Hello! I absolutely adore your Flicker AU

Are you going to do any more of it?

Thank you! And absolutely!

I have a couple more comic posts planned, and there’s actually a fic in progress! (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I just don’t have much time to myself to do projects like this rn… A lot of my free time is going into other art projects lmao.

But there’s a lot planned out, for multiple AUs, I can guarantee that, hahaha!

Yeah, forget side content, just gonna steam on ahead with the Sports Festival and onwards. I might not actually stop and start trying to do overarching plot stuff until ~chapter 100 (more specifically, post ch 97, the last chapter of the Kamino Arc) because then there will be enough material to actually like. Do stuff. Might also have something smaller after the Sports Festival since that’s ~chapter 50. Shrugs.

Anyways, onwards. Don’t you miss the days when the main trio of the series was Izuku, Tenya, and Ochako? Man, don’t I. :(

[No. 22 - That’s the Idea, Ochako!]

Character sheet! I am honestly laughing super hard at everything because just. ‘Very Ochako.’ Thank you, Horikoshi. A few things about the sheet:

1) god I love that her fingerpads are called soft. Like. Actual cat paw pad fingers going on here. just imagine if you like pressed one of them like you do with cat paw pads and like, she had cat claws that would extend. cute but also menacing.

2) strong legs. leg day squad. her, izuku, and iida all doing leg day workouts together tho... katsuki wishes he had the leg strength of those three y'all

3) That quirk description… that’s not quite how centrifugal forces work, but I mean. Superhero comic physics. At least he made an attempt at explaining her quirk. 

Anyways, onto the actual chapter.

We open up in a staff meeting in a conference room at UA, with Tsukauchi presenting the results of the police investigations. He states that the one called Shigaraki has a quirk that allows him to disintegrate anything he touches. They (the police) have been through the list of men in their twenties and thirties in the quirk registry with no luck - and nothing turned up on the ‘warp gate’ user Kurogiri either. With neither registered, both using aliases, and no quirk records, they’re pretty much confirmed to be members of the underworld.

God sorry, I’m just distracted with the sheer size difference between Toshinori and Nedzu here.

What the fuck. Why did you put the largest person in the room next to the smallest?

Whatever. Snipe surmises that they know next to nothing, but they need to learn fast, or the leader of the villains, Shigaraki, will heal up and be back again. Toshinori is thoughtful as he mulls over the use of ‘leader’, which Nedzu catches quickly and inquires into. Probably still heavily banking on Toshinori’s instincts here since he was technically right about his bad feeling about the USJ just two days before.

I mean, how it has to sting Nedzu that all his state of the art systems meant to keep out intruders and alert UA to situations on campus failed at the critical moment, while Toshinori’s instincts on something being wrong had been absolutely on point and, if Nedzu had let him go, might have solved the situation that much sooner.

(I mean, there’s arguments for what could have happened if All Might did arrive early, so. Shrugs.)

And so we get into the segment I like to fondly consider a prime example of the fact that yes, Toshinori does in fact have a 6/6 intelligence score for a reason. 

He brings up how nothing about the situation feels normal. It was an especially daring attack - and not just in the meticulous planning! Shigaraki had started going on about some ridiculous ideology… and though he didn’t say anything about his own quirk, he couldn’t keep himself from bragging about the nomu’s quirk. And when things didn’t go his way? He threw a tantrum. Toshinori then admits with grit teeth and clenched fist that the business about quirks was meant to provoke him, and that it did hurt.

Nedzu says that even so, it’s foolish for villains to reveal quirks in a battle against heroes and so waste the element of surprise. 

Toshinori surmises his previous observations about Shigaraki - spouting a plausible yet deluded ideology, bragging about the toy he brought along, simple-mindedly assuming all would go his way. If they thought about how the attack was carried out, it seems clear that Shigaraki couldn’t hide his childish nature, the sense that he does what he wants, and then flat-out calls him a man-child.

Vlad King sums up Toshinori’s words as Shigaraki being a kid with too much power. Midnight adds on how Shigaraki might never have received general quirk counseling in elementary school; Vlad wonders whether that even matters. 

Tsukauchi steps back into the conversation to give the rest of the arrest results - a total of 72 villains were apprehended at the USJ. He states that all of them were just back-alley thugs, but the question is why so many of them would agree to follow this ‘man-child.’ He points out that modern society is saturated with heroes, so small-time villains like them, who always get kicked around, might have been drawn in by that sort of pure, unaffected evil. 

Toshinori having a flashback here, though his expression… I wonder if he’s having doubts already. And honestly, that flashback bit has me wonder just how common ‘uncontrollable’ quirks really are… and what COUNTS as ‘uncontrollable’ in their society. 

To avoid a longer derail, Tsukauchi finishes up by saying that thanks to the heroes, the police can focus on their investigation. They’ll expand their search and devote efforts to apprehending the perpetrators. 

Nedzu finishes out the scene by musing over the use of ‘man-child,’ stating that in one way, Shigaraki is a lot like their students. He has potential to grow, if only he had a proper mentor to follow. It’s difficult to think about these things.

And so we shift scenes back over to 1a. I doubt this sports festival talk is happening at the same time as the staff meeting, if only because Aizawa should have been at said staff meeting. Or maybe he wasn’t supposed to be there at all and the homerooms were meant to handle themselves that morning? Wait, hold on-

That clock reads 8:25. This is happening during the homeroom period, which means that the other classes are having independant homeroom. Which also means it’s no surprise that Aizawa isn’t at that meeting, because he’s busy hobbling to his class to announce the sports festival. He probably had to be caught up on the meeting stuff later. 

Anyways. The class is surprised over the announcement of the sports festival, someone calling it ‘totally ordinary’ while another (I think Mineta) questions whether Aizawa’s sure about this, since they just had that villain attack. Aizawa states that it’s necessary to demonstrate that UA’s crisis management protocols are sound - or that’s the thinking, anyways. There will be five times the police presence of previous years. Oh, and also the sports festival is the greatest opportunity the class will get. It’s not something that can be cancelled over a few villains. 

Mineta (again?) asks if he’s sure about that, muttering about how it’s ‘just a stupid sports festival.’ Izuku seems completely horrified at the idea that Mineta might have never seen UA’s sports festival, which Mineta hastens to correct - he has, that’s not what he meant. 

I’m sorry just. That face. I can’t with this kid. Jdsjlgkd.

Also, we finally get to the page that had me double-take when I got to it because, well.

So yeah, apparently the BNHA timeline didn’t have certain current events happened that would force the cancellation of the Olympics. (I mean, obviously Hori had no way of knowing the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo would be cancelled, but it’s still like a huge sign of how long this series has been running that this is here.)

Moving on, basically the above surmises for readers that the sports festival is as big an event to them as the Olympics are to us. So basically, super hype. Momo notes that all the nation’s top heroes will be watching and scouting. Kaminari adds on how the heroes will be looking to hire the hero students as sidekicks after they graduate. Jirou makes a cutting retort how a lot of those sidekicks never manage to go solo, stuck as sidekicks forever, before telling Kaminari that’ll be him. 

Shot through the heart.

(Also a total aside I just realized: current manga events likely mean there will be no sports festival for 2a. I mean, I would say the events happening there are large enough in scope that UA just doesn’t have the inclination or interest in broadcasting vital information the villains could use. And like, no scouting, no internships, no purpose for it.

And I mean, even if they did, would any of the kids even be able to focus on doing their best? God knows how stressed and nervous they all must be with how society is basically collapsing outside the school.)

Aizawa tells the class that they’ll gain valuable experience and popularity if they’re picked up by a big-name hero. However, their time is limited. They need to show the pros what they’re made of to make futures for themselves. This happens once a year, so they have three shots. If they want to be heroes, this is an event they can’t miss.

The whole class seems to be taking this seriously, but Izuku…

Well, he doesn’t seem as enthused as expected.

Anyways, I’ll cut it there and leave the rest for next time, since there’s a time break in here anyways. It’s not quite halfway, but eh.

Do you think the DC fandom maybe, Infantilizes Tim a little too much? Like for a rich kid character who's main trauma for a long time was a getting left home alone too much there's an oddly amount of meta abt how much how much his parents hurt him~ compared to, y'know the two poor characters who grew up with physically abusive dad's+druggie mom's, or the two that were raised assassin cult's, etc

…well, yeah, I do kind of think that? His whole schtick for so long was being too old for his age in ways that didn’t sacrifice his jokey, relatable teenager energies. It’s weird how little of that we see anymore, sometimes.

And then DC broke him and discarded him and he’s sort of awkwardly hanging around getting reimagined as more woobie with every fan generation. It is weird!

But tbh I do get it. And I think the reason his parents’ failure of him and his vulnerability get played up so much, and Jason and Steph’s sufferings (while used a lot for things like motivation and context) not dwelt on quite so much in the same lugubrious style, are kind of the same reason.

Which is that canon didn’t commit to it. Jason and Steph’s experiences with bad parenting were foregrounded and retconned more dramatically awful several times. (There’s some definite classism in how that was approached imo, and I’m never budging on being mad about DC retconning out Catherine being sick and then ignoring her forever in all Jason characterization because a drug death invalidates a person ig, great message during the opioid crisis guys.)

They engaged and coped with it–Steph (and Cass, our #1 canon batfam parental abuse victim) pretty directly, Jason a little less so because of the dubious and fluctuating canon status of most of the content more specific than ‘poverty, homelessness, theft, parental drugs and crime in there somewhere,’ so most of his parent issues have been focused on Bruce. He sure has dug into them tho. 😂 Rarely well or productively, thanks DC, but it’s explicitly part of his character, is my point.

Whereas upper-middle-class Tim was always treated by the narrative as fortunate and unharmed by his experiences with his parents. Even though they were clearly behaving badly in several ways, and Tim showed signs of being harmed by it.

Tim outside of immediate moments of frustration always was of the opinion he was Fine, and Very Fortunate Actually.

Therefore a huge chunk of the numerous everyone who’s got parent-related mental and emotional harm, but has struggled to have that validated and hasn’t responded with a lot of anger toward the parent, identifies with Tim. The only one who’s never really lashed out at his parents for fucking up with him. The one who still needs it explored, because canon ultimately didn’t.

[editing post to put in a readmore because lol it’s long, post otherwise unchanged]

(Dick obviously didn’t ever have any Issues with the Graysons, but he Angry Teenagered at Bruce so hard it changed Bruce’s characterization permanently, rip.)

The things Jason, Steph, and Cass have been through are dramatic, obvious, and fit stereotypes because that’s what they’re based on.

That’s important content to have, but because it’s right out there in your face even people who identify with it quite a lot are less likely to feel the need to work all the way through it again in fanworks. That part’s there. It’s text.

(Well actually Jason having been physically abused kind of wasn’t? I think? It was mostly assumed on the basis of stereotyping and Jason’s not caring about the man much even as he felt possessive of information about his death, which is valid. I don’t actually know what’s up with Willis now, Lobdell did some weird shit that lacked emotional resonance or staying power because he’s Lobdell and has no soul.

Cass’ wandering years are also ludicrously underdeveloped. But very very few comics fans or writers can personally relate to being amazing child warriors with no grasp of language living feral under bridges. That part of her life is consistently represented in terms of absences, in terms of its deviation from the norm and the deficits of normality it left her with, which is typical but unfortunate.) 

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The interesting things to do with these characters are often informed by the bad stuff in their childhoods, but there’s relatively rarely that much more to say about the fact that those things were bad. They know they’re bad. They’ve had a lot of on-panel rage about it, as discussed above. Steph and Cass both beat the shit out of their dads.

Jason is, in fandom especially, a sort of Platonic ideal of a kid who’s mad about his bad childhood and really bad at figuring out where to point that rage.

(Damian is a whole other kettle of fish, because he’s been lumbered by so many detailed retcons coming so fast no two people can seem to construct compatible models of what his early childhood was like, and even more because he’s still ‘a child’ enough that he’s necessarily in a different stage of processing than someone who’s officially only a few years older than him at this point, but still functionally 8 and also 20 years older, and whose parents are no longer in the picture to continue screwing up.

Also there’s no question that if he brings up an abusive thing the League did, he will be validated by his current environment about his realization that it was in fact bad. There’s a lot of fic on that theme! But it doesn’t have the same tone precisely because it is usually understood that that support will be there if he wants it. Realizing that his previous context contained things that were wrong keeps being made the focus of his arc.)

The badness of Tim’s childhood, on the other hand, was mainly in subtext. Even when we were clearly meant to understand Jack was fucking up, like when he canceled plans with Tim at the last minute to go on a date with Tim’s stepmother, or that infamous time he came to apologize for not being a great parent and got mad Tim was distracted by a crisis on TV so he flew into a rage and took the TV and smashed it and was like ‘that’ll teach you,’ it wasn’t leaned into.

The story didn’t treat Jack as a minor villain to be overcome but like a sort of environmental hazard of childhood, like homework, to be endured and coped with. Tim said things like ‘it’s fine’ and ‘at least he left the computer.’

(And like. It’s not about having a TV and computer in his room. It’s about not letting a child have boundaries, pointedly not respecting a child’s possessions, creating an emotionally insecure environment, punishing minor infractions in proportion to their momentary impact on your own ego, physically lashing out at a proxy for the child…)

Rather like Tom King later didn’t understand about the punching from Bruce, whoever did that story (probably Dixon? I don’t care enough to check) did not understand how serious a case of bad parenting that scene was. That is most definitely textbook abusive behavior. (It’s a hell of a lot more common abusive behavior than being a lame supervillain or shooting you when you screw up, and a lot more specific than ‘was a thug, might have hit me, dead now.’)

And Tim was never allowed to be mad at his parents about it. It was fine. He needed to be ignored so he had the freedom to be Robin. He deserved his dad being mad at him because he was keeping secrets. He complained too much, although objectively he did not.

The universe punished him for ‘complaining,’ more than once. We cut straight from him shunting aside his disappointment that his postcard from his parents was just to say they weren’t coming home yet after all with ‘if it will stop all the fights they’ve been having lately it’s more than fine’ to them getting kidnapped.

He agreed not to come on the rescue mission. His mom never made it home, and his dad was in a coma for a while. And then ultimately Jack died as a result of Tim’s decision to be Robin, immediately after finally deciding to accept it.

So Tim walks around feeling a huge burden of responsibility for his parents’ deaths, and completely unable to process any hurt they did him as real or valid, especially in comparison with the far more blatant awfulness other people have been through, and canon is clearly never going to address it. Or even acknowledge it properly.

Let me repeat that because it’s kind of my main point:

People are fixated on getting Tim’s emotional abuse validated because that’s an incredibly important step in recovering from emotional abuse, and it’s one canon consistently denied him.

How ‘bad’ things are ‘in comparison to’ problems other people have is a bad and unhealthy way to engage with trauma. Okay? That’s just a really harmful framework to apply to pain.

It’s also a way that both Tim and people with experiences similar to Tim’s are encouraged to engage with their own experiences, compounding the existing problems.

So. Not a form of relatable DC was ever actually aiming for when they tried so hard (and pretty effectively) to make him a relatable character as Robin, but an enduring one for a lot of fans.

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So Tim’s childhood is a natural target for fanworks in a different way than the traumas that have been made explicit and taken seriously by the text. And then a lot of that got compounded by the way the introduction of Damian as Robin was handled, and the lack of resolution that got. And his current status as not quite having a place in the family anymore.

So between the level of projection encouraged by that context and how relatively difficult to access Tim’s Robin run has become ten years after the fact, this has led to a lot of fanworks on these themes that are based mostly on other fanworks, and stray further and further from the original content.

So at this point there’s an entire wing of Tim’s fandom wherein this side of him has expanded enormously, and he primarily exists to suffer, frequently in ways that 1) escalate to a point that is inarguably ‘valid’ and hard to dismiss and 2) set him up to rebound from it in whatever way the writer finds emotionally satisfying or useful–being ultimately cared for and reassured by people who value him (the most infantilizing option but like, popular for obvious reasons), or unveiling his brilliant scheme that was causing him to pretend to be passive in the face of mistreatment, or turning around and using his genius ninja skills to wrest power back from his abusers, or just laying down some sick burns about being treated fairly.

But not that many of the last one, because that’s mostly done with other batfam members.

Tim’s become a vehicle for a lot of vicarious coping that Steph and Jason just aren’t appropriate for, because they get angry and they get even. And those are stories that exist already, so there’s less scope for telling your own.

And because Jason’s reaction pattern is ultimately so masculine (i’ll make them all sorry! with my guns! blam blam!) while Tim’s is pretty gender-neutral, the demographics of fanfic mean that the bulk of the people using Tim vicariously in this manner are female-aligned, which has over time feminized this archetype of him a lot. Sometimes in ways I find really uncomfortable, like there’s a lot of forced pregnancy stuff which activates my panic buttons. x.x

But, ultimately, it’s fandom. People are going to do what they’re going to do, DC in their perpetual fail has hung Tim out to dry in narrative terms, and I’d rather the people who are using Tim for victimization narratives over the people who can’t dismiss or discredit him fast enough now that his position has been filled. 🤷‍♀️ What we gonna do? Fave’s in an awkward spot. DC hates us. This is the life in this comic book pit. XD

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Also if you’re the same anon who left me a callout about op of that weird Steph post in my inbox, or if you aren’t @ that person, 1) I refuse to get involved so I’m not answering that ask 2) those aren’t even particularly dramatic fandom crimes? That’s pretty normal? That’s just…Caring Too Much About Ships And Disagreeing With Me.

Do I also feel those opinions are kinda bad? Yeah. But I disagree with everyone about something. Chill.

creatorverse :D

Gonna guess this is for the fandom ask thing, so let’s give it a go! 

The first character I fell in love with: The sappy answer would be Launch, but if I’m being honest it would have to be Zen. I remember reading the first backstory she wrote very early on, back when I was wiritng my first CV fanfic and just throwing stuff at a wall because we were still working out how everything would work. I read Zen’s backstory and as soon as I did I was like “I NEED this to be in the fic somewhere.” Said fic is now pretty much discontinued (save for a small surprise that’ll be coming out later on my CV blog @creatorversenobody ), and Zen’s backstory has now been significantly expanded and made even cooler. 

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: THIS is the one where I get to gush about Launch, because I was a little unsure of their character at first with how set they were on being a background character. As someone who always wants to be the hero and/or the most significant, it was strange to see. But everything they’ve told me about how CV Launch works is super amazing! It also works pretty well with Nobody, which is brilliant. 

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: This one is one I kinda flip back and forth on, but my answer’s going to have to be Mori. Liks I said, I go back and forth a LOT on this one, and it’s very much subject to change based on seeing anything they do, and eventually learning their backstory. At the moment, still sort of undecided on how much I like them as a villain. I don’t really know how much I’m allowed to say about them right now though, so I won’t go into any more detail. 

The character I love that everyone else hates: I’ve yet to see any character be actually hated in Creatorverse, present or future ones, so I can’t give a serious answer to this question. The joke answer is probably Void though, a lot of the time he tends to be more comic relief but the few bits of serious info I’ve heard about his character are really intriguing. Since no one seriously dislikes him though, this only half-counts.  

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Hard to say. I don’t feel like I’ve lost interest in any of the CV cast at present, and since the future ones only exist in concept for now I haven’t had much of a chance to fall in love with them. If you absolutely forced a gun to my head to pick a character I was the least interested in though, I’d say Shandy, with great reluctance because she’s still really cool, both as a Creatorverse character and as a person. I just find most of the others with their own more unique lore more compelling personally. 

The character I would totally smooch: Platonically? All of them. Romantically? That narrows it down a fair bit. Launch is probably the first to come to mind though, for obvious and biased reasons. 

The character I’d want to be like: That’s a REALLY tough question honestly, because most of the CV cast need serious therapy and aren’t especially good role models. If we were talking in terms of power, I;d want to be Nobody. But in terms of who I’d want to be more like as a person? Maybe Dey. Dey seems pretty cool, and to my knowledge has no seriously traumatic backstory. 

The character I’d slap: Nobody, because in a lot of ways she’s really quite stupid and sometimes really needs someone to slap some sense into her. Although realistically, she’d obliterate me before my hand could even move. Still, if I won’t do it, who will? 

