#and in non-epic plots

[happy74827]

One Call Away

[Wade Wilson x Female!Reader]

Synopsis: During one of his "jobs," Deadpool gets a call from his favorite gal [GIF Creds: jdsheart]

WC: 1970

Category: Fluff, Major Comedy {TW: Deadpool’s Humor/Nonfiltered Personality}

This man is so hard to write. I’m always stressing the noggin when it comes to planning and plotting 😔

『••✎••』

"And away we go..."

One neck crack and a couple of hip twists later, he was off like Aladdin and his fucktoy carpet, scaling the building similarly to a chameleon on LSD.

The only thing that was missing was some epic music.

He'd been chasing this baddie around the city for almost two days now. Some big-shot mob boss with ties to Hydra, or the Mafia, or the Yakuza, or some other three-letter-acronym organization. It was hard to keep track of them all at this point. They were all the same, except for the name.

They all had their own agenda.

Kill him, keep him prisoner, pay him off...

Wade never cared enough to listen because it was always the same. He just got hired to do the dirty work, and the pay was good.

The killing was better.

This one, however, was particularly good at eluding him. He'd been trying to get his hands on this man for a few days now. It wasn't as though he was trying to be stealthy or anything, either. He'd walked right up to his front door, knocked, and was greeted with a spray of machine gun bullets.

So, the usual.

But then the guy ran and didn't stop. It was like the fucking Roadrunner met Sonic the Hedgehog, and they decided to fuck around and find out.

Wade was getting real sick and tired of being a Roadrunner, too. He had a reputation to uphold. He wasn't known as the Merc with the Mouth for nothing. He was supposed to be the one doing the running and the killing.

Not the other way around.

Finally, finally, he managed to reach the roof where the guy was currently taking cover behind a small brick shack. The sun was rising, but it was still dark, and there were a couple of floodlights shining on the rooftop. It made him think of the night he'd had that heart-to-heart with Blind Al, even though all she really wanted was for him to bring her some of that special brownie mix.

What a night that had been.

But anyway, this monologue is starting to get too long, and we should probably move things along, eh?

Right.

So, the baddie.

His name was something long and non-English.

Salvatore, or Santino, or Salvation... Whatever the fuck it was, it didn't really matter. What mattered was that it was time to make him dead.

He stepped around the corner and was met with a spray of bullets, all of which lodged themselves into his Kevlar vest.

"Oh, come on!" he yelled over the sound of the gunfire. "This is real leather, you know. I'm tired of all the offscreen sewing and shit."

When the spray finally ended, he took a moment to catch his breath.

"…ow," he whispered to himself.

"You shouldn't have followed me here," the man said.

"Yeah, whatever," Deadpool replied. "Look, I'll make this easy for you. You drop down and give me fifty, and I'll let you keep that hideous mustache you're sporting."

The man's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's not that bad, is it?"

"Yes, yes it is," Deadpool assured him. "You got a squirrel living in it or something?"

"It's just a little bit of gray, you dick," the man argued. "What about you? What's with the mask? Are you hiding a mustache under there, too, or something? Maybe some acne scars?"

Deadpool shook his head and stepped forward, his guns drawn.

"Don't come any closer!"

"You know, this would be much more intimidating if you didn't look like a cartoon mouse."

"Stop it with the mustache!"

"Alright, alright," Deadpool said. "Enough with the mustache. But what is it about your hairline? I can't put my finger on it."

The man sighed in exasperation and pulled out his pistol, aiming it right at Deadpool's face.

"Hey now, don't point that at me," Deadpool scolded him. "That's not a very nice thing to do."

He ignored him and pulled the trigger, a loud boom ringing out as the bullet fired. It whizzed by him but missed its mark.

"You really are a dick," He grumbled before aiming his gun right between the man's eyes. And he was going to shoot, honest.

He really was.

But then his phone rang, and he was well-reminded of the current song playing through his head.

I'm a buff baby that can dance like a man. I can shake-ah my fanny, I can shake-ah my can!

Needless to say, he was distracted.

He lowered his gun and looked down at his pocket, where his phone was still ringing and still vibrating against his leg.

"Shit, hold that thought," He said to the guy, and he holstered his gun.

"Wh-what the hell are you doing?!"

Deadpool put his finger up to shush him before pulling his phone out of his pocket to answer it.

If you're an evil witch, I’ll punch you for fu—

"Heyyyy," he said in a sing-songy voice, "you've reached the phone sex hotline. For kinks and fetishes, press one. For booty calls, press two. For your favorite mercenary, press three."

"Ey, pendejo—" His opponent started, but he cut him off by snapping and raising his finger.

"Cut it, Tuco Salamanca. Breaking Bad called and wants its meth-cooking mustache back."

"Wha-I-you-"

"Anyways, this is your favorite merc speaking. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?"

"Is this a bad time?"

Wade's eyes widened in shock, and his jaw dropped open when he heard her voice on the other end of the line.

"Baby girl! Is that you? Oh, how I've missed your voice. It's like hearing an angel, or an angelic chorus, or a whole bunch of angels, but you're the most important one. Like, the lead singer or something."

"I literally saw you last night." Your voice was always drenched with the most amazing kind of sarcasm, and he'd missed it.

"And?"

"It's only been a few hours."

"And?"

"That's a short amount of time."

"And?"

You sighed, but he knew you weren't really annoyed.

"Anyways, you sounded busy," you continued, "so I'll just let you go."

"What?! No! Don't hang up!" He shouted into the receiver. "I've only fiddled with my pistols! Nothing interesting is happening right now!"

"Your pistols, huh?" You asked a hint of mischief in your voice.

"Well, yeah. They're the most important part of the mission, you know."

In the corner of his eye, he could see his target making his way towards the edge of the building. Quickly and efficiently, without dropping his attention from his conversation with you, he lifted his gun and fired a shot at the man's knee.

"Ah, fuck!" the man screamed in pain. "My knee!"

"Hey! Language!" Deadpool scolded him. "The lady of the house is listening!"

"Lady of the- what the fuck?!"

"I said language, you mustachioed rat!"

"Mustachioed rat?" You asked.

"Sorry, babe," he replied. "You know how excited I get when Downtown Abbey is on."

“There’s gunshots in Downtown Abbey?"

"Gunshots? Oh, no, no. That was… uh, a car alarm. Yeah, the neighbor's car alarm was going off."

"Uh-huh," you said, not sounding very convinced. And, of course, that was right around the time the guy's gun went off again, this time hitting him square in the shoulder. It made the phone fall out of his hand and clatter onto the ground, but the call was still connected.

"Dammit!" He yelled, looking at the fresh blood dripping down his arm. "That's gonna take forever to heal!"

"Who are you talking to?" The man demanded, his gun still aimed at Deadpool's face. "You're working with someone?"

"Hey, now, I don't remember giving you permission to talk," Deadpool told him, holding his bloody arm up to his face. "Look, I've gotta call you back, babe. I know it's been so heartbreakingly long—"

"Again, only a few hours," you said.

"—but duty calls. Love you, bye."

"Love you, bye."

With that, the line disconnected.

"Ugh," he groaned, his heart aching for the loss of your sweet voice. "I miss her already."

"Ey," his opponent growled, drawing his attention. He started speaking in rapid-fire Spanish, which Deadpool didn't really understand, but he didn't have to. The guy was just ranting and raving.

"Alright, alright, chill," Deadpool said. "Just calm down. It’ll all be over soon, little buddy."

"I am not little! I am a giant!" The guy protested, and Wade could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. "And I will not chill!"

"Well, can't argue with that, I guess," Deadpool said with a shrug, and he took aim. But before he could pull the trigger, the guy was running again.

"Hey, what did I tell you about running?!" He yelled, but his voice fell on deaf ears as the guy reached the ledge.

"I am a giant!"

"No, you're a giant asshat!"

"I will not be bested by some masked buffoon!"

"Buff? Me? Why, I never!"

"You're the biggest asshole I've ever met!"

"You know what? I am a big ass! A big, round, bubbly ass." He paused for a second. "Hey, what's your favorite flavor?"

"Fuck you, you red-clad imbecile!"

"You know, I'd ask you out to dinner first, but we're kinda past that now."

"Argh!"

"Alright, enough stalling," Deadpool said. "It's time to end this."

"Yes," the guy said, turning his gun back on Deadpool. "It is."

Of course, Deadpool being the smart-ass he was, he'd already taken a step to the side. As the bullet whizzed past him, he reached for his gun.

"Now, where did I put that thing? Oh, there it is."

He aimed the gun and fired, and the man fell back onto the ground. The bullet hit him right in the middle of his forehead, his blood splattering all over the concrete.

"Ha ha! Fatality. Deadpool wins!" He said, his voice taking on the deep, grounded tone of the narrator from Mortal Kombat. "Flawless Victory."

He stood over the body for a few seconds, reveling in his victory, before he felt the presence of another.

The gun on his right side got ripped from its holster, and the barrel was aimed back into his face, as it always seems to be.

But, he already sensed it was coming, so his fingers wrapped around his other and aimed that right in the golden spot… and let’s just say, The Golden Girls was a little less golden and a lot more crimson.

"Wow, this has got to be a record," He said as he bent down to stare at the new one’s anguish. "Two dead ugly mustaches in the same day. You can call me Sweeney Todd because shit… I just shaved you the fuck up."

He didn’t give the poor bastard a chance to even whimper before he fired another two shots into the man's head. All in all, this had been the easiest payday he'd had in a while.

He picked up his cell phone and slipped it back into its pocket before bending down and scooping up the mustache man's pistol.

"Ooh, lookie here, a nice, shiny new pistol," he said to himself. "Just what I've always wanted. Well, I don't actually need it. It's not like I have any other holes in my body, but you know what they say. The more the merrier."

He stuffed the gun in his holster and turned around, heading back the way he'd come.

"Time to get back to the good stuff," he said. "I have a date with my favorite girl."

He hopped up onto the ledge and looked down, his eyes locking on the window to his apartment.

And when he arrived, bloody and battered, you could only smile while holding up little ole Mary Puppins in all her drooling glory.

God, how he missed his girls.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

What kind of bubble is AI?

My latest column for Locus Magazine is "What Kind of Bubble is AI?" All economic bubbles are hugely destructive, but some of them leave behind wreckage that can be salvaged for useful purposes, while others leave nothing behind but ashes:

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

Think about some 21st century bubbles. The dotcom bubble was a terrible tragedy, one that drained the coffers of pension funds and other institutional investors and wiped out retail investors who were gulled by Superbowl Ads. But there was a lot left behind after the dotcoms were wiped out: cheap servers, office furniture and space, but far more importantly, a generation of young people who'd been trained as web makers, leaving nontechnical degree programs to learn HTML, perl and python. This created a whole cohort of technologists from non-technical backgrounds, a first in technological history. Many of these people became the vanguard of a more inclusive and humane tech development movement, and they were able to make interesting and useful services and products in an environment where raw materials – compute, bandwidth, space and talent – were available at firesale prices.

Contrast this with the crypto bubble. It, too, destroyed the fortunes of institutional and individual investors through fraud and Superbowl Ads. It, too, lured in nontechnical people to learn esoteric disciplines at investor expense. But apart from a smattering of Rust programmers, the main residue of crypto is bad digital art and worse Austrian economics.

Or think of Worldcom vs Enron. Both bubbles were built on pure fraud, but Enron's fraud left nothing behind but a string of suspicious deaths. By contrast, Worldcom's fraud was a Big Store con that required laying a ton of fiber that is still in the ground to this day, and is being bought and used at pennies on the dollar.

AI is definitely a bubble. As I write in the column, if you fly into SFO and rent a car and drive north to San Francisco or south to Silicon Valley, every single billboard is advertising an "AI" startup, many of which are not even using anything that can be remotely characterized as AI. That's amazing, considering what a meaningless buzzword AI already is.

So which kind of bubble is AI? When it pops, will something useful be left behind, or will it go away altogether? To be sure, there's a legion of technologists who are learning Tensorflow and Pytorch. These nominally open source tools are bound, respectively, to Google and Facebook's AI environments:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/18/openwashing/#you-keep-using-that-word-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means

But if those environments go away, those programming skills become a lot less useful. Live, large-scale Big Tech AI projects are shockingly expensive to run. Some of their costs are fixed – collecting, labeling and processing training data – but the running costs for each query are prodigious. There's a massive primary energy bill for the servers, a nearly as large energy bill for the chillers, and a titanic wage bill for the specialized technical staff involved.

Once investor subsidies dry up, will the real-world, non-hyperbolic applications for AI be enough to cover these running costs? AI applications can be plotted on a 2X2 grid whose axes are "value" (how much customers will pay for them) and "risk tolerance" (how perfect the product needs to be).

Charging teenaged D&D players $10 month for an image generator that creates epic illustrations of their characters fighting monsters is low value and very risk tolerant (teenagers aren't overly worried about six-fingered swordspeople with three pupils in each eye). Charging scammy spamfarms $500/month for a text generator that spits out dull, search-algorithm-pleasing narratives to appear over recipes is likewise low-value and highly risk tolerant (your customer doesn't care if the text is nonsense). Charging visually impaired people $100 month for an app that plays a text-to-speech description of anything they point their cameras at is low-value and moderately risk tolerant ("that's your blue shirt" when it's green is not a big deal, while "the street is safe to cross" when it's not is a much bigger one).

Morganstanley doesn't talk about the trillions the AI industry will be worth some day because of these applications. These are just spinoffs from the main event, a collection of extremely high-value applications. Think of self-driving cars or radiology bots that analyze chest x-rays and characterize masses as cancerous or noncancerous.

These are high value – but only if they are also risk-tolerant. The pitch for self-driving cars is "fire most drivers and replace them with 'humans in the loop' who intervene at critical junctures." That's the risk-tolerant version of self-driving cars, and it's a failure. More than $100b has been incinerated chasing self-driving cars, and cars are nowhere near driving themselves:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Quite the reverse, in fact. Cruise was just forced to quit the field after one of their cars maimed a woman – a pedestrian who had not opted into being part of a high-risk AI experiment – and dragged her body 20 feet through the streets of San Francisco. Afterwards, it emerged that Cruise had replaced the single low-waged driver who would normally be paid to operate a taxi with 1.5 high-waged skilled technicians who remotely oversaw each of its vehicles:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/technology/cruise-general-motors-self-driving-cars.html

The self-driving pitch isn't that your car will correct your own human errors (like an alarm that sounds when you activate your turn signal while someone is in your blind-spot). Self-driving isn't about using automation to augment human skill – it's about replacing humans. There's no business case for spending hundreds of billions on better safety systems for cars (there's a human case for it, though!). The only way the price-tag justifies itself is if paid drivers can be fired and replaced with software that costs less than their wages.

What about radiologists? Radiologists certainly make mistakes from time to time, and if there's a computer vision system that makes different mistakes than the sort that humans make, they could be a cheap way of generating second opinions that trigger re-examination by a human radiologist. But no AI investor thinks their return will come from selling hospitals that reduce the number of X-rays each radiologist processes every day, as a second-opinion-generating system would. Rather, the value of AI radiologists comes from firing most of your human radiologists and replacing them with software whose judgments are cursorily double-checked by a human whose "automation blindness" will turn them into an OK-button-mashing automaton:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/23/automation-blindness/#humans-in-the-loop

The profit-generating pitch for high-value AI applications lies in creating "reverse centaurs": humans who serve as appendages for automation that operates at a speed and scale that is unrelated to the capacity or needs of the worker:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

But unless these high-value applications are intrinsically risk-tolerant, they are poor candidates for automation. Cruise was able to nonconsensually enlist the population of San Francisco in an experimental murderbot development program thanks to the vast sums of money sloshing around the industry. Some of this money funds the inevitabilist narrative that self-driving cars are coming, it's only a matter of when, not if, and so SF had better get in the autonomous vehicle or get run over by the forces of history.

Once the bubble pops (all bubbles pop), AI applications will have to rise or fall on their actual merits, not their promise. The odds are stacked against the long-term survival of high-value, risk-intolerant AI applications.

The problem for AI is that while there are a lot of risk-tolerant applications, they're almost all low-value; while nearly all the high-value applications are risk-intolerant. Once AI has to be profitable – once investors withdraw their subsidies from money-losing ventures – the risk-tolerant applications need to be sufficient to run those tremendously expensive servers in those brutally expensive data-centers tended by exceptionally expensive technical workers.

If they aren't, then the business case for running those servers goes away, and so do the servers – and so do all those risk-tolerant, low-value applications. It doesn't matter if helping blind people make sense of their surroundings is socially beneficial. It doesn't matter if teenaged gamers love their epic character art. It doesn't even matter how horny scammers are for generating AI nonsense SEO websites:

https://twitter.com/jakezward/status/1728032634037567509

These applications are all riding on the coattails of the big AI models that are being built and operated at a loss in order to be profitable. If they remain unprofitable long enough, the private sector will no longer pay to operate them.

Now, there are smaller models, models that stand alone and run on commodity hardware. These would persist even after the AI bubble bursts, because most of their costs are setup costs that have already been borne by the well-funded companies who created them. These models are limited, of course, though the communities that have formed around them have pushed those limits in surprising ways, far beyond their original manufacturers' beliefs about their capacity. These communities will continue to push those limits for as long as they find the models useful.

These standalone, "toy" models are derived from the big models, though. When the AI bubble bursts and the private sector no longer subsidizes mass-scale model creation, it will cease to spin out more sophisticated models that run on commodity hardware (it's possible that Federated learning and other techniques for spreading out the work of making large-scale models will fill the gap).

So what kind of bubble is the AI bubble? What will we salvage from its wreckage? Perhaps the communities who've invested in becoming experts in Pytorch and Tensorflow will wrestle them away from their corporate masters and make them generally useful. Certainly, a lot of people will have gained skills in applying statistical techniques.

But there will also be a lot of unsalvageable wreckage. As big AI models get integrated into the processes of the productive economy, AI becomes a source of systemic risk. The only thing worse than having an automated process that is rendered dangerous or erratic based on AI integration is to have that process fail entirely because the AI suddenly disappeared, a collapse that is too precipitous for former AI customers to engineer a soft landing for their systems.

