#would actually be a really cool way to tell this story

[sl-vega]

Hi Vee, I would like to request a sick! gn reader with some of the genshin characters (Yae Miko, Wanderer, Albedo, and Kazuha) where reader can’t really talk all to well cause of said sickness. What sort of shenanigans would ensue as our dear reader tries to communicate. It’d also be really cool if the reader knew a bit of sign language and tried to communicate that way (your choice on whether the characters know it or don’t). Have a lovely morning/day/evening!

NOW I'M (LOVE)SICK

pairings: Yae Miko, Albedo, Wanderer, Kazuha x [GN!] Reader

genre: fluff, established relationship, headcanons/drabbles, canon compliant, sick! reader, reader knows sign language

synopsis: in which your s/o tries their best to make you feel better since you've fallen ill

CW: mild language, potentially ooc, vee doesn't know how to do headcanons so you have been warned

additional notes: lol perfect timing for this request cuz I'm actually sick rn // header credits: yae header by @/k1aya on pinterest, albedo header by @/kuno on pinterest, wanderer header by @/ggoldiz on pinterest, Kazuha header by @/detailuffy on pinterest

YAE MIKO-Divina Vulpes

miss girl would be babying you 100%

kinda acts more like your mom than your s/o in this case tbh

"I told you not to go adventuring in the rain!" but then she goes back to saying shit like "aww you poor thing~, let me get some soup for you"

yae would also tease you too, cuz yk, she's yae miko

since she's not human, I don't think she can get sick, well not any human diseases at least

she tries her best to be there for you though, probably reads a bunch of light novels from her publishing house to help you fall asleep

if you try to communicate via sign language to her, she probably just hushes you and grabs your hands so you stop frantically making hand signs

cuz she wants you to get your rest

I think she does know a little sign language, but she never really committed to learning it, she'd gladly start for you though

ALSO

i think she'd turn into her fox form and let you cuddle with her like she's a stuffed animal

totally not projecting rn

ALBEDO-Princeps Cretaceus

he'd def send sucrose over to check on you if he's busy, but once he's done with his work, he is SPRINTING over to check on you

✨he's a runner he's a track star✨

maybe it's just me but I feel like Albedo would be the type of boyfriend that worries over you a lot

when he does come over, he probably has lots of concoctions that are supposed to clear your throat, but they're probably made of...

less than delicious materials

and you aren't becoming your boyfriend's personal test subject no thank you, not today

since he has a little sister, he knows how to take care of you

probably has experience cuz klee would get super sick after running around in the rain for too long-

makes you chicken soup, and tea, the usual

if you try to communicate with him via sign language due to losing your voice, he'll probably have the same reaction as yae

just forces you to go back to sleep

he def knows sign language (mr. genius🙄) but he wants you to get better as soon as possible

klee also comes over at some point, probably tells you some crazy story about how she tried to blow up dawn winery with diona or smth-

her and Albedo also make some get well cards for you once you fall asleep as well <3

WANDERER-Peregrinus

this mf

if you've heard his voice lines you already know what this bastard would say to you

he'd call you weak and say shit like "a small illness has already rendered you helpless? how pathetic..."

THE FACT I CAN PERFECTLY HEAR HIM SAY THAT-

he's a puppet so he's never been sick cuz he can't get sick either

nahida would probably slap him and scold him and tell him to be nicer though

on the inside he's super concerned about you

lowkey, he's afraid of losing you

not that he'd ever admit it-

(tsundere scara for the win)

he's worried that you're going to end up like the child he used to live with, and that you'll become "powerless before your mortality" as he'd like to say

same as yae + albedo, if you'd try to communicate with him via sign language he'll tell you to sleep

(in a slightly aggressive way but he's scara what do you expect?)

i don't think he knows sign language at all tbh

he'll ask nahida about it and he'll probably start borrowing books from the akidemiya and practices in secret for you

he WILL ruin his sleep schedule for you but he'll probably just brush it off and be like: "meh, it was easy."

when in reality this mf has spent an AGONIZING amount of time just to try and impress you

he'll make you tea too, the bitter kind

the VERY bitter kind

oml this sounds like scara slander 😭 dw I actually really like him

KAEDEHARA KAZUHA-Acer Palmatum

like albedo, he'd be super worried about you

tells beidou that he needs to make sure you're okay before the crux leaves for it's next destination

brings you tea, soup, and writes cute little love poems for you while you rest in his lap

tells you stories about his travels while holding your hand and sappy stuff like that

kazuha is a top tier boyfriend fr fr

unlike the others, if you tried to communicate with him via sign language, he let you teach him certain phrases

i think he knows a little bit due to his travels so he's picked up on a bit of it

he thinks it's really cute of how you try to explain things to him since you can't speak so you probably alternate between the hand signs themselves and pen and paper

VERY attentive to you

"slow down love, we have all the time in the world."

#vee's requests! #requester: phawn #yae miko x reader #yae miko x you #yae miko x y/n #yae miko #Albedo x reader #Albedo x you #Albedo x y/n #albedo #Scaramouche x reader #Scaramouche x you #Scaramouche x y/n #scaramouche #wanderer x reader #wanderer x you #wanderer x y/n #wanderer #Kazuha x reader #Kazuha x you #Kazuha x y/n #kazuha #kaedehara kazuha x reader #kaedahara Kazuha #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin x you #genshin x y/n

[hisonlykiwi]

"Eyes on me, darling"

You and Azriel have been training together for months and things got a little tense...

wc: 1.3K

warnings: angst

a/n: this is my first attempt at making a short story, please let me know what you think!! <3

----------------------------------------------------------------

“Again.”

Azriel’s voice harshly rang in my ears. Trying to catch my breath, I wipe off the sweat rolling down my cheek with the back of my hand and get back into a fighting stance. I tightly grip my dagger and peer up at him, silently nodding to him that I am ready. I knew training would be hard but I really underestimated how difficult this would actually be.

Azriel took a step forward and before I could react, he managed to point his dagger towards my neck, again. “Pay attention.” he says, I let out a frustrated groan, tossing my dagger on the ground, “I hate this, Azriel, we’ve been going at this for hours and I can’t get the hang of how to use that damn thing.” I point at the useless dagger lying on the floor. He smiled, letting out a small chuckle, “I keep telling you to focus on your footwork but you keep getting distracted.” He rolled his dagger, truth teller, into his hands, studying it as his shadows wrapped around his wrists.

I rolled my eyes at this comment,“I just don’t see use in this training. We all know I don’t exactly need it, my ability to control minds protects me just fine.”

Azriel let out a breathy chuckle, “While you are right, your ability to have control over the minds of others is powerful, indeed. You still need training to learn how to fight in case your power ever fails,” He said, circling me with truth teller spinning in his hands, “Would you be able to defend yourself if it came down to it?”

