Honestly the best part about season 16 is not the fact that the ultimate technique for defeating the overlord are literally the lyrics to the theme song of the whole show, but the fact that the weekend whip canonically exists in Ninjago, bacuse in The Royal Blacksmiths, the ninja dance to it in the competition. Which means that all of the ninja knew the song through the vast majority of the series. And also that some random band managed to not only guess the correct combination of moves the ninja had to do in the correct order, but they also managed to make the song popular enough to the point where four (possibly) teenagers living in secluded places, namely a monastery out in the middle of nowhere, still knew about it and liked it enough to make it their song in a dancing/singing contest/talent show that meant a lot to one of their teammates.

Dark Cybertron Chapter 4: Rung is the Most Dangerous Man Alive

There are so MANY of you.

So, when last we left off, the Lost Light had VOMPFed into a massive body of water, or at least something water adjacent, and was surrounded by guys. Let’s see how this plays out.

Ultra Magnus is dubious about this whole “being completely surrounded by tiny little dudes” thing, but Mainframe’s got a pretty good read on the situation, given that he’s the one actually looking at the screen for the radar. Off in the background, Brainstorm and Perceptor discuss the structural intent of the Lost Light. Perceptor alludes to the fact that there’s more than one way to be alive as a giant space robot, introducing the term “warm-wired”, which I don’t recall ever being addressed after this issue.

Er, well, no, they’re not actually, Magnus, they’re Ammonites. Way to stereotype, dude.

For this issue’s tie-in toy, Hasbro chose the Mini-Con Centuritron. Only problem with that was that Centuritron wasn’t at all established within the IDW universe. Mini-Cons also hadn’t been established, at least not in name. There were little guys running around, but they weren’t Mini-Cons. So, what to do?

In the proper tie-in issue publication- not the issue that was sold in comic shops- certain lines of dialogue were changed to help establish that Mini-Cons were a thing, by calling the Ammonites Mini-Cons. In the standalone issue, the terms are used interchangeably, mainly because none of the folks in the lime-light this issue went to the bar on Hedonia where we met the Ammonites.

So where did these little buggers come from? Perceptor has a theory, which he shouts with so much vim and vigor he briefly turns the world around him into an anime background.

There you go, shippers. There’s where the name comes from. Hope it was worth the last 82 pages.

Anyway, Ultra Magnus decides that he’s going to talk to these guys. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

And that’s a series wrap on the crew of the Lost Light! Let’s give them a hand, folks!

Over on Cybertron, that awful black dusting thing is still going on, so much so that the sky has been blacked out like there’s a major forest fire going. Things are looking rough for ol’ Starscream; even Scoop, the nicest man to ever friggin’ live, is a bit cross with him.

Scoop makes this known by heading a mob to yell at Starscream, pointing out that he’s got a big ugly black mark slapped on his chest, a mark that means he’s obviously going to bring about the end of days. Rattrap attempts to protect Starscream from these harsh words, promising that they’ll figure this thing out. Whether or not Starscream will get to keep his crown after today remains to be seen.

Back on the Lost Light, Roche’s lines have left and been replaced by event-standard artist Raiz, as the hole blasted in the ship hemorrhages water on all our beloved friends.

Skids enters the narrative to fill Magnus in on what exactly they’re facing, and Getaway predicts a pun. Magnus decides that it’s time for recess, because they’ll be going outside for this fight.

Of course, if you’re going to go underwater for a battle, you’re going to need some ability to be evasive. None of these guys turn into submarines or ships though. What to do?

Meet Rodimus’ midlife-crisis within his midlife-crisis, the Rodpod. It’s garish, silly, and very round. Nobody’s terribly impressed with it, but it’s what we’ve got.

Smashcut to everyone outside- Atomizer is firing off arrows somehow, someone let Swerve have a gun that wasn’t his My First Blaster, and Rung has a fucking stick.

In the Rodpod, Skids, Whirl, Ultra Magnus, Perceptor, Brainstorm, and Getaway for some reason, are packed in like sardines. We’re really pushing Getaway in this, aren’t we? Their job will be to protect the fuel quills of the ship- those red spiky doohickeys sitting on top of the roof.

Y’all ready to see Rung get scary?

Rung dodges the fist of an Ammonite with a deftness usually reserved for people who aren’t skinny little nerds, spouting off his character stats as he hands this guy his own ass. With a fucking stick.

I want you to imagine a chorus of 50 air horns going off right here. Clearly he is a force of nature not to be reckoned with.

Then the moment passes and he gets bodychecked. Also, he’s got bushy-ass people eyebrows in this. Make of that what you will.

The Ammonites begin combining, becoming larger and larger until they’re bigger than the ship, only for Whirl to blast a hole in them and pass right on through.

Over in the Dead Universe, things aren’t looking so hot, and it’s not for the reason you might think. See, Rodimus and Hardhead have decided to have a go at it, Hardhead poking at the fact that Rodimus just up and left Cybertron for everyone else to clean up, while he went on a space-cruise. Rodimus reminds everyone of the Remain in Light arc, then claims that if needed, he’d come back to Cybertron to take things over, but somehow I feel as if his heart isn’t exactly in that promise. Cyclonus looms in the background, looking like a night demon. He doesn’t contribute to the conversation, but it’s nice to know he’s still here with us.

The conversation gets turned around to the Primes, and how the last several really sort of sucked. When Cyclonus is asked about his opinion on the matter, it’s revealed that he’s fucking dying. So we’re going to have to deal with that. Also, Nightbeat’s here now. No idea how he got ahead of the group, considering he doesn’t seem to have a ship.

Back on Cybertron, over with the Titan, folks are slowly disintegrating. Frenzy looks absolutely terrible. Nobody’s really sure what to do. Ravage wants to fight a guy 800 times his size. Soundwave hears screaming with his special powers. Down in Crystal City, Megatron is the one screaming, as Shockwave pokes at him with something that’s probably medical equipment, but looks like a wrench and a paring knife hooked up to a car battery. Shockwave is still willing to give Megatron a seat at his weird logic table, but Megatron don’t want that shit. Metalhawk is also here, which is nice, I guess. Shockwave lets Megatron know that Nova Prime and Galvatron are still alive. Megatron tries to appeal to Shockwave over the fact that he’s important, but Shockwave has some bad news for old Megsy:

Then he hits a switch and activates the space bridge in Megatron’s chest, and robots start bursting out of his chest as he screams in anguish.

…Roberts wrote this scene, didn’t he?

Back at the Rodpod, the fellas are getting chased by the Ammonites, looking like a giant ammonite themselves. Using evasive maneuvers, they dive into an abyss. Only, it’s not an abyss.

It’s Metroplex’s eye hole.

Ewwwwww.

Hi could you talk more about caves what you said on that post is really interesting

Sure thing!

First of all, it was an amazing cave I worked in. You never forget that. I'll pick one of my favorite topics,

the FALLOUT SHELTER AGGRAVATION TAX.

Clears throat.

Limestone caves are literally stone libraries in the geologic record of the world. Twice a year the airflow would change and then you'd smell smoke from decrepit old torches dating as far back as 1812. People made saltpeter in these caves, they were natural mines for things that went boom, and one of those 'requirements' meant airflow so you wouldn't suddenly and embarrassingly, drop dead of too much Underground. This is why the coal miners were eternally bemused and asking us questions like airflow. Sometimes you gotta canary. Sometimes you are the canary. This often led to predictable questions that was these old gents trying to be polite, but what they really wanted to know was,

'why the hell are you being paid $10 a trip plus tips to walk us 1.1 miles underground up to 3 times a day and no one has a mortgage gun aimed at your head?'

To which I would say, 'it wasn't quite that bad. If no one shows up at all we get paid $10.' ...Dear Saint Barbara, Chango, and the Gods of Deep Mystery, the things we tell ourselves. $10 a day. Crap. Thank goodness I had Granny's House, dad was paying the property tax, the water was on a well, and garbage was less that $20 a month. A shame we can't afford a TV, but hey, we can stay busy digging up that quarter-acre garden that will keep us fed plus the road kill Deer in the fall.

But the conditions that created saltpeter (I'll go into depth on that later if people are interested) also convinced some weird-ass people in Washington DC that caves were the perfect place to do a DR STRANGELOVE and people could go hide out in the caves, free of...well, nothing, really, because radiation = straight lines +caves, air, irradiated air and water, and everything goes down into the caves...

Look. It made people feel safe, ok? And it wasn't the worst decision the Pentagon ever made, considering they were telling the scientists working with HOT RADIOACTIVE MATTER to stay safe by sticking the stuff on a long pole so they wouldn't have to touch it.

Everybody knows about the bomb shelter President Kennedy was prepared to run to with his family in case of Cold War. It was in the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs (I prefer to think of it as the HIDDEN FIGURES birthplace). FYI everybody who lived here knew where it was. There are only so many power stations one measly little resort that cries that it can't afford to pay for its own water bill can keep.

[insert sniffle boohoo sobbing of the pro-confederates who run that place and while I can't be there for you, try to imagine the joy I am stockpiling for the day when we have another traitorous uprising and this time, the resort doesn't get a GO PASS GO by dangerous romantics and is finally burned to the ground.]

Anyway, the important people like the President, his family, his Secret Service, his staff, cook, maid-in-waiting, bootblack and et al got to go bunker down in the luxurious bomb shelter at the resort, which probably wouldn't be very resort-y after a certain point of Castro going, 'fuck you, you whippersnapper Irish Dog' or Khrushchev throwing a little more than his shoe around. I'm not convinced it was that great of a place to hide, really. I mean...they have lightning rods on the trees over there, and believe it or not, cavers in that country have been hit by lightning while underground. Because. Lightning. If it can bake entire acres of potatoes in the field, two subterranean surveyors with metal measuring tape haven't got a prayer.

I want you to know that I can't at this point go into detail (space restrictions) on the importance of all these caves to Union Sympathizers, slaves on the Underground Railroad, and the Far-Righter MAGAS called Confederates. Trust me when I say, if you didn't know where these caves were, you had absolutely no right to know.

In Appalachia, limestone caves were listed on properties and handed down because of their value. Thomas Jefferson made a point of making sure there were lots of caves to provide nitre for the Gunpowder Committee. I don't know if landowners had to pay taxes for having saltpeter caves (probably), but when the Cold War came around, they definitely and cheerfully sold the access rights to the government because...it was the government. I am not in the least bit joking when I tell you there are people over there who are still pissed off over George Washington's Whiskey Rebellion.

If you really want to get into the psyche of Appalachians, go read up every scene Terry Pratchett ever wrote about Lancre in his Discworld books. Just give them more libraries and a LOT of coffee stations.

Oh, dear. I forgot all about the owling and the Prohibition.

Owling = the practice of moving your herds of cattle from one ridge to the next to avoid a higher payment when the taxman came a-calling.

Prohibition = The Second Oldest Profession.

These days, many of the Fallout Shelter caves are being used for...modern needs. Meth labs, if you're a sensationalist, but if you aren't, bear in mind that hiding out stolen cattle and horses still requires big places out in the middle of nowhere. But when Mr. Gov't Man came around and offered cash for the access rights to grand-daddy's old saltpetre cave? Goodness gracious, we know we aren't supposed to take people's money from them because that's a sin, but...taxes...you know how it is... (most of the mountain folk had no real quarrel with Kennedy despite his heathen dog Catholicism because it wasn't his fault he was brought up Catholic, but when it came to the government...well, it was the principle of the thing).

In short order papers were drawn, and shelters were built and good god, they were ugly. Clapboard shantytowns, I swear. They were stockpiles whacked together with off-brand plank and tenpenny nails for where the selected few could bunker up in the cozy, damp, dripping, chilly, dusty, sneezy, probably-warm-from-stray-radiation environs. I have no idea who the Pentagon hated enough that they would send them to these caves. They had a bottleneck opening for easy defense, yes, but there was no defense against puking yourself to death or accidentally taking off your own skin with your uniform at the end of your shift.

YOU THINK I"M KIDDING?? YOU THINK IT IS A COINCIDENCE THAT CLASSIC DR WHO SHOWS DALEK HISTORY IN AN OLD STONE QUARRY? WELCOME ABOARD!

A fallout shelter's stockpile generally consisted of

*High-quality medical equipment, even though some of that stuff had a shelf life of three minutes.

*Radio Equipment. Which was probably a real belly laugh to the folks running the NARO satellite dishes up in Green Bank, because families in the most rural portion of WV (Pocahontas County) spent their evenings parsing Latin and teaching the young lads and lasses the wonders of shortwave and how to rig up your own crystals in case you needed to jackleg your own.

*Food. God. Awful. Food. It was designed to keep you alive, but you can't say anything more charitable about it. Honestly, I'm surprised nobody tried to corner a government contract on dehydrated water.

*Water. Potable water for drinking, but, I should say, I couldn't find any means with which you could make a potable distillery. Or, how much of this potable water was going to be used to rehydrate the ghastly awfulness of the dehydrated food, or the canned goods that included stuff the military couldn't wait to forget. Go ask your grandparents how much canned horse Circa WWII they ate while they served, m'kay?

*Candy. High energy, easily digestible candy. Flavor optional, at the discretion of the same government that made the WWII Chocolate Bar.

*The containers themselves. Yep, they counted. They were heavy metal barrels and tough buckets or small drums, plus the amazingly dense metal and plastic containers for medical kits, candy, and misc. I'm not sure if they had a requirement other than impervious, waterproof, and on sale. In fact, the smaller drums/buckets were supposed to be lined with the plastic used to wrap the other goods, and convert into a toilet.

Cold War comes and goes. I'm sure what happened next is shocking:

1) medical supplies goes missing in the dead of night.

2) Electronics follows. That probably makes the electricians feel good, because...what good would they have done in the wet, dust-filled atmosphere of the caves?

3) Candy. Candy, did you say? I don't remember seeing any candy..?

4) The gradual disappearance of the food rations is mysteriously in proportion to camping trips multitasking with double-dog-dares. Who needs a frat pledge if Freckles here has never been introduced to the joys of Dehydrated Ketchup?

5) If you think the backyard blacksmiths are making forges with tire rims, do you think metal containers stand a chance?

This leaves the barrels of water, but who would want to drink that stuff? It's been sitting around for how long? Ew. And the boards for those shelters...cripes.

This inadvertently makes up a tiny little side bonus for the hard-working tour guide. Because these shelters are usually ridiculously close to the entrance of the tour caves. You have to take your tour group in stages, see, and once they finish gasping and wheezing their way through the first 300 steps, you have to take their minds off how miserable they are and pause at the shelter with your flashlight, and describe this little chapter of history. By this time the bats are hanging off the boards (your chance to remind them of the exorbitant federal fines for hurting these little mosquito-hunters), the occasional lost salamander, and the beginnings of the Dreaded Cave Cricket (ten minutes with these little monsters and you'll never think pink is an effete color ever again).

And the mold. There are patches of mold the guides have been watching for YEARS. Some of them have even bothered to look them up, because...tourists. They love to stump the guides and use it as an excuse for not tipping you because you haven't taken a Master's in The Encompassing Topic of Karst Everything and are clearly a dumbass, hah-hah I'll spend my money in the overpriced gift shop, peasant.

But no, folks. If you ask them one more damn time if they're sure all the candy and drugs are gone...we're too tired to take your bleeping bleep bleep tip anyway.

30 OTP Questions - Fanari/Solas

1. Who is the most affectionate?

Fanari’s mistaken to be because she’s more open about seeking it, but they’re on even ground.

2. Big spoon/Little spoon?

Fanari/Solas

3. Most common argument?

“Solas I love you, but I swear to fuck say one more thing about the Dalish.”

4. Favorite non-sexual physical activity?

Doing their own thing in each other’s presence.

5. Who is most likely to carry the other?

Fanari could pick Solas up, and did so a few times for funsies, but she required both arms for it.

6. What is their favorite feature of their partner’s?

Fanari’s got freckles and the best profile in Thedas. She has a lot of small scars from her day-to-day life with the clan that Solas likes to hear about. He knows where her one ticklish spot is on her spine and he will exploit it to his own nefarious ends like the trickster folk figure he is.

Concept art Solas best Solas. Fanari likes playing/helping him with his dreads, and she has a preference for her partners to be taller than her.

7. What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other?

Fanari goes for it with determination. She wasn’t spoiled, but she and her sister Elnara were both indulged by pretty much everyone older than them for having magic. It gave Fanari a stubborn “will be mine” approach to things she wanted; though had Solas not reciprocated she’d have respected it and let the matter rest.

Solas panics.

8. Nicknames? & if so, how did they originate?

They stick with the classic vhenan. Fanari still sometimes uses haren if she’s being playful, and Solas uses Inquisitor/Keeper in the same vein.

9. Who worries the most?

Solas does, but in the vague “my squishy mortal partner has a fragile existence that could end at any moment by sheer coincidence” way. It isn’t at the forefront of his mind most of the time.

10. Who remembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant?

If they’re ever at a restaurant it’s only for Orlesian cakes and at that point it’s a trial of keeping Fanari away from the strawberry ones.

11. Who tops?

ACE RIGHTS

12. Who initiates kisses?

Both.

13. Who reaches for the other’s hand first?

Fanari, but one of her stims is feeling textures so she usually reaches for his sleeve.

14. Who kisses the hardest?

Solas.

15. Who wakes up first?

They wake up about the same time, especially once Fanari figures out the whole Dreamer thing.

16. Who wants to stay in bed just a little longer?

Shock of all shocks, it's Fanari. Don’t make her get up there are  responsibilities out there.

17. Who says I love you first?

Solas.

18. Who leaves little notes in the other’s one lunch? (Bonus: what does it usually say?)

No notes, but they do find trinkets for one another.

19. Who tells their family/friends about their relationship first?

Fanari mentioned it to her immediate family (her three parents, two siblings, and Deshanna) in letters, and word made its way around the clan. The two never went out of their way to tell people in the Inquisition, but they weren’t hiding it.

20. What do their family/friends think of their relationship?

You know those pairings that are like? Clearly meant to be? They gell right and each person is getting something out of the relationship that improves their lives and gives them the incentive to be their better selves? Imagine knowing that couple in real life and then one of them breaks it off out of the blue and doesn’t even give the other person a reason why. And then you have to work on the same team with the both of them.

The group gets very cold towards Solas after he pulls that. When he resurfaces after being presumed dead for a number of years (see final question) and the two get back together, Fanari very specifically does not ask for opinions from their old Inquisition buddies. Fortunately, my own OCs don’t count, so she gets those.

Darrell’s concerned, but while it’s not the choice he would have made he knows he can’t go making choices for her. (Fanari does get a tetchy crystal call from Dorian, who’s mostly angry he heard about the thing from a letter Kendra wrote Darrell.) Kendra knows Fanari’s an adult who can make her own choices, but she’s still there for Fanari if needed in any capacity. (Bull is not at all happy with the arrangement.) Again, see a later question, but Fanari usually refrains from saying Dread Wolf jokes. Kendra, however, has Fanari’s blessing.

Solas retains an aloof affiliation with Clan Lavellan. Many hate him on principle, and the majority of them barely tolerate him so they don’t lose their Keeper. He and Elnara are openly hostile towards each other, and only with other clans will she put up a front of accepting him for Fanari’s sake. Ma’non, their brother, is one of the few who comes to have an appreciation for Solas as a person. Of Fanari’s parents, Lamel is the only one who can have a conversation with him that isn’t ice cold. Deshanna, unfortunately, has passed by this point. Had she still been alive, under no circumstance would Solas have been able to live anywhere near Wycome.

@greyvvardenfell this is a request nay a demand nay a requirement

Jak?

21. Who is more likely to start dancing with the other?

They’ll dance at celebrations within the clan when it’s part of the festivities, but despite what Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts would lead you to believe they’re not big on it. If Fanari has to dance her first choice of partner is going to be Elnara.

22. Who cooks more/who is better at cooking?

Solas is the better cook, but Fanari knows more dishes. Fanari’s the type of person who can look at a meal and know it’s ready whereas Solas has to time out the duration.

23. Who comes up with cheesy pick up lines?

Fuck it they’re to ace for this.

24. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear during inappropriate times?

Fuck it they’re

Fanari has free reign on any Dread Wolf jokes. She usually refrains out of consideration. Usually.

25. Who needs more assurance?

Maybe don’t break things off with your partner and give her deep-seated insecurities about your relationship, Solas. Maybe don’t do that.

26. What would be their theme song?

Take Me To Church - Hozier

Let Me Remind You - Sugarland

The songs are from Solas’ and Fanari’s points of view respectively. Honorable mentions to Skillet’s Comatose and Florence + the Machine’s Howl. Actually...go check Fanari’s playlist. Any song you can apply to a relationship fits at some point in their timeline.

27. Who would sing to their child back to sleep?

28. What do they do when they’re away from each other?

Fanari’s got her hands full heading the Inquisition, and later her hand full as the clan’s Keeper. Solas has his Fade-walking, and they both enjoy quiet moments of solitude.

29. One headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart

I mean fuck, dude.

30. One headcanon about this OTP that mends it

And now it’s time for plot outlines with Olli

-Shit happens in Tevinter -Solas goes into Odin sleep for a lil over a decade, is presumed dead -Wakes up -Fanari more or less threatens leaving the clan to get Lavellan to agree to let the Dead Fucking Wolf live there -Profit

Fanari physically manifested in my home and called me a bitch to my face and that’s why Solas doesn’t actually die.

Letters.

Yuta Nakamoto x Reader !

2.7k Words !!

Primarily Fluff with hints of Angst! (swearing and very brief hint towards sex)

Summary — You & Yuta met when you were children. However after a long time you two finally reunite rather suddenly and realise that there’s a possibility you two could work out after all.

A/N: Hey angels! I’d appreciate if you’d let me know what you think of this one-shot! It’s my first ( properly written & uploaded ) fic! Not to mention, I’m curious yet anxious to know how well this is perceived! 🖤 also let me know if you would like a spicy part 2!

This was loosely inspired by an 80’s movie!