This is a blind spot in our policymakers debates about AI. The smart policymakers are asking questions about fairness, algorithmic bias, and fraud. The foolish policymakers are ensnared in fantasies about "AI safety," AKA "Will the chatbot become a superintelligence that turns the whole human race into paperclips?"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/27/10-types-of-people/#taking-up-a-lot-of-space

But no one is asking, "What will we do if" – when – "the AI bubble pops and most of this stuff disappears overnight?"

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/19/bubblenomics/#pop

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

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tom_bullock (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tombullock/25173469495/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[inbabylontheywept]

Babylon's 6 D&D Tips

I DM’d D&D for ten years. I started in middle school, and I kept it up until my sophomore year of college. This is my mini-guide for what the game is, what it isn’t, and how to play it well. So. From the top.

Tip 1: Don't make your main storyline time dependent. 

D&D is an amazing open-world experience. You can pick at any detail. Nothing is a non-interactable part of the scenery. If there’s a sewer manhole, you can lift it up and climb down. If there’s a house, you can look inside and rob it. If there’s an NPC that you meet at the market, you can follow them home and see their whole life. Their parents, or their partner, their trade - all of it. It will be made up on the fly by some sort of reasonably skilled improv speaker, but it will also exist after that. That’s how the world is built. That’s the secret sauce that makes D&D beautiful.

If your plotline is too urgent, it kills those opportunities. The worst example of this that I have isn’t even from D&D, but FO4. The game is clearly built around exploration and adventure. The plot is built around rescuing your kidnapped baby. There’s a lot of tension between those goals. The plot does not work with the game mechanics, and it's really, really, jarring.

Be wary of doing that. It's surprisingly easy.

Tip 2: Don't set up giant, epic, fantasy battles between multiple armies. 

D&D is not a very good epic-battle simulator. There are games that have streamlined combat mechanics to allow for whole armies to fight, but D&D is very detail oriented, and trying to control too many people at once makes combat slow to a crawl. That very creative DM who can tell you every detail of an NPC’s life is also just not very good at multitasking. 

If you really, really want to - fine. But you should be ignoring standard mechanics when you do so. Move to a “cinematic mode” and just go by vibes. And generally, take a moment to “get” the game before modifying it. If the kind of plot you really want is urgent, and involves epic scale armies, maybe look into different RPG systems. D&D specializes in exploration and small, focused parties. Using it for things outside of that is kind of like hitting nails with a wrench. 

Tip 3: Don't prepare your plot like it's a book. Kill your lore codex. 

D&D is a collaborative storytelling adventure. That's the secret sauce. Writing out codexes and trying to crystallize the world before you start playing ruins the collaborative element. It’s genuinely better if you build as you go. It lets your players give input. And it saves you a lot of time. Why bother trying to write up who the Mayor of Snoresville is if there’s a good chance your party never even talks to him?  

(I would also apply this to writing in general. If you want to write all of your world's lore before starting your book, you'll never start your book. And you'll go crazy. Fear the lore codex.)

Tip 4: Prepare your combats and your NPCS rigorously, but generically. 

This ties in to Tip 3. If you spend a lot of time preparing the lore of the Bandit Leader of Redgrove, things like his family history, or his trauma, or his deep-down character motivations, and then the party never goes to Redgrove, it all goes to waste. D&D evolves rapidly and chaotically, so building things in a modular, reusable way really pays off. 

So. I tend to have two big pools for my NPC work. One is a character sheet pool. I keep it small and focused. I can generalize most melee classes ahead of time, so I can have an Archer, a Brawler, a Tank, and some Generalist Infantry. That’s like, 80% of your martial enemies, done. Spellcasters are a bigger pain in the ass, but a few pre-mades thrown into a campaign pays off if you know your themes. If you’re dealing with a death cult, make some death clerics. A dragon will probably have sorcerer acolytes. 

My second pool is a pool of character mannerisms. Some should absolutely be practiced ahead of time. Figure out what mannerisms make your villain really pop. And if the party skips that villain, just move those mannerisms to some new guy down the line and you’ll still be fine. Nothing wasted. A lot of the mannerisms are going to be picked with no heads up when the party does something weird, like following a random merchant around for a few days just to see how they live. You can get through almost all of those extremely well with just variations on the 4 humors, the 3 socioeconomic classes, and regional dialects.

Tip 5: Give your players permission to inject themselves into the world. 

It is common for people to over-formalize the rules and responsibilities of “being a player” vs. “being a DM.” I think the most common way to phrase it is something like “The Players are in charge of their characters and their backstories, the DM is responsible for the worlds and its NPCs, and both need to stay in their lanes.”

It’s isn't just better to mix it, it's necessary.

Failing to share these roles forces the world to exist in a crystallized state before the campaign even starts - at least if you want to integrate backstories into the plot. Groups that fail to do this can often feel like the characters were born the day the campaign began, and did nothing interesting beforehand. 

So, for DMs: Don’t be afraid of trying to inject NPCs and details of this world into your player's past. Imagine that your party rogue goes into a town and finds a fence for selling some stolen trinkets. Maybe, have the fence recognize the rogue. “Gods of fire, it’s McClellan. I haven’t thought about you since the candy-rat incident. You took a real beating making sure I got away that day. Glad to finally have a chance to pay you back!” 

Now, the rogue still has a choice here. They can say something like “Ah, this guy is mistaking me for someone else, but I can roll with it to get a better deal.” It’s their character, and their choice. But they can also go, hey, I do know this guy. I was apparently part of something called “The candy-rat incident.” I can decide how I know this guy, and where, and for how long, and what that incident was. That’s not less control - that’s more! 

And for players: Don’t be afraid of injecting your past into the world. Maybe you’re a fighter in a wartorn setting and you run into a group of deserters robbing refugees by the roadside. The DM has clearly planned this as some vindication, some enemies you get to thrash without feeling bad. But you have different plans. You take your helmet off, and you look the deserter’s leader in the face, and you say “Jack, you saved my life back on Stone Ridge. You were a good man once. You could be one again. Ride with us.” 

Now that's powerful stuff. Do you even know what Stone Ridge is? Hell no. Are you gonna? Hell yeah. And what you just did was way better than the DMs plan of bonking bad guys to feel good. You changed the writing of the world, commandeered an NPC, and made the whole encounter far more interesting.  

Tip 6: Ignore all portrayals of D&D in the media. 

The best players that I get are people with no experience with D&D of any kind. The second best are those that are willing to drop their preconceptions at the door and just play. The worst are people that have seen D&D portrayed somewhere and are insistent on imitating the portrayal. The exact nature of the failure varies - at worst, they’ve seen some kind of tongue-in-cheek parody, like order of the stick, and then hyperfocused on all the worst parodied aspects as the whole point of the game. D&D is not about outsmarting the mechanics (which is trivially easy, and largely pointless - it just makes your own storytelling less fun), nor is about turning everything into shallow tropes about Horny Bards and Dumb Fighters and Insufferable Paladins. At best, they’ll have seen some kind of ultra-cinematic example of D&D played on a podcast, where the DM has a theatre degree and ever party member is a professional actor. Those people are nice, but they often have unrealistic expectations.

[cordatumcape]

Fire Emblem Romhack Recommendations

Disappointed with no new Fire Emblem in today's direct? Just looking for a new Fire Emblem game to try? If that's the case, allow this post to serve as an introduction to some amazing romhacks to check out!

Dream of Five

👑🐰 DREAM OF FIVE weaves a tale of intrigue and identity, feat. an ornate and deliberate sense of style, custom story CGs, and downright gorgeous prose to boot! This hack also has a several chapter long route split, with each path having its own distinct gameplay and recruitable characters.

The Morrow's Golden Country

⛅️🌼 THE MORROW'S GOLDEN COUNTRY has an abundance in quality-of-life improvements, including a reworked support system and durability-based combat skills. A split-army story structure allows the player to get to know a large, loveable cast as its three lords fight for a brighter dawn—where none are left behind.

Cerulean Crescent

🏝️🌙 CERULEAN CRESCENT provides incredible turn economy management tools, with each playable unit boasting unique skills and self-repairing personal weapons. The setting lends itself towards a distinct, bold story structure as Ellerie fights to claim victory and vengeance, both.

Shackled Power

👊💥 SHACKLED POWER is perfect for those who want a classic Fire Emblem story that trends its style towards 90s-esque action, with all the explosions to go along with it. This hack also boasts numerous custom-drawn animations and portraits to truly make the player feel like a powerhouse!

Curse of Lagdou

🍈👿 CURSE OF LAGDOU expands the continent of Magvel's tale through its fast-paced maps and unique non-RNG crit system! Follow this poignant tale of two girls finding their purpose in life—featuring characters both new and old, along with custom-drawn animations and story CG art!

Four Kings

4️⃣👑 FOUR KINGS tells the story of family: of two brothers, and their respective journeys to become better people. It boasts tight gameplay and full deployment throughout its route split to let the player experiment with a wide variety of units, all with their own personal weapons!

Myrm Emblem

⚔️🔥 MYRM EMBLEM is a gameplay-focused hack, feat. skills and many quality-of-life improvements with a silly, brief story. Join Shigen, Lyn, and your favorite myrmidons and swordmasters from the FE series—as well as the Kaga Saga games—in an epic adventure to test your skill and fire emblem knowledge.

Drums of War

🥁🛡️ DRUMS OF WAR tasks its players with conquering tight and challenging enemy formations—and after the dust has settled: the choice on whether to recruit or ransom enemy leaders. Augment your ragtag band with your strongest enemies as you struggle and fight for a place deserving of you.

Dark Lord and the Maiden of Light

⚔️🌓 DARK LORD & THE MAIDEN OF LIGHT follows a classic FE plot, twisting familiar tropes in fresh ways. Its narrative rewards attention to detail: one must delve deep to uncover and understand the world's true nature. Fans of 3H's Rhea will enjoy Freesia's crusade against the sinister Ahribaal cult.

Embers Entwined

🪓 🧙‍♂️ EMBERS ENTWINED follows Petra, a princess in exile, and Diego, a mercenary from a mysterious bloodline, as they fight dark forces attempting to reach godhood. Necromancy takes center stage in this explosive tale, as sorcerers race against each other to perfect the art of raising the dead.

[thesoftboiledegg]

I never thought about it before I watched "Nomortland," but we've never had a true Jerry episode. We've had Jerry and Rick episodes, Jerry and Beth episodes, and a couple of Jerry and Morty episodes (I can't think of one where he's paired up with Summer), but none that allow Jerry to carry the plot on his own.

I wouldn't have expected a Jerry to find a new form of interdimensional travel, but that's part of this episode's charm. Jerry might act like a dorky dad on the surface, but he can be smart, resourceful, harsh and even deadly. This episode shows you what happens when he's willing to take charge.

And after all of Rick's reality-bending adventures, it DOES make sense that cracks in his universes would start to form. The writers could've turned that concept into yet another apocalyptic multiverse epic, but that's been done so many times in other shows and movies that I'm glad they went with a more laid-back storyline.

Throughout the episode, I kept waiting for a twist that the other Jerry was evil or part of a conspiracy or something similar, but nope--he's just an ordinary guy who lost touch with his family. I think that was a much better choice than stretching Jerry's character to the extreme. In the end, he's just a normal guy in wacky circumstances.

Well, except for the villain, who was the closest we've seen to an evil Jerry. The fact that a Jerry figured out how to beat down a Rick seemed like it was building to something, but the episode never quite got there. I also wondered what happened to make him hate his fellow Jerrys so much--another parallel to Evil Morty.

With 20 minutes of almost non-stop Jerry time, we got a lot of insight into his character: he sees Rick as a badass who would ultimately protect him ("You don't wanna mess with me, pal. My Rick could kick your ass"), he's not afraid to mouth off to people, he hates waiting around, he's impulsive, he's adventurous, and he enjoys the occasional shower beer.

And he and Rick aren't that different, either. When "Mooch" kills the evil Jerry, C-137 Jerry imparts these words of wisdom: "You can't think about it. It's the one thing I've learned. You can't think about it."

Rick's still mean as hell, but despite his best efforts, the therapy is clearly working. When he confronts Jerry in the kitchen, he starts by lecturing him, then backs down and starts talking to him normally...and then he blows up again to overcompensate.

It feels like he's trying to figure out who he wants to be. He doesn't want to let his guard down too much, but nobody falls for his "I don't give a shit about any of you" act anymore, including Jerry.

When Jerry picks up a picture frame in his bedroom, we see that Rick's finally made it to the family photos (I think this is the first time we've seen a picture of him in the Smith household?), so he clearly doesn't plan on bailing any time soon.

I also loved the detail of Rick immediately figuring out what Jerry's up to. He's probably aware of Jerrys sneaking through the multiverse, and now they've finally arrived at his household. For a moment, he's angry, but then he admits that some interdimensional adventures might be good for Jerry--which immediately freaks Jerry out, of course.

Then, we see Rick and Jerry enjoying some bonding time in the post-credits scene. They really do understand each other more than they let on. I don't know why Beth's so shocked about Rick sitting around naked--he tears his clothes off in every other episode!

C-137 Jerry ended up in this dimension by mistake, but that fateful hand-off in "Mortynight Run" (which this episode references) might've been the best thing that could've happened to him. His family is a hot mess, but they cared enough to look for him. Plenty of other Jerrys can't say the same.

And now that he's gone on a solo adventure, he can say that he's joined the family's group of interdimensional travelers.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

Creating Compelling Character Arcs: A Guide for Fiction Writers

As writers, one of our most important jobs is to craft characters that feel fully realized and three-dimensional. Great characters aren't just names on a page — they're complex beings with arcs that take them on profound journeys of change and growth. A compelling character arc can make the difference between a forgettable story and one that sticks with readers long after they've turned the final page.

Today, I'm going to walk you through the art of crafting character arcs that are as rich and multi-layered as the people you encounter in real life. Whether you're a first-time novelist or a seasoned storyteller, this guide will give you the tools to create character journeys that are equal parts meaningful and unforgettable.

What Is a Character Arc?

Before we go any further, let's make sure we're all on the same page about what a character arc actually is. In the most basic sense, a character arc refers to the internal journey a character undergoes over the course of a story. It's the path they travel, the obstacles they face, and the ways in which their beliefs, mindsets, and core selves evolve through the events of the narrative.

A character arc isn't just about what happens to a character on the outside. Sure, external conflict and plot developments play a major role — but the real meat of a character arc lies in how those external forces shape the character's internal landscape. Do their ideals get shattered? Is their worldview permanently altered? Do they have to confront harsh truths about themselves in order to grow?

The most resonant character arcs dig deep into these universal human experiences of struggle, self-discovery, and change. They mirror the journeys we all go through in our own lives, making characters feel powerfully relatable even in the most imaginative settings.

The Anatomy of an Effective Character Arc

Now that we understand what character arcs are, how do we actually construct one that feels authentic and impactful? Let's break down the key components:

The Inciting Incident

Every great character arc begins with a spark — something that disrupts the status quo of the character's life and sets them on an unexpected path. This inciting incident can take countless forms, be it the death of a loved one, a sudden loss of power or status, an epic betrayal, or a long-held dream finally becoming attainable.

Whatever shape it takes, the inciting incident needs to really shake the character's foundations and push them in a direction they wouldn't have gone otherwise. It opens up new struggles, questions, and internal conflicts that they'll have to grapple with over the course of the story.

Lies They Believe

Tied closely to the inciting incident are the core lies or limiting beliefs that have been holding your character back. Perhaps they've internalized society's body image expectations and believe they're unlovable. Maybe they grew up in poverty and are convinced that they'll never be able to escape that cyclical struggle.

Whatever these lies are, they'll inform how your character reacts and responds to the inciting incident. Their ingrained perceptions about themselves and the world will directly color their choices and emotional journeys — and the more visceral and specific these lies feel, the more compelling opportunities for growth your character will have.

The Struggle

With the stage set by the inciting incident and their deeply-held lies exposed, your character will then have to navigate a profound inner struggle that stems from this setup. This is where the real meat of the character arc takes place as they encounter obstacles, crises of faith, moral dilemmas, and other pivotal moments that start to reshape their core sense of self.

Importantly, this struggle shouldn't be a straight line from Point A to Point B. Just like in real life, people tend to take a messy, non-linear path when it comes to overcoming their limiting mindsets. They'll make progress, backslide into old habits, gain new awareness, then repeat the cycle. Mirroring this meandering but ever-deepening evolution is what makes a character arc feel authentic and relatable.

Moments of Truth

As your character wrestles with their internal demons and existential questions, you'll want to include potent Moments of Truth that shake them to their core. These are the climactic instances where they're forced to finally confront the lies they believe head-on. It could be a painful conversation that shatters their perception of someone they trusted. Or perhaps they realize the fatal flaw in their own logic after hitting a point of no return.

These Moments of Truth pack a visceral punch that catalyzes profound realizations within your character. They're the litmus tests where your protagonist either rises to the occasion and starts radically changing their mindset — or they fail, downing further into delusion or avoiding the insights they need to undergo a full transformation.

The Resolution

After enduring the long, tangled journey of their character arc, your protagonist will ideally arrive at a resolution that feels deeply cathartic and well-earned. This is where all of their struggle pays off and we see them evolve into a fundamentally different version of themselves, leaving their old limiting beliefs behind.

A successfully crafted resolution in a character arc shouldn't just arrive out of nowhere — it should feel completely organic based on everything they've experienced over the course of their thematic journey. We should be able to look back and see how all of the challenges they surmounted ultimately reshaped their perspective and led them to this new awakening. And while not every character needs to find total fulfillment, for an arc to feel truly complete, there needs to be a definitive sense that their internal struggle has reached a meaningful culmination.

Tips for Crafting Resonant Character Arcs

I know that was a lot of ground to cover, so let's recap a few key pointers to keep in mind as you start mapping out your own character's trajectories:

Get Specific With Backstory

To build a robust character arc, a deep understanding of your protagonist's backstory and psychology is indispensable. What childhood wounds do they carry? What belief systems were instilled in them from a young age? The more thoroughly you flesh out their history and inner workings, the more natural their arc will feel.

