Brain Full of Red String

She/Her, fandom blog, sometimes I just need a place to blurt all my thoughts so I can make sense of the plot

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My FFXIV thoughts are bouncing around my head, getting all smooth. Doubt I'm adding anything new to the conversation, but here they are!

I'm interested in what Evolved is going to bring to the table. It's going to be hard to simplify the Summoner rotation (no shade on SMN, this is the class I play when I'm learning new fights BECAUSE I can play the class on autopilot and focus my brain on making sure I'm getting my mechanics right) but maybe the simplified layout will let me give ninja another chance. Maybe all main abilities being learned by lvl 50 will convince me to pick up BLM again!

Cut for story related musing!

While everyone is running about asking "what does it mean? Can what Halmarut says about the Solstice really be true?" The thing that is first and foremost in my mind is "why did she make a point about telling us it was happening?"

Perhaps I forgot something from her scene at the end of 7.4, but there has to be some ulterior motive where she actually needs us to travel to the fourth. I'm not sure I believe Calyx when he says that it's because he disagrees with the methods of the Winterer on that shard, or at least, I'm not sure that's why Halmarut wants us there.

We shall have to see!

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Today let's talk Movies! I have spent 12 hours in a metal tube playing through the air, and that is just about the only time I will actually a movie, even one I know I will enjoy. First up

Now You See It 2

If I could have watched the original, I would have, alas they only had 2 and what I am assuming is 3, but perhaps there are more movies in the franchise. As it was I had the wonderful guessing game of both "was this plot point introduced in the first movie" and whether the tone of this movie is how they all are, or if it just suffered from Sequelitis. Obviously not a movie you are supposed to take seriously, but that one scene with the card trick, while cool looking, I did find myself wondering why they didn't just immediately pass the card back to the first guy once he had been patted down. Or just have him keep it since he was the guy bringing that particular skill to the party!

Still, it was nice to see Daniel Radcliffe having fun.

Next on the block, Kong: Skull Island.

I've seen two other movies in the franchise: Godzilla King of Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong. Like those two, I found these to be very silly fun. Normally, I find Plot-Induced Stupidity completely infuriating, but I was able to just accept it this time. Plus the iconography was so obvious that even I, with my perhaps three movies a year, could see the symbolism. Samuel L Jackson's character is surrounded by flames and a red glow, while Kong is lit with rays from the sky and the moon is behind is head like a halo? Subtlety, search thy name is NOT Kong.

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I am on an Agatha Christie kick after seeing Haunting in Venice on the plane. I have read the Miss Marple books many times, but I haven't really read any Poirot, which is weird given how many of them there are! But as is the way, I actually own more of them than I've read, I just need to actually read the books I've bought.

I've started from the beginning (a very good place to start!) and I remember that I absolutely LOATHE Hastings as the Watson character. I know he is taken out after a few books, but while he is here I am screaming.

He introduces Poirot as an absolute genius, but no matter how many times Poirot is proven correct, the minute that Poirot hints that Hastings himself is wrong, Poirot must be mad, or saying something absurd deliberately to be rude. The very idea that Hastings' own idea might be wrong never occurs to him, no matter how many times he is shown to be wrong. I know that this is a plot device and necessary to the story, and I probably wouldn't mind so much if he wasn't the POV character, but he is and I hate the narrator.

I've just read the part where he shows a complete stranger around a crime scene and left her alone with a dead body because she happened to be pretty and charming. His initial protest had nothing to do with it being an active crime scene under investigation, and it might tamper with evidence (as I have no doubt we will find she has done later), but she is a Woman, and she shouldn't be so interested in crime, it just isn't proper!

He's probably not going to learn anything from this either.

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I've just watched the first episode of D20 : Gladlands, and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. I am having a little trouble telling my brain to shut up and enjoy the show, and it might not be the thing you think.

Brain: So we've made the sandstorm into a cylcone? What happens now? It's not going to just spin in place until it gets dizzy and goes away!

Me: Well this was done by a bug man sky-surfing to shape and move a natural disaster, and you didn't kick up this fuss then. Maybe we shouldn't expect reali-

Brain: IT'S NOT BETTER, IT'S JUST A GIANT SANDY TORNADO!

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I have considered, and pondered, and I have come to a decision. Behold my judgement!

The most chaotic Intrepid Hero is...

...

(drumroll)

...

Everyone but Murph

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7.4 spoilers, ahoy!

CALYX, YOU LITTLE SHIT! You can say I am very engaged with FFXIV at the moment because I have never wanted to reach through the screen and SHAKE THE LITTLE SNOT UNTIL SOME SELF-RELECTION FALLS OUT!

"It was never about any one person" my arse, it was about YOU and how you feel, and if only you had the slightest jot of wisdom to look at your own self you might not be stuck inside a stuffed toy right now.

Oooh, he makes me so mad!

[battlecrazed-axe-mage]

Which of the following does NOT happen in critically acclaimed MMO Final Fantasy XIV?