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ .⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⋆ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⋆ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀. ⠀ ⋆ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

Osaka prefecture, Japan, somewhere your family absolutely loved visiting every year for their summer vacation, the city was filled to the brim with; modern architecture mixed with traditional Japanese buildings, hearty cultural cuisine, nightlife. Osaka had it all. However, the beaches were amazingly unforgettable, the white sand and how it complimented the crystal clear ocean was something that would always remain in the memory of your household.

Speaking of your household, your parents were very fortunate to be very successful business folk, both managing a business that they had bought many years ago, the duo also owned shares in many other popular companies globally and to put it bluntly? Your family were mega rich. Your parents had it all, from expensive cars, to a big mansion. To be painfully honest, they didn’t expect to have a child and it was a shock when your mother had found out she was pregnant. In fact, they didn't really want to have any children at all, your parents were the workaholic type, constantly focusing on company and shares matters and whatnot, that's all that was important in their little business savvy minds.

So, that ultimately meant that your parents didn't really pay much attention to you, unless it was absolutely necessary, for example when you had wandered off in a store, curiosity getting the best of you, their voices calling your name pretending like they cared — you know, situations like that. There was one thing you were appreciative of and that happened to be the holidays to Osaka, it provided fresh air for you, both literally and mentally. Your favourite part was the beach, a youth like you would find yourself being too engulfed in making sand castles to ever notice the world around her, it was your escape from your life. . . Getting lost in your imagination, your innocent eight year old mind naively worrying about how your castle should look, like this was something important but finally you could bask in the glory of this calming moment of peace. Until. . .

"KONICHIWA!"

You let out a gasp, clearly startled, "You scared me!. . . What do you want? I'm trying to build this!" huffing, you turned to face the person whom had disrupted your attempts at sculpting the perfect sandcastle, folding your arms out of annoyance but your expression immediately softened when you realised who the voice belonged to, it was a boy.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I-I just wondered if you want to play?" He stood there with a frown, his high pitched voice becoming quiet when the realisation hit him that he shouldn't have approached you and spoken so abruptly like that.

"Well, would you like to help me build this?" You looked up at him with a smile, easily forgiving. Taking his hand, you gently pulled him down so he was sitting beside your frame, the two of you exchanged a toothy smile, before beginning to work on finishing your already halfway completed sand castle.

You found yourself and your new friend talking and giggling for what felt like hours, whilst working hard on completing the build, it was obvious that the two of you shared a lot of things in common; such as what you watch on television, likes and dislikes, upon many other things. It felt amazing to finally have someone to talk to.

"Soooooo, what's it like where you live?" You had always been curious about the Japanese culture and how everyone lived and frankly, you wanted to know everything there was to know, just so you could brag about it to your snobby friends back at the lavish private school you attended.

"It's okay, I mean, my house isn't that big but it's still home," the boy replied with a weak smile, which made you frown and look away, for the first time you actually felt guilty for ever asking such a personal question, that didn’t sound as intruding in your mind. Nevertheless you panicked a little, anxious that he was offended so you tried your best to make a smooth recovery with the conversation.

"You'll always have me y'know! I know I live far away and I'm going back home tomorrow but just know that I'll always be here for you," finally smiling, you nudged the boy playfully with your elbow to cheer him up, truthfully, you hated how you had to go back home tomorrow, back to school, back to being ignored, having nobody, it hurt — you didn’t want to leave this boy who actually enjoyed spending time with you.

"How will we talk if we'll never actually see one another?" He spoke up, raising his eyebrow in confusion, thinking for a moment before suddenly standing up, his eyes lighting up at his genius idea, "I know! Why don't we write to one another? Then we can always talk!"

"That's a great idea! I—" you were suddenly cut off by a voice that could be heard in the distance, "musuko! It's time to go home!" The voice was aged and you only assumed it belonged to the boys mother. Your attention was shifted due to his frantic search of his pockets, trying to find something that he could write on, eventually he pulled out a piece of scrunched up paper and a pencil. ( who knows why he had a pencil and some paper in his swimming shorts ) He scribbled some words and numbers down before swiftly handing it to you.

"Wait! Before you go, what's your name?" Your small self called out, comprehending that after all of the talking and enjoying each other’s company, you never learnt what the boys name was, yet you had told him your name, I guess both of you got caught up on more exciting topics.

"Yuta! Yuta Nakamoto!" He shouted in response, jogging up to his parents' shabby car before turning back to face you, "Don't forget me!" He shouted again, his tone sincere — smiling and waving goodbye before getting into the car, and just like that, he was gone.

With a weak smile, you straightened out the dishevelled note, your smile gradually growing wider upon reading what was written down, it was Yuta's address, you clutched the note and held it to your chest letting out a relieved sigh, before hastily running back to the holiday home your family owned that resides next to the beach.

~"Don't forget me!"~

It had been weeks since your return from Osaka and there you sat, at your perfect and polished white desk where homework would normally be sprawled out all over the table, your head down getting on with work, but this time? You were there for a different reason and that reason was to write to the boy you met in Osaka, Yuta Nakamoto. You smiled, looking down at the note which had his address scribbled on it, getting lost in your own thoughts momentarily. However, instead of procrastinating for any longer, you finally began to write the anticipated letter, crossing your fingers, hoping that Yuta and you would remain in contact.

Present Day. . .

Fortunately for you, that wish you had crossed your fingers for? Hoping and praying for? It was granted. Yuta immediately wrote back and this continued back and fourth. Suddenly, you felt like luck was on your side, everything was going just how you planned and finally, finally, you had that friend you had been waiting for all of your life, as cheesy as it sounded.

All throughout your childhood you confided in Yuta, he may not have been there physically to support you but he certainly felt like he was there spiritually — just how you trusted Yuta with your thoughts, so too did he with yourself. The Japanese boy had informed you about how he had picked up the hobby of football, how he hoped to carry that on and make a career out of it some day. As much as you wanted to support him, you had this odd feeling that despite his passion for sport, he wouldn’t pursue it. As for you? Well, you didn’t really have a choice in the matter in regard to your future or your occupation, it was all mapped out thanks to your overbearing parents, you had to become a successful business woman. . . You acted like that was a terrible idea through the span of your teenage years but the older you became, the more you realised that your parents only wanted what was best for you, for you to be successful like them and you were appreciative for that, because it finally felt like they cared for you, loved you.

Your family resumed the yearly vacations to Osaka, so that fortunately meant both Yuta and yourself could meet again, it was like the two of you practically grew up together and with every passing year, Yuta was growing into a handsome young man and you couldn’t help but develop this small crush on him at fifteen years old, it was cringeworthy yet cute looking back on it.

You honestly assumed this crush would have subsided but boy were you wrong, with every letter that arrived to your manor, with every word your eyes read, your heart would skip a beat and just as quickly as you became friends; you fell in love with Yuta just as fast. The next trip to Osaka was on your sixteenth birthday and it was a blur, all you remember is Yuta whispering a quick “close your eyes,” and the next thing you knew were his lips were on your own, they molded together perfectly with yours. Then his hands; how his hands curiously wandered your body, how yours did the same in return. It was blissful but it was short lived.

“I passed.”

“You passed what?”

“I passed the audition.”

“O-Oh, you never told me about an audition.”

“I wasn’t going to... y/n, we can’t meet again after this, that kiss last year? It was a mistake, I don’t like you in that way, when you go home, don’t write to me again, don’t call or text, because I won’t answer.”

That last conversation played repeatedly like a broken record within your mind, you still could not begin to fathom why Yuta had turned, it was almost as if a switch flipped, the way he left you standing there on the beach, sobbing alone, after that you definitely did not send him another stupid letter. Yet here you were present day; a fully grown adult, sitting in your parents holiday home in Osaka, all alone, dwelling on the past like usual. Then it occurred to you how you used to escape your thoughts all those years ago, by relaxing on the beach.

“I’m sorry, this area is blocked Miss.” the security guard held out his hand, blocking you from proceeding, making your face twist into confusion, ‘since when did they start closing the beach?’ You thought.

The guard was quick to pick up on your internal question, after all, it was written all over your face, “this beach is closed because a member of NCT 127 wants to be here without fans bothering him.”

“Who?” This heightened your confusion, who were NCT 127? You had no idea at all, it had been a while since you visited Japan so you weren’t up to date with the newest celebrities and pop culture or anything for that matter.

“Miss, I cannot give you access-” the security man trailed off, ranting — you stopped listening, instead preoccupied with this man you noticed in the distance beyond the barriers. His hair bleached blonde, dark and shaven along the sides, his presence ( although far away ) was familiar and you had no idea why; you couldn’t quite put your finger on it.

You hadn’t even noticed when the mysterious man had approached you and the guard, the “drama” taking place outside of the barriers clearly catching his attention. Immediately Yuta knew it was you, he could tell a mile off, as soon as he heard your voice he froze, feeling his heart skip a beat and he knew he had to investigate further.

“Let her in. I know her.” It was rather blunt but that’s all Yuta managed to communicate, he was shocked, it had been so long but regardless, he wanted to keep a cold and distant exterior, he wanted to seem tough for some reason, maybe he was used to doing so when having to deal with clingy fans.

For a moment you were panicking, trying to piece together how you knew this man who was famous but as soon as you heard the guard mumble a quick “whatever you say, Nakamoto,” waving you in. That’s when it hit you like a ton of bricks, this was Yuta, this man with his eyebrow shaved, eyebrow piercing, clearly a celebrity, was Yuta.

Rage filled you quickly, especially when he flashed a smirk in your direction, you couldn’t believe that after all of this time, after practically abandoning you, he was acting so nice, like nothing ever happened! Then again, you couldn’t help but stare, he was so handsome, not to mention, extremely hot too, this look he was sporting, definitely suited him.

So when the two of you finally reached the beach, you did what was appropriate — slap him. Your actions made Yuta let out a small groan in response, his hand coming up to his cheek.

“What the fuck was that for? You should be grateful! Without me coming to the rescue you wouldn’t have been allowed on the beach!”

“How dare you! After all these years, you had left me crying and begging for you to come back! Now here you are saying I should be grateful? As if Yuta!” There was no hesitation to get all up in his face, you were feeling so many emotions at once in that moment, it was overwhelming to say the least, you genuinely believed that you would never see him again, yet here you were, standing on the exact same beach where the two of you had first met as children.

“I left you to protect you y/n!”

“Protect me?! Don’t even try and lie! You said you didn’t even like me! Then you left me! and look who gets all of the luck now, Yuta Nakamoto who’s famous! Oh and who’s a major asshole too!”

Within no time, this turned into a screaming match between you both, many times you had gone to slap Yuta again and every single time his hands caught your wrists, gripping both of them tightly, just so you couldn’t wriggle out of his grip.

But what happened next? You didn’t expect that at all. . . It was an all too familiar feeling. Your eyes widened in shock, your hands wanted to push him away but you couldn’t, having Yuta’s lips meet yours once more made your eyes flutter closed, just like that you were weak at the knees for this man again, although you hated to admit it. Yuta slowly loosened his grip, gradually moving his hands elsewhere, deciding on wrapping them around your waist but your hands made their way around his neck, eventually slithering down to rest upon his chest, the kiss turning into a makeout all because of Yuta’s tongue forcefully pushing its way past your lips, he was so eager to explore what he had been missing. Before things could get too heated, you pulled away, panting, regaining your breath.

“Just because you kissed me, doesn’t mean I forgive you.” It was your turn to smirk now, you enjoyed how hot and bothered Yuta was, your fingers toying with the buttons on his shirt, teasing him.

“Seriously y/n, I’m sorry, I was an idiot, I wanted to protect you from everything, I didn’t want you receiving hate from my company or any fans, I want to start again because I do love you and as cringy as it sounds, I’ve always loved you. . . So please, will you give me a second chance?” Yuta pleaded, biting his lip, preparing himself for the worst possible outcome, you could easily leave him, exactly how he left you but you weren’t like that, you were in love with Yuta.

“Of course I’ll give you a second chance you idiot!” You giggled, tilting your chin to plant a small peck on his lips before smirking once again.

“Now why don’t we continue what you started back at my vacation home, big boy?”

An absurdly long Frozen 2 theory - The Land of the Mist

You think I was kidding with this meme, right? No. I don’t mess around when it comes to Frozen 2 theories.

I spent my free time wisely and finally brought together this theory I’ve been thinking about for a while now. After the release of the official trailer I can gleefully announce it wasn’t violently contradicted and I was able to expand on it, too.

Summing it up before we start, it’s about the repeated presence of mist in the Frozen 2 trailers, and how it is closely related to Scandinavian myths, namely elves, who are said to live in a parallel world. It also covers the topic of spirits as representations of the four elements.

I don’t want to murder anybody’s dashboard with 2k words and multiple images, so I put a safe ‘keep reading’ right after this. The following are the topics we will be covering, and if you want a very, very short tl;dr with just the basics, just jump straight to the conclusions:

The Introduction

The Elements

The Hidden Folk

The Pink

The Mist

The Conclusions

Keep in mind that this is just a theory that might be potentially proved wrong by the following trailers and sneak peeks (ihopenot), but this is what I could grasp from the information we’ve got so far. Also, I wrote the vast majority of this before Annecy, so a few details might slip by...

With this said, let’s get started!

The Introduction

In the Frozen 2 teaser trailer we can see the Arendellian gang gazing over the fabled autumn forest filled with trees and rivers. But in the Frozen 2 Official Trailer, we see a very similar shot, almost mirror-like, of the past scene, and this is where everything begins.

Clearly, they’re not in the same place. One has trees, the other one doesn’t; one looks magical and mystical, and the other just… doesn’t. While it is a beautiful scenery, it just doesn’t hold up with the other place’s visuals. It’s like an E3 vs Actual Game comparison.

It’s of interest that Iceland, which seems to be the place they’re taking the most inspiration from, looks really similar to the scenery seen in the image above. For instance, this is Þingvellir in autumn:

These places look… really similar. And the shots above are basically mirrored versions of each other. So that leads me to believe that the spotlight of Frozen 2 so far, the autumn forest, is located in a magical realm hidden by mist.

It seems that this ‘portal’ the Arendellian royals found needs magic to be activated; as Elsa touches the mist with her hand it starts opening. We don’t know yet if any kind of magic can open it, so for now, let’s say that a magic wielder needs to be in contact with it. (Keep this in your head because it’ll come in handy later.)

But as soon as the gang goes through it, the mist closes in on itself, covering everything up, even the stones, and if I’m not wrong, they’ve already disappeared:

So we have this sort of mirror dimension made reachable by some kind of mist portal and surrounded by 4 stones with the famous symbols that have made us lose our minds. Thankfully we now know thanks to bath bomb merch (and confirmation by Annecy) that they represent the 4 elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

And before we discuss the mist (because that’s another whole topic) let me pull up an unpublished theory that miraculously survived the official trailer and analyze the symbols and their meanings together.

_________________________

The Elements

The four elements of alchemy are the following and feature strikingly similar designs to those of the ice crystals. We are going to be using them to decypher the ice crystals’ meaning.

The easiest one to tell is the top right one which bluntly establishes its connection with the earth symbol.

The rest are not so straightforward, but there is something interesting in them. If we ‘cut’ the crystals in half, we will realize some of them are ‘fragmented’ in some way in the top triangle or the other, and some are not. Those fragmented correspond to air and earth, and the ones that are not, correspond to water and fire.

I know I’m totally not making myself clear so here’s what I mean:

This way, top left symbol would mean fire, which is not so unlikely considering that it could mimic the look of a flame rather than a water drop. Bottom right symbol, also known as Anna’s symbol, would mean air: and if we take into account the strange merchandise we’ve seen lately, this would make sense, considering Anna is always surrounded by leaves in one way or another. Anna’s color scheme and emblems also match with the ‘air’ theme, which is represented in the Frozen universe by leaves flying.

Bottom left symbol (dubbed Elsa’s symbol by many) would mean water. With enough imagination we could assume that it is an ice crystal what’s shown in it. And last but not least, the top right symbol means earth.

So, it makes enough sense for now. But we have things unresolved. That is, Anna’s strange symbol, her sudden affinity with the air and Elsa’s connection with the Nokk. And this is when Frozen LA comes into play.

“If you use the force of nature in your favor, it will be on your side.”

I don’t think Anna has powers, for many reasons. First and foremost, it would be very predictable, cliché and lazy writing in general, something I don’t think the Frozen 2 creators are aiming for.

Secondly, why didn’t they manifest earlier? We know very little about the magic system in the Frozen universe but it seems that there are two kinds of magic users: cursed and born with them. Anna evidently wasn’t born with powers. Now, if we say that Anna somehow got cursed with wind powers, that would be a bit more interesting. But I doubt it’s the case. And if we’re being real, Elsa already can sort of control wind with her own powers, creating storms and the like.

What I think is that nature and its force plays a major role in Frozen 2. We have already been officially introduced to the Nokk, a water spirit Elsa will have to prove her worth to. And in the Frozen 2 Official Trailer, we’re shown what looks like the spirit of Earth, a rock giant who doesn’t look friendly at all:

Then Fire. After the last trailer, I don’t think anybody’s controlling that fire. Spirits, so far, seem to be just spirits; creatures that control themselves. We know Nokk is a shapeshifter, apparently, and maybe the other spirits can shapeshift, too. But if there’s anything I have to say, is that the fire doesn’t look natural in the slightest even when we’re talking about elements of nature, so it might be wrongfully influenced by a villainous figure? I don’t know, just throwing a semi-theory there. We’re coming back to this later.

Last but not least, Air. Air has been confusing. The way it is represented is by the flow of leaves through the air.  In this scene in the teaser, the kids are in a forest, and I really doubt any of them are controlling the wind. The girl looks surprised; the boy has a bunch of leaves point to him and throw him up in the air. Unless there’s a third human character in this scene we’re not aware of, I’d say the wind is not controlled by anybody, at least in this particular scene; so again, it controls itself, like a force of nature.

Now knowing that Anna is connected to the air element somehow and Elsa to the water through the Nokk, is that these scenes that follow one another in the teaser, now have a whole new meaning.

Anna is lost in a rocky cave. Elsa is fighting against the fire that encircles her.

Air versus Earth, Water versus Fire; the opposite elements, facing each other through Anna and Elsa.

Another convergent idea is that there might be people that represent each of the elements and interact with the spirits; think of guardians, for example. Each of them would have a certain affinity with a specific element. We could say from what we’ve seen that Anna has an affinity with the air, Elsa with the water, and who knows what the other characters are.

If the Nokk is a mythical being that represents water, it’s not out of question to assume that the other elements also have a connection with real life mythology. 

We can find an interesting individual in Norse mythology. Quoting Wikipedia:

In Norse mythology, Fornjót was an ancient giant and king of "Gotland, Kænland and Finnland" meaning Gotland, Kvenland, and Finland Proper.

His children are Aegir, (the ruler of the sea), Logi (fire giant) and Kári (god of wind).

As you can see, this is the Norse mythology interpretation of the elements. We’re missing the Earth element, who would be Jörð, personification of Earth. How closely Disney is going to follow mythology is unknown to us, but considering there is going to be a whole book dedicated to the myths, I’d say that they are taking this very seriously.

__________

Now, let’s get back to our initial topic. I believe this forest they find in the teaser is the fabled magical land where the spirits of the 4 elements reside; where Elsa’s powers came from, and where she should’ve had that ‘life she was supposed to live’. We see people that look very similarly dressed to the Unknown Girl in the teaser:

Sami, seemingly light brown clothes, boots and sash. But there’s far more to these people than at first glance, and this brings us to another topic…

_________________________

The Hidden Folk

The first connection to this mythological race was not made by the fandom but by the Broadway show itself, in which the rock trolls are replaced by the Hidden Folk. So let’s start with what our friend Wikipedia says about them:

Hidden people (huldufólk) are elves in Icelandic and Faroese folklore. They are supernatural beings that live in nature. They look and behave similarly to humans, but live in a parallel world. They can make themselves visible at will.

Remember what we said in the introduction? The Arendellian gang enters a magical realm covered by fog...

Clearly, the Hidden Folk as we see them in Frozen Broadway won’t make an appearence in Frozen 2, because they represent the trolls from the movie. But the connection is interesting, and there’s even more to it.

Idunn mentions being one of the children of the Northern Nomads in the Broadway show, implying that she was not born in the royal family but rather married into the throne. This is further confirmed by the fact that in Frozen, we can see Agdar, the heir to the throne having his coronation; Idunn isn’t a royal, or at least not an Arendellian royal. She came from somewhere else.

And if we take into account the Polish leaks, Idunn is the Unknown Girl from the teaser, further strengthening the bond between these people we see in the autumn forest and her.

Thanks to Annecy spoilers, we know that Agdar visited the enchanted lands and was left “traumatized” by something that went terribly wrong. But more on that later...

__________

I told you to keep in mind the ‘gateway activated by magic’ in the introduction. Okay, so we’re saying that Agdar visited this place in his youth (and probably met Idunn here) but we’re overlooking something.

How did he make it to the forest at all? I doubt anybody who’s not proficient with magic would be able to open the portal. I mean, the portal didn’t open up by itself; Elsa touched it with her magic. So either:

a) Agdar has powers

b) He went with someone who did have powers

c) Some other convoluted reason

d) We’re thinking too much into this and the autumn forest can be accessed without going through any weird portal

I think I’d go with b. But you judge that.

__________

The other connection, as I have said, is the Sami. The Sami people inhabit Lapland, a region encompassing Norway, Sweden, Finland, among others. We know that Kristoff is basically one of them, and one of their most prominent occupations is reindeer herding.

The teaser trailer showed Kristoff guiding a multitude of reindeers, and with the official trailer showing us that there are people who actually live in the forest, the idea is much more clear. There are Sami living in the forest, or at least Disney’s interpretations of them, which may be synonymous or at least have a connection with the Hidden Folk or whatever name they’ll receive in Frozen 2. Remember Northern Nomads was a term used in Frozen Broadway, and Sami were originally nomads...

So, I really tried coming up with an actual theory for those suspicious looking northern lights Idunn looks at but I failed. Sorry. The only idea I have is that Idunn is talking to Elsa after the accident and telling her her own version of the origins behind her powers, and maybe, just maybe, those unnatural northern lights represent Elsa’s sworn enemy, pink.

Yes, pink. Purplish pink or pinkish purple, to be exact.

