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foodfightnovelization · 1 month

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Foodfight! Workprint Analysis and Discussion (Part 1)

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Hey everyone! So, just like I mentioned in my previous post, we're going to be covering the Foodfight! workprint from August 2005, which contains early animation, storyboards and more! I still can't get over how incredible this is- this is a rough cut of the ENTIRE movie, from start to end, and features a ton of footage from early on in production. Did you really think we'd EVER get to see this? Or that the rumored "stolen" version of the film was actually just 7 minutes of completed animation created to show investors, almost all of which would be included in a workprint cobbled together from storyboards, scratch track and badly Photoshopped renders? Cats and dogs living together (literally in the case of Sunshine and Dex), mass hysteria, anarchy! I never imagined the early footage would be found or that this was how it would happen, but here we are! So without further ado, let's go back in time to 2005, before Foodfight! became the disaster it's known as today...

The workprint opens in much the same way as the finished film, with Mr Leonard closing up his store and saying goodbye to the last customer of the night, only constantly switching between finished animation, concept art, and storyboards cobbled together using Photoshop. This is a common theme throughout the workprint and it's emblematic of the movie's chaotic production- it never really seems to settle on a specific style to use, and so instead just kinda goes for all of them at once. And for something solely for internal use that's fine (even if the Photoshopped boards would basically be useless for the actual animators), but apparently this was shown to INVESTORS. Imagine that! It's no wonder so many companies pulled out of the movie as it went on, and it's mindboggling that anyone thought this was professional enough to show off that way. With that being said, the completed animation as the supermarket comes to life is fantastic- it's not as groundbreaking as something like Toy Story was, but it has its own unique charm and style, reminiscent of classic Warner Bros cartoons.

It then goes to ACTUAL storyboards as we're introduced to Dex Dogtective, mascot for Cinnamon Sleuth Cereal, as he faces off against the dastardly Fat Cat Burglar. This becomes a trend throughout the workprint- whenever there's an action sequence or anything particularly heavy on movement, actual storyboards that show the camera angles, motion and expressions of each character are used. I guess maybe someone convinced Larry Kasanoff they needed them for these kind of scenes, but he still insisted they didn't need them for the rest of the movie?

This sequence is similar to how it is in the film, but there are a few key differences- instead of Fat Cat Burglar sending the Hairless Hamster Henchmen to fight Dex, with him distracting them using a piece of cheese, here Dex is surrounded by spidery Ikes and he fights them off using his martial arts skills. There are also numerous differences in dialogue but I'm not going word-by-word on this, I'd be writing for years if I listed every single change. (The same goes for the rest of the workprint- I'll only write about dialogue being different if it's particularly significant or noticeable) If I had to guess, the intense fight with the spidery Ikes was cut as it was too hard to do in motion capture, as in the novelization they've already been replaced by the Hairless Hamster Henchmen but it still mentions Dex fighting them off (This also makes it clear the workprint is based off an earlier draft of the script than the novelization, but that'll be made far clearer later on).

Dex saves a basket of kittens from the Fat Cat Burglar, and meets up with his best friend Daredevil Dan to talk about his plan for proposing to his girlfriend Sunshine. There's some missing dialogue here- in the movie (and even in a draft of the script from around the same time) Dex talks with a reporter called Hedda Shopper a little before going to see Dan, but here he just walks right up to him. There are a number of these odd cuts throughout the workprint and I have no idea why, but I feel the changes actually help it flow better as a whole and keep the dialogue from overstaying its welcome.

Obviously there are still quirks with the pacing as some of the boards haven't been timed properly to various shots yet, but it's overall shorter and more coherent than the finished film, clocking in at just over 65 minutes despite featuring scenes that were left out of the finished film (thus somehow paradoxically containing more story in less time). I attribute this a lot to sequences not being so horrendously drawn out- in the finished film the big fight against Brand X is stretched out ridiculously long, but here it's kept tighter and shorter. It's a huge improvement overall and you feel the ripples of it throughout the entirety of the workprint, so I thought I'd bring it up the first time it makes itself apparent.

It's also around this time we first hear the main characters speak and as this workprint was created before any of the cast had started recording, all the dialogue is scratch track taken from various crewmembers doing a script reading (you can hear them turning pages multiple times while talking). Even though this was obviously never intended to be the actual audio, I still prefer the voices here over the final cast. The voice actor for Dex in particular puts a lot more emotion into the role than Charlie Sheen did, and gives a much more convincing performance overall.

Dex sits outside for a romantic dinner with Sunshine and attempts to propose to her, and this sequence (like many others in the workprint) is depicted entirely through poorly Photoshopped 3D renders of the various characters and environments. Apparently this was at the request of Larry Kasanoff, who hated how traditional storyboards made everyone look like "stick figures" and insisted investors "wouldn't understand" them. This is obviously a completely insane thing to say, and shows just how little he knew about the process of animation. Storyboards aren't there to look pretty, they're a way for members of the team to visualize the elements of each shot and what'll happen in each scene. These Photoshopped boards do none of that, so they would've been practically useless to everyone on the crew except Larry, who in the depths of his ignorance somehow thought these looked good.

They ARE useful today however, because they provide a look at several earlier character models and how they looked earlier in production. Because of these bizarre boards, later on in the movie we even get to see a ton of models for the various real-world brand mascots, which we otherwise would never gotten the chance to see. I'll make a separate post about those however, so I can count up how many we see in the workprint compared to the finished film.

Just like in the movie, Sunshine goes missing, and six months later Mr Clipboard arrives at the store pushing Brand X products, much to Leonard's disapproval. However there's a bizarre line included here where Mr Clipboard refers to Leonard as "the last of the great grocers"... now what does that mean, seriously? A great grocer? Groceries do not make one great.

Mr Clipboard's voice is far more normal in this workprint as well, still sounding somewhat wacky but nowhere near the absolute chaos of Christopher Lloyd's portrayal. Given how the character is similarly subdued in the novelization, it's crazy how memorable he ended up being in the finished film. Christopher Lloyd's voice and GJ Echternkamp's motion capture worked together perfectly to elevate a relatively forgettable character into what quickly became the most memorable and enduring part of the movie, likely what most people first think of whenever they hear the name "Foodfight!".

Mr Clipboard stomps on a bag of Kaptain Krispy potato chips, and just as Krispy says "No-one wastes me chips and gets away with it", it cuts to what may LOOK like a plain white screen...but actually, if you look very carefully, you can just make out the text "HOLD for Mr Pringles line "Now Kaptain Krispy, you don't want to be sent back to anger management". I have no idea why this text is barely legible, but the same line is in also in the script, making it clear this was supposed to be Mr Pringles' role in the plot (most of the actual brand mascots only getting a line or two). You also see the character later on in the workprint fully modelled and flying on a giant Pringle like the Silver Surfer, but more on that when we get to it.

There's a brief scene of Mr Leonard worriedly looking at the new Brand X display before closing the supermarket for the night (which IS in the novelization but left out of the movie), before we cut to Dex having a nightmare about Sunshine's disappearance. This nightmare sequence is pretty similar to how it is in the finished film, save for Dex inexplicably seeing what looks like a Brand X soldier taking Sunshine away. Given at this point in the movie he doesn't even know Brand X exists and would have never seen them before...how exactly does this work? I guess it's that special type of nightmare you only see in movies, where they can inexplicably reveal things a character would otherwise have no way of knowing.

Dex wakes up from his nightmare and T-poses so hard he starts levitating in front of Dan, who for his part doesn't seem to be particularly fazed by this. Actually, I'm just kidding around- this scene is mostly the same as it is in the movie, with Dex blaming himself for Sunshine's disappearance and Dan telling him that he has the Copabanana club to run now.

We then go to a scene that isn't in the movie at all but we HAVE discussed previously, on account of it being in the novelization- Dex making his way to the club while being accosted by Hairy Hold, who explains he's been struggling as the head of the USDA (United Supermarket Defence Association) ever since Dex quit, and that he needs to stop blaming himself for Sunshine's disappearance. I really wish this scene had been in the movie since it adds some much-needed depth to the characters- here we see just how badly Dex has been affected by Sunshine's disappearance, as well as a proper introduction to Hairy's character, making it clear that despite being something of a wet blanket he occasionally stands up for himself (In that sense, he kinda reminds me of Antoine from the 90s Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon...or Bartleby from the other, less memorable 90s Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon).

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Dex and Hairy's tense moment is interrupted by Dan, flying by with a Copabanana banner (try saying that five times fast) attached to the tail of his plane. And delightfully, this scene is FULLY ANIMATED! That's right, nearly two whole minutes of classic squash-and-stretch goodness. I've linked a video of the scene above so you can check it out for yourself, because damn if it's not satisying to watch. The actual content of the scene is similar to the finished movie ( only with less sexually charged jokes and the Keebler Elves instead of creepy gnomes) but visually the difference is night and day. Literally! This scene actually takes place at night whereas the finished film always looks like its perpetually mid-afternoon, despite the very premise of the movie being it's what happens in a supermarket at NIGHT.

Isn't it crazy to finally be able to watch a fully-animated scene in this style though? For those not in the know, only seven minutes of completed animation was actually made this way, part of a pitch reel to help sell the movie to investors. So there's only this and a handful of other fully-rendered scenes in the entire workprint (and that's all that ever existed- there's no more "lost movie" to be found, this is it) but looking at this on it's own you wouldn't know that, right? It feels like it's just a scene from an early 2000s animated movie in the vein of Hoodwinked or Jimmy Neutron, and it's impossible not to wish you could see the whole movie in this style.

Shortly afterwards, we get to see ANOTHER fully-animated scene, this time of Dex meeting local sleazebag Cheazel T. Weasel on his way to the club, saving Polar from having his pockets emptied by the schemer. As I'm sure is obvious from the picture above, Dex is a human in this scene instead of a dog. In case you're wondering why, at the time the aforementioned pitch reel was initially developed Dex was a human called "Dex Detective", with him being changed to a dog around 2002 due to the character not testing well with investors. However, it seems they never went back through the whole reel and changed him to a dog- there are a FEW shots where he's been replaced by a dog, possibly for a shorter version of the reel to show off the new version of the character, but there are an equal number of shots where he hasn't been replaced at all and is still a human. I'm honestly glad they made this change- human Dex just looks boring visually, and I feel it would've made the movie a little TOO similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Dex deals with the Weasel and we're treated to yet ANOTHER fully-animated scene as he arrives at the Copabanana, constantly shifting between human and dog like some sort of store-brand Animorph (see what I meant earlier?). I have to say, the crowd shots here are INCREDIBLY impressive for the time- there are hundreds, if not thousands of extras surrounding the club, something that would've been insanely tough to render at the time this was made. Apparently there was a special software called "Q-Tip" they used to achieve this, and the results speak for themselves. It's incredible- these crowd shots are actually more impressive than the ones in the finished film, which was released over a decade later. The whole scene looks incredibly visually appealing, and the various characters in the crowd actually look like they could be mascots for grocery products. I'm a particular fan of the tuxedo-wearing ant holding a tommy gun, who the script tells me is called "Ant Acid".... get it, like antacid?

Dex adds Polar Penguin (from the earlier scene with Cheazel) to the VIP list so he can be let into the club, and you'll notice at some points here the bouncer Maximilius is instead a large blue dog. This character's name was Panzer Pup, being replaced by Maximilius Moose sometime after Dex was changed to a dog. If I had to guess why, I'd say that it was so they didn't have two main characters who were both anthropomorphic dogs. I mean come on, you can't have TWO dogs, that's anarchy, that's chaos!

Dex enters the club, and it's here we see a type of animation that isn't used anywhere else in the workprint- it seems to be incredibly rough blocking using low-poly versions of the character models, presumably to help visualize how the sequence would look when finished. I have no idea why this is the only time it's used but it does provide us with a look at the M&Ms, who at this point in production were still intended to be part of the movie. The Green M&M tells the Red M&M "my therapist says I'm suffering from peanut envy" and I've gotta admit I find this joke really really funny. The inherent ridiculousness of these candy mascots talking about going to therapy, the pun on the Freudian concept "penis envy", it's silly enough that it tickles me in just the right way. It's also fascinating to finally see the M&Ms' role in the plot- by the time the movie actually came out, they'd been replaced with a Roman gladiator who rants about how he's "so excited to get a table" before falling into a cow's anus and whining that he's "stuck in a butt and it's so disgusting". I mean...just... what? Even if you take issue with the "peanut envy" joke, I feel like you have to concede stumbling into a bovine rectal cavity is just as inappropriate.

As Dex takes a seat at the bar we cut to Daredevil Dan on the other side of Marketropolis, making his way to the Copabanana on a horse-drawn wagon. He attempts to backflip off the wagon, only to land flat on his face right in front of Lady X, the Brand X Detergent Ike. This is another scene that wasn't in the movie but WAS in the novelization, so it's great to finally see a visual representation of it. I wasn't too sure about this scene when reading about it, but seeing it onscreen I think it would've worked. It's clear Lady X is supposed to be entirely cast in shadow here, building up a sense of intrigue while still making her entrance at the Copabanana later an exciting introduction to the character. We also get a good look at the Brand X Detergent building here, with a huge washing machine on the front being very noticeable (the reason I bring this up is it becomes relevant later).

Dex is still sat at the bar mourning Sunshine, when we're treated to another fully-animated scene as Lady X makes her big entrance, with all the Ikes instantly falling head-over-heels for her. These scenes really are incredibly well-crafted- I can't stop going back and admiring all the little details, like Lady X's pupils dilating in the light, or the reflections on the floor. Regardless of how you feel about the quality of the early animation (personally I think it looks great), you can tell a lot of care was put into it. And you know what? I'm not afraid to say it, Lady X looks gorgeous rendered like this, I wish I had boobs like hers. Unfortunately this is the last of the fully-rendered scenes for a while, as the majority of the pitch reel consisted of scenes from very early on in the movie.

