#// god this got long

[laundrybiscuits]

Just curious and i like hearing your thoughts on this stuff. May i ask what aspect of steddie fanon you're referring to (which don't fit IRL queer culture so accurately)?

Ahaha...okay so. IMPORTANT NOTE: fandom is not that crucial, do whatever you want, run free through daisy fields of whatever headcanons and characterizations you please. Also, fic is not real life and that's okay!!

That being said, fandom can get slightly weird about sex, especially queer sexual cultures and especially historical queer sexual cultures. I mean, I get it! Our current hegemonic understanding of sexuality is actually pretty recent; I studied sexuality from a sociological perspective as part of my undergrad degree, focusing on moral panics (gosh I wonder why Eddie's character arc appeals to me! so mysterious!), and I know just enough to know that I don't know shit. So I certainly don't expect anyone to be doing paradigm-shifting sociohistorical research for a fic. That would be ridiculous.

All of this is leading up to say that based on 1) the relayed experiences of queer mentors who were in the scene in the 80s 2) the secondary sources I’ve researched 3) personally having many gay male friends who love oversharing through the last ~15 years, I believe that if canon-compliant gay Eddie Munson is a virgin, it’s largely by choice. 

I've seen it suggested that Eddie's poor academic performance and nerdy interests would be, essentially, a dick deterrent. And like...I enjoy Eddie’s weirdo loser vibe as much as the next fan. I fully support him not being in any way smooth or cool with boys. But even when I myself was in my late teens/early twenties, many of my closest friends were awkward nerdy twinks who absolutely managed to get laid every weekend because MSM* hookup culture is eternal. 

And in the early 80s, when Eddie would’ve been in his late teens, MSM hookup culture was at its peak. AIDS still wasn’t being taken that seriously, and transmission etc. wasn’t really understood because…well, you know this story. It’s not a good story. Fuck Reagan. 

In short, I really can’t emphasize enough how certain types of sexual contact were extremely available for men seeking sex with men. A pretty young thing like Eddie could have literally as much sex as he wanted. Nobody is asking him for a high school transcript or anything about his hobbies, they’re asking if he tops. 

Now, would Eddie actually participate in the hookup culture of the time? That's a more complicated and speculative question, and not actually what you asked, but I'm going to talk about it briefly anyway.

In the 'yes' column: he has his own vehicle**, zero supervision, and a penchant for risky behavior.

In the 'no' column: the boy has at least three extremely involved hobbies eating up his spare time and energy; he's also a not-so-secret romantic.

Personally, I can see the pseudo-intimacy appealing to Eddie's tendency to keep people at arm's length, and I think it’s very plausible for him to be curious and experimental enough to want to explore a bit. I tend to land on 'tried it a few times, doesn't make a habit of it' in my backstories. I also tend to hint at the softer, friendlier side of hookup culture in my fics, just because I don’t often see it represented. 

Of course it’s like any other scene, there are bad actors and generally shitty people/situations, and sometimes the MSM scene specifically can be a bit of a soul-draining meat market. (ETA, because I am not white and neither are the vast majority of my friends and I felt increasingly weird not mentioning it even though it's not relevant to Eddie's situation: the scene is often also super racist, among other things! But that's a whooole other complicated kettle of fish, and again, not relevant to Eddie's situation.)

But there’s also space for casual sex to be part of a friendly relationship, in a way that I don’t really see in hetero circles. It’s hard to explain. It’s one of those dynamics that basically never shows up in mainstream media at all, so I absolutely don’t blame fics that don’t show it either. It’s just one of those things.

This is a step to the left, but I recommend checking out Dykes To Watch Out For: it’s practically an anthropological document depicting dyke culture in the 80s, it’s often funny as hell, and it’s just a fantastically detailed and relatively accessible window into a particular way of life that doesn’t really exist anymore. 

*MSM = men who have sex with men. It’s a sociological designation; not everyone in this category identifies as gay, bi, queer, etc. It may be useful to think about sexuality as having three distinct components: behavior, identity, and desire. The term “MSM” puts focus on the behavioral aspect, because it’s most relevant in this context. 

**As someone who has experienced several other countries' driving cultures, I just want to emphasize to non-Americans how willing many Americans are to drive for multiple hours for basically any reason whatsoever.

[echosluvr]

I'm the shameless writers' sleep paralysis demon. In season 12:

Debbie has flings with a bunch of crazy™ chicks to forget about Sandy but they meet again and they talk about that.

D:"after i met you, thought I loved crazy bitchs but turns out i only love one crazy bitch."

S: "oh wow, turns out ,i only love one crazy bitch too."

They kiss and have steamy lesbian sex, the end.