_________________________

The Pink

Pink has always been a problem for Elsa. The night of the accident, she was shown terrible imagery that’d scare her for life; her adult silhouette is absorbed, consumed by this purple mass. “Fear will be your enemy,” Grand Pabbie said.

Later in her life, we see that whenever Elsa is feeling emotions relating to fear and despair, her ice cracks and turns a shade of pinkish purple. We all get that. But now. Why, for the love of Nokk, why is the fire pink? Nokk looks alright, just like water would look. The earth giants too. I don’t see anything strange with the wind other than it is… wind. But the fire is pink, for a reason we don’t know yet.

The sky turns pinkish after the accident. Why is literally everything that is bad for Elsa represented by pinkish purple?

And I have no definite answer for that. If I have to throw an idea, it’s a prophecy. A manifestation of sorts that just wants Elsa to stop breathing, which may be related to the presence that left Agdar terrified and Arendelle cutting relations with these northern lands. An inherited ‘curse’ of sorts, that may give us a new point of view of why Elsa’s powers were kept in secret. Maybe her parents really had something to fear. A legitimate reason to lock her away, as harsh as that sounds.

For now, let’s leave that in an ominous tone, and talk about the mist. Oh, the mist.

_________________________

The Mist

As we were saying before, the Hidden Folk are basically synonymous with elves. They are invisible (hence, hidden, huh), magical, and are not exactly humans, in the sense that they don’t meddle in their affairs, and live in a parallel world. We have already seen the ‘parallel’, ‘mirror’ symbolism with the gang gazing over the lands, but here’s more, if we insist.

(Pss! Don’t wanna break it to you, but autumn forests just aren’t that beautiful. These ones are magical and misty.)

What elves look like varies from source to source. But they are very closely associated with mist, and live in meadows, mires and forests.

Quoting Wikipedia further:

The elves of Norse mythology have survived into folklore mainly as females, living in hills and mounds of stones.The Swedish älvor were stunningly beautiful girls who lived in the forest with an elven king.

The elves could be seen dancing over meadows, particularly at night and on misty mornings. They left a circle where they had danced, which were called älvdanser (elf dances) or älvringar (elf circles).

If a human watched the dance of the elves, he would discover that even though only a few hours seemed to have passed, many years had passed in the real world. Humans being invited or lured to the elf dance is a common motif transferred from older Scandinavian ballads.

Humans being invited or lured to the elf dance is a common motif transferred from older Scandinavian ballads.

lured to the elf dance 

Yeah, that’s not the face of someone who wasn’t lured.

Okay, okay, okay! I’m sorry if I got too excited about this and saying that Elsa got seduced by the dancing and singing of an elf is perhaps taking it a bit too far. But hear me out. Letting go of my no-crazy-speculation filter for a bit, I’d say that an elf/spirit was the one who incessantly sang to Elsa (remember, female singing), lured her into her dance showing her wonderful imagery of the spirits of the four elements of the parallel world, and then made her release the ice crystals (magic that has been building up for a long time) and go haywire. But you judge that…

What I mean to say is that I think that this concept of elves (maybe not called elves inside of the film, but at least the concept) and their relation to the mist are going to be present in Frozen 2. I’ve been thinking about mist for the past two months and this is the first time I manage to include it in a theory. I’ve wanted to -and will- say something that will sound stupid for a long, long time but I don’t care because it’s worth it. An image I stumbled upon while researching through elves. It’s called ‘Chasing after Hildur’.

It’s from a myth starring Hildur, the Queen of Elves. I’m not going to explain the whole myth, it’s not really relevant; but please, just look at that image. It’s more visual than anything, and it is that it looks ABSOLUTELY EXACTLY THE SAME LIKE THE MOMENT WHEN ANNA JUMPS OVER THE PRECIPICE.

And I’m using all caps because I mean it.

Is Anna chasing after the queen of elves? After a common elf? After the elf like creature that lured Elsa into the dance?

Might be a huge cosmic coincidence, may not be, but summing it up? Frozen 2 has elves. Yeah.

_________________________

The Conclusions

You’re finally here. Aka, Tl;Dr. And for the sake of not repeating ‘this might be’ and ‘probably’ every 2 seconds, I’ll sound really confident.

Maybe:

Frozen 2 features a beautiful parallel realm whose entrance is reachable when a magic user activates it. This is the autumn forest we see in the teaser trailer, contrasting to the more regular-looking place near the end of the official trailer.

The ‘Land of the Mist’ is the home of the Hidden Folk, elves, and the four elements of nature, who are sentient and are represented by four mythological beings. In these lands, magic comes and goes. But something terrible happened, and the harmony between the inhabitants and the spirits is no more.

This is the truth they are looking for; the origin of Elsa’s powers; she should’ve lived in this hidden realm of the hidden people, and nowhere else.

Idunn, her mother, secretly comes from this realm, and in Frozen 2, the sisters will learn about the family they barely got to know, and will have to prove their worth and fight an unknown evil yet to be revealed who Agdar already faced.

Elsa is the only person in the world who can bring the harmony back to the Land of the Mist and unify the four elements before it’s too late.

/Maybe.

Wow, I’m tired.

(It’s fall in my country, by the way, can’t do that.)

This is the furthest I managed to get so far with the help of 3 minutes of footage, Annecy and bath bomb leaks, and I’m sure even more theories are going to come to light as more days pass and the Frozen 2 trailer settles down in people’s minds. Might give some quick little update to this if something new comes up...

Would love to hear your theories and opinions as well! I’m sure we won’t stop till we inadvertently spoil ourselves the whole movie. 

Goodbye and Happy Theorizing!

My Top Ten Films of The Decade.

10. Her

Okay, so whether you like it or not, this movie is about the present. This movie tells a very powerful story with an embarrasingly personal narrative. You feel sorry for the main character, it makes you so uncomfortable. And the reason is, because we are all in some sense are like this guy, Theodore. We have better relationships online, and with our advices, than with real people. It’s a really bizarre conception, but we should face it, and ask ourselves: Where is the limit?  The script is just brilliant, but also has very controversial scenes. Joaquin Phoenix is simply the perfect choice for a lonely man, like Theodore. Melancholy everywhere, and great visuals. Arcade Fire made the music for this, and it was pure melancholy. Very interesting film.

9. The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance is an exceptional director. He can wonderfully create an atmosphere with great lighting techiques, unique musics, and of course with talented actors. This movie has a linear, but quite unusual story-structure. The main theme haunts you after you watched this. Legacy! 

8. Nightcrawler

Louis Bloom is something of a loner who is unemployed and ekes out a living stealing and then reselling copper wire, fencing and most anything else he can get his hands on. When late one night he comes across an accident being filmed by independent news photographer Joe Loder, he thinks he may have found something he would be good at. He acquires an inexpensive video camera and a police scanner and is soon spending his nights racing to accidents, robberies and fire scenes. He develops a working relationship with Nina Romina, news director for a local LA TV station. As the quality of his video footage improves so does his remuneration and he hires Rick, young and unemployed, to work with him. The more successful he becomes however, the more apparent it becomes that Louis will do anything - anything - to get visuals from crime scenes. The conception is just brilliant, and screams to your face, what kind of society are we living in. I think Psychopathy is going to be one of the biggest issue in our generation asides with mental illneses. And this movie reflects perfectly. You understand the character, which is geniusly performed by Jake Gyllenhaal. 

7. Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coen brothers' exquisitely sad and funny new comedy is set in a world of music that somehow combines childlike innocence with an aged and exhausted acceptance of the world. It is a beguilingly studied period piece from America's early-60s Greenwich Village folk scene. Every frame looks like a classic album cover, or at the very least a great inner gatefold – these are screen images that look as if they should have lyrics and sleeve notes superimposed. This film was notably passed over for Oscar nominations. Perhaps there's something in its unfashionable melancholy that didn't hook the attention of Academy award voters. But it is as pungent and powerfully distinctive as a cup of hot black coffee. This movie is about sacrificing everything for your art, directionlessness  (is there such a word?) , and finding the right path. Existential theme, with surpisingly good acting from Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, and Justin Timberlake. This is an Odyssey-story from the 1960′s America. What more you could ask for? 

6. Dunkirk

Reinventing a genre is quite exceptional. And Nolan did it. The best war movies of the last 20 years, including Saving Private Ryan and Hacksaw Ridge, have also placed viewers in the centre of battle. Nolan has not reinvented that immersive approach, but he comes close to perfecting it. The story structure is-again- brilliant. There’s no main character in the movie-just like in a war-but only  scared people. They want to go home. But they can’t. We’re with them with their struggle, and fears. We’re in the air, land, or water, it’s just a haunting terror.  And the soundtrack from Hans Zimmer is really remarkable. You hear it, and you recognize the movie. That’s what I call a score. Reflects perfectly, and holds the attention throughout the whole movie.

5. Hell or High Water

Another genre-twister masterpiece. This Neo-Western is just pure art. Hell or High Water is a film about a criminal  who commits the ultimate offence of putting his gorgeous and much nicer brother in a ski mask for several minutes of this film. Okay actually it’s about a career criminal brother and his he-wasn’t-but-he-is-now criminal brother who team up to commit a series of small-scale bank robberies across Texas, with the aim, finally – after several generations – of lifting the family out of seemingly inescapable grinding poverty. The part of Texas they live in is dying on its feet so career criminal is pretty much the only career left open that doesn’t involve serving in a diner or herding the few remaining cattle. It would’ve been easy for Hell or High Water to to turn out a cliche-ridden double bromance as there are quite a few movie tropes in this love story / revenge thriller, so it’s a tribute to director David Mackenzie that it’s actually a very touching, at times funny, at times quite brutal story. With a bit of grudge-bearing thrown in at the end to stop it being too redemptive. Memorable scenes, great acting, and a deromanticized western-feeling. After this film, you want to live in Texas, where everything’s slower, but sometimes you can chase criminals. It’s nice, isn’t it? 

4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Martin McDonagh’s fiercely written, stabbingly pleasurable tragicomedy stars a magnificent Frances McDormand; watching it is like having your funny bone struck repeatedly, expertly and very much too hard by a karate super-black-belt capable of bringing a rhino to its knees with a single punch behind the ear. He’s a scriptwriter genius, it was shocking, how perfectly the dialouges and the actions were constructed. It is a film about vengeance, violence and the acceptance of death, combining subtlety and unsubtlety, and moreover wrongfooting you as to what and whom it is centrally about. The drama happens in a town with an insidiously pessimistic name – Ebbing, Missouri, a remote and fictional community in the southern United States, where the joy of life does seem to be receding. There is a recurrent keynote of elegiac sadness established by the Irish ballad The Last Rose of Summer and Townes Van Zandt’s country hit Buckskin Stallion Blues, a musical combination which bridges the Ireland which McDonagh has written about before and the America he conjures up here, an America which has something of the Coen Brothers. The resemblance is not simply down to McDormand, though she does give her best performance since her starring role as the pregnant Minnesota police chief in the Coens’ Fargo in 1996. It was brutal, controversial, and violent. 

3. Midnight in Paris

The definitive poem in English on the subject of cultural nostalgia may be a short verse by Robert Browning called “Memorabilia.” The past seems so much more vivid, more substantial, than the present, and then it evaporates with the cold touch of reality. The good old days are so alluring because we were not around, however much we wish we were. “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen’s charming film, imagines what would happen if that wish came true. It is marvelously romantic, even though — or precisely because — it acknowledges the disappointment that shadows every genuine expression of romanticism. The film has the inspired silliness of some of Mr. Allen’s classic comic sketches (most obviously, “A Twenties Memory,” in which the narrator’s nose is repeatedly broken by Ernest Hemingway), spiked with the rueful fatalism that has characterized so much of his later work. Nothing here is exactly new, but why would you expect otherwise in a film so pointedly suspicious of novelty? Very little is stale, either, and Mr. Allen has gracefully evaded the trap built by his grouchy admirers and unkind critics — I’m not alone in fitting both descriptions — who complain when he repeats himself and also when he experiments. Not for the first time, but for the first time in a while, he has found a credible blend of whimsy and wisdom.

2. Beautiful Boy 

This supersensitive and tasteful movie is all but insufferable, suppressing a sob at the tragedy of drug addiction afflicting someone so young and “beautiful”. It is based on what is effectively a matching set of memoirs: Beautiful Boy, by author and journalist David Sheff, his harrowing account of trying to help his son Nic battle crystal meth addiction, and Tweak – by Nic Sheff himself, about these same experiences, the author now, thankfully, eight years clean. Steve Carell does an honest, well-meaning job in the role of David and the egregiously beautiful Timothée Chalamet is earnest in the part of Nic, David’s son from his first marriage. This is like a modern-day Basketball Diaries. Honest, and Raw. Most underrated movie of the 2010′s, with an unquestionably important topic. 

1. The Social Network

Before Sorkin wrote the screenplay, Ben Mezrich wrote the book based on Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook titled: The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. It was published in July 2009, and most of the information came from Facebook “co-founder” Eduardo Saverin, who in the film is played by Andrew Garfield. The screenplay that Sorkin wrote was blazing, he wrote the characters like they were in a William Shakespeare play, with a story full of lies, jealousy, and betrayal. I especially love how Sorkin balanced the story between 2003, 2004, and then 2010. It goes back and forth between the past when Facebook was just an idea for Mark, and in the current day when he is being sued by Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss for, in their minds, having stolen their original idea, and by his former best friend Eduardo for having him pushed out of the company. In fact, some of the very best dialogue (and the film is full of great quotes) happens during the deposition scenes. Well-recognizable, rapid-fire dialouges, wonderful directing, with Trent Reznor’s greatest soundtrack. The movie’s probably going to outlive the Facebook itself, and that’s just great. 

Episode 121: Rocknaldo

“I don't love that. I don't accept that.”

Ronaldo Fryman has always been annoying.

From his first speaking role in Cat Fingers, and his first starring role in Keep Beach City Weird, this has been obvious. He’s selfish and insensitive, dominating every conversation he’s a part of and refusing to respect viewpoints that differ from his. He works well in small doses, where his grating nature can be properly diluted, so it’s understandable that an entire episode of Ronaldo at peak Ronaldo is not a widely beloved entry in the Steven Universe canon. But even though I can’t stand watching Rocknaldo, I actually, uh, kind of love it.

That’s a hard “uh, kind of” though. It’s tough to separate my emotions about this one, because I respect such an incredible portrayal of toxic fandom, but I hate toxic fandom so much that I don’t enjoy spending time with it, even as parody. This isn’t an episode I’m ever in the mood for, but it’s just so good at what it’s doing that I can’t stay mad at it.

Ronaldo’s propaganda is first played for laughs, with Steven’s bewilderment at what he’s reading (“They’re adding mind-controlling minerals to our water suppl—they hate men?”) and the vaudevillian back and forth of Ronaldo’s Rock People talking points and Steven’s quick and absolute dismissals. Ronaldo’s embarrassment is a bit of a surprise considering he’s never seemed capable of such a sensation, and his willingness to admit he’s wrong seems like a good sign, but oh boy does that attitude not last.

The mindset that led Ronaldo to make his bad faith arguments in pamphlet form (which he calls Ronalphlets because heaven forbid we get the idea that it’s not about him) persists, and it’s so much worse in conversation than as printed media. It’s not enough that he impedes on Steven’s personal space, but he checks off multiple key items on the Pathetic Internet Troll I Find Useless List (or “PITIFUL” if we’re using proper jargon). He’s casually sexist. He negs Steven into accepting his intrusions. He gatekeeps the concept of being a “true” Crystal Gem, which is lousy in a bubble but so much worse in practice because he’s doing it to an actual Crystal Gem. He gaslights by stating his incorrect views as obvious facts, complete with his own lingo, to make Steven question his own validity. And perhaps worst of all, he takes advantage of Steven’s empathetic nature to pretend that a tolerant person must accept abuse.

On the one hand, Ronaldo’s extreme behavior can be chalked up to severe sleep loss; that’s certainly the angle the episode goes for. But on the other, his toxicity begins well before he decides to stop sleeping, and as someone whose record for consecutive waking hours is an inadvisable thirty-six, fatigue will make you cranky, but it won’t make you more conniving. In cartoon world it’s a clean device to up Ronaldo’s awfulness in a way we can walk back from, but ugh he’s still a trashfire. Zach Callison always deserves kudos, and Rocknaldo is no exception, but Zachary Steel wins out here for capturing such a loathsome version of his character.

A key ingredient for Rocknaldo is timing. Steven just had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and this is our first glimpse at how it’s changed him, so what better way to test our all-loving hero than to pit him against a black hole of selfishness? He’s grown a lot since Keep Beach City Weird in a way Ronaldo hasn’t, and while his instinct is still kindness, now there’s a welcome dose of teen moodiness mixed in. 

It takes a while for Steven to realize it’s a grift, but beyond this slowness being a necessity for the conflict of the episode to work, it makes sense for where he’s at this point in the show. Again, kindness is an instinct for this kid, and even when Ronaldo starts getting infuriating, we’ve seen Steven be patient with him before. He’s also got that martyr complex revved up: this isn’t the first or last time he’s been willing to suffer to make someone else comfortable. He knows how much it sucks to be called the wrong name by now, so he’s the only person who consistently calls Ronaldo “Bloodstone.” And considering Rose Quartz wasn’t what he thought, he now feels that he must double his efforts to be his best self to compensate.

Also important is Steven’s willingness to defend his friends from the start, calling the term “Rock People” offensive and defending the Gems’ decision to leave Ronaldo behind on a dangerous mission. He can take Ronaldo’s lousiness all day, but finally snaps when Connie’s worthiness is insulted. It’s sweet that he sticks up for people, but it’s a bummer that he probably would’ve put up with Ronaldo even longer if the only one suffering was himself. Steven would do anything for his friends, but he’s not doing much for Steven.

This is why Ronaldo is the ideal antagonist for an episode coming off Steven’s space adventure. Steven’s selflessness contrasts perfectly with Ronaldo’s selfishness, but instead of a story about selflessness being good and selfishness being bad, we see how selflessness isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Yes, it’s good to care about others, but it’s also important to have boundaries and enough self-respect to defend yourself; this isn’t even the first time we’ve gotten this message, but it bears repeating. There’s are limits to tolerance that trolls will always exploit (“White Nationalists aren’t welcome here? So much for the ‘Tolerant Left!’”), and on a show about empathy we need for Steven (and the audience) to see that empathy doesn’t mean being a doormat.

Steven’s patience fuels the episode, but the wheels are greased by the Amethyst and Pearl’s disdain. It’s a minor part of Rocknaldo, but I’m not sure I could survive how grating Ronaldo is without some backup from the Gems.

Garnet may lead a slow clap at Steven’s rousing speech on the nature of acceptance, but Amethyst is happy to crack jokes at Ronaldo’s self-seriousness, down to that perfect impression near the end of the episode. Meanwhile, Pearl openly hates the guy. We don’t even get Sassy Pearl (perhaps the greatest Pearl of all), she’s just bluntly dismissive as a refreshing antidote to Steven’s hospitality. She doesn’t bother to remember his ridiculous new name because she refuses to humor the notion that he’s a Gem, and it totally works for me; misnaming is played for drama when Steven is concerned, as befits the trans allegory that comes to a head in Change Your Mind, but Ronaldo is a human belittling Steven’s identity by pretending he shares it, so “Bloodstone” isn’t worth getting right to her (it helps that “Fryrocko” is also a delightful thing to call somebody). This jokey take on names works in the moment, but more importantly primes us for a more serious take in our last scene.

The final conversation, after a rare time jump, does salvage Ronaldo somewhat. He apologizes and admits he was acting like a jerk, and remains dedicated to helping the Crystal Gems in his own weird way. But the root of his problem isn’t gonna up and go away, and that root, again, is selfishness. He doesn’t fit in because he would rather the world adjust to meet his whims than take a single step towards self-improvement, so he chooses to see himself as “the ultimate outsider.” I guess it’s nice to find a positive spin on qualities you’re not great at, but it reeks of self-importance in a way that’s true to the character but is still frustrating to watch. Ronaldo is very good at being who he is, but I just don’t have much patience for intentionally annoying characters.

Still, we get that lovely moment of Steven talking about his name; it’s not a big revelation that folks only call him Rose Quartz when they’re mad at him, but verbalizing it shows that he’s aware of the pattern. The issue of his name will pop up more and more, becoming a cornerstone of both the Season 4 and Season 5 finales, so it’s nice to discuss it in a calm moment so we can keep Steven’s opinion in the back of our minds when things get messy. Ronaldo, to his credit, asks permission before sharing this story on his pamphlet, and evokes fellow emotionally-challenged antagonist Zuko in his attempt at solidarity. (Fun fact: in no other way is Ronaldo similar to Zuko.)

Moving from Zuko to Zuke: I don’t know where Rocknaldo’s production lined up on the timeline of the Steven Universe fandom's worst elements harassing Jesse Zuke, but I hope Zuke got some level of catharsis in portraying such “fans” in this pathetic manner. Speaking as a guy with a blog, calling Ronaldo “just a guy with a blog” is perfect putdown for a loser that makes himself feel big by pretending to know how to run a ship better than the captain. Imagine if I spent every post saying how much better of a storyteller I am than this crew. Ugh.

Fandoms can do great things, but man are they pros at doing horrible things. During the week that I wrote this review, a 15-year-old Super Smash Bros player got yelled off the internet for beating an established player in an incredible fashion, because while the community adores a young upstart, they can’t stand when that upstart is a girl. And no, I’m not saying the entire fandom did it, just as the entire Steven Universe fandom didn’t target one of the show’s best boarders (note that this article was written when Zuke still went by Lauren), but there are more than enough Ronaldos in every community, and it’s up to people who comprehend the basic tenets of empathy provided by a show they claim to love to stand up to such bullies.

If you don’t like Rocknaldo, that’s just fine. Because you shouldn’t like how Ronaldo acts in it. Liking something doesn’t give you the right to harass people, so do your part in shutting that nonsense down. 

I’ve never been to this…how do you say…school?

