#it's not the plot point specifically but more on I'm 100% sure it will be implemented very not right despite being rpg

[ilikedetectives]

After that AC Odyssey DLC, hearing what was removed from Minthara's arc feels like having a shotgun aimed at your face but somehow it crit miss, time to go pray to the ancestors for this one oooof

#*insert ptsd dog meme here* #it's not the plot point specifically but more on I'm 100% sure it will be implemented very not right despite being rpg #and one group will always pushed aside to sacrifice for said mechanic/lore in favor and for the other player group #when I first heard about the omitted stuff for Minthy I immediately thought of that cursed DLC #anyway I'm counting my lucky stars whew #I know the comparison is gory but I live in the US asdasds #colin mumbles

[genericpuff]

How long do you plan making rekindled? I loved Lo at some point, But now I cant get enough of your version!! And I wanted to know how did you come up with the darker back stories for Rekindled?

I have a semi-detailed skeleton of the plot with basically every story beat planned out, but I can't definitively say how long it will be as I haven't actually scripted every single episode out yet.

Not to mention a lot of the time my scripts will change from their original versions, by the time I get to an episode I've planned ahead for I've either thought of new ways to do it or don't like how it's paced so I change it. Case in point, there was a specific scene I had planned for the next episode and then wound up not liking the pacing because it was too fast so I moved it to several episodes away and restructured everything on the fly, took a whole new text document and scrapping sketches to figure shit out LOL I actually do have up until Episode 70ish scripted out in my documents with like, actual notes and dialogue for each episode, but I already have sooo many of those crossed out now because of how much I've had to tweak and change as time has gone on. This is why I plan ahead well in advance though, so that if I do need to make those changes, I can make them long before the episodes are even due to be drawn (and believe me, they get changed during the sketching phases too LOL).

What I can confirm for certain is that the current 'arc' we're in right now is definitely the bulk of the story. And that's not to say there isn't any content afterwards, more like the pacing just gets completely turned on its head in the last 30-40% of it where shit gets N U T S and just can't go back to the same energy that it was in the beginning. Without spoiling, there's a certain 'turning point' in the plot and everything after it isn't quite as long as the stint of story we're in now. This is mostly because the arc we're currently in is still establishing a bunch of stuff like the Underworld Corp, Persephone's schooling, etc. and once that turning point hits, it's basically all character development and focusing on the consequences of everything setup in the first arc.

I guess if I had to illustrate it, the story progression in the end will look something like this?

It's basically just this slow and chill climb that, once it hits that sharp peak, doesn't ever return to normal levels LMAO So I guess enjoy this part of the story while you can because it's the chillest it'll ever be w(°ｏ°)w And boy, I am EXCITED for that peak, but we have a long way to go before we get there. As for how long, well, I'm hoping I'll be able to have Rekindled's story wrapped up in the next 2 years, tops. Just depends on how the update schedule goes, and assuming the plans I have put down for the plotting don't change in any major way. I don't have as much of the latter half of the story actually scripted out yet so for all I know it could wind up being way longer than anticipated, but right now I have a pretty good sense of how the story beats will play out in relation to each other.

So it's kind of a wait and see thing, at least until I have every episode scripted out, and even then I won't be 100% sure because things are always being tweaked and fixed and changed on the fly! I'm guessing it won't go much longer than 170 episodes, give or take, but that's a very very VERY rough estimate.

Regardless, Rekindled still has a lot more story to tell, and I'm hoping y'all enjoy the ride with me <3

As for the darker backstories, y'all don't even know yet. Like... I've got stuff planned. Stuff that even Banshriek (my BG assistant) doesn't know about. Stuff that I keep buried very deep in Rekindled's episode documents that won't see the light of day until they have to be ripped out of the deep dark trenches of the characters' own buried secrets, and by that point, the toothpaste will be out of the tube, there will be no going back. So, again... enjoy it while it lasts. Because I don't pull my punches. And maybe even you won't be able to look at me the same way again once the final blow has been dealt.

Sleep well.

:)

#k but i am actually really nervous for how those bigger turning points go #esp the spiky one LOL #i feel like it'll definitely be uh. interesting. in how people feel about it. #but mostly because it'll just be a punch to the gut #i will definitely give adequate warning when it's coming so that people can steel themselves LOL #ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything #lore rekindled ama

[butchhamlet]

are there any shakespeare retellings you recommend? i really enjoy retellings but it's also difficult to find ones that like. actually understand the source material... i've read your novella duodecimal and really liked it btw! excellent take on twelfth night :-)

THANK YOU SO MUCH WAH... yes, i can recommend some retellings! i keep intending to make a big post with my recs, actually, but there are so many out there that i haven't read yet... so for now here's an incomplete list:

a thousand acres by jane smiley: the first one that came to my mind seeing this ask. it's a retelling of lear set on an american farmstead, and the adaptation is done beautifully and smoothly--it's just distinct enough from OG Lear that you can judge it as a book on its own but also as a lear retelling. and it's sooooo good. it starts a little slow, but the character work is so excellent and it almost made me cry (i will note that there's a pretty hefty cw on this one but... saying what it is is technically spoilers? but feel free to send another ask or message if you want to know up-front)

the last true poets of the sea by julia drake: books that made me have to turn my camera off in zoom class so i could bawl properly. books written for me specifically. this is a loose YA retelling of twelfth night (looser than some of the other retellings on this list) and it's like. perfect. the teenage dialogue actually sounds like teenagers. every emotional beat clubbed me over the head. the love triangle is present--and done really well; it's not present for drama but because sometimes being a teenager is confusing--but more than that this is a book about the relationship between violet and her sibling, and about mental health, and god it makes me CRAZY. also girls kiss in this one

rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead by tom stoppard: i mean. i think most people into shakespeare know r&gad. but in case you haven't read it yet, it's an absurdist play from the point of view of rosencrantz and guildenstern and it's absolutely fucking brilliant. not sure what else to say about this; you've really just gotta read it

teenage dick by mike lew: another play, this one on the modern side--a retelling of richard iii set in a high school, focusing explicitly on disability issues. kind of more a reimagining than a retelling, honestly, but i really like the exploration of r3's themes and also it's fucking hysterical. although i will say there's a kind of jarring tonal shift in this one near the end, so don't go to it for something 100% comedic

american moor by keith hamilton cobb: okay this isn't exactly a retelling but if you've ever read othello you have to read it. you just have to. please god if you've ever read a shakespeare PLEASE. it's a monologue from the perspective of a black man trying out for the role of othello, half-resigned to being pigeonholed into playing that specific role in a very specific way as directed by a white director, but also half-chafing against that resignation, and also exploring the complexities of loving shakespeare as a black man, and it's soooooo so good

exit, pursued by a bear by e.k. johnston: this one is kind of cheating because it's not really a retelling, in that it has next to nothing to do with the winter's tale except that there is a hermione character and a leontes character and a paulina character. i still think it's a very very well-done YA book, though, and one of the only ones i've read that deals head-on with abortion

foul is fair by hannah capin: okay, i will admit i read this one some years ago when i was more into YA, so i'm not sure i would still go crazy over it now, but the plot of this book is that the modern lady macbeth character gets assaulted by a guy at a party and decides to kill everyone who let that happen. and then she does. and idk i read it in two days it felt like being on crack

the wednesday wars by gary schmidt: this one is DEFINITELY cheating, because this isn't a retelling of anything. but if you like shakespeare and you're open to reading historical fiction about a kid in the 60s using shakespeare as a lens through which to understand the chaos of his life (from the vietnam war to his school crush)... it's so good. it made me nearly sob. beautiful book

i'm also a fan of ryan north's shakespeare choose-your-own-adventure books, but those aren't exactly retellings and also the humor will probably not work for everyone. but i like em <3

and finally, i would be remiss not to shout out the fact that @suits-of-woe wrote an INCREDIBLE retelling of the two gentlemen of verona that, like, redeemed the fact that that play exists. if you've read that play and you thought, "wow, i wish this were explicitly homoerotic, or not a rape apologia, or good in any way," you will LOVE macy's book. unfortunately it isn't fucking published yet but WITH YOUR HELP--

#max.txt #feel free to send me recs for shakespeare retellings at any time btw! #i've been collecting a list #i just haven't gotten around to most of the books on it yet #asks

[haleigh-sloth]

Alastor, the wild card

Okay, I have to get this out because it's driving me nuts not having it written down.

I watched Hazbin Hotel. I watched the pilot 4 years ago, immediately liked Alastor. 4 years go by and he gets put on the back burner, but now that the main series has begun, oohhhhh boy.

This is basically just me laying out everything I think is going on with/going to happen with Alastor--the seeming wild card--and then what I ultimately think his end game will somewhat look like. Alastor has a lot of different little plot points going on with him, that all point in different directions, but I believe will all end up pointing at one specific ending. I'll go through the different plot directions tied to him in a list but not in the particular order I think they will occur, because I'm really not sure of that yet other than the last:

Beef with the Vees, Vox specifically

Lucifer

His deal, in other words his "leash"

His relationship to the hotel and everyone in it

His relationship to Charlie

Not a long list but a lot of thoughts altogether so here goes.

The Vees and Vox:

I'll start here, but this ties into other stuff later. The Vees, very much MOSTLY Vox and Valentino, are problems. They're these media industrial overlords who own people (it's such a mystery what type of modern-day issues these 3 characters are touching on), and they exploit, take advantage of, and harm people. They're clearly antagonists, even if not the main ones at this time. Now for the sake of keeping this about Alastor, we're gonna focus on Vox, because obviously they have past beef. We don't know ALL the details of what it is (aside from Alastor rejecting Vox's offer), but we know it resulted in a fight in which he "almost" beat Vox. And it seems they were on decent terms at one point, evidenced by what looks like Vox's head in this torn out photo that Vox had pinned to his board in the finale:

Alastor has an ego. He's an overlord. A highly regarded one, and he's obviously strong. He writes off pretty much everyone around him. He doesn't seem to be afraid of anyone, or even remotely bothered by people who show up to attack him or the hotel. He only shows any kind of acknowledgement of someone else's strength when he goes to the overlord meeting in episode 3. But outside of that, he does not seem to give anyone else the time of day.

So that's really funny considering that when Vox starts trash talking him on TV, he takes the bait and gets competitive. He goes on the air, he trash talks back, he gets personal with it. And when Vox loses signal, Alastor continues sending a final, very sinister warning.

And he's not being his usual joke-y self. He's being serious. He's turning into his Wendigo-looking form, which is quite scary looking. We're supposed to take him seriously here because he's not writing Vox off. He is, for lack of a better way of putting it, taking Vox seriously as an opponent. He's being usually egotistical, but he's still putting more effort into this little social media battle than he has for (almost) any other opponent. And not to mention, Vox was shown in the pilot:

So, while this was pretty much shelved for the reason of season 1, it's coming back. And it's going to be an issue for everyone, including Alastor.

Lucifer:

This is going to be my second favorite section of this post. Because it's hilarious, and also somewhat endearing to me how he reacted to meeting Lucifer. I'm sure people noticed, but when Lucifer walked in and hugged Charlie, the frame moved up to show Alastor's face, and his eye was twitching in that moment.

Then a moment later they shake hands, and he wipes his hand off on his coat. And later Lucifer bumps into his arm when walking past him and he brushes his arm off-again. Clearly, Alastor does not like Lucifer. Now, I'm like 100% sure there are yet-to-be-revealed reasons for this that have not even been remotely touched on (Lilith), but there are some obvious guesses we can make based on what we now have in season 1.