LMFAO this is sending me so bad how does it feel to be one of the funniest people ever anon (sorry I saw this so late Tumblr loves hiding my inbox notifs) as much as I love love love sebbie, I fear it wouldn't happen like this. I think after h*idi , debbie would quit on dating and fucking? she may kiss girls at bars on her nights out but thats the most. she wouldn't get anyones number or fuck. she'd devote most of her time to her job and franny to get over sandy. if im being 0% delusional they would NOT get back together because of the harsh and cruel words sandy said to debbie. but in my perfect fanfic world, over this time sandy tries with prince , obviously a long hard path because she willingly abandoned that kid with a guy who clearly didn't have enough time for him either. but over the course of months and familial therapy she would get to a standpoint with her son, where they aren't truly mother-son, but they get along. she knows his favorite things (color, food, clothes, activity, etc) and he knows his hers. and at first sandy would do this just for debbie, to show she's willing to change and not be another person who abandons her. but overtime she grows to care for her son. and I think the reconciliation would start off with sandy begging mickey to help him set up a meeting or play date between franny and prince so she can show she's trying with her kid while also having some distance to discuss these topics with debbie. as for Debbie she would be against it at first and maybeeeeeee mickey bribes franny who is the only person in the whole wide world that can convince her mom to do anything. so she agrees. they'd meet, its awkward but sandy strikes a convo about the kids and they seem to joke about it. and amidst it, sandy would apologize and debbie would shut it down, cause she just isn't ready to forgive her, but she's willing to along with it. it'd probably grow along the course of months most likely years and a shit ton of familial counseling between sandy and prince and couples therapy between sandy and debbie to get to a state where sandy can ask debbie out on a date and they can try again. but once they reach that point I think they'd fall in love and be gallamoms to their kids (btw prince and sandy would def have a much much better bond by the time sebbie get together, and royal is out of the picture because I think he shouldn't exist) and bully ian and mickey. if I go beyond sebbie, I def think mickey would help his cousin love her child despite the circumstance by simultaneously learning to love yevygeny ? I think it would be cute to see the two cousins earn a place in their child's life and it causing a beautiful domestic life for them all. svet and mandy would be together by this time too, and once it all settles down over years, all three couples would put their kids/stepkids to bed and laugh over how almost 2 decades later the two youngest milkovich siblings & their cousin r now stable and gay/bi (SCREW U TERRY)

(@m4ndysk4nkovich, @holymurdock and @lovekenney I would love for u three to add ur insights )

[sagau-my-beloved]

The Eternal Creator, part 3

Warnings: general Sagau stuff, vague mentions of death

You gazed up at the sky, wide-eyed, watching as a few birds gingerly flew over head, feeling grass on your skin and the hard ground beneath your body.

Then, you closed your eyes.

...

Nope, still there.

Ok, ok. This is fine, this is just a very, very vivid dream. Nothing wrong with that.

And you might have actually gotten away with that mindset, if you couldn't tell the difference between a dream and reality, but sadly, you could.

Finally coming to terms with the fact that this wasn't a dream, or anything of the like, you, very hesitantly, opened your eyes to reveal the same blue sky you had seen moments prior.

The enjoyment you got from it was no match for the feeling of your heart rate running a mile a minute.

Rising to your feet, you took in the sights around you. It was nothing short of breathtaking, but finding the positives to waking up in a completely different location, and outside no less, was a bit difficult.

The grass was long and a beautiful deep green, it seemed to go on forever, only broken up by the occasional cluster of trees and flowers.

You turned to your left to find the biggest tree you had ever seen in your life standing proudly against the horizon line.

It was nothing short of glorious.

However, after managing to tear your eyes away from that, you noticed something that could be considered even more incredible, and much more concerning.

A tall statue of a robed figure with wings.

Oh no.

Oh no.

You were dead.

There was no other explanation really. You must have died in your sleep, and, for some reason, purgatory resembles the last video game you played.

Was it a logical explanation?

Absolutely not.

But logic had decided to throw itself out the window when you opened your eyes outside of your warm and comforting bed.

For the first time in a very long time, you were at a complete loss of what to do.

What could you do?

Assuming that this was real, and not some weird pre-judgment after death thing, then you were going to die pretty quickly anyway.

If your memory serves correctly, and you weren't entirely sure of that because you were starting to doubt how sane your brain currently was, this place was absolutely littered with monsters and plenty of other things that could kill you.

As if right on cue, a group of three hydro slimes jumped right out of the grass, surrounding you.

You stumbled backwards, quickly losing your footing due to the shock.

You didn't even have a weapon, and if you did it was somewhere in your inventory, which you had no idea how to access.

You were screwed.

The only thing you could think to do was shut your eyes tightly, and pray.

Pray to who?

At this point it really didn't matter.

You found that your prayers to whoever could keep you alive were answered, because instead of viciously attacking you, the slimes decided that they were just very curious instead.

One, seemingly braver than the others, decided it would take the opportunity of you having your guard down to situate itself comfortably on your lap.

You tentatively opened your eyes to see the slime resting very contently on your pajama bottoms.

Slime number two didn't seem to like all the attention the other one was getting and tried to situate itself under your hand, to which you responded with a very nervous and gentle pat.

This wasn't so bad, purgatory could be worse.

The third and final slime decided to, very rudely, push the other one off of your lap in favor of taking a turn. This caused you to stifle a laugh.

The second continued to nuzzle into your hand, while first and third were now fighting for their rightful place on your lap.

Finally feeling yourself comfortable enough with this situation, you scooped up the third with your free arm and held it at your side in a way akin to cradling.

You all stayed like that for a few moments. You, thinking over your situation thoroughly, and them, just happy to be getting attention.

Regrettably, the moment quickly came to an end as you heard the clashing of a sword in the distance. This seemed to scare the slimes enough for them to hide themselves back underground.

A little disheartened over the disappearance of your new friends(?), you took the opportunity to quickly stand up, whatever was going on over there you didn't want any part of.