You're accused of regicide and flee to Fantasy France, where you commit regicide

Alien robot wants to understand humanity so it forces you to do a tournament arc

Postdoc drama kid gachas all your friends into another dimension

Your catgirl friend has vaporized her body and travelled via afterlife twice now

Allowed in Fantasy Japan during their closed country period to be a ghostbuster

Church sucks because they won't let you fuck dragons (free space)

You get so burnt out on your job that you hallucinate a corpse is talking to you

High stakes taco cook-off

Omnicidal maniac who won't stay dead hates you for stealing hat from his clone

Men will do anything but go to therapy, including turn into a dragon

You travel into the past to discover the cause of the apocalypse: a sad bird

Goddess throws a knife at you for blowing her a kiss when you should be fighting

Voting ended onNov 18, 2025

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I had to read the notes to realise the thing about the omnicidal maniac, I was thinking of a different omnicidal maniac who won't stay dead.

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You know, I know that Neverafter wasn't as popular a D20 season.

(I have some thoughts about doing a "horror" season with a table that contains Ally Beardsley, AND Zac Oyama, in that they would never be able to maintain any kind of tension required for horror).

But I have never cried at a D20 season EXCEPT for the arc of Red Riding Hood, so it can't be that bad.

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I agree with Sam, we need to pivot. Fuck the plot, there is a sad man and we need to find his daughters!

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I've seen the theory that the naming convention of the current Tachonis children is skull bones, and thought I'd do a search to see if the previous generation could be named for a part of the skeleton as well. I got a couple of results, one a link to the Fandom Wiki article about Skeletron Prime from Terraria, and one for "Restin' Bones" by Primus.

So the link seems unlikely, but that would be funny

[squirrel-stowaway]

I see that alex is going all out to make up for his halloween costume

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Round and round the tables go, where they stop nobody knows!

Okay, I will attempt to think about this sensibly. Probably the Seekers and Schemers are set into who was in the Palazzo Davinos battle and who wasn't, but it still isn't set in stone, and with the Seekers and Schemers starting at the same table we could still get some surprises.

Last week my predictions were

Seekers

Bolaire

Thaisha

Occtis

Vaelus

Schemers

Azune

Murray

Julien

Hal

But I was going back and forth on Bolaire, and Julien, and even Octiss, because I was pretty sure that Bolaire was going to be a Seeker to figure out how to get the mask off his face, and that would put 5 people at the Seeker table if Julien was also there. Boy, do I look stupid now!

I am more open in Bolaire being in the Schemer camp now. We haven't seen a lot of him interacting with the Sundered Houses and their takeover, but there was that woman who came to inspect the museum and had to be hurried out when Bolaire saw that the lights were out at the Davinos place. That could easily be part of the planned takeover, maybe they are going to try and pressure him to do some revisionist shit, put out only pieces that show the Houses in the best light giving the impression that of course they should be in charge look at all the good they can do for the world! Maybe even start tarnishing the work of the Lloys, since Halovar is pretty set into the religion thing. Perhaps they want to start planting doubt that it was a good idea to kill the Shapers.

But also, he is a weapon created to defeat great and supernatural/otherworldly beings, and whatever the Tachonis are doing, I think that counts! I would think he would have a lot of insight into how to fight that kind of power (and it's not at all because I want to see how The Spirit of the Theatre can fell gods).

I think the problem I am having setting in my head who will be at what table is that Julien and Octiss both have beef with Tachonis in particular but both tables can be in on that. They could be Seekers (what the fuck are they up to with the Stone of Nightsong and the spirits of the dead), or they could be Schemers (Tachonis is a Sundered House, perhaps the most powerful House). Hal, Murray and Azune don't have a problem with this one house in particular over the rest, but in the case where Bolaire is on the Seeker table and Julien and Octiss are split, I still think I fall on the side of Julien on the Schemer table, to avenge the attack on his house and the house of Royce, and Octiss on the Seekers table to find out why he became undead because of the stone.

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I was overthinking it, as predicted! I will definitely continue to do so :P

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Round and round the tables go, where they stop nobody knows!

Okay, I will attempt to think about this sensibly. Probably the Seekers and Schemers are set into who was in the Palazzo Davinos battle and who wasn't, but it still isn't set in stone, and with the Seekers and Schemers starting at the same table we could still get some surprises.

Last week my predictions were

Seekers

Bolaire

Thaisha

Occtis

Vaelus

Schemers

Azune

Murray

Julien

Hal

But I was going back and forth on Bolaire, and Julien, and even Octiss, because I was pretty sure that Bolaire was going to be a Seeker to figure out how to get the mask off his face, and that would put 5 people at the Seeker table if Julien was also there. Boy, do I look stupid now!

I am more open in Bolaire being in the Schemer camp now. We haven't seen a lot of him interacting with the Sundered Houses and their takeover, but there was that woman who came to inspect the museum and had to be hurried out when Bolaire saw that the lights were out at the Davinos place. That could easily be part of the planned takeover, maybe they are going to try and pressure him to do some revisionist shit, put out only pieces that show the Houses in the best light giving the impression that of course they should be in charge look at all the good they can do for the world! Maybe even start tarnishing the work of the Lloys, since Halovar is pretty set into the religion thing. Perhaps they want to start planting doubt that it was a good idea to kill the Shapers.