( cough cough @katra-aracnai-caenis-cv cough cough might be important later even if Tumblr is being a little bitch and won’t let the @ work.) 

A pairing that I love: For personal reasons, Nobody x Launch is a big favourite of mine. I also really like Nobody x Zila, although since that’s barely connected to CV it only kinda counts. 

A pairing I despise: No serious answers for this aside from anything that people have expressly said to not do. But for joke answers? Zen x Pear is an abomination that needs to die a slow and painful death. Pear is kind of an asshole and Zen clearly isn’t into the literal fruit anyway. Not a good basis for a ship. 

Alright, that about covers it! Hope these answers satisfied you. 

If you’ve read through this whole thing and have NO IDEA what Creatorverse is, I’d recommend checking the official blog for more info at @creatorverse-official . That’ll be where you’ll find all the proper official lore for the world and story, as well as all the events that happen. 

And if you’re interested in Nobody specifically, check out @creatorversenobody for all of the information on her. She’s my character, and the blog has all the lore on her that I’ve released and every RP event thread I’ve ever been a part of. 

There’s also a whole bunch of other blogs for people’s characters, mainly used for RP during events most of the time. However I’ll refrain from pinging them here on the off chance that’s not okay.  

Thanks for the ask! Have a good day!

Sorry about the floral background, my bed is the best space I have for large spreads at the moment and I didn’t think about how loud it would look when I photographed it.

First row. The Light Seer’s Tarot: The Lovers (R), 8 of Wands (R), The Sun (R), King of Pentacles (R), Page of Pentacles, Queen of Pentacles R) Second row. Rider Waite Tarot: 8 of Pentacles, The Chariot, The World (R) Third row. Wisdom of the Oracle: Soulmates, Time to Go, Co-Create, Go the Distance (R) Fourth row. Oracle of the 7 Energies: Smoke and Mirrors, A Powerful Move, A Burst of Magic, Body and Soul, The Storyteller Fifth row. Foxfire, The Kitsune Oracle: Beauty of Age, Memories of The Forgotten Self, Transcendence, Growth

@songscloset​, this is your reading for the next 6 months of your professional life / career. It’s kinda long so the reading itself is under the cut.

With the Light Seer’s tarot we see that things appear to be starting off slow with the 8 of Wands in reverse and the Page of Pentacles upright. Over the next six months I think you’ll be working on grounding yourself and returning to your roots when it comes to work. With the Lovers reversed I feel like maybe you’ve lost your passion for your work, and that lack of passion (and maybe misplaced effort) has lead or is leading you to a difficult financial spot. With both the King and Queen of Pentacles reversed it’s a good time to think of yourself more and give less of yourself (your time, your money, etc) to others. Generosity is great but it comes with a price at the moment, and that price should never be your own well being. But don’t worry! Because the sun is here. It might be reversed but the sun always brightens a spread. This is the first reminder that the next six months are not so dark and dreary, you just need to look where you’re going and avoid linger in the shadows of stress longer than necessary.

At a glance this top row confused me, so I pulled three cards from my Rider-Waite mini tarot deck to clarify before continuing on with the spread. The 8 of Pentacles here tells me that you’ve got some hard work ahead of you, either in coming to a decision about something or after (probably both). While the Chariot is about choice and being pulled in two directions at once i always feel that the chariot leads to victory once you pick the right direction. You’ll pick the right choice for you and it will lead you to where you want to go so long as you walk towards the sun. And once you make that choice you’ll be working hard on something that is meaningful to you, because the man in the 8 of pentacles is someone who is working to master his craft - whatever that craft may be - not someone who is just working to work. This is a steady passion something long in the works, not a spark that’ll burn bright and fizzle out. With the World in reverse this, again, feels like going back to your roots This isn’t a time for going off on a brand new adventure but a time for building yourself up in whatever work you want to be doing.

From the Wisdom of the Oracle deck we start with the Soulmates card, since this is a professional reading I feel like this is about some sort of team project or collaboration. But not just any collaboration, this is the type of collaboration you’ve dreamt of. Either you’re working with someone you’ve always wanted to work with or you’re starting a project and finding the perfect match in someone to work on it with you. This is emphasized by the Co-create card, which also makes me think this is likely a creative project. The next card, Time to Go, gives me the sense that you might be the one reaching out to this person who you want to work with. However it could also be a nod to walking away from work that you no longer feel any drive towards. Especially when we look to the end of this row where we’ve got Go the Distance in reverse. I feel like this card is talking about how the work you’ve been doing and focusing on isn’t what you want to be doing, and so it isn’t doing you any good. You won’t reach the goals you’d most like to reach if you keep pushing yourself faster and further and harder down a path that isn’t yours or in a position that doesn’t suit you. Life isn’t a race and you might be running on the wrong track. However, since this card is in reverse it could also be a sign that while shifting gears to a project you have a passion for is undoubtedly the right choice, the success you want won’t happen overnight. It could take some time, especially when we look back to the King and Queen of Pentacles, and the 8 of Wands all in reverse. This isn’t a speedy route to success, just a better one.

With the Oracle of the 7 Energies we start with Smoke and Mirrors, followed by A Powerful Move. These two cards feel like they’re confirming what I’ve already talked about. You’ve tried to fool yourself into believing you can be something you’re not by doing something that’s maybe okay, but it’s not what you want. And maybe you’re fine where you are but your calling lies elsewhere, and making that decision to embark on an old forgotten path, back to your roots, is a powerful decision. It’s a power move.. And power moves are often unexpected. A burst of Magic tells me that you might not be expecting this. Maybe you’ve already got that tingling feeling in the back of your heart where you sort of know but maybe haven’t been ready to admit it yet, but soon enough it’ll bloom suddenly like the first flowers of spring and you’ll realize that it’s the right time to do this. With Body and Soul we’re talking about selfcare, but this isn’t the soft and sweet bubble bath and a cup of tea type of self care. No, we’re talking about recognizing the self. Not just your worth but your wants. Who you are as well as what you are and what you do. Often times we do things that aren’t true to who we are because of a variety of reasons; we have to make ends meet, we have people to take care of, a life that has to be survived before it can be lived. But your life is now calling you to live it. Nourish your body, nourish your soul. Recognize that while you aren’t necessarily what you do, what you do seeps into who you are. Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? The choice is yours. This is reiterated in The Storyteller. You tell your own story and you write your own story. You get to decide and that goes for any part of life, including work. Although, this card brings me back to thinking this is about a creative shift that’s happening over the next six months because a storyteller is a creative. Someone who, obviously, tells a story. This can be done through any creative medium no matter what this burst of magic is for you. I suspect it’s a writing project - though that might be my existing knowledge at play here - but it certainly doesn’t have to be. if there’s something else that’s calling to you don’t feel bound by or to the written word. There are a million ways to be creative and a million ways to tell a story. It’s not even limited to what we usually consider to be parts of the creative world. Remember. You, your life, and your work, are your story to tell.

With Beauty of Age, as our first card from the Foxfire Oracle, makes me wonder if you’ve hesitated on some version of this idea in the past. If you think you’ve missed your opportunity. It’s easy to feel like we’re supposed to make certain achievements at certain moments and that there’s a right time to make something happen. But the right time isn’t always in the timing we think it is. It’s more likely that you’re coming into your right timing now and over the next six months. The beauty of age (at any age!) is that we have more information, more experience, more (and maybe better!) ideas. This means we can take an old idea that maybe we’ve forgotten, or cast aside, or left in a drawer because we weren’t ready or the moment was missed nd when we’re ready we can pick it up again, dust it off and see not only what a great idea it still is but also how we can make it better. Memories of the Forgotten Self continues this thought and, once again, serves as a reminder that this is an opportunity to go back to your roots here. Is there an idea that you’ve left alone for so long? Is there a reason why you left it behind? Did you forget? Were you not ready? Are you now? Or. If it’s not a specific idea, is it a path you wanted to go down but never did? Follow the sun and see where it’s light leads you. It’s okay to do so now. You’re ready. With Transcendence I know that it might not be an easy decision to follow whatever this dream or idea might me. That’s why you feel torn between to paths like the chariot in the first row. You’ve got obligations! You’ve got life to deal with, you’ve got muck, and mud, and Stuff to wade through. The timing might not feel right even as you’re reading this. But if you’ve got that tingling feeling, those chills you’ve been ignoring are telling you that the time will be here soon. In a sudden burst you’ll know, and over the next six months you’ll have the opportunity to start down on that old path. it might not be an easy path but it’s a path that will serve you well and leave you better than it found you. Because that’s how Growth is. It’s tough, and sometimes it hurts. There might be growing pains on this journey but you’ll expand your skills and make connections and, eventually, you’ll reach your goals. Grow towards the sun, walk your own path. Retrace your steps and try again.

So. To sum up that gigantic block of text: The next 6 months for you in your professional life are a time to rediscover what you want to be doing. There are choices and connections to make and a lot of growth in both skill and for you on a personal level. And although it might not be right away, and maybe not in the next six months, these choices and connections, this growth, does lead to success. But remember when talking about success that the definition of the word is personal. How do you define the word? I would take some time when making these decisions to consider what the success you want looks like, because that’s the success this leads to.

Five years after setting out from Beach City, and 3 years after finding a general area he wants to call home, Steven has also found a space he can call his own. A tiny little mountain town in the state of Ankärr, situated in the Arapaho Mountains. A housewarming party with the Gems and Connie is one of the first things he wants to do after moving in.

AKA, Steven Universe Future Future.

Full preview beneath the cut!

“Steven, what’s up? You okay, dude?”

“Amethyst, I need to talk to you.” Even if the video chat didn’t show Amethyst that Steven was entirely pink and had one hand plastered against his face, obscuring one half of it, the broken sound of his voice was more than enough for her to deduce that he was far from okay. “I need someone. Anyone. Connie’s out of the country visiting her aunt and—”

Steven’s hand was pushed aside as the side of his face suddenly expanded, the pink glow cast on his surroundings growing even brighter. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I can’t stop! I don’t know why! I was doing fine this morning!”

Amethyst recoiled a bit in shock. “Steven! Where are you?! What’s the state?” She turned away from the phone, looking back to Pearl and Garnet who’d been listening in from the kitchen. “You guys! Get the map, we gotta’ go!” She turned back to the screen, shooting a serious expression at Steven through the call. “Just tell us where you are, we’ll be there right away!”

“It’s—” Another sudden swell and a sob interrupted the thought, expanding Steven’s chest until his face wasn’t even visible. This bout lasted even longer than the one on Steven’s face, leaving Amethyst able to do nothing but wait until this too had passed. It was a painful and tense wait until his chest receded, with Steven’s face reappearing with fat little tears rolling down his cheeks. “I can’t—!”

“Yes, you can!” What in particular he could or couldn’t do, Amethyst wasn’t really sure. It was more of a general affirmative statement, rather than a direct answer. What he did need to do, though, was tell her where the hell he was. “Steven, you gotta’ do your stuff! Count your breathing or whatever! Exercise your ground!”

It was on instinct that Steven began to comply, already starting to draw some ragged breaths in. He seemed to pause as he did, as if suddenly considering what Amethyst had really said. Exercise your ground…? After a moment, he actually cracked the smallest of smiles. That grew into an uncomfortable half chuckle after a moment, even as he continued to cry. “Grounding exercise.”

“Yes, that! The thing where you count or look around and it turns your brain off for a second!”

That was absolutely not how Steven’s therapist described it, or probably any therapist. Whatever, didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Steven started to comply, fighting the urge to crumple into more sobs in order to catch his breath.  If he could stop hyperventilating, he could sort out the cacophony of thoughts in his head. If he could sort out his thoughts, he could speak up about where he was. Then they’d be here, and they would help him. It would be better.

Internally, Steven began to observe his surroundings in conjunction with his breathing. “I-I’m in the Dondai. There’s a tiny crack in the windshield where a pebble flew up and hit it last week. I forgot to recycle that plastic container in the passenger seat from when I bought that muffin.” That was just yesterday morning. Things were so good then. Why did he have to start falling apart again so soon?

There were a few more things Steven observed, but he’d moved to internal observations. Thinking more as he continued looking around him. Past the Dondai’s windows, into the parking lot it was in. Up to the front of the bed and breakfast he hadn’t even checked into yet. “It’s a little cabin in Georgeland. It’s off Marianne Road and Baltic Boulevard. I haven’t even gone inside.”

“Georgeland! Marianne Road and Baltic Boulevard!” Amethyst repeated the location as soon as it had been spoken, dashing over to the kitchen where Pearl was furiously typing the info into her phone.

“I’m looking it up right now!” Steven could hear the resoluteness in Pearl’s voice even through the phone, and how it was definitely masking some underlying anxiety. “It’s in the southeast corner of the state!”

“There’s a warp not far, just north of that area, by the downed gem ship. We can be there in under 20 minutes.” Garnet’s voice was measured and calculated as her pointer finger came to rest on the point on the map in question where they’d placed one of the many stickers that signified the locations of warp pads. It was a project they’d worked on after they’d struggled the first time with trying to locate Steven when something like this had happened. It was easier to form a plan with a visual on where Steven and the warp pads were in relation to one another.

The camera whirled around on the Gems’ end, focusing again on the image of the three of them standing in front of the door to the temple. Definitely on the warp pad. “Sit tight, man! Don’t move, okay?” Amethyst’s smile was just a little too wide to be believable, but something of a comfort all the same.

“We’ll be there very soon, Steven! Just keep breathing!” Pearl appeared in the frame as she leaned in over Amethyst’s shoulder to offer her own painfully broad smile. “We’re going to lose the signal when we warp, but Amethyst will call you right back once we’ve touched down again! Please, please answer when she does, okay?”

It was important that Steven stay on the phone with them, obviously. He knew what they were thinking. What might happen if they were out of touch for even a few minutes. The idea that they thought of him as so fragile and unstable was disappointing, even if it wasn’t unfounded. A brief intrusive thought encouraged him to abandon the phone and his car and wander off in some random direction just to scare them. He was able to breathe his way into realizing what a bad impulse decision that would be, though.

Finally, he gave a nod, sniffling a little while he braced himself to keep up his efforts until they arrived. “Okay. Thank you.”

Since those days, the gems had all gotten a lot better with the specifics of how to actually help Steven. They weren’t anywhere near as vague on terms and genuine techniques that Steven had picked up from his therapist. That was encouraging as far as where they were at today, but it also made memories of their past attempts that much harder to look back on. Back from a time where they faking it a whole lot more than they were nowadays.

“I know it’s been like, a whole year since Steven’s had a really bad time with his stuff, but…” Amethyst was the first to break the silence, looking back up at the mountains they’d hiked down from. “I’m glad he’s got his own place, and that it’s close to that warp pad in the Arapaho Mountains. Maybe that’ll make it easier to come and visit a little more. We could just stop by for a night here and there when he’s not neck deep in wok.”

“It would definitely be easier without having to accommodate for his travel times, proximity to warp pads, or trying to find a suitable public space.” Pearl mused on the possibility a bit as she folded both hands over her chest. That really did sound nice. “I think we’d all be happy to see Steven a little more in person, and less through a screen.”

“We’ll see what happens. Easier to do or not, Steven will still be busy with all his personal matters. Respecting that has to come first.” Garnet was obviously no less eager for any chance to see Steven more, but she remained pragmatic nonetheless.  

Given how Pearl and Amethyst’s shoulders visibly slumped a bit, she was sure that wasn’t quite what they’d wanted to hear. No time to dwell on that now, though. “Come on, you two. Keep your eyes up and look out for the address. We’re getting close now.

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 34

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The door to the wing opened carefully, trying it's best to not make a sound. Angel was probably asleep at this point, he was going to need all the rest he could before the trial after all. She really didn't like visiting him in her pjs of all things but it wasn't like she had much of a choice in the matter either, only being able to sneak out as the guards fell asleep. She hadn't seen Jackie since Luna left but had the feeling she'd be pretty dissapointed she had been left with some of the worst of the worst to guard the princess of mewni of all things. But tonight, it was an advantage, though she only planned to be gone a few minutes anyway.

Sneaking out had been something she'd do for Judas, and Nora kinda counted as well, she'd never tried doing it for the prince she had conflict with for so long. Didn't really think she ever would either, but at least it wasn't to rescue him or anything. She was careful, using her wand to light her way and just hoping it didn't go out as she approached angel's bed, the boy passed out in his sheets, and it looked like he was wearing some of judas's old pjs.