Even if the slimes were friendlier than you remembered, that didn't mean any of the other monsters would be.

You couldn't stay out in the woods for long.

You scoured the area quickly, finding what appeared to be in an abandoned camp site with a makeshift tent.

Thinking on it for a moment, you decide to take the cloth from the tent and turn it into a crude cloke. You would probably stand out slightly, based on your clothes, and just about everything else really, so, at the very least, this would kind of hide that.

You didn't have any money, or "mora" for that matter, but you could deal with that once you got into the safe confines of the city.

Moving quickly, avoiding anything that even slightly moved, and trying your best to stay as concealed as possible.

You finally made it into the city, the guards didn't give you any trouble, but they did seem a bit suspicious nonetheless.

You felt it a bit harder to breathe as the reality of exactly what was happening started setting in, this was Mondstadt, this was really Mondstadt.

You took a quick detour, moving through one of the side routes to get to a deserted location where you could sit and rest for a moment.

You gingerly watched a few people walk by, tensing for a moment each time, before getting your heart rate down to a reasonable level.

With the full reality of what you were dealing with, and all of the implications that came with that, it didn't seem like a good idea to try to fully process it all right now, so you continued to slave it off in favor of thinking of absolutely nothing.

There was no way for you to discern what time you actually arrived, but it seemed as if the sun was getting close to setting, which left you with the problem of trying to find a place to spend the night.

Quite the problem indeed.

You took another few moments to think, before coming to the most solid conclusion you could, under the circumstances.

You remembered how, when playing, there were always a few chests around the city.

Climbing was out of the question, but there should have been a handful at ground level in the bushes that you could look through, and hopefully see if you could get your hands on at least something of value, right?

Thankfully, your luck hadn't completely run out, as you managed to find one.

You didn't have any particular use for the weaponry, or a place to store it for that matter, but you were content with taking the mora.

Realizing you had a few more hours until dark, you chose to continue searching for any more that you might stumble upon, you could use all the help you could get.

After about five chests, a lot of walking, and enough abandoned weaponry to fund your own personal guard, you had enough.

'Thank God for 24/7 taverns.'

That wasn't a sentence you ever thought you would find yourself thinking, but here you were at Angel's Share.

You held the cloak closer to your body as you ordered an apple cider from Charles, quickly taking your drink upstairs where you could be by yourself.

The drink took almost all of the money you had managed to obtain, but you weren't entirely sure they would let you stay here if you didn't ordered anything.

Sleeping in a bar wasn't exactly the best course of action, but it sure beat sleeping on the streets, and it especially beat sleeping in the woods.

You tried to settle into a more comfortable position, attempting to finish your drink first and foremost. It was some pretty damn good apple cider.

You were just about done, contemplating the best way to sleep on a wooden bench, when you heard a voice that sounded painstakingly familiar and quite cheerful.

"Hello! I'll take a bottle of dandelion wine to start with."

Why the hell is he here?

As you contemplated on your question for another moment, you realized better phrasing would be, "Why the hell wouldn't he be here?"

You knew this was a bad idea, but your curiosity was absolutely gnawing away at you. This entire thing has felt like a fever dream up to this point, you had to see him, maybe only just to flip a switch in your head, telling you that this was really happening.

So, against your better judgement, you descended the spiral staircase and carefully peeked your head over to where you heard him laughing.

Being extra careful not to be seen, your eyes widened as you realise this was, in fact, the very bard you thought it was.

The switch was flipped. This was real.

You couldn't help but to stare for a moment more, which proved to be a bad move as he, almost as if sensing your eyes, turn his head to your direction.

Oh god, oh no.

You should have played it off, you really should have, but your spur of the moment thinking wasn't quite so smooth.

You jerked back, trying to conceal yourself behind the staircase, making this entire scene all that more suspicious.

Quickly re-ascending the stairs, you take your seat back in front of your empty drink and rack your brain.

He probably won't even question it, maybe he was already too drunk to notice and forgot about it immediately, that's all you really hoped for.

That hope was quickly dashed as you heard footsteps ascending the staircase, and you briefly contemplated jumping out the window to save face.

The only choice you made in that moment was to later work on why your mind thought it was appropriate to come up with the absolute worst ideas in these types of situations.

Your back was to the stairs and you didn't dare turn around, trying to discreetly pull the cloak tighter to your body and face in order to conceal more.

Venti took a seat at the empty bench in front of you as you looked down at the table, studying it intently as if trying to memorize every single groove.

You knew that you should probably try to speak, mutter a "hello", come up with some sort of excuse like "I'm sorry for staring, I'm a fan of yours". But even after opening your mouth, you couldn't manage to get anything out.

"This seat isn't taken right?" He spoke cheerfully, resting his head on his hand as you could feel him smiling.

You quickly shook your head, mentally cursing yourself for not being able to just say a simple "no".

Before you even registered it, your makeshift cloak, which was doing a subpar job of concealing your features anyway, was now pulled back to reveal your face.

You jolted back from the sudden exposure, eyes widening in a mixture of confusion, doubt, and horror. Venti's smile only grew, it almost looked as though his eyes were sparkling.

"I knew it was you! I could feel it, it's really you!" The words jumbled together as he rose from his seat, accidentally knocking over your apple cider glass and grabbing your wrist, pulling you towards him with unbridled joy.

