger Games), the second season of Avatar:  The Last Airbender (actually i think the writers of this were specifically going for the Empire Strikes Back vibe so ha). I’m sure there are other examples, i just can’t think of any at the moment.

there were character deaths! sure, in the first book, one of the main protagonists (Kelsier) died right before the climax, but (1) i believe tvtropes.org calls it “Mentor Occupational Hazard” and (2) he engineered a situation where he would be made a martyr so that hardly counts. admittedly, Clubs and Dockson were not SUPER important, but they did tie us to the first book and Clubs got an actual personality in this one (rather than just “Uncle Grumpy”, as Spook called him), so it was still tragic. even more tragic was Tindwyl’s death....

obviously the downeriest downer of them all was Sazed, who arguably suffered the most out of Our Heroes. but i think I’ll talk about him (and Tindwyl) last.

Um so when I finished The Final Empire, i remember being....unsatisfied with the fact that Elend became king. I think my concerns were more or less addressed, and i did get on board with it. his character development seemed natural, rather than forced because “the plot demanded it”, so i have no reason to complain. but now, yet again, i have reservations about him becoming Mistborn. sure, he was slowly turning into a more...physical character (walking right into an army of titans blue giants comes to mind in particular), but now i wonder how this development will change him. i can’t see the author making “more powerful” than Vin, since to me it seems like she’s something of an exception; that being said, if Elend does end up stronger than Vin in the Allomancy department, i will be supremely (or should I say imperially?) pissed because (1) they’re married and that would throw a wrench into their dynamic, (2) it would seem AWFULLY suspicious if the most physically capable CHARACTER who happens to be a WOMAN suddenly had her MALE LOVE INTEREST stronger than her, and of course (3) it’s just lame, especially when you consider how much Vin pushes the envelope both with her sheer natural talent as well as her ingenuity when it comes with her powers. so don’t let Elend hijack that k thnx

(speaking of Vin’s “sheer natural talent” will we ever get an explanation why? or is she just that cool? hey i wouldn’t mind too much if it was the latter but i do prefer to have an actual reason)

okay now I talk about Vin, who is arguably THE protagonist of the series (so far, I suppose; i mean, she is on all three book covers). i think i’m satisfied with the direction her character took. she had a rough childhood (which is an understatement), and despite her....adaptation to Kelsier’s crew, it would not have been possible for everything to simply be all hunky dory from then on. so Kelsier’s death and her killing the Lord Ruler took their toll on her, in that she became estranged (and it was definitely at least somewhat self-imposed) from basically everyone on account of her “weirdness” and exceptionalism. hey, the life of a prodigious Mistborn, I guess? being a loner among friends is tough, you guys. but this left room for another definitely sinister Mistborn to swoop in and befriend her and....well, be entirely selfish with his interactions with Vin. so i might have cheered a little when she chose to not leave with Zane. also it must be incredibly stressful to be looked up to as a hero. i guess she’s the Superman to Luthadel’s Metropolis? albeit much darker and, uh, willing to kill and whatnot? also i enjoyed her reluctant allies-to-friends thing with “OreSeur”/TenSoon, and that TenSoon felt guilty about spying on her? *swoon* anyway, maybe it’s because i don’t really know how these things work, but i’m rather inclined to think that Vin’s relationship with Elend straddles a very fine line between “healthy” and “unhealthy”, as in she might just be a little too codependent on him. but again, it’s probably also an outcome of her upbringing

so i could probably talk about Breeze, or Zane, or Allrianne, or Straff, or Jastes, or anyone really, but i don’t particularly want to except to say:

(1) for Breeze I find myself almost disappointed that the reason he never showed interest in women wasn’t simply that he was gay. i think his reasons though are...noble, I will say, and in a Crapsack World like this...yay

(2) Straff should’ve found Zane a therapist. or, ya know, been a better father. Straff was just a terrible human being and i’m actually sad that it wasn’t Amaranta who succeeded in killing him, because that would’ve been Poetic, or something.