Boy she hoped he wasn't wearing judas's old underwear either, but somehow she knew he probably was. At least she wasn't the one having to supply the guy with her old clothing. He seemed rather quiet and peaceful, and though she reached out to tap his shoulder, she quickly stopped herself .Was this a good idea? Knowing him she'd startle him and he'd wake up everyone, or think he was being attacked in the middle of the night and bite her, or a number of equally uncomfortable things. Maybe she'd be better off turning back? No one had to know she was here and she could speak to the prince before the trial started tomorrow. She tapped her foot, thinking it over again, debating which was worse as angel stirred. "So....what do you want...princess butterfly?". She froze, oh right, angel had an AMAZING sense of smell, he could tell when someone was around without even looking at them. He sat up, four eyes blinking at her as she became embarrassed to be caught, yeah, this WAS a bad idea. She made a mental note in her head to fuss at sunny later for making her decided to actually do this, Angel himself looked rather embarrassed as well, though maybe it had to do with how awkward the situation was for now. He looked like he wanted to say something, apologize to her and get it out out but was trying his best to resist, as if expecting sky to reject his apologies. "You're....awake?". "I'm having a hard time sleeping....tomorrow....it came so sudden...and...I'm not sure what to expect...". "Right...". This was by far the most painful conversation sky had in a long time, even she was having a hard time knowing what to say and if to actually spill it out to him. The guy wasn't even really trying to look her in the face directly, sweating nervously, and coughing. "I'm not sure if judas told you...I...I can't really tell who it was...under the mask, they...even disguised their scent. He...he knows this might be a lost cause to protect me...you....you don't have to do this..". "I know you don't believe that'll stop any of us, especially not him, you're going to get punished either way, nothing you can do about that...but jude and me know what it's like to not be liked by a lot of others and....he wants to keep you from getting the worst of it....I guess...he's....never liked seeing people he cares about get in trouble. If he doesn't try and save you, he's going to blame himself for not doing something for years, it's just how he is.", she still wasn't looking at him directly but she could tell angel agreed with her on that front. "He's....too nice...", he gripped the shirt he was wearing as the words left his lips, "Does he do this stuff for you...regularly?". "Have me wear his old clothes? No. Do nice things for me to make me feel better and reassure me? Yeah....like....a lot, he does that a lot when stuff goes wrong. Get used to it, this is the treatment you can expect when you're jude's friend.....but, it's far from a bad thing.". Talking about judas seemed to make the situation a lot more comfortable then it had been a second ago, if only because it was a topic that was a little less painful to talk about then the incident that started this current mess. "You think he'll want to still be friends...if things don't work out tomorrow?". He sounded so small in a way, not prince-like, and not bratty either, drained of all his pride and stuffiness he seemed to hold before. "Yeah, it's judas, he doesn't give up on people....". "Have you given up on me?". And there it was, she was surprised he even managed to chock it out of his system considering how hard he was trying not to address it. It left a strange silence in the room, sky wanting to both answer and not angel and angel wanting her to answer and wanting her to not answer his question. Though she needed to cough something out, the longer she waited on this the worse i'd be, "I...uh...I don't want to....". It wasn't exactly a yes or no, but angel didn't press further on it either, "I....I'm...truly sorry for what happened Sky, I-I don't expect you to forgive me I just want you to know i'm deeply sorry". Her eyes met his again and he seemed almost on the verge of tears, it almost felt like a crime to not accept the apology like this. And yet, she was having a hard time trying to respond to it. She'd feel guilty to not accept it, knowing how much he regretted all this and that he was practically crying, but was something like this going to just be fine with a simply apology either? Her lack of an answer seemed to make Angel more uncomfortable and worried, he turned away and moved some of his hair aside. "We can talk more tomorrow, before the trial, I....expect you'll be there...with your moms being a couple of the judges, or..maybe just your one mom since the other is still out....". She mumbled so quietly she felt like Nora, "Yeah.....sure...". He nodded again. "Well, i'll see you tomorrow then....sky...", he turned around and laid back on the bed, pulling the covers over himself. Sky didn't move though, as if frozen to the spot, even though her mind was telling her to just go and leave the guy be. Angel didn't even look at her but his ears twitched, he was probably wondering why she was even still here at this point if she didn't have anything else to say to him or even want to fully make things up between them. She felt paralyzed before she forced herself to make a step backward, then another, then another, turning herself around to him. Then she stopped again. "I uh...thanks....for....what you did, or what you tried to do....", then she kept heading on her way out, as angel sat back up in his bed and looked at the back of her head, "I-I should be more grateful, you saved my life, you and prince lucitor.....i'm the lucky on. But...you're welcome....I...I just wish I had succeeded....". Sky paused, back still turned, "Maybe you'll get another chance....next time...we'll....keep you informed.". She quickly left after, eager to get out of the already awkward and increasingly uncomfortable situation. Angel watched her leave, also feeling a lot less uncomfortable but still a little sad as his ears seemed to move downwards as if he were some kinda dog. Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow. - Judas quickly fixed Angel's tie, trying his best to brush any and all dust from his vest to make him look more presentable. The prince was in one of his older prince outfits for the time being, angel already constantly trying to fix his hair and avoid sweating bullets. The food judas brought him earlier was almost threatening to come back up his throat at this point, and the demon quickly tried to reassure him with a pat on the shoulder and a smile, turning his head to see Sky arrive carrying a bunch of stuff in her arms, mostly papers and books. "Sky? Whoa....", she stopped in front of him, catching her breath, "I got all the girls together, they handed me what I needed...I tried to get some more testimony from some of the witnesses on trial. I don't kow how you handle this much stuff jude but i have a lot more respect for you then ever before for managing.", judas reached out to help her carry some of the stuff but she pulled back, "No no, gonna bring it in in a second, the girls will be seated soon too, congrats angel, you're about to witness mewni's terrible court system play out....". Angel seemed to tense up. "Don't worry, we can still try to manage to beat something that already sucks with our own suckish argument, just try not to do anything stupid while on trial. All our parents are going to be up there.....including my moms...". Judas blinked at her, "Wait, Queen Star has returned? She's been out on her search for days I thought she wouldn't make it back in time for the trial.". His companion bit her lip in frustration, shaking her head, "This morning, she made it back, in a mess actually.....Jackie and Kelly....they're now out on the search instead in the meanwhile.". "Well i'm glad she's ok, if anything, I can imagine it wasn't a fun search for her....", sky still seemed rather nervous and distant though, tugging the stuff in her hands even closer to her chest. "Sky, you're gonna have to speak to her about what's been going on, it's going to be ok, I know you got this.". The girl nodded and looked to the doors to what was normally the magic high commission's meeting room, now fitted as a courtroom, and it seemed as if it were magically expanded to fit everyone inside, "I better get ready, people are starting to arrive....". She looked to angel, her blue eyes to his red, before heading in. "Try to breathe angel....". "I wish I could....but...everyone is going to be staring at me....they hate me. They'll probably hate all of you for even trying to defend me...". "They already hate us angel...", judas snickered, fixing his own hair, "People well....I've had more time to think about it...of what you've said to me, and luna....and other friends and....some people are just always going to hate you...they're always gonna hate me and sky....but...well...I care about what you think of me more then them, you want to be in our good graces...and I want to do so with you too.". The prince seemed even more touched by that, his face almost a darker shade of pink. "I-I....thank you, Prince Luci- Judas...". "No matter what, after this, i'll try and grab us all something to eat...it's going to be a long day...no matter what.". Angel had to agree to that. "Judas!". He turned his head to see Sunny running up, dragging Galexia behind her who looked equally as excited. Sunny seemed super happy to see Angel, tugging his hand and shaking it, "You're going to do great in there and hey, if you gotta do community service, then i'm sure it might be fun.". Angel didn't seem to be so cheerful, the 16 year old probably wondering if doing labor would result in any physical damage to himself. Even Judas seemed to catch on to angel being uncomfortable, trying to change the subject. "So sunny....what do you think of our chances?", actually, now that he thought about it, that would probably make angel MORE nervous. "Well, it's not the HIGHEST chance, mostly because you're going against several kingdoms who already don't like angel much to begin with....and now found out about what he did, but we might be able to turn this around if we know right where to hit em!", She patted angel on the shoulder herself, "Just stay confident, you got friends looking out for you, we're gonna keep them from dethroning you, just you watch!". The girls made their way inside and Angel leaned against the wall, "I.....I don't want to face them...". "I know you don't....but you're going to have to own up to your mistakes...it's an important step in improving and it might help a lot.", angel took another deep breath, and Judas felt tempted to cheer him up, "Hey, if you do get dethroned, you're allowed a room at my castle...maybe even sky's too. You're not going to have to be alone or anything, or even have to live at your kingdom, those queens and kings in the past that got dethroned had to move forward somehow....you'll be ok.". "I just know some of them won't forgive me...". "Yeah, but it's worth a shot, if you wanna be king and do better for your people you deserve a second chance.". "You ever been to a trial before?". Judas thought back and nodded, "One, but i was pretty young, and it was one of those high council trials and they used the box, and it was towards a guy i really didn't know, I think he got in trouble for trying to fiddle with dark magic and he ended up doing labor to make up for it, and had the spell erased from his mind but i wasn't around to see that happen. Dark magic is...well...dangerous stuff, it can corrupt those who use it and spreads like a virus if you're not careful with it, it's why sky would be in trouble for it....eclipsa's spells are mostly harmless but some spells out there....not for the public.". "I assume you haven't spoken to eclipsa much since....it happened, have you?". The demon was silent for a moment, before leaning against the wall next to angel, "No, we really haven't, she hasn't been around much and we had other matters on our plate....i'm not sure about you, you seem to get along with her quite well.". The monster gave a brief nod, before crossing his arms, "She reminds me of my mom in some ways, I haven't spoken to her much either, I worry she's worried i'll blame her or something for what happened...side with sky...I think she'll be at the trial though...". "Well, we'll try to talk to her lat-". "Will nora be there?", he asked so fast judas was surprised, though a small sorry came from the boy's lips quickly after. "I...don't know, her parents won't tell me where she is, I know they're visiting your wing and seeing your mother..but...nora....I don't know where she is i just know she's in the castle somewhere.", the spider's nose twitched, "Perhaps, i might know....". Though his conversation was quickly interrupted as Judas was greeted by his parents, King and Queen Lucitor arriving in a burst of flames and in matching royal outfits as they usually were during important events. The Queen wearing a dress of course. "Judas, Prince Angelus....", Angel stiffened at the sight of them, though Judas was being warm to them, his current situation with them definitely making him a little uncomfortable despite his mother's welcoming expression. King Tom Lucitor walked forward and fixed his son's shirt, "Been a long time since we even had to go to a trial, and having to judge one is even more of a surprise......be careful out there judas if you're going to be speaking for this boy, you'll be speaking in front of all the other attending kingdoms after all.". "It'll be alright, I promise....it's not like you wouldn't do highly insane things for dad or Queen Butterfly, Angel is...well he's a friend, we're going to try and get him through this trial...", neither could argue against that, tom's eyes gazing towards the door to the newly fitted courtroom, "We'll have to judge fairly judas, even if he's your friend. We're in a position to agree with you as you've been deeply involved with the people closest to the source of the problem but you need to still make a case for his punishment...". Marco took a look at Angel's sad eyes and seemed to have a hard time looking at him in the face, crossing their arms and trying to keep most of their focus on Judas. "We're not taking any joy out of this, believe me, but treason is a serious matter and this is just not something he can get off scot free, even as much as he regrets it.....he's going to have to find a way to make amends and you're going to have to argue why he still should be allowed to be in a position of power.". "I Understand, I promise...". A smile was placed on the King's lips, "We'll see you in there, we love you....", and the couple walked through the doors together, the door shutting behind them. Judas still looked troubled when it came to them but he had to relax for angel's sake out there, taking his hand and guiding him elsewhere, "They'll all be arriving soon too, let's head to the bathroom, finishing prepping you, and head down to where we need to before they call you out, don't wanna run into too many others before this...". Honestly, he just didn't think seeing more and more of the people who despised angel would do much for the boy's health anyway. "You seem more worried then I am...", judas turned to look at the prince whose eyes were following him curiously, "Look, if things....do go wrong today....I....I don't want you to blame yourself. It's...bad enough feeling what I do, it's not going to be a lot better if I have to feel worse because you're blaming yourself because of me...I...screwed up, it's my fault....I know it's my fault....you just have to do what you can manage for me.". Judas was pacing, before stopping at a sink and splashing his face with some water. "Judas...". He turned to look at angel, his hair still a little damp and still a bit tired, "Huh?". "If you're truly my friend and want to help me because you think of the best of me despite what I did, and you're not doing this as some attempt at redeeming yourself for the guilt you felt being powerless as a child, then please, tell me you'll promise to accept whatever verdict i get today...", his voice grew somber, "I'm not giving up, and i trust you to do everything you can, but whatever happens, happens, whether it's the best or worst outcome.". "I promise..."., he leaned against the sink, "But I won't give up till it's all over either....". He could feel angel nervously putting a hand on his back as well, even though he new angel was shaking himself, "Sky....came to visit me last night, we talked for a little bit, I....apologized but....she never responded to it, she....did tell me she was grateful however...for everything....and i'm grateful too, you both saved me...i'm in your debt more then ever no matter if i'm a prince or not after this.". Judas turned around and quickly pulled angel into a hug, the spider surprised and caught off guard as judas held him and smiled into his shoulder. "We'll you'll owe us bigtime when we save you in this trial, and I mean when, i'll accept it if we fail....but....we're going to do it, I believe in those girls in there and I know we'll figure this out.", he let Angel go, Judas seeming more relaxed as he took another deep breath, fixing his hair. "You'll be heading in there real soon, it'll probably be a long trial, just try to stay calm in there and be honest about everything as much as possible, well...except for the whole...you know what?". "The fact those girls in there are um...from alternate timelines I assume?", Angel said, one eyebrow raised, "Yes, well, i'm sure that's not relevant enough to the case to mention anyway, since this is mostly my crimes....but I assume if i said anything the queens would have my head so....i'll be quiet on that. However, I hope that means the girls were prepped for this too, because they witnessed what happened and they can't exactly let that insane fact slip to everyone in the room.". "They've been prepped, I promise...". He seemed thankful on that. "I get the feeling I won't be allowed to talk about that much in general till this trial is over....will I?". The demon smiled, conjuring a flame and drying his hair in an instant. "Sounds about right....I'm sure you still have a ton of questions about it, once this is over, no matter what happens, we'll answer them all for you." - Judas watched as the nervous prince stood on the pedestal in front of the awaiting royals seating above him in an almost jury type box, all of them dressed well and all of them looking down at the poor boy with disappointment. Judas could feel angel sweat on stand, looking around at the seated crowd, he could spot the girls, katrina, and sure enough, eclipsa and globgor were in the audience as well. The people attending weren't a large amount, but were just enough to add to the anxiety. Judas was not well educated on earth trials, but knew enough from his mother to know mewni didn't work like earth, mewni was sloppier, it had different rules and different ways to declare it's verdicts. Witnesses had truth potions, witnesses faced a truth machine called the box to force them to speak the truth or die, with magic witnesses could have their minds read entirely, it made it easy to bring most crimes to an end compared to human ones. Though at this trial, there was no need to force truth out of a boy that had admitted to everything, there was nothing more to squeeze out of him, he had been drained of all information he could disclose, what this was about is what his fate should be. It may of ended in a few minutes if it weren't for the fact they wished to participate, going over what angel did and properly deciding what to do with him. It wouldn't be easy among so many different kingdoms however. Some would want to punish him with labor, some would wish to take it easy on someone still so young, some would decide to dethrone him with no question regardless. Getting a verdict everyone could agree on was most likely not possible, but it was possible to at least have more sway to the options that wouldn't further ruin the prince's life. He would be scoffed at no matter what, but losing his crown meant he would never have a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his people and quiet possibly never be able to return home. It was not exile, but it might as well have been. Judas could spot Sky already digging through her stuff, as if deciding what she should talk about first, sunny helping her by her side. Sky was really serious about this, more serious then Judas had been expecting. And despite how nervous he was, he felt a little proud of her. The high commission he could spot seated in the very back, all of them sitting and watching and it made his blood boil. He turned to spot a goblin quickly entering, out of breath as he weakly blew into a royal horn he was carrying, still out of breath. "S-sorry...I-I'm here to annonce the queen in charge of this trial, the trial of Angelus Arachford, The gracious and lovely...Queen Butterfly!". The eyes quickly were drawn to the door as the Queen stepped inside, golden gown and all, with her hair in twin buns and tired as ever. But she was actually smiling as she usually tended to, but she must've lacked much rest from her hunt. "Hello everyone! Sorry I'm a little late...long story, Pardon me...", she quickly headed over to the grand seating area to join Janna who quickly patted her shoulder, clearly impressed. Sky groaned and grumbled from her seat. The Queen cleared her throat as the goblin who had entered coughed into his fist and blew into the trumpet once again before putting out a scroll he'd been carrying on his person and reading it aloud, "Today begins the trial of Prince Angelus Sebastian Arachford, as headed by Queen Star Butterfly of the Butterfly Kingdom, the accused is charged with treason and conspiring with a criminal for months, only caught recently. Said criminal is currently only charged with breaking in and robbery, but had also enchanted the Royal Spiderbite family inside their own home for days on end before they were rescued.". Angel was twitching, have a hard time looking at anyone, his eyes facing more downwards then anything as judas forced himself to stay where he stood. "- as such, the prince has confessed to sharing information with the criminal in trade for the return of magic to his people and a cure for the sick Queen Arana Arachford, his mother. He has also confessed to being used to get close to the princess , Princess Skyler Butterfly, in order to grab new information for the masked criminal....as well as being used as a distraction for the criminal to further carry out crimes. As such, Prince Angelus Arachford has been considered responsible partially for the terror that had been roving around mewni for some time now, though he declines telling the criminal anything about the systems that were put in place by Miss Butterfly or in terms of actions laid out against the criminal. Today's trial will be to determine the Prince's fate and whether or not he should be trusted after this incident.". Judas and Sky both let out a ting of frustration for the same reason, no mention of angel trying to take the criminal down. Figured as much. The goblin bowed and backed away as Star conjured up a small toy hammer, slamming in down on the table in front of her, honestly the likelyhood she knew how courts worked on earth was a bare minimum, but as long as she took the rest of the trial seriously they're have a chance. Angel forced himself to stay still, his legs folded and saying as close to his body as possible, trying to stay small and try and keep the confidence he knew the others wanted him to have. "Well, honestly if the situation had been simple, we wouldn't need a trial to decide what we should do with you. But with you having affected all of mewni, and you being royalty, there was no other way to go about this, everyone seems to have different thoughts on it and everyone feels like they personally should be given a chance to speak on the matter. It's not every day a child kinda affects all of mewni so drastically, and puts them into a panic...", she was almost amused in a way, if not still frustrated. Judas could feel Sky rolling her eyes, knowing full well her mom did her own set of changes to mewni around that boy's age. "But, it's also been made clear the prince himself was critically injured by the criminal, and from our witnesses he had been intending to betray and capture the criminal himself. The Arachmen as a species have the ability to paralyze others with a venom they store in their fangs, though this is activate by them, the vemon will keep the victim paralyzed for hours and the prince has admitted his goal had been to capture them and bring them into custody, believing he had been threatened to work with them or suffer as a result". There were murmurs among the crowd. "The boy's told others that he had intended to help as a favor in order to help his people, but found himself unable to leave without being threatened. And as it's clear from his injuries, this criminal was indeed no mere criminal, displaying magical powers that harmed him greatly and had the ability to force others to work under them, which is why the prince of the ponyheads had often went missing for so long and had no memory of where he went.". Angel's ears twitched, the sounds of people murmuring only making him more nervous. The Queen's blue eyes look directly at the monster prince, gathering herself as she crossed her arms and stared him down. "Prince Angelus, is everything i've said so far true, or is there anything you wish to correct me on?". His eyes darted to the royals watching down on him, though his eyes specifically skipped his own father's, who sat alone in the back. No doubt him even showing up was a risk on his part, but a necessary one considering who was on trial here. "No, that....sounds about right...", he could feel jude's eyes on him, and was quick to speak as normal as possible so he could be heard among the crowd. "So he really did do this huh?", star turned around to spot the Ponyhead queen, who looked incredibly unhappy to be here as she usually was, "It's his fault I got dragged in here instead of getting my main looking fancy today, and making everyone paranoid as heck. Jeez gurl, and I thought WE did some crazy stuff, like if St O's were still running, you know he would've been sent to that evil little prison instead of being forced on trial for this kinda stuff.". "Well....actually-", Larry Kelpbottom spoke up next to her, a little nervous as his wife stared him down, "I mean, that place was for misbehavior like property damage, and avoiding royal duties, and being a messy and irresponsible princess and prince...it's um....quite different from doing a large crime like this? When princesses and princes go against their own kingdom like this, it's just not simple enough that a boarding school can help with it....", the pony's stare only grew larger and he got more quiet as the other royals spoke among themselves. The Pigeon king let out a cough, his booming voice getting the other's attention, "The boy taking a stand against the criminal is rather commendable, especially if faced with death if he had lost, his alliance with them must've caught them off guard when he attacked. It's quite like us pigeons, it's always the ones you underestimate that become your downfall". Eclipsa let out a snicker from where she sat, if only because some of the other royals were giving the king strange looks. "I say we just dethrone him and get it over with, prince never did much good and he couldn't even capture them. If he can't do that then why should he have the throne over someone more capable instead of taking their boss down well after they went behind the other kingdom's backs...", it figured the one speaking would be a Johansen, the current queen in fact, the dark haired woman grunting and slamming her hand on the table in front of her, "This boy did nothing but terrorize mewni and it's people for years, get into fights, start protests, keep people from working  so he could complain-". "Well for the record, we were complaining about the whole "My race was almost wiped out by a mewni queen" thing, which is probably a decent reason to kinda be upset, I mean....not everyday your species almost gets wiped out, loses it's powers and history for the most part and goes forgotten and poor is it", Leave it to Queen Janna to be snarky at a time like this, the other Queen being noticeably mad but also not daring to challenge her too much either. "Maybe we should start asking the witness questions?", Queen Spiderbite sighed, standing up, "Prince Angelus, were you in anyway responsible for what had happened in the spiderbite kingdom? It is believed the one who attacked us was your boss, did you know she would attack and were you apart of it?". Angel shook his head, "No....I didn't know about it, I wasn't involved, I found out about it after the fact, because she offered Princess Spiderbite's book as my reward to help cure my mom....I was left out of what happened there...". "and the Lucitor heist?", Tom stood up now. It may of been useless garbage, but it was still a robbery to a place that was supposed to be secure to many precious items. "Well, I originally was but....my attempts to try failed...I wasn't even able to figure out a plan before they did it themselves, the only thing I may of helped on was...I was the one who told them about it, because I heard it from my father and at the time we were just talking and I was rambling on but.....they were interested...I didn't think much of it, I just was talking about stuff and that the lucitors had this item and soon enough they wanted me to take it....only to do the task themselves...". Honestly, now that Judas thought about it, Angel wasn't a very competent minion. "So...you didn't directly have a play in most of the heists? That's-". Then Queen Johansen spoke up again, "but he was there when they attacked butterfly castle, correct queen butterfly? I remember after that happened we specifically asked for more safety shields and protection, and the boy had been caught at the scene.". There were more whispers among the royals and the crowd and angel had to nod along with her words, he couldn't say no, he was indeed there. Though he did attempt to speak up, "I was transported there while i was asleep....I didn't go on any orders....". "You must have known why they moved you there though? There was no other reason for you to end up inside on your own, and yet you went right along with their scheme and ended up running right into Prince Lucitor, Princess Skyler, and Princess Nora, putting a few heirs at risk directly.". Angel gulped, and judas tried to force himself not to say something, only to give in and walk over to where Angel was standing, catching the royals off guard. "Prince Lucitor? So you have something to add?", Queen Spiderbite asked, Judas looking to angel before nodding. "I was leading the charge with him that night, fully attempting to let someone know he was here and take him back home, I ran into sky down the line and nora was with me because we were looking for a friend. We ran into him by pure chance and ran into sky by pure chance, on our hunt at the time we ran into her as well. Angel had no direct affect as to how we ran into them or to putting us in danger, he'd been forced to the scene to make a distraction and wasn't at fault for why we ran into the criminal, he was an unwilling participant.". "Prince Lucitor, you witnessed what happened the day this young man was arrested right?". "Yeah, I'm the one that saved him from getting hurt from the thief's escape, and before then i had been looking for where he went off to, we listened in on his meeting with his boss.  