#(It only has one law which is kind of the reason why the plot even begins)

[hinsaa-paramo-dharma]

Do anyone have any OC writing tips?

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Not fluent in English. 

Please tell me I’m not the the only who noticed that team green characters in the show aren’t allowed to hate team black characters. 

Like Aemond can’t even hate Lucerys for cutting his eye and disabled him for life. 

And Alicent can’t hate Viserys for marrying and gr*ping her and forcing pregnancies on her, even though he have no intention to name any of their sons his heir, and treating her mostly like a caretaker and concubine rather than his lawful wife and the mother of his legitimate children. 

Aegon and Helaena aren’t even allowed to hate Daemon the man who ordered the death of their Son.

Like why??? Why aren’t they allowed to hate them???

Hi aleksandra! You make a good point! I think there are a few things going on here.

For one, I think the writing is incredibly inconsistent across the board this season, and there are a lot of dropped plot threads. Some of it is intentional (like, I do think B&C was deliberately downplayed and undermined so that Alicent could have that Dragonstone scene, more on that in a bit), some of it I think is just bad writing and a kind of ... well, look, I can't speculate as to what goes down in the writer's room and have no idea what their workflow looks like or what processes they follow, but a problem going back to S1 is that characters and dialogue vary a lot from episode to episode. I don't think it's all that normal for a fandom to be concerned ahead of time about which writers will be writing which scenes and which episodes, but with HotD there seem to be huge differences in how each writer interprets the characters. Having worked on OFCIR collaboratively with @aifsaath, we work really hard to make sure the chapters are relatively consistent. I gave our first few chapters to my critique partner for original fiction, a guy who knows my writing inside and out, someone I've worked with for about 6 years now, @theravenpiper, and he could not actually tell which scenes were written by me, and which were written by Aife, which I took as a big complement to our collaborative process, and to our ability to edit to a uniform standard. Now I'm not saying we do it better than the HotD writers, but I do think that there is something missing from their collaborative process that makes the entire thing seem disjointed.

I do not think it is entirely that the whole of team green is not allowed to be angry at team black, although that is part of it, some of it is part of an overall bigger problem where major events are not allowed to resonate across the story, and I chalk some of it up to simple bad writing. Rhaenyra is apparently over Luke's death enough by E3 that she can seek out Alicent for some kind of vague "let's stop this madness" ploy, but still conveniently needs "a son for a son" in E8. Although Rhaenyra is negotiating from a position of power in E8, there was no reason for her to feel so desperate as of E3, when Rook's Rest hasn't even happened yet, that she would set aside her grief and anger and go seek peace. Peace was offered in E10 of season 1 and Rhaenyra turned it down after Luke died, so what has changed besides Rhaenyra's own husband beheading a toddler? Other events happen too and have little or no consequence. Rhaenyra and Mysaria kiss in E6 and it's entirely forgotten by E8, with zero follow up. Criston Cole is brought to his knees by the sight of Aegon lying injured by his dragon, but never even visits his bedside. Gwayne never interacts with anyone aside from Alicent and Criston. Rhaenyra sends her younger children to the Vale and never mentions them again (she is shown looking wistfully at a box of toys), nor does Jace. Laena in a vision berates Daemon for not looking after their girls, but does he ask after them when Broome shows up directly from Dragonstone? I could go on. Events just happening and then never really mattering again is a consistent problem throughout the season, which makes it hard to tell when it is happening deliberately and when it is happening because the writers can't get on the same page.

There are two things I do think are deliberate, however, one of them being the scrubbing of Viserys' image. While audiences loved Paddy's performance, a lot of viewers did pick up on how Viserys played favorites and neglected his sons, and I think when the show decided to switch up Alicent's motivation from "she wants to protect her children and knows they will face the sword if Rhaenyra comes to power" to "she misheard Viserys' last words," they knew that the natural question is, "why should she care about Viserys' last words?" A lot of the immediate feedback about that episode involved how Alicent was stupid for not knowing Otto planned to have Aegon take the throne, and a lot of people didn't think that Alicent (or Aegon for that matter) really believed that Viserys changed his mind, but apparently that was the writers' intention, that Alicent truly believed it and managed to convince Aegon (there's a lot I could say about how they could have included this deathbed misunderstanding into the plot without having it replace all of Alicent's other motivations, but they did not do that). So in order to drive home the point that the whole entire war is being fought due to this misunderstanding, they have to make sure the audience is clear that all of these characters considered Viserys a good king. Even if he was Alicent's rapist. Even if he was a deadbeat dad. Even if he was a terrible husband. We are meant to believe he chose Rhaenyra not because he was playing mindgames or out of guilt over Aemma's death, no we must believe he chose Rhaenyra because he was good and wise and to convince us he was good and wise we have to have the green characters reminding us constantly that things were so much better when Viserys was around, that Aegon is inferior to Viserys, that Viserys' wishes are all that matter. Nevermind that it goes directly against the book, never mind that it's not even a particularly powerful or interesting change, it's what enables Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship to continue. Because here's the thing-- if Alicent put Aegon on the throne because she felt it was the only way to keep her family safe, and because she feels that law and tradition ARE on her side, and because absolutism isn't good (!!!) then there's no chance for her and Rhaenyra to ever reconcile. These are irreconcilable differences, not misunderstandings. And so the show has to glaze Viserys otherwise the basic reasoning falls apart.

And the second is the events like Luke's death, Blood and Cheese and Rook's Rest come in, events in which the greens or the blacks harm and traumatize each other directly. It is not that the greens are not allowed to hate the blacks, it is that Alicent is not allowed to hate Rhaenyra, and by extension, the people who Alicent cares about are not allowed to hate her (I would argue that Aemond is allowed to hate Luke on screen, he literally murders him, and I don't think the scene with the brothel madame is an expression of true remorse, it's more "I'm kinda sorta sorry there were consequences for my actions."). Alicent cares about Helaena the innocent, and therefore Helaena cannot be allowed to hate Rhaenyra (note Phia Saban's many interviews about how apolotical and neutral Helaena is). Aegon, on the other hand, can be affected by B&C because he is allowed to hate Rhaenyra. In fact, his hate for Rhaenyra puts him at odds with his mother, which is what the show wants. Aegon is gravely injured at Rook's Rest, but good thing Rhaenyra's forces did not cause the injuries, Alicent herself drove him to battle with cruel words, and Aemond burned him, which puts him at odds with Alicent too (and Helaena is allowed to express ire at Aemond by extension). If you look at S2 as an exercise in driving a wedge between Alicent and her family and downplaying what happens to them in order to justify their decision to have Alicent seek out Rhaenyra and surrender Aegon's life, it makes a lot more sense.

The thing is, it still doesn't work. Their efforts are much too transparent and require characters to act in ways that are simply not within the realms of how normal human beings would react to these situations, much less the characters established in S1. There is a twitter user, and I'm so sorry that I can't remember their name at the moment, but I've seen them express the sentiment several times that Alicent's character this season made them aware, in a way that a viewer should never be aware, that these are scripted lines coming out of her mouth. That is, a lot of the characters in S2 do not feel like actual people. Aegon is such a fan favorite this season because he feels real. Alicent garnered legions of fans last season because her struggle felt real, even if we didn't agree with it. She felt like a character who inhabited a quasi-medieval world, bound by restraints we are not bound by, but nevertheless a human with human reactions who had to make difficult choices and persevere through them. And any human would be angry beyond comprehension at Blood and Cheese, would lose all faith in Rhaenyra, would know that there can be no peace if she is ruling with a man that ruthless at her side. If she thinks her sons are devils (and mind, so far as king Aegon's most egregious action is executing a handful of ratcatchers after one of their number murdered his son, whereas Rhaenyra burned about 65 peasants alive in a quasi religious ecstasy-- will Alicent ever find out about that, I wonder?), they are at least the devils she knows. Better they all die than end up in Daemon's hands, surely? And so OP, you're right, they are not allowed to hate each other when naturally you, and many others, feel like they should. That is because they are writer creations who would never do such things as what happen in the books in the first place, acting out plot points of entirely different characters (their book counterparts).

[obae-me]

I am so sad that I'm not a Solomon fucker, because if I was, I would have actually cared about the Bon Voyage event. It's kind of cute, but I am very apathetic towards good old Sol. What are your thoughts on it?

Sorry for getting to this late! I wanted to actually complete the event before I responded, and I got to it very last minute! (Since I have low-key kind of hated the events lately. I hate spending 2-6 minutes doing the songs only for five lines of text as a reward, it's almost painful, but anyways...)

Now, Solomon as a character, I love. I was very meh towards him in the original Shall We Date, but they really started working on his character towards the end, and in Nightbringer they really pulled it home! Now I love Solomon! Before, he was just kind of some sketchy little sorcerer that they usually brought in to help solve plot devices- and don't get me wrong, he's still like that, but we definitely get a deeper look into *why*.

He's an immortal human whose desire for power and knowledge was so great, he somehow went head on with nearly the entire Devildom, convinced Barbatos to make a pact with him, and then made Barbatos show him every experience he could, at least, that's what I remember from the lore dropped thus far. And what do you usually get when you get a human that knows and sees too much? A broken human. A human who feels like there is no purpose left. A human with mixed morals and a shattered ego.

Now, this part is just my own personal thoughts and theories, but Thirteen talks about how Solomon's soul used to be beautiful like MC's, but then it became ruined. I imagine it's because he 'flew to close to the sun' and it nearly broke him. MC has hope, has love, has so much to learn still, so much to give. I imagine when Solomon learned and saw everything he could, he had hardly any hope left. Nothing was new to him anymore. He spent so much of his life seeking knowledge, and once he finally got it all...what was left? It corrupted him, surely. But then, clearly, somewhere along the line, his new purpose was to protect and stand for the human realm. Then his dealings with demons began.

The game always talks about how Solomon is now closer to a demon than a human. But I think that's because he *had* to "become" a demon. He has so many pacts, had so many exchanges with the Devildom, he had to learn how to survive amongst them. The way he withholds key information until the crucial moments. The way his "accidents" always seem to line up in his favor. The way his generous actions typically end up satisfying something of his as well. Exactly what a demon does. Exactly what someone would learn spending so much time around demons. I mean, that's exactly what MC learns how to do throughout the entire game! Play it smart, do whatever you can to earn the Brother's favors, and get their pacts. And then when MC throws that concept out the window and does things just to be selfless and then gets their pacts anyway? It almost breaks the "law" of the world that Solomon has come to know.

I'd like to think that maybe that's the reason why Solomon was sent to live with Simeon and Luke in Shall We Date. He needed to learn how to be around other beings, and maybe being around angels could correct some of that.

Now, about the event, the event was actually pretty cute. And while I have my general complaints about the events being very short and shallow, this one wasn't the worst of the bunch. Solomon getting some of the demon brothers together to give you a really nice dream is such a cute thing to do (even if he went behind your back to cast a spell on you). And also I'm not sure if it was stated specifically, but I'm like 98% sure MC and Solomon shared a bed at the end there, which is really adorable. I love sleepy bed cuddles.

This kind of ties back to my insights into his character, where he's spent so long being around demons that he's not really sure how to be a normal human anymore. He spends so much of his time planning and prepping how to do something for you when all he really needed to do was ask. All he wanted was a cute little date and to watch the sunset with MC and went through like a 100 step plan just to get it. And MC's little options to scold him for his schemes is really adorable in my opinion. Essentially it boiled down to them just saying "just ask next time, you idiot!". And Solomon being one of the smartest characters in the game being so lost and confused in terms of relationships and romance is really...very cute, which is why I think I like the concept of his character so much. I love when super overpowered characters have weaknesses like this, or learning new lessons.

I also loved the concept of just Lucifer, Asmo, Luke, Belphie, and Satan all just really hamming it up for MC. They preformed for them all just as a little thank you, and when they clarified, it wasn't really for anything huge. Shopping, helping them with decisions, just spending time with them, that was enough to fully convince them to pick up this dream-world-improv. Which...is really sweet.

Man I love these boys.

[rf-interactive]

You typically think of yourself as a person with good morals but the blood staining your clothes and the man currently locked in the boot of your car has you reconsidering that assessment.

You are Atrax. Previously referred to as the best agent I-DIE - the International Directory of Intelligence and Espionage - had to offer. Now known by your colleagues as nothing more than an occupational hazard. You're far from the agent you used to be and even then, it's taken you years to piece back together some semblance of your old self.

You've been out of commission longer than not, all of your time being dedicated to your rehabilitation which, honestly, was for the best. So why now, riddled with PTSD and more baggage than you know what to do with, have you been thrown back into action?

Whatever the reason, it might be what finally breaks you.

Play as Atrax, an agent of once great renown, and customise their gender, appearance and sexuality.

Choose your tragic backstory and the moment that changed you forever.

Further tarnish your reputation or work to rebuild it.

Build and repair relationships with a cast of characters.

Make questionable choices that both challenge your morals and break several laws.

Respice Finem is my first ever big project and I'm still learning how to create an interactive novel so my progress on this will slow. But I'm very passionate about it and I look to seeing where it takes me.

Demo - Character Descriptions + Keaton - Dossier Template + What To Add

Roman Hensley | The Politician (male, he/him, 36)

Roman Hensley is a politician of the people, for the people. He's put forward an award winning campaign, coupled with some big promises that he's already proved he's able to fulfill means there's an election win well within his reach. He's got a calm, controlled aura to him but despite the air of invisibility that he puts forward there are whispers of a scandal, a plot, an attempt on the man's life. Good thing you're there to protect him... right?

Nadia Richmond | The Psychiatrist (female, she/her, 37)

After everything she's seen and done working as the top psychiatrist for I-DIE, Nadia is as jaded they come. She has a tendency to be pessimistic in her views of the world and a bleak outlook on her own personal life, yet the care and compassion she shows for her patients never fails to shine through. Her dedication to helping your fellow agents is the only reason she hasn't quit but with you as her number one priority, that dedication is wearing thin.

Carina/César Santos | The Ex-Best Friend (gender selectable, 37)

More professionally known as Agent Redback, C was once the only person you could count on. Kind and charming, full of excitement and equipped with an infectious smile, you were drawn to them like a moth to a flame. The exact reason for your drifting apart is lost amongst all other reasons you're careening closer to the edge of the line but they never once stopped caring about you and they'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if that means taking them down with you.

Ailbhe Townsend | The Boss (non-binary, they/them, 39)

As the head of I-DIE, they are a constant intimidating presence in your life. Their stoic silence is sharp and intense enough to put even the most fearless of agents on edge and you are no exception. You're not entirely sure why they still put up with you or why you still even have a job but you're not going to start questioning them now. After all, you get the feeling that this your last chance to get back in their good books and if you fail... well, being unemployed will be the least of your worries.

[orqheuss]

☆*: .｡.Wand headcanons.｡.:*☆

Warning: long post! Deep discussion of characters and their personalities ahead

I have been thinking extensively about Ominis and Sebastian's wands and which would suit them the best since they are currently unknown in canon.

As we know from Harry Potter lore, wand cores and woods have the most sway in how not only the wand itself would behave, but also what kind of person the wand owner is and how they will use it. With that being said, we know the personalities of the boy's quite intimately, but we know absolutely no information about their wands besides what they look like, and even then in some scenes they look vastly different.

