#and its not my discs for the same reason

[starwolf53]

Bruhhhh i went through alllll the trouble to find my old portable cd player AND get it fixed (we left the batteries in and they corroded.. a little....) and the aux cord for my headphones doesn't work 😭😭

[tah1u11ah]

i need everyone to know ive been in the lman summer discord a total of like. Two/three and a half days. And i made a minecraft server and already have two duos with members + found family happening??? And we're speedrunning lore somehow but its all janky?????

[webvampzz]

WHERE ARE MY FUCKING WII DISCS 😭😭😭😭

[comicaurora]

A bit of a strange question, but if there were any of your videos you were to "remake" today for any reason (ex: you feel like you misrepresented the original text or spread misinformation), which would it be and why? None of them is a perfectly valid answer

Again: bit of a strange question, but I've been thinking about my own creations and how I could have done so much better with some of them, but I also know that is a sign of my growth and constantly chasing "what if I did this instead" isn't always healthy for nurturing a creative mindset, and I was wondering what your opinion might be as a Creator of Things with a bit more experience than I

There's been a few trope talks where I've thought later of other angles I could've explored that might warrant sequels or part 2s, but I don't dislike any of the summaries enough to justify a rework.

I always find "I could've done this better if I made it now" to be a bit of a fallacy. I'm only better at making things now because I made all those earlier things. If I knew everything I'd learn from making a project before I started the project, it wouldn't come out the same.

I think when it comes to the "rework remake perfect" instinct, it helps to zero in on what the impulse is really grounded in. In my experience, more often than not, it's not actually about making the art better, except incidentally. It's usually about showing that you are better. It's demonstrating your competence and your higher standards and your skills, and more importantly it's overwriting the proof that you were once less than perfect. If people look at your old work and think that's all you're capable of, they'll be judging you poorly!

If that's the motivator, it's a very unhelpful one. You can't control for being harshly or incorrectly judged. It's a fruitless effort to stave off potentially upsetting outdated criticism, and it's not even going to work. Fear of critique is an unreliable and untrustworthy motivator.

If it really is about making the art itself better, perfecting your magnum opus with your newly leveled-up skills, that's a little more solid. But from where I'm standing, it's always better to use those skills to make something new instead of polishing something old. The older, unpolished work has already acquired its audience that finds it appealing for reasons that might never occur to you. Trying to bury or overwrite it just deprives that audience of the thing they like, and maybe makes them feel bad for having liked it in the first place. Also, usually when you look back on the older work, you'll conclude that the problem is everything and it'll need to be torn down and started from scratch. I know when I revisited the first three chapters of the comic, when I let my critic brain spin up, it wasn't shading or lineart I wanted to fix - it was panel composition, overall pacing, the entire structure of the chapters as a whole. I would've had to make them all over again to be happy with them, and they wouldn't be the same story by the end.

I've been thinking a lot about the Discworld through this lens lately. It ended up over 40 books long, but everyone agrees that the first two are not what you should start with, because they're the worst ones. They're entirely parodic, purely referential of at-the-time major fantasy series, and borderline mean-spirited in places. If you haven't read Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Dragonriders of Pern, you're not gonna understand like a full 50% of The Colour Of Magic.

It's clear that when he started in on them, Pratchett was entirely focused on taking the piss out of a genre he found mostly shallow and unimpressive. But the Discworld wouldn't leave his head, and everything he made fun of he clearly eventually found himself overthinking. He'd make little one-off jokes in the early books about Dwarves having no women and a hundred words for gold, and then twenty books later he'd have a Dwarf gender revolution make waves across the Disc, and then he'd write Thud!, a book that delves deeper into the nuances of Dwarf societal structure than Tolkien ever did.

If you look for them, there are continuity errors everywhere in Discworld. In his introductory book, Carrot defused a dwarf bar full of rowdy brawlers by guilting them all into writing to their poor lonely mothers back home. Shortly thereafter, Carrot will be outraged at the mere concept of an openly female dwarf. Pratchett even eventually wrote Thief of Time, a book that loosely explains that the Disc makes no sense because history has been broken and put back together incorrectly twice, and therefore any continuity errors are because of that.

He's the writer. He could've gone back and fixed it, edited the reprints to be less disruptively discontinuous with the later books. Instead he continuously moved forward and allowed the world he made to grow without cutting it off from its roots. And because he didn't bury his older, far worse work, we have the privilege of following the Disc's evolution from the very start, and seeing how this shallow, stock fantasy world parody became something incredibly rich and complex without ever pretending like its early installments never happened.

Anyway, that's why I think it's better to move forward. You make more good stuff that way.

[crepesuzette2023]

Only asking if you wanna and have time to do it. No worries if you don't but asking anyway because it would be so helpful. I find it a bit difficult because I'm new. Maybe you've done this before and can add linkto that. Please.

My ask is if you could make a list of McLennon fics on AO3.

A list of favorites. (fan favourites or popular fic writers in the fandom)

A list of finished fics with lots of smut.

A list of fics that is very realistic in the Beatle lore/quite possible/likely to have happend.

A list of uncanon/not likely/ John's still alive, reunion of the Beatles etc.

A list of your own and or own favorites.

Thank you!

Thanks for the ask, Anon!

I recommended some fics in the past, it’s true, but it’s been a while. This is a chance to mention some stories I read & loved since then. (I’ll also link to the older recs, so you can check them out as well.)

(This is long, so I'm editing this to insert a break)

But first there's this:

A list of favorites. (fan favourites or popular fic writers in the fandom)

I can’t speak for the fandom as a whole, because everyone’s taste is different. What I can do is name some stories I personally love, and that are also beloved by many others.

These fics have probably been recced many times, including by me—and for a reason: they’re excellent.

Also: all of these writers have many great fics. The stories below are just entry points to their work.

• On the Way to Work by @roundthatcorner. (Paul gets a job after Hamburg.)

• Lifting Latches/Sending Postcards by ThinkPink20. (Early Days. Paul and John swap clothes.)

• Now and then (there’s a fool such as I) by @stonedlennon. (The trip to Caversham.)

• Six hours in August by @stonedlennon. (John and Paul meet in NYC in 1976.)

• Bird Passing Through by @savageandwise. (John is tripping and visiting Paul after his moped accident.)

• I was a younger man then (now) (post hoc) by @fingersfallingupwards. (McLennon as The Time Traveller’s Wife.)

• baby, it’s all relative by @pauls1967moustache. (Early John and Paul and daddy issues.)

• but still they lead me back by @revollver. Paul remembers the moment when John asked him, do you like me?

• Double Fantasy by @javelinbk. John and Paul’s (modern) Flower Shop AU.

• The Same as it Ever Was by RedheadAmongWolves. John and Paul through the eyes of the newsagent.

• The First Year by candle_beck. Still feeling the reverberations of this one in my bones years after reading.

• Portrait of the Artist by @scurator. (John and Paul take sexy pictures…to sell them for money. For no other reason.)

• Kissing the Blarney by @zilabee. Paul is the Beatles’ talisman. (This is magical realism at its best.)

• Smutlets by @unchaineddaisychain. (Don’t let the flippant name deceive you: this is a massive collection of shorter and longer fics across many genres, eras, and themes. There’s something in there for everyone!)

• The Cat by @merseydreams. Post Beatles break-up. Paul thinks John has a new boyfriend. He has thoughts about this.

And, of course, my personal favorite of all time, my desert island, gold-disc-for-space, “printed it all to make sure I won’t lose it when The Internet™ is gone”: I Need You Darlin’ (So Come Go With Me) by @beatlessideblog. Omegaverse version of John and Paul’s love story (do not scroll away!), with Paul being the alpha. I keep saying this, but it’s fantastic how the writer combines omegaverse ideas with late 50’s/ early 60’s Liverpool. Novel length plus 9 extras, what can I say. We are all blessed.

A list of finished fics with lots of smut.

Here are some recent smutty favorites. (Below are links to older smutty recs!)

• Loops by @dailyhowl. Sgt. Pepper’s era. John and Paul create tape loops of themselves during sex.

• just to make me misbehave by @dykebeatles. 1967. Paul and John have sex before, during, and after the Sgt. Pepper’s launch party.

• Lonely Hearts Column by @unchaineddaisychain. Modern AU, middle-aged composer Paul and younger artist John, and a lovely night followed by the sweetest breakfast.

• Ask the Glass by @unchaineddaisychain: Young John and Paul, and two séances.

• Put A Spell on You by @eveepe. Help! Era. The size difference between Smaul and John works very well for both of them.

• monkey’s paw by @ameliepoulain. Repressed tension and catharsis during the Japan leg of the  ’66 tour.

• lift up your heart and sing you a song by @wronglennon. Sex during the making Magical Mystery Tour. Paul wears the white suit.

• it’s good to touch by @pondpossum. Smutty mclennon art!

• The Look of You by @ohjohnnysblog. Paul is fisting John.

• the chronicles of trying to keep quiet and almost getting caught by lazydaisychain. On tour, John and Paul are trying to make space for their love.

• Piston Engines (Shift to Overdrive) by SwishyNibblyNibbly. John and Paul join the Mile High club on the way to their first US visit. Also:

• NSFW favorites (Feb. 2024)

• What’s the most raunchiest, dirty, and just explicit Mclennon fic you’ve ever read? (March 28, 2024)

• Hi, I would love recs for mclennon fics dripping in sexual tension, like six hours in August by stonedlennon. It doesn't need to have explicit sexual content. Thank you! (March 6, 2024)

A list of fics that is very realistic in the Beatle lore/quite possible/likely to have happened.

I think that’s an interesting ask, to be honest. I’ll take this to mean stories that feel “in character” and are compliant with canon events as we know them—not stories presenting a plausible explanation/only possible version of events. (Subtle difference.)

Here are some fics I could think of that fit this description (more links at the end of this post, if interested) : Krankenstand by @savageandwise. John takes care of a sick Paul in Hamburg. Two Truths, and Two Lies by J_Deandra_j. John and Paul from 1965-67, based on four quotes.

the best of times, the worst of times by @crumblingcookies. John and Paul during the Beatles' 1964 visit to the British Embassy in Washington.

Someone Else Can Worry About Me... by @idontwanttospoiltheparty. Paul comforting, and being comforted, through the years.

in france, they kiss on main street by @orphanbeat. Paul is spiraling about John during their 1966 visit to Paris.

The Dream by monkberrymoon. Screenplay-format story centered on the Did you dream about me last night? scene in Get Back.

Transatlantic by @therealsaintscully. Don't let the incomplete chapter count distract you; the first two chapters each stand on their own. John and Paul are talking on the phone after the break-up.

and when i touch you by @forthlin. Early days. John and Paul notice the different size of their hands.

Huddersfield, 1963 by @dovetailjoints. The story behind the adorable 'boyfriends' photo.

The Sober Cannibal and the Drunken Christian (Anonymous). John and Paul wake up together in Paris.

(help me) get my feet back on the ground (ladeedahblue). The toboggan sandwich!

Unsaid in Studio Two by the Beatlefix. John and Paul yearn for each other as they work on Strawberry Fields Forever.

knows not where he's going to by @dovand. Liverpool days. Brian finds John in his office one morning.

See Us in the Real Life by RedHeadAmongWolves. Two EMI canteen workers observe the Beatles, and especially John and Paul, in the early days of their career.

Shooting Star by @pie-of-flames. Early days. John and Paul see a shooting star together.

Giving me the excitations by @backbenttulips. After the Pet Sounds listening party, Paul writes a song—while having sex with John.

Field-Boxing by @the-paper-apricot. Paul considers going back on tour.

all by design by @thegirlwiththeaxe. Early days. A smitten and determined Paul is plotting to sweep John off his feet at the fete.

A list of uncanon/not likely/ John's still alive, reunion of the Beatles etc.

Music save your mortal soul by @backbenttulips. (This writer is a specialist at middle-aged/old mclennon fix its! In this one, John persuades Paul, who he accuses of being a sell out, to go on a tour though the pubs...as The Nerk Twins.)

Leads Me To Your Door/The Four of Wands by @bluewater9. Gorgeous, real and warm two-parter about John and Paul in '89/'90: together, and on the brink of coming out...but not quite there yet.

And the fics listed here:

• Fics in which John is old and happy (Dec 8, 2024) ( this probably should have said middle-aged or old)

• mclennon fanfiction in which one or both of them is/are old (June 24, 2024)

• Old mclennon recommendations (2/2/2025)

A list of your own and/or own favorites.

Here are some Beatles fics I loved recently, with some space for non-mclennon.

John/Paul/Brian. Series (1963, 1967) by @scurator. Goes well with: Billet doux (Brian/Paul).

Paris, 1961 by whiteisthewarmestcolor. "A young Parisian woman meets two British musicians staying at the Montmartre hotel run by her family." I love this unusual outsider POV on John and Paul, and Beatles when they're famous...

cool about it by ohhamlet. After Hamburg. George and Jürgen, George and Paul.

a lesson in not caring by @javelinbk. John's thoughts and feelings during Paul's arrest in Japan. With a beautiful final chapter...

visionen christi by @dykebeatles. Hamburg. John has visions...Paul and George take care of him. The emergence of a tender trinity.

Lay, Lady, Lay by @aquarianshift. Paul and Jane, noble lady & stable hand role play.

love is a finder, always by @wronglennon. Instant all-time favorite. Hamburg: Paul and John and their demons are in love without knowing...until they do.

All Flesh is Weak by @thegirlwiththeaxe. 1967. Paul is a priest, John is a writer. They meet in grief, and make each other come alive. I love how warm and kind John is...!