There's the fact that Alastor's ego is present here. He points out Lucifer's height, in a condescending way. So that's a thing, but I think it goes beyond that. I'll dive into Alastor and Charlie toward the end, but I do think Charlie is part of the reason for his behavior in episode 5. Alastor is showing off his additions to the hotel, but he isn't really boasting about himself at this point. He's being very pointed about giving Charlie all of the credit, and he is very intentional about saying what an "impressive young lady" she is and saying how "VERY proud" THEY (meaning him and the others there) are of her. It's very odd and hilarious that he's pulling all of this out in front of her dad. I mean, I have my guesses, but given that Alastor then starts challenging her dad in a sing-off, saying he's a dud of a parent, and just straight up saying he could be her dad--I'd say Lucifer's lack of effort in Charlie bugs the shit out of Alastor. I'll explain more on that later, though.

The last point I'll make here to transition into the next section is that I'm sure Lilith has something to do with this disdain for Lucifer. However, I'm really not sure what side of Lilith Alastor knows. My guess is it isn't a good side though.

Which brings me to Alastor's "leash", the handler being Lilith.

I mean, this feels as on the nose as the Dabi is Touya theories. Alastor's been gone for 7 years. Lilith has been gone for 7 years. Vestial said he heard a rumor Alastor fell into "holy arms". We know Lilith is chillin in heaven (but other people don't..so again, mystery). Alastor won't tell anyone why he was gone. We know someone owns Alastor in some way right now. I mean....it's gotta be Lilith. It could be a red herring and be a complete surprise later, but it feels like something very obvious that we just won't get to see for a while and will have to wait in anticipation. Lilith is not painted in the best light right this second, but honestly it's impossible to tell whether she's actually Not Great or if there's layers to this. My guess is probably a little of both.

Alastor being involved with the hotel could be because of Lilith. That also feels somewhat obvious, though again, I'll dive into Charlie in a second.

Hazbin Hotel:

Things start to somewhat all tie together here.

Okay let's take this back to the pilot when Alastor introduced himself to the show. He said he views the hotel as an investment for entertainment, and a lost cause, and something to laugh about. He repeats this in episode 1 to remind everyone that he still views Charlie's vision as something impossible to achieve and something to laugh at. Howeverrrrrr--

We shouldn't ignore the fact that ever since he showed up to "help", under the guise that he thinks the hotel is a joke, he has given a lot more than he had originally stated he'd intended. For someone supposedly who enjoys watching others fail and fall into misery, he sure does put a lot of effort into something he considers to be a massive joke. And the funny thing is that he says in the pilot that redemption is impossible, but we literally KNOW IT'S NOT. Sir Pentious immediately brings Alastor's motive for involving himself with the hotel into question. Of course we have no idea how much Alastor actually knows about redemption, but we can't disregard the very real possibility that he's involved with Lilith (holy arms) and the very real possibility that he's aware of her whereabouts (heaven). We don't know all of those details yet. But what we do know is that all of Alastor's efforts are fueling something that is working. SO HIS EFFORTS ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE..

So I guess that brings me to--what does he actually think of the hotel? Like reeeeaaallly think of it?

His behavior throughout the 8 episodes shifts significantly from the pilot and episode 1 even. He repeats it's a joke in episode 1. And then continues to put genuine efforts into keeping Charlie from giving up even when things get tough and she feels really beaten down. (I'll tie this into why I think he dislikes Lucifer in the Charlie sections).

I also am questioning his real vision of the hotel because it is certainly not something to be ignored that he put Husker and Niffty into the hotel--the hotel about redemption and salvation. Yeah, he's an overlord. He owns their souls. But he's forcing them to stay in a hotel that we literally already KNOW is going to save them in some way. Husker and Angel have their thing going, which will be a good thing. Niffty has a group of people who will protect her, evidenced by episode 6. So, again, Alastor's efforts are all leading to Charlie's hotel being nothing but successful (in the end). But yet he says it's all a joke.

And I think the biggest hint at there being something more here is that Alastor willingly put himself against Adam. And we KNOW that Alastor is leashed somehow. His wings are "clipped". And he ran off to go have a quick little break down in private about almost being killed because of this. Obviously his powers are shackled per his deal.

And yet? He still pit himself against Adam. Knowing this about himself. He also DID almost die for them--his friends, if we can assume he really meant that (I think later on that will be the case). This notion obviously bothers him, a lot. He went to his broadcast station and freaked out over the fact that he really did almost die for them. And then he still went back, knowing that they know he lost his fight. What a blow to his ego! He's the only one who lost and they all know it because they had to deal with Adam after he left.

I won't write off the possibility that he has to be there per some deal (assuming it's Lilith), but that doesn't negate the fact that his demeanor toward the hotel and everyone there changed from beginning of season 1 to the end.

We don't know yet what Alastor really thinks, yet. That's internal and won't be shown until later. But I don't think it's wise to take his word for it from the pilot and from episode 1, and then ignore everything that came after when it's obvious his behavior shows something else entirely.

Lastly, his relationship to Charlie ties everything together.

Again, this started off as a joke to him. He SAYS that he thinks Charlie is working for something impossible. And yet throughout the season he's been shown to be really endearing toward her.

I think my favorite part showing this was him telling her in episode 7 that "It's not like you've ever failed to inspire before." He meant himself. Because in that same sequence Charlie says she usually sings to get her point across but it never works. Except it did, because that's literally what brought Alastor to her doorstep.

That, plus Alastor's obvious disdain for her father that he shows when she isn't looking (the eye twitch), him trying to motivate her from giving up when she's all depressed, him singing about her with Rosie. I think he genuinely admires her and finds her inspiring, and genuinely likes her. Which is really interesting when you look at how he reacted to the presence of her father, and when you consider the very real possibility that he's very much indebted to her mother. Their dynamic is by far my favorite because Alastor is just very NOT easy to read.

However there is a problem that will come up later, and it's the deal he made with Charlie.

So now I'll try to tie everything together:

Alastor has this unsettled business with Vox. He isn't going to let it go. It's going to be a problem somehow. Alastor is stuck in a deal with someone, it's going to be a problem somehow. Alastor now has an unfulfilled deal with Charlie. It's going to be a problem somehow. Alastor hasn't made any vocal admittance that he doesn't view the hotel as a joke, so his front about it being impossible is still kind of there, and that's coupled with the fact that we know he's wrong. All of these things are obstacles to what I'm PRETTY SURE is going to be the hotel's final and biggest obstacle and success:

redeeming Alastor.

Before I go further I'm going to touch on the pilot here.

There are three very bold statements made in the pilot:

"Inside of every demon is a rainbow."

"Inside of every demon is a lost cause."

"He can't be redeemed."

Who is right?

Well, CHARLIE is the heart of the show. The core of what the show wants to portray--redemption and salvation. (Hams is probably right that she is a Jesus figure). I think the odds are in her favor. ALASTOR made a statement that we now have very solid undeniable evidence disproving, now that season 1 is over. So he's out. VAGGIE ended up having a dark and painful secret that she's done unforgivable things to Charlie's home. And yet, she's making the judgment call about Alastor? I think she's out. And also, her statement is the introduction to one of the biggest challenges in the show for Charlie. Because Charlie believes in the opposite of what Alastor and Vaggie are saying. And like I said, the odds are in Charlie's favor.

Now, Alastor obviously doesn't seem like the type to want redemption, or strive for that. Because I'm pretty sure he's not. For now, on the surface. There are a lot of negative things in his way. His beef with Vox and his deal shackling his powers that he wants freedom from. And I'd honestly bet money that those things will all stand in the way of Charlie redeeming him because he'll be focused on these things that keep him from wanting to do better and change--even though throughout season 1 he already showed slow but undeniable signs of changing, whether he wants to admit it or not.

But I think the point of his arc is to end up being someone who does want better. I think his obvious liking for Charlie is something that will save him from a dark and desperate place, a place we've kind of already gotten a peak into. And I think that at the end of the day, every ounce of effort he put into the hotel for Charlie, under the guise of it being for his entertainment, will all end up helping him the most out of everyone in the end.

And I'm very excited.

#Hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #alastor

[leverage-ot3]

time for the obligatory post about what episodes I want to see in the upcoming leverage season(s)

(for reference, I made this similar post in 2020 after the reboot was announced. I'm pasting some from that post bc I still want them to happen lol)

new ideas:

I mentioned a date night episode in the last post (apollo really did bless me with foresight for the date night job on that one) but for considerment: ot3 date night. possibly their first date night after they all get together. breanna and sophie know it's happening (harry is, like, peripherally aware) and some crime hijinks are going down and the three of them are frantically trying to stop bad things from happening that are going to interfere with the date. I want to see them going through it behind the metaphorical curtain. I want to see breanna fighting for her life trying to out-hack the hacker that is going to ruin their ten-part itineraried date. harry has to get in a fistfight and eliot is so proud about it when he finds out after everything is over

tree law episode. harry has been frothing at the mouth about it since it was made. his life has been moving him towards this penultimate moment. breanna thinks it's HILARIOUS and cheers him on 100% of the way. she is VERY enthusiastic about this con

I'm not going to mention certain things because I've seen jrogers posting on bluesky social and I know he might be already writing some of those plots

con that the food trucks have plot-relevance. like, one of his food truck stations is being harassed /victimized by, like, a local gang or something that takes advantage of food truck/cart workers and the team steps in. the actual (veteran) food truck workers get involved in the con. leverage international might just have gained a few retainer members

quinn should come back for an episode. I know the actor is friends with ckane. they should make it happen because it would be iconic and I said so

on a similar note, ckane is friends with jensen ackles and. guys. wouldn't it- wouldn't it be extremely funny if a flame from eliot's past named sean sylvester who is a rugged drifter with a questionable past

episode where tara or maggie (or BOTH, can you imagine how powerful that would be???) come back and there is slight flirting with sophie possibly??? that or very obvious chemistry from a past tryst. sophie has slept with both of them, I know it in my heart of hearts. bonus points if tara and maggie fall in love (I think it would be funny. maggie's taste in men is canonically atrocious, I think she deserves someone like tara at this point)

I just want a lot of side characters to come back, okay? sue me I miss them

gonna put the rest under the cut since this post has become obscenely long

not episode-specific, but I want more mentions of the korean leverage team. and all the other teams too! we know that in canon there is the south korean one, the nigerian one, and one in london (I think that's it for mentions so far, but correct me if I'm wrong!)

episodes addressing issues with american imperialism and its effects on minorities and marginalized communities, specifically within this country (there aren't a lot of episodes where they are actively out of country)

dear fucking god take a more abolitionist stance on policing I'm begging. would it KILL you to not be weird about cops? pls just punch some more cops. take down white supremacist cops, I'm sure you can scrounge something up bffrrn

women's rights episodes. I know it's kind of recent, but episodes about accessibility of stuff like birth control, abortion access, etc. y'all are capable of making excellent episodes on that I know it

more climate crisis-related episodes. god knows you're feeling it in the deep south

taking down a corrupt megachurch pastor (although lbr, there is no ethical megachurch anything and you can fight me on this)

something to do with ace rights bc I think it would be really cool to see the team advocate for that stuff, especially since breanna is canon ace

helping a polycule that is being victimized by X organization/entity (maybe a housing association or medical or something???). breanna is bombastic side-eyeing the ot3 the entire time. it is making hardison sweat. sophie thinks it's hilarious

taking down 'writers' that use ai and self-publish AND/OR people that take original/fan works off of like ao3 and wattpad and publish them for personal profits without the author's consent. breanna would have a field day with this (god herself could try to convince me that girl does not read/write fanfic and I wouldn't believe it)

episode about underfunded public schools. we saw corrupt private schools in the fairy godparents job but I want an episode that would make abbot elementary writers proud

episode addressing native/indigenous. eliot is from oklahoma, I'm sure he is well aware of the health/job/economic/etc disparities on reservations. I will email jrogers about it myself if I have to- it anyone can get people going about native rights through a tv show it would be leverage.