Out of mere muscle memory, I go back into a fighting position. I could feel beads of sweat rolling down my neck, keeping my eyes trained on him. I mistakenly glance over at the lonesome dagger on the floor, a couple feet away from me. He continued to circle around me, footsteps light and agile, his eyes focused on my every move. A smirk appeared on his face knowing exactly what I was thinking when he saw my gaze fall to the dagger.. “Eyes on me, darling.”

I huff out a shaky breath and swallow the lump stuck in my throat. In the blink of an eye, his feet kicked off the ground, his Siphon glowing a bright blue. I tried swerving out of the way but he was upon me, spinning me into his chest. My back was to him, he held me firmly in place with his left arm and his right holding the dagger against my throat. The tip of the blade bit into my delicate flesh ever so delicately. I held onto his arm trying to prevent him from pushing the dagger further into my sensitive skin.

I could feel his breath hot against my neck, a contrast compared to the cool blade against my neck. His breath was slow and even, he seemed to be completely calm, the only sign of tension were his shadows dancing around us.

“What is your next move, love?” I could feel him whisper against my ear. I scoffed at his comment, “You’re so lucky to have centuries of training ahead of me, shadowsinger.” I say while hooking my leg behind his and quickly pulling at it, and jabbing the back of my elbow into his side. He stumbled back, letting go of his grip on me, grunting and gripping his side. I turned around to face him and gave him a forceful shove, causing him to get off his balance. Azriel’s wings flexed out, balancing him out, he locked eyes with me and raised his eyebrows in surprise. A teasing expression on his face and eyes gleaming with mischief, “Try again.” He teased, his wings flexing again as he lunged towards me, closing the distance between us. I let out a gasp at the sudden movement and tried to move out his grasp.

He grinned at my pathetic attempt of trying to move away from him, this only caused him to dig his fingers into my hips, pulling me closer into his chest. I could feel the tip of his blade against the soft flesh of my stomach. “Not fast enough, darling.” I could practically hear the stupid smirk growing on his face right now.

“What makes you so sure about that?” I chuckled and pressed the dagger I silently snatched from his Illyrian leathers earlier, further into his thigh. He let out a sharp hiss as the tip of the dagger pressed into his skin. He didn’t make any attempts to move away, he tilted his head down at me, a devilish smile spreading on his face.

“Clever…” He let out a breathy whisper, his shadows were swirling around us, hissing and whispering. “What can I say? I’m getting trained by the infamous spy master himself.” I said, causing him to let out a deep chuckle, “And yet, I still have you pinned against me.” A grin spread on his face as he was getting closer to me, mere inches away from my face. Azriel’s breath felt warm against my skin, the faint smell of cedar mixed in with his sweat. I gazed into his eyes, I caught a small hint of lust swirling in them. Maybe I was imagining things but it almost felt like I could hear his heart racing against my chest. My breath was coming in short, heavy pants, my skin flushed a deep pink at the close proximity, a stark contrast to Azriel’s beautiful golden skin.

“Is this what you call training?” We both snapped our gaze towards Rhysand who was standing in the doorway watching us for who knows how long. Azriel didn’t seem surprised at his brother’s watchful eye on us. He gave the High Lord a small smile and took a step back away from me, pulling the dagger that was against my throat with him. “Just a little..” Azriel said with such nonchalance as if he didn’t have you pinned flush against him, inches away from kissing you just seconds before.

He sheathed his dagger back into his hip. I held out my hand to him, offering him back his blade that I had taken minutes before. He raised his eyebrows at my gesture and took the dagger from my outstretched palm, his fingers gently lingering for longer than necessary. With a small nod, he took the dagger and tucked it back into his leathers and gave me a barely-there smile, a silent thank you.

Azriel turned back to Rhysand, his jaw clenching ever so slightly “Is there anything you need, brother?” Although his voice was polite, I swear I could see a hint of annoyance on his face.

I looked over to Rhysand, an amusing smirk on his face, as he was looking between me and Azriel. Rhysand cleared his throat, “Yes, actually. Cassian got word that Hybern is setting up camp near Spring Court and I need you and Cassian to check it out, see what’s going on.” Azriel gave a small nod in response, his expression unreadable as he glanced in my direction. His eyes flickered over my face as if he was contemplating saying something, instead he spoke out to Rhysand and ripped his gaze from me over at him “Understood. When do you need us to go?” Before Rhysand got the chance to answer, I interrupted, “I’m actually going to head home if you two don’t mind.” I glanced over in Azriel’s direction and said “Same time, tomorrow?” He gave me a simple nod at my request, relaxing a bit and losing the tension in his shoulders from Rhysand’s unexpected arrival. A smile spread across his lips “Of course,” He seemed to hesitate in his answer and he looked over to Rhysand “Same time, tomorrow” He said quietly. I gave him a small smile and looked over to Rhysand “See you.”

I made my way out of the training room and looked over my shoulder at Azriel to see he was already looking at me.

#azriel shadowsinger #acotar #azriel x you #azriel x reader #rhysand #azriel #azriel angst

[kchasm]

Ryu Number: Jack Jackson

In 1120, the son—and anticipated heir—of King Henry I of England died in a maritime accident. In a time and place where a succession crisis popped off every time a monarch bit it even with preparation beforehand, this was Kind Of Bad.

The only legitimate child Henry I had left was Matilda (also called Maud), who'd been married to the Holy Roman Empire for a while, but was now married to the Count of Anjou, who was Not Popular, especially among the sort of people you wanted to be popular among if you wanted them to be alright with you ruling the kingdom. Henry I tried to go to bat for Matilda, but time ran out, and in 1135, he died. And that's just about when the Anarchy began.

...No, really, that's what the civil war was called: "The Anarchy." I would rather not have a civil war, but you've got to admit that that's a pretty hardcore name for one. Also actually it actually took a few years for Matilda to set up and get to civil-warring, but "and after a few years the Anarchy began" doesn't sound nearly as cool, right?

Matilda's main opponent in this game of thrones was Henry I's nephew, Stephen of Blois, who, having the good fortune to actually be in the area, wasted no time taking the reins. An awful lot of stuff happened after, but eventually everyone got real sick of fighting and in 1153 the big names hammered out the Treaty of Wallingford, that agreed that Stephen would be king, actually, but once he shuffled off Matilda's son—also named Henry, because history isn't hard enough to keep track of already—would take the throne.

...This isn't really about any of these guys, though.

The Pillars of the Earth is a 1989 historical fiction novel by Welsh author Ken Follett. Using the Anarchy and related events as a backdrop, it tells the story of a lot of folks from the priory and village of Kingsbridge, England having a Real Subpar Time. Secrets and Politics happen, a lot of it churchish, and it trickles down to the little people in the worst of ways.