She's not a girl who misses much by Anonymous. Yoko studies John and Paul.

half of what i say is meaningless, but i say it just to reach you by @pauls1967moustache. "CIA agent Tom Dawkins tries to decode Lennon/McCartney" — and finds himself. An awakening!

Oh Dear What Can I Do by @louiselux. 1966. John and Paul kiss on stage...and what happens after.

Your Song Will Fill the Air by Sminking: Strange days after Brian's death. India. And a happy ending? Unfinished, but hopefully finished soon. Dark and interesting.

i walked with you once upon a dream by @menlove. A Christmas Carol during he making of Magical Mystery Tour.

With a Little Help by @notgrungybitchin. 1967. John and Paul are such a couple during the Sgt. Pepper's photoshoot...

this boy would always feel the same by @adriennefrombrooklyn. 1975. Paul is divorced, and traveling to NYC with Robert Fraser. John, back with Yoko after the lost weekend, is jealous....

And finally:

• Here is a big blog post I made in December 2023 with my overall favorites in various categories at that point...

• Here are all my fic recs (many different asks) under the #fic recs tag on my blog

• Here are all my bookmarks on AO3

• And (since you asked) my own fics are here

Thanks again for asking, Anon, and I hope you find something in this huge mess of a post that you enjoy!

[wonton4rang]

——————————————————————————

pairing: bnd x reader.

warnings: none, mentions of arguments, kissing in some parts, mentions of the members real names.

summary: how would bnd react to “we have to talk”

——————————————————————————

sungho; unless he knows he did something to make you feel sad or mad, he would be chill, leaving his coat in the hanger and walking to you with a little bit of confusion since you said this as soon as he went in the house after coming back from work. “sure, what is it about?” he would ask in the sweetest and softest voice, his eyes showing the way he worried about you. and you just couldn’t do that to him, so you finally came clean and explained it was only a joke to see his reaction, sungho would laugh and kiss your forehead, assuring you that the whole “we need to talk” situation didn’t scare him since couples need to communicate in order to last :’) best boyfie award winner right here.

riwoo; “we need to talk” chills ran through his body before he unglued his eyes from the tv screen and directed them to you, his orbs got glossy really quick and his voice trembled when he asked “is everything okay, baby?” it was late, at least 1 or 2 in the morning and there was riwoo binge watching the series you told him not to loose sleep for. yeah, in sanghyeok’s mind you guys were done. but you just laughed at his scared frame, making him gulp before looking confused as you just kept laughing, explaining how it was only a joke and that you didn’t mind him watching his serie anytime, he was going to be the one tired after all. he would be soooo relieved, because he couldn’t even think of loosing you.

jaehyun; he didn’t even registered it the first time, his mind taking its time to process everything and create a thousand scenarios where he did something and you left him for it. so when you snapped your fingers in front of his face, he just held you in his arms, kissing your lips right away, so soft and yet so passionate and rough, only him could kiss you like that. he would back you up to the wall when you didn’t push him away and kiss you a little longer before letting your lips go for a second, panting against them before looking for your eyes and saying “i don’t recall doing anything wrong but if i did, i’m sorry, baby. can you tell me what it was? i promise i’ll fix it” but when you said it was just a joke, he just got a little mad, because why would you put his heart through such a harsh time.

taesan; “we need to talk” he was sitting on his bed when you said this, noticing how woonhak left the room right after you talked and taesan directed his eyes to you, still cleaning that vinyl disc “about what, noona?” you closed the door behind you and then crossed your arms in front of your chest, dongmin confusingly looking at you before putting his disc back in place and finally standing up “is there something bothering you, love?” his hands held your arms to uncross them and pull you in for a small peck in your lips, “what did you wanna talk about? did they do anything to upset you?” , “w-what? no, the members are just fine” , “are you sure?” and you could tell that even though he was showing you that nonchalant attitude he was really worried, he would NEVER think wrongly about his members, which is why you couldn’t hold it and laughed, explaining it was just a joke before he rolled his eyes at you and put you on laundry duty with sungho as a “punishment” for making him worry.

leehan; “what do you think i did now?” and that alone would make you feel soooo offended, your eyes and mouth opening at the same time and before you could even say anything to defend yourself he kept going “I haven’t even been out lately, you have my phone most of the day because for some reason you don’t want to subscribe to youtube premium on yours, i made you breakfast, i took the garbage out, i did the dishes and took a bath after cleaning the living room and folding the clean clothes. I don’t know what I missed or what you think I did but I-“ you had to stop him before he kept ranting “it’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong, it was just a joke” he arched his eyebrow at you as you added “but I didn’t know you did all that” leehan laughed this time and pull you over to sit on his lap in the couch “i did, between yesterday and today” and you couldn’t hold it just laughed while he kissed you, he was also a really good boyfie even when he liked to argue back.

woonhak; oh god please don’t do this to him omfg, he is nervous, screaming, trembling, tongue tied, shaking and paralyzed at the same time, he doesn’t know what he did, he doesn’t really think he did anything but you are his noona, his first girlfriend, you know better. so he could just sit there and look at you with his big eyes, sobbing every once in a while, waiting for you to talk and stop walking around in front of him. so when your eyes met he crumbled, “i’m sorry, i’m so sorry, i don’t know what i did yet but i will fix it, it won’t happen again. i love you so much, y/n. please forgive me” and the way his voice sounded broke your heart, immediately leaving the joke behind when you held his face and softly kissed his lips, assuring him that he didn’t do anything wrong and apologizing for the joke that took the wrong turn.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

i may be tripping and cant really remember but i read somewhere that i think sebek and silver were quite popular online or something when a photo of them wearing their equestrian gear ended up online? im not too sure if its correct but i think its somewhere along those lines but i dont remember whos vignette it was in but its been on my mind for a while now BVEBDBS

For the first ask, I believe you’re maybe referring to a scene early in Jack’s dream (book 7)?? They discuss extracurriculars for a bit; Azul mentions that he saw Silver and Sebek in Equestrian Club on Magicam, and that Silver looks so dashing—just like a prince!—on horseback. I don’t recall the post being viral though.

For the second ask, both Riddle and Vil have commented on Ace’s potential. (Other characters have as well, but I’m going to be focusing on those two since they were explicitly named in the ask.)

In Ace’s P.E. Uniform vignette, Riddle praises him for his reflexes (after Ace intercepts a spelldrive/magift disc that was about to bean Riddle). “I know how to recognize exceptional talent when I see it […] you did manage to prove your physical capabilities, at least. I could see you representing Heartslabyul in croquet tournaments or inter-dorm sports competitions one day. I expect a good showing from you, too, when that time comes.” He also says that there is “[…] some truth to [Ace] bragging about being a rising star.” Riddle boasts about Ace’s dexterity in Fairy Gala If too, which is what lands Ace as a candidate for the operation. “This is a prestigious job that only Ace can do... I have little doubt he'll be delighted he was chosen to represent Heartslabyul in this endeavor.”

In the same event, Vil chastises Silver, Ortho, and Jack for walking stiffly. Of the four enlisted to steal back their magestone from the pixies, Ace is the only one to have some level of skill on the runway, as it is easy for him to mimic others. In 5-17 of the main story, Vil and Rook discuss picks for the VDC/SDC Tribe, and Vil ultimately settles for the unconventional picks, which include Ace. His reasoning? As Rook puts it, "[...] a tiara packed with precious stones all crowding one another out [...] a tiara in which a single, grand diamond has a smaller, more colorful array of gems inlaid around it [...] the latter [is] more tasteful and appealing." Vil expresses the same sentiment in Ace's Birthday Jacket vignettes. When Ace considers Pomefiore as an alternate dorm, Vil tells him that "I think you'd be a gem worth polishing [...]", indicating that he sees potential in the birthday boy.

[sinning-23]

Publicity Pt.5

Warnings: smoking, y/n is a fucking throat goat, sexual content, swearing, awkward friends/crush to fuck buddies? Lovers? what the fuck even are we? 2D can't last lol

Heyyyy sooo i know im slackong but its because I'm planning for the next fee moths of my life lol I'm moving and going to japan about 2/3 months apart for I'm trying to save/raise money and get my shit together!

ANYWAY! I hope you all enjoy! You finally get some smut and I get to dip into my specialty...sin >:)

ENJOY!

Link to:

Publicity Introduction

Publicity Pt.1 Publicity Pt.2 Publicity Pt.3 Publicity Pt.4

PUBLICITY PT 6 UP NOW!!!!

Sleep was avoiding you both at this point, faint giggles filling the studio once you two had finished recording. It's like..the tension just melted away. Was there even any to begin with? Perhaps you'd imagined it all.

That was beside the point.

What you wanted more than anything in the whole world right now....

"D, you smoke?" You question, seemingly more of a test than anything.

Yeah, you knew cigarettes were his thing, but was Miss Mary Jane?

He tilts his head, a grin ever present on his face.

"You offerin'?" He asks, an excited glint in those pitch black eyes.

Annnd that's how you two ended up back in his room, something you didn't think would happen again considering the last time but hey!

Guess there were no real hard feelings after all. You're sitting cross-legged, eyes narrow in on the cute little pre-roll between your lips. Your lighter clicks once, twice, three times.

Nothing.

An irritated grunt pushes past your lips as 2D only chuckles at your struggle, sitting the same way in front of you, his back resting against the bedframe though.

"Need a ligh'?" He asks, accent thick as you tilt you head in debate.

*click*

sparks but no flame

*click* *click*

more sparks

*click* *click* *cli-*

"Shit, yes please." You sigh, a slight laugh leaving your lips.

The pre-roll is still sitting between your lips and he leans forward, guiding your chin up with his index finger. You hold back a choked whine, almost reflex to lean into his touch.

His eyes are just as focuses as yours were prior, the flame licking the end of it so gently as smoke begins to rise from the point of contact. You inhale, looking at him from under your lashes.

"Thanks."

Is all you can manage, the smoke you'd just inhaled pouring from your lips like an inscent fountain.

He takes his chance to pluck from your mouth, inhaling where you once had in an indirect kiss. And for some reason it makes your head spin...nah maybe it was just the weed. He inhales through his mouth, exhaling through his nose just before passing it back to you.

That was kinda hot-

The room is getting a bit hazy, with little air circulation his space would be hotboxed in no time. He reaches over, tugging a bin full of DVD cases from under his bed.

"Fancy a film?" He offers, your mind already hazy and overconfident as the reply sens shivers down the blue-ette's spine.

"Watch one or make one?" You tease, inhaling again, leaving back against your palms with a smirk.

"U-Uh- we, well I-" He stutters out, stopping when your outstretched, blunt-clad hand extended towards him.

"I'm teasing, whatcha got?" You chuckle, seeing his face flush red.

Part of you knows you weren't really joking. Just blame it on the weed.

In the bin, which is currently in 2D's grip were dozens of different movies, all of which seemed to be horror slasher thriller flicks. You peruse, grabbing a couple of cases, and reading the titles out loud.

"28 days later, classic. Uhhh-oh! Train to Busan. World War Z...Resident Evil. Nice, a bit of a zombie movie fan?" You grin, seeing the slight embarrassment on his face.

"W-Well yeah I like 'em" He explains, eyeing one cover specifically.

You reach for it, observing the picture with a slight not of approval.

"Evil Dead?"

He nods as you immediately move to insert the disc into the DVD player. What you had somewhat disregarded was the fact that you had to do sort of a bend and arch to even get to the DVD player and 2D just got a face-full of ass.

He clears his throat, trying his best to look away and failing. The TV static comes to life, masking it.

Damn it you had to have been doing that on purpose. He blames the weed for the sudden hard on.

And he was right, it was maybe a little bit on purpose.

You rest your weight on your elbows for a second, the still lit joint smoking away between your manicured fingertips. Did DVD player buttons have to be this damn small?

"D, got a remote?" You ask with a grin, passing it back to him seeing as you were a pinch preoccupied, your tongue slightly poking past your glossy lips.

He takes it, hoping this next hit would calm his nerves. It doesn't.

"Yeah, its ova' ‘ere on the nigh'stand" He mentally curses himself for the way his accent has noticeably thickened and lisp had poked through.

Being high did that to him though, didn't feel like he had to force himself to speak a specific way. Or maybe you did that? You’d never said anything about it. If anything, from what you’d let slip, you thought it was-

"Cute." You hum, sitting back against the pillows with him, not before flicking the lamp off at this nightstand.

It’s dark now, still hazy though as the movie plays and illuminates you both with dark blue light. He passes the dwindling joint back to you, your knees dealing closer to your chest as your inhale again, ghosting it this time with a grin at its success.

“You know how to ghost?” You question, passing it back as he smiles lazily.

“No’ really. I can french pretty damn good” He explains, demonstrating as the smoke glides through the gap in his smile.

“That’s so cool.” You giggle, taking it back from him.

You stretch, head about as foggy and relaxed as the room is. You opt to lay your stomach against the bed, rolling over briefly onto your back to gaze at 2D at the opposite end.

He's locked into the screen, his eyes reflecting the dark lighting of the screen as his lips part slightly, He's reciting each line, and it's adorable. It takes a moment but he eventually moves his gaze to your sprawled-out frame.

His eyes are low, seemingly taking you in, trailing from your eyes, to your lips, down the dip of your neck and collar bone, chest-

"Look like you're gonna eat me." You joke with a slight smirk.

Being high always did make you more bold. Easier to blame it on the substance if anything.

"Like a zombie?" He adds, leaning foreward, expression blank. His arms reach outward and your eyes widen. Before you could move away he's already gripping at your ankles, much like the undead would anyway.

You can't help the giggle that rises past your lips as he groans and squeezes your sides, a yelp leaving your lips in your fit of laughter.