(3) Allrianne i did not really get. i feel like she was a plot device almost intended for us to see how “good” Breeze was. i understand she was by no means as stupid as she seemed (perhaps because people are predisposed to think that vanity = stupidity) but otherwise she served little enough purpose beyond convincing (more like bullying, but semantics) her father to side with Luthadel’s defenders

(4) Jastes, however, was an idiot, completely, absolutely, an idiot.

and now, Marsh. i have no idea what his deal with, and why he disappeared for most of the book, but i SINCERELY hope we find out. did becoming an Inquisitor do something to him? is the thing that Vin accidentally released controlling him somehow?

(is the ghost in the mist really as...not benevolent, exactly, but less sinister than it seemed there at the end? stabbing Elend aside, of course)

okay, Tindwyl. Purpose #1:  king Elend. Purpose #2:  annoy Vin, and perhaps make her think. Purpose #3:  voice of reason. Purpose #4:  be someone for Sazed to love then lose. Yeah, i’m not too crazy about Purpose #4, not after getting another named female character....that was fridged before the end of the book. Sigh, you can’t have everything in life.

this doesn’t mean Sazed does not have my sympathy, because he does. his crisis of faith is heartbreaking, honestly (i consider myself a person of faith), but i kind of think it was a long time coming, if for no other reason than that i am with Clubs and entirely baffled that you can believe in ALL the religions. that just doesn’t seem....logical? what about contradictions? like, you can’t be a Muslim and a Hindu at the same time because Muslims believe in the Oneness of God whereas Hindus have a whole pantheon so it’s like.....contradictions. but i suppose that was kind of the point, that you can’t really believe in all the religions. then of course there’s his sort of scholarly crisis, which, as a scientist-in-training, i can also sympathize with. because imagine that you have this hypothesis that you’re SO convinced is true, and then one day, after years and maybe decades of study you find out it isn’t, like not even a little; you or someone else disproves it so fully. and then you don’t know what to do with your life because you literally spent it working on proving that one hypothesis. and that would suck. i guess this means Sazed is a nihilist now?

so the thing that happened at the Eye of the World the Well of Ascension was.....weird. in a good way. creepy. what a twist. THIS is the source of the downer ending, as well as Sazed’s angst (and undoubtedly Vin will also have her own angst in the last book because guilt). and THIS is the sort of twist i like, especially with the whole ~the prophecies were wrong because someone/thing screwed with them~.

basically, “we tried to save the world but screwed up ROYALLY because we were misled by a sentient evil thing that we cannot even begin to understand because a despotic ruler that fancied himself a god destroyed ALL the records of anything that might help us so dear God are WE fucked”. (how’s THAT for a book summary?)

themes:  freedom or safety? this book in particular definitely begged the question, as well as “can you be both a good person AND a good ruler?” my answer to the first question is:  i dunno, dump me into a bizarre post-/pre-apocalyptic fantasy world and THEN we’ll talk. to the second, i’m inclined to say yes because of my religion, which is, ironically, another theme of this series, but one i will not get into because it is a theme with which i am increasingly frustrated. perhaps i’ll discuss it after i finish the last book...which i will probably start tomorrow.

but until then, if you read this entire thing, wow, what ARE you doing with your life? just kidding, but seriously, thank you for reading and i love talking about books with people

[drink-n-watch]

Before we stat I just want to show you guys something because I attempted a thing and I kinda like how it turned out

Those are my titles cards for episode 13 and episode 1 of Tower of God. Because the series created a visual bookend bringing us full circle in a way, I tried to create  similar effects with my titles cards. So I picked out screencaps from this episode which I thought would mirror those I had chosen in the first episode, using the colour scheme to create the visual bridge.

But I also tried to create contrast. Bam is huge and center as the story begins, a bright eyed protagonist ready to take on what may come. While in turn, Rachel is barely visible in the last episode, fraile, helpless, worned out by the events. Rachel looking up at Bam is uncertain and guilty while Bam looking down and forward is resolute. Rachel and Bam stand together after a touching moment, Rachel collapse alone after a horrible one. That sort of thing… I’m not sure how well I succeeded.  try to tell stories through m title cards each week but it may not come through. Still I thought it was a fun exercise and it’s pretty much impossible to see unless you have the two cards one nest to the other.

