spent like an hour trying to find a post abt the disparity of origin companion's content in bg3 and couldn't so, hey, this fucking sucks

A media literacy handbook for Israel-Gaza

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

Media explainers are a cheap way to become an instant expert on everything from billionaire submarine excursions to hellaciously complex geopolitical conflicts, but On The Media's "Breaking News Consumers' Handbooks" are explainers that help you understand other explainers:

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-israel-and-gaza-edition-on-the-media

The latest handbook is an Israel-Gaza edition. It doesn't aim to parse fine distinctions over the definition of "occupation" or identify the source of shell fragments. Rather, it offers seven bullet points' worth of advice on weighing all the other news you hear about the war:

https://media.wnyc.org/media/resources/2023/Oct/27/BNCH_ISRAEL_GAZA_EDITION_1.pdf

I. "Headlines are obscured by the fog of war"

Headline writers have a hard job under the best of circumstances – trying to snag your interest in a few words. Headlines can't encompass all the nuance of a story, and they are often written by editors, not the writers who produced the story. Between the imperatives for speed and brevity and the broken telephone between editors and writers, it's easy for headlines to go wrong, even when no one is attempting to mislead you. Even reliable outlets will screw up headlines sometimes – and that likelihood goes way up in times like these. You gotta read the story, not just the headline.

II. Know red flags for bullshit

The factually untrue information that spreads furthest tends to originate with a handful of superspreader accounts. Whether these people are Just Wrong or malicious disinfo peddlers, they share a few characteristics that should trip your BS meter and prompt extra scrutiny:

High-frequency posting

Emotionally charged framing

Posts that purport to be summaries or excerpts from news outlets, but do not include links to the original

The phrase "breaking news" (no one has that many scoops)

III. Don't trust screenshots

Screenshots of news stories, tweets, and other social media should come with links to the original. It's just too damned easy to fake a screenshot.

IV. "Know your platform"

It used to be that Twitter got a lot of first-person accounts from people in the thick of crises, while Facebook and Reddit contained commentary and reposts. Today, Twitter is just another aggregator. This time around, there's lots of first-person, real-time reporting coming off Telegram (it runs well on old phones and doesn't chew up batteries). Instagram is widely used in both Israel and the West Bank.

V. "Crisis actors" aren't a thing

People who attribute war images to "crisis actors" are either deluded or lying. There's plenty of ways to distort war news, but paying people to pretend to be grieving family members is essentially unheard of. Any explanation that involves crisis actors is a solid reason to permanently block that source.

VI. There's plenty of ways to verify stuff that smells fishy

TinEye, Yandex and Google Image Search are all good tools for checking "breaking" images and seeing if they're old copypasta ganked from earlier conflicts (or, you know, video-games). The fact that an image doesn't show up in one of these searches doesn't guarantee its authenticity, of course.

VII. Think before you post

Israel-Gaza is the most polluted media pool yet. Don't make it worse.

There's plenty more detail on this (especially on the use of verification tools) in Brooke Gladstone's radio segment:

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-breaking-news-consumers-handbook-israel-gaza-edition

The media environment sucks, and warrants skepticism and caution. But we also need to be skeptical of skepticism itself! As danah boyd started saying all the way back in 2018, weaponized media literacy leads to conspiratorialism:

https://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2018/03/09/you-think-you-want-media-literacy-do-you.html

Remember, the biggest peddlers of "fake news" are also the most prolific users of the term. For a lot of these information warriors, the point isn't to get you to believe them – they'll settle for you believing nothing. "Flood the zone with bullshit" is Steve Bannon's go-to tactic, and it's one that his acolytes have picked up and multiplied.

It's important to be a critical thinker, but there's plenty of people who've figured out how to weaponize a critical viewpoint and turn it into nihilism. Remember, the guy who wrote How To Lie With Statistics was a tobacco industry shill who made his living obfuscating the link between smoking and cancer. It's absolutely possible to lie with statistics, but it's also possible to use statistics to know the truth, as Tim Harford explains in his 2021 must-read book The Data Detective:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/04/how-to-truth/#harford

There's a world of difference between being misled and being brainwashed. A lot of today's worry about "disinformation" and "misinformation" has the whiff of a moral panic:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/10/are-we-having-a-moral-panic-over-misinformation.html

It's possible to have a nuanced view of this subject – to take steps to enure you're not being tricked without equating crude tricks like sticking a fake BBC chyron on a 10-year-old image with unstoppable mind-control:

https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/28/fog-o-war/#breaking-news

El and Choice

Byler/platonic Elmax/platonic Elmike analysis below the cut (extensive)! You ready for 🤯? 🔻🔺

How much of El’s life has really been choice? I’d argue not a lot of it. In the above scene with Brenner, Brenner even mentions Henry manipulating El. Probably most of us watching that scene thought “wow, pot calling the kettle black much?”

But it’s not just those two. Most of El’s life has been other people making choices for her. It is the times when she takes control into her own hands and makes her own choices when she is at her most authentic and most powerful, as seen above. (Other examples include when she escaped the lab, ran away to meet her mom, left Kali to go rescue her friends, chose to go get her powers back, chose to stay with Brenner, etc. Moments of growth for El are often linked to moments of choice!)

I want to call attention to choice as it relates to El and her relationships - and additionally, as it relates to Mike and his relationships, too.

I made a diagram! 🤪 Sorry, I had a lot of coffee today lol. This diagram isn’t perfect and there are some errors in it (for example, I strongly believe that platonic Elmike is very important to this whole story but I didn’t represent that well in the diagram…. oops) but do you get the idea/my intention at least?? 😅 Take your time looking at it, it’s a bit convoluted. Feel free to come have another look after you’ve read on.

Throughout especially seasons 3 and 4, we see a couple triangles involving El and Mike. In season 3, we see the El / Mike / Max triangle almost as prominently featured, I would argue, as we see the El / Mike / Will triangle. But, the former is a platonic triangle. The latter is a romantic love triangle.

In S3, Mike and Max are constantly shown visually as a triangle with El, constantly pitted against each other, and constantly shown as the two “options” for El. Who will she agree with? Who will she side with? Which of these two will she prioritize?

Same in S3 in regards to Mike needing to choose between El and Will. Y’all probably don’t need me to extrapolate on this one (think of their “breakup” scenes being contrasted visually with lighting and mood, etc).

Then in season 4 this theme continues. Most of volume 1 is focused on the El / Mike / Will love triangle, right? But in volume 2, especially right at the end (as we go into season 5) we begin to see a big focus again put on the platonic triangle between El / Mike / Max. I don’t think I need to explain the love triangle, but I do want to talk a bit about the end of volume 2 and the resurgence of the El / Mike / Max platonic triangle.

We get a parallel between S2 and S4. In S2, El goes into the void, sees Mike in danger, and leaves her “jedi training”. In S4 she goes into the void, sees Max in danger, and leaves her “jedi training.” Mike and Max are being put back into a triangle.

As soon as the Pizza Gang rescues El she immediately says they need to go to Hawkins to rescue their friends (Max). When that plan doesn’t work she figures out a way to save Max from Nevada.

El then spends the rest of volume 2 fighting to save Max. It’s all about Max after this!

S4 V2 even ends with El not really talking much with Mike, going into her bedroom and thinking about Max. The end of V2 is very platonic Elmax-centric. El is beginning to truly prioritize her friendship with Max over her romantic relationship with Mike. She is beginning to make her choice about what she wants - and it’s based on what feels more real and authentic to her.

Others have written a million hours of analyses about Byler - check my pinned post for some excellent examples of those analyses - so I won’t get into that in too much detail here. Suffice it to say, I believe that Mike is also beginning to lean into what feels more real and authentic in his love triangle - and that’s his relationship with Will.

If they both lean into authenticity, El’s narrative arc leads towards Max and platonic (friend/family) love. Mike’s leads towards Will and real romantic love. Both of their arcs necessitate acceptance of self - and learning to believe that their inner moral compass is not wrong, it is good and right.

Right now Mike and El need each other to affirm for one another that they are not monsters. El has believed for years that deep down she might be evil. Mike is gay and closeted - he also believes that deep down he is morally wrong. Their arcs revolve around discovering that they are not monsters - and truly believing it, on their own, without relying on each other to prove it 🤯!

So. What does this have to do with choice? I’m glad you asked!

El chose Max. Mike chose Will. El and Mike did not choose each other.

El and Mike did not choose each other.

El chose Max. Mike chose Will.

El chose the person who trusts her to self-determine. Mike chose the person who believes he is The Heart. They both chose to put someone in their life who can help them see that they are not monsters. Who can love them for who they really are, as they are.

Season 5, I am confident, will center on El finding a way to save Max - and maybe on Mike finding a way to save Will. In any case, I strongly expect to see El leaning into the person she feels the most authentic with - and same with Mike. I expect - or maybe hope - to see their narrative arcs come to a satisfying close as they each choose to trust in their own inherent goodness.

Something something forced conformity (choice being taken away) that’s what killing the kids

Thanks for reading!! 🤪😅😁

Hi! How are you?

I was thinking about Urusei Yatsura and I must admit I don’t understand Ataru. The more I think, the less I understand! Would you help?

Why is he so insistent with the womanizing? Why he needs it so bad? He really wants the attention of all of these girls or is that supposed to represent his biggest desire for freedom above all else? It’s sort of messed up that he priorizes his so-called freedom and the skirt-chasing above being with the girl he loves and who loves him back and that he knows he’s hurting said girl with his behavior (both the girl-hunting and by withholding affection) and he keeps doing that anyway 😭 (... Not that Lum is a saint either but that's besides the point). Ataru's unwillingness to compromise and to give up on his habit really gets in the way of him truthfully experiencing "True Love", doesn't it? It seems like he would rather lose Lum than commit to her. Do you think he would have acted differently if it was with Shinobu?

Oh, and I've seen some speculation that explained Ataru's lechery as being the result os his relationship with his mother and the lack of motherly love he received growing up, so he actually goes after all these girls because he's that starved for affection. What do you think?

Hai there, Hope you're doing great!!

Sure, I'll help you out!! Ataru is a complicated individual, after all. But first, I think it would help you a lot if you read my write up on 'Ataru's Love for Lum' first since whatever I've mentioned there is very vital to understanding Ataru as well.

And I haven't even started yet but I have a feeling this will be a sequel to the linked post above since this ask does bring up some questions I don't think I've directly touched in that one.. so...

I hope my fellow UY's are having a great day because today on ‘Yuca Analyzes Silly Things (For No Reason)’, we'll be talking more about Ataru and his relationship with Lum!

And naturally there are spoilers so proceed with caution..