I sent an ask to wil wheaton once asking if he was open to returning to leverage and I think he said he would be down for it. but chaos either has to be a reluctant ally to leverage international and is being handled by quinn as a hitter OR he is just. in jail. bc he sucks.

bpas and/or pfas episode. breanna has mentioned microplastics before but I want more

the team tears the shit out of conversion therapy camp owners and plants the seeds for legislation that will punish parents that try to send their kids to those hellscapes

while we're at it, I'd love to see an ep where they tackle the trans bathroom issue. god knows the news doesn't talk about it nearly enough

something to do with foster care. they end up starting some sort of foster care network that past clients/allies can take part in. maybe a mentorship program for kids that want to do what they do one day (they are very reluctant to encourage kids to participate in crime BUT if that is the avenue that they are going to inevitably go towards, they guide them in the right direction). nana makes an appearance (*insert 'everybody liked that' meme*)

prison industrial complex episode. I KNOW we had the jailhouse job BUT we really need this in our year of 2024

another episode on corrupt influencers. maybe influencer parents? dear god pls take them down a notch

ep where there is an underlying message that tells you how to avoid becoming victim to scams or something, or like is a tutorial for how to identify scams you might fall victim to (sorry, I just have to say this after two separate people tried to pig butcher me in less than two (2) weeks))

not to say I want them to do an ep calling out cop city, but it would feel really good to watch the leverage team rip that concept to SHREDS

the minimum wage job. need I say more? we deserve the catharsis

pls go after goodwill execs, esp the ones in the pnw that have their sector as for-profit and have become millionaires+ because of it while paying their staff (especially disabled staff) fucking pennies

while we're on the topic, pls call out salvation army (the corporation)

I can probably go on for like five hours so I'll stop here

ep that we get to see harry and his daughter bond :)

job where they get to lower the price of insulin (and other drugs)

actually, you know what? an episode where the crew annihilates big pharma and terrible insurance companies

I think that breanna should be able to go off about mass/over consumption as a treat. I 100% believe she has Thoughts about it. like, she will absolutely call out the corporations that are responsible for these trends, but also she should be allowed to mention our tendency for overconsumption as a society. obviously there are a few corporations that are doing most of the world's pollution/ecological damage, but we should be doing our part too and I KNOW it would be in-character for her to go off on it

I bet she has a LOT to say about influencers, tbh. obviously not all influencers are bad, but there are sooooo many problematic ones and problems within the influencer industry

sizing discrimination in the modeling/clothing industry. let eliot talk about how there are no perfect bodies. also while I'm on the subject, can we PLS have more body-diverse background actors on the show? I know this is nitpicky but I'd really love to see some more people that look like me, even if they are just in the background

a thinly veiled writers' rights episode (I'm looking at you media execs and the stupid amount of time it took for you to comply to the WGA demands)

something to do with media companies making entire movies/tv shows and then fucking cancelling them/not releasing them and using them as tax write-offs. every time it happens it baffles me. that is cartoonishly stupid villain shit. I can't imagine lovingly working on a project for a year plus and then the company just going, nah, we aren't going to release it because you suck and it's a good business move

ai art and ai in general. please. let it BURN

okay now I'm done

ideas from the previous post that I still want:

comicon job. I said it before and I will say it again- we deserve it!!! come on, it's the age of the geek after all!!! (in the last post I also said a ren faire ep, but I will let the card game job count for that)

summer camp ep? I saw a tumblr fic about it and I think it could be cute. it could kinda be like the fairy godparents job- eliot in charge of some type of sports (archery, fencing, etc), hardison would be in charge of arts and crafts (this boy might be a genius with tech and in general tbh, but the show did such a good job of showing that he’s also very talented with the arts- sculpting the statue for the miracle job, forging the old diary in the king george job, etc), parker would LOVE to be in charge of a high ropes course. breanna would totally be down for some sort of nerdy kid robotics or simple, traditional camp games (can't go wrong with the classics. everyone loves making bracelets!) I feel like it's too stereotypical to have sophie have kids put on a play but we all know that's exactly what she would do. idk for harry? I think he has the same traditional camp activities vibe as breanna. he's in it for the nostalgia. OR something to do with videogames

please, please, please, please, please make an episode where they take down a cult, im begging. that would be such a good episode. definitely a mindfuck episode like the experimental job (4x11). I’ve seen a few posts about a job dealing with a cult (here’s one) and I think it would be really interesting 

MORE STERLING being DONE with leverage shenanigans!!! give me feral!sterling like in the frame-up job (5x10)!!! give me sterling that protests every step of the way but conveniently looks away and “whoops, the team just disappeared, I have no idea how that happened!!! diddly dang darn it, they got away again!!! sorry guys!!!” bonus points if mcsweeten is there too and also participates in intervening hijinks

the team takes down a circus that is still using and abusing wild animals!!! because first I’d LOVE to see acrobat!parker swinging up in the air like a pro and being in her element, but also because those places are the fucking worst and need to Go Down. give me eliot having to pose as an animal trainer with deep sympathy for the animals being abused, quietly talking soothing words to them when he thinks no one is around (correction: hardison is, in fact, around, and filming his boyfriend’s softness to save for later). give me charismatic hardison playing the role of ringmaster, running and flaunting about and being passive-aggressive to the circus master. give me eliot freeing the animals from their chains when they are finally able to shut the place down and relocate the animals to sanctuaries (his hands shaking just a little as twists the key in the lock, because he too was once an abused, caged animal in his own right and he knows how liberating it is to finally be free). 

#i have SO much to say about native rights and I'd give a kidney to be able to have it shown for all on a wide reaching show #for the love of god it's the least we can do #sorry yall im just. really passionate about native rights. I made myself a nuisance to all of my hs history professors talking about it #every chance i got. if the textbooks won't talk about it i will make my presentation about it and educate my peers my goddam self if i have #to #anyway. i will get off the soap box now. but yeah educate yourself on native/indigenous rights (based off where you live too) #episode ideas #leverage redemption #leverage redemption s3 #speculation #mine #parker #alec hardison #eliot spencer #leverage ot3 #parker x hardison x eliot #sophie devereaux #harry wilson #breanna casey #mr quinn #quinn #side characters #leverage international #tara cole #maggie collins #jim sterling #recurring characters #sophie x maggie #sophie x tara #maggie x tara

[chaos0pikachu]

Filmmaking? In My BL? - The Horror Influences of Dead Friend Forever

Okay off the bat I'ma say that this isn't me definitively saying these specific films or tv series are what inspired 100% DFF. I simply do not know what stuff the screenwriters were pulling from influence wise when writing the script, nor what the director was pulling from when directing the series, with 100% flawless certainty.

Rather, this is a chance to talk more about horror, from films, comics, visuals, and sub-genres and how these various mediums are what I see in the fabric of DFF's horror makeup. Also, general point, this post will be discussing minor spoilers of: Scream, DFF, and Girl from Nowhere. So like, be aware~~

This post is partially inspired by an ask from @italianpersonwithashippersheart in which the anon had mentioned Scream.

I couldn't really respond to this in detail before cause I hadn't watched the series, but I have now and I can say that the show is very thoroughly nothing at all like Scream. I'm not confident in much - other than my inability to reach the top shelf at the market - but I am confident in saying that lol

But this got me thinking, what type of horror IS DFF? I've seen a lot of folks say it's a slasher, and I both agree and disagree.

Horror as a genre is vast with sub-genres, it's probably one of the most universal and popular genres globally, and every culture has their own horror legends, cult classics, mainstays and shlock.

So that's what I'm going to talk about in this post, the slasher genre, why I don't think DFF 100% can be boxed into that sub-genre, what type of horror I think DFF is, and the influences I see in DFF's filmmaking and thematics.

So if we start anywhere, we gotta start with Scream (1996) since that's a comparison I've seen being made a lot.

The main reason I disagree in the comparisons to Scream is that Scream is considered a work of satire first and foremost. Through the power of capitalism and franchising, it's also consider a "whodunit" series.

“Scream” is the first movie of its kind to execute a satire genre within a horror movie, which is one of the most iconic and memorable elements of the film. The original movie makes many references to other well-known horror films and mocks them, while simultaneously leading the same plot points. [...] Although the following films in the “Scream” franchise do not follow as much of the same mockery of horror films, they are still considered to be satirical because of their use of mockery toward the movie franchise. “Scream 2” mocks film sequels and “Scream 3” mocks film trilogies." (source)

[sidenote one of my favorite examples of satirical meta horror is Wes Craven's New Nightmare]

DFF isn't satirizing anything in horror, it's almost entirely self-serious. Sure there's a couple of moments of hilarity - dick biting, and scooter snatchin' - but overall the show plays things pretty straight (gay sex notwithstanding). I've seen some folks claim it's subverting horror tropes, but I don't see that either (would be interested in discussing that tho cause I'm curious).

I get why people make this comparison though, Scream is a 27 yr old franchise, and probably the most relevant slasher franchise currently. The new Halloween movies were...cute but aside from the first Halloween (2018) the rest of the reboot franchise had diminishing returns; each film made less than the previous, and received lower critical scores.

However, Scream has actually grown as a franchise in the States in terms of box office draw. That said, Scream is actually not a huge earner overseas, Scream IV (2023) earned more than 60% of it's box office revenue domestically. In Thailand, according to reports, it only earned about 300,000 (compared to other international territories like Brazil where it earned around 4,600,000).

So I don't think DFF is pulling much from Scream in terms of setting, tone, or story. I do think the show most resembles Scream in directorial style, specifically in the imagery of the Killer's design and in the slow-crawl mask reveals that have happened so far.

[very obviously spoilers for all the scream films watch at your own risk etc, gif by @my-rose-tinted-glasses]

So what is a slasher film or story?

"A slasher movie is a horror sub-genre that involves the murdering of a number of people by a psychopathic killer, typically via a knife or bladed tool (such as a scythe).

In general, the horror genre is known for its fear, violence and terror. It will typically feature a menacing villain, whether it be a monster or a supernatural evil spirit, for example." (source)

Other common but not inherent secondary characteristics of a slasher story will include: young adults as central characters, sex (typically as a means of punishment "sex gets you killed"), the killer is motivated by revenge, lots of gore and/or violent kills and a "final girl".

I point out common but not inherent because the main tenants of a slasher story is the overall body count, female protagonist and a mysterious (typically masked) killer.

For example, in Scream (96) Ghostface is motivated by revenge, however in Halloween (1978), Texas Chainsaw (1974), Prom Night (2008), You're Next (2011) and Wrong Turn (2003) the killers are not.

If there is a western horror franchise or film that the setting of DFF more closely aligns with, it's Friday the 13th (2009). Which was a sequel/reboot to the original Friday the 13th (1980) starring Tumblr's own Jared Padalecki as one of the leads (that was an interesting year as Jensen Ackles also starred in a remake of a classic 80s horror film My Blood Valentine).

In Friday (09) the bulk of the story takes place at a mansion styled cabin in the woods near Crystal Lake owned by one of the characters rich parents. Jason eventually hunts down each of the characters, killing them in various ways, and they even find his home with a shrine to his mother there. There's also like, a lot of sex and nudity in Friday (09) none of it fun or sexy as it's pretty, unfortunately, misogynistic.

Being in an isolated area, like the cabin in the woods in DFF and Friday (09) is also not a requirement within the slasher sub-genre.

Many slasher films, especially American classics during the genres 80s peak, actually take place more often in suburbia rather than in isolated locations like the woods. Which reflected real world anxieties from predominately white communities and a turn towards more conservative politics of that era in America.

"Those same well-kept neighborhoods and quiet backyards of my childhood were also the battlegrounds of the ’80s horror movie, a radical pivot in the genre’s history. The decade’s opening years were bracketed by the kidnappings of Etan Patz (which inspired the Missing Kids on a Milk Carton program) and Adam Walsh (which inspired his father John Walsh to later create the TV show "America’s Most Wanted"). Combined with the conservative turn in crime and punishment law brought on by the Reagan administration, horror appeared to turn from the supernatural curses of the decade before ("The Exorcist," "The Omen") to a homegrown product of our own sins. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger are psychotic loons but also human beings who come not from afar but from down the street. The possibility that one of them could be lurking just beyond the sliding back door of a sleepover birthday seems too darkly delicious to pass up, a fictional killer standing in for a warning your parents and society gave you about “stranger danger,” real-life evil lurking in the dark." (source)

Isolated settings, while can be a setting in slashers are more often found in psychological horror films: The Strangers (2008), When A Stranger Calls (1979, 2006), Hush (2016). Also the Evil Dead (1981, 1987, 2013).