But also, he is a weapon created to defeat great and supernatural/otherworldly beings, and whatever the Tachonis are doing, I think that counts! I would think he would have a lot of insight into how to fight that kind of power (and it's not at all because I want to see how The Spirit of the Theatre can fell gods).

I think the problem I am having setting in my head who will be at what table is that Julien and Octiss both have beef with Tachonis in particular but both tables can be in on that. They could be Seekers (what the fuck are they up to with the Stone of Nightsong and the spirits of the dead), or they could be Schemers (Tachonis is a Sundered House, perhaps the most powerful House). Hal, Murray and Azune don't have a problem with this one house in particular over the rest, but in the case where Bolaire is on the Seeker table and Julien and Octiss are split, I still think I fall on the side of Julien on the Schemer table, to avenge the attack on his house and the house of Royce, and Octiss on the Seekers table to find out why he became undead because of the stone.

[blondenergyonabrunette]

One of the things I love most about pterry’s writing that I don’t see talked about enough is how annoying the characters are.

We all love complex characters, we all love characters that are allowed to be fully fleshed out humans not just a collection of wonderful qualities but I love how most of the discworld characters have human traits that would make them mildly irritating in real life (especially when seen from the point of view of the other characters)

Granny is an interfering old woman who cannot bear to be wrong, Rincewind is whiny and has limitless supplies of self pity, Sam Vimes is far too caught up in his own head, woe betide any young woman who happens to marry into the Ogg family, Carrot, a character who was written to be perfect in every aspect is often a frustrating boyfriend.

My favourite example of this is Susan initially refusing to believe that time is a person even though she knows death is a person and that lots of things go on that people don’t know about because they don’t see what they know can’t be real yet Susan is too stubborn to believe that time could be a person.

But despite all of this I love these characters so so dearly, because they don’t have to be perfect to be likeable and they don’t have to be caught between ultimate good and ultimate evil to be interesting and complex.

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I was just re-reading Unseen Academicals (and marking my favourite bits, as you do) and I thought halfway through. "Wow. Glenda Sugarbean really is terrible" Because she talks down to everyone, especially if they are above her in station, and assumes that she knows best always. And her journey in the book is not to say that her strength of personality and conviction is a bad trait to have, but she really needed to be able to let people make their own decisions. And this is good! I love Unseen Academicals, and I wish I had even half the courage Glenda has to stand up to authority, but Om bless her, she would absolutely drive me up the wall if I knew her in real life.

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I think that the funniest thing to me is Taliesin saying that his character was Travis' fault. The man just has too many talking swords!

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When (the Underworld) is full, the dead will walk the earth

Alright, so we have one table already named! I was right about Thimble and Kattigan, but wrong about everyone else. I never even considered Wick and Tyrany for the Soldier game, but like I say, it really just isn't in my personal wheelhouse.

Soldiers

Thimble

Kattigan

Wick

Tyranny

Teor

I feel more confident in guesses for Seekers and Schemers now, and I don't think those groups have been formally set, although I do watch these episodes on and off over my whole work day, so I might have missed something

Seekers

Bolaire

Thaisha

Occtis

Vaelus

Schemers

Azune

Murray

Julien

Hal

I, personally, am most looking forward to the Seeker storyline, which seems like it's going to be about the Afterlife and celestials/psychopomps, and how you align the world with those things now that the gods are gone. That is my VIBE, and I love it.

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The closer it gets to Thursday the more I doubt myself! I think I have had bad luck to always be busy when Julien is on screen, because it seems like everyone is seeing something I'm not! 😜😂

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Okay. Okay okay okay OKAY! I have now seen an episode recap that someone did, and I have seen the conversation between Julien and Vaelus, which I knew had happened, but I was probably zoned out and focussing on emails or something, and I hadn't caught the details. So I get why people are saying Julien is a Seeker not a Schemer, if only to follow Vaelus.

BUT! I still feel that Bolaire is also a Seeker. His only really meaty scene I think (unless I was zoned out again, I can't stay 100% focussed for 4-5 hours!) was the scene with the psychopomp's coffin. And, although he didn't see it, when Hal and Thaisha first opened it held the broken pieces of a mask like his own, and which is apparently stuck to his face, in place of his face. I would be worried about that and want to explore the ways I could get my own face back! And as evil as Halovar and Tachonis are, I don't think they are the key to that particular problem.

So is it Octiss for the Schemers table? Is he going to come out of his family trying to place a psychopomp egg in his chest - or whatever is happening - and go "Well, now I GOTTA take Daddy Dearest down a peg or 5"? Which would be an interesting dynamic to play at the same table as Murray, who seems to hate nobility regardless of how the individual person she is speaking to relates to their family and the world.

Unless CR go for a split of 5-5-3, but that would be CRAZY!

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Wait. I am so fully rocked by what happened this episode, I don't think ANY OF THIS HAS BEEN ANSWERED! BRENNAN!