Strive For Nuance

One of the biggest pitfalls to avoid with character arcs is resorting to oversimplified clichés or unrealistic "redemption" stories. People are endlessly complex — your character's evolution should reflect that intricate messiness and nuance to feel grounded. Embrace moral grays, contradictions, and partial awakenings that upend expectations.

Make the External Match the Internal

While a character arc hinges on interior experiences, it's also crucial that the external plot events actively play a role in driving this inner journey. The inciting incident, the obstacles they face, the climactic Moments of Truth — all of these exterior occurrences should serve as narrative engines that force your character to continually reckon with themselves.

Dig Into Your Own Experiences

Finally, the best way to instill true authenticity into your character arcs is to draw deeply from the personal transformations you've gone through yourself. We all carry with us the scars, growth, and shattered illusions of our real-life arcs — use that raw honesty as fertile soil to birth characters whose journeys will resonate on a soulful level.

Happy Writing!

[gracesvespers]

THANATOS: AN INFODUMP

Thanatos (Θανατος) known to the romans as Mors is the god or daimon (personified spirit) of non-violent death. He is a chthonic deity residing in the underworld.

This post covers his family, symbols, notable myths, epithets, orphic hymn, and my favourite passages about him.

PARENTAGE AND SIBLINGS

His parentage and family can be understood through Hesiod’s Theogony (A Greek epic written in the 8th or 7th B.C)

And Nyx (Night) bare hateful Moros (Doom) and black Ker (Violent Death) and Thanatos (Death), and she bare Hypnos (Sleep) and the tribe of Oneiroi (Dreams). And again the goddess murky Nyx, though she lay with none, bare Momos (Blame) and painful Oizys (Misery), and the Hesperides . . . Also she bare the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) and the ruthless avenging Keres (Death-Fates) . . . Also deadly Nyx bare Nemesis (Envy) to afflict mortal men, and after her, Apate (Deceit) and Philotes (Friendship) and hateful Geras (Old Age) and hard-hearted Eris (Strife).

— Parents: Nyx with no father (Roman versions of his birth name Erebus the father)

— Siblings:

Apate (deceit)

Eris (strife)

Geras (old age)

Hesperides (nymphs of the evening)

Hypnos (sleep) Ker (violent death)

Keres (death-fates)

Moirai (fates)

Momos (blame)

Moros (doom)

Nemesis (retribution)

Oizys (misery)

Oneiroi (dreams)

Philotes (friendship)

SYMBOLS AND APPEARANCE

SYMBOLS

— inverted torch → represents a life being extinguished

— butterfly → symbolises the soul

— sword → indicates his authority to sever the thread of life

— poppies → as a symbol of eternal sleep

— wreath → suggesting eternity, or the cyclical nature of life and death

APPEARANCE

Greek vase paintings depicted him as a winged, older man with a beard and rarely as a young, beardless youth.

Roman sculptures portrayed him as a youth holding an inverted torch and a wreath or butterfly

NOTABLE MYTHS

— THANATOS AND THE BODY OF SARPEDON

As seen in the Iliad, Thanatos and Hypnos are tasked to carry the body of Sarpedon away from the battlefield to Lycia so his brothers and countrymen can give him a respectful burial.

Homer, Iliad 16. 453 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Hera speaks to Zeus about the approaching death of his son Sarpedon :] ‘But after the soul and the years of his life have left him [Sarpedon], then send Thanatos (Death) to carry him away, and Hypnos (Sleep), who is painless, until they come with him to the countryside of broad Lykia (Lycia) where his brothers and countrymen shall give him due burial with tomb and gravestone.’"

Homer, Iliad 16. 681 ff : "Then [Apollon] gave him [Sarpedon] into the charge of swift messengers to carry him, of Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), who are twin brothers, and these two presently laid him down within the rich countryside of broad Lykia (Lycia)."

— THE CAPTURE OF THANATOS BY SISYPHUS

Sisyphus was the (possibly) founder and king of Corinth and was known as ‘the craftiest on men’ in texts by Homer. In the myth, Thanatos was sent to carry Sisyphus into the underworld. Upon Thanatos’ arrival, Sisyphus who was hiding chained him and in doing do, suspended death across the entire world. Thanatos was later freed by Ares who had noticed an absence of death from the battlefield

Alcaeus, Fragment 38a (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric I) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) : "King Sisyphos (Sisyphus), son of Aiolos (Aeolus), wisest of men, supposed that he was master of Thanatos (Death); but despite his cunning he crossed eddying Akheron (Acheron) twice at at fate's command."

Aeschylus, Sisyphus the Runaway (lost play) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : Weir Smyth (L.C.L.) quotes from Pherecydes, a C5th B.C. mythographer, in his discussion of the plot of this lost play: "The drama was satyric; its theme, the escape from Haides of the crafty Korinthian king. According to the fabulous story told by Pherekydes (Frag. 78 in Müller,Fragmenta Historicum Graecorum) Sisyphos made known to Asopos that it was Zeus who had carried off his daughter Aigina; in punishment for which offence the god sent Thanatos (Death) against the babbler; but Sisyphos bound Thanatos (Death) fast, so that men ceased to die, until Ares came to the rescue, released Thanatos, and gave Sisyphos into his power."

— THANATOS WRESTLED BY HERACLES

In the Euripides, a Greek tragedy written in the 5th C B.C. Thanatos is wrestled by Heracles to save the life of Alkestis. Heracles does this to repay Admetos, Alklestis’

Euripides, Alcestis 839 ff : "Herakles : I must save this woman who has died so lately, bring Alkestis back to live in this house and pay Admetos all the kindness that I owe. I must go there [to the funeral at the graveside] and watch for Thanatos (Death) of the black robes (melampeplos), master of dead men (anax nekrôn), and I think I shall find him drinking the blood of slaughtered beasts beside the grave. Then, if I can break suddenly from my hiding place, catch him, and hold him in the circle of these arms, there is no way he will be able to break my hold on his bruised ribs, until he gives the woman up to me. But if I miss my quarry, if he does not come to the clotted offering, I must go down, I must ask Kore (Core, the Maiden) [Persephone] and the Master (Anax) [Haides] in the sunless homes of those below (domos anêlios)."

EPITHETS

Greek

- Paean -> the healing (delivers men from the pains and sorrows of life)

- Melampeplos -> of the black robes

- Anax Nekron -> master of dead men

English (these are ones I've derived from text so partial upg)

- insatiable

- dreadful/dreaded one

- awful god

- with a heart of iron

- without mercy

Latin

- Acherontis - inflicter of Acheron (woe)

ORPHIC HYMN

The Fumigation from Manna. Hear me, O Death [Thanatos], whose empire unconfined, extends to mortal tribes of every kind. On thee, the portion of our time depends, whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends. Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid folds, by which the soul, attracting body holds: Common to all of every sex and age, for nought escapes thy all-destructive rage; Not youth itself thy clemency can gain, vigorous and strong, by thee untimely slain. In thee, the end of nature's works is known, in thee, all judgment is absolved alone: No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage control, no vows revoke the purpose of thy soul; O blessed power regard my ardent prayer, and human life to age abundant spare.

MY FAVOURITE MISC. COLLECTION OF TEXTS

Hesiod, Theogony 758 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : . . . These are Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), dread divinities. Never upon them does Helios, the shining sun, cast the light of his eye-beams, neither when he goes up the sky nor comes down from it. One of these [Hypnos], across the earth and the wide sea-ridges, goes his way quietly back and forth, and is kind to mortals, but the heart of the other one [Thanatos] is iron, and brazen feelings without pity are inside his breast."

Aeschylus, Fragment 82 Niobe (from Stobaeus, Anthology 4. 51. 1) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "For, alone of gods, Thanatos (Death) loves not gifts; no, not by sacrifice, nor by libation, canst thou aught avail with him; he hath no altar nor hath he hymn of praise; from him, alone of gods, Peitho (Persuasion) stands aloof."

Aeschylus, Fragment 141 Philoctetes (from Stobaeus, Anthology 4. 52. 32) : "[The wounded Philoktetes (Philoctetes) laments :] ‘O Death (thanatos), the healer (paian), reject me not, but come! For thou alone art the mediciner of ills incurable, and no pain layeth hold on the dead.’"

[gaylactic-fire]

An unnecessarily long analysis on why Toby Fox chose to heavily reference The Legend of Zelda in Deltarune Chapter 3 (I believe it has narrative implications)

[Warning for spoilers of chapter 3, chapter 4 and TLoZ Link's Awakening]

Deltarune Chapter 3 takes place in a TV show Dark World, hosted by Kris' personified TV Mr Ant Tenna (❤️). The "rounds" of this TV game show are the Fun Gang harkening back to Kris' youth and being characters inside an old video game. This game, of course, looking very familiar

On a surface level, you could say this is all about attachment (this chapter's very prominent theme). Ralsei wants Kris and Susie not to become attached to darkners, whereas Tenna desperately wants to rekindle Kris' attachment to him from their youth; using a likeness of a video game they and Asriel played as a means of manipulation.

I think this is an entirely sufficient explanation. But as a Legend Of Zelda fan, I can't help but believe there are deeper meanings to this inclusion. Meanings that non-Zelda fans might not necessarily pick up on. I want to discuss some of my thoughts below:

1: The Legend of Deltarune

Immediately from ch1, we get the backstory of Deltarune, akin to the "Once Upon A Time" segment from Undertale. In Undertale, it's as simple as showing what happened directly before Frisk fell into the underground. Whereas in Deltarune it's a far more whimsical affair; detailing a prophecy about a human, monster and prince from the Dark World on an epic quest that hasn't happened yet.

"This is the legend of DELTA RUNE".

I had always thought this introduction was very akin to Zelda, both in tone, context and the obvious use of "the legend" emphasis in the text. Even the titular Delta Rune symbol is not unlike Zelda's hylian crest. Zelda's consisting of the Triforce and the legendary crimson loftwing. Deltarune keeps the triangle iconography but replaces the loftwing with "the angel"

While these examples are all related to ch1 and Deltarune in general, I believe that ch3's Zelda segments are proof that these are not just coincidences. Toby Fox is taking clear inspiration from TLoZ in Deltarune, and we should be aware of what that means for the lore and narrative.

2: The rigid prophecy

A huge part of Deltarune ch4 showcases "the prophecy" and what it entails. We can see throughout the Dark World that snippets of the prophecy are wholly accurate, depicting details from previous chapters like Lancer's vocabulary and Queen's car ride. Ralsei clearly believes the prophecy to be set in stone - incapable of changing - and something about that is deeply upsetting him.

It's this plot point of ch4 that makes the previous chapter's Zelda influence even more interesting to me. The vast majority of the Zelda games are no strangers to prophecies and fates that are immutable. Ganon always returns. Link's spirit is always reincarnated. Hyrule is always doomed to fall again and again. Even before the timelines and reincarnation cycle were established, older Zelda games would usually take a rather cut-and-dry "the hero is destined to defeat the bad guy" approach. You can see glimpses of this kind of setup in Deltarune's game show.

I believe ch3's Zelda references are there to further reinforce ch4's prophecy plot point. With so much of Zelda's narratives being intertwined with fate, it further sows the seeds of doubt that Deltarune's prophecy can be altered. Has the story already been decided? Do our choices really not matter? It's an incredibly fascinating dichotomy, considering both Susie and Ralsei (possibly to an extent) are seen rejecting the prophecy at the end of ch4. It might even suggest something about Kris, although I'm not really certain what.

3: The Link's Awakening connections

Ch3's game show has various references to Zelda games from the "classic" era, including Zelda 1 and 2 and A Link To The Past. But the game that stood out to me as the most heavily referenced was Link's Awakening. Some of the references included:

The art style of the boards having a very "chunky" pixel style that is most reminiscent of Link's Awakening DX compared to any other LoZ game.

The boards taking place in a desert and on an island, as opposed to the usual fields and forests of stereotypical Zelda. LA famously takes place on a tropical island.

When using Lancer's dig ability, the OST for this interaction is called "Dig! Dig! To the centre of the Earth!" This being a direct quote from LA's Marin.

The game has its own version of Facade; a boss from LA who resembles a giant eyes and mouth.

When Susie picks up a key in the shop Tenna is quick to say "thief!" This is a reference to the ability in LA to steal from the store in Mabe Village, at the cost of you being labelled as a thief.

At first it may just seem like a cute tribute to a more obscure Zelda game, but when you look at the plot of Link's Awakening I think it starts to become really fascinating.

LA, for those who are unaware, is a game where Link washes up on the shores of Koholint Island after being shipwrecked. He tasked with waking "The Windfish", who slumbers in an egg atop the highest mountain. As the game continues, there is a sense something is not quite right with Koholint. The bosses you fight keep alluding to the island as if it is in danger by you being here. Then you get the bombshell: you are stuck inside The Windfish's dream. Koholint is merely an illusion created by the dream. The monsters infesting the dream are essentially parasites, but they are also keeping Koholint itself alive by facing off against you. In the end, Link defeats the nightmare boss and The Windfish wakes, but the island and all its inhabitants, your friends, are erased.

I needn't really have to explain how eerily similar some parts of this are to Deltarune's Dark Worlds. But I want to highlight how, at the start of ch3, Ralsei makes a specific point about how Dark Worlds are "illusions" specifically. For me that's the smoking gun. I think it's very much intentional that Toby drew connections to LA in Deltarune.

I'd also like to point out the character of Marin in relation to Ralsei. Marin is the girl who finds you at the start of LA. Although subtle, one can argue it is implied Marin knows she's inside a dream. She takes a specific fascination to Link and to what life might be like beyond the island; something that other characters on Koholint don't really seem to care about. She also has moments that are a little shocking and "out of character" ("dig to the centre of the earth" being one of them) as if she realises her actions are ultimately going to be without consequence.

Ralsei, canonically now, knows way more than every other character in Deltarune. He knows the entire prophecy, and he knows something tragic is going to happen in the end. He is painfully self-aware of being a darkner, and how he isn't "really real" like the lightners are. Whether intentional or not, I can see a direct parallel to Marin. Even at the start of LA, Link mistakes Marin for Zelda in his delirium, and it's implied that Marin exists as Link's "dream girl" counterpart to Zelda.

Who does Ralsei have a striking resemblance to?

If the connections are indeed purposeful, that poses potential implications for Ralsei's story. The secret ending in LA sees Marin get spared by The Windfish, allowed to exist beyond the dream as a seagull (it's a long story). Really makes me wonder if Ralsei isn't doomed to be a darkner all along...

4: Why not another game?

So why does ch3 so heavily rely on Zelda as inspiration, anyway?

All of the rounds of Tenna's TV Time use this Zelda-like game as their setting, and I remember being surprised by the fact. I was expecting a "Super Smashing Fighters" stage at least!

I wouldn't say ch3 has a traditional Dark World like chapters 1,2, and 4. One could argue that Toby used the TV boards as a means to include more of the exploration elements seen in previous Deltarunes and Undertale. But these boards could have used a slew of other old adventure games as inspiration, yet they consistently stay Zelda-like.

To me this is just the final reinforcement that Zelda is an important connection here, as to the reasons I stated previously.

And that's pretty much my whole thoughts on the matter. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. I am deeply unwell about both of these franchises, in case it wasn't obvious ❤️

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Non-Linear Storytelling

Non-linear Narrative - a narrative technique in which the storyline is told out of chronological order.

That can take many forms by using:

flashforwards

flashbacks

dream sequences

foreshadowing

Non-linear plotlines can mimic the recall of human memory, or weave in fantastical elements like time travel or clairvoyance.

Advantages of Using a Non-Linear Narrative

Non-linearity as a narrative structure might be a challenge to pull off—the order in which everything is presented must still be logical, if not chronological—but when done well, it allows a more nuanced, masterful story to emerge.

Intrigue. By disorienting the reader, a nonlinear structure creates a puzzle that requires more engagement with the individual pieces of the story. Cause and effect cease to be predictable or immediately visible, allowing the reader to curate their own logic. When a novel opens with a murder, the series of events that follow carry greater weight and add to the anticipation of the final (known) outcome. When the reader knows more about a character’s fate than they do, opportunities also arise for moments of irony, be they tragic or comic.

Worldbuilding. Not only can you use a non-linear structure to incorporate different time periods into your story, taking a momentarily different point of view can give the reader more insight into other aspects of the setting—think subplots unfolding on the other side of the world that will eventually become meaningful, or perhaps historical events that come to bear on the lives of your characters.

Depth of character. The more the reader learns of your main character’s backstory, the better they understand the choices they make throughout the narrative. Instead of simply telling the reader your character is an orphan, send them back to the moment they became one. Those experiences stay with the reader as they continue through the story.

Flow. Nonlinear storytelling moves your narrative form into something closer to art. While humans might be instinctually drawn to the neatness of chronological order, they are enchanted by the complex. Interchanging the main plot with a non-linear plot allows you to capture more of what it means to be human, and then some: giving shape to all the connections that bind a group a people together, though they themselves remain blind to it.

Examples of Non-Linear Narrative

Non-linear storytelling goes as far back as the 5th century, with flashbacks peppering the timeline of the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, which tells of two clashing groups of cousins. Homer’s Iliad used a technique called in medias res, where the story starts at its mid-point.

The non-linear is still going strong in the 21st century: here are a few new and noteworthy examples.

Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse follows a family’s visit to the Isle of Skye over a ten-year period. Featuring no dialogue and almost no action, the novel unfolds in thoughts, observations, and childhood memories reflected against the present moment.

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and The Fury, the narrative is pieced together by separate members of a fractured aristocratic family. Each section jumps forward and back in time, covering the events whose ripples have led to the present fate of the family.

Kurt Vonnegut, whose book Slaughterhouse-Five utilizes flashback and time travel to illustrate the life of American soldier Billy Pilgrim.

Science-fiction writer Ted Chiang’s first-person short story, Story of Your Life (which was later made into the film Arrival) examines the existence of free will in the face of the inevitable. Told from the point of view of a Louise, a linguist who learns an alien language that allows her to view her future and comprehend time in a nonlinear way, the story opens with the birth of her daughter; the reader only learns later that she knew the child would die young and still chose to fulfill that destiny.

In Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler's Wife, protagonist Henry De Tamble lives with a genetic disorder that forces him to sporadically travel through time with no warning. He falls in love with an artist (who lives an ordinary life on a standard linear timeline) and continues to jump in and out of moments in his own life, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[nyaskitten]

The way Wyldfyre is right now is so sad bruh... The lack of acknowledgement towards Wyldfyre as the second Red Ninja kinda annoys me </3 It's clearly meant to be like when comics introduce a successor to a superhero that said hero trains (Like Batman and Batman in Batman: Beyond, or Peter Parker with Miles Morales) but they can't commit 100% to her as a successor because that'd mean shelving one of the classic, OG heroes, which Lego is not in the business of doing.

Because of that, instead it's Wyldfyre getting the short end of the stick, her story in Season 3 is healing Roby off-screen... Surely her story, having the power to reverse Decay, would have much more story impact than one person... surely it has to lead to something more important later down the line, right? You can't give us this successor to one of the OG heroes who can't FULLY succeed him, then introduce that she has the ability to reverse Decay (be it just the power or the natural state itself is unclear) and do NOTHING with that???

I love Wyldfyre, she's certainly my favorite of the new characters, but it feels like she's trapped in the same awkward position as Sandy from Monkie Kid. They're but characters the writers seem to LOVE writing fun scenes and silly moments for, but they don't have a lot of deep arcs in mind for them... The Wyldfyre and Egalt stuff in Season 2 was epic, I think we absolutely need more like that for her. Give her more mysterious and emotionally-charged moments. Her Roby story WAS sad, it was one of the few non-dragon people she's met and formed a strong connection with, but I feel like there's something lacking for sure... maybe we'll get more Wyldfyre plot relevance when they decide to explain her Superman-ass origins...

[blueteller]

Introducing Character Trope: STEBS (Stoic Traumatized Epic Bastard Softie)

I have tried to look this up on TV tropes, but it does not exist. Not officially, at least. So I decided – I'm introducing new trope. It already exist, someone might as well try and give it a name.

And yeah, this acronym SUCKS, feel free to come up with a better one! But let's talk about what a "STEBS" character is for me, because I've come to the conclusion that it is actually my favorite character type.

First, context. Ever since I've read TCF, I have come across other medias and I was often like, "Hey, this character is basically just like Cale!" – which I feel like, it isn't really fair? I mean, Cale is a great and complex character, but making this comparison constantly makes me feel like I'm undermining the complexity of OTHER characters. Just because Cale shares similarities with other characters doesn't make them copies of him.

So, what exactly is a STEBS?

1) Stoic

This character has a very specific way of acting in non-confrontational situations. It can be respectful, it can be casual, but it is neither extremely friendly nor extremely rude. It's in a calm, pleasant zone, where the character treats others like... well, people. The character doesn't make themselves superior nor inferior, it doesn't matter to them if the other is a beggar or a king. They just are, calm and casual. That's what makes them stoic - NOT lack of expressions or emotions, or lack of humor. It's the way they carry themselves on the regular. This character type makes others feel relaxed because of it, and subconsciously encourages trust and friendship (much to the character's confusion). They will also make a great educator because of it, and will likely act as a mentor or a teacher more than once.

2) Traumatized

Despite the stoicism in their behavior, they actually have a complicated background. Commonly an orphan, even though not always, this person has been through a LOT. But, they don't usually express it. Seeing this character cry or break down is EXTREMELY rare and always a very important scene in a story. It's not that they're not emotional or they always try to bury their trauma, although that does usually apply to them; they're just not vocal about it due to their personality. But oh boy, are they traumatized! Wait for that reveal later in the story though, when it actually becomes plot-relevant.

3) Epic

Despite the character being a stoic type, with a backstory that makes them crave very simple things – be it retirement, respect from their peers, a safe house to live in, a stable job, a family, a specific successful career – they are actually freaking epic where it comes to things they do. They either have great knowledge, memory, or skills in a particular field and they always manage to surprise others with just how competent they are. It can be literal combat skills, magic, being a life-saving surgeon, or even a therapist. But whenever they get their chance to shine, they become a real star.

4) Bastard

A trait that adds a surprising amount of charm and humor to their other traits. Being stoic makes them likeable, being traumatized makes them sympathetic, being epic makes them cool – but being a bastard? It actually just means they're mischievous and have a penchant for chaos. Because this character is meant to make changes in the narrative, like an accidental revolutionary or a transmigrator, they have to possess a cunning streak that might seem mean or selfish at first, but actually never crosses the line into making them despicable. It just makes them an occasional manipulator, but it's usually portrayed in a way that still makes it impossible to make you hate them. In fact, it makes you love them more for it. They are not naive, even if they can be oblivious or silly at times; being a bastard to those who deserve it means being able to get out of sticky situations that would be problematic for paragon heroes. It includes stuff like acting, pranks, cheating, manipulation, shady deals, gambling, stealing, and even criminal behavior, that is actually very understandable due to their specific circumstances.

5) Softie

And if all the previous traits haven't convinced you to love this character yet, the last one surely will. This character, despite having a mean streak, is in fact never mean to innocent people. Actually, they are surprising soft and/or sentimental, especially towards the helpless and children. This character will probably have at least one animal sidekick, at least one paragon protagonist type on their payroll, and most importantly an adopted child - if the previous two don't already fill that spot. This character will make excuses of course, they will claim that they are taking care of others for their own benefits. But you will see quickly that they don't treat others like a heartless manipulator, but more of an overprotective mother-hen. This character, no matter their gender, will eventually become the typical Mom Friend. They will make sure everybody eats well, sleeps well, they get their allowance, pack their lunch before heading out to participate in the plot and probably try to sacrifice themselves for them more than once. They will of course become the mentor figure on top of it, and possibly even be a straight up legal guardian and/or teacher to other important characters.

And this, my friends, is what I call a STEBS character. While it outlines a general, it's not a strict definition, mind you. Even if a character exhibit one trait less than the others (for example not being much of a bastard, or not being very stoic), it still counts as long as you still recognize them as fitting in this "category".

Characters in this category include:

Cale Henituse from Trash of the Count's Family

Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars

Aizawa Shota from My Hero Academia

Kakashi from Naruto

Remus Lupin from Harry Potter

Faramir from Lord of the Rings

Kim Dokja from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

Rimuru Tempest from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

Park Moondae from Debut or Die

Won Hwabu from I Reincarnated as a Legendary Surgeon

And many, many others.

Let me know if you have a better name for this very specific character type!

[lazyjellyfish300]

𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒅, 𝒊'𝒎 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒑𝒕 2 🦢𓍼ོ 𑜞᭄ೃ

𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒊 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒅𝒂𝒚 7 ~ 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 ♥︎

🦢nanami kento x fem!reader

🦢 synopsis: in the present day, elderly kento nanami reads you the story of your love, in the hopes that you'll remember him. 💕

🦢 part 2 of 3.

🦢 part 1 | part 2 | part 3

🦢word count: 7.8k

🦢cw: minors dni, smut (p in v, awkward virginity loss, fingering, cum, creampie, infidelity, condom use, makeout), entirely based and inspired on the film adaptation of The Notebook by author Nicholas Sparks, all credit to the original owners, fluff, angst, grief, war, character deaths, aging, memory loss, scarred!nanami kento, jjk spoilers possibly, non curse au, pining, breakup

🦢a/n: my nanami week day 7 entry for free day, bidding farewell to an epic week 😎😎 but it will always be kento week over here for me. 🙂‍↕️💕 sparkle dividers by @/anitalenia. swan dividers by @/fairytopea.

🦢tags: @araveticazx 💕

🦢my nanami week masterlist

The warm air of the night becomes cool as you zip down the dirt road, houses disappearing as you navigated the road you knew by heart by now, holding onto the hem of your skirt you kept out of the way of your bicycle tires, tearing into the small neighborhood until you reached Kento's humble duplex he shared with Haibara on the outskirts. 

He hears the rattle of your bike gears outside his window, already dressed and waiting for you. You don't toss your bike to the side before he comes flying out of the front door, shutting it behind him. 

His eyes go wide when you practically attack him, and he pulls you off to the side of the house, letting you pin him against the wall with a frantic kiss. 

It's sudden, but it's not unwelcome in the slightest as he returns your passion, licking and moving his lips and tongue with yours. 

You taste soft, buttery from your lip balm you just applied, your usual flower you wore in your hair missing this time that must have flown out in the middle of your rush over here. 

Both of you are thinking the same thing as you kiss each other deeply and desperately by Kento's front door: the news that you would be relocating a nearly 10 hour airplane flight away in Tokyo was a blow, but you still had the summer, and you have right now.  

You both would be damned if you spent what precious time you had pining over something you couldn't change. 

"Somebody there?" Haibara calls from inside the house, making you both pause and pull away for air.

 

"Do you want to go somewhere?" Kento asks, gentle thumbs swiping your cheeks. 

You nod, heart racing in your chest. "Yes please." 

-----

The full moon twinkles brilliantly overhead as the stars surrounding it trade secrets with the night, glistening off the calm ripples of water that barely move with the evening time breeze. 

You drive until you pull up in front of an old manor, right next to the inlet that feeds into the greater South China Sea. You look around in wonder. There are no other beaches nearby. The house sat completely undisturbed on this plot of land with the water just a ways from its doorstep. 

Any rich man would give up his entire life's earnings to pick a spot so enviable. 

"Whoa..." You marvel as Kento leads you hand in hand towards the house, guiding your way with a lantern. "Is it abandoned?" 

"As far as I know." Kento replies. "Yu showed it to me a while ago." He nods to a for sale sign. "It's been on the market for years but nobody wants to fix it up." 

"Huh." You click your teeth in curiosity but as you enter the front door, it's quite apparent that it's for a very good reason. 

The stairs are all but collapsed, dust and cobwebs hang and cling to every spare surface, nature tried to seize back some of what it could as random weeds bloomed with dandelions between the cracks in the interior with the moonlight leaking through gashing openings in the roof. 

"Oh my God..." You immediately begin scoping out the place as Kento sets the lantern down on a nearby table. 

"This place is gigantic." Visions of what a restored version of the house could look like flashed across your mind as you took in the living room, kitchen, parlor. 

"This could be one hell of a place to live if someone just took the time to fix it up." 

"Heh, you know, I was thinking about that." Kento admits shyly as he follows behind you, his gaze soft as he watched you slowly fall in love with the house just as he did. 

"It's been sort of a dream of mine to live in a place like this one day. With everything I've learned at the lumber yard, I think I could fix it up. It just needs a new roof." 

"And stairs. And furniture." You add. 

"Right, and furniture." Kento chuckles as he watches you flip through a collection of old paintings sitting next to a large piano. 

"Hmm, do I get any say in this?" You ask, throwing him a little smile. 

He smirks, trying not to melt all at once with the mischief in your expression, knowing you'd probably override his list of desires for the house completely. 

"Would you like a say in this?" 

"Why, yes I would." You raise your chin with a cheeky grin. 

"I want it to be white with blue shutters. Tall French windows, perfect for watching the rain and letting the sunshine through." You take a couple steps towards him, his gaze locked on you. 

"What else?"

"I want a porch that wraps around the entire house so we can sit and watch the sunset and drink lemonade after we swim at the beach. And a window with a little balcony overlooking the water so I can write." 

His heartbeat slows. It's almost as though every item on your list was a promise wrapped up in a greater vow like it was truth and not a wish. 

You spoke as though being from separate worlds didn't compute in this old house you ran away to together. Just you two despite all odds stacked against you inside something that it couldn't touch. 

"You promise?" 

"I promise." He smiles. 

"Good." 

He stays silent as you cross to the piano next, watching your fingers brush over the healthy coating of dust on the keys. 

"Wonder when the last time this was played..." 

You scoot the old bench closer and sit, rocking from side to side and smoothing your skirt with your foot braced over the sustain pedal as you began to play one of the few songs you had memorized. 

The song blares quietly amidst the walls of peeling wood, off tune, but hauntingly familiar. Pachelbel's Canon in D Major. 

Kento watches you like you're some divine creature from far off who didn't belong in the crumbling walls of an old house like this until he slips into a reverie, smiling when you chuckle as you occasionally blunder a few notes. 

The way your fingers flit across the keys, your eyelids lowered in concentration that relax with elation when you get it just right, something compels him to walk towards you without convincing his mind otherwise until his chest is at your back and his chin is resting on top of your head. 

"Ken." You chuckle as the tune breaks off along with your concentration. "I can't play when you're doing that—" 

You spin around on the bench, pleasantly surprised to see he's right there, gazing down at you. Your smile slowly fades as you see the love stricken look on his face, and something besides gravity draws you so much closer. 

The piano keys resound in discordance as he balances his hands on them to kiss you. 

The nighttime melody of crickets from the bushes outside, the flicker of the lantern in the hush of this old house reignites a leftover ember you harbored for each other ever since that night in his truck when you made him cum, and it's not long before his lips slide down your neck, emboldened by the late hour, the smell of orchid amber wafting from your neck that trailed between your breasts. 

"Kento...make love to me." 

-----

He lays down a quilt he fished from the bed of his delivery truck in the middle of the room, just in front of the piano where all this began with clammy hands as you both begin to undress. 

You're not really sure where to look. Perhaps this would be more enjoyable if you kissed while you took your clothes off, but you worry if you interrupt it'll just dial up the levels of awkwardness higher than they already were. 

You slide your flowing skirt off first, standing there in your tank top and underwear as you look at him. 

Pink invades his cheeks again and he quickly resumes his attention to his buttons, removing his shirt and tank top, exhaling as they fall to the floor.

For some reason, looking at him makes you feel more safe as you peel off your tank top. Your lips part softly as you reach behind and unclasp your  bralette, followed by your panties. 

The sight of you is affecting him a lot, that much is clear by the bulge that seems to appear out of nowhere. 

You watch him swallow, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as you stand there. 

You were a goddess, to put it succinctly, a vision in dim light, the shadows enchanting what you already possessed. 

All those times your dresses and swimsuits clung to you and he got only a taste for how divine you really were, and none were quite like this. 

He removes his final layers of clothing too, his pants and underwear, and the sight nearly undoes you when his long, veiny length spills out of his boxers as he carefully slides on a condom. 

He's uncut, and he's devastatingly pretty. He's tall, and that characteristic extends to his cock. It's thick, pink at the tip, curving to the left and decorated in a  bush darker than the top of his head that slightly trails up his belly button. 

Despite his lankiness, his muscles are shapely, a few freckles and moles like scattered stars in the occasional cluster on his shoulders and back. 

You both get closer together on the blanket, completely bare both in body and soul, then, the same force responsible for causing your lips to meet earlier at the piano kicks in again. 

Kento is so warm and soft, and now with no barriers, no restraints limiting the amount of contact between you, the kiss feels dangerous the moment bare skin collides, the tension of his lowering weight onto you, letting the passion settle you into a heap on the floor. 

You feel the squishy tip of his cockhead prod at your entrance, and you realize you both were so excited, you forgot foreplay. 

"Kento..." You pant, pulling away from the kiss and cradling his head as he laid on top of you. 

"You're...gonna have to talk me through this." 

Kento freezes, lifting his head. "Did I hurt you?" 

"No, no, I'm just having a lot of thoughts I'm just...nevermind." 

Before he can respond, you yank him back into the kiss. Your lips are hungrier than before, a fact he notices and completely welcomes, forgetting your unsureness a moment earlier. 

The deep kissing makes you more slick, allowing more of his cock to gently glide in, but the sheer size of it tests your limits even more than his fingers. 

"Kento..." 

"Mmphh, yeah?" He groans into your neck, letting his hands slide down your ribs. Despite the gummy stretch of you around his cock, he could sense you getting more tense, inhibiting his concentration. 

"Look, we can stop..." 

"No, I want to, I just...just tell me what you're thinking about right now." 

"Uhm..." Kento's mind is blank, his forehead pressed against your pulse. 

"Did you know this would happen when you brought me here?" 

"N-not exactly..." 

"No?" 

You're not sure why, but this answer isn't making you feel more relaxed. "You didn't even think about it, Kento?" 

"W-well I mean, I thought about it..." Kento mumbles. 

"Really, like what?" 

Kento is quite torn at this point, on one hand he wants to answer your question, on the other hand, he's not sure he can continue, his cock slowly softens where it's positioned with only the tip inside your entrance. 

"Oh God, I'm talking too much aren't I..." You pull away completely

"No, no! You're not..." Kento shakes his head, as he rolls off of you, mortified with a shade of red. 

"Oh God oh God oh God..." 

"Hey, hey hey...." He wraps his arms around you, pulling you into his chest. When he notices you trembling, he lifts the corners of the quilt to wrap around your shoulders. 

Your quiet pants settle against the steady thrums of his heart, the evening trickle of the tides of the beach outside can be heard through the window. 

"I love you. Did you know that?" 

The words are simple but they wash over you like droplets of rain. 

Yes you've known.

You've known since you saw him at the carnival. 

You were smitten ever since your eyes made the brown of his familiar until it settled into your bones that told you he would mean more to you than just his name. 

Since you shared that dance on the beach with no music. 

Since the mere idea of being separated from him felt impossible. 

You've known but you didn't give a voice to it until those three little words gave you the courage to say it back. 

"I love you, Kento." 

Your whisper is immortalized in his ears that he will remember until he draws his final breath. 

Those words, this moment. 

Your heartbeat and his.

Nothing else is needed. 

The tenderness needs a place to grow and flourish in the silence of right now with the makings of something irrevocable. 

He pulls you back in for a kiss just to remind you how fiercely he returns it. 

"KENTO!" Yu Haibara rushes into the house, much to your horror. 

"Yu! Fuck, what're you doing? Get out!" Kento shields you with his back. 

"Hey I'm sorry, but every cop in town is out looking for you two..." 

Shit. 

-----

The drive home is heavy and uncomfortable. Your stomach twists in knots with both dread of what was to come as well as complete exasperation for dealing with your parents. 