[The latter has it's own interesting history of wanting to be psychological body horror, to horror comedy cult classic, back to psychological body horror. Honestly if any franchise has influenced the "horror set in a cabin in the woods" it's Evil Dead, which is paid major homage to in Cabin in the Woods (2011).]

Sooooo is DFF a slasher?

Hm, for me, yes and no. Slashers require a high body count and pretty gory deaths. So far we've only had 3 deaths, only two of which were even committed by the killer themselves and not even by their own hand (ie directly).

For me, the slasher elements of DFF exist in the directorial styling of the film, meant invoke a classic slasher film but that's not where the true horror of the story exists.

I'm a big slasher fan, so I'm not trying to discount the sub-genre at all, lots of slasher films are good, and when done well, they're truly scary. But they also tend to be straight forward in design, the fear comes from the feature of being stalked by an unseeable and unstoppable force infiltrating what should be a safe space (your home, your school, your neighborhood, your camp grounds etc).

Which is why slasher films are also the most common horror sub-genre to be parodied (Scary Movie franchise) or made into horror comedies like Freaky (2020), The Final Girls (2015), Happy Death Day (2017), and Totally Killer (2023).

[sidenote slashers have this in common with the zombie sub-genre of horror as zombie films in America have also tended in recent years to be horror comedies or horror action like: Little Monsters (2019), Cooties (2014), Zombieland (2009), Pride Prejudice and Zombies (2016)]

I'd argue that DFF is much more in line with psychological horror than slasher horror. Because it is anything but straightforward and also has a strong emphasis on relationships and isolation as does most psychological horror.

Films like: It Comes At Night (2017), Us (2019), Perfect Blue (1997), A Tale of Two Sisters (2004), The Forgotten (2017), Dark Water (2002) all have similar elements in terms of tone as DFF.

The isolated setting, the allure of the mundane normality being a veneer for the violence lurking beneath the surface, the existence of the paranormal, the use of drugs to increase fear, the unsettling paranoia, and slow burn crawl towards all the characters being unteathered from themselves, the growing distrust between them and their loved ones, the plot twists and turns, the emphasis on human relationships and the horror that comes from those.

The backstory with Non is what pushed the show past slasher horror to psychological horror for me. Because Non's "downfall" as it were, feels more akin to the slow burn psych horror rooted in a lot of Japanese, Thai films/tv shows, and modern A24 style horror films.

The horror of Midsommar (2019) doesn't come from jump scares, or violence, but in slowly watching the protagonist grow more and more unteathered, mistreated, gaslit, more and more with each passing moment, slowly inducted into a horrific cult and being able to do nothing to stop her descent.

A big influence I saw in DFF was Girl from Nowhere (2018); the school setting, the crimes committed by a group of students against a singular student, class exploration, structural violence, the exploration of retribution are all topics explored in the first season of Girl from Nowhere.

Even the series trailer for GFN and the pre-release trailer for DFF are similar in production design and tone:

Titled "BFF" the two-part finale from season 01, is about a high school reunion, where a group of now established adults come back together for a party (their reunion) only to be confronted by their past via Nanno (the shows protagonist for lack of a better term).

Through Nanno we learn about the chars past misdeeds in high school - bullying, physical assault, stealing, the works - and their current crimes as adults. As more and more layers of the truth, lies, and betrayal are revealed, the friend group begins to crack, fracture and turn against each other, growing more and more paranoid and angry.

Nanno tells the group that they've also all been drugged with poison and there's only one vial of antidote left, the "friends" all horrifically murder each other in order to get the antidote. In the end, no one survives. EXCEPT, it was all a mass hallucinate and the group wakes up, remembering everything, and quietly leave one-by-one. No longer friends, no longer not-friends, everyone forever changed by the experience.

It's an unsettling ending that leaves things open ended. This group of friends were responsible for the bullying and death of Nanno (she's fine she's like immortal or something I'm pretty sure GFN was partially influenced by Tomie by Junji Ito) and they simply refused to acknowledge what they did to her, nor talk about her, eventually forgetting she existed until forced too through a traumatic retribution by Nanno herself.

[Nanno from Girl from Nowhere, Tomie from Junji Ito's Tomie series]

DFF has a lot in common, from my perspective, with GFN in terms of tone, themes and even parts of it's story.

Nanno isn't doling out "justice" she doles out retributions, punishments, sometimes they're outright torturous. Whether the recipients "deserve" these punishments or not, is really up to the viewer. The show does a good job of showcasing a wide variety of characters who are unrepentant, sympathetic, and somewhere in between. The fears it plays upon are more slow burn, it boils the characters rather than setting them on fire like slashers do.

DFF is similar in this aspect, it boils the characters. Watching Non's story, you already know at the start it's nothing good. We know from the first flashback something bad has happened to Non, but it's not really something, it's many things - so many things - that have led to whatever tragedy the main group must pay for.

It's these compounding factors one after another that brings Non to a boil, and the same thing happens with Tan/New. The horror of DFF is more about getting under the skin, causing the characters discomfort by forcing them to confront the sins they've committed (is there anything more horrific than being seen? Especially if you ugly?).

I mentioned Junji Ito in reference to Girl from Nowhere, to say Ito has been influential on horror feels like an understatement. His series Tomie has been adapted into 7 different Japanese films, he's won 3 Eisner awards (the highest award you can win in America for comics publishing), along with a slew of awards in Japan, his series Uzumaki has been referenced in super popular anime like Jujustu Kaisen.

A big factor of Ito's work is body horror and psychological horror. His work unsettles, and is very visceral. Since Uzumaki was referenced in DFF I think rather than being influenced by specifically Uzumaki (which DFF doesn't have much in common with in regards to general story) I'd argue the show is more influenced by Ito's desire to unsettle.

[from Uzumaki], 1998]

Also potentially to take symbols of piety, faith and protection (the temple, the cross at the chars high school) and turn them into places of horror for the characters.

Like Ito did with the spiral motifs in Uzumaki, said Ito in an interview:

"The "spiral pattern" is not normally associated with horror fiction. Usually spiral patterns mark character’s cheeks in Japanese comedy cartoons, representing an effect of warmth. However, I thought it could be used in horror if I drew it a different way." (source)

[I am also begging y'all to check out Junji Ito's book Cat Diary it's hilarious, even more so b/c his style of art is so rooted in horror]

I think DFF is actually very Thai in it's exploration of what's unsettling and horrific to youth culture in Thailand currently. The feeling of haplessness, judgement, an inability to exert control over one's circumstances, mental health, consent, bullying, these were themes and topics explored in both seasons of GFN but also some of these were explored in The Whole Truth (2021) a Thai horror/mystery film.

There's a scene in The Whole Truth in which one of the protagonists school friends secretly films their younger sister getting undressed without her knowledge, and when caught, the classmate threatens to release the clip publicly and claim the sister is "a slut". One of the protagonists is also bullied at school - including by this disgusting classmate who they still consider "a friend" - but puts up with it in order to be in a friend group at all (this bullied char also has a physical disability which contributes to their mistreatment at school).

I think DFF is exploring a lot of these same topics but most of the characters are just gay this time around.

Okay I'm losing steam here a bit, this has gotten very long, but overall I'd argue that DFF is much more psychological horror than a slasher, in terms of it's tone, and story. Whilst invoking slasher imagery in it's directorial style.

That said it's much more in line with Thai and Japanese horror than American horror in regards to it's themes. If the series was going to be boiled down just to the basics, I'd quantify it as psychological horror mystery.

And those are my thoughts on DFF and horror, I guess lol I'm not 100% satisfied with this but god damn I'm tired this took forever lmao if y'all made it this far, bless and stay safe out there cause the ship wars are wildin out in these parts.

Check out other posts in the series:

Film Making? In My BL? - The Sign ep01 Edition | Aspect Ratio in Love for Love's Sake | Cinematography in My BL - Our Skyy2 vs kinnporsche, 2gether vs semantic error, 1000 Stars vs The Sign | How The Sign Uses CGI | Is BL Being Overly Influenced by Modern Western Romance Tropes? | Trends in BL (Sorta): Genre Trends

[like these posts? drop me a couple pennies on ko-fi]

#dff the series #dff spoilers #dff meta #dead friend forever #dead friend forever the series #chaos pikachu metas #pikachu's bl film series #fuckin a this is long #almost ran through my entire final fantasy soundtracks playlist #and that's a lot of freaking final fantasy games

[phantomrose96]

I love space and how extreme and fucked up it always in when viewed by the human level, and I thought many times about making a story like 938 Seconds Per Second, but I would always stop myself finding holes like "would the transported items even be valuable after so many years?" or "wouldn't the technology become obsolete at the exact moment it worked and years passed?" or "what about the ways language would have changed?" and you didn't allow details such as these to stop you. You didn't even gave them a spot in the story because it thematically ruins it, and now I am thinking "why am I not allowing myself to indulge the whole point of fiction?" and I feel something slowly unloxking within me. Also as a fan of fucked up physics and morals in sci-fi, loved the work!!!!

(938 Seconds Per Second)

See, here's the thing for me! Questions like that DO occur to me. It's part of thinking through the world-building. But for questions like that, unless they have a spot in the story it's MORE important, in my opinion, to instead answer: Does it detract from the story at all if I simply don't explore those? Is there anything about those questions that fundamentally breaks the story? Is it actually impossible for those to have answers?

"Would the items still be valuable?" If you mean in terms of the money amount that trades hands, I figure Entente money is pinned to an inflation-free peg. It can trade into local currency when it exchanges hands, but the Entente value is specifically inflation free, and specifically for workers dealing in time dilation. If you mean will the buyer still WANT the items after being shipped for so many years, sure there's speculation buying something you won't get for 100+ years. But I figure for intergalactic trade that spans light years, all their trade exists on these massive timescales. To have created this trade culture means there are cultures willing to wait out the time. The very foundation of their trade expects this exact thing.

"Wouldn't the technology become obsolete?" Keeping in mind the speed of light is still the fastest anything can move, you would NEED something like the ship to even get technology across the universe. So even if advancement is fast somewhere, spread is slow. These ships are probably couriers OF technology spread. And sure, probably a bunch of independent places independently advance their own technology, but the ship still docks down with some frequency between missions. Maintenance and upgrades can be done during any of those dock-down periods.

"Changing language?" Sure I bet language changes all the time. But for an intergalactic trade relation culture which has built itself upon immense time-gaps, they could easily have standardized to a specific, and non-changing, language standard. All legal documents are written in the common language, and as new items and concepts come into being they're given standard names. And then among regular people--translator masks. I gave the doctor one. The technology for that practically exists already today with google translate and text to speech, so it's very believable technology.

OKAY SO, ...were any of those answers actually super important to 938sps? Was 938sps harmed by not digging in to those...? I don't think so. Because none of this actually mattered to the core of the 938sps story. As long as none of these things presented glaring, unfixable plot-holes to the story, then I'm good. My answers to these questions might still be full of holes and what-ifs. Hell I probably could have answered any of these with "eh I dunno" and that still doesn't impact 938sps.

I think all of that leaves just a lot of runway and play-space to expand on the world presented in 938sps. But having any of those stop me from even putting down the first word? No, they don't matter.

#938sps

[roseverdict]

Writing Commissions Open!

Hey howdy hey, guess who's broke and whose brain has latched on to the idea of getting a bike or a trike to get places other than the one (1) coffee shop in walking distance!

YEP. I need to open commissions.