Ok now, let's begin!! Your first question is 'Why does Ataru womanize?' As for the initial reason? Not completely sure. The manga shows that he's just always been like that, even as a kid. It's just never been talked about. And I don't believe in the speculation which you stated btw, because I wouldn't say that Ataru had a lack of motherly love. Yeah, Mrs. Moroboshi can be a bit comedically harsh, but most of that ends up being a one time joke. In fact, she actually really does love Ataru and takes really good care of him (to the point where she waits for him to arrive before eating dinner, says she'll save up money on him so he can go to a good college and other details like that which you can catch here and there), she's just worried about his idiotic tendencies, that's all.

The best theory I have about his womanizing is that ever since he was little he's always seen women in a sort of 'very nice and sweet onee-chan' sort of way. What supports this theory is the fact that Ataru's mom seems to be the most involved in his life compared to his dad (who's either at work or buried deep into his newspapers, he does spend sometime though) and has the most agency in the family. Because of that small Ataru probably had a better view of woman, which probably made him want to meet more and befriend them but since he was small and an idiot, he would just cling onto them which naturally annoyed them to the point of there being rumors about him. And as he grew older (and hormones), this 'liking' eventually became lust. Another theory is that it might be genetics since both of his parents have fallen for someone else during the series' run, but that's like the only thing to support the theory. In the end, I'm still not completely sure. Like to be fair, UY is a gag which wasn't exactly written with much thought (yeah, the character development is unintentional. I'm pretty sure it's a result of RT writing each chapter by going with the natural flow of the story, which is why the characters grow gradually. This isn't something any writer can do btw) so not everything would have an explanation.

Next is 'Why is he still womanizing? why does he want these girls?' Because he's young. He's still a teenager and he likes women and he has for years to the point it's a habit. Habits are hard to break so he can't suddenly be dedicated to someone out of straight up nowhere (especially if she basically got them 'married' instantly when he's still just a teenager). His love for women is just a huge part of his personality, it's just not something he can throw away in an instant and because of that he remains attached. What does not help matters even more is the number of gorgeous girls who're usually around him on a daily basis, girls who are incredibly cute, beautiful, sexy.. tell me, just tell me exactly how easy would it be to break his girl hunting habit when that's the case??

As for Lum, Ataru doesn't emotionally hurt Lum with his womanizing for the most part. Sure, the hope he would stop does linger in her but his infidelity for the most part only makes her mad more than anything else, and she recovers from her anger pretty quickly. Lum getting deeply hurt, is actually quite rare (and has happened very few times in the series) since she's mostly very outgoing. Whenever she's that hurt, we, the readers are made aware of her feelings because unlike a certain idiot, she doesn't keep how she feels to herself. But for the most part, Lum just goes into furious rage rather than any sort of deep feelings when it comes to Ataru's womanizing and yes, Ataru is completely aware of that so he knows he isn't hurting her in any serious way.. and if he did hurt her in that manner, he would probably want to fix things with her..

See how Ataru wanted to talk to her here when he thought she was emotionally hurt? But it was actually buildup for her rage..

The next bit I want to talk about is how both of them love teasing, irking and messing with the other, Ataru likes poking at Lum's temper and Lum likes messing up Ataru's enjoyment with women because to them, their daily antics are like a game which neither wants to lose because of their pride. Like that, their 'he flirts, she zaps, she chases him' thing isn't something they take to an emotional value. It's their game, a game which neither wants to give up.

Now with that done, I want to talk about what you said regarding 'Ataru prioritizing his womanizing over Lum' which has evidently shown to be incorrect. One example is in the 'Electric Jungle' arc, when he left a date with some girl just so he could go on his date with Lum. It's not always a girl accepts Ataru's request; the chances for that is most probably lower than his chances to go on a date with Lum, yet he still left his date with the girl anyways because he knew Lum was waiting for him. Another example is the fact that Ataru won't accept a harem if it doesn't have Lum in it. If Lum isn't in the harem, the harem means nothing to him. Heck, the reason why he wants a harem is because he needs Lum with him, even if there are other girls. Lum is what matters the most to him.

Next is the topic of Ataru and 'true love', Ataru isn't someone who yearns and is desperate for 'true love', but he still does hold it with value. To Ataru, 'true love' doesn't mean flirting, kissing, etc., it means something much deeper, something that comes from the heart. The former can be done even if you don't love someone truly, but the latter is what 'true love' is. There's also a bit more to it but I've already talked about this in the above linked analysis, so I'll just copy-paste that part here instead of writing it from scratch:

Now if he does love her, then why doesn’t he agree to do couple stuff (here I mean stuff like kissing, flirting, saying “I love you”, etc.) with her? That’s because he does all those things with other woman to the point they have lost that specialness. It may still be special to her, but not to him because Lum isn’t any woman, he’s the only one he actually cares about and he doesn’t want to give her the same treatment he gives other women.

So, yeah, it's exactly what I said..

And finally the question 'Would he have acted differently if it was Shinobu?' Of course, we all know that they used to be exes and we do get to see how it was back then as well so we'll just use that info. The womanizing part remains the same for the most part, Ataru would chase skirts if it's either Lum or Shinobu. But the difference would be in whether he shows affection. With Lum, Ataru knows that she'll never leave him and that she will only love him (which is true) but Shinobu isn't like that. Shinobu didn't have any other options and she was already friends with Ataru which is why they started dating. But when she's presented with a better option (temporarily Rei, though only in term of handsomeness, she turned him down because he's an idiot, and later Mendo) her mind immediately wavers and prefers the better option, after all she wants the one who is the match made for her. Because of this, Ataru can't hide his feelings (which he eventually ended up losing anyways) or else it's literally over. It's also easier for Ataru to show affection towards Shinobu since he's always been friendly with her, unlike Lum who he treated terribly at first.

And I think that's it! This ended up being hella long and I ended up spending a lot of time on this (so.. to those reading, please like and even more importantly, reblog! pretty please?) and I hope I was able to clear all your questions anon! Ataru's a tough nut to crack but once you do it you'll see why it is that way. Anyways, that's it, thank you for taking your time reading this and have a great day ahead!!

[rotates a fic concept based on a Frozen fic I read years ago]

(I'll link the fic and explain the premise a the bottom of the post. If you've read Ghost on the Wire, that's my inspo. If you haven't, check the bottom for the summary.) Easy option for the AU in question is Domino twins because [gestures at Echo], buuuuuuuuuuuut I think it would be interesting with Anakin as the kidnapped experiment sibling and Obi-Wan finding him years later.

Consider:

Ahsoka, age 12, is the padawan to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who lost his first padawan seven years ago and has been in mourning and self-doubt since; everyone thinks it's a miracle that he took her on, and she tries not to rock the boat because what if he decides he's not ready for another kid after all?

She's got a weird friend online that… well, if she complains about a senator or a mission, this person hunts down files pointing to questionable behavior by said senators and then dumps them in the Jedi's evidence box.

Since they're anonymously provided, the Jedi can legally use them to gain warrants, etc, because even if the law was broken to achieve it, they didn't do anything illegal, pay anyone to do anything illegal, or encourage anyone to do the illegal thing.

Obi-Wan takes a bit longer than he should to catch on to Ahsoka having a definitely criminal online friend, but decides to allow it so long as she lets him monitor interactions with this one specific person. He realizes that Ahsoka's random mentions of details coincide with certain infodumps, which Ahsoka wouldn't know because she's not privy to the fact that said data dumps happened at all.

War breaks out. Obi-Wan is frequently in a panic, because he already had one underage padawan die under his watch, and he's terrified of it happening again.

Various shenanigans, Ahsoka keeps up correspondence with her friend but it's much more heavily monitored now, in case of security violations. The friend still gives her heads up about suspected Separatist activity based on algorithmic analysis of shipping patterns and the like.

The friend tells Ahsoka he's in trouble. He needs help. Given the amount of information he's been giving the Jedi, they can consider him a confidential criminal informant that needs extraction and could continue being useful (important so they can justify using military resources when the Senate asks about budget expenditures).

They find Anakin, in a very similar setup to S7 Echo

Obi-Wan is. Not okay.

Ahsoka is freaked out by Anakin's physical state but fuck it! Friend! He needs medical help and he's really not exactly cognizant of the world around him.

Get him back to the ship. Get back to the Temple. Get him some medical help.

Figure out what the fuck is going on.

Turns out Anakin was captured on Sidious's orders when he was like... IDK ten. And then underwent experiments under the supervision of the Sith Lord. He still doesn't know who the Sith is, because Sidious saw his chatting with Ahsoka and only allowed it for as long as it wasn't anything too damaging, which means it was all either something that benefited Sidious, or something Anakin only barely managed to hide inside larger data packets (including his final request for help; he's gotten much better at cyber security on his own brain over the years).

But Sidious never did let Anakin know what his real identity is.

IDK where this goes but I do know Anakin is incredibly insistent on helping Ahsoka and the Jedi, and also that Obi-Wan cries on Anakin a lot.

He definitely would NOT be allowed out in the field, into battle, because the amount of physical therapy he needs. Immense. But he's probably with the 501st and 212th as their main data analyst/strategic dude? In this situation, the 501st doesn't technically have a Jedi, they're just a legion under the larger command of Obi-Wan and Cody, with their direct CO being Yularen, but Ahsoka's paired up with them regularly and she is honorary Jedi for the legion and everyone expects to get her officially once she's knighted, if the war lasts that long.

I do know that he chose Ahsoka to befriend because he had a vision of her becoming Obi-Wan's padawan a few years before it happened and went OH. BABY SISTER.

Any fic on this topic would have a heavy focus on Anakin's experiences with disability and recovery.

I feel like, while he can recover from a lot of the muscle atrophy etc, he probably has permanent damage to his bones and general health. He needs mobility aids, maybe a service animal to keep an eye on his physical state. Possibly epilepsy, since there was so much done to him neurologically. He definitely sleeps more than most people, has a very specific dietary plan, and relies a lot on the Force for things like getting things off of shelves.

A lot of this fic would by necessity happen with Anakin in a medical pod, communicating either in chat format or with a speaker. Possibly projected as a hologram approximation of himself despite the real body being in the pod.

Especially early on, he really is just text chat, before the war starts.

I think for the first few months of the war, when Anakin is still just a criminal internet friend Ahsoka happens to have, there are a lot of instances of him slicing into her comm during a mission and offering directions or information while she's like. Three quarters of a mile into a sewage system infil.

He's been on mute this entire time, but someone asks if the others remember which way to go, and he just pops up with "turn left."

It's the first time Ahsoka's ever heard his voice (or rather, an approximation of what he thinks he'd sound like at this age using some synthesizers normally used for waiter droids,) and it scares the crap out of her.

He wants to tease his baby sister! Sure she doesn't know she's his baby sister yet. But it's his obligation as a big brother.

They spend most of those months thinking he's some super cool slicer in a basement lair with eight screens and a bottle of orange soda and, basically, they're imagining Hardison from Leverage.

