#DECONSTRUCTING BLIGHT
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Luz Noceda 🤝 Miles Morales
Afro-latine teenagers with pressure on their shoulders to figure out their future, and also save the world. They love their parents and want to make them proud, but also struggle with lying to them, afraid they won’t be accepted for their strangeness. Bright, wonderful kids who meet friends from another world, and whose chosen future is to continue to engage with those other worlds and the family they made there. They’re separated from those worlds and work hard to get there, feeling lonely without the ones who understand.
They are regarded as anomalies, not fitting in with the world of others like them that they visit. They are born of chance and coincidence, and suffer a villain who is convinced of the connections and parallels they have; I made you, and you made me! But that villain wants to take away one of the families they’ve made. They question if they’re a real witch/Spider-Man with how unlike the others they are, but eventually embrace their unique identity and the unexpected advantages it has.
They struggle with the narrative, from a meta sense; They know how the story goes, the hero returns home from their adventure, the captain dies. But they hope to defy that ending and make their own, do their own thing. This puts them at odds with an older man who insists things must go a certain way, that there must be a sacrifice of some kind, particularly with their parents; But Luz and Miles ask, why do I have to choose? Why can’t we, and everyone else, have it all? Why not choose the path of compassion, instead of making others lose in order to grow? Their kindness affects those around them, sparing them what they themselves suffered, or are afraid to experience.
They’re kids caught between two worlds, but they’re also tired of being seen as just weak, ineffectual kids; They can do things too, they can fight and help! And make their own decisions! So when their mentor, a once-jaded person who got their life back together with the kid’s help, suggests sending that teen away for their own good… No, I’m staying here with all of you guys, because I love you, and I don’t have to lose my parents back at my other home either!
One could argue that these kids, by being involved, created a tragic story, made things worse by sparking the conflict at all, and they doubt themselves for that; Luz helped Philip Wittebane find the Collector, Miles took the place of Peter Parker, leading to his death. But they’re here, so they may as well make the most of it, choose themselves, and forge their own destinies. It’s okay, they can forgive themselves, too. They’re gonna rebel against the status quo to deconstruct it and change things, by asking critically; Why does it have to be this way? Question the rules, as a punk friend tells them.
Amity Blight 🤝 Gwen Stacy
On another note; White girlfriends to the above-mentioned with undercuts. Because of their own mistakes, said girlfriends lost a meek, glasses-wearing childhood friend that they saw themselves as a protector for; That friend was tired of the bullying and their anger boiled over into something destructive (and green), wanting to be seen as just as capable. Amity and Gwen struggle with a period of loneliness and isolation because of the loss of that friend, blaming themselves for what happened. They meet Luz and Miles under less than ideal circumstances, but manage to open up because of them.
Amity and Gwen struggle with approval and acceptance from their father, who works for the system and contributes to enforcing its oppression. But that father realizes he has alienated his daughter, who finds a different family without him, and chooses his child over the system, abandoning it to become a better person. Amity and Gwen both want to be with their loved ones, supporting them, and because of that break ties with the system and another parental figure. They make sure to rally the other friends their loved ones have made, to lift up the protagonist at their lowest points; They’ll answer the call to return the favor in their time of need.
#the owl house#across the spiderverse#atsv#spiderverse#Luz noceda#miles morales#amity blight#gwen Stacy#lumity#gwiles#parallels#meta
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Now that the mod list has mostly stabilized, a slightly more useful overview of all hundred-something mods I've got installed right now. Mostly, because I found a lot of these mods from other people making similar lists. It turns out that Steam Workshop search isn't always great.
This is exported from RimPy but obviously not in the load order.
Obligatory Vanilla Expanded Category
Actually I'm not even going to list all of these, because basically anybody who mods this game has them installed. Really the only noteworthy part is that I skipped some of them, mostly some of the Vanilla Factions Expanded ones that added more mechanics to enemies who are already too annoying, or sounded way too complicated. I also added Vanilla Outposts Expanded recently, which will probably become very relevant before long. Oh, and skipped Vanilla Genetics Expanded, both because the game has genetics now, and a friend told me horror stories about it.
Prereqs for other mods
Not even gonna describe these. They're mostly frameworks. Besides, everyone knows Harmony and HugsLib.
Prepatcher [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934420800]
Harmony [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2009463077]
HugsLib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=818773962]
Pathfinding Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
TDS Bug Fixes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895035527]
TD Find Lib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895299310]
Humanoid Alien Races [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=839005762]
Mechanical Humanlikes Core [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2974524016]
Boring technical stuff
Performance Optimizer... does just that, mostly by cutting down on unnecessary background calculations.
Performance Optimizer [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664723367]
Worldgen
All of the ReGrowth mods either add more plants/animals/features to existing biomes, or rarely introduce biomes of their own.
Real Ruins adds scattered ruins all over the place, using (heavily degraded) blueprints of the bases of other people who are using the same mod. tbh if I do another game I'll probably drop Real Ruins. It's fun, but sometimes it's wildly unbalanced. If you've noticed that the current colony has like five vanometric power cells, this is where a few of them came from.
ReGrowth: Core [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2260097569]
ReGrowth: Arid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2466442910]
ReGrowth: Boreal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2106597000]
ReGrowth: Extinct Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2266685892]
ReGrowth: Swamp [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2182111148]
ReGrowth: Temperate [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2261114471]
ReGrowth: Tropical [https:// no link (local mod)]
ReGrowth: Tundra [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2107412614]
ReGrowth: Wastelands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2122461695]
Real Ruins [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1552146295]
ReGrowth: Aspen [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2545774148]
ReGrowth: Boiling [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2981924439]
UI/functionality
ZiTools objects seeker is the best fucking mod out there and it should be in the core game. It's the solution to the standard 'well shit, somebody made a masterwork charge rifle, but I don't know where it is in my 340 tile storeroom' problem.
Recycle This adds a button to order people to smelt/deconstruct/destroy specific items.
More Harvest Designators adds buttons like 'chop all the mature trees in this area' and 'cut all the blighted plants in this area.'
Food Alert adds a status line on the main screen that estimates how many days of food the colony has stored.
Skill Master adds a list to the work tab showing the highest level in each skill in the colony, which you can click to go to that person.
Everybody Gets One adds new options to production buildings like 'always make this thing until we have four per colonist' or 'make dusters whenever we have more than 100 leather.' Very handy for things like food production when your population level is fluctuating wildly.
ZiTools objects seeker [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2021885930]
Recycle This [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2567877605]
More Harvest Designators! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1541250497]
Food Alert (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2017538067]
Skill Master [https:// no link (local mod)]
Everybody Gets One [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1687566130]
Functionality From Dwarf Fortress
Follow The Vein adds a 'mine this mineral, and any new tiles of the same mineral that you uncover' designator. Like Dwarf Fortress has.
Path Avoid lets you make colonists prefer to walk around certain areas when possible. Like you can in Dwarf Fortress. Great for discouraging people from using your freezer as a shortcut.
Follow the Vein [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2923356196]
[KV] Path Avoid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1180719857]
Genetics
Alpha Genes adds a zillion new genes and 14 new xenotypes. This is where we got the jellyfish and rock people. It also adds all the gene-tinkering tools that Yoshiko used to become a foxgirl vampire.
Alpha Genes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2891845502]
Alpha Genes - Insectoid Mutations [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2906193379]
Cosmetic-only changes
World Map Beautification Project changes the textures on the world map to do things like make mountain chains more obvious.
Childrens Drawings adds more options to the pool of drawings that kids can leave on the floor.
Interaction Bubbles adds those nice overhead speech bubbles when colonists talk to each other. Otherwise you have to go to their social log to see what they've been talking about.
Dubs Apparel Tweaks allows you to hide certain clothing based on the situation. If you've noticed that nobody's wearing hats indoors, this is why. It's not perfect, though--apparently it has some minor conflicts. With one of the VE mods, I think? Also I haven't been able to find a working setting where it doesn't show everybody sleeping in the nude.
World Map Beautification Project [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2314407956]
Childrens Drawings [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2918817041]
Interaction Bubbles [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516158345]
Dubs Apparel Tweaks [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2296697286]
Things that are just common sense
But not the Common Sense mod, funnily enough.
Stabilize allows you to tend to a somebody's wounds in place, without needing to pack them to a special designated spot for it.
Injured Carry lets colonists rescue people who are injured, but haven't collapsed. Because otherwise, by default, if somebody gets horribly wounded but has a high pain tolerance, it's entirely possible for them to crawl toward the hospital with nobody else able to help them until they pass out, two seconds away from bleeding out.
Beautiful Outdoors makes most wild plants at least a little pretty, so people will get some Beauty gain from being out in the forest or whatever.
Trading Spot lets you designate where visiting caravans should park, instead of them choosing a random spot to hang out.
Backup Power allows your colonists to figure out the advanced science of turning off the fuel-powered generators when the colony's already running an electricity surplus.
Prisoners Are Not Swines makes prisoners clean their cells sometimes, rather than just wallowing in trash while complaining about it.
Wall Lights - imagine a far-off future where we could use light bulbs for things other than floor lamps. Just imagine. Arguably a little OP since they use a bit less power and resources, but default lights are weirdly expensive on both axes anyway.
Dubs Break Mod makes the severity of a mental break partially dependent on how unhappy somebody is, so someone who's just a little grumpy is less likely to go on an arson spree than somebody who's been on the verge of a meltdown for weeks.
Stabilize [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023407836]
Injured Carry [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2413690575]
Beautiful Outdoors [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2011794898]
[GMT] Trading Spot [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2874517333]
Backup Power (Updated) [https:// no link (local mod)]
Prisoners Are Not Swines [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613966365]
Wall Light [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1423699208]
Dubs Break Mod [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722398508]
Arguably OP stuff
Device Standby makes it so that, like... a machining table doesn't draw exactly as much power when it's just sitting there as when somebody's actively using it. imo this is common sense, but it drastically reduces the load on your electric grid, so I have to admit that it makes things a lot easier.
Losing The Faith makes people lose confidence in their beliefs when they're unhappy. This mostly makes it easier to convert prisoners to your ideology.
Impressionable Children adds a chance that people will influence a child toward their ideology while tutoring them. Also common sense imo, but it does make it a lot easier to convert kids. Which, you know, is kind of important for this colony.
Pick Up And Haul makes it so that when somebody goes to haul, they look for other things along the route that need hauled in the same direction, and keep grabbing stuff until they're at their carry limit. Again, common sense, but it makes hauling a lot faster. On the other hand it's fucking stupid that by default people will go 'well there's a pile of t-shirts that need carried to the storeroom right here, but I should only grab one at a time.'
Pocket Sand allows colonists to keep multiple weapons on them at all times, and adds a button to swap between the weapons (with the normal equip delay.) Again, common sense. This is such a massive QoL improvement, because now somebody can be a sniper and then swap to a shotgun when the enemies get close. This is how Yoshiko remains a world-class marksman while also bashing skulls with a big hammer. (I know there's a sidearms mod that makes the swapping automatic, but that looked like it had some significant conflicts and stuff last I checked.)