Also there's a bunch about building cathedrals; some folks in the book are Really Deep Into That, especially Jack Jackson, one of the more important characters from the book who gets dealt a rotten hand and makes do nonetheless.

It's not the sort of media you'd expect to get a video game adaptation out of, but it got one anyway.

And I'm definitely not complaining, 'cause that means Jack Jackson has a Ryu Number of at most 3.

...Guess who finally finished studying the newest Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition DLC? Victors and Vanquished features a numbers of historical scenarios, including one where you play as Henry's nephew, Stephen, Stephen's brother, Henry, and Stephen's wife, Matilda, against the armies of Henry's daughter, Matilda, and Matilda's son, Henry.

This is giving me flashbacks back to elementary school when every third girl was named either Ashley or Jessica. I cut the knot by simply remembering no one's name, which worked badly.

Anyway, as a bonus, have this list of characters who—taking into account only the games I have gone through myself—appear only in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

#ryu number #ryu #teppen #oda nobunaga #age of empires ii: definitive edition #stephen king of england #ken follett's pillars of the earth #jack jackson

[supercalime]

yes! exactly! the fact that one of the big things that actually bring buck and tommy closer being that both of them get along with chris, and chris expressing that he likes both buck and tommy is chef's kiss. both of them learn not to feel threatened by that ("chris won't shut up about him") but rather feel invited ("i understand why chris likes you so much because i also think you're cool"). it cemented tommy as a great fit for buck, established him as a new welcome addition to the entire fire fam, and highlighted that tommy must get along with kids swimmingly, something that he has in common with buck and that hints that tommy most likely loves kids as well. and that, in a way, also feels like kids may actually be part of buck's future because bucktommy has been set up so differently to any of buck's previous canon relationships.

they could have done it a thousand different ways, but they chose this route, putting focus on the opinion of a kid that buck loves a lot. it's giving the trope of parent who first makes sure that their child accepts their love interest. maybe it means nothing! maybe it's solely for the fun of it! but given everything else we've seen in regards to evan buck buckley and the children topic, it's feels like one piece of a bigger puzzle. especially with his backstory, questioning his parent's love for all his life, i think buck's story will truly come full circle when he's allowed to unconditionally love his own child. and i think he wants and needs a partner (tommy) to be there with him every step of the way (love is stored in the "of course" ♥).

(as you can tell by now, i also love to ramble lmfao)

You can always ramble anon! And yes to all of this! I doubt everything about buck and tommys connection has been done intentionally (I mean, the writers can’t get the timeline in a single episode consistent) but what we’ve had so far is so good and it would be a waste to not use this love interest to be buck’s forever person (and baby daddy haha)

There’s the whole red thread of fate (or invisible string) theory that connects their stories before and after they met, there’s the stark difference on how tommy behaves in contrast to bucks past partners.

The writers did something different for them, something that feels more substancial. Bucks past partners have always felt like “girlfriend of the season”, almost like the writers didn’t want to fully commit. I’m glad that even though it took seven seasons, a network change and a lot of behind the scenes messes to get to this point.

Tommy could be Bucks forever person and if he does become so, I want to see it really bad!

#keeping my fingers crossed for them to be together forever #911 #lety rambles #ask #bucktommy #tevan #kinkley #kinley #firepilot #firefly #911 abc

[tofixtheshadows]

Hot take: Laios wouldn't actually mind an arranged marriage. Obviously "reluctant royal being pressured into marriage" is very fun for shipping purposes. But I have harlequin blood, so bear with me. Join me on this journey of character theorizing/shipping nonsense that makes it abundantly clear I have a Scrivener document I'm neglecting.

Laios was promised to someone from a young age. He and Falin both were; it's probably how their parents ended up together. They both broke it off by leaving their village, but it didn't seem to be a factor in Laios's own decision. And when Marcille, presumably, asks about his hypothetical love life (bicorn chapter), he not only brings it up readily, but actually seems kind of flattered? lmao

I love when smug Laios comes out. Underrated factor of Laios's personality for me is how much he enjoys being seen as cool. I think you'd expect Laios to be embarrassed or uneasy over this line of questioning, and the fact that he isn't is fun to me.

So when Yaad and his other old advisors bring up his need for a wife, Laios is ready to go along with it. Not necessarily thrilled by the prospect, but he was raised to think of marriage as a business arrangement you do because it's beneficial for your household/bloodline (as was often the case historically). He's already made the big step to claim a throne, and the idea of becoming village chief after his father seemed to have been vaguely in the back of his head all his life. Besides, if he has to do it anyway, I think he'd take comfort that there was a formalized process for an otherwise socially messy undertaking.

This dovetails neatly with my personal headcanon that Laios is gay but unaware of it. He comes from kind of a repressed culture- or at least I can imagine he does based on context clues- and has spent most of his life being ostracized in one way or another, feeling like he's on the outside of humanity. So he doesn't realize that his lack of attraction to women is unusual- he assumes that nobody really enjoys romance that much. It's not like his own parents married for love. It's just something people play up for stories, right?

It's all tangled up with his fraught desire for human connection and platonic companionship anyway. Meanwhile he's blithely unaware that the things he says about Toshiro are not normal bro things. Oh you'd totally marry Toshiro, Laios? Tell me more.

I see this in Marcille too. Firstly due to her unstable development, which has only recently allowed her to reach maturity (I headcanon her as somewhere between 20-22) and secondly due to her being a half-elf (infertile+a too-long lifespan), I think she has the expectation that she's simply not destined for love. The half-elf character she relates to in her favorite books says as much. So she, too, confuses a genuine lack of heterosexual attraction with the belief that this is just because of her half-elf status distancing her from it. Plus, she spent over a decade as a student/researcher in a nice little sheltered academic bubble, at an all-girls academy populated by adolescents. She's the most sheltered of all the characters: she's only spent the past year in the "real world", and she still focuses all her romantic attention on living vicariously through her favorite characters or her friends (except for Falin, conveniently!).

And Marcille would absolutely want to live vicariously through Laios and his future wife. She would not want him to go through a dispassionate formalized process: she wants her bestie to have a fairytale romance! What is the point of being a heroic king in a mythic castle if you can't even get a love story for the ages out of it?

This would result in a lot of Laios meeting with eligible bachelorettes at Marcille's urging, looking to Kabru for help the entire time and being grilled by Marcille afterwards about what he liked best about each girl. "She had nice, um, teeth?" They're both so close to getting it.