And so Tower of God season 1 comes to an end. Story wise I thought this episode was fitting. The last two were probably my favourites in the series so I knew it would live up to that but it was a good way to cap off the season. Or rather, it was a very good way to get us interested in the next season (and or webtoon) as it ended on a timeskip and pretty much in the middle of the story.

It’s what I was expecting and I’m not ad about it in any way.

I have to say, Rachel’s treason is a bit of a disappointment. I have been seen some very outraged viewers both in the blogosphere and on social media but it all seemed fairly mild to me. First the Rachel betrayal had been pretty much spoiled by webtoon readers for most people and even if  viewer avoided that, it has been foreshadowed since the first episode. In fact this episode made that all the more clear. So there wasn’t any real shock in the act.

I guess it must be something about Rachel’s character then. I find that people often are much more willing to forgive cruelty, selfishness or greed in fictional characters, than they are weakness. And in the end, that’s all Rachel is, weak. And maybe a bit too slow to come up with a better solution. But she isn’t uncaring, she doesn’t derive pleasure from hurting others and would rather avoid it. When you compare her to the rest f the cast, she’s pretty average as far as faults go, but she is much weaker.

I thought maybe it had been much worse in the webtoon and that’s what had fans in an uproar so I actually went and read the entire first season of it. That would be episode 1 to 78 (they’re really short it took me like half an hour). That’s equivalent to the entire first season of the show. If anything, I thought Rachel was made to be a tiny bit re sympathetic in the webtoon, showing even more remorse and being way more torn about the decision. I dunno, maybe she turns out more evil later on or something.

I’m also not going to read ahead, at least not right away. For me, the adaptation is just way more my thing. I really love how they fleshed out the story and I find the retranslated dialogue so much better and more nuanced. I’m saying that but I’m a curious person. If a season 2 doesn’t get officially announced in the coming months I’ll probably cave and read the rest.

I don’t really now where to put this but one moment that really struck me in this episode was Rak’s reaction to the loss of Bam. It was so visceral and uncomplicated. Just howling like that. I won’t go into the depressing details, but that’s pretty much how  reacted to some of the worst moments in my life. I guess that says something about me. In any case, it was a very raw moment that didn’t feel too pandering and wasn’t dwelled upon so it hit me hard.

However, the technical aspects of this episode were some of my favorite in the series.

You may notice that I have comparatively few screencaps. That’s because, episode 13 manage to somewhat recontextualize the entire show, while using more than 50% reused footage. Nos that is impressive. Not only did it frame the opening sequence between Headon and Rachel (I hadn’t realized that I missed Headon) to parallel the one between Bam and Headon in the first episode, right down to the changing colour palette and mirrored camera angles and positions, but it cleverly weaved in previously seen images to reveal new information.

Both exciting and frustrating for me was how it hinted at an even bigger backstory for Yu Han Sung. I really like Yu and I want to know more abut what he is trying to do here. Those political intrigues are my cup o tea!

Another thing I have been thinking about is that Ba’s name is clearly supposed to have a symbolic meaning since they translate it in Japanese, so I think the subtitles should have called him Night. Night is such a cool name too. I wish  had someone to name that. If I was the artistic sort I would write a story but even when I do write fiction, I pretty much never name my characters. We just took a little detour together there. Sorry about that.

So final thoughts on season 1. I really liked it. I liked the story and characters a lot but I loved the production and I think this is one amazing adaptation on a technical level which is exciting. The previous series I have watched from this studio were ok but noting on this level so I have to assume Crunchy may have helped out. Regardless of what I may thing about their choice in source material, the Crunchyroll licenced productions have been proficient made. I would watch a second season anytime!

And for the last time this season, let’s get a pretty eye close up:

Tower of God Ep.13 – Rachel’s Side Before we stat I just want to show you guys something because I attempted a thing and I kinda like how it turned out…