For this research I used stills from the game when we get close ups of their wands, as well as the Harry Potter Wiki, the Wizarding World website, and a funky weebly website that someone made for a class all about wandlore (I know, not really a reputable source, but it has a but ton of information that can be backed up via the other websites I mentioned) to gather my research.

This was all just a late night info spiral that the ominis discord server helped me with, lol (message @finalgirllx if you would like to join! we have fun)

I am by no means saying my word is law or that you can't have your own opinions. This is just what I think fits them best. I do not own the characters or the Hogwarts Legacy game.

I tried to keep this as spoiler free as possible. No huge plot spoilers are shared.

Now with the formalities out of the way, let's dive in.

We'll start with Ominis, because he has, arguably, the most interesting wand.

My headcanon: Horned Serpent horn core, blackthorn wood, 10 3/4 inches, brittle flexibility

I'm going to go section by section and explain my reasonings. First, the core.

Horned Serpent horn core: While a very, very rare core, it is an exceedingly powerful one that leans towards not only the ties it has to Ominis' family name but also his strengths and weaknesses.

There has only been two wands created with a Horned Serpent horn core in Harry Potter lore, and they belonged to the adopted sons of Isolt Sayre, the founder of Ilvermorny, or the North American school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

According to the lore, Isolt is a direct descendant of Morrigan, a famous Irish witch, and Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts, thus making her of Gaunt heritage. Her parents were murdered when she was young by her aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, whom was unhappy with her sister's muggle-helping ways. Gormlaith then kidnapped the girl and kept her captive for a number of years before Isolt was able to escape and flee to America on the Mayflower. There she befriended a Horned Serpent, and when her adopted son's were of age she had their wands fashioned with a sliver of the horn from her serpent friend.

So, why does this core fit Ominis?

As I said, it's properties directly line up with what we know about Ominis' wand in the game. Sebastian states that it is "almost sentient" and is able to help him navigate around the castle and the outside world with little problem. This fits the Horned Serpent horn because, according to the Harry Potter wiki, "[t]his core was exceptionally powerful, sensitive to Parseltongue and vibrated when Parseltongue was being spoken, and could warn their owners of danger by emitting a low musical tone." Because of Ominis' blindness, he likely has exceedingly strong hearing, thus making the low musical tone of the Horned Serpent horn a likely culprit for his wand's echolocation abilities. Not only would this wand core run in the Gaunt family, but it would also connect to Ominis' ability to speak Parseltongue.

As a side note, Salazar Slytherin had a basilisk horn core in his wand and is said to have passed it down when he died, so it would stay in the Gaunt family. Having a core so similar to Slytherin's, and most likely Ominis' father because he would be the next in line to get the wand, would please his family greatly.

Blackthorn wood: As we can see in the game and in the reference picture, Ominis' wand is a dark grey, nearly black color. This in itself narrows down what possible wood it is, as there isn't many dark wand woods known in the lore.

Below is an image of blackthorn branches.

The coloring matches, but what about their personality?

According to the Wizarding World website, this is the description of blackthorn wood:

Blackthorn, which is a very unusual wand wood, has the reputation, in my view well-merited, of being best suited to a warrior. This does not necessarily mean that its owner practises the Dark Arts (although it is undeniable that those who do so will enjoy the blackthorn wand’s prodigious power); one finds blackthorn wands among the Aurors as well as among the denizens of Azkaban. It is a curious feature of the blackthorn bush, which sports wicked thorns, that it produces its sweetest berries after the hardest frosts, and the wands made from this wood appear to need to pass through danger or hardship with their owners to become truly bonded. Given this condition, the blackthorn wand will become as loyal and faithful a servant as one could wish.

This fits with one of the first things we find out about Ominis and his personality-- he starts off as standoff-ish, brash, and, for a lack of a better word, "thorny." After getting to know him in the game, though, we find out that his harshness is just a defense mechanism due to his past and his protectiveness of his friends. Thus, the berry analogy. He himself goes through an incredible "danger or hardship" at the hands of his family, making the blackthorn tree a kindred spirit for him.

Unfortunately wand length and flexibility don't make much of a difference in wands, but there is still a little bit of information about them. I'm basing most of this information (the wand length at least) on fanon decided lore.

10 3/4 inches: Wand length is primarily based on the height and stature of the wizard. In very rare cases, witches and wizards of incredibly sour dispositions will get small, stubby wands (6 inches or below) but that doesn't fit in this situation. According to the Harry Potter Wiki, nine to ten inch wands are "[v]ery standard, and very formal," and "[t]ypically, wizards of average height (5' 6" - 6' 0") will have wands in this size range." Since most of the fandom agrees that Ominis would be around the 6'0", 6'1" range, this would fit his build. I added the 3/4 just to be a bit spicy.

Brittle flexibility: Because neither website really has information about the flexibility of wands, this is taken mostly from the weebly page on wandlore. According to the Wizarding World website, "[w]and flexibility or rigidity denotes the degree of adaptability and willingness to change possessed by the wand-and-owner pair[.]" I have also heard that it is based again on the witch or wizard's personality, so I used both instances here.

Basically, the more flexible the wand, the more flexible the witch or wizard would be in stressful situations, but also the more likely your wand would be to accept a new owner if it were to be won in a duel.

Brittle fits Ominis the best because of it's description on the wandlore class website:

A wand with this flexibility tends to attach itself quickest to owners who have insecurities, and its level of loyalty is often dependent on how loyal the owner is to it. Should it become very loyal to its original owner, new owners often won't get the chance to earn the wand's loyalty before it breaks. Brittle wands are best suited to subtle and delicate magic, such as transfiguration and non-verbal spell-casting. Because they break easy, their owners should be careful to avoid magic that is unnecessarily flashy or explosive, especially if the wand also has a dragon heartstring core. Owners with this wand flexibility are usually contemplative, clever, and somewhat cynical; they tend to be an "underdog" type of person and perhaps even a little bit unlucky, which could lead them to becoming resentful of their more successful peers. If a brittle wand owner perseveres and manages to get over their insecurities, however, he or she will often become a "great success story" that never ceases to amaze and inspire others.

There are points in the argument both for and against Ominis' insecurities controlling his personality, but this particular wand flexibility fits both extremes well. If he leans more on the insecure side, the wand would attach itself quite quickly to him and would remain loyal as long as he was loyal to it, which is a given since he needs it to navigate the world. Ominis was likely a closed off and insecure child when he was young, so it would fit that a brittle wand would attach itself to him quickly. In the game, we see Ominis is careful and sure with his wand work, so I don't think the brittle nature of the wand would come into play, especially with his and Sebastian's love for confringo.

The main thing that connects this flexibility to Ominis is the description of the owners personality, stating that they would be "contemplative, clever, and somewhat cynical" even an "underdog" type. Ominis is the definition of these three terms, and it can be argued that because of the biases surrounding his last name, as well as his disability, he could be considered an "underdog." Ominis is contemplative in most of his dialogue, wanting to see all sides of an argument before making a decision one way or another. He is incredibly clever, often twisting arguments in his favor and throwing words back at the person debating him. As for cynical, there just isn't a better word for how he treats the MC when he passes them around the castle. Every single one of his voice lines is some thinly veiled insult.

Next, let's explore Sebastian's wand-- easily one of the most identifiable wands in the game.

My headcanon: Dragon heartstring core, yew wood, 9 1/2 inches, unyielding flexibility

Same process as Ominis' wand. Here we go!

Dragon heartstring core: In medical science, "heartstrings" refer to the chordae tendineae of the heart, which connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid and mitral valves so they can open and close as the heart pumps blood between atrial and ventricular chambers (I had to research this lmao, I am not a science person). It's possible that this is where they get the core from in a dragon, but there isn't enough information about dragon anatomy in canon lore to be sure.

Wand cores are connected to the strength of a witch or wizard's magic, as well as the type of magic that they are more likely to lean towards and the type of magic that the wand will be adept with.

Dragon heartstring is one of the three "supreme cores" that are sold in Olivanders. The description of the wand core on the Harry Potter Wiki is as follows:

Dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most magical power, and which [are] capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tended to learn more quickly than other types. While they could change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bonded strongly with the current owner. The dragon wand tended to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it would not incline that way of its own accord. It was also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

Don't be swayed, I did not just pick this because of its proclivity towards dark magic. Yes, Sebastian is the one that teaches the MC the unforgivable curses, but this in itself matches the personality traits he exhibits from the very beginning: confidence (to the point of arrogance at times), and loyalty. Sebastian himself states that he leans more towards "fiery forms of magic" after he teaches you the blasting curse, so it would make sense that his wand core would need to be able to handle this kind of spell work. One that is "flamboyant" and "temperamental" would fit this the best. Not only this, but before the MC arrives at Hogwarts, Sebastian was the best duelist there, so he would need a wand core that picked up magic quick and was able to keep up with his competitive nature.

Yew wood: Yes, another thing that leans towards dark magic, but hear me out. Sebastian's wand color is very light, making the options for the possible wood types he would have just as sparse as Ominis'.

Wand woods are connected to the owners personality, diving down past the surface level and often discovering the most innate personality traits of the witch or wizard that owns it.

Below is an image of yew wood.

At first, I thought Sebastian's wand could possibly be aspen, but upon looking at the coloring of that wood versus yew, yew seems to be the closest in color. Aspen wood is often compared to bone because of how pale white it is, but if you look at the picture of Sebastian's wand, it has some warm undertones that make it a different hue than ivory.

Back to the personality. Here is what the Wizarding World website says about yew wood:

Yew wands are among the rarer kinds, and their ideal matches are likewise unusual, and occasionally notorious. The wand of yew is reputed to endow its possessor with the power of life and death, which might, of course, be said of all wands; and yet yew retains a particularly dark and fearsome reputation in the spheres of duelling and all curses. However, it is untrue to say (as those unlearned in wandlore often do) that those who use yew wands are more likely to be attracted to the Dark Arts than another. The witch or wizard best suited to a yew wand might equally prove a fierce protector of others. Wands hewn from these most long-lived trees have been found in the possession of heroes quite as often as of villains. Where wizards have been buried with wands of yew, the wand generally sprouts into a tree guarding the dead owner’s grave. What is certain, in my experience, is that the yew wand never chooses either a mediocre or a timid owner.

I'm not going to go into any heavy spoilers, but if you know, you know.

Sebastian is absolutely not a mediocre or timid wizard-- quite the opposite. He tends to lead with his heart rather his head, diving into battles before thinking through a strategy or jumping feet first into an argument before hearing both sides of the issue. He is fiercely loyal and protective of those he cares about, which can be seen in how he talks about not only Anne but also Ominis. His main motivation through the entirety of the game is finding a cure for his sister's curse, and he quite literally goes to outlandish means to achieve his goals. He is described as an accomplished duelist (we don't really see that, but let's chalk that up to the companion mechanics of the game and not his actual skill) and he is proficient in curses of all nature. He is the definition of a morally grey character-- not quite a hero, but also not quite a villain.

Again, for wand length and flexibility I will be using a mix of canon and fanon lore because of how scarce the information is on these sections of wandlore.

9 1/2 inches: As I said earlier with Ominis' wand, nine to ten inches is the common length for most wands. Since Ominis and Sebastian are, in fanon lore at least, similar in height (Ominis slightly taller than Sebastian in most fanfictions and fanart), I kept them close in length. Most agree that Sebastian is likely around 5'10", 5"11", so a wand slightly smaller than Ominis' but still within average length would fit best. Again, the half inch is just to be spicy.

Unyielding flexibility: Same as before, most of this information was taken from the wandlore weebly.

The word "unyielding" in itself describes Sebastian's personality. As previously stated, he is incredibly stubborn and hardheaded when he wants to be, and we see that often in the game.

The description for an unyielding wand is as follows:

A wand of this flexibility finely tunes itself to its original owner's preferences and doesn't stray from those preferences, even in the hands of a new owner; the new owner will just have to get used to it. It is particularly good for combative and healing magic. Unyielding wand owners tend to be very confident in themselves and/or in the things they believe in. They tend to be intelligent, somewhat cynical, and usually have well-defined principles that they will not stray from ever. Sometimes, this combination can lead to arrogance because of them insisting on how right they are without considering other points of view or whether or not they might be wrong.

Sebastian is a confident young man. He himself names him the best duelist in the school, and he prides himself on his knowledge of the wizarding world, both due to his proclivity to research and the fact that his parents were professors. In the game mechanics, particularly the bits that did not make it into the final game but were still in the code, there are a few lines for him that lean towards the possibility that he could heal the MC if our health got too low, thus adding the possibility that he was skilled in healing magic and combative magic. Sebastian's principles are defined from the very beginning of the game, stating that he would do anything for his friends and family, as well as was not afraid to break the rules to get what he wanted. He can be a bit arrogant at times due to this confidence, but for the most part it comes off as endearing.

As the game goes on he grows more cynical of the world and of the MC, often stating that they do not share the same opinions like he once thought and that they don't care about Anne and finding a cure for her curse. His tendency to not sway in his opinions and his insistence that he is right and everyone else is wrong grows tenfold around the winter mark. Because of this, no matter how many people are arguing that he is going down a dark path, he does not back down.

As both Ominis and Sebastian say, Sebastian Sallow does not back down from a fight, and he needs a wand that agrees with this belief system.

These are my headcaons! If you made it all the way to this bit, please don't be afraid to share your thoughts and personal headcanons for the boys and their wands!

Thanks for indulging me and my ramblings, lol

[sigmas-split-hair]

Ranking ADA members on how likely I think it is that they'll be the PM transfer

9. Kunikida Doppo

Kunikida is far too driven by his ideals, morals and ideas of righteousness. He certainly doesn't have the most powerful ability in terms of combat and would therefore not be the Port Mafia's first pick either way. If they were to pick him he would probably refuse to collaborate and he'd cause more harm than good to the organisation.

8. Fukuzawa Yukichi

Fukuzawa's low on the list for many of the same reasons as Kunikida.

But I think he'd be more favoured than Kunikida by Mori, because of his combat capabilities and past moral ambiguity. As the president of the agency he's central to their dynamic too and it would shake the agency up, even if Kunikida were to replace him.

7. Miyazawa Kenji

Kenji's one of the strongest fighters in the ADA. But his ability is somewhat unpredictable and Kenji's very naive, which isn't a good thing to be in the criminal underworld. Mori is also probably the least familiar with him out of all the members of the ADA, so I can't really pinpoint a motivation he'd have for choosing Kenji.

6. Tanizaki Juni'chirou

Tanizaki's ability is very useful and would be perfect for crime. We also know very little about Tanizaki's past and backstory, so him becoming more in central in the next couple of arcs would be logical as he's the only member of the ADA that hasn't really been given this kind of attention.

But so far, it's unclear how central the transfer is going to be. For all we know, Tanizaki transferring could lead to less plot relevance for him.

5. Izumi Kyouka

Kyouka has already been in the Mafia, and is an experienced murderer. She also seems more prone to going back to her criminal ways than the other members when protecting the people she loves.

