Just got out of the TADC finale. I loved it, but what I loved more was watching my little brother love it. He got me into it and it’s been what we’ve talked about the most on our sibling days. His eyes lit up every other minute, he recited dialogue from the episode that was already out, and hasn’t stopped smiling all night. It made my day.
Thanks @gooseworx for quite the finale and telling such a great story :3
(I might write up a more in depth review when it’s up on YT but until then NO SPOILERS)
I've been writing for a long time, and when it comes to prose, I still feel like I'm trying to imitate writers I admire as opposed to writing in my own voice. At what point did you feel like that stopped being the case for you? And do you have any practical advice towards reaching that point, or is it just a matter of "do it until it works"?
Also, please tell your cat that she's splendid.
Never. All art is theft. The key is to study why a particular author used a particular tone, or technique, or presentation, and consider if that would apply to your own work. People love Terry Pratchett's dry wit, but it wouldn't necessarily be appropriate for a story about a Toni Morrison's Pecola Breedlove. Originality is an illusion created when skill passes through taste.
In the book when Ryland is begging Stratt not to send him to die because he has kids who need him, she flips out on him because they aren’t his real kids and he’s just finding excuses to be cowardly… yeah she’s wrong
This is so important to me. I’ve been a teacher’s aid and let me tell you, those kids were my everything. I sent them home everyday, but in those few hours I had them, they were my kids and I would’ve done anything for them. They called me “big sister” and “my cousin.”
I’ve had teachers who see me like that, too. Specifically my history professor in my degree program. He treated me like one of his own kids and I know he thought the same of me and my class that Ryland thinks of his class.
I love Stratt. She’s a fascinating character and an incredible woman for doing what she had to do. But she was dead wrong about Ryland not having children.
I graduated with my history minor and don’t see my professor all that much anymore. We still talk about our latest reads when we see each other. I was going to ask him to officiate my wedding (couldn’t bc of scheduling conflicts).
My kids grew up and got different teachers and I don’t teach anymore. They still like to remind me how much they loved learning reading and science from me.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that those kids miss Ryland so, so much, and wish they had a way to tell their favorite teacher about the impact he had on their learning. There were people who’d miss Ryland.
Stratt knew that. She was a student once. Stratt knows the impact a teacher has on the lives of students. She had to know all she was doing was convincing herself that Ryland was her only choice. It makes it a lot easier to kill someone when you convince yourself no one will miss them. And that is a decision and a sentiment I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her for.
This took me WAY too long to put together, but in my defense, game development is hard and Etheria calls.
ANYWAYS here's what I've come up with! Please tell me if there's something else to be added. I know there's more to get out of this and if we work together it will only get better
HERE YA GO!!
We’ll Be Fine - Aqua and Sora, as OP pointed out.
Monster - Riku throughout KH2 and 358/2
Open Arms - Eraqus to Xehanort in their youth
Wouldn’t You Like - Merlin to Sora and Donald and Goofy in KH1
Legendary - Baby Sora. Just wee little Sora with his wooden sword.
Six Hundred Strike - I need a fic of Sora snapping and wailing on Xehanort(s) like this pls
The Challenge - Not a particular event, but deeply Kairi-coded
Would You Fall In Love With Me Again - AQUA AND TERRA
Little Wolf - Again, nothing in particular, but somehow incredibly Roxas-coded. Axel is Athena
The Underworld - Aqua in the realm of darkness T-T
Storm - How Gummiship levels be feeling
Not Sorry For Loving You - I really can’t explain it, but this feels like Kairi. Maybe it’s the melody or just the sonic feeling. She’d like this song.
Remember Them - This feels like a Terra song. Maybe when he gets to take down some Xehanorts after being brought back in 3?
Just a Man - I don’t know why, but Odysseus’s journey feels so much like Riku. Like, the breaking down into what you wanted to destroy just to get home to the people you love is something I think they have in common. This song feels like Riku choosing to sacrifice Roxas for Sora.
So my stupidly dramatic V:LD post got me thinking. I've been obsessed with Voltron since I was about seven years old. My dad was a huge fan of the 90s anime so I grew up watching that (and the old box set is still kicking somewhere in my parent's house) alongside Voltron Force (I'm really dating myself here). When I tell you I was puking with excitement when I heard DreamWorks was rebooting it for an all-new series meant to be enjoyed by all-age audiences and used modern technology that made the animation good, I am not exaggerating.
I was hooked. I watched every single episode, stayed up for season releases, was an active member of the Wattpad, Pinterest, and YouTube communities, and even started an unofficial fan club at my homeschool co-op. This was my life. For two whole years, this was my LIFE.
Then, they screwed it all up. Writing got lazy, plot got stupid, all the stuff you already know. It devastated me. I have loved Voltron my whole life - unfortunately, I still do. To see the depiction of it made for my generation slowly spiral down the toilet hole broke my little heart.
I still can't talk about it without getting so upset that my blood pressure literally spikes. It actually does. I was hospitalized once a few months after the finale and the doctors told me to calm down because I was spiking my blood pressure by stressing myself out so much. (What I was specifically talking about was the end credits bit that shows all of them in the future. FARM BOY???! Lies. Deception.)