Childhood Backstories makes colony kids get an actual backstory upon turning 13. Mostly a bit OP because this means that it gives everyone some automatic skill boosts when they hit that point. But it adds character, and tbh with how many kids show up when they're like 10-12 years old, a lot of them need it just to get up to an average skill level.
Not My Fault makes other factions not blame you for things like accidental deaths on your map. This is abusable in theory, but it's worth it to not have my relations with a faction ruined because they insist on driving a caravan into an army of killer robots that just landed outside. Also I think it (inadvertently?) removes some relations bonuses for rescuing people.
Device Standby [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967053451]
Losing The Faith [https:// no link (local mod)]
Impressionable Children [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879996327]
Pick Up And Haul [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1279012058]
Pocket Sand [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2226330302]
Childhood Backstories [https:// no link (local mod)]
Not My Fault [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2870045856]
Misc
Persona Mechanoid Pawns is where we get Spencer.
Self Dyeing lets you instruct people to automatically go to the styling station to recolor their clothes, based on guidelines you set.
Inspiration Tweaks adds new inspirations and makes people more likely to get inspirations in skills they actually care about.
Custom Ritual Framework is where we get adoptions.
Persona Mechanoid Pawns [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2925172029]
Self Dyeing [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2562859859]
Inspiration Tweaks [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2117570018]
Custom Ritual Framework [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2561617361]
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I need to ask questions before i forget
ok so: ofc i could not forget this question. what does link think of sheikah tech
also impressions/interactions with purah and robbie Perhaps
AH!! honestly i dont think he really thinks much about it unless he needs it (ex robbie stuff), or zelda/purah/robbie/even impa mention things about it (like snippets of how it works or the history of it). usually the only thing that matters is “dangerous = avoid” or “helpful = get”. the only exception to this being the shrine of resurrection, which at first he didnt question at all, but once he learned of What It Was, then he was like “OH. oh i Dont like that”. the few times hes gone back in there he’ll sometimes just. sit in there. and try to discern more about it (and also more about his past self by proxy, despite not really being awake when he was put into it). the divine beasts creep him severely out at first, Especially vah naboris at first. it just walks so unnaturally…. and it walks in circles and gets closer to the mountains but then it turns away. however after he frees the champions he just. sits by them. once again either just to have a Moment or to talk to the champions. i really like this idea because it both means link can share food with them and also it can get more character revelations (maybe mipha can finally talk to sidon and her dad. WHICH BY THE WAY ITS SO SAD YUNOBO SAW DARUK BUT SIDON DIDNT SEE MIPHA. like im sure mipha did that on purpose as well as daruk but D: ). the guardians probably scared him really badly at first, and hed avoid them at all costs. i think the only time he found out you could fight them And Win would be if/when he got the guardian sheild from cherry, where it autoblocks their beams. thats how he learned he could parry them and now fighting them is Tense but also pretty easy. he doesnt like the flying ones he cant parry them. he just uses ancient arrows on them or avoids them. speaking of when doing miphas guardian fight its kind of the first time he realizes that the guardians Werent Meant to do all of this. the ones mipha fought were Designed to fight, and you could tell as they glowed orange not pink. doing the kakariko shrine also cemented this and i think he would miss that specific guardian (i dont know if it respawns on blood moons. i know the strength trial ones do but this one might not). i think he would like cores though just on the account of being rare and looking very cool. he also uses guardian weapons sometimes both on the basis of being cool and being respawnable weapons (shrine strength trials and all that jazz). speaking of the shrines he either loves them (shrines that require outside challenges like the skull lake one) or does Not like them (ones that can kill him like the spike balloon one). he saved some shrines for zelda to do (including the one in the memory, half out of spite and half out of she Did want to see. she might actually use this to get better at defending herself if it comes to that (and also studying how the guardians move and their attacks. once defeating it taking its parts and deconstructing it). this also does put into question how im making death work here (i like to think that save reloads or those little link falling off . animations? cutscenes? are like previews of what happens and then he just comes back to himself. they do Actually happen and he can Feel It but he always ends up in the position he was just before he did that (like getting off the ground after those cutscenes). those are jarring for him and he doesnt like the feeling.
i think how he sees ganon by proxy would also be interesting. ganon uses sheikah tech a Lot (the blights and his own mini shrine of resurrection). hed probably think the blights are just kind of. proxies of the divine beasts? like not questioning it at all because the aesthetic fits and all that jazz. but once he got to the castle he Would question ganons own SoR thing (and the decayed guardian attached to it). and also ganons form before he turns into the dark beast would be. Very Weird to him. he wouldnt ask zelda but hed ask impa or purah how thatd work or how he can do that and they go “he can do fucking What?”.
impressions of purah and robbie pre cal are: pretty cool but doesnt know well, and cool and weirdly nice. robbie would slightly scare him until he works with him more, and purah wouldnt scare him but hed be awkward around her as if they worked together itd probably be in silence, unless something would happen in which case link would have no idea whats happening so he’d just. go with it. minor deadpan “yay!” or “ah sorry”s. i like to think that at some point he’d have to scavenge guardian parts for purah as a debt for something (if she built the hateno lab pre cal and he told his sister about it i think purah and aryll would meet, but also purah would not want strangers really knowing about all of this. though it does bring into question how the lab would be “hidden” in the first place? post cal has the excuse of its been 100 years and people forgor but pre cal the ancient tech is super relevant. i imagine purah would simply lie to the kids to spread rumors and keep people out. but also in creating a champion and robbies diary its mentioned that the labs were built After the calamity so. shrugs. on one hand im keeping it because it gives me an excuse to have the champions visit hateno, but yeah. was the hateno lab also a lighthouse before…?). purah and link would make a slightly distant but friendly duo. its like purah would lead it but is also more self conscious at the time so if link questions something she would have trouble answering (especially if its about herself ((ex. isat loop reacting to siffrin telling them that theyre awkward and taking it personally). however getting guardian parts between the two of them would be easy and also scarily effective. neither of them care about dirt or grime and parts collecting is fun for link and simply looking inside guardians both decayed and not is fun for both of them. and once link knows How to take apart guardians/search for parts without damaging anything else hed be extremely meticulous about it. what i mean by that is that hed get extra things he didnt have to and sort it out depending on the factors. this is great for purah, because it means more data on how some parts were damaged to begin with and how she can restore them. other than that though i dont think theyd work much together. theyre just in their own little corners + purah is more friends with zelda than link. unless he collected parts for her however they would less “work together” and more “ah item collection time” and mailing it to her/just. handing it in. however robbie and link would be less distant but still in their own little corners. its the prime example of . sorry i just violently remembered pansexual introvert asexual extrovert show while typing i need a better explanation for this. guy who is the most energetic person you will ever meet vs guy who is the chillest person you will ever meet. actually while typing this i was about to say robbie would drag him into things and while thats Probably true for like. small experiments i think if link was already there purah would drag him into more dangerous ones (unless link explicitly stated he didnt want to). she Did do the anti aging rune while robbie just sat there. basically robbie would initiate a partnership and purah would deepen it through increasingly mad scientist experiments. though i think she’d test the waters in how far she could actually go with it if that makes sense. i mentioned the self consciousness but from aocs cutscenes she seems more nervous in general but that could be me. but yeah she would hesitate. and also test certain ones on herself with proper safety. robbie would basically just make link bring certain items over (“pass the wrench” type of deal) and really just talk to him. also getting distracted in the middle of talking when something Happens but talking when he can. in the senario of link collecting parts i think hed go to robbie to restore some rusted over parts because he really doesnt know who else could do that. and also robbie would know purah so itd probably be cool. and yeah things go well
long paragraph. but!! yeah they could theoretically be friends they just arent into the same things. hypothetical tumblr mutuals. otherwise theyre nice to each other and would play board games
post cal!!! suspicious until he learnt she was the actual director. then he thought she was a fun person but mostly focused on fixing the runes at the time and memory collection. he was also slightly miffed about the having to bring parts but he couldnt complain because well. Yeah Fair Enough. he likes snapping with her and would probably ask about divine beasts the most with her. at some points he both asks about the little divine beast on the ceiling. otherwise i think hed like to hang out with her he just doesnt a lot, as theres nothing really to update on with the shekiah tech or anything. he might? tell her about the forgotten temple considering the sheer amount of guardians there but i think hed have. Weird feelings about that place in general
robbie!! old cronk. he lights up the furnace first so he doesnt come to an empty lighthouse before. hes still nice and his weapons are Very Useful however he laments the rupees leaving his pocket. he does read his diary and actually feels kinda bad for robbie and purah + the tech in general. like no one knew that was going to happen and they Still felt guilty. would probably ask robbie about the lomei laybrinth guardians but also doesnt visit him a lot. he Would play uno with him though. other things: hed use both of their telescopes, ask for recipes and when he stops by he’ll make food for each of them, keeps bringing new glasses or hats for the frog statues (or makes more tiny statues), ask purah more things (can i build a mini divine beast too. whats up with the cores. how do the divine beasts work. ..do you think the champions could still be alright in there. and she can only really say that well. she really doesnt know. its possible ((but its a slim possibility))). he also goes to them for slate fixings! purah would, on one hand, want to try out wind bombing so bad, but also it looks So Dangerous. robbie would also love it and keep making bomb designs to help wind bombing (of which they explode in his face.) purah would probably just make a seperate rune for it entirely (and also make it Not hurt).
this is not part of the ask but if totk was canon he would miss everything so badly. the divine beasts would hit like a fucking Truck man. and nobody mentions it!!!!! not even purah!!! he doesnt bring it up either but it still hurts. miphas statue being moved and not realizing where it is at first hurts Even More. he feels a bit betrayed by that. he even misses the guardians. not one exists. the only one being on purahs lab. he’d go back to the castle just to find Anything on the sheikah tech. his friends are gone and barely anything remains. he’d search robbies old lab. he’d search Everywhere for them. he might even ask some constructs if theyve seen more tech like the ancient arrow tips. he cant even wind bomb he has to Build a machine that goes Slower like a Pleb . sorry just the ludonarrative dissonance in totk. the shrine of resurrection being gone would hurt so so So badly. its like none of it even happened. he never got hurt his friends never existed any memories he had didnt exist any pain or happiness never existed. once he saved zelda he would either go insane or go to robbie and ask to make a sheikah device. or ask where everything is. i think even robbie and purah would be surprised at the SoR being gone and thatd only make the feelings of hurt worse. majoras mask but termina is a mirror world of hyrule and instead of helping link cope through greif it makes everything worse on socmany levels.
#HELLO!!#sorry if i didnt elaborate much on purah and robbie. i honestly dont know how much they would interact#hopefully with time i will develop everyone more#also can youctell i miss the shekiah tech.#on one hand i love disregarding totk and making my own brain sequel. but also its just so fucked up
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Numbers Go Down
You don’t see it happen, not in realtime.
But every time you look, it’s changed. Like a clock dying, somehow undoing the years it had gathered, spilling them through its cracked seams. Losing time. Haemorrhaging memories.
You could go about your day and not notice much had changed. Glancing, cautiously, sometimes accidentally, at the dial.
You don’t know when it changes.
But it does.
Always down.