Angel was being honest when he told the knights and guards before that he'd been trying to back from their deal before attempting to bite them and paralyze them, when he got attacked and was injured it was a direct result of him attacking the criminal and then turning the tides on them.", judas sounded confident but he knew he was sweating bullets, trying to avoid focusing on the whispers around him. "What is your relationship to this boy?". "Well, we're uh.....recently friends, we were more of familiar acquaintances before, but we've gotten closer more recently.". "Then how do we know we can trust your words on this matter?". "Because Sky was also there, and so were our other children, not to mention your own daughter", Marco nodded to Judas before looking the woman in the eyes, "They all gave similar stories, it's why we have the story we do, i doubt they would all be trying to cover for this boy with a fake story, he had been so injured it took awhile for him to properly heal. This boy was attacked Penelope, he might not have been here at all if it weren't for the kids, they all stated angel had risked his life to turn on her.". "Yeah but, he still chose to work with her, I ain't hearing him tell us he was forced to work under her or something. ",Queen Ponyhead looked more bored then ever at this trial, judas looked to Angel to speak, "You're right....It uh...didn't start out that way....I....I thought she was an ally...but it took some time into our alliance before I realized that I didn't like it and felt like if I turned my back she'd destroy me....her uh....attitude and words got scarier....I was afraid what she could do to my family or me...or....my friends...". "So you believe it was almost like a con.". "Yes, something like that...I...feel like I was tricked and then I couldn't get out of it...". "A prince whose easily tricked into giving up valuable information to a stranger isn't exactly a good sign of a leader...is it?", Queen Jaggs coughed out, "Imagine if he had given out kingdom secrets and how our military all worked, this person doesn't exactly seem to look like the most trustworthy individual, and yet you fell for everything they were offering to you? Promises to fix everything you've wanted.....it sounds too good to be true for most kingdoms". "Yeah but I....I just...they showed me what they could do and...I felt like they really wanted to help me....", he sounded so vulnerable but there still seemed to be some skepticism among the group, doubts being spread on whether he had been tricked or had accepted knowing full well what he was getting into. Star glanced over to sky and back to the prince, nervous about her next line of questioning, "The lessons, the ones you took with my daughter...?". "Yes?". "Did you use them to manipulate my daughter, did you tell the criminal anything about her?". There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, the whispers dying down quickly as to hear the answer. Angel could barely get it out. "Y-yes...B-but i didn't do it to manipulate her! I wasn't trying to trick sky into telling me anything, I-I just told them we were learning together! And that sky and I were learning stuff like magic and royals stuff and history...sky never...she never said anything to me i could even consider telling anyone else!". Though the questioning continued, and Judas stepped in front of angel as more questions arose from the group. "So does that mean if she did say something you would've spilled?", asked Queen Pidgeon. "What? No no no....I mean, well, I guess it depended when it happened, if it had been early on It may of happened, b-but i got in serious trouble with them more recently for keeping my mouth shut about anything going on!" "Just because you stopped helping doesn't remove the fact you were willing to do it before, you're rivalry with the princess is fairly clear to mewni, your grudge against her and her family alone makes it hard to believe where you align, and now you've said you would've been willing to say just anything about her to some stranger." Judas seemed to be looking for something to interject in but it was pretty hard to really defend angel on doing actions he hadn't done but could've done. However, Sky stood up now, getting the room's attention, papers still in her hand. "Princess Butterfly?". "Look, angel can kinda be the utter worst sometimes....and kinda an idiot, but he doesn't really want me hurt either...when we fight, it's with no intention to really hurt each other. My kingdom ruined his kingdom, i'm sorta in the way of him trying to get my mom to help fix things, i have to kick him out. It's annoying but not malicious. I mean seriously, angel could only do one simple spell for ages it seems, you really think angel wanted to harm me? He never even tried to bite me or use a weapon or anything!", defending him by insulting him, works well enough. She made a fair point, one that could not be proven against either. "I-I think it's cruddy...that he went behind my back like this....but we weren't friends when he did this either and when we were it was when he gave up wasn't it? He didn't exactly betray my trust because at the time he didn't trust me yet...it was the fact he....that it felt like he was only friends with me or opened up to me to use me after everything that I....that I ended up feeling the way I did. Angel's not a bad person....he just makes bad choices and does dumb things because he cares..."., angel's ear flickered, his eyes closing. "As touching as that is princess butterfly, are you saying this somehow means he should not face conflict?", Mr Kelpbottom asked curiously, "surely you can't be asking for us to redeem him solely because he he didn't ever really betray you?". Sky stepped forward, "No no, that's not what i'm saying, I mean, angel screwed up and he knows it....but like, he's willing to do anything for his own people and make sacrifices in order to help people he cares about, isn't that what you'd want in a future king?". "Yes, but even his own people don't like his actions, what do you think King Arachford?". Angel's father had been remarkably quiet this entire time, listening and not speaking to those around him. He was having a hard time making eye contact with his son and he coughed and proceeded to speak, "Well, Angelus isn't popular with our people, I can attest to that....though the kingdom did seem almost thankful to have been granted the ability to use magic again they thought lost. Seeing it come from the prince they all seemed to dismiss was...well...a surprise. They had chalked it up to being almost a miracle, but it seemed a lot more then that...". Angel was more then just his name that day. "They were not...happy for a few reasons...they wanted to remain in good graces with the butterflys and...angel trying to protest them them stood in the way of that, they were fearful of what the butterflys would do if angel went too far. I'm deeply sorry Queen Butterfly, I wished to never bring this up, but I have no choice in this matter. The people are glad to finally be getting aid from you and....they hated angel because they were scared of you.", he looked ashamed to look upon the queen's face as she turned to him. "You were scared I would stop helping you because angel was annoying the kingdom?". "Yes, I'm deeply sorry.". "King Amir....no, that's...I'm sorry you ever felt like i'd abandon you at the drop of a hat....simply because of your son. You should trust me more then that....I should never have made you feel like you were on a thread. I'm the one who should be sorry here.". Her blue eyes look genuinely sad, "I'm supposed to be helping monsters in mewni and yet they're still scared of what i'll do to them? That's against everything I stood for....Maybe your son had a point...in me not helping enough.". "Your majesty?" This had quickly turned around to be something else entirely, Star nodding before turning back to the group. "When the trial ends, we'll speak on this further.". Sky stepped forward, clutching the papers in her hand, "Angel's still a kid, he's sixteen, he still has time to fix things, he still has time to do better before he's crowned. Dethroning usually only happens with adults, with adult leaders and royals, how can you put angel in the same category as them? If someone younger then him did something similar, would they be just as guilty? Would they deserve to be dethroned despite them being six or something? He made a mistake when trusting someone but he didn't know he was causing any harm, so why remove him from the throne from it?". "Princess Butterfly, you are only a year younger then him, are you not?", her blue eyes met the one's of King Rock Johansen. "Yes sir." "So you're mature enough to speak about this, but he's too immature to be punished?". "Well I-". "Excuse me...", sky watched judas cross his arms, setting himself in front of his friend, "Her point still stands here, no matter how young she is, you are holding a sixteen year old monster prince to the same standards as an adult, the adults were dethroned in the past are not the same as angel here. They were fully aware of the crimes they were committing and if they had turned on their people or put them in danger, angel believed he had been doing something good and we know who we're dealing with has magic...". "As much as you're trying to argue here, Judas and Sky make decent points.", Marco spoke, holding tom's hand and keeping themselves levelheaded despite the chaos. "Should we really be judging the prince under the same rules as a normal king? If the situation was a trap and he was forced to help or suffer, then he's a lot less blameless then...committing murder. I'm not sure what most people would have done under his situation, especially if you worried for the life of others.". "Reporting it was an option, was it not, the sooner he said it to someone the sooner we could've saved everyone and protected those in danger!". Angel suddenly got smaller on his podium and there were more whispers, judas quickly filling everyone in. "Angel....felt if he told someone, they wouldn't believe him, or....there was no way he could save his mom, this person held a cure over his head to keep him helping.", and the King's eyes got more somber, " He felt he had a live to save and....I feel like if my parents were on the line, or my brothers...or sky....i feel like i'd be doing everything in my power to want them safe. People just...make bad choices if it means they can safe the life of someone they care about. It's his family we're talking about here, his mother.". It felt like they were winning, like they were winning the audience over with not removing the prince from power. But it was clear some would not give up so easily. "Would his mother approve of his actions? Would she have approved of him messing with the princess's feelings or doing these things to save her life?". The room was tense. "B-but that doesn't matter!", The demon snapped back, "Maybe she wouldn't have agreed to what he chose, that doesn't change the fact angel wanted to save her life and didn't know what he was getting himself into! I can't speak for her but I doubt she would want her son dethroned either for this!". King Lucitor was quick to whisper to their partner, Marco nodding and coughing into their hand, "As Prince Lucitor and Princess Butterfly have mad clear, the prince is a teenager, who had been tricked into helping for the sake of his own mother's life, now whether we feel he should be judged as an adult would is still up for debate it seems, but I suggest for now we hear from someone else on this matter...". Janna smirked, fixing her crown as she laid back in her seat, "Oh, who you got under your sleeve diaz? another one of your exs?". "What? No! I meant Eclipsa, she was the one who informed you of the incident and had been teaching him and sky for awhile now...and Angel reports they had been hanging out outside of these times to help him with his magic, I think we should hear more from her.". Their gaze went to the woman with the dark clothing and spade markings as she stood up, reassuring globgor before walking forward. Judas and Sky being shooed off to the side as Eclipsa stood next to Angel, nervous, but still ready for anything. "Geez, your own mom kicked us out...", the princess wasn't happy, grumbling under her breath as they leaned against the wall. "We were hitting the same points over and over, it makes sense to have more of another opinion on this...eclipsa might know more about angel's intentions then we think....". "Eclipsa Butterfly, how close are you to this young man?", Eclipsa was a wild card sometimes, and Judas could tell his mom was a little worried about speaking to her. Logically Eclipsa was the next step into getting further on this issue but what eclipsa thought was ok and what others thought was ok could be widely different. Not to mention Star's mother instincts kicked in heavily with sky ever since eclipsa also got her hurt and sky could tell she was almost afraid of hearing eclipsa had gone too far again. "Well, he and sky were learning under me for a while, lessons kinda got cancelled when what happened....happened. Angel however, has been a rather charming young man, very silly though sometimes, he'd come alone to talk and he was worried sky and judas didn't lik-". Marco interrupted though, "Eclipsa, that's not necessary, did he ever tell you anything about the current situation? As in, did he talk about being forced to do these tasks or about his intentions to betray the criminal controlling him?". "Oh well no, not directly, he told no one.....however....". "Eclipsa....". "It's possible at one point i may of used mind-spying on him....". Angel's eyes lit up, his head turning to look at her in disbelief. "Wait...wait...you...WHAT?", his face was suddenly very red and embarrassed, and Eclipsa both seemed embarrassed for having done so, but judas could tell she was also a little amused. "Don't worry, i'll keep the personal stuff to myself, in terms of this situation at hand so we're on topic, it's entirely possible i was so worried about him because he was getting so sickly and anxious I wanted to see maybe where the problem was stemming from since he didn't want to speak about it...". "And you saw....Her?". "She was in his thoughts yes.". More murmurs, some good, some bad. It left Judas and Sky both feeling uneasy as the dark queen kept talking. "It wasn't incredibly weird though, globgor himself went investigating and found her hanging around a lot near his kingdom, So we already had seen something like this coming. We only didn't want to scare the boy, we simply kept our distance until we got more on the matter of what was happening. The boy is still quite young, i wasn't going to go around doing any foul deeds to him to get him to cough it up or anything, well, at least not him, he's a good exception.", Eclipsa seemed rather fine with her statement but it was clear the royals seemed to be ranging from confusion to anger to her. "You knew about this and decided to say nothing?!", Star gripped the banister in front of her as she leaned forward, freaking out. "My daughter almost died out there! All because she went after that boy, If you had told us sooner we could've prevented anyone from getting hurt and stopped them much before-". Then Eclipsa held up a hand, "Star, dear, there wasn't enough there to prove whether he was at fault or not, her being around his home, and her being in his thoughts alone isn't enough to convict anyone, you should know that...i was arrested under much less convincing reasons..". "Ughhhh, still, you should've said something...c'mon eclipsa, sky was in danger...". "Right, right....". "She just cares about me!", Star's attention was turned back to angel, "M-maybe she should've said something, but if she had blabbed...well...there's fair reason to believe that....thing would've thought I was the one who squeaked and.....I might not be here today! Eclipsa just....I needed someone to talk to sometimes who...I new for sure would want to help me and would trust me at the time...talking to her...helped me decided that I had to stop her....she didn't know but...I asked her what she would do if people she cared about were in danger and...if she did something against the bad guy they would be in more danger...". "And i said, I'd kick their butts and get my family out of there, because I know they'd prefer it if i helped save us all then let us live miserably and let worse happen.", she finished, nodding to him. "So...in the end it was best I had to do something myself and just....keep everyone else from getting hurt. I didn't want judas or sky involved cause they could get hurt and I couldn't let anyone know because then i'd be dead...I just...I needed to take her out by myself and....then...no one gets hurt.". "You were blasted in the back...right?", Larry Kelpbotton asked, the spider nodding. Star also let out a long sigh, brushing some blonde hair from her face. "He was in our wing to recover, it wasn't pretty but he managed to heal pretty fast, unfortunately another hit and he might've died. Apparently Sky had moved in by that point and had been the one to save his life, according to the prince the criminal had full intentions to silence him so he wouldn't be able to spill.". "I-I asked for my mind to be wiped when i said I wanted out...", the spider added, "I told her to have me forget everything if it meant I could get out, but they....they thought it was better i became like Prince Ponyhead, my mind in her hands. Because even if I had my mind wiped, then people would just wonder what was wrong with me and figure out my mind was erased and I may of had a part to play. I guess maybe they thought the idea i was kidnapped or i ran away was much better then any chance of me going back with no memory and having my memory jogged...". "Why would you want your memories to go?", the King looked puzzled at the monster prince and Eclipsa motioned for him to explain himself better. "Well no no, the meeting, me wanting out, the memories...It was a front so i could capture her. I did really want out but I rarely can ever find her in person or get close enough to bite her or anything, So i figured...if i invited her to something super important, she showed up, got close enough to do a spell on me, I could get her...just like that...I thought I could do it...". "He'd asked about training....with me.", Eclipsa coughed, "Angel had...well...I believe the term to most others are "Gone feral"? He'd done it at least once in our training sessions to practice fighting, though his people call it an "Ultimate". It's almost their form of the butterfly form, except of transforming, he becomes suddenly more powerful and more monsterous. He didn't tell me why he wanted training for it, but he wanted private training to see if he could master it, and he was working on it during nights". "During...nights?". "He's been here mostly since the spiderbite situation, before then I picked him up a few times from home with my butterfly form, after that it was only a walk to my tower.". "I thought I could do it....who better then me? I was already working for her...she'd have a harder time seeing me coming...or they...I still don't know who they are. I was getting so much better with it, I thought I could bite into their wrist, their arm, they would be paralyzed by my vemon. Then I could take her directly to the castle or unmask them and you could have them in custody, and they wouldn't be able to stop you, you could even prevent them from using magic in that time before the vemon wore off....but It all went wrong...I..I missed.". is head hung low, "I failed....again....even when I'm trying to do better...I still failed...". He was on the verge of tears and eclipsa reached out to comfort him, people still talking to each other about his confession. And Sky and Judas may as well have stepped in as well if the guards in the room hand't put their hands in front of them, making them stay put on the matter. "Sorry your highness, no more barging in the middle of the conversation, you'll only be called when asked from now on, same goes for Prince Lucitor on the matter.". Of course. "Eclipsa I-". "Hey, you told me I was his new teacher, and he wanted to learn something alone, I'd say he has every right to learn on my account. You never said not to teach him about this stuff at night."., She patted his back, careful of any lingering injuries he might of still hand, "I for one, thought he was quite a fun student, I think when he sets his mind to something it's hard to get him out of it. Sky's similar in that regard, though too busy to need extra lessons.". "You were the one who informed the queens of what was happening...correct?", Angel didn't look at his father as he awaited Eclipsa's answer. "Oh yes, that was me, I.....I know not everyone thinks I should've done that....but...I already lost a girl i care dearly about for before...I....I couldn't have it happen again...", judas felt sky shift, her anger still present. With meteora still being alive it was no wonder. He wrapped an arm around her and she leaned against him, Eclipsa still speaking to the court. "Thankfully everyone made it out alright, who knows what may of happened otherwise.", there were more murmurs, and eclipsa felt she was probably about done. Then Janna spoke up. "Eclipsa?". "Yes?". "What exactly do you think angel should be granted throughout this?  I mean, you kinda got imprisoned cause of some losers in power.", she eyed the commission, all of which didn't seem amused, "How would you judge this guy if you were up here?". Eclipsa looked to angel and sighed, "If I were in your position, I'll be honest, I would free him of all charges....even though he did screw up and go against all of mewni. I feel like I know him better then to think he has bad blood and would ever do this again. The boy has promise and I don't think dethroning everyone who you don't like without giving them a chance to prove themselves to do better is the route mewni should be going in". Angel seemed touched. "You are dismissed eclipsa...". The woman returned to her seat, Star sighing and rubbing at her face, "I suggest, we take a small recess....and when we return our final witnesses can come up and give their presentations. Then we'll decide on the final verdict for the prince here.". There seemed to be a collective agreement as angel got off the stand, judas and sky walking towards him as they all headed out the doors to regroup and talk. Sky giving the high commission a glare on the way out. - "I think we're doing pretty well out there...I think". Sky quickly ruffled through her papers, "We've established your motives, we've gone into how unfair it is, and we've had people go up about your character in general. I think maybe the people in there might think of you in a bit of a lighter view then they used to....at least i hope so after this.". Judas was still pacing, mostly in a circle, trying to deduce exactly where everyone on stand was at this time. He knew his own parents were probably more understanding and less likely to incriminate the boy, especially now knowing he wasn't directly involved in the incident that got them hiding in a safe room. But Sky's mom seemed mixed in some cases, the Johansens seemed deadset on punishing him greatly, Queen Ponyhead barely seemed to care and when she did she was annoyed with him, the Spiderbites were a complete mystery and the list went on.  Their odds seemed more in their favor then against but that didn't mean something couldn't completely flip that around suddenly. Angel was only so sympathetic because he meant no real harm and hadn't directly caused any major harm, not to mention being a kid who got tricked. But that might not be enough for most people and there was still time to turn the tides. "When we get back in there it's sunny's turn to speak, and i think celeste and galexia are joining her....if only we had nora....she was a witness too.". Sky grumbled to herself, going through her documents,"I had to pack so much of mewni's history of dethroning and court cases, I had to study more for this then eclipsa's own classes....ugh. But I think we can kinda win this....not sure if we could get the verdict eclipsa would prefer considering the crowd but...". "I think it's fair to say when everyone found out angel had done this they expected him to admit he'd been dropping tons of info on the castles and had been planning everything and left and planned to stop her cause he wasn't getting what he wanted out of the alliance or something. I get the feeling that him having done little on purpose and getting force to work and leaving because he regretted it was not fitting with how people saw him before this point...no offense angel, i think to the public you were seen a lot more bratty....", he stopped in his tracks and looked to the boy sitting on one of the sofas nearby. "It's fine...I....I wasn't my best....I was just....too stubborn to accept I was doing nothing but making everything worse...". "Well whatever, I think we might have it, just need to seal the deal with the next line....unless they all decide to screw us over despite all this.....ugh they better not. I don't want us to have worked so hard on this only to have them all decide it meant nothing because they hate angel too much to give him another chance." Judas walked up to the dark-haired princess, patting her on the back, "You did well out there sky, i'm really impressed how well you're holding yourself.". "Thanks jude....you too.". "Alright you guys, you ready?", Sunny came bouncing by, nervous as ever but determined. "You guys did pretty darn well in there but the fight isn't over, it's not over till the verdict is determined. And you never know if something else comes into play last minute, we better keep on our toes.". Galexia and Celeste walked up behind her, Celeste still reluctant to be here but also required to be here, "Since mason is too young to be here and nora is...wherever, they dragged landon as someone to question with us, he's uh....not excited....". "They really should let all of us tesitfy shouldn't they?", sunny looked up to Judas and he only shrugged. "I mean, i guess three of you is perhaps enough, but i won't deny I think nora and mason should have some imput...but i can't argue against my parents on that, he saw a lot he probably was too young to see....we'll just have to work with who we got. If angel does get dethroned, he's not only vulnerable and he'll most likely never be able to go home, but if we really think about it...it's a good time for anyone to step in and take that kingdom for themselves in this state....someone like...". "Don't finish that, I don't wanna think about it...", sky said, waving her arm at him, "Let's just go in there and finish this, for angel....and for our own safety.". - The court got back in order, everyone returning to their seats, or in the case of sky and judas, along the wall. Queen Star took her seat and Angel got back on his podium. The final fight was ready to begin. The goblin running in to blow on his horn once more, coughing, "We now resume the second half of court today for the trial of Prince Angelus Arachford, accused of committing treason. By the end of this trial his fate shall be determined by the rulers of mewni, let us continue....". He headed out as Star tapped her fingers on the table nervously, "Well, we're moving on forward by calling some new witnesses to talk about what happened during the situation, since judas and sky are close with the boy, there is potential their attachment to him may of made their truth a little different...so to be safe, we're calling on witnesses with less of such an attachment....sunny, galexia, and prince landon lucitor diaz!". The three teenagers quickly headed foward, landon and celeste of course incredibly unhappy to be in this situation as the girls next to them smiled ear to ear. "Girls, and....Landon, can you confirm what the prince has said as the truth? Did he or did he not attempt to take the criminal down with his vemon?". The girls all looked to landon, who coughed, "Only I saw that part m'am....they entered the scene after sky and judas went in to save angel....yeah, it's basically what happened. He's not lying and neither are sky and my brother on that....dude kinda tried to take her out, almost died, they came in to save him...sky blasted the guy....". Landon clearly didn't want to be there, but he went on, "There's not a lot else to add, we were just out there to find him when we saw what happened.". "Girls?". "We saw everything after, with judas saving the prince, the queen saving sky, and the being getting away in a flash of light, the queen herself i believe i can attest to that.". "I can.". "Well....if there is little to add, then sounds to me we can decide on the verdict as is", Marco crossed their arms, looking to their company, "We've gone over some of the history relating to this, put the rules into question,, and have gone over the details surrounding this situation. The boy had good intentions and it sounds to me he had been manipulated and threatened to work for them, i'd say in a way it's brave for them to have even considered betraying them at all. I think on the basis it sounded like a clear case of him betraying mewni, but it seems he never had a huge part to play in most of the incidents and most of what he did was minor or accidental. This situation is not as clear cut and dry as it had seemed". There seemed to be mainly nods from most of the other royals, sky raising an eyebrow. Did they win? Already? They actually did it? Judas let out a sigh of relief, angel's surprised face almost turned into a smile. "WAIT!" The audience collectively turned to someone standing up in the crowd. The High Commission. Sky felt her teeth grit. "What is it?", Star looked annoyed, crossing her arms and sighing, "We're almost done here". Hekapoo turned to the others and sighed, "We have a question for the witnesses.....". "What? The witnesses? Is there something wrong with their story here?". She closed her eyes, "Witnesses, did you mention what color was the magic princess butterfly shot out of her wand when she saved the prince?". Landon rolled his eyes, "No, why would that matter?". Hekapoo turned her head to look at Sky, the commission following suit. "Because the magic that came from her wand, wasn't normal, it was green!". There were gasps everywhere, whispers. Sky felt her stomach drop as they pointed a finger at her, everyone looking at her. "Once more, Princess Butterfly intended to kill!".