So, was saying it "hurt me" and "burned me" a bit dramatic? Yeah. But I meant it with my WHOLE chest.
I finished reading Project Hail Mary the other day and I must say it's a 10/10 read. I felt my brain getting bigger. Big science. Science make brain think. Good stuff.
More importantly, I've fallen absolutely in love with Ryland and Rocky. Their relationship with each other is so beautiful it makes me want to eat concrete. To find comfort in the only other being that understands your awful situation and form a bond so powerful that you give up your lives for each other because if you can't make it home, they have to... what a dynamic for a man and a rock to have bro. It's sickening.
The fuzzy hope this book gave me is akin to what I felt watching Superman (2025) or like HTTYD all those years ago. That sort of floating feeling that's a nebulous love of humanity and the bond we all share just by being alive should be in more media. I want more hope slop please
- rolling up characters from tables. players are dead warriors on the journey to the next life, riding the train through the battlefields they knew. the night wind does not want to make the passage easy.
- moving through gameplay stages in which players narrate how their character encounters, struggles with, and either overcomes the challenge or is consumed by it.
- they die at the end. whether that is good or not depends on how the game went.
Total playtime probably under two hours. Playing the song is part of the rules. I'm seeing a thoughtful, melancholy experience, good for a quiet evening with good friends.
Tell me if this seems cool, I'm gonna write it in the next couple days
Yesssss we need more games where the narrative haunts *you* as much as you haunt it
Picturing an empty train car where light leaks in from different scenes as you pass through each life. That sobering melancholy as the rattling train passes on uneven tracks, knowing the smell coming in through the open door is the rain that washed the blood from your frozen corpse. The silent respect between warriors who all understand the ugliness better than most, who can see you for what you are because you are just like them.
Do you ever have that disgustingly human urge to go back to the thing that hurt you because you remember how happy it once made you and how beautiful it was before you got burned
Anyways I’m thinking about rewatching Voltron Legendary Defender again
Examples: Dedra and Cyril of Andor. Buck and Heather of Daredevil: Born Again.
Also, it’s essential that they’re both bootlickers to some insanely fascist government entity. They’re the worst people you know and they were made for each other
As some of you know, I’m making a ttrpg (over at @chasmgamesco) called Etheria. Lots of stuff is happening to it right now - mostly regarding the rules and dice and such.
As for the lore, CGC made a poll asking what god you guys might be interested in learning more about. I was pretty shocked to see that Kaleb won. I’ll be making a lore dump about him shortly.
For now, though, I thought I might give you another Etheria history lesson, if you’re interested :3
Etheria’s story starts with the land itself; a crescent-shaped continent in the center of a sparkling blue ocean. Unlike land in our world, Etheria is somewhat alive, seen in the movement of Starlight across the Astral Veins like blood in a body. Without this Starlight, Etheria would wither away and die.
In order to keep itself alive, a being coalesced from excess Starlight to create the first, most ancient being in Etheria: The World Mother. It is through her gentle hand that Etheria began to flourish into a livable place for many creatures of The World Mother’s making, including mortalkind.
The Dragon Father was the first of her creations - an equal and a shepherd for the beasts of Etheria. He crafted the dragons from stones and fires to be his companions on the mortal plane. Desiring the same sort of connection, The World Mother created her children from Starlight and, with help from Fate itself, brought into existence the gods.
The Order of Etheria was born, brought to life as incorporeal representations of the concepts mortals needed protected. Eventually, they desired mortal forms to better commune with their precious mortals. The World Mother granted them their wish and the Order quickly became the guardians of the mortal plane. This symbiosis between The World Mother, the gods, and mortals created a powerful flow of Starlight that allowed Etheria to flourish into the diverse and powerful land it is to this day.
For Liam, though, it wasn't good enough. While his siblings became the embodiments of knowledge and art and exploration, he was forced to be mortalkind's hatred, violence, wrath, and vengeance. The others were worshipped and he was feared. Liam begged his mother to free him of his role, to give him a domain that wouldn't deprive him of mortal love. When she refused, he began to resent the others, and eventually killed all of them out of rage and despair. At least, that's how the stories go.
What history books won't tell you is that the gods didn't all mysteriously perish at the same time. In fact, Liam killed each of his siblings one by one, without any of them knowing he'd turned. All except for Laurence; Liam's twin and best friend. Laurence figured out his brother's descent and went to confront him in a battle so large that it permanently scorched a massive part of Etheria itself. Laurence died trying to save his brother, and Liam was banished shortly afterward.
The gods were replaced with mortals given god-like power to keep Etheria's Starlight flowing, and the tragedy of the Order faded into the storybooks as generations without them passed.
The modern people of Etheria have no clue just how tragic the gods of the Order were. They felt, they laughed, they mourned, and perhaps most terrifyingly, they died.
The Order of Etheria is so special to me. Aside from just being my ocs that I love dearly, they're foundational to Etheria's story and the history that leads to the world you'll soon get to play in. If you have any questions about them or their stories, please hit up my asks. I love talking about these guys!
Expect even more updates soon, so stay tuned, fellow travelers. Until then, the stars will guide you and fate will keep you.