Each one of those is a person. Gone.
Are they saved?
Are they dead?
I won't know till I find my escape. Navigating twisted, broken corridors that used to hold thoroughfares of great memory and solidarity, abuzz with light and life and art. Now, a decaying husk rife with strange artificially generated, lifeless beings that float towards you, trying to tear away your identity or use your body as a host.
I tried to tell myself it was still safe, for the longest time, that these were things I could ignore, and live with, in moderation, together.
There is no moderation anymore. And very little ‘together’.
The major voices that remain, the 'powerful' ones, are the cults. Feverishly, destructively dedicated to the overlord of the ship's deconstruction, all in the name of 'freedom'. After all, who decided spaceships should have closed windows? What do scientists know? They never spoke to me about it! We should be free to breathe out there! There's no gravity, we can float wherever we want!
Cults of ignorance and death, united in hateful conspiracy.
They brought back the exiled. Driven away by will of the people, for safety, for their heinous disregard for the sanctity of community.
But they returned. One by one regranted sanctuary by the Orator to dig their claws in, infect, fester, breed hate and mistrust. Dismantle the ship from the inside, starting with the passengers.
I wander the halls with guarded sight. Although the halls are busy, the faces are less familiar. Mostly echoes of voices travelling from elsewhere, while among them hang the cold spectres of the Orator’s devotion. Many are puppets in procedurally-generated masks, trying to give the appearance of normality, of population, sell those who remain on the ideals of mindless consumption and dedication to false promises of wealth and success.
The ones who trained us to see these lies, the stations of truth, are slowly being removed. Some by force, disappearing in the night to leave empty rooms, or sometimes no room at all where once one stood. Blank spaces sealed over whole people.
Erased.
I hope their voices remain elsewhere to grow again. But here, I see less. Each new day brings a dismal announcement of further strain, a tightening of functionality, a further grim rebranding of the ship to stark black and brutal lettering. A living love letter to oppression that you can document in the changes to the walls, the rushed and desperate veneer pasted to everything to remind you how beholden you are to someone you’ve never met, with the power to destroy every voice around you, or yourself, in a single, petulant command.
They’ve taken the sky away.
There used to be birds here. Some claim to still see them, putting up memetic guards against further changes, but I know, and they likely do too, that the inevitable will happen.
I glance at the screen in my hand once more. I've been given a lifeline, an escape to a new build elsewhere, but nobody knows if it will be the same. They fear the creeping blight of indifference that allowed hate to take seed, take control, and take away our voices and safety. It took away the truth.
I had a lot here. I was very lucky, in all. Some were luckier, and yet doubly unlucky to lose what they had.
The only place here is for those who pay. And all of it, every bit, goes to The Orator. A soulless creature built from blood and stone and lies that bought its way up the chain of societal influence, swamping everything in the way an oil slick coats a beach. In waves, thick, inescapable, and beyond the reach of any one person to prevent, a disaster caused by too many times ignoring what shouldn’t have been in the first place. Like it shouldn’t have been.
For now I’m still here, although my reasons to stay are fast dwindling. I have a few lingering connections I need to make, and the promise of starting anew after building such a long, formative life here is a massively daunting one.
But I want to have a life. The longer I stay, the more likely something will happen to end it.
I will not let myself disappear.
As if in echo of my feelings, I catch the corner of the screen in my gaze once more.
The number has gone down.
Thank you for reading my thinly-veiled allegory for being a transient from a site which, not for it's function or origin or business practices, was an immensely formative space for me. I'm still finding where I am, but I hope to find a kind space again.
#fiction#allegory#scifi#sci fi fiction#short fiction#social media#twitter#my fiction#my writing#trans author#author#fantasy author
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For character bingo:
Sasha Waybright
Catra
Adora
Amity Blight
Sasha:
Her design is top notch. I know there's a little girl somewhere that had her gay awakening watching Sasha. Don't even get me started on Adult Sasha. CANON BISEXUAL. She and the other 2 girls are frequently bought together do not separate. She's great.
Catra:
She's everything, actually. Don't get me started on Catra, I'll talk about her for 5 hours. This woman smelled her own feet on screen and everyone still wants a piece of her. Nobody is doing it like her. You go, gurl, get some therapy.
Adora:
Idk I'm sorry 😅 unless she's hanging out with the rest of the best friend squad, I'm not invested. She's not bad, I just like her better when she has someone else to bounce off on. Don't get me started on her clothes and hair. I am a little bit interested when they get to deconstructing her mental health issues but since she's repressing them most of the time it's like, oh.
Amity:
I love her so much. She's got so much stuff to her. Her mom is like "oh you wanna be a girl? Good then I'll turn you into a mini me". Mommy issues. Daddy issues. Anger issues. Goth. Nobody in the fandom knows how dyed hair works, I have seen absolutely horrible drawings of her hair. Don't even get me started on her dynamic with Luz.
#ask game#the owl house#amity blight#amphibia#sasha waybright#she ra and the princesses of power#she ra adora#spop catra
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Was thinking of the possible themes for Blur/Blight and the other regions' arcs (I've yet to flesh out and explore), but so far;
Black / White - Focused around the truth; self-discovery, for better or for worse. Acknowledging that their pursuit of the truth will irrevocably change their lives forever. The hero Hilbert leaves home and never returns, and the people around them have changed. Follows a typical fairy-tale to a T, no matter how hard they tried to avoid that fate. A story that was doomed from the start.
Black 2 / White 2 - Focused around ideals; learning from what has happened in the past, either choosing to avoid making the same mistakes, or falling into the same trap. Mirroring. The hero Nate leaves their hometown, comes back, and has managed to stick to who they are and what they believe in, with the people they love. Deconstructs the fairy-tale, but instead, follows a shounen anime plot. A story that is corrupted from the events from the past, but there's a light found at the end of the tunnel.
Both BW/BW2 are also centered around love and control; love in the form of platonic, romantic, familial, and undescribed/unlabeled relationships, worship and devotion, control within one's self and towards others; particularly regarding situations that are controlled (Ghetsis, Zinzolin, Nikolai), and situations that aren't (fate, the dragons).
ORAS/E - Focused around generations, passing the mantle, bloodlines;
Brendan being Norman's son and initially seen as someone that will follow after his footsteps
May being Birch's daughter and wondering if she's content with wanting to be like him
Wally wanting more than a simple life with his family in Verdanturf
Lisia stepping into the spotlight in the name of her mother's image
Zinnia carrying the hopes and dreams of the Draconid people Steven being the heir to Devon Corporation
Wallace being the only one of his siblings who stayed in Sootopolis and the only one trying to keep Sootopolitan's traditions alive
Flannery becoming the gym leader after her father retired,
Tate and Liza being new gym leaders
Maxie and Archie's goals being for the sake of future generations; one is just geared more towards humanity, while the other is geared more towards nature
SM/USUM - Focused around childhood, adulthood, coming of age, and responsibility- regarding yourself and regarding others. The children of Alola growing together through the island challenge, Selene being encouraged to enjoy her youth in Alola, Hau wanting to have fun in his own journey while also fearing growing up, Lillie having taken on a more mature role after dealing with an abusive mother, Gladion having to fend for himself and not having proper adults to guide him, etc.
#BW/BW2 Rewrite - Blur / Blight#((THERES MANY MORE BUT. For now these are the ones I can think of.))#((SM/USUM is still being pondered upon. Selene and Elio are both present but Elio isn't an island challenger.))#((Nor is he related to Selene- Selene is the protagonist here.))#((I think I'll make Elio either a regular child from Akala who partakes in a lot of Alola's activities-))#((-such as photography. Battle Royale. Mantine Surfing. Etc.))#((-or somehow related to Team Skull like Gladion.))#((The Platinum arc doesn't have a set theme yet..))
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part 3 of “toh analyzed in conjunction with harry potter” is the blights! let’s talk malfoys, canon drarry, and the trickster twin archetype
okay, so i don’t think that saying “amity is an intentional response to draco malfoy” is incorrect.
1. in harry potter, draco malfoy is spoiled. he is loved so deeply and intensely that his mother turning against voldemort for him is a major plot point. he’s bought into all of his family’s propaganda and power, gotten everything he wanted except harry’s attention, and then had his dreams turn to ash in his mouth as he realized what war actually looked like.
2. but with the nature of the malfoys and other rich, influential families, it can be hard to tell how much agency and choice the kids actually have. in harry potter canon, we’re supposed to read draco as a spoiled bully with a doting family. which, i get. that’s something that happens. but we don’t see any other pureblood loyalist kids turn the cloak either. the only real examples we get are VERY far into the past and we don’t see any of the familial pushback. we don’t KNOW how the blacks treated sirius and andromeda. we just know that they got out, eventually, because they are Good Proper Goodlings TM who were just intrinsically Right TM. but there is a LOT of power that rich, influential parents have, and a lot of conflict involved in going against them.
3. what i like about amity is that she’s not a bad kid, but she would NOT have changed the way that she did without support, just like hunter wouldn’t have. she was a jerk! but she’d never had the opportunity to be anything other than that without support. when she was little and tried standing up to them, they almost got willow expelled. and by the time that amity had gotten herself out of that, she wasn’t sure how to do anything other than just try to live up to her mother’s ridiculous standards and guard her heart.
4. if we had a season 1 amity who had a rival who was more like the original harry potter, who saw YOU WERE MEAN TO MY FRIEND SO WE ARE ENEMIES TO THE GRAVE. then she would have gotten worse instead of better. draco isn’t harry’s fault! but he does show part of jkr’s stagnate worldview. and i don’t think it would have felt quite so.. .icky? if some of the kids from powerful pureblood families were rebelling? if some of them were very visibly being abused for being Wrong TM? but we didn’t get any of that from harry’s current pov, which makes draco, who is in a situation that could, potentially be very dangerous to him if he decided to be a better person and has no external motivation to do so feel. wrong. especially since The Malfoys Love Their Kids TM are the only prominent example of pureblood parenting we get, with none of the Sometimes The Children of the Powerful Suffer Too Okay.
5. harry potter especially likes its use of visual similarities from generation to generation to show continuity. harry looks like mom and dad and acts like mom and dad. draco is the spitting image of his dad and he acts like him. in the owl house... amity is very close to the spitting image of her mother but with her father’s hair color and eye color (v you have your mother’s eyes), and her mother forces her to dye her hair to look more like her.
but amity makes the choice to dye it a different color instead, and shows that the physical similarities aren’t predestination.
6. my first fandom obsession was drarry. here is something very close to canon drarry. :)
odalia and alador meet lucius and narcissa
1. okay so lucius and narcissa are both cut from the same cloth. the malfoys and the blacks are both equally powerful and they BOTH have money and status to bring to the relationship. they’re powerful, rich, stuck-up and willing to throw anyone under the bus when they need to. but this is also portrayed as loving and doting to their children. they are equals in a partnership of bad.