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO. (I mean? I’m not sure? I hope he will be more important, but as it is, he could have been cut out of Part 1 of the remake.)

Were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. (Except that he kinda saved him.. I can’t answer these questions, I am so biased.)

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO. (?)

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. Depends on who you ask, I’d say!

How strictly do you follow canon?

There isn’t much canon to go on, first of all. I am taking what I can get and expand on it. There’s probably some stuff about him that I don’t know, because I am notoriously bad at researching things properly, and also I forget stuff. So.. he’s canon-based as much as possible, but then majorly fleshed out by my own ideas because otherwise he’d be a very two-dimensional character.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutual.

He’s wild and fun and crazy and could make for some interesting threads---

He is actually compatible with a lot of muses because he technically works for Shinra, but then doesn’t seem to give a lot of fucks about his employment status, meaning he can also work with the other side without me having to change his setting much.

He’s gorgeous. Look at him.

He is flirty and easy to smut with.

He has a completely unknown backstory that could be explored c;

Did you see that ass?

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  

He’s a bit nuts. If you’re looking for a predictable, soft, sweet romance or friendship, he is not your guy.

He'll probably die young. And there shall be angst and pain.

I’ve seen some people really reduce him to a maniac to lives on the road to attack random people. If that’s your idea of Roche then I am sure you wouldn’t be looking for threads with him~

He is tough to write love/romance with. Like proper romance.

He has a completely unknown backstory.. so my version might differ greatly from what you have in mind.

What inspired you to rp your muse?  

I played the Remake and driving on those motorcycles was insane but kind of fun - and then shows up this guy who just drove right into my heart as soon as he popped up on the screen, laughing like a mediocre villain from YuGiOh. I thought that was all it was going to be, but I was thrilled to see that it wasn’t. I just love this character. I rewatched his fight scenes with Cloud a hundred times. He is so.. peculiar. I just couldn’t stop thinking about him, and then I saw a bit more of him on tumblr, fanarts and such, and I wanted to give it a shot :)

What keeps your inspiration going? 

New headcanons about him that pop into my head. Finding other people who love him and talking to them & rping with them! Like with all muses, I tend to love them even more the longer I play them, compared to when I start out, because new stories around them develop, I get a clearer image of their character and backstory in my head, and new plans for their future :) On a more to-the-point level: quotes, poems, music, images, all those things give me inspiration. Also similar characters in other media, or stories that fit Roche and that I can recycle and reform into part of his.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO. According to whom? I am alright with the way I write him, or I’d be doing it differently. Would Square Enix think I am doing a good job? Idk. Do other Roche rpers think I am? Idk. Does it matter? As long as there are people who enjoy writing with my version of him, I am doing my job, I think :) There are Roche portrayals I find “better” than mine in some ways, more developed, but I don’t really compare myself in that way. 

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO.

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO.  

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO. Yes and now because while I stand to the way I write all my muses, Roche in particular is one I haven’t fully developed yet. There are things about his story I am still unsure about or have no clear ideas for yet. So, I’m not feeling insecure when I write him, but I am not overly confident in throwing him in any situation, because something might come up that’ll require me to think harder that I’d have to while playing.. e.g. Rufus.

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. I’m no Rowling, I’m no Tolkien, I know that. But I think my writing is alright. I try to put some internal thoughts in my replies, describe the scene abit, offer some dialogue if applicable, and move the action forward. I am not writing a book here, I am writing something interactive, so my partner is my main concern aside from telling the story. I do feel like I’m doing an okay job at that, so in that sense I am confident in my writing.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. I’m not entirely sure what this is referring to, but generally I’d say no. I can deal with most topics, it’s pretty hard to offend me, I’m open to most things, and there are very few issues I feel like they can’t be solve with just talking about them.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

It depends? I almost never get constructive criticism. What I absolutely accept is things like.. someone correcting mistakes I’ve made in terms of timelines or canon facts, because I am lazy by default and tend to not research something well and just wing it. So it might be that I’ll put some fake news into my threads that I have no problem with if someone corrects - actually, please do, I’ll gladly fix it. (Especially if they’re relevant to your muse.)

If someone dislikes a headcanon of mine or something that is particular to my portrayal of Roche, that’s really not something I aspire to change. I have my ideas of him and everyone else has their own. If a friend came to me and told me a certain headcanon of mine makes no sense because of the canon storyline or whatever, and it sounded valid to me, I’d consider that. That wouldn’t offend me. If someone just told me they dislike an idea I had, that is the kind of criticism I don’t really accept. That’s not criticism to me, that is a personal opinion that we disagree on. It’s not my problem if someone dislikes my portrayal, they don’t have to interact with it. I take no offense in that, unless it’s reported to me in a rude manner.

With regard to my writing? I don’t ask for criticism and I don’t really want it either. I know what areas I have to work on in order to improve, I don’t need anyone to give me pointers there. I have enough of that in my academic papers at university ;) This is a hobby, so I’m trying to have a good time and good plays with others, I’m not trying to win any awards. However, if I post a reply my partners aren’t sure how to work with (e.g. they need more dialogue, or more action) I am absolutely willing to edit it, no problem. Also, not just on tumblr/in the RPC but in general, people are really really REALLY bad at giving constructive criticism. It never ceases to amaze me how much people suck at that. Like I said, I don’t get offended easily, but it makes me laugh sometimes (e.g. after presentations at uni) how horrible the feedback comes across sometimes. And then everyone gets butthurt and I once again marvel at the fact that no lecturer ever gives advice on how to give good feeback. (I guess because a lot of lecturers can’t do it either.)

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  

Absolutely! It helps a lot. Sometimes it’s a real challenge, but those are necessary and very welcome while developing a character. Other people often think of things I didn’t even consider, so I welcome it when they come into my askbox with these questions :)

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? 

Maybe? If it was a friend or an rp partner, I’d hear them out for sure. If it was someone I don’t even write with.. maybe not. Like, what’s the point? Clearly I made up my mind about it, so why would you come to me to inform me that you see it differently? Go right ahead, neither one of us writes these games, so both our versions are equally right or wrong. If it’s about something that could lead to an interesting discussion, though? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

I'd say some people like chocolate ice cream and some like vanilla. That’s okay. I’m not trying to please everyone on tumblr, I’m here to write what I want to write and if just one other person likes my portrayal, that can be enough for me :) If someone dislikes my portrayal, they’re free not to interact with me.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  

I’ve written more characters that were absolutely despised by a good chunk of the fandoms I was in, than characters who were loved, I think. I couldn’t care less. If someone hates Roche - or any of my muses - that’s their thing and has nothing to do with me. As long as they don’t feel the need to inform me about it or send me hate over it, what’s it to me? I don’t need people to like my favorite characters, it has no influence on how I feel.

But also.. why would you hate Roche? Look at him, he’s amazing :D

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  

Sure. English isn’t my first language, I’m sure I make mistakes all the time. I’m not embarrassed by that, everyone makes mistakes, even people whose first language is English. That being said, don’t go weeding through my posts looking for mistakes, because I won’t go back and fix them in most cases, so it’s really a waste of time~

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?

I think so. I’m pretty relaxed most of the time, and I try to be polite and kind in any situation that comes up. I don’t get offended unless you’re accusing me of something I didn’t do, twist my words, insult my friends, or act like a total brat. Before I start a war with someone, I’ll usually withdraw myself from the situation. I am pro-unfollowing/blocking if I dislike someone. I would never send anon hate or write a call out. I’m not here for that. I think we should all try to be kinder than we feel, we should all show respect for others and tolerate differences, and we should try to treat people the way we want to be treated. Live and let live.

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

Tagged by:  stole it. Tagging: anyone who’d like!

All the odd numbers 😘💕

1. favorite fic you wrote this year: Everyone Gets Here Eventually. It’s a first in a lot of ways for me, so it feels kind of like a personal milestone, and there’s a lot about it that I like and am proud of.

This is also the answer to 7 and 9, as the longest completed fic and the one that was the longest wip when it was still in progress. the ones that are currently wips are still in heavy outlining stage and the other is,, 74 words. so not terribly long either.

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year:

He shrugs, puts up a cocked grin. “Although maybe not, maybe you’ll find out your favorite Hargreeves is one of my siblings instead and have a great time.”

“You really think that could happen.” This was also meant to be less of a statement, but he can tell it’s partially true. Some part of Klaus believes that Dave could toss him aside as easy as that. It’s desperately sad and it makes Dave want to sweep him up in his arms with whispers and kisses until the doubt is obliterated from his mind.

It also makes him want to shake Klaus by the shoulders a little bit, because it’s also exasperating. He really doesn’t want it to be, he really doesn’t want for ‘peeved’ to be a reaction he has to Klaus’ insecurities. But honestly, at this point, what more can Dave do? Dave’s love for Klaus is so consuming and strong and irrefutable that it’s bent the laws of the universe so that they can be here, together, decades after his death, in the afterlife, a place that mutes pain but can’t prevent Dave from pining and grieving and loving this man. Is there anything more he can do to finally convince Klaus of what is so plainly true?

“Probably not,” Klaus says. “It’s kind of hard to fall in love with any of the people in that book.”

Okay that’s longer than a line but the thing I love about that last line is the bait-and-switch, how the question is planted before a lot of introspection so it feels like Klaus is answering Dave’s interior thoughts, and the ‘probably not’ applies to both answers. It stands out to me because when I would skim past it it would always surprise me; it’s something I stumbled into and then just adored.

5. most popular fic this year: Bad Stuff in a Bad Place. It’s the first one I wrote and I posted it back when the fandom was a little more active so it’s got more hits/kudos than the others.

11. fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year: I’ve only written for tua, babey!! that’s what they call a certifiable hyperfixation. But at 4 fics plus a smattering of ficlets, it’s the most I’ve written for any fandom, ever.

13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year: I wrote a Klaus and Dave fic. The answer to this question is obviously Hozier. But also Animal by Troye Sivan got me real good, and Mother Mother’s entire discography is incredibly Klaus.

15. something you learned this year: that I can do it, I guess? Finishing eghe, like, it’s the longest thing I’ve ever completed, and knowing that I can do that because I did that - kind of an amazing thing to learn.

17. fics you’ll continue next year: I don’t have anything in progress right now! I don’t trust myself enough to start posting something chaptered without it being entirely finished. rip to my unfinished fics but that’s never going to happen sorry. I do hope to expand my pre-canon series about how each of the Hargreeves relates to their powers! but we’ll see.

19. any new fics to start next year: roadtrip fic roadtrip fic!! (although hopefully that’ll be started quite soon, maybe before the new year fingers crossed)

21. most memorable comment/review: “realistic positivity” is the phrase I’m going to be carrying around forever as my constant aim. OH but ALSO someone commented a second time on Bad Stuff that they’d been trying to find the fic again after reading and commenting the first time and I think that commenter owns my entire soul now.

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t: a lil whumpy oneshot about Klaus being roughed up by some ghosts and Luther coming to the rescue! a longer story about Klaus being followed around by some guy, who turns out to be his biological brother, and he starts harassing Klaus about talking to their mom, who is that new ghost who has also been following him around. don’t know where that one goes, really! so it shan’t be written I don’t think.

25. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read: Smut isn’t for everyone so I can’t say I recommend this to everyone, but the kind of love i’ve been dreaming of by katplanet was life-changing for me. The FEELINGS packed in there, the LOVE and TENDERNESS.

But for properly everyone everyone I’ll say of all the ways to hurt me, hurting yourself is the worst by @toomuchsky because it’s a really nuanced character study of Klaus, with some takes that should really just be accepted as fandom-wide truths, but I haven’t seen anywhere else!

27. favorite fanfic author of the year: I already answered this one!

29. shortest fic you read this year: Angel in a Bath Towel. by tube_socks_are_cool. It’s a poem and it’s good and cute and 77 words.

My Path with the Force

: A Star Wars-fan Chronicle.

                                                                                           by. J.M.Giovine.

A long time ago, back in the 90s, I was 5 and the remastered edition of the Original Trilogy was released on VHS format. Star Wars entered in my life. I remeber those good old days. Since I’m the child of a failed marriage, my father used to pick me up every single weekend to take me for a ride for some father-and-son time, just the two of us, sometimes with my dad’s family as well. Like I said, good old days. Before that, my whole world turned around Batman and Jurassic Park, as well as pretty much every single Disney-animated flick I got my hands into. One of those weekeds, my dad took me to a Toy Store, and my wonder solidified the moment I saw a giant box-set of MicroMachines figures that immediately draw my attention... and eventually became my first merchandise (purchased by my dad as a gift) of the soon-to-be-my favorite franchise, ever.

Fun thing was, I never saw any of the original films, nor played any of the LucasArts videogames released back then. I entered into this fandom as an innocent five-year-old poser, but obviously, my curiosity and wanderlust won’t stop there. Eventually, I’ll turn to acknowledge the franchise from a movie perspective, ironically, almost immediatelly after acquire my most precious set of ships (which I still possess, for the most part). That very same year, my grandmother came one afternoon with several copies of VHS tapes on her bag that she proudly showed to us; the rents of the week. Little I knew, that would be it, the moment I’ll be acquainted with the Original Trilogy for the first time. Fun thing was, my grandmother is a considerably devoted catholic, and an awfully religious person (she’s nuts), but if I ever have to feel grateful about something she did for me, was introducing me to two different worlds I love: Indiana Jones, and Star Wars. She knew the films (at a certain degree), and basically spoiled me Vader was Luke’s father the very moment I pop A New Hope’s into the VHS. But I didn’t care back then, because I was hooked. Somehow, I realized, this was it; “this is the universe I love”. 

I still think about it. What was it at first? I mean, I can answer that almost right away with a 6-hour-long explanation why I love this universe, but to be fair, I really wonder what was back in the day in my earliest childhood years, the very essential element that made me fell for it. The space ships? Maybe, that’s probably a reliable esthetic trait that’ll captivate any small child. Perhaps the whole Jedi mythos presented lightly between the three episodes, later explored with a larger detail in further entries and titles from both, the Expanded and New Canon. Which 5-year-old child wouldn’t want to be a Jedi Knight just as Obi Wan, or Luke by the time he showed up in Return of the Jedi (1983), weilding his brand-new green lightsaber in order to defeat Jabba’s band of criminals and guards. We’re getting closer. But I suspect there was more to it. Of course, being a grade-school kid my thoughts never went anywhere further than my visual and spectating admiration for the trilogy. That lasted 2 more years, 2 years of me asking like crazy the whole action figures and vehicles I was so desperate to possess and play with. Hardly I was gifted with some of the merchandise, aside my beloved MicroMachines set, and then, it came 1999...

I can just imagine, for the elder people, what this meant back at the release of The Phantom Menace (1999), although, it kindda happened the same way in 2015; people went nuts and fans all over the world realised it returned. Star Wars was back, but not in the shape of a horrible remasterization in a re-release of a classic film(s), but as a brand new episode. Something that’ll continue the story left behind more almost 20 years ago. Young version of characters we all loved from the first ones, as well as new introductions of characters that, from the distance, looked like they had certain potential. I mean, I just remember Darth Maul being literaly everywhere at stores, promos, banners. The guy everyone thought would be the new face of these new installments, just as Vader was years ago. The rest, well, what can I say? But this ain’t a review. To be completely honest... I liked it. Never watch it at the theater (until the 3D re-release back in 2012), but I immediately bought the VHS. My grandma and aunt actually went to the movies to see it, they hated it.

But obviously, I had my reservations in regards of the newest Star Wars flick, and my hopes to see an actual connection between this “new” vision, and the episodes I’ve learn to love these past couple years. So, you could say, I decided to give it a pass and accept what I was experiencing. Back then, having already 7 years, my judgement towards films wasn’t-let’s say- well defined.To me, if something belongs to what I already know, it was alright, but deep down, I knew something wasn’t right with this newest film, it didn’t feel the same. Was I set to become one of those folks that’ll limit themselves to what was already stablished rather than to accept new ideas and concepts inside a franchise set to expand? Well, thankfully, few years later I’ll understand it was all due to how poorly the film was crafted. Also... yeah, Jar Jar...