However, I do have at least one thing going for me- I'm told I'm fairly good at writing things! Fanfic things, at least. While I'm not dumb enough to outright go "hey, pay me to write fanfiction," I figure I can at least point out some fanfics I've written that seem to have gone over well as examples of my work, since that's most of what I've got for proof of my skills.

x x

x

x x x

x x

x x

I'd show more, but Tumblr won't let me add more images, and even these fought me Tooth And Nail when I was trying to format them properly. Truly a functioning website.

Hopefully these kind of give an idea of the vibes I'm strongest with, too. Pricing and rules will be under the cut. I do have a target I'm trying to reach here, but depending on how well this goes, I might end up keeping commissions open indefinitely. We'll see. :D

DM me if you're interested!

Things I'm Comfortable Writing:

Original Storylines (Brief primer on the world/characters I'll be writing with will be required)

Things like the pieces shown on my AO3 account

OCs

Y/N-style pieces (both with and without the actual usage of "Y/N")

Mild Romance

Gore/Severe Injury

Body Horror

Whump

Look, if it's in the Danny Phantom phandom and basically nowhere else, I'm probably just fine writing it, despite its intensity xD

Things I Will Not Write:

Smut. There's no shame in enjoying it, I just. Don't.

Incest. Absolutely NONE. Even leaving aside the whole debate about whether or not people should ship incest ships, I would not be able to enjoy writing it, which would make the resulting work of low quality, which would be a huge waste of time for everyone involved.

Pedophilia- specifically, ships with a minor and an adult multiple years their senior. See above. 17yo x 18yo is pushing it, but depending on the circumstances, I might allow it. They aren't exactly in completely different phases of life there. However, I'm in my 20s and don't particularly want to think about or write about kids the age of my youngest brother dating people my age or older, you feel me?

Bigotry presented to the reader as a positive thing. I'm not gonna write your favorite heroic character declaring OOC that minorities are terrible people. If you want something from the POV of a character meant to be terrible, such as someone like Fire Lord Ozai in AtLA, however, I may be willing to write it.

I reserve the right to refuse any commission and not have to explain why. Person-to-person, though, this will likely only come up if someone tries to commission something that crosses these lines and refuses to acknowledge such.

Payment: 5¢ USD per word. This works out to…

$12.50 for 250 words

$25 for 500 words

$50 for 1K words

and so on.

I'll need half the payment up front as a deposit, then the rest upon completion. If, for whatever reason, I fail to write the commission, you will be refunded in full.

If you pay me for a given number of words, I will do my best to stick to it. I will make sure you at least get your money's worth, but if I just can't quite fit the writing into the given limit, I won't charge you for the extra words. Call it 100 words or so of wiggle room.

A commission for a fic 1K or larger that runs 100 words or less over the intended length will not cost extra

A commission for a fic between 500 and 999 words that runs 50 words or less over will not cost extra

A commission for a fic 499 words or below that runs 25 words or less over will not cost extra

A commission for a fic that has enough going on to run over that limit will result in me contacting you to ask for either a scaled-down plot or payment for the extra writing.

I will not consider calling a commission complete until I can hit the target wordcount at minimum.

If it should happen that I just can't make a scene stretch to the full wordcount, but you still want to keep what is written, the words that were not written will be refunded.

#writing commissions #writing comms open #id in alt text #atla #rottmnt #tmnt #gravity falls #gf #msa #mystery skulls animated #ninjago #steven universe #steven universe: future #animator vs animation #ava/m #sticks #su #suf #trike saga

[mysaldate]

Vil's agency and my worries for the upcoming event

Alright, time for another analysis, once again centered on Vil. Disclaimer to start with because people love to take what I said out of context: This post will have my worries about the upcoming Halloween event (Playfulland) which comes out in two days. It is entirely possible that I am wrong about what I'm going to say here but as I will hopefully explain in this post, there is a disturbing pattern regarding Vil and his agency as a character going on in the game which makes me worried this event will fall into the same routine. I am not claiming this event will absolutely 100% do what I outline here and I am not saying the event is bad before it even came out.

Side note before we delve into this, I already do not like this event visually, I find the style tacky and cheap and all over the place. However, I recognize some people enjoy it. This post is not about that, I will not be trying to make you dislike the event, and I expect the same respect back. Now, onto the analysis.

When seeing the previews and plot synopsis for the new event, something felt off to me, uncomfortably so. As some of you may already know, I am fairly sensitive to loss of agency in canon, especially for characters I relate to, because it reminds me of my own history of abuse. "Turning the characters into puppets" seems like a premise ripe with loss of agency and the wording of the synopsis as well as the promo video did little to elevate these concerns. Specifically when it came to Vil.

Now, I probably don't have to explain why the idea of Vil getting indulgent and forgetting about the real world and ending up a puppet of his desires goes against his entire character. Then again, the event isn't out yet so I can't tell for sure if that is what's going to happen. The synopsis seems to hint at it and given twst's past events, the ones to snap out of it will most likely be the SSRs or, at most, the story sr, which is Floyd. Then I began to think back on other events and cards Vil has and I came to a very disturbing realization: Vil gets punished for showing agency and rewarded for not having any. Allow me to elaborate.

In many of the stories Vil shows up in, we see a strange push to punish Vil for being active and taking charge of events or we see Vil being passive and reactive and getting rewarded for that. In the Sunset Savannah event, Vil doesn't want to go originally but is convinced and dragged along by Leona. He doesn't join the event because he wants to but because he's bribed to. During the event, he shows more agency and begins to be more active – which then results in him getting his ankle twisted. This isn't a one-off situation either. In Beans Day, Vil is very active and shows off his leadership skills as well as his amazing planning and prediction abilities. How does this pay off? Rook shows up out of nowhere and captures him, putting him out of the game. Once again, Vil had agency and then got punished for it. During Vargas Camp, Vil is once again on top of things. He is a leader, he is a wonderful outdoorsman, and he shows lots of agency. How does the game treat this? He is forced to forfeit his agency for weeks to Azul because we are meant to believe Vil and Trey – two of the most competent mages at NRC – would not be able to get by without Azul's help. Azul is the R in this event.

But it's not event SRs either. I have already talked about Vil's labcoat story previously but looking at it from the perspective of Vil's agency reveals something I didn't realize at first. By the time the game came out, Vil's foundation of the Film Research club was one of his biggest acts of agency we were directly confronted with. In Vil's labcoat story, he exercises further agency by going out of his way to prepare for an important shooting. How does the game treat this? He is gaslit and made to feel insecure by Rook to the point where he begins to skip meals. And how does he get out of this state? Does he do an introspection and realize Rook was just trying to manipulate and control him? Does he ask someone for a second opinion? No. He is approached by Trey who then convinces him to eat cake with him. Vil is not only punished for showing agency but also rewarded for giving his agency up and just doing what people tell him to.

Well, maybe that's just his SRs though. Surely in his SSRs where he is meant to be the main star, this isn't the case, right? Well... His dorm uniform story is about a magazine wanting an interview with him. Right off the bat, Vil is the reactive element here. Vil then puts together new schedules and begins to get his dorm in an even better shape – which gets him complaints and grumbles from everyone. He is punished for showing agency even though it is to the other students' benefit. Vil doesn't let up and exercises further agency by adjusting the meal and exercise plans to be personalized – and he gets Rook telling him that nobody cares anyway and he is just wasting his time. Yes, the dorm members quietly change their opinion of Vil but they never tell him. The only feedback Vil has is from Rook who is, once again, punishing him for having agency.

Vil's Scalding Sands SSR card doesn't have a story but that doesn't stop it from taking away any agency Vil might've had. Not only did he not actually visit Scalding Sands, he wasn't even the one to obtain the outfit. Rather, Trey brought it to him as a gift because Kalim's parents just gave it away. Mind you, this note was completely unnecessary. The only purpose it serves for Vil is making sure he doesn't have any agency at all after already taking away what could've been an interesting story.

And then we get to Halloween. The first Halloween event was a huge breath of fresh air for Vil. He is very active and shows tons of agency. Vil is part of the Halloween committee, he oversees costume themes and makeup, he is one of the key pieces of the plan to scare away the Magicamonsters, he shows more agency than he did in the rest of the stories altogether. What is the outcome of all this? Well, he is promptly kidnapped the following night, possessed by a ghost, and made to act shamefully in front of his friends. Wow. Complete mind-control and erasure of any hint of agency specifically for the reason of him having agency in the first event.

But I hear you, all of these are just events or cards, someone else might be writing them. There's no way this is how he's meant to be seen in the main story, right? Well... Not exactly. And to make one thing clear, I am not caught up on every single tweet Yana Toboso makes. I know people have been saying for months now that Vil is Yana's favorite character but I have yet to see any proof of the claim. It started around the time Vil's Scalding Sands SSR dropped and most of it back then read as jealousy. Whether or not that was the case, I cannot tell. If this is the treatment Vil gets as a favorite character, I just hope Yana never takes a liking to me (this is a joke).

The first time we really meet and interact with Vil in the main story in any sort of meaningful way and without him just being lumped up with the rest of the dorm leaders is in Book 2, and he is quickly ridiculed and mocked for showing agency in caring how he will look during the Magift tournament. And yes, I know the novel made tweaks to this set of scenes, the novel isn't canon to the game and it showed so on multiple occasions. So right off the bat, not a great start for Vil's agency as a character.

We barely see him after that up until Book 5. Now, I have a whole post about the meaning of Vil's overblot that you can read here but this time, I want to focus on something else about this chapter. This chapter is a masterclass on how to punish a character for showing agency. Vil is painted as unreasonable and over the top from the start, be it in providing legitimate criticism to the VDC tryouts or in getting upset at his agent for violating his boundaries and signing him up for roles he explicitly doesn't want to play. Both of these are treated by the story as flaws and issues when neither of them really is. Vil being strict with the other VDC group members is for their good as well as his own. And Vil setting up boundaries over which roles he is and isn't willing to take stems from his history of being typecasted and dehumanized for his casting (I go deeper into this in the other Vil analysis post). Both of these are healthy displays of agency, yet the main story frames them in a way that makes Vil seem unreasonable for doing these things.

Vil's agency brings him a temporary reward but that is immediately taken away when during the preliminary tryout performances, he is overtaken by an objectively mediocre performance. All his hard work, all his agency, is immediately thrown out the window for the sole purpose of making him feel miserable. Once again, he is punished for exercising his agency. What he does next and his overblot are exceptions to this as Vil used his agency to do something objectively bad and the resulting overblot is more of a natural consequence than a punishment (albeit I have my gripes with how the overblot was handled as well). The final nail in the coffin in book 5 came after the overblot when Vil, once more, exercised his agency to push through his pain and still perform. Not only was he punished for his efforts by losing the competition but he was then further berated for the overblot yet again (as well as being gaslit once again by Rook, this is nothing new).

I've heard some people say that Book 6 is good in this regard, that it gives characters agency and character development. I disagree with this claim. Vil, together with the other overblotees, is kidnapped and locked up, then used as test subjects. This is about as far removed from them having agency as can be, except perhaps the ghost possession plot earlier. There is some vague talk about having to sign a consent slip but 1) this is already ridiculous after having abducted them with the use of excessive force, and 2) we are never given any reason to believe signing was their choice and not something forced out of them. They are then experimented on and that's a whole mess that removes any and all agency from everyone present. The issue with Vil specifically is that in Vil's case, this has been a pattern for a while at this point. And then we get to the Shroud brothers overblotting... Saving the world because you would be one of the people dying if it ended is not agency and it is not character development. I know the chapter tried to give Vil and everyone else a "reason" to stop the overblot but that doesn't erase the fact that if they didn't, they would die. This isn't agency, this is having a sense of self-preservation. Even if some other version of them would get to live happily and get everything they ever wanted handed to them on a silver platter, it would not be them, and they would still be either dead or erased from existence altogether (this is a side note but how exactly would resetting the universe even work? Nothing else anywhere in the franchise suggests this is even an actual possibility. Even Malleus, one of the top five mages in the world could only lock away one island by using so much magic he overblotted. Book 6's plot breaks the worldbuilding in so many ways- but that's a tangent for another time).

