Nerdery

Here is something the first episode of Inspector Morse (1987) and the first episode of the magnificent BBC radio series of The Lord of the Rings (1981) have in common:-

Philip Voss (the Coroner / the Lord of the Nazgul[1]) asks searching questions of Peter Woodthorpe (Max DeBryn[2] / Gollum).

I have to wonder whether the parallel occurred to either or both of them during the filming of Morse. ;-)

Incidentally, because this delights me, here's a full list (so far! I may have missed some!) of actors who were in both the LotR radio series and the morseverse:-

James Grout (DCS Strange in Inspector Morse / Butterbur)

Michael Horden - (Dr Starkie in Inspector Morse ("Service for all the Dead") / Gandalf)

John McAndrew (Leslie Garnier in Endeavour ("Cartouche") / Pippin)

Robert Stephens (Sir Wilfred Mulryne in Inspector Morse ("The Setting of the Sun" / Aragorn)

Philip Voss (the Coroner in Inspector Morse / the Lord of the Nazgul)

Peter Woodthorpe (Max DeBryn / Gollum)

That all makes me so happy. :D

ALSO

a) James Bradshaw's played Bilbo Baggins in a stage production of The Hobbit so Max really is the hobbit pathologist (Bilbo!Max and Gollum!Max ;-) )

b) the composer of the LotR radio series was the late, great Stephen Oliver who (was the wonderful comedian John Oliver's uncle and also) wrote the music for the RSC musical of Nicholas Nickleby that was rather a hit in the 1970s. It was the success of that musical that was a huge part of why Trevor Nunn and the RSC in general were willing to take a risk on a musical of rather a long book by Victor Hugo in the 1980s... So, there's a Roger Allam connection too. ;-)

[1] Aka the Witch-King of Angmar, but he's called the LotN in the radio series cast list (and it makes sense for him as a title for nerdy reasons I won't go into ;-) ).

[2] "DeBryn" was created as Max's surname for Endeavour so strictly speaking that's inaccurate but.

i want to write more historical au fic, it was so much fun😭

deeply important worldbuilding details RIGHT HERE

            On another note, and these are random ideas based on stuff I’ve seen and read. But this post brought an interesting idea about Christianity being hailed as the religion of reason, of domestication, a place of safe haven from the wild mysticism of the unknown. After all, many revered scientists, such as Gregor Mendel or Isaac Newton, were Christians who saw their work as contributing to a closer understanding of God and his creations. I had a professor who explained how many native cultures have criticized Western science and rationale as an attempt to control and limit nature, as is the effort to quantify everything.

         So with that in mind, I really wonder if this was intentional in Philip’s characterization, how his journal especially sets him up as a scientific explorer with diagrams, ‘figuring out’ the New World to master it. His diary is rife with all sorts of sketches and formulas. And the documentation, the categorization of science might even be compared to Belos’ covens, and their seemingly arbitrary distinctions…

         By contrast, Luz is more willing to engage with the magic of the Titan on his own terms, trusting him and what’s different and unknown. She’s communicating with nature, following the advice of Eda, who espouses how magic IS wild and that this is a good thing; She enrolls at the University of Wild Magic at the end of the show. ‘Wild’ is obviously a term meant to demonize witches as savage and barbaric, which has its connections to colonizers who dismiss nomadic cultures, people who live off the land, as more ‘primitive’.

         People more knowledgeable than me on mysticism have also made posts about Luz’s relationship with magic, such as her acknowledging the power of names by saying Camila’s in the climax of Yesterday’s Lie, summoning a cube with a direct link to her. Names are a big thing in magic from what I understand, hence the creation of middle names; People couldn’t just refuse to give their name to a fae for fear of being deemed rude and punished, but giving your name gives them leverage. So have a REAL name to protect, while your first name is more of an alias.

         For the record, I don’t think TOH is taking an anti-science approach or anything; Keep in mind Keeping Up A-Fear-ances, and how it calls out alternative medicine as a dangerous hoax in its A-plot. The cast is composed of unapologetic nerds who are validated for their nerdery, wanting to learn things for their own sake; Lilith’s history hyperfixation is celebrated.