But not everything was that bittersweet. I fell in love with the franchise right before seeing Phantom... so by the time, all toy lines (Kenner, particularly) were everywhere from both, this newest episode and the original trilogy line, which endured several years afterwards, before the newest 2004 line. I acquire several other figures, and I was enjoying myself pretty much alright. I couldn’t wait for more, and only two episodes left, my childhood excitement grew exponentially by the realization that, soon, I’ll possess 6 VHS of my favorite saga ever (ha!). Like that, and continously buying as much merchandise as my parents were capable of, 2002 came along. The so-much-expected episode two came, and this was officially my first Star Wars film ever experienced on the big screen. Save your pity, please, I don’t need it.

I was aware, probably for the first time, of the quality decaying this franchise was suffering, probably the moment I saw Hayden Christensen portraying the long-expected-hero Anakin Skywalker. If I ever check a top 10 list of the worst casting choices ever made, this guy would probably be in the first 5 spots, easily. Even the toy-brand seemed... I don’t know, uninspired? Yeah, not much of a big change, but somehow I felt way attracted for the lines of episode 1 than this one. The starships never took my breath away (except for a fully renderized Slave I, the very first Original Trilogy starship brought back for these films), nor the aliens or the newest incursions of Jedi felt innovative or interesting enough. Probably the Clones, but I have to admit, my interest for this army came years later, when Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars, as well as the Expanded Universe’s stories were release, in order to fill the gap left by Episode’s 2 need of ending at the very beginning of the long-awaited wars.

Another spark of honesty, I never watched the show on it’s innitial release, in 2003, since I never had cable, ergo, never saw Cartoon Network, even though I really wish I could’ve. My initiation with the short cartoon came a year later, and a year before the heavily anticipated release of Episode 3. The first time I did came around the show was at my highschool tutor’s house. Every day, after my school schedule, my mom sended me every afternoon to my tutor’s place, literaly, on the street behing mine’s. Why here? Easy, after finishing my whole homework (for the next day) we got some spare time before our moms (we were several other kids at the house), and that’s when, located at the livingroom basically identical to my place’s, my tutor’s son was watching some tv. He looked nerdy af, and what was he watching? No more and no less than the show’s second season, episode 19: Anakin VS Asajj Ventress.

After that, my next step was some of the best I’ve had in regards of the franchise: the Original Trilogy DVD release in 2004. Just as my dad did, back in 1997, in 2004 I spend my first Christmas with my dad’s family, and one of my presents (one of my all time favorites) was my very first DVD player, also, packed along the remasterization (one of many, Christ...) for the same format that launched also a brand new toy series better known as the Original Trilogy Collection from Hasbro. I was one step closer to fulfillment, and for the first time I had the Original Trilogy in my power. At the same time, my highschool’s best friend lend me the DVD of Tartakovsky’s series from 2003, recently launched in a compilation of the entire 20 episodes. That’s when I saw the whole show for the first time. Again, aside of my bitterweet experience with Episodes 1 & 2, I felt great passion towards Star Wars, once again. 

My first Star Wars game also came in 2004, the same year I first acquire my Game Cube console, that meant I was finally able to buy Rebel Strike: Rogue Squadron 3 and I was pretty much at candy land. I played Rogue Squadron 1, for the Nintendo 64, a while ago, and I was pretty much addicted to the epic arcade game, located at a Peter Piper Pizza near my house. On the videogame background, this was the only thing I needed so far, until I realize of the existance of other games such as Battlefront, Jedi Academy-Outcast, and countless other elder games I never had the chance to play. Probably my official first Star Wars game was the PC exclusive, Dark Forces 2, but I never managed to finish it (I still hadn’t have the chance to, since I’m no longer able to play it), but overall, Roque Squadron 3 was everything I needed, surely I wouldn’t mind experience other stuff, specially when first realizing about the existance of the memorable Knights of the Old Republic, a game I considered for superior gamers back then. 

2005 came, the first trailers for Revenge of the Sith were everywhere and dropped every 5 seconds. But that wasn’t just it. I was able to follow the weekly release of the Clone Wars Season 3, that was supposed to end the series right at the very beginning of Episode 3, which it did. My best friend and I saw the series finally together, at his place; pizza, soda and chips, the two of us excited for the finale and, oh boy, we were. With Revenge... it came my first official midnight release, something that’ll take a while to return to my life, mostly after highschool. My entire family and I went to the movie-theater, and it became one of my most beloved experiences in a movie, from my entire life. Back in the day, that movie gave me everything I wanted out of a franchise I followed. Every single plot-detail, every single arc, fanservice (which I didn’t know it was back then), and full circles leading to Episode 4 were there, in all their glory. And, the less I know, it hit me: this was my last Star Wars. Only two episodes at the movie theater, the rest experienced at home-video. Not that I regret anything, but its never easy to let go something so attached to our lives. If I only knew...

Not much to say about the next years. A new decade arrived. I was way past buying and collecting figures or vehicles, and in regards of the films, for some reason, I never acquired the prequels on DVD. Somehow I felt as if I was already complete with my Original Trilogy. I really wanted The Clone Wars series on DVD, but never managed to buy them, either for the lack of money, or I never found them at local stores (even nowadays its extremely difficult and expensive to get). In 2008, The Clone Wars came out... which was already extremely weird, considering some of the characters from the original animated series came back, like Asajj Ventress, and naturaly, since I ended my journey with the saga, I lost my entire interest for Star Wars material furthermore, I ignored it. Therefore, I never saw nor the movie or the newest 3D Animated show, created by Dave Filoni, a name I’ll learn to admire and respect almost a decade after. We’re talking a complete absence of interest for the franchise during a 4 year period until the impossible happened...

George Lucas, after a personal professional defeat, sold his epic and extremely profitable (still) franchise to Disney, now belonging executively speaking to Kathleen Kennedy, who immediately confirmed to the world what we all thought would never come: a brand new episodic installment in the franchise will eventually be made... continuing the events concluded on Episode 6 and completely throwing away everything that happened before the sale, that is, everything considered aside of the films, the former Expanded Universe, being the Clone Wars the only property still considered important and canon inside the newest Disney reign. Suddenly my love came back, just as it is when you’re in a marriage that is merely a dry relationship  between to irrelevant individuals and then, out of nowhere, you remember how lucky you are of having that person by your side. But it wasn’t just me, the whole world went bananas, and everyone needed 2015 to arrive, as of now.

And so it did. The Force Awakens came on December of 2015. It quickly became one of the highest grossing films of all time. One of the most succesfull releases ever, Hollywood-speaking. Fans were excited, hopeful and, let’s be honest, fearfull for the upcoming results. We were still harmed for the prequels and we needed Star Wars to be what we loved in the first place. To me, it was, I felt like experiencing Star Wars for the first time in a long while. I felt that excitement, the struggle, the emotion and power I felt when watching my old VHS, back in the 90s. This was the worthy succesor I was expecting. Star Wars was everywhere and, once again, I felt like a five year old. Of course, my curiosity and dissappointment appear once I saw people felt... conflicted by this new episode. Somehow people really didn’t feel like enjoying something so reminiscent of the old-school franchise we all grow up loving, instead, they criticized the fact that “we didn’t got anything new” and the film relay so much on nostalgia and similarities to the original episodes. Of course I never felt that way, at least, not in a negative way. 

But that didn’t matter! Hope was still foreseen and Disney also anounced their next installment as a prequel that’ll take place right before A New Hope (1977), and so, the first “A Star Wars Story” was meant to be released on December 2016. Rogue One was a blast, and unlike Force Awakens, it seemed this was what every single fan was expecting. Classic Star Wars, a brand new take on this world that’ll fill a gap left on episode 4 and, what we all agree was the best aspect of the film; a complete tone of war and battles worthy of any great moment in the franchise. People started to believe Disney was actually caring about the franchise future, and the horizon offered a bright looking for the next installments. We had Star Wars literally everywhere, and new films (both, episodic and spin offs) were already scheduled, also, bringin important names in the director’s chair for each one. Me, personally, I liked fine. I understood why people loved it, and I understood why this could easily foreshadow episode 7. Overall, I thought it was an excuse to showcase a pop-corn spectacle, but yeah, a pretty entertaining one, but non of the complexity and creativity from the originals were there, making it a little disposable for my taste. Regardless, I didn’t mind, and I felt as excited and hopeful as I was a year before it.

I guess I wasn’t entirely prepared for what came on 2017; the whole The Last Jedi controversy. Rian Johnson wasn’t that known, except for directing one of the favorite sci-fi flicks from 2012 and two of the best episodes of Breaking Bad. People either hated it, or just liked the film. Me? It’s hard to say but I enjoyed it pretty hard. The next episode got me hooked, invested and intrigued all the way through. At the midnight release, on December, I watched the film with my cousin and my best friend (who just finished watching the whole film-saga, and she became instantly a fan), and the three of us were dazzled all the way through. My realization came when I arrived home that night and found out, all my contacts on Facebook were ranting the hell out of it, specially the elder ones. I was confused and, downright, alone when it came to my joy towards Episode 8. The fandom lost their minds, and the hatred rised considerably againts the new direction given by Disney and Kennedy. Star Wars quickly stopped being what it was before; the saga we all had tons of fun discussing and talk about. Suddenly it became hard to talk about the saga, and the passion seemed to have been drained from it, something that I confirmed when Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) was released.

The second spin-off in the saga became the biggest box office flop for the franchise on that very same year and critics partially seemed to like it. For audiences it was as harmless and inconsequential, pretty much unlike the overall received of Rogue One. But, one thing was for sure; the franchise hype was starting to fade. From my own perspective, I started to lose interesting, but not for the same reason not-pleased fans were, but because I felt the polarization all over the place. Again, Star Wars wasn’t fun anymore. 

However, and after the anouncement of Abrams returning to the franchise in order to conclude it, somehow I felt the excitement once again. Slowly, and once 2019 arrived, I slowly started acquiring new Star Wars merchandise, from the LucasArts videogames I wasn’t able to play back in the day, like Republic Commando, Battlefront 2 and Jedi Starfighter. Also, I got my 5 Black Series figures, from 2016 to date, being Ahsoka Tano my first, then Thrawn, General Kenobi, Darth Maul and the Second Sister. The trailers for The Rise of Skywalker were dropped and my hype was real. Also, Disney + would release the very first live action tv series on the saga, with The Mandalorian. 

So, somehow, 2019 exploded in Star Wars, and I wasn’t the only one. On November, only a month-away for Episode 9, The Mandalorian made all of us fell in love with the franchise, making us feeling like we were discovering something that we needed and wanted at the same time. Also, people played Jedi Fallen Order, and everyone loved it, unfortunately for me, I haven’t got the chance to do it as well. Nevertheless, my amazement belonged completely to Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, with 8 episodes of aproximately 40 minutes each, and providing wonderful connection between Clone Wars and Rebels, this time, with the whole esthetic scenarios and props from the Original Trilogy, all this before watching the last Episode.

And so, the saga came to a supposed ending, at least, in regards of the Skywalker installments. That was it; no more title cards in the middle of the open space, no more drama between the Skywalker family, no more John Williams. Sigh. Well, for my eyes, I was partially pleased, but I had my issues. Call it an overall excess of expectations, call it non-blinded judgement, but there was something missing, something worthy of the franchise I have loved most of my life. It could’ve been better, for sure, and the commitment from the previous two was lacking. Abrams had the opportunity to go all the way with something memorable (something accomplished by Endgame, for example), but for what it was, it was just good enough. That’s it. My inner child never died, but wasn’t completely baffled or amazed. Serviceable, and that was it.

But that’s not the end, for me. I’m still acquiring the novels and comic books (which I started buying back in 2015), and my collection of figures and merchindise is still growing, slowly. Also, several tv-shows are scheduled to be release in the next years, so, Star Wars isn’t over. I’m still excited to see this franchise expanding, and my devotion hasn’t change a bit. I’m still a fan, despite the ups and downs. I guess when it comes to the Disney domain, I’m glad, considering Lucas didn’t wanted to direct or make any more sequels or spin-offs so, without the company’s purchase, Star Wars might still be a franchise entirely for the geeks, and being pretty much resting nowadays. I’m glad it is back, and I’m glad there’s more to explore, perhaps not as people wished, but there’s no denying, the saga may have concluded, but it is far from being over, or dead, and I’ll be there, experiencing it, consuming it, and being in love with it, pretty much, until I become one with the Force.

bill skarsgård. cismale. he/him.  ／  damon stenström just pulled up blasting real life by the weeknd— that song is so them! you know, for a twenty-seven year old ceo, i’ve heard they’re really -narcissistic, but that they make up for it by being so +savvy. if i had to choose three things to describe them, i’d probably say a freshly-engraved solid gold desk plate, gaunt cheekbones and cold eyes, a tailor-fitted name brand suit worn only once. here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble!

hello angels ! it me, lainie, coming @ u with another one of my babies about whomst u can find some backstory below and other such Necessary Info for plotting:

trigger warnings: death, suicide, murder mention, drug use

damon was born a first and only child in stockholm, sweden, to an extremely wealthy family, his father being the ceo of an internationally-successful energy supply company that had been taken over from his father. growing up, damon was always vaguely aware that he was supposed to be next in line when his father retired, but as a kid it never interested him much and not only was it rare to catch him asking his father questions about the business, it was more or less infrequent that they were caught spending time together at all. he was an independent and highly entitled child, soft only for his mother who spoiled him rotten.

he was 12 years old when the company expanded to north america and damon’s father decided to move them to manhattan. it was supposed to be the company’s new headquarters and on top of that, damon’s paternal uncle was already living there. and while his dad and his uncle got along decently well ( as far as anyone was aware, at least ), damon himself did not. it had always been bad blood ( the reason for which being damon’s birthright, though he didn’t figure this out until he was older ), but living in the same city now managed to exacerbate things. that on top of his tendency toward rebellion led to a highly unstable lifestyle. damon’s mother usually defended his adolescent outbursts and ceaselessly stood up for him even when it meant spending absurd amounts of money to cover up embarrassing stories from leaking to the press. damon spent his high school years partying, doing drugs, and finding his way from one bed to the next, and his family paid through the wallet.

suicide tw // it was at 19, however, that things changed. far sooner than he’d expected, his father pulled him aside one day to talk to him about the future of the company and damon’s role in it. distant they’d always been, but his father was adamant his son be the one to take over one day. it wasn’t this rare show of emotion, however, that won damon over–it was the idea of the alternative his father put in his head: namely, his uncle taking the reigns instead. the timing of all this certainly struck damon as odd but he couldn’t figure out why until a week later, when his father was found dead in his bedroom with a bullet in his head.

suicide tw // there was no note, and before damon could blink his uncle had pointed a convincing finger and he was being carted off to a cell on suspicion of murder. the fact that his father had just a week ago gotten him to decide he wanted to take over the family business didn’t look good, but after 72 hours he was released when it was officially ruled a suicide. there was no substantial evidence to make a case, yet that didn’t stop damon’s uncle from making his views on the subject perfectly clear. in spite of that and in spite of the public talk over whether or not he really had killed his father and gotten away with it now as head of the company, damon stepped into his position as ceo just before his 20th birthday.

he knew next to nothing and relied solely on his quick logic and ability to intimidate much older inferiors into taking him seriously to get through the first six months to a year, after which he truly began to settle into his job. behind the scenes he’s still prone to getting up to his rich kid bullshit, but he keeps a relatively squeaky clean image for the public.

he’s 27 now, so he’s been at it about 7 years and has a thoroughly tight grip on the reigns at this point. at least he thinks he does. there’s plenty of dirty dealings that keep the company running which hadn’t been in place when his father was in charge, but he’s successfully kept all of that a secret.

as far as his personality goes, he’s your typical detached, entitled trust fund baby handed the world on a silver platter as well as a job as ceo of a multinational company. he���s got a bit of a god complex but is more than capable of coming off as charming when he needs to be. has a little bit of a swedish accent, particularly when he’s worked up and yelling. uses and abuses his six foot five stature and resting death glare to get what he wants.

still wildly fucked up about his dad, but will not under any circumstances talk about it except to reiterate that he did not, in fact, kill him. is a 10000% mama’s boy but that’s……..not something he shows the public either yeugdhusjs

if he was FORCED to put a label on his sexuality it would be pansexual but he rly hates the idea of putting something like that in a box. he just........sleeps with whoever catches his eye BUT he’s also careful about not letting any of his Escapades become public so he’s also relatively choosy about it unless he’s whacked out of his mind on drugs

i literally edited this and it’s still a rambly mess but i’ll tell u what!!!!!!!! it is what it is and im washing my hands of this come hmu if u wanna plot or like this and i will appear in ur dms at some point !!! also plot ideas below

wanted connections

someone with whom he’s done DIRTY DEALINGS for his company!!!! could be someone else who runs a company or just someone who might have had something he needed (eg connections)

the above but with the added Spice of blackmail

one or two people he’s actually close with!!!! 

a pr relationship / any kind of pr stuff tbh he’s always trying to do things that’ll help his image given how shaky it’s always been bc of the way he started out

an ex or two who definitely ended on bad terms, either him breaking up with them bc he’s him and got bored or they broke up w him bc he’s......him ateyrgjdhsa

endless hookups and one night stands and endless possibilities for angst 

people he’s hardcore led on who probably despise him now

SOMEONE who’s like a little brother/sister to him??? that he’s very protective over and soft for and like....they’re one of the only people who can talk sense into him when he’s being Too Insane

please just all kinds of enemies he’s so Cold it’s so easy to hate him

uhhhHHHHH people who remember the scandal about his dad and think he’s guilty !!!

September - Launched!

Ok, let’s get the big bit out of the way first... we launched a game. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like that long ago that I was popping games into the app store on a fairly regular basis... but this month’s Dungeon Drop launch was actually the first in over 2 years. And I think there was over a year prior to that one to find another. So those days are clearly long gone. And it’s been a trip.

But hey, Dungeon Drop is out, and we’re really happy with it. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s a free download on the App Store now.

The launch experience was a fun one, we’d had September 19th lined up for a while as the release date, and then a couple of weeks earlier Apple announced that Apple Arcade would launch on the same day. Bringing 50-100 premium mobile games that players could play for free with a trial subscription, or enjoy completely for only $4.99 per month. All starting on the same day as our little game. What do we do? We had a lot of suggestions to move the date, and we were pretty split on it for a while there, but we ultimately decided to go with the original launch date.

And it worked out well I think, we got one of the best feature spots we’ve ever had for the game in the App Store, I think probably our first US feature since Slambots in 2013... I guess maybe a lot of developers avoided that date and left us some air to work with? Either way. It got featured. A few people told me they liked it, and few even told me they bought the premium upgrade. So that was a great feeling, mission accomplished for Dungeon Drop.

Our next iOS game launches mid-November. We’ll post it for pre-orders later this month and share details then.

We hadn’t really used the pre-order feature prior to Dungeon Drop, but it turned out to be really useful for sharing the game info before launch. We didn’t need a separate web page to direct people to, or even really a video, people could just see the screenshots and app preview on the App Store for themselves. We did post a trailer for Dungeon Drop on Youtube and a couple of twitter videos or gifs, and those worked out well too... so we’ll definitely do that again next time around.

Anyway, I’m less concerned about that launch now, having seen Dungeon Drop get some play and positive response I feel happy with where we’re at with what we’re putting out. Now we need to turn that around and apply it to Monsters & Monocles.

Oh god. What the hell have I agreed to. Finishing this up is going to be a big thing. Ryan is a smart cookie, so fortunately the code is clean and organized. It’s just that there’s a lot of it, and it’s all Ryan’s and not mine. It makes more sense than mine would have, but I don’t instinctively know where to find anything yet. I managed to poke at a few bits, they seem to do what I expected them to do, and I think I can massage all the things I don’t like into something we’ll be happy to launch. I just feel massively overwhelmed right now. There’s a lot of layers to everything, there’s 3 different platforms they launched the game on, there’s the single player, local coop, and online multiplayer cases to consider in everything. And then there’s the stuff that Ryan wasn’t really finished working on when he left... some of those things are hard for me to distinguish from things that either weren’t done at all or have been finished for years. For now I’m really just trying to build a big picture of it all in my head without running off to the mountains first.