You lived under their roof, yes. But you were sick of being tethered to them and held under the unconscionable weight of your future that they could rip away at a moment's notice. 

Kento's truck pulls into the rocky driveway in front of your parent's manor and you both run inside. 

"You sent the police for me?" 

"Yes! It is 2 am! We sent the police." 

"What matters is that you're alright." Your father answers, crossing his arms with a pipe in hand. 

"Sir." Kento starts politely. "This is my fault." 

"Will you give us a moment? I'd like to talk to my daughter." Your father cuts him off. "You were out. Alone, young lady?" 

You look over at Kento, embarrassment and shame on your faces before your father closes the door, locking you and your mother inside his study. 

Kento sits in the hall, shaking his leg, sighing as he leans his head back, staring at the ceiling.

To get in trouble like this was so unlike him. He feels even more guilt for you, kept back by your parents sheer desire to keep you under their control. 

You had a promising future. Who was he to mess any of that up? Everything was aligned for you except for him. The thought eats at him the longer and longer as he sits. Maybe love simply wasn't enough. 

----

"Your father and I didn't spend our entire lives raising you and giving you everything so you can throw it all away on a summer romance." Your mother drills into you while your father looks on in silence. 

"Momma, I'm almost 20 years old. I graduated top of my class with a full ride to Tokyo University and you're worried about me being out at 2 am-"

"I'm worried that you're asking to be heartbroken or pregnant." 

"I'm on birth control! And that's none of your concern." 

"It damn well is if your father and I are paying for your university housing, a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food in your stomach. We are NOT forking out one more penny for our daughter to be a baby mother to the child of some nobody." 

Your mouth falls open. "A nobody??" 

"He's a nice young man, but he's not for you." 

"That's not for you to decide what's right for me?! I'm almost 20 years old, I can love whoever I want to!" 

"Love him?" 

"Yes, daddy, I love him!" You plead with your father. 

His eyes soften at your upset, but his lips press into a hard line. "He's not suitable for you, love."

"I didn't realize this was the fucking 1800s where fathers decide what's right for their daughters." 

"Watch your mouth. When you're older, you'll understand that there's much more to love than just the things you read about in fairy tales." 

You can't take anymore and run into the hall despite your parents calling for you, heart dropping when Kento isn't where you left him. 

"Kento?" You dash outside into the summer air to find him already walking towards his truck. 

Kento hears his name and turns around. "Hey..." 

Seeing you in tears like this weighs and stomps on his heart much more heavily than he anticipated. Hence why he was hoping to leave before you noticed.

But now that he sees how broken you are, he pulls you close, wiping your tears. 

"I'm so so sorry." 

"No, don't be..." 

"But I am, Kento..." 

"Shhhh....shhh...." 

You hold one another, both wondering how such a beautiful night turned into something so ugly. 

It's like the lunch with your parents, but much, much worse. Instead of being from opposite lives, you may as well have been from opposite worlds, drifting away to a black hole, a void of nothingness the longer you stood there, powerless to stop it. 

"I'm gonna go..." Kento murmurs into your hair. 

"No, I don't want you to go, Ken...." 

Kento tries to give you a smile, but it's a flimsy facade for the defeat you detect behind his eyes that indicates there's no hope for the situation and he's only being strong for your sake until he can finally fall apart when he's all alone. 

"I need to think about some things." 

"What do you need to think about, huh? Talk to me, Kento. We love each other..." 

"We do... I do...very much...." He chokes. "But you're going away. You're leaving. You have a whole future ahead of you and there's something different in the cards for me. I'm not in a position to give you what you deserve and I won't have your parents dislike me and put that at risk for being involved with me."

You shake your head, each word smites like a dagger until you can barely see him through your tears. "Don't say that...don't talk like that!" 

"It's the truth." Kento says solemnly. 

"So what? You're saying that..." 

"I'm saying that I think we should take some time. To figure things out at least until the summer's over." Kento states, swallowing the lump in his throat, his expression more cold. 

Your world is slowly coming to a stop. 

"Are you breaking up with me?" 

He doesn't respond. 

You breathe, slowly, more emotion welling up in your eyes quicker than you can stop your frantic breaths as it goes from sadness, to hopelessness, to utter devastation. 

"We're not really breaking up, are we Ken...?" 

Tears prick in his eyes, cracking the cold expression he painted on just moments earlier, but he refuses to let you watch him break. He leans in and gives you a kiss on the forehead. 

"You don't mean it...you don't mean it, Kento..."

"I love you..." He barely murmurs but the declaration is lost to the wind as you stand there with your heart he handed back to you, mangled and torn, until he's gone into the night. 

----

The house is clean, staff is scurrying around the typically quiet marble floors. 

There's a sense of urgency this early in the morning that you can't quite figure out, and your mother is fully dressed in travel clothes at the head of the table. 

"Morning. Have some breakfast, and then you need to get dressed." She says it so nonchalantly, although her calmness settles like dread in your stomach. 

"Dressed for what?" 

"We're going home." She answers, sipping her tea. 

So the nightmare wasn't a part of your dreams. In fact, it's well from over and it's picking up first thing this morning. 

"We're not supposed to go home for another week."

 

"The staff's already packed your things." She looks up at you. 

"Even if daddy has to throw you over his shoulder and drag you the whole way, you're going." 

The dread from moments before twists like a knife in your stomach. You can't do anything but shove one of the chairs into the table, seething down the hall and throwing on a sweater to go find Kento. 

-----

Yu pauses to wipe sweat off his brow, noticing you approaching on your bike. 

"Yu!!" You almost trip as you stumble off, running up to him. "Where's Ken?"

"He's out on a delivery right now." Yu looks over you in concern with your frazzled state. "What's goin on?" 

"I'm leaving town..." 

"Today?" 

"Yes today, like right now!" 

Your heart sinks as your family car pulls up, honking the horn. 

"I'm coming! Momma, I said I'm COMING!!" You yell and hiss, pausing to wave the driver off for at least another minute. 

Yu takes a deep breath. "Hey, I was up all night with him. He's just as upset about the situation as you." 

"Then why did he break up with me? That's what I don't understand..." You place your hands on your head, tears of frustration flowing freely over the dried ones you cried last night. 

"I'm leaving today and there's nothing I can do!" 

"Look, I'll tell him everything when he comes back. If it's all a misunderstanding, he'll write to you, okay?" 

 

You sniff, exhaling deeply before you look at the sky, and then the ground. 

"And can...can you tell him that I love him? Can you do that for me, Yu?" 

"I can do that too." He promises as he hugs you goodbye. "I've known him for a long time. I wish you the best." 

"Goodbye, Yu..." 

Once seated in your family's car, you look out the window in despair past the movie theater, the boardwalk, the beach where you met him, the dirt road that takes you to the manor house of both your dreams that would never make it out of Kuantan. 

Tears fall away in despair as the summer slips away through your fingers, hoping by sheer will that somehow the love you found and impossibly ignited in each other in the mere span of several weeks will be enough for him to reach for you again. 

------

Kento's delivery truck eventually makes its way back. Yu runs to him, frantically summarizing the situation. 

His sentence that you left doesn't settle for a single second before Kento jumps back in, revving the truck full speed ahead as he zooms down the road to your house, only to find the gate locked and sealed.

 

Just as the summer unraveled through your fingers, you had fallen through his, back to your life in Tokyo with the broken pieces he can't stitch together with the goodbye he never gave you that would forever haunt him. 

----

Present Day

"Summer romances end for one reason another, but before they're gone, they appear like shooting stars. A momentary phenomenon of hope, casting brilliance where a void of all light once stood in its place. But, they are fleeting as they are hopeful, and, in a flash, they're gone." 

"Just like that?" 

Kento pauses, looking at you as you stroll arm in arm down the grassy front lawn of the living center, slowing his pace just slightly to match yours as you digested the recent development in the story. 

"I'm afraid so." 

"Well, I'm sure she was devastated." 

"She was." Kento confirms. He pauses, letting the silence hang between his words, knowing quite well the ending to this story he's read many times, but he delays commenting too much on it for your benefit.

 

"You know, those parents deserved to go to hell for treating their daughter like that. Holding college over her head as a grown woman. How cruel can you be?" 

"Well, she did still live under their roof." Kento points out, slightly amused at your defensiveness. 

"Hmph. She was still grown, nonetheless." 

Kento raises an eyebrow, silently expressive as ever in spite of his eye patch. "Well. You might be right." 

He clears his throat and turns the page before he turns to you with a grin. "Shall we find out?" 

-----

Flashback ~ Kuantan

That very same day, Kento went home and penned a letter. 

For the first time in his life, he lowered any remaining walls that were still standing around his flayed heart and poured the contents into the empty spaces, apologizing to you for breaking up with you so abruptly and wondering if you could ever forgive him. 

He sealed it with stamps patched together by hope it would find you safely at the last address you gave him, tossing it in the mailbox by his work before he started another day. 

Soon, Autumn descended on Tokyo as you busied yourself in the heart of your studies. 

Orange leaves fell as you tried not to see his face in every new person you met. 

The silence stretched into weeks, then months. 

Somehow, writing to you kept Kento sane. Whether it was by madness that he'd will his words to reach you or by random miracle thanks to his devotion, he kept writing and sending letters, a paper trail of devotion that spanned an entire year of your absence. 

Some were long, some were short, but all of them were signed with an iteration of "yours."

Time, nor distance, nor the separate stars you came from couldn't magically erase that fact after all, which he knew in his heart to be true. 

Carefully tucked in each paragraph were the happenings of his days, the odd apparitions of his nights, even things he hadn't shared with you yet that he'd like to eventually. Simply speaking to you as if the memory of you didn't linger like an unfinished shadow.

Whenever he had a bad day, he knew his angel pen pal was waiting in the blank spaces of the lines that soon harbored all of his thoughts, sending them away on a prayer in his mailbox where he knew you'd keep them safe. 

---

"Hey." You greet your mother one morning in the kitchen as she looks up from a stack of mail. 

"Anything for me?" You ask, pouring some coffee. 

"Nothing at all." She replies. 

Your heart cracks but you nod, and continue making your breakfast. 

-----

Flashback~One Year Later

The weight of Kento's footsteps grows more obvious in his subconscious with every move he makes, placing one in front of the other. 

It was a day the wiser part of his mind knew was all but inevitable, but he dared to listen to the stirrings of his heart that fueled the short-lived hope that it would never arrive.

He gives his final letter to you one more glance, despite knowing he already double and tripled checked it like all the rest. 

He turns from the mailbox before it creates a clunk at the bottom and walks away to board a bus to the barracks where Yu was already waiting, a duffel with all his belongings slung over his shoulder. 

He looks out the window as it drives him to a future that was all but cloudy. 

He only hoped it would have sunshine behind it that could restore the warmth that disappeared from his life ever since you took it with you back to Tokyo. 

----

Flashback ~ Somewhere in the mountains 

War broke out. Guns opened fire. Planes descended on the unorganized clusters of unprepared troops, causing them to fall back. 

"Yu!" Kento shouts, eyes scanning the bloody surface area for his friend. 

That's when he finds him, heaving his final breaths in the snow, voice long gone before any words could escape. 

Yu...

The clouds of his world may as well have turned to black as the universe ripped yet another good thing away from him. 

He sits back on his heels in disbelief, mind frozen in a fog that doesn't lift despite the chaos unfolding everywhere around him. 

Just like that, another detonation goes off just a few feet away, propelling him in the blast and catching his entire left side in the fire before it fully computed that his one and only friend slipped away within the span of minutes. 

----

Flashback ~ Tokyo

Work at the bank is busy but lively. You greet everyone who comes in with a smile, hustling diligently with a bright attitude that makes your father's heart swell with pride as you perfectly and eagerly filled his footsteps in the world of finance. 

That's when he walks in. 

Your casanova you've been assisting for some months. 

Your branch manager knows it and all the other teller girls can't help but blush that despite all these eyes on him, he has eyes only for you. 

Atsuya Kusakabe is older than you and tall. His chiseled charm is layered in muscles underneath his business suits with eyes a shade of oaky brown that rivaled the intensity of his presence. 

A disciplined and tough former military man, he eventually built up his current reputation as a successful figure in the world of stocks at the most prestigious firm in town.

In other words, he was almost cherry picked perfectly from a tree of suitors your parents would be absolutely thrilled for you to marry. 

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kusakabe." 

"Atsuya, angel. Don't make me tell you again." He winks as he hands you his usual checks to be deposited. 

"Just once more, Mr. Kusakabe." 

He chuckles, shifting the stick of his lollipop to the other side of his mouth as he studies you while you type. God, you were so sweet. 

"I was beginning to wonder if you got any of the flowers I sent you." He smiles with a nod towards all of the vases sitting in the window of your office behind you. 

"I did, Mr. Kusakabe. They're very beautiful." 

He raises an eyebrow. "You didn't happen to see the little notes they came with, did you sweetheart?" 

Warmth floods your expression and you look down, doing your best to hide the fluster you were sure was fighting to make an appearance on your face.

"I did." 

You want to tell him that you'd love nothing more than to go out with him. 

But he can see it, the ghost behind your eyes that tells him you must be holding something back. 

It's new, it's scary, and a young woman like you had every right to be careful with a pretty little heart as delicate as yours could be. He just needed to find a way to show you that he had every intention of waiting to catch you on the other side.

"Hey." He changes the topic, his tone sincere. "What's your favorite place to get a cup of coffee?"

 

Should you lie? 

"Haha, well, um. Pascal's on 15th." 

A half truth. It's not the one you frequent every morning, but you'll go if the line at your usual place is too long.

"Pascal's on 15th." He repeats. "And what's your favorite thing to get?" 

"A caramel latte and a croissant."

At least that part was true.

"Very good." He nods and gives you that charming, closed lipped smile, keeping himself turned towards you for as long as he could before he walks out the door.  

"You have a beautiful day, angel." 

-----

The next day, you're pleased to discover those very items on your desk in your office with fresh flowers and a note. 

You walk cautiously outside to find him already waiting, offering you his arm as you walk side by side. 

You were shocked at how quickly you fell for Atsuya Kusakabe. 

He was patient, kind. Outwardly a little rough and commanding to everyone, except to you. 

He was confident, established, and best of all, he came from old military money. A complete contradiction to Kento, who you couldn't figure out for the life of you, held the strings to your heart despite giving it back to you all those years ago. 

------

The golfing green is washed in the orange and pink of the sunset. Your father is bantering with his associates, your mother huddled in a group with some of the wives with their bottomless champagne glasses and smokes, while you and Kusakabe sit off alone with your feet reclined in the golf cart. 

His fingertips brush the exposed shoulder of your dress softly, as though his mind is far off but your bare skin is the thing anchoring him to the present. 

He looks at you reverently as you take a slow sip of your drink and lean back with a smile on your face and the warm flush of alcohol in your veins. 

"How are you tonight, sweetheart?" 

"I'm wonderful." You sigh, and you mean it, as you turn to look at him. 

He softly kisses your fingers, his turn to smile when you laugh as the group of men around your father let out a bunch of yells as one of them made a hole in one. 

"You know..." He helps you pour more champagne into your glass before he adds to his own. 

"I've been thinking, why don't we get married?" 

"Hahaha, I do not know. Why aren't we married, Kusa?" 

"Well, I used to think marriage was just a piece of paper."

"Is that right?" You giggle. "You sure this is a conversation we should be having right now?" You ask as you wiggle the flute of champagne in your hand. 

Kusakabe leans on his chin just a little bit closer after your endearing remarks. 

"Hahaha. Ya know, after serving in the military for as long as I did..." 

"Mhmm?"

"I realized that there's no greater time like the present." 

"Oh, so you changed your mind, is what you're telling me?" You tease, finger brushing the rough stubble of his jaw. 

He catches your hand, his lips part with an affectionate intensity that's not just because of the elixir in your glasses. 

Your smile fades slowly when you notice his tender expression doesn't budge. 

"Kusa, don't mess with me right now."

"I talked to your parents..." 

You turn, wild-eyed as you see your father and mother, and the rest of the group silently watching with giddy expressions. 

When you turn back, he's already down on his left knee, with the most sparkling diamond you've ever seen in a black velvet box. 

"I love you. I know I'm kind of a hard ass, but I've never been more crazy about a woman in my entire life." 

He takes you by the hand, anchoring you like gravity that he vows from the depths of his soul in those whiskey brown irises.

"Marry me, angel? Make me the luckiest man on earth?" 

You say yes with all of your heart. 

The champagne wishes, tears of joy and cries of elation from all the witnesses as you kissed Atsuya in the shadows of the setting sun on that golf course still couldn't chase away the heartbroken face of Kento, who entered your mind at the very moment you said yes. 

-----

Flashback ~Japan

Kento takes a deep breath as he removes his military hat from his head, subtle cowlick on the left side he never could quite tame after the hair grew back in choppy layers.

A forest of marred pink scars scales the majority of the left side of his face where unblemished skin once was, his beautiful brown left eye now a hollow replaced with a black eye patch.

 

A scarred hand adorned in a TAG Heuer watch comes to fiddle with the proper knot of his tie, tucked in between the uniform layered in the awards he never wanted to receive. 

The passage of time is evident, not just in the date but the weariness he wears on his face, just as beautiful as ever but weathered for someone who had survived too much. 

-----

An older man has his nose buried in a book. He doesn't budge despite the presence that enters. The gesture all but confirms the paternity of the older man to the younger. 

Mr. Nanami finally bookmarks his page, standing with a grunt as Kento bows to him, and he bows in return, before they both sit. 

At first there's just silence, a familiar occurrence between a father and a son who were so alike that they couldn't agree on much. 

"You look well." Mr. Nanami states. 

Kento nods, a bit unsure with the closest thing he's heard to a compliment coming from a man who by and large kept his emotions from being outwardly expressed. 

Kento's mother passed from illness shortly before he departed for the military, taking with her the common thread that kept unraveled the distant stitches between Kento and his father.

It was evident her passing left an effect on him that was dwindling; Mr. Nanami didn't need to point it out to his son who could sense the telltale signs: when sleep persisted longer than being awake, when food lost its flavor.  