What stops me from putting her higher up on the list is that she fought long and hard to quit the Port Mafia, and would probably continue to do so if she came back. Kouyou and Akutagawa are both also content with her place in the light, and probably wouldn't vouch for her return.

4. Yosano Akiko

I've seen a lot of people theorise that she'll be the transfer, which is seemingly impossible as her not transferring is the one condition of Fukuzawa and Mori's agreement.

However, the only person who knows about this condition is Fukuzawa. If something is to happen to him, which Mori may be relying on, then she'll have no choice to comply. I think that she's almost guaranteed to get picked if Fukuzawa dies, but I find that unlikely as of now

Her ability is extremely powerful in terms of healing, and would be of great use to the Port Mafia. If she were to quit the Armed Detective Agency then the stakes would be a lot higher. In Yosano's own words; almost dead is the same as completely fine in the Armed Detective Agency.

She'd probably be reluctant though, and forcing her to join the PM at all would be tricky since she'd rather die than use her ability the way she used it in the war. That's why I rank Ranpo above her.

3. Ranpo Edogawa

Ranpo's the pillar that upholds the agency. It was started because of him and he's the person who keeps them in business.

We're also unsure of what Mori's motivation for the transfer is. If it's to hurt the agency, then Ranpo would be the best way to do so.

Ranpo is also one of, if not the smartest character in Bungou Stray dogs. He would make an incredible strategist for the Port Mafia, and holds a high amount of power within Yokahoma's law enforcement. Ranpo could probably make innocent people take the blame for crimes committed by the Port Mafia. But he may be too smart for Mori, which would lessen his chance of getting picked.

2. Nakajima Atsushi

Atsushi's the main character of Bungou Stray dogs, which makes him a likely candidate for the transfer. He's also shown to be very self-sacrificial, and would probably offer to go instead of someone else. I could see him for an instance try to give himself up for the sake of Kyouka or Dazai.

Additionally, he's one half of the newest generation of Double Black. Him and Akutagawa are often shown as parallels, and giving their relationship more depth and screentime would be a logical step for the show. He's also one of, if not the most powerful fighter in the ADA and his ability is said to be The Book's guidepost.

If the Port Mafia's after the book then Atsushi is the best choice they can make.

Dazai Osamu

The only way I can honestly see Dazai not transferring to the Port Mafia is if the setup for him doing so is a red herring.

First and foremost, Dazai's blood is "Mafia black" as Higuchi put it. He has a long history in the Port Mafia, and used to be central in it.

When Dazai was fifteen, Mori predicted that he'd take over the throne in seven years. Now he's twenty-two.

Mori's shown to be an intelligent and manipulative man, and it's not impossible for him to have deliberately killed Oda Sakonosuke knowing that it would lead to Dazai going to the light side. Whilst Dazai was certainly useful, he wasn't a good mentor or leader, as shown with the abuse he made Akutagawa endure. Him going over to the light side made him more compassionate towards his mentees, as shown with Atsushi.

There's also been a very clear development with him in the last couple of seasons. Dazai's crimes were leaked, and he may not be able to return to a normal life even if the agency prove their innocence. Even if his old crimes are erased again, he has also committed new ones, like jailbreak. He's also repeatedly shown with his bangs covering his right eye, which parallels the bandages he wore "in the dark".

We see several characters forgetting to count him as a part of the Armed Detective Agency. They may have forgotten it, but it's more likely that they've realised that Dazai's going to be the transfer or that it's foreshadowing.

And whilst he was central to the plot, Dazai was separated from the rest of the Agency in the majority of season five, and could only communicate with Ango. This may have been a demonstration of the Agency's capabilities without him, and they were shown to manage the crisis on their own.

Everyone has their own role in the agency, except for Dazai and Ranpo who share the role of the "brain". If Dazai were removed, then Ranpo could probably cover his bases but Dazai couldn't cover Ranpo's bases.

There's also his partnership with Chuuya. It was focused on a lot during the Meursault arc, and is the focus of a lot of light novels. It would make sense to have Chuuya be a more central character by having him team up with Dazai, the shows secondary main character. Chuuya's character development is clearly not near finished, and reuniting with Dazai would accelerate it greatly.

Lastly, Dazai's a genius and a part of Double Black. His return would not only bring back the Port Mafia's infamous weapon of Corruption, but also their infamous strategist and Demon Prodigy.

These are all of the actual clues, so this last part is just me going off about the Dazai-is-the-book theory and why I think it fits in with this:

Mori knows more about Dazai than the other characters, and he's also the leader of the only organisation not shown to be after The Book. Dazai's life prior to him joining the Port Mafia is a mystery, and might be very central to the plot.

The book is said to be sealed, and Dazai might very much be the seal. If he was created by The Book in order to seal it then that would explain his suicidal tendencies. He's a projection of the page on which the seal was written's wishes, and if the book wants to be destroyed then he wants to destroy it. Alternatively, the seal was forced upon the book, and can only be broken by his death.

If he wasn't created to be the seal, but rather was given the role by someone/thing else then he could be suicidal because:

a) he wants the seal to break and the book to return

b) he wants the book to be destroyed

If this is the case, then Mori would have good reason to want him back into the Port Mafia. It's not unlikely for Dazai to "replace" him upon his return, which Mori is well-aware of.

Isn't that a bit weird? Unless, Mori has more important motivations than the preservation of his own life. Like for an instance getting a hold of the book, or a chance to destroy it.

[idkaguyorsomething]

Is it weird that I am perfectly fine with Araki giving Jodio a severe mental illness but still wish he had given Jodio a different one?

sorry it took so long to answer this one, i was trying to figure out how exactly to answer it, and it turns out there's a lot of different ways:

from a perspective of representation: mental illness is an incredibly stigmatized subject, and in mediums like manga and comic books even more so, as it is incredibly common for a lot of popular plots in those mediums to go "well, x character went crazy, that's why they're evil", as well as stories in general to associate a lack of empathy with a lack of ability to act in traditionally heroic ways. jjba itself has shown that, as part of dio's initial villainous characterization involves him showing a lack of empathy towards various figures such as dario or george (although this isn't the only way his villainy is characterized, as we're also shown right off the bat that he's very deliberately cruel). with jodio being set up as more of an anti-hero, giving him more traits that could be considered unheroic as well as a commonly stigmatized mental disorder, it makes sense to not have that sit quite right. but taking the history of the series into mind, jojo's is no stranger to exploring more shades of gray in its protagonists in its past. johnny and gappy have certainly committed far greater acts of brutality in their parts, while giorno, who jodio is set up as a parallel to, outright aspires to be a head of organized crime. even josuke, who is portrayed as one of the kindest and most pure-of-heart jojos, basically condemns a guy to a fate worse than death in his first arc. this isn't necessarily anything new the series is giving us, and the fact that the jojolands is largely portrayed from the perspective of jodio himself is a massive plus, as it gives us insight into his thought processes and helps us sympathize with a character we might not have done so otherwise (telling a story from the perspective of someone doesn't necessarily ask us to sympathize with them, but things like the goofy jokes he makes with dragona, his own insight on his diagnosis, and his clear love for his family go a long way towards making jodio likeable). one could view this as the natural progression of jojos tending towards the anti-heroic while araki explores more marginalized communities he's interested in portraying, or a poorly thought out decision that furthers stigma towards said marginalized communities. personally, i think it's still too early in the story to make any real judgements, but the way i see it it's kind of similar to the situation with jolyne. she's the only female jojo, and the only one besides jonathan who ultimately fails in her quest at the end of her part. there are narrative and thematic reasons for doing so, but it doesn't sit right with a lot of people, and that's perfectly fine.

from a medical perspective: according to the dsm 5, a person must fit at least three of the criteria for antisocial personality disorder in order to be diagnosed as having it, most of which jodio does fit. failure to conform to social laws and norms (he's a teenage drug dealer), deceitfulness (when barbara ann asks him where he is and if he's hanging out with paco, he lies), impulsivity (he destroys one of the lava rocks to try and get rohan to cooperate), aggressiveness (he kicks that one fucking cop until he's a stain on the ground, twice, although he is justified in his actions and this kind of willingness to fight people is essentially a requirement to be a jojo), reckless disregard of safety (again, practically a requirement for most main characters), consistent irresponsibility (assuming what we've been shown of him is how he acts all the time, yes, although the story so far takes place over too small of a timeframe to determine that), and lack of remorse (dragona has to remind him not to get too violent in the opening chapter with the cop). so he does fit most of the criteria, but it is also a requirement that, to receive a diagnosis, a person must be eighteen or older, with evidence of having fit some of the criteria before the age of fifteen. so by real world standards, jodio would be on track to being diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, but actually receiving it from a high school psychologist is bullshit. then again, this is the universe where the president made a cowboy race battle royale where the contestants had to collect magic body parts, so it's entirely possible that psychiatric standards in that world are just different. but you would be entirely justified in not liking his diagnosis, and there are several other disorders that fit the behavior that jodio shows. there's adhd (the impulsivity and tendency to get lost in daydreams and beating the shit out of cops), depression (the sense of emptiness he describes upon being given his diagnosis), anxiety (irritability and angry outbursts), and that's just some of the more common disorders. we haven't even gotten into some other full-on personality disorders or common comorbidities with antisocial personality disorder! from this perspective, your assessment is totally fair.

from a thematic perspective: as mentioned earlier, jojo's is no stranger to making its heroes increasingly reflected in shades of gray, and parts seven and eight especially make a point of contrasting their protagonists with their respective foils from parts one and four. johnny is a paraplegic gringo jockey twink that murders people so hard his friend the executioner had to tell him to slow down, in contrast with the jacked and kindly gentleman jonathan who impressed a stranger so much with his dignity that he immediately joined him in his quest. gappy is a quirky lil amnesiac who beats people to death with shovels while josuke has one of the more normal personalities of all the jojos and possibly the lowest kill count. at first it might seem like giorno and jodio are the most similar duo, since they're both criminals that act a-okay with murder, but while giorno's goals and reasoning for joining the criminal underground are motivated by a sense of empathy towards the people of italy and a belief in a higher ideology that passione can aspire to, jodio is a very self-centered kid. he has a very inflated idea of his own reputation, can't spot obvious traps, and the very first thing we're told about him is that he wants to be stinking rich. he also believes in the ideology of mechanisms, but it's an ideology that is explicitly centered around gain and his own material wealth, in contrast to giorno's philosophy, which involves ideals of self-improvement and certain boundaries that should not be crossed in the pursuit of power. giorno's ruthlessness stems from a place of compassion, so having his counterpart being someone who lacks the ability to feel empathy is a really interesting choice that gives the story a lot of places to go. the fact that the other criteria he fills, like impulsiveness and irresponsibility, stand in direct contrast to giorno's ambition and planning ahead, also adds further potential for the jojolands to explore a completely different sort of crime story than golden wind. so from this perspective, i'd say that your assessment is rather harsh.

tl;dr there's a lot of different angles to approach this question from. it's 90% probably that i completely misunderstood what you were trying to ask, though, so please tell me what i got wrong :P

[the-owl-house-takes]

So I think the worst take of the fandom is that all of the problems of the show would have been fixed had it gotten a full S3. That literally any problem the show had merely came from the shortening. This is... Well, just blatantly shows that the fandom not only doesn't understand how the animation industry works AND doesn't want to actually look at the narrative they did choose to focus on post the shortening call that were just... baffling.

So first let's establish how much of the show was affected by the Shortening. As a fandom, we found out about it during the hiatus between S1 and 2. This was at earliest, August 2020 since the S1 finale came out late August 2020. Dana has claimed two things that are important to this timeline. 1: The shortening was decided on shortly before the finale came out and 2: That the first episode affected by Covid, which would have been back in March/April, was Looking Glass Ruins. So we EXPLICTLY know that the shortening didn't affect the show until after S2 Ep 5.

BUT then we get into production schedules. Before S2 even BEGAN airing, we were told to stop campaigning for a full S3 because they had to get started on storyboards for the season and that was effectively the firm deadline. This means ALL of S2 was effectively done in script and storyboards by the time S2 aired. This makes sense to keep a weekly schedule and the like and most animation professionals will tell you they work MONTHS in advance of release, bare minimum.

This means, AT BEST, S2B was when the shortening really kicked in. And yes, S2B has pacing issues. It has issues in general and is when most people think the quality of the show dropped. The problem is that... The signs were always there. There's a reason why there's been a backlash because as people become disillusioned with the show, you have to ask what was driving so much before.

And a lot of that was potential. S1 is so good when you first watch it because it keeps teasing the idea that it's going to tackle things in a complex way. That it will explore concepts like Amity's abusive family, magic, fantasy vs reality, etc. like that. It's why the fandom was at its strongest during S1.

Unfortunately, the problem with presenting good ideas and then not executing on them, or completely gutting them is that those old parts are a lot harder to enjoy. As Willow was effectively not a character for half a season and then just suddenly was a jock, people began to realize the fact that she in the show is much more a plot device than anything else. They claimed "We're not doing the one kind act into friendship and forgiveness thing with Amity and Willow" and then literally did NOTHING with it until S2B and eventually DID just do the same trope anyways but now with less resonance than it would have had in Understanding Willow.

Not only that but even S1 didn't give a single shit about its worldbuilding. The First Day has Dana Terrace as a lead writer on it. If anyone knows the worldbuilding best, it should be her... So why is it that no one talks about multi-coven things being illegal? It's literally just used as meta commentary and so they entirely ignore the worldbuilding they have. Reaching Out is exactly the same, with Dana as the SOLE writer of that where Amity and everyone else treats joining a coven like going to college and not literally the word of the law.

But S1 couldn't even keep Wild Witches consistent. Half the time Eda can chill and not worry. She can go to a place funded by the EC like Hexide and not flinch for a second that Bump might call the guards on her despite that being kind of the ONE real rule to their society that makes it not just our world but with teeth. Then again, the show gives NO FUCKS about its own stuff, willing excising portions of itself that it finds cumbersome. Escaping Expulsion is BEFORE Looking Glass Ruins and yet it murders Luz's magical potential in its sleep and also discards Amity's family as easily disposable, despite how much the show claims her mother's influence is the reason why Amity behaved the way she did for all of... Three appearances? Because Amity's arc isn't actually good.

It shouldn't be surprising S2 would do this though when the writers already struggled to do anything with Luz's magic. If she's supposed to be learning and growing... Even S1 is shit at this and is repetitive. Not just with the at least three times we do "King has a minion!" B plot that isn't funny and doesn't do anything but also with its lessons. Luz theoretically learns to listen to Eda in the third episode and arguably the second as well. Then she gets her first glyph with the lesson, in theory. of not trying to take shortcuts to do magic and to not steal. And then in Adventure in the Elements, not even to impress Amity but because of her impatience, she steals something to take a shortcut to stronger magic. That is THREE episodes of the first TWELVE of the series. It usually takes most kids shows at least a LITTLE longer to be that bad at retreading its own lessons.