I think what I’ll be looking at this month will be a long overdue UI overhaul, because I feel like that’s going to be relatively painless to address. I’ll just need new designs and artwork from Craig and I think I can shuffle everything around and give it a nice new lick of paint there... and hopefully that’ll start to make it feel more like my game. In game, there’s a fair amount of broken or less than great camera stuff that I’d like to get working, which should give me some exposure to the NPC systems and what state those are in, and then I’d like to get things like the player death sequences cleaned up. I’ll be having to touch a lot of systems but I feel like I’ll build a pretty good understanding of a lot of it that way.

I’m hoping a lot of the existing systems like the map generation, basic physics and controls, and the network play, are largely sound for most of what a finished version of this game needs to be. Some of the npc/meta stuff will need an overhaul to create a roadmap to 1.0, and some of the systems like the enemy behaviors, weapons, characters might just need expanded on as they are.

Hopefully. Since the game is out there anyway and there’s only a few people reading this I’ll try to talk about it in a more open inside baseball kinda way as we try to wrap it up. I’m always more open on emotional or general aspects of how things are going, so it’ll be fun to try to be more open in addressing specifics. No promises though, I’ve never really tried this before.

Speaking of generalities, this month wasn’t bad really. Launching Dungeon Drop was a huge distraction that I kind of allowed myself, and then I got horribly sick taking my kids to a soft play place and lost a bunch of work there too. But I’ve had much worse months, and after pushing through finishing two games in a row I probably should cut myself some slack. I’m spending some time working in the same room as Craig this week, which helped a bunch with Dungeon Drop, although it’s kind of difficult with Monsters & Monocles since there’s so much to do and I’m so far off the pace on mastering the ins and outs of the project. If nothing else, having someone next to me gives me a good push to try something anyway.

Aside from working, I’ve been having a blast playing the goose game with my kids, they just laugh hysterically while the goose is horrible, and it’s awesome. Probably one of the best games to play with kids. I finished up Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle. That was great. My kids enjoyed watching some of the earlier battles and the story sections, but they got bored easily when the battles got longer and harder, and during the longer exploration bits. That’s actually kinda like me, tbh, although they did a great job of keeping the later battles challenging without becoming a huge grind or massively difficult. The difficulty probably spiked most in the second half of the second world and the first half of the third for me... There’s some extra challenges to play, I didn’t do those, and there’s more coop levels we didn’t play, those are fun too. Haven’t tried vs mode. 100% campaign and most of the collectables was about 30-40 hours, so a decent length, but my switch obviously can’t pull out kid aimless wandering or repeating time, so I don’t know exactly how that is. I could have shaved off probably 5-10 hours just by not wandering around looking for hidden chests, which mostly don’t add anything to the gameplay or give you any useful boosts, and involve a lot of back tracking and kind of boring wandering around (you’re wandering around beautiful worlds, but it’s mostly linear and you’ve seen it already). 

Other games, we’re still playing Mario 3D World, but the kids are definitely tapping out on it a little, but it had a very good run. They love watching Captain Toad, so I got to play through the first couple of hours of that, it’s adorable, I hope I get to play the rest. But they like to try to play and it’s too hard for them, so they get annoyed. We’ve played a bit of Mario Kart, but they don’t really try to stay on the tracks yet, but I feel like they’re going to love that when it clicks. And weirdly they watched me play Twilight Princess for about an hour last night and both seemed to love it, so I might actually get to make some more progress in that. Although it’s rough going after Breath of the Wild, the rigidity and the camera especially make it feel it’s age, even in the HD remake. Off on my own I’ve been picking away at an old copy of Link’s Awakening with the hope of finishing it again before I eventually play the remake. It’s such a great game, I think it may have been the first Zelda I actually played through, since I never had an NES of my own.

Okay, I’ve gone on long enough, back to work, I’d better get going on something so I have some good Monsters & Monocles progress to report next month.

ROOKIES, WE’RE HIRING!

Yes, it’s the announcement you’ve been waiting for (or maybe not)-- we’re finally ready to officially begin our search to expand the staff team in Rookies! 

We haven’t picked up new mods yet despite the departures of Sera and Mira, and we’re finally ready to take on new additions to help with the absence they’ve left. We think we’ve done a good job of filling in for them so far, but our current methods are not built for the longterm and are setting us up for burn-out, so we want to prevent that. Currently, Bianca is shouldering the large responsibility of debuts, trainee events, and rookie events herself as our sole event mod, and our top priority here is getting her some help so she can finally have some time to relax with less on her shoulders! There are other areas we wouldn’t mind extra help in too, however, so read on to find out what all of those are.

We’re looking to add at least one more person-- possibly more -- to the team. Want to help? Here are a few requirements:

 1. You have to be willing to work with the current team. The admod team is a group effort and it will fall apart if we’ve got in-fighting. If the idea of working with any of us doesn’t really sound good to you, then this probably isn’t the job for you. If you don’t have a problem with any of us and are just nervous, we’re all understanding and excited to expand the team, so we’d encourage you to apply! You’ll also need to be okay with one of your ideas getting turned down. We discuss every idea as a team, and almost everything we move forward with is decided by a team consensus. Naturally, the current staff will have a little more authority in this area. We’ll never turn down/change ideas without a good reason and we’ll always be happy to explain why we think things may not work, but if you’re going to get offended over us saying “no” or asking you to change something or put something on hold, then we’re going to have a hard time working together.

2. New mods will have a HUGE impact on RK, but won’t be reforming the RP. Whoever’s on the admod team will, of course, have a large effect on the RP. However, there are certain aspects of the RP that won’t change. If you’re trying to become an admod to remold the RP into something it isn’t, it’s not going to work out.

3. Drama is inevitable in RP, and RK admods field more of it than the average leadership team because of points and auditions, etc. Applicants need to be able to remain levelheaded in the face of conflict or problems arising. RK operates on a strike system, and in order to hand out strikes, all active staff members vote on whether something brought to our attention is strike-worthy or not. Applicants need to be willing to look over collected evidence of conflict and drama presented, and vote at the very least, if not screenshot and diffuse drama themselves. On top of this, they need to be able to stay calm and reasonable even when they get the same question 50 different times from 50 different members, and no matter who approaches them, and they need to be self-aware enough to know when to step back and hand an issue over to another member of the team. Don’t worry; we won’t throw you to the sharks when you first start off, and you’re welcome (and recommended) to point any drama out to one of the more experienced mods and let us handle it until you learn the ropes. Regardless, any potential admods need to remain collected and as unbiased and kind as possible in conflict, no matter who they’re dealing with, and be willing to act and maintain the peace in Rookies as things come up. They also must refrain from addressing any drama publicly unless agreed upon by the team, because the way an admod acts in drama influences the atmosphere of the roleplay very directly. We’re very serious about this-- any admod vaguetweeting or anything of the like will be subject to removal from the team.

4. Obviously, applicants need to be able to set their own personal biases aside for auditions and things like that. Because we’re a group, we can easily check each other on this, but if we see that someone is consistently pulling just for their own and/or their friends’ characters, it’s not going to fly.

5. Availability is important. You won’t need to be on every single day- however, you’ll need to be able to dedicate at least a few hours each week to mod duties. Keep in mind that the main and two of the staff team are currently in the GMT-5 (EST) timezone. Bianca is in GMT-3, Razel is in GMT-7, and Keith is in GMT+8, so clearly we’ll consider people from any timezone as potential mods, but sometimes timezones can make communication complicated. It would be most convenient if any potential mods could be online when at least one other staff member is for easy communication and accessible assistance, but we usually read through any chats we miss due to timezones, and we’ll be able to make anything work.

6. Reliability! We’re looking for people who plan on being here for the long haul.

7. You’ve got to be able to keep a secret. As a mod, you’ll often know about stuff that’s coming down the pike before the rest of the directory, and you can’t tell anyone- even your friends. You’ll also need to keep how decisions were made a secret unless the team agrees to share details with the public, no matter how many people hound you for answers.

8. You’ve got to have a pretty good grasp of the RK rules. If you don’t already know them super well, don’t worry- you’ll learn quick. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to get familiar with them if you aren’t already.

So, what kinds of tasks will new mods be accomplishing?

It depends! On the current team, we all have our own roles and cover all the bases pretty well, though we’ve also done some rearranging based on the roleplay and the team’s present needs. Because this system has worked so well for us, it’s something we intend to keep up. The tasks new mods will complete largely depend on what you want to help with, and what tasks we feel will suit you best after reading through your application. It’s also possible that you may need to pitch in to help on tasks you wouldn’t normally complete if a certain mod needs help with their usual responsibilities, so some willingness to be versatile would be a great quality! Here’s what we do as mods and will be enlisting your help in, though no single mod should have to do all of this at any given time (that’s why we’re expanding the team!):

COMING UP WITH RK-APPROPRIATE EVENTS: We need people who can create fun and detailed events (as well as open events!) for rookies and trainees. This includes everything from non-idol events (like Hongdaefest back in the day) to very idol-y events (like the MGAs and Triple Threat Challenge). Take a look at past events to get an idea of exactly what that entails. With the departure of Mira and Sera, Bianca has been handling all of this almost singlehandedly, and we’re in desperate need of a new event mod for her! This is the role we’ll be searching for the most.

HELPING WITH CASTING DECISIONS: Sometimes, the current staff members in charge of casting events may go through it without enlisting your help, but a vast majority of the time, it’s something anyone that wants to helps out with! Sometimes this means we’ll need you to read a bunch of solos and tell us your thoughts, other times this means we’ll just need you to go around and put all the contestants’ points into a Google Doc to speed up the process, or do some math. Other times, we may talk it out as a group the whole way through, and conspire on the best way to make a decision together. Because we have lots of staff members available to pitch in here, we won’t always need your help with this, and if you have a muse participating in the auditions or would rather not be part of the decision-making process for any reason, that’ll always be optional. If you’re an event mod, however, you’ll have a bigger hand in this than most.

MONITORING THE DASH: This includes keeping an eye out for any rule-breaking (both IC and OOC) and reporting it to the mod chat as needed, as well as keeping an eye out for any good gossip for rknetizens/idolators! You also might have the opportunity to write gossip articles from time to time. With a dash as active as Rookies, and with as many characters as we have in a roleplay, we’re in desperate need of more eyes. This is always a hard job to keep up with, especially with Tumblr recently breaking so you can’t easily go forward and backward on pages of the dash anymore (Mod Carly’s preferred way of doing things.) The more people that can help with this, the better!

WRITING AND SENDING OUT PROMPTS: Sometimes, we’ll send prompts out from rkevent to characters. This can be for a variety of reasons; most commonly, it’s for disciplinary action for trainees IC, though it can also be for special opportunities, including street casting or feedback from the judging panel about auditions. There was even a time that 50 prompts were sent out during evaluations, and a set of auditions where we sent out around 50 total prompts as well. Naturally, these things can take a lot of time, so we may have you help in writing these, especially if we have a lot to get to! More commonly, though, we’ll just have you do some of the monotonous work of sending out the prompts to everyone. Any prompts you do write will have to go through a more experienced staff member first, at least while you get the hang of writing from the perspective of the RK companies!

GENERAL UPKEEP: The first thing we tend to let fall to the wayside under pressure are small details, like keeping pages and debut point rosters updated, or keeping our Top Secret Mod Resources updated. Keith does a great job of this, but there’s a lot of this work to go around, and most of the other mods are too busy to help, so willingness to assist in this area would be great!

GENERAL OPINIONS AND IDEAS: The most important (and hopefully easiest) thing for a new mod to do is contribute lots of ideas, and give the current staff feedback on their ideas. Just having you present as someone to bounce ideas off of and having another perspective around is a huge help to us, so we’ll often ask you what you think about something, and how you think the best way to go about something is, and we want you to be honest!

DISCIPLINE: As mentioned earlier in the post, at the very least, you’ll be voting in what we call “strike trials” to determine when we need to take disciplinary action or not. We’ll also likely have you take screenshots of any drama you spot to aid in this process, and to let the mod chat know of any issues ASAP. To start off, the more experienced mods will do the disciplinary heavy lifting. As time goes on and you gain more experience we’ll probably share the responsibility of confrontation with you, and may even ask you to write up a dreaded strike message based on who’s available. We’ll never force you to do this if you aren’t comfortable unless you happen to be the only mod around in the face of a drama emergency,  and we have enough mods around comfortable with doing this to the point that it shouldn’t be your responsibility too often, but there comes times when your current mods get drama burnout and may need to pass an issue off to someone else. If you’re prepared to be that person, we’d appreciate it!

And what kinds of things are new mods less likely to handle?

FINAL CASTING DECISIONS: As mentioned above, while we will likely enlist your help in the casting process, the more experienced staff members will make the final call here. This may change in the future, but to start out, you won’t be doing any casting on your own.

THEME AND GRAPHICS: Since we currently have a graphics mod, everything that falls under this area is a job largely accounted for, though more experience on the team certainly wouldn’t hurt! You can definitely offer graphics and theme suggestions as well, and may even get a chance to do some, but don’t expect to be the main theme or graphics maker on the team!

DEALING WITH THE MAIN: This is a bit of a strange task to list as something new mods are unlikely to handle, but Carly doesn’t struggle with staying on top of the queue and updating the main, so help here is in low demand. That being said, there are always unexpected things that can come up, so a willingness to be on call if Carly needs help with anything would be a bonus. It wouldn’t hurt to give her a break sometimes, too!

VERIFYING POINTS: This means checking each of those verification forms the trainees turn in to make sure they’re properly filled out and that nobody’s cheating, properly tagging the submissions, and posting them in a timely fashion, however, Kyle and Keith handle this currently and don’t need any extra help.

Anyone who’d like to apply should send a submission to the main.

This is what we want to know, in as much or as little detail as you think is applicable (and if you know us, some of us write a lot, so don’t worry about boring us):

1. Do you meet all the requirements? (Any area you’re a little worried about or particularly confident in? Feel free to let us know)

2. Is there anyone you would be uncomfortable working with? (Currently on staff or otherwise. Please be honest! The last thing we want is to accidentally hire two new mods that don’t get along.)

3. Of the mod tasks listed, which are you most interested in taking on? Which ones would you rather not do?

4. Do you bring anything else to the table that isn’t listed above?

5. Is there anything else you’d like to say about why you want to be a mod and why you’d be good at the job?

6. Extra credit: Imagine you’ve been put in charge of planning an RK event. It can be any kind of event from a monthly eval to an audition to a holiday celebration to a vacation/retreat (such as the language camp back in the day or the summer camp, more recently)- whatever you think of! Write up everything that would be needed for the event, start to finish. This includes both public posts as well as behind-the-scenes information (for example, if there’s a contest element to the event, how will we choose a winner?) If events aren’t really your thing, feel free to think outside of the box here and write up a potential rknetizens or rkidolators post, or come up with some other kind of suggestion.

7. That’s it; thanks for applying! Now, tell us your zodiac sign and MBTI type, or another fun fact about you. (This won’t affect your chances of getting the job, Mod Carly is just nosy and will never have a better opportunity to ask than this.)

Please send your mod applications in by midnight at the end of May 22nd. We’ll be taking our time to go through everything, to decide, and to prepare to have you on board, so we can’t give you an exact date for when we’ll announce the new staff. You’ll know it when you see it, and thanks for all of your support and interest in advance!

Headcanon: Idril and the Manipulation of Prophecy

‘I am still going through things very slowly, but there were some bits that I sort of wanted to talk about somewhere for a while and wasn’t sure how. I may at some point tidy this up, and I may also at some point make a seperate post looking at the instances of prophetic knowledge Idril had herself, rather than this. Which is using other people’s prophecies for her own ends.

Then I saw a reference to how in Greek Tragedy the heroes - and sometimes other characters - often are prophecised to do something, or know an event will happen, and seek to circumvent it. And they always fail, because they seek to avoid the prophecy via strength of will and a force of their own. And its as beautiful as it is heartbreaking, knowing they are bound to fail.

Idril... Doesn’t. To my reading it is pretty clear that she knows Gondolin will fall. Not might, will. Once she knows it will happen, she never seems to try to stop Gondolin from falling. What she does is take the knowledge that it will, then act to minimise the effect. Gondolin will fall, but I will make means for some to escape and live on.

(I tend to think she has known it will fall since Eöl’s execution, but that is a topic for another day. there’s a tldr on it in the tags.)

And now a cut, as I got carried away and we progress into ‘textually-inspired headcanon’ instead of ‘interpretation of text’. The TLDR: Idril was making plans to save the Noldor via circumventing the Doom of Mandos, using other prophecies to find ways to get a message to the Valar and make them feel bad, but in the end they were unnecessary as she fell in love with Tuor (who she needed to marry for it to work, and had resigned herself to a duty marriage without love so unheard of for an elf, but known to men), he with her, and he named the child what the child needed to be named without her needing to use her mother-naming to give said child such.

In FoG we get the following line, which becomes relevant to the rest of this brain-dump:  ‘Know then that Idril had a great power of piercing with her thought the darkness of the hearts of Elves and Men, and the glooms of the future thereto - further even than is the common power of the kindreds of the Eldalië’ ie, not only does she have a talent for reading people, but also an understanding of how the future works, and given some of the other stuff going on in that text, actual prophetic dreams and visions and all that wonderful stuff.

She’s also 90% of the time absolutely in control of everything she possibly can be. And there’s a lot of prophecies and dooms and such floating around from other people, most of which I find it hard to imagine she would not have known about. Given her status, tendancies towards control and information gathering and knowing what is to come and all those things. Even if people did not approach her to say, she would do her best to keep herself aware of things. There’s three bits I sort of want to talk about, though there are a few more I am aware of that can contribute to this, these three sort of are enough to put it together.

Let us start, as things often should, with the Doom of Mandos. I’m not copying all of it. There’s also some other bits I now realise need to go into my braining on the execution thing, but aside. The bit I’m looking for here is: ‘the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains’. Also all of the awful things it promises, but the specifics of those are unimportant.  What Idril knows from this: the Valar have blocked them from Valinor, and if they try ask for help it will not cross the mountains. If the request for help were on the other side of the mountains, it would not need to cross them, but its a moot point if they cannot. Maybe uncle Finarfin might manage to bed help from the other side of the mountains, but he hasn’t yet so its not really feasible.

Second we leave the silm proper for a while, heading over to the Statute of Finwë and Miriel as found in Morgoth’s Ring. I’m never quite certain if it is part of Laws and Customs or not, but in it if Finwë can remarry is the point of the debate. With other bits involved. The section in question comes near the end, and involves the fact that ‘but Indis’ descendants will be amazing and she won’t have kids with anyone but Finwë so we she totes let her marry him’ (very tldr and absolutely not a direct quote). It mentions at a point that both elves and men will have a part to play in her descendants and also great deeds. Then we get this gem: ‘When he that shall be called Eärendil setteth foot upon the shores of Aman, ye shall remember my words’ (I have a whole other ramble about the rest of this section, but that’s not for here or now).  Idril brain remembers this - there’s no way I can concieve of her not having been exposed to this report of great importance to both her family and legal history - connects it to the previous bit and goes ‘there is a pre-existing prophecy that a descendant of Indis, who is my great-grandmother, named Eärendil, will set foot on the shores of Aman. Not just be in Aman - setteth foot upon. That’s a pre-existing prophecy specifying someone who can break the fence. This person does not exist yet. But should I ever marry, I can make it so, then they can go beg the Valar for help. Given even Mandos seems to think this relative will be a good thing.