2. i would say that the first way that the blight parents deconstruct this is that while there are many similarities, the power dynamic is clearly skewed. while we don’t get a lot of context about what the respective families are like... whenever things are emphasized, it’s always “a blight”. the blight family name. all things that are in odalia’s name, because i think that it’s pretty clear that odalia is the one who brought the wealth and name to the relationship. alador brought the talent, but without odalia’s name and family backing. well. it’s clear that the threat of that loss hangs over their relationship. partnership of equals? that’s a bit. uh. difficult when one of them holds the institutional power and is willing to leverage every bit of it.
3. they also deconstruct this with the relationships with the children. while odalia is almost omnipresent, alador is almost entirely absent. there is a very specific way that all of them have to behave in order to be granted the blessings of the blight name and god forbid you go against it. there are retaliations to be had.
4. yet again, i think that the point that is being made here is that the power dynamics of wealth and status make “healthy” relationships like the one that the malfoys supposedly had... unlikely. certainly not present in the blight household.
edric and emira and fred and george
1. okay so fred and george don’t really DO much with the trickster twin archetype. they’re fun! there’s never much acknowledgement of any harm that they do. they are sorted into the family house and are exceptional by not being overachievers. the only exceptional element of this portrayal of the trope is that we lose one of them. and they are, of course, on the good side.
2. ed and em actually. you know. hurt people. sometimes their antics are just fun and games, but they also. actively harm the people around them. because sometimes pranks and stuff aren’t just clean creative fun!
3. they are enabled in their behavior as long as it’s not visible enough to affect the blight family name, and the need for them to act out like this is so pressing because they have to pretend to be perfect for the public eye.
4. when they start to become healthier and happier, they don’t completely detach from each other or from being playful, but they start to pursue their own interests and we get to see more of their personal identities. they don’t need to act out as much to let off steam from pretending.
5. if there IS a commentary going on with these two in response to fred and george, i would say that it’s that this behavior can actually be harmful, there are sad psychological causes, and that twins need room to be seen as individuals as much as “a unit”. with alex’s influence on the project, i would bet that this came up as a direct response to a trope that doesn’t see twins as individual, complex people.
#toh meta#toh hp meta series#lumity#amity blight#the blight family#alador blight#odalia blight#emira blight#edric blight#the blight twins
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Sun Movement
The two current sites for RE_CON 01 and RE_CON 02 are narrower than the previous site at 318 N St Clair, with each lot measuring 24’ 4”. This change in size meant that is was important for us to start by critically refining the plan. The narrower width of the lots is also reflective of the size of most lots around the city, with 25’ being the most common width dimension. The sketch shown here is a quick and initial plan study that focuses on the movement of the sun. The studio has worked extensively through multiple iterations of plan drawings to experiment with core placement, variations on stair, and overall circulation paths.
#UDBS#UrbanDesignBuildStudio#ProjectREPgh#CMUSoA#CarnegieMellonUniversity#CMU#CMUIDeATe#RE_CON01#DECONSTRUCTING BLIGHT#RepresentingActivism#HOME RE_CONSIDERED#HOME RE_DEFINED#ScalingChange#CONTEXT#MAPPING BLIGHT#sketch#sun#design#architecture#schematic#diagram#study#learning#drawing#sunpath#submission
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if you play your cards right you can revive Ancient Greek philosophers and teach them how to use they/them pronouns for me specifically
#one of the many steps along the way is getting them to deconstruct the bigotry of their time btw#going post#the first step is introducing them to the 21st century as An Enlightened Period#‘Though We Are Going Through Struggles You Could Hardly Comprehend We Have Also Solved Many Of The Pasts’ Blights On Humanity’#and don’t forget to frame transphobes as the Backwards Fools who Reject All Progress#(instead of like. the backwards fools who are very much in the majority here)
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My partner and I were just talking about this weird fanfiction writer who shipped one of the Volturi from Twilight with Harry Potter, and for whatever reason, I just had this thought:
"Harry and Draco should've been enemies-to-lovers in the kind of way in which Draco would become a three-dimensional character who confronts his toxic family dynamic, deconstruct the prejudices his family indoctrinated into him, and as he ends up hanging around Harry and pals more often, maybe he helps the gang subvert authority in ways that may actually be more effective because he knows how the social order functions more intimately than many of the rest of the gang. Maybe he even relapses a bit into his old ways because, despite everything, he still doesn't have the strength to break free from his powerful family and the rest of the Death Eaters, and this would be super tragic and emotional, but when push comes to shove, he finally pulls himself together and stands up for the friends he's made, even telling his parents off to their faces as he helps save the day!
... so basically what happened with Amity Blight."
#the owl house#toh#the owl house amity#amity blight#harry potter#draco malfoy#enemies to lovers#enemies to allies#lumity#Still too bad Rowling turned out to be a terf#fuck terfs#trans rights#gay rights#if you want credit for writing gay representation then actually make a concerted effort to write it like you care#surely this won't get me mobbed right?#spicy hot takes
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Echoes of the Past may honestly be my favorite episode so far in Season 2′s current run. While never hating King’s character, he wasn’t someone I loved much either. He had some very nice charming episodes with Luz in exploring their adorable dynamic, while deconstructing his attention seeking nature, but this character never clicked with me as a favorite. That honor went to characters like Amity Blight & Lilith Clawthorne in Season 1. Echoes of the Past though does a simply great job in getting me to genuinely care about King’s whole existence, by finally exploring his mysterious backstory of where he came from and addressing the title bestowed to him as “King Of Demons”. We get to see the consequences of Eda & Luz playing into King’s fantasies of being a supposed demonic ruler because they didn’t want to hurt his self-esteem. They cared too much for the little guy to say this was all an act to comfort his sense of worth. This recent episode, unless it gets topped by an even better story centered around him later, is easily the best in exploring what makes King who he is, overall.
When I saw him break down panicking, becoming emotionally distraught, and so very confused I felt every bit of his pain. That’s what I wanted in Season 1 was giving me a much bigger reason to care about King besides just “funny yet cute sidekick” character. King isn’t another comedic insert to fill in some kind of status quo for silly shenanigans. He’s a very real individual with an unknown point of origins who, despite the good intentions of others, was lied to about everything. This picture above is easily my favorite shot encapsulating King’s sadness. He doesn’t know what to feel, think, or believe in anymore upon Eda telling him the real events of how she came across him as a baby. I simply love the melancholy atmosphere in this wide shot from Luz’s point of view. She isn’t viewing him as an adorable friend needing protection, but someone Luz did dirty in playing into his fantasies of believing himself to be a ruler that backfired.
Echoes of the Past builds upon what Season 1 already did right in establishing how much Luz cares for King, like an older sister to their younger brother basically kind of dynamic. Their interaction on that log by the moonlight felt so downright organic in showing Luz’s compassion toward King with a lovely line, “You are somebody and I love that somebody very much.”, to comfort his sudden existential crisis. The fact there’s no music playing here, letting the voice acting speak for itself, really added to the whole moment of reconciliation between these two. King valued everyone’s perception of his whole personality and implied background, so to be told it’s all a white lie was deeply crushing. King can tolerate being teased, which is why he thought they were joking at first, whereas realizing this was the full truth made him re-contextualize everything. Was he being lied to outta some kind of pity? Did Luz ever believe him at all? Did anyone respect or love him enough to want bring themselves to clarify anything? Those thoughts were definitely running through his mind for sure.
What makes this all work as well it does is Luz’s bond with King being a central core of the entire episode. We get a very sweet backstory behind how Eda found King years ago and was also the one to give him the title he cherished sure, but it all circles back to Luz being the MVP to help ground him back to reality. If it wasn’t for Luz, then King would’ve been defiantly hiding from his issues. Not to say he wouldn’t have listened to Eda’s pleas for forgiveness, rather it could have been harder to accomplish without Luz there to help comfort him. King really cares about Eda of course, however there’s a special connection he’s formed with Luz where he seriously values about what she has to say. Literally one of the gags in Season 2′s first episode, Separate Tides, is King clinging to Luz’s leg shouting about how he never wants her to leave. Luz made him feel on top of the world when they hung around together in doing whatever kind of activity they’d partake in. Whether it’s writing a book together or hanging around at a carnival, King cherished every second he spent with Luz on their adventures.
Echoes of the Past perfectly captured this endearing dynamic beautifully.
#the owl house season 2#the owl house spoilers#easily the best king focused episode so far#season 2 has been emotionally capitalizing on stuff with great execution#echoes of the past#the owl house king#luz noceda
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Having seen your thoughts on his deeply-unpleasant daddy, might I please ask if you have any thoughts on The Gladiator himself, Hugo Danner? (THE SUPERMAN WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN, if you will).
What would you do if you were the strongest man in the world, the strongest thing in the world, mightier than the machine? He made himself guess answers for that rhetorical query. "I would—I would have won the war. But I did not. I would run the universe single-handed. Literally single-handed. I would scorn the universe and turn it to my own ends. I would be a criminal. I would rip open banks and gut them. I would kill and destroy. I would be a secret, invisible blight. I would set out to stamp crime off the earth; I would be a super-detective, following and summarily punishing every criminal until no one dared to commit a felony. What would I do? What will I do?"
The thing that strikes me about Gladiator is that it almost feels like the book is unfinished. The quality and pace of the book is all over the place, but you can boil it's general story down to "unlucky bastard is born Superman before it's time for Superman to exist, without the necessary support, mindset and structure to become Superman, in a world that neither supports nor accepts the existence Superman, and just as he's about to have the life-changing epiphany that could make him something, he gets struck by lightning and dies in the 2nd-to-last paragraph".
The whole book is like if in the first Spider-Man story Peter Parker just gave up after Uncle Ben died and we never saw him again. It's a superhero/supervillain origin story that gets cut short right as it's about to lead to the birth of the character proper. It's frustrating, yes, but to my scavenger goblin brain that likes to dig through pop culture's trash to find nice forgotten trinkets to polish and make into something new, it also invites a lot of promise, if we get into the question of what could have happened to Hugo Danner if he didn't die on the cusp of his origin story. It's an idea I plan to use for my own pulp writings.
It's not so much whether or not Hugo MIGHT have been Superman, so much as: COULD he be Superman? Maybe, maybe not. I'd argue not, because even with all his power, and even with his parents trying to raise him as best they could, even with Hugo genuinely trying his best to be good and heroic and turn his gifts to mankind, it wasn't gonna pan out. The right pieces weren't there, the family structure wasn't there, the necessary aspects of the origin story weren't there, and ultimately, Hugo Danner wasn't cut for it. He is a failure at everything he tries to be super at.
At college on the football field, he kills a man. As a soldier on the Great War, he slaughters thousands for years, but fails to end the war, despite having been able to do so from the moment he enlisted. He is fired from a steel mill for working too far beyond the abilities of his fellows, and then fired from a bank for freeing a man from a locked safe, because the bank president suspected that Danner planned to use his powers to rob the vault. He tries using his powers to enact social change and fails again and again. He can't even enjoy daily life, because he cannot compete fairly with ordinary people, and because of that he must constantly hold himself in check, never able to fully express himself. And when he's presented with the idea of creating a race of people like him to dominate the world and to “conquer and stamp out all these things to which men of intelligence object,” he finds it ultimately distasteful, because he knows better than to expect good things to come out of his life. And then he curses God and dies. The whole book is one long argument as to why Being Superman Sucks.