Kabru, meanwhile, is agitating for Yaad and the other advisors not lock the country into a hereditary monarchy, they have the chance to do something radical here, to break away from the systems that the elves and dwarves uphold. At the very least, let Laios marry for love, or formally adopt an heir and name them his successor if he wants, he's already sacrificed enough for the sake of Melini. Don't make him jump through these circus hoops for the chance of some trade agreements, we can get those without a royal marriage. And even if Laios was willing to go along with it, he does look at Kabru like he's his hero for sticking up for him.

The vague unhappiness Kabru feels at the idea of Laios being married off is easy for him to ignore. Kabru didn't actually get better at honoring or even recognizing his own wants just because he's moved past the dungeon. And Laios hasn't gotten the hint about his crush on Toshiro and is still 50/50 on saying casually shocking things, so when he remarks that he doesn't need a wife anyway when he has Kabru, he has no idea why that gets him the looks it does. After all, where he's from, men marry women to run their households, but Laios has castle staff for that, and Kabru is handling the rest?

That comment alone ticks one month off their collective gay awakening countdown.

Anyway. How many repressed gays in their twenties does it take to run a country?

Answer: Yaad can tell you.

#dungeonposting #DUNGEON MESHI SPOILERS #I always have to use that tag for the dumbest reasons. because of my harlequin blood. #Labru #you get that tag because that was the point of my post it just took awhile to get there #also pretend I made some kind of joke with a pun about screwing at the end. believe in me. #Golden Country trio #^tag for ME. rotating scenarios with them in my head is a personal treat. #I haven't figured out where Kabru falls yet #he's very bad at introspection and very good at denying himself #but god knows what a guy like Kabru who moves through society the way he does experiences #several possibilities present themselves and I haven't yet decided which one is most plausible. or funniest. #pairing: to be human

[canisvesperus]

I’ve seen some discussion on this, so allow me to explain something.

Some people do not seem to grasp why artists like me draw so much fashionable Eridan. He’s not fashionable at all, just look at his canon outfit, they say. Well, it is simple. Eridan is one of the few trolls actually experimenting with fashion at a young age in the comic. Look me in the eye and tell me you too weren’t a hot mess trying to dress “fashionable” in middle school. Yet, chances are that if you had that awareness and drive early on, you will also develop a sense of style and grasp on aesthetics earlier in life compared to your peers. This was my experience. I was well known for being very stylish as a kid, but this didn’t happen overnight. Indeed, if you were one of these kids you most definitely started off with some odd or disharmonious clothing combinations that you threw together in an attempt to express yourself aesthetically despite inexperience in that type of self-expression. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I usually draw young adult Eridan. Obviously given some time, his tastes would develop and mature into something derived from those original aesthetic visions, but far more cohesive.

It’s clear he’s trying to assert his individualism and status in his clothing choices, and most of y’all shrug him off as having bad taste while not also foreseeing the intent and vision behind those choices. I see it, and so do other artists. We differ in how we portray this derivation because there are frankly a dozen different directions he could take it depending on the circumstances of the post-canon/fix it scenario. This is why you may see me refer to the Eridan in my depictions as “my Eridan”. I don’t presume to depict something identical to Homestuck proper, nor am I particularly interested in doing so. If you’re the type of person who is married to the events of canon and cannot consider a scenario involving an older Eridan who was allowed to grow and change, this is why we are not seeing eye to eye— and I’m certain this is the root cause of various other discourses as they pertain to portraying the character in post-canon fanworks. That’s fine. That’s your choice. My choice is different.

Eridan consistently demonstrates concern (an excess, really, which backfired for him in the cruelest of ways poor thing) with respect to how he is perceived, hence the consciously thought out image-crafting and classic Eridan façades that his own peers call him out on for being poorly executed, transparent, and otherwise not believable. They were kids. This is normal. Of course he doesn’t have himself figured out yet. It’s a process. Some people in this fandom believe his façade in the most literal and uncritical of ways but this is all a story for another day. Is his drip game shit though, without regards for fan interpretations? If you’re asking me, I don’t think it’s really that bad considering his age. I really don’t think it’s that bad. That kind of scarf with the cape is a bit much to wear around the neck. Maybe he’ll swap the big scarf for something similar in function and category but less top heavy— a cravat, jabot, bandana, or lavallière? If the cape is too overwhelming for the rest of the outfit, a smaller caplet, shawl, or a coat will work. To accommodate some of the alternative neckwear, a shirt with a collar would be preferable. What many people perceive as a turtleneck sweater, need not be entirely sacrificed. Put a sweater vest on that boy. I see lots of complaints about the shoes and pants. More discreet pinstripes and more formal shoes (field boots, paddock boots, oxfords) will work. Of course he can go in the opposite direction, less formal, in that case the cape can go and the long scarf can stay, get some cool sneakers, consider denim bottoms or casual slacks in a single color, accents welcome. However this isn’t the derivation I pursue so I feel less qualified to speculate. He could ditch all of it even. Start new and fresh especially if he were to go through a markedly subversive reclamation of identity and character redemption sort of process. In any case, he can work with it!!! You just have to believe in him.

I believe Eridan had a lot of narrative potential that was wasted, possibly out of disinterest for the character. It’s only predictable that artists like me simply want to devise a world in which these characters had a chance to actually live their lives. I truly do not understand why there has to be so much confusion over this. That‘s all.

#*Stilgar voice* I don’t care what you believe I BELIEVE #I think my time in a certain sector of the Star Wars fandom during my hiatus from the Homestuck fandom did a number on me too btw #Defy every cynical narrative became our war cry for a long time lmfao #Fam I miss you thanks for enabling me 😭 anyway #I wrote this at 4 am #I’ve been holding in so many fucking thoughts for so long so get ready #homestuck #eridan ampora #eridan #ven talks #meta

[incorrectelswordquotes]

Do you remember when the job progression quests had dialogue cutscenes and difficult quests? Each town had its own gear and you'd have to drop blue-background items to upgrade it. And it was character-specific too. Ice statues had to be crafted, and the ingredients would just pile up in your inventory. There was Unique equipment for every region you had a chance to drop after a boss battle, and it'd be shown in the chat. Plant Overlord's accessory was the top trending thing. Rena was blonde and did a flip when she double jumped. The first field introduced was the one between Hamel and Velder. The level cap was 40 and it was *hard* to get there.

I sure don't miss a lot of this stuff, but looking back, it feels like a wholly different game.

i played around when the game was still like this for the most part, except the level cap at the time was 70? and then over time it jumped to 90 but my middle-school/high-school ass couldn't keep up. actually, i remember seeing the new UI the game has for the health bars and that was already enough to throw me off. not that it looks bad, but i remember seeing this UI for the longest time:

vs this:

like as much as i miss the one i got acquainted with, this new one is a lot simpler and cleaner? yet it retains that cartoony vibe with the slanted bars so thats neat. and then there's THIS:

i'll admit i havent played during this era but man this looks busy af. it was simple yea, but something feels off about it. like i love the look here too but it kinda clashes colors-wise. there's not too much of a difference between the original UI and the one after it but i could tell it needed slimming down.

while i was gone i also learned that the previous privately-hosted server VoidEls was shut down but was eventually replaced by another, which is fair enough i guess.