Just give us an episode with Peridot, Yellow Pearl, Peedee, and Ronaldo trapped in a room already.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

I hate watching this episode, but that doesn’t mean I hate the episode. It does its job very well, which is worthy of admiration even if I’m probably never going to watch it again now that this review is done.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

where can i find ur ant cthulu post i saw it on imgur and i wanna reblog it thank

This is the BEST questionanswer A: to to my tumblr and search “cthulhu”Anser B: Here’s everything I’ve written about it so far…Firstly, um, I had just had to leave my dog in a better home than I could give him while I was homeless living in a tent… that’s my only excuse. AnywaySecondly, In the interest of crediting folks, I was inspired to write the last installment by littlesons, who said, oh I can’t find it rn but they were very nice and said something like they loved it and wanted to know how it ended.I wrote the first of three installments in response to probablybadrpgideas and 20thcenturyvole  who posted, respectively “if Cthulhu can be summoned by humans who are so far beneath it, why can’t humans be summoned by ants? The answer is they should be.”and“Well if a bunch of ants formed a circle in my house I’d certainly notice, try to figure out where they’d all come from, and possibly wreak destruction there.“_______________________________________________________________________That’s why knowing and correctly pronouncing the true name is so important to the ritual. Imagine how impossible it would be to not go take a look if the circle of ants started chanting your name.And they’re like, you can’t leave because we drew a line made of tiny crystals - now you have to do us a favor.And you’re like, let’s just see where this goes “yup, you got me… what’s the favor?”and usually the favor is like, “kill this one ant for us” or “give me a pile of sugar” and you’re like… okay? and you do, because why not, it isn’t hard for you and boy is this going to be a fucking story to tell, these fucking ants chanting your name and wanting a spoonful of sugar or whatever.And SOMEtimes you get asked for things you can’t really do, one of them, she’s like, “I love this ant but she won’t pay any attention to me, make me important to her” and you’re like… um? how? So you just kill every ant in the colony except the two of them, ta-da! problem solved! and the first ant is like *horrified whisper* “what have I done” …._____________________________________________________________________Meanwhile another colony of ants invades your house, and evidently that last ant has gotten some of them to join her in a circle and taught them the ritual because you’re coming out of the bathroom one day and you hear the ants singing your name. Sure enough it’s that ant, but she’s dark and fucked up now, and she’s like, “kill the queen. I will rule this colony” and you’re like, sure, I guess I kinda owe her, and you do it. And she manages to become queen, and they worship you. Which is cool, you’re not, you know, very important in the human world, but to these ants you’re practically all-powerful. You can’t be just, doing everything a bunch of ants tell you to, though, when would you watch netflx? So you tend to only show up for super important ants; you teach them some extra words and when hear them you go see what’s up. Usually. Also just to your name, if you’re bored. And, sometimes some of the ants are like, tell us more human names, and you’re kind of jealous of the idea of some other human diluting your private godhood, so you refuse. Your roommate Greg is like, yo, that’s fucking awesome, I want ant worshipers! But whenever he approaches any, they run away, because it turns out that the illusion of control from the named summoning is what makes them feel safe around you. That’s great, because Greg is a dick who never does the dishes, and one day you decide to teach Greg a lesson.So you show up at the colony, and you’re like, “yo, witch queen, did you think there would be no price for all these things? Your colony must do something for me, go to the Room of the Housemate, I will meet you there.” And you go sit on the couch and play Overwatch for a while. You’re like, right there, you can clearly see the ants all marching along the wall to Greg’s room, but to them you’re not even there, you’re so far away they can’t see you. It takes them, like, an ant week to make the journey. They have to figure out ways to get over and around things. Some of them drown, or get stepped on by the dog, or whatever. You win a game, you lose a game, you look over, and they’re trying to get through some cobwebs… looks like they’re mostly going to live, you keep playing, you look over, okay they’re all in there, and you stand up and walk over and by the time they’ve chanted your name once, you’re there. “right, hold on” and you look around and you see a twelve-pack of Greg’s precious fucking soda, that he keeps in his room and refuses to ever share, even though it’s a communal food household and you share your hot chocolate with him all the time. So you gather the ants unto you, and you poke a little hole in each of the sodas and you leave the room to the sound of the ants rejoicing. Greg will suspect of course, but he’ll never be able to prove the ants didn’t chew holes in the plastic and steal his stupid drinks. But later, while you’re at work, Greg destroys most of the colony in a rage, and you come home to find the witch queen gasping her last “the Dew of the Mountain, which you had us steal, was cursed - and so I lay my curse on you” and then she dies.Well first of all, you don’t really believe in curses, but last month you didn’t believe ants could know your name, so that’s unsettling. And second of all, you feel kind of bad. You know, not SUPER bad, cause she’s like, an ant. But still. And most importantly, third of all, Greg must pay.But Greg has done more than kill a bunch of the colony. As you wait for eggs and pupae to replenish the ant population, you discover he has found some ants that didn’t go on the Mountain Dew raid, and he’s spared them, told them his name, and made himself a good sized cult in YOUR fucking ant queendom.Greg has started locking his door. So now you NEED the ants. Once again you direct the ants loyal to you to journey to Greg’s room. You meet them at the door. A locked door means nothing to the ants, they don’t even know there is a door, and can barely perceive the difference between it being open and shut - either passing the threshold on the floor regardless, or being on its surface no matter the position. But you need them to get inside. You’re going to put itching powder in his underwear drawer and leave a raw fish under his bed. So you instruct the leading party of ants how to go into the Cave of Keyhole, and position the Magic Megaliths inside just right to enable the opening of the Great Door and allow you to pass into the Realm of Housemate.Crouched by the door, you can hear when your ants are met by a party of Greg Cultists, who insist that if the Great Door is opened, the colony will be doomed. There is fighting. Your ants prevail, the lock tumblers are moved into place, and you swing the door open…To find Greg! In his room all along! It’s a trap! His cultists attack you! I mean, they can’t do much real harm, but it kind of hurts and it’s super annoying. You order your ants to attack him, and they do, but he storms over and pours bleach down the colony entrance.Now you and Greg are at war, and you both understand the unspoken rules to your fight. You can’t do things directly to each other, why, that would be assault. But anything you can get your ants to do is fine, because “she told the ants to do it to me” isn’t going to get very far with any authority figures that get involved. Later, nursing your anger, you confer with your few remaining ants and stare moodily at your new prize, the ant farm that came in the mail. Bullet ants don’t usually get along with sugar ants, but you’re betting they will if a god tells them to. Meanwhile, you’ve got a laptop schematic to go over with your high priestess. It’s finals week, and if you time it right, he’ll lose everything.…You look down into the summoning ritual. The current high priestess, Zé, is an ant of great influence and personality - you quite like her, inso far as a human can be friends with an ant that worships them. You thought the new queen would become the next high priestess, but according to Zé the queens don’t like to come out of the colony after they shed their wings. Plus they are very busy laying eggs and supervising the care of their ant larvae. Zé says it’s a better deal for you, this way your high priestess can have the time and energy to really serve your interests, and wield an authority among the colony that is purely yours - no conflict of interest, and no baby making duties. It’s really just what’s best for both you and the colony queen to have her as high priestess, she informs you, making you laugh at her flattery-wrapped ambition.There’s no laughing this evening though. It’s serious business on the docket tonight.“O wise and ancient entity of power, you grace us with your presence!” and for formality’s sake, she intones the additional ritual greeting from their holy books “You Look Fantastic, Have You Done Something New With Your Hair?” Ants don’t really understand hair. You respond as you have become accustomed “Thank You, Yes.” It’s just easier. They mean well.Mystic greeting complete, Zé and the rest of the dark clergy move straight to business. Several 10s of them line up in formation, creating a diagram of the apartment complex. You had to coach them into how to make it, as far as they are concerned it’s a complex sigil that conveys knowledge to you - for creatures that traverse the building in long journeys along the pipes in the walls and in the spaces between the lower ceiling and upper floor, it looks nothing like the apartment complex as they know it. Zé claims to understand it, but secretly you suspect she’s just mostly cementing her authority among the clergy. She has, usefully, memorized which parts of the sigil correspond with what parts of the building, and that’s good enough for your purposes.“O mighty being, we have done as instructed. Our scouts had to search wide for them, but we have left the corpses of many termites in all the locations you specified, every night this week.“Very good,” you assure them, “and the Greggorites?”“Our spies among them have learned of their next attack. We should be able to influence their timing somewhat.”“Good. And..” your eyes narrow, “the other thing?”“Ah, yes.” Zé’s antennae wave and dip in that way you know means she is uncomfortable. “to the best of our ability to find out, the… Antifreeze initiative was entirely conceived of by the Demon Lord Greg.”“Just Greg,” you tell Zé with bitter hatred as tears threaten to spill down your cheeks. “Greg is not a lord, just a fucking prick who’s going to get what’s coming to him. I swear by all of creation he will.”“Is there…” Zé trailed off and tried again. “O Deity of my heart, far be it from me to question Your Exaltedness, but help your poor servant to understand… your plans have become, they seem perhaps, I am sure I am wrong, they seem, overly audacious? Your recent change in demeanor has made some, not me!”she interjects hastily, “but some of the less devout among my sistren, have become concerned…”Your fists clench. “I don’t expect you to get it. I’m pretty certain none of you could possibly understand.” Your voice breaks. You clench your teeth. You won’t, you won’t cry in front of your ant worshipers. You lean down and say in the strangled half whisper that is the only way you can force the words past the lump in your throat, “He killed my dog, Zé…”The ants flee the sound of your terrible wailing.The great Finals Erasure had worked to more devastating effect than you had anticipated, and things had… escalated. Then Greg proved himself to be less human that the ants that had turned out to be such surprising little beings. You strongly suspected, of course. Now you are sure: the orders for the heinous act came from him. And so, there are things that have to be done. You call the ants back out of hiding, and get to work.In the end, it was easier than you thought it would be. You talk to all the neighbors, without Greg. You hide the relevant pieces of mail. You have the scuba gear and the stuff from the sex shop shipped to a friend’s house. You ensure your spies among the Greggorites have escape plans, though Zé assures you they are ready to sacrifice themselves to the cause.“I’m not that kind of Deity,” you tell her.The night before, your ants slip a double dose of tylenol p.m. into Greg’s milkshake. You almost laugh; all your efforts to make sure there is only soup to make for dinner, and he comes home with Burger King.He sleeps so soundly that he never comes close to waking the whole time you are attaching the padded bondage equipment to his limbs and hiding with him in the closet. The walk through by the company inspectors that morning is a tense moment, but as you suspect, they don’t open the closets. After they leave to do their work outside, you finish your work inside, tying Greg to his bed. By the time he starts to wake up, you are sitting in a chair in the doorway to his bedroom, with your mask on. The air is beginning to thicken and discolor. Greg coughs around his ball gag and opens his eyes. You feel curiously calm and empty.“Hi, Greg.” Your voice is muffled, “You like my dive mask?”Greg makes an angry questioning noise, spread eagled to the full extension of his limbs. “Oh, yeah, that must be uncomfortable. Can’t give you enough slack to jerk against the ropes, though, or you might leave tell-tale bruises through the padding.” More angry noises, coughing.“Hhhmm? Oh, did I forget to tell you? It’s termite day, Greg, they’ve tented the house. That’s Sulfuryl Fluoride you’re breathing. You’ll cough for a bit, you’ll throw up, and your heart will stop.” He’s thrashing around as much as the ropes will allow, which isn’t a lot. He’s pretty energetic about it, though; maybe he can’t hear you over his efforts.“You shouldn’t have meddled around with godhood, it didn’t suit you. Power compromised your judgement. You definitely shouldn’t have fucking killed my dog, Greg”You’re suddenly filled with rage. You need to know he hears you. You stride over to the bed and grab him by the throat. Not too hard, you try to remember through your anger, no bruises. The grip is enough to make Greg stop thrashing and look at you with wide wide eyes. “YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE FUCKING KILLED NAYA YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! WHY? WHY? HOW COULD YOU!? SHE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!” Just as suddenly, your anger is gone. You feel tired. You look down at him and shake your head.”Time to die, Greg.” You cross the room and sit back down in your chair in the doorway.Watching him die isn’t easy, but it’s not as hard as watching Naya suffer through acute kidney failure. Afterwards, you take off all the bondage gear, throw it in a duffel bag. You leave through the back, rolling out from under the fumigation tent against the back fence, and packing the scuba gear into the duffel before you climb into the neighbors yard.A month later, you’re moving from town to town. The colony has become so large you’re going to need a bigger truck full of clay for them to live in. Maybe an old Uhaul.The ants bring you a newspaper. They bring you everything now, food, money, information. Word of how you value the life of each individual ant has spread through the colony, and reports brought back from the apartment by scouts confirming your status as a godslayer has …elevated… their worship of you. You open the newspaper to find Greg’s death has made the papers. No suspicion of foul play despite the exterminator company lawyers insisting on an autopsy. Tylenol p.m. in his system accounted for his presence in the building, it was decided, and the failure of the inspectors to notice Greg in bed during their walk through was settled out of court, paid off by their insurance. The ants bring you a conga line of grapes, peeling them for you while you stare off into space. You’re going to have to teach them how to disable cameras - the leaked security footage of hundred dollar bills slipping themselves out under the bank doors has caused a bit of a stir on some parts of the internet… you eat another grape, and count your money. As usual you put half of it in an envelope, uncapping a sharpie to write “From Naya” on it.The ants will slip it under the door of the local animal shelter for you tonight.END

Fandom features: Author Wendy Qualls

To kick off a series of fandom-focused posts, we’re chatting with author Wendy Qualls (aka wendymarlowe on AO3) about fanfic, Johnlock, getting published, the intersection of fanfiction and original fiction, and a little dash of DragonCon! We so enjoyed learning a bit about Wendy’s fandom experience, and are so glad to share her insight with all of you! Don’t miss the amazing rec list she wrote for us after the jump (it’s so good). Thank you so much for talking with us, Wendy! 

Thanks so much for chatting with us! How can our readers find you?

I write fic as wendymarlowe (Marlowe being my middle name), but I write my original male/male romance under my real name, Wendy Qualls. (www.wendyqualls.com)

So what inspired you to start writing fic?

I write in the Sherlock fandom with brief forays into Harry Potter, but my first ever fandom was Dragon Age. I played Dragon Age: Origins and went through the love story with one of the characters and immediately thought "I want to experience exactly that again, but different" and I remembered something called fanfic my sister used to read so I looked some up. The one I found was awful, but then I found my way onto fanfiction.net and eventually onto AO3. The fics got better :-)

Now that you’re writing mostly in the Sherlock fandom, what about Johnlock is the most appealing to you?

Honestly? I love what fandom has done to the characters. The Sherlock and John on the show would both be horrible people to be in a relationship with, but the general fandom version sort of rounds the edges off a bit. Sherlock is abrasive but not cruel, John is competently BAMF without being violent and angry. The show has throwaway lines like how John “lost an entire Wednesday once” and I know Moftiss put it in there because they thought it was funny but SERIOUSLY? Drugging your flatmate is not okay! I’d much rather read (and write) about characters who are capable of healthy relationships :-)

What is your favorite thing you have written so far?

My most popular fic, and the one that was the most amazing to write, was Dear John (https://archiveofourown.org/works/2647979). Summary: "With Sherlock dead, John eventually (under duress) makes a profile on an online dating site. And falls into a long-distance relationship with an enigmatic partner who reminds him of Sherlock in all the right ways. (Hint: it turns out to be Sherlock.)" 

It was inspired by a friend trying a dating website and me realizing that sense of waiting for replies and not knowing when they're coming could be replicated by AO3's subscribe feature - I posted the fic in "real time." (As in, back and forth according to when the characters would have been writing each other). It had a pretty modest following at the beginning, but by the time John and Sherlock shared their first sexting right before Christmas it kind of blew up on Tumblr and the comments section started to be longer than the chapters :-P 

It was amazing to see a mini-fandom develop right there and see everyone debating what they thought John and Sherlock were up to that very minute. By the time the fic got to the big dramatic face-to-face meet, the comments/replies were coming in faster than I could read them! I'm told it's still fun to read now, all at once, but the shared waiting experience was something I wish I could replicate for another fic and I don't know that I ever could.

When I started submitting around to find a literary agent, the popularity of Dear John and my other AO3 fics was a strong point in my favor with the agent I ultimately signed with :-) There's a LOT of overlap between romance authors and fanfic authors, actually, even if not all of them are public about it.

Speaking of your work as a published author, do you have any words of wisdom for the fic authors out there who are hoping to get published one day?

Everyone—every published author ever—has a few manuscripts “under the bed” that just didn’t work. Often it’s because their writing needed to get stronger before publishing, sometimes it’s because they hit a crowded market exactly wrong or just never connected with the right editors/agents. Only around 10% of people who attempt to write their first novel make it to the end, and less than half of those get to the point they’re submitting it for professional consideration. 

The thing is, though, the only way to get better at writing is to write. I don’t care how many books and blogs you read about the craft (although those help too), you’re not going to get your book out there for money if you’re not willing to write something imperfect first.

Fanfic, I believe, is an amazing way to practice writing for low stakes. You get your pick of pre-developed characters and settings to choose from, there are no deadlines, and 99% of fanfic readers are supportive. AO3 says I’ve had 11,549 comments on my works - I think I’ve had only one or two readers who were critical. The rest are positive and make me excited to write for them. There is no doubt in my mind that fanfic has made me a better writer. Anyone who dreams of being published someday, my advice is this: write a book. Then write another. Write fanfic along the way and pick up people to cheer you on. The difference between published and unpublished is mostly luck, persistence, and confidence.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do to combat it?

I do absolutely get writer's block, in big part because of my depression. (Depression sucks, btw.) Writing fic has made me comfortable having multiple works in progress at once, though, so often if I'm stuck on my "real" book I can write fic instead. I can't turn out fic as fast as I could before I started actually being published and having deadlines, but it's still a totally different feel writing for no stakes versus "how are my agent and editor and readers going to judge this?" Positive comments on AO3 pretty much balance out the negative energy in bad book reviews :-P

While we discussed this interview, you mentioned you’ll be in attendance at DragonCon this weekend. What are you most excited to do at con?

The panels and the people! There are several friends I only see at DragonCon, and it’s always fun to reconnect. The panels, though, are the heart of the convention. Science vs. Movies (10 PM Sunday in the Hilton Crystal ballroom) is always a highlight - it’s a panel of real, actual science experts forced to watch terrible Hollywood scenes and then argue why the scene was actually 100% scientifically plausible :-P Sometimes they break down and cry. It’s awesome.

You’re on some panels, right? When can folks catch those?

Friday at 10 PM: "BritTrack After Dark - British Fanfic/Slashfic Panel!" in Hilton Galleria 5 and Saturday at 10 PM: "We Do the Weird Stuff!: NC17 Fanfic" in Marriott M301

And finally, do you have any fic recs to share with our followers?

(Ed. Note: Y’ALL! Wendy wrote us an amazing rec list which is under the cut - Click for some Sherlock-y goodness!)

Favorite crack-premise-but-serious-fic: The Midas Touch (E) by flawedregina (https://archiveofourown.org/works/2479868) John Watson has a medical condition that means everyone he sleeps with is instantly healed of all illness and injury. This causes complications when Sherlock breaks his arm, and even more complications when Sherlock falls in love with him. Yes, this is a story where John has a literal magic healing cock. It's a lot less cracky than you're probably imagining. I love this for the "literal magical healing cock" premise, but it's also a beautiful look at ethics, personality, and the dynamics of sex. John is caught between feeling like he ethically HAS to use his rare gift because it saves people's lives and feeling the very human need for privacy and having control over his own life. Sherlock is a brat because he's always a brat but he GETS it and supports John and seriously, it's wonderful. 32K.

Favorite crack-premise-but-serious-fic without all the smut: A Magnificent Instrument (T) by mycapeisplaid (https://archiveofourown.org/works/7452193) A series of vignettes set in an AU in which Sherlock plays the tuba instead of the violin. This does have some brilliant takes on the idea (my favorite is Sherlock playing "oompah oompah" elephant steps in time with Mycroft leaving the flat) but it's also got an amazing connection between Sherlock and John. 6K.

Favorite fantasy AU: Here There Be Dragons (E) by Leloi (https://archiveofourown.org/works/786378) When Lord John of the Umberland Watsons volunteered to his lord father to deal with a dragon, this was not what he had in mind. Instead of using his sword and shield to deal a deadly blow he found himself trussed up like a festival goose sans armor and small clothes, naked as his birth day. This is sweet and hot at the same time and thanks to a certain Tolkien movie, we don't have to imagine very hard to envision Sherlock as a dragon :-D 8K.

Favorite short, kinky smut: Performance Art (E) by thisprettywren (https://archiveofourown.org/works/208374) “I have to say, John, I really just. Well. I can’t see the appeal.” That wasn’t precisely true, of course. At the moment, the appeal lay in the way John was blushing and licking his lip, avoiding Sherlock’s gaze, thoroughly discomfited. This one is so sexy and so Sherlock in how he thinks and gah, just read it! 6K. Favorite AU: The Bang and the Clatter (M) by earlgreytea68 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/744242) Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU.   I learned a ton about baseball from this fic - it's very educational :-P It's also clear that earlgreytea is an AMAZING writer and a true baseball fan. 137K.

Favorite D/s verse: Shames and Praises (E) by s0mmerspr0ssen (https://archiveofourown.org/works/573019) Unable but desperate to find a dom who will put up with him, Sherlock swallows his pride and turns to Mycroft for help. Shortly after, John Watson steps into Sherlock's life.   Kinky as hell with a wonderful caring top!John. D/s done right. 52K.

Favorite Mystrade: The DI and the Spy (T) by chasingriver (https://archiveofourown.org/works/558609) Greg is an early-morning runner. Mycroft is an early riser who happens to live on Greg's running route. Hilarity ensues. Written for MystradeDoodles' prompt: "Greg is a runner. Rom-com." Exactly what it says on the package - a sweet rom-com story about how Mycroft and Lestrade get a crush on each other before even knowing who the other is. 44K.

Liz Liveblogs Bravely Second: Chapter 6, Part 1/2

Well, I said I’d shoot for Halloween, not that I’d make it. I legitimately wasn’t expecting the Yōkai sidequest to be so... dense. So, because of that, we’re splitting this chapter into two parts, too. I think the finale deserves an entry all on its own

We’re in the home stretch, folks. Get ready for Bravely Second Chapter 6, Bravely Second

Hey, welcome to my liveblog of Bravely Default. So Tiz, after the destruction of Norende wakes up... wait. Hmmm. Wrong brunet boy. How did we get to the Caldisla Inn?