Lady X introduces herself to Dex and the two start flirting in a scene mostly identical to the finished film, before Dan barges in calling himself her "sugar daddy". Kaptain Krispy interrupts all three of them to point out there's something dirty about Brand X on account of Mr Clipboard stomping one of his bags earlier, which provokes Dan into starting a bar fight. Since this is an action sequence, we're once again treated to some actual storyboards and I have to say these are my favorite part of the workprint ,second only to the animation itself. The photoshopped boards don't really tell you a whole lot about how various sequences were supposed to look, and since they use the same few images every time there's not much visual variety to them. However, with actual storyboards we can understand exactly how every shot would have played out...which of course, is the entire point of having storyboards to begin with (don't tell Larry).

I mean, look how dynamic this is and how it instantly tells you everything about the scene- from each characters' emotions, to the movements they're supposed to be making to how they're going to be posed, it really does a great job at showing how good this bar fight could've looked if not for Larry Kasanoff's meddling.

Dex quickly puts an end to the fight and tells everyone to get out of his club- and once again there's a scene here that wasn't in the movie but was in the novelization, where Dan is about to be thrown out of the Copabanana as well. Dex tells Maximilius to let him stay, but isn't quite sure what to do about Lady X.

Dex heads back to his office and after an INCREDIBLY brief animated shot of the doorway, Lady X arrives in an attempt to seduce him into joining Brand X. This scene mostly goes down the same as it does in the finished film, only just like the novelization Lady X is still in her red dress here- in the movie she's wearing a "sexy" schoolgirl outfit, which not only is it inappropriate considering this was supposed to be for children, it also doesn't even make a lick of sense. Apparently this change was made at the request of Larry Kasanoff (surprise surprise!) and "nobody liked" having to do this, but he insisted. So in case you haven't already put two and two together and figured out Larry likely did this so he could whack off to the scene, I'm putting that mental image into your head now and it'll never go away. Gross, isn't it? And I know I've said it before, but this scene (and the workprint as a whole) is acted far better than the movie was. I guess part of it is that the scratch track was done with crewmembers all reading the script together in the same room, allowing them to play off each other's performances, whereas the actual cast would've all recorded separately. Even taking that into consideration however, I think the voices for Dex and Lady X are a far better fit than Charlie Sheen and Eva Longoria were. For some reason, they just seem to suit the characters better.

Dex hears screaming outside and so after a very cinematic shot of Lady X watching him from the window as he runs toward the source of the noise, he makes his way to a crime scene- every Ike thrown out of the club earlier found dead, with the exception of Dan who's mysteriously gone missing. Dex surmises that someone tried to make it look like this was all a continuation of the bar fight, but that they were actually rubbed out by an outside force. In some dialogue that once again wasn't in the movie but was in the novelization, Hairy explains something similar happened with Sunshine, but quiets down as soon as he's about to mention that her body was never found. In addition, much like the novelization there's an actual crowd surrounding the scene, whereas in the movie it's just the principal characters standing out on the street by themselves. Basically EVERYTHING, every additional scene or line of dialogue initially thought exclusive to the novelization is included in this workprint, which points to a lot of these changes being made made very late on in production (as the novelization would've been written after this workprint was made and yet they're still included). And all of these changes make the workprint vastly more enjoyable to watch too- from added character depth, to more appropriate jokes, to just straight up making more sense.

During the day, we see customers going crazy for Brand X products and buying up all their stock, with the huge Brand X Detergent display and its accompanying washing machine looming behind. This scene wasn't in the finished film, but once again it WAS in the novelization- and on top of that, it was also in the Deluxe Sound Storybook we talked about a few posts ago. So really, it's in every version of Foodfight! except the actual movie...crazy, right? Dex watches on from inside his Cinnamon Sleuth box, concerned enough about the whereabouts of Dan to jump back into action. And I know I said this back when I covered the novelization, but I think it's a cool idea that from within their products the Ikes are still able to witness everything that happens in the store during the day- the only hint of this we get in the finished film is Kaptain Krispy making a comment on his chips being stomped as soon as it happens, but since the rules of the Marketropolis aren't so clearly defined in the movie that could easily be mistaken as voiceover.

Meanwhile in the supermarket's deli case the USDA are holding a meeting about the deaths of the various Ikes, and since the bar fight that started it all was between sugar and salt icons, it's being ascribed to a bittersweet flavor of bigotry-motivated violence. It's here we're treated to a number of cameos from real-world brand mascots- as I mentioned before however, I'll explain all the brand mascots shown here in a separate post. As head of the USDA, Hairy Hold decides to Brand X put in charge of the store, with some Ikes protesting the change and others in full support.

We then return once again to actual storyboards (hooray!) as Lieutenant X, one of the Brand X cronies, coerces Cheazel into bringing Dex to them. This isn't an action scene, but I'm guessing it got proper storyboards anyway because the way Cheazel moves is very specific and detailed, something that would be impossible to depict with Photoshopped 3D renders. These particular boards are also drawn in a different, much more detailed style than the other storyboards, although I couldn't possibly say why (possibly due to Cheazel being Larry Kasanoff's favorite character?)

In the finished film, this scene takes place atop a building, but here (and in all other versions of the story) it takes place in the Italian food aisle, modeled after the streets of Venice. The voices are very different here too- unlike the earlier Cheazel clip and the movie itself, where he was voiced by Larry Kasanoff, here it sounds like someone attempting to do an impression of Ugarte from Casablanca. Given he was the inspiration for the character that's not surprising, but it does make me wonder why Kasanoff didn't bother to voice him here. Lieutenant X's voice is different as well, sounding like an exaggerated impression of Christopher Walken and taking comically long pauses between each word.

The following scene is yet another Cheazel appearance and so is also drawn with proper storyboards, only this time they're back to the less detailed ones we saw earlier. I still absolutely LOVE these though- they're so full of life and character, and night and day compared to the utter lack of expressiveness in the finished film. Seeing Cheazel slither and snake around to Dex's increasing irritation is genuinely charming when drawn like this- it almost makes me wish we could've seen Foodfight! as a 2D animated movie, as clearly a lot of artists on the project had talent in that area.

Cheazel lures Dex right to the Brand X Detergent building, and he runs into Lady X. The two aggressively flirt as they start to tango, although their dancing isn't shown here as this entire sequence is represented through a single Photoshopped storyboard. This would've meant the animators had absolutely nothing to work from- even though they had already switched to motion capture around this time and so would've had the capture of actual dancing available as reference, it still helps to have storyboards for a sequence as complex as this. This does seem to happen more as the workprint goes on however, with multiple sequences only being represented by a single still image, suggesting they were pressed for time when putting the workprint together. It really does show once again how chaotic the production of Foodfight! was- no other animated movie on the planet is directed and boarded like this, no one would ever think to put it together in this way. And yet despite the bizarre way it's put together, it's still a thousand times more entertaining and appealing to look at than the finished film.

There's some additional dialogue here that's not in any other version of the story (not even the novelization or the script) where Lady X says "You've been playing in the wrong aisles, Dex. Snack foods are for kids, now detergents....well that's adults only". I really like this line, as it sheds some light as to why Lady X is so much more provocatively designed than the other Ikes- detergents ARE something that only adults buy, and so it makes sense the personification of that would be less child-friendly than that of a sugary breakfast cereal. I think this scene is especially well-delivered too- the people voicing Dex and Lady X are far more convincing as these characters, Dex having a lot more emotion in his voice and Lady X delivering all her lines with a throaty, seductive purr. I think they have a natural chemistry with each other here, far more than Charlie Sheen and Eva Longoria did in the actual movie. Even though this was just scratch track, I think they were a much better fit for the roles overall.

Dex refuses to fall for Lady X's charms, and so she sics her robotic Xobytes on him, in the process revealing that she used them to wipe out all the other Ikes the previous night. This scene was once again bizarrely left out of the movie (even though it contains a crucial piece of exposition), but it IS in both the novelization and the Sound Storybook I talked about recently, making this yet another scene that's in every version of Foodfight! but the actual movie. Crazy how that keeps happening, right?

The Xobytes swarm Dex and he's quickly rendered unconscious, Lady X sadly reflecting on how they could've had such beautiful products together (could they? He's a cereal mascot and she's a detergent icon...what does putting those two together entail?). The dialogue in this scene is somewhat different to other versions of the story, but there's not much to say about it other than, like all the other changes made here, the workprint does it better.

We're just about halfway through the workprint now, and unfortunately it's too long to cover in a single post (did you know Tumblr only allows 30 images per post? Yeah, me neither) but I hope you'll join me in the second half of this analysis so we can finish off covering the DEFINITIVE version of the Foodfight! story! I know I said the novelization was the definitive version back when I talked about that, but that was BEFORE a workprint of the entire movie from 2005 was discovered. Who knew this was ever going to be found? I sure didn't, but I couldn't be happier that it was. The animated sequences are incredibly well-crafted and it still blows my mind we finally get to see all the lost footage, the pencil-sketched storyboards are a delightful look at how certain sequences would've come together, the voices and dialogue are far better than the film itself, and even the Photoshopped boards give us plenty of glimpses at early character models. In short, every aspect of this workprint is better than anything in the finished film. Stay tuned for a brief interlude about all the brand mascots in this version of the movie as well as the second half of my analysis, and I'll catch you on the flipside!

#Youtube #foodfight #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #lady x #larry kasanoff #movie analysis #storyboards #production art #mr clipboard #cheazel the weasel

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azuresage · 8 days

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ok heres some slightly organized notes on the new wilds stuff that ive been editing over the past few days

seems both the palico and the hunter now have spoken dialogue in the story. Before, the hunter never had a voice of their own, until risebreak added in-quest situational voice lines. Now they've gone the full mile. I'm into it.. provided we get personality options to choose from. they could do what they did for dragons dogma 2 and have personality sets with unique dialogue for each set. there should also be an option to remain silent, as well. that would be ideal. also hoping the character creator will be as in depth as dd2's...

right away, we see the hunter use the slinger for environmental effects. that's probably the most inoffensive thing they could have carried over from world... still really didn't want to see it back.

i see the new mount can scoop you up when you get downed, so wirefall is still a thing, just in a new form. looks a little more balanced, at least.

small monsters attacking a large monster in a group. that's neat. kind of like an expansion on turf wars.

we see the hunter swap from a greataword to a bowgun while riding the mount. that's pretty insane. we've never had a weapon change on the fly like that before. that's gonna be a game-changer. part of me wants to complain about it detracting from the spirit of pre-hunt preparation, but that spirit's been dead since world introduced item box and cooking at camp anyway, so i dunno how to feel...

the next thing we see is a montage of brand new moves, and possibly a stance change with the greatsword. so im going to make a guess here... rather than switch skills, we're getting stances. so it could kind of be akin to the skill swap scroll in sunbreak where you switch between two custom movesets on the fly. now we are changing our stances, and with it our movesets. i have to admit, the idea of that really gets me excited. thats just the sort of spice to the gameplay i was hoping for... if it's what they're doing. and the new greatsword moves all looked incredibly cool. i did say more command input type moves would be a satisfactory alternative to special moves. we already see three new ones for just the greatsword. the more the better. im hoping its at least three per stance. i have to say, i'm feeling optimistic about this now. its looking to be more than world 2 electric boogaloo, if this is anything to go on. ^ so they came out and said that this is called focus mode, and it... is basically what i thought it was gonna be, kind of? it still sounds cool. it slows you down and lets to target specific parts of monsters, it sounds like. that's neat. its still an alternative gameplay style. me likey that. the more move variety, the better. switching in and out of focus mode does kind of still make me think of skill swap from sunbreak, and its still got new moves to go with it. im for it.

sos flare from world is back. i just hope it doesnt suck like it did in world. rise's version of it was functionally better, id say. i hope they improved upon the mechanics of it if theyre pulling more from world than rise for this.

im gonna make an easy guess that the story is youre searching for that kid with the necklace's parents who went missing on an expedition into these "forbidden lands" as theyre apparently called. honestly as far as im concerned the story is just a set piece for the locales. the maps in world sucked, but some of them had really neat lore to go with their biomes, so if theyre continuing with that, all i can hope for is better layouts. also laughing my ass off at seikret autorunning to objectives. no thanks. that's an L. world's maps were so bad they had to introduce that to make chasing monsters through them bearable. the fact that we are doing that again doesnt inspire confidence. i also hope the story doesnt command too much attention. it was really intrusive in world/iceborne, if im being honest. risebreak did a fine enough job of it, i think. monhun really doesnt need a deep story.

in the same vein, i really do not care for how hard theyre trying to push the series to be this big triple a game that competes with god of war or something. it doesnt need 50 billion ray tracings and the ability to see pores on the skin of the npcs, who i must agree do look kind of uncanny. gemma and alma's faces look off... like. rise looked perfectly fine. the fidelity of the graphics are not that important. we dont need the bloatware. speaking of which, this game better run on steam deck just fine, or i will explode capcom. i dont want to deal with another dragons dogma 2 situation.

this deserves a separate bullet. they better keep monster hunter language as a voice option like they did for rise. im still pissed they didn't carry that into stories 2, and even more pissed they cut it out of the stories 1 remaster entirely (which was a deal-breaker on the remaster for me). dont let that die. its so cool. its a big part of the immersion and its such a charming thing about the series.

#monster hunter #monster hunter wilds #some of it looks great and some of it looks... concerning to say the least #i want to be positive. i am more positive now than i was upon the first reveal which i was not happy with since it looked too much like mhw #world was not good. the original demo of rise was way more fun than iceborne ever was. the more it feels like sunbreak the better.#and i cannot stress enough how fucking badly i need it to function on steam deck. i refuse to play video games any way that isnt handheld.#hence my disdain for all the graphical fidelity bloatware. we dont need it. rise blew world out of the park looking like it did.

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dontlikeadam · 2 months

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Updated Song Interpretations

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Track 1: Fortnight

Nothing overly specific or notable.

Could also just be referencing the fact that he now lives mostly in the US it appears. Between LA and NYC most likely.

Or when he started working with Jack and showed up in “her backyard”

"I love you, it’s ruining my life" could have also been something Matty said to her, or her to him. Would work either way.

For the music video- just a side by side photo comparing her music video to parts of his "Part of The Band" music video and his tour.

