It's 5:38 AM. I'm having a bout of insomnia. My thoughts are racing, and I can't tell if I can't sleep because of that or because of the not-that-bad pain I'm having.
So instead of trying to force something that isn't happening, I figured I'd use that nervous energy to do something productive. Like write this post before I have even started the grand finale!
A lot of it can just be boiled down to tl;dr: got lost in the harphype sauce
For the longer version, let's start with the bit of foreshadowing I did back in 2025: that little tinge of purple in Mr. Carver's aura. The Nightmare Rock had some more influence in him. The question was, what form would it take?
-THE GENERAL OUTLINE-
I've been trying to do a general outline for my plots since last year, and it worked out pretty okay for Bloodbound! Why not try it again this year?
So, the general gist was:
-Mr. Carver specifically was still influenced in some way.
-Mr. Carver would try all sorts of plots in the name of money, with a nagging feeling to hoard it and buy things for unrestricted interdimensional travel.
-We're stopping those plans, and slowly learning more about Vivalo for a showdown sometime next year.
Well, at least some of it survived! I'm glad I read the room and decided to not drag this Vivalo thing out to next year. Would I even have the fuel for it? I certainly did have grandiose plans, but I lack the time, energy, and foresight to enact them.
I knew one thing, though: something would influence me. Earthbound, Deltarune, and DRG all shaped Bloodbound in various ways, so much that it formed a cohesive plot. Knowing that Deltarune Ch5 and DRG: Rogue Core (the source of all this bullhonkey) were coming this year, I couldn't dedicate myself into something more set, in fear of all of that changing in the face of my own ADHD-fueled hype.
In spite of all that, that fear still came true.
But let us look deeper, into...
-WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN-
At first, I was thinking half silly business plots to try to get money. Start a TV studio! ...And that's it, that's the extent of my thoughts. Listening to Deltarune Chapter 3 music specifically gave me those ideas. It could have led to some strange minigame-esque plots for Kobbers to join in so Mr. Carver could capitalize, but once someone noticed he was doing something unethical, things would come to a head and get more serious.
I think, and I only say "I think" because sometimes I can't remember what the fuck I was doing and why (thus me wanting to do this blogpost now rather than wait later and forget specifics), my general plan was to have Mr. Carver sheenanigans in the first half and Vivalo bullshit in the second. Silly to serious. Shit like that.
As the offseason hit its second half, a lot of things happened. Victory Pit, the community Ivel hangs with, had found a renewed interest in Terraria and Spiral Knights. I already loved the fuck out of Terraria (but not enough to beat the game, kek), and Spiral Knights seemed cool... This is where Sandia and Helasia were brought into the mix, as perky, quirky steampunker genius and her more serious robopal. Sandia definitely came first, though.
After all, she was once going to be on Vivalo's side in the conflict! Not because she had any grudges or anything, but because she'd be in the Crystal Star dimension and Vivalo would convince her that her genius had to be seen in other dimensions, her dangerous creations put to good use for the good of all. Could you imagine? A plot finale where we're fighting Sandia, in some sort of artificial football field on top of The Destroyer? Because I sure as hell did, at one point. She would have been one of three people Vivalo convinced to join his side and find a way to open the path for him personally to return to the Primeverse, should Mr. Carver fail. One of which was Moon Lord, and the other, a Crimcousin meant to represent the Crimson from Terraria, body supported by the bones of her fallen followers and with the power, Blood of the Covenant, which would allow her to perform miracles for those who have consumed her blood.
Then I thought eh, that's a bit too big for my britches. Brine could, Draco could, but not I. Let's just simplify it to "Mr. Carver hires Sandia for a job". So then she could be on the enemy team and then be swayed to the Kobbers!
Fortunately, her genius is so great, even she knew to get the fuck out ASAP.
Helasia... was tricky. Her power source was Binky, and she had been cursed to not remember. That curse was actually going to be much worse: when she remembered, the curse triggered and would cause her systems to overload and crash, putting her into a comatose state. New power sources would have been tried, but the moment she remembered, she'd be right out like a light. At this point, I had forgotten about Hina, so the curse was going to be hard to get rid of. (Then I remembered Hina existed way later and used that for Troy to be able to access those memories from the core.)