Third, and finally though there’s a lot more that could be used but I have things to do today, is the prophecy Huor makes as he tells Turgon to go and willingly faces down his own death: 'Yet if it stands but a little while, then out of your house shall come the hope of Elves and Men. This I say to you, lord, with the eyes of death: though we part here for ever, and I shall not look on your white walls again, from you and from me a new star shall arise.’ (I like to think that death prophecies from mortals are just a thing that happens sometimes, like pregancy prophecies for elves. Something about Mandos being both the guardian of the dead and also a prophet, but anyway this is one that exists canonically. Silmarillion-as-published canon even.) Well, that’s interesting. The Hope of Elves and Men comes from Gondolin, but is not there yet. I do not think at the point people get back from the Nirnareth and Idril would have heard this she would have the context for the new star, but a prophecy is a prophecy, and the prophecy speaks of unifying Huor’s line with Turgon’s. Well she is all of Turgon’s line left, and unifying is easiest via marriage. Luthien happened, so children of elves and men can occur. Presumably Huor has children (well his wife was pregnant at the time of the fighting but Idril wouldn’t have had the specifics there and already have a child seems like a logical conclusion). Which basically means, she has to marry Huor’s son. If she ever tracks him down. And have a kid. May as well make that kid the Eärendil from earlier - hope of Elves and Men is a little more than hope for the Noldor, but hey Noldor are elves and men are also affected by Morgoth. The plan just expanded to include more people. 

They low and behold Voronwë shows up with him at the city gates not too long later. At which point the plan goes something like: get Tuor to marry me (hmmm might take work), have a child (hopefully easy enough once married), name the child Eärendil (mother names are a thing so that’s very easy to control), escape the inevitable fall of Gondolin (a lot of work, but we also have much more notice on that one), get the child from here to Aman (Ulmo will probably help out), make sure child is loud enough to convince the Valar to do something (that’ll be a problem but with good enough tutors...), congrats your people are now significantly less damned than previously.

Of course none of her manipulating the sitatution bar the tunnel in the end proved necessary in my headcannon as well. She spent the time between hearing about Tuor and meeting him going ‘right this is the man I will have to marry for the sake of the Noldor I must prepare myself mentally for the duty I have taken upon myself to fulfil the prophecy to save my people’ only to meet him and go ‘oh no he’s hot’ followed by  ‘oh no he’s also sweet and adorable and I want to see him happy’ followed by ‘well I guess this isn’t so much duty afterall’. Then most of her pregancy going ‘why the fuck did I have a dream about seeing my baby with a silmaril of all things and beyond Arda of all places’ (See: the names of Finwë’s descendants in the Shibboleth of Feanor, Peoples of Middle Earth), and so forgetting to discuss with Tuor the fact the child needed naming Eärendil for prophecy reasons, only for Tuor to name him Eärendil while she was recovering from giving birth anyway. Due to something Ulmo said about a son who was good at boats. So in the end most of this was completely irrelevant anyway, and more than a little exasperating on the ‘I put in all this thought and effort then it just *happened* like this was the actual plan and I’m not trying to manipulate the situation’, but that doesn’t change the fact my Idril did it anyway.

Press Start letter

I am laughingpineapple on AO3

It’s a whole lot of character combos so the specific requests aren’t overly detailed, please draw at will from my general likes in addition or as an alternative to those!

For any of these, I’d be thrilled to get any small situation or event that highlights the dynamic you see between these characters - show me what ties them together, what could make them drop their barriers with the other person. Or a big situation! I like plotty fic too! But especially if we matched on some bizarre “&” combo that never even interacted in canon, I’d love to simply see what a scene between them could be like.

All requests are art or fic - for art, the stuff I like is the kind that depicts the characters doing something. I’ll aways be happier with a very simple drawing of two characters walking together or sharing a cup of coffee than with an ambitious composition that looks like an Avengers poster.

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (doubly so if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, magical realism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, canon-adjacent tropey plots, outsider POV, UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, mutual pining, cuddling, wintry moods, the feeling of flannel and other fabrics, ridiculous concepts played straight, sensory details, sickfic, places being haunted, people being haunted, the mystery of the woods, small hopes in bleak worlds, electricity, places that don’t quite add up, mismatched memories, caves and deep places, distant city lights at night

Cool with: any tense, any pov, any rating, plotty, not plotty, IF, nerdy canon references, unrequested characters popping up

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, unrequested ships, canon retellings, consent issues

Ghost Trick

For applicable characters, I am very interested in them finding about the erased timeline, but not getting their memories back, and having to live with being told about what they did but never remembering it. All what-ifs welcome (what if they managed an acceptable happy ending but didn’t reset the timeline, what if a different party went back to the past and kept their memories, what if Alma’s ghost stuck around...) Also open to AUs here, especially for generic fantasy or sci-fi settings or the Final Fantasy ones I prompted for Yuletide

Alma & Emma: an unlikely friendship, and/or something about a book that was clearly inspired by the best detective(s) working for Emma’s husband?

Alma & Sissel: domestic ghost tricks and an increasingly suspicious Alma - or a great team after she finds out what the cat can do!

Cabanela & Jowd: the loyalty... the determination... but how does Jowd express his side of their bond? What’s a Cabanela-being-Cabanela or Jowd-being-Jowd situation that’d be insufferable for anyone else, but which doesn’t bother the other one, who finds it kind of endearing?

Cabanela & Kamila: best uncle and that’s that on that. Does he teach her magic tricks? Is he not great with kids but makes an effort? What does she build that just blows his mind?

Cabanela & Missile: guard dogs bark bark. They obviously adore each other, what else can Cabanela teach Missile - and what can Missile teach Cabanela? What could they disagree about?

Cabanela & Pigeon Man: how do they meet in the new timeline, what makes their odd friendship stick this time? I love how they play off each other, with Pigeon Man’s snark bouncing off Cabs' very secure ego... does Pigeon Man end up feeling fatherly about him, in some way?

Cabanela/Jowd: please no infidelity, I only like the ship without Alma during the canon times when Alma is dead or at most a what-if where she’s not around. Did Cabanela lower his mask for a hot minute during their walk to the minister’s office, did those ~immeasurably deep~ feelings ever find an outlet? What if he’d stayed dead and tagged along with Jowd and Lynne after 15? What if no-reset scenarios? Or office shenanigans where Alma is backgrounded by virtue of not working there but she’s okay with what’s going on.

Cabanela/Jowd/Alma: what’s a hobby one of them has that the other two are dragged into? How about a day at the beach? Or in a cabin? I’ll take hot springs or basically any standard anime filler plot too. Unless you want to write about their get-together, which will never get old for me - Cabs’ stoic pining and Jowd and Alma realizing they want him and telling him is my catnip

Jowd & Lynne & Memry: please show me the Worst Mentor doing his Worst Mentoring? How is chicken involved? Do the two young detectives give him some hope for the future? What’s Memry angling for, actually?

Jowd & Pigeon Man: anything about their friendships from back in the day when Pigeon Man was still Jowd’s coroner to a new timeline where PM is still fascinated by meteors/astronomy/alien conspiracies and Jowd humors him…

Jowd & Sissel: oh the shenanigans. Some clever communication between them, on a case or otherwise? Sissel doing cat things? Gossiping through the ghost world?

Kamila & Amelie: what are they like a few years down the line, how has their friendship evolved? Throw all your aged-up headcanons at me!

Lynne & Memry: next generation detectives! Action! Ridiculous murders! Secret ghost cats! A little bit in the future maybe? Odd girl & odder girl teaming up and leaning into each other’s quirks… maybe undercover?

Lynne/Memry: same as above but they kiss - and Memry trying to get through Lynne’s obliviousness sounds like my kind of fun.

Pigeon Man & Blue Doctor: for how long has the blue doctor been a secret agent stationed in this country, has Pigeon Man crossed his path before?

Rindge & Lynne & Memry: Rindge’s burden is to be the normal one in a cast of unabashed weirdos. Memry won’t let him live it down. Lynne is faintly amused, and wishes the three of them could get a big case to show off their amazing skills...

Sissel & Missile & Lovey-Dove: pets doing pet things! What’s Lovey’s secret, how is she so blue and so strong? Sissel and Missile are on the case!

Cabanela: blind me with sparkles. I love Cabanela being fierce and dazzling bright and determined and loyal to the very end, dancing to his own rhythm, so sure of himself and of his ideas that he doesn’t even need to prove to anyone that he’s right. Too sure of the wrong idea, once, and everything crashed and burned. Casefic with ghosts? External pov about how various characters in the Special Investigation Unit see their boss?

Dark Souls

I’m only familiar with the first game! It’s probably relevant to mention that I think that linking the fire is kind of a dumbass move. There’s no winning move in this world, or at least no obvious one. It follows that I see Solaire as kind of a dumbass, tragically, inescapably drawn to a false flame even in his better ending, a paladin in a world of uncaring gods - if the topic comes up, I’d just prefer if the narrative didn’t validate his choice. Feel free to deviate from anyone's canon endings, to make things happen that'll stave off their hollowing.

Solaire & Siegmeyer: they’re both questing all across Lordran, any chance of a meeting? Could two good-natured people feel less hollow for a while in each other’s company?

Solaire & Laurentius: sun VS pyromancy go! Do their philosophies clash or can they find common ground?

Solaire & Logan: what’s Logan’s tolerance for sparkly sun boy? And what about THEIR philosophies?

Unlimited:SaGa

I’ve been in love with this game since it came out and the Scarlet Grace announcement got me all fannish again! Feel free to expand upon any of the game’s settings, they’re so charming and all so vague!

Iskandar & Leith Torles: well I spent the whole game waiting for some exposition about these two and what little there is... is in the artbook, according to the wiki? Could you expand upon that or make up something else?

Pharr & Grace: friends! And adventuring! Telling friend about adventuring? Leading friend to adventuring and discovering she’s quite apt herself?

Laura: some down time with anyone in her scenario? Or Mythe’s scenario fwiw. Who does she bond with aside from Henry?

Platyphyllum: what’s it like for a plant to travel with animals for a while? Feel free to have them bounce off anyone in either of their routes, or anyone in the cast really.

The Last Remnant

David/Rush is a welcome exception to my “no unrequested ships” DNW. I’m very interested in post-game exploration, and getting a clearer feeling of any of the cities and assorted places.

David Nassau & Torgal & Allan: like a platonic V, I’m intrigued by Torgal’s chillness toward David and by his conflictual relationship with Allan. Put all three of them in the same room and...? Skilled diplomat vs catty cat and poor Torgal in the middle?

Emmy & Glenys & Sheryl & Kate: I don’t have a specific plot hook here, I just love them all, they’re very different people and I’d like to see how they fared traveling together - or reuniting after the end of their travels! Or four unconnected vignettes, one each.

Pagus & Maddox & Sibal & Zolean: this is a ‘please adopt Zolean, he’s sad’ plea. He lost an old friend and the other three can sympathize with that, I think, and drag him into their renewed friendship and bond over being old soldiers. And three Qsiti and a Yama are fun to picture...

Pagus/Maddox/Sibal: old men being together like they couldn’t be in their youth when life got in the way, please? Get-together (who makes a move…?) or established Qsiti triad would all be amazing…

Pyre

Any cutesy activity lifted from the game would be great, like X doing laundry with Y. Any postcanon very welcome with any combination of endings as long as the revolution was peaceful. I love everyone so much. Good with background ships I requested (eg Vofred/Tariq or Bertie/Pamitha mentioned in a Volfred&Sandra fill for whatever reason), Hedwyn/Fikani, Reader/Sandra and Volfred/Oralech if applicable.

Big Bertrude & Volfred Sandalwood: something nice Volfred does for Bertrude? Some mild adventure as he brought her to the Nightwings? A bizarre request for her shop? That dialogue about their relationship slew me dead - friendship through unrequited love is one of my rare tropes, so I’d like to see any aspect of their bond. Or epistolary with an ending that splits them, either way?

Big Bertrude & Sir Gilman: consider: sneks. Tiny snake looking up to grumpy bundle of snakes in a trenchcoat. Doing snake things. SNAKES. Her convo about ascended Gilman is adorable and I wish we could see that begrudging affection in some actual interaction...

Big Bertrude/Pamitha Theyn: they just get each other and it slays me. A friendship and then more for them alone, away from the rabble of the Blackwagon... Bertrude patching up her wing best as she can... joining Pam on her travels (and complaining the entire time)...

Jodariel/Celeste: if the Heralds make it to the Union to get a shot at living a life of their own, and Tariq already has his friends and his interests in the material world, what’s left for Celeste? Maybe she could find herself unexpectedly close to Jodi, who’s good with distance and silence and also feels like the world doesn’t need her anymore...

Jodariel & Sir Gilman: On war, honor, the Bloodborder… Sir Gilman is in awe of her, obviously, but is she in a state of mind where she can be boosted by his unrelenting energy?

Tariq & Big Bertrude: he knows how to treat a lady!!! And her usual tricks just bounce off his back like water off a very polite duck. In short, they’re the perfect comedy duo, or they could be brought together by a serious cause like a Volfred in distress?

Tariq & Sir Gilman: it is a known fact that the chivalric code includes the protection of the weak and defenceless and the respect of the honour of... the moon?

Volfred Sandalwood & Sandra: banter banter banter Scribes. He usually banks on his age, but he’s a baby compared to her, and their views are distant but both reasonable... did they ever have a chat when he was the Reader of the Nightwings, or does the Reader bring her along for a visit postcanon?

Volfred Sandalwood/Tariq: All I know is Tariq of all people fell and fell hard - he makes it sound like Volfred is the biggest deal ever and he’s some servant… but he’s the herald and Volfred is actually some dude who got kicked Downside (albeit a particularly charismatic and idealistic dude). And I like this double imbalance very much. What happened in the woods during Volfred’s self-imposed exile? Or do they find each other again after the ending, in the Union? If you want to lean on how alien Tariq is and/or how tree Volfred is, please do!

Any last KH3 theories before the game's out?

To my own shock, not any truly tremendous ones (aside from, of course, what I already posted). My BIG one from awhile back - that it would turn out Roxas actually is an amnesiac Ven with both sides of his heart reincorporated - seems to have been shot down by all the marketing, and as many individual moments as we’ve seen in trailers, it’s been very carefully crafted to not actually come together into the coherent shape of a narrative. Really, most of my thoughts/theories/hopes for the franchise are regarding future installments. But shooting off a few final speculations, with SPOILERS if you’ve been avoiding the last few months worth of trailers:

* Not a theory: gonna cry at the opening credits.

* The big one as far as I’m concerned: I hope when you finish 100 Acre Wood this time Sora takes the book with him, and in the traditional ‘here’s how everything went for everyone afterwards’ credits sequence you see Sora’s put it in his room back on the islands so he can visit them anytime.

* (Speaking of which, I wouldn’t mind in the very least if, given she would have grown up around it, @chachacharlieco‘s idea of Kairi having been there as a kid turned out to be true.)

* This’ll get heavy, but not often secret movie/A Fragmentary Passage-level heavy. If the series heads in that direction on a regular basis, it’ll be in the future.

* While they don’t appear to be regularly accessible worlds, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were briefly playable segments in areas like Castle Oblivion and Destiny Islands and Kairi and Lea’s training grounds.

* Since it appears to be a regularly accessible form where Donald and Goofy stick around, ‘Rage Form’ is something that’s going to be acknowledged in the story as opposed to a little surprise bonus thing like Anti.

* The box that Maleficent and Pete are hunting down either won’t be opened in here or will hold more questions than answers; I haven’t played it aside from watching Back Cover, but I think all the X material is more laying groundwork for future stories, because the alternative is that all the mythology stuff I know it incorporates basically overtakes this in a way that isn’t my impression.

* On a similar note, I wouldn’t be surprised if not all of the XIII were taken down in here, and if in fact Marluxia and Larxene specifically escaped to have expanded roles in the future.

* I’m…skeptical that anyone’s really gonna die. If someone does I won’t be shocked, but somehow that’s not really the feeling I’m getting. If anyone it’s gotta be Riku, not to redeem himself (god, we’d all be dying for our sins if we had to account for being assholes at 15) but because his arc is the one that can really be said to have come full circle. Again though, not the feeling I’m getting.

* Speaking of character outcomes, other than Sora and Kairi and maybe Roxas and either Namine or Xion, I don’t think there’s going to be much in the way of characters pairing off at the conclusion, unless a lot of work is put in here to make that happen: I know pairings are the fandom’s lifeblood and I’d be happy to see those possibilities come to fruition in the future, but as is I’ve never really felt much in the way of deliberate chemistry between the other major characters.

* If it isn’t the final battle, there should be some battle between Xehanort and one of the main trio on Destiny Islands with the history there.

* I’m guessing that like Riku, Kairi will indeed be briefly playable. Hopefully they’ll both be party members at some point.

* Keyblade-wise, I have to believe we’ll get an explanation as to how Lea got his, but I doubt we’ll ever learn how Riku was able to give Kairi one in The World That Never Was.

* (Speaking of Riku and Kairi and dangling threads, I have a feeling that that secret movie at the end of Birth by Sleep - the second one, showing the two of them in Neverland when Riku was still a dick and showing Sora and Ven vanishing - won’t really be followed up on, since my impression is that it was rooted in a very preliminary idea of what A Fragmentary Passage ended up being.)

* I don’t think Aqua’s a ‘Nort, just understandably corrupted. I don’t think Sora’s getting ‘Norted either, or if he does it’ll only be for a single major scene before he’s pulled back.

* I’m honestly not completely positive that that’s Replica Riku and not a time-travelling young Riku given the series is going all-in with time travel at this point.

* Speaking of time travel, what’s with everyone being able to show up physically given DDD went so hard on them only being able to do so in dreams or without a body? That was always silly given it was done the old-fashioned way in II with Merlin, so maybe Nomura changed his mind, or maybe there’ll be a rationale.

* How many of the Organization are time travelers themselves? Is this Ansem and Xemnas and Vanitas and Master Xehanort all somehow returned (you’d think it would be Terra-Xehanort brought back in the latter case), or them travelling forward prior to their original defeats?

* I’m guessing that Ansem and Xemnas are going to be fought together, to differentiate from prior final battles with them and to show how far whoever fights them has come.

* There’ll be a Final Fantasy appearance of some sort, but unless they bring back the traditional Sephiroth fight or Seifer and his gang get in on the Twilight Town story it’ll be one so brief as to basically be a cameo.

* If all the Xehanorts DO fuse together for the final battle, I hope to god he’s voiced by Billy Zane (with Ansem still voiced by Richard Epcar to hide the surprise).

* Isa seems to be regarded as the leading candidate for a face turn, but honestly I’m pulling for Vanitas.

* Namine won’t have a Keyblade and that’ll be silly; hopefully in future installments.

* Aside from a hopefully-inevitable reckoning with Xehanort, I doubt we’ll go too deeply into Kairi’s past. Not that it won’t be acknowledged, I wouldn’t be surprised if her grandmother turned out to be alive and we got that heartwarming scene, but I don’t think she’ll turn out to be the queen of Radiant Garden or Ansem’s daughter or anything like that.

* Nomura seemed to suggest they were coming, so lots of heavy conversations between the three trios by the end of the game: Sora with Roxas and Xion, Sora with Ven, Lea with Ven, Terra with Riku and maybe Kairi and Sora, Aqua with pretty much everybody.

* Unlikely, especially given it would probably involve creating new models, but I’d love if the end credits had Sora taking Riku and Kairi all around everywhere he’s been throughout the series. I expect it’ll be the three of them as a team going forward though, so I suppose it isn’t necessary.

* I think that unlike previous games where it ran into the credits, the ending song will be played entirely in a scene - there isn’t a softer version of it to contrast in being played in the beginning, nor an obvious breaking point.

* The secret movie will either be an old-school concept video of Nomura workshopping ideas for future games, or more on the Coded/DDD end of a brief epilogue/teaser; an extended prelude to what’s next would be out of place given this is supposed to be the end of this particular journey, and I imagine a lot of pieces for the next one will already be put in place over the course of it. When I envision it, I imagine Sora, Riku and Kairi (maybe after a time jump? They deserve a break) on the shore of Destiny Islands at night, sensing that soon - not yet, but soon - something else is coming, promising hand-in-hand to stand together against it no matter what. Or, if it is a plot setup, I hope it goes for my bonkers theory that Eraqus will be the villain of the next arc prior to the Master of Masters waiting at the end of the series as the ultimate enemy.

* Not a theory, but I’m really bummed that apparently Haley Joel Osment isn’t voicing young Eraqus like I thought, because that would imply that if the future games went for a big enough time jump we could’ve gotten a Sora voiced by Mark Hamill.