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I use one of the userscripts for ao3 and...

Something has happened overnight...

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artifact of wisdom

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Ok, so I’m still on ch 33, but I feel like I need to mentally prepare myself for what’s about to go down in the final battle, so uhhh here’s some more brainrot doodles!!! I wish I had more timeeee ahhhhh

for @sincosma ‘s Congruent!

(ok the second one might be a tad indulgent lololll)

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currently obsessed with Congruent by @sincosma (link here) and i’m already on chapter 33 but this friggin fic BROKE me so now I’ll probably be doing a lot more fanart of these two broken dorks for a while lolll I hope I can do them justice!!!

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I was skimming through some omegaverse today. Alphas and omegas all have a scent, this seems to be the unanimous decision we've all made.

It seems the jury is out on beta scents though.

I see no reason why they can't also have one? Even in a universe where alphas and omegas rarely choose betas. After all, why shouldn't betas be able to have the same capability to announce their mood and mental state to the room as alphas and omegas?

Especially when you consider a whole life with scents. Small children (or teens, depending on when it manifests I suppose) not being able to tell how their family or friends is reacting to things.

I feel like it would cause a huge divide in interactions and relationships. Omegas trying to cuddle up with their beta friends, smelling all pleased and happy and the beta can't even tell.

I've seen authors saying omegas all have a sweet undertone. To me that sounds.... I get it in a way but what about individualism? Imagine being an omega that doesn't like sweet scents and you have to put up with your own scent all the time?

I imagine it more as alphas and omegas each having an undertone to their scent that tells you which they are. Doesn't even have to be a specific smell. Maybe more of a subconscious pheromone that differs based on the secondary gender. You don't actively smell it, you just know they're an alpha, an omega, or a beta.

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Smooch smooch 😚

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I do occasionally read "straight stuff"... (I can't stand a lot of the stereotypes that comes with straight couples, but that's a different conversation)

I'm starting this post on chapter 46, and *long sigh*

I'm really not enjoying this trend of "Oh no, he's in love with me!?!" that's going around lately. Even though you may not have experience with love, you still know what it looks like?

It feels like a trend of intentional stupidity (not just regarding love) that's going around and it annoys me so much.

All of that aside. I'm rather enjoying it.

Abel is probably my favourite so far. Murder dad who loves you very much. Siegren is a total sweetheart. Fiona is a badass.

49 now and... To me it seems obvious the crown prince is behind the assassination. Maybe I'm just thinking too little of him though and there's someone else behind this.

Fiona's knights.... They've known her for years, they've seen her fight. "Stay in the wagon where you're safe!". She can obviously keep herself and you safer then you'll keep her. The assassin going after Siegren is clearly an idiot. "I thought this would be hard!". You're about to find out my friend. Maybe make sure to study your mark first?

I forget which sequence of chapters it was, but when they bait the crown prince into going to the monster fights, then trapping him there. The prince is clearly an idiot too. Mouthing off like the best of them, not even a thought that they're going to rip his mask off at some point.

I got sidetracked from reading it so I haven't read any further than this. I got annoyed with this sitting in my drafts though, so I'm just going to post it.

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I finally managed to finish this after I don't even know how many years, but anyway.

The only thing I'm still stuck on after it's all done, what I want to know. If being a thrall makes them immortal, heal really fast, blah blah. Why the fuck did her ankle get damaged? If she was already a thrall? She should have healed?? Did the effects of the blood wear off after so many years? Is it because he was so damaged that the effects lessened?

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Eugene, wearing Gavus's cape. I just think that's adorable with it being covered in feathers and everything would be very comfortable

It's very warm and comfy for those cold, winter mornings

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How about Eugene and Gavus dancing together?

I love this idea! I imagine Eugene would teach him all sorts of mortal dances. And Gavus being the rising celestial hotshot that he is, would be a pretty good student lol

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For anyone who hasn't seen them before, Hidden Search Operators are handy tricks you can use when you're either searching or filtering AO3.

summary: string is a generic way of explaining that you can search AO3 for a specific word that appears in a summary. You can do this from the search bar in the header, from the Any Field box at the top of the Advanced Search form, or from the Search Within Results box at the bottom of the filter menu.

Examples:

summary: Bruce

summary: "Bruce Banner"

summary: Bruce OR summary: Banner OR summary: Hulk

You need to put quotation marks around your search term if it is more than one word. The quotes make sure that the site searches for those two words together.