"What—"

You weren't able to finish your sentence as he pulled you into a tight hug, one that really caught you off guard.

"What—"

You managed to pull away long enough to see a look of pure bliss adorn his features, and you returned one of utter confusion.

"Do you, uh, do you think you might be mistaking me for someone else?" You mumbled out, trying to put a little bit more distance between the two of you.

A look of horror instantly crossed his face, no different than what you think he would look like if you told him that you had burned his favorite tree down.

He instantly moved forward, as if to close the space between you again, and you instinctively moved back.

A look of realization suddenly crossed him as he gave a nervous smile and place of his previous expression, "You must not know who I am, there's no need to worry your grace, I'm an Archon!"

Is that what he thought was missing in this picture?

You couldn't decide whether or not you wanted to play dumb for a moment, but eventually decided against it on the premise of getting answers for who the hell he seemed to think you were.

"I know, you're the Anemo Archon Barbatos, now, who do you think I am?"

His expression lifted again, practically glistening with pride, before falling at the realization that something he never would have expected was wrong.

His voice lost the self assured edge it previously had in favor of a much more meek and unsure tone, "You're the creator of course, you're the creator of Teyvat."

There was a moment of silence, it was as if the entire world had gone still. You could no longer hear the general noises of the bar, the sounds the wind outside.

Venti's expression seemed to get more hopeless by the second, but before he could say another word, you started laughing.

This was a joke, it had to be, a very convoluted and unfunny joke. You laughed as he looked on in concern.

"Ok, ok, very funny, haha, you got me. But more seriously, on the off chance that you weren't joking there, I am absolutely not, in no way, a creator of any kind, at all."

Venti was feeling conflicted, on one hand he knew the truth, that being that you were his— everyones— God. And, on the other hand, you really, really, didn't seem to be in a decent mental state. If the extreme amount of worry masking your features was anything to go on, that is.

He contemplated his options for a second, trying to decide what would be the lesser of two evils, either way he would be doing you a disservice.

"Let's table this for now," he finally decided, choosing to put your wellbeing over everything else, "and why don't you come with me, I can get you a better place to sleep than a wooden bench on the top floor of a tavern, hmm?" His voice was coated in honey, desperately trying not to inflict any more negative feelings onto you, really you just needed a decent rest.

As much as he tried to seem nonchalant, his eyes gave him away. Gave away that no matter what your response was, the two of you would be walking out of this tavern together.

But you were tired, too tired to really hold your ground, and you trusted him. I mean it was Venti for god sakes, he's the last person you would ever expect to do anything even remotely malice.

You did give him a hesitant look, at least trying to seem like you were holding your own, before eventually letting out a sigh and a small nod.

He didn't need any more confirmation than that, grabbing your hand and pulling you down the stairs, right out the door into the cool night air, and then to the closest Inn.

Venti quickly dealt with paying for a room, this time taking both your hands and practically dragging you up the stairs, you were getting more and more likely to collapse by the second.

As soon as your head hit the pillow you were out cold, finally allowing the comfort of a real bed to take you in its embrace.

Venti chose to stand back and watch you for a bit, slowly coming to terms with the fact that you were really in front of him.

Living breathing you.

You in all your unending glory.

It took all of his willpower to stop himself from touching you, he couldn't risk waking you.

He didn't sleep at all that night, there was way too much to do. And really, how could he choose to sleep when given the option of watching you instead? An opportunity to be alone with his everything as they so peacefully slept?

With the amount of attention you're about to be getting, he might not ever have that opportunity again, it really would be a sin not to savor it now, right?

[teecupangel]

What do you think would happen if Desmond was sent into the show Maria Clara and Ibarra? Just curious

Is… is Maria Clara at Ibarra even available in other countries? I know it isn't available in Netflix Canada :( so it might just be Netflix Philippines exclusive. The episodes are available in youtube though but without English subtitles.

Here’s a trailer with unofficial English subs:

The main plot is Klay (full name Maria Clara), a nursing (working) student with an abusive stepfather, a kind but doormat mother and an uncaring ‘money solves everything’ biological father, gets into an argument about how important Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere would be to her course and her future. Her professor decided that consent is over-rated and Truck-kun’ed her to be isekai’ed into the novel using some kind of magic book version of Noli Me Tangere where she only knows the first three chapters of the book so she’s not a typical OP isekai protagonist.

The Noli storyline gets screwed up by her…… sorta for the better? Sorta… it’s… um… not fully a happy ending but it’s a more bittersweet ending than what the original novels (Noli and El Fili) got, that’s for sure.

It’s quite entertaining and does show the past and current struggles of the Filipinos and the Philippines as well as be entertaining to those who like isekai storylines and… those who sorta kinda remember the required readings of Noli (and El Fili). Also, the set design is sooooo good. They really went out of their way to make every scene feel like they're around 18th-19th Spanish ruled Philippines.

NGL, the Spanish sprinkled here and there reminded me of Assassin's Creed and I can just feel myself going 'where's the subtitles, fucking give me subtitles, Animus! My Spanish is worse than my Pilipino!'

Annnyyywwaaayy.