And the final part of this is that... S2 actually had to be effectively the exact same as it was for s3 to happen. You need the foreshadowing of the Collector for the Day of Unity. You need to FINALLY do something with Belos for the revelations of the Human Realm to happen and to do Luz's angst arc. You need Hunter to be at least 90% redeemed so he's there on their side during The Day of Unity, etc. like that. Then you get half a season in the human realm before coming back to the Isles for half a season, just like Amphibia did because returning home is the best mid-season finale you can have there. So any argument that a full S3 would have actually fixed issues with S2B is just... Wrong. The problems with S2B come with the fact that S2A wastes a FUCKTON of time on elements that don't matter.

Oh, and lest we forget that The Collector could have been cut. He had one appearance in a dream, that also doesn't make sense with his characterization, before S2B. In the fact, the crew has admitted as much. He was added AFTER the news of the Shortening because they always wanted to include a character like him so now that they didn't have the time for him... Cram him in anyways.

Could a show have EVER been saved when that's how they treat one of their two final antagonists? It's the sort of statement that just solidifies the idea that TOH didn't want three seasons. It wanted five... If not just to go on forever. To be the next monolithic show, even as it repeats character arcs, lessons and shrinks characters rather than expands them.

So no, the show isn't bad because of the shortening. The show is bad because the writing is bad.

-

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/739335177994747904/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic739061849135#notes

I'm the anon on this post. I fully get the point here in this person's reblog and your addition, and I can see how my ask came across as gatekeeping, but I think what I meant more was in response to the previous anon (that Il inked) seeming to think that a LOT of hetero men needed to enter fandom for F/F to become more popular. As I said, there is some good F/F content written by men; I encountered that even in the brony fandom. (That said, that was a fandom where I very strongly was NOT interested in smut, which is not the case with most of my other F/F fandoms, so that's probably part of what influenced my preferences there.) Like, there was a lot of garbage, but there was so much content that there happened to be a decent amount of good stuff as well even following Sturgeon's Law.

I think what I meant more was disagreeing with the idea that the "solution" to lack of F/F is to have fanfiction become a *much* dudier space. I was trying to give my experience of having been in a fandom like that to suggest that it's a very fundamentally different experience than the generally less-dudey places that fanfiction fandom is in most fandoms, and I don't know that that's necessarily better just because we get more F/F, because in effect it still ends up marginalizing lesbian and bi women F/F fans because so much of the content is not only not for us, but often even hostile to us. (In a very different way from the arguments that are made about women writing M/M, where a lot of it is just stuff that isn't what gay/bi men are looking for. I'm sure any lesbian or bi woman who has had to deal with the kind of men who have lesbian fetishes irl, on dating sites, etc. can relate, but I really hate when people compare those things because it is truly apples and oranges.)

I hope I'm being clear, but I just think there's a distinction to be made between "I do not want F/F fanfiction fandom to become a *primarily* male space, and I think there are some big downsides that people who've never been in a fandom like that haven't seen" vs. "We need to gatekeep F/F so it's exclusively queer women writing it." I'm fine with some guys doing it, of course, but I don't think the fact that fanfiction is a primarily female and queer and nonbinary space is a "problem" to be "fixed" even if it means less F/F. I think that's a big part of the draw, in fact. That's what I was trying to say, but maybe not very well.

--

I think the point of the other comment isn't so much that anyone wants fic fandom to become dude-y... It's that for f/f numbers to look like m/m numbers, you'd have to have the reverse situation.

Whether that's desirable is another question, but it puts the endless focus on stats and numbers into perspective.

I don't think we really disagree all that much. They were just putting it provocatively to get people to think about why they waste their time yelling about AO3's overall stats "looking bad" and what the so-called solution to that would be.

It's pretty much bait is what I'm saying.

--

Obviously, as a woman, I only rarely encounter women who are mega annoying about gay men and reasonably often encounter those pestilential men in bars who think "bisexual" means "porn star who wants a threesome". I certainly think they're more of an actual problem IRL... but I'm still not convinced it is entirely apples to oranges when we're discussing online fanfic spaces or... like... stories with plots more complex than "I'm here to fix your plumbing".

Ranma fandom was full of dudes writing f/f that was a little anatomically suspect but reasonably in-character and that sounded like other fanfic with the usual "I like this blorbo and want more content about them" motivations. I haven't seen many fandoms like this, but I run across one now and then. (I agree MLP is fairly distinctive even out of these.)

--

I think the basic thing here is that a lot of (hostile, loud) people do see the absolute f/f numbers as the problem to be fixed.

And you are right and they are wrong.

There is no real fix if people keep looking at it from this "Winning at AO3 numbers" perspective. The cure would be worse than the disease for many of the people complaining.

Better to focus on the usual "How do I get my specific blorbo to have more content by encouraging authors and writing it myself?" strategies and let someone else worry about the global AO3 numbers.

[inbarfink]

Random question but I just realized/remembered that Calvin and Sam were YOUNGER than Barbara.

Yet I don't remember them being babysat by her the night she died so where do you think they were?

Also I was wondering if I'm the only one who thinks Rick might not have killed Barbara?

Cause it COULD be possible that the serial killer/deranged fan part of the comic could have been real. Meaning that that could be why Rick disappeared.

Anywho sorry for the out of the blue question/rant. I just didn't know who else to ask.

(Sorry for the late reply @hannahhook7744, it's been kind of a Weird Hectic Weekend for me)

The thing about Barbara's Death Sequence is that it's really the most 'distant' one we've had. Most other Finches have records written by themselves just before their deaths or written by someone close to them just after their deaths. Barbara got a fictionlized comic book written by strangers for strangers that came out a full year after her death.

Sure, it seems like the Finch family collaborated on the story (since they've got the music box in there), but it's still pretty different from Molly's diary or Lewis' therapy notes. Espacially as a lot of little details in Barbara's room seem to contradict the story. So it's probable that Sam and Calvin were also being babysat by Barbara that night, but as they didn't figure into the narrative the comic-writers were telling they just casually dropped them from the narrative or merged all three younger brothers into Walter's role.

Or maybe they were out having a sleepover with friends or a boyscout camping trip or something but the comic didn't mention it, cause, again, it didn't factor into it's story. This comic was obviously not a serious documentation of Barbara's death, it's a fictional horror story targeted at people with just a casual understanding of the Finch Family outside of Barbara - if at that. So if that comic dedicated a whole narration box to "and also Barbara had two other little brothers but they were off at camp and had nothhing to do with this story" that would just seem Weird to the in-universe readers of 'Dreadful Stories'. Even if it might be useful to us, the REAL audience trying to piece together the timeline of the Finch family.

(Also I do suspect that at some point of WRoEF development Calvin was supposed to die before Barbara and then their timelines ended up being Switched so the Weirdness here might be a remnant of that)

As for the matter of Rick. I think the reason why he's considered the Prime Suspect of Barbara's death within the fandom is due to the Law of Conservation of Detail. You know, like, Details in stories come up because they're important to the story in same way. And yeah, 'What Remains of Edith Finch' is not exactly a traditional narrative and not every detail here has to "further the plot" - but even the most unimportant little details in WroEF still serve to add flavor to the characters, atmosphere and the themes. Which are things that are important to the story.

So why bring up the fact that Barbara had a boyfriend and even give him a name and a face? (which is very rare for anyone outside of the Finch Family in this game) Why doesn't Barbara just die alone in the house with just Walter? Rick has to be Important in some way if the game went to all this effort to create and establish his existence to us, right?

Plus, there's the thematic role of 'Dreadful Stories' within the narrative. Personally, I can't see the idea of there really being a serial killer or a real-life crazed fan that inspired the 'monsters' at the end of the comic. Because my read of 'Dreadful Stories' is that it's made to be so ridiculous and sensational- with both a serial killer AND monsters out to get Barbara - to showcase a little taste of the wild and weird stories being told about Barbara's death. And to put the first subtle little wrinkle in the poetic idea that the Finches deaths always match their lives - Edie had to choose this silly little comic to deliberatly turn Barbara's death into something horror themed. And if she chose something a little closer to reality, it would've turned out to be much different.

So what is the mundane Not-Thematic-Enough-For-Edie's-Tastes way for Barbara to get murdered? I can see why for a lot of people, the 'obvious answer' was 'got killed in an argument with her boyfriend'. Since, again, we need to have a reason why he exists in the first place.

...Although that's actually not my favorite theory lol

I think Barbara's death was even more mundane than that. One of the few details about Barbara's death we can confirm are based on reality is the moment where she pushes the killer off the railing.

In the current-day Finch House this little piece of railing IS noticeably broken.

So someone did absolutely fall off the second floor of the Finch House at some point.

So what I think happened is that Rick and Barbara did have some sort of a lover's tiff that night, then Barbara slipped on these rollerskates the Hookman slipped on in the comic.

In a panic she tried to grab on to something and only managed to catch one of Rick's crutches. (The important thing here is that Barbara is ALWAYS memorialized holding that crutch. Even in pieces that were made prior to the comic's printing, like her portrait)

So that part of her story has to be true in some way.

Barbara's death was just yet another Patented Tragic Finch Accident, but suspicions kept falling on Rick from the General Public and the media, and so he had to go into hiding. Meanwhile the Finch Family, or at least Edie, kept promoting the most Bonkers version of her story they could find.

[heatwa-ves]

okay tell me a bit abt clara i need to know more abt my blorbo in law

YAYYY I did try to keep this reasonably short but I failed. and there's like 20 minutes worth of videos in here too but I hope it's still an enjoyable read

clara was introduced as a character in one episode and she dies at the end of it and people were like oh okay she's just a minor character in that one episode, and then later on it that series after the previous companion characters leave there's another episode with clara and it's in a completely different setting and the doctor (matt smith/eleven) is like huh. what. I saw you die on a spaceship why are you in victorian london. and she has no memory of him and is like lol what the fuck are you talking about. so they gallivant around and she dies at the end of that episode again with the exact same last words and at this point the doctor is getting a bit freaked out. anyway he ends up finding clara again in modern day london (because it's always fucking london. why is it never idk. bournemouth. let's have a character from bournemouth next.) and again she has no memory of him bla bla plot stuff happens and at the end of the episode he asks her to travel with him and she tells him to ask her again tomorrow because while everything in her wants to say yes she wants to keep control of the situation and have this be on her terms. anyway they travel together for a bit in what I refer to as dws flop era it's just. not a good season with the exception of maybe two episodes. but at the end of this series in order to save the doctors life clara enters his like. time stream? and so she's in so many places in his life to like. save him or whatever which is why there's so many versions of her all of whom die. the real her is fine tho. anyway a few episodes later the doctor is dying it's a really shit episode in my opinion but he regenerates into the next doctor (peter capaldi/twelve) and this is where things get good.

so when a doctor regenerates ofc their appearance changes but also some aspects of their personality do too for example nine who has been hurt by the war is healing and being loved and he becomes ten who's young and flirty and perfect for the girl he loves and then ten after going through so much emotional pain and loss regeneration is like healing and he becomes eleven who's happy and fun and then eleven after spending the final hundreds of years of his life in one place rather than travelling he becomes twelve who is older wiser and a little gruff and sarcastic but to clara this is a completely different man to the doctor she loved and she kinda hates him for it!! he also abandons her (not really but it feels like it to her) in a room full of robots who want to kill her and she has a really nice monologue etc etc more stuff happens and at the end of the episode she assumes he's abandoned her in victorian london but he comes back to her of course and then there's my favourite scene ever which is SO important for their relationship

they end up traveling together for a while and while they're not traveling clara works as an english teacher and ends up getting to know another teacher there called danny. I hate danny. which sucks because I like the idea and I like some of the things they do with him but he's SO annoying his only personality trait is that he's an ex soldier which okay fair there's a lot of similar themes throughout this series but that's all he is. he's an ex soldier there is nothing else to him. anyway their first date is kind of disastrous and clara storms out but then ends up meeting him in the past and also his descendant in the future and that makes her go back to the date and try to make it work even tho it really isn't. then they rob a bank this isn't particularly relevant but it is fun. by this point she is slightly spiralling trying to keep both parts of her life separate and working perfectly and she's kind of exhausted. then in a catastrophic series of events danny finds out about the doctor and that's claras not good very bad day but she keeps going. anyway then her and the doctor and one of her students end up on the moon and after a lot of bullshit they're left with the choice of if to blow up the moon or not. and here the doctor leaves her he says he's not human he has nothing to say and she calls him essentially a selfish asshole how can he say it's not his world when he breaths their air walks their ground and loves their people and she despises him for doing this to her and for putting her student at risk. there's also a 2014 tumblr cameo in this episode which is deeply disturbing.

at this point she talks with danny and she decides to stop traveling with the doctor. so they plan one last trip before she leaves for good and they go to the orient express in space! except of course it's not a nice relaxing trip there's murders and a mummy! Yay! clara meets and befriends another passenger called maisie who's one of my fav minor characters and they get trapped in a room and talk a lot and there's a line I love "it would be so much easier if we just liked the people we're supposed to like (danny) but then there wouldn't be any fairy tales (the doctor and the tardis and the whole universe)" which is confirmation for what was pretty obvious at this point; that clara doesn't actually love danny, she just thinks she should. again, control freak, wants a perfect life, this is what she SHOULD have but this is not what she wants. anyway turns out maisie will be the next to die and the doctor tells clara to lie to her that she can be saved. and this is only furthering claras hatred for him but she does it anyway (and so begins the doctorification. she becomes more and more similar to him which then leads to a whole arc later on) turns out he could save maisie but he wasn't sure if he could so he would rather clara think him cruel for lying to maisie rather than have her feel betrayed if he promised to save her and failed. and then there's this scene and she hasn't completely forgiven him but she's reminded of how much she loves him and "sometimes the only choices are bad ones, but you still have to choose" is perfectly reflective of her impossible decision in the last episode. after this danny calls and he asks if it's over and she says yes despite the fact she fully intends to keep traveling with the doctor. and thus begins the lying to danny! at the end of this phone call she hesitates and then says really loudly "I love you" to which danny replies out of focus and then it cuts to the doctor. and the actor confirmed she's saying this to twelve not to danny. insanity!!!!

and wow. all that was just on one episode. and the next episode is equally a banger!!! this one is entirely clara centric and it's more doctorification. the doctor becomes her little purse dog (he gets shrunk really tiny and can't do anything) and she takes on his role in investigating and leading people. there's a part where he asks what she's going to do and she says "lie to them, give them hope" and that's an oh moment because now she's doing exactly what he did last episode. it's brilliant. she also lies to Danny about how she's so totally not with the doctor lol and then through some very clever antics they save the day and she says "why won't you tell me I was good" and he says something along the lines of "you were an excellent doctor, goodness had nothing to do with it." banger line. moving on some more episodes happen and there's one where the earth is about to be destroyed and I do like this episode it gets a lot of hate but I don't think it's bad aside from a really weird anti meds sentiment which he would not fucking say. anyway! more clara danny interactions where she doesn't love him but thinks she should and there's a part where the doctor says he has a role because earth is his planet too which is a lovely callback to what clara told him before! we love a man who learns. and then more stuff happens and it gets to a point where clara decides she can't keep lying to danny and she plans to tell him everything but as they're on the phone he gets into a car accident on his way to see her and by the time she gets there it's too late.