         Plus, Season 1A encourages Luz to critically question what she’s told, even from Eda; There’s a whole character thread where Luz feels the need to draw her own conclusions, and Eda realizes she can’t just dogmatically order Luz to trust her on authority alone, because she knows firsthand how harmful that logic is in the long run. So she allows Luz to attend Hexside and figure things out for herself, how SHE feels about them; Eda answers Luz’s questioning and admits her mistakes.

        In the end, I think it’s simply about respect; Respect for different cultures and ways of thinking, which also ties into the themes of neurodivergence. People see the world in different ways, and they don’t want you to abandon your own to embrace only theirs, they just want to be allowed to exist and live in actual harmony.

I have just finished Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford and it has rewired my brain. I can't remember the last time I consumed such a perfect piece of hard-boiled detective fiction that nevertheless does completely original things with the genre; it is to noir what The English (2022) is to Westerns. It's set in an alternate Jazz Age America where, due to a historical divergence in the strain of smallpox that first reached North America, Indigenous peoples continue to hold power in Cahokia in the Roaring Twenties. (There is a cameo here from the cultural anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, who among many other things happens to be the father of Ursula K. Le Guin; it took me a while to figure out that Spufford dedicated Cahokia Jazz to her. This is the level of nerdery you can expect from what is otherwise a very fine piece of pulp fiction).

Anyway tl;dr I hope this gets made into a film someday so they can cast Chaske Spencer as the lead. I think what the world needs is Chaske Spencer as a hard-boiled detective, the man who must go down these mean streets but who is not himself mean, and who is also secretly a talented jazz pianist. I feel this would be such a gift.

A little snippet of yesterday's double bill of nerdery: comic con + an evening with the cast of Ghosts. Mat had to write a poem about the book during the panel. Loved loved loved seeing so many Ghosts cosplayers from teacup humans to middle aged men. A tiny Pat got to wear Pat's actual screen worn glasses 🥹

this year’s NYE marathon I actually started a day early and ended a day late because it was: rewatch Andor and relisten to the A More Civilized Age episodes between. I had forgotten about the five-star runtimes (a joke—they said it!) that mean this is over 30 hours of podcast!

(30h36m, including the two episodes with Adam Serwer and Kirk Hamilton, which I absolutely recommend—the latter in particular because it has a not-on-the-tin discussion about logistics-storytelling and how aesthetics or commitment allow you to play with affordances in your storytelling, alongside the score/score-history nerdery that is on the tin)

I’d never listened to AMCA, but I had listened to some early season of Friends at the Table, and when I first finished Andor I knew nobody else who’d seen it and was talking about it, so finding some familiar voices who were so so excited about it was awesome. I did listen to the whole (existing—just the first 12 podcast episodes) archive in just a weekend. Then I started at the beginning of their archive (but no I am not watching Clone Wars along with them).

Revisiting it, and simulating real-time fandom by listening to the ‘cast between watching the show episodes, was super fun. I switched to watching the episode after listening to the discussion—I remember the show pretty well but wanted to think about their commentary and discussion when stuff came up, because they draw on and weave with a lot of different considerations.

A good example of the kind of commentary they give: something happens in the show that makes Austin reconsider his conception of force ghosts, and he mockingly launches into a recitation of a just-the-facts origin of the “force ghost tech origin story” and then goes “no. shut the fuck up.” and diverts into an enthusiastic explanation of them as a narrative symbol instead.

As well: a theme in their Clone Wars commentary is they tie it to the US political situation in which it was produced and how that may have affected the storytelling or how that meaning may have changed.

This is a rec for both Andor and the Andor episodes for AMCA. probably AMCA in general too if you’re interested in Clone Wars or in hearing the AMCA crew keep talking.

✨💫💌 for the recent writer ask?

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit) Two come to mind: 1. I posted One Wave at a Time really quickly, and I feel like fics suffer for that--not enough build up time between chapters. Like binging versus releasing episodes weekly. 2. The other that jumps to mind is me and Roadie's Big Bang: Missives From the Planetary Capital of New Daxam, Home of the Great Queen Rhea, Gracious and Benevolent Imperial Majesty of the Empire of Daxam, Long May She Reign. BEST TITLE EVER, first of all. And second, Big Bang's are amazing cause all of this completed work is dropped at once, but I know there still lots of Sanvers fans who haven't read it. So if you're looking for a literal dystopian novel featuring some of the Supergirl cast, look no further!!