With your thrashing, you manage to grip his shoulders, giggles dying down as you make direct eye contact. The room is still hazy, and so if your head, making your heartbeat sound so much louder in your ears

You swallow hard, your hands moving upwards, one now at the base of his neck while the other cups his cheek. He leans into it.

"Sooo, what is this?" You whisper, his knee parting your legs as his hands find a place on either side of your head.

"Dunno. 'know I've got feelin's for you." He explains, taking a breath to try and explain himself.

"I-I liked you when we was at the airpor'..a-an’ when you smacked your face on the dash. And when you yelled at Murdoc. I've never seen anyone besides Noodle and Russ do tha'."

You let out a faint laugh, fingers twirling his hair into little spirals.

"And when you was in my room.”

You’re back at square one now, staring deeply into one another’s eyes. Fearing you'd drown in the abyss of black you tune your head, nose scrunching as you try to control your heart. You can hear it pounding in your ears and each time it beats against your rib cage you fear it’ll burst.

His knee moves up, the action pulling a strained and faint whimper from your lips.

“Even when you thought’ I didn’t know you was snooping’ around in here.” He huffs with a faint gap-toothed smile.

You return it, your thigh now brushing his, your leg locking around his calf.

"Why'd you really leave tha' first time.?" he asks, almost unsure if he's even allowed to question your motives.

You swallow, embarrassment filling your chest. Sitting up on your elbows, he adjusts, moving back just a pinch so your foreheads from crashing into one another.

"I didn't want to mess anything up. I-I didn't want you to think I was...I don't know. I was scared that if we did...fuck that night things would be awkward and I'd ruin everything."

He's gazing down at you, but you wouldn't have seen it since your trying to avoid eye contact at the moment.

" I..I really like being around you Stu. I know its been awkward but I havent felt this inspired and intrigued in a long time." You explain, struggling to get the words out.

You sigh, looking guage to his reaction only to find two big, black, puppy god eyes staring right back at you.

"Darlin'"

God the way he says it. Yeah, Murdoc had called you that a couple times, mainly condescending and demeaning...but him? Its like it was meant for you and you alone, like he poured all his affection into one form of adoration.

It's in the way he guides you to sit up with him, your bodies fitting together like a puzzle. It's in his slightly cold hands cupping your face, thumb caressing your cheek.

The high had come down. This was nothing but pure intentions uninfluenced but any substance.

"Yes.." You whisper, your palms restign on his thighs.

"Please tell me you won' run away this time...you could never ruin this, I can promise you tha'." He reassures, one hand traveling to your waist, tugging you impossibly closer.

"Promise?" You whisper, mouth meeting halfway as he moves in unison with your body.

The film is long forgotten, whatever background noise it was meant to provide is far too low as your huffs and pants grow louder. It's not so much a competition as to who gets who undressed first but a testy dance.

His fingers glide under your shirt and brush against the skin of your stomach. Your own dip just behind his waistband. It's a familiar feeling, the tension stronger than your first semi-sexual encounter.

In his quest to rid you of your shirt, his mouth manages to work its way to your neck, hot, opened mouth kissed push against your pulse points, the softness suddenly overpowered with a hard suck.

'F-Fuck." You swear, tilting your head back to give him more access.

He hums against your exposed neck, successfully lifting your top up enough for it to rest, rolled up against your collarbone.

"Bite this." He instructs, lifting the bit of fabric to your lips. He's got you essentially holding your shirt between your teeth so we can-

Your nipples harden at his cold touch, the pads of his thumbs pressing deliciously against eh buds before he pops the front clasp, your boobs recoiling at the loss of support.

"Pretty lil' thing you are." He sighs, leaning forward to wrap his lips around one.

The warmth from his mouth shoots shivers down your spine, body arching into each of his touches. His left hand squeezes, tugs, and attends to your left side while his mouth works at the other, then he swaps once he's satisfied. For someone who acted like he had nooo idea how vulgar his lyrics were, he sure isn't as innocent as he'd led on.

He's skilled, pulling you onto his lap with ease, still latched to your chest before he kisses his way back up to your lips. He swallows up your whimpers, caressing the back of your head before rolling his hips up

"Y-You really know what youre doing." You pant, cut up immedetly by a moan when he slips his fingers past your bottoms, middle and ring finger just barely grazing your clit.

"Why woul'nt I?" He teases, voice somehow huskier as he watches you twitch at the slight movement of his fingers.

Your head falls forward when he pushes past your lips, hissing at the wetness

"Oh you need this bad, don' you?" He asks, the hand that was once at your waist coming up to your throat, guiding your jaw to make you look at him.

His face is flushed red in the faint lighting, eyes blown wide.

"How bad you need this love?" He asks, finally pushing two fingers into your heat, your head falling forward, only for him to guide you back to look at him.

"I know you can use your words. How bad?" He hums, his palm just barely smacking against your clit as his fingers curl in, upward, and out. Over and over and over,

"P-Please.' You don't even know what you're begging for at this point.

More friction? More fingers,? To cum? You needed to cum. But he's keeping you on the edge, literally wrapped around his fingers. You roll your hips, trying anything to get more and he knows it.

How he's keeping it together and not tearing his own band off just to fill you up is beyond him. All he knows is that the more noise you make, the more he wants to work your body to make new ones. High pitches, groans, whimpers, yelps, pleads of mercy as you get off on his fingers. He needs to hear it all.

"You close, aren't you?" He hums, seeing you nod, eyebrows knitted together, eyes squeezed as you focus on your orgasm.

Your hands grip his shoulders and he can tell you're close with the way you squeeze his fingers. And just before you can announce your impending orgasm, he pulls away from you. You can't help the desperate whine that leaves you lips and all he does is smirk.

"W-What? No no please." You whimper, eyes screwed shut.

Fine, two could play the edging game if that's what he wanted. You press your lips to his briefly, soon trailing down his throat much like how he had done with you, only this time, you don't bother to tug his shirt off. You're reaching for the prize beneath his waistband.

He doesn't protest, holding his breath almost. You can see the tent that had formed, once again..a fuckin monster under that fabric.

You suck in a breath, palming him for a moment as he lets out a low groan. Anticipation eats away at you as you finally pull it out. There's a moment of silence and your mouth waters at the thought of having it on your tongue. It's firm in your hand, warm, and twitching slightly at the contact.

It's got a bit of an upward curve, not too thick, but what he lacks in girth he definitely makes up for in length. He's tall as fuck so duh? Right? The tip is faintly tinted red, and two to three thick veins run from base to tip. He's leaking precum, giving it a slight glossy shine. Only more spills out when you give a test squeeze.

"E-Everthin' okay?" He asks warily, your silence making him panic.

How long had you been staring and analyzing this man's dick in silence?!

"Huh? O-Oh no everything....just, fuck it's pretty-" You huff, lowering yourself to come face to face with it.

You part your lips, sticking your tongue out to lick from base to tip, taking him into your mouth.

"Fuckkkk me." He whimpers, trying his best to make space for you between his legs.

Yeah, it had been a while but you were sure your throat could remember its previous training. You roll your tongue out your mouth, testing the way he hits the back of your throat, your sloppy and noisy slurping only further fueling your ministrations.

2D is melting under you, sweating, moaning, and whimpering with each bob of your head, his fingers fighting to not thread into your scalp and grip.

"Too much, won' last- wa- oh fuck wait love-" he beggs, your movements slowing, you glance up at him from under thick lashes, grinding sinisterly at his flushed and lust-filled expression.

It's agonizing how slowly you release him, sucking all the way up until you pull away with a sloppy 'pop'.

"Can I?” He glances down with his hands at your hips now. Your body heats almost instantly.

"Shag?" You chuckle, seeing him turn his head in embarrassment at the term.

"Well when you say i' like tha'!" He groans, hardened length poking your thigh.

"Sorry sorry. But seriously, please? I wanna feel you..." You admit, already working on lining him up between your slippery wet folds.

He sighs at the feeling, pulling your hips forward as his tip slides back and forth between you. It's too much and not enough all at once.

And soon, he pushes into you, your bodies impossibly close. All you can do is whine upon entrance, the stretch is so perfect. He freezes up, squeezing your hips tighter now, his fingers almost turning white. You relish in the sting.

"Y-You okay?" You cry, feeling him hit spots you didn't even know were possible.

Guess it pays to have a monster cock-

Something's up though, Stu growing awfully quiet.

"I-I can't move if I do I'll...I'll". He's struggling to explain himself, face beet red as he takes slow steady breaths.

Your eyes widen, involuntarily squeezing down at the confession. That quick? How long had it been for him? Gorilla grip much??

"W-Wait don't squeeze I-" He's really trying now, eyes screwed shut in focus.

"I really wanna do this with you y/n, but if you move I know I'll be done for sure." He explains, your lips pressing sweetly to his temple.

"It's fine, there'll be other times." You encourage, more silently praying that this wouldn't be the first and final time you get to be like this with him.

And his eyes light up, like an eager acceptance of the invitation. You roll your hips down, the feeling pulling noises from each of you as he practically whimpers against your shoulder.

"Stu, baby it's okay. I promise." You encourage, wanting nothing more than to feel him fill you up.

He huffs out a breathy sigh, sliding out halfway out before thrusting back in. He picks up his pace for about 2 seconds and in the 5th thrust, he comes undone, not before completely pulling out of you, and just in the nick of time.

"Fuck fuck fuck I-I'm sorry, you feel so good love," He whines, still riding out his orgasm, the warmth from his load coating your thighs.

He's still apologizing, spurts of hot white leaking from his tip as you run your fingers through his hair with a soft smile.

"You okay?" You ask, seeing him nod faintly, a bit exhausted. The movie is still playing, the credits are rolling now as you search the numbers on his nightstand alarm clock for an indication of how late it is.

He massages the spot he had gripped so viciously before, using a discarded t-shirt of his to wipe your thighs clean. As your positioned atop him, your eyes meet, and just before the night ends,

He kisses you like you're oxygen and he's desperate to breathe.

A?N: GUYSSS You finally got some smut outta mee! I hope you enjoyed this chapter because y/n cant catch a break and Pt.6 is gon get mESSYYYYY! i hope the 5 other 2d fans are enjoying this! See you next chapter :D

ps. sorry for any spelling errors!

[thenerdykneazle]

The Scriptorium

Summary: After a harrowing journey through Slytherin's Scriptorium, Ominis helps MC recover from being subjected to the torture curse. After all, he has personal experience dealing with its effects.

Ominis Gaunt x GN!MC

A/N: The fact that I haven't written and posted an Ominis one shot before this is a crime, honestly. Almost as much of a crime as it is that after the trauma that is the scriptorium, both boys just walk away at the end of the mission. So, I fixed it. Also, the first 2.4k of this is a description of the scriptorium mission. Most of the events/dialogue are straight from the game. So, feel free to skip ahead to the middle of this (once they're out of the scriptorium) if you don't need the refresher.

Warnings: angst, hurt/comfort, talks of child abuse, descriptions of being crucio'd, awkward teenagerness in general, MC is naked for part of it but it's not sexual (they just needed a bath, okay?), Sebastian is a walking red flag in this mission but that's not my fault

Word count: 4880

You wound down the dark staircase, descending into Slytherin’s scriptorium. Sebastian entered in after you.

“Dark ominous corridors. My favourite,” he quipped.

“No comment,” Ominis replied coolly as he followed you both.

“Come on, that was a good one,” Sebastian said jovially.

You held back a snicker.

The ancient corridor at the bottom was littered with shattered stone and ended in a sealed door. You found a note left by Noctua Gaunt. She had been here. You repaired the stone into a relief, which Sebastian pointed out showed a person facing a snake.

Ominis shifted anxiously on his feet. He explained the sinister voice he heard telling him to speak to it. He told you how he was a Parselmouth – someone who could speak to snakes. He was certain that speaking to the door would open it, but he was hesitant.

“I’m hoping you’re having second thoughts,” he admitted.

“I see no reason we should stop now,” you replied, unaware of how much you’d come to regret those words.

Ominis breathed out a defeated sigh. “It’s ironic. When I left home, I vowed to leave the Dark Arts behind. And yet, here I am…Stand back.”

You took several steps backward, and Ominis turned to face the door. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he muttered to himself.

You stared in awe as a low hissing came from your friend’s lips. The eyes of two of the snakes carved in the door illuminated with green light, and they slithered up around the frame. The door opened.

“It worked!” you said, stunned. “Ominis, you possess a rare ability indeed.”

“Between the two of you, I’m starting to feel left out,” Sebastian whinged light-heartedly.

Ominis’s brows drew together. “Between the two of us?”

“I – never mind,” Sebastian stuttered, realizing his slip.

You weren’t sure yet if you could trust Ominis with your secret. Professor Fig had asked you not to share details with anyone, and you’d already gone against that advice with Sebastian.

You entered into the next room and were met with a locked gate. Next to it was a dial with a statue of a snake atop it. Once you were all inside, the door you’d come through shut behind you. That was the first moment where you thought this might be a mistake. Sebastian pointed out another sealed gate. Ominis suggested inspecting them for clues on how to proceed forward.

You ducked through a half-opened gate and found another note from Noctua. Her description of feeling unwelcome in the scriptorium didn’t inspire confidence in you. Nearby was another dial. You lit the torch beside it and turned one of the large metal discs. A hissing emitted from the statue as it began to rotate. You flicked through the dial, studying the symbols. Both discs had the same pattern.

In a flash, the snake lunged at you, biting your jaw as you stumbled backwards.

“That didn’t sound good,” Ominis said.

“It’s fine,” you asserted, frustration edging into your voice as you wiped the blood from your face with your sleeve. You really should’ve expected something like that.

“Salazar Slytherin didn’t make this easy,” Sebastian observed.