"Each town had its own gear and you'd have to drop blue-background items to upgrade it. And it was character-specific too."

this was both cool and annoying, for me personally at least. it's cool in that every town having gear gave you a way to progress before getting even stronger gear. sort of like a jumping-off point for every town you got to as they handed you their own version of stuff you could use. and you could emulate their aesthetic by wearing their gear. the annoying part is that constantly switching gear means item management is necessary to prevent your inventory from maxing out, and not every item looked good on you. if you didn't have skins? tough luck. (my memory might be wrong here so please correct me if i messed something up)

"...job progression quests had dialogue cutscenes and difficult quests?"

THEY GOT RID OF THOSE!? maybe im jaded but as a writer, i liked seeing the player-characters' personal struggle as they progressed through a job-specific mission. those short cutscenes let us see what they're really like. even if some of the requirements really were trash. i still remember spamming the same dungeon over and over hoping for a quest drop (or multiple) so i can move on. but after hearing the story was consolidated to be one singular, linear path regardless of who you played, maybe they streamlined the job class progression system too?

update: yea it seems you still have to spam dungeons to upgrade to Master Class but it looks less tedious than before for previous class ranks.

"Plant Overlord's accessory was the top trending thing."

boss accessories were the bane of my existence so this makes sense. it seems like it's unobtainable, as many overworld zones and dungeons have since been removed based on what i just looked up

im assuming Plant Overlord isn't fightable anymore or only shows up in some elite zone now so rip

"Rena was blonde and did a flip when she double jumped."

i didn't know this. in fact when i checked her wiki page, the change was because her hair wasn't green enough despite her class art showing her as having green-hued hair.

speaking of the wiki,

holy fucking shit thats a lot of classes

#mod wt #ask #i did an unnecessary amount of research just for this skull emoji #this was genuine fun thanks for taking me down memory lane #if anything the last i looked up was people asking if elsword was worth coming back to- #and someone described the progression system having a neat mechanic that speeds the process up a lot and is more forgiving #so uh #thats cool #elsword

[nightingaletrash]

y’know what, I think Mora’s definitely being manipulative with the Vestige. I think he’s framing this solely as a ‘fate of the world’ thing because he knows that they care about that, but in reality, I think this is actually about a rivalry between Princes and he wanted someone powerful and effective in his corner to stop Ithelia from making her comeback. And if she does show up, mad as hell and ready to tear apart reality just to spite Mora, then that works out in his favour because it makes him right.

Ithelia is Mora’s antithesis. What little we know of her sphere seems to stand in direct contradication to Mora. He’s the Prince of Knowledger and Fate, the Gardener of Men. He can nudge and push and manipulate people in certain directions, but he cannot outright change the outcome. Once a path is set, he cannot change it. There will be no other outcomes. No variables. He can tend the soil, water the roots and align the trellis, but its up to his pawns to do the rest.

Ithelia meanwhile is the Prince of Paths, the Mistress of the Untraveled Road, and the Fate-Changer. Based on her titles and Mora’s own apparent fear of her, it seems that she can change the outcome to suit her liking. Like how Azandar and Martina both tried to manipulate and use their own fatelines - the ones that could have been but never were - Ithelia may have been a Prince capable of bringing these fatelines to life, destroying them entirely, or even creating entirely new ones.

Ithelia is What If and What Could Be, whereas Mora is What Is and What Will Be. To him, Ithelia could be a seedbomb or an inferno, rendering his work obsolete and his garden overgrown, or destroying it entirely. So he gets a flash of a vision where she becomes a threat to everyone and everything? Ofc he’s going to pounce on that and turn the rest of the Princes against her. He can be rid of his rival and continue to mold the narrative to suit his needs without drawing the ire of those who disagreed with the decision...

#eso #necrom spoilers #hermaeus mora #ithelia #i am almost certain that zos WON'T go this route and will in fact make it all about 'the fate of the world' on mora's end #but the idea of it being about daedric rivalry at its very heart and the 'fate of the world' actually just being a foot note #would actually be a really cool way to tell this story #because mora goes through the whole thing of signing a contract with you so that you can trust him #but the reality is that you can never trust a prince really #maybe ithelia will wreck the world out of spite. maybe your deal with mora does lead you to stopping her #but his real intent was always to keep a buried rival buried and he got you on side with an angle he knew you cared about #That would be a smart was to spin this story #and therefore i have little faith in it actually appearing in game

[wiseatom]

anyway you can literally pry mike and will sw*ftie agenda from my cold, lifeless hands

#no hate to anyone not agreeing #however when has WILL CANONICALLY ever EVER showed to be pretentious with music #when has will EVER displayed the same music snob personality as jonathan #like canonically. really. point out a SINGLE time. #he of course loves the music bonding w jonathan and he loves the songs jonathan shows him but like genuinely. really and truly #i am asking you to point out anything about will's character that would indicate in any way he would be pretentious about music. #will's CANON traits repeated over and over are that he is sensitive and emotional and not like other boys #and that is not in the 'i want to be different' way like it is for jonathan. will canonically does not feel Better for being Different. #he just Is. #so like i absolutely one thousand percent believe he'd identify w her music that is sensitive and romantic and whimsical and tells stories #bc those are all things will either is or values. hello lol #and mike lmfao. mike literally tries to be like everyone else. if taylor is popular he's gonna listen and then the absolute bops are gonna #make him stick around. he'd definitely be a closet sw*ftie during rep era to go along w the crowd but he'd come back #also hold on let me circle back to the will point. even if he were pretentious u can't sit here and tell me taylor is not an incredible #songwriter who consistently puts out sonically cohesive albums (for the most part) and is able to nail almost any genre #even if he was Super Pretentious about music -- which to be clear he Would Not Be -- he would admire her for the artist she is #even if it wasn't his vibe. ANYWAY. BACK TO MIKE AKA I WILL LISTEN TO ANYTHING ANYONE SAYS IS COOL #he definitely has Opinions (calling should i stay or should i go Weird) but like. come on. his entire s3/4 arc is abt Desperately trying to #Conform. he'd listen to taylor lol. i just think he'd actually still like her for some of the same reasons as will #bc he also values story telling and then also probably just wordplay. #i'm so sorry to rant about this like i simply know it is not that deep but ALSO. Y'ALL LMFAO. the way that i'm seeing this opinion shared #'this isn't hating!' *is a hater* #<- also exactly what i'm doing but like PLEASSEEE #WILL =/= JONATHAN #AND LIKE MIKE IS EMBARRASSING. THT'S WHY WE LOVE HIM. HE'D ABSOLUTELY BLAST N BOP TO TAYLOR LOL #IDC IDC!!!!!! (CARES SO MUCH) THIS IS THE HILL I WILL DIE ON!!!!!!!!