The main notable thing being she was the white queen and he was the black king. She also included a dog like his black dog (who is hilariously named Mayhem)

Also the music video copying her old music video for Style.

Also a possible reference/ play on words to Mattys love of building forts, discussed later.

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Track 2: The Tortured Poets Dept

Pretty clear cut song, but some info.

Matty has mentioned his love of typewriters multiple times.

Matty is known for self-sabotaging and has admitted it multiple times.

Possibly brought up specifically him eating chocolate to relate back to his song chocolate.

“You awaken with dread, pounding nails in your head” Matty suffers from terrible nightmares and migraines, which he has talked about multiple times.

Lucy being Lucy Daccus from “Boy Genius” - who notably told him to F off after he tried to make a tweet about her, after the break-up

Him moving a ring from her middle finger to her ring finger just seems like such a Matty play to me lol. I can’t tell if that is just his MO and something he does or if that was truly sincere. He is too bipolar for me to stand by him on that one hahahah

"You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith. This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we're modern idiots". Jack Kerouac commonly stayed at the Chelsea hotel, as did Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and William Burroughs (who Matty mentions a lot as well). Sex pistols Nancy, from Sid and Nancy died there.

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Track 3: My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

"But you should have seen him when he first got me" All I can think of is Matty at most of the shows from his birthday 2023 till when they went public in Nashville. He was beaming almost every single night on stage and seemed so content at a lot of those shows.

“There was a litany of reasons why, we could have played for keeps this time” relating back to them going back and forth since 2014

“I’ll tell you that he runs because he loves me” him always leaving to “save her”

“Just say when, I’d play again” —— uh oh lol

“My best friend” also maybe throwing back to the best friend line in her song about him, Maroon.

“He took me out of my box” - a reference to the box and also do being a doll he plays with

“Told me i’m better off”- still leaving to save her

"Put me back on the shelf, but first, pull the string and I'll tell you that he runs because he loves me" - Taylor being a doll who keeps giving him the excuse that he leaves to save her.

Overall addition. Her take is that they are insanely similar and they were perfect together, which freaked him out. She felt like they knew each other better than anyone else. They couldn't hide things from each other, because they are essentially playing the same game and doing the same art. They know all each others plays. So, where she really enjoyed that part of it, it was too "real" for him, so he left/ ruined it.

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Track 4: Down Bad

"Did you really beam me up. In a cloud of sparkling dust" Just to do experiments on?" I am thinking Matty's lab from his videos. Which she also has in the fortnight MV. Matty during that entire lab coat phase. This was the part of him switching from his childish “Truman Black” personality to his “Matty” lab coat.

"I'll build you a fort on some planet. Where they can all understand it. How dare you think it's romantic, leaving me safe and stranded". Reference to Matty's fort. Taylor saying she could figure out a way where they could have their love and his fort and she could make people understand. Him instead leaving her stranded to "save her".

“All your indecent exposures, how dare you say that it’s…..” OVER. Taylor not even being able to say it. Referring to all of Matty's shit talking, especially on podcasts.....

"Like I lost my twin" returning to the reference that they are essentially very similar people, which from what we know is pretty accurate, especially as artists and performers.

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Track 5: So Long, London

Truly a song for London as the main plot. After like 5-6 English boyfriends that never worked, she is done with the city. Matty was the last one......

"I saw in my mind fairy lights threw the mist" Possibly reference to Matty's fairy lights in his fort.

"I didn't opt in to be your odd man out" reference back to Bejeweled and not being in his top 5 (Joe)

"I founded the club she has heard great things about" Taylor saying the girls are only interested in him because of her. She put him on the map/ founded the club.

"I stopped CPR, after all, its no use" A line relating back to her final song to Joe "You're losing me"

"Two Graves, One Gun" I think songs really relates to pieces of both Joe and Matty and the city. Possibly relating to the two gunshots in Smallest Man on ERA's tour.

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Track 6: But Daddy I Love Him

A song about the fans that dragged/attacked him and was sending him and his family death threats, trying to put her in a conservatorship etc.

"They slammed the door on my whole world. The one thing I wanted" She was finally happy and she had professed that before playing the secret song Question? while Matty was at the show. She said she was the happiest she had ever been and everything made sense for her. But instead of being happy for her, they slammed the door in her face and ruined it.

"I'm having his baby, No I'm not, but you should see your faces" A very funny line, thats a little unusual for her. Trying to make a funnier album then Mattys album? He prides himself on being funny in his lyrics, but especially for BFIAFL

“Tendrils tucked into a woven braid” - We always felt the braid was there as a call out to Matty, so this is just funny to me. She was always trying to show him she wanted him back, which we delusional guessed but thought we were truly crazy.

"We came back when the heat died down. Went to my parents and they came around". Referring to when they tried to date in 2014/2015/2016 And then coming back around in 2023? Or referencing when we assume they broke up in early July- then the rumors they were still trying to work something out after that.

“Even my daddy just loves him” Matty was seen with her dad at most of the shows, never her mom lol

New theory going around is that the end of this song switches to Travis. If you do that theory:

Travis would start after the line "but fuck 'em its over"

That would make the following lyrics Travis-

"Now I'm dressing in my dress in the sun, and even my daddy just loves him"

and

"Time doesn't it give some perspective? And no, you can't come to the wedding"

Then it just repeats the verse.

My argument would be that the second line about the wedding doesn't really fit to me. Everyone was always fine with her and Travis. And Travis is essentially her just dating the exact person all the people who were mad about Matty, would want her to date.

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Track 7: Fresh Out the Slammer

Confirmation that Matty and T were something prior to her and Joe being completely finished.

"Splintered back in winter, silent dinners, bitter". Winter of 2021 or 2022?

"He was with her in dreams" Joe wasn't happy either and was thinking about someone else

"Camera Flashes, Welcome Bashes. Get the matches, toss the ashes off the ledge" - She was ready to go public and knew it would get negative attention. She was fine with burning it all down.

"Starting Line” reference, which is one of Mattys favorite old bands and he sang them during his tour while they were dating.

"As I said in my letters" - possible link back to the letters link between her and Matty?

"At the park where we used to sit on children's swings, wearing imaginary rings" - Back to the wedding/marriage plans

Track 8: Florida

Florida was the first Eras tour she did after her breakup with Joe was announced. Otherwise nothing major here I noticed yet. I am sure we are missing something though. I wonder if this song is something personal to them. Also the song could truly be one of the random songs she just throws on. Overall theme is just how everyone eventually ends up "running away" and moving to Florida.

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Track 9: Guilty as Sin

Song about wanting to be with Matty while still with Joe. How to be as close to him as possible without actually cheating.

Backing track is almost identical to Mattys "About You"

"Downtown Lights” reference, one of Mattys favorites. Sent to her while she was still with Joe and "bored and caged".

"I keep these longings locked, in lowercase, inside a vault" - clue of some sort? referring to imgonnagetyouback ? 1975 songs? fallingforyou, lostmyhead. Reputation vault tracks?

"I'm seeing visions, am I bad? or mad? or wise?" just reminds me of Matty saying you can't be wise and in love in his interview.

"Why does it feel like a vow we will both uphold some how" wedding/ marriage reference again.

""If long suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly. I choose you and me, religiously" - They want her to be good and proper, but they have no idea how much she has always wanted to be with him.

"One slip and falling back into the hedge maze" AKA a Labyrinth/ which is a Matty coded Midnights track.

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Track 10: Who's Afraid of Little Ole Me

A song partially to Matty, about how she was about to lay all this out. The rest I think is about her fans/ the press.

She is tried of everyone thinking she is too prim and proper and PC to ever fight back.

"If you wanted me dead, you should have just said" - a reference to smallest man and her asking if he was sent by someone who wanted her dead? Also the press/fans

“The scandal was contained, the bullet had just grazed” Her covering his scandals. The Ice Spice collab for sure. That was a terrible collaboration thrown together last minute to cover for him.

"You don't get to tell me you feel bad" - possibly Matty saying he felt bad for everything that happened or was happening.

“Is it a wonder I broke? Let’s hear one more joke” A reference to Matty always trying to make a joke out of everything or the press/media always making jokes about her misfortunes.

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Track 11: I Can Fix Him

"They shake their heads saying god help her when I tell them he's my man" - funny line about Matty

“The dopamine races through his brain. On a six-lane Texas highway” “Roadkill" reference most likely.

"His hands so calloused from his pistol, softly traces hearts on my face" Reference to his callouses from playing the guitar and his pistol being his songs?

Honestly I need a good guy with "I can fix her, no really I can" energy. Where is that? I need someone like that.....

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Track 12: loml

Her chicago secret song ( I don’t want to live forever) and her crying during "did I dodge a bullet or just lose the love of my life” right around when the breakup was announced

"Mr. Steal Your Girl" besides the pop culture reference, Matty's MO lately has been winning over taken women.

“You cinephile in black and white” - A reference to Mattys love of black and white art/ movies

"You shit talked me under the table” - He IS a huge shit talker in general lol

"I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all" - A reference back to Me and You Together Song and About You

“Oh what a valiant roar, What a bland goodbye. The coward claimed he was a lion. I'm combing through the braids of lies” - He came in hot. Fighting for her. Doing everything to get her and then bailed. Also the braid again.

“I’ll never leave, Never mind" also a reference to his song Change of Heart which he focused on all tour.

"Your arson’s match, your somber eyes” - His self-sabotage again and his sad eyes.

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Track 13: I Can Do It With a Broken Heart

I love this goofy little song so much.

Her doing the Chicago shows and beyond after him leaving. Also maybe a slight at the fact he was breaking down on stage off and on his entire tour, but she was trucking along.

“Lights, Camera, Bitch Smile” - is one of my favorite lines on this album in general.

"I'm so depressed, I act like it's my birthday". Another funny line.

“I cry a lot, but I am so productive” She was destroyed, but she was touring and getting this entire album together.

"I keep finding his things in drawers. Crucial evidence, I didn't imagine the whole thing" The Damn Beatles Shirt of his she kept showing up in not long after they broke up.

“All the pieces of me shattered, As the crowd was chanting More!" "as the crowd cheers for an overdose", a Matty lyric from the song Paris. And obviously she has a song Paris too.

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Track 14: The Smallest Man

The sigh........ A very similar sigh to how she started "Your losing me" her main song for Joe after their break up.

"They just ghosted you, now you know what it feels like" Oh Matty….. the king of ghosting women. He is a true child….. This is sort of referenced again in Stevie's poem saying that "He didn't say goodbye"

"Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead? Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed? Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy? In fifty years will all this be declassified?" Taylors confusion about if it was real or just a "bit". Reminding me of the Radio 1 performance and Matty mentioning the possibility of “is it a bit, or is it sincere" in his lab coat. Referencing back to her wondering if it was all an experiment. But that is something Matty says and comments on all the time…... About what is real and what is not, so also sort of just a fascination he has had his entire career. Also reference to the fact he says he has been sort of writing a book/ movie/ documentary for ages and its never gotten done.

"You'll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars" Matty's MO of finding random girls to date. Finding them on instagram, following them and then showing up with them a few weeks later.

"You crashed my party and your rental car" Reference to him crashing his rental car in LA after returning from Malaysia. No idea why I find it so funny that she knew about this.

"You said normal girls were boring, but you were gone by morning" Referencing that the “normal” instagram girls like Meredith, Ana and Charlotte were boring. The girls who weren’t really “famous" or artists.

"You kicked out the stage lights, but you're still performing" - reference to the fact that no one can tell when he is performing or when he is being real. He's not on stage, but he's performing.

Overall just a very standard pissed off/ scorned women song. Very overdramatized and a representation of how pissed/hurt she was at the time.

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Track 15: The Alchemy

Song about Travis with the quirky goofy football lines.

“These chemicals hit me like white wine” A reference to Travis being white wine after Matty (and his known love of red wine) He switched to Whisky from red wine on the tour after Taylor. He has a line in his song “Give yourself a try” about growing up and how “whisky never starts to taste nice”.

"The hospital was a drag" - The perceived psych hospital she was in after Matty

"I haven't been around in so long, but I am making a comeback to where I below" Referencing dating an American again?

"He said its Heroin, but this time with an "e"” Travis talking about her being his Heroine instead of Matty talking about his struggle with Heroin. A wordplay used in multiple songs by emo/punk bands. ie: Boys Like Girls. Silverstein. Also hilarious because I was at the Boys Like Girls show when they sang Sweet Caroline into Oh Caroline. And she would have just been working with Martin again for 1989 TV……. Also the main reason I can't listen to this song. Such a low blow and so unnecessary. Either she is just story telling, or her and Travis are making fun of Matty's addiction... either way. Not needed. This song and reference bothers me more than any of the shit in smallest man.

A second option:

The Alchemy: If also about Matty

Why this would work:

It would essentially make all of Poets about Matty, except for the random songs that are about Taylor or about a generic concept. Thats pretty standard for her. This would fit the same style album as Lover and how it was for Joe. The anthology album would then be considered separate.

This would also work since she has the Stevie poem at the start, which would link the album clearly to Matty.

For what it's worth when asked his favorite song between The Alchemy and The Man, Travis chose "The Man"

Wine reference

"What if I told you I'm back" - coming back to Matty

"The hospital was a drag" - being with Joe and his depression etc.

"I circled you on a map. I haven't come around in so long" - her having her eye on him from the start and not seeing him in a while.

"Touch down, call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team" - Plane touching down. Joe was a big rugby fan, so maybe added the sports references as a dig at him or possibly since Matty is a soccer fan?

"Ditch the clowns, get the crown, baby I'm the one to beat" - crown reference

'Cause the sign on your heart said its still reserved for me" - didn't fit with Travis, would work for Matty

"Honestly, whoa are we to fight the alchemy?" - who are they to fight fate? love? Chemistry? Alchemy and Matty's lab?

"Hey you, what if I tell you were cool. That child's play back in school is forgiven under my rule" - Saying that she let it go, she doesn't care, they were just kids.