So for this crossover, Desmond wakes up in some unknown place after using the device to save the world. In this scenario, I think Desmond won’t realize he’s in a novel. Why would he? The only way for him to have read Noli was if he was into like foreign books and such or maybe someone from the Farm was of Filipino descent or maybe even his mother? His mother is a blank slate at this point so she can be whatever we want her to be.

But I think it would be fun if Desmond doesn’t know the novel at all.

So when he meets up with Klay after he got his own ‘backstory’ dealt with (Italian noble vacationing in the Philippines and let us all thank Ezio for knowing Spanish), he only realized Klay is stuck in the ‘past’ as well when she starts saying words that he recognized but know shouldn’t be available at the moment.

For their meeting, it would be fun if he becomes buddy-buddy with Ibarra’s aristocrat friends and be in the same table as Fidel when Ibarra was treating Klay to food. Desmond would be curious about Klay’s lack of ‘manners’ (while he’s doing well because Ezio’s Bleed is saving his ass) but he tries not to say anything because he’s playing a role but he’d been slowly making his own information gathering ‘guild’ on the side because he’s trying to find a way to find Ratonhnhaké:ton’s descendants in the US, that’s his main objective right now, so he had heard of the ‘meztiza de sangle’ that one of the most prominent convents had been looking for so he can put two and two together. It’s only when Klay starts speaking English and telling Ibarra and Fidel off that Desmond realized that there’s something more to Klay than some ‘meztiza de sangle’ as people call her.

So, in this scenario, Klay gets interrupted from her Ibarra stalking because Desmond talked to her in English and asked what university she’s from.

The fact that she’s a woman that’s studying in a university is a big red flag and Desmond says enough words for Klay to realize that he’s not from this time as well.

With English being their main form of communication, Desmond found out that he’s not in the past, he’s stuck in a novel. Klay doesn’t know any Desmond Miles or any Solar Flare but if we consider the following information we do know of Klay: she’s about to graduate in the year 2022 and nursing degrees usually take four years or so she’ll be 21~22 when she graduates. This means she was born in 1999~2000 and would have been 11~12 years old during that time. This would probably make Klay think that she didn’t hear about it because she wasn’t interested in news at that time yet.

So they decide to join forces to try and get out the novel:

This does lead to Klay pushing Desmond to becoming Ibarra’s friend instead and Ibarra is a bit wary of Desmond Sartor (it wasn’t like he could use Auditore as his last name, that would be pointing a huge red arrow at his back for any Templars… did this novel even have Templars???) but Ibarra warms up to him because he can see Desmond is kind to Klay (and maybe let’s her get away with a lot of things but what a master does or does not do to their servant (which is their backstory) is none of his concern)

Desmond doesn’t talk about Abstergo because he doesn’t really liked talking about his past. If he had… he would have learned how Klay has no idea what Abstergo is.

Fidel and Klay still have their own thing. Desmond isn’t touching whatever is happening there with a ten foot pool. Nope. His Eagle Senses are telling him that it would just give him a headache if his appearance causes any misunderstanding.

Let’s be honest, Desmond would take one look of Elias and his people and be like “I can train them” and the whole Elias and revolution subplot would take a very different Assassin Brotherhood-esque turn, that’s for sure.

Desmond’s inclusion to the story does change more than Klay did because of his skills as an Assassin, the knowledge he gained from his Bleeds and his questionable status as an Italian noble.

Sisa gets a happy ending. Fuck it. Give Sisa a happy ending!

Sooooo… you know how Padre Damaso and Padre Salvi got ‘better’ endings in the series? Well, Desmond would make sure they have the best ending in this one. XD

Once Klay returns to the real world after the end of the Noli part, she tries to look for Desmond, thinking he’s returned with her but got transferred to the US or somewhere. When she google-search Desmond’s name, she learns of Desmond Miles from the videogame Assassin’s Creed.

Klay researches about Assassin’s Creed because, what the fuck, and she realized that Desmond is a videogame character that got isekai’ed to the book. So when it was time for her to fuck up El Fili’s plot, she hoped Desmond was also there so she can… uuuhhh… talk to him about his actual real situation? Klay didn’t really think that far ahead, okay, she’s trying to save everyone at this point, damn it.

The Brotherhood in the Philippines is now under Elias and they’re planning something big and Klay meets Desmond a few weeks (months?) later since she first came to the El Fili book because he had been in America looking for Ratonhnhaké:ton’s descendants.

Desmond learns of his ‘real identity’ after Klay tells him plot points Desmond and his team should only know about. But then things… get even weirder.

Because there is a Brotherhood in America. He's met with Ratonhnhaké:ton’s freaking descendants, for fuck's sake. Hell, there’s a Brotherhood in Spain and they're helping out Elias and the others so Desmond is pretty sure that this is his world and not a novel which doesn’t make sense.

For now, they try to focus on helping the ‘characters’ of El Fili get their happy ending.

Then Sir Torres finally appears towards the end and Desmond recognized him immediately. It’s Tinia of the Capitoline Triad.

To be more exact, Sir Torres is Tinia who managed to successful evade the Solar Flare of Desmond’s world by being transported into another world: Klay’s world. Sir Torres’ Noli and El Fili books are actually his experiments in recreating Isu tech in a world where the Isu never existed in the first place. It is based on Jose Rizal’s books but, to recreate it, Sir Torres accidentally created a pocket world of some kind and Desmond was transferred to it for some unknown reason (Tinia’s guess is that Minerva had done it as a last ditch effort to save him and it had randomly plopped him into Tinia’s experimental pocket world).