The one and only moment of Vil having agency in book 6 comes when he jumps in to save Idia's life. And while Idia, who has been under the influence of Tartaros for way longer and spent so much more time in it, is perfectly fine, Vil gets "aged up" a hundred years. This is not only bad writing which makes no sense but also a tremendous punishment for Vil as someone who relies on his looks for several of his jobs as well as being someone who puts so much effort into his appearance. Of course, that is not even mentioning that the supposedly older version of him looks nothing at all like Vil, has a completely different body type and face structure, and is a nod to magical transformation and not aging. Vil showcased his agency and immediately got punished for it in the most horrendous way for the character. How does Vil get out of this situation? Does he utilize his vast knowledge of potions and magic to revert himself back? Does he figure out a way to curse himself to turn back to normal? Does he seek council with a powerful or knowledgable mage, perhaps a teacher? No. He cries at the beach and doesn't do anything and then Malleus comes around, snaps his fingers, and returns everything back. Vil is not only punished for showing agency, but he is once again actively rewarded for not having any.

So, why do I believe this event will involve loss of agency for at least some of the characters? Because Vil is involved and twst has made it a pattern to rid Vil of agency. Why am I worried about this event? Because every time Vil becomes active, he gets a slap in the face for his efforts and sometimes is even rewarded for just sitting there and looking pretty. This is not what I want from a character like Vil, or from any character really. At this point, Cinderella and Snow White from the original Disney movies had better agency than Vil because when they showed agency and took active hold of their parts in the story, they were adequately rewarded, not slapped in the face for it.

Now, I am sure this leaves you with some questions, so I will try to answer those I could come up with myself here. Why do I only mention Vil when other overblotees lost their agency in book 6 and had their agency treated as wrong in their books? Because none of them were quite like Vil. None of them got punished in a twist of bad writing for saving someone's life. And their negative agency was things that were actively harmful to others such as Riddle being an unreasonable tyrant kicking people out to sleep outside, Leona trying to murder people, Azul enslaving others, etc. Vil's negative agency throughout the chapter was setting boundaries for himself and expecting people to work for the money they hoped to win.

Why am I not talking about the other characters who got possessed? Because, for the most part, it was a once-and-done deal. Yes, some of them are now showing up in Playfulland (Cater, Jade, etc.) but these characters don't have a pattern of having their agency taken away or punished at nearly every opportunity.

Why do I harp on Rook so much? Because he's the textbook definition of a gaslighter, he constantly puts Vil down, he's often used as a tool to punish Vil's agency, he actively tries to isolate Vil from other people and make him doubt his own perception, and because he thinks it is his place and his place only to judge and punish Vil for whatever he deems incorrect. And just in case I need to stress this, which I shouldn't, I am an abuse victim. I went through literal decades of gaslighting paired with other types of mental and physical abuse. Rook's wording, actions, and general patterns of behavior, are all things that hit so close to what I experienced that he used to be a legitimate trigger for me, and still makes me incredibly uncomfortable. This is, of course, not to say you cannot like the character. But denying what he does and mocking abuse victims for speaking out about their experiences isn't the same as enjoying a problematic character. The way Rook is brings active harm both to Vil as a person and to his agency, which is to be expected of a character like this.

I would like to close this up by saying that I am aware these may be conscious choices to showcase how resilient Vil can be, how he never gives up in the face of adversity, and how he perseveres in spite of all these horrific things happening to him. But at some point, it gets tiring to see your comfort character get beaten down on every turn. It gets depressing to see him never succeeding and always getting hurt or abused for just being active and taking charge of his own life. There are ways to show resilience that don't involve punishing every time a character shows agency. There is also no reason to punish that but then reward loss of agency. When Vil gives up and stops trying, that should not be the moment things start going well. Malleus shouldn't have to swoop in and magically restore Vil's youth when Vil just passively accepted that he is just going to look like this now and, if the accident truly aged him and didn't just transform his body (which would make a lot more sense), possibly die within the next few weeks or months.

Ultimately, I do not like how twst treats Vil. I hope to see this improve but I wouldn't count on it. It's not so bad that I want to leave the game over it but it is a part of what worries me about the stories to come, especially with the new event and book 7 and what they probably have in store. For now, I will remain cautiously optimistic and hope it at the very least won't be as bad as book 6.

If you've read this far, thank you so much, I appreciate you, feel free to let me know your thoughts, preferably in a polite and civilized manner. I'm down to discuss many parts of this but there are also a few that I don't see myself budging on (such as gaslighter Rook). For the most part tho, I am always happy to talk to people about my analyses and takes on things pertaining to my fandoms. Thank you again for your attention and I'll see you next time something gives me this much of a brainrot.

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #vil schoenheit #twst vil #analysis #twst analysis #twst leaks #twst spoilers #spoilers #character analysis #playfulland event #twst playfulland #twst halloween

[elbiotipo]

Someone in the notes on your post about food in fantasy mentioned connection between at least early modern production of sugar and colonialism and slavery, and while I 100% agree that it's something that should be known, I think that if you want to have lighthearted fantasy setting there are definitely ways to work around this.

Like sugar is also produced from sugar beet. I don't know could it be done without modern equipment (production started at the very end of 18th century so while industrial equipment was primitive it was), but like you may do something with it, like some wizards developing production technology.

In the same vein, crop exchange in the Old World was mostly peaceful, or at least it wasn't due to slavery. Like rice was already grown in Egypt in 1000 BCE and made its way to Spain by 7th century CE. Bananas were grown in Turkey by 15th century CE. And tons of agricultural goods come from West Asia both ways. What I am trying to say is that if your world has equivalent of Americas your Europeans* could have just acquired potatoes and corn without colonization (because they were more ethical than irl or because they didn't have resources for conquest or because American nations were strong enough to stop them). Like potatoes and such are just crops, sailors could have picked them as a supplies and then someone decided to grow them at home.

This is like a suggestion specifically if you want to have a world for costume drama without dealing with heavy themes. I would suggest describing it specifically to point that out, and I can't say that it's very politically aware but definitely not worse than "they just have it" or "yes there are overseas colonies but pay it no mind".

*Because that's usually the case in examples that are discussed, from what I heard East Asian fantasy set in East Asia also suffers from this for the same reason, but I didn't read enough of it to say

Let me say you make real good points and I broadly agree with you. I do think the history of colonialism and where our foods came from is important (I do research that so no doubt). And I also agree that sometimes, those themes are too difficult to board properly, especially in a lighthearted story.

However, in fiction, it's not so much that I want people to do more "clean" ways of getting those crops. Many people told me "well, what if they get it through trade, or what if they got it through magical portals and such" my point is not that you find a "colonialist free" way to have potatoes in your setting, my point is that every crop in real life has a history behind them, and when you place them in your setting, I think you should consider that. Not only because you will learn about real life and its history, but also because of the storytelling potential.

I mean, I do have "worldbuilding fundamentalist" in my bio, and I think even if you don't sketch the entire world, you should at least know where your heroes are. Much of modern fantasy loves to adopt the "medieval" aesthetic, while in fact presenting a world with widespread trade, urbanization, a growing artisan class, etc. (I've done a longer rant about it here). Those things aren't just aesthetic choices, they are different societies that have different dynamics and they do affect the kind of plots and characters you might make on them.

I don't think fantasy should shy away from exploring themes such as imperialism and colonialism, trade and politics, intercultural contact and social change. One reason why I'm so insistent with the theme of crops and trade is that it's because it's emblematic of those issues. Sure, you don't want to explain the potatoes or chocolate in your setting, whatever. Don't you WANT to, though? Don't you want to explore beyond the pseudo-medieval aesthetic, and explore what an American or African -inspired setting might look like? Of course, you could and should also make your own new settings, but exploring actual history, geography, biology (at the broadest term, natural history) will make you a better worldbuilder and a better writer, AND also let you learn more about the world.

Sorry if this rant is a bit unfocused, just woke up from a nap after some wine, but this is why I'm so insistent with the stories that can arise just by considering the crops in your setting. Imagine what else can you write.

#worldbuilding #fantasy #writing

[ellimisms]

Concept: D&D homebrew oneshot based off Animorphs where you each play as one of the main characters of the Animorphs series.

The morphing system would be a modified Wild Shape mechanic, altered to two ends: first, to better fit the book's lore, and second, to make class factor into it more so each character is more unique. Probably each character would be able to use some of their class actions (just for an example, Action Surge for fighters or Rage for barbarians) while in morph, and morphing would restore hit points to 100%.

There would be a skill check associated with morphing--it'd be a Wisdom-based skill that you could gain proficiency in. Roll at advantage when using a familiar morph or becoming another human, disadvantage for things you're scared of or morphing while badly injured. Do a morphing check whenever you're in a new morph for the first time to see if you can get control of it; the actual number to beat is up to the GM based on what the animal is.

Also there would have to be some sort of mechanic to prevent TPKs--the main crew has a LOT of plot armor in the books because they can't die (until the end), so there'd need to be something to keep the PCs alive. Maybe if you "die" you don't actually perish, but instead something very bad happens to the party (you get infested, maybe?)

Infestation would be another new mechanic, though a pretty simple one; if a PC gets infested, the GM just starts controlling that character as the yeerk. The player can try to interrupt what the yeerk's doing, but has to roll a nat 20 with disadvantage (no bonuses from skill proficiencies)--it's supposed to be nearly impossible in the books so that's fairly lore-consistent.

In terms of the actual characters you can play:

Jake: Fighter, probably Battle Master subclass as that's more strategically focused. Not much else to say to be honest--I think he'd be proficient in persuasion, since he's supposed to be a good leader.

Marco: Rogue, maybe? Frankly his strengths don't match up with a specific class--maybe multiclass rogue/bard or fighter/bard because I know for a FACT he can and does cast vicious mockery.

Rachel: Barbarian for SURE, probably the Berserker subclass though I find the idea of her being a Wildheart pretty funny and thematically accurate.

Cassie: Probably a Druid or Beast Master ranger--I'm not sure where I stand on allowing caster classes since that doesn't exist in the real world but neither does morphing. Which one she is just depends on that.

Tobias: Who even KNOWS with this guy. Since he's stuck in morph it matters less, but I'd actually go with warlock--his patron is the Ellimist, since he's the one who seems to be able to argue with the Ellimist the most. It's either that or sorcerer, but he doesn't really gain any powers from his andalite bloodline so that seems less accurate.

Ax: Fighter, but it'd be different because he is an andalite. Just off the top of my head I'd make him be able to deal slashing damage on an unarmed attack (maybe just make his unarmed attack count as a sword attack) and increase his movement speed.

A group could also choose to discard these characters and play as a bunch of original characters if they so chose.

Anyways I'm probably the only person in the world that cares enough about both Animorphs and D&D to create this but oh well have fun.

#no im not sure this would work at all in practice but its fun to think about #yes im in my ttrpg hyperfixation era dont talk to me. dont #animorphs #ell.txt

[alastyr-not-alastair]

*breaks through your window*

Have you ever wondered how steves are born? i mean like, we all have our headcanons and many of them are pretty similar but who wants to hear mine now

well if you're still reading you probably want to

So this one i'm making specific to my fanfic Sins of the Forefathers (i promise guys im still working on it, i jsut wrote the first chapter without making an outline and now i actually have to write a whole story) just because I think it’s silly, there’s no real reason and I don’t think that it’ll end up being some major plot point or anything so I can share without spoilers!

currently there are 2 big headcanons around, 1 of them being from a bit that states that steves reproduce using diamonds, and the other one being that the energy around the place can gather into one spot until theres so much that it creates a new steve

theres also... mpreg but i'd rather NOT

so naturally i combined them

To create a child you will need a diamond and at least 2 parents that are (preferably) of the same colour! the parents need to pour in a considerable amount of their energy into the diamond to create a new steve, while the diamond acts as a sort of vessel to hold onto their power. if this was tried WITHOUT the diamond, the energy would just dissipate into the air.