"But I'm making a comeback to where I belong" - going back to him"

"He jokes that it's Heroin but this time with a "e" " Would fit with Matty's jokes and the common emo theme of using similar lyrics.

Then it goes into the strong sports verse, which I can't really decipher the point of... unless it was added later as a red herring?

"Shirts off, and your friends lift you up over their heads. Beer sticking to the floor, cheers chanted 'cause they said There was no chance, tryna be the greatest in the league. Where's the trophy? He just comes running over to me"

"These blokes warm the benches, we been on a winning streak" blokes would be English not American...

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Track 16: Clara Bow:

Song mostly about fame and maybe Travis, but layered with Matty/ 75 items

"Breath of fresh air thru the smoke rings" Travis verse Matty "Stevie Nicks/ 75"

"Half moonshine, a full eclipse" Reference back to Question? and "Half moon eyes/ big surprise” being Matty

"Beauty and the Beast” awwwwww lord

"You look like Taylor Swift" "You've got edge she never did. The futures bright. Dazzling" Back to "The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now, because she's dead" and lead into Rep. Reference back to Bejeweled and "The Band". Also possibly a reference to Olivia Rodrigo and the fact she would have more edge than Taylor and was always considered the one coming up after her.

“The futures bright, dazzling” Referring to how Matty was the who made her bejeweled after Joe… now she is “Dazzling” with Travis.

The crown mentioned again…..

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The Black Dog:

The Black Dog - Bar in London - Or just a name she used to reference and to correlate with Mayhem. Also possibly a bar Joe used to go to a lot, so may have been used to ruin his favorite bar.

"You shared your secrets with and your location" Is anyone else shocked Matty would share his location with his girlfriend? I was shook lol

"When someone plays the Starting Line and you jump up. But she's too young to know this song, that was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming." "Old habits die screaming" Matty returned to dating girls decently younger than him, who wouldn't know his references. Reminded of him mentioning how hard it finds it to relate to Gen Z anymore.

More references to him "acting" in real life.

"Six weeks of breathing clean air, I still miss the smoke" - this was seemingly written around 6 weeks after they broke up based on some photos by Jack.

"And remember, how my rain-soaked body was shaking" Most likely referencing after the Nashville rain show or the Gillette rain show, both were pretty cool temperature wise.

"Were you making fun of me with some esoteric joke?" Back to radio 1 and Matty saying is it real or is it all a bit? Or just him in general always joking about serious things.

"Now I want to sell my house and set fire to all my clothes" Burning down the lover house from tour? New part or Era's tour? New outfits?

Update: We did get TTPD and New outfits, but Lover house is still just burning away

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The Albatross

I really didn't know where this song was going, but I did see a theory on twitter that it may be about how dating her almost ruined Matty's career and I could totally see that.

"They tried to warn you about me. Cross your thoughtless heart" Him going into their relationship even though he was probably warned it wouldn't go well

"She's the death you chose, you're in terrible danger" see imgonnagetyouback and idea that she is going to kill him either way.

"and when that sky rains fire on you and you're persona non grata, I'll tell you how I've been there too and that none of it matters" Referencing when the hate started piling on, and her saying she can relate because its happened to her too. Also persona non grata possibly relating to him going back to Europe ( even though it was for shows) when the hate was really bad.

"Wise men once read fake news and they believed it." Everyone believing whatever they read about Matty

"You were sleeping soundly when they dragged you from your bed. And I tried to warn you about them" Taylor probably giving him a heads up that them dating wouldn't go well with her fans.

"So I crossed my thoughtless heart, spread my wings like a parachute. I'm the albatross, I swept in at the rescue" Her trying to cover for him (ie the awful and rushed Ice Spice collab) also, depending on how you think this album went she could be referring to putting out this album to clap back at her fans that acted insane before.

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The Manuscript:

After further review this song seems 100% like John Mayer.

"He said, Im not a donor but..." I AM OFFENDED - for those who are new I work in Lung Transplant lol

"I'm not a donor but I'd give you my heart if you needed it. She rolled her eyes and said 'You're a professional" John Mayer has always been known as a sort of professional play boy.

"In the age of him she wished she was thirty" at the time they dated, Taylor was 19 and John was 31.

"Afterward she only ate kids cereal and couldn't sleep unless it was in her mothers bed" her going from wanting to be older to regressing to a child after they broke up.

"Then she dated boys who were her own age with dartboards on the backs of their doors" After John she dated a college student at Belmont and Taylor Lautner, both were closer to her age.

"She thought about how he said , since she was so wise beyond her years everything had been above board. She wasn't sure." Him trying to cover for their age gap. She has been very vocal on how she felt this age gap was never OK and that he shouldn't have dated her. See Would've Could've Should've

"The professor said to write what you know" she would have felt like John was the teacher at the time. He was significantly older than her and had been known as a top song writer for ages.

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The Bolter:

-----------

The Anthology- to note these could have been recorded and written much later, as they do not have vinyls or any hard hard copies that would have needed to be prepped.

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imgonnagetyouback: --- all lowercase

I am going to get you back, and I am going to get you back for hurting me (double meaning) Her trying to figure out if she is gonna keep fighting for them or lash out at him.

Intro is almost identical to Looking for Somebody to Love

This song also makes me think "uh oh" lol The same uh oh I felt when the 1975 started working with Jack. hahahah

"Whether I'm gonna be your wife or gonna smash your bike, I haven't decided yet" reference to falling for you and Matty mentioning all he needs is her gynormous house and his bike. - Not a song about Taylor, but a song he would dedicate to her.

"Flip the script and leave you like a dumb house party" her leaving him next time instead of vice versa

"Act like I don't care what you did" could be any of the million things Matty did/ said between them in 2014 and now.

"I'm an Aston Martin that you steered straight into the ditch, then ran and hid" Another ghosting reference.

"Pick your poison babe, I'm poison either way" saying he could either come back or stay away, she was going to "kill"/ruin him either way.

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Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus:

"Hands in the hair of somebody in darkness, Named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus and I just watched it happen". The fact Matty was out with all sorts of other people and she just watched.

"And you saw my bones out with somebody new, who seemed like they would've bullied you in school and you just watched it happen" - The fact she was with Travis and he didn't do anything or say anything. She was still giving Matty signs (ie Beatles shirt, Griff song) via posts even after start of Travis, so she was initially still hoping he would stop her.

"I changed into goddesses, villains and fools. Changed plans and lovers and outfits and rules all to outrun my desertion of you. And you just watched it" Taylor re-arranged her life for him. Broke all her own "rules" for him and he let her (all to ghost her in the end)

"If you want to tear my world apart, just say you've always wondered". When Matty and her re-connected he must have said he always wondered what they could be if they tried again (or something along those lines). Then he tore her world apart.

"And if you have some kids with an internet starlet, will that make your memory fade from this scarlet maroon" A throwback to Maroon being about Matty. A song she played over and over as her "secret song" for Era's. She also played Maroon in LA. When Slut! was apparently supposed to have been released.

"cooler in theory, but not if you force it to be" The fact they most romanticized their relationship, but they couldn't force it to work.

"Will I always wonder" Because he ghosted and she never got closure. -----------

Peter:

Decently Straight Forward. This song was the one that made me cry on first listen.

Throwback to Cardigan and the line "Peter losing Wendy"

"Forgive me Peter, my lost fearless leader" - reference back to him telling her she needed a brave man, "then proceeded to play one"

"Lost to the Lost Boys chapter of your life. Forgive me, Peter, please know that I tried". He never did grow up. She was tired of waiting.

Overall, more references to him making big promises and breaking them.

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How Did it End?

Most likely Joe? I could argue it either way, but Joe fits a little better.

"He was a hothouse flower to my outdoorsman" He was a total introvert and she is obviously not.

"and so a touch that was my birthright became foreign" a familiar touch that she assumed she would have forever becoming unfamiliar.

"We'll tell no one, except all of our friends" - telling no one that they had broken up, when it initially happened, except for all of their friends.

"We were blind to unforced circumstances" - depression? Covid? Lockdown?

"and fell victim to interlopers glances" - She was obviously interested in at least Matty, she has noted in earlier songs Joe was thinking of other people too

"Didn't you hear they called it all off? One gasp, and then. How did it end?" The shock everyone felt that they had broken up.

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I Look in Peoples Windows

Train reference. Always headed in different directions.

"I'm afflicted by the not knowing" Always wanting to know what they could be

"What if your eyes looked up and met mine, one more time" Always wanting to give it another chance

"I tried searching faces on streets, what are the chances you'd be downtown" She was always looking for him, wherever she went

"Does it feel alright to not know me. I'm addicted to the 'if only'" Asking if he does OK when they are apart, because she never stops thinking about what they could be

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The Prophecy:

"Hand on the throttle, thought I caught lightning in a bottle, oh, but its gone again" She thought they were finally going to be able to be together.

"I guess a lesser woman would've lost hope" relates to the fact she has spent the last 10 years hoping it would work out.

"don't want money, just someone who wants my company. Let it once be me, who do I speak to about if they can re-do the prophecy" - she has everything else, but just wants someone to love her.

Song overall also referring to the fact she feels like she can not get anyone to commit to her, no matter how hard she tries. The fact that she has all the money in the world, but no partner.

"Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand. Oh, still I dream of him" still wanting Matty.

"No sign of soulmates" "I'm afraid I sealed my fate. No sign of soulmates" I think she truly thought Matty was always her soulmate. No matter who she was with, she kept faith they could always still work out. Now she truly feels she has nothing left to hold onto.

I think she may think she sealed her fate with her fame. She made herself so famous that a relationship with her is intolerable to most people.

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So High School:

Travis.

"You know how to ball, I know Aristotle"

Also this song is soooooo bad. I can't survive a Travis album if this is going to be a vibe. I may tap out.

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I Hate it Here:

I have no real thoughts on this song.

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ThanK you aIMee:

Kim K

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Cassandra:

Taylor

Most likely referring to a lot of situations (Scott B, Scooter, Kim/Kanye) where she tried to warn people and no one listened to her and instead would either try to silence her or try to ruin her.

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Robin:

For Aarons son, Robin?

#taylor swift #matty healy

6 notes · View notes

dilfdoctordoom · 11 months

Note

I have to ask what happened to Atleza, did she get retconned out of existence or was there a comic I missed. It seems like a wasted opportunity for Adam and Gamora.

The answer is neither! As far as we're aware, she does still technically exist; she just hasn't been so much as referenced since Thanos (2003) & Marvel: The End.

What we do know is this: before the Annihilation Wave hit, Gamora, Adam & Atleza were all happy together outside of reality (see: Thanos (2003) for this).

Then sometime right before Annihilation hits, something bad happens. "It was said that [Gamora] had been humbled by the great powers of the universe, abused... and discarded" (Annihilation: Ronan) implies that, at least from Gamora's side of things, it wasn't an overly willing choice to leave.

Adam's described as being "driven insane by the psychic agony of the souls destroyed in [Annihilation]" in Thanos Imperative: Ignition. This is also where you can see him in the same style costume he's wearing in Thanos (2003).

Adam appears in Thanos (2003) #6 where he says he's going to Gamora & Atleza. This issue comes out in Febuary of 2004. Important because in She-Hulk (2004) #7-8, Gamora & Adam appear! Together! Atleza is never even alluded to! This issue came out in September of 2004.

That whole story ends with Adam, Gamora & Pip agreeing that they'll handle who is going to rule the planet & Adam says it's going to "take a while".

Going off Gamora's mental state, I'd say this takes place before her "humbling".

From alll of this, we can assume that sometime between Adam's appearance in She-Hulk (2007) #8 and just before Annihilation: Prologue (because Gamora's already set up shop by the time the wave fully starts), that they are both pulled away from Atleza.

Adam I think is the easiest to explain; he got some prior warning of the Annihilation Wave, got dragged back, went insane before he could help out. I would say that he got dragged out when Xandar hit it, like he felt all those souls die, but Gamora had already left by then and I don't imagine Adam sitting on his ass while she's leading a cult.

Gamora's... not so easy to explain. She didn't know the Wave was coming, so she can't have left to stop it. She isn't looking for Adam... She's leading the Graces & being a little evil but it's fine she's hot enough to pull it off.

They both get to reunite at the end of Annihilation: Conquest & then they join the Guardians, have several one-on-one interactions & neither mentions the daughter that they are raising.

It's all really fucking weird, I'm not gonna lie. Events from Thanos (2003) get full on referenced later in cosmic Marvel (keeping in mind -- that's the series that reintroduced Peter Quill) so it's odd that there's a whole lot of nothing about Atleza, when it's clear from the first arc that she exists & is important to both Gamora & Adam.

But. There's a very very specific reason I've been mentioning the dates & IMO I think this is why Atleza vanished: Marvel kind of hated superhero kids in this era. Atleza's erasure happens around the same time as OMD, etc, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was some editorial meddling going on there. Marvel's real shit at letting characters make big life progressions & objectively, Gamora & Adam having a daughter together is a major progression.

I don't see her getting brought anytime soon, either, or at all, if I'm being honest. Gamora regrettably takes more from the MCU nowadays than she does from her own comics history & it's at the point with her where I get excited if a writer knows what Annihilation is in general.

And because it's not gonna be mentioned for Gamora, it can't be mentioned for Adam, either.

I will say that the best shot of an Atleza namedrop, maybe even appearance, in the coming years is probably from a Ron&Ron miniseries. They're doing a lot of work with that era (the Silver Surfer & Adam Warlock minis are wonderful & I'd highly recommend them) & a follow up has already been announced. Still in the Infinity Watch era, but hey, if they continue, maybe they'll hit Atleza eventually.

#q & a #gamora #atleza #adam warlock #that got much longer than i thought it would so tldr: no marvel hasn't mentioned her since like 2003 afaik they're never gonna bring her up #again & im very mad about it

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eldritchamy · 1 year

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read your tags and. (probably) not a girl but anything else you'd recommend rn?

....How do you feel about telekinesis-based witches in very violent Korean supernatural action horror? If this sounds interesting to you, you might enjoy The Witch Part 1: Subversion and The Witch Part 2: The Other One

How about a claustrophobic, tense, atmospheric suspense horror in the vein of Alien but at the bottom of the ocean instead of deep space? Does Kristen Stewart with a butch haircut work for you? If so, watch Underwater.