The other two operators listed work best in the Search Within Results box.

expected_number_of_chapters: 1 will return results where every fic has only 1 chapter currently posted.

You can use expected_number_of_chapters: -1 if you want results where every fic has more than 1 chapter currently posted.

otp:true will return results where there is only 1 relationship tag on the fic. If you want results where there are 2+ relationship tags (and no fics with only 1 relationship tag) then you can use otp:false

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I've always thought that AO3 should have two sections for the relationships. One for the focused pair or relationship, and one for any side and background relationships.

This would solve some of the search issues.

I was today years old when I learned that when you type “otp: true” in AO3 search results it filters out fics with additional ships, leaving only the fics where your otp is the main ship

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I'm rereading Full volume since it's fully complete now. I stopped somewhere in the middle of the first side story last time.

I like Dojin and Taeju, but not as much as I like Dowon and Beom.

Dowon is unhinged in just that right way that I like. Absolutely obsessed but in a good way. I've mentioned before with Cherry blossoms and Stranger than friends that I like that non-toxic obsession and this one definitely falls in that category too.

In chapter 14 I love Dowon's little fantasy sequence about eating the dude's head. I love a man with a good set of fangs (that aren't vampire fangs. It's just different ok!?)

Dowon and Dojin basically make the same feral face during sex but somehow I just like Dowon's better? I don't know why. Maybe the hair. Dojin just looks too.... IDK.

Dojin's dazed face after the phone call in 93 makes me cackle. Made the big, bad, lawyer man absolutely speechless.

Chapter 94 honestly has my favourite part of the whole damn story. Michael Buchanan might be an asshole, but he's certainly not a homophobic asshole, no sir!

The puppy eyes in 101 should probably be illegal :D

105 makes me sad. The use of light in the scene makes it even more emotional. Dojin standing in the light when the call starts, while they're talking. He sits down on the bed and he's in the shade, darkened. Taeju gets up and sits next to him and he's in the light, is the light. Leaning on his shoulder, happy, content, accepting. Dojin is still in the dark.

109. Dowon has killed me. The lovely dovey is just too much. I would expire of embarrassment if someone treated me like that.

114. "Seasoning of justice." Trademark.

119 is another one that makes me really sad. Dowon and Dojin just want to live their lives but noooooo. Gotta live the way we expect you to, and if you won't, we'll make it happen.

The dream in the last chapter makes me sniffly. I love getting to see the future further down the road. So happy ;_;

Overall this story hits so many buttons for me. The consensual kink, how they blush so hard you can clearly see it (Sometimes people will comment on the blush in a panel and I'm sitting here like ??, creeping into my screen trying to see it).

I saw someone complain at the end of side 1 that they were running on too long. I can't say I ever agree with that sort of stuff. Sometimes, ok, there might be cases where they try to milk a story or something. I can't help but feel like that shouldn't stop an artist from telling the story they have?? If you feel it has gone on too long, just stop reading?

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ON GHOSTS AND DEMONS: Wei Wuxian's "demonic" cultivation?

There are a few big misconceptions I have repeatedly seen in English-speaking fandom about things that are fundamental to the story of MDZS. One of them is this—

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

To prove this, let's take a deep dive into the original Chinese text of MDZS.

(Adapted from my original gdoc posted on Twitter on May 27, 2022. All translations my own unless otherwise stated.)

Demon vs. ghost

Let's start from the very basics. In addition to orthodox cultivation using spiritual energy and a golden core, there are two other forms of cultivation that are mentioned in the novel:

魔道 (mó dào), or “demon cultivation/path.”

鬼道 (guǐ dào), or “ghost cultivation/path.”

To be clear, 魔 mo "demons" and 鬼 gui "ghosts" (and thus their respective cultivation/paths) are not interchangeable because of the in-universe worldbuilding within MDZS. Using the characters in the term 妖魔鬼怪 "monsters," MXTX created four distinct categories of beings, each of which has a strict definition in the novel. From chapter 4 (jjwxc ch 13):

妖者非人之活物所化; 魔者生人所化; 鬼者死者所化; 怪者非人之死物所化。 Yāo (妖) are transformed from non-human living beings; mó (魔) are transformed from living people; guǐ (鬼) are transformed from the deceased; guài (怪) are transformed from non-human dead beings.