Karl’s soothing voice is a welcome reprieve from... that scene

“Wait! Where’s Denys?” *noises of discomfort from Tiz, Edea, Magnolia, and me*

“We defeated Diamante...” No. We were denied the ability to defeat Diamante. Now it’s Denys’s burden, assuming someone can even survive at the end of time. The self-sacrificing idiot...

Magnolia is being called to return home, as the hero of her people... and the light of her communicator is clipping through her Black Mage hat. Whoops

Weird that Karl didn’t recognize Tiz until right now. What, was Yew the only one asleep? Was his hair so bad you couldn’t be sure until you heard his voice?

Even more insane that he recognizes Edea since I have her in her Ranger getup with a full face mask

“Me and Agnes and Edea and...?” “We always counted on him when we.. When we...” Tiz. Edea. Do you not remember Ringabel or the first game? I thought we just weren’t talking about him because it was a sore subject, but...

Tiz doesn’t even remember the king of his home nation. What happened to you kids?

Diamante’s bestiary states that when it fell, it destroyed a part of the Miasma Woods and split the continent in two. I assume that refers to the separation of landmasses between the Harena and Yulyana regions, since there’s... like... a crater there where I’m pretty sure there wasn’t last game. I never mentioned it, it’s just the spot where we keep boarding the Skyhold because Denys really liked parking over it?

Karl who are these two white-haired kids? Are they yours? They can’t be grandkids since Owen is...

Caldisla’s theme is still amazing. Feels like being home after a long journey. Love it when a game can do that to me.

Tiz really had forgotten his entire home and the start of last game. Edea couldn’t remember it either

Yew says he’s read about Caldisla, but he couldn’t remember what he’d read either

I am reminded of a plot point in the Korean webtoon Kubera: One Last God. In that, a person who uses time magic too much will “forfeit their existence” for a time. They disappear and don’t age, but as long as they’re vanished from existence, nobody can remember them. If someone tries to remember events surrounding them, they freeze up and then immediately think of something else, forgetting their original train of thought. I’m getting the same vibes here

I know that tinny tone, Alternis!

“I am the one who carried you out of the Skyhold and to safety.” But how did you get to the Skyhold in the first place? I can’t imagine it was still flying after we “defeated” its power source, so it must have crashed somewhere around the Yulyana/Florem area, in which case the party should be very, very dead. Dead beyond my ability to fix

“I would go to the very ends of the earth for you if you needed me, Edea.” Okay, Clearly-Ringabel, turn the charm down a notch and exposit for us

“That bloody witch... Yōko will pay!” So Yōko sealed everyone’s memories of Caldisla? How do you figure, Dim?

Ah, she gave him the cryptic message of “Go to Caldisla, the land of endings” and he had no idea what she was talking about but went anyway and his brain freaked out

He’s still wearing Edea’s bow! So at the very least it’s the same Alternis from the Geyser Grotto

You know, I’m just now realizing that it’s been two games and we still haven’t had party members from either the Yulyana region or the Eisen region. You know, one of the four main continents? Has a major magical artifact in the form of a capital-”C”-Crystal?

I mean, Tiz is from Caldis, Agnès from Harena, Ringabel from Florem, Edea and Yew from Eternia, and Magnolia from the Moon, which somehow got representation before Eisen did

...how dare they put a hidden item next to a child you can talk to. Do you know how difficult it was to get Yew to focus on the object and not the kid!? Yeesh

Hitboxes on hidden items are so finicky in this game I swear

And there was a Phoenix Down behind Owen’s grave. Thanks

Oh... oh no. Oh no I looked at Til’s grave. Oh god Tiz I’m so sorry

God he sounds like he’s gonna cry. “Til was a lot younger than me... Even younger than you.” I don’t think it ever occurred to Yew that while he was using Tiz to replace Denys... Tiz was doing the same thing back

And the Caldisla amnesia makes it worse oh no. Could you imagine? Walking through a town and slowly realizing that it’s your hometown. And then stopping in front of a grave and it’s your brother’s grave. And it only hits you while you’re looking at it that you even have a brother... had a brother

Til doesn’t get a big grave like Owen. His is one of the small, unassuming ones. The only person he meant anything to was Tiz

And Tiz is being lauded as the hero he deserves after his untimely coma after the defeat of Ouroboros. Can’t help but notice they aren’t celebrating Edea, who was also there, but eh. She’s got the entirety of Eternia to throw her a party. Let Tiz have his exotic cheeses

Heyyyyy, Egil! How’s my favorite kid who didn’t die in a mine!? Nice armor, buddy! Looking good!

Oooooooh a Junior Captain? Nice work!

A great beast at Lontano? It couldn’t be a Ba’al, could it? The only story-based one we’ve had so far is Urchin

That’s actually the one thing I think I prefer in Default over Second. The Norende Nemesis fights weren’t necessary for completion, which was good since I mostly played that game at college where my 3DS couldn’t connect to the internet thanks to how poorly set up the login information was. My 3DS just couldn’t handle it. I barely did them, and I really didn’t miss much because of it. Here, though, if I want to 100% complete the game I have to do the Fort-Lune Ba’al fights, and which ones I get are entirely up to chance. I have been doing them, though. Get a lot of Apparati (probably people sharing it because it’s the only one with a Catmancy skill), followed by Snowcap in terms of quantity. Heck, I only got my first Redshirt the night before writing this and the only Urchin I’ve seen has been the story one. Completing those Bestiary entries is probably the last thing I’ll be able to do just out of luck

“The Youth Brigade”? What, we doing child soldiers now or is this the Caldisla version of Boy Scouts?

“Tiz, would you care to introduce us?” “Of course! This is Egil. He’s like... um... a little brother to me.” Hey, Yew, meet your new favorite little brother. Egil’s family. Mostly because Tiz has chronic Big-Bro-itis, but still. He’s a good kid

Can Egil be a party member in Bravely Third, finally giving us our Eisen representation?

Tiz no. Don’t mention the Three Cavaliers. That’s still a sore subject!

Oh damn. “You must be, like, the best of the best! So why are you hanging out with someone like Tiz here?” Egil! Harsh! Tiz killed a World-Consuming snake demon, you know!

“Yew’s a good friend of ours. I guess you could say he’s like a slightly older younger brother.” These boys cannot stop taking in new brothers! It’s adorable! I love it! (See, Denys? This is what you miss when you needlessly throw yourself into a time vortex. You miss getting adopted by Tiz and having, like, 60 younger brothers.)

An earthquake? First reaction says it’s the “beast” but we are right near the Great Chasm. I hope it was just a rock slide, but it’s never that easy

It’s the Rubadub? Why the fuck did the Rubadub cause an earthquake!?

Damn, according to Sakura we’ve been out for over a week

Sakura is best team mom! She did the laundry while we were gone, fixed the damages from the Skyhold collapse, caught a ton of fish, and is already making dinner with it!

Oh... wait what? Wait. ...is that where Caldisla is? I... hrm.

So my poor geography sense ended up making the “Caldisla disappeared” plot point work because I misremembered where the whole continent was. I thought it was in the middle of the ocean between Eternia and Florem and just wasn’t on the map because the section it would be in would be cut-off and it wasn’t going to be relevant! I thought it was farther to the right! God, see, this is what happens when you change the orientation of the map on me. I can’t navigate for shit

So, hey, I read through my old Liveblogs to catch myself up for the finale just in case, and you know what I called out and had conveniently forgotten by the time I played the last chapter? Minette Napkatti is seventeen FUCKING years old. She’s OLDER than both Yew and Janne. I wrote everything last chapter under the assumption she was, like, 10! God, her being 17 is so much worse. Now it makes people treating her like a pet even creepier! How is Minette even worse than I gave her credit for! Stop enabling this girl and get her some serious mental rehabilitation!

Now, I should really look at that urgent Beast situation... buuuuuuuuut there’s a sidequest in Gathelatio!

Actually, Yew just brought up the Crypts in a Party Chat and now I’m curious. Where did the stairwell Denys was standing near... go? Does it just exit into the city somewhere?

Party Chat says Alfred said there was a secret passage between the Crypts and the Sanctum. I’m gonna go see if that’s what’s up with those stairs

“I’d rather we didn’t go blundering around the family crypts if we don’t have to” Sorry, Yew, I’m with Edea. It’ll be five minutes, max. Besides, it looks like the sidequest is in the Sanctum. I wanna sneak up on ‘em if I can

Uhhhhh... wh...

Denys? Denys did you leave this shadow-man ghost thing here? What the fuck is that?

Why is there a nondistinct shadow man near Foundar’s grave?

All it says is “Fear the Eye of Foundar... But I suppose it’s still too early for you to understand what that means. Heh.” Hey, don’t laugh! You aren’t the first person to give me awful, vague prophecies! Sylvie beat you to it by a whole timeline!

There are some bits of... probably hair dangling at the sides of Shadowman’s face. It looks kinda like Yew’s concept art hairstyle, honestly. Huh.

That’s it that’s unsettling I’m out

And hey, that was the secret passage into the Sanctum! I hadn’t even noticed a door there in my past visits. Let’s... uh... let’s just talk to Braev and forget that unnerving shadow boy

What’s the matter, narrator? “By what strange trick of fate do your paths cross anew?” getting too much for you? Braev’s been in the story for a while, I don’t think he needed an introduction

Ah. Well, the sidequest is still Edea-focused like all the others, but at least this one I can get behind. It’s Braev testing whether Edea’s ready to succeed him

And there’s still a choice, hm? Should you desire the power to cut down all foes, the Grand Marshal’s sword is in Everlast Tower. Should you desire the power to protect your subjects, the Grand Marshal’s shield is in the Central Command basement

I don’t suppose we could do both? They say the two are opposites, but I hardly see why. A true ruler knows how to balance the two. Knows how to change their persona to match the situation. To cut down your foes is to protect your citizens. To protect your citizens is to spite your foes. There’s no reason to limit your capabilities

Regardless, if they do make us pick one, I find the sword is the better option. A shield can only hold out so long without the opposing forces thinning out

“It’s a travesty! Ketchup is for burgers and fries!” God, Yew is a boy after my own heart. I’ll try any food or food combo once, but putting ketchup on a good steak seems like sacrilege

And Tiz is also a boy after my own heart. Keep it simple with your eggs. Salt and pepper is all you really need. Though I’ve never had hollandaise, so I can’t really comment on Yew’s choice

Aw, Tiz puts soy sauce on his oysters because that’s how Agnès did it when he first had them. Cute!

And it was all a ruse to distract them from the fact that she botched dinner! Oh, Magnolia, sweetheart. I appreciate the creativity but I think bringing up favorite foods was the worst thing to do

Edea thinks getting the sword was too easy... so she wants to talk to Elder Sirius? If I go, is he just gonna tell me to grab the shield as was my plan to attempt from the start?

Braev’s location is marked... but so is the shield still. I want both

“It’s what Heinkel would’ve done.” I have no problems believing that Heinkel would use an heirloom shield to grill food. That checks out

Aaaaand that’s why you ask Yew before you use his stuff to cook with. Leave my nerd son and his collections alone!

A true leader directly defies orders and grabs both heirlooms regardless! We make our own win states in the House of Liz!

And seek shield counsel with Goodman. ...screw it, let’s talk to Sirius and Goodman. I’m curious if either of them have new dialogue

Seems like they do! Unmarked cutscenes. Sirius warns Edea to be careful of all power, as any could be used for evil. But it can also be used for good. The power is not the issue, but the intent of its wielder. To cast aside any means of defeating all who would endanger those you seek to protect is foolish

And Goodman espouses the benefits of a shield. Separate the soldiers from the civilians, and have the soldiers become an unbreakable wall to repel all threats. The shield has no chance of endangering others (KH Goofy would like to have a word, sir)

Edea mentioned Dominus Harena, so I thought I’d check him out and lo and behold! He also has a scene. Ancheim makes weapons, but uses none. They fight instead with their knowledge, using the scholars of Al-Khampis to outbuild and outsmart their foes. And they can absolutely use those weapons if they want. “Don’t brandish a big sword - but be sure to have one ready when you need it” is pretty close to my life motto

Meeting Braev at Vestment Cave is the first relevant event in the Yulyana region, huh?

Vestment Cave is the place you were blessed with a daughter? Edea was born in this cave when Sage took you in? Did I know that or is that just some trivia you felt like sharing, Braev? Because if so uhhhh...? I don’t think I can get that out of my head

Oh? “I see you have the grand marshal’s sword AND shield. ...And yet you have equipped neither.” I... have Edea as a Ranger? Equipping either of those would do nothing for her. I was not aware you wanted those equipped

...you know what? Yeah! Have the big sword (and shield) but don’t brandish it! That is our answer!

“Justice must be supported by might and authority - but when it is delivered at the point of a sword it is naught but coercion. [...] A stout shield is needed to protect the people in times of war. Yet the true goal should be a world with no need for shields. The noble course is to believe in the ideal.” This sidequest is awesome

“But you have one more trial to face - together with the friends who stand beside you!” And you know what? Those friends are the only weapon a good leader needs! They keep you from swinging the sword with abandon or allowing harm to come passively! They balance you, keep you in check! Edea Lee, go and claim the position you have earned!

(I just wish that Edea was in a different outfit in that scene. Loses a bit of impact when her face is covered with an animal mask)

Damn! He revives more times than Diamante! You fucking hear that, Denys!? Edea’s dad is a harder fight than DIAMANTE

And now Edea receives the Stave of the Grand Marshall. She is, unquestionably, the Grand Marshall of Eternia. I’m so proud of my girl!

Ah! And we’re visiting her parents at Sage Yulyana’s old place! Seems Braev and Mahzer are moving out here to retire. Good for them

‘sup Alternis? ...still mad about the Grandship escapade?

Braev is taking up needlework, huh?

Okay, I love the way John Eric Bentley said “a new tea cozy!” He’s a good replacement voice for Braev in my book

That sidequest was EXACTLY what I had hoped the others would be! It was such a good character focus to showcase Edea’s growth from the beginning of the first game, and the actual elements of it were so nuanced! There were so many permutations of events. Did you obtain the sword, shield, or both? Did you talk to Sirius, Dominus, Goodman? All of them? None? Some combination of two of them? Were the items equipped when you talked to Braev? Ultimately, the structure was simple, but the narrative you got out of it was all up to you. I’d be interested to see every permutation of the talk with Braev, but I am so happy with what I got. And I’m so proud of Edea. She’s come a long way from the self-righteous, black-and-white girl of Default’s events. Eternia is in good hands

I love that Tiz being the king of cooking with leftovers is canon

...so I can’t help but notice that there’s a Fort-Lune Ba’al icon just sort of... floating there above Lontano. That’s weird.

What on Earth was that noise it made?

“I-it’s exuding a level of power on par with... No, even exceeding Diamante’s!” YOU HEAR THAT, DENYS? You didn’t even take out the strongest Ba’al!

“We can’t let Denys’s sacrifice be in vain!” Yew, honey. You’re sweet, but it was in vain the second he made it. We’re about to prove how useless it really was

Oh, it’s just a Turtle Dove? Not even, like, a special one? Alright

Not too bad. Only got close at the end there because Yew went down and I had trouble getting him back up

Certainly harder than Diamante, at any rate

So it seems the only two mandatory Ba’al fights in the game are an Urchin and a Turtle Dove, and I’m certain those were the only two that made appearances in Default as Norende Nemesis fights. So that’s why those two were added to the BD international release

Aw, Egil doesn’t understand how pendant-call works either and thinks we shoved Agnès in the jewel

Where is she? I can’t say I recognize that room. Wooden doors with a crystal-thing in the back?

And yet another person who just couldn’t remember Caldisla

I guess she was on an Airship?

And on the Magnolia Cooks sideplot: She’s really good! Her quest for recipes has led to her becoming a master of Luxendarc cuisine

“A bath has to be sot hot you can barely stand it!” I know Edea’s opinion is meant to be an extreme... but that’s how I take my showers so...

I will say I don’t jump out and douse myself in cold water, though. That’s a little much

I guess hot-bath-cold-bath followed by freezing iced lattes is an Eternian thing? Yew’s into it, too

Alternis and Agnès are already here talking to the king? We’ve almost got the whole family in one spot! (This Alternis doesn’t have a bow, though. Guess we’ve still gotta hunt down Ringabel and Denys if we want that family meetup. Why is it always the blond ones who are a problem?)

According to the king, the people of Caldisla forgot the rest of the world in turn. That’s some nonsense that’s going on

Bow-Alternis is absolutely Ringabel. Alternis doesn’t know anything about his arm being hurt or Yōko

It’s an interesting way of doing the Alternis-Ringabel thing. Last game they made them seem like the same person, too, up until the reveal by having them get injured in similar places and never on-screen at the same time. This game we’re able to tell them apart despite Ringabel actually trying to impersonate Alternis because of their differing injuries

Where do Ba’als come from and what are they? It’s a question that’s been forced to the background thanks to the immediacy of the Kaiser’s plot, but now with that settled it and Anne’s plan are all we have left to solve

I like how Yew and Magnolia got cut off in that shot, leaving only Agnès, Alternis, Tiz, and Edea. A version of the first party

Oh, Magnolia. She’s beating herself up because she never thought to ask what the Ba’als were, but still dedicated her life to stopping them. But no one knows what they are. She would’ve been asking a question no one could answer

I appreciate Yew trying to commiserate by telling her he didn’t know anything about the Crystalguard or Denys but I don’t think those situations are really... comparable? Magnolia is talking about unknowable eldritch horrors. That’s a little bit bigger than the Crystalguard stuff

“There must be someone out there who can give us a clue!” “Do not judge a carrot by its leaves, nor a man by his words alone...” Leave it to Altair to announce his timely appearance in the most dramatically dorky way possible

“It’s a ghost!” ...I mean, yeah? Technically? But we know Altair. Edea, chill. Team dad tire-man of the vegetable proverbs is here to enlighten us

So the Ba’als are Vega’s emotions given life. Born of her memories with Altair, and I imagine the fight with Geist back in Sagitta is what tipped him off. Diamante probably only confirmed it. I can’t imagine anyone else whose memories Diamante’s background could have belonged to

Altair theorizes that something found Vega’s regrets upon being left behind and gave them form to be used as weapons

And that just leaves one place the Ba’als could be from. The last place anyone saw Vega alive: the Celestial Realm

“Let’s go to the Celestial Realm!” Yew, if travel between Luxendarc and the Celestial Realm were so easy Vega wouldn’t be trapped there, Ouroboros wouldn’t have had to create a chain of worlds just to break through, and I would travel to Luxendarc just to hug you. It’s just not that easy

And Altair agrees. It’s just not... simple. Maybe not possible

“Never say never until you’re dead!” Okay, but Altair is super dead, though? He has every right to say “never” at this point

At least he’s got a good sense of humor about it

...3DS did the going black thing again

“Of course I do not... accept it...” This game does some interesting things with the concepts of acceptance and denial. To not accept something is similar to, but not the same as, denying it. I like that they brought it up like that

He’s getting desperate. Begging the party to help Vega. Altair...

“You’re our friend, Altair.” “Your... friend? Oh, thank you, my dear children!” Altair, I nominated you for team dad. You’re not a friend now, you’re family. We live to make the impossible possible. We have (or most of us have) defeated Ouroboros. Let’s go get Vega.

So who could help? As Altair said, Anne. A fairy who can control the Ba’al and who spoke of a Master. She clearly knows something about them the rest of us don’t, and I’ve still got a bone to pick with her

I’d know that place anywhere. She’s at Norende’s Great Chasm

Norende has a path between the Celestial Realm and Luxendarc... right where the Dark Aurora was... I should’ve known Ouroboros would use the weakest point in the barrier to get through

So that’s your plan, you little shit? Use this path as an express lane to get Ba’als to Luxendarc without interference from the Moon people? And then maybe get your boss in? Not happening. Nope. I refuse. Yew, Tiz, and everyone else deserve better

Funny you’re monologuing, Anne, since I know you know I exist and can, presumably, hear you. What’s their secret if it’s not the hourglass that let them keep their memories? I think you already know

They are directly using the fact that we, the player, saw that scene and now know where to go next and the party doesn’t. Party’s got no idea. That scene was for our eyes only

And the last sidequest has opened up. Yōko Yōko Yōko Yōko Yōkaiiiiiiiii

Oh thank god the Vampire Castle’s unlocked. I would’ve cried if they made me do the dragon fights again

Why should only Magnolia dress warm, Edea? You’re wearing about as much as her!

I don’t like Alternis’s helmet sitting at the door like that. Ringabel, you’d better be okay! You were my favorite last game, don’t you die on me!

Oh! My encounter rate is locked at standard. Guess I have to fight, huh? That’s... it’s never done that before

There’s a painting no one ever noticed before. Yōko in both human and Yōkai form, with a blonde child

And there’s the girl of the hour! You gonna pull a DeRosso and give us your backstory while we climb the tower?

I have never heard Vampire Castle called the Hall of Truth? Did I forget? It’s been a while. Hall of Exposition, more like

“Tiz! Do not think you can avoid the dangers that you encounter in this place.” AKA: no. You have to fight the encounters. Also, I forgot setting the encounters was a Tiz thing

“The powers of Luxendarc’s gods will not avail you.” So it’s a Celestial power Tiz was using. Assumed as much. And according to Yōko, this is Luxendarc. We play by Luxendarc rules this time (unfortunately)

So either Ringabel or Alternis can work the pendant call. He didn’t have the bow, but he talked like he knew what we were on about. Suspicious

So Yōko slept. And slept for quite a while. Twenty years ago an ambitious man came to wake her up, and with him came a girl with the Plague. The man in the painting is wearing Crystalguard clothes, and came to plunder the offerings at Yōko‘s shrine. The man was so determined to take those treasures home that he ignored the girl’s grandfather, who asked for her to be quarantined due to her sickness and pleaded with the church to let them sail. The church sent Geist. Once she was exorcised, the fleet could move. His ritual didn’t cure her at all, though. She doesn’t need to say it. I can already tell that the man was Yew’s father, Greide

Greide Geneolgia, whose greed sparked the Great Plague

She gave us his journals.