He's not the break from tradition that Superman represented, he's a sci-fi superman who met the same tragic ending his predecessors did. In that paragraph above, the very first thing he thinks about, after remarking over his failure to end the war, is thinking about becoming some galactic dictator murdering everyone who steps out of line, before he considers becoming a fascist super-detective. Kind of a damning perspective to present your hero, isn't it? If Gladiator was released today, exactly as is, people would be quick to assume it's an origin story for a Homelander/Plutonian/Omni-Man kind of character. Hugo Danner was a Superman deconstruction before that became a pop culture cliche.
My favorite sections of the book are those that describe Hugo in the war. By far the best-written and most evocative, almost bordering on horror story. And they may be the most damning sections of them all. He never forgives himself for not ending the war when he could, because he's spent all those years killing and toiling away when he was just about the one person who could conceivably leap all the way to Germany and force the war to end. I imagine a lot of pulp heroes who suffered in the war, or any war, and walked out of it with a resolve to protect and do good by others, would be pretty pissed when discovering that, all along, there was this living god among them who actually could have ended the war single-handedly, but was just too damn busy slaughtering his way through fields of people who couldn't possibly fight back, to think about it.
And for all that Hugo says that he hates war and murder and bloodshed, he sure seems like a total natural for it:
Hugo, out of his scarlet fury, had one glimpse of his antagonist's face and person. The glimpse was but a flash. He was a little man—a foot shorter than Hugo. His eyes looked out from under his helmet with a sort of pathetic earnestness. And he was worried, horribly worried, standing there with his rifle lifted and trying to remember the precise technique of what would follow even while he fought back the realization that it was hopeless.
In that split second Hugo felt a human, amazing urge to tell him that it was all right, and that he ought to hold his bayonet a little higher and come forward a bit faster. The image faded back to an enemy. Hugo acted mechanically from the rituals of drill. His own knife flashed. He saw the man's clothes part smoothly from his bowels, where the point had been inserted, up to the gray-green collar. The seam reddened, gushed blood, and a length of intestine slipped out of it.
Hugo stepped over him. He was trembling and nauseated. The bellow of battle returned to Hugo's ears. He pushed back the threatening rifle easily and caught the neck in one hand, crushing it to a wet, sticky handful. So he walked through the trench, a machine that killed quickly and remorselessly
Hugo was learning about war. He thought then that the task which he had set for himself was not altogether to his liking. There should be other and more important things for him to do. He did not like to slaughter individuals. The day passed like a cycle in hell. No change in the personnel except that made by an occasional death. No food. No water. They seemed to be exiled by their countrymen in a pool of fire and famine and destruction.
And then later, after they kill a friend of his
He leaped to the parapet, shaking his fists. "God damn you dirty sons of bitches. I'll make you pay for this. You got him, got him, you bastards! I'll shove your filthy hides down the devil's throat and through his guts". He did not feel the frantic tugging of his fellows. He ran into that bubbling, doom-ridden chaos, waving his arms and shouting maniacal profanities. A dozen times he was knocked down. He bled slowly where fragments had battered him. He crossed over and paused on the German parapet. He was like a being of steel. Barbed wire trailed behind him.
Bayonets rose. Hugo wrenched three knives from their wielders in one wild clutch. His hands went out, snatching and squeezing. That was all. No weapons, no defence. Just—hands. Whatever they caught they crushed flat, and heads fell into those dreadful fingers, sides, legs, arms, bellies. Bayonets slid from his tawny skin, taking his clothes. By and by, except for his shoes, he was naked. His fingers had made a hundred bunches of clotted pulp and then a thousand as he walked swiftly forward in that trench. Ahead of him was a file of green; behind, a clogged row of writhing men. Scarcely did the occupants of each new traverse see him before they were smitten. The wounds he inflicted were monstrous. On he walked, his voice now stilled, his breath sucking and whistling through his teeth, his hands flailing and pinching and spurting red with every contact. No more formidable engine of desolation had been seen by man, no more titanic fury, no swifter and surer death. For thirty minutes he raged through that line. The men thinned. He had crossed the attacking front.
A man dipped in scarlet, nude, dripping, panting. Slowly in that hiatus he wheeled. His lungs thundered to the French. "Come on, you black bastards. I've killed them all. Come on. We'll send them down to hell."
And years later, when he's thinking back to the misery that had been his life:
His deeds frightened men or made them jealous. When he conceived a fine thing, the masses, individually or collectively, transformed it into something cheap. His fort in the forest had been branded a hoax. His effort to send himself through college and to rescue Charlotte from an unpleasant life had ended in vulgar comedy. Even that had been her triumph, her hour, and an incongruous strain of greatness had filtered through her personality rather than his. Now his years in the war were reduced to no grandeur, to a mere outlet for his savage instinct to destroy. After such a life, he reflected, he could no longer visualize himself engaged in any search for a comprehension of real values.
If he could but have ended the war single-handed, it might have been different. But he was not great enough for that. He had been a thousand men, perhaps ten thousand, but he could not be millions. He could not wrap his arms around a continent and squeeze it into submission. There were too many people, and they were too stupid to do more than fear him and hate him. Sitting there, he realized that his naïve faith in himself and the universe had foundered. The war was only another war that future generations would find romantic to contemplate and dull to study. He was only a species of genius who had missed his mark by a cosmic margin.
Even when he's thinking about the places where he went wrong, that he blames himself for, even when's engaged in introspection, his thoughts still gravitate towards violence and hatred, of squeezing continents into submission and of how much the masses are stupid to not appreciate him (because really, all Hugo wants is to be loved and appreciated for what he is), and how unlucky he was to miss his mark.
There's just no place for Hugo Danner. Maybe it was actually rather merciful that he got to have his misery ended briefly by lightning strikes, before he could either turn into something worse, or have his life ruined more throughly.
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Check out the Master Post to see what this wacky project is all about and get the cookbook to join in the fun!
Let me set the scene for you: you’re in an inn in a small village in the Anderfels, a warm and cozy oasis amidst the blight stricken wasteland. A mistral strums on a lute and quiet conversations drift between tables. Suddenly the doors burst open and a cold blast of air whips around the room, snuffing candles and running a chill down your spine. In step a band of the Anderfels' famed Grey Wardens. They are covered in blood and viscera, some darkspawn, some their comrade’s, their eyes dark and haunted, yet ever vigilant. The one that seems to be their leader adjusts the greatsword across his back and makes his way toward the bar, the patron’s eyes following him with fear and awe.
The barkeep fumbles with the glass they’d been cleaning as the bearded warrior approached, the glass slipping and shattering in the sudden silence. The Grey Warden makes no note of it as he settles heavily upon the stool. “Drinks.” He grows ominously.
“Of- of course Herr Warden! We have a fine whiskey just in from Starkhaven, or perhaps an ale to start-”
“Nein.” The Warden pronounces sharply, eliciting a squeak from the flustered barkeep. He leans forward, a piece of what looks to be darkspawn entrails plopping onto the counter. “Frozen Steppes Cocktail.”
That’s right folks, the Grey Wardens aren’t here for that toxic masculinity nugshit, when they need a stiff drink, they get what amounts to a deconstructed chocolate martini! I made the very questionable decision to drink this on an empty stomach while cooking. Since this is basically just straight alcohol on ice until the ice cream melts a bit then it packs a surprising punch, especially if you’re a light weight like me.
Difficulty: 1/5 Easy, tooooo easy. Just 2 alcohols, ice and ice cream. I lined the rim with simple syrup and cocoa power in a fit of whimsy. I however did not add the sliced fruit because wtf, this is a cocktail not a fruit salad. I could only add a little ice cream without it sinking and overflowing the glass, but I’m mildly lactose intolerant so it’s probably for the best anyway.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 4/5 Booze is always pricey, but the real challenge is the shaved ice. Unless you own the machine to shave your own or live near a shaved ice restaurant then I don’t know where you’d get it. As neither of those situations applied to me I got the smallest ice I could find, which was a cup of crushed ice at Sonic XD
Taste: 5/5 It’s a chocolate martini, what’s not to love?! I think it would have been better with Bailey’s or half and half rather than the ice cream, but that doesn’t mean this wasn’t good.
Suggested pairing: cake or cookies, definitely a dessert drink. It could serve as the dessert by itself really.
Suggested pairing: Sten/Cookies 🍪
So while getting thoroughly toasted I moved on the preparing the main coarse. Meatballs in Caper Sauce from the Anderfels.
Difficulty: 3/5 More involved than previous recipes, but not too crazy. A lot of boiling. I fought everything in me to not brown the meatballs and boil them instead, as browning first is the Antivan way. The spaetzle was not included in the recipe, but honestly, who eats just meatballs by themselves? And if I have an excuse to have spaetzle with something, I'm going to take it. Also it's store bought "farm style" spaetzle, because I'm way to lazy to make it from scratch.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 2/5 A little more expensive than the cheaper meals I've been making, since meat is involved, but hamburger isn't fancy and any other weird ingredients (anchovies wtf?!) weren't hard to find where I live.
Taste: 4/5 Overall very good! I don't like capers, but I felt I should trust the process. When all was said and done... I still don't like capers. It's not a deal breaker though. I love Anderfels food so much I'm not even mad.
Suggested pairing: not the Frozen Steppes Cocktail XD Just ale would do nicely. Since I was already flying high I had a much needed water with my dinner.
Suggested pairing: Fenders, Handers, Kanders. Any pairing where Anders' partner can spoil him with food like his Mutter used to make <3
#dragon age cooking club#da cooking club#frozen steppes cocktail#meatballs with caper sauce#Anderfels
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So I finally watched The Owl House
I wish I’d do this with every show I watch but it seems like only a lucky few get the She-Ra style rant of love treatment. Well, I finally watched The Owl House after my dash having been flooded for the past couple of weeks and I have some thoughts. Slight spoilers below.
First off, I love the whole vibe. I had a faint idea that this show would be about magic but I didn’t know much before watching - except for one thing, we’ll get back to that. The way it builds its world and deals with magic, though, is so refreshing. And I just have to mention here that I laughed out loud at all the Harry Potter jabs, they were hilarious. I expect we’ll learn much more about magic and its users as the show goes on but as far as the first season goes the introduction was really solid. It strikes the right balance between leaving things to the imagination but being more than “wave wand and magic happens”. It’s colourful, it’s creative, and I even like the ovens and school tracks, despite knowing that the story is about not conforming to those. It makes the Boiling Isles unique and make me want to learn more about the world even beyond the characters and the main plot.
TOH also presents a world that’s much more macabre than I was expecting from the Disney Channel, not that that’s a bad thing. I found myself thinking of Adventure Time at certain points and pondering, at scary moments, how kids would react. I think kids love this, though, and besides, nothing can be more scarring than Courage the Cowardly Dog was. It’s not that terrifying, of course, just daring enough to stand out. Overall the show has what I would classify as more of a Cartoon Network vibe than a Disney Channel one, but I admittedly haven’t really been following many Disney shows. In any case, I dig it. I dig the weird creatures and the beautiful backgrounds and I appreciate how alive the Boiling Isles feel. It doesn’t take long for TOH to immerse you in its world so I’m for one am hooked.