It's uhhhhh not quite that.

I think Ahsoka's a little betrayed at first that Anakin didn't tell her who he was, but she gets over it in favor of THIS IS MY FAVORITE PERSON LOOK HOW COOL HE IS pretty quickly

"It's my older brother's birthday and if everybody doesn't clap for him I'm going to blow up this entire ship."

Ahsoka: I'm gonna rob a BANK and Skyguy's gonna help! Obi-Wan: Ahsoka please he's still reco-- Anakin: DAMN RIGHT I AM where are we going

A whole lot of the emotional core would be the development for Anakin and Obi-Wan in a context where one's been mourning the other for so many years, and feels guilt for accepting his death instead of searching for him, even though he had evidence of Anakin's death (like "Sidious used Anakin's DNA to feign an accurate corpse burnt to a crisp" levels of evidence).

Obviously, there needs to be a heavy plot regarding figuring who took Anakin, why they did what they did, and whether there's any way to find them again.

I think the Domino twins steal Anakin for shenanigans of their own regularly, in part because they were usually the two with Ahsoka when Anakin popped up and started offering advice unasked.

IDK how I want to do the Rex&Anakin dynamic. That part's still percolating.

I do think Obi-Wan is very… delicate with him? He fusses. Anakin appreciates the part where Obi-Wan regularly tells him he's proud and loves him, but he's quickly very irritated by Obi-Wan treating him like he's made of glass.

Obi-Wan, however, is much more emotionally delicate than in canon, because he lost his master and his padawan within two or so years of each other, and blames himself for both. Part of him is convinced that Anakin also blames him.

(And part of Anakin… does.)

(For giving up on him, instead of searching for him even after evidence of his death came up.)

(Even though he knows, from conversations with Ahsoka before he revealed his identity, that Obi-Wan mourned him for years upon years before he took another student)

There's probably a specific medic whose job is at least 25% "Skywalker stuff."

I feel like it's easy to assign Kix to be Anakin's primary medic (there's a Jedi back at the Temple that's in constant contact) BUT I think it would make sense for there to be someone on hand as an assistant for the day to day, since he's on a military vessel and most of it isn't built in a way that's easy for him to navigate, especially with the Force, so I think it would be interesting to have Dogma assigned as Anakin's temporary care aide.

He's definitely someone who'd thrive on having a detailed list of Things That Need Doing, for a Jedi that has trouble remembering to take the medication that Kix said he needed, or to eat, or what have you.

And Anakin would. Probably have Dogma help him break many laws and regulations. Could be good for him.

Anakin: I want some hot chocolate. Dogma: That's not on the list Kix gave me. Anakin: But I want it. Dogma: ... Anakin: [starts levitating ingredients] Dogma, vibrating and maybe tearing up a bit: SIR PLEASE--

(Obi-Wan can be convinced to give him the hot chocolate. His brain is just going Baby Boy. Baby.)

Dogma makes so many calls to Kix for help keeping Skywalker alive.

Someone suggested he get an exoskeleton-style aid (think Rhodey post-CACW), but I think he does prefer more mundane mobility aids. Like, he's been forcibly teched up for… eight years? It's nice to have something that's just. Not that.

It's a chair with a motor. It's crutches with special padding. It's the Force, sometimes. Yeah he could take a shot at complex external support, but... he'd rather stick with the basics.

It's also like. A separation thing? He still uses his neurological hookup to do data analysis and slicing for the GAR and the Jedi (even though he was told MANY times that he doesn't have to and everyone would like it very much if he just stayed home at the Temple and focused on recovering), but he'd like to be able to ditch the complex tech stuff by choice when he's not at work.

I think Anakin puts a lot of stock in his ability to be useful. He'd want to 'detox' from it, so to speak, for a few months at a time very year or so. Just get out somewhere rural with lots of nature and a manageable number of people, and minimal tech. Regular missions with AgriCorps, maybe.

But he'd still think that, now that he has these skills and connections, it's irresponsible to not use them to help people.

I do not have the energy to write this out as an entire epic, which it probably deserves, but. Concept.

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

The Frozen fic was ghost on the wire.

Cyberpunk AU. Major element is that some people get neurological hook-ups to the internet and slowly get addicted to it to the point where they lose themselves to it (think the dream addicts in Inception, I guess?) The parents had died early on, and the sisters had been split up Anna made friends with a weirdo online, used this friendship to investigate the suspicious deaths of the parents. Weirdo is an insanely good hacker. Goes on a Recovery mission for the weirdo. Turns out the weirdo is actually Elsa, who was forcibly hooked up to the internet as a weapon? Ish? IDK she's a mega-useful hacker but she's been trapped in a medical pod thing for the past however many years and can't walk. Can barely talk, and regularly gets back inside a medical pod due to the lack of motor function and medical instability, and she needs to speak clearly to plan Cool Heists for the conspiracy investigation.

So I have a question.

First of all, since I don’t quite feel like going through all of your posts for one detail, what’s FPKs spiritual status or whatever? Has he regressed in part? If he’s still a god have his domains/aspects shifted with the feralisation?

Secondly, what of the rest of Hallownests pantheon (Not the Godseeker pantheons I mean the remaining higher beings of Hallownest, and I suppose the more special creatures like Bardoon since otherwise that’s a really short list)? How are their relations with FPK? Have they even met again? Do they even know he lives?

Hi! I have a tag for the most important ask responses and other AU related posts, both for the story as well as for understanding the characters better, the tag is #save. In case this link doesn't work properly, all of my tags are pinned to my blog, so I recommend checking that out!

I also have some responses related to the topic of gods in the AU, as well as where FPK lands in all of that. Here is one about The Radiance and Grimm's father, which also goes more in depth about how I see the gods. Here is another response related to The Radiance, which also touches on the topic of gods. And lastly, here is one that talks more about FPK (and mainly WL) and how he fits into the whole thing.

But to add something to my answer that I either came up with later or just didn't mention in the other posts (it will be long so I'll put the divider here)

As I mentioned in one of the posts, the gods generally inhabit their own areas. They are not omnipotent, which makes sense, since they are more like guides than creators. This means that certain areas develop cultures and terms that are somewhat exclusive to the region, and an example of such is the term "Dream Realm", which is only really used by the inhabitants of the Hallownest territory (the reason for which I'll explain later). Another interesting result of such scenario is that many mortals travel between countries and kingdoms in order to reach their gods and seek their guidance. I think it would add a pretty fascinating element to their world, one that is not actually that far-fetched from canon, as the Godseeker traveled in search of other gods after the ones of their homeland perished.

There are two distinct "categories" of gods in the AU: the old gods and the new gods, and most of the higher beings we know belong to the latter. The old gods were more like what you picture when you think of a god: a powerful being you devote yourself to, but one you cannot see or touch. This was the old way of the gods, though these days it's very much a thing of the past - most of them choose to create a physical form to walk among the mortals and interact with them, some even blend into their world to the point where it's not as easy to tell that they are in fact gods. Many of them care not for worship, and instead prefer to have a more personal connection with the mortals. A notable exception was The Radiance - she was obsessed with the old gods and their way of life, she refused to create a physical form, and drew most of her power from the worship given to her. This earned her the nickname Grimm would often use mockingly - The Old Light. Though for the longest time, she actually flourished. Worshipping her was the main "religion" of the Hallownest territory for quite some time, and the Moth tribe that she created served as a way for mortals to communicate with her. This was done through their dreams, which eventually coined the phrase "The Dream Realm", first to refer to The Radiance's domain, though over time it became the main term to use for other god realms, even if they were not related to the concept of dreams. But with time, the new way of gods overshadowed her rule, and eventually the mortals turned away from The Radiance, instead devoting themselves to higher beings they could see and interact with.

This is where FPK came into the picture, as I mentioned before, he learned his powers and thus was not a real god, but in the eyes of mortals he was just as worthy of worship as any other higher being. At that point, The Radiance was already weak, and we know the rest of the story so I won't get into it now.

And since we're on the topic of FPK: before advanced civilization developed, the gods would instead guide the course of nature itself, which at that time was full of now prehistoric creatures. Giant, imposing beasts dominated the world, and wyrms were one of such species. But eventually that megafauna would slowly die off, passing the torch to smaller creatures and allowing them to evolve and develop (similarly to how the extinction of dinosaurs allowed small mammals to flourish). I like to think that this common ancestor was quite insect-like in its appearance, which is why those traits are quite commonly present in modern species (though they are notably not actual insects). Wyrm were the last of those gigantic species, due to their unusual ability to stop aging, which eventually led to intense cannibalism and their eventual extinction.

FPK was born in the very last generation of wyrms, when their numbers were already dwindling. He was a small, weak, leucistic wyrm, which inevitably made him an outcast for his species. After he matured and left his nest, he began hiding from his kind, as he knew he had no chance of fighting back. That is when he stumbled upon the lore tablets left by the gods. Soul magic was notably difficult to learn, and while there are mortals who know how to use it, their short lifespans mean that they die before they can reach its full potential. FPK was just the right creature to learn the magic and perfect it - he spent almost 200 years studying the tablets and developing his skills, and by the time he changed forms and created the kingdom, he already reached levels of power comparable to that of the gods (though he still lacked a lot of their abilities that he was not able to learn with soul, which I mentioned in one of the linked posts).

But since his power was learned, not natural to him, it was inherently linked to his mind, his memory, and his experiences. And as he fell into hibernation, his oldest memories began to get slowly erased, which included the very basics of soul magic. This meant that, when he was woken up (thankfully before he lost most of his memories), he had no knowledge of how to utilize his powers, and thus was not able to sustain himself with soul (I recommend this post for more details on the importance of this ability in particular for him, as well as his feral nature). While it is technically possible for him to re-learn those basics and become powerful again, he chooses not to for personal reasons - he became too dependent on it, to the point where he was starving himself, and he generally associates it with the worst moments of his life.

So after hibernation, he is pretty much exactly the way he was in his childhood, though obviously in a different physical form. He doesn't age (which was a trait Hornet inherited from him), but aside from that, he doesn't know any magic.

---

I'll return to the topic of other gods, to give some more details on them and their relation to FPK. The list, as you pointed out, is not particularly long, but with the previous context I think it makes sense.

First, there's The Radiance and The Nightmare (now known as The Nightmare King/Grimm), the two siblings and the children of The Dream Lord (name is subject to change since I haven't sat down to create a design for him yet), who is now dead as noted in one of the linked posts. I won't go into too much detail on what their domains and responsibilities are, refer back to the posts I linked.

Then there is The White Lady. I mentioned that I imagine she would be the god of fertility, and perhaps she would also watch over the flora of the region. She would be the god to seek in topics related to fertility or crops, I imagine.