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback? When they quote the fic back to me!!!! LITERAL GOD TIER.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited! Well I have five things in progress at the moment, which is TOO MANY: 1. Finishing Splice World! My draft is done, now just need to revise it and start updating the old chapters with the edited versions! 2. Next chapter of the Bar Across the Street, which tbh I have not started yet 3. Continuing to rewrite Revelations for the literal 5th time from scratch (this is IT though!!) 4. Revising and finalizing my 4th book, Alice, and sending that out to publishers YAY 5. Continuing to draft my 5th book, which is a pure musical theater nerdery indulgence project, which is at about 40k.

[asks here]

Something I'm not proud of: How pleased it makes me when comedians I like flatter their audience by saying we must be smart if we're listening to them.

I recently watched Stewart Lee's Alternative Comedy Experience, and I thought they sometimes went unnecessarily far into pretentious territory, not with any of the comedy itself, but with the way they talked about its place in the world. There was much talk about how this stuff wouldn't go over well at a normal Friday or Saturday night at a comedy club, in a way that's sort of ostensibly self-deprecating, but actually they're pretty much saying "my comedy is too smart for most audiences". I listen to it and think, oh come on, this is very good but it would be funny to almost anyone. But then I think of all the time I spent in comedy clubs pre-pandemic (which is a fair amount of time, since my brother does stand-up and I used to go see him a lot, his act is... decidedly not the sort of thing that would be on a Stewart Lee show), and I realized that actually, it would be pretty outside the norm if Josie Long got up at my local comedy club and did ten minutes on socialism between sets. So maybe it is fair that the comedians on that TV show cast themselves as not very palpable to a mainstream comedy club crowd.

Anyway, when they did that thing on Lee’s TV show in which they sort of made fun of themselves for being niche but were really sort of backhandedly bragging about being smart, they were also sort of making fun of their audience for being nerds but really sort of backhandedly calling us smart. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that a bit. Any part of me that enjoyed that even a bit is genuinely among my least favourite parts of myself, an indulgence in smugness that’s a true guilty pleasure and really it’s not a large part of me, and in my defense, I got a lot of shit for nerdery in school and therefore have the right to enjoy this now. That defense would make me feel better if it weren't also the defense of every nerd-identified insufferable asshole I've ever met.

What made me think of this is that I just heard Nish Kumar call me a criminal. Specifically, he called his fans "a pack of criminals", by saying he knows that being outside Britain will not stop anyone from finding his stuff that's only officially available in Britain, because the sort of person who's into his comedy is also the sort of person who’s good at illicitly finding media. I've heard him say things like that a number of times before, and every time, I do feel a bit pleased with myself. Like, yeah, Nish, you're right, you know me. Stewart Lee also has a bit on a DVD show about how it's less lucrative to be a smart comedian like him because his audience is full of people who are smart enough to pirate media, and Michael McIntyre doesn't have this problem. Which... yes, okay, I know, you're a comedian during the 2010s, you all fucking hate Michael McIntyre. No one has ever fully explained to me why he’s the worst thing in the world, but I’m not interested enough in the sort of thing he does to listen to any of his stuff and find out. But yes, Stewart Lee, you are probably smarter than Michael McIntyre.

Streaming and downloading media is a common practice that doesn't require any special level of intelligence, and that means it’s very silly that comedians flattering their audiences by complimenting our skills in that area does work on me a bit. I think I just like being part of the team - Team Pack of Criminals for Nish Kumar.

If I ever feel too pleased with myself for being into highbrow intelligent comedy, I can always remember the guilty pleasures I have besides the occasional indulgence in smugness, which is that sometimes I like to get drunk and watch Roast Battle UK and outtakes from Frankie Boyle-era Mock the Week (the outtakes being where they leave out that show’s occasional forays into intellectual merit, and just show Frankie finding contexts for the word “cunt” that make it even more offensive than it is on its own) and lately, old clips of late-night Edinburgh shows in which comedians do things like rap battle at each other (I make no apologies for how pleased I was to first find that bit of comedy history and I posted about it a lot at the time, the bit that makes it a guilty pleasure is how much fun I find re-watching that stuff while drunk). Oh, and Amstell-era Never Mind the Buzzcocks - it's been a while since I've gone back to that but that was a big one for a while in terms of bad shows I like to re-watch while drunk. I think I might just like watching people be assholes to each other, which makes me absolutely no better than people who are into reality TV shows. Sorry to let you down, Stewart Lee. Though to be fair, Stewart, you were on one episode of Amstell-era Buzzcocks, so you’re not that above it all either.