she gets so upset and irrational and calls the doctor and there's these two incredible scenes anddd then the doctors childhood friend slash lover slash nemesis shows up and is like happy birthday babe here's a present (invasion of earth) there's not too much clara in this episode but she does (accidentally) tell danny to his face that the only man she'll ever love is the doctor. ouch. and then danny dies and clara lies to the doctor that he's alive and she'll be fine so that the doctor can return to his home planet and the doctor lies to clara that he's found his home planet so that she can live a normal life with danny but neither of these things are true and so they're just both pretty miserable for a bit. and then santa saves the day brings them back together etc etc lovely episode brilliant claraisms gorgeous ending scene but I've shown you enough scenes that I'll try and speed through this one

and so begins series 9 and their messy codependent era where they are both insanely hurt from the events of the last few episodes and losing danny and the return of twelves weird ex who he's still forever in love with. yay! let's go quickly through S9 first of all the doctor reunites with his arch nemesis (not the gay one from a few episodes ago) meanwhile clara is having lesbian hate sex without any actual sex involved and getting put inside of a dalek. then there's under the lake/before the flood which are some really nice episodes for twelveclaraisms they parallel the finale PERFECTLY but an actual discussion of that would take several hours and I don't wanna take up any more of your time. just know there's an incredible clara line "if you love me in any way you'll come back" some stuff happens they go to viking britain slash scandanavia it's unclear and I got really mad because there are electric eels featured heavily in this episode and they don't live outside of south america. anyway there's some really nice doctor characterization but that's not the point all that's relevant is he forces immortality upon a dying girl to save her and she grows to hate him for it. he gives her a second immortality thing in case "she meets someone she can't bear to lose." the foreshadowing is heavy handed. then clara gets impersonated by an alien then there's a bullshit episode that idr much about other than twelveclara hold hands and it's something along the lines of clara saying im not scared and the doctor saying i am. 💖 AND NOW. THE FINALE. THE TWELVECLARA EPISODES. MY ROMAN EMPIRE.

so there's three parts to the finale the first is called face the raven and clara gets a call from a friend of hers who I don't think I mentioned yet but anyway. he woke up with a timer counting down on the back of his neck and is freaked out so they investigate and discover a hidden alien village in, you guessed it, london! It's always fucking london. anyway the vibes are delectable it's soooo cool and here they run into the woman the doctor made immortal her name is lady me and she's essentially leading this village. turns out the timer is counting down to death and it's put on him because he's been framed for a murder etc etc plot stuff very good. it turns out you can transfer the timer to another person of they're willing and do clara convinces him to transfer it to her to buy them more time because reasons I forgot. turns out once the timer is transferred it can't be removed! and the doctor gets pissed he's threatened to bring hell down upon lady me if she doesn't do anything but clara tells him to stop and she's always been the only person he listens to. he goes to say something to her and she stops him and says "whatever you're about to say, I already know" and they have such a tender moment and then she steps out alone as the timer runs out and she dies.

the next part is called heaven sent and this one is about the doctor long story short he's trapped in a giant castle and is looking through it while hiding from this spectre of sorts born from his childhood nightmares. there's a portrait of clara on one of the walls and the show writers said on the back of the portrait is the clue to how he can get out but he can't bring himself to turn her face to the wall to see the back. sobs. anyway he journeys through this castle and at the end there's a massive wall made of a material harder than diamond between him and the exit and he punches the wall but nothing happens ofc because it's so thick. the spectre thing then has him on the brink of death and he drags himself back to where he entered the castle and through some sci-fi nonsense repeats the day. it's a timeloop yippee!!! the tiny tiny crack his fist made on the wall stays and so he repeats this again and again and again and again and he dies repeatedly in this loop making miniscule chips in the wall for FOUR AND A HALF BILLION YEARS just for the minute CHANCE that he could save clara. if I had to pick an absolute favourite doctor who episode it would be this one it is a masterpiece

and the final episode is called hell bent. the doctor emerges onto his home planet does some time travel shit and manages to find clara at the very moment of her death between her last heartbeat and extracts her from there. she's able to talk and move but she's kind of in stasis and half dead. he goes against his moral code in this moment and kills a man (she wakes up as a woman it's fine) because that's how dedicated he is to clara!!!! sobs.. they escape and travel to the end of the universe in the hopes that as they're so far from her point of death the stasis will end and she'll come back to life even tho this goes against the laws of time and could destroy everything he doesn't care because it's her. here they run into lady me again and she talks about how they've become so similar that they drive eachother to extremes. more conversations and stuff and the doctor says he plans to erase claras memory of him so his people can't find and kill her because she's a defect in the flow of time. Or something. and she goes FUCK no and attempts to reverse the polarity on the memory thing but they don't know if she succeeded and there's some very lovely moments meanwhile me is in the corner just standing there and they decide they'll press the thing together and one of them will lose their memory but they don't know who and clara says I dont think I'll ever forget you and the doctor says I don't think you'll have to. and falls unconscious.

he wakes up in america (jumpscare) and makes his way to a diner which he had been to before with previous friends. he talks to the waitress there and plays her a song and everything in the diner is another contender for best dw scene ever. he plays a song on his guitar and he says I think it's called "clara" and she says something along the lines of "if memories we have forgotten because stories, maybe some of them become songs" and the waitress is clara of course but he doesn't recognise or remember her and im stupid emotional just thinking about it. and she leaves and she along with lady me have to travel back to the point of her death and restore the flow of time atho they definitely have weird lesbianisms beforehand but that's beside the point. the doctor leaves and he sees the tardis is painted

and when I tell you I sobbed upon seeing this. I will never recover.

in his last episode one season later he ends up regaining his memories of clara right before dying and I sobbed like a baby. yay! anyway this turned into more of a twelveclara answer than just clara but I hope you enjoyed reading and you see why I'm so insane over them 🥺

[linkspooky]

Would you ever do a Fukuchi meta? I'd love to read your thoughts on him and his role in the story.

Fukuchi is an interesting character in the fact that he is not what anyone expects him to be, and he never does what's expected of him. I feel like he doesn't get discussed a lot, for many reasons, one being he's the reason this arc is dragging, the second he's an antagonist who's not a pretty anime boy, he's also kind of soaked up screentime from DOS who all indications point to is the longterm more important antagonist. However there's still a lot going on with his character, the hunting dogs may be late additions to the story and their arc may have like cannibalized the whole narrative but they're still fantastic characters in their own right.

1. The Two Fukus

So Fukuichi's character really starts when he is revealed to be Kamui, turning him from what was a pretty shallow foil for Fukuzawa, an old buddy and wise mentor type just on the hunting dogs not the detective agency into the prime antagonist of the arc. I call this plot twist, the surprise twist that is not really a surprise. After all despite Dos being effectively billed as the main villain of the decay of angels, and Sigma and Goggol being his instruments he has been effectively in prison the whole arc. It is the hunting dogs who have dogged the detective agency every step of the way.

A lot of what makes Fukuichi's character and the hound dogs as a whole so meta-textually interesting is the way he plays with all of these expectations. After all, why would we expect anyone other than Fukuichi to be the main villain of the arc? The antagonist has always been the hunting dogs. They've been shown to be both brutal and relentless. They have amoral members like Jouno and Teruko who are perfectly willing to employ torture both psychological and physical to their enemies. Jouno even admits that he enjoys it, and he doesn't even particularly care if the person he's hunting is innocent or not because it's not his job to sort out who is innocent and guilty it's his job to just hunt down whoever he's pointed at to the best of his ability.

Yet it's surprising as a reader that the leader of the Hunting Dogs is the main antagonist of the arc, and the one responsible for framing the detective agency in the first place? And why is that?

Perhaps, because the natural assumption is that because the Hunting Dogs are working with the government, instead of say outright criminals like the Port Mafia that they must have some honorable reason for what they are doing. They are recognized by the government and given that position of privilege and power so therefore their government approved justice must be the right justice.

In the way we ignore basically every sign that the Hunting Dogs are corrupt and a perversion of justice because they have government backing, we also tend to just assume governments themselves are by default good because they create and maintain laws.

We assume because the government is just, that the framing of the Detective Agency is just a misunderstanding, or a malicious manipulation by Fyodor to hurt our heroes. That once the framing of the detective agency is cleared up then of course everything will go back to normal, because the problem is not how the Hunting Dog relentlessly pursue their targets and their perverted wielding of justice, it's just they've got the wrong guys. If they were to pursue actually guilty people with those same methods than that's totally okay. Which is why for the vast majority of this arc, the Detective Agency only cares about clearing their names assuming naturally this will solve all problems.

This all comes to a head of course when it's revealed, not only does Fukuichi already know that the detective agency is innocent, he is the one who framed them to move his agenda forward. Fukuichi is in an instant changed from what looked to be the most honorable and reasonable of the hunting dogs, to traitor despite being close friend and personal foil of Fukuzawa himself the moral backbone fo the detective agency.

And I think a lot about what is interesting about Fukuichi's character is the subversion of what he represents. Fukuzawa is a trustworthy authority figure, he's also a character who is steeped in traditionalism, and a character of the older generation. We trust him because we are told to trust our elders and believe the previous gen has our best interests in mind. Despite the fact that children are pretty regularly exploited in Bungou Stray Dogs, and we have tales of horrible poverty and abuse in many of the younger generations backstories we still believe that older generation and organizations like the government are keeping the peace and doing the best they can.

The world of BSD as shown to us if anything is one that has the thin veneer of peace and order, and yet is clearly ravaged not only by a terrible war in recent history, but also suffers from extreme proverty and unrest in areas, not to mention crime so bad it requires leaving an organization that deals in human trafficking, organ harvesting, drug trading on the regular like the port mafia in power because it acts like a crime deterrent. Fukuichi convinces the world's assembled governing bodies that the world itself teetering on the brink of chaos is this way because of "terrorists" of a few bad eggs like dostoevsky and his ilk, and not just a natural result of what seems to be a really shoddy governmental system that's bad at keeping the peace.

And we're given a pretty obvious reason as to why the government as depicted in Bungou Stray Dogs is so poorly constructed to begin with, and it's because rather than using you know, social programs, taxes, services for the public good like governments are supposed to do the government instead focuses on fighting enemies and maintaining order not only through an iron fist but also through the empowerment of a select few powerful individuals. This is something really made worse by ability users, of cousre in a world where superpowered individuals exist one of the government's main way of enforcing its power is by supersoldiers. It seems obvious if you think about it.

So Fukuichi's character if anything reads to me as a criticism not only of the blind faith the citizens and even the good guys like the detective agency have in a government that has so clearly failed its population as an institution, but also the readers as well and our tendency to trust governments and institutions like the police and the military even when they've pretty obviously failed or abused their position. And why? Well, one of the biggest reasons is because people are tempted to simplify what is a messy reality into a black and white conflict between heroes and villains. It all starts with a character we naturally assume to be a good person, a war hero, a person who wields justice in the name of law and order turning out to be a selfish manipulator.

The subversion around Fukuichi's character only builds from there. First, Atsushi having main character privilege and plot armor there's never really been a character that's able to stand up to the tiger before. Atsushi won the super power lottery, he has super healing, on top of one of the naturally strongest abilities even though he's not actually that good of a fighter. The first thing we're shown is Atsushi is absolutely useless in a fight against Fukuichi.Main character privilege doesn't apply anymore. Atsushi's not the hero anymore, in fact in one perspective he is fighting a hero who has saved the world several times on a scale Atsushi as a teenage boy doesn't really udnerstand.

The first thing Fukuichi does is cut Atsushi's leg off and order him to stand, because the pain he's facing right now is absolutely nothing compared to what Fukuichi has been through. Atsushi's not facing off against someone with a powerful ability, but a seasoned hero who far outstrips his combat experience in every step of the word. After which point he imediately paralyzes Atsushi with fear and cuts off his plucky hero attitude.

Fukuichi is unique among all of Bungou Stray Dogs antagonist in how genuine a threat he is. Nothing the heroes throw at him works. Dazai's near omniscient planning ability fails. The Shin Soukoku combination which has always beaten any enemy that it was up against before not only doesn't win the fight, but all they can manage to do is flee in shame after sacrificing Akutagawa's life.

Fukuichi doesn't really conform to any narrative expectation of him at all. After all he was the antaagonist who showed up at the end of the arc, he was supposed to be put down by the Soukoku combination like a final boss and after they retrieved the page from him, the detective agency would be proven innocent and then everything would reset to status quo like it did after Fitzgerald and the Cannibalism arc. But... thats not what happened. Not only does he subvert the expectations of the narrative, but the characters themselves keep trying to make Fukuichi conform to a more easy to understand character. After all one of the first thing Atsushi shouts at him is that he must have suffered from a tragic backstory during the war time that is responsible for his fall.

We learn right away he did experience the horrors of war, but he wasn't the victim in that case, he was the crimminal who committed war crimes. He's tormented not by actions done to him, but rather actions he did to others.

Fukuichi makes it clear to Atsushi the much harder to digest idea, that it was the needs of the government itself and the "greater good" that even the detective agency is supposedly fighting for that required him to be a monster. Something that Atsushi immediately rebuffs and simply labels him as an evil to be stopped.

Which is interesting because the Hunting Dogs have always been about doing evil in order to pursue absolute justice. But once again, we as the audience misinterpret this to mean well they're only being cruel and ruthless on people who are crimminals and therefore deserve it. We miss out on the really obvious fact that if they're willing to act this inhumane with crimminals, then really how far away are they from practicing that same cruelty on completely innocent people.

Fukuichi then goes on to express a very budhist idea.

The eight worldly concerns or eight worldly dharmas (Skt. aṣṭalokadharma; P. aṭṭhalokadhamma; T. འཇིག་རྟེན་ཆོས་བརྒྱད་, ‘jig rten chos brgyad) are a set of worldly or mundane concerns that generally motivate the actions of ordinary beings.[1] They are:

hope for pleasure and fear of pain,

hope for gain and fear of loss,

hope for praise and fear of blame,

hope for good reputation and fear of bad reputation.

Preoccupation with these worldly concerns is said to be an obstacle to genuine spiritual practice.

Basically budhism elaborates on the concept that the reason evil or misfortune exists in the world on such a grand scale is because it is perpetuated by everyone, normal, average people are so preoccupied by normal every day concerns that they don't spend their lives living in pursuit of justice or the right thing.

Which is essentially the concept that Fukuichi's entire character revolves around, because most normal people don't pursue justice, because the vast majority of people are weak, because they do what is easy rather than what's right they force the burden on heroes like Fukuichi. People rely on narratives of heroes, of good and evil, because they don't want to face the very mundane corruption of the world around them. Fukuchi is a monster and a tyrant but he's also someone who has been forced into that role, because both he, and everyone around him had to sacrifice their humanity for the sake of the so called "Common Good". Fukuichi's suffering is extremely profound, even as he freely hurts others and betrays close friends and allies. He mentions to himself that his own existence is so painful, he'd rather have been nothing and not have been born in the first place. He doesn't even seem to want to be doing the things he is doing, but continues on out of necessity.

Fukuichi's methods are selfish manipulation and cruel betrayal of his own allies the moment they call his actions into question and stand up against him, and yet he seems to carry it out for entirely selfless reasons. Fukuichi himself remarks on his actions not like they're enjoyable, but they are necessary suffering he must inflict on others and the world, like they are karma, fate, like justice isn't just an idea but rather an inevitable force like gravity.