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

I'm... kind of confused about this? Like Ignatz is basically saying the only way for people to move forward is by continuing to fight and destroy? That's a pretty awful message in general, but coming from Ignatz it just feels weird. It sounds like he's just accepted war and that it's just... something that happens so we should shrug it off and move on?

I know this game tends to have very strong pro-war/pro-invasion messages which is already really gross to me, but it went from being annoying and icky to just making me feel disgusted. Also, Ignatz of all people shouldn't just shrug his shoulders and be like well that's just the way of things, I guess! There's an active war going on so it makes sense that towns could be rebuilt and destroyed again. It doesn't mean just give up on it.

Also really doesn't feel like an Ignatz thing to say.

#DCB Three Hopes Run #I'll be honest I have very low opinions of people when I see them say shit like #Edelgard is in the right and it she was justified to invade territories #if there was provocation/she was attacked by another territory first I'd get it #but I can't sympathize with the concept in general of attacking another nation that has nothing to do with you #it feels absolutely disgusting and seeing people actually DEFEND that is extremely concerning about their real life values #especially when she's very open about how the purpose of it is conquest and not actually the Church #and no nobody can use the Faerghus sheltering refugees as an excuse bc she attacks them in both games #and they didn't shelter the Church at all outside CF. in Hopes it's just a reason the writers needed to be able to #make it so the game had a similar story to Houses and to give a reason so the war still happened #Faerghus was quite literally minding its own business and growing at an astoundingly fast pace #and suddenly they have to decide whose side to take in a war? they didn't want to go to war but they were forced #and Ignatz here basically shrugging his shoulders figuring it's just a way of life to be at war is... not a good message #people who initiate war do it for their own political and territorial gain and that's true of this story too #it's not a question of whether or not it was Edelgard's goal bc she just outright SAYS it is #like... she's not hiding it? she's not trying to dodge the fact? and like again you can like her character as a fictional character #but it would be like if I said I love Ashnard and bc of that I agreed with his goals ideals and values and that #he was justified in attacking Crimea and torturing laguz. he's a really cool character and I love what he brings to the story #but there's a fine line between finding a fictional character interesting/fascinating #and outright defending their actions and basically saying conquest is okay as long as you tell people it's for another reason #i.e. Edelgard gave the propaganda about ''for the people'' but that wasn't her goal. if it WAS #she'd be contacting Dimitri in those two years like hey I see you guys are making strides in your politics mind giving us some advice #if her goal was for the people she would've spent those two years for the people and fixing shit not preparing for war #it just... really leaves a sick feeling for me that people legitimately believe her violence is justified and that here Ignatz is basically #saying that war is just a thing we all should just accept. like... how is war the only way for humans to move forward??? #the one good thing Twitter does is that it tries to at least give sympathies to attacked nations #if this game was real you'd be seeing ''Faerghus attacked'' ''Faerghus invaded'' ''pray for Faerghus'' all over Twitter lmao #like if this was never a fictional story and if it was just real life there would have been only support on social media

[earlgreybocchan]

Animating this season like you can't have the slightest bit of jest and god forbid jesting about yaoi

#can't even jokingly say slurs like saying fag instead of drudge wasn't The joke #like ciel took his earrings out at school right he was trying to be normal at normal boy school and they are all using slurs in their... #...everyday social setup their whole social world within the school at least relies on every important guy having a guy who will do... #...anything for him which is literally ciel's entire bit but normie #anyway whatever i am not going to explicate every joke at play here but what really annoys me about the shojo sparkles joke getting cut... #...is that it's being used in different places like vincent got shojo sparkles yesterday and ciel's at the beginning but like that is... #...supposed to be the joke-y indicator this is NOT normie shojo school so why did these have to get animated so FLAT #like you mean you can't imply any subtext about ciel bc it would be problematic. this is a story that is literally ABOUT people playing... #...at who they are not. the whole series and every character is set on that premise. and you're going to cultivate an environment where... #...viewers accept that any kind of subtext at all is inherently problematic and needs cut from the story #like they could have cut more and i am interested to see how they're going to handle things like ciel getting carried off of the field. but #it's more uncomfortable to me to be like no being a gay teenager is inherently problematic actually he can't be gay but he can be... #...straight engaged to his cousin in earnest even though the narrative has established how that is fake too. #and not dipping into the whole sebastian thing fully but then you have a setup where you have made it unacceptable to tell any gay story... #...that might be slightly problematic even though here it genuinely is a lot of subtext you have to understand that there is subtext to get #and there is the element here with them too where they are liars and they are playacting. that's part of what makes the story so complex... #...and interesting!! is trying to decipher who is lying and why the world they live in makes them have to lie to survive #it's doing a massive disservice to this story to approach it from the angle of someone might think on that too hard and think it's... #...inappropriate :( let's be the yen press and tweet something about sebastian being a mom so no one has to question what they're looking a #in a STORY THAT'S ABOUT QUESTIONING THE TRUTH OF WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT #i don't even care about shipping this is just cultivating a massive media literacy problem where you are being encouraged to take a story.. #..at face value and you can't make dark jokes and you can't make stories about problematic gay people #it also bothers me bc this story has been really popular in japan for like 20 years without the mass public being in a constant state of... #...is this demon his boyfriend or dad :( like they're just fucking watching it ahdjrf #that also bothers me bc it's like you guys can't engage with any grey area relationship in a story where it doesn't fit into a box #but anyways why can japan engage with it to make it as popular and long lasting as it is and not everyone else don't say bc japan is... #...full of freaks who only like freak stories. this is also symptomatic of things i have complained about elsewhere on this blog that us... #...dub culture has cultivated an environment where us normal cool americans are going to tell freakish japanese people how to engage... #...with their counterculture cartoons in the Right way without ever having to engage with another country's culture or a story in general. #my kuro posts

[jvzebel-x]