This ritual leaves the parents depleted of their own energy, which is why sometimes there will be more than 2 parents, just so that the load is lighter for them. Typically, the energy split isn't 100% even, so one parent may have put in a slightly larger amount of their own energy, this usually leads to the kid being closer to that parent in shade and power type/level.

When theres a third parent introduced for the sole reason of allowing the first 2 to not have to lose so much energy, they typically only gve a small amount of their own. Not enough to influence the child but enough that the parents wont be left EXHAUSTED afterwards. When theres a third parent because they also want to be a parent and have a kid, its once again a mostly even split between all of them

This all continues no matter how many parents you introduce into the mix

now the diamond! as the energy is put into the diamond, the core of it starts to become almost like a star, a core that is keeping the energy circulating and moving inside of it until it starts to create a living being. From then on, the diamond acts as an egg.

the kid inside will slowly use up the diamonds carbon from the inside out, as the energy poured into them combines with the energy that the diamond is absorbing from the general area as well. The diamond will slowly start to slightly change colour and go opaque.

The closer that the diamond egg is to people, the faster it'll hatch simply due to it absorbing energy left in the air that people give off.

The core continues to eat away at the diamond from the inside as a steve forms in there. At this point of their lives they don't need to worry about any food or water or anything because of the fact that they're still only feeding off the energy in the universe.

Once enough energy has been absorbed, the diamond shell that's left over will start to crack and fracture. The cracks will be more like something is expanding out of it rather than just breaking out. The first crack will always be the loudest as it is when the most energy is let out. At that point the kid can come crawling out the diamond and BOOM! you have a child!

A couple thoughts more that i have that im not sure where to put in:

the steves are a carbon based race due to the fact that diamonds are entirely carbon

a new hatch will be like, the size of a large hand. They grow fast once they're out

the way they're made is quite literally like a new star, and that first crack is their supernova. they basically go through the life cycle of a star before they're even born

different colours can technically have children together but it doesn't always have the intended result. Most times the energy they pour in isnt compatible so it... makes the diamond blow up....

if they do manage to succeed, the kid will be one colour or the other, as the energy of the parent who poured less energy would slowly get converted into something the other parents is more compatible with

In the case of Rainbow Steve:

So he’s an unnatural abomination of a Steve, we all know that, right?

If you didn’t, you do now bc he’s canonically made of like 5 people

Rainbow Steve was in fact made the traditional egg way, but the outputs of the energy put into the diamond had to be made so precise it wouldn’t go one way or another. He would also then have been required to be put in an environment where all the outside energy would not influence what colour he turned out to be.

The way this was done was it was completed one person at a time. Each person first had to learn to manipulate their own energy into a spare vessel with a measuring tool in it, and once it was measured to be exactly 1/7th of the total energy they would all put in, they would have to carefully manipulate the energy in an environment where there’s no extra energy swirling around, and put that into the diamond

Rinse and repeat the process 7 times and you have a rainbow egg hopefully, which would then be carefully fed equal amounts of all energy in a sealed off room. Eventually Rainbow Steve would hatch from it and all the scientists would breath a collective sigh of relief

A pretty normal way to make him honestly, but the constant feeding of the egg exhausted the scientists pretty fast, so eventually they just made a filtering system that would store the energy they let off naturally and use that to give to the egg

Also all the scientists fell in love with each other during their time there, it’s canon I said so

#of course it’s canon they’re literally my ocs I can do what I want with them #i just think it’s neat #their biology is meant to be strange and confusing #light Steve is a whole other thing #he just appeared as a teen when rainbow was split apart bc of the over abundance of blue energy inside of Rainbow Steve #favremysabre #steve saga #rainbow steve #sins of the forefathers #headcanon #hcs

[gamerbearmira]

I'm so happy you liked the resident evil 8 Au! I totally agree that Miranda's new favorite is Mirabel (mostly because she has no obvious mutation and also partially because she's one of the few lords that isn't completely sterile I'm pretty sure most of them are Mirabel doesn't care but Miranda thinks it means she was a more perfect almost vessel and she is a physical embodiment of how far she's come) and I was thinking the same thing about her ability around moths and butterflies I was also thinking that she would be able to make her own silk kinda like a moth/butterfly and she can use the strands to cut like knives or simply make clothes depending on what she wants to do with it. I think the idea of the wings being dragonfly wings is amazing! I am imagining her true mutated form is very insectoid-like and she tries to keep it hidden from her family as much as possible. I agree that Miranda sprung it on her with her family showing up at random but I was thinking instead of Mirabel being the one to infect them it was Miranda or Miranda told her to do it because I feel like Mirabel thinks that she's cursed and is a monster for being what she is. I think their gifts go wonky like sometimes they work sometimes they don't think because it's protecting them from mutating. I think the relationship with Donna is spot on I don't think Monroe would try to manipulate Mirabel I feel like karl would do that a little more. I think also that Alcina at one point was fostering Mirabel when she was younger (only while her house was being built) so she saw her as another daughter until Miranda took her away which makes me think that she would be a little jealous of Julieta/entire family. 100% agree that in her mind her little portion of the village was like a miniature encanto and she treated it as such making hers the most prosperous and the most healthy area I imagine that she has a orphanage kind of near her house that she runs and keeps employed and stocked on things I imagined to try and keep loneliness at bay before her family showed up that she had maids she obviously has no extreme punishments for simple mistakes and allows them to frequently visit home and see their families and actually pays them well she of course is also forced to do experiments somewhere in the house like the other Lords and I think she has a basement specifically meant for that and she blocks the rest of her family from going to it. Speaking of the encanto I imagine that Miranda actually did a mass kidnapping to try and bolster the numbers in the village and to try and clean up a little bit of the bloodlines in the village. With the Ethan situation I think she would obviously try and petition for him to go to her house in the beginning but Miranda obviously does not allow it and she tries to help him as much as she can from the shadows until he gets to her house from there it went exactly how you put it.

OF COURSEEE I FREAKIN LOVE RESIDENT EVIL. I literally beat 5 and 6 with my friend, have watched a ton of play throughs, and am currently playing 2 and 3 (remake). You could say I like it a lil <333

ANYWAY I'M GLAD YOU AGREE❗❗ I mean she's always associated with butterflies, so why not associate her with bugs in general? At least in this au. I chose moths and butterflies as the main, but really it's a multitude of them. Also making her own silk, very cool 🤭🤭 you think when she'd make clothes and they'd just straight up be like armor because it's strong 😭😭 I mean it's strong enough to slive through things.

Karl probs would manipulate her, but she's just not with trying to take her down, even though he's constantly plotting against Miranda. I only say Moreau is manipulative because he tried to make Ethan feel bad for him and then tried to kill home boy (fun fact, that ENTIRE fight couldn't been avoiding if Ethan just took the flask from the window and dipped. What aas he lingering for anyway 😭😭)

Miranda forcing or honestly infecting the family herself would make sense. I imagine she tried to use the Madrigals as experiments, especially Antonio. And I wouldn't be surprised that of the villagers taken, Miranda just took a bunch of villagers to experiment on. Any that miraculously survived probably got dumped back into Mirabel's village. Which I'm glad you agree she thinks of as a Little Encanto <333 Mirabel HATES doing experiments, and especially after Julieta comes, does her best to heal the survivors and send them on their way. She doesn't like it, and outs it off as often as she can 🌚

Her final form being insect like is so cool 👁👁 I can't draw monster to save my life, but I can attempt ❗❗ again, just a mixture of a multitude of bugs. No eyeballs. Idk what it is with Resident Evil and eyeballs, they freak me out EVERYTIME without fail. I think she rarely uses it; it's a lot small than the others forms, but still pretty decently sized. She definitely hides that side from her family, heck she probably hides it from herself 🥸

Also silly idea. Miranda did probably make Casita just. Collapse, I mean it's a house and it's MIRANDA. I imagine all of the Madrigals have some kind of injury from the event, and if they did, they tried to argue with Mother Miranda (despite Mirabel's protests) and learned the hard way that she doesn't tolerate stuff like that and "punushes" them. She doesn't kill them, because she know that would break little Mirabel's heart, so she keeps them alive, but essentially silwnces the Madrigals.

Lady D being jealous is so real 😭 yeah, she's got her own daughters, but there's something different about Mirabel. Maybe it's because she so small and cute, maybe ut's vecayse she got to actually play some role in actually raising her, I mean her three daughters were technically adults, and Mirabel was only a kid. I think the Dimitrescu sisters and Mirabel do get along to some degree, considering they're both somewhat bug related. But only so close 😀

Mirabel genuinely trying to care for her part of the village is sweet <33 she really does try and give these people the lives she knows they'll never truly have. She visits the orphanage several times a week. And despite how gloomy and decrepit the village it, Mirabel's just a little bit brighter. And Mirabel DEFINITELY tried to take Ethan. But Karl just had a bit more sway than her, and Miranda knows of Mirabel's habits of "letting people go". Mirabel knew better than to argue, so after she was reprimanded by Miranda, she piped down. Lady D hated Karl a little but more after that. Imagine how surprised Ethan is when he gets to her part of the village, and she just so easily gicws up the heart flask of Rose 😭 and Mirabel HELPS HIM. He trusts her more than the Duke probably 🗿 Maybe when Mirabel can't directly help him, she sends out her family members to deliver "packages" (typically it's just something to help heal or some spare ammo she had swiped from Karl).

I LOVE THIS AU SO MUCH OMG IT'S GONNA STAY ON MIND 🤧🤧🤧

#my asks #my asks are open #encanto #encanto au #au #encanto mirabel #encanto alma #encanto antonio #encanto isabela #encanto Pepa #encanto Julieta #encanto Agustín #resident evil 8 #resident evil village #resident evil au #karl heisenberg #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu #salvatore moreau #donna beneviento

[acourtofthought]

I have some questions for ya.

For Elain to be the cauldron's favorite, this must lead to something in her book. Are there any implications of being "cauldron's favorite" aside from her powers? If so, what are they?

For Lucien and his identity as Helion's son, how do you think Lucien will find out and come to terms with being the heir of the HL of Day Court? To what extent will this affect his relationship with other characters (himself, his mate, family, Tamlin, NC, Feyre, etc.)

Vassa will return to Koschei, what do you think she can do during her captivity? How does Jurian fit into the narrative? (his role essentially and his potential actions)

Will we see more of Tamlin? Side character appearance to Lucien's story? Potential ending for him?

Lastly, do you think one book can satisfactorily resolve the stories of all these characters? Feel free to be as honest as possible.

P.S. These questions are just hyping me up for the next book because I'm really sure Elain's book is next.

I actually don't think the Cauldron will be a major plot point in Elain's book though I do think it will come into play in the next "series" SJM contracted for (which I think is still part of the ACOTAR world but with a focus on the Valkyrie / Illyrians / Autumn Court, maybe even the Seraphim).

In one of her Live interviews, SJM made the comment that there will be consequences to Nesta changing her and Feyre's anatomy. I think that has less to do with consequences for she and Feyre specifically and has more to do with her actions awakening the Cauldron which might have sent out some sort of pulse into the universe. We know the Midgard Asteri are now dead but they had always been searching for survivors on other worlds. Since we also now know the Daglan / Asteri tied themselves to the Cauldron, it makes some sense that it would act as a Beacon to the other Asteri in the universe, calling them back to Prythian where there is this cache of power waiting for them.

But plotwise, I don't think we're there yet. While I think it's evident SJM is setting up for more world walking, currently the people in their world are still trying to recover after the war with Hybern, trying to redraw the boundaries and territories, trying to secure peace among themselves. Throwing time travel plots into the very next book then wrapping it up with Elain and Lucien, Koschei, Beron and the treaty (things not connected to time travel) seems backwards since world walking / time travel seems a much larger story, a more epic journey that might end in some sort of crossover battle with not only the ACOTAR characters but characters from Midgard, the Princes of Hel, maybe the TOG characters.