Obviously, you thought as you rolled your eyes. You’d be more than happy to let him take a stab at the dial.

You returned to the other dial. The gate next to it had symbols carved into it, as well. You illuminated your wand and saw that they matched some from the dial. You wished you’d noted that earlier.

“I think matching the dial to the symbols on the gate will open it,” you said.

“It seems Slytherin liked to play games,” Ominis said thoughtfully.

“Must run in the family,” Sebastian quipped.

“Look in a mirror, Sebastian,” Ominis replied irritably.

You quickly aligned the symbols on the dial to the ones sealing the doorway next to it. The serpents on the metal gate shifted, and it raised automatically.

“Matching the symbols did open it,” you said, relieved. You had half expected to be bitten again.

“Was about to do that myself, but you got to it first,” Sebastian said.

You just shot him a waspish look.

He coughed awkwardly. “Nice work,” he said.

You shook your head before continuing forward. In a pit at the end of the corridor, you found a third dial along with another note from Noctua.

I failed the dial, and it struck my face as if it were a real serpent, she started. You scoffed to yourself. Yeah, thanks for the warning, you thought sarcastically as you dabbed at your stinging jaw. She continued on in her letter to decry the way their family forced dark magic on their children.

“Ominis, your aunt wanted to change your family’s traditions,” you said.

“She did,” he confirmed in a wistful voice. “And she was my favourite person in the world for it.”

You felt a pang of sorrow for your friend. He’d lost the only member of his family that had ever been decent to him. You hoped for his sake that this adventure would provide answers as to what happened to her.

You went back to the main room, checking the symbols on the other gate that was still sealed. You went back to the dial that’d bitten you. Adrenaline pumped through your veins as you shifted the discs. There were two dials and only one door. You couldn’t be certain which went with it. You were relieved when you heard the metal clanking of the gate opening, letting out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding.

“That sounded promising,” Ominis said.

“Another dial solved,” you replied gleefully as you searched for another door.

“Impressive. Nice work,” Ominis’s silky voice called out almost reverently from the dark.

You chuckled at how similar yet distinct the two Slytherins were, complimenting you with the same words but in entirely different ways.

You entered the newly opened archway. You read yet another note left behind by Noctua, warning of painful challenges but telling of rewards, as well. You relayed the information to your companions.

“Painful – that’s the part I’m wary of,” Ominis said, sounding nervous.

“All I heard was rewards. Keep going,” Sebastian replied with a flippant fort of confidence.

Sure enough, there was another gate at the back of the new room. You wound your way back to the remaining dial and shifted it to match the final gate. Once you aligned the discs, the gate opened with a hiss. You downed a wiggenweld to heal your gashed chin now that you weren’t likely to be bitten again. Hopefully.

“Excellent work,” Sebastian said brightly. “We’re another step closer to the scriptorium.”

Sebastian was just outside the archway when you made it back. “I spotted something ahead,” he said, fear edging into his voice for the first time. “Looks troubling.”

“This whole place is troubling, but, for my aunt’s sake, we cannot stop now,” Ominis replied.

You noted privately that you couldn’t really stop even if you had wanted to. Having only one way forward, the three of you crept into the newly revealed corridor. You had a sinking feeling in your stomach as you stepped inside.

Curiously, the torches lining the space were already lit. More clanking rang out behind you.

“The gate!” Sebastian said in a panicked tone. “I think we’re locked in. Again.”

“Then Salazar Slytherin is not yet finished with us,” Ominis said dismally.

You were inclined to agree. You couldn’t help but think that Noctua’s optimism about the Hogwarts founder was misplaced. You approached the door at the end of the corridor, feeling a cold wash over you like walking through a ghost.

Your heart dropped as you spotted the bones lying in front of the door, right next to the word ‘crucio’ in glowing letters. On the other side of the skeleton, you found another note. With shaking hands, you reread how to proceed. You looked again at the remains of Ominis’s aunt. You felt like you were about to be sick.

“Ominis. A skeleton…And Noctua’s last journal entry. She mentions being trapped here – blocked by an Unforgivable Curse,” you said, unable to bring yourself to put it more directly.

Ominis looked shattered. “This…is where she died,” he said in disbelief. He began pacing in anger. “This is where we’ll die. I shouldn’t have listened to either of you.”

His words struck harder than you would’ve expected.

“Ominis, I’m truly sorry about your aunt,” Sebastian said. “But, I know what to do. It’s going to be difficult.”

You raised an eyebrow at the brunet. You discussed the matter with him. He voiced aloud what you already knew. The only way out was casting the cruciatus curse. Something only one of you had done before. Sebastian implored you to talk to Ominis.

You had already convinced him to go into this despicable place. You couldn’t ask him to cast an unforgivable, too. Sebastian steeled himself to confront him.

“Ominis, I know this is the last thing you want to do–” Sebastian started.

“Yes! It is! I thought you knew me better!” Ominis spat back.

“But this is different,” Sebastian insisted. “Whoever you cast it upon will have agreed to it first. It wouldn’t be an innocent ‘victim.’ We have to open the door.”

“The spell won’t work unless you mean it,” Ominis said. “That’s true of all unforgivables. If it must be done, then one of you must cast it.”

“What do we do now?” you asked Sebastian. “Ominis is not going to cast the cruciatus curse again.”

“Ridiculous!” Sebastian groused. “As if dying in here is a better option than casting a damned spell.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “It’s up to us. I can teach you crucio, or I can cast it on you.”

Your eyes widened. “Wait – you didn’t say you knew how to cast crucio,” you said.

Sebastian pursed his lips. “Because I’m not sure I do,” he replied. “Ominis knows that, yet he’s left us no choice. I don’t yearn to follow in Noctua Gaunt’s footsteps.” He glanced down at the remains. “I think I can cast it if I have to.”

Your stomach twisted at the thought of casting the curse. The hatred required. “I don’t want to learn the curse, but I can handle the pain,” you said more confidently than you felt. “It’s fine. Cast it on me.”

“I shan’t forget this,” Sebastian vowed. He swallowed thickly. “Ready?”

You nodded. “I’m ready,” you said, though your trembling voice betrayed how untrue that was. How could you be ready for such a thing?

Sebastian raised his wand. “Crucio!” he said quickly, before he could lose his nerve.

A red bolt erupted from his wand and struck you. You crumpled to the floor as blinding pain flooded through your whole body. You cried out. It was like molten shrapnel had exploded out from within you, shredding your muscles, tearing apart your organs, and splintering your bones.

“Are you all right?” Sebastian asked, his voice was scared and distant.

You could barely make sense of the words as your senses were overtaken. The red jet arced from you to the door, and it melted away. Jolts of pain still crackled through you as you pushed yourself onto your feet. You struggled to pull air into your lungs.

“A-are you all right?” Ominis asked, clearly shaken.

“That pain,” you groaned. You looked at Ominis’s horrified expression and felt guilt stab into you at the trauma he must be relieving. You couldn’t imagine going through that so young. “It was excruciating, but I’ll survive. Let’s keep moving.”

You just wanted out of there.

Sebastian was enraptured as he entered the room – as if it were sodding Honeydukes and not the lair of a dark wizard. Ominis edged cautiously inside, as well. For once, the door didn’t slam behind you.

You found an old tome and informed Sebastian and Ominis.

“You found something?” Sebastian asked excitedly.

“You two go ahead – let me know what’s in it,” Ominis said, voice still quavering. “I’ll wander around a bit.”

You were about to check on him, but Sebastian appeared at your side. “May I have a look?” he asked, gesturing to the book in your grasp. You handed it over.

“What do you think?” you asked.

“Looks like a spellbook of some kind,” Sebastian replied eagerly. “This is incredible! A Hogwarts founder’s possession – what an honour.” He shook his head. “Still can’t believe Ominis never told me about his aunt and what she found.”

You could. In fact, you wished he’d never brought it up – and that you’d never pushed him on it. “What will you do with Slytherin’s spellbook?” you asked, aiming for a casual tone. Really, you were nervous about his intentions.

Sebastian gave you a playful grin. “What I do with every book – read it! Having professors as parents ingrained that habit early on,” he said lightly. “But I can do that later. For now, I say we explore this room. It’s breathtaking.”

You didn’t feel the same eagerness Sebastian showed – perhaps because he wasn’t the one who had just been tortured. Still, it was a bit shocking to see him so chipper after casting an unforgivable on you mere minutes ago.

“I’ve been getting an uneasy feeling about this place,” Ominis called anxiously up to you both. “We shouldn’t linger here. Let’s find a way out, please.”

Sebastian chuckled. “I don’t want to leave, but I owe you – both of you,” he said. “Without both of you, we’d never have made it this far.”

“We were lucky – we could have died!” Ominis said seriously. “We must swear never to do this again.”

You saw Sebastian roll his eyes. You picked up a note lying on the desk as you tried to shove down your irritation with the boy.

“I see a way out!” Sebastian announced.

“Best news I’ve heard all day,” Ominis replied, breathing a sigh of relief as he climbed the stairs.

You all exited through the hidden doorway.

“Ominis, about your aunt–” Sebastian started as he emerged from the wall back into the dungeon corridor.

“Please, Sebastian,” Ominis cut him off. “I meant what I said before. We swear right now never to engage in anything to do with dark magic again!”

“Understood,” Sebastian replied immediately, much to your surprise. “I’m truly sorry about your aunt, Ominis.”

“I suppose, after all this, I am grateful to know what happened to her,” he said quietly. He turned to you. “Thank you.”

You didn’t know what to say. Sebastian hurried off, probably to go delve into the book. Ominis leaned against the wall, tilting his head back and closing his eyes as he tried to process the night’s events.

You chewed your lip. “Ominis, I’m so sorry I dragged you down there. I hadn’t imagined we’d end up trapped like that,” you said sincerely.

He pushed off the wall, stepping toward you. “Salazar Slytherin did,” he replied darkly. “He’s to blame for many unimaginable things.”

You felt a new wave of fear at Sebastian having his spellbook.

“I’m just glad we made it out of there,” he continued. “How are you doing? The cruciatus curse is pure torture – I would know.”

You nodded. “I’m fine. Sebastian told me a little of what happened when you were young,” you said. “Sounds as if you had no choice.”

Ominis sighed. “Should’ve known he would’ve told you,” he muttered. “And one always has a choice. I’m as guilty as the worst of my family. Like I said, unforgivable curses won’t work unless you really mean them. I had to want to cause pain, and for that I shall never forgive myself. I will regret casting it forever.”

You flinched as you thought of the pain that had surged through you less than half an hour ago. Sebastian had wanted you to feel it. You couldn’t imagine feeling that way toward him or Ominis, especially now that you knew what it was like.

Warm fingers slipped into your hand, and you looked up to see Ominis’s brow furrowed in concern. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I should’ve insisted we found another way out. Really, I shouldn’t have told Sebastian about the scriptorium in the first place. I am glad to know what happened to my aunt, but…not at your expense.”

You swallow thickly as you stared up at his kind face. “I’m all right, really,” you said.

He arched a brow at you. “Don’t lie to me,” he said firmly. “I can feel your hand shaking.”

You realized he was right. Your muscles were twitching with aftershocks from the curse. You suspected they had been since Sebastian’s curse released. You were just so out of sorts that you hadn’t noticed. “Oh,” you said dimly.

Ominis laced his fingers with yours. “Let’s get you some tea and a blanket. You must be freezing,” he said.

You were freezing, you realized. Ominis led you into the Slytherin common room. You just followed him numbly. It was like your body had reacted to the pain by shutting off your senses. Your mind had been overwhelmed. You felt like you were moving through fog now.

Before you knew it, you had a hot cup of tea in your hands and a blanket wrapped around your shoulders. Ominis rubbed slow circles on your back. His touch grounded you, keeping you from slipping into the recesses of your mind.

“Is this how you felt after?” you asked, turning your glazed eyes toward Ominis.

He stiffened, his hand freezing in place, as his features contorted in a grimace. You could see his throat bob as he swallowed.

“Sorry,” you said quickly. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

Ominis shook his head. “I expect so,” he said thoughtfully, answering your question. “I would have a tremor and feel a numbing cold. One of our elves tended to me after the first time. My mother locked me in my room, and he brought me tea and tucked me into bed with extra blankets even though she’d instructed them to leave me alone. He…He also knew how it felt.” His jaw tensed. “My family distributes their cruelty quite generously.” He spat out the last sentence like venom.

You felt tears prick your eyes. “I’m sorry you both went through that,” you said.

He just nodded.

“The numbness wears off after a while,” he said as he resumed the languid circles on back. “Then it’s like…your senses are frayed. Everything is just…too much. Noise. Scents. Everywhere is too hot or too cold. Even clothes are…Well, you get the idea.”

His cheeks were coloured pink.

“How long until that starts?” you asked. It sounded dreadful.

“Maybe an hour from now?” he said. He cleared his throat. “I found that a warm bath in a quiet room helps. Not hot but body temperature. It’s almost like floating in nothing. I expect you’d want the room dark, as well, but I really wouldn’t know.”

He chuckled, and you couldn’t help but laugh, as well. You sipped your tea, and you felt yourself relax slightly as the warm liquid slid down your throat. A shiver ran through you, and you tucked into Ominis’s side, resting your head on his shoulder.

He was caught by surprise, but he quickly wrapped his arm around you, holding you tightly to himself. He even rested his head on top of yours.