Hot Take:

1. post-canon Homestuck is quite good actually,

2. certainly better than the bad/off the rails latter parts of canon Homestuck,

3. and, actually, on several craft-of-writing levels it’s better than canon Homestuck full stop; AH has grown as a writer and an artist in the intervening years and as such the day-to-day panels of HS^2 look better, its story is better paced, jumping between story threads is done more artfully, the cast is pared down to a more manageable size, and there are several characters that it always felt like he didn’t really know what he was doing with them who have been figured out and used to far greater effect, as well as popular original Homestuck characters whose arcs are meaningfully improved by the continuation.

Spoilers under cut (mild I guess)

The character stuff really benefits from the greater freedom post-canon provides in terms of narrative role.

In canon, there was basically only one role any of the human or humanlike characters could have - Hero of [Blah], player of the Game, aspiring saviour of the universe. Boring. Especially in the Alpha kids, it fell flat in everyone but Roxy.

Jane and Dirk are infinitely more interesting as sometimes-at-least-somewhat-sympathetic antagonists. Jake English is infinitely more tolerable when his role is not ‘Hero of Hope’ but ‘that shallow somewhat irritating guy you knew as a kid who is now a shallow somewhat irritating celebrity.’ Roxy’s quantum transness is Extremely Relatable and I think pretty damn well-written in the end (I’m thinking of eg the conversation Candy Roxy (she/her) has with John about the situation in ^2).

Speaking of which, the timeline shit is better utilised here and easier to understand. And the way fourth-wall breaking, format screw shenanigans interfaces with the plot is a lot more well done (or at least more well thought out? More coherent.), and imo genuinely sinister and chilling at times.

All that said, it does lack some Inestimable Something that prevents me from claiming that it’s outright better. Maybe it’s just that by definition it can’t be groundbreaking the way the original was. And it’s far from perfect - Meat is much longer than it needs to be in classic AH style while Candy is very half-assedly (un)finished, and ^2 itself will probably never get finished, or at least I’m not getting my hopes up.

But it’s got its charms, for sure, and might’ve been unfairly skipped out on by people who were put off by how the original went off the rails. It’s definitely a valiant attempt to get back on some rails.

YMMV if your favourite troll isn’t in it, of course. (Off the top of my head, Eridan, Nepeta, Equius and both Piexes do not reappear at all; Sollux is barely in it, Aradia has a somewhat minor role, and Tavros… well that one’s kind of interesting, but the character we know does not reappear.)

[SPOILER re the above: a character with the same speech/typing quirk, approximate narrative positioning and first name does appear, but he is a human who is related in no way to the Tavros we remember.]

(also I think Jade fans could reasonably say she is done dirty by post-canon to the point that they may well prefer her arc untainted by knowledge of her post-canon self. Depends what side of her you’re into. Same goes for Jade and Dirk fans who prefer to think of them as heroic characters I guess?)

(Additionally, in ‘things I just think are neat’, there is an Egbert/Strilonde baby in the mix, and we discover that the synthesis of Egbert nerdery, Strider extroverted-insecurity and Lalonde virtuosic dramaticness is, naturally, a Theatre Kid.)

The Endeavour/Captain America connection

This is just to check that fellow Endeavour fans are all aware that Leander Deeny who played Louis in "Quartet" (ie one of the two annoying posh secret agents who bother Morse) was Chris Evans body double in Captain America: the First Avenger, and also played a barman, I think in the scene with the epic "you're keeping the outfit, right?" slash scene between Steve and Bucky (though I may be misremembering).

So yes, if you've seen the Steve Rogers transformation scene, the smol "before" bare chest belongs to an Endeavour secret agent actor.

(I have been keeping an informal mental record of major sci-fi fantasy properties of the last thirty years or so (radio, tv, film)[1] which have Endeavour actors in and as far as I can tell it is basically all of them. Possibly not entirely all, but not far off. I might make a full list at some point of everyone I can find, though mostly just to entertain myself with my ridiculous cast list nerdery as I'm not sure who else would be interested! Anton Lesser's habit of playing a villain in pretty much everything helps (and when he isn't it's Roger Allam or Danny Webb), plus of course Anton's in most of the radio Pratchett/Discworld adaptations, but I mean we do also have Lyra Belaqua and Lestat and Jesper and Genya and Alfred Pennyworth and one of the iterations of Miss Hardbroom and a radio Granny Weatherwax and and and. ;-) Leander Deeny handily brings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though there are probably other useful overlaps there; I've honestly lost track!)