And of course, WWX hoards all the ghost-type pokemon monsters at the Phoenix Mountain tournament, and he only exerts control over corpses, spirits, and the like (aka people who have already died). (As opposed to Xue Yang, who appears to have been actively trying to make 魔 "demons" out of living people with those "living corpses" of his, perhaps.) (And, ironically, in order to avoid showing necromancy / zombies on screen, CQL technically does show WWX practicing demon cultivation because everyone is "supposedly alive" even when they're corpses? Which is, funnily enough, far worse morally in the MDZS universe, lol.)

So, intuitively at least, we know that WWX must be practicing ghost cultivation—now let's look at some concrete examples from the book.

Running the numbers

1) 魔道 (mó dào) means “demon cultivation.” As such, it must use living humans.

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

Yes, once. The only time it appears is in the term 魔道祖师 modao zushi, or the namesake of the novel, in chapter 2. This is a title the general public has given him through rumors:

魏无羡好歹也被人叫了这么多年无上邪尊啦、魔道祖师啦之类的称号，这种一看就知道不是什么好东西的阵法，他自然了如指掌。 Wei Wuxian wasn’t called titles like “The Evil Overlord,” “The Founder of Demon Cultivation,” and so on over the years by others for nothing—he knew these sorts of obviously shady formations like the back of his hand.

2) 鬼道 (guǐ dào) means “ghost cultivation.” As such, it must use dead humans. 

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

Here is the first instance that 鬼道 appears, which I believe is the first time Wei Wuxian's method of cultivation is properly introduced. From chapter 3 (jjwxc ch 8):

蓝忘机 […] 对魏无羡修鬼道一事极不认可。 Lan Wangji […] had never approved of the fact that Wei Wuxian practiced ghost cultivation.

Here's another quote from chapter 15 (jjwxc ch 71) for funsies:

蓝忘机看着他，似乎一眼就看出他只是随口敷衍，吸了一口气，道：“魏婴。” Lan Wangji looked at him as if he saw through his half-hearted bluff. He took in a breath, then said, “Wei Ying.” 他执拗地道：“鬼道损身，损心性。” He stubbornly continued, “Ghost cultivation harms one’s body, and harms one’s nature.”

3) 邪魔歪道 (xiemowaidao) means heretical path/immoral methods/evil practices/underhanded means/etc—e.g., lying, cheating, stealing, bribery, and so on.

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

I mention this last term because it is often used to refer to Wei Wuxian's cultivation, but as a pejorative. Every instance of 邪魔歪道 is said by or to quote someone looking down upon Wei Wuxian’s cultivation (Jin Zixun, Jin Ling, etc.) and referring to it derogatorily, whereas every instance of 鬼道 guidao/ghost dao is said by someone discussing it neutrally and/or factually (Lan Jingyi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian himself, random cultivators at discussion conferences, the narration, etc.). Here is a pertinent example with Jin Ling (derogatory) and Lan Jingyi (neutral) in chapter 9 (jjwxc ch 43):

金凌怒道：“是在谈论薛洋，我说的不对吗？薛洋干了什么？他是个禽兽不如的人渣，魏婴比他更让人恶心！什么叫‘不能一概而论’？这种邪魔歪道留在世上就是祸害，就是该统统都杀光，死光，灭绝！” “We are discussing Xue Yang,” Jin Ling said angrily. “Am I wrong? What did Xue Yang do? He’s scum that’s lower than a beast, and Wei Ying is even more disgusting than him! What do you mean ‘don’t make sweeping generalizations?’ As long as those practicing this kind of demoniac, heretical path are alive, they’ll continue to bring disaster. We should slaughter all of them, kill all of them, annihilate them once and for all!” 温宁动了动，魏无羡摆手示意他静止。只听蓝景仪也加入了，嚷道：“你发这么大火干什么？思追又没说魏无羡不该杀，他只是说修鬼道的也不一定全都是薛洋这种人，你有必要乱摔东西吗？那个我还没吃呢……” Wen Ning shuffled around. Wei Wuxian gestured at him to stay still, only to hear Lan Jingyi also cut in loudly, “Why are you getting so riled up? It’s not like Sizhui said Wei Wuxian shouldn’t have been killed. All he said was that people who practice ghost cultivation aren’t necessarily all like Xue Yang. Do you have to go around breaking things? I didn’t even get to eat any of that yet…”

Tl;dr—Wei Wuxian does not 修魔道 practice demon cultivation. When Wei Wuxian’s craft is discussed in a neutral and factual manner, it is referred to as 鬼道 ghost dao. 