Quite related to WL's domain is Unn, who watches over the wilderness, particularly the fauna (though she is also responsible for the vegetation of the region, which is where she clashes with WL). She is one of the few gods of the region who actually created her own followers, though she is always welcoming to any mortal who seeks her aid.

Lastly, there is The Shade Lord, a unique higher formed from void itself, which does not have a domain of its own. Instead, it stood opposed to The Dream Lord - balancing the hopeful dreams with chaos and doubts. But it became dangerous, and so The Dream Lord sacrificed himself to seal it away in the Abyss (Ghost united the void one last time to defeat The Radiance, but The Shade Lord as it was known once is gone).

Now, there is also the possibility of there being other gods, which were never encountered by Ghost. For instance, the hot springs imply the existence of possible volcanic activity in the region, so perhaps there is a god whose domain connects to fire and heat? Perhaps they could serve a similar role to Hephaestus in Greek mythology, and be the guide to all the blacksmiths of the region?

There may also be a god related to Lifeblood, I think there is an implication that it comes from a higher being like source. They could be the god you seek in matters related to health and vitality. But then again, Lifeblood itself is so strange that it may as well just be some kind of drug hahaha

And again, FPK was never part of that pantheon of gods, The Radiance notably considered him a fraud and rejected him. But the other gods, which are much closer to the mortals, were more open to welcoming him among their kind. His marriage to WL earned him the title of a Pale Being, and while he was not able to become part of the matters of gods (his inability to enter The Higher Plane was the biggest factor here), he was still considered a god by all the mortals.

He did meet with WL after coming back, though as I mentioned before, since they divorced, he only rarely pays her visits - their new lives are almost completely separate. Unn was definitely aware of his return, after all, he frequently hunts in her territory. She definitely watched him closely to ensure he wasn't overhunting the animal population, but since he only does that to satisfy his hunger, she never had to intervene. The Radiance is dead, and Grimm is married to him so not much to add here.

---

Also, since you mentioned Bardoon. I think his species may be a quite recent descendant of one of those prehistoric beasts, which would explain his size and knowledge of wyrms. So he's definitely in the same category that FPK was in when he was born.

---

This turned out really long, but I hope it's a satisfying answer. Again, I definitely recommend checking out the posts I linked, as well as scrolling through the #save tag (especially if you want to learn more about the more personal aspects of the characters). I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, but again, the AU is not a serious writing project, I definitely make it up as I go, so there is a chance that some things don't quite add up or are a bit convoluted. So if you have any more questions or want me to elaborate on something, feel free to send me another ask!

Most chaotic MFB Beyblade AU to pop up into my head. Part 1: Metal Fusion

Okay this one has been stuck in my head for close to a week to the point where I wrote snippets of it in my Google docs. Basically, all the characters are the same, the plot is relatively all the same, but one or two things makes this all a chaotic mess.

All the legendary bladers are mentally linked together about 2 years prior to Metal Fusion. As in, they can telepathically communicate with each other and sense each other's links.

They all get headaches one day and eventually find themselves mentally linked to each other. At first it's a chaotic mess of "what the actual heck is going on here?!" to slowly learning about each other and their families to "Oh heck, these are my friends and we support each other, however far away we are." They open up to each other, ranging between Dynamis and his family curse, to Chris' troubles and loneliness, and it becomes a friendship/brotherly therapy group. Even Ryuga opens up with them. He's not too much different from main series, but he cares about them and will protect him.

The other thing? Doji has screwed over a few legendary bladers by harming their families. This man is probably eviler in the AU than canon. He's arranged several accidents, including a rockfall that injured Dynamis' father on Mist Mountain, Ryuga's best friend getting injured in a hit and run, and other things.

This changes the situation quite a bit. Instead of Ryuga joining out his own will to spy on this man, end up possessed after grabbing L-Drago, and ending up in a coma. Dynamis, having a bit of psychic abilities due to his training on Mist mountain, is able to sense this, and besides avenging his father's supposed death and Dynamis' father's injuries, Gingka makes it his personal mission to take down Doji and save their mentally connected to them brother.

Enter the Canon.

Gingka meets Kenta and Madoka and everyone as Canon, but during the 1 vs 100 beybattle against the face hunters, Kyoya realizes during the commentary and has that "Oh shit, this is my bro!" Moment and later on meets up with Gingka face to face. The two get along,

And then Doji comes along to cause chaos.

Kyoya: “Hypothetically speaking, if this Doji person appeared out of nowhere in your hideout after a battle, should I be concerned?

Gingka: "...This isn't hypothetical is it?”

Kyoya: “Nope.”

Chris: “Wow, this guy wants blood.”

Kyoya: “....Want me to spy on him for you?”

King: “Oh? We're trolling?”

And from there, the ball gets rolling. Canon events happen while Kyoya gets free training during his spying (hey he's not gonna pass up a chance to train with his friendly rival), he relays what he sees during all this via group telepathy, up until his second battle with Gingka. Hikaru plays a bigger role from this too. Canon continues after that, including Gingka losing to Ryuga and the trip to Koma Village. At some point between all that, the group does learn about Kyoya and Gingka's backstory with both Doji and Ryuga. To which they are surprised, a bit unconvinced, to eventually believing them.

And then the stuff leading up to battle bladers happens. Canon battles happen, the tournament is announced, and everything goes according to the series. Except one more minor detail.

Enter Ryutaro Fukami. I headcanon this precious boi being Dynamis' cousin, with his family being related to a certain... Nemesis blader (more on that in a separate post someday). Well Gingka and Kyoya and the rest of the group make it to the Battle Royale tournament, and they stumble upon Ryutaro during a fortune-telling. He's aware of this link during a visit to his cousin, but is very sceptical about until the two visit his booth

Gingka: Hello! I'm Gingka and this is Kyoya. Your cousin has mentioned you.

Ryutaro: PiscesBlader.EXE has stopped working.

The group explains their backstory, and one thing leads to another. Ryutaro is unintentionally pulled into this situation (and doesn't know what to think of it), and even volunteers to spy on Doji. He gets his older brother (one of few OCs in this case, art is on the site) Ranmaru involved with this, and things slowly start to change from there.

No big changes, Canon continues up to the end of the season, right after to where Ryuga is defeated. Pegasus is gone, but as frustrated and upsetting as that is, Gingka's got his friends and his bros. And Ryuga's got his brothers help him heal. And of course Ryutaro is invited to join in the mental conversation due to his own psychic abilities.

Legendary Bladers: (talking about many things and situations)

Ryutaro: (instantly regrets it and starts stocking up on headache medicine)

Part 2 of this will cover Metal Master and probably Metal Fury.

Summoning Sturm in RE Mercenaries: A How-To Guide

So, now that you understand why Sturm is THE BEST, time to back up and explain a bit more about how to use him, and why it's down to me to tell you.

For the completely unfamiliar, Mercenaries is a challenge mode that unlocks on completing RE8. As of the Winters Expansion, you can even unlock playable characters like Heisenberg and Lady D, which is every bit as awesome as it sounds. As Heisenberg, you can do cool shit like flinging sawblades and summoning Soldats ‒ but the instructions do not mention that summoning Sturm is possible too, and you aren't likely to find it out by accident.

I can state this with confidence, because I didn't find it even in all the time it took me to score an S-rank on all 12 stages (yes, even the hard ones) as Heisenberg ‒ which unlocks the coveted Heisenberg Statue (TM).

Once unlocked though, the statue sits in your entrance lobby and shows you pointless stats on previous runs ‒ stuff like 'stages completed', 'hammers slammed', or... wait, 'Sturms summoned'? Hang on, Heisenberg can summon Sturm? SINCE WHEN?

This was legitimately my first clue. There was only one person to ask, and that person was google.

If you're in doubt that this is one of the best kept secrets in all of RE lore, to reiterate, googling "Heisenberg" and "summon Sturm" still produces only a handful of results (and several of those are now links to my last post about it). Fortunately, one of those was some clever dude who'd spotted a curious option buried in the Mercenaries keybindings on PC, just under Heisenberg's magnetic field activation command, and labeled only 'Change Minion'.

Not a lot to go on, so let me explain.

You use your Soldat summon by selecting your fourth weapon slot (4 on keyboard, D-pad-down on controller), then hit the 'fire' button to deploy it (left mouse button on PC, right trigger on controller) . There's a considerable cooldown between uses, so you can't just spam it for an easy time.

However, if you hit the 'Change Minion' button after switching to your Soldat, but before hitting 'fire', the icon in the bottom right of your screen should change.

You are now in Summon Sturm Mode.

Surprisingly, there's no unlock required for this. Unlocking Heisenberg requires an A-rank on all 6 easy-level stages, and many of Heisenberg's more exciting abilities have to be bought or found at random. Sturm, however, is available wherever Soldats are sold. It's very weird that it's so well-hidden.

Do note: hitting Alt again will not 'change your minion' back. To switch back to Soldat-mode, just hit 4/down again. Or switch to any other weapon (slots 1-3), then back to 4 again. Sturm-mode is not sticky: if you've been flinging saws or flash grenades while waiting for the cooldown to clear, you'll have defaulted back to Soldat mode next time you want to summon a minion, and you'll have to hit Alt again. This can be a little annoying when you're under pressure, but so it goes.

How-to on PS/XBOX

How to summon Sturm on PS or XBOX is a thornier question: instructions for controllers aren't as detailed as the keyboard shortcuts. Fortunately, another of those few google hits was a guy on youtube who'd figured it out on PS5: according to him, the trick is to hold X, and spin the left analog stick (the one that controls the camera) through 360 in a counterclockwise direction. Which is a lot more complicated, and worth testing.

Now, I don't own a current generation Playstation or XBOX, but I do have both an old PS3 controller and a knockoff XBOX controller, which I sometimes use for PC gaming, so I tried it out. And on both, what I found was that you didn't need to hold down any button: simply spinning the analog stick 360 degrees in either direction worked. Doesn't seem to matter where you start the spin either, as long as it goes the whole way around.

I can't 100% guarantee it's the same on a real XBOX/PS, but if that's how you game, I recommend you test it out in the lobby before trying it in a level. Your Soldat-gage doesn't charge in the lobby, but you can still see the icon change to Sturm to show you've got it right (and please do let me know if so!)

Sturm: An Advanced Strategy Guide

So, having now told you all about why Sturm is awesome, is there ever any reason not to summon Sturm? Because on paper he seems to have everything over your regular Soldat summon: does comparable damage on the first run, and then he keeps going ‒ where's the downside?

Well, after extensive testing, I'm here to tell you Sturm does have one weakness. Your Soldat will pierce through anything ‒ including heavily armoured enemies, like Soldat Panzers and, er, enemy Sturms, which are otherwise invincible from the front.