While we're on the subject, Alien and Aliens. If you've never seen them, change that immediately. Alien is correctly regarded as one of the best horror films ever made, and the (imo superior) sequel Aliens is in my extremely correct opinion the best sequel ever made and one of the best movies of all time. Ellen Ripley in Aliens is my GOLD STANDARD for character arcs. Just masterful writing. Fuck Alien 3. Alien Resurrection is hot trash and VERY OBVIOUSLY a prototype for what became Firefly if you squint, but apart from a few VERY WHEDON lines it's better than Alien 3 honestly. This is not saying enough to count as a compliment. FUCK ALIEN 3. The new films (Prometheus and Alien: Covenant) are OKAY, but a completely different vibe and generally most people either only like the old movies or only like the new ones. Covenant is better than Prometheus imo. And I will say that Covenant has some of the most interesting/inventive xenomorph kills in the series. They do NOT have the same feel as the old movies, though. The design fails HARD to capture the essence of that 80s junk retro-future vibe that makes the old movies so timeless. They're supposed to be PREQUELS but the tech is way more advanced for no reason, which imo was a bad choice.

Supernatural action drama with an interesting plot that will make you wanna read the graphic novel it was based on? The Old Guard.

Wanna see the best and most underrated animated film of the last decade? I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH how much Kubo and the Two Strings was ROBBED during awards season.

Like robots smashing each other with an unexpectedly solid plot? The Bumblebee movie from a couple years ago was shockingly good, in stark contrast to every other Transformers movie.

Want some really well done scifi with a PHENOMENAL concept behind it, framed in a different way than any other first contact style movie, that will make you think about the nature of consciousness? Arrival is a masterpiece.

What We Do In The Shadows remains the best thing in the vampire genre. If you haven't seen it yet, fix that. The movie is great but the show absolutely blows it away.

Star Trek is a good evergreen choice. I don't have as much experience with it as I'd like, but I very much enjoyed TNG up until it hit writers' strike territory and things went really off the rails (mid season 5). Started DS9 but my progress got interrupted pretty hard when my dad was in the hospital for the last time. The different series have different feels to them. Not liking one show doesn't mean you won't like another one. There's plenty of Star Trek to choose from.

I am tearing through The Vampire Diaries at an impressive rate. Is it revolutionary? Not remotely. You can tell a LOT of the character archetypes were pulled from Buffy. But to be fair, it does a lot of those character archetypes better. I got into it partly for a specific character (Katherine Pierce) who is like Evil Girlboss incarnate, and partly as backstory for the world so I can eventually progress to Legacies for ANOTHER supernatural superpowered character (Hope Mikaelson). So far I'm very pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying it. It's actually a good show. VERY straight, but at least the straight vampire drama is better than Buffy's (even if it's very obvious that Stefan and Damon are basically rehashed Angel and Spike).

Have you seen Shin Godzilla? It is, bar none, the best monster movie ever made. An absolute MASTERPIECE of atmospheric, slow terror as the world fails to comprehend and respond to the physical and emotional impact of a nuclear catastrophe on Japanese soil. Absolutely PHENOMENAL movie. The version with all the deleted scenes in it is even better. Incredible film.

Do you like speculative fiction about artificial intelligence, and also think Alicia Vikander is pretty (who doesn't?). Ex Machina is really interesting and good.

Like the classic stuff? John Carpenter's The Thing and the 70s Invasion of the Body Snatchers definitely live up to their reputations.

Want to turn your brain off with a comedy about morons who are in over their head? The Three Amigos is pretty good and has one of my favorite jokes in any comedy movie. (It involves a veranda).

Wanna turn your brain off with goofy kaiju bullshit? The old Toho Godzilla movies are very fun. Be mindful of the older ones, though. If it was made before 1970 and features an island setting, there's usually some outlandish degrees of racism. King Kong vs Godzilla is the worst offender, but a BUNCH from that era had very severe colorism and "primative island culture" vibes. Also probably avoid Godzilla vs Megalon, which even manages to beat King Kong as hands down the worst film in the entire series. It was filmed in under two weeks and Godzilla is only in it for the last forty seconds because it wasn't even supposed to be a Godzilla movie at all. I'm a big fan of the Heisei era movies (1985-1995) personally, with the Millennium series (1999-2004) being a close second. But if you want maximum goofy kaiju cheese, you want Showa (1954-1974). It's all rubber suit bullshit and it's a good time.

The Maleficent movies are fantastic, if you haven't seen them.

The Mummy and The Mummy Returns are cinematic masterpieces. Do not watch The Mummy 3: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I mean it doesn't even have Rachel Weisz, what's the point.

The Resident Evil movies are very bad. But they're a guilty pleasure if you're into really bad 2000s cheesy action. If you're into it, they're fun.

The Underworld movies are kinda like that but with vampires (and werewolves) instead of zombies. They're awful movies, but they DO have Kate Beckinsdale in a corset so you win some you lose some.

Want action cheese but more 80s? Demolition Man is fun. The original Judge Dredd is also better than it has any right to be. The NEW Dredd is genuinely a good and cool movie.

Want to watch a shitpost? Romancing the Stone and the sequel, Jewel of the Nile. Very fun to watch with friends because of how batshit insane they are.

GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE. I can't believe the post got this long before I thought of it. It's a great story about a female assassin and a polycule of librarians with guns. Sometimes a family is a little girl, the woman who shot her dad, and 4 gay aunts that love books guns and each other. Great music, too.

For turn your brain off but cute, charming, and low stakes/drama, Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my favorite Ghibli movies. It's about equal to Totoro with how gentle the world and story are. Also has some anti-capitalist vibes and a lesbian artist who lives in the woods. Plus it's about a witch, and who's not a sucker for decent witch movies?

Person of Interest is a really interesting show if you haven't seen it. It's about a national security algorithm that gains sentience and a small team of independent ex-spec ops agents use it to save people because its creator refused to let the government have access to it.

Do you want to absolutely lose your goddamn mind wondering how something ever got made? Try watching Zardoz. Holy fucking shit I've never been more confused.

Do you want that feeling but good instead of bad? Kung Fury.

Terminator: Dark Fate is the best film in the series THERE I SAID IT. It does every single thing the series NEEDED it to do to be good and relevant and fresh for a modern audience. The series has been stagnating for a long time and Dark Fate is EXACTLY the direction the Terminator franchise needed to go.

#eldritch recs #eldritch movies

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northwest-cryptid · 11 months

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I cannot express this clearly enough so let me say it as best I can...

The reason I don't go off about "AI is bad AI is scary!" is not because I condone the use of AI to steal people's art, writing, voice, or likeness; because I don't condone that at all. The reason you don't hear me go off about "AI is bad AI is scary!" is because AI isn't actually the problem here... The people who use AI for these things are the problem and I refuse to let them get away with their horrible shitty behavior by letting them scapegoat lines of code that we've literally had for decades but haven't been usable for the common individual due to a lack of understanding, an understanding that the common individual STILL lacks.

If you actually care to know my thoughts past that summary I got you fam. All that I ask of you is that you have the reading comprehension level to understand that I do not condone theft in any form, outside of shoplifting necessities from specifically large chains (do not steal from mom and pop shops or small chains like mall stores it impacts the workers on the lowest rungs of the ladder.)

I literally expressed to a good friend of mine not too long ago that I had used an AI to generate a reference image since I'm trying to get better at art. Without so much as any understanding of my process he began to shame me for it, which made it very hard to explain to him that I had actually trained the model in it's entirety myself; on my own art so that it would produce reference images closer to how I actually draw already and thus make it easier for me to understand how the drawing would look in my style. He then went off about how even if that were true, it wouldn't know what common things are, like how it knows what an owl looks like; to which I had to explain to him that stock photos exist and how I have literally done photography as a hobby for years so most of the images were literally my own photography (most of my family are artists whether that be photography, writing, music, or painting and I grew up in this environment) the only images used to train the AI that weren't literally created by my hand were legally owned stock photos that I used to help round it out a little since obviously I don't have great photos of everything ever that I might want to try my hand at drawing. This explanation literally took me hours, and the actual explanation would have taken me about 5 minutes but we couldn't get past "AI bad AI scary!" to get to "actually you can ethically train an AI to use art, photography, and images of your own creation and not have to steal anything from anyone; ever. All of the images, and art that are used by my AI are used with permission of their original creator, because I am that creator." The AI doesn't even run on the internet or connect to the internet, so it's not like it could pull results from some secret third party or website or something. It's just a huge help as someone who suffers from ADHD, I can't very easily keep an image in my mind and remember the finer details as I draw, and I am not a skilled enough artist yet to know how things should look in relation to other things just yet. However despite all of this I still have had a lot of people get upset with me simply for even USING an AI in the first place.

It's honestly as if people forget what "AI" really even is, it's code. That's it; that's the end all be all of it. Every video game under the sun that you love uses code, and I'm willing to bet good money it uses AI, it's own AI; because a lot of shit has for a long, LONG time. We're only seeing a problem with it now because it's finally being made open source, brought to the masses; and in those masses there will always be people who use it for the wrong reasons. I've been told that my thoughts on AI sound like some 2nd amendment right winger talking about guns and gun laws, which is honestly just annoying because I cannot in my right mind think of an ethical use case for a gun. The best case scenario with a gun is that it's a waste of money you never have to use. However when you break down what AI really is, it's just a bunch of code that can use the knowledge given to it (by a human being) to discern patterns and calculate what mathematically should happen next based on the parameters and then do that thing. There are so many use cases for that, everything from simply trying to calculate a minecraft seed to stuff as complex as surgery (although I would probably still feel more comfortable with human surgery lol)

The only difference between AI and say a basic start up sequence for a computer is that a sequence like that is pre-written by the programmer, it's a line of commands the computer will just follow; while AI has a line of commands that tells it to basically write it's own code and execute it based on the commands that give it "knowledge" of how to do everything. There's no "thinking" there's no "consciousness" it's all calculation and mathematics; which some may equate to consciousness and thinking; but like at that point I think you're just getting into the weeds about it.

What I'm trying to say with all of this is simple though, the tl;dr is this:

That age old saying of "a computer should never be put in a position of power because a computer cannot be held accountable for it's actions" is how I feel about AI, people want to point the finger at AI saying that it stole someone's art or voice or something; and no it didn't AI didn't do that A PERSON DID, BLAME THE PERSON; DO NOT LET THE INDIVIDUAL GET AWAY WITH USING A TOOL TO MAKE THEIR THEFT EASIER, THE PERSON IS STILL THE ONE AT FAULT.

Ai has no conscious thought, it cannot do anything it is not explicitly told to. If I go out and use an AI to generate art or to steal someone's style, that's on ME not the AI; the AI is just a tool, I could have just as easily gone about it some other way. I view AI as a sort of accessibility tool, it makes a lot of lives easier it can make everything from hobbies to jobs easier WITH PROPER USE, but the lazy idiotic assholes who don't bother with proper use and wish to abuse it should be the ones being held accountable. If a studio uses an AI to steal someone's voice and likeness then blame the studio for misuse of their tools!

If I run over 20 people with my car, the car is not at fault; I am. Rightfully so! If I generate 20 images that uses art from various photographers or drawings from artists without their permission or knowledge well, I guess the AI did it; can't blame me right? When people aren't held accountable, they'll just go do it again.

#long post sorry #do not come after me about this I swear to god

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huntunderironskies · 1 year

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For W:tF 2ed, whats your opinion of Primal Urge? do you feel its overpriced for what it offers or is it alright? would it benefit from a primal beats system to increase the levels?

Hey there, thanks for the question! I'm always excited to talk game design stuff especially when werewolves are involved. :>

Firstly, my opinion of Primal Urge may be influenced in part by 1e, in which it was one of the most punishing power stats to increase. 2e's Primal Urge is miles better and even offers some minor bonuses aside from just being tacked onto your resistance rolls. The Curse was one of my least favorite weird holdovers from Apocalypse and I can't be happier to see it gone. Dietary restrictions tend to not come up that much, but I've never had a player go higher than [POWER STAT] 5 yet. I think the Hard Rage one is definitely the worst out of them, but my players generally work pretty hard to actively avoid being in situations where it'll come up with either the Chain Rage rite or Directed Rage as a merit.

For positive effects: That damage regen really adds up fast, and is probably one of the best benefits. Like a lot of power stats you don't really feel the effects hard until Primal Urge 4, where the big bump in power comes in.

With that said...

Yeah, werewolves have a lot of XP sinks. More than most other splats I think, I've done two crossover games at this point and the werewolf in the long-running one I did a while back (my other crossover game has just started) always seemed to be the one who was struggling to hold onto XP for any long period of time, especially given that raising Renown can feel pretty urgent since it's bound to specific actions. I used the system where you can effectively go in XP debt but immediately get a dot of the relevant Renown.

From a game design perspective, I think there was an attempt to offset this with how extremely beneficial being on the Sacred Hunt is to getting beats very quickly. Exceptional successes happen a lot with werewolf dice pools. We'd pretty regularly get enough beats from a single Sacred Hunt for everyone to get an XP (important note, I use group beats in all of my games) without factoring in players achieving Aspirations et al.

Werewolf would have really, really benefited from having maybe not a Primal Beats system per se, but a sort of...let's call them Hunting Beats? I'd need to have a good think about what the specific trigger conditions would be for gaining beats for them, but obviously the Sacred Hunt beats would primarily feed into that. Acts that align with a specific Renown would also do it since we're trying to make getting Renown a bit easier, and if I were feeling spicy I'd also pull the hunting styles list from Shunned by the Moon and say that if you act in accordance with those, it would also give you Hunting Beats.

(Yes, I know that The Pack gives you Pack Beats as a secondary beats system but, uh, it's...not quite as refined as the krewe/cult beats in later games. Rehauling that is one of my "maybe one day" goals since there's very good ideas in there but it needs some refinement.)