🦋

#sometimes i get really sad about my life you know? like. really sad about it lmao. for various reasons. #like it would be really cool to be normal. very often i just wish i was normal lmao. #but then i remember meeting this guy while i was homeless&he had everything that i late 20s/early 30s college grad would want #stable&well paying job in the field he actually went to college for #rented part of a banging a duplex that had a yard allowed dogs&was a five minute walk from downtown bar crawl area #had both one of my fave motorcycles-- an r6--&one of my all time dream cars-- a 6speed cts-v. #i presume a dating life from the tampons that were in his bathroom. #&yet. he was miserable from what i could tell lmao. &it was weird bc it was like he didnt realize that #until he met us lmao. i would be more annoyed by that. i was v annoyed by it at the time lmao. the amount of weird jealousy i dealt w while #fucking homeless+sick is disgusting&ill never forgive fucking anyone for it&a part of me will always be dead+rotted bc of it lmao. #but for him it was different in the way of. i could kind of understand it lmao. #he had come from a rough background from what i understand&was a success story. #&yet he clearly felt trapped in his own life. clearly felt like he was surrounded by things he should be more grateful for while none of it #filled the hole in him ppl like him are PROMISED success will fill. being apart of the status quo but on the good end will alleviate. #he had been in one accident&never rode his bike again. when i asked why he lied&told me the bike was unrideable bc he didnt know me lmao #&when i asked if there had been any damage past the obvious dent in the gas tank he got red+quiet+changed the topic. #he worked at some big bank&didnt bother trying to brag bc the one thing he DID know about me is that i am v anti bank+leftist lmao. #he considered himself a leftist too until he talked to me&realized he was actually v centrist in basically every view he had #&that centrism came from a desire to keep his privileges as a cis white straight man-- something that made him openly embarassed. #he used to deal thru college&when i met him he couldnt keep up w one round of dabs w me something that also obviously embarassed him. #he had surrounded himself w ppl just like him&was jarred upon meeting anyone outside of that bubble who wasnt a far right asshole. #&he didnt like what he saw about himself. &that was really obvious. #when we left his place after the brief week we were staying there he was literally in tears about how much he wanted to come. #to help&see where we ended up or whatever idk lmao. i guess im still actively annoyed by it lmao. #but i still get it on some level. when you reach the top&realize youre not fucking happy where do you go from there? #will a house do it? will moving to a different location for your same bullshit job do it? will meeting a girl exactly like you do it? #&when i want to be normal so bad it physically hurts i remember him&i think maybe things arent so bad lmao. #like it could be worse i guess lmao.

[snekdood]

ok so i watched the new avatar show (yes obviously thats what my post earlier was about, duh,i wanted to watch it before sharing my thoughts) and it was. iight.

#spoilers ig #there were things i liked that it did vs the show. theres things i didn't like that they removed #like. aang doesnt actually learn waterbending at all #so the climax of the first chapter feels really unearned? #and i am getting barely any passion from kataras character #sokkas fine ig- not nearly as fun and sarcastic as i'd want and i rly wish they didn't take out his sexism arc bc part of what makes his #character funny is him doing something sexist and immediately getting fucked over for it lol. but ig they could always do that in other way #like with the whole 'the universe loves proving me wrong doesnt it' things hes got going on sdhbfshvg #otherwise i didn't mind the fusing of episodes much- aside from skipping aang and katara bending with eachother which i think is #part of their relationship developing. so any romance later on is gonna feel a bit unearned too....... #i dont like the whole koh thing? idk that was weird. but it was cool he saw gyatzo in the spirit world. #i also didn't mind the backstories happening in the beginning very much. though ig it would be better to have them show up later #but the problem is i think everyones expecting this to be beat for beat the same thing as the cartoon. which makes no sense i mean #if you want the cartoon. watch the cartoon. lmao. either way it felt kinda like a play version of the movie- like a good play but def #a play the way they fused stories to cut down on time. i think ppl want the avatar world to be expanded but this isnt what this is gonna #be. ya gotta read the comics for that. this is clearly gonna be more or less a bit more of a dramatic remake. and i can tell the characters #really get more comfortable in their roles as the episodes go on. i do wish that they'd stretched the episodes out more tbh. #also they never really concluded the whole thing with hai bei??? which made me :/ #but i liked zukos character and i like aangs character. zhao is unhinged even more some how #i didn't like iroh as much in the beginning bc he wasnt as warm and welcoming as he was in the show #but since they seem to be going for a slightly more serious tone i think they wanted to make zukos family even more uptight #and strict n all. #also sidenote but jeez azula's actor has such a lil baby face. not that there's anything wrong with that i think it's cute but its #not how I imagine azulas live action character looking idk. i think the girl playing ty lee looks more like azula personally :0 #not a huge fan of the cgi for appa and momo but it could be way worse. yue's hair is stupidly obviously a wig- #im saying it was literally just a play version of the series. cut down and more dramatic. but they added their own original tweaks #to it too which was nice. #the whole thing with suki and sokka though was. hmm. she's really thirsty abt him huh #i also cant get over how much sokkas character just like. looks like a cartoon character vs everyone else who look like real ppl sdjhbfgshf #i like how zuko and aang talked more. i think everyones lines were a bit flat but im blaming that on them being children mostly

[neverendingford]

.

#tag talk #kind of morose rn. I wish kind wasn't functionally the same as trusting. #I wish trusting wasn't the same as gullible #I wish gullible weren't the same as stupid #I know so clearly that lies are easy to tell. and yet I know that in order to live freely I need to choose to believe sometimes #and this is one of those times I knew would happen. the inevitable failure that walks hand in hand with trying #and I will try again. because failure is a chance but not a guaranteed outcome. but it's annoying. it's exhausting. #this is about getting stood up twice in one night. in case you thought something actually important happened. nothing big. but annoying #annoying when you put out your genuine self as the best way to attract authenticity in others and instead it's played with #and I guess I should have looked for more ahead of time. demanded reciprocal honesty instead of simply trusting things would work out #trust but verify. #I just. I don't have a cynical bone in my body. I've had to learn all this #and I rephrase stories to make myself sound cleverer than I really am because I can think of a million witty retorts an hour later #but in the moment I'm just naive and trusting and over messaging it's so easy to take advantage of that #and I can't even report them for the undoubtedly stolen pics they baited me with because they block as soon as the game is up #oh well. live and learn and take away the experience and use it for something #I did meet a dude who actually plays age of empires so that's fucking sick. #got stood up twice. but met two actually cool people so it works out maybe. we'll see what happens. #I just- bruh how hard is it to get some good dick in this town? #anyway. I had a nice walk around the park while I waited. found a gravel hill with a hollow on the top and waited there to escape the wind #it was actually a really nice time at the park aside from the social circumstances

[captainfantasticalright]

In 1985, one of the only persons interested in an interview with a “new” writer called Terry Pratchett, after his publication of the Colour of Magic, was one Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman was writing for Space Voyager at the time. "The Colour of Pratchett" was the name given here:

It ran exactly one page inside the June/July issue of that year. The interview took place in a Chinese restaurant in London.