[1] excluding the one whose profits fund far right transphobia in the uk, obviously. Naturally I do not go there.

THE ONLY SECONDS THAT MATTER

Genre: Contemporary Romance Rating: 18+

Includes: Extensive horse nerdery + cowboys, mxm romance (1 trans + 1 cis), some discussion child abuse, some instances of trans/homophobia (it is rural Oklahoma, y'all), depression, occasional sex scene (but it's a slow burn for sure)

Victor Ortiz-Bennett had some reservations about moving to Oklahoma, but his late aunt willed him a 70-acre horse farm, and he decides to fulfill his dream of running and operating his own training facility. Victor's been around the reining horse show circuit for a while, and he's ready to settle down, travel less, and spend more time with the horses he loves and away from the people he can do without. That is, until he picks up a horse at an auction with a bucking problem he can't fix, and he has to take her to the one guy who can ride anything-- Johnny Stearns, a retired professional rodeo rider.

Johnny Stearns is loud, chatty, eccentric, and fears nothing, exactly Victor's opposite. However, as the training progresses, Victor finds himself sinking into an odd friendship with this new foul-mouthed cowboy without a filter, diving deeper into the mess that is Johnny's life until there's no way to extract himself from it. Johnny may talk a tough game, but there's more to him than he'll let most people see. Victor knows getting in too deep will mean a rough ride, but if there's anything Johnny's taught him, it's how to stay in the saddle.

The first chapter is free on my Patreon!

Excerpt:

You the guy with the horse?” came a familiar Okie twang from behind him, and Victor turned. Standing several strides away with his arms akimbo was a very tall and lean man with a face shrouded in the shadow cast by his cowboy hat. Victor put his height around six-three, maybe six-four, most of it in his legs, each of which was hugged tightly by a dirty pair of jeans.

“Yes, I’m the guy with the horse,” Victor replied.

The man tilted his head so that the sun caught his friendly smile before he thrust his hand out to shake. “Name’s Johnny.”

“Victor,” Victor said with a vigorous shake of the hand.

“Victor. Anyone call you Vick?”

“Not really.”

“Huh. Alright.” Johnny reached up to tip his hat back, revealing more of his face. He had the haggard look of a man who’d lived a hard life outside, his skin reddened by sun and laugh lines etched deep around his mouth. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, so he was looking pretty scruffy, but he didn’t come across as someone for whom personal grooming was held in high regard. There was a long scar running across his jawline, but it was only noticeable in the harsh light of the sun. His nose was also a little crooked, probably gifted to him by an ornery horse at some point. His most noticeably feature was the deep blue of his eyes, which was evident even from where Victor stood.

If you get this, answer with 3 random facts about yourself and send it to the last 7 blogs in your notifications, anonymously or not! Let's get to know the person behind the blog!

Three facts...

I kind of want to go away from the obvious things. By now everyone knows how much I love comic books and nerdery :)

So here goes:

1. My favorite fairy tale is 'little brother, little sister' from the brothers Grimm. Where a pair of siblings run and hide from a witch and the little brother gets turned into a fawn.

2. I believe that tea is the answer to everything. Get sick? Tons of tea. Feel upset? Comfort tea. Come to visit? I'll offer you tea. Nervous? Have a cup of tea. I was mostly raised by my grandma and we always upheld that policy. If I'd come home from school or in general and be sad or upset. There was always a cup of tea waiting. And while it doesn't fix everything, tea and a friendly face is usually a good start.