You stayed like that for a long time. Ominis traced his wand down a schoolbook with the hand not holding you. He checked in every once in a while to make sure you hadn’t run out of tea, casting a charm to refill your cup when needed. Slowly, your tremor subsided and your body warmed. The cold nothingness that had enveloped you was eventually replaced by a sort of static. It was barely noticeable at first, but it grew more and more grating. You felt stifled between the fire, blanket, and Ominis’s warm body next to you. You had to set your tea down because it was scalding. Your uniform scratched like sandpaper over every inch of your skin. The crackling of the flames and students speaking in low voices grew louder until the noises pounded in your ears. The dim common room seemed blindingly bright. Even the usually calming scent of Ominis’s cologne was an attack on your senses.

You groaned as you curled into yourself. Ominis scooted away from you, and you felt a pang of guilt at the relief it gave you.

“Let’s get you that bath,” Ominis said quietly as he tucked his book into his bag.

He grabbed your sleeve and tugged you to the lavatory. You cast a charm to block the windows. Only the faintest light filtered through. You sagged against one of the sinks, holding your frazzled head in your hands. Ominis filled a tub with a water-making charm, knowing the rush from the taps would be deafening. He heated the water with another spell, dipping his hand it to ensure it was the right temperature. He even set out a towel for you.

“All set,” he said gently. “I’ll relock the door on my way out so no one disturbs you.”

“Could you…stay?” you asked sheepishly.

You could just make out Ominis’s eyes as they widened. “Oh,” he squeaked. “Erm, yes, I suppose so. Are you sure you want me to?”

“I’d rather not be alone,” you admitted, wincing at your own voice as it seemed to boom out from you. “And, well, it’s not like you can see anything…right?”

He chuckled softly. “You’re correct,” he whispered.

He moved to a window seat on the far wall, and you slipped out of your robes. Despite the fact that he couldn’t see you, your cheeks flushed as you stood naked in a room with Ominis in it. The cold air was like ice on your skin. You quickly climbed into the bath. It was like applying a balm to a sunburn. You really did feel wrapped in nothing as you were surrounded by water exactly the same temperature as you. You closed your eyes, shutting out the last bit of light.

You felt the tension that had been mounting melt out of your body. The only sensations aside from the cool air on your face were the sound of your own breathing and occasional turn of a page as Ominis read. You couldn’t even hear his breaths from where he sat.

With time, your breathing stopped seeming so loud and you stopped noticing the temperature of the room as much. The water in your tub was exactly as warm as it’d been when you slipped inside. You realized Ominis must’ve charmed it to stay that way. He was quite a talented wizard.

You sat up a bit in the tub, leaning your head back on the edge of it, but you kept your eyes closed. You weren’t ready to take in visual stimuli again just yet. “Ominis?” you asked, pleased when the word didn’t ring in your ears.

“Yes, MC?” he replied quietly.

“Thank you. For helping me. It…it would’ve been awful to go through this alone,” you said.

There was a pause before he answered. “I’m sorry you have to go through it at all.”

You opened your eyes to look at him. “It’s not your fault,” you said. You turned, hooking your elbow over the side of the tub as you faced him. “I’m the one who convinced you to go down there.”

“Yes, but I should’ve known better,” he said sadly. “I just…I was so consumed by the need to know what happened to my aunt. I went against my better judgment. It won’t happen again.”

“Same here. I have no interest in investigating anything to do with Slytherin again,” you replied. “I hope Sebastian meant it when he said he’s done.”

“He’s never lied to me before,” Ominis said confidently. “But…if he does mention anything to you, tell me, okay?”

“I will,” you promised. To be honest, you felt like you could tell Ominis anything.

“Good,” Ominis said with a small smile, but it was quickly replaced with a look of concern. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” you said truthfully. “Is there another phase after this?”

Ominis pressed his mouth into a thin line. Even when upset, his features were as handsome as ever. It really wasn’t fair. “No, but this one tends to linger. You’ll feel on edge for a few days. Maybe a week, even. It tends to last longer the more times you’ve been cursed, so hopefully it’s just a few days for you,” he said, forcing a hopeful smile onto his lips.

You blinked rapidly as a thought struck you. “Did your family curse you multiple times?” you asked, aghast.

He turned his face back toward his book as he schooled his features. “Yes,” he said in a barely audible voice.

“Oh, Ominis, that’s awful!” you said. You wished you could give him a hug, but as you were naked and sopping wet, it wasn’t exactly an opportune time.

He gave a mirthless laugh. “That’s the Gaunts for you. We specialize in ‘awful.’”

“Not all of you,” you argued. “Not your aunt. Not you.”

“Recent evidence would suggest otherwise,” he said. He hung his head. “Not to mention my past mistakes.”

“But that’s just it. It was a mistake. It doesn’t define you, Ominis,” you insisted. “Do you think the rest of your family would’ve cared enough to help me?”

He scoffed. “Certainly not.”

You just waited, letting him consider the facts for himself.

He sighed as he turned back toward you. “I suppose you have a point.”

You smiled. “I know I do.”

Ominis chuckled, and it was a beautiful sound – if a bit loud at the moment.

You decided you’d soaked long enough and got out of the bath. You cringed as you patted yourself dry. The towel wasn’t quite sandpaper like your clothes had been before, but your skin still felt raw. “How long until clothes feel normal again?” you asked, hoping the answer was soon.

“It all progresses together, so it’ll take a few days,” Ominis said with an apologetic grimace.

You let out a groan. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

He held out his hand. “Here. Give me your clothes.”

You wrapped the towel around yourself before scooping up your uniform and padding over to him. You set the outfit in his open hand.

He cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he said. Standing so close now, you could see the blush spread over his cheeks.

Your face flushed, too, when you realized you could’ve just levitated the clothes over. You cringed again, but at yourself this time.

Ominis waved his wand as he uttered an unfamiliar incantation. He handed your outfit back to you. It was silky smooth against your skin. It took what was left of your good sense not to drop your scratchy towel and change immediately. You shuffled off to the other side of the room to get dressed.

“That’s so much better!” you gushed once you’d donned the silk ensembled. “Thank you, Ominis.”

“Of course,” he replied. “I’m happy to help you with anything. I mean, anytime! I’m happy to help anytime.”

As you walked back over to his window seat, you could tell he was still blushing. You couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ll help you with anything, too,” you replied.

“Yeah?” he asked with a hopeful expression.

You chewed your lip, butterflies fluttering in your stomach as you looked down at him. You raised a hand to cup his cheek, and his chin tilted up slightly as his eyes drifted shut. You leaned down, brushing your lips softly against his. In your current state, his lips felt a bit rough but pleasantly warm on yours. Nevertheless, the tender kiss sent a jolt of excitement through you. “Yeah,” you replied.

His tongue flicked out over his lips, and he smirked up at you.

The door rattled as someone tried to enter the locked lavatory. The sudden noise made you jump back.

“Ugh! This is the second time this week!” a muffled but clearly frustrated voice grumbled from the other side.

“Come one, let’s use the one upstairs,” another, much more defeated, voice replied.

“We should probably get moving,” you said, unable to stop the grin that graced your lips.

Ominis chuckled. “Yes, I suppose we should,” he agreed.

You both made your way toward the door. Ominis was much more graceful in the dim lighting than you were, and you almost stumbled right into one of the empty tubs. Fortunately, Ominis either didn’t notice or politely pretended not to. He turned to you right in front of the door, his fingers resting on the handle. He shifted nervously between his feet.

“Once you’re feeling like yourself again, would you like to get dinner with me at the Three Broomsticks?” he asked with an endearingly anxious expression.

You beamed at him. “I’d like that very much.”

He grinned as he pulled the door open for you. “It’s a date, then.”

Of all the things you’d thought you might find in Slytherin’s Scriptorium, a budding romance hadn’t been one of them. Not that you were complaining. Not one bit.

[petermorwood]

We had roast beef for Christmas dinner, along with - among other things - roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and roasted parsnips (if the oven is running, make use of it!) Very good they were, too.

Boxing Day was the usual grazing-on-leftovers, but next day, to break away from Variations On A Theme Of Roasting in E Minor, @dduane decided to do some frying instead, and made latkes.

I'm more familiar with hash browns and rösti, but I've had latkes before and enjoyed them a lot. This batch was excellent, so much so that I excused myself from the kitchen until she'd taken some photos, otherwise there'd have been nothing left to photograph... :->

"More-ish" doesn't even come close.

Her IBS meant she avoided the traditional apple compote accompaniment and went instead for sour cream - super-rich Lithuanian 40% in this instance - so the apples weren't missed.

The IBS also meant leaving out any onion, so these weren't as traditionally flavoured as the last time when IBS wasn't yet a problem, but when I suggested adding bacon lardons to the next batch instead, she rolled her eyes and muttered something about not getting that idea past even the most reformed of Reform rabbis *.

So, no.

Or at least not yet, because there are lots more potatoes and I'm not helpless in a kitchen...

*****

* I know the "Three Rabbis and the Hanukkah Bush" joke, and she knows I know, because she was there when I first heard it at a Discworld convention. This, much shortened, is how Professor Jack Cohen told it:

Q: "Rabbi, my kids' gentile friends all have Christmas trees. Would a Hanukkah Bush be okay?"

Orthodox rabbi: "No, certainly not!"

Conservative rabbi: "Just inside the house, and keep it small."

Reform rabbi: "Hanukkah? What's that...?"

*****

Something else which prompted comment, this time from me, was when using our Magimix (Cuisinart) to grate the potatoes. We've only got one grating disc (it came with the kit) and I wondered if its 2mm cut was too fine - no, it wasn't - so went looking for New Discs for Next Time.

That's when I discovered there'd been a design change. When we bought our processor back in the mists of time 30+ years ago, the cutting-grating disc that came with it, and all extra ones, were reversible doubles, like this:

It fits on the spindle one way up for slicing, the other way up for grating. Simple.

However, the modern discs AREN'T reversible, an idea no doubt put forward by some bright spark in Accounting...

...since now Magimix users need twice as many discs as they used to, and buying them costs twice as much as well.

(Sensible users also need twice as many boxes for safe storage, because these things are didn't-feel-it-happen sharp, and can easily exact Steel Fee from an unwary finger reaching for something else in the same drawer.)

On the bright side, we seldom need to grate / slice stuff in such large quantities that doing it by hand on mandoline or box grater is a serious chore, and doubtless the redesign has some sound mechanical reason behind it.

Despite that I can also hear the distant ka-ching of the corporate cash register, making this whole thing rather (cough) grating...

:-P

[ancient-qveen]

EMPEROR interview in M magazine issue no. 6, 2001

- Ihsahn interviewed; some translations and photos below

(I used google translate so theres probably a lot of errors)

Who wrote the lyrics for the new album?

Me.

Do you think that your style can be compared with the style of, say, Faust?

I don’t know, I don’t see such a need. Faust and I are very different people and, naturally, the lyrics and the topics they touch on will also be different. He has his own views on life, I have mine, he has his approach, I have mine. Besides, to be honest, I haven't had much opportunity to get acquainted with the lyrics of ZYKLON's latest album (I only have a promo copy, no printout), so it's even more difficult to compare. Let those who have access to both lyrics do it... from the outside, it's clearer in any case.

[...] Will the listener's reaction be, for example, a desire to maim, kill someone?

[...] I will be very sad if someone hears in EMPEROR a call to violence, because my conscience in this regard is completely clear. Of course, I do not deny that there were people who under the flag of black metal were engaged in various kinds of violent reprisals, however, this is not a reason to call the Norwegian scene violent or bloody. [...] Exploring the dark side of humanity and expressing aggression is not the same as stupidly setting a church on fire...

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen your new photo shoot yet, maybe you can tell me how EMPEROR’s image has changed this time?

(smiling) I can say this: we have less and less image left, and the latest photos depict the band members as they are, as we really look. This can be understood in the spirit that visuality is gradually losing its meaning and, if you pay attention to the album booklet, you will probably notice that there are no faces of us there at all

Are there any reasons for this change?

Hmm... At the beginning of EMPEROR's creative path we used the traditional black metal image of paintcorps and all that, but we stopped doing this after the release of the first album. The reason was the desire not to stand still, to develop and try to look so that the external picture was consistent with the musical one. Everything should be harmonious and correspond to each other, so the image of EMPEROR changed along with the music. Now, we have come to the point that we are going to appear as we are externally, and more filled internally

How do you dress/look in everyday life?

Pretty much the same as in the latest promo photos. Spikes and make-up are a thing of the past.

And people on the streets don't get scared?

No, not anymore.

Were there many problems before?

In different ways. We have been attacked by people who did not accept or understand our way of life. It is natural for some layers of society to react sharply to manifestations of individuality, "otherness" from the rest of the gray mass. It does not matter how exactly you dress: there will be problems in any case, if you dress differently.

(that one time ihsahn got beat up in the street for the way he dressed T_T)

Well, can you determine the level of "honesty" of musicians just by listening to their disc?

Hardly, because I don't listen to much at all these days... I'm just not aware of what's going on in the metal scene. That is, I don't want to speak abstractly, and I can't speak specifically, because I really don't listen to much metal.

What then? MTV?

No, MTV doesn't work for me. Most often I listen to classical music, experimental electronic music, just different modern stuff, including rock and pop artists. There are no stylistic restrictions: I listen to everything that I find interesting

So metal is no longer interesting?

Yes, almost. I can't find anything inspiring in the genre that I've been "boiling" over for more than a dozen years. Playing metal is one thing, but I don't want to listen to it anymore. It bothers me. Firstly, I no longer feel the zest that was present (at least for me) in this music before, and secondly, I can't listen to "heavy" albums without thinking about how I would play this or that part, what I would change, remove or add. Such thoughts lose all the fun... and it's impossible to get rid of them.

What are you most afraid of? Not only in relation to what is happening in the world, but also in a purely human, personal way?

Indifference.