Here is Neil many years later holding that issue. You can see it here if you want. Warning: extremely emotional video.

Neil arrived wearing a grey homburg hat. “Sort of like the ones Humphrey Bogart wears in movies” he later wrote. (Before saying that in fact he did not look like him, but like someone wearing a grown-up’s hat). Terry Pratchett, photo courtesy of one @neil-gaiman, was in a Lenin-style leather cap and a harlequin-patterned pullover. At this point, Terry was already a hat person, although not that hat.

Terry offered Neil this : "An interview needn't last more than 15 minutes. A good quote for the beginning, a good quote for the end, and the rest you make up back at the office"*. (Terry Pratchett had worked many years in journalism by this point ).

But the meeting went terribly well. The two of them realized they had "the same sort of brains". So well indeed, that in 1985, Neil had shown Terry a file containing 5282 words, exploring a scenario in which Richmal Crompton's William Brown had somehow become the Antichrist. Was a collaboration in the cards as of that moment? Not really. But Terry found in Neil someone to whom he could send disks of work in progress and to whom he could pick up the phone sometimes when he hit a brick in the road of his writing.

Terry loved it and the concept stayed in his mind. A couple of years later, he rang Neil to ask him if he had done any more work on it. Neil had been busy with The Sandman, he had not really given it another thought. Terry said, "Well I know what happens next, so either you sell me the idea or we can write it together". **

And as you know, unless you’ve been living in Alpha Centauri, the rest is history. That was the beginning of what would become William the Antichrist and later would get the name Good Omens:The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. (Title provided by Neil Gaiman and subtitle by Terry Pratchett).

From the introduction to William the Antichrist: “In the summer of 1987 several odd ideas came together: (..)I found myself imagining a book called William the Antichrist, in which a hapless demon was going to be responsible for swapping the wrong baby over, and the son of the US Ambassador would be completely undemonic, while William Brown would grow up to be the Antichrist, and the demon would need to stop him ending the world. The unfortunate demon, whom I called Crawleigh, because Crawley was a nearby town with an unfortunate name, would have to sort it all out as best he could.

It felt like a story with legs.

Terry took the 5,000 words, and rewrote them, calling me to tell me what he was doing and what he was planning to do. The biggest thing he was going to do, he told me, was split the hapless demon into two characters – a would-be-cool demon in dark glasses (which was, I think, Terry’s way of making fun of me, a never-actually- cool journalist in dark glasses) who had renamed himself Crowley, and a rare-book dealer and angel called Aziraphale, who would embody all the English awkwardness that either of us could conceive.”

William the Antichrist being a direct inspiration of the 1976 film The Omen. If the baby swap had just been a little bit messier and the kid had gone off somewhere else he would have grown up as somebody else. “And then there was a beat and I thought, I should write it, it will be called William the Antichrist” says Neil. ***

“The first draft of Good Omens was a William-book. It was absolutely in every way it could be a William book. It had Violet Elizabeth Bott, it had William and the Outlaws, it had Mr. Brown”.

Over time they realized that they would have more creative freedom if they in their own words filed off the serial numbers. William and the Outlaws becoming Adam and the Them.

But the spirit of Just William was never far away.

The joy for Neil was to construct “perfectly William sentences”. The one when Anathema tells Adam that she has lost the Book, and he tells her that he has written a book about a pirate who became a famous detective and it is 8 pages long… that’s “a William sentence”.

Good Omens was also inspired by a particularly antisemitic moment in The Jew of Malta and John le Carre's spy novels. (Neil’s ask)

“When we finished the book we estimated that the words were 60% Terry’s and 40% mine, and the plot, such as it was, was entirely ours.”

(Here are some slides of mine where I go into some other details concerning the origins of Good Omens).

*Quote: from Terry Pratchett A Life With Footnotes by Rob Wilkins, but said by Terry of course.

** All the quotes, facts listed here : see above.

***all other quotes by Neil Gaiman from various interviews and asks I’ll link.

#good omens #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #good omens fun facts #the colour of magic #the colour of pratchett #space voyager magazine

[salemoleander]

I am BARELY resisting going full red-strings-corkboard on this season. And by barely resisting I mean not resisting at all here is an extremely long list of the events those pins would be marking out.

BigB getting a Task that was a different color than everyone else's. It's not just a randomly assigned Hard Task, bc Scar rerolled for a Hard Task and his was also just a white envelope. It's fundamentally different.

That task taking BigB away from socialization, and seemingly being an incredibly time-consuming and dull request. Of profound disinterest to any watchers.

The phrasing of his Task!!

Dig a big hole. All the way down. At least 3x3. Make it your base if you want.

Everyone else's are direct and formal - the only one with more than one sentence was Skizz's, with the rule clarification of "One attempt only." Bigb's Task is four short abrupt sentences. It is also the only Task to contain extraneous information, 'Make it your base if you want.' The requirements (at least 3x3) feel like an afterthought to mimic the numerical/specific demands of the other tasks.

Evo symbol on the face of the Secret Keeper statue.

The fact that there's a statue at all; the fact that there is a physical representation of what is assigning tasks that everyone must complete, when previously everything was always handled via commands and unseen RNG.

Grian talking to the statue, and (bc of his Actual Role as game organizer) acting as a mediator for the impartial decisions handed down, speaking for it.

Grian making one last bad joke and saying he doesn't know if it counted or not- depends on whether we the audience laughed.

Grian asking for task recommendations from the audience. The watchers are making the tasks. The Watchers are making the tasks.

Again I could be off-base, and I'm not usually even that smitten with bringing in Evo lore. I don't want a Big Bad really...but. It feels like something very unusual and intentional and cool is happening in this series. And I'd guess we'll know if theres something going on once we have more than one data point.

My largely unfounded suspicion is that there is another being (maybe Listeners, maybe something else) trying to reach out to the Players via decoy Tasks, and BigB was the first recipient. Get them alone, make them of disinterest to the watchers, and tell them something we don't get to know.

Because that's the really, really fucking cool part (if my wacky theory is remotely right): We're the bad guys. We're the ones giving out tasks - hell, we're the ones actively brainstorming harder and crueller tasks in Grian's comments!

If they actually made a story where the Players have to keep secrets from us I will be delighted. Bc that is the same genius bullshit that made Evo Watcher lore so fun

#secret life #slsmp #life series #grian #secret life smp #bigb #i think im starting to get the shape of the conceit #this could all be nonsense of course. i may be completely off base and nothing will happen and it's just a normal life series #but it feels like there's something Larger happening here #anyways. will keep thinking and mulling this over and collecting scraps of evidence #secret life spoilers #slsmp spoilers #spoilers #salem meta #salem tag #im so enriched. i love being wrong about stories