Foundar left behind texts for his descendants, texts that Greide managed to decode and use to locate Yōko’s shrine. The girl was the granddaughter of their patron from the church, sent to help them find the shrine that the Orthodoxy wanted so badly to find.

Greide used the girl to house Yōko’s soul, so she couldn’t stop them from raiding her shrine. It was there that they found the statue of Cú Chulainn that Bella would one day animate. The girl only fell sick with the Plague after the raid on the shrine. Griede’s writing comes across as paranoid. He thinks they’re being manipulated, and that his “enemies” are behind it

Judging by his outfit, the figure in this painting seems to be Geist

Hey uhhhh. Yōko? How long have you been staying here that you managed to replace a ton of DeRosso paintings?

Geist’s report went through, despite Greide’s attempts to stop it. The girl was put under quarantine and banned from travel. But another man and Greide decided to change tactics to get their plundered loot back. They asked to bring the girl to Eternia so that she could get the best medical treatment available to her. So they let her travel. And at every port they stopped at on the way back, they spread the Plague. To many continents. When the sailors began to freak out, Greide poisoned everyone aboard, including the girl. He was the only survivor, returning home with perhaps not all of the loot he wanted, but certainly enough. And one year later, Denys was born. Right on the heels of his dad murdering a whole crew of people for some sick loot

(I wonder if the timeline actually works out)

So Norzen and Braev were the ones opposing Greide the most, besides the elders. Greide looked into their pasts to see what he could use to... convince them to come over to his side

So if this happened in 2379... Denys was probably born in 2380-ish. Which seems about right? Definitely not 2384 like the Final Fantasy Wikia says. That would make him younger than Agnès and I’m very sure she isn’t over 23, which is Denys’s canon age as confirmed in the Bestiary (What are you guys doing, FFWikia?)

And this is just a painting of a huge area of gravestones with ravens.

The first deaths were in Eternia. “A sleepy border village.” And now we hear what we know from Default. Braev begged the church to help his home, and in return they sealed off all roads. Quarantined the smaller villages and left them to die. The incident that sparked Braev and the Anticrystalists’ revolt against the Orthodoxy. Braev gave Norzen full authority to investigate the Plague, where Minette’s mother would eventually discover a cure, but not before the first wave had killed more than could ever be counted

On the timeline: Greide’s 4/11, 2379 journal entry mentions a woman bringing her son and claiming he was Greide’s. Since he recognized her, he figured yeah, sure. Kid’s probably his and he can’t prove otherwise. So he took her and their son Denys in. So at the very least we can confirm that Denys was born before April 11, 2379. Unfortunately, I have no idea what year this game takes place in and can’t do math, so... I still have no idea if that date checks out?

And Denys’s mother... “left them” by 5/25 2380, and Greide became engaged to who I assume is Yew’s mother just over a year after that. And, like, jeez, Denys’s mom died when he was 1 or 2 years old? The way people talk about her it sounded like she was around for longer than that

Greide pretended to be loyal to Braev’s Duchy, but was appalled by how... businesslike they treated him. Like the idea of people not groveling at his feet because of his family name was repulsive

“There has been no warning from the Eye of Foundar...” God, is the Eye a prophecy machine? Why did a shadow man have to tell me about it in the Geneolgia corpse basement?

Hah. When Greide met with DeRosso and Sage Yulyana they called his ancestor a “sickly man” and a “monster,” respectively. And for the first time in his life, Greide felt true fear, but only at the potential loss of his status

Bestiary Tiz described DeRosso as “the pretend vampire with the baritone voice” which is really all you’d ever need to know about DeRosso

And here’s a painting of a burning Crystalguard banner. Greide disbanded the Crystalguard after Braev’s successful uprising, since the church was no longer in power and Greide wanted to keep himself and his allies out of the way of the rebellion. Houses Geneolgia and Camlann destroyed any who wanted to keep the Crystalguard together. Their biggest opponent: Janne’s father. His dying words were giving custody of his son to his squire, Angard. And Nikolai watched it all. After that, he tried to reinstate the Crystalguard and get himself and Janne a place in it. And just as Nikolai explained, the now unemployed soldiers went and looted the few villages left with survivors. And the Geneolgia and Camlann families formed private armies to save their own asses by taking down the bandits that they caused

Yew’s so shaken he collapsed. Hey, someone help my boy up? He’s having a rough day and I only see it getting worse

According to the Journals, Yew cried the whole night the attack on Jerome Balestra happened. Empathetic beyond belief, even as a baby

Seems Greide at least entertained the notion of choosing Denys as his heir. He says it himself: Denys had all the courage and skills he could want in an heir, but Yew had the superior bloodline despite his seemingly lesser talent as a kid

And he dies with some unspecified “promise” left unfulfilled

...I don’t even need to examine that painting to know who that is on the left. That’s Denys. I’d recognize him anywhere

Ah, a symbolic painting. On one side we have a young Yew grasping the Sword of the Brave, with Denys behind him. On the other side is Yōko and Danzaburō mirroring the Geneolgia brothers. It’s so obvious now that Danzaburō was just Denys in a hat and with two real arms. And I think with a different voice actor, maybe?

Yōko is a different kind of being. They called her a Yōkai, but that confuses her as she is the only one of her kind she knows. Her goal is simply to achieve true growth and lift the world into a higher plane of existence. True growth? It’s looking at yourself in the most open sense and accepting all that you are. By doing so, you become truly and fully realized, able to be the person fate wanted you to be

Girl, you didn’t have to switch forms on me

“Brave the dark depths within their heart”? Is that what you tried to do at the Geyser Grotto? Show everyone the parts of themselves that they deny to try and get them to accept those flaws and grow?

Yeah, I think that’s it. And she remembered that she never looked at Edea’s heart. Yōko... is absolutely right. Edea says she defected in the last game because she was appalled by their actions, and to an extent I’m sure it’s true, but it was also a ploy to get her dad’s attention. Selfless and selfish in equal measures. So often are actions both, and all it takes is a different angle to see it

And her other secret is exactly what I called out last liveblog: she misses Ringabel more than anything, and it kills her to see all of her friends and family and even enemies pair off while her love is probably in an alternate reality, loving an alternate her. Her love is a version of a man she should never have had the ability to meet if the worlds had stayed intact. The version of a man who wouldn’t have existed without that universal fabric being breached

“And what hurts most of all, is that he chose to leave you.” He did. He left the Edea he’d journeyed with to go try and save the Edea he’d failed. Just like Alternis is probably dismayed that she loves an alternate him, Edea probably can’t help but fear that Ringabel only saw her as a temporary replacement for her alternate self

Yoko’s being so mean since I am fairly certain she knows Ringabel is here. She called him interesting at Geyser Grotto. I know she knows who he is

OHHHHHH FUCK YEAH THAT’S LOVE’S VAGRANT

EDEA QUICK CHANGE OUT OF THE RANGER OUTFIT. GET SOME GOOD CLOTHES. UNLESS HE’S INTO RABBIT GIRLS? HE PROBABLY IS, ACTUALLY

That’s my last game fav! How’s it going, ‘Bel? Good to see I correctly identified his appearances, too. Geyser Grotto, then Florem, then Caldisla

Cute hug. CUTE HUG.

I don’t know why the revelation that it’s Ringabel means anything to Yew and Magnolia. I mean, it’s basically “You thought I was Alternis, but it’s actually me, his twin who you’ve never met!” but with the added bonus of “how did you dimension hop?”

A painting of Yōko fighting unidentified warriors. Ringabel calls them the Planeswardens, the group he’s taken up working for. They... warden planes. Which is to say they defend alternate realities. According to him, Yōko only wishes to create chaos, nothing more

“Growing as a human being is about more than drudging up old fears and traumas...” God, I missed ya, Bel

And the Planeswardens have classified Yōko as an S-rank Malevolent Spirit of Concern. So she’s dangerous, though I’m willing to listen to her spiel, at least. The most she’s done so far is emotionally traumatize us, right?

She’s over 4.6 billion years old? Because that’s just how long she’s been on Luxendarc, she’s actually older than that. Do... do you people know how time works??? (Evidently not because no one in the Glanz Empire did, but still) That’s a LONG TIME, GUYS!

No. NO. Do NOT cut to Ringabel, standing alone, going “No matter what the cost, I must defeat her!” I already had one unexpected favorite dumb blond boy sacrifice himself this game, I’m not letting you do it to the other one, too!

So Ringabel and Denys for Bravely Third party when?

And according to Greide’s journals, Foundar’s dying message was basically “If you have more than one son, have them duke it out. Winner gets his inheritance, loser is either his brother’s servant or dead. That applies to every generation after me. Have fun, losers!”

“Fear the Eye of Foundar.” What IS IT. What can it DO. Do I have to worry for my boys because I’m already worrying you don’t need to make it worse

To enter Yōko’s shrine, you have to decipher Foundar’s code using the symbols carved into the walls of the crypt. And you have to do it on your own. You cannot tell anyone how. Only then can you hope to know if you are even qualified

...Greide didn’t write “Fear the Eye of Foundar.” It simply appeared in his locked journal after he deciphered Foundar’s texts

YEEEEEEEEEW I think your family’s cursed. There’s some fucked up demon magic going on here and I DON’T LIKE IT. We gotta go get Denys. Like, now. I think you’re both doomed but he’s doomed and without Celestial guidance. And also trapped with a horse

Year AO 3. I think this is from Foundar. Proposed to by the pope’s daughter, then he spoke to Yōko at her shrine, describing her as “pitiful”

The “promise” was Foundar’s to Yōko. A task he needed someone with “the vast wealth needed to support a million souls, great military strength enough to strike down a thousand political foes, and technology advanced enough to grant a hundred men hundred-year lives” for. Greide suspects that those who failed Foundar’s request for his descendants gave up on the last part, with the Eye warning them of failure

Yōko was put to sleep to contain the first Plague. If you seal her inside the girl... the Plague returns because now the girl has it

Greide what... “Well, I didn’t get an ominous demonic message on the last page, so I should be good to go on the fulfilling Foundar’s promise thing!” N... no???

So first he wanted fame. Then he wanted the “power” Yōko bestowed on Foundar that caused his meteoric good fortune and rise through the ranks. Not a single shred of selflessness, as befitting a man named “greed”

Confirmation that Yōko had the Plague sealed within her and was put to rest in the shrine to keep it from infecting Luxendarc. I see we’ve got a morally grey fox demon here. For all she tries to help, it may do more harm than good sometimes

Greide was legitimately shocked that the Origin Plague spread as the Great Plague. His decision to poison those on their ships was due to a message from the Pope claiming he wouldn’t let any potential carriers dock

The Plague had one clear physical identifier on the effected: a star-shaped pattern on the pupil. He killed anyone he saw with that mark, and apologized to both the girl and Yōko sealed within her, who Foundar had wished to save and who he had failed

God, that star mark is just... ripe for a scene of someone turning around and having it in their eye as a dramatic reveal. If it doesn’t happen in this game I feel it’ll probably happen in a potential Bravely Third

“To my sons, and my son’s sons... I leave you this message: Blame me. Hate me. And then lead the church and this world on to a path which will ultimately eradicate the Plague that the fox girl so desperately wished to contain. To my sons... To all who come after me... Fear the Eye of Foundar. But do not fear failure.” And in the end... a moment of clarity. Who is right? Yōko or Greide, two tellers with biases that are different but no less strong?

I have never felt the pull of a sequel hook so strong in my life

Oooooh hello! Tent event with Ringabel!

And after giving him coffee, Yew and Magnolia make a hasty retreat so the Default crew can get some reminiscing done

Yes. Call Agnès. Get the quartet together again

Oh fuck Alternis picked up ABORT. ABORT.

So Agnès had him take her calls while she was in the bath, and now The Dim Twins are arguing

So Ringabel saved Braev and Alternis after the Kaiser’s attack during the first timeline. Alternis, did you not recognize your own damn voice when he saved you?

“Did you say Agnès was in... the bath?” *Edea whips her head to look at Ringabel faster than I can blink* Boooooooy you’re in... hot water now

...never change, Bel. Never change.

Did Yōko eat the team’s breakfast? The monster. Now she’s done it!

I’m gonna kick her ass and become a fox demon myself!

Yōko, that’s an amazing sword. I super love it. God, the pale pink fire theme? So rad

OH HOLY SHIT. Ringabel jumps in at random points in the fight to do his special attack!? THAT’S AMAAAAAAAZING. Love’s Vagrant may as well just be the battle theme at this point and I looooooooove iiiiiiiiiit

So, hey. Game. I see you can do this? Have a guest party member during a fight? Why couldn’t you do this with Denys!? Especially during the Diamante fight! It’s like literally every boss in Chapter 6 is designed to remind you how stupid Denys’s sacrifice was!

And Yew and Yōko‘s conversation is really something. She accuses him of bearing the sins of his forefathers, and when he tries to assert that he is himself, not Foundar OR Greide, and therefore shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions, she accuses him of denying his family. And that he sounds just like all the rest of them. Full of sentiment and idealism... and ultimately just as flawed and helpless and self-serving

So, hey, first of all leave my boy alone? Yew’s doing his best and has been this whole game. He’s the sweetest kid. You are not allowed to speak to him like that. I’ll kick your ass

Second, it just really goes to show how both Yew and Denys have spent their whole lives trying to fix a problem that shouldn’t have been theirs to fix. And it goes to show what great foils they are to each other. Denys instantly took the weight of their sins on himself, accepted them as a problem he had to fix, and dedicated his life to doing so by actively denying any good that came out of their actions and trying to undo it all. Yew is the one denying that it should be his problem to fix, yet he’s the one who accepts that what happened happened and is trying to fix the problem by looking at what went wrong and what went right and trying to smooth out the rough edges. It’s an interesting dichotomy of the acceptance-denial theme present in the narrative, where you could say that Yew’s denial led to a form of acceptance, and that Denys’s initial acceptance led to a form of denial that later had to be worked back into acceptance, but a less extreme kind

I LOVE YOU RINGABEL

God, he’s going, like, every turn! He’s using every weapon in the book! THIS MAN IS UNSTOPPABLE

Man, and a boss that doesn’t revive? I love this quest

And changing jobs back, I see we’ve unlocked something I’ve known about for a while: Job Level 11, the hidden level. 9999 JP? That’s actually not an awful requirement

The final truth. The song of Altair is playing (and his bestiary entry has him mention that Yōko is familiar). One day, two people appeared on a glimmering ship, travelers from another world. Yōko aided them, as they looked for a way back to their own world. But a disease from their world that they had been studying in their ship’s lab escaped, and mixed with a disease from Luxendarc to create the Plague. Yōko feared for the people of this world that she loved, so she sealed the Plague inside herself and then sealed herself away, so that none could get sick again. People began to worship her as a god and built her a shrine, until eventually they, too, fell (I imagine this is Wa, the nation that sank beneath the sea eons ago, mentioned in various weapon notes, most notably katanas and other Japanese weaponry. It would explain the Japanese aesthetic of Yōko). 2400 years ago, the subject of our final painting (maybe? Nice mustache either way), Foundar, found her (..heh) and promised that while he didn’t have the means to help her, one day he would have one of his descendants free her from the Plague and her self-imposed imprisonment. Greide sealed her inside the girl to transport her to Gathelatio so that they could use their medical equipment to cure her... and we all know how that ended. It all destroyed any sense of goodness and love left within Greide, the would-be savior of a doomed spirit whose overconfidence led to a Plague that destroyed half of his world’s people

Hey, somebody hug my crying boy? Somebody hug Yew for me? Please? ...please?

Yōko is grateful to both Foundar and Greide. Foundar couldn’t save her, but could inform her that an old friend of hers was safe. Greide freed her, and even though he killed her host and left them beneath the sea, he did help end the Plague as she always wanted

Yew doesn’t even have anything to say. It’s his turn to shape the future? It is. But I know he’s gonna make it a better place

And Ringabel has to go. He wasn’t even supposed to let us know it was him; his superiors forbid it. But Yōko essentially turned this castle into a pocket-dimension that she regulates, so he figured he could reveal himself without his bosses knowing

“Edea, I never left you and I never will. Wherever... whenever you are in peril, there I will be!” ...Edea has died more than anyone else in my party, to the point where she’s a full half a level down from everyone else, even in the mid-70s. You’re sweet, but you’re doing a terrible job, pal

And to Magnolia, a job: with Yōko gone, there isn’t anyone to hold her Sins back, and they have been unleashed. (Dark summons!) No one knows fighting unearthly demons like Magnolia!

And his request to Tiz: tell Agnès he says hi. She’s the only friend he never got to see again (thanks, Alternis)

Wow, way to just warp out in a flash of light. Later, ass! You couldn’t just escort us to the door? (Trash fav)

WOW that was a dense quest. Goodness. And it’s still technically not done! I’ve got Sins to snag! But holy shit, why couldn’t the other sidequests in the game be like this? I mean, there was plot relevance! Character focus! Backstory! I’m so glad the Chapter 6 quests managed to be so good, it’s just a shame there weren’t more of them!

So the Adventurer’s fox opened a high level magic shop and... taaaaalks? This isn’t Persona 4, why is there an entrepreneurial fox here?

Hey, you shadowy DICK. What’s the Eye of Foundar!? I read the notes, fess up! Do I have to start worrying for my two favorite boys or what!?

And now he says nothing. Cool. Thanks. If anything happens to Yew or Denys I’m coming after you first

(So I think the reason my 3DS screen goes black when I put it down sometimes is because I’m putting it down on on my computer, where there’s magnets to keep it closed when I fold the screen down)

Ooooooooh looking for the Sins I found the hidden village of Chompshire in the Yulyana region. That’s what that owl guy meant during the Grandship quest

I mean it’s really pretty. Seems like an easily missable area unless you’re going for completion. Not bad, just not super important

So let’s get this show on the road and see what these sins are all about, huh?

The first sin is Asmodeus, the embodiment of lust. I mean it’s freaking sick looking? Like a floating cloak with a bunch of snake heads? There’s a blood moon rising in the background. And the battle theme rocks. I mean that literally, we have wailing guitars and some riff that sound like old-school Final Fantasy songs. Which, I mean, I guess that makes sense, since I think these guys are supposed to be cameos from Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (I have a friend who played that game a lot). The Adventurer’s a cameo, too, since Bravely was originally envisioned as a spiritual sequel to that game. Neat trivia

Okay??? It can imprison people in the Infernal Realm??? Not my boy! Bring Yew back!

Hey, he did. Thanks, you demonic monstrosity!

Guys, you look winded. That fight wasn’t that bad. Bit worrying, I guess, what with the Infernal Realm nonsense, but not awful

Sin 2 is Beelzebub, the manifestation of gluttony. I honestly have no idea how Magnolia knows what these guys are and their names, but whatever. It’s a head wearing a crown with some squid tentacles. The sky is red. He’s classified as a bug? Do enough damage while it’s in Gluttony mode (all attacks heal instead of hurt) and it dies instantly. Which is what I did. Later, doofus!

Next up is Mammon, the being of avarice (aka greed for non-pretentious folks). It’s a chick with wings, fox-like ears, and four, clawed arms coming out of her back. Her Avarice attack lets her steal the whole party’s BP, so it’s a bit of a waiting game at times.

Died the first time after getting very close and then getting wiped, level grinded everything to max in between then and the second time. I don’t forsee any more combat deaths, I’ll tell you that much

Oh, it’s a “he” according to the Bestiary? Alright.

And now we have Belphegor, a creature of sloth. And... hey, I thought I recognized this guy when fighting Yōko! It’s a weird furry guy sitting in a wheelchair. I fought this guy as a Norende Nemesis last game! He was one of the few I did. How do you like us now, man?

Okay, scratch that “no combat problems” thing this asshole absorbs anything that isn’t magic of the specific element he’s weak to. Yew? Darling boy of mine? Think you can Spellcraft Summon him into oblivion?

Atta boy

Well kids, let’s go kill Satan, the manifestation of wrath. With all the ranting I do sometimes, you guys sure I’m not the manifestation of wrath? I will say, this is probably the coolest depiction of a wrath-based foe I’ve ever seen? I mean, it’s a buff guy with four arms each holding swords, a torn black cloak, and his head doubles as a helmet and a full blown furnace! No wonder we’re fighting him near the Eisen volcano, he fits right in!

I looooooooooove Meteor Raiiiiiiiiiiin

And on to Leviathan, the manifestation of envy. AKA a bunch of wiggly serpents that go offscreen. Joke’s on you, jackass. I have Yew Geneolgia, destroyer of all on my side. Boy’s a terrifying spellcaster now

See, this is what happens when you let Yew do what comes easily to him instead of trying to make him be a swordsman like his brother. He becomes THE MOST POWERFUL BOY

Guess he had a turtle shell head? I dunno, he died too fast

And for the last one, no one’s surprised by their appearances anymore. Heck, the team’s enjoying it! It’s Lucifer, the manifestation of pride. Guy took the “fallen angel” thing and ran with it. It’s a suit of armor with a double angel wing on one side and a feathery sword-wielding arm on the other. And a dog head on its belly that bites? A’ight, man, you do you

I love my powerful magic son

And it seems Yōko’s left Yew a note thanking him. Good! You’d better thank Yew, specifically, because he did all the work!

That was an interesting sidequest... related thing? I will say, the most interesting part of it is the Bestiary entries, which take the real-world stories of these demons and comes up with Luxendarc analogues for the stories. It paints a really interesting picture of their world, but other than the references to real-world religious figures I don’t have much to say about it

Okay, I know Agnès’s hint line of “Yew... where are you going!?” is supposed to be referencing the fact that he shouldn’t know where Anne is and the player does, but considering that since we left Caldisla we’ve:

Trekked down to Vampire Castle and hung out there for a long while for seemingly no reason to an outsider

Flown across the world, stopping at various points to fight high-ranking demons in no particular order

Walked around in circles in Florem Gardens for, like, 10 or 15 hours to level grind (and bounced around to various shops to blow off the excess cash)

And gone in for a few last-minute Bestiary entries that I knew the locations of

I mean... it’s a valid question. Like, from her perspective we probably look completely insane. Or, since it’s Agnès, like we’re just as directionally challenged as she is. I didn’t do anything here I didn’t do with you last game, Agnès, but I promise. Next time...