[sorcerornobody]

I don't think we truly need a Final Fantasy IX remake, but if we do get one, here are some things I'd like to see from it. Spoilers for a 25 year old PlayStation game, obviously.

Some of this is my own thoughts, and some is based on grievances I've seen laid out by other people.

Keep the majority of it the same. Seriously! The game is so good. I replayed it very recently and most of it still holds up. Keep it faithful. I love VII Remake, but we don't need that here.

Hopefully this one goes without saying, but do not make the style more realistic. Keep the somewhat cartoony aesthetic.

Definitely don't expand it to the point it has to be split into two (or more) games. Not just because having to wait between them would be annoying, but actually for solid narrative reasons: I just don't think there's a good place to split it. The best I've come up with is the Disc 2/Disc 3 boundary, but the first hour or two of Disc 3 would be a really weird start for a separate game.

Don't (significantly) change the Trance system. I know, I know, we all hate Trance, how impossible it is to control, the fact it gets wasted all the time. I know. But its mechanics have plot relevance. I'd maybe add a support ability that can be equipped to prevent a character from entering Trance, so that you can functionally grind the gauge to nearly full before bosses without wasting it on a random encounter. Or maybe just Low Tide as a counterpart to High Tide, so you can slow down the gauge.

Do consider changing how Trance is used narratively. Several characters get a signature moment in the early to mid story that automatically puts them in Trance. It would make sense that they can't enter Trance prior to that point. Perhaps add a signature moment earlier where possible so their Trance isn't locked behind too much of the game (hello Steiner), although don't bend over backwards to do so. This is one of the trickier asks, obviously.

Don't drop Freya from all relevance after Cleyra. She's such a good character and she's honestly wasted for the latter two thirds of the game. Give her something to do.

Keep Quina initially optional. And use they/them pronouns for them. I actually really like the way Quina isn't a secret character, but that you have the option to recruit them early. I don't think it would add narrative value to force the player to go to Qu's Marsh and recruit them on the Burmecia arc.

Give Amarant a bit more. Just some crumbs. He doesn't need a lot; in fact I daresay it might even be better to leave him as he is rather than overdo it, but a little extra spice would be great.

Have Eiko get over her precocious crush on Zidane. I'm fine with her having it. It's part of her characterisation. But by the end of the game I really think she ought to be over it, or at least moving in that direction. A really good place to work on this would be to utilise her time with Garnet at the Water Shrine towards this purpose, rather than it just being a couple of lines to just have Garnet avoid talking about her own feelings on Zidane.

Dive into Beatrix's character more. Her face turn is fine, if a little easy, but the game conspicuously doesn't take any time to discuss the fact that she's known for (and boasts about when the party first meet her) all the people she's mercilessly cut down. She expresses disapproval of the Black Mages mostly as a method, not for what they're being used to do. Give us more shades of grey.

What is Zorn and Thorn's deal? Were they always two parts of Meltigemini, as Kuja somewhat implies? Why do they have the ability to extract Eidolons?

Have Zidane do more with his tail. There's a fun moment where he uses it in the early game to hang from a ceiling. And then it literally never comes up again other than pointing out that all the other Genomes have it (and Kuja hides his). Just sprinkle some bits here and there that acknowledge our boi having an entire extra limb.

Back to the topic of the shrines, maybe let us fight all four guardians. Why not? The water guardian didn't even get shown. It's neat when the game lets you play as a party other than Zidane's, and it could also serve as a better precursor to fighting the four Chaoses in Memoria if you've already fought all four guardians. And of course, going back to what I said about Eiko, they can expand on the scenes of the other three parties. Amarant gets a banger little moment talking to the fire guardian. More of that.

And of course, expand on the plot in general. It can be done without just infodumping. There's a bunch of information from the Ultimania about e.g. the Iifa Tree that can be elaborated upon. And when I say "without infodumping", I mean without infodumping during the plot – you can have dedicated infodumps that the player can optionally seek out. Have readable terminals in Pandaemonium that give information on Terra stuff. Have a datalog-esque feature in the game, I promise, that kind of thing is fine, put your dislike of FFXIII down, XIII's problem, aside from the complaints being largely overblown, was that (some!) important stuff was left out of the main plot and put in datalogs.

Also explain some specific little details better. For example, what is the deal with Hilda being in Mount Gulug? How long has she been in there? The place was sealed up until Kuja took the Gulug Stone from Zidane about ten minutes prior. Was she on the Hilda Garde 1 and Kuja just transferred her when he got there? So why is the room there and fully furnished?

Fix Thunder Slash. Lol.

Make stealing rare items less heinously hard. Tantarian's Demon's Mail (if it is fought on Disc 2) and Hilgigars's Fairy Flute are pure suffering because you don't have access to Master Thief yet. Also change the Beatrix fights to only end after dealing enough damage to her so you don't run out of time to steal her items.

Make Tetra Master a bit less stupid. It's never gonna be Triple Triad, or even Queen's Blood, and I don't want it to be. It can stay its own thing. It can even keep some of the RNG, just reduce the impact of it, because it's ludicrous how RNG the game is. And make the card evolution more controllable somehow.

Inject more Chocobo Hot and Cold into my veins. I want it. I need it. Okay, I'm being dramatic (but I do really love it). That said, I wouldn't mind some more use for Dead Peppers. Add a few more bubbles and mountain cracks, perhaps more around the Mist Continent so you get to see them early on and go "I wonder what that is" if you're new to the game, but for balance, also give us a bit more help finding them because they do kinda suck to find. Oh, and make the Air Garden suck less.

Do... something? with Excalibur II??? I don't know what. Making it significantly easier would defeat the whole purpose I guess. But honestly, what is the point of it, you get a really strong weapon for one specific character who you might not even be using, right at the very end of the game, and you have to speedrun the entire game meticulously to do it. Maybe make it a BIT easier, and have New Game Plus so you can actually use it for something other than Ozma, idfk. And account for the game clock speed this time.

And for one final hot take, they don't necessarily need to remove the "Ooo, soft!" moment, but it definitely needs some adjustment if they keep it. Zidane apologising properly rather than brushing it off with "It's not like I did it on purpose" would be a start.

[mediamime]

I love your idea of how grace works in angels. It's reeeally interesting and it's the first time I see someone depict it this way.

Does it make a sound? Is it distracting? How does it feel (because to me it looks like stained glass but does it feel like it? Or is it more fluid? Or maybe it doesn't feel like anything)? Is it visible to angels on the outside of their body/around them or is it just how it works inside them/their head?

Sorry for the rain of questions I just sent you but this concept is really clever.

Also, I love the way you draw Sam, so puppy coded.

Thank you for the question and for being interested in my ideas about grace and angel perception in general! I'm glad other people like it.

"Does it make a sound?"

Yes!

I feel like it is different for each angel, but in general is sounds like a hum or a rumble. I think of the sensation where something bass-heavy is playing in another room and you can't quite "hear" it, but you can feel it instead.

For Cas specifically, I think his grace is a gentle version of that. Some strange cross between his normal "voice" and the way Jimmy would have hummed, if that makes sense.

For another example, I think Lucifer's grace would sound the way water does when you're out in the middle of the ocean. Sort of low crashing, fluid noise.

I also think the sound itself isn't perceptible to humans unless they are close, physically or emotionally. So for instance, Season 4 Dean can't hear shit, but later down the line its sort of a sixth sense, like, "Oh, Cas is around." Or, if they are in physical contact, it sort of washes over him.

"Is it distracting?"

Yes! I imagine its part of the reason Cas is consistently pulling The Face. When he's trying to understand something, I imagine his thoughts are discordant, louder and sort of whir more. Think of when you put a CD into a player and it has to spin the disc.

"How does it feel (because to me it looks like stained glass but does it feel like it? Or is it more fluid? Or maybe it doesn't feel like anything)?"

I think it feels different depending on the subject matter. When contemplating something, grace feels ridged and the pattern of it moves in a very controlled manner.

When nervous, its more brittle, like glass and moves in shattered pieces.

When an angel looks at or thinks about something it cares about (like Cas thinking about Dean-related things), it becomes more organic and flexible like the way liquids move.

"Is it visible to angels on the outside of their body/around them or is it just how it works inside them/their head?"

I feel like it's mainly just how it works in their heads. We know angels have 'true forms' in the show, so they can sort of see each other no matter the vessel. I would imagine the visibility of thoughts between them could be possible, but in a similar way of needing to be close in some way first.

Although I don't hate the idea that sudden emotions cause burst or flashes to be visible to whoever, similar to how sometimes we can't control a smile or frown or crying, so on.

Mild tangent - I think angels see human souls in a similar way.

I think by design, angels are more accustomed to thinking in very strict forms. Spending more times with humans lets them think in less firm boundaries.

Cas sees Dean in dark colors and more organic shapes than how Cas naturally thinks. Dean smells like the Impala and dirt and fire (in a comforting way like a fireplace). He sounds like a deep crackling noise, again reminiscent of a comforting fire. He feels like warm sun hitting and light rain hitting skin on a warm day.

Now, Dean doesn't literally, all of the time, wear dark clothes or smell like dirt, but it's like the experience rubbed off on his soul so it's part of what Cas perceives about him all of the time. And it isn't that he can literally read Dean's mind or anything, but in the same way where Dean can sort of 'experience' Cas. I think the closer Cas is the more of an influence Dean has on his grace and vice versa with Dean's soul.

Sorry for the long reply, but I could talk about this literally all day!

I've started writing again recently, so if you like this sort of thing you might enjoy that. I used to write all the time, but I find it very embarrassing to share for some reason, so there isn't much readily available from me online at the moment.

But regardless, feel free to ask questions! I live for this kinda thing.

[babyseraphim]

I love your posts about Edwin's potential music tastes and the history of music at that time! I have a related question I hoped you might be able to answer - how would Edwin have been listening to music? I thought maybe live with his family during school holidays, but as a 16yo, would he have the money/opportunity to buy records for himself, and would there be any chance to listen to them at school? I was sort of assuming no, and wondered if you knew any more about listening habits of the time.

Oh my gosh, hi!! This is a question that I have also asked myself, actually, and wrote 1500 words about for a fic chapter before eventually scrapping it. Thank you for giving me a chance to talk about it, and I'm sorry that this got so long.

So, this is not something I ever learned about in school, but from what I've been able gather, there would have been three main ways that Edwin would have likely listened to music in the 1910's: live performances, the phonograph (which plays using cylinders), and the gramophone (which plays using discs).

I think the majority of his early music experiences would have probably been live music (opera houses, music halls, traveling musicians, etc). Its a pretty widespread headcanon that Edwin comes from wealthy family, so if they were going to listen to music, then live performances were likely how they did so.

I think it's also possible that the Payne family had a phonograph at home. In episode 3, when he is discussing the music in the Devlin house with Crystal, he asks her if she has seen a Victrola (a specific type of phonograph created in 1906), or a phonograph anywhere. Now, I maybe just be reading into this though what else is fandom if not just reading into things constantly, but the fact that the phonograph was the first recording device he thought of says that it was probably the one he was most familiar with when he was young. That's just me thinking thoughts, though.

However. As for gramophones.

I personally headcanon that there was a gramophone at St. Hilarion's. From what I understand, gramophones were not super commonplace in most homes during WWI, but there were a number of large manufacturers that donated portable gramophones to soldiers on the front lines. I don't think it would be too out of left field to think that they might have donated a regular sized one to St. Hil's for similar reasons, given that St. Hil's was a school for children of military personnel (is that canon? I'm pretty sure it is).

I headcanon that the gramophone was mainly used for joint dance classes with St. Hil's sister school for girls (which I don't think is canon and I don't have a name for yet, but it has always existed in my brain). I think that Edwin would have probably gravitated towards just using the gramophone for himself during downtime, and even started collecting discs when he went home for holidays or went on trips off school campus. Discs likely would have been sold in the same shops where sheet music were sold, so given that I always headcanon Edwin as a musician, and as coming from a wealthy family, I don't think it would have been hard for him to get his hands on some. I imagine he probably hid all of his discs under his bed at school, though I doubt his collection would have gone unnoticed for very long.

(I also had a headcanon that the other boys totally destroyed his record collection in a cruel prank, just to see if they could get him to react. But that's an untold story for another day.)

Anyway. Most of this is just off the top of my head with the research I did a few months back, so I hope you find it helpful! Thank you for asking

[tobi-smp]

[looks left, looks right]

I've been holding this one back until people got cool with a lot of things very quickly but I think nows the time

lets have a quick examination of c!allium off the top of my head

1: ranboo joins the server and is immediately heckled by dream

2: that same day he meets tommy and they have the famous exchange where tommy asks ranboo if he likes flowers (to rib him) and ranboo accidentally punches him trying to give it to him. this is cute on its own, but of course we Know that tommy loves flowers, that he covered his house in them, that he sung to the plants in l'manberg

3: and importantly, that he took the flower

4: tommy immediately taking ranboo under his wing and running off to Do A Prank with him. this is really important because this is tommy trying to go back to the way that things were Before. the way that he'd had fun with his family and what he did when he felt safe and secure. this is tommy being silly with a new person he might consider a friend, but it's Also him trying to reconnect with that happy Free feeling he'd had before

5: they'd made a bunker specifically to plan out their prank, and he'd put the allium that ranboo gave him into a chest hidden for safe keeping. And That Allium Survived. he kept it and it survived

6: when they're caught not because what they did was Actually out of line (griefing was an every day occurrence, even and Especially between l'manberg and dream's territory), tommy Deliberately Did Not Throw Ranboo Under The Bus.

he didn't take it seriously, he made fun of everyone because the situation was ridiculous, but he Never implicated ranboo. and in fact, he only started Admitting to the crime When Ranboo Was Being Implicated. he Deliberately Took The Fall For Him.