Desmond’s inclusion to the world where he starts to ask questions about things that were never included in the books destabilized the world so much that it latched into a singularity point that held information that would stabilize it: Desmond himself.

So America? The Brotherhood? The sudden Templar presence in El Fili that had been absent in Noli? That’s the world latching onto Desmond’s genetic memories, developing the world and the characters in it.

In other words, Desmond’s inclusion to the world of Noli and El Fili?

It caused what is called a ‘Crossover Event’ (and Klay would be on the side thinking ‘like a fanfiction???’) and Desmond is the singularity point where everything is centered around (Klay going ‘like he’s the main character???’)

Annnnddd… I have no idea how to end this.

Choices for the Ending:

El Fili ends on a happy-ish note with Klay and Fidel going to Klay’s original world with Desmond going with them. This would have the ‘hopeful’ ending of Desmond and Sir Torres joining forces to find a way back to their actual real world using Desmond’s ‘favored child of the Calculations’ title.

El Fili ends on a happy-ish note with Klay and Fidel going to Klay’s original world and Desmond stays behind because, as Sir Torres explains it, the novel world of Noli/El Fili had become an almost exact replica of Desmond’s world which means that Desmond could make a difference this time, prepare for the inevitable Solar Flare of 2012 and take care of Juno. As Klay stressed, the people of this world are real to them even if they were born from the pages of a book so… Desmond wants to save them if he could. Also, this pocket world would have POEs if it’s a replica of his world and that might help him contact his old world… Sir Torres is doubtful on that part.

El Fili ends in a happy-ish notes and Desmond follows Klay and Fidel to Klay’s world BUT ends up getting isekai’ed to a different world by himself because that's how we show our love XD

If you’re curious about Jose Rizal, here’s the puppet history episode XD

[vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo]

Alright, notes on 1.1.10 for Les Mis Letters:

"a former member of the Convention"

The Convention here refers to the National Convention which governed France through the first years of the First Republic (from September 1792 to November 1795). This was an eventful period which involved some massive progressive reforms for the time, various interesting experiments such as coming up with a new calendar, a new form of religion and the metric system, as well as the trial and execution of the former king and queen, and of course the famous Reign of Terror.

The Convention did some genuinely good things like abolished slavery (until Napoleon RE-ESTABLISHED IT BECAUSE HE SUCKS) but obviously also some extremely questionable things.

The Convention was abolished in 1795 and replaced by the much more conservative Directory.

"when people called each other thou"

The Hapgood translation tends to use the very archaic thou to translate the French pronoun tu. French (like most languages) has two words for "you": tu in singular and vous in plural. Vous is also used in place of tu as a form of polite address. In this era tu was actually used in very limited circumstances.

I won't get deeper into this topic because I would need to do more research into the specifics but generally speaking, in this era, the general use of tu for everybody in all contexts was seen as ideological and radical. I don't actually know how common it actually was among the radicals, I'm not a FRev expert.

The "citizen" thing definitely was a thing though.

"How did it happen that such a man had not been brought before a provost’s court, on the return of the legitimate princes?"

This indicates that we must be at least as far as the year 1814 now. The words of the Conventionist seem to confirm this date, although it's a bit ambiguous; it could also be later. I would assume that it wouldn't be later than 1815, but apparently the law that exiled the "regicides" wasn't passed until 1816, so idk, maybe this does take place later actually! In that case this episode would come chronologically after The Fall, which is the next book.

"The legitimate princes" would mean Louis XVIII and Charles the Count of Artois, the younger brothers of the overthrown Louis XVI. Louis XVIII was put on the throne by the Allies after Napoleon's defeat in 1814. (The reason why Louis XVIII is called the "eighteenth" rather than the "seventeenth" will be explained soon.)

The Bourbon Restoration, as this return of the royal family to the throne is called, was not a complete return to the pre-revolution system; there was a new constitution (the Charter of 1814) which at least in theory limited the king's power, and the Napoleonic Code was kept as the basis of the legal system.

The reception of Louis XVIII varied, and a lot of people obviously weren't happy that he was placed on the throne by foreigners who France had only just been at war with, but this is the South which was generally more royalist. (This reminds me, I should relisten to the 1814-1815 episodes of the Siècle podcast...)

"'93!"

I already talked about the year 1793 earlier so I won't repeat all that now

“Louis XVII.?”

(CW: child abuse)

As a royalist Myriel refers to the son of the former king as "Louis XVII". According to the royalists, at the moment of Louis XVI's death his son automatically became Louis XVII, despite never being crowned king. This is why the actual next king, Louis XVIII, is called the eighteenth. (As a recap: Louis XVIII was "Louis XVII's" uncle)

Little Louis died in captivity in 1795, at the age of ten. In the autopsy it was discovered that his body was horrifically scarred due to physical abuse.

"the brother of Cartouche"

Cartouche (1693-1721) was a famous highwayman and a folk hero, eventually caught and executed in 1721. I don't know much about him but now I kinda want to look more into it. His little brother Louis AKA Louison was hanged two years later as an accomplice despite being only about 15 (meaning he would have been only about 13 at most when he was supposedly being an accomplice to his brother.)