3. I love paleontology. I've always been a fan of dinosaurs and will devour every dino documentary there is. Even if it's the silly ones. I'll go to my local museum and watch the bone casts of dinosaurs, mammoths, and other long extinct animals and learn as much as there is to learn about them. I just think it's neat.

finished Rising Tide

continue to be lowkey annoyed at how main characters who are not Clive are an afterthought to the game—why was Jill not centred in the portion where we visit Ysay's grave? that is literally her predecessor and a cultural ancestor. why were Jill's feelings on the north not explored further? she is their princess! all these people dispossessed of crown and country seem barely to have opinions and feelings on it. she barely talked as the characters walked! the part where she spoke on the hall at the Timeless Stones, and how sermons would be given when halls like these were in use in the northern community? why not add more of such drive-by commentary. also why were people sick in Haven and Joshua not consulted? they're talking about all these sick people in the village, and your world's best magical healer bar none—in the opening scenes of the game literally called "the ruler of life and death" was not consulted in any way? once more our companions are decorative.

sorry. just. i came from the party tradition of FFs, and the focus is so unbalanced... it was already obvious in the main game. a lot of the main cast have deeply unexplored histories and underwhelming reactions to current events. i spent an inordinate amount of time in the main game and this DLC thinking "but what would [character] think/feel about this??" or "holy moly that has pretty serious implications for [character] and [character], are they ever going to have the opportunities to react to that onscreen in a way that will bring home to the player certain core aspects of said characters?" it was a pretty significant distraction for me at least.

no thoughts Ysay pretty

Ysay's knight was crazy powerful—why does main game Shiva lose all of her fights... yea okay Jill was tortured and abused by iron kingdom... is it finally time for us to stop making excuses for the game and admit unpalatable things about its treatment of certain characters...

loved how a large portion of Joshua's comments were all about his nerdery—asking about history and magicks. his inner voice on Ysay was like "i want to see her writings ;_;"

Dalina is Shula's wife right lol

Joshua's inner voice on Dalina is so cute too, it makes me think when he was left behind to protect the village that he befriended Dalina well, especially since Dalina would have been left in charge of administration while her chieftain girlfriend was off with Clive

the uncute tonberries made me sad

originally i admit to disappointment that Dion was not brought along, but then i got to Haven and saw the murals and heard their stories and i thought... yeaa... the prince—and now emperor—of Sanbreque not coming along is a wise creative decision...

receiving Ultima's essence was unexpected and interesting... positively massive ramifications for the little fic i've been nursing

was surprisingly charmed by Jamila and Herve's plotline

this is completely personal: i wish Leviathan's Dominant was a girl. it felt like the egis' designs were weirdly shaped in a feminine way? it's just shapes i know, but i wish there was a better balance of Dominants... it seems like only the "female" Eikons get female Dominants...

respect to the game for consistently making their infant babies ugly and wrinkly lol realism wow

so the Dame knew all this time of the Motes of Water and their hidden little settlement?? or at least knew and protected people from there, and helped them procure jobs and supplies? that's a hell of a secret to have been keeping Isabelle

am shook at the introduction of chronomancy. really??? such a massive concept at the end game...?? i mean it's great in a way because my phoenixflare fic is a time rewind au, so thanks for confirming time magick exists in the world, but i'm an old school fan and would have done what i wanted anyway. i noted how the story repeated multiple times that the "stream of life" flows only one way, from the start to the end, and from the mountain to the sea, probably to try and ward off fan speculation of what chronomancy can do to the (canon) ending of the game. ha...hahah... well the firebird rules life and death, and time magics are historically classified as white magics in FF so...

the suspended Aire of Hours was stunning though, as was the Surge wave

loved all the water talk and water expressions of Mysidia. great linguistic anchor for what they believe and how they think: death as returning to the sea, the water cycle as the cycle of life, their collaborative living style and how they "flow together", using water references as exclamations and swears and blessings, even endearments such as "dewdrop".

Ifrit is pretty small in the grand scheme of Eikons huh... he fit so nicely in Leviathan's mouth. Chomp.

that bloody phase 3!!!!!!! ARGH.

Asides:

oh i'm annoyed with myself ;_; 70k words into the pf fic with Kihel planned as the Warden of Water... it's no big deal... i don't have to back-amend my fic... it's fine... it's fine...

but Mysidia had fascinating concepts that i really want to incorporate—and some i coincidentally already incorporated, thank you new lore for your validation—and genuinely fascinated by what it means for my fic for Clive to house the essence of Ultima. the Warden of the Divine? wild.