(and it's worth noting that the evidence that was used to tie to tommy to the crime in the first place were signs that Ranboo wrote).

7: and in return Ranboo Stood Up For Tommy. ranboo is a character defined by his conflict avoidance and lack of spine, But He Stood Up For Him. he admitted to being a part of it, and he pointed Out that tommy was taking the fall to try to protect him, and he did so Specifically to counter tommy being called selfish.

8: then in between the trial and exile day tommy opened up to ranboo, both about being afraid of his relationship with tubbo falling apart AND with his relationship with wilbur. admitting to having nightmares and admitting that this fear of losing tubbo is tied to having lost wilbur. this is something he'd never said out loud to anybody at this point, and it'd be Many Many more months until he'd open up about it to anybody else.

9: while there Were people who visited tommy in exile multiple times, ranboo was undeniably the most consistent (outside of ghostbur, until well. dream tried to kill him)

he visited him in person And he wrote to him regularly. dream saw this as a threat so explicitly that he tried to sabotage their writing, to which ranboo circumvented it.

he'd regularly talk to tommy and try to help him while he was breaking down. he's one of the only people on the entire server to have a full picture of what happened and it ate at him.

10: he was Also the first person after techno to find out that tommy was still Alive.

11: ranboo's "dream is the reason" being intrinsically tied to how he's Seen dream hurt tommy and rip him apart from his friends.

12: His Speech At The Green Festival. "why can't you guys just choose PEOPLE" not directed at tommy but to Defend Him. why didn't they defend him because he was their Friend? why did the politics Matter when they all knew what was happening was wrong? (of course, we know the answer to that. but ranboo wasn't there to see it. he didn't know)

13: ranboo being there at doomsday, despite everything he was there. I Think About It

14: Ranboo Being There At The Disc War Finale, Finally Putting Himself Between Tommy And Dream. Dream Specifically Looking At Him In A Crowd Of People. I Think About It I Think About It.

15: Tommy's Death, My Fucking God Tommy's Death. him finding the allium and realizing that tommy had kept it. him openly furious at the way the server treated him, how nobody saved him and how all of this could've been prevented if people had just Acted, if they'd Cared. everyone including himself.

chewing out sam for leaving him, sam talking to him bluntly about exile, I Think About It I Think About It I Think About It

16: ranboo and tubbo shadowing tommy after his revival. killing mobs for him, putting blocks under him while he's walking, watching to make sure that he's okay. Trying To Help Him Be Okay. doing therapy with him, talking with him. so afraid that he'll just disappear. "does he make you happy?" I think about it

17: tommy having a place in the mansion, even if he'd never moved in, he was supposed to be there

18: a major part of ranboo's struggle with his enderwalking not Just being about the fear of it happening at all, But The Realization That He Might've Hurt Tommy and how it absolutely Ate Him Up Inside

In Conclusion: if beeduo marriage hadn't happened I fully believe people would've started shipping c!ranboo and c!tommy and all of the discourse about rpf would've happened about them instead, and then years later tommy would've dropped his own actual rpf featuring his real self. this alternate timeline is way funnier

[thewertsearch]

Let's kick things off with a mega-giga ask compilation!

I've spent the last couple of days working through the backlog, and I've been able to answer some quite old asks that were spoilers at the time they were sent.

@kintatsu asked: So, I was rereading your blog, and got to the post where you determine that John's 13th birthday was a Monday, and complain on his behalf that he couldn't really relax due to having the whole schoolweek ahead of him. Well, I checked, and the previous day was the first Sunday after the first full moon after the equinox, i.e. Easter Sunday. So it might have been a holiday week.

John entered the Medium shortly after Easter Sunday, and he did so by biting into an apple. Forget about the god tiers – his most powerful transformation is clearly Catholic Beast Mode.

Anonymous asked: The thing about knowing your Aspect, I think, is that it's the Aspect you most GET. I GET Space and Light, I understand them completely, they are suffused in my bones and my blood, they are writ large upon my brain and every base in my DNA. What aspect do you just GET?

To be honest, I don’t think I know enough about any Aspect to ‘get’ it.

If I had to choose, then I'd probably feel the most natural affinity for Life and/or Doom – and if was forced to pick one, I’d say I'm very slightly more drawn to Life, just based on vibes.

@mhafanlol2000 asked: I think the horrorterror’s plan (or the closest thing we can comprehend) is CHAOS-by which I mean LIFE. Skaia is order. If it can want, then it wants its players to follow the script it has written-the Alpha. It wants propagation, the snake to eat it’s own tail, blah blah blah. That is order. That is perfect servitude. That is NOT life. The gods, meanwhile, want chaos. It wants its servants to live. It does not tell people to do anything. It simply gives them the facts, and says “here is what you should do. You can not, you can do whatever the hell.” It wants romance, conflict, CHAOS. that is life.

And if this theory is accurate to the canon Life aspect, then I feel justified in my affinity for it. It falls fairly closely in line with my own philosophy.

@necrowyrm asked: When searching your blog I always type "thew" before Tumblr autocompletes your URL. That has become who you are to me.. Thew, Glorious Liveblogger, navigating the treacherous seas of Homestuck

Sally ‘Thew’ Ertsearch, reporting in. 🫡

Anonymous asked: there's actually another arthurian joke to do with dave's land/quest. have another look at the disc platform that bro stabbed. how would you describe the shape of that turntable?

Ayy, Dave's a Knight of the Round Turntable! Honestly, that'd be a pretty great name for his theme song.

@caliquill asked: kanaya vs rose would be absolutely hilarious but. kanaya IS the original "I Can Fix Her" girl for a reason.

Anonymous asked: the only real requirement for a name suggestion to be picked was that the firstname was 4 letters. but by really cool coincidence strider and lalonde are 7 letters, and egbert and harley are 6, and if you add those together its 4/13! similarly, both the trolls names were required to be 6 letters (i think hussie mixed and matched them actually, some of the firstnames were suggested as surnames and vice versa) so theres a similar case to be made for 6/12. but just doubling the same number i think holds less water than adding together two different numbers

Number symbolism is just very flexible in general. All Hussie really had to do was introduce a few 'important' numbers, and the fandom could start finding them everywhere!

Anonymous asked: This may be the wrong place to ask, but have you deleted your post of analyzing the Let the Squiddles Sleep song? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Here it is. Hopefully you're able to see it now!

Anonymous asked: Will the Mega-Ask-Compilation and Liveblog Recap also happen? ~LOSS (19/2/23)

The former is currently taking place. The latter was planned, but after skimming my blog for a bit, I realized I didn't have as much to say about it as I thought I did. Plus, it's been ages, so I'm really excited to look at some new pages. We can leave the old ones for later - I'll probably do some sort of blog retrospective eventually.

Anonymous asked: i figure the trolls' battlefield went through a full set of dnd dice/platonic solids, plus maybe some other notable johnson solids like a truncated icosahedron (aka a soccer ball or buckminsterfullerene), before becoming a sphere. maybe the outer ring went through stages like simple torus, mobius strip, borromean rings or other fun knots, before becoming a mobius net. (not really sure what a mobius net is, mathematically, but that's apparently what the thing around the final form of the kid's battlefield is called.) or maybe something weird happens with that many prototypings, and the battlefield turns into a tesseract or a klein bottle or a menger sponge or a mandelbulb.

If you so much as look at the Battlefield created by the Gigasession, your brain will leak out of your ears.

@manorinthewoods asked: <3Dave, >3>John, >3oJade, <>Rose (by process of elimination) ~LOSS (5/6/23)

I don’t think either of the girls have worn a playing card symbol. The leaf on Jade’s Wardrobifier does kind of look like a spade, but John’s already got that quadrant on lockdown.

Anonymous asked: Reading stuff about skaia on this blog reminded me of madoka, and made me consider that skaia might be like kyube and the other incubators and sburb is skaias way of keeping the unerverse from decaying

Reading this ask makes me realize that Rose is a near-perfect mark for Kyubey.

There’s only one way to save your session, Seer. Form a contract with me, and become a magical girl.

Anonymous asked: man. i dont know what i expected to happen when you found it. but for The Baby Is You to be liveblogged in less than 20 words during a post was not the way i expected it to go

I know it’s not technically part of Homestuck canon, but it really feels like Homestuck canon to me - at least to the same degree as Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, and I liveblogged that.

Anonymous asked: begging (lightheartedly) for you to add posts like LOLCAT and "this guy's an orb" to one of the liveblog tags. they're pretty funny, and it's nice to see off-the-cuff reactions like that, haha. imo it'd be a shame for new readers to miss those kind of posts

Done! I sometimes forget to tag posts like that, because I usually just fire them off and forget about ‘em.

@captorations asked: “Give me a set of rules, and I'll analyze the hell out them, every time.” hello fellow doom player. hope you like the color green

Based on ~ATH’s association with curses, as well as Sollux’s programming hobby, I think there’s a decent chance that Doom relates to coding in some way.

Coding is all about rules, so perhaps Doom, is, in fact, the aspect of rules and logic. I'm not sure why such an aspect would be named 'doom', but it's been obvious for a while that these aspect names aren't always literal.

Anonymous asked: I’d just like to clarify some terminology because it seems relevant, but Aradia isn’t a red blood, she’s a rust blood

[The blood colors all have canon names: Aradia = rust blood Tavros = bronze blood Sollux = gold blood Nepeta = olive blood Kanaya = jade blood Terezi = teal blood Vriska = blue blood (I like cerulean better tho) Equius = indigo blood Gamzee = purple blood Eridan = violet blood Feferi = fuchsia blood and Karkat has no official blood name, but people usually call him mutant blood or candy-red blood - C ]

Oh, there are official names for each color? That’s going to be helpful to disambiguate each blood caste, especially when we really start digging into troll culture and biology.

Anonymous asked: I do believe the top-left ship on the wall - no, Karkat doesn't have red eyes. […] It's probably Vrisrezi, yes, but it could also be Vriskat.

Yeah, I’m still not sure who this ship is supposed to represent.

They have Terezi’s eyes, but the hair and symbol look like Karkat’s. Plus, Nepeta hates this ship, which would make sense if it’s between her crush and someone other than her.

Honestly, my best guess is that it was meant to be Karkat, and the red eyes were just a mistake on Hussie’s part.

Anonymous asked: something I never thought about… is the blue blood sourced from equius or did he get a stock.

Aradia has real blue indigo blood in her veins, and it almost certainly belongs to Equius himself. He could have got it from a donor, but I personally doubt there was anyone else he could ask. Equius feels like he'd be an outsider, even to other indigo-bloods.

Anonymous asked: vriska would be a good strider

Vriska Serket raised by Bro Strider would be the most terrifying character imaginable. I don't even want to contemplate what that upbringing would do to her.

Anonymous asked: Any piece of lore hussie writes needs to contend with the fact that hussie is resolutely committed to the bit. Hence all the words on how different trolls are being entirely blasted aside by 'and then they're just grey humans anyway lmao'

That's the price of admission into Homestuck, for better or for worse. Hussie quite clearly enjoys screwing with us, and we have to take everything we see in the comic with a huge pinch of salt.

Anonymous asked: I'll disagree a bit on the phrasing that Eridan forces Feferi to <> him because firstly she doesn't even seem convinced that he would commit genocide and secondly she dropped him super easily once the lusus-feeding is no longer necessary. While understandable, that doesn't suggest to me someone who is obliged by Eridan's aggression to pacify him. I think she has much more agency in this relationship (or lack thereof I suppose) than that.

Feferi definitely had her doubts – but she must have believed that Eridan was dangerous to a certain degree, because that’s the basis of a moirallegiance.

Forced might not be the right word, but she certainly felt some amount of obligation to pacify him. She sure wasn’t in that relationship for the good of her health.

Anonymous asked: So, Vriska has a conversation with Karkat, where he says she seems to have blackrom feelings for Tavros, but that he doesn't think Tavros can even feel blackrom properly. Then she has another conversation with Tavros in which she antagonizes him, and he notices, but just kind of ignores it and doesn't respond emotionally. Then we see her make a huge dramatic redrom gesture and kiss him. She vacillated because he wasn't into her… incel behavior.

Yup. I’ve always held that Tavros never wanted anything to do with Vriska. He doesn't want to love or hate her - what he really wants is to live in a world where she doesn't exist.

Vriska’s refusal to accept this basic fact is one of the main reasons she’s decided to make his life a living hell.

Anonymous asked: I headcanon that troll blood is analog, but the empire culls non-digital colors because they make the troll race seem like a joke or something. Lol

If there were minor variations in blood color, the Empire probably wouldn’t want to acknowledge it, since the stratification of blood classes forms the basis of their society.

We haven’t seen any trolls besides our twelve (apart from Troll Will Smith) so we can’t compare the blood of two members of the same caste - but we can speculate. Human blood color is known to vary depending on its oxygenation level, and I imagine troll blood would reflect its current chemical composition in the same way.

Anonymous asked: Vriska must be seething while Karkat introduces the concept of quadrants to the reader. Imagine this basic and important facet of troll life, and you're just getting schoolfed it. (This message was sent on 20/10/22.)

This was a fun bit of weirdness from early Hivebent, wasn’t it? In retrospect, it's kind of hilarious that Karkat decided to infodump to Vriska about the obscure, niche topic of… dating.

@sanctferum asked: According to his formspring, Hussie's self-insert's classpect is Waste of Space. He also briefly considers Huss of Lips. This is obviously not meant to be taken seriously but. since you asked @absinthe-and-alabaster asked: i believe hussie said somewhere that FedoraFreak's classpect was "Gent of Piss" Anonymous asked: (not sure if this is technically a spoiler but) hussie has jokingly said that fedorafreak's class is a gent.