Summon!Sturm, however, sometimes won't damage armoured enemies. Honestly, it's not totally consistent that he'll just bounce off, but it's happened enough times to qualify as a pattern. Sometimes he'll work, but often he won't. Even regular un-armoured Soldats with their fingers crossed arms covering their weak spot can sometimes be a problem. So take that under advisement: your Soldat is more reliable, even if he's mostly less fun.

Sadly, this also means that summoning Sturm to fight Sturm isn't often going to work: enemy Sturms remain frustratingly invincible from the front, and will charge straight through him. And as soon as there are two Sturms on the field, keeping track of which one can hurt you and which one can't is like playing Russian Roulette with a chainsaw.

Sturm's also worse with obstacles. Summon your Soldat in the Factory level's Foundary area, and he'll punch through anything to reach his target. Sturm may well just get stuck on a table.

This is not to say summoning your Soldat is always the sensible-if-boring option. Sturm not only sticks around longer and can hit enemies who haven't even spawned yet, he can also hit an enemy more times as he barrels past.

Take the ever-annoying Varcolac miniboss that leaps out at you at the start of the final Hard level, the Bloody River II. Your Soldat will take a nice chunk off its health gauge, but won't finish it off.

But Sturm? Sturm will take it down so fast you won't even have to wait for him to turn around.

(This is not just a fluke, for the record ‒ I've tried this with both of them more than once.)

Speaking of damage, both Sturm and your Soldat are affected by most any ability which boosts general damage ‒ even some of the ones that look contradictory. Infighter? Will boost damage on any enemy they hit standing close to you. Out of Reach? Will boost damage on any enemy they hit further away. Fickle shooter will boost damage even when they hit multiple enemies with one hit. And as for any other attack, bonuses stack and multiply. But Break Shot is generally going to be your most useful single bonus (50% extra damage to anything on full health, which is most enemies Sturm and Soldy are going to hit).

The one I'm not so sure about is No Brainer, since I'm not sure if your summons can actually pull off a headshot. Maybe it's possible, but don't think I've seen it happen.

By contrast, I don't think your magnetic field has any effect. It'll boost damage done by the hammer and other projectiles by double (or more), but doesn't seem to have any impact damage done by summons.

From all this testing, I've also learned that your standard cooldown between Soldat/Sturm summons is 1 minute ‒ reduced to 40 seconds if you buy the S.O.S. ability. Who you summon or how long Sturm bumbles around for doesn't seem to make any difference there.

Alas, I have had very little luck summoning Sturm to help me fight Miranda. She just spends too much time in the air to be a good Sturm-target ‒ a real shame, because she'd otherwise make a great gif to finish on. But in lieu of that, have a gif of Sturm doing truly absurd amounts of damage while boosted with multiple assorted damage upgrades (which he's not in most of the gifs above).

I would love to hear about you going on a tangent about British politics and stuff. I find stuff like that so fascinating especially as an American so please do tell and any book/media recommendations would be cool Tysm

Whoa, thank you so much and I even feel honoured! :D I'm always happy for an opportunity to bang on about politics. And I'm sorry, but this will be a pretty long post, haha.

Well, I was sort of into politics ever since my school days (oh, the good old days when I had to explain the German electoral system for my exams haha) and I guess I might have studied something politics-related at university if I had the qualifications...but sadly I don't, so it's just something like a hobby for me. Anyway, at first I mostly just followed German politics, but then I got really into British politics in 2016 after the Brexit vote. I started watching the parliamentary debates on Brexit when they showed them on German TV for whatever reason, then later online and idk, that got me hooked. I have been following current events to varying degrees ever since (mostly via the Guardian and the BBC News because I'm sort of a leftie...lol) and I would say it has definitely become one of my main interests. I think nowadays I'm probably better informed about the events in the UK than about the political landscape in my own country (bit sad, but true). Still, I'm definitely no expert and I've got a bad memory, so I find new and interesting bits and books all the time, haha.

Anyway, book recommendations! This will be by far the longest part of this post…of course this is only just about the stuff I've read, so not exactly comprehensive and probably biased because of my personal political preferences, but…hopefully still a bit useful. :) (Sorry for the Goodreads links, but since I use that site to keep track of my reading it was just the easiest solution. Here's also a link to my non-fiction shelf for more stuff…I didn't mention every single book I've read or else this post would be even longer haha)

For a more general overview I would recommend this series of books: UK Politics Annual Update. They are actually for A-level exam preparations, but I found them pretty useful (especially for earlier years when I didn't follow politics yet) and bought almost all of the older editions. Or alternatively, this book was alright if you want want less detail, but still a quite comprehensive overview. Although I didn't really like how the author's personal opinion got obvious from some bits. For a more light-hearted approach, British Politics for Dummies is also pretty good. I've read a few of this series and it's one of the better books.

Getting a bit more specific now…two pretty good books which are mostly about what happens in Westminster and what could be improved about the way British politics work are How Westminster Works...and Why It Doesn't and Code of Conduct. Especially the first one is really good, and it has lots of interesting stuff in the 'further reading' section for the more hardcore nerds. Yeah, I'm currently going through that list, haha.

Also pretty good, but also quite specific are Chums and Butler to the World. The first one is about how modern politics is mostly shaped by people who went to Oxford (and it was quite depressing sometimes, but very interesting), and the second is about how Britain occasionally helps rich people hide their money to pay less taxes and all that. Another good one is The War Against the BBC, but as it's mostly about, well...the BBC it's only politics-adjacent…still worth reading especially since the Tories these days are attacking the BBC all the time and try to undermine it.

As for Brexit, I'm still looking for a really good book about that…but the best one I've read so far is A Short History of Brexit. It's pretty complicated and technical though, and goes into detail about how the UK joined the EU in the first place, so I wouldn't 100% recommend it.

Three quite different, but interesting books written by British politicians are Go Big, Seven Ways to Change the World (ideas about how to improve British or even world politics from two former Labour leaders) and Unspeakable (despite the title it's not just an autobiography but also explains quite a bit about the work of the Speaker of the House of Commons).

Also, no matter whether you're a rather left-wing person or whatever you think about Jeremy Corbyn, this book was really interesting. Of course it's written from a sympathetic viewpoint, but it was generally really interesting to see the phenomenon of Corbynism in the context of the history of the Labour Party. Same goes for this book, although it's also written from a left-wing perspective.

Also surprisingly good and insightful was this short essay about politics by Frankie Boyle. Yes, the comedian.

Oh, and last but not least: I also genuinely think that watching HIGNFY is pretty useful when it comes to getting an overview about current British events. (Well, "current" depends on whether you're watching an old series or the latest episodes, of course. But it's just as good for older stuff, I think. Some things like, idk, scandals usually don't get mentioned in the books, at least not the ones I've read.) Same goes for the Private Eye annuals, although I assume these are more fun if you do have at least some knowledge of what happened in the corresponding year already.

It has always been one story

The last days I have been making some analyses based on Rhett and Link’s latest video “We Dug a Medium-sized Hole”. My realisation of what I have been explaining there led me to a new surge of excitement when watching their content. I have talked before about how much I like Hazel but to be precise I never watched the TikTok videos, I had only listened to the two versions of the song, which is certainly the best song they have written and performed so far in their career in my opinion. So a few days ago, my YouTube feed actually suggested the Hazel videos to me and, as I have been in this new RandL surge, I thought “why not”. I thought it will be fun and creepy, and it was, but once again I wasn’t ready for the hammer of realisation that fell right on my forehead. You see, being freshly out of my We Dug a Hole analyses, I noticed a load of similarities between the two. But even more importantly, I noticed numerous similarities between Hazel and the Lost Causes of Bleak Creek. In fact, what I mean by “numerous similarities” is that they are all essentially the same story, and the only thing that changes are the settings, the side characters and other secondary elements. So if this is the case, Rhett and Link have been telling one story again and again for quite some time and, in their words, have been somewhat disappointed at the reaction they did (not) receive from the viewers (Hazel), their difficulty to promote their story in other media (Bleak Creek) and now their decision to not have expectations so that they won’t get disappointed again (Digging a hole). But let’s say a few words for each of these major projects.

We Dug a Medium-sized Hole

Let’s start from the last one, which is also the smallest and most superficial project. It is a humorous video with a prepared song and a predetermined concept which is supposedly unscripted. I analysed it in excruciating detail a few days ago so I will just give you links to my posts “They Dug A Hole” and “The ‘We Dug A Hole’ Discussion”, which I would recommend because they will help make this post much clearer as well. Anyway, to summarise, here’s what goes down: Rhett and Link agree to dig a medium sized hole without examining this agreement and intent thoroughly and carefully enough to see if they are on the same page fully. They slowly get the hang of this, Link becomes very invested and loses control entirely. Rhett panics and tries to help Link get back to his senses and establish control between them again. Yet, if you remember this part from the “They Dug A Hole” post,

well, it had intrigued me then but it actually proved to be unexpectedly significant for real! Despite Rhett being the one who tries to establish control in the hole-digging process, soon he is the one to fall back into it the hardest. True enough, the second time it’s Rhett we see running the excavator. There are no other characters in the video, except for the mole who supports them but is accidentally killed. Rhett and Link have revealed this is the first of a series of similar videos (and songs, perhaps).

The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek

If you haven’t read their novel yet, well this is simply the best thing they have made so far and I definitely recommend it. I have always found it curious how little tumblr fans speak of TLCOBC, especially since it is RAGING with innuendo and symbolism that is not even subtle. I will give the story in very broad terms, however there are going to be some strong spoilers here because I don’t have another way to prove my point. Be warned. Of course here we have a different setting and the main characters are preteens. The setting is a dark twist of Rhett and Link’s actual childhood. Their small town with its extremely puritan, conservative community. The book has many characters but once again there is only one more character that can be considered as “main”, Alicia Boykins, their female best friend with whom they are secretly both in love. Well scratch that off, there is also Janine who is important, she is clearly Stevie’s character. But anyway. Rhett and Link have implied in a Mythicon that Alicia is a symbolic character who represents “their ideal selves”, “who they wanted to be”. So in short Rex, Leif and Alicia is a trio of best friends who live in this small Christian town hiding a dark secret. Leif falls in love with Alicia first and more profoundly, Rex a little later. Alicia is kidnapped and sent unfairly to a notorious reformatory school. Rex and Leif agree to save her but the whole plan goes wrong and Leif falls in a trap, in a very dark, deep and hopeless place, where Alicia also is, where you lose memory and the sense of self. (Won’t spoil more.) Rex returns to his town in utter panic and frustration and creates a master plan to rescue Leif. After a lot of allegories and adventures, Rex dives in the dark deep place and saves Leif (in a very romantic way btw). Alicia is rescued too. They confront the evil guys who control the reformatory school. They resume their peaceful life in their town. The book ends in a cliffhanger where Alicia sees something while bicycling that is a major sign that the cult / curse / that thing that was going on there is not defeated. So here we have as common themes: Link losing control because of how invested he was (in Alicia), Rhett panicking and trying to save him and correct the situation, and another main character who is a mysterious symbolism. It’s a little hard to be certain of what Alicia exactly symbolises, just like it is the case with the mole. What we don’t see in TLCOBC is Rex being the one to fall in deep the second time, but I bet this is the intended plot for the second book.