I think playing into the hunting styles subsection specifically would have an interesting effect in the sense that increasing your Tribal Renown wouldn't necessarily be actively beneficial (...which is one reason that I've been trying to shove in the specific Tribal Renown into the Tribe-specific Merits I'm working on, that's your positive reinforcement for acting in ways that your Firstborn would) but it would be indirectly encouraged. One of my problems with 2e is that Tribes still feel like they're not a part of a werewolf's life mechanically and a function of that is your Tribe's Renown, which should act as a secondary influence on your behavior, is just sorta. There.

I went a bit off topic, oops. I think that Primal Urge in and of itself is fine and I don't feel the need to tweak it, it's more the issue of werewolves having a lot of things they need to buy into and Renown being...somehow at once both extremely useful (in terms of a cost-benefit analysis, think of it as a trait that costs 1 XP to increase plus a free Shadow Gift Facet with it, unless it's your Auspice Renown in which case you get both a Shadow Gift Facet and a new Moon Gift Facet) but also kind of a pain to get. That ends up making everything feel overcosted, Primal Urge included.

Hopefully this makes sense! I just got back from night classes so I'm a bit scattered, haha.

#werewolf the forsaken #chronicles of darkness #thank you for the ask!

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karmasreal · 10 months

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Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl Predictions

Alright, here are my thoughts on Mike Wise, based on what I could find about his most recent work. All of this came from this interview that Chappell did with Rolling Stone a few weeks ago, where she mentioned that Super Graphic Ultra Modern girl was coming out soon, and that she had selected a new producer for the song to create a queer pop party song. She specifically mentioned Charli xcx as inspiration for the song, and mentioned choosing this producer because she wanted to emulate Charli.

This raises a few questions for me:

She has a good working relationship with Dan Nigro, so why change it now? There has to be something really compelling about this song/producer/style that she felt she needed fresh eyes or skills on it to get this song right

Why mention Charli xcx, and Charli's producer? As far as I know, Charli pretty famously produces her own music. So bringing in a producer from Charli and not Charli herself feels weird to me

On top of everything, Mike Wise has only produced one Charli xcx song, "Yuck", which absolutely does not typify a Charli xcx song. It's a pretty basic pop song, with nothing special in it in terms of production that would potentially make a new artist want to pull the producer in to make something new. And, again, "Yuck" is not the first song I would pull up to say "this is the Charli xcx vibe, and I want to emulate it." So this whole scenario makes no sense to me

I went through the majority of Mike Wise's discography, specifically the work he's put out over the past two years. There's a mix of songs, some basic pop, some sad songs, and then two songs that knocked me off my feet.

And this is what I think is going on. These songs, 30k by noelle, and Contemporary Love by Rêve, are exactly the vibe I could imagine Chappell going for. 30k is very pink, hyperpop with trap beats, R&B vocals, and is very high energy. Contemporary Love is also very high energy, really really fun to listen and dance to, and has the exact vibes and look that I've been seeing Chappell going for. Specifically in the Contemporary Love music video, the whole image of "I'm wearing a sparkly cowboy hat and frills in a dark club with strobe lighting" reminds me of the look Chappell has been putting out a lot.

From all of this, I think it's pretty clear that Chappell straight up lied (affectionate) about the Charli xcx vibe so that she could get some buzz around the song or build a coherent narrative around her music and vibe. It doesn't really make sense to say "I heard some unreleased music from other small artists that matched what I wanted to create so I picked this new producer." But it does make sense to say "a lot of my fans love Charli xcx, and I wanted to create that kind of music too," even if the producer doesn't actually make the kinds of song you would think of being hyperpop for the main hyperpop artist.

Of course, we're just going to have to see what the song is like when it comes out. I would guess that SGUMG sounds a lot more like 30k and Contemporary Love than like Yuck. Give these songs a listen! I would love to talk with someone about this more

#chappell roan #thoughts on music production #mike wise #pop music #noelle #reve

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sarahthevampyrslayer · 1 year

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BOOK REVIEW : DO NOT DISTURB BY FREIDA MCFADDEN

Heads up: This review includes spoilers

★★☆☆☆

This is the second book I've read from this author, so I'm not that familiar with her work. But I can conclude that she definitely has a specific style to her writing. I've just realized it's not a style I mesh well with.

The book starts off from Quinn's POV. She just killed her husband and she's trying to figure out what she's going to do next. It starts off pretty compelling and has a good pace for the first few chapters. I could have done without the author's need to remind the reader almost every chapter how handsome or sexy the male characters are; it's said like it's important to the story but it's not important enough to be mentioned a dozen times, by literally every character.

An issue arises when we first switch to Claudia's POV, Quinn's sister. Chapters 16-25 are completely useless and unnecessary. Especially if we're to take the "twist" towards the end seriously. This is supposed to be from Claudia's POV, her inner monologue, and it comes off as if she doesn't know anything about her sister's husband. It comes off as if she loves and cares for her sister. Then in chapter 39, when we come back to Claudia's POV, she's all "that's right I hate my sister, that bitch!" and "I've been the one sleeping with Derek and I loved him!" It is always when we learn that she's the one who stabs Quinn outside the motel BUT that makes no sense because earlier, when we first get Claudia's POV, Claudia acts surprised she found her sister's wedding ring in the side table. Saying something along the lines of "so my sister was here, but where is she?" Like.. that makes no sense. This isn't written from a third person point of view. It's basically Claudia's inner monologue. Why would she ask herself this is she just stabbed her sister and stuffed her in the trunk of her car?

So that big plot hole is why the twist makes no sense. It feels like the author purposely lied to us and then tried to be like "gotcha! you had no idea!" Well, yea we had no idea. The character's own inner monologue didn't allude to her hating her sister, wanting to kill her sister, or sleeping with his sister's husband. It actually went out of the way to imply all these things weren't true. And it's not like she was implying these things to convince other people, most of these thoughts and actions happened when she was alone.

Also, the entire motel owner and his wife storyline was so pointless. And I clocked the creepy old lady as the killer of the unsolved murder, related to the in (a pointless subplot), the moment she made a big deal about Quinn being at the motel.

The story was okay at the beginning, it gave off Wattpad vibes with the writing but otherwise the actual plot was an interesting concept. However, the entire first POV from Claudia was a cheap way for the author to pull a "gotcha" moment, that wasn't even a clever one because we were literally just lied to for almost 10 chapters. Purposefully mislead, which would have worked if this wasn't written in the first person.

I don't feel like I completely wasted my time, the book was entertaining enough that I was able to finish it in about 2 days (it's not very long either, so that was helpful). But the switching between POVs, rehashing the same information over and over, without adding much new information. Plus, the author's obsession with the attractiveness of the male characters. It left a lot to be desired. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, and I won't be reading it again.

I'm on goodreads

#mybookshelf #book review #do not disturb #freida mcfadden #books #thriller #thriller novel #thrillers #book reviews #goodreads

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wondereads · 2 years

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Books I Read in October + Opinions

Ahaha I meant to post this a week ago whoops

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (9/10)

This is the first of many I read for school. Despite being technically forced to read it, I enjoyed this one! The concept is super interesting, and I liked the writing style. The meandering, stream-of-consciousness writing really serves to enforce the tone of the story. However, I will say that it's pretty unsatisfying at the end. I can let it go somewhat because it's kind of the whole point, but it's still frustrating.

Heaven Official's Blessing Vol. 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (9/10)

Xie Lian's backstory is absolutely heartwrenching in this volume, and I know we're far from over. I'm loving the slow burn (on Xie Lian's part) so far! The only reason this isn't a 10 is because Xie Lian's past and present each take up about one half of the volume, and they feel a little disjointed as if they're different stories. Still, I appreciated getting back to the present since it's a little more lighthearted. Hua Cheng interacting with any heavenly officials that aren't Xie Lian is hilarious.

Strike the Zither by Joan He (7/10)

I enjoyed this book, I did! I love political and military fantasy, and this book is a combination of the two with a big emphasis on the strategy side of things. I especially like the main character, Zephyr, who was nuanced, complicated, and a great perspective to read from. However, I can't look past the fact that the pacing is all kinds of off. There's just not enough space for this kind of story. There's a huge plot twist halfway through, and it's not paid even half the attention it should. Still, I'll definitely be reading the next book. Check out my full review here!

The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey (6/10)

This is another book I read for school. It's another take on the zombie apocalypse, a really good one. After all, it's told from the perspective of one of the zombies. It asks interesting questions about what qualifies as humans and what will replace us once we're gone. So then, why did I give it a 6? Because this book is painfully written by a man. Of the five perspectives, the three female ones are perfectly fine. The men, however, won't shut up about masturbation and porn and whatnot. It pulled me out of the story and just grossed me out overall.

Beguiled by Cyla Panin (8/10)

This is actually the first partnership with an author I did! I did a reading vlog with it and everything Still, I can promise you this is my personal, honest opinion. I enjoyed reading this book; a lot of research went into the weaving aspect, and I loved the way the main character used lots of weaving metaphors. I also really like the Irish folklore influences, but I wished there had been more about the world, specifically the political climate. It was slow to start, but we got there! Check out the reading vlog here!

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Vol. 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (10/10)

This volume was very backstory heavy, but it still had me giggling and kicking my feet. Look, they are very cute! Yes, there is all sorts of tragedy and horrendous corruption stuff going on. Do I care? Kind of, but not really. There was tons of character development in this volume, and I think it ended on the perfect note for the fourth one.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (5/10)

Yet another book I read for school. This is a childhood classic, but it also means a lot of stuff went over my head. Such as the vitriolic racism and classism, which is present throughout the entire book. I have to say, it really impacted my enjoyment; I couldn't stop thinking about throwaway lines that basically amounted to certain people being inherently better and more civilized than others. I don't think I'll be rereading this one anytime soon.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (10/10)

It is my firm belief that this book is one of the best dystopian novels ever written. It addresses a plethora of issues in a way that is serious but understandable for teenagers. Also, it doesn't fall into the black-and-white worldview that other famous dystopian novels (i.e. 1984) fall into. People from the Districts can be awful and corrupt, and people from the Capitol can grow and be kind. Katniss is a stupendous main character, and the political atmosphere for the future books is perfectly set up. Check out my review here!

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (10/10)

This is the third time I've read this book in a year and a half, and I still had the time of my life. This time around was a bit more analytical, and I especially noticed a lot of Jones' family life reflected in this story. I love Diana Wynne Jones' writing, and Sophie is one of my favorite protagonists ever. Her no-nonsense attitude is exactly what I love in a heroine, and I love her and Howl's dynamic. The side characters really shine, especially Calcifer, who is a fan favorite for good reasons. Check out my review here!

Shades of Rust and Ruin by A. G. Howard (8/10)

A. G. Howard is one of my favorite authors; I love her writing style, and she does great retellings. I really liked Nix, the main character, and I loved the worldbuilding, which meshed traditional faerie lore and steampunk aesthetic. However, this book is strikingly similar to another book of hers, Splintered. So much so that I was actually waiting for elements to line up with each other (which they often did). It was really entertaining, but I just can't get over that, so it's rating dropped a bit. Check out my review here!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (9/10)

This was a really sweet children's book; I can't believe I've never read it before! It pulls a lot from Chinese mythology and culture in both physical items and creatures and ideological themes. The illustrations are beautiful and clearly inspired by traditional Chinese art. The message is sweet and pushed in a way that will get through to children but doesn't feel like it's being forced down my throat. A lovely book!

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (10/10)

I could not have asked for a better conclusion to this series. I was in great distress half the time, but that feels about par for the course while reading The Scholomance. El and Orion's story came to a beautiful close while answering all the questions yet to be answered about the magical world. The message is lovely, one that isn't often told in adult fantasy. It destroyed me, and I am very happy about it. Go read The Scholomance trilogy.

Bonus! November TBR

The theme this month, in honor of NaNoWriMo and my attempt to write a fantasy novel, is classic fantasy (+ some ARCs and overflow from previous TBRs)

Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Damsel by Evelyn Skye

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir

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spaceinvadeeer · 2 years

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Answering your requests for headcanons...what do you imagine the Nordics' body types and personal styles to be? Obviously, we see some of this in your art, but I'm curious about how you'd put it into words.

as far as style goes it depends on what time period we're talking about, cause i have a lot of ideas floating around and describing them all would take forever ghfdgo so i'll try to sum it up!

denmark: physically, he's your average dude but got more physical strength that what appearances lead to believe. just a little muscle, as a treat. style-wise, he craves formal stuff like dress shirts, suits and such but doesn't have preferences between plain-colored ones or fantasy-patterned ones. the 80s definitely were his fantasy pattern peak.

sweden: interestingly enough i interchangeably imagine him as either lean and muscular, or slightly on the chubby side bc of @losnordiquitos (i saw your post abt it and felt targeted /lh /pos). he's the tallest regardless, and he doesn't have a particular preference in clothes as long as it doesnt draw attention on him. cream and navy blue might actually be his sweet spot but he doesn't notice...

norway: he's slender but his bones are much more visible than the others in specific areas like his shoulders, fingers and hips. he's perfectly healthy though, he just hides a lot of it under woolen sweaters, dress pants or more gnc outfits when he feels like it. he definitely has a preference for earthy tones, or lavender when he wanna make that icy glare pop out. he just went crazy around the 90s-2000s and wore pastel outfits to pull off the androgynous y2k aesthetic.

iceland: he's similar to norway body-wise, though for some reason i think he'd have more calloused hands and a softer jawline (it's so specific but it's clear in my mind hgdfg). when it comes to clothes he tries to get something neutral-colored but that's still unique or unusual in some way. long bowties, puffy-sleeved shirts, torn jeans and the like! he def had an emo phase too so..... hehe

finland: chubby, definitely chubby with a misleadingly soft round face and a big nose. he's also the smallest after iceland but he's not to be messed with. as for his style, it's easy and i only have one thing to say: horrendous.

i actually thought of drawing little refs for how i see them! i think it'd be much better than words. i may do a full-body lineup in the future, it'd also help me improve with drawing body diversity! tysm for that question anon

#ask #hws sweden #hws finland #hws denmark #hws norway #hws iceland

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voidstilesplease · 3 years

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The Mission To Bring Lydia To Camp Half-Blood Because Her Demanding Poodle/Rottweiler/Hellhound Insists On It a.k.a Theo's First Quest part 2 of 2 [part 1 here]

a demigod au :)

---

Three hours later, Fred walks Theo to Half-Blood Hill, where Stiles, Chiron, the son of Hades and only occupant of cabin thirteen, Liam, and the giant hellhound, wait for him. The sunset was minutes ago, and the sky around Long Island is with a soft pink and orange glow, the forest already dimming. When the hellhound catches a whiff of his smell from a good twenty meters distance up the hill, its ears perk up, and its head turns in Theo's direction. He wags his tail back-and-forth and gives a loud, happy bark as it races down the slope to Theo.