Joshua's musings on Dominants' fates was *chef's kiss*. when he reflects on his own experiences, his fear, (the loneliness; who else even understands or can help an Eikonic child, the rush of power)—and back at the Hideaway after quest completion he reflects further on Dominants being doomed to be servant or slave to the country in which they are born. thinky boy. Harpocrates was Dion's tutor, but Harpocrates' actual successor feels like Joshua. loremaster, philosopher, historian, storyteller? love this energy for him.

plots please!!

⤏ send me “plots please” / accepting ! // @heartwilled

I'm gonna do it a bit of a hodgepodge of Stuff, bouncing around between what I'm focusing on as a starting point bc mumu v mumu belorbos so dwai (consistency) BUT, HERE WE GO:

Zelda (BotW): I was going to say 'shared nerdery with Rea--' but. but lol nope SHARED NERDERY (ISH) W ALL MY MAIN GIRLS TBH??? Rea's a general NerdTM of all sorts, and loves LoreTM, and would happily trade notes and hints on magic or tech (i like her as a mage in loz but no specifics abt it beyond that oop); Mara is grumpy and jaded yes BUT shes a mega gearhead and v smart abt strategies n logistics and could absolutely 'begrudgingly' help out w exploration or tech study even tho she lives for nerdery; Sasume is not a nerd BUT she could provide ample fuel For nerdery/curiosity LOL. 'magic choosey sword that gives water + firebending and also weirdneat physical buffs on top of utilitartian benefits of free water and/or heating and also pseudo 'living' constructs'? much for zelda to poke about. bonus points bc shared uh Legacy isms if from vastly dif contexts :'3

FE Lords & MUs: not a plot-plot persay but i think handing them a Leeroy Jenkins shonen protagonist who can do controlled arson (Sasume) has lots of comedy potential. yes she's op yes she can solo shit comedically but also ??? (technically this works for all FE charas but non-lords or mu's ARENT In Charge or having to worry abt the logistics of managing her, so :3). (More seriously there's any integration of 'the Oshima PlotTM', wherein Sa's mom had sliding scale of concerning Plot RelevanceTM last generation and now she's reaping the consequences obliviously but. Much in same way any FE can suffer from leeroy jenkins puppy exposure, Oshima PlotTM bs can... technically go anywhere??? not just FE? but uh FE has more intergenerational plot/deets than other media might, so)

Mara: I don't have anything Too specific, esp given how non-explored / developed her FE verses are but also. She's got a Saber or even Jeralt level of jadedness and general hypercompetence but... also she's still a 20-smth/completely in line w the rest of the cast. Just aged way more due to just offscreen anime bullshit (hj) and buying into her ex-career as a child soldier. (Suffice to say, her main verse is a FF7 ex-SOLDIER which. yeah. iykyk but it sure explains A Lot if you do!) Smth smth teach the crabby hypercompetent grump abt the power of friendship and not just stratagems yk !!

Rea: not actually New plots but i gotta give a shoutout to the already-initiated Ochs Effect or suffering in a class full of nobles with Dorothea or having gone to magic school w Annette yk??? Gotta do it !!! >:3

Roundup

Obi-Wan Kenobi Pretty meh as a TV show but I turned my brain off for Star Wars as per usual and enjoyed watching very morose Obi-Wan hang out with precocious young Leia - this is the Leia iteration I've been most attached to. She was very good. Wish we'd gotten both the Anakin flashback and the obvious revelation of Reva's motivations earlier in the series. Probably only worth the watch if you are also an Obi-Wan fan. Heartstopper Exactly the slice-of-life teenage m/m show I expected it to be, was charmed by all these silly and/or sad kids and the various animations. Ms Marvel The cast for this show is so fucking good that it's unreal, especially Kamala Khan herself. If you liked the comics and/or teenage superhero shenanigans, would recommend! I also found it very easy to follow as a standalone series, I don't watch much Marvel stuff. ( Read more... ) Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Decent first game in that Naughty Dog series, going to play through the rest. I quite like Nate and Elena. The mutual disinterest in self-preservation makes them work for me, as does the nerdery. Have minimal thoughts on Sully so far. Was absolutely not prepared for the late-game twist in enemy combatants and played through the last quarter of the game yelling whenever I got scared, which was quite often. Recs I received this cute Kiyoko/Yachi (Haikyuu) fic in the fandom5k exchange. Great characterizations, covers both canon and post-canon shenanigans. This Ace Attorney Trilogy vid to Look What You Made Me Do works so frickin well. Did not expect the puns.