He is not only made into a human greater than all of humanity by the needs of both government and the common man, he also makes himself into a superior human being in order to strike back against those things.

The subversion of expectations continues and continues. Fukuichi claims he does everything for the sake of his own allies, and then procees to butcher said allies as he seizes control. He claims to be anti-government, but his goals from what Ranpo can suss out from them are sheer world domination. He acts like an anarachist, but his method seems to be making himself dictator of the world.

The main draw of Fukuichi's character is that he is pretty impossible to pin down, which is exactly why his motivation despite being the focus of chapters upon chapters worth of scrutiny also hasn't been revealed to us yet. He gets even more screentime and focus then Dotsoevsky as of late, and yet he's just as mysterious to the audience. He doesn't conform to the shallow ideas of heroism and justice carried by characters like Atsushi who like to play hero, hence why Teruko gets extremely angry when Atsushi tries to convince her the one hunting dog who remained loyal without being manipulated to change sides with mere pretty words.

In the most recent chapters we are shown again two people desperately trying to fit Fukuichi into a narrative, the first being the government official who wants an easy solution, that Fukuichi is still a hero and his extreme actions are secretly a way of saving the world. The second being Fukuzawa who believes his old friend only wants selfish revenge for him and his comrades. Only for both of them to turn out to be wrong with their very black and white answers.

It's the desire for easy narratives in the first place, that create people like Fukuichi and allow him to manipulate people so easily. Interesting when you consider the origin of Fukuichi's name and his connection to Fukuzawa, an author whose main goal in life was to educate the masses and make the common people able to read and understand the current events in the newspaper.

It's the weakness of the common man that has created someone like Fukuichi by requiring him to be superhuman, and yet at the same time that seems to be his greatest weakness as well.

Fukuichi was created out on the battlefield, he was no one before that point, and he's also so self loathing he desires to just not exist. So, the perspective he's completely seperated from is that of an average, ordinary person, which is why even up until now he hasn't been able to find one simple girl running away with Dracula's head. That is what is likely going to be his undoing as well, not a defeat handed to him by a hero, but rather an ordinary and average human stopping him.

Which I believe will fulfill Fukuichi's goals and wishes in a way, even if it's not the extreme reforms of the world he wished for, he is still someone who desperately wants the burden of heroism to be lifted from him. It's not just politicians who send soldiers to war, but also the average people who live far away from that conflict and yet support the jingoistic and nationalist attitudes of the country they inhabit. So what can better prevent those same wars, then average people stepping up in gerater numbers in the place of heroes.

[dreamii-yume]

Hello! ♥︎

I am BACK with another underrated Japanese Yandere Audio Drama ASMR recommendation for y’all~! Because this is all I’ve been doing in my spare time, I have no goddamn excuses on why I haven’t been posting much 🤡 This, my friends, is the reason why I’m so damn inactive these days lol BUT HEY—Please don’t go 🥺 This one is a real fucking gem, Darlings—I don’t understand why it has so little views on Youtube because it has everything I wanted in my hornii. There’s the plot, the smut (It’s not very explicit as to a full-on fucking, because Youtube—Just a few lewd lip sounds, that’s all 🫣 But that’s all I needed to get the neurons working) and there’s kinda some angst in there(?)

Anyway, it’s an hour-long! 🧎‍♀️ I was so happy after I was done listening to it and kinda speechless ngl ☠️ I dug hard for this gem and I’m not about to gatekeep anyone from finding it and sharing the experience (dont ask how i stumbled upon this one though, you dont wanna know how much ive been scrolling on youtube to find this, my friends 🧎‍♀️)

It’s a Yandere Audio Drama that is simply titled “Nya-chan” 🫣 Ominously adorable title, but it’ll make sense as you listened to it. As always, it doesn’t have an english translation as of now which is extremely unfortunate because I think a lot of people would’ve appreciated this more if it does—BUT THAT’S WHY IM HERE EVERYONE 👀👋

So, if you don’t mind—Allow me to spoil you all with what happened with a “brief” summary of it all ♥︎ (EDIT : THIS IS A LIE IVE BEEN WRITING THIS FOR TWO HOURS) BUT I STILL WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO THIS ART PERSONALLY, the voice actor really did a great job with it 😭 check them out, seriously.

Warning : Implied Non-Con | Implied Dub-Con | Implied Stockholm Syndrome | NTR

Kinda got way too into “translating”/“explaining” this one scene by scene so—It’s very chaotic, so that might get annoying so just a heads up lol

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

The story starts off with You (The listener UwU) meeting your fiance’s little brother for the first time and because you want to be a good future Sister-in-Law, you wanted to spend time and bond with him by partaking in his hobbies. He’s an engineer of some kind, and it seems like he’s a talented cook as well because when he found out that you’re hungry, he made you some pasta 🧎‍♀️You praised him, but he says you’re overreacting cause it’s just pasta lol he’s clearly embarrassed—He sounded like wanted to say something else (Probably wanting to cook more for you if you want ✨👀👉👈) but his brother comes in and interrupted him.

Under his breath, he says “Why does he have to be here of all times” which makes me think that this may not be the first time he knew of us…Or he just—y’know got attached that quick. (It really wasn’t specified 😭 or I might’ve just missed it somewhere 🤡) But ANYWAY, THE NEXT DAY—

You both met again, and he’s surprised that see you and where you work at because it’s close to his (?) You pointed out his office clothes, and he thought you were making fun of him, but was pleasantly surprised to hear you say that he looks good in it and he thanks you for it. Flustered, he changes the subject and ask where your fiance may be because he couldn’t get hold of him lately—It seems like he’s working overtime and he feels kinda bad that you’re going to eat dinner alone, so he sighs and invites you over to his place so he can make you something. He’s a real tsundere at this point of the audio drama, which was very cute lol But he seems like he has a soft-spot for you, because once he saw how you really look like you want to try his cooking again, he caved in quick lmao

At his home, he sarcastically praises your appetite and was impressed by the fact that you’re able to act so close woth him, despite only meeting for the few times lmao we have no shame. Your only reason was because you see him as you’re own younger brother too, and he only hums and scolds you more lol Even though he sounds like he’s all annoyed with you, he still encourages you to still eat more and stop complaining ☠️ He says he can guarantee the taste but plating is not his strongest forte lol

Then, he suddenly asks if you’re gonna contact your fiance anytime soon about this and it seems like you didn’t plan to do that—In which he scolds you again and say that you should, because he (your fiance) might think it’s weird. Again, you told him it’s fine because you’re only hanging out with him like how a big sister would with her younger brother…Here, we can hear that hint of disappointment in his voice as he whispers to himself, “…So you don’t see me as a man then.”

Of course, you didn’t quite hear what he says and asks if he can repeat that, but he says it’s nothing and went back to pressure you to continue eating because the food is getting cold.

After a while, you finally finished eating and he praises you for it…Also teasing you for looking so happy about it too along the way. He scolds you about learning how to cook for yourself sometimes, because you sound like you know what good food tastes like lol You told him that—Yeah, maybe from now on, in which he commented that you sound like someone prolonging their diet for tomorrow ☠️ and that’s the kind of person who usually don’t succeed on what they planned ☠️ someone calm this man down jesus christ, i did not to be called out like that ☠️ You asked him if he could teach you instead, but he refuses because he said he was self-taught and can’t teach for shit, so he tells you to learn it by yourself. Damn bro.

Then, this is where he shifts the conversation towards you instead—He asks where you and his brother met, in which you replied with the Cat Café he often visits and Yandere-kun doesn’t seem surprised lol His brother often invites him there, but he always refuses because he’s not good with crowds—Though he likes cats…AGAIN WITH THE WHISPERING he says “…If only I went with him at that time.” “Maybe I could’ve met you earlier than him.” BOI 👏

You asked him what he’s whispering about, and he denies saying anything like he always does and asked you to continue your love story with his brother. It seems like you met his brother when he was at his clumsiest, accidentally scaring a cat, and the cat made a mess, so you got angry with him. Because of that, you both met a second time for him to help you clean up, and things escalated from there—

Idk, Yandere-kun keeps saying wow that sounds like something out a manga—All sounds like he’s impressed and shit but I have a feeling that he’s so annoyed somehow lmao He sounds dead inside ☠️ He says something about it all probably being a “miracle of love” lmao He sounds so insulting about it 🧎‍♀️

He asks why you fell in love with his brother, like what’s so good about him? And you answered “The way he seems so silly, but is actually very reliable” or something—and somehow, he knew and understood that it had to be that reason too because he, too, knew what his brother’s strongest point is…Though, he didn’t know that girls likes those kinds of men too. He proceeds to slander you for having simple tastes ☠️ lmao

The conversation then starts to shift towards himself as he slowly begins to reveal how he feels inferior compared to him—Since his brother seems to have everything, while he’s just there on the shadows. You took notice of this and assured him that, at the very least, he’s still very kind. He’s flustered, embarrassed, scratches his head as he appreciates you for saying that.

…But HOO BOI THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING—You then asked something about him, wondering if he, too, has someone he likes romantically. He was surprised to hear that actually, hesitates, but turns serious and says, “Yes…Yes, I do have one.”

“She’s very bright, kind, and a handful. She’s older than me, but so unreliable that I just can’t leave her alone.” He sounds incredibly embarrassed. “She eats the food I make with a big smile on her face…and it makes me really happy.”

But he suddenly sounds solemn. “…But that person is getting married next month, and I’m still in shock.” He laughs a little, but he sounds so sad 🥺 “I kept thinking, why is it not me? Maybe if I have met her earlier, maybe that could’ve been me by her side.”

“Why do I have to meet her when it’s all too late…? It’s really unfair.” 🥲

“But you know what’s worse?” He starts getting a little weird like he just fucking gave up on trying to hide his feelings lmao “The one that, that person is getting married to…is actually my own older brother. So, I don’t know what to do about that.”

OF COURSE, THAT SOUNDS SUS AF so, as an act of defending yourself against the awkwardness, you stood up from your seat and about to fuck off to oblivion, when he stops you like “Wait, hold up—Please, don’t leave 🥺” He admits that he was frustrated on the fact that people view you and your fiance as this sort of “fated couple”, and it makes him sick. It feels like his brother got something he wanted and once again, he lost. Yandere-kun admits that he doesn’t have that many friends, nor does he have a girlfriend himself, so it’s always his brother who gets all the attention. The expectation that was supposed to be his was given to his brother himself, so he hated how it’s happening again with you this time…and it feels like the universe is forcing him to give up on everything for his brother.

“…But why do you have to be so nice to me?“ It turns out he was actually trying to give up on pursuing you too, but it hurts because he doesn’t want to—Since you’re so nice to him, you spend time with him, and had praised him more than anyone has…But you only see him as a younger brother and not as a man. He felt like you asking if he has anyone he likes was the final straw, and he couldn’t help but laugh. He comments how insensitive you are 😭 Like having no self-awareness and all that shit man

But he knew that you were only trying to bond with him only because you want to have a good, healthy relationship with your soon-to-be Brother-in-Law…But that’s when he finally snaps and how that’s never gonna happen, “From the very first time we met, I’ve only seen you as a woman more than anyone else.” So, he will never see you as just Sister-in-Law, he loves you too much.

He was surprised himself to know how weak he actually is, because just thinking of you was this fucking painful and he’s pissed that he can’t even help himself…and embraces you, finally being able to touch you freely, and commenting on how nice you smell like.

“Hey…How do you think I can be freed from this pain?“ “How do you think am I supposed to give up on you?” Because he doesn’t want to give up on you, he wants you to fall in love with him as well and asks if that’s really such a bad thing.

Perhaps a little freaked out, you began to call your fiance’s name instinctively but he scolds you, “Please…don’t call anyone’s name but mine right now.” AND FUCKING SOFT KISSES YOU. He demands you to say his name, and when you hesitantly did—He’s on cloud-nine, asks you to repeat it again and again, and again as he KISSES YOU EVERYTIME.

“I can’t…I can’t take it anymore, come here.”

You obviously resists as he takes you somewhere, and he 😭 kinda politely asks you to stop struggling because he doesn’t want to be rough with you lmao He wants you to listen to him as he continues to force you to make-out with him (with slightly aggressive moaning, mind you ☠️) and keeps on obsessively (desperately) telling you that he loves you as if that shit was going to change anything lol but well—who knows 👀 foreshadowing, am i right Also he tells you that you shouldn’t hold your voice because he wants to ｈｅａｒyou loud and clear, so just keep on paying attention to him and he’ll make you feel good ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

THEN THE AUDIO FADES BECAUSE YOUTUBE 🫠 But it’s assumed that whether it’s forcefully (which is VERY MUCH likely lol) or not, he manages to get his way with you through the night 🧎‍♀️Mfcker even has the audacity to ask for permission, but I don’t think he would’ve cared if you had said no lmao ☠️

The next day (?) comes, or maybe it’s still night idk it’s not really specified BUT AFTER SEGGSY SESSION, he asks if it hurt (BITCH)—He proceeded to apologize, like seriously apologized🧎‍♀️Even he didn’t know why he resorted to forcefully taking you, despite knowing that it’s wrong. But whenever he thinks about how you’re going to be his brother’s wife soon, all he sees is red…He keeps apologizing and says he really doesn’t mean it and understands if you won’t be able to forgive him anytime soon.

…Perhaps you were guilty about the fact that you unknowingly lead his feelings on by being close to him too, you apogized in which he denies immediately—Saying you didn’t do anything wrong, and that everything is on him.

To compensate, you suggested to just simply forget everything that happened until now—But Yandere-kun doesn’t quite agree with that solution. “…Am I supposed to just forget about something that made me so happy?” He says he can’t do that, but realizes that he was being selfish again and apologized as he begrudingly agreed to do just that. “I guess it’s better than you reporting me to the police.” He said, it’s the least that he can do.

“I’ll…I’ll forget about what happened…Definitely. But just for this moment, will you stay with me?” You somehow agreed, and he hugs you tight—Whispering yet another apology.

Some time later after what happened, I guess…Oh, and it’s getting closer to your wedding day PFFT He calls you through the phone, and he was surprised that you answered—He’s sorry for calling you, but he says his brother is at his place and has something he needed your help with, so he asks if you want to eat lunch with them…But he understands if you don’t want to, since it’ll be awkward with him there after what happened. But you agreed anyway, “Are you sure?” He asks, but says he’ll be waiting for you then eventually.

He welcomes you to his home, and it’s not really explained here—But you were surprised to see him, maybe because he looks horribly depressed 😭 He tells you to just go inside and sit your ass down lol You ask where your brother is and he says he went to the convenience store to buy something and he’ll be back soon (doubt) and AGAIN he apologizes for what happened between the two of you, which makes me think that he’s really reflecting on his actions and I’m just being a little bitch about it ☠️ He said he’s gotten better at controlling his feelings now, and swears to you that it won’t happen again (DOUBT)

You assured him, and he finally sounds happy omg He admits that he was sad the past few days because he thought you won’t be able to talk to him again—But seeing you right now, talking to him, and reassuring him made him so glad that he’s wrong 🥹 He’s very grateful and you jokingly tell him he sounds strange compared to before.