The principled routines from the man who engrained them in him became so irregular that Kento knew his father's time was short. 

"I have something." Mr. Nanami strains as he digs inside his breast pocket, withdrawing a slip of paper. 

"This should be all you need."

Kento's brow furrows as he scrutinizes the paper in his hand, then relaxes with shock when the amount and the implications sink in all at once. 

"You sold the house?"

Mr. Nanami nods and coughs without answering. 

"I don't understand."

Kento sits back in his chair, running a hand through his hair.

For some time now, he was the hollow of a person he once was, weighted with grief that clouded with cynicism with every new sunrise he became all but apathetic to, barely holding together with the dignity of honors he retained from his sacrifices that he sometimes wished would have ended on the battlefield. 

He can't help but think of you, since it hadn't just been a dream that belonged to him ever since that night that he tore off a piece and shared it with you. 

That night in Kuantan that contained the last shred of hope he had not seen since you disappeared with it. 

"But, where are you going to live?" He asks his father. 

"With you, wise ass." Kento's father answers, wryly affectionate which Kento can't help the scoff that escapes in response before they both decide to check on the tea Mr. Nanami left brewing on the stove. 

-----

A couple weeks later

It's a bright afternoon in Tokyo with the sun blaring signs of impending summer, the streets bustle with the traffic of the lunch hour. 

Kento is watching passively out of the window of a bus running errands, his mind preoccupied with the final arrangements of selling his father's home when he notices a ghost. 

He sits up, slowly studying the woman walking past on the other side of the sidewalk before his reluctance turns into recognition and it propels him down the aisle and off the bus, much to the driver's and fellow passengers chagrin, an action that would normally never make it past his reserved countenance that was all but cemented in his being.

 

But because it was you, it could sear past anything.  

----

You enter the fine restaurant. The host at the front smiles politely and leads you straightaway to the person you came to see. 

Kento huffs and paces back and forth in the spot he initially recognized you in until he finds you again behind the glass. 

He approaches slowly, an exhale of relief as though the flow of oxygen alone was his reminder that this was happening. A glimpse of the warmth that stayed locked away for so long was permitted to him, at long last. 

You. Hibiscus in your hair just like how he met you, free flowing skirt to match the absolution in your dazzling eyes, which bear a tender look he was the recipient of once long ago. 

His face twists in heartbreak when he realizes that it is meant for another, as he watches you waltz into the arms of an unknown man. 

Kusakabe twirls you around, and you laugh through your nose as you turn your head, his path of kisses being displaced from your lips to your jaw, before Kento can't take anymore of the sight in front of him. 

-----

A switch was activated that day inside of Kento. 

Maybe it was the ember of madness to light the fire he needed to convince himself this life was worth doing when every reason for him that kept it alight before had been lost to the smoke. 

Kento packed up everything he owned, purchased that dream house in Kuantan, and he got to work. 

Renovations quickly turned into therapy. Rising early in the mornings to beat the summer sun with a mug of black coffee next to him, channeling his wood making talents he had stored all this time since he was younger. 

The panels and frames laid the foundation to healing, layering bricks and fresh coats of paint a metaphorical new beginning, all fueled by the madness of idealism from a man who almost never deviated from the pragmatism that made him. 

Jumping headfirst with the same faith he sealed in 365 letters that the restored house with all the promises you made inside it would deliver you back to him somehow. 

Kento's father eventually passed away, adding to the devastation he was all but numb to by now. 

It was a labor of love that became the catharsis of engineering his own ending. He seized back some of that control that fate stole away from him in the driver's seat of his own life for years, until eventually it stood, finished and brand new. 

White, with blue shutters. A wrap around porch, tall French windows, and a room overlooking the beach  for you to write in that Kento kept rightfully empty. 

 

At sunsets and early dusk, he'd let all his frustrations drown into the sea on his rowboat, giving up his worries to the tide to keep him in shape. 

And, in the evenings to temper that pesky sting of loneliness, there was Martha, a widow, whom he met in the next town over. 

----

She untangles her limbs from his in the aftermath of intercourse as the haze began to wind down, one that he always emerged from first, and she second.

 

"Do you want to go into town tomorrow?" Martha calls from the kitchen as she pours two glasses of wine. 

"I have work." Kento responds as he stands, slipping on a t-shirt and pajama pants. 

"We could always go to the beach." 

"No, thank you, Martha." 

She strides back into the room, handing him his glass which he accepts with a muttered thanks before shifting on the pillows to allow her to tentatively settle on his shoulder, a space she knew she was never truly meant to occupy, but for the sake of the night, and her sanity, she'll ignore it once more. 

"What do you want from me, Kento?" She asks in a tone that quivers to the point of break.

 

The guilt should tear Kento apart, but numbness has all but become a constant companion for him. 

All his emotions he never let see the light of day unless it was translated into the polished wood of the banisters of this old house he restored from the ground up, the morning ripples of the undisturbed sea outside his window, or the ghost of you, the woman he truly loved, that stayed alive in his dreams. 

"Sometimes when you look at me you don't even see me. I feel it in the way that you touch me that I'm really just a placeholder for someone else..." 

Bitterness rises within Kento at her words but he doesn't have the strength to argue. 

It was supposed to be a casual arrangement. Not deviating too much past the polite formality of aftercare whenever they were finished. 

He started the affair with Martha on the pretense that this was all for physical and selfish benefit. But, despite his better judgement that it would be impossible to remain so otherwise by no fault of his, he agreed to it. 

And slowly over time, he was proven right. 

"I'd like to be able to give you those things, Martha. But I cannot. They lie with the memory of someone that my heart never learned how to part with. I'm sorry." 

Martha pulls away, turning so Kento can't see the tears he knows are leaking out of her eyes. 

"I think we should take a break." 

"I agree."

-----

Flashback ~Tokyo

The dark curtain is pulled back and you open your eyes underneath your veil with the soft smile you rehearsed a million times in your bathroom mirror. 

The excited chatter in the small bridal shop immediately dies down as your little group of friends and family's mouths fall open. 

"Is the veil too much?" 

"Girl are you kidding me you look perfect!!!" 

The quiet space breaks out into a fit of excited cries of joy as they flock around your dress. 

"You look soooo beautiful!!!!" 

"Girlll wait until Atsuya sees you in this dress, he's gonna go crazy!!!" 

"He's not gonna be taking his eyes off you. Or his hands!!" 

You all erupt into laughter and giggles as you wipe tears out of your eyes. Your mother wears a look of absolute pride as she bestows her blessing over your choice of dress. 

The impending Kusakabe wedding was setting up to be the crowning social highlight of the summer season. 

For months, the wedding planning took over your entire life as details were brewed up, sketches finalized, vendors booked, and now, it was time to find a dress. 

You gazed at yourself in the mirror, admiring the lace, the way the dress hugged you perfectly in every way you had envisioned ever since you were old enough to dream about your wedding day. 

One of your bridesmaids hands you the newspaper, pointing out in the gossip column where your nuptials are mentioned. 

Just before you can flip to it, a strange photograph captures your attention. 

It's a face you knew once, intimately, similar, but he's changed so much, almost like he's brand new. 

The object of your ruminations you thought was long buried, the subject of over a thousand tears you dedicated to your pillow every night. 

The first man you ever loved, and the first you never stopped. 

Kento Nanami is standing in front of the house of your dreams, white with blue shutters on that inlet of the South China sea, scarred and just as beautiful as the day you met him. 

You eventually only see the black of your eyelids before you hit the ground with a deafening thud. 

Part 3 - coming soon 🦢���

[adventures-in-mangaland]

I'm going with 10 All Time Classics from the Captain America (MCU) fandom. I mean, they're all classics to me, at least. In no particular order:

1. This, You Protect by owlet

First installment in the Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail series, which are all amazing. It's a “Bucky escaping Hydra and rebuilding his sense of self” fic, which he does while spying on Steve. With eventual Avengers Family and a lovely cast of OCs bonding with Bucky in the meantime. It has a very distinctive perspective and writing style; Bucky's in constant internal (and sometimes accidentally external) dialogue with himself, making it hilarious and tragic all at the same time. I love it. I've recently been getting into The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells and this Bucky has a similar sassy-but-vulnerable vibe? Read this if you like that, anyway.

2. The One Who Knows by Dira Sudis (dsudis)

This is a Political Animals AU, in that no-powers Steve is inserted into the Political Animals world and Bucky is TJ. Discusses being outed and depression but is ultimately hopeful. The author is one of my all time faves and has written lots of great stories for this and many other fandoms.

3. Blue Scales by chaya

Steve is a merman AU. He's still Captain America, though. It's crack with heart, I love it.

Best line: "May your scales and your love story be our weird secret forever.”

4. Our Lingering Frost by eyres

AU where Bucky is rescued from Hydra in the 50s (?) and so is around for Steve to be found.

5. Assets Out of Containment by follow_the_sun

It's a classic to *me*, OK? Bucky goes undercover at Jurassic World just as that movie's plot kicks off. They're Hydra dinosaurs! It's just great. Also has a podfic and crossovers with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

6. Not Easily Conquered (series) by dropdeaddream and WhatAreFears

Some of the greatest fanfiction I've ever read, the whole series is epic. Anyway, it's a "Steve doesn't go into the ice" AU with added queer angst when (never sent) love letters from Bucky resurface. I particularly like the second installment in the series The Thirteen Letters, which are just Bucky's letters and are insanely well-written.

7. to memory now I can't recall by Etharei

Time travel AU! Featuring post-CATWS Bucky accidentally switching places with CATFA era Bucky.

8. If Wishing Made It So by Leveragehunters (Monkeygreen)

Genie!Bucky AU! This author is great at writing AUs with fantasy/genre elements, it was hard to choose. They've also written an excellent werewolf!Steve AU and a horse!Steve AU that I really love.

9. Into That Good Night by Nonymos

An Interstellar AU! Very angsty and tragic but with an eventual happy ending.

10. Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Speranza

Speranza must be one of the best writers in the fandom, so it was hard to pick just one of their fics. Other strong contenders were All the Angels and the Saints and The Fifties, so check those out too! But this one has a special place in my heart. Steve, Tony and Natasha accidentally time travel to WW2 London, leading to an accidental run-in with CATFA-era Bucky. The author does tragic and romantic time travel tropes so well, but with a happy ending.

I now realise that most of these are AUs, so here’s a bonus rec for a non-AU in-universe story that’s severely underrated and deserves more love:

+1

Heart, Have No Pity on this House of Bone by Sena

This story follows Bucky in-action in the Pacific Theatre. It’s very well written and, from what I can tell, well researched. Steve only appears in Bucky’s imagination and the story focuses on the horrors of war rather than romance, but it’s gripping! And it explores unrequited love, being closeted and period-typical homophobia, which I also enjoyed. I’m still holding out hope for a sequel.

[elexuscal]

Want to be a better writer? Read

Read Widely

An oft-repeated bit of advice for writers is "you gotta read". That said, I pretty often see people confused about what this means-- or arguing about a narrow set of what "counts" as reading for that advice.

This is my attempt to wrangle with my own perspective on how to execute on that advice, according to my own attempts over the last few years to live up to that. (And indeed, while this is primarily aimed at fiction writers, this'll probably be broadly applicable to writers across a wide variety of genres, formats, and even mediums. just move things a little to the left if they don't apply)

If you want to get better at writing, what should you read? More or less, everything. But to give some guidelines:

1. Read Widely Within Your Genre

Genres are more or less conversations composed of stories. They are built upon break out hits, popular tropes, emerging trends, current concerns, stylistic flourishes. You can't be part of the conversation if you don't know what's already been discussed. You don't want to bumble your way into a genre you barely know, talk a big game about "revolutionizing it", and end up writing a trite replication of a 50-year-old pillar of the genre.

2. Read Widely OUTSIDE Your Genre

At their best, genres are conversations. At their worst, they are the bland copying of other peoples' homework. You need to bring new conversational partners in (or, to mix metaphors, new DNA) to keep things fresh. I'm a spec fic person first and foremost, but I make sure I mix that diet up with other genres, from "literary" fiction, mysteries, romance, etc, because they'll teach you the elements your own preferred genre(s) might be missing.

3. Read Non-Fiction

Non-fiction are stories too, just stories about true facts. (Some of those stories are truer than others; some are more convincing; the two aren't necessarily the same). Learning how those narratives are built is vital. Not to mention, the information itself can inspire you— real life science, history, sociology, economics, etc, are fertile beds for world-building, characterization, and plot.

4. Read From Other Backgrounds and Cultures Besides Your Own

I'm hardly the first person to say that the publishing industry, like so many industries, primarily elevates certain voices— white, western, male, often privileged— over others. This is gonna give you a bit of a narrow perspective of how the world works. It is also likely to give you a narrow perspective of how stories are constructed. There are a LOT of pieces of writing advice that's treated like universal (the Three Act structure, the Hero's Journey, etc) that are really just extremely common in Western literature, and looking at pieces from outside it will expand your ideas of how to create stories.

5. Read From Other Time Periods

Honestly, this is sort of just a different take on the last one ('The Past Is A Different Country', or so they say), but it's different enough that I want to clarify it. Tropes and trends and story convention change over time. Read stories from 50 years ago; 200; 500; 2000. Plays, fairy tales, ballads, poems. Seriously, ancient mythological epics are SO cool to read because you truly feel connected to a storytelling tradition stretching back generations.

6. Read Books for Kids and Youth

The best kids books have stunning clarity of purpose. They have to be REALLY good at communicating their information. Learn from that.

7. Consume Other Mediums

I wish we had a better word for this, because 'consumption' does bring to mind someone just ploughing through food endlessly without thought or discernment, but we don't have another word for the breadth of ways we enjoy media. Watch television and movies and short films (and consider how those formats differ). Listen to podcasts and radio plays. Watch stage plays. Read the scripts of all the above. Read comics and graphic novels. Play video games. Watch the news. Listen to music. Go to art museums and galleries of all stripes. All of these have different strengths and weaknesses, different pacing, different styles. Learn from them.

8. Pay Attention to the Media You Might Not Even Think About As Media

Yes, we're taking the last one even further. I'm talking about the media often overlooked, either because it's often denigrated by society, or because frankly, it just blends in the background. In the first category, that's stuff like reality TV and social media posts and graffiti. In the second we have things like Facebook Marketplace posts or the backs of cereal boxes or the technical manual for your new air conditioner. (Advertisements live somewhere in the Venn diagram overlap between the two.) These all also have their own structure, styles, and merits.

9. Read Bad (and Simply Mediocre) Media

Recommendation lists will usually be filled with examples of good stories, because, well, they're good. But if you're reading in part to learn how to write, there's a lot to be gleamed by pieces that just... miss the mark. Whether it's clocks or cars or electronics, when things break you can gleam insights into how they're supposed to work; much is the same with the not-so-great media.

10. Read Indie Stuff

Pretty much every medium's industry has formal publishers who help distribute art, and in theory, vet for quality. They are, broadly, successful at that... but as I've discussed before, those same publishers can often act as gatekeepers, with an overly narrow view of what counts as "quality". Across mediums, the indie space is often where you'll find the most unique, experimental, and boundary-pushing art. It can be harder to navigate, but oh, is it worth it.

11. Read Fanfic

I'm sharing this on Tumblr, so I suspect I'm mostly preaching to the choir here, but nonetheless. In addition to the aforementioned benefits of indie media, fanfiction is capable of teaching you how to write transformative works. I'd argue transformative works have always been the bedrock of human storytelling, and that has not changed at all in the modern day. Mainstream media is choc-a-block with remakes, reboots, and adaptations, most of it bad. Why? Because they don't know what makes for a good transformative work. So open up AO3, my children, and read!

12. Read Other Writers' Thoughts About The Writing Process

Well, since you've gotten to the twelfth point, you've succeeded there.

Okay, but seriously, I put this so low on the list because I do think it can sometimes be overstated; it is very easy to get lost in the weeds of theory over simply just writing. But it is good to process and reflect on all the things you've been reading, and this is a good way to do so.

And above all else, as you explore the wide wealth of pieces people throughout time and cultures have created, to paraphrase my friend Artemis: be curious about it. Curiosity is where the cool things happen.

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

March 1st

~*~

1. Hi!! Do you have any fics you'd recommend that feature WWX having like... the worst time of his life? Like extreme hurt BUT with comfort too pls. And also no rape/non-con stuff pls :)

Thank you! <3

out in the garden, there’s things you hid away by saltyfeathers (E, 121k, WangXian, Possession, Animal Death, mass death event, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt(s), lotta hurt lotta comfort, wwx-centric, unfortunately there’s also a bodily fluids warning, just like a lot of bodily fluids, there is sex and it is all in the last chapter, Serious Injuries, Angst with a Happy Ending, Post canon)

we’re starting at the end by Miss_Enthusiasimal (M, 92k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Golden Core Reveal, Burial Mounds, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Starvation, emaciation, Cannibalism, Self-Harm, Amputation, Suicidal Thoughts, Sunshot Campaign, let JZX and WWX be friends club)

🔒🧡 rain falls and soaks into the earth series by RoseThorne (T, 60k, WangXian, WIP, Near Death Experience, Attempt Drowning, Madam Yu Bashing, Recovery, No war AU)

🧡🔒 Truth Will Out (when caught on video) - End_OTW_Racism! by KizuKatana (E, 178k, WangXian, WN & WWX & WQ, graphic depictions of violence, modern cultivation, canon divergence, YZY abuses WWX, caught on camera, partial core removal, WWX kicked out of Jiang sect, livestreamer WWX, meet ugly, dual cultivation, smut, no war)

Odd Geometry by maziodyne (M, 126k, WangXian, ChengSang, XuanLi, QingLi, WIP, Major Character Death, WWX does not grow up in Lotus Pier, WWX Isn't Adopted by the Jiangs, Elemental Magic, Healer WWX, Sunshot Campaign, Post-Sunshot Campaign Slow Burn, letter writing romance, flirting at inopportune times, Crows, Familiars, Homoeroticism, epic divorce incoming, triple agent WQ, lockpicking, communication (but does it change anything?))