Theo falters in a slight panic, but he's unable to plant his feet hard enough when the giant dog leaps to him and brings them sprawling to the ground. Theo grunts on impact, the weapon that is slung to his back digging on his spine. He turns his face to the side as the dog begins licking his face and bathing him in hellhound saliva. When it's satisfied, it pulls away to bark down on him, moving its body off of Theo only to tug on the strap of his leather sword-sheath around his chest with its teeth.

"Yes, yes, you infernal dog," Theo grits out, pushing at the animal's face as he sits up. "We're already going, aren't we?"

Theo doesn't even understand why the hellhound seems taken with him - he's never owned a single dog in his life. He certainly doesn't have a dog-lover aura. In fact, canines used to growl and bare their teeth at him when he passes them by on the streets like he's offended them by existing.

So, three days ago, when the giant rottweiler appeared in the camp, hounding at everyone until it saw Theo and proceeded to hound at him exclusively, well, Theo didn't take it well. He was already cross with the presence of a murdering one-eyed monster among them. Then a massive, crazy dog added to his ire - well, he almost chopped a limb off with a machete that materialized in his hand out of nowhere if Liam hadn't interfered and called off the hellhound.

When it calmed down, it still didn't stop pestering Theo and everyone at camp, only more subdued this time. It didn't appear to be from the underworld to deliver a message, nor was it truly hostile to anybody. So, Liam spent time with the hellhound to try and coax information from it; its purpose, intention - through some underworld mind-reading, zoolinguistic mojo, perhaps, that, frankly, Theo doesn't want to know the inner workings of. Some demigods just have the ability to communicate with animals. Children of Ares can talk to vultures, apparently, though Theo's never tried it.

Anyway, after an entire evening of bonding, Liam claimed that the hellhound is protecting a demigod and that she's in danger from monsters. Chiron authorized Theo's first quest since the beast was adamant about sticking with him - barking and rubbing at Theo and licking his hair until it puffed in disarray. The only question was his company. Logically, the answer would have been Liam since he's a son of Hades, and hellhounds are basically their house pets. But when Stiles steps forward to volunteer, Theo didn't even think twice and accepted.

Stiles had shadow-traveled with Liam before on his first quest, so he already knows what to expect to keep his equilibrium in the dizzying method of travel, and, well, Theo is comfortable with him. And Stiles is a skilled demigod, so the likelihood of the quest being a successful one is less questionable.

And now, they're minutes before Theo's first quest commences.

"Hey," Stiles greets him when Theo reaches the magical boundary of Camp Half-Blood. Peleus is sleeping a few meters away, tail and body twined around the pine tree where the Golden Fleece lay. Fred nods to him in encouragement, leaving him alone with the son of Athena. Stiles squints his eyes, looking at Theo's head with a strange expression. "You had a haircut."

Theo's hands come up to touch the buzzed sides of his head, then the stylish quiff on top. He convinced Fred to give him a cut before his quest to avoid any more embarrassing dog-licked hair. Theo thinks the new style looks good on him, actually. His hand falls, smiling at Stiles. "Do you like it?"

Stiles seems taken aback by the question. He clears his throat, cheeks tinging slightly. "I mean, the long hair is okay, you know," he rambles. "Like, the falling fringe. It looked soft But, um," he runs his observant eyes over his head again, nodding, a finger flailing up in gesture, "That works, too."

Theo grins, enjoying the attention. "I'm glad you think so. Maybe I can talk you into staying in cabin five next time."

Stiles throws him a deadpan look, but the little twitch on his lips break the facade. He rolls his eyes, turning around. "Come on," he says, walking to Chiron and Liam, who's petting the hellhound and murmuring things to it. "We still have a demigod to fetch."

•••

Theo does not recommend shadow-traveling.

Yes, it's quick, it's efficient, but it also makes your stomach leave your body at the sudden space-defying lurch and land in 0.2 seconds flat. He's lucky not to have thrown up on Stiles and lose all his cookie points, but he definitely almost went there.

When the hellhound lands, Stiles hops off unaffected, while Theo tries to remember his name. It takes him a few seconds to gather his bearings and shake the black spots dancing in his vision. By then, the hellhound has already torn through the porch of a house. And Stiles - Theo blinks - is rolling away from another giant vicious animal - this time a pig.

It's happening so fast, but seeing Stiles fighting an actual monster wakes his senses altogether. He only has a few seconds to assess their surrounding: they're in a residential area, a wide lawn specifically, the entrance to a two-story house just a short distance away, and the brick gate on one side is smashed in behemoth-shaped rubble.

A hoarse grunting puts his scrutiny back to the beast. It's a boar, about twelve feet tall, with massive tusks, stiff bristles, and red-glowing eyes. Theo doesn't have much time to study it as it opens its mouth, electricity crackling from inside and ready to zap Stiles where he stands.

"Stiles!"

The son of Athena reaches around his back for his aegis shield just in time for the lightning strike. The near-promixity attack throws Stiles a few meters backwards, hitting an opposite brick wall that immediately cracks in contact.

The boar grunts again, mouth foaming and preparing to pulverize and finish a demigod.

Theo's about to run to Stiles when the boy grunts, shaking his head sharply. "Just pierce its hide with the celestial bronze!" he instructs, gritting his teeth in pain.

Theo has no time to argue as the boar starts leaping forward to Stiles and his reflexes kick in. With adrenaline he never knew before, he unsheaths the knife from his side with an expert flair and charges the boar, screaming.

•••

Amazingly, all it took was one well-aimed thrust, and the colossal pig breaks into fragments in front of them like a piñata. In a matter of seconds, all that's left of it are its long ivory tusks. Theo stares at the space where the monster is previously poised for attack, then down to the cluttering tusks, sweating and heaving.

"Spoils of war," Stiles says, wincing as he stands. "They're yours."

Theo turns to gape at Stiles, still catching his breath. "How did you know it would be that easy?"

Putting back the shield behind him, Stiles moves forward, limping slightly, dirty and his hair a little singed, but his eyes are wide and alight. He grins, wiping soot from his mouth. He's even more attractive like this. "It's a Calydonian Boar, an ancient monster. Atalanta defeated it first by piercing it with a simple arrow. Its skin is nothing special like the Nemean Lion. The only thing to watch out for is the lightning it emits through its mouth."

Theo looks at the blade in his hand, the bronze covered in green slick. Laughter starts bubbling in his chest as his head wraps around the events of the last few minutes. He just killed a monster. He defeated a monster!

He feels Stiles beside him, laying a hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. He's sure he mirrors the elated expression. "Well done, son of Ares."

Theo would've kissed Stiles, consequences be damned, out of euphoria if not for the familiar sound of barking behind him. They both turn to find the hellhound standing on the lawn with a red-haired girl in tow. She looks around at the destruction, then to the demigods, scared and a little shaky.

Stiles steps forward, raising his hands in a placating manner, as Theo wipes the slick from his blade and puts it back in its sheath.

"It's okay," Stiles says. "We came to help you."

"You destroyed my lawn." The girl replies, trying to hide behind her giant dog. The hellhound wags its tails.

"Well," Stiles wets his lips. "We had to fight the monster."

That catches her attention, "You can see them?" At Stiles's nod, she continues. "Do you see the ghosts, too? Hear them whisper?"

"Um, no," Stiles replies, blinking. "Just the monsters. It's probably an ability you inherited from your godly parent. You could be a daughter of Hades since you own a hellhound and can, apparently, see and hear ghosts."

The girl only stares at Stiles like he's grown a second head.

"Look, we'll explain everything to you. You have to trust us," Stiles points at the dog. "Your hellhound came to our camp so that we can come for you."

The girl looks at her dog then, petting its black fur. The dog rubs its nose on her side in response. Finally, the girl purses her lips and turns to them again. She licks her lips and says hesitantly, "I'm Lydia."

Stiles is visibly relieved. He gives the girl an assuring smile, "And I'm Stiles," he points at Theo beside him. "This is Theo. We-"

Lydia cuts her off, eyes sliding to Theo in surprise. "You're Theo?" She asks, sounding breathless and in disbelief.

Theo frowns at the sudden shift of attention. He crosses his arms self-consciously and answers in a gruff voice. "Yes,"

Lydia shakes her head, fingers coming up to touch her open mouth. "I can't believe it. You're actually here," she murmurs more to herself. The hellhound nudges her side in comfort. Absently, she rubs the dog's ears while giving Theo a sympathetic look. It's beginning to irritate Theo, and as he prepares to snap on her, she tells him somberly:

"Your sister has a message."

~•~

#steo #steo fic #steo ficlet #demigod au #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #theo raeken #lydia martin #stiles x theo #fics tag #well i struggled again my god #this is unedited because I'm too worn out again #i apologize for the mistakes you might spot :)#I'll maybe read this again tomorrow in the morning when my head isn't pounding and edit it along with part 1 #not a promise lol but I'll try #for the meantime i hope this isn't as incoherent as i am now #demigodseries

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indiacater · 3 years

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UNFINISHED CHAPTER

I have made the decision to completely redo this story. I just wasn't feeling connected to how the story was currently going. The way I was writing it no longer felt authentic to my style. And I will admit that I'm a perfectionist with my stories (who on this platform isn't?) So the remake will be posted after the new year. Outlaw will still continue and I do have another story in the works. In the meantime here is the unfinished chapter of addicted.

Tagging: @ao719 @desireepow-1986 @emceesynonymroll @dcbbw @bebepac @cordonianroyalty @texaskitten30 @glaimtruelovealways @kingliam2019 @bobasheebaby

Addicted ch.2

A week after meeting with the King and Lord Darren, Dr. Sugar was preparing to meet with the selected people for his insight intake. He looked at his pad and saw that he'll be first talking to Liam’s personal guard, Andrew. Then it was Duchess Olivia, who grew up with both Liam and Naima. Then lastly meeting with young Mr. Drake Walker, who also grew up with both Liam and Naima, and is Liam’s closest friend. As James continued to prepare he thought more of his opinion of the situation he was brought into. With what Constantine and Darren had told them Liam and Naima were expressing a healthy, yet reckless sexual relationship. However when both men mentioned the intimacy between the two didn’t start until after the deaths of their mothers. “Replacing emotional anguish with physical distractions is common, and a healthy coping mechanism.” He thought to himself. Yet he couldn’t shake the curious intrigue of this case. James thought back as he left the palace after meeting with Constantine and Darren, and seeing Liam and Naima their behavior would seem addictive in perspective but really looking at their actions they were more of overzealous newlyweds on their wedding night. Dr. Sugar chuckled at the thought and decided to speak with Liam and Naima before his sessions.

THE NEXT DAY

Dr. Sugar arrived a short time before his meeting with Andrew, as he set up his notes for the day he asked the palace staff of Liam and Naima’s whereabouts. Most advised him to steer clear of them, unless you walked in on them. Eventually he learned that they were in the adjacent library on the bottom floor as he approached he overheard an already strained conversation going on.

“Why do you need to head back today?” Said a man’s voice between breathlessly. “Come on just stay one more day. Let me convince you again.”

“I don’t need to be convinced anymore. I really do need to head back to the Valtoria estate.” A female voice responded. “Besides there some guy hovering outside the door.”

Upon hearing that James kept his head low as he walked in. Trying to keep his composure he addressed them.

“Good afternoon your highness, your grace. I’m Dr-"

“Who are you speaking too? Us or that floor?” Naima interrupted. “We’re fully dressed now.

Feeling slightly more embarrassed James lifted his head and continued. “Apologies. I'm Dr. James Sugar. Your fathers had hired my services to help you both. I’m meeting with some friends of yours to get a better idea of what I’m being brought in for.” James began to feel that meeting them at this point was a regrettable choice as he assess the looks of both Liam and Naima. With Liam he looked irritated by him being there, where Naima was more of a curious indifference. Feeling he already done this much he might as well finish. “I was hoping to meet the both of you beforehand and just introduce myself and plan ahead on when we can meet. Preferably I would to meet with you individually--" noticing Liam hard stare, immediately corrected himself. “Or if you’re more comfortable meeting together, I’m okay with that as well.” James finished.

A brief intense silence followed. Eventually Naima got up and pulled out a card from her bag and handed it to James as she got up and walked halfway out the door. “My personal estate number is on the bottom. Try to schedule something with me before the end of the week.” Naima spoke in a serious yet nonchalant tone. “A pleasure Dr. Sugar.” And with that she walked out.

Liam rushed to follow her but got halfway out the door before James called out to him. “Your Highness?!” Liam stopped abruptly and turned to James with subtle annoyance. “I still have time before my sessions begin. Why don’t we chat for a bit and schedule our session in the meantime?” James continued as he sat down. Liam hesitated at the door, then throws up his arm and grabs a chair.

“Seeing that you’re on our father’s payroll and determined to be in our business.” Liam scolds as he sits down. “Sure let’s chat.”

James straighten up and started with a softball. “Okay I won’t beat around the bush then. Are you or her grace aware of why I was brought in to talk to the two of you?”

“Who cares.” Liam answered as he leaned back in his chair. “Our father’s really need to mind their business of what goes on with me and Naima.”

“Well according to your father specifically, the two of you have a habit of making your business public for all to see.” James retorted, not intending to making it sound as rude as it did. He expected the young prince to be more agitated but instead Liam stood up and smiled.