He kinda agrees with that and admits that he loved you too much before, and every time he remembers the things he says and did, it made him incredibly embarrassed lol Though he feels better now, since he doesn’t usually have this kind of gloomy personality, so he’s fine now 🙃

…He then suggests to play a game, while waiting for his brother to come back 🙃 A very simple, easy game 🙃 Just close your eyes, hold out both your arms, listen to what he’s saying, and focus which hand is holding yours—Left or right 🙃 Ｓｉｍｐｌｅ，　ｒｉｇｈｔ？ 🙃

If you win, he’ll congratulate you on your wedding—Buy you whatever present you want…”What if you win?” You asked🧎‍♀️And this mfcker just went “What? Don’t tell me you’re worried that I’m gonna make you do something weird or something?” He laughs and strictly told you to just close your eyes alreadg lol He keeps praising you like you’re a kid and assures you that he’s moved on 🙃 So you don’t have to worry anymore 🙃 That from now on, he’s going to be your little brother like you always wanted 🙃 and it’s not like he’ll be able to do anything weird when his brother can come home anytime lol

The amount of (doubt) I had was immaculate when listening to this for the first time, darlings—Can you tell ☠️ He says if he won…He’ll let you cook dinner next time, cause he’s sick of always being in-charge of the cooking and wants to try your cooking this time.

So, then the game begins…Or not lol He’s still preparing, and the first thing he does? Obviously—Gets as close as he possibly can towards your right ear because it’s “necessary” lmao This man ain’t slick ☠️ Obviously, you’re a bit uncomfortable with that, but he says that if you give up now before anything has even started, you won’t get a wedding present from him lol “Don’t worry, it only tickles at the start. You’ll get used to it soon.” AND THEN THE GAME ACTUALLY BEGINS LMAO ARE YOU READY???

Close your eyes, repeats the rules about your hands and he—He begins to fucking BLOW on your ears ☠️ This was fucking tingly af ngl, not something to listen to whilst the dead of the night because it’s actually relaxing af jesus christ…ANYWAY, HE’S SEDUCING YOU BTW.

He bites, sucks, and licks on your ear, encouraging your body temperature to go up and proceeds to ｇａｓｌｉｇｈｔ you into thinking that there’s ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong nor suggestive with what he’s doing, nu-uh 🫠🫠 It’s all part of the challenge of the game, he says and your ears are just sensitive lmao He commentates on what he’s doing too omg “My tongue is going deep inside your ear.” EAR PORN HITS DIFFERENT NOW, DOESNT IT ☠️

This sussy moment continues on for the next few minutes—But like, as it’s happening, you can hear some really…ominous sounds of something shuffling in the background like someone rummaging for something and like ??? Obviously you’re curious and FINALLY—He asks which hand is holding yours right now…You answered correctly, and he proudly tells you to open your eyes for a job well-done and BOOM.

You’ve been handcuffed 🤡

He cut off every sensory you could possibly have at that moment just to distract you from noticing what he was doing. “I tricked you? No, that was all part of the game.” You probably started raising your voice, but he shushes you—Telling you to shut up, because he’s going to make you feel good again ☠️ GETS ME EVERY TIME GODDAMN IT LMAO Ladies, remember that all men do is lie 😔 (sigh)

He sounds WAY different than who he was before, which makes me think that he was only acting weak, because he sounds assertive now as he drills lewd words right into your head. “Who’s in front of you right now? Say my name.” But you call for help, called your fiance’s name instead. He shushes you gently and corrects your mistake…but asks you again, “Who’s touching you right now? It’s me, isn’t it?”

Maybe you didn’t answer, to scared to say anything—So, he reassures you by instilling you with his own twisted logic : “Don’t worry too much about my brother.” He says, like the devil on your shoulder. “You haven’t been officially married yet, so it’s fine. You’re not doing anything wrong.”

“You, me, or my brother. We’re not doing anything wrong.” He says, he sounds like he has a smile on his face as he continues to brainwash you into doing the wrong thing. “…So, say my name. Look at me and only me, because you’re the only one I can see.”

“Fall in love with me.”

“It’s fine. You’re not doing anything wrong.”

“Nothing at all.”

He kisses you a few more times, to give further validity with what he’s saying and at this point, I think you’re slowly giving up—Because there’s really nothing else you can do but accept it. He convinces you that his kisses feels good, and that you loved being kissed with tongue—and with your feeble, slowly-getting-fucked-out mind, you begin to agree with everything he says. So, he promises you that he can make you feel even better.

“I’ll always be with you.” He says, which had you confused—So, he states the obvious, “Because I’m going to be with you forever.”

“Aren’t you happy that there’s someone in this world who loves you as much as I do?”

He suggest for the two of you to “Do it” again—Your losing your focus, so he had successfully convinced you into saying that you want to do it too…He tells you that he’s happy that you’re thinking that way ♥︎

🫣🫣🫣

WE’RE ALMOST TO THE END GUYS PLEASE BEAR WITH ME, THIS IS AN HOUR-LONG AUDIO DRAMA BUT ITS SO GOOD.

After sexy time, the term “Nya-chan” has finally been addressed for the first time and it seems like while y’all we’re fucking, he was calling you that all this time. He wonders why he was calling you that too—But he guessed that it’s because he had always seen you as a little selfish-bratty cat whenever you’re eating the food he makes, so he just ended up calling you “Nya” as a nickname…Nya as in the Meow in Cat

He likes it, it feels special because he’s the only one who can call you that—He repeats it over and over again and asks if he can call you that from now on. You agreed, so I guess that’s your name from now on, Darling ♥︎👋 Nya-chan 😺 He feels so happy calling you that, it’s so special to him that he begins to cry—He loves Nya too much🧎‍♀️

(My typing hand is dying)

The next day—Someone is calling him and tells you to stay put. It’s his workplace, it seems like they need him for something despite the fact that it’s his day-off lmao somethings never change huh 😭 He’ll still go, but then he notices that you’re now standing in front of the entrance door, and he asks you if you’re going somwhere…But you don’t you say anything, so he figured that you might’ve been too afraid to stay here all by yourself…He steps closer to you, apologized for not noticing your worries earlier—But like, “I was so happy when you told me that you’ll stay with me forever, so I just trusted that you won’t leave.”

“Sorry, have you come to hate me now?” He starts to get a little unhinged, like you triggered something in him, which quite frankly means—That he’s becoming scary again ☠️ “…Hey, did I do something wrong?”

“You’re not…trying to run away, are you?” He steps REALLY close, those footsteps sounds heavy and the little laugh on his voice—Like you just said something really ridiculous and shows that he’s a little pissed 🧎‍♀️Dear God… “Let’s have a little talk, shall we?“

And he slams you to the fucking wall.

“…That’s not it, right? You’re not trying to run away, right? You understand that, right?” He bombards you with questions that I don’t even think you’re answering because he’s already convincing himself that you won’t run away, because you love him, yknow? Why would you even think of something like that lol—Like the little delusional man he is ☠️ He says he’s sorry for being suspicious, he’s just worried for his little Nya and that’s on him. You never know what’s out there.

“I’m so, so goddamn worried that I might lose it once I imagine what will happen to you if you leave this room, Nya.” He’s sounding more and more deranged. “Hey, you’ll understand that, won’t you? WONT YOU?”

He kisses you once again to prove how much he loves and cares about you, but goddamn he’s as yandere as one can get because even I’m scared of how twisted this man’s bipolar-ass kind of love ☠️ He continues to tell you all the things he’s scared of happening when you get out, like when another weird man comes in to sweep you off by the feet and he doesn’t want that 😭 It’s like this man just completely erased the fact that you and his brother are engaged and would actually be getting married in a few days lol Guess that ain’t happening anytime soon now ☠️

“Nya wouldn’t want that to happen to you too, right?“ He baby-talks you, plays with your mind and using this kind of manipulative-guilt-tripping shit going on. He even goes threatning her by saying how even he won’t be able to touch her again if you’ve become tainted by others—And in turn, no one will. So, he scares you into understanding his forceful and terrifying logic…And he’s satisfied with what you become.

He apologizes for being rough before, for almost giving you a goddamn concussion lmao Because damn he’s well-aware that he’s losing his mind, and the fact that you’re the only saving grace he has, he will do his damn best to keep you by his side—Whatever means necessary.

Another time-skip has passed—The next day came and he whispers good morning to you as you’re still chained down on the bed. He apologizes for it being tight (your wrists are probably fucked ngl) so, he’ll loosen them up a little but make sure you don’t run away, okay 👁👁 He’ll be looking at you through the camera (!?) so don’t do anything sus, okay 🧎‍♀️ sorry i love this voice drama so much

Then, someone rang the doorbell—So, Yandere-kun very gently (INTIMIDATINGLY) tells you to not be too loud as he went to go see who it is…Has a few conversation about that person, acting like he’s a normal human-being there for a second and soon—He comes back to you and you asked who it was. He said it was no one important, just the landlord…looking for a lost cat.

“…I sure hope they find it soon.”

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

(SOBBING)

“BRIEF SUMMARY” MY ASS—Sorry, I had too much fun translating and commentating on this lmao ☠️☠️ ITS SO FUCKING GOOD. I’m sure there were a few error in this, but like—I wish I have the general knowledge down at least so that you could understand what happened 🤡 Apologies for that lol

Please listen to the actual audio drama, it’s free on youtube—I swear it’s a different experience with voice on. It changed my life fr だいきりASMR is a hidden diamond in the rough, why is no one talking about them 😩 I’m gonna go listen to more of their content, and I’ll share some with you all if I find something more interesting to translate and commentate on lol 👀 chaotically, if y’all are into that haha

Also, I love how someone can portrait a yandere like this—A yandere that doesn’t rely too much on violence and I love the fact that he’s not just the typical sadistic type of Yandere, yknow? 😭 Like he’s just some poor pathetic bastard who fell in love with the wrong person, at the wrong time—So, you can’t help but kinda feel bad for him ☠️ PEOPLE TAKE NOTES.

[historicalasiandramas]

CLJ Recaps

This episode took me two days to watch because the secondhand embarrassment was too much. The second time through was much funnier because I got to see Xunfeng stare at Orchid!DFQC like "wtf is wrong with you?"

Other than Xunfeng's perfect bombastic side eye, I am obsessed with his armor here! He's got crystals practically growing out of him.

We found out last time that Rong Hao has spies in Cangyan Sea, and I wondered how that was possible. I found the answer to that at the end of this ep.

Orchid!DFQC is presented the leader of these spies and then expected to kill him to show his power. Obviously, Orchid doesn't want to kill one of her own. In fact, she can barely even wield DFQC's sword. While SQ and the other lords make confused expressions, Xunfeng is watching like a hawk. In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't figured out yet that there's something wrong with his brother's power.

Orchid manages to get off without killing the spymaster by using him to send a threat back to Yunzhong. Meanwhile DFQC!Orchid apparently has enough physical strength to twist a grown man's arm. Since Orchid is not a violent person, she would have never known that. Moon Supreme also has the advantage of the bone orchid bracelet, which will protect Orchid's body from harm. He knows exactly how to use it since he's the one who gave it to her and has no trouble breaking out of his cell.

Meanwhile courtesans are kicked out by Orchid and gather in the hallway to question Shang Que as to why Moon Supreme would reject them.

DFQC himself confirms it later, but he is a virgin and also not good at dealing with women. SQ orders the women to stay away from Moon Supreme's chambers in the future unless specifically called for.

And then immediately after, SQ is summoned to Moon Supreme's chamber XD The music gets silly and SQ starts acting awkward. He declares that he would die for DFQC but seems to think that either he's gonna get fucked or DFQC is gonna ask to be fucked. It doesn't make things better when Orchid literally drags him onto the bed.

Poor awkward dragon!

Orchid absolutely does not notice and instead asks about the past and what kind of person DFQC was before. She lies and says that due to an injury, she can't remember and that her magic is damaged. It's funny cuz this is actually true for Orchid herself but it's just a ruse here.

Obviously in a place where the powerful are respected, there's no way DFQC would be accepted as Moon Supreme if he can't even defend the position. Since Orchid asked, I'm pretty sure SQ will do his best to help cover up any supposed lapse in power until Orchid & DFQC can switch back.

Before SQ can say anything else, DFQC storms in and pins Orchid to the bed.

"Are you gonna watch from there?" SQ decides that he absolutely does not wanna get mixed up in whatever the hell is going on here, so he hurriedly leaves.

Meanwhile in Haishi City, it's confirmed that one of the courtesans was actually a spy! She confirms that DFQC is holding on Rong Hao's master's Destiny Book. It's time to attack directly, but Die Yi has her doubts.

Moon Supreme doesn't trust anyone and all their spies (other than the courtesan that just left I guess?) were cleared out. How will they defeat him? Don't worry! Rong Hao knows a guy!

That guy turns out to be Xunfeng! It's been 30k years and he hasn't forgiven his brother for killing their father. How useful for devious darling!

And speaking of DFQC killing his father, Orchid has questions about that. Since the Moon Tribe favors strength, she assumes there's a law or unspoken rule that if you defeat someone you must kill them. Moon Supreme says there is no such rule.

Oh my gods, Orchid! You can't ask something so plot important this early in the show! We don't get an answer for that because it's time for another really big reveal.

Not only could it be argued that Xunfeng is the reason for his brother's capture (due to not arriving in time), but he was also the one who helped Rong Hao build Haiyi City. This is absolutely DELICIOUS information!!

Also before this secret meeting in the woods, I didn't really think Xunfeng was particularly pretty. But there's something about his eyes that just??

When he was glaring at DFQC before, Xunfeng's head was angled slightly downward, making him look intimidating. Here, it's the opposite. His head is angled up and his eyes are narrowed so that it looks like he's looking down at Rong Hao.

Unlike his brother, Xunfeng is ruled by his emotions: particularly anger. Because he's so bent on avenging his father, Xunfeng doesn't even realize that he's at Rong Hao's mercy. I noticed that Rong Hao speaks gently to Xunfeng - like a father would.

When he tilts his head and asks this, Rong Hao is almost sweet. Like literally anyone with half a brain cell would be like "a man capable of secret machinations like this can absolutely not be trusted," but Rong Hao made it sound like he's forever indebted to Xunfeng.

His mind games are absolutely next level and I am unfortunately a huge simp for that kind of character.

Look at that smirk. That's my gender and my religion. You make a characters smirk and I am their stan first and a person second.

Unfortunately a new toxic ship has sailed and I kinda ship Rong Hao and Xunfeng now WHOOPS

[bakerstmel]

Fall Favorite Fic Festival, Entry 5

Remember, winter doesn't officially begin until December 21, she said pedantically.

I've delayed writing this entry because I was trying to define the reason (or reasons) why I love this fic so damn much. I read this fic at least twice a year, usually sometime in February and then again in the fall. It's a sports fic, and while I am not in general a sports person, I do love me some baseball. But the sport isn't the reason I love this fic, and I think I may have figured it out. Stick with me.