If Dad Egbert was a Player, then the Gent class would be forced into canonical existence, as the only class that could possibly define him.

Anonymous asked: If Vriska's control does require the victim to on some level want to do the thing, then Sollux's insistence that you do not under any circumstance eat the mind honey could be something he developed in response to that incident. So that if she ever controls him again, she won't be able to make him eat it.

Wow, I never considered that. That’s a very good (and tragic) take, and I think I'm at least locking it in as a headcanon.

Anonymous asked: the official extended zodiac actually has… 288 signs, if im doing my math right? and also probably hadn't yet been conceptualized when that page was posted (the earliest known evidence comes from 2015). i don't know if any thought was put into the number or if it was just pulled from their ass, but there was a running gag in hussie's q&as where he repeatedly threatened us with a 10,000 page intermission focused on 48 squiddles, each representing a sign from the alternian zodiac Anonymous asked: I believe the troll zodiac is one of the few things in HS lore that was truly retconned, there’s actually 288 signs.

Move over, 48 Squiddles. I want to hear about the 288-player clusterfuck that actually gave rise to Alternia!

@manorinthewoods asked: wheee, you got to the first god tiering! this probably opens up a load of new things to say, so, first off: do you think you need to have a full echeladder to god tier? vriska implied so.

She never outright stated that it was required, but I still think it probably is. You generally need to max out your class levels before you can prestige.

@morganwick asked: Believe it or not, you're still in the "Homestuck could have updated RIGHT NOW" phase of the comic's release schedule. The break after the Equius-Aradia kiss aside, the hiati you've heard horror stories about didn't start becoming a thing until the end of Act 5.

[this was around page 3000. still true at this page though - C]

Hussie’s sheer productivity at this stage continues to astound. Could you imagine having that much creative energy?

Maybe Hussie just drinks twenty coffees a day.

Anonymous asked: as someone who is Normal about aradia it's an absolute delight to see someone dig into her character. she's so fascinating to me. (also, fun fact, a while ago tumblr voted her the coolest character in all of homestuck. so there's that)

Aradia’s awesome, and I still don’t think her death is going to stick.

Her ghost was perfectly capable of existing without a body, so there's no reason she can’t survive her new body's destruction.

Anonymous asked: feferi hasn't just woken up, she won't be stuck asleep until 3 hours and 14 minutes into the future! timestamps, yo

Consider this the first mark on my otherwise impeccable record.

Anonymous asked: does cat have a troll/kidsona? itd be interesting to see a full 4 player session in art

[No kidsona, yes trollsona, but even a picture of her would spoil stuff from Act 6 😆 - C]

What she said. It’ll be a while until we can meet KATYAA SCRENR.

@mhafanlol2000 asked: Hey! You can just call me Fan. In all honesty I’m just some guy who likes your liveblog. He/him. I’m gonna list some fan aspects, and I want to see what you think they’d represent, and what abilities they’d give Law Dreams Might Shape Flow

Ooh, more fan aspects! These were a lot of fun to puzzle out the last time.

Law would be the aspect of command, instruction and agreement. An example power would be giving someone a simple rule they're compelled to follow, such as 'don't turn around'.

Dreams would be the aspect of ideas, motivation and symbolism. An example power would be the ability to detect people's idle thoughts - the things they're not even aware they're thinking about.

Might would be the aspect of growth, conflict and evolution. An example power would be the ability to temporarily enhance someone's Aspect abilities, at the cost of making those abilities harder to control.

Shape would be the aspect of form, encapsulation and topology. Shapeshifting is the most obvious application of this aspect, but it's appropriate.

Flow would be the aspect of persistence, momentum and continuity. An example power would be the ability to 'continue' something that has recently stopped. For example, if your PC ran out of power, they'd be able to keep it running for a while. The longer it had been previously running, the longer they could keep it running.

@martinkhall asked: I think Bro might have been raised entirely by shonen anime and My Little Pony Friendship is Magical (the version that existed only in the heads of the worst examples of Bronys). And puppets. Puppets were definitely involved in raising Bro. Anonymous asked: "He has no known relationship with any of the other parents, but was definitely getting foreknowledge of Sburb from somewhere. I’m not even sure I want to know what sort of childhood produces Bro Strider." well. i mean. he grew up with Lil Cal didn't he? the clearly haunted puppet from the sburban dreamscape of derse? it was what he dropped to earth with. i feel like that might explain at least a small part of, like, whatever he had going on.

That’s true. I don’t trust that puppet one bit, and we don’t know what it was up to before the start of the session.

I still suspect that the thing’s still just as alive as it was on Derse, and is just choosing to play dead.

Anonymous asked: I imagine you might've already been told this, but when checking out your FAQ I noticed you described PS/PQ/FS as "not exactly canon" and that you're less interested in liveblogging them because one of your favorite parts is watching all the story come together -- without spoiling anything, I find it pertinent to mention that Pesterquest & Friendsim definitely contribute to the wider "canon" even though dubiously canon themselves. Definitely "part of the story" so to speak.

Yeah, we’ll have to see what comes of this. The problem is that I’m still fuzzy on what ‘dubiously canon’ actually means.

Hopefully that will become more clear as I’m actually liveblogging these tie-in materials – which I am planning on doing. Only time will tell how in-depth the liveblog will actually be, though.

@manorinthewoods asked: In my Sundered opinion, Bec Noir is the best character design in Homestuck. I can't think of any other interesting designs at the moment, other than some which don't beat him and are spoilers anyway (like LE's). Which design do you find most interesting, out of the ones you have? ~LOSS (22/9/23)

I definitely agree that BecJack has one of the best designs in the comic. Plus, Scratch is so weirdly intimidating for a cueball-head.

Anonymous asked: My favorite part of PKWU is just how pointy Gamzee's chin is. It's so… Defined.

iT’s ToO lAtE, ErIdAn! I’vE AlReAdY DePicTeD MySeLf As ThE ChAd, AnD yOu As ThE SoYjAk >:o)

Anonymous asked: i need you to know ag canonically ripped off the sleeves on all of her shirts just to show off the robot arm

I believe it. I don't even need a source; this is just so true to Vriska's character that it's obviously correct.

@bladekindeyewear asked: If you and your ask screener decide that literary/external-media hero title examples without any details or explanation are alright to pass on unless they're too obviously revealing -- and those in and of themselves are usually in heavy dispute by classpect theorists -- I've long been of the opinion that Monkey D. Luffy and Peter Pan are the best possible literary examples of a Page of Breath.

All Pages of Breath must be associated with pirates. No exceptions.

Anonymous asked: unfun fact: the reason rose and jade dont have a lot of pesterlogs with eachother is just because their text colours were kinda eyestrainy together. thats it thats literally the whole reason!! god damn

Hussie: "I don't write Rose/Jade conversations because they’re hard to read."

Also Hussie:

Anonymous asked: you have officially passed my second favourite flash in literally all of homestuck. it's all so well hinted at beforehand but it still comes to punch you in the gut nonetheless Anonymous asked: My favourite thing in this flash is how the name of the flash isn't John: Rise Up, it's JOHN. RISE UP. it's WV sending a plead to John to not die. My second favourite thing is the way the music remixes Doctor (The theme for LoWaS). Anonymous asked: [S] JOHN. RISE UP. is one of my favorite flashes in all of Homestuck. Savior of the Waking World is some of Toby's best work What are your thoughts on our first taste of god tier? @violetsquare111 asked: So glad you liked Savior of the Waking World! One of my favorites in the comic for sure. It takes a lot of ideas from another of Toby's songs, Penumbra Phantasm, a song that… never actually got finished or officially released. There's still various renditions of it though, and the HS collection links a couple of em. (Some people have speculated that Penumbra Phantasm itself was never supposed to be a Homestuck song, and might end up being used in Deltarune, which would be cool as hell) Anonymous asked: It's crazy to think that just about 12 hours ago John was wearing silly disguises to fool his dad and now he's dying to become a god.

God time!

I do think it was the most emotional flash we’ve had, on the strength of the music alone. Savior of the Waking World goes hard as all hell.

Honestly, when WV started calling John a hero, and telling him to rise, it did start to give me some mild chills. Like, yeah – we know John’s a hero, but it feels extra special when it’s coming from someone who’s normally so irreverent.

@elkian asked: Welcome back, hope you're feeling better! I am losing it a bit over you IMMEDIATELY understanding how this coin flip sitch works, something about the narrative and reasoning doesn't match my brain so I've reread it multiple times with total understanding out of grasp and watching you dissect it halfway into the page is truly wild (delighted). Also feel like I understand it a lil better with your analysis.

Thank you! This message was actually sent the last time I returned from a pause, so apologies that I’m one hiatus late in answering it.

@royalvorpal asked: I just reread your entire blog in anticipation. Anonymous asked: This is such a good liveblog, I'm rereading it again and you are really letting me relive the pleasant parts of my middle school years. Reading this blog makes me feel like I'm back on the school bus talking to my friend about the newest update. Thank you for doing this 💛 Anonymous asked: That return page didn't have any sound, so misleading! (I jest, nice to see you're back.) ~DJ @manorinthewoods asked: Hahahah, we are BACK! Lovely, I've missed this liveblog. Most in-depth Homestuck liveblog I'm aware of, looking forward to the restart! ~LOSS (29/3/24) @popcornsalty asked: So excited to see you back!!! :D @chaosorchestrator asked: welcome back! It's good to hear that you're planning on getting back into it! I hope things have been going ok for you in the meantime! @necrowyrm asked: HAPPY 4/13 (OR AS THE ENLIGHTENED KNOW IT: 13/4) AND WELCOME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your votes of confidence, and happy 13/4 to you all!

@rippledphysique asked: Just found this blog and devoured it in a few days. I am selfishly wishing you the best in health and life so that it may return one day… @elkian asked: Hey Sally! Just wanted to wish you well on the recovery, the plague is no joke and I hope you've been able to enjoy some kind improvement. And that 2024 will be kinder, as well. Anonymous asked: wishing you the best in your interim, hopefully you can get a better position where you're not prone to burning out! Anonymous asked: Hope you're doing ok!! I miss seeing your cool liveblog on my dash @kittycatttmattt asked: Poor girl… Got killed by the schedule

Thanks for all the well-wishes, as well. Really, it wasn’t the schedule that was the issue – I just had a lot going on in the background last year. That’s all over now, though!

Anonymous asked: yeah, Homestuck's back babeyyyyy - the site was crashing because of traffic and everything @calamitascalliope asked: You coming back from your break resurrected Homestuck's corpse hggfffdd Anonymous asked: i think this actually is the first time homestuck has updated since you started liveblogging lol - homestuck 2 has been inactive assumed abandoned since december 25th 2020. also happy slightly belated blogiversary btw - you've been delighting us with your journey for two years now! @heliotropopause asked: New Homestuck upd8 just dropped. Apparently. Anonymous asked: what are the odds that you start liveblogging again the same exact day that postcanon comes back from the dead? Anonymous asked: crazy news. so literally just today, october 8th 2023, hussie has officially given complete free license to the newly formed "homestuck independent creative union" (HICU) to create content and monetize it with the homestuck brand however they see fit, with zero creative or financial control from any corporations or even hussie themself, though hussie has said they're available for consultation whenever the HICU wants their input. the HICU seems to be made up of people the community largely has respect for, and the person heading all of this up is James Roach, who is one of the most widely respected individual who has been inolved in homestuck "post canon" (ie. after homestuck itself ended). nobody was expecting any of this, it's completely bonkers. hopes are looking pretty high for homestuck compared to where they were merely a day ago.

Throwback to the day I personally resurrected Homestuck.

Has anything come of this since, actually? I haven’t heard anything about this new comic – although I do scroll in the opposite direction any time I see a reference to Homestuck, so I guess it makes sense that I wouldn’t.

@corporalotherbear asked: What’s your favorite Pokémon?

Contrarian, that I am, I’ll instinctively gravitate to Missingno., if only for the nostalgia factor. Gen 1 glitches were my first real experience with pulling back the curtain of a game’s code, and taking a look at what lies beneath.

My favourite official Pokémon are Porygon-Z, Shedinja, Reuniclus and Metagross!

@heliotropopause asked: Breath/Light is an interesting one, because the ‘Mixolydian’ implies a musical theme, and I thought Time was the musical Aspect. Maybe it’s not that simple. They've all got a musical reference in the name- they are called fraymotifs, after all. Anonymous asked: The Fraymotifs are all musical references actually. E.g. Breath/Time is "Ivories in the Fire", the ivories in question being John's piano keys. A fraymotif is a battle theme. Anonymous asked: ivories in the fire is a musical theme, especifically a Rap term used by Snoop Dogg. So yeah it's connected to Dave Anonymous asked: re: fraymotifs: you pointed out "mixolydian", but that's not the only musical term there. feather "cadence", pneumatic "progression", even fray "motif" itself! hell, the building where you buy these things has an emblem with a crossed sword and music note! so i think this might be less a situation of "need to rethink time aspects association with music" and more "fraymotifs have a musical association also" Anonymous asked: if you look a bit closer at those names, (including the one "fraymotif",) you may realize that "mixolydian" isn't the only musical term referenced…. @galaxa-13 asked: You say the breath/Light Fraymotif implies a musical theme, but they all do! Fraymotif is a portmanteau of "fray" (to fight) and "leitmotif" (repeated musical phrase). Each Fraymotif name implies a musical theme.

Dang it. Yup, they’re all pretty obvious references to music.

I wrote that post the day I was trying to wrangle our family PC into running the Homestuck Collection without lag, so I was a little distracted at the time. Please direct all complaints to Windows XP.