"fleur de lys"

⚜ The heraldic symbol of the French monarchy:

Supposedly representing a lily but apparently it might actually be an iris, idk.

"Bossuet chanting the Te Deum over the dragonnades?"

Bossuet was the bishop of Meaux 1681-1704, and a famous orator. He will come up again later in Les Mis.

The Dragonnades were part of Louis XIV (the Sun King)'s persecution campaign against the Huguenots.

Te Deum laudamus is a hymn and the title means "we praise thee, God".

"Carrier is a bandit; but what name do you give to Montrevel? Fouquier-Tainville is a rascal; but what is your opinion as to Lamoignon-Bâville? Maillard is terrible; but Saulx-Tavannes, if you please? Duchêne senior is ferocious; but what epithet will you allow me for the elder Letellier? Jourdan-Coupe-Tetê is a monster; but not so great a one as M. the Marquis de Louvois."

.... Okay I'm not gonna bother with all of these. Skip!

"the Abbey of Sainte Claire en Beaulieu, which I saved in 1793"

Several religious buildings were torn down during the Revolution, apparently the Conventionist spoke in favour of preserving this one? I don't actually know which abbey this is though or if this is a more specific reference. I can't be bothered to do any more research either tbh

According to an annotation on my edition of the novel, this might be an allusion to Hugo's father saving convents in Italy.

"those who despise it in a cap revere it in a hat.”

The red cap they're talking about is the Phrygian cap, which was worn by emancipated slaves in ancient Rome and which thus became a symbol of the Revolution (as it was a symbol of liberty). The cap is famously still worn by Marianne, the anthropomorphic personification of France.

The red hat Myriel alludes to, I assume means the galero, a wide-brimmed hat worn by cardinals. I could be wrong though, let me know if you have a better idea!

[mostlyonthefloor]

Autistic Edvin: here it is, folks.

He's so quiet because he doesn't know what (is appropriate) to say a lot of the time and he learned very young that it's better to say nothing than to say something that one of the bigger boys will think is "smart" and get hit for it

He's also quiet because it takes a lot of concentration for him to tell what's happening with body language and social cues. Constantly monitoring how people are standing, where they are looking, their facial expressions and what they mean, is energy-consuming.

He mimics characteristics of the people around him. This is why he is so inconspicuous and forgettable, because he will see what other people are doing/saying and copy that, so he blends into a group. Body language is a conscious choice for him, and like above, it's easiest to just not be noticed.

(He also accidentally mimics accents, he will occasionally spend time with Lydia and pick up a little Limmatan accent)

Sometimes people's characteristics stick if he spends enough time with them. For example, he says "what" with identical inflection to the twins, and it messes Hal around when he's not looking. (His repertoire of weary sighs are entirely his own)

He likes to knit because it's so rhythmic, and he deliberately chooses needles that make little clicks because he loves the sound.

When he joins the Herons he's pleasantly taken aback to see that no one will care if he says something a little strange or fails to pick up on a social cue that everyone else does. He's hardly the strangest person there anyway.

He probably couldn't say something weirder than anything the twins could come up with if he tried, and people tend to say things out loud for Ingvar's benefit as he can't see people's body language well, so Edvin also won't miss out on silent cues

He and Lydia become good friends quite quickly because they bond over their shared inability to know what to do in social situations (autistic Lydia as well?? who knows)

He is prone to assuming that things that he experiences are universal, and is astonished to find that non-verbal social cues are intuitive to most people, and that in fact most people "just know" if something is acceptable to say or not

On that note he is absolutely shook to discover that sexual/romantic attraction is inadvertent and just happens to people (aro-ace Edvin supremacy)

He takes his job as quartermaster very seriously god bless and will occasionally hijack a conversation to talk about needing rations or what town to put into

He has accidentally walked into and directly through several Stigal moments in compromising positions. It wasn't until afterwards when he was doing his Lie In Bed And Think About Today Time that he realised what happened

This isn't relevant but he's #1 stigal shipper

[the-lonelybarricade]

Hi! Separatist-Apologist said to ask you about your thoughts regarding the Vampire Academy series 😀

LOL @separatist-apologist is on a personal mission to get me to join haters book club. I'm not very good at vocally hating things! I don't like using my platform to 'yuck' someone's 'yum', but I'll indulge it because I LOVE her.

I've also talked about Vampire Academy a few times on my blog! I really enjoyed the books when I was like 12 and it was my introduction to the fanfiction world. I was on a Vampire Academy roleplaying forum for like 5 years as Christian😂 As a disclaimer, most of this critique is unserious and I do still think this series was fun overall! But if you really really love Vampire Academy (and especially Dimitri) please avert your eyes.