In fact, Wei Wuxian’s imitators are also referred to explicitly as 鬼道修士 ghost cultivators.

魏无羡早就听说过，这些年来江澄到处抓疑似夺舍重生的鬼道修士，把这些人通通押回莲花坞严刑拷打。 Wei Wuxian had heard a while back that over the past few years, Jiang Cheng had gone around snatching any ghost cultivator suspected of being possessed or reborn, detaining them in Lotus Pier to interrogate them using torture.

So why the confusion?

Of course, there is the matter of the novel's title, which I will get into in a second. But the real issue is a matter of translation.

The idea that WWX uses "demonic cultivation" is a misconception in English-speaking fandom due to issues with the translation of terminology. Of note, EXR actually did translate 鬼道 guidao as "ghostly path" most of the time, though there were at least 3 instances of "demonic" and 1 instance of "dark," especially regarding the first few.

However, this misconception was perpetuated (and arguably worsened) by 7S's official translation, which not only mistranslated additional terms as "demonic cultivation/path" (at least in book 1), but also consistently mistranslated every instance of 鬼道 as "demonic cultivation/path."

So why is this book called 魔道祖师, commonly translated as "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation?"

One possibility is one posed in Chinese-language meta online, which often cites that WWX himself is a sort of 魔 demon. While this may be true—after all, he can hear the voices of the dead—it doesn't quite explain the fact that the title sets him up to be the 祖师 or "founder."

My take is that this novel is very much concerned with hearsay vs. truth. This is one of the many monikers WWX is given by the public, who collectively view him as evil. (Also of note is that the non-cultivator public is not aware of all the nuances that cultivators learn re: distinctions between the 妖魔鬼怪 monsters.) In the quote from earlier, note that the first title we're given is actually 无上邪尊 “The Evil Overlord,” then 魔道祖师 "The Founder of Demon Cultivation." Like, what can that be other than MXTX telling us, "please take both of these with a HUGE grain of salt, lol."

(And not only the title, but the very first line—"魏无羡死了。" / "Wei Wuxian is dead."—is a lie.)

I think the title is genius, honestly. It intentionally makes readers come into the novel with preconceived notions that Wei Wuxian practices 魔道 demon cultivation and evil techniques—just like the public in the novel. What better way to tell a story warning about the dangers of how easy it is to fall for misinformation and jump to incorrect conclusions?

(Though, in our case, perhaps it worked a little too well.)

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Oh oh oh! According to that layout of their block it's Makoto's house you see from the living room and Haru's room!

I love this so much.

Rewatching Free and a few episodes into season 2 I started wondering what the layout of Haru's house actually is.

Started trying to figure it out myself, but I got impatient and couldn't wait for more episodes for more clues >_>

So, search engine to the rescue. Found some image from Pintrest in the results.

This looks about what I had imagined as well, just with a lot more detail.

(I tried to find an actual source but couldn't. If anyone has it or finds it send it my way so I can credit properly!)

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I just watched Starting Days. The one with Ikuya and Asahi.

There's a part where Haru walks into his room and you see his desk and his bed. There are two windows in his room, so it's a corner room. Outside one of the windows you can see a building that looks quite a lot like the one you see outside the living room in shots from earlier seasons. I'm thinking Haru's room is in the corner above the living room!

Rewatching Free and a few episodes into season 2 I started wondering what the layout of Haru's house actually is.

Started trying to figure it out myself, but I got impatient and couldn't wait for more episodes for more clues >_>

So, search engine to the rescue. Found some image from Pintrest in the results.

This looks about what I had imagined as well, just with a lot more detail.

(I tried to find an actual source but couldn't. If anyone has it or finds it send it my way so I can credit properly!)

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Rewatching Free and a few episodes into season 2 I started wondering what the layout of Haru's house actually is.

Started trying to figure it out myself, but I got impatient and couldn't wait for more episodes for more clues >_>

So, search engine to the rescue. Found some image from Pintrest in the results.

This looks about what I had imagined as well, just with a lot more detail.

(I tried to find an actual source but couldn't. If anyone has it or finds it send it my way so I can credit properly!)