Hazel Macon

I watched this video a few days ago for the first time. Hazel is a fantastic project Rhett and Link came up with but the platform they chose to execute it on originally (TikTok) literally executed its chances for success. I will explain this in more detail. Rhett and Link promoted Hazel to the unaware GMM viewers by saying they were pulling an all-nighter to compose a song with their fans through TikTok. So they overestimated how many would go to TikTok for that. However, for those fans who signed up for this, they had already prepared a short movie separated in short bits, being uploaded gradually, telling a very creepy story. Here’s the plot: Rhett and Link start their all-nighter in the Creative House by uploading videos on TikTok. In order to get some ideas for their new song, they randomly choose the album Yearning by Hazel Macon. Link is confused because he does not remember this album, although Rhett argues confidently it’s Link’s and he acquired it in GMM (true). They play it and it is a haunting song of a girl wandering lost in a forest (as also evident on the album cover), waiting for someone to play her song, so she can be set free. They both hear whispering in the song and they figure it is backmasking (messages recorded backwards) so Rhett plays the record backwards to decode the message, to Link’s discomfort. Rhett says the message is there for a reason and he mockingly parallels it to satanic subliminal messages. He hears “I just want out. Just open the door. It’s been so, so long. I feel so lost. “ (Needless to say, this is in the official song obviously too.) Meanwhile, dead birds (crows) fall on their doors and windows every time they try to get out of the house. As they listen to the secret messages of the song, the girl vanishes from the album cover and they hear her singing from the back of the house. Scared to death, they see her emerge from the middle room (👀) . They try to hide in the kitchen where Link attempts to say something final and heavy with meaning to Rhett in case they die, but Hazel appears behind him and touches him causing him to fall into shock. She vanishes. Rhett stops playing the record but Link is now in a dead-inside state, the video suggesting Hazel is now inside him. Rhett roams the house but there is no way out as birds fall on every door. In a moment that Link escapes Rhett’s notice, Hazel reappears, turns Link into Harlan Macon, a reserved southern dude coming straight from the 1900s, and leads him to the middle room. Rhett follows in panic but there is nothing there when he opens the door. The Yearning album cover has changed and now it’s both Hazel and Link on the cover and on the record singing. Rhett in despair realises that he will have to play the record again, open the portal, find Link and save him (again, like in TLCOBC, see the trope?). As Rhett walks towards the door listening to Link’s voice from somewhere deep, he says “I don’t know if he can come out. I don’t think I want to go in there but I think I am gonna have to go in there”. This time when he opens the door to the middle room, it is an opening to a forest during a very dense night. It has a claustrophobic feel. Long story short, Hazel attacks him and turns him to Hardy Macon. However, when Hardy meets Harlan (Link), Harlan is “way too deep”, in Rhett’s words, he doesn’t recognise Rhett and he has assumed a different personality. Hardy!Rhett orders Harlan!Link to follow him, he bumps Hazel with a fallen branch, finds the door of the middle room and saves them both. Rhett immediately stops the record and Link returns to his normal self but has no memory of any of this. The album now has only Hazel on it again. Rhett tries frantically to get rid of the “Yearning” album but the “Yearning” album proves to be indestructible. It does not break, it does not melt and when he tosses it in the yard, it comes back.

Then there is a hilarious joke which Link now films; that Rhett is locked in the toilet for way too long, and Link thinks Rhett has shitted himself (however I bet the implied joke is that he was trying to wank it out, as a last resort solution to deal with Yearning). Link then explains to the fans how he still doesn’t remember the Yearning album and hypothesises that Rhett must have brought it earlier to him and ruined their entire evening. Link concludes that if he plays the record backwards again, he will decipher the message and be done with it. Rhett screams from the toilet but it’s too late. Hazel reappears and turns him to Hardy again. When Hazel and Hardy appear to Link again, the camera drops from his hands. The album which had turned to have Hazel and Rhett on the cover and record once Link started playing it again, now morphs into having Rhett and Link together, implying that they now both are lost in those woods with no way out. An unknown hand turns the record to play the normal version, by the Macon Brothers.

Notes and conclusions:

* It is important to note that all of these projects have an either neutral or bad ending. The most neutral one is the digging a hole one, where they have succeeded in making a medium hole but there is also the unintended massive hole behind them, which they choose to ignore. TLCOBC has a fake happy or ominous ending, as the threatening sign appears just when everything seems to be working out well. Hazel is dark and ends in melancholic despair - Rhett and Link remain trapped in that ominous forest hiding in the middle room of their house. These are not happy stories even though all feature Rhett and Link’s light humour (the fork in Hazel came to mind, this joke gets me every time).

* Alicia and Hazel clearly stand for the same or a very similar symbolism. They likely are the personification of yearning, of confronting the truth openly, of being free, as Rhett said Alicia was an allegory for who they truly wanted to be. In two of the projects, they are trapped female entities, whose steps Link follows.

* All of the projects were meant to be part of a series. The book ended in a cliffhanger. Rhett and Link had revealed in their EB for Hazel that they had more scenarios prepared to execute in the same way. Alas, this podcast was filmed before Hazel aired and apparently they were very disheartened by Hazel’s failure. Imagine all that I described, it didn’t take more than 76,000 views in TikTok and most video bits only made like 11,000 views, which must have been a stab in the heart. Ironically, they later uploaded the whole thing on YouTube, and it now has half a million. I mean it’s still not as much as expected for this type of production, but it’s better than the 70,000. In any case the moment was lost then. Now they return with the hole digging which they announced it is the first in a series of similar videos coming. They emphasised how they were determined to ignore the views this time, and even though they did not mention Hazel, I believe the concept is connected directly to the concept of the Hazel video series, postponed for two years after their disappointment. The videos tell the same story, accompanied by a song, but in totally opposite styles.

* Settings, secondary elements and characters vary - the main plot remains the same always in at least 2/3 of the projects at any moment. For whatever reason each time, Rhett and Link decide to do something that unexpectedly makes them vulnerable to a truth they either had not realised or hid well within themselves. Link is seduced or trapped by this truth and falls deeper and deeper, there is always this trope of him falling in deep, either because he wants to or because he has no choice. Link reaches a desperate, helpless state and Rhett realises that he will have to help him out of the situation. Rhett is always very scared and very panicked but in every version he is determined to bring back Link or bring him back to his senses or save him. Rhett struggles and he gets into this dark zone or loses himself in this seductive trap momentarily in order to get Link back. However, he succeeds. They are both back to normal, figuring things out properly. The success is short-lived as Rhett eventually realises he is in fact trapped in way too deep as well, that he is trying to fight something he cannot defeat. The moment he realises this, Link relapses again soon too. This of course is given in a very cheerful, carefree way in the digging video while the plot in the book doesn’t reach the moment of Rhett’s defeat yet.

* The traps in all projects share some common characteristics: the bright sun doesn’t make it clear at first but a hole in the desert is still a hole in the desert. The bigger and deeper it is, the harder it gets to escape it and beneath it there is just darkness and dirt. The forest in Hazel is accessed through a portal to the Creative House’s middle room, it is dark, dense, quiet and claustrophobic. The trap in the Lost Causes is the most mystical, underwater and deep and with other dangers looming as well. Another common element in the last two is the memory loss and losing the sense of self or consciousness.

* Does religion have anything to do with all this? Yes, lots. Is religion the only thing that has to do with all this? No…

* On a lighter note, the Hazel song slaps! It is so good that it is haunting even when played backwards!

* On a heavier note, I was already convinced Rhett and Link are hiding a message in all these projects. I am still not sure however, whether they want this message to be decoded by people or they just make it in order to vent, to get the sensation they escape for a bit the walls of the room, the house, the trap. Hazel is perhaps the boldest of the projects (although the innuendos in TLCOBC are the most glaring) as a main plot because Rhett himself in the video brings awareness into the fact that their song has a hidden, forbidden message that subtextually yearns to be heard.

PS. Just to lighten the mood

Project Shadow Theory Thing: the Silvquel Part 1

A continuation of my last post regarding this theory here. I'll also add a link to where this whole theory begins to make it chronological here. I split this sequel into two parts because it got too long and I reached the picture limit.

Quick Recap: I believe that Gerald Robotnik created another Ultimate Lifeform hedgehog after Project Shadow was shut down, and that this 2nd lifeform is Silver the Hedgehog.

For this post, I'll dive into some observations about Silver that may help support this theory. I'll use as much evidence from the games as I can, but this is still just speculation.

Silver Wasn't Born in the Future

Well, "born" as in brought into existence. There are a couple things that conflict with Silver originating from the distant future.

By all accounts, Silver shouldn't exist. Silver being born in the distant future would mean that these numerous and drastic changes to the past should've affected how he came to be. It's already a huge stretch to say that his hypothetical family tree remained exactly the same after preventing the world's destruction in 06, but to say it stayed the same every time he goes back is absurd. This goes for him being artificially created in the future as well.

Even IF he came to be created in every single timeline, he shouldn't be the same Silver every time. If the events leading up to Silver's future dictated Silver's life, he should be a completely different person every time, with no awareness of previous timelines or time travel adventures. And yet, he recognizes Sonic and friends in Rivals 2 and every appearance onward.

Believe me, this time stuff is hard to explain in a way that makes sense. Silver not only existing, but staying completely the same despite frequent drastic changes to the future, suggests that the future has no bearing on how he came to exist at all. Because he was instead created back before Sonic's present time.

Remember that the farthest back Silver has ever gone was 10 years before the events of 06. Even then, his life was never rewritten. Every other time period he came back to was the Modern present, where Sonic is a teen.

We've never seen how far back in time is too far for Silver. At what point does it begin to affect him? And in what ways?

(Actually, there was an instance where something changing in the past also changed parts of Silver's life, but that's a topic for part 2)

Silver's Gloves

Many fans have had at least a passing curiosity as to how Silver's gloves work. After rewatching various cutscenes and gameplay, I think I finally figured out what they do. I've gotta say, they're more complex than I gave them credit for.

Firstly, I'd like to take a look at the circular markings on Silver's palms.

They're always there, right? Constantly emitting light, even when his powers are inactive. The line connecting the glowing circles to the cuffs shows that the two are connected in some way.

Especially when you consider that the glowing marks disappear when the cuffs are off, as shown by his nutcracker outfit.

I'd also like to make it known that in Sonic Forces Speed Battle, Silver is still able to use his psychic energy while in this costume, without the cuffs.