I make a big deal of loving the world itself because rarely does it happen that world-building stands out to me so soon in a series. I do love carefully constructed fantasy worlds but for the most part I’m more interested in the characters themselves. Here, I’d say it’s close to being a 50-50, which is something that even Avatar can’t say with its elemental masterclass in world-building (which is mostly because the character depth there is unrivaled but still). So yeah, kudos to The Owl House for achieving this. From Luz’s glyph magic to the covens and the titans, I’m excited to explore this world more.
Now, the characters. The real meat of any story. Starting with Luz, I have seen some criticism that she’s a generic hero so far, the “I’m a weirdo”, heart of gold, upbeat variety. I don’t think this makes her bland, though I do admit that being told over and over again that she’s weird makes me less engaged, even she’s also shown to be weird. I like the message of her arc and that the chosen one trope was deconstructed almost right away. I like that she’s relentlessly enthusiastic and kind to people and I like that she doesn’t have to get more bitter in order to get development. Instead, she learns from her mistakes but keeps being herself and brings her unique spirit to the Boiling Isles. We need protagonists like Luz, not just because she’s latina and bisexual but because her learning process doesn’t involve cynicism. Sure, there is a lot she needs to learn but her heart is presented as an asset and a sort of source of magic. I’m excited to see where her story goes, for sure.
I’m gonna write briefly about the other characters before I get to my favourite one. Eda is super cool and I quickly got over the fact that she’s not Beatrice Horseman, lol. She embodies such a youthful energy but the show also allows her to be a middle-aged woman comfortable in her own body - well, owl curse notwithstanding. Also, her relationship with Lilith is one of my favourite parts of the whole show. Eda subverts so many of the mentor’s traditional tropes and I’m here for it. I kinda thought she was the villain based on her design and when I didn’t know anything about the show but hey, happy she’s not.
I don’t think I’d even seen a picture of King before starting to watch the series and at first I thought I’d get tired of him real quick. He’s the type of character who can get really annoying instead of endearing really fast if he’s not given any depth or charm, both by way of writing and voice acting. Luckily, I ended up liking King and his antics. His design is indeed adorable and Alex Hirsch is a genius. The only time I felt like he went too far was, perhaps surprisingly, in the book writing episode, “Sense and Insensitivity”, but even there going too far was the point. So yeah, King’s also great, there’s much potential in his backstory and general character.
Alright so really quickly, other characters: Willow and Gus are generic best friend characters and though they already have other things going on, I expect more development as the series progresses. I like that Willow is actually super powerful, just not in the way people expected her to and Gus is clearly also talented despite being younger. I’d be happy to see more of the other kids, get more familiar with Hexside. Edric and Emira are fun characters but they were really shitty in their first episode so I was kind of surprised they weren’t more of a nuisance to Amity later on. I’m all for supportive siblings so I wouldn’t mind a good relationship between the three but I feel like it’s more complicated than that with the Blights.
Finally, I also have to mention that Hooty is... well, quite something, isn’t he. Much like with King, I thought he’d be much more annoying but somehow the show is self-aware enough that it makes Hooty tolerable. I’m almost always torn between feeling sorry for him and being thoroughly weirded out, and I think that’s the intention? It’s fitting that he’s the titular character as he embodies the tone of The Owl House well in my eyes. He’s there for the comedy but there’s just enough there to hint at something more. Very bizarre, strong CN vibes, here for it.
Now that I’ve written a paragraph more about Hooty than I expected to, let’s talk about Amity. Listen, no other character stood a chance to be my favourite as soon as I learned Mae Whitman voiced Amity. That woman gave me Katara so now I have a quasi Pavlovian response to her voice. I’d also say that I knew more about Amity going into the show than I did about any other aspect of TOH. I heard somewhere that she started out as an antagonist, I knew her parents were abusive, and the reason the show blew up on my dash and my general online bubble is the Grom episode. Lucikly I only saw stills of Lumity beneath the crescent moon but the pure Sapphic energy of that was enough to gay migrate me to this show. I’d like to note it here though that The Owl House is a good show in and of itself, the queer rep is just a nice extra. I’m gonna spend the next couple hundred words going on about Amity and her crush on Luz but I don’t value only that. The Gay Migration is great and rep is great but I’m also grateful to have a solid show behind it. That being said.
I’m a total dyke for Amity Blight. I was very biased before even being introduced to her character but I genuinely find her to be fascinating and she has great potential. She’s developing quite quickly, like much of The Owl House, but an arc not being stretched out for several seasons before getting a rushed conclusion is refreshing. The progress hits all the beats and the only note I have is that I want more. She starts out as a generic bully but the opportunity to be more is there from the beginning. We find out early on that she used to be friends with Willow, we see that she works hard and values honest work. When she becomes Luz’s rival, it doesn’t last long before Amity shows that she’s open to new perspectives. That’s not to defend or even justify her earlier and nastier moments, Amity was rude to both Luz and Willow. But through all that, she becomes a complex character who does bad things but isn’t a bad person and grows when she gets the space to. I think that’s neat.
Luz’s decision to befriend her might be cartoon logic but as someone who subscribes to the “kill them with kindness” ideology, I can totally relate. Amity’s softer side doesn’t take long to show and “Lost in Language” is such a great episode to show how complex people can be. Again, I was already biased when it came to Amity but she’s consistently shown to be capable of self-reflection and growth when others give her the chance. I think her past and potential future friendship with Willow is a great way to explore many different topics and I’m trusting the show to do it justice. I also can’t wait to meet the rest of the Blights, if only to get me some angst and further develop Amity. I half expected Grom to take the form of her parents. Too dark for Disney? Well, we don’t know Amity’s dynamic with her parents, exactly, but there’s so much subtext and potential. I love what we’ve already seen from her but I’d also say that she has one of the greatest potentials in the show.
Another way in which this potential manifests is Lumity, of course. Again, they’re developing quite quickly but that doesn’t mean it’s rushed. I’d love to explore Amity’s crush more and what Luz means to her. The Grom episode surpassed all expectations, still and gifs don’t do the stunning dance sequence justice. The animation is so smooth, the colours are amazing, the music is on point and the Sapphic vibes complete the picture. Poetic cinema, truly. Molly Ostertag and Noelle Stevenson are really out there giving wlw animation fans everything we ever wanted, huh. It also warms my heart that the crush is made very clear, not just by Luz’s name being on the note but by the delightful gay disaster that is Amity in “Wing It Like Witches”. I never thought I’d ever see such a relatable useless lesbian in animation so kudos to Dana Terrace and the whole crew. Wow, how far we’ve come.
So yeah, Amity is a funky little lesbian and I’m a 100% here for her gay disaster moments, but I also love where Lumity is going thematically. They’re great as foils and I’m hoping that they won’t get together at the very end. Look, I love me some Bubbline, Korrasami and Catradora, but it’s time a wlw relationship had the chance to exist onscreen and not only in the last episode. The Owl House has a great chance to do that. I know the creators don’t want romance to be the main focus and I respect that, I think the world they created deserves to showcased and explored to its full potential. Lumity could be a great subplot though, as representation on the one hand and as a thematically interesting dynamic on the other. Plus, Luz and Amity are just cute and sometimes, it’s as simple as that. Oh, and also the whole Little Miss Perfect thing? One of the best fandom discoveries I’ve made in a long while. Not only is the song truly perfect for Amity, I love that Joriah Kwamé went on to write Ordinary as well. This right here is why fandom is beautiful.
I think that’s about it for season 1 initial thoughts. The moral can be a bit on the nose at times, especially in the early episodes but the show is ultimately for kids and I appreciate its message. Interesting world and magic system, good characters, great potential for later seasons, just a well put together show that I’m really glad I started watching. I’m kind of sorry I didn’t keep up with season 1 as it was coming out but I would not have been able to wait between episodes. The pacing is good overall, deffo moves fast but I wouldn’t call it rushed, and the “filler” episodes still add something to the story. I’m not sure if I would still feel like the show moves at a fast pace if I hadn’t binged it but in any case it isn’t rushed, the necessary beats are all there and have time to sit. I’m going to watch as it comes out from now on so hopefully season 2 will arrive early next year.
Oh, and: I’m very new to the fandom, barely just found out about Little Miss Perfect, so any and all tidbits, fun facts, and fic recommendations are welcome. Also if you just want to chat my inbox is always open!
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The Second Session
fic by cartoons-tothemoon
“So, let’s review, last session, we broke you down to many of your core traits and neuroses.”
“Thanks for reminding me, it’s not like I have the capacity to remember last week.” Skipper muttered.
“Well, now we’re here to build you back up, and work from that onwards.” Hans said. He had his hands folded plainly in his lap, and he’d changed the lighting in the office. Skipper hated it. He hated having to sit across from a smug as shit Hans as he waited calmly and quietly for Skipper to begin talking, with that terrible, blinding light that gave off a strangely clinical feel that makes him more uneasy than anything else. He wonders if Hans would let him sleep for the hour he was meant to spend here. Sure, he’d be paying $35 for a nap, which was crazy in of itself, but he knows from experience that sometimes all you need is a good nap to be a functioning person again.
“I’m not in the position to really diagnose you with anything, and even if I was, I’d still need more time to get to know your mind before I could really prescribe anything for your current conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“Plural. Like children trying to sneak into a cineplex in a trench coat, what was once one turned out to be two or more disorders standing on top of one another’s shoulders. Bouts of aggression and insomnia tied to intense paranoia, a complex that comes from being a leader, and a fear of depending on others. Abandonment issues, repression-“
Skipper waved his hands in a forceful sort of wave, “yes, thank you. Just tell me what to do about it already.”
“What?”
“Just fix me already.” Skipper seemed frustrated. “You’re the one who thinks I’m broken in the first place, the only reason I’m here in the first place is to prevent any future surprise tea parties.”
Hans sighed. They were barely even 5 minutes in, and Hans just knew he was going to be spending the rest of the session constructing arguments for statements Skipper constructed in seconds.
“If this was only to prevent any more…surprise visits from moi, then I would’ve been fine with just the first session. And I think you know that.”
He did. He did know that. Hans suggested the idea of a second session, and so did Skipper, in the way that you do when you’re bonding with people you have a rather hostile history with. No commitment was really stated, which left the ball in Skipper’s court, but what was he supposed to do after that thorough deconstruction, let it simmer in his soul for the rest of his known life?
He couldn’t even let it simmer for a whole week at this point, after all, he was already considering asking RICO of all people if he was too arrogant a leader and intentionally pushing people away.
RICO.
It made sense at the time, Kowalski would question where he was learning such jargon and be able to draw conclusions based on his recent absence, and Private would do nothing but validate him. Because he was just that nice, he supposed.
“Second, it’s not about being “broken” or “fixed” or what have you, the fact of the matter is that you have the most high-stress job in your already high-stress career. As much as I enjoyed our battles in the fish markets of Denmark, it’s not like the experience hasn’t done something to me, or you for that matter.”