Sandia would try all sorts of solutions, including one very extreme one: asking Chloe to make a Joy-absorption garment for her to wear. She had heard about Heart Stars from keeping track of Olympian affairs (and Kobber affairs), and generally knew of their powers. She couldn't go out and find one: there's no Dark Matter anywhere! But what if she could make an artificial one, one she could use as a power source for Helasia? So she would wear this thing and throw herself into all sorts of situations to try to extract joy and love and such, then squeeze out the garment every night and keep the mix of everything in a vat. Part of me thought the downside was that it was absorbing her own joy, too, slowly robbing her of her usual ambitions and leaving her depressed, but determined to get her robo-buddy back.
Chloe would not make something would such a flaw, and therefore, this idea was discarded. That and as I RPed with Helasia, I knew that having her in a coma for a long period of time cuts into her showtime and will lead to people not feeling as attached, so I went a different route with it. I wrote such a heartbreaking scene about Sandia submersing the crystal that would become Binky into the love-joy mixture to absorb it, then carefully placing it within Helasia and praying that her crazy Artificial Heart Star Crystal would work. I'll find it and put it somewhere for viewing; it's too late at night to go scrounging around for that sorta thing right now.
-WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED-
Early May. Far Far West drops. Friends rope me into it because it's steampunk (perfect for Sandia!) magic robot cowboys. Perfect! We have products for Sandia to show off at New Deadwood! And hey, now that Binky is a thing, Binky can have one of the bots to herself as a body proper!
This is where the slippery slope began, and I descended into harphype madness akin to Kirbpocolypse 2011.
Need to get The Destroyer before Sandia books it out of Mr. Carver's grasp? Guess what, Rogue Core's out, and Reaperworms exist! Let's use those! He needs new cronies? Deltarune Ch5 dropped and HEEERE'S SETH AND AQUA! Hey, we need trash mobs for the not-finale-anymore? Rogue Core. Worst enemies on the planet, let's fucking go!!!
At least partway through, I realized that maybe I was going a sort of CW route. Dragging it out for the sake of drama. And so I asked you guys about it, and you gave your thoughts. I adjusted accordingly, though it wasn't perfect: Mr. Carver did get to do something of his own accord (though it was stupid at the time), and we got to see, albeit later than I wanted, a little view into Vivalo's mind.
In fact, I had wanted to do a view into his mind waaaaay before. With blogposts of him recruiting his three generals and looking down on them in some sort of way, forum posts where he interacts with an alternate version of Merryl that's trying to get him to see reason in a roundabout way (and failed, given that she was basically ragebaiting him), all that sort of thing to build up to next year.
He did not have a next year.
-WHAT'S NEXT?-
I have grand ambitions, but not the resources to make them happen. This plot was influenced by too many things, and therefore shifted into a near incomprehensible monster that doesn't even fit the original name I gave it. We got some good out of it (hiii, Seeeth and Binky and more Helasia), but it was no Revue of Rejects nor Cheng'de plot.
Next year? I don't have any solid plans, just general ideas and ideas on how to make those ideas mesh into one plot, or maybe two. I have left bits and pieces of worldbuilding in regards to Crim and the threat he will eventually face, and slowly built up Fafnir Inc. into... something. I realize that they probably can't be a longstanding enemy and drag it out, but I do want to do something with them that's satisfactory. I'm leaving that plot thread in the oven.
The only real solid thing I have is the Blood Feud between Leatherhead and Siobhan, both Crimcousins of a different stripe. I may just end up doing more character-focused stuff, but I said that in 2024 and look what happened! :V
My main goal, though, is to give some of the underutilized chars a chance to shine next year. I know Yuran, at the very least, has something to work with, and Seth and Aqua have Salazar to find! Helasia's a Pokemon Trainer and Bergamot Islands MUST have sort of gym, right? Though her fate probably depends on what Rhea does, as she'll stay where Rhea is. Binky wants to find an identity! Kiri wants to find a way to balance being eldritch and not going the same way her dad went! And Sofie just wants to find her place in a world she feels like she doesn't quite fit in. All good jumping points for a more character-focused year.
Even if this plot wasn't perfect, I still enjoyed the ride. I sincerely hope you guys did, too. So thank you for watching my dream kind of take wild turns as it finally reaches your screen.
I'll see you guys at the finale!
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