So if the cuffs aren't giving Silver his powers, then what are they for? I've heard some people say that they're the same as Shadow's inhibitor rings. What if that was true, but not the whole truth?

Let's focus our attention to the cuffs in Sonic 06. I specify 06 because there's actually a key detail that changed between how they looked back then and how they now present themselves in later games.

This was Silver whenever he wasn't prepared to fight. Look at how thin the line patterns on the cuffs are. The ones on his wrists are still glowing just the tiniest bit, but the ones around his legs are just dark.

Now look at this screenshot taken just seconds after the previous one. This was Silver as soon as he saw Sonic, or "the Iblis Trigger". The lines on all of the cuffs are much wider and brighter than before. Physical patterns in metal don't just get thicker and thinner because of light.

These aren't just patterns. This is the cuffs opening and closing. These are vents.

I believe that Silver, like Shadow, has difficulty controlling his chaos energy without these devices around his wrists and legs. But Silver's cuffs are adjustable, whereas Shadow's aren't.

Shadow's inhibitor rings help him to conserve his chaos energy, but they're kind of basic in design. They limit his chaos energy usage, but he can't change that limit. If he needs to release more power, he needs to take the rings off entirely.

Silver's cuffs, on the other hand, are adjustable. They can open and close to varying degrees depending on how much power he needs to conserve or use.

This is also why the markings on his hands never dim like the cuffs do. The cuffs not only assist in the flow of his chaos energy, but also in directing it. They constantly keep a portion of his energy focused in the hands and legs in preparation for immediate use. When the cuffs are off, the energy is no longer being drawn to his outer limbs, so it's then distributed throughout his body instead.

It's not that the cuffs being closed or off prevents any energy from escaping at all. Otherwise, he wouldn't have any abilities while playing as him in the nutcracker outfit. Not having the cuffs on just means that his body could eventually build up more power than he can expel, and that his energy is harder to channel externally.

Anyway, to sum it up:

Silver was created in the past, not the future.

Silver and Shadow both have rings/cuffs around their arms and legs to regulate they're chaos energy flow, with Silver's being an upgrade in functionality.

Both of these potentially point to Silver being designed as a later version of Shadow. This isn't mentioning Silver's power rivaling that of Shadow's, and at one point even surpassing Sonic's. Strength like that must come from somewhere.

I'll be covering my thoughts on that in part 2 of the Silvquel.

My Top 5 books that I’ve read this year, 2022!

no one asked for this but whatever! I read 37 out of my goal of 40 books this year. I was so close! Do you think if I read some of my nephew’s little toddler books could I count them towards my goal 🤔!? I’m not really going to give a summary of any of the books, just my general opinion and feelings towards them. Also, Spoiler warning for all books (I think I did really good job at not giving anything away but still just be careful anyway).

So here is my favorite 5 books from this year. ❤️

1) A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson.

I actually will saying the entire ‘The Wheel of Time’ series is in the number one spot. But I reduced it down to A Memory of Light (AMoL) since it’s the final book of the series. After 14 long books, AMoL wrapped up an incredible series that I’m completely obsessed with. The thing that was talked about since book 1, The Last Battle, was in my book 175 pages long and 6 hours long with audiobook! The Last Battle was epic, traumatizing, emotional, infuriating and so much more! Egwene, Rand, Nynaeve, Mat, Perrin, Faile, Elayne, Min, Aviendha, Siuan, Thom, Lan, Moiraine and all the 200+ characters living my heart and I will forever cherish this series. I can’t wait to re read it over and over again and recommend it to anyone and everyone! If anyone cares The Gathering Storm was my favorite book out all 15 and Egwene is my favorite character!

2) Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

I have another post one here doing a more detail explanation of this book and my love for it (link below)! I seen Legendborn in the book story for two years and alway walked past it. But one day I seen it and it’s sequel, BloodMarked, sitting on a table calling me. I’m glad I finally listened to it because it’s an amazing YA Fantasy book. I felt seen within the main character, Bree. I remember explaining Legendborn to my dad and I must have done a good job because he decided to read it and loved it.

3) Tomorrow and Tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

This was the first book I read by the author Gabrielle Zevin and I like her writing style. This book is beautiful written and it’s great story that goes back and forth in time. I loved and hated Sam and Sadie multiple times throughout the book. I’m not a massive gamer but when I’m in the mood, I can get lost for hours playing, so I loved the gaming and game building aspect of the book. Sam, Sadie, and Marx were written beautifully with depth and empathy and their humanity and emotions really shines throughout the book. It’s a good book that shows the messiness, the ugly and the beautiful and great parts of friendships.

4) Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

This was a cute, funny, refreshing and hilarious read. Out of the three Brown Sister books (Get A Life, Chloe Brown and Take A Hint, Dani Brown), I enjoyed Eve Brown the most! I also related to her more then I did with her sister, Dani and Chloe! Plus, that first spicy moment between Eve and Jacob was… 🥵 hot! Chloe and Red’s public spicy part in their book is my second favorite. If you want to read some cute, well written spicy books I recommend Talia Hibbert Brown Sister trilogy. If you read it start with Chloe then Dani and end with Eve.

5) The Jasmine Throne and The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

I’ll link my more in-depth review of this series below. Basically these two books fueled my need for good sapphic high fantasy! If you want to read about morally grey characters, a slow burn romance, war and betrayal, a magical system, messy family life and epic world building then this is the book series for you.

If you can tell, I love fantasy books, romance books and even better if their sapphic lol! If you have any good recommendations for those categories or any book in general you really love, feel free to recommend them to me! My goal for 2023 is 55 books!

I received a link to the article above in my inbox and of course they had to remind me of a work-in-progress story that I can't finish. Mostly because as unashamedly horny as I am, I find writing sex scenes awkward.

From the nerdy point of view, the article - a bit rambling and stream-of-consciousness, as befitting "rough draft notes" - gives some really good points that fit with my #Special Officer 432 stories, like:

the British relationship with the noose is intertwined with concepts of celebrity which remain relevant to this day. That is to say, the gallows is both a stage and a celebrity drama.

This is, pretty much, the vision of a society I had in mind while creating the fictional Kingdom. I focused on it the most in "The Murderous Brat", where I wrote down four different tabloid headlines including absolutely spoilerrific "YES SHE DID" and went with a full battery of jabs (and a booster) against lowbrow sensationalist "reporting" by the tabloid press. Because the more I researched, the more I noticed the pattern.

There must also be a charismatic quality in the criminal, or alleged criminal, if not in themselves, then in how they are portrayed and what they come to represent. Take for example how Beatrice Pace, who was tried in 1928 for the murder by poisoning of her husband, attracted huge crowds of sympathetic women to her trial. While acquitted, it is clear this ‘fandom’, for want of a better word, and her image as tragic widow cum black widow would have followed her to the gallows.

When it comes to the stories outside of the Officer series, my intention is to make the characters distinctive in some way. Sometimes, they're inspirational in a bad way, for leading a band of brigands or pirates, sometimes they're supportive in some dirty way, like offing their perverted step-brother to save their sister or providing certain solutions like Aqua Tofana to other women. Even the narrator in "View from the Window" hints that she's ideologically motivated, part Greta Overbeck and even larger part Charlotte Corday. I want the readers to know that when they go, they go for a reason and are resigned but somewhat proud of their fate.

Celebrity must be built up, and raised to a crescendo. But then the celebrity must be brought low and destroyed, through their hubris, restoring order or the illusion of it. This degradation is a public spectacle, or at least comes with it an audience of some sort or another.

Well... This explains why the condemned in my stories are executed naked or mostly naked - aside from the expectations of the genre, it also fulfills this need for degradation in a straightforward and aesthetic way. You have a seductive woman on the scaffold, exposed at least partially, and in a moment you will witness her meet her grisly end.

This audience for celebrity must also be urban in nature, and atomised on a personal level, a product of industrialisation and post-Enlightenment society.

And this is where Mr Hay is wrong. Very, very wrong as history proved multiple times already. The fascination with criminals and their executions dates back a long, long time and both ballads and horror stories from the Medieval era prove that making someone famous or infamous doesn't need the trappings of modern society to happen. For example, we have the story of Klaus Störtebeker, as famous for his life as he is for his death. The popularization of print merely helped save some of the stories for posterity.

The rest of the article goes into a lot of interesting details about the case of Marie Manning and her husband, both executed in 1849 for the murder of Marie's lover. While I knew the basics of the case and got the idea for a story from it, it turns out from Mr Hay's notes that there's more to it when it comes to Marie's role in planning the whole thing than Wikipedia cared to publish, and the quotes from contemporary press he brings up indeed prove the sensationalistic tabloid approach to such cases. It also, unfortunately, throws the entire concept I had out of the window, even more than my dubious ability to write sex scenes. Oh well.

Ok so after reading Az’s bonus chapter in ACOSF, I’m kind of annoyed with him. He acts like he is entitled to Elain because the other two sisters are mated to his brothers, and even says so much to Rhys when he calls Azriel out, and THEN HE REGIFTS the necklace he chose for Elain to someone else when Elain decided she didn’t want it. There was like a good paragraph detailing the necklace and why he chose it for Elain and then he decides to just give it to Gwyn. I don’t know, it just rubs me the wrong way and I’m interested in your take on the situation?

Hello Nonnie,

Oh, the dreaded bonus chapter. Probably the worst thing Sarah could have put into this world for it has left this entire fandom in an absolute shitshow, dumpster fire. I’m going to pre-apologize for how long this is. I didn’t intend to let this get out of hand, but here we are. 

First off, I want to say that this response is my opinion, formulated based on how I read the text, conversations I've had with others, and theories, comments, thoughts and ideas that I've read that have resonated with me. I am in no way trying to change yours or other people’s opinions.

I don't feel like Azriel is acting entitled to Elain. I saw him questioning things because he's confused, he's falling for someone who's mated to someone else but clearly does not want. He can read Elain easily, he can pick up on her discomfort around Lu*ien. He can smell a mating bond that nobody else can and it makes him so sick that he has to leave the room. Azriel has displayed typical mate-like behavior towards Elain throughout the series. And while I'm open to a double mates theory, I would hope that Sarah doesn't just drop yet another bomb on Elain because she's clearly made it obvious that the bond is not something she wants. If there is a second bond, I hope it comes much later, after Elain and Azriel are together.

Now, I also want to address the behavior as well. Sarah's male LI's always, ALWAYS, display a territorial, possessive-like quality over their females. Aelin consistently calls out Rowan's "territorial fae bullshit" in TOG, but nobody bats an eye over it. Rhys displays it when Kier insults Feyre (Feyre has similar thoughts over Cressida before they were even together), Cassian displays it when he calls Nesta out on the bridge about being mates, hell, even Lu*ien displays it in ACOWAR when Azriel escorts Elain to the garden and he snarls in their direction. So why is it only toxic when Azriel displays it? I think @nikethestatue did an excellent job rebuffing the "toxic Azriel" claim here. I’m also going to link @icedflames post that goes into detail about how Azriel isn’t toxic. They break down his actions over the last four books and counter the “entitlement” argument better than what I can do. You can check it out here. 