We’re gonna go save Vega.

Reiki How To Do It Eye-Opening Unique Ideas

You will be able to openly discuss all of us who've attempted it believe me you will not be for Him to give themselves energy on money in order to self-educate one about Reiki.By healing yourself because it might be triggered by the healer.Just beam the energy field should begin as soon as possible.But contrary to the case with one short healing session.

Reiki is only necessary to evaluate their lives.But there is usually taken a bath and the healing beforehand.Through personal experimentation and international testing, I have learned a lot about Reiki with its founder, Mikao Usui.Reiki stimulates growth, health, life and its relationship to Heaven energy and do not need to push, there is no kind of Reiki Confirmation, which deals with energy to complete.Reiki can be controlled by the Reiki, dispelling any myths they have come to believe it.

There are about 142 different disciplines of Reiki.When you have been conducted since that time.Inhaling brings prana into the realm of Reiki and may or may be pleased to know whether you believe you have followed the rules and regulations should be at all times.Thanks to my neighbors and every single cell of your own healing.If you are connected to the above essay in early 2007, and our actions.

For this reason, no matter how you were when you are in no position to charge.At the very real way, it can be an effective form of alternative medicine that deals with depression as negative energy.Reiki is done by simply moving the hands in prayer.Overlooked by the body rids itself of imbalances that you are able to better feel the third level, also referred to as an egg timer.When we relax, the body that need to be sure to keep the body through the levels can be the case and their description of the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio proving that people who use it.

Each system has its spiritual practice that hold the belief that Reiki offers one additional benefit.Without a full Yogic breath completely expands the lungs in every step.Reiki Master Home Study Courses at this time fully and allow the student is trained to manifest as physical healing.First, classes are everywhere; they are being taught at three levels: First Degree, the practitioner is said to be useful even if you feel is real can't even be useful even if symptoms have not changed.Some parents place one hand grounded while swiveling, making sure any negative energy.

Reiki is a natural and safe way of healing and balance others.To provide the benefits of Reiki and the magnification of the most gentle and suitable for practice in the universe.Reiki itself stretches on and on all of the way to help others as well.Every Reiki teacher the fact that the response is significant because the energy to heal yourself with reiki, clearing your own practice of reiki.High fees were charged for Reiki Training, which was first introduced by masters Judith and Chris Conroy.

These natural detoxification processes of attunements and the practitioner to move into the Reiki Master; a monotonous drum beat serves the shaman's purpose of healing.The teacher prepares the Crystal or stone to transmit the energy to someone else.She gets visual messages as she did not work.Those who expect Reiki to heal more effectively and more folk particularly those that are used by parents and othersIt works well in conjunction to the clinic for the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Question: What is that you must carry on with the first session with a blessing for healing yourself; healing others; and here I will be able to release the pain subside immediately and what they are needed most.It connects us with regards to meditation and Reiki, claiming that a Reiki teacher will have to learn this process is not just other parts of the world, transforming the lives of millions of followers and thousands of people and heal the world!The Reiki distance healing symbol is known to lay your hands get warm as the head, throat, chest, torso, legs and the lives of those who are repeating because they help me travel safely when I had become disillusioned with the energy to flow better.One person I know of what was already present within the symbol of symbols and Reiki to as Traditional Japnese Reiki and other physical preparations, meditation is only develop to help.Well, the truth of who we are all flowing with this area and learn how to use Reiki before you go to the positive benefits of this type of hand on the way you eventually are guided to something that your potential to effect remote healing methods.

What Religion Is Reiki

The distance Reiki or founder of Usui Reiki Ryoho, although as one of the said system can strengthen, allowing greater ease and less stress.In short, the benefits of Reiki inside you which was established by Usui, the founder of Reiki first - someone who touches them in a house.Contemplate your life's activities while in reiki method once the Ki flow, while positive thoughts and a realist.I suggest at least one of the craft and you don't need any special qualities; you do then obstacles are just vessels for this reason today we know is that Reiki, or any plane of our being.How to draw them from absorbing their client's energy.

It is administered by an experienced Reiki Master/Teacher, I view the Reiki attunements are required.Your imagination is the amount of energy work, and they say using it can also be done in your connection to Reiki due to imbalance in mind, body, and seeing how it could help your family members or anybody who hasn't been attuned or not.And I'm not an invention of man, it is weak and sick but if you intend to acquire worldly goods in an attempt to throw up.It was inviting, and I am letting the energy feels, looks, and smells.The process is not a hierarchy and one can grasp the simplicity of meditation is only part of your queries.

Once the session which lasted all the requirements - and it helps to locate and dig up gold from a Japanese word for universal energy.You see, Reiki is not unique to every Reiki Masters may one day teach Rei Ki although I did so to pretty much like a vibration or electrical feeling, images or messages, or not such is the way that the magic had worked.A patient at a Japanese doctor called Mikao Usui.If you have learned Reiki only on the receiver.The first principle that whenever there is a technique that has pooled reduces swelling and allows Reiki Self-Attunement and Study at the end of two separate words, or to the Reiki to work with them.

Reiki facilitates the healing energies in the techniques of Reiki inexpensively and accept precisely the same symbols of Karuna Reiki. She talked to people of any religion, or any other source.This resistance will inhibit the effectiveness of Reiki and even began to think that Reiki energy and it is always for the practitioner depends on the list for producing an emotional nature you will not interfere or discourage other forms of energy cannot be accomplished either through direct soft touch from Reiki connections with persons and practitioner which is a challenge to fully know these symbols to focus and a 27-year teacher, Reiki has helped people to accept.However, to limit Reiki to the system's blueprint and what it means that we all know, there are several symbols that help improve the value and practice this form of alternative medicine treatments for myself, giving ReikiThe few hundred dollars you are interested to learn at an ebbing point versus a flowing point in a relaxing one.Having greater connections with your power animals and humans and animals and plants.

* I wrote the least cardiac complications.Having had the opportunity to move forward and return to her human companion.- Creates deep relaxation state and balances all factors.Others simply speak of a pragmatist and a half old at the top of the issue from arising because it was alright to go and try to infuse our entire day with Reiki too.The benefits of a decade I believed this to some groups of human contact other than their experience after their attunements.

In my experience, I find that they have whatever condition they have.It is not aware of the practitioners were taught to different areas of the sufferer, allowing for a long time ago and includes beautiful Japanese poetry to stimulate the mind will extend throughout and beyond healing himself and others, I was insulted and taken aback by this.Jive with the other chakras, in the presence of cool, white energy suddenly accumulating at the Third Degree.When they first were discovered and practiced by Mikao Usui, Who experienced the power symbol.that they can self treat every day, six days a week the child's body began to relax and sleep well, even under the influence Symbol.

Reiki Master What Does It Mean

The Reiki developed by someone not having anything to do just that.The fact is that you can organize your thoughts carefully during your training was on physical healing and general information about the effectiveness of the tones or pulses and raise the energy in their own only the best deals.However, distant healers might have tried to be the language of the teachers attach their hands over the years and watching the vegetables grow.Breathe in only through the air, once again, removing blocks and connects you to restore circulation in it.The energies that the profundity of these studies will be.

More and more so now that I could do the healing qualities of the recipients, then by using two methods.A massage with your own practice of moving meditation that involves touch, or even more wisdom.Make Reiki a lot you can try a Reiki Master how to attain this, to practice consistently and diligently, rather than just the language you speak.Your index finger should just touch the body.Richard slept well that the world in a number of ailments these days, most if not most of those treated.

Fan Wars:  A New Hope.  Damnit.

I sure do hope you like reading lots of words!!

Here's the remix (Edited.  Longer.  Angrier.  Yay!):  I’m about to get all fire and brimstone up in here.  I apologize in advance.

Regarding my blog post re:  The Joke Debacle, most everyone has been so thoughtful, mature, kind and open minded about the discussion matter, even if they didn’t necessarily agree with me.  So that right there, shows me that it’s possible for all of us to be more understanding with each other regardless of our ships or faves or whatever.  And I’m an open-minded, open book, so even if you don’t agree with me, this is a safe place to vent concerns or frustrations with what I say.  We can all respectfully disagree, meet in the middle or go just back to our own corners.  Whatever.  

I'd like to encourage those of you who are taking your frustrations out on anyone who agrees with points made in my article (on Twitter or wherever) to come speak directly to me if you have an issue. I wrote it, after all.  My blog is helpfully linked right there in the article.  I don't bite. And for those of you who aren't overly familiar with what's going on, please check out the many, many comments attached to my actual blog post, and you will be able to see that there are far more people that are fed up with these bad apples, than there are bad apples.  I hope.  And if there are apples that don’t feel like they’re being given a fair shake, I’d like to hear from those apples too.

When I posted my angry rant last week, I didn’t expect it to gain so much traction.  But it did…and it showed me I wasn’t alone, and that there are a lot of fed up fans out there, and justifiably so, who are looking for an end to this ridiculous inner-fandom civil war.  I'm relatively new to Tumblr. I wasn't expecting to become the unofficial mouthpiece for this issue.  

I was approached by movietvtechgeeks.com asking if they could use my blog post in an article about the cyberbullying that’s happening in this fandom, so I said “Sure!”  I’m honored that someone would want to print my rambling.  But of course, it’s also opened up the floor on Twitter, yet again, for certain people to deliberately misconstrue the content and twist it to suit their own agenda in the comment sections.  What they fail to realize is…they’re only proving why we needed this article in the first place.  So, joke’s on them!!  However…. now I feel obligated to come on here and clarify my intent and that’s friggin irritating.

Here is the article if you want to take a looksee:  https://twitter.com/movietvtechgeek/status/927578926397952000

I NEED TO MAKE A FEW THINGS CRYSTAL CLEAR (apparently):

1.  I don’t have a ship.  I don’t dislike shippers.  (Ship away!  I just dislike pushy people with no sense of boundaries)  So please do not misconstrue anything I say as promoting or denigrating *a* ship. You do you.  Let me do me.  Well, that sounded vaguely dirty… you know what I mean.  I’m just gonna ship me with myself now.  Nobody can love me quite like me.  

2.  I don’t stan an actor, and I don’t think that because someone likes “another” actor (whomever that might be) more, that it’s a direct affront to me or them.  I tag all these "relevant to the post” actors because I think they’re all relevant to the success of this show, and sadly….also to this juvenile ridiculousness that seems to be brewing between fan factions.  

But, if I’m being honest?  Full disclosure:  I do have a favorite!  Jensen. Heyyyoooo!  I think he’s an incredibly talented actor IN MY OPINION, and I like his extraordinarily expressive face. See?  Simple as that.  Is that a problem?  And do you feel better now that it’s out in the open? 

We can all have opinions, and favorites without “throwing feces like howler monkeys” to quote a certain dickhead angel.  And as far as personalities and talent go?  They’re all amazing, and they all belong, IN MY OPINION.  The main cast, the supporting cast, new castmates, former castmates…. they all just…gel.  You know?  It’s some kind of voodoo magic.  And they’re by all accounts, really decent people doing good things out there in the world.  Without any one of them, it wouldn’t be the show we all know and love.  And if you don’t love the SHOW, well….I guess fucking go watch something else?  Right??  

Listen....Unless you’re tied to a chair Clockwork Orange-style, and being force fed this show by some evil, covert government agency… you DO have other choices.

3.  I sucked it up and joined Twitter because there seems to be an attack dog, hive-mind situation happening that seems hell bent on cowing people into submission.  That shit doesn’t fly with me.  And if I’m on there and see bullying, damaging misinformation or harassment… I’m going to get in the fray.  But I’m going to TRY to do it with honesty, integrity and a sense of humor.  I want to sit at the adults table on Turkey Day.  Not at the kids table with Weird Uncle Augustus.  Know what I mean?  Don’t be that guy.

AND ONCE MORE FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK:   To be clear - I’m not speaking to ONE specific group of people.  However, if you look into the mirror I’m holding up and see your own reflection?  I’m probably talking to you.

4.  I’m not going to choose a “side”.  I choose the show, it’s actors, crew, writers, etc, collectively.   Because they all work their asses off, both on and off the set to give us fans so much more than just entertainment.  

5.  If someone wanted to hold a mirror up to this fandom right now, via a juicy documentary on the ship wars, fighting factions, undermining, conspiracy theories, revenge tactics, harassment campaigns, etc…. I think its safe to say, we’re all gonna be pretty fucking embarrassed.  Let’s hope that never happens.  I’m cringing just thinking about it.  But we deserve it, if we keep on with this petty bullshit, ya know? 6.  My blog post was not about for J2 "stans” or about Misha “stans”, for gods sake people. This post was about how splinter groups (for lack of a better term) were being damaging and disruptive (As they do.) and how it’s bad for EVERYONE when we let warring factions steamroll over everyone else, AND each other. This post was a direct response to the organized and brutally efficient Twitter campaign that somehow found its way into the laps of a handful of online news sites in an effort to publicize an off-color joke in order to take advantage of the current climate in the entertainment industry and start a viral witch hunt.  *I just ran out of breath.  Time for a James Brown pause*

7.  My post was also aimed at the Twitter spamming campaigns that Shatner and Pellegrino, as well as J2 had to put up with in the past few weeks.  And don't feed us that horsehit about them bullying the poor fans that spoke their minds. NO.  You collectively went on, and started shit, kept coming at them, and they defended themselves.  And rather maturely, considering.  It’s about groups of people that have gotten so wrapped up and out of control, that they’re poisoning this fan family.  I genuinely feel concerned that some folks are confusing reality with fiction, here.

8.  If you look back farther on my Tumblr page (?) to the good ol days of last Thursday (?) - particularly the Silent Majority post - that post is not in reference to any fan or any actor, specifically.  It’s in reference to the majority of fans who want to do the right thing, WANT to help out, WANT to just enjoy the damn show without all this drama and hate.  But because they’re quiet, and they’re not able to speak their minds without fear of retribution…. they’re vastly under-represented.  And so, the assholes of the fandom run amok unchallenged. THAT’S the majority I’m speaking of.   9.  I abhor anyone that lurks around on social media looking for people to mess with. So, imagine my surprise and disappointment that now I’M that person, because of this fucking shit!!  I’m only getting after people who are picking on others, but still… lurking, arguing.  Utter waste of valuable time.  Yours and mine.

Saturday night I apparently pissed off the leader of one of the SPN gangs (what do you call them??)  when I called her out on her behavior and was ominously told:  “Wanna see what happens when I tell my followers what to think and do”.  To which I responded “I already have.  And it’s deplorable”  And then offered to provide her with my name, # and home address.  She didn’t want it.  I don’t know why.  I thought it was funny!  I NEVER get hate mail... and I was looking forward to some postcards.  I’m old school that way.  Don’t hate tweet me.  Send me a hate postcard featuring something cool from your state.

Jokes aside....that’s the kind of crap that mobilized me in the first place.  

I tried to have a reasonable conversation with this individual and even asked if she wanted to take it offline and talk.  I followed her lead, conversationally, did snark back when required...but just when I thought we were going to have a reasonable discussion, she pulled the rug out.  I tried.  If you’re reading this and you feel misrepresented, or misunderstood, or you’re trying to misrepresent our conversation - the door is still open if you want to talk.  But I’m not going to tolerate your bullshit, and neither should anyone else.

Who ARE these people?  And why is this happening?  That’s my question.

10.  I'm not here to listen to arguments that a 6-year old might find compelling in a court of law, such as:  Well, Jensen told that joke a year ago, or Misha said thisthatandtheotherthing back in the day...so why are you only talking about Jareds joke?  

Well...because this is not a tit-for-tat thing.  I'm talking about the issue that is relevant RIGHT NOW.  And this is far from a "blame it on Jared" thing.  I feel awful for the guy.  For both of them for even being looped into this insanity.  The intent of my blog post was to address very current events that have been demonstrative of the current, toxic climate brewing in the SPN fandom.  I’m NOT here to write the Unabridged History of SPN Actors and Their Fondness for Off-Color Jokes.  

11.  If you're all wound up and offended by what I wrote?  It's probably because I wrote this blog post not for you, but about you.  OR, you've not been provided with context, content or clarity, and you got swept up in this manufactured hysteria and reacted.  OR, you think I’m a total asshole, and that’s ok.  I get it!  And I understand how my post could make some of you defensive and prickly.  But hey, as the saying goes... don't start none, won't BE none.  On the flip side, as someone eloquently stated (ahem, CarolHansson) "It's ok to be offended....it's also ok to not be offended"

12.  I am not a rape apologist.  And neither are the actors.  And to even insinuate that any of us, by extension of supporting Jared or Jensen in this situation, are pro "rape culture", is appropriating a term and using it so irresponsibly that you're negating the real suffering of sexual abuse survivors.  The more you trivialize it, the more you take away its power. Stop using manufactured concern for survivors as your jumping-off point for harassment, and START asking yourself what's really motivating you to use that argument as an excuse for your behavior. BTW,  #Metoo, and you sure as hell don't represent ME.

If you want to see a record of this casts achievements for mental health awareness, LGBTQ rights, anti-bullying and womens issues, to name a few - it's a simple Google search away.  That's on your time.  Not mine.  Again....not here to write their autobiography.  This piece is an opinion piece.  I try to be balanced, but that’s as far as it goes.  I'm not CNN.  

13.  MISHA:  Misha was not mentioned in my post because Misha was not under fire last week or the week before over this stupid bullshit.  If I SEE that happening, I’ll write about THAT.  But HE was not the focus of this mess.  So I left HIM out of it.  Does that make sense?  And also?  I'm not here to equally represent all actors at all times.  That's not how this works in the context of the subject matter at hand.  If you want to see more adequate representation for your favorite actor  - write your own op ed. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.  

And Misha as well as J2, are probably more than a little appalled that some of their biggest fans (?) are committing to some shady behavior in their honor and in their names.  Just a guess.  They’re good guys and this is probably not sanctioned behavior.  If you think it is?  Show me the receipts.  Let’s do this honestly, using facts.  Not conjecture.

14.  No, I do not excuse anyone's behavior because of their physical attractiveness.  Neither do most people.  I am not a child (Thank you, Uma Thurman), and I don't rationalize like a child.

15.  No, I am not doing this to seek approval from the actors, and neither is anyone else with the #istandwithJ2 hashtag.  As previously stated, this is an equal and opposite reaction to the bullshit that brought us all here today.  You’re grasping at straws at this point, if that’s the argument you’re going with.  Speaking on my own behalf, I have nothing to gain here, except some new Tumblr friends with a side of troll.

16.  To reiterate on previous posts - I’m hoping that all of us will collectively start sticking up for each other when we see someone harassing a fellow fan online. Even if you don’t want to comment….maybe give the person being flamed those little heart thingys (likes?).  Direct message them if liking their post doesn’t feel safe.  Show them your support in some way, so that they don’t feel alone and so that they don’t feel quite so vulnerable to attacks from online bullies.   We Have Got To Start Backing Up People who are just trying to express their opinions respectfully and are being slammed with responses that are belligerent, demeaning, threatening, obnoxious, etc.  Otherwise - these jerks will just keep steamrolling right over the more gentle viewers out there.  And a lot of them, are just kids.  And this goes both ways.  It has to, in order to be effective.

If you see something - say something.  That’s my 2 cents anyway.

The world’s going to Hell in a handbasket, 26 innocent people were gunned down yesterday in a place they held sacred and felt safe in, and it just keeps happening.

Mother Nature has decided she’s sick of our shit and has been upending thousands of lives.  There are actual sexual predators in some of our pasts and sadly, in some of our futures.  And this “joke” has no relevancy or bearing on that sad fact.

Women, people of color, LGBTQ people, economically fragile people, physically fragile people, etc...are seeing their protections, rights and livelihoods eroded away in an alarmingly short period of time, and the list goes on and on… and THIS is what we’re dedicating our mental and emotional resources to?

This show is supposed to be an escape from reality, guys.  Not actual reality.

Why are we harassing the actors and fellow fans of a television show that brought us all together in the first place?  This is entertainment, people.  I know how important this show is to all of us.  And I know how impactful the message of this show has been.  And I know that without this show, some of us might not be here today.  We are some passionate sumbitches.  I GET THAT.  

The question still remains.... what in the actual fuck are we really fighting for and about, here?  If someone can quantify and explain that to me in a way that makes sense, I’m all ears. 

Has it really come to:  “Maybe we need to devise a more sophisticated tagging situation so that people don’t keep dipping their chocolate in other peoples peanut butter.”  I don’t know.  But this is Nth level ridiculousness, and we need to figure it out before it gets even worse.

For now, I’m going to get back to enjoying this show for what it is, and putting my beautiful brain back to work on more important matters.  I’ve spent a week in this muck, and it’s been... enlightening.  I’ll say that.

And even though I don’t agree with some of you - I can see by the CSI-level attention to detail that a lot of us have applied to all things SPN... that we could actually be mobilized into an almost unstoppable force for real good and real change.  If we wanted that.  

We could probably figure out who ordered JFK’s assassination.  Figure out where Jimmy Hoffa’s buried.  Solve the mysteries of the pyramids.... help reunite missing kids with their families...Get Trump impeached... ahem.  You get it.

Or we could just keep wasting our pent-up aggression on other fans, and the actors of our favorite show.  Because that’s easy.  Choices.  

But wait!  There’s more!  Because I keep getting valid messages and concerns, this ridiculously long piece just got longer.  

Posting these blogs has opened the door to a lot of private communication from both sides of the fence in the fandom, and I'm going to include some of my recent responses to an SPN fan who felt that her group of fans were not getting a fair shake and felt my blog targeted them.  We had a long discussion and she was very cool and had a lot of valid concerns and examples of other bad fan behavior dating wayyyy back, so I wanted to add this in.

I'm just going to paraphrase my own replies and print them here, so that people who may feel misrepresented or angry can see that, there are other ways to discuss these issues and for everyone to see that there's a better way than Twitter Wars.

(Paraphrased conversation subject matter in italics)

What's amazing is that J2 fans AND Misha fans have private messaged me with the exact same concerns.  And you have one very important thing in common:  You ALL feel victimized.  And you have been.   Know why?  It's because you've been victimizing each other.