🔒💙 A Heart Undying by NonsensicalRambling (M, 114k, WangXian, Undead WWX, Canon-Typical Violence, canon-typical dead things the burial mounds, Fix-It of Sorts, Canon Divergence, Eventual WangXian, No Yīn Tiger Seal, Morally Gray WWX, Animals Eating People, WWX’s questionable choices, Morally conflicted LWJ, Oblivious WWX, WWX Creates a Sect | Yiling Wei, YLLZ WWX, Sect Leader WWX, LWJ & WQ have an Understanding)

a bite of a vow, a taste of the truth by occultings (microcomets) (E, 29k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Case Fic, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Kissing, Pining While Fake Fucking, Truth Serum, Whump, Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Voyeurism, Monsters, Succubi & Incubi, Getting Together, Hand Jobs, Intercrural Sex, Barebacking, Happy Ending, medically discouraged anal, Brief Subspace, Top LWJ/Bottom WWX, impressive heights of soap opera plot)

Window of the Waking Mind by mrcformoso (M, 8k, wangxian, LSZ & WWX, JC & WWX, Graphic depictions of violence, Major Character Death, Heavy Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending, Post-Canon, Torture, Golden Core Transfer, WWX Has Self-Esteem Issues, Hurt WWX, WWX Needs a Hug, WWX Needs a Break, Flashbacks, Curses, Night Hunts, Suicide, Starvation, Canonical Child Abuse, Canonical Character Death, Cannibalism, Although it was forced by the situation to survive, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, lots of comfort, Soft LQR, Learning To Communicate, Zidian Spiritual Tool, JC Tries, Reaction)

~*~

2. any fav nielan fics? :D

I like stiltonbasket's nielan fics

the universe moved for us by scribblemetimbers (G, 7k, NieLan, Modern AU, Romance, Meet-Cute, Wrong Number AU, Romantic Comedy)

found myself and my melodies by Stratisphyre (T, 10k, NieLan, background wangxian, Modern with Magic, Reasonable Authority Figure LQR, Qīnghéng-jūn's A+ Parenting)

~*~

3. Hi!!!

Would you recommend me some jealous WWX fics? I do not want either LWJ or WWX to be (or had been) in a relationship with somebody else though. I just want them to be so madly in love with eachother that they do no have time for anyone else (except A-yuan. He's their love child ��). Just pure wangxian (or xianwang). I prefer it not to be a modern au. Some misunderstandings are welcome 😁

Thank you so much for all my previous asks!! 🤗 @grrumpywoof

For you by 10thNoNamePerson (T, 16k, WangXian, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Cloud Recesses Shenanigans, Canon Divergence, No War AU, Teen Wangxian, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Jealous WWX, Soft WangXian, No Sunshot Campaign)

Always Light My Way by cqlorphan (E, 27k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Getting Together, Friends With Benefits, to lovers, Jealous WWX, a little bit, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Pining while fucking, angsty sex, Top/Bottom Versatile | Switch LWJ/WWX, Bottom LWJ, Service Top LWJ, Topping from the Bottom, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Coming Untouched, Dom/sub Undertones, Oblivious LWJ, archer wwx, Smart WWX, Porn with Feelings, Also warning for Panic Attacks, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dual Cultivation)

call me home and I'll build you a throne by anaphoricae (E, 51k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Cloud Recesses, Getting Together, Developing Relationship, Self-Indulgent, Gusu Lan Juniors Dynamics, Touch-Starved, Non-Sexual Intimacy... and then Sexual Intimacy, Lán Juniors Gossiping about Wangxian, as a treat, Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Farmer WWX, Chief Cultivator LWJ, Mutual Pining, Communication, Quietly Falling Into a Married Life, Light Angst, Wholesome, POV LWJ, POV WWX, LWJ in braids agenda, Sharing a Bed, WWX's Birthday, Semi-Public Sex, Cold Springs, Inventor WWX, Jealous WWX)

🔒 Four Parts Honey and One Part Vinegar by masked (T, 13k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Junior Quartet Dynamics, Fluff, Humor, Time Travel, 5+1 Things, Jealous WWX, the Impeccable Trust between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, POV Outsider, everyone is Thirsty for Hanguang-jun as one tends to be)

💖 Hanguang-jun’s Husband by lilacevergarden (alittlemorecreative) (T, 6k, wangxian, time travel, bullying ur younger versions, jealous wwx)

Look Not With The Eyes by Spodumene (G, 28k, WangXian, Case Fic, Fluff and Humor, Love Confessions, Idiots in Love, There Was Only One Bed, Post-Canon, Canon-Typical Violence, Original Character Death(s))

~*~

4. Heyy. Hope you are having a great day/night /morning, I wanted to know if I can submit a IITMF:

A) where Wei WuXian cuts off Lan Qiren beard.

B) Outsider or any characters point of view of Wei WuXian being intelligent/inventive.

C) A character or OC walking in on WangXian doing 'Everyday is Everyday' and is trunatised.

Thank you so much in advance!! 💐 @thewintersoldier2002

4B)

All Things Belong by kuroi_atropos (M, 93k, WRH & WWX, WangXian, WWX is a Wēn, Abuse, Whipping, Manipulations, Warning: WRH, Smart WWX, Possessive Behavior, Warning: JGS, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Past Rape/Non-con, Society Level Victim Blaming, Victim Blaming)

💙🔒 Away from Trouble by Ilona22 (M, 15k, WangXian, Not JC Friendly, LWJ/WWX Get a Happy Ending)

🧡 Company by WithBroomBefore (T, 29k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Pre-Relationship, Getting Together, POV LWJ, Fix-It, Pre-Canon, at least to start, WWX goes to Cloud Recesses, But Not In The Usual Way, fear of character death, Everybody Lives, Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Light Angst, good teacher LQR, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, brief discussion of past minor character suicide, Kitten, Not YZY Friendly)  

Dispersing Clouds by dreamingofcake (E, 283k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Abusive YZY, Canonical Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Eventual Sex, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm (Background Character), Background Character Deaths, child deaths, Canon JC, Good Uncle LQR, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Cultivation Sect Politics, Homophobia, Heteronormativity, Feelings Realization, WWX is Not Oblivious)

💖 Hoards and treasures by apathyinreverie (T, 21k, WangXian, Siblings, Family, not particularly Jiang friendly, YZY Bashing, slightly darker Gusu Lans, LXC being the best brother, Some manipulation, But with the best of intentions, and not between wangxian, Dragon LWJ, Fox WWX, Smitten LWJ, Fluff, perfect happiness, adorable WWX, Romance, Some worldbuilding, courting)

Just go forward like you mean it by tawaen (M, 101k, WangXian, WWX & WN &WQ, WWX & JYL, NHS & WWX, Canon Divergence, WWx does not attend the Wen indoctrination, WWX saves Lotus Pier, Inventor WWX, No Golden Core Transfer, Sect Leader JYL, JC Has No Golden Core, Bad Parents JFM & YZY, Not JC Friendly, but he gets a happier ending than canon so don’t look here for bashing)

in the shadow of moonlit flowers by Reverie (cl410) (T, 56k, wangxian, LXC/NMJ, cloud recesses, NHS & LWJ friendship, developing relationship, LWJ pov, minor injuries, autistic LWJ, implied/referenced child abuse, aka YZY warning, genius WWX, light angst, hurt/comfort, WWX protection squad)

❤️ The One-Body Problem by metisket (T, 29k, LJY & WWX, LJY & LSZ, wangxian, possession, cohabitation, The One-Body Problem by SeaNoodle)

4C)

Lan Qiren walks in on Lan Zhan and Wei Ying having sex & gets upset in chapter 45 of Dispersing Clouds by dreamingofcake (E, 283k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Abusive YZY, Canonical Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Eventual Sex, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm (Background Character), Background Character Deaths, child deaths, Canon JC, Good Uncle LQR, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Cultivation Sect Politics, Homophobia, Heteronormativity, Feelings Realization, WWX is Not Oblivious)

A Brother's Woes by pupeez4eva (M, 2k, WangXian, Crack, Humor, Time Travel) Lan Xichen time travels and tries to reduce Wei Ying & Lan Zhan's shamelessness after having walked in on them having sex multiple times in the original timeline.

5 Interruptions by Gavilan, jennisaisquoi, kisahawklin, nonplussed non-fic (nonplussed), Rionaa, semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona), takopods (takonomz) (T, WangXian, Accidental Voyeurism, Embarrassment, Notfic, 5 Times, NHS is a Little Shit, wn is a cinnamon roll, LXC Ships It, Podfic & Podficced Works, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Humor) this is an audio only experience of 5 characters walking in on Wangxian, and while they're not all traumatized, certainly some are

🔒 A More Practical Approach by Elhana (T, 9k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, Teacher WWX, Humour, POV Multiple, Implied Sexual Content, when you just want to get frisky with your hot husband but your in-laws crave their peace and quiet, huge conflict of interest right there, WWX is resourceful, wuxia magic shenanigans, Post-Canon)

~*~

5. I am looking for some good fits from LWJ point of view. Preferably following his life according to canon (novel, donghua, cql). The longer the better (usually). Thanks! @hiddendonut

🔒 The Price of Old Wishes by SoManyJacks (E, 67k, WangXian, Minor canon divergence, Angst, POV LWJ, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Slow Burn, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, semi-verbal!LWJ, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Suicide)

New Perspective series by mrcformoso (T, 8k, WangXian, LSZ & LWJ, Major Character Death, Angst, Hopeful Ending, Fatherhood, Regrets, Flashbacks, POV LWJ, LWJ-centric, Canonical Character Death - WWX, Pining LWJ, LWJ Has Feelings, LWJ Needs a Hug, Character Development, Dead WWX, LWJ deals with the death of his love, And learns to be a father along the way, Introspection, Feelings, LWJ is Bad at Feelings, Character Study, WWX’s death in The Untamed was too raw, Regretful LWJ, Breaking Toxic Cycles, Canon Compliant, LWJ in Seclusion, Post-LWJ in Seclusion, Child LSZ, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, but only the ending, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, LWJ regaining WWX's Trust, Golden Core Reveal, Good Kid LSZ, Post-Time Skip, Love Confessions, Requited Love, Trust Issues, WWX Has a Fear of Dogs, WWX Has No Golden Core, Light Jealousy, Fierce Corpse WN, Protective LWJ, Post-Canon, WWX Has Chronic Pain, WWX Has Issues, WWX has Phantom Pain, WWX was Malnourished, Sad LWJ, POV WWX, WWX is always cold, migraines, Suicidal WWX, Suicidal Thoughts, Implied/Referenced Suicide, mirror therapy, Good Friend NHS, Crying, WWX's body is normal but he still feels as if it isnt, Made up Nie Clan lore, POV LSZ; Found Family, Toxic Elders, Growing Up, The Lan Juniors, LSZ's parents suffered, And so he starts a revolution, Bringing about change, LWJ Adopts LSZ, WWX is LSZ's Parent, LSZ is a polite menace, HGJ raised an army of Lan rebels and we're here for it, Good Uncle WN) especially the first 2

~*~

6. Can you recommend a fanfic where jiang cheng got curse, and his partner is lan xichen?

~*~

7. Hello,are there any fanfics that deal with the aftermath of Nightless City with Wei Wuxian in the burial mounds leading up to the Siege. Like, the Wen siblings are now gone and his shijie. I am seriously drawing a blank here though on any specific ones that go over the reaction of all of them being gone or the wens reaction to just waiting to die. Au's are fine though.

~*~

8. ITMF a canon divergence fic where the golden core transfer fails and wwx has to amswer to jiang cheng about why his wasn't repaired and instead wwx lost his too and we go from there @body-inabyss-heart-inparadise

at the end of a storm (is a golden sky) by KouriArashi (M, 106k, WangXian, JC & WWX, JC/WQ, JC & WWX & JYL, JYL/JGY, Canon Divergence, Angst, Family, Grief/Mourning, Developing Relationship, Slow Build, Politics, Intrigue, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everybody Lives, Eventual Happy Ending, Chronic Illness, jiang family feels, Canon-Typical Violence, canon typical political bullshit, post sunshot)

~*~

9. ITMF! Just any fics with lwj being a huge simp. Modern or canon all are welcome. (No bottom lwj. Canon dynamics only) @aristocraticteacup

we'll get him falling for a stranger (or a catfish) by sweetlolixo (T, 38k, WangXian, Modern AU, College AU, Catfish AU, Eventual Happy Ending, Crossdressing WWX, Rich heir LWJ gets catfished by pretty WWX online that's it that's the fic, Pining LWJ, Fluff, Humor, lwj is a grade A+ SIMP, Identity Porn)

it’s just (aah) a little crush (crush!) by sweetlolixo (T, 9k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Romance, Fluff, Pining LWJ, Humor, Courting Rituals, Teen Wangxian)

I'll light the fire (You place the flowers in the vase) by somnologic (E, 6k, WangXian, Getting Together, Canon Divergence, Period-Typical Homophobia, Jealous LWJ, Top LWJ/Bottom WWX, Inventor WWX, Oblivious LWJ, Fluff and Smut, Cloud Recesses Shenanigans, Gusu Lan Arm Strength, No Sex Education in the Gusu Lan Sect, Beards (Relationships), WWX gets a beard Lan wife, LWJ gets confused, Happy Ending, Background Femslash, No actual cheating or infidelity occurs, Pining, Coming Out, Light Dom/sub, Simp LWJ)

The Nightshift by love_kacey (E, 27k, WangXian, Modern AU, Hotels, nightshift, receptionist lwj, POV LWJ, First Meetings, Flirty WWX, Simp LWJ, Workplace Relationship, Top LWJ/Bottom WWX, Power Bottom WWX, Explicit Sexual Content, Blow Jobs, Face-Fucking, Cock Warming, Light Dom/sub, Anal Sex, Dirty Talk, LWJ Talks Dirty)

The Mummified Emperor Wants To Marry Me by sweetlolixo (E, 84k, WangXian, WIP, Modern, Historical Fantasy, Royalty, Emperor LWJ, Mummy LWJ, Reincarnation, Size Difference, Archaeologist WWX, Simp LWJ)

beautiful, just like you by whenitfalls (T, 2k, WangXian, Bakeries, Mutual Pining, courting, Modern AU, Fluff, nielan, ZhuYi)

~*~

10. hello! for a future itmf: any modern AU fics were they attend some sort of cultivation school? been reading in this fandom since it practically started on ao3 and get hankerings for fics I only barely remember. thank you all for what you do! @abomimablesnwm

The Life Cycle of the Frog and the Fish by Aerlalaith (T, 53k, wangxian, modern, fairy tale elements, reincarnation, fluff & angst, humor, illnesses, curses)

Marks of weakness, marks of woe by Song_of_Storms (E, 48k, WangXian, WIP, College/University, Modern with Magic, Dark Academia, Rivals to Lovers, Dark LWJ, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Murder Mystery, Minor Character Death, Familiars, Fencing, Nonbinary NHS, Poison, Aftermath of Poisoning, Tagged Explicit For Later Chapters, LWJ's canonical inability to distinguish between immediate hatred and immediate attraction, furthering the LWJ/JZX/MM friendship agenda, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Intrusive Thoughts)

🧡 One Can Keep A Secret (If He Does Not Know It's There) by H_Belle (T, 5k, WangXian, Modern Cultivators, Inventor WWX, Secret Identity, Identity Reveal, YLLZ WWX, Rogue Cultivator WWX, Pining LWJ, POV WWX, Background Wangxian Getting Together, Jiangs are only mentioned in the passing, inspired by a tumblr post)

These next ones are also cultivation schools but Wei Ying and/or Lan Zhan are teachers rather than students:

Documented Fact by Scrippio (T, 7k, WangXian, Modern AU, Modern with Magic, College/University, Professors, Minor Injuries, Misunderstandings, Fluff, Zizhen POV, Humor)

Roadside Attractions by Bodldops (T, 10k, WangXian, Teacher WWX, Teacher LWJ, The power of organized aunties)

🔒 Song of Divination by LittleSummary (M, 28k, WangXian, NieLan, WIP, Single Parent WWX, Modern with Magic, Demonic Cultivation, Amnesiac WWX, Curses, Past Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Behavior, Bad Parent YZY, Bad Parent JFM, Canon JC, No JC & WWX Reconciliation, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, LSZ is a Wei, MXY is a Wei)

grimoire by WithLoweredVoices (M, 95k, WangXian, Dark Academia AU, Modern with Magic, Magical Realism, Postgrad WangXian, lots of cryptozoology and marine biology, maybe a little bit of, The Magicians AU, Fae LWJ, some horror elements, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unreliable Narrator WWX, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Mutual Pining, Minor MingYao, no redemption arc for MY)

~*~

11. Hi, first thanks for all your amazing work!! This site is awesome!! I searched but I couldn't find a list or compilation. I want stories that deal with Wei Ying is never found by the Jiangs. Not only him being raised in other sects, but not only major sects but small ones, or even being a rouge cultivator. Him being awesome no matter where or with whom he grew up. Thanks!! Be well!! :) @monicaop21

You might find some fics you'd like in this Non-Yunmeng Wei Wuxian comp

A Thousand Things by tickertape (M, 108k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, Developing Friendships, lots of OCs, miscommunication and misunderstandings (they’re idiots your honor), Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Cloud Recesses Shenanigans, Slow Burn)

🔒 the hearth series by eccentrick (G/T, 65k, WangXian, HuaLian, Found Family, fluff with plot, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Disabled Character, Ableism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, slow burn found family, Adopt WWX, Married HuaLian, Post-Canon TGCF, Kid Fic, TGCF Spoilers)

Going on charmingly by scribbet (T, 21k, WangXian, Teenage LWJ, Cloud Recesses Shenanigans, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, WWX is BSSR’s Disciple, Genius WWX, Petty LWJ, Meddling LXC, What if LWJ didn’t have an excuse to instantly write WWX off?, Canon Divergence, JFM Doesn’t Adopt WWX, WWX minus canon sense of obligation, but still with an inability to shut up around LWJ, I swear LWJ’s inner voice was no quite so snarky when I started this, JZN is unfortunately present but only to lose face, LQR’s inconsistent adherence to the Lan clan precepts, writing the effective Lan education you would like to see in the world, Technically pre-relationship, but in the typical Wangxian way of them being in deep but just not acknowledging it yet, POV LWJ)