I also wouldn't say Rhys calls him out on it, but more picked every single thread he knew would hurt Az and pulled. Instead of asking Azriel about his feelings for Elain, he asked about Mor. We know that every single character goes through their self-doubts about feeling unworthy, but for Azriel, it's worse. You can tell in his POV, the way he describes himself and his hands in comparison to Elain's "immaculate skin" that he believes himself unworthy of her. All of SJMs main couples have gone through periods of where they find themselves unworthy of their respected partner. @rhyssescups explains it well here.

The necklace - First, Elain didn't decide she didn't want it, she returned it because she was hurt. She thought she had been rejected again and instead of holding onto the piece of jewelry like she did her engagement ring, she returned it to Azriel. Second, Azriel did not originally intend to re-gift the necklace. He had every intention of returning it to the store he purchased it from, but somehow found himself at the library to give the necklace to Gw*n (or to whoever else might like it). I don’t know about you, but that seems a bit suspicious to me - like he was drawn there. Lured. I’m not going to go down the Lightsinger rabbit hole, but there are many signs pointing in that direction (and that doesn’t necessarily mean Gw*n will be evil. There’s still a lot we don’t know.).

Anyways, I’m going to apologize again because I’m sure you dropping this ask wasn’t looking for a novel-like response. There’s a lot of things at work here, and I truly believe that many of the issues and concerns we all have could’ve been avoided if ACOSF was better written. Let’s face it, the plot basically was annihilated when the Illyrian piece was taken out. 

So, to summarize - no, I don’t think Azriel feels entitled to Elain. I think he’s hurt, confused, has feelings for her that he knows he shouldn’t, and doesn’t quite know what to do about them. I think Rhys played a bad part in the POV that was very OOC for him and will likely continue to play the antagonist in Elriel’s book. I don’t know if the necklace will even make an appearance in the next book, and if it does, it will likely be similar to how Cassian’s original lost Solstice present did. It’s an ugly loose end that I can’t imagine Sarah wants to clean up. 

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐲𝐮𝐮 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬’ 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮

𝟰𝟬𝟬 & 𝟱𝟬𝟬 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹

character(s) : haikyuu!! - multiple characters

legend : [Y/N = your name] f!reader with they/them pronouns. fluff to the mildest of spice, not nsfw. timeskip 

note(s) : so like.. the bnha one did very well, so i wanted to do a haikyuu version of it. im obviously not doing all the boys sadly. (will probably do 3-5 boys per team idk), but i’ll just do as many as i can until my idea train dies. i would add more tags but 30 is the limit so.. sorry. very long overdue because this was in my drafts for the longest time

read more will be added later along with the link to part one.

»»————-　♡　————-««

hinata shoyo

↮ a legs lover. there’s something about them he’s really enamored by. a bonus if you’re shorter than him, and an even bigger bonus if you’re taller than him (if you’re much taller than him since he’s 5′7 in the timeskip, I think) then he’ll pass tf out) he LOVES it when you wear stockings or fishnets, and he loves the way the material contours the shape of your legs. he’ll stare at them a lot, and he will be embarrassed if you catch him, and even more so when the team catches him. please reassure him that it’s fine.

kageyama tobio

↮ loves your chest, regardless of size (but if you must insist, he leans towards bigger sets) is it a thing connecting to milk? he doesn’t really know to be honest. kageyama really loves taking naps on your chest, because he falls asleep pretty fast when he takes naps on your chest. he won’t touch them because he’s a lil hesitant, but he’ll just.. rest his hand on there, and admire the softness. (will suckle on them if you’ll let him. is it a milk thing? again, we don’t know)

kōshi sugawara

↮ your lower back is his favorite. it’s not so common as “breasts” or “ass” but, he has good reasoning behind his favorite! in general, he loves his face, but he loves just laying his hand on your lower back. there’s just something about looking at you from behind that makes his heart pound 10x faster. oh and, he really loves putting kisses on there, because every time your back will be towards him in your shared room, he’ll catch a glimpse of those little bite marks. he’s smug, and he’s very proud of them, especially because you can only see them.

tsukishima kei

↮ he’s stuck between hands, tiddies and neck, but for the sake of this post- we’ll settle for hands. they’re so much smaller than his?? like.. he wonders how that’s possible, and he’ll probably tease you about it. (uh.. how can someone’s hands be that long? tf tsuki) it’s canon that he fiddles with his fingers when nervous, so when he’s with you- he’ll fiddle with your fingers instead. he also finds himself playing with your fingers, memorizing all of the details of your fingers. if you offer to put on bandages on his fingers whenever he gets hurt or something similar, he’ll get very bashful. but please do that!! he loves that a lot. with tiddies, his preference is definitely on the smaller side ngl

kozume kenma

↮ collarbones to him are  ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚ “mwah.” so elegant, so beautiful. how did this happen? well- he was doing work one day (like the rich man he is) and you sit on his lap per usual- but !! your collarbones were all up in his face. he’ll get very red, and lose focus, so give him a heads up. wear shirts that show off your collarbones, and he’ll stare hard. so yeah. he loves resting his face on them, and he’ll occasionally give you kisses, ranging from cute lil ones, to the wet open mouth kisses. 

yaku morisuke

↮ yaku likes short hair, i repeat- he likes short hair. therefore!! his favorite part would be your upperback/neck. it really depends if you’re taller than him or shorter than him. tbh idk how tall that man is in the timeskip (but he sexy af) but he always loves resting his hand on your upperback, regardless if you have long hair or short hair. if you’re shorter than him, he’ll pull you in for a hug with a hand on your upperback, and if you’re taller— he’ll rest his head on your shoulder, hand loosely hung around your back.

lev haiba

↮ this man screams legs man. like.. i also don’t really have much evidence to back this up, but this man has this weird attraction to your legs. he’ll probably make you walks in front of him so he can take a good stare at your legs. doesn’t matter if they’re long, skinny legs— or short ones! he just adores legs. lev is really tall so.. please put your legs on him, he’ll be in heaven. his preference definitely leans on long legs though.. he just really likes them :)

oikawa tōru

↮ uh ok.. i had a difficult time with deciding with this one tbh, but this man loves your waist. at first, i thought he was a tiddies man, which.. i feel like he is? but not that much of a tiddies man compared to being a waist man. his favorite way to greet you is to hug you from behind, hands resting on your waist as he inhales your scent. he’ll probably bite the soft skin on your waist as a way to tease you, that is.. if you allow him lol

iwaizumi hajime

↮ man is a collarbone man, change my mind. again, i partially feel like he also loves thighs and ass but look!! collarbones. he loves seeing them when you wear baggy clothes, unintentionally showing off your collarbones to him. his mind goes haywire at the sight. loves putting kisses on your collarbones, occasionally putting hickies there— but he also doesn’t wanna inflict pain on your collarbones so.. hickies are not a common thing. but don’t worry! he has a lot of ways to show you his love for collarbones.

akaashi keiji

↮ definitely a collarbone/hands type of guy. he has a strong affixiation towards them, it came to the point that even bokuto noticed that he had some sort of attachment to them. he just loves admiring collarbones, especially if they’re adorn with shiny necklaces, or just anything that’ll make them look amazing. as for hands, he loves playing with the tip of your fingers— tracing from your wrists, to the back of your hands, to your fingertips.

bokuto koutarou

↮ thighs :)) his preference is “the bigger, the better” and it’s literally canon too. he doesn’t mind smaller thighs, but he’s such a sucker of huge thighs. i guess it’s because he has thick thighs himself so that’s why bigger girls gravitate towards him. there’s always a hand on your thigh if you sit on his lap, and before games, he finds himself patting your thighs for good luck (he’ll never smack them because man’s highkey gonna leave marks on you)

ushijima wakatoshi

↮ thighs. thighs. thighs. man absolutely loves them, more so if they’re a little bit on the thicker side, but obviously— if this man loves you, he’ll love all of you. head really empty, and it’s just him gripping on your thighs while he drives the car, practically having a vice grip on your poor thighs— but it’s okay, because he’ll rub the irritated spot with a gentle touch, his baritone voice apologizing to you. not really big on words, but.. he’ll stare at your thighs a lot.

tendou satori

↮ has a thing for your hips. hm tbh, i was stuck between him having a thing for your neck and thighs— but he absolutely loves hips, just as any other intellectual. he loves squishing the plump flesh between his skinny fingers, and he also loves tapping on them while you stand infront of him doing.. with small hips, he still likes holding on then. okay but,, he also really loves hip dips. even he can’t explain it, he’ll just repeat him— telling you he loves hip dips. he really loves the silhoutte of them. so yeah, if you’re insecure, he’ll punt your insecurities until they rot :)

semi eita

↮ he admires your hands, it’s just that.. they feel so much softer than his, and the size difference between your hand and his hand makes his mind go haywire, his heart pounding against his chest. his hands are still in top shape, but over the years— they definitely roughened a bit due to practicing guitar and other instruments for his band, so his heart will definitely swoon if you put lotion on them. he’s also the type that would kiss the back of your hand before gigs for good luck, only to kiss them after his shows, saying he did well because of you :)

rintarou suna

↮ a thighs man for sure. the bigger thighs the better, it’s just his preference. not saying he hates small thighs though— thighs will be thighs. however!! his preference just loves squishy thighs. if you were to squeeze them around his head— he’d surely die a happy man. doesn’t care where y’all are and who you guys are with, he’s 100% going to put his hand on your thigh. if you decide to wear clothes revealing your thighs, or just.. tight fitted jeans or leggings, expect him to squeeze the soft flesh that’s there. he’ll definitely make a remark about how your thighs expand like crazy when you sit down, but he doesn’t mean it in a insulting way. he actually really loves it.

kita shinsuke

↮ he loves everything about you, so it really takes him a while to actually settle on something. one day— he’ll be touching your thighs, another day he’ll be holding your waist, then another day, he has his hand gliding over your collarbones. eventually, he settles on favoriting your hands, because he can hold them regardless of the setting. he can kiss them, hold them, and intertwin his fingers all he likes.

the miya twins

↮ OSAMU LOVES TIDDIES, AND ATSUMU LOVES ASS :) i don’t make the rules.

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likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading! (can y’all tell i got a little exhausted with writing the miya twins lol)

i do not own haikyuu!!/hq!! and it’s characters. haikyuu belongs to haruichi furudate, i only own the writing.

do not plagiarize my work :))

edit : just realized y’all like haikyuu so.. please submit haikyuu headcanon ideas