Anyway in hindsight the premise of the story is massively fucked up. The entire race of dhampirs is considered inferior to the moroi race and the whole purpose of their existence is to be their body shields? The dhampirs are treated like they're disposable, they're not even encouraged to have lives outside of their charges, espeically romantic attachments that would distract them from being strigoi fodder. It's actually considred "scandalous" for two dhampirs to run off together. So they're discouraged from having dhampir partners, but Moroi only marry each other, so dhampirs are stuck in a cycle of having illigitimate children with moroi who don't respect them. Then those children are esentially abandoned and raised by the academy because if the dhampir moms DO decide to stop being guardians to raise their kids they're considered 'blood whores' and are cast out of society. Like??? The moroi shame the dhampirs for reproducing even though they NEED them to have children for the prolonged survivial of their race??? Dhampirs are expected to dedicate their entire lives AND their children's lives towards the protection of a race that actively opresses them. And for what? The dhampirs get nothing out of this arrangment, why not just let the moroi fend for themselves? (I think I'm remembering that the answer to this question is that dhampirs can't reproduce with each other, but fuck having a kid just to throw them back into this backwards system)

Anyway, I don't remember if the narrative ever really addresses how deeply fucked up that all is? As far as I remember, Lissa becomes queen and doesn't really change anything. She thinks Moroi should fight alongside their bodyguards (which like??? You guys are the only ones with magic and you're at the bottom of the food chain??) but I don't think she ever says like "Hey. This is fucked up. Maybe we should start treating dhampirs like people, too." Rose gets special treatment, obviously, but do things ever get better for the rest of the dhampirs? All I remember Lissa really achieving is saying to Rose, "It's okay if you and Dimitri want to be my bodyguards AND be in love." What a great win for dhampir equality, two members of the queen's guard are allowed to have love lives.

Which like. Let's talk about that. Rose is 17 at the beginning of those books. As a 12 year old I thought that was very grown up, but as a 23 year old, THIS MAN SHOULD BE IN JAIL. And what's with all these mind games sir? She follows him all the way to Russia, somehow runs into his family and personally gets his great grandmama's approval, was kidnapped by his strigoi ass (which let's be real, awakened something inside all of us), and helps him turn him back into a man through sheer determination and he has the AUDACITY to tell her 'love fades mine has' as a LIE? Ungrateful. This man is seven years her senior and couldn't communicate, "I need some time to process what happened".

I am biased because I was team Adrian from the moment he stepped onto the page and he got done SO DIRTY. He didn't deserve that ending. We all knew Rose and Dimitri would get back together, even though Dimitri spent the majority of the last book unable to stand being in the same room as her (again, UNGRATEFUL). But tell me WHY did their reunion have to come at Adrian's expense? My poor little meow meow? I have clearly always been a sucker for a man with a smart mouth and an arrogant facade.

I'm probably missing a host of other issues that didn't even register in my underdeveloped brain. I'm sure the potrayal of mental health will be very non-offensive on a reread (she said, LYING).

ALL of that being said, I'd probably reread the series and still enjoy it. It would be intersting to experience it all again through an adult lense because I was very obsessed with these books back then. I gave the tv show a try and wasn't a very big fan, but I did like Rose's casting!

[tofixtheshadows]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Kabru deprives himself.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

[egophiliac]

we were fucking ROBBED

[retellingthehobbit]

Retelling The Hobbit Chapter 16: The Song of the Lonely Mountain First chapter / Previous / Next

To view full comic: Webtoon/A03 / Tumblr post with links to all chapters

Other blogs: TikTok/Instagram/Tumblr Sideblog

*crumbles into dust after finishing this* Thank you for reading! This The Hobbit webcomic adaptation thing takes a lot of effort to put together and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate every comment. I also really appreciate the people who’ve spread the word of this comic to their friends! <3

And finally, we’re at the Song of the Lonely Mountain! Within Tolkien’s canon, The Hobbit is an in-universe book that was “written” by Bilbo Baggins, who occasionally lies/embellishes/exaggerates things. The tonal differences between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are explained by Bilbo and Frodo/Sam being different kinds of storytellers, with different relationships to “the truth.” This idea is the core of how I’m adapting the novel!  Bilbo is an unreliable narrator who is literally ‘drawing’ from his own limited experiences;  the different art styles reflect the different perspectives of other characters.   The “dwarf art style” in this chapter is inspired by stonework/metalwork in general— but especially by a mix of art deco, Celtic art, and European folk art. 

The central tension of the comic is between Bilbo and Thorin, who each have wildly different ideas about what kind of  story they’re in. Thorin is in a grand fantasy epic, while Bilbo is in a lighthearted children’s book adventure.  The tragedy is, obviously, that only one side of the story ever gets to be fully told.

On a sillier note, a few years ago I had my first gay crush on a lesbian who sang while playing the piano. This chapter is dedicated to the piano lesbian. I hope they’re doing well, wherever they are. XD

I think I might need a bit of a break but I’m hoping for the next chapter, titled “Dawn,” to arrive on January 13th. And your comments/support really do help motivate me to get more done! ^_^

[ilumin]

I'm crying, they're so silly

[bigfatbreak]

1) in the viceroy au, gabriel's wish transferred all damage from the Peacock Miraculous onto Sabine and killed her. but now that she is gone, what happens when you use the Peacock? does the damage just transfer to another random person?

2) How much of a beatdown is Emilie going to get?

[wishing-well-art]

Pearl's Delivery Service is open for business!

Textless versions of the stamps under the cut!

[elbdot]

This man HAS to have a favorite Pokemon that isn't a bug, there is just NO WAY, GO GET HIS AS-

Part 2 is coming next week! :D Thank you all for your patience, glad to be back with a new update! Comic Guide | Webtoons

Special Thanks to my Patrons for supporting this series!! You can already read the next update now on Patreon! ☺️💖

[bloominglegumes]

i love normal guys doomed by the narrative

[samglyph]

Careful boys, you’ve got a tail.

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