So for Elain's book, I don't think her connection to the Cauldron will be a major plot point outside of our knowledge that it wanted to give her gifts and those gifts will be important in helping her resolve the open ended plots in SF (Tamlin, Beron, Koschei, the treaty etc).

I go back and forth on Lucien and his heritage. I think he may have always suspected he was not Berons' son but did not automatically jump to Helion as his father. Helion only became HL of Day UTM, after Amarantha killed it's previous HL and most of his family so I do think Lucien's Day powers / markers of a future HL have only recently been appearing for him. I think there's a chance, since the end of ACOMAF, he's now begun putting things together but still isn't 100% sure. I could see Elain having had a vision of Lucien in Day, maybe she'll be the catalyst for him finally understanding the full truth? Maybe when he and Eris resolve their past issues with one another, Eris will know and he'll be the one to confirm?

As with mostly everything that is thrown Lucien's way, I think he would easily step into whatever it all means for him. He's stepped up even when nobody asked him too and maybe this will finally lock something in place for him, the sense of truly having a purpose rather than being doomed to the life of a drifter.

I don't think there's much Vassa will be able to do during her captivity though I think once freed, she'll definitely play a role in helping defeat Koschei. Jurian, I think, will be with Elain and Lucien on their travels to the continent. He'd play the same role that the IC did for Feyre at times, Gwyn and Emerie for Nesta at times. While I don't think he'll be the main focus, SJM always finds a way to give humans a purpose even when alongside fae or other characters with magic (i.e. Nesryn, Chaol, Yrene).

Yes to Tamlin. Spring has been a main focal point for a few books now, the people without leadership, that Beron is looking to take over it's land, how the NC needs Spring's army as an ally. There is no better time for SJM to resolve his arc than in an Elucien book especially as his relationship with Lucien has been strained this whole time.

At the end of it all, I'm not sure I see Tamlin staying High Lord. He's neglected his people for far too long and if the magic can giveth, I imagine it can taketh away. It's a position he never wanted in the first place and I could see him stepping into the role of general of the Spring army.

And yes, I do think an Elucien book could resolve the major plots laid out in SF and even a few in HOFAS. I think they can secure the peace treaty, restore Spring, kill Beron, and bring back the dying lands of the world (the Bog / the Prison) / cure the illness plaguing the Pegasus, setting up Lucien as High King to maintain the peace across the fae and human territories. I think that would then be a natural way for SJM to transition into the future of the ACOTAR series which would deal with time travel / world walking. Where once the climate in the rest of their world is settled, the NC can deal with the Illyrians, the Valkyrie can continue training not only themselves but other females so they become a true elite female fighting unit (I don't see them having Pegasus of their own until the illness affecting the foals is cured, Helion only has a few breeding pairs and I doubt he'd risk sending them into battle and having them completely wiped out). I think Merrill would be one of the next villains, a catalyst for trying to helping other surviving Asteri / Daglan enter their world and that would prompt some in the IC to world walk in an effort to stop them / joining characters from other series to fight "space" battles so their own worlds remain protected.

#elucien #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #acotar theory #acotar 5 #acotar 6

[lemonhemlock]

So I don't know how unpopular of an opinion this is lmao, since I am a dirty neutral and not on either team green or team black, but the perception of Otto from both sides is very interesting and weird to me. This is related to your other asks about how the fandom refuses to engage with the medieval feudal setting and is constantly projecting modern sensibilities. I see Otto get called one of the worst men in the series, a pimp, etc. and I just.....don't get it? And do not see it that way.

Noble parents' main job was quite literally to make the best marriage match possible for their kids. Why settle for a mere lord/minor noble when Otto could get the literal king of the 7K for his daughter? Yes, he was quite older than her (in the show, in the book the age gap was not a big deal at all she was 18 and Viserys 30 iirc), etc. but a vast majority of nobles would want an older king for their daughter than a young minor noble that doesn't bring much to the plate? Is it fair to the kids? Who may want to marry for love, or a more age appropriate match? Sure, but......marriage is a business deal, a way to bring two houses together and merge bloodlines. Also, just realistically, a lot of these nobles' daughters in real life would have preferred a wealthier, more powerful noble or a minor lord as well. A woman's power is first derived from her father, and then her husband.

I'm a history buff and have read/studied this time period since I was a pre-teen and have been watching historical dramas for decades at this point. Otto really isn't some unique 'evil' or an 'evil' at all, he played the game and won by nabbing a king for his daughter. For a franchise built off of smartly 'playing the game of thrones' it's hilarious how Otto is demonized for this by both teams. Also, how was Otto supposed to predict that Viserys would be the one king in the history of monarchy in the 7K to pass over multiple trueborn sons for his faildaughter (Rhaenyra still being heir after Aegon's birth is nothing but the most unrealistic, laughable, Mary Sue plot armor by GRRM lol). For all intents and purposes, Otto should have won and Hightower blood should have gone to sit the throne for generations.

No, I quite agree with you, anon, and argued the same in the past. Otto is far from the moustache-twirling villain the fandom paints him as. He is also a second son and he has to hustle for his social status to an extent. Yes, his family is rich and that will take him far in society, but he does actually hold a job. His daughter marrying the King is quite the victory. Of course, like you said, he couldn't have known that Viserys would really keep Rhaenyra as the nominal heir - even in the show this is specifically shown to be not expected in the slightest, not just by Otto, but by the court as well. And, of course, he couldn't have known that show!Viserys would turn into the ultimate leper and have half his face fall off by the time of his agonising death. When Viserys married Alicent, he seemed a healthy man, not decrepit at all, reasonable and with a kind and jolly disposition.

Was this 100% in Alicent's benefit? Of course not, we've seen a version of her on screen that painfully suffered in a society that doesn't allow for the exploration of her sexuality. But it very well could have gone differently. In the books, there is a smaller age difference, Viserys' weight causes him health issues, yes, but he isn't actively decomposing, Alicent isn't a lesbian woman pining after her step-daughter, who is quite a different age than her, and she doesn't seem so miserable in her marriage to Viserys. He also doesn't continuously ignore his children with Alicent; at least with Helaena and her children he maintains a warm relationship, so there's no reason to think he was pretending his other three sons don't exist.

Does that mean that book!Viserys' marriage with book!Alicent was perfect, to completely exonerate Otto? Probably not, he still didn't name Aegon his heir, but it's a different, ~better outcome than the show, at least for the duration of Alicent's stint as queen consort.

#ask #anon #otto hightower #alicent hightower #viserys i targaryen

[bonefall]

i absolutely ADORE the concept of hollyleaf being fallenleaves through time travel shenanigans but i’m having a trouble understanding how, would you mind explaining it in more detail?

Sure! Here's the old fragments if they'd be illuminating, but here, the plot beats of Hollyleaf's Century so far!

Sol is the God of Autumn, of change, of rules, and of games.

His previous vessel was Harry. Right now he's more interested in Hollyleaf.

Story opens up with the cave-in. Hollyleaf is going to be crushed.

So, instead, Sol changes the time around them. Holly does not know this, but he has dragged her over 100 years into the past.

She's found by a cat named Broken Shadow.

Broken Shadow nurses her back to health and adopts her, introducing her to the Shadow Family, teaching her the language, and introducing her to society, as a parent does.

The Lake Cats find her name strange, Hollyleaf, and start calling her Hollyleaf Shadow, but she insists instead it is Holly Leaves.

"Ah, we see we see :)"

The Lake at this point was almost completely forested, Holly used to think the Ancient Oak was special but... now she wonders if that's how big all trees are supposed to be.

There are three societies around the Lake. The Shadow Family belongs to the Tiger Kinship, there's also a Lion Kinship and a Leopard Kinship.

These groups largely interact peacefully.

then everything changed when the Victorians attacked lmao

Environmental destruction I'm still working out, you know what, I'm gonna mark this

(MIDDLE SECTION IS STILL UNDER A LOT OF CONSTRUCTION, THIS SECTION IS THE MOST SUBJECT TO CHANGE, I HAVE NOT WORKED OUT THE POLITICS YET)

First things first; the Lake is shrinking. The Leopard Kinship becomes aggressive as they have less fishing territory.

Why? The river beyond what-is-now RiverClan territory is being forcefully tamed, straightened to flow fast through the town and for conversion into farmland.

This makes the water flow faster and spend less time in the Lake, both making the river itself more dangerous and shrinking the Lake.

The quarry is set up what is now ThunderClan's camp. It's likely a sandstone quarry specifically.

Slurry was dumped into the river between what-is-now ThunderClan and WindClan territory. This is before that gorge dried up.

Lake is slowly poisoned. Dust from the quarry degrades the nearby forest.

When the logging begins, Holly Leaves gains authority. Using the power vested in her by Sol, she starts leading attacks to bring all cats under her power so they can fight the humans.

To oppose her and the humans, 3 heroes appeal to the other seasonal gods. That's Jay's Wing, his twin Dove's Wing, and Lion's Roar.

(Insert political drama I'm still teasing out)

The important thing about this drama is that it MUST go back to Holly Leaves being obsessed with control and punishment, dedication to her code of ethics that don't matter to this society, devolving the tense alliance of the Three Kinships into infighting.

This infighting eventually leads to Jay's Wing's death, drowning in the lake in some sort of gambit.

His god, Rock, is in absolute despair over this.

Dove's Wing is distraught. Lion's Roar is enraged. Holly Leaves' power dissipates.

They insult her by calling her Folly Leaves. "Great job saving us all, Folly Leaves."

The Lake is destroyed, the forest is gone, except a tiny patch where Jay's Wing was buried. Humans pass right by it, like they can't even see it.

There's nothing left.

Holly keeps trying to demand they stay, trying to force them to remain... and Dove Wing probably has to put her down, to save the survivors.

(AND NOW WE'RE BACK TO SOLID GROUND)

After this, Dove Wing renames herself to Half Moon. A broken half of a pair, to signify how she will never be whole again.

Half Moon goes on to found the tribe, and Folly Leaves is alone.

"At least I still have my god"

"I'm bored now Holly lmao have fun byee"

Sol kicks her spirit out of her own body, and returns to the future, expecting her to fade away over the course of the following century. He leaves her for dead, essentially.

Alone, in despair, and overwhelmed by guilt, Hollyleaf can only imagine her family for comfort.

Over the decades, she begins to forget her own name. Hollyleaf, Holly Leaves, Folly Leaves, Fallen Leaves... she can't remember which one was correct. Are any of them right?

She watches the Lake wither, to the point where even the humans can't live there.

And then... she watches it recover too. Slowly becoming the home of her childhood.

The whole time, she's waiting for her family to come home.

One day, with no warning, a young Squirrelpaw, Brambleclaw, and Crowfoot tumble into her hole.

She remembers an old story her mother taught her once, of a StarClan Warrior who passed on a prophecy that reunited them after they had been scattered.

"When the great storm brews, meet together where the dusk begins and the sun drowns."

She begins to remember things. And she remembers, SOL NEEDS TO BLEED.

Years later she FINALLY gets her chance. She sees her own body guiding a couple of apprentices into the tunnels, and leaps out of the shadows, catching her neck in her teeth.

Sol can't believe she's STILL HERE he expected her to DIE

TIME LOOP COMPLETE, Fallen Leaves has her body back.

After this, she declares that her name is Fallenleaf!

...probably because she doesn't remember it was actually Hollyleaf and she guessed wrong. But it stuck.

And that is the story of Hollyleaf's Century... so far, and how Fallen Leaves IS Hollyleaf through Time Travel Shenanigans.

#Fallenleaf #Bonefall Hollyleaf #Hollyleaf's Century #Bonefall Rewrite