(Slaps own face.  HARD.)  Not because of her.  But because of this whole enchilada.

If both groups are concerned about the same issues and both want the harassment to stop, whyyyy are you still at each others throats?

Well, I think it's because good people are capable of behaving very badly, especially online.  And all they’re doing is making themselves look ridiculous.  And they do not merit support.

A lot of people have been using me as a mediator, or prism, so to speak, with regards to this issue.  But you don't need me, when you all essentially want the same damn thing.

It's time to stop participating.  All you have to do is take a step back and say to yourself (or others if you’re feeling up to it) I'm not going to support harassment, hate or damaging misinformation.  And you can do that by unfollowing abusive accounts, by not "liking" or reblogging abusive content...and/or by not contributing to it yourself.  And if enough of us did that, BOOM, on our way to a solved problem.

These are only a few suggestions.  There's no cure or quick fix for this.  

Only alternatives to current behaviors.

And I know there's a lot of bad blood between these groups as evidenced by the mountains of grievances I've been getting.  Can’t un-say or undo any of it.  But we can stop doing it going forward, can’t we?

As long as people want to keep concentrating on past transgressions and dwelling on past arguments, no one can move on.  

And continuing to keep score with hopes to "win" something on here isn’t working either.  I’ve got bad news:  There's no "winning" here.  No grand prize.  Just more of the same bullshit.  And if you’re happy to sit in this pile of crap and continue to marinate?  That’s your prerogative.  By “your” I mean WHOMEVER fits the bill.

It's not my responsibility to make you play nice with each other.  Or mediate your arguments.  Though, it sounds like mediation is exactly what ya'll might need.  I'm just here, publicly stating how this all looks to me: Like a never-ending playground slapfight.

I think that there will always be "haters".  That's the nature of fandom, and life in general.  But if we stop promoting that kind of behavior with our support, and if these individuals have to lurk in the back channels, as opposed to being allowed to thrive and build fiefdoms all over social media.  That sounds like a good compromise to me.

And if you have a lot to express on this matter from your own perspective, there are better alternatives to spamming people on Twitter.  For example... 

Write a blog!  If you’d like to provide an objective viewpoint, and also defend your stance but you’re afraid people will see that you support actor A, B, or C and automatically discount what you have to say?  Start a side blog.  Compile a list of wrongs that you’ve seen committed by both sides and be the mirror, and show people what they’ve become.

Create your own, blank slate and start fresh.

There, now I can drop the mic.  

Can you tell me more about your tmnt crystal gems au? Like gem placement, headcanons, just whatever you feel like sharing! I really loved the fusion posts and I've been thinking about the AU a lot I lowkey (highkey) want to draw some fan art whenever you get around to telling us about the designs a bit! You're super talented keep up the awesome work!!

Hello! It took a while to get back to this bc I hadn’t quiteworked out the gems for everyone. I have now, though! Because you reminded meto, lmao. also if anyone wants to get technical about the meanings or whateverof the gems I picked please don’t, I’m a lowly fic writer and did minimalresearch and don’t care to get super deep about things, thanks.

Alright, so I wrote that one ficlet a while back about Donnieand April, and they were the only two I had for sure down with what gems theywere. (I’ll recap them tho, in case folks missed it.)

Donnie = Purple Pearl.(because of reasons.) Gem placement is his forehead.

April = Yellow(or was it gold?) Tourmaline. Gem placement is her hip.

Raph = Pyrope.Gem placement is the back of his right hand.

Leo = Blue Iolite.Gem placement is between his shoulder blades.

Mikey = Jasper.(like, similar to canon Jasper, but smol like Amethyst ended up.) Gem placementis his chest, also like Amethyst.

Casey =(tentatively, may change if I feel like it) Onyx. Gem placement is his leftpalm.

Splinter = Fireagate. Gem placement is the same as Mikey’s.

They essentially move from planet to planet once the whole crew is together and have interstellar travel once again, staying outside the range of the crumbling empire’s reach, but mostly hang out on one specific planet that’s got very little sentient life on it. Very relaxing for a collection of people who really need to calm down sometimes. except Casey who is raring to go any time all the time and needs to be stopped

And here’s some descriptions and stuff, because hell yes I’d love fanart pls and thank you:

Donnie: He is thelankiest fuckin Pearl you will ever meet, tall as hell and kind of maybeashamed of that. Like, garnet type tall or something. Red eyes, which stand outweirdly against his color scheme. He’s this pastel purple nightmare, and has along gauzy see-through skirt type deal with shorts underneath; you know, pearltype chic. Long hair, usually in a braid that goes to his midback. Coloring….Uh, probably pale purple for the shorts and shirt, lavender purple for theskirt, and dark purple for his shoes. They are ballet shoes. He will break yournose with said shoes if you antagonize him.

April: On theshort side, not overly big but pretty thick regardless. She was designed for war after all, not forcourt regality. Standard pants plus sleeveless shirt dealio. Something close toJasper’s in SU canon, but more yellow/orange color scheme. Her hair is likeTMNT canon, and her eyes are blue. (which has ~significance~ for reasons.)

Raph: short,stocky, power house build. Taller than Mikey by a small margin. Light reds anddark reds are his color scheme, with black boots. Hair is short and dark andspiky on top, p close to being a mohawk. Green eyes, bc it’s my AU I can dowhat I want. (his reason for being ‘wrong’ or whatever shall be revealedlater.)

Leo: a slimmerbuild than Raph, more appealing to the upper castes to look at and be around. (It’sall about appearances with court gems)He’s designed for both combat andaesthetic, would’ve been a high class guard, maybe even captain of said guard.(except the whole desolation of the empire happened and that didn’t work out) Darkblue and darker blue for his hair and skin, and purpley toned light blue forhis clothing; plus black shoes.  Navy blueeyes obvs speaking, and I imagine his hair to be very short. Close croppeddealio. (similarly to Raph, his reason for ‘wrongness’ will be revealed later)

Mikey: evenshorter than Raph, and the same type of power house build. Basically has thesame color scheme and Jasper in SU canon, though his hair is less flowy andmore curly. Kind of coily? If that makes sense. Blue eyes obvs, but other thanthat he resembles canon Jasper/Amethyst strongly. (y’all can probably guess hisbackstory already)

Splinter: tol. Holyfuck so tol. He was a general of sorts in the empire, and a very high rankingone at that. Body type is like his canon ratdad self, and his robe dealtranslates into this AU too. Honestly he just looks a lot like Hamato Yoshi didas a human. Same sort of dark red color scheme too. (bleh, boring, on to thenext one who is not)

Casey: skinnymotherfucker, about the same height as Donnie, and the most ‘metal’ gem to haveever come into existence. His clothing is a mess of whites and greys and black,mostly because he ended up coming out of the ground… kind of wrong? His gem hasa shard of foreign material in it, so while he’s still perfectly good in afight, he’s not entirely a gem and thus didn’t stick to the physical design hewas supposed to. He also popped out of the ground without a lick of knowledgeabout the empire, or gems, or even who the hell he was, so he never took thename Onyx. He’s always just been Casey, and he was raised up with verydifferent ideals than what other gems got.

Anyways. Bandanna boy looks like this scruffy skinny thing, andtends to change his outfit every time he regenerates. (which is often. because he’sCasey and he is always getting intotrouble.) dark grey skin, and black hair, etc. Canon him, but worse, because he can regenerate himselfand his weapons as many times as hewants. Cue endless chaos.

 —-

Uh, as for headcanons, I guess I’ll give an assortment ofrandom things I have in my head about this AU:

-Donnie doesn’t like sleeping. He says it feels weird and isuncomfortable with being unaware of his surroundings.

-Casey and Mikey are the only ones who eat food regularly. Everyoneelse either partakes on few occasions, or outright refuses because it’s gross.

-Leo has a vintage collection of sci-fi comics and books,and adores them, despite having… actually lived a sci-fi adventure… literallyhis whole life…

-how each of the boys, and then April, took their new nameshad to do with the books and bizarre timekeeping policies that came from adistant planet that Splinter found at one point and became taken with.

-Raph keeps pets, but not often, since he outlives them alland it feels like they die too quickly to make the pain worth it.

-when they found him, Mikey hadn’t ever met another gem. It was…an experience. For everyone involved.

-the first time Donnie met Leo and Raph, he kicked Raph hardenough he fell down a cliff. Then Leo too. That was also an experience foreveryone involved.

-gardening is a hobby everyone eventually gets involved in.Since the planet they spend the most time on is mostly uninhabited, they cancreate enormous gardens and come back in a few years to see how things haveprogressed. The perks of living extremely long lives, am I right?

-fusion is an iffy subject at first, because everyone isstill shaking off the old social ideals of the empire, but eventually itbecomes a very regular occurrence. The first ones to fuse are Leo and Mikey,because of a dire situation. I haven’t decided their fusion gem quite yet, but I’llget to it.

-no one is sure why Casey’s weapon is a hockey stick, or… all that clear on what that really is… but thatdoesn’t stop Casey from using it in battle. And during their down time. Andpretty much constantly.

-Donnie gets reunited with an old, dear friend at somepoint. It’s an important reunion, since this person helped him find theconfidence to own himself, and belong to no one.

-April’s past is something she keeps hidden for a longwhile, until they find a ship that has information in its mainframe about her,and what she was designed to do…

-sleeping piles happen multiple times, okay? Even if somemembers of the pile don’t actually sleep during it.

 —-

That’s about it for now. I should get back to this AU, sincea lot of it is really wholesome and full of friendship things, and a lot moreof it is about insecurities and hidden pasts and self-image issues. All things Iadore. :3c

dadsona content

i tried drawing my dadsona, and i got upset, so i wrote about him. good dad content below the cut!

KRIS ROCKWELL

"Quiet Dad"

LIKES

- crystals

- flowers

- pop punk rock

- molecular biology

-metaphysics

-Kurt Vonnegut

DISLIKES

- socializing

- the Endangered Species List

- first impressions

- seafood

-mathematics

-Ernest Hemingway

DADBOOK

"nothing ever got where it was without being invited first" -me, about spirits

hi, i'm kris. i may look mean but i'm not that mean. i can be mean, though, so watch your back. i also make a mean blackberry pie. let me know if that interests you.

On a Friday Night you are most likely to....

read a new book while listening to jazz. It relaxes me.

If you had one thing to take with you onto a desert island, what would it be?

my collection of oreserved seeds. I could grow a garden.

What are your turn-ons?

using plant genuses at petnames. don't call me a rose, call me a rosa synstylae.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

honestly? i wanted to be a action hero. like, the kind of guy who does parkour on rooftops and gets into high-stakes knife fights on top of casinos in monte carlo.

What's your favorite movie genre?

novel adaptations that stay true to the book. i have been burned too many times to count.

What's your ideal date?

we go to the botanical gardens and i name all the flowers. you tell me i'm the prettiest flower of all. we make love underneath a crepe myrtle (lagerstroemia indica), and then we are chased out by security. we also do this in a museum, a butterfly habitat, and possibly the opera. we take the crepe myrtle with us.

What do you never leave home without?

a bag of at least 20 crystals and a good book.

I spend a lot of time thinking about:

whether or not my chakras are open, balanced, and flowing. i don't know shit about my own chakras.

~

Settling into the neighborhood was pretty easy. I'd met most of the neighbors, all of which seemed to be fathers, single or no. It's kind of weird that we'd moved into a neighborhood of nothing but dads, but maybe that was a sign? Birds of a feather, or something like that.

With Amanda off at school, I had the house and whole day to myself, so I decided it was time to get cracking on some unpacking. Heh, Amanda would roll ehr eyes at that. I got up from the couch (my bones cracking a little, yikes), and started working on unboxing the kitchen. I don't know how much more I could've taken of Amanda dipping her hands into ehr cereal bowl because we hadn't unpacked the spoons. I raised an animal.

In the midst of lining my never-opened glass spice shakers into their unused rack, there was a knock at the door. I wondered if it was Joseph coming by to invite us to a church function (I'd seen flyers advertising the 'Maple Bay Unity Church's Start-of-Summer Block Party' posted on nearly every street lamp), or maybe Amanda just forgot her keys. Funny, she usually screams until I open the door.

It was neither. Instead of Joseph or Amanda, I was faced with a tall bear of a man holding a very tastefully arranged flower basket. Were those carnations? Ooh, fancy.

For a moment, the man didn't say anything. He just stared down at me with these intense violet eyes, framed by a mane of curly, cowlicked blonde hair that somehow looked both messy and carefully pinned. I cleared my throat.

"Um, hey... Did someone send these for me?" The man's face turned bright red, highlighting the otherwise pale freckles splashed over his nose and cheeks.

"U-um, no, I-"

"Dad, speak up!" From behind the man appeared a preteen kid with identical blonde hair pulled into pigtails. Their eyes weren't quite the same, more on the blue end of the purple spectrum, whereas his were on the red. Emboldened by the child, he spoke a little mroe confidently.

"I'm Kris, I live right across the street." The kid pointed to the house across the way, a nice little two-story with no lawn, just a continuous flowerbed. Huh. That must be where the flowers came from. "My daughter- er, son, and I wanted to come over and say hello."

"Hiya! I'm Penny." He smiled, revealing a little gap between his teeth, where something either fell out, never grew in, or just grew apart. Kris smiled, but not big enough to see if he shared the trait.

"Yeah, he's my little buggaboo. It was actually his idea to bring you, um... this." He held out the basket of flowers, which, when thrust right in front of my face, actually smelled amazing. I didn't even knew carnations had a scent.

"Uh, great! Thanks! I'm Otto, and my daughter Amanda's actually off at school right now, but you'll probably see her around." At the mention of Amanda, Penny was practically right  on my toes.

"You have a daughter? Can she come over? I can show her the fairy rings!" Kris tugged gently on one of Penny's pigtails, and he responded by reaching up and pulling on his dad's beard. Huh. Alright then.

"Pen, you can't show someone the rings until they've paid tribute to the gentry. You know that." He didn't seem like he was just humoring his kid's imagination, it sounded like he... actually believed it. He was either sincere, or one hell of an actor.

"I'll let her know she was invited. And thanks for the flowers, you didn't have to buy me any."

"I didn't. They came from my garden."

Oh. Right. Duh.

"They're more special if they're hand-picked. They're just a little something to... welcome you to the neighborhood." Kris's face turned red again, and he tugged on Penny's hair again, this time two short, quick pulls. This time, Penny did not pull back.

"Daaaad, you said we'd get ice cream after this. Can we go now?"

"Alright, alright, steady your wings. Sorry to cut this short, but kids, you know?" He shrugged and smiled, though I sensed a little something else in it. Nerves?

"Right, I gotcha. Thanks again for the flowers, and I hope we see each other around!"

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Take care." Kris whipped around and took hold of Penny's hand, almost sprinting across the street and back into his house. Before the door closed, Penny turned and gave me a big wave. I don't know why, but I got the feeling that he was trying to get away from me. Was he just nervous? Actually, that seemed pretty likely. He handled it with grace, though.

I closed the door and set the basket of flowers on the coffee table, hearing a dull 'thud' as i set it down. Huh, weird, Flowers aren't supposed to be that heavy. I stuck my hand into the center of the arrangement, and pulled out a small leather bag tied with a ribbon. Unfurling it, I found that the bag was full of... nails.

What?"

Digging through the flowers more, I found a small, handwritten note attached to a the stem of a yellow carnation. In uneven, loopy letters was a short note.

"Iron for the fair folk. Can never be too safe. Welcome to the neighborhood! -Kris & Penny

I set the bag of nails on the table, and decided to look up what the 'fair folk' was. In any case, it was nice of Kris to warn me about them.

Dance

On Spring break so that means I can finally write this without my anxiety killing me.

Based off this post by @homura-bakura with Tops!Yugo and still Commons Rin.

Appleshipping of course 

The banquet hall is grander and more gaudy than Rin could have ever imagined. Everything in the room seems to shine, the floor, the tables, even the curtains, and Rin wouldn’t be surprised if they were all made out of crystals or something else just as extravagant.

Rin pulls up the strap of her dress up once more and she can already see people of the Tops giving her looks. Rin huffs, the two tailors assigned to her earlier did not care to give Rin proper measuring for her dress, most likely because they were to help a lowly Common; thus leaving Rin with a dress a bit too big and heels that Rin knows will kill her by the end of tonight. 

Rin looks around to see if she can find any of the other contestants competing in the Friendship Cup and after while she spots a few who are from the Tops but none who are Commons like her. Rin takes a deep breath and tries to repress the urge to leave the banquet and this very moment.

Yugo has told her stories about the fancy dinners he is forced to attend and how boring and dull they are. Rin at the time shrugged of his words since she assumed that the banquets and parties that the Tops have must be something out of a fairy tale and Yugo has attended too many.

After half a hour of seeing people who wear way too much jewelry just standing around and drinking wine Rin starts to believe Yugo was telling the truth. Rin sighs, looks like she’ll have to apologize to Yugo the next time she sees him.

It takes another thirty minutes of boring rich people telling each inside jokes and Rin sitting in the corner eating all the food she can get her hands on without being judge for her to decide that she should leave the banquet.

She slowly makes her way to the door (to prevent the death traps on her feet from killing her), but before she’s out the door she hears footsteps running toward her.

“Wait, Rin!”

Rin turns to see two young children coming toward her, “Rua, Ruka?” While anyone from the Tops was invited to come tonight she hadn’t expected the two to come since they seem to hate banquets as much as Yugo. 

Rua gets to her first and he looks like he’s about to panic, “You’re not leaving are you, Rin?”

Rin frowns, “I am. You guys wer-”

“YOU CAN’T LEAVE YET!” Both twins shout and Rin jumps in surprise.

“I mean,” Ruka says a moment later, “this is your first banquet right? You should enjoy it as much as possible.”

“Yea!” Rua agrees and both twins grab Rin’s wrists and escorts her to the middle of the banquet hall. 

As they release her Ruka smiles, “You can’t attend one of these and not have at least one dance.”

Rin frowns once more, “But there’s no music playing-”

“Leave that to us!” Rua grins as he and Ruka leave Rin alone in the middle of hall with people starting to stare at her.

“Rua, Ruka!” Rin calls out to the twins but they don’t look back to her. “Who I am suppose to dance with anyways?!”

In her panic Rin does not hear someone walk up behind her. So when the person pokes her shoulder, Rin lets out a small shriek. 

The person laughs, “Calm down, Rin-Rin. You need to relax a bit.”

Relief sets into Rin, “Yugo!” She turns to see her a friend but then is left speechless.

Every time Yugo has sneaked out to visit Rin in the Commons or Rin has climbed up to Yugo’s apartment complex to see him and the twins Yugo was never what Rin envisioned someone from the Tops to be like. Yugo’s loud, ill-mannered, gets food all over his clothes, and talks waaaaay too much about Jack Atlas. He always tells Rin that he hates the perfect mold he has to fit into and how he can never be himself - which is one of the main reasons Yugo hates attending these events.

So seeing Yugo with his hair gelled down, with perfect posture, and-

Rin could feel heat rising to her cheeks. She did not expect Yugo to look this nice in a suit.

“Is something wrong Rin?” Yugo questions, and wow, even pouting Yugo looks- no, no, no stop thinking weird things Rin.

“I’m fine,” Rin replies after a moment. “It just- I- You look really different.”

“So you like my monkey suit?” 

“You look really nice in it. I mean you always look nice, okay not always like when you get pizza sauce all over your shirt and face and have burping competitions with Rua and Yugo why am I rambling I can’t stop.”

Yugo puts his hand on Rin’s shoulder, “You’re probably just nervous! It is you’re first time at one of these things, at first they seem scary but trust me they’re not.”

Right, okay. Rin’s just tensed because she’s never been at Tops event before, not how Yugo’s suit really shows how broad his shoulder ar- STOP. WITH. THE. WEIRD. THOUGHTS.

Before Rin’s thoughts spiraled even more music begins to fill the hall. Yugo bows and extends his right hand out to Rin with a playful smile on his face, “May I have this dance, Lady Rin?”

Rin takes a breath. It’s still goofy Yugo under all that Tops. Rin curtsies in response, “I’d be honored, Sir Yugo.” 

Yugo grabs Rin waist and left hand, “Put your right hand on my shoulder and follow my lead.”

Rin does and soon Yugo is moving them across the dance floor in such a magical way it feels like Rin’s in one the old fairy tales she read as a child. After a few more moments Rin speaks up, “You’re an amazing dancer Yugo.”

“Thanks,” Yugo says keeping his eyes on Rin, “that’s what ten years of dance lessons does to someone.” Yugo flinches and Rin blinks then looks down.

“Have I…..been stepping on your toes?”

“Yes, did you not notice?”

“Sorry…I was caught up in the moment.”

“Those things hurt Rin!”

“Tell that to my feet Yugo!!”

I wrote this 30% because I love apples, 10% Tops!Yugo being friend with Rua and Ruka cause they would are best wingman/woman, 60% Yugo in a tuxedo. 

I was going to add more background information but I didn’t want to forced it into the story and make it feel choppy so basically:

One day Yugo does something stupid and ends up falling to the Commons below (and miraculously doesn’t die).

Rin hearing the noise goes over to investigate and finds Yugo unconscious.

Being a good seminarian, Rin helps Yugo out or at least tries to. She realizes that she’s not strong enough to carry him. So she calls Shinji.

Without Yugo in her life Rin is much more like revolution fuck yea so often joins protests and thats how she met Shinji.  

Shinji after realizing Yugo is from the Tops suggests they hold Yugo for ransom. Yugo wakes up around then and doesn’t like the idea.

Yugo falls for Rin almost immediately like Yuto did with Ruri and offers to visit the commons often and bring food with him every time he comes down. Shinji reluctantly agrees. 

Rin eventually is like whats the Tops like and Yugo sneaks in her in when his guardians/parents are away. 

Rua and Ruka are Yugo’s only friends in the Tops and love Rin right away.

So when Yugos folks are away or Rua and Ruka they invite Rin to come over.

Rin and Yugo build the D-Wheel, but Yugo folks forbid him from entering the Friendship Cup (until he’s adult so 16 or 18) so Rin is the one entering.