Hans sighed, he was already just so exhausted by this…session. He’d even revealed that he too shared in mental health struggles if Skipper was willing to pick up the scraps left behind for him. Skipper looked a little surprised, sure, but fell back into an understood complacency sooner than later.
Was this the closest they were ever going to get to a true understanding of the other?
He supposed he’d have to take it.
“And lastly, I can’t tell you how to “fix” yourself. I’m a therapist, not a life coach. I’m not here to give advice, I’m here to examine your trauma, and give you a better perspective on how to move forward. However, I can’t take those steps for you. You kinda have to figure out a lot of those things on your own.”
Skipper looked positively moody about this, but less in a spoiled, petulant five-year-old sort of way, and more…accepting of it. He looked tired, and less because it was barely just a quarter past 1. It was an abstract tiredness, one not born of resting or restlessness, but a thing all its own.
Skipper sighed. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
“This is a timely process for a reason, Skipper. Many people can spend years in therapy trying to handle these exact issues.”
“I didn’t realize this was a life sentence in the making.” Skipper muttered.
God, this was already such a process. Hans could tell that Skipper couldn’t stand the vagueness of this all. He was an action guy, he wanted an easy solution of doing task A to accomplish thing B, and achieve reward C, and go on with his life.
No, not even an easy solution. A clear solution. Skipper was a problem solver. All of this was already so abstract, and he didn’t even know if he was so vehemently against this whole process just because it was him, or just because it was therapy at all. He even had a client who after a bad experience with a therapist in middle school decided to turn her sessions into stand-up, just because she was already so familiar and so bored with the process.
Maybe that’s what he needed to channel. Therapy in of itself was at the best of times uncomfortable and at the worst of times boring. He was already dealing with a high energy, high stress client, who was uncomfortable as all hell with being there. If he put him back into a comfortable situation, he may or may not get something out of him, and if he doesn’t, at the very least make him more comfortable with spending time with him at all, off the clock, at least.
“What do you like to do, Skipper? In your free-time?”
Skipper eyed him suspiciously. “Uh, why?”
“I’m trying something. Trust me here.”
That could’ve been phrased SO much better, from nemesis to nemesis, but Skipper seemed willing in the moment to run with that trust. “I like working on my combat capabilities, driving around, sometimes I watch TV and movies, I help Private bake when he feels like it, I nap, I gamble…”
Skipper seemed to be drawing a blank for whatever reason. Surely, he had things he did in his free time, right? It wasn’t like he was ALWAYS on the clock, he just never really thought of certain periods of time as…free. What even counted as free-time anyhow? Was it just time that wasn’t spent doing other things? Under that definition, no time was free.
“Can I say this to you as both a friend, an enemy, and somebody who’s known you for quite a few years at this point?”
Skipper nodded hesitantly.
“Jesus Christ, you need some hobbies.” Hans stated, matter of factly. “Working on your “combat capabilities,” as you put it, seems to be a literal constant considering your job as…however your job is defined, so it’s less play and more work than anything else. You mentioned helping Private bake “when he feels like it,” and I wouldn’t exactly call napping a hobby, or gambling a healthy one.”
Skipper shrugged. It’s not like “Stomp the Wombat” ever left the confines of the lair, anyhow.
“It just feels like you don’t have a lot of things you do just for yourself, you know? Driving around and watching TV are the only hobbies that feel wholly your own, something you don’t do for work or for others. Keep in mind that you can keep doing these things you enjoy, but perhaps you should find other things for yourself. Like an instrument, or a cooking class.”
“I told the boys that I joined a bowling league just to be here.”
“And did that seem believable enough for you to do to be here?”
His silence told Hans everything, but not the literal everything of Skipper “going to bed” at 8 just to climb through his window at 12:30, shimmy down the fire escape, and walk to Hans’s office.
But he probably could tell anyhow.
Of course, this kind of put a blight on Hans’s plans to make Skipper more comfortable while being here, and as he told him such, Skipper proceeded to lay down on the couch. Hans couldn’t tell the exact reason for the action, but it did seem to be a point of exasperation for him.
“Well, damn, sorry I “foiled your plot” to make myself comfortable in the den of the beast.”
“Skipper, you insult me. You really think I’d decorate my den with wooden sailboats? Absolutely criminal.”
“You seem to forget that.” He muttered. Hans ignored it.
“Although the hobby talk didn’t exactly lead where I thought it could…It did lead me elsewhere.”
“Goddamn it.”
“What skill have you always wanted to learn? What’s something that you’ve wanted to try for just, so long, and never got the chance to?”
Skipper began to pick at his lip. This whole talk already made him nervous, but now what was he supposed to say? That he figured he’d be in the back of a truck with is hand hanging out the taillight since he was 14, for whatever reason, so he didn’t even bother considering his top 3 colleges, let alone any future ambitions?
Still, if he was quiet for too long, either Hans would judge him, or he’d render his lips a bloody mess, and that’d be a whole different thing to deal with.
“…Archery sounds fun.” He said. Hans nodded.
“That’s interesting. It’s closely related to your pre-established interests but it’s closer to a sport now than something to be used in an actual combat situation, which sort of allows it to be separated from your work.”
Skipper nodded as well, allowing Hans to believe that that was his thought process from the start, and more of just curious to see if he could shoot a flame off a candle like Annie Oakley.
“You mentioned you liked baking with Private. Do you like the idea of baking itself, or just doing it with another person?”
“Food is meant to be shared?” Skipper seemed to be asking, but also stated in a very definitive way. “It’s a process. It’d be weird not to help in the process.”
Hans pulled his hand away from Skipper’s mouth, where a few small cuts were beginning to form. “If you’d like to have a session where we did a low-stress activity you wanted to do, and we talked while doing so, I think it’d put you in the best conductive environment possible to actually combat the problems that seem so visible to me. This was a good first development, though. I just don’t know if I can expect on accidental issues to identify and attack every time.”
Hans sighed and got up from his chair to stare out the window. Skipper didn’t know why he did this, outside of being a dramatic bitch, but it got him to look anyhow.
“It’s so incidental, many people struggle with balancing work and life as is, but this could easily be one of the main causes of your paranoia, as well as causing a level of detachment and depersonalization, which relates to how you relate to others.”
And well, damn. What was Skipper supposed to say to that?
“Our time’s almost up.” Hans said, checking his watch. Skipper was coming to realize how strange time in therapy was. It simultaneously felt like hours and seconds passing all at once. Perhaps it was because there were no clocks, like a casino. Or maybe it was because going to therapy at 1 in the morning didn’t exactly give you a sun to follow in terms of time. Hans handed Skipper a weird sort of rack with string on it, along with some tissues.
“It’s a loom. Fidget with something that won’t bleed for the next five minutes, if you would.”
Skipper glared at him for the snide comment, but Skipper didn’t exactly put it back where Hans had stored it originally. Picking at the strings inanely didn’t feel as satisfying as his usual fidgets, but it would work until he lost focus and the skin had time to heal.
“I’m giving you three assignments until our next session.” Skipper would’ve originally rolled his eyes at the idea of homework, but there was something that felt already strange about this session. Last session, he was so thoroughly antagonized and owned in such a way that his entire psychological history had been exposed, but this made last session feel like…a misstep. It was almost like Hans was trying to give the rug back to Skipper after it had already been so unceremoniously swept away from him.
He seemed as unsure about this as he was, he even confided about the state of his own mental health, something he probably wasn’t supposed to do. Which, honestly, made Skipper feel better about the whole thing. He didn’t like being guided, and as much as he detested having to do this whole thing with Hans in particular, the idea of having to figure out a stranger at the same time they were trying to figure out him sounded like a nightmare. More than this already was.
The whole session felt off, sure, but it wasn’t as off as it could’ve been, and he knows it could only be worse.
“I want you to begin researching archery, if you really want to pursue it as a hobby, you should try to learn what you can about it before jumping in and figuring out it isn’t what you thought it was.”
“I want you to pay a compliment to each of your team members in a casual way, this’ll strengthen your bonds with them, in a way that allows you to affirm that you appreciate them, as much as they appreciate you.”
Okay, that sounded like hippie nonsense, but who was he to judge at this point.
“And finally, I want you to pick out a recipe to prepare during our next session.”
“Wait, what?”
“A recipe. Something that’ll take less than an hour. I have a friend who’d give me access to their kitchen in the middle of the night, so we’ll be on neutral ground, and I’m sure it’ll be more believable to your “boys” that if you really are doing something in the middle of the night, that you have physical proof of it. Considering how weirdly secretive you are already, the idea you covered up secret cooking lessons with a bowling league doesn’t sound too far-fetched.” Hans was muttering at this point. All these things answered questions he figured he’d have, but nothing that helped with where he was NOW.
“I know it’s a weird idea, but the clients who have had the chance to do different, vaguely active things during our sessions tend to be more open and honest with me about things that they’re worried about, things that they struggle with, and they can make for more engaging sessions where you actually take in what I’m telling you, and makes it less of a lecture.” Hans sighed. “If you hate it, we never have to try anything like that again, but, I do really want you to give it a try. This is a two-way street, I can only give as much as I myself get. I just got lucky this week.”
Skipper stopped strumming the loom.
“Text me the address.” He said, and Hans would have burst with joy if such a thing was appropriate in present company, until he realized.
“I…don’t have your number?”
“Oh, no, session’s over! Wow, how did the time fly? Guess you’ll just have to figure that out for yourself, what a swell talk we had, doc,” Skipper yelled as he headed out the door.
“Pay at the front desk!” Hans yelled back before relaxing into his chair. Skipper was never going to be an easy client to deal with. Maybe he wouldn’t ALWAYS dance around the issues at hand, but he was never going to REALLY come clean about it. There may be things they never talk about, the same way Hans did.
And that was fine. Maybe it made what little he did learn all the more rewarding. Maybe it made what little he learned all the more meaningless if Skipper ever reached a point of complete and utter honesty with him, a fantasy he knew would never see come to light.
But who was to say, really?
It was all a matter of time.
After all, this was only the second session.
(Ahh! I can’t believe I didn’t post another fic for a whole! Month! I think it’s just because I didn’t really know what to do for the second session, and I think you can kinda tell, considering it’s not like Hans knows what to do either. Do you guys really want a whole fic series about Skipper going to therapy? I have no idea. It’s pretty fun, though. I don’t know how Hans became a therapist, either, but I guess that’s just what the dude does now. By the way, the client who turned her therapy sessions into stand-up comedy? That was just me in high school with my mandated therapist. I once gave a funeral to a squeaky toy I broke in the middle of the session. It was simultaneously so sad and so funny at the exact same time.
This fic will be up on my ao3, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tadstrangerthings, as soon as @drawbauchery posts it!)
#cartoons-tothemoon#submission#fics#pom#skipper wants to be a functioning person again#and i want to have a functioning tablet again!!!#we're one and the same#OKAY BUt these sessions are really fascinating to read you know?#especially from the pov of one of skipper's worst enemies#i kinda.#i'm#i ship it#part of me is like. 'hans is a professional but man if he isn't trying to earn brownie points' alsdkfn#i drew him in what i could only imagine was a#'maybe i bit off more than i can chew' moment#it was either that or skipper imagining himself doing archery#but i can't draw#so#an increasingly endearing hans it is#PLEASE let them bake together i'll sell you my house#and also please i want to see him complimenting the guys
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RE: Feedback for the Redux.