🔒 I Will Call You By Name by DisasterMages (T, 73k, WangXian, WWX raised by XXC, Canon Divergence, Family Feels)

❤️ Seen and not heard by eatmyass (E, 51k, WangXian, Case Fic, No Sunshot Campaign, Kid Fic, dadxian, Strangers to Lovers, Found Family, POV LWJ, Pining, Sharing a Bed, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Time, Falling in love in metaphors)

what builds a home by Stratisphyre (T, 45k, WangXian, MY & WWX, Canon Divergence, Adopted WWX, POV Multiple, warning for JGS behaving exactly as expected, child endangerment, Brother Feels, Minor Character Death, [Podfic] Cold read of “what builds a home” by Stratisphyre by KeriArentikaiPods (KeriArentikai))

❤️🔒 Candy & Conspiracies by Reverie (cl410) (T, 16k, WangXian, JZX & WWX, Jīn Sect WWX, Chaos Gremlin WWX, Fluff and Crack, Humor, Cloud Recesses, Found Family, pure idiocy, And some light murder, the chaotic jin trio we could have had, good madam jin, No Angst, Canon Divergence)

🔒 shades of grey spill from my veins (bleeding ink all over the page) by Reverie (cl410) (M, 58k, NieLan, WangXian, SangNing, POV NMJ, Canon Divergence, Joining the “Wei Wuxian raised by the Nie Sect” Club, Mentions of WWX’s life on the streets, Hurt/Comfort, Accidental Sibling Acquisition, Single Dad NMJ, NHS & WWX Friendship, Fluff, Humor, Happy Ending, Everyone Lives AU, Protective NMJ, Sunshot Campaign, Some angst, Blood and Injury, Kidnapping, Protective Siblings, Found Family)

🔒 The Echoes of that News Ring Loud by Scarlet_Gryphon (T, 111k, NMJ & NHS, 3zun, NHS/WN, JYL/JZX, WangXian, MM & NHS, WQ/2nd Madam Mo, Time Travel Fix-It, NMJ Lives, WWX Raised by a Different Sect, Universal Da-ge NMJ, JGY deserved better, Cinnamon Roll WN, the Nie brothers will do whatever they can to save the world, Temporary character death (but they get better), Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Behavior, Everyone Lives, Good Guy XY, because let's not leave kids hurt on the street, Let's give NHS Battle Fans club member, Gray-Ace power trio 3zun, Canon Divergence, discussions of JGS's canon-levels of dickery, brief and non-graphic discussion of past rape/non-con due to QS's origins, Mentions of Nightmares, NHS is a Little Shit, Minor Character Death, Happy Ending)

~*~

12. In the mood for fic: I have recently read some crack ship ideas about Jin Zixuan and Wei Wuxian:-) Is there any fic where Jin Zixuan has actually crush on Wei Wuxian (or even Jiang Cheng) and is frustrated and that's why he treats Jiang Yanli that way. Because he actually wants her brother(s), not her. Any universe is okay except modern au. Thank you.

Couldn’t Scream Couldn’t Shout by mermorgie (T, 42k, WangXian, LXC & WWX, LXC & LWJ, LQR & WWX, JZX & WWX, WWX & NHS, LWJ & NHS, WIP, Not for JC stans, Muteness, Sign Language, references to selective mutism, Homophobic JC, canon JC characteristics, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Anxiety Attacks, Pining, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Supportive Sibling LXC, JZX Tries, LQR Tries, Protective JZX, Scheming NHS, Bisexual JZX, LWJ is Bad at Communicating, WWX Has ADHD, Autistic LWJ, WWX Has a Fear of Dogs, Jiang Family Bashing) Jin Zixuan is bisexual in Couldn't Scream Couldn't Shout and talks to Wei Ying about sexuality in chapter 6. The author note in that chapter says Jin Zixuan has a crush on a guy but not Wei Ying and it was supposed to be revealed who Jin Zixuan liked but I dont't thinks it's been revealed yet (the story is a WIP that was last updated in August of 2022).

Also for 12, I swear I remember reading a story where Jin Zixuan was jealous of Lan Zhan being in a relationship with Wei Ying during the Cloud Recesses arc. I recall a scene where Jin Zixuan watches them while they're in Caiyi and I think Jin Zixuan had a crush on Wei Ying but I can't remember the name of the fic. Maybe someone else recalls it?

and the calm is deep where the quiet waters flow by izanyas (M, 303k, WangXian, off-screen rape, oppression, violence, sexual assault, grief/mourning, unwanted pregnancy) JZX does have a crush on WWX but it's definitely *not* crack mind the tags!

~*~

13. Hi, does anyone know of any fics where Wei Ying, after Lan Zhan ignores him, gives up on Lan Zhan and gives Lan Zhan the silent treatment and Lan Zhan later regrets ignoring him? @lanwuxian0725

Of Bunnies and Sleeves and All Happy Things by moonwaif (G, 3k, WangXian, two dorks, failed attempts at flirting, Lan Zhan is jealous, but he doesn’t know it, unresolved romantic and sexual tension, Mutual Pining) the ending is a bit abrupt in this one but it's the only one I can think of that fits

This Ain't Beijing by YilingSani (G, 7k, WangXian, Modern, Christmas, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, CEO LWJ, personal assistant WWX, Co-workers, LWJ Being an Asshole, Light Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Misunderstandings, wangxian fail to communicate as always, some dude hits on WWX, WWX falls first but LWJ falls harder)

Tell Me To Stay by YilingSani (G, 14k, WangXian, Established Relationship, Domestic Issues, Wangxian break up, LWJ Has Issues, Injury, Getting Back Together, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort)

~*~

14. Hello!

For itmf could you recommend any modern AUs where the equivalent of yllz wwx/his death is him having a mental health crisis?

Love you so much

Love Don’t Belong To Me by airinshaw (E, 28k, WangXian, Modern AU, Getting Together, Kissing, Intercrural Sex, Light Angst, Happy Ending, PTSD, Panic Attack, WWX’s canonical self-esteem issues, Canonical Child Abuse, not as dark as the tags imply, Past Relationships mention)

Come Around and Stay by trippednfell (M, 160k, WangXian, NieLan, Slow Burn, Kid Fic, Found Family, Modern AU, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, PTSD, Blood and Injury, Dissociation, Angst with a Happy Ending, Musicals, POV Alternating, Baking, Yunmeng reconciliation (eventually), Friend Zoning, Literal Sleeping Together, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks)

The Winner Takes It All by YilingSani (M, 46k, WangXian, Modern AU, Single Parent WWX, Old Friends, One Night Stands, No Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Forgiveness, Second Chances, Inspired by Mamma Mia! (Movies) Teen Pregnancy, Mpreg, mention of miscarriage, Birth Trauma, amniotic fluid embolism)

like a saturated sunrise by moonsteps (T, 26k, WangXian, College/University, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, References to anxiety, Family Issues, Friends to Lovers, Roommates)

总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near) by yiqie (E, 76k, WangXian, Modern AU, Pianist, Getting Together, Mental Health Issues, Suicide Attempt, Suicidal Thoughts, Depression, Hospitals, Overdosing, Eventual Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note) please mind the tags on this last one.

leave all your love and your longing behind by ScarlettStorm (E, 143k, WangXian, Modern AU, no magic, Meet-Ugly, Panic Attacks, autistic lwj, neurodivergent wwx, the neighborhood asshole dog, if you’ve met one then you know, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Minor Angst, major shenanigans, Happy Ending, for everyone including the asshole dog, Eventual Smut, switch rights, Sex Toys, horny yearning, Masturbation) that's the backstory in this (excellent) fic

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15. Hi, thanks for all you do. ITMF fics where LWJ is extremely horny for WWX. I know this is saying a lot because he's canonically very horny, but I need him straight up "can't think about anything but wwx's ass" @thehappyyellow

🔒 The Second Jade of Lan’s late but incendiary sexual awakening by KizuKatana (E, 41k, wangxian, First Time, LWJ’s Horny Grip,LWJ does not know what hit him, and yet somehow he still realizes it before WWX, canon wangxian dynamics, college AU, LWJ starts off annoyed at WWXBut quickly discovers both his competency kink and a caretaking kink, Genius WWX)

Give Me One Good Honest Kiss by thunderwear (T, 1k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, LWJ kisses WWX when he drinks the alcohol for him, JZn can get fucked, WWX like idk whats happening but im into it, LWJ shooting his shot, First Kiss, horny LWJ agenda, LXC is suffering in LQR's namere, [PODFIC] Give Me One Good Honest Kiss by thunderwear)

LWJ’s Big Dick Agenda Series by raitala (E, 146k, WangXian, Modern AU, College AU, Porn with Feelings, Light Dom/sub, Under-negotiated Kink, Public Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Cock Warming, Angst, Feels, Domestic fluff, Misgendering, Slut Shaming, Crossdressing, Rimming, Roleplay)

slide by Anonymous (E, 5k, WangXian, PWP, First Time, Masturbation, Rimming, Thighfucking, Anal Sex, LWJ’s extreme thirst, no thoughts head empty just wwx getting railed, Intercrural Sex)

depths within by andreanna (E, 17k, WangXian, Dubious Consent, Canon-typical dubcon, Aftercare, Light Angst, Survivor Guilt, Pining, Kink Negotiation, Character Study, LWJ is a lusty boy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bondage, Voyeurism, Minor canon divergence, Family Feels)

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16. I want any story about Lan Wangji marrying out of the Lan sect. Mostly I am looking for him marrying into the Jiang sect after Sunshot but anything where he leaves the Lan by marriage. @unaffiliatedmagpie

The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by notevenyou (E, 66k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Injury, Injury Recovery, Blood, Respiratory Illness, Major Illness, Fever, Grief/Mourning, Burial Mounds, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hunger and food scarcity, Surgery, Fix-It of Sorts, Le feu qui gagne la rivière by Silu_chan, [Podfic of] The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by exmanhater)

Grey Area by pearliegrimm (M, 31k, WangXian, MM/WQ, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, Found Family, Yílíng Wèi Sect, Sect Leader WWX, WWX lives, Canon Divergence, LWJ defects, married wangxian, Established Relationship, Secret Marriage, Angst, POV Multiple, Unreliable Narrator, Eloping, Reconciliation, Fix-It, Not Everyone Dies)

Sunshower in Yiling Series by Aki_no_hikari (T/G, 24k, WangXian, Canon Divergence wwx is a genius and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, Light Angst, Introspection, Pining, Family Fluff, Battle Couple, Yílíng Wèi Sect, Teacher WWX, Family Drama) Parts 3, 4 & 5

Run Off The World by Sapphire_Roses (M, 336k, WangXian, XuanLi, SongXiao, WIP, Not Everyone Dies AU, Canon Divergence, Wen Remnants Live, Flashbacks, YLLZ WWX, WWX Creates a Sect | Yiling Wei Sect, Sect Leader WWX, Married WangXian, OCs, POV Outsider, Morally Grey Characters, (Do Take That Tag Seriously), Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Attempt at Humor, Yunmeng Siblings Feels, Gusu Siblings Feels, Sibling Bonding, Pining, Character Study, Tenderness, Mild Smut, POV Alternating, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Minor Character Death)

The Trouble With Politics: a Treatise on Jiang Sect Deputies Gone Rogue by Sect Leader Wei Wuxian by stiltonbasket (G, 56k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Yílíng Wèi Sect, or: the one where yu   zhenhong is a wild card, Smitten LWJ, Domestic Fluff, Politics, Happy Ending, Sect Leader WWX, Fix-It of Sorts, JZX still dies though)

💖 And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness by cosmicmilktea (T, 10k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Screw the Cultivation world tbh, The Lan precepts deserves better, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, domestic life, Social justice boyfriends wangxian, Happy Ending)

We can fix that by Spindoctor (E, 85k, WangXianJue, Threesome - M/M/M, NMJ Lives, Arranged Marriage, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Cock Warming, Caretaking, Light BDSM, Thigh jobs, Everyone Loves WWX, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Frottage, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Starvation, Canon-Typical Violence, Starvation recovery, PTSD, PTSD RECOVERY, Suicidal Ideation, Scars, Discussion of Surgery, mild body horror, discussion of starvation, body talk, Nightmares, screaming ghosts, WWXs canonical cnc kink, cnc fantasies, Light Bondage, tender fucking, instead of talking about feelings, Slow Burn, JYL Lives, BAMF JYL, Erectile Dysfunction, Weight Gain, Chapter Specific Tags in Beginning Notes) Lan Zhan has arranged marriage to Nie Mingjue (he marries to Nie sect), then Wei comes into picture too;-)

An Elegant Solution by giraffeter (E, 205k, WangXianJue, Arranged Marriage, Canon Divergence, Threesome - M/M/M, Friends to Lovers, Fix-It, Everyone Lives, Courtship, First Time, First Kiss, Polyamory, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Rimming Voyeurism, Porn With Plot, horny dudes in love, Falling In Love, Light Bondage, Porn that turned out to have quite a bit of plot, Love Letters, WWX’s canonically fabulous ass, LWJ’s canonically large cock, Political Intrigue, ok one person dies but it won’t be anyone you care about, Praise Kink, Dom/sub, Spitroasting, JGY Redemption, Edging, [Podfic] An Elegant Solution by Koontyme, Translation (Русский) Available) I really recommend threesome marriage WWX/LWJ/NMJ where Wei and Lan Zhan marries into Nie to Nie Mingjue

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17. itmf a fic where wwx is good with children pls! <3

Wei Wuxian: Baby Whisperer by JangJaeYul (G, 1k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Babies, Domestic, Fluff, WWX is good with kids, also they talk about LWJ being sad after WWX dies so be ready for that emotional ouchie)

🔒 Baby Whisperer Wei Wuxian by Preludian_Staves (T, 15k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Not Jiang Clan Friendly, Arranged Marriage (eventually for reasons), Parent-Child Relationship, Soft WWX, Pining LWJ, Good Parent WWX, WWX Is Good With Children, Single Parent WWX, Fluff and Angst, Developing Relationship)

The happy family book by blackberrydhhshhshsh (M, 13k, WangXian, WIP, Fluff, Slow Burn, Family Dynamics, Single Parent LWJ, Kindergarten Teacher WWX, author WWX, Modern, Falling In Love, Love Confessions, LWJ is Bad at Feelings, WWX is Good With Children, A-Yuan as a Tiny Matchmaker, Soft LWJ, tender moments, Angst with a Happy Ending, Kindergarten & Pre-school, Fluff and Humor)

Wei Wuxian Changes the Rules by cinder1013 (G, 2k, WangXian, learning, WWX is a teacher, WWX being so cute with kids)

🔒 Temporal Shift by Cy_an_Blue (E, 33k, LQR & WWX, WangXian, LWJ & WWX & LXC, LQR & LWJ & LXC, Amnesia, Amnesiac WWX, Third Jade of Lan WWX, Good Uncle LQR, Good Parent LQR, LQR adopts WWX, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Curses, Cursed WWX, there is no cure, Fluff and Humor, Happy, Time Travelling WWX, Angst and Feels, Near Death Experiences, Lanling Jin Sect Bashing, Lanling Jin Sect, Lanling jin disciples are assholes, Warning: JGS, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Talks of Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Classism, Period Typical Attitudes, WWX's canonical cynophobia, no animals were harmed, WWX is Good With Children, Minor Character Death, it's SS, SS dies)

Protection by SauerstoffBrauchtManZumAtmen23 (T, 1k, WangXian, Crimes & Criminals, Dark LWJ, Dark WWX, Mute WWX, Crime Boss LWJ, Married WangXian Have Children, WWX is Good With Children)

🧡 paint smears on sunny days by SnowshadowAO3 (E, 53k, WangXian, Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Everyone Is Alive, Modern AU, Dadji, Mutual Pining, Happy Ending, Brief Alcohol Mention, Masturbation, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Accidentally co-parenting with your son’s art teacher, Fatherhood)

🔒❤️ Joy In the Midst of These Things Series by Glitterbombshell (T/G, 53k, WangXian, Angst with Happy Ending, Post-Canon, Teacher WWX, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, [Podfic] Joy In the Midst of These Things Series by GoLBPodfics (GodOfLaundryBaskets))

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If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[csolarstorm]

The Z-A Battle Royale Isn't Suspicious At All, Nope

So you're telling me that the same company that is inexplicably importing wild Pokemon from all over the region into a city they're not native to...is also offering one free wish to whoever wins a shady nighttime free-for-all between trainers all over the city?

Sounds great, nothing suspicious there! Hope the taxi guy wins and achieves public transit supremacy!

Granted, I'm assuming that Quasartico is behind the Z-A Battle Royale, because it's their holographic force fields that turn red to announce that the The Purge has come to Lumiose City and you better have a Pokemon to defend yourself with.

(I think a Pokemon League tournament would be a little more organized than this, and more importantly it wouldn't let trainers jump each other to get an "advantage" in battle.)

This trailer paid off the hint for the Z-A Battle Royale at the end of the last trailer, and likewise foreshadowed some reveals that could be in the next trailer. As the narrator says that "it seems there are more secrets waiting to be uncovered" we get three scenes:

AZ and Floette - of course. Skeletons abound in that closet...metaphorical and literal!

Zygarde galloping through the streets at night with urgency, which tells us that the Z-A Battle Royale is definitely part of the plot.

Oh! Could this be edited, and maybe the playable character is actually on Zygarde's back in this scene? Probably not, it's epic enough as it is...but a guy can wish, right?

And finally,

Paxton and Lucario facing a mysterious entity that is sparkling purple. This, as the narrator is asking "what will you find on your adventure"? Some people are guessing this is Mega Diancie, but I'm leaning more toward a non-legendary Mega wild encounter.

So will the next trailer give us more information about AZ, Zygarde, and a new Mega Evolution or Pokemon? I sure hope so, because this is the third trailer in a row that hasn't revealed any new Pokemon designs...

...and it's actually really good marketing that is helping to maintain the hype way more than just revealing everything. Way to go TPC!