“That’s why you’re here?” Liam asked, sarcastically. “Because Naima and I have sex? That’s a pretty low excuse to force Naima and I to meet with a therapist. I’m sure you can understand.”

James shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t disagree with that. However from what I have been told so far and from what I have briefly witnessed during my last visit, one can’t help but to be curious.” James noticed Liam’s demeanor soften slightly as he continued. “Normally any other psychiatrist would just roll over and beg at the hand that’s feeding them just to use the opportunity to bolster their reputation.”

“We should be so lucky.” Liam said with a hint of sarcasm. “Well doctor Sugar I shouldn’t keep you from you appointments. Feel free to get in touch with my father’s assistant to plan our appointment after confirming a date with Naima.” With that Liam got up, curtly bowed his head and left the room.

With a deep breath James got up and left to start his profile interview.

ANDREW

Liam’s personal guard was first. James figured that he more than anyone had seen the progression of this relationship and would be the perfect person to begin this fun journey. He arrived shortly after 11am and kept a stoic façade.

“Good morning, Andrew." Dr. Sugar began. “I appreciate you having the time to meet with me. Albeit it was at his majesty’s request but know it is appreciated.”

Andrew answered in a slight nod.

“Good.” Dr. Sugar said as he cleared his throat. “As you know Prince Liam and Lady Naima are the reason we're speaking today. I want to get your insight of their “relationship”. As you know them from a young age is there anything you would want me to know?”

Andrew sat up in his seat and sighed. “Contrary to what you've been informed of. I’ve only been his highness’s personal guard for the past three years. Before that I was a mere palace guard. I only became Prince Liam’s personal guard due to having the most run in with him and lady Naima.”

Doctor Sugar looked through his notes to search a particular topic. Looking back at Andrew. “Can you give me an idea how their relationship came to be?”

Andrew shrugged. “They’ve known each other since they were kids and younger than that. Their mothers were very close and would often have play dates. Just around a year before I became Liam’s guard is when I walked in on the making out. Just innocent stuff. About six months after I took the position I walked in on them in more progressive activities”

James looked down at his notes again. “What can you tell me about the headmistress incident(1)?”

Andrew’s eyes widen slightly. “I’m afraid that is classified. You could speak to his majesty or his highness, but I’m afraid I can’t help you there.”

The rest of the session went on smoothly. Dr. Sugar was able to learn that Liam and Naima graduated at the same time and would go off for days at a time together, but he wasn’t privy to give out that information. He did mention that there was an incident with Liam’s closest friend, Drake Walker (2).

Olivia

To say that Olivia frightened James was an understatement, it also unnerved him watching her toy with a stiletto blade.

“Thank you for sitting down with me Duchess.” He said, trying to mask any timidity in his voice.

“I really didn’t have much of a choice.” Olivia responded. “So what does my being here have to do with Liam?”

“I’m aware that you’re close with both Liam and Naima. What can you tell me about that?”

Olivia sits up straighter and places her blade down on the table. “I practically grew up with Liam. After my parents died I went to live at the palace until I came of age to rule Lythikos on my own. As for Naima she was around, we were sparring partners for a time, we attended the same schools. I wasn't that close to her."

"Hmmmm." James hummed. "Your Grace. If I may be so bold to ask have you had and romantic feelings towards Prince Liam?"

"Yes. It is bold of you to ask." Olivia replied, coldly. She remained quiet for a solid minute before breathing out a huge sigh. "If you're curious if I ever acted on those feelings then yes."

James eyes widen slightly as he leaned forward. "How did you act on them and how receptive was the Prince?"

"Last summer." Olivia began. "Naima was visiting her grandparents in America. They both were sick and didn't have long. So Naima was there for most of the summer. He and Naima would still chat in the morning and in the evening, but I noticed Liam becoming antsy. I seemed them together during Liam's girlfriend's incident (2). So one day I found him in the middle of self gratification and took advantage of the situation. Then we hooked up a few more times. I thought he finally noticed me, but sadly I was being naive."

"What makes you see that you were naive?" James asked curiously. Olivia shuddered a sigh and then responded.

"During the last time were together intimately."

#indiacater fic #choices #trr king liam #liam x mc #the royal romance fic #this story is wild #king liam #pixelberry

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kiatheinsomniac · 4 years

Text

Chapter I: A Bright Opportunity

Clad in robes of deep red and gold, she waited in the shadow of the hidden door, peering through the crack of it being ajar, the hidden stone tunnel stretching out behind her. Her slim body was leaned back against the cold wall as she waited for her contact's company to leave the room. Once alone, she stepped silently out of the shadows and into the warm golden light that poured in through the polished windows, kissing the skin of the woman's face as soon as she pushed her hood down from her head and onto her shoulders.

"Your majesty." She addressed formally, kneeling down as she bowed her head towards the floor and placed a hand over her heart.

"Winifred, I take that your presence before me means you have something of importance?" The red-haired queen of England queried, waving off the alerted guards to lower their weapons before gesturing for the other woman to stand.

"Of course." Spoke the assassin, rising from her bow to pluck a letter from her pocket, the red wax seal already broken, she handed it over to her queen, "A plot by the Vatican - and I'm afraid that your cousin Mary may be involved too, Elizabeth."

"Thank you." The queen spoke, sucking down a breath as she thought of the gravity of the situation - yet another burden for the queen's already heavy shoulders, "Though, this only means more work for you, I need you to uncover if Mary truly is involved, I want to know exactly what powers are conspiring against me and my throne."

"I'll get right to it, your majesty."

LOADING ANIMUS DATA...

██████████████]99%

(Y/n) opened her (e/c) orbs, her vision fuzzy from sleep. An irritated groan was pulled from her lips when she reached for her phone, her alarm blaring in her tired ears. It was six in the morning and her usual time to get up for school.

Her dream was quickly fading from her memory, all she could remember was seeing Queen Elizabeth I of England and an old-fashioned letter with a seal. "Proof that I'm passing history, I suppose." She grumbled to herself as she unlocked her phone to check all her social medias before she exited her plush bed. It was full of white fluffy blankets and pillows and shielded her body from the cold air that nipped at anything outside of her blankets. Her light grey walls stood tall around her in her rather plainly decorated bedroom - there wasn't much aside from her wardrobe and organised desk.

She quickly finished up checking all her messages before jumping out of bed and heading to the bathroom to relieve herself, wash her face and to brush her teeth, shivering gently at the cold temperature, all too eager to get back to her room where she could wrap herself in a blanket as she readied herself.

Upon returning to her room, she began dressing for the day of school that lie ahead, sitting on the floor in front of her full-length mirror to style her (h/l) (h/c) hair and do her usual makeup. As she went through her morning routine, she danced around a little to the music that was playing from her phone - mostly her favourite songs by Lana Del Rey with some Billie Eilish and some classics thrown into the playlist.

Once she was done, she headed downstairs to make herself a coffee to drink while she sat at the dining table doing any homework that was due in that week.

She was the only person in the house. The solitude never bothered her ever since she was young - her parents worked a lot and she never had much of a close relationship to them anyway. In fact, relationships weren't something she was accustomed to anyway - her parents' work meant that they moved house a lot so she never really managed to make friends or stay in touch with them either. But, she was perfectly content with her studies and happily sitting at the top of her classes.

She was one of those people that could never get enough - no matter what she did, there had to be more to get done. For every lesson, there would be another three to learn to push herself further. 'Why settle for less when you can be the best?' she would often say to herself whenever she took a little break from studying to browse the internet on her phone.

Once it was time to leave the house, she was pulling on a coat and slinging her bag over her shoulder, drinking down the last of her slowly cooling coffee.

Her walk was just like any other usual day, taking the paths beside the main road while her music accompanied her through the cold early-spring morning. She let out a sigh while her playlist shuffled in her headphones, blasting loudly in her ears. She passed familiar paths and roads, stopping at the same traffic lights. (Y/n) had the option to be driven to school by the family driver but she preferred the twenty minutes of morning air considering she didn't leave the house often enough.

When she arrived in school, she made her way towards the library where she pulled a notebook and textbook out of her bag, going over chemistry topics regarding balancing equations and relative atomic mass. Her music played softly in her ears now, music without vocals that would distract her if present in the song. This was how her day went: get to school and study, attend classes to study, sit studying at break, attend more classes to study, have a small break for a light snack and drink at lunch before studying then attend her final lesson to study. Once she got home, she'd sleep for a while then listen to music/ paint/ read a book before studying until dinner; after dinner, she'd have a bath and take some time to look after herself before going to bed.

(Y/n) could admit that a change in routine was all she longed for but she didn't know anything else. She had no friends to go out with and didn't really have anything interesting going on at all aside from family events. She wanted a change desperately but had no clue where to start - whenever she tried to mix things up, she'd always fall back into the same routine out of habit. When the bell went off, she packed her notebooks neatly away into her navy blue bag and tucked her phone into her pocket.

The approach of yet another repetitive day.

She sat through her first three lessons, her work at top standard and focus sharp as she pressed herself in her studies more and more. Her attention was following the video on the board that was explaining the use of tangent with angles of elevation and depression, noting down little features to keep in mind (all of which she already knew but noted it down nonetheless to show classwork) when a male teacher, who was escorting a female visitor, entered the classroom, making his way across the room to the teacher's desk. The (e/c)-eyed female had seen the grey-haired teacher around the school before and was rather sure he was one of the receptionists. She watched the hushed conversation quickly occur between the receptionist and maths teacher before the man straightened his back.

"(Y/n) Glacier, could you come with me please?" He spoke up, the student opened her mouth slightly, wondering why she had to be taken out of class.

"Do I need my bag?" She quizzed, reaching for the strap of the navy bag that rested by her feet.

"Yes, please," He spoke as he made his way back outside. (Y/n) quickly gathered her things and made her way outside, closing the door quietly behind her. Her (e/c) gaze managed to get a better look at the visitor. She was a woman in her late middle-ages with fair light brown hair and turquoise eyes. She wore a purple blazer and skirt with a white blouse and black heels.

"I'm not in trouble am I?" The student quizzed, she had no idea why she had been taken out and was beginning to grow worried that she might have done something; though, there was nothing that she was able to think of.

"On the contrary, dearie." The visitor spoke up as they walked towards a classroom, that was bare aside from the school's headmaster, where the three of them took a seat. The school's headmaster was a woman nearing being elderly with jet black hair that presented a few grey streaks. On her nose were thick-rimmed glasses and she wore a deep red blazer with a white blouse and a flowing black skirt that reached her ankles. She was a good headmaster and had been running the school for the good part of three decades from what (Y/n) had heard.

"Miss (L/n), this is Miss Pearl Attaway." The headmaster spoke, "She's a member of staff at Vermere Lake Grammar School and she's representing the board there that are searching for students to join seeing as it's a new establishment."

"Ok. . ." (Y/n) began slowly, "I suppose, to begin with, I'd like to ask: why me?" She began picking at a thread on her skirt under the table, finding herself to be rather nervous.

"Your grades are outstanding, (Y/n)." Pearl Attaway began, "We're looking for students with gifted minds like yours, you'd be a wonderful asset to the school."

"Where is this school?" The (s/t)-skinned student quizzed, wanting to know everything about it before she began to make up her mind on attending.

"The French countryside." The visitor replied. (Y/n) opened her mouth to speak but was cut off, "I know what you're thinking and I'm sure that the proposal of a boarding school comes as quite a shock but your parents have been spoken to and they both are in favour of you going and have left the final decision up to you." (Y/n) stopped to think. This choice was going to be far more difficult and impactful than she originally thought.

"I think that I'm going to need more time to make up my mind on this. . . I mean: France? A boarding school? I've never done anything like that before, I've never stayed away from my house unless I'm with family. . ." She looked down at her lap. This could be her chance to really advance in her studies! And the fact that they had sought her out specifically too! Would she be around more like-minded people?

"It's perfectly understandable if you want some time to think this over but I'm afraid that I'll be needing an answer before the end of the month," Pearl replied. That gave (Y/n) three weeks to make her big decision. The (h/c)-haired student turned to her headmaster.

"I know it's a lot to ask for but could I go home? I want to be somewhere where I can have some clear-headedness to think about this and I'd like to talk to my parents too. It's understandable for you to say no." She requested. The older woman tossed the idea around in her head for a moment.

"I'll have to contact your parents but I'm sure they'll allow you to return home." She smiled as she stood up, everyone else in the room following suit. The receptionist began leading Pearl away. However, the woman in purple paused on the threshold of the door.

"We hope that you'll choose to join us, (Y/n)." And with that said, she was around the corner and out of sight.

"If I may add my thoughts on this," The headmaster spoke up as she began leading (y/n) to her office in order to make a phone call to the student's parents, "I believe this is an excellent opportunity for you, I've seen your grades and your class books and I believe that this school cannot provide the facilities and teachings that you need to further your education. This would be perfect for you."

"I know. . ." (Y/n) began thoughtfully, "It's just the boarding school part that's making me hesitate. I've never been away from my family before." It was true that she was used to solitude but she was used to that in her own household, not in the countryside of another country surrounded by other people her age. She was certainly stuck on the fence. . .

The call was made and she was sent home, hence why she was laying on her bed of lightly coloured pillows and blankets, staring up at her white ceiling.

"This could be the change you want - no! - need! This could be your way to get a change in routine and press yourself to be the best! But it's so far away. . . And? You're not close to your family anyway, it's not like you can't call them for comfort if need be. You're not exactly leaving any friends behind either. . . What if you can make some friends there? If they're looking for people like you perhaps you can get on well with them. This could be the best decision of your life! Or the worst. . . Come on, you get to go to another country and attend an outstanding school! Don't let sentiment hold you back! It's a boarding school, I'm sure you can bring whatever you want to make yourself feel at home. Tell you what: let's do it! Let's go to this school! What have I got to lose? The worst thing that could happen is getting homesick." And so, she reached across the bed for her phone to contact her father who would tell Pearl Attaway that (Y/n) would be attending Vermere Lake.

For the first time in her life, the change she longed for was finally within reach.

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