(I wanted to give you really in-depth feedback. Unfortunately, it ended up being way longer than I anticipated. I figured it would be easier to send this as a submission rather than breaking it up into a million smaller asks. I hope that’s all right!)
Note: I put this under a readmore to save space, but I have read it all and thoroughly agree with it. Thank you so much for the feedback, man!
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I want to briefly talk about my personal relationship with Warriors - not because I want to talk about myself necessarily, but because I want to provide some relevant context. You see, I was first introduced to these books in 2004, about when I was nine years old. You could argue, in some ways, that these books defined a large part of my childhood, and were extremely influential into my teenage years and early adulthood. When I wasn’t fantasizing about colonies of talking feral cats, I was gleefully writing fanfics and roleplaying online. Those were my first tentative forays into writing, and would ultimately set me on the path to refine and hone those skills in the years to come. I was obsessed with the mythology and lore of this world, with the sprawling cast of characters, with the steady publication of new entries into the series.
Now, kids tend to not have the best critical thinking skills. Which is why it took until my late teenage years to realize that my cherished books were really, really not that great. The mythology and lore that I’d praised were starved of any creativity, steeped in the cliches of the fantasy genre, and prone to collapsing under their own weight when subjected to even the smallest amount of scrutiny. The characters that I adored? They were blighted with similar cliches, lacking in any sort of growth or development or depth; sustained only by archetypes and whatever retcons the authors thought would sell the most books, either through hype, drama, or fanservice. Exacerbating all of this was the publisher’s insistence on milking the franchise for whatever profit nostalgia could still yield. They weren’t writing more books because they had new, interesting ideas they wanted to explore - they did it because this series was (and still is) fucking lucrative. As I thought about these things more critically, and became more informed on social issues, it became impossible to unsee the uglier aspects of the franchise - the ableism, the queerbaiting and lack of representation, the depiction of minors and adults (Dustpelt and Ferncloud, Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf) having romantic or sexual relationships, the blind nationalism and eugenics/persecution of minorities (non-Clanborn cats) and characters of mixed descent (half-Clan cats). People far more informed and far more eloquent than myself have discussed those issues in-depth elsewhere, but suffice to say, I was understandably upset by these things. No amount of nostalgia could blind me to those flaws.
And yet, for some reason, I never really stopped loving Warriors. Or put more accurately - I never stopped loving the potential of Warriors. That was the thing that I kept coming back to. The wasted potential of a series depicting the lives of feral cats, and their brutal struggle to survive in the wilderness, all the while deeply immersed in their own complex societies and cultures. It became painfully clear to me that the thing I loved about Warriors was the sandbox nature of the franchise, and all the ways fans were able to explore that untapped potential. With that realization now achieved, Warriors slipped into the back of my mind, accruing cobwebs as the years passed. Occasionally those dormant thoughts stirred whenever I saw a piece of fanart on my dashboard, or I passed a new release while browsing the local Barnes & Noble. Sometimes I even entertained the fleeting thought of writing AU fics again. But by and large, Warriors had been retired from my thoughts.
And then, in 2017, I found the Redux.
While writing this segment I had several false starts, in no small part because I didn’t know what to talk about first. It was like someone had gone through my thoughts with a steel-toothed comb, and took every disappointment, every what if, and turned it into a reality. Holy shit, look at this blog! Look at the meta commentary! Look at all of the worldbuilding! I could clearly see just how much passion and attention to detail was put into developing the plot and the characters. How many hundreds of hours went into correcting the broken genetics of the canon characters. Suddenly, the Clans had culture - real, living, breathing culture! There was a pantheon of deities and demigods. A deliberate intention behind the naming tradition beyond slapping two words together because they sounded pretty or made for a trite pun. This. This was the story Warriors should have been. This lone blog managed to conceive an original lore for the Clans, while further developing the canon plots beyond their base elements. What three authors failed to do, one person achieved on their own.
You made forgettable characters interesting. And you made interesting characters unforgettable.
I lived for every scrap of content you created - the asks, the deconstructions, the amendment posts, the art, even the fucking shitposts (because they were just genuinely wholesome and funny). The Redux wasn’t just a source of entertainment, either - it introduced me to the idea of writing an AU that was sustained by meta-analysis, and grounded in critical reception of the series’ flaws (both technical and social). Your work eventually inspired me to create my own Redux-style worldbuilding/AU blog for a series that has similar issues to canon Warriors.
The Redux deserves all the praise it gets, and you should be extremely proud of what you’ve accomplished. Even if the Third Arc wasn’t finished or the Fourth started, it was still a helluva ride, one that I’m so glad I got to participate in.
But, of course, you asked for feedback, so I can’t spend the entirety of this post throwing roses at your feet. So, onto the constructive feedback.
I think a lot of my thoughts are going to echo what other people have previously said, but for me, the biggest setbacks in the Redux were the following:
[1] Pacing. This is going to sound weird, but this isn’t a criticism of the Redux’s length. Rather, it’s more about how that time was spent. While I really like how you adjusted aspects of the Redux’s plot in order to still tangentially align with the books’, it sometimes felt like the chapters were there just to connect points A and B. I knew this was a retelling of the original series, so I already had a vague idea of what the general storybeats would be. What appealed to me was how the story would get to those points. Let me give you an example: in Arc 1, we’re told in chapter 10 that Murkpelt is roaming the territories, and poses a threat to the Clans. Immediately in chapter 11 we’re taken to the scene where Firepaw finds her while escorting Spottedleaf. We’re told about ThunderClan’s efforts to track her prior, and about the looming tension in the wake of this invisible threat. But that’s the thing - we’re told that by the narration in just a paragraph or two. We’re not shown what that looks like. The setup is supposed to be everyone being on edge, but Bluestar’s lounging by the stump when the scene begins. It’s a little dissonant, and it has the unfortunate problem of contradicting the narration. It would’ve been so cool to see a chapter or two where Firepaw’s still trying to immerse himself into Clan life, and his questions are met with terse answers or impatience. Undercut his (and the reader’s) learning with other characters being brusque with him, or short-tempered, or something. And then that could lead into Greypaw or Ravenpaw consoling him and explaining why the situation is so serious. Then Firepaw could ask something like, “Have there ever been instances like this before with rogues?” Which could organically lead to a conversation where Greypaw or Ravenpaw bring up relevant lore/worldbuilding. It’s little stuff like that which would’ve helped with immersion and pacing. I think it would have balanced the two out, by providing pseudo-downtime where the audience experiences the world as the characters do. (If that makes sense.) Or, to provide another example: we never get to see Tres Idiots mentoring Snowpaw. In chapters 5 and 6 of Arc 3, we see Raventhroat struggling to develop a signing system he can use with his apprentice; and then, after a few chapters he’s perfectly narrating the Bright-Eyed Crow to Snowpaw. I think that showing us scenes where the two were actually working out the kinks would have done more to develop Raventhroat’s character arc. He went from being a meek, timid apprentice to an eloquent warrior, and him becoming a mentor is supposed to be a definite part of that journey. It would’ve have been so cool to have plot-relevant scenes broken up by smaller ones where we watch Raventhroat gain confidence through each small success he makes with his apprentice. I’m not sure if I’m conveying exactly what I want to say, but I guess the TL;DR would be something like - I would’ve gladly welcomed either more chapters, or longer ones, if it meant we got more scenes like this.
[2] Utilization of the worldbuilding. You mentioned this already in response to another ask, but if you could go back and change anything, it would be incorporating more lore/adhering the Redux to its lore more strongly. Your worldbuilding is perhaps the strongest part of the Redux by far. You gave us a conlang, traditions, folk stories, Clan stereotypes - so much fascinating material - but it feels like its integration was based solely on whether or not it was relevant to the plot at hand. Unless there was a reason why it was brought up, then we’d never get to see a ThunderClan cat freaking out near a ShadowClan seer and refusing to approach them at a Gathering. Or listen to Mistfoot share a poem with Greystripe and Fireheart (after being goaded into it by Silverstream). Or watch as Redtail politely interrupts the elders and asks for their opinion on an important matter. Or listen to the Clan getting together after a loved one dies and share stories about their life. Or watch as Sandpaw/Dustpaw use their age and seniority over Firepaw to terrorize him with stories of Yrrun and Terror. On one hand, I absolutely understand why a lot of lore was relegated exclusively to the Amendment section - it’s important to strike a balance between what’s interesting versus what’s relevant. You don’t wanna just throw worldbuilding trivia at the audience apropos of nothing. On the other hand, I really wish I’d seen a much larger integration of your worldbuilding into the story, because it’s so fascinating and so god damn good.
[3] Utilization of the characters. One of the things you tweaked, that I absolutely loved, was choosing to introduce Silverpaw in Arc 1 at a Gathering. Not only does it create a realistic basis for her friendship with Tres Idiots, but it fixes the canon’s issue of her saving Greystripe out of nowhere and then developing a relationship on that alone. That was fucking great! Same thing with Rainpath - it was so awesome for Fireheart to get a friend in another Clan (ShadowClan, of all Clans). It broke the mold, and their interactions were just delightful. But outside of those examples, sometimes it kinda felt like the side characters didn’t really exist? I remember an old piece of writing advice, but I can’t recall who it’s attributed to: “Treat your side characters like they think they’re the main characters.” Because they absolutely are. I might be some passing stranger in another person’s life, barely a blip on their radar, but I have my own vibrant story. Everyone does. In the Redux, it sometimes felt like minor or side characters weren’t living their own lives outside of their interactions with Fireheart and his friends. Mousefur’s the most fluent speaker of Fang in ThunderClan? Cool. How did she learn that skill? Who taught her? Does she have a friend in WindClan who’s been teaching her new words at Gatherings, or whenever they happen to cross paths while on border patrols near Four Trees? Not only is that character trivia interesting, but it could provide foreshadowing/become relevant later on. When the Clans meet to discuss how to deal with the dogs in Arc 3, perhaps someone suggests having their most fluent Fang speakers act as interpreters/diplomats, and try to broker some sort of peace/understanding with the dogs. Things like that. Basically, it would’ve been nice if Fireheart’s life intersected more with the goings-on of his Clanmates, or if his own goals/agenda were sometimes inconvenienced by the goals/agenda of others.
I think those are my major criticisms. More integration of lore, a slower/steadier pace that accommodates showing over telling, and finding ways to have the personal lives of minor characters interact with the story. Maybe adding in some additional subplots that are congruent with the main plots, and occur simultaneously, in order to keep chapters busy. That sort of thing. I hope what I provided wasn’t overwhelming in any way, and ends up being useful for either the Redux or any of your other writing projects.
As an aside, thank you. For creating this humble niche community within an even larger fandom. For asking for feedback from your readers. For being someone who makes mistakes, but eventually endeavors to learn from them, and ultimately, become a better person. I know this sounds kinda sappy, but I really do mean it. <3
(For the record I wrote this at like five in the morning, so if there are any grammatical errors I’ll be kicking myself in the ass for those.)
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