I started the link at Chapter 2, because Chapter 1 is a guide to baseball for the uninitiated. Some of it is out of date now, because MLB in its STUPIDITY has messed around with the rules this year because GOD FORBID people have to wait longer than a minute for anything to fucking happen on a sports field, and of course only HITS matter, but it is still fun to read. You don't need it to appreciate the fic, though.

Whilst I was processing this fic, I spent some time thinking about sports fics in general, and that led me to reread a couple of other favorites. One was A Study in Winning, by Jupiter_Ash. I really like that fic as well, even though I know next to nothing about tennis. I like the drama of the story, I like Sherlock faking his nationality just because, and I enjoy John being a petty little bitch to Moriarty there at the end. I feel like there for a while everyone had read or was reading that fic. Another one I went back to was Of Ice and Men, by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John, which is an OT3 set during the Winter Olympics. That one has John in the Paralympics, which gives the relationships an entirely new dimension. There are other good sports fics - throw your favorite in the comments, if you like. I'm mostly limiting my scope in these musings to Sherlock, as I've said before, but I'll read anything if it's good. Links to these two fics are below.

One of the ways in which sports fics have an advantage is that they have a built in structure. There's a match, or a tournament, or a season, and the relationship drama plays out against that backdrop. Writing classes always talk about the "ticking clock" approach to narrative tension, and almost every sport has some type of literal ticking clock. The Bang and the Clatter plays out over a full baseball season, including Spring Training and the postseason. That's basically a year minus the main American holidays, and EarlGreyTea does a really good job of letting the story play out at an appropriate pace. That's very impressive considering that she was posting this as a WIP over the course of an actual season.

(I need to take a minute to talk about my issues with EGT, and by "issues" I mean "soul churning jealousy." EGT is ridiculously prolific. If you go back into the fandom annals and look at the timing of some of her biggest fics, she was posting what became major reference points for the fandom in tandem, writing multiple fics at the same damn time, while, you know, teaching law or moving cross country. She is the best example I know of the importance of writing regularly. Of course, she's incredibly gifted, highly skilled at plotting, characterization, pacing, and just words. She has a fabulous imagination. Her dialogue rings true, and it's fun. But she can turn really good stuff out relatively quickly because she's limber AF. She writes. Anyone who comes to Word Sprints on Sundays or just hangs with me writing knows I'm not fast. I'm lucky to break 100 words in 15 minutes. Part of that is that I edit as I go, but it's also that I don't write as often as I would like to, so it takes me some time to warm up. I would like to be more like EGT, which probably sounds kind of creepy. I hope she doesn't see this. Anyway, she's written many of my top 20, and she actually finishes her stuff. So, yeah. Issues.)

So here is where I ended up: this is a good AU that takes advantage of the time crunch of the sport in which it is set, but that is not why I read it 2+ times per year. I read it because this is one of my favorite John and Sherlock relationships ever. It feels so in character for the way we see them in the show (at least through S2; this was written in 2013). We see them meet, we feel their attraction, we feel Sherlock's very authentic confusion. We feel their fear at being caught out, at first by each other and then by the world. They earn their angst. The way to my heart is good characterization, and this has that. Alongside the battery, the OCs (especially Sherlock and John's families) are complex and have issues of their own. Moriarty doesn't show up until the All Star Workout, which is halfway through the season for those of you who don't know, but it works because by that point, John and Sherlock have things to lose. Lestrade is the best effing choice for a beleaguered, exasperated baseball manager there ever was. Mycroft saves the day AND fucks it up, which I wish we'd seen more of in those days.

Also, John and Sherlock never get too far away from each other, and when they're separated, it's usually for narrative reasons. I like that in a fic, I've come to realize. I like to watch the characters' interplay. It's hard for Sherlock to keep secrets from John when they work together, commute together, and live together, and John is no fool. Their office isn't 221b Baker Street, it's a stadium in Austin, TX, where shit plays out in front of 30k people. John loves baseball. Sherlock loves John. They fight, they fall in love, they eat Chinese food, and they play baseball. And best of all, they are themselves together.

If you read the parts that EGT wrote after the big story, there's a mention of Sherlock pulling together a pick up game in London made of American ex-pats for John's sake, and I'll tell you what. That really pulls this fic together for me. This Sherlock would do that for this John, and we end up a little on the outside looking in, and it's just charming as fuck.

In conclusion, read this even if you don't know baseball, if you want great characterization, a chance to be reminded of how beautiful John and Sherlock were together back in the golden age. Pay attention to the ticking clocks in your favorite fics; intentional or not, there's almost always some time pressure ginning up the conflict. If you're a writer, the best way to get better is to write more. Feels like bullshit, but it's true. And finally, fuck MLB forever for going the completely wrong way on the DH. Pitchers in both leagues should have to/get to hit, and more to the point, DHs should have to fucking do something when their teams are out in the field. I will die on this mound.

(Also, if I'm being honest, Bull Durham is probably my favorite movie, so maybe I'm more of a baseball fan than I'm letting on. I do generally love baseball in popular media. But I still think it's the characterization.)

[ikkaku-of-heart]

“Why Ikkaku Ships LawNa” TED Talk

Stepping onto the stage, Ikkaku was dressed fairly professionally. A crisp black blazer, pencil skirt, and oddly enough, glasses she did not need in the slightest. Adjusting those glasses, she cleared her throat before unbuttoning the blazer to reveal a t-shirt underneath, LAW X NAMI 4 EVER printed in bold black letters over a yellow heart.

“So. Trafalgar Law and ‘Cat Thief’ Nami. Allies. Friends? No, lovers. That’s right, Law and Nami are banging. But they’re doing more than just that, aren’t they? Nami’s sunk her claws into him while Law’s stolen her heart. Or maybe it’s the other way around? Either way, it’s undoubtedly one of the best things to ever happen to my captain.”

Staring out at the audience, Ikkaku continued, “I’m sure many of you are asking ‘how the fuck do those two work?!’ Well, I can understand how you small-minded fools could think that. He’s a grumpy bastard while she’s a greedy minx. He loves doing horrible experiments while she loves conning people out of their money. But you only think that way because you aren’t looking very hard at them, are you?” She took a sip of water, paying no mind to the people who grumbled or tried to leave.

Yeah, good luck with that. She had the other Hearts barricade the doors. No one was leaving until she said so.

“That’s why I’m here; to educate the masses on why these two work. So let’s get started, shall we? We’ll start with the surface reasons. Nami is more than just a ten; she’s an eleven, just like Law. She’s drop-dead gorgeous and yeah maybe it’s shallow to say but I think Law deserves someone as pretty as him. They are very aesthetically pleasing as a pair, and it makes my inner fashionista happy to see them getting dressed up and looking damn fine when they go out together.

“But she’s more than just good looks. No, this girl is everything I think Law needs in a partner. She’s his intellectual equal. Seriously, she’s one of three people on the Thousand Sunny that Law can have an actual conversation with about hundreds of different topics. Politics, history, weather, science, economics, culture, she even knows a little bit about basic medicine so he can talk to her about his work without getting a completely blank look in response. She’s also wily as fuck. Like, her deviousness rivals his at points and that is damn impressive. Do you know how rare it is to find someone who can get the better of Law, even for something as simple as stealing a wallet? And even fewer people he likes enough to not plot murderous revenge against. Just petty payback. It’s great to watch.”

Had it been anyone else, perhaps Ikkaku would have been offended on her captain’s behalf that someone would be bold enough to even attempt to pickpocket him, but Nami was a rare, extremely endearing exception. A woman who had managed to capture his attention and can keep him on his toes was exactly the kind of woman she could picture Law falling for.

“Next, she’s also a great balance to his personality. I’m not blind to the fact that my captain is a fucking grumpy ass and a bastard. All dark and edgy and full of spite towards the world. Nami’s not quite pure sunshine but she’s bright, you know? She’s gone through some shit too but is still smiling despite that. Still fighting to achieve her dream. Kind of a warm summer sunbeam to counteract his winter gust of wind if you want to get poetic about it. But she’s also not totally innocent. She’s done some dark shit for the sake of survival. You don’t spend years working for the man who murdered your mother for the sake of freeing your village without doing some morally questionable things. Yeah, not nearly as bad as Law has but she’s still got a bit of darkness balance out the brightness. I think someone who was too much joy and sunshine would utterly repulse a cynic like Law. Gotta have a bit of both. But she’s definitely more light than dark which is what he needs.

“And then there’s the fact that she doesn’t stand for his bullshit. She’s willing to call him out when he’s being too much of a bastard or a stubborn ass. Law needs more people who care about him enough to do that. I can’t always be the one pointing out when he’s being an ass. It’s nice to have someone I can tag in to take over an argument when I need a breather.”

One could argue that was a somewhat selfish reason, and perhaps it was just a little, but Ikkaku would stand by her statement. Hell, having a second person willing to come in and tell him off was a good thing for all parties. It was easier to ignore the scolding from his engineer after all these years, so a second opinion telling him he was being reckless or not taking proper care of himself might actually manage to convince him to do what was best.

“But I think the biggest thing that makes them work is that Nami understands Law in a way I don’t think anyone else really can. She’s told me about what her life was like before Straw Hat saved her, and Law finally spilled his guts to us after Dressrosa. It’s impossible not to see the parallels, even if their stories are kind of opposites. Like, both of them became pirates at a young age and were forced to deal with the guilt that came from the death of a beloved parental figure sacrificing themselves for them. Both were haunted by the shadow of that murderer throughout their lives until Straw Hat stepped in and kicked their ass. So, they can relate to each other in ways I don’t think others really can. Not even me and the crew.

The thing is, Nami’s gotten closure in a way that Law hasn’t. She’s learned to let go and even forgive a little. To smile with all her heart and keep moving forward with her life. So I think Nami’s really fucking good for him because she’s an example of what he can be. She went through a hell that wasn’t totally unlike his, but she came out the other side with a smile despite it all. Hell, you could even argue that she went through something even worse than Law, since he at least didn’t have to work under the person he hated the most through most of his life. I think if their situations were switched, neither would have survived.”

Ikkaku gave a sigh. “Straw Hat kicking Doflamingo’s ass isn’t the closure Law needed, and anyone who thinks it is doesn’t know my captain. He spent ten years plotting to kill that man. To burn down his empire and destroy him in every way he could think of just to ensure the man truly suffered. And yeah, the pink bastard’s in jail now and no longer ruling Dressrosa, but this was never about freeing a kingdom or putting the bad guy away. This was about revenge. Revenge Law was willing to die for. Straw Hat may have beaten him, but it wasn’t the victory Law needed. It wasn’t like what he did for Nami. Yet while I know Law’s never going to fully get that same peace Nami has so long as Joker is still alive, but I still think it’s important for him to see that there is life after the pain. That if Nami can get through it, so can he. I feel that because she’s gone through something similar, she can kinda…get through to him in a way we never could.”

There was a pause as Ikkaku looked out at the audience. Some had begun to nod while others were looking at her skeptically. Understandably, really, as she was a rather biased party, but thankfully she had come prepared for this argument. Helped that she’d had it with Law himself once.

“Now, before anyone thinks this is just me projecting what I want for Law onto Nami, I think he’s good for her, too. Don’t get me wrong, I know she loves her crew, but that girl is surrounded by the likes of Straw Hat, Zoro, Franky, and Brook 24/7. She needs someone on her intellectual level she can talk to. Someone who understands the difficulties of running a ship and that she can bounce ideas off of. Law can advise her on the quartermaster duties I know she takes on and how to run things most efficiently. Someone who can appreciate her sexiness without becoming a drooling mess and who doesn’t fall for her seduction tactics too easily. Hell, I think he can turn the tables and seduce her right back!

“On top of that, you know how I said she can help him get closure for his past? Well, I think Law’s good for her in that he can understand the anger and frustration she must have felt while working for that Arlong bastard. He understands her pain in a way not even Straw Hat could. And, let’s be honest, the guy’s not actually dead. If he ever got out, I feel like Law’s kind of the ideal guy to go to for help. He’d understand why she needs revenge and could get her to him no problem. Luffy of course gets first dibs because he’s her captain, but if Nami wants Arlong dead instead of just beaten to a pulp, well, Law can sure as fuck make him suffer before finally crushing his heart in his bare hands.”

The morbidity of the image had a few people cringing, but Ikkaku merely adjusted her glasses and smiled. “Law’s also good for Nami in that he’ll protect her with his life. The man doesn’t let people into his heart easily but when he loves, it’s like a force of nature. It’s powerful. He would bring the world to its knees for her. There’s also pretty much nothing he won’t do to save her if she’s sick or injured. He’ll protect her, heal her, give her the world if she asked it. And doesn’t she deserve that?

“Speaking of giving her stuff, Law is ideal for Nami because he can give her pretty much anything material she might want. Do you have any idea how much treasure is at the bottom of the sea? We Hearts have basically the whole ocean floor at our disposal, with all the sunken treasure, rare materials, and relics of lost cities we can get our hands on. Law’s loaded. And anything he couldn’t buy for Nami, he could steal with his powers. I doubt she’d even have to ask. Just point and it would be in her hands. It would be worth the cost or trouble to keep her happy.”

Glancing at the clock, Ikkaku decided it was about time to wrap this up. If she kept her captive audience, well, captive for too long, people might start asking questions. Like where the person who was originally going to be giving a presentation had disappeared to. Or they might do something extra stupid, like call the Marines to come arrest the Heart Pirates. That would be so awkward and annoying.

“The most important thing, though, is just that Law’s happy around her. He softens in a way that I usually only see with the crew. And I think he makes her happy, too. I know he’ll insist this is just a fling, but I honestly can see this working out for the long term. Mostly because I don’t think either one would try to pin the other down. Neither is going to be leaving their crews for the other, and that’s ok! They don’t actually need to be together all the time for things to work. They can be apart in person but together in spirit. Nami can continue to work towards her dream of making a map of the world while Law continues exploring the ocean with us. Nami’s incredibly loyal and like I said, once you’re in Law’s heart you’re not getting out, so I can’t see their feelings fading or anything just because they don’t see each other for a while. Hell, I think it’ll be good for them since the distance means they’ll appreciate their reunions more and won’t be smothering each other. And I’m sure Law would let her come along with us for a bit anytime she wanted to explore the underwater currents or islands in the Calm Belt she might be interested in adding to her map.”

Hands on her hips, t-shirt still proudly on display, Ikkaku concluded, “Don’t get me wrong, Law’s a stubborn ass who’s going to take a while before he actually accepts those feelings. Man does not like being vulnerable and these are dangerous, scary, unfamiliar waters for him. He sure as hell won’t be telling her ‘I love you’ anytime soon, but I think she’s ok with that. I’m not sure she’s the type to say it too quickly, either. They’re both smart enough to read between the lines and know what’s up without needing to say the words. That tells me they’re definitely in sync and can handle each other’s unique quirks and qualities. It’s why they’re good together, and why I’ll gladly be captain of this ship, even if it sails into Hell itself. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. As you leave, please take a LAW X NAMI 4 EVER t-shirt. Anyone who tries to leave the room without one will be mauled by Bepo. Or bitten by Shachi. Or maybe Jean Bart will just snap you in half. Depends on which door you leave through. Anyway, goodnight!”