#-the worry about potential major story changes

[electricfied-wolf]

You will NOT catch me saying ANYTHING remotely negative about the london revival. I am open to anything at this point. I am thoroughly excited. I want this revival to thrive. We're getting a BRAND NEW PRODUCTION. It's coming BACK TO LONDON. The costume designer is the one who did COSTUMES FOR SIX. Do you understand how amazing this could be. Try not to think about the negatives. Be hopeful. What a wonderful age to live in where we get to see Stex finally have a production outside of Germany in what seems like forever.

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝓢𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓽 𝓣𝓸𝓸𝓽𝓱 [Cookies]

Jimin isn't sure anymore what to think about you and Jungkook. But maybe tonight he realizes something.

Tags/Warnings: Human!Yoongi, Human!Jimin, Rottweiler hybrid!Jungkook, Cat hybrid!Reader, Enemies to friends to lovers, mentions of past trauma, some Yoonmin here and there oops, Main story focus are MC and Kook though, some Angst in this, major fluff too, christmas!!!

Wordcount: 3.1k words

There is no taglist for this fic.

-> Masterlist

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

Jimin has no idea how to talk to you anymore.

It’s not like you became an entirely different person overnight, or as if Jungkook actively keeps him away from you- it’s just.. awkward. He’s seen you search online for jobs, something you’ve never done before, or at least you’ve never actually seemed to be interested in that. And neither has he ever wanted you to do get one- he’s making enough money for the both of you, you don’t have to provide for yourself.

But he believes that Jungkook might have something to do with it.

“jiminie?” You say, skipping towards him to put your phone down, a page opened. “can you drive me to my job interview tomorrow?” You ask, and Jimin frowns, looking at the page on your phone.

It's an email. You’ve been apparently asking for a job at a local grocery store to just help stock the shelves and such, but Jimin worries. “are you sure?” He asks, and you deflate quite a bit. “eight hours a day is a bit much to start with..” he says, and you huff, slumping over onto the kitchen counter.

“But I wanna have my own money too…” you mumble, complaining when the door opens, Yoongi entering.

“But baby you don’t have to? Just tell me how much you need and I’ll give it to you.” Jimin says, earning some attention from Yoongi who gets himself a bottle of cold coffee from the fridge.

“But then- noo, that’s not right!” You huff, tail smacking against your chair you’re sitting on. “no, I need my own for that!” You complain. “eight hours isn’t a lot! I can do that!”

“Can I look at it?” yoongi asks, and Jimin slides the phone over with a sigh. “eight hours five days a week. Have you ever worked before?” He wonders, and you sheepishly shake your head. “then eight hours might be a bit much as a start. Don’t they offer part time positions?” He asks, and you shrug.

“I’ll get less money then though..” you say disappointed, leaning back a big as your legs swing around.

“Work your way up then.” Yoongi encourages. “it’s a good job, decent pay even as part time.” He mumbles, looking through the job description. “I’d like to look over the contract before you sign it though. Just to make sure it’s all good.” He says, turning around to throw the bottle in the trash.

Jimin notices instantly how you look at Yoongi.

“There’s my princess!” Jungkook however breaks through the moment, picking you up from the chair you’re sitting on to hug you, tail wagging with excitement. He’s apparently just come home from work to pick you up- like he always does.

These days, the moment Jungkook is available, you’re gone out of sight.

Yoongi has already slowly brought up the topic of potentially changing the living situations permanently in the future- switching around so to speak, with Jungkook and you living in one house, while Jimin and Yoongi occupy the other. Of course, this wouldn’t be official due to the fact that both Jungkook and you are still hybrids and therefore legally not allowed to rent or own any land or property, but it could still work as long as the paperwork stays the way it is right now. Jimin isn’t really sure if he likes the idea.

He knows it’s inevitable, but that doesn’t mean he likes it.

Jungkook and you are gone as quickly as always, with the dog hybrid helping you wrap your scarf around your neck to keep you warm outside. He’s taking you for a bit of a date- he’s doing that a lot in fact. But especially now- with Christmas fast approaching and your love for all things sweet, it’s the perfect time to spoil you rotten.

You don’t tell him about your job hunting. You kind of want it to stay a bit of a secret.

“Do you know what you’d like as a Christmas present yet?” He wonders, warm hand holding yours as he swings them a bit, both of you walking through the busy streets full of food stalls and advertisements. You think a little, unsure.

“I don’t know.” You admit. Jimin and you always exchanged tiny presents, never truly having to think about what to gift the other.

“hm, I’ll have to think of something then.” He chuckles, squeezing your hand a second before he looks ahead again.

Back home, Jimin and Yoongi are arguing once again. “I’m just saying- what if they can’t keep the house tidy? She’s pretty messy..” jimin worries.

“Jungkook will get her to clean up, don’t worry he’s a bit chaotic but they’ll manage.” He easily defends. “jimin, I know it’s hard to let go but-“ he sighs when Jimin turns around, facing away from him. “-she’ll stay close? Literally next door.” He offers.

But it’s not enough. He wants you home.

“She’s already looking for a job. She clearly must be thinking of it too.” Yoongi says. “You can’t keep that away from her. She deserves that freedom.”

“She never worked before. She wont last.” Jimin says, sitting down again to put his head in his hands. “I don’t want her to go through that feeling of failure. She’s fine as it is- why does she suddenly want her own money? Just because Jungkook works?” He whines, and Yoongi shrugs, because he has an idea as to why you could be doing this.

“Does it really matter?” the older male says, sitting down as well. “this isn’t about the money, or the work, or the house, and you know this.” He tries to reason. “it’s about the fact that you don’t want her to leave.”

“Why can’t I have you both?” jimin softly complains. “it feels like I have to choose. Like.. I’d have to take Jungkook away from her to get her back.” He reveals his feelings, making Yoongi stay silent.

Because there’s really nothing he could say to make him feel any better.

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

Yoongi waits for you in the car as you return from your job interview, offering him the documents to read through. “You know you don’t have to do this, right?” yoongi asks, reading through the papers with a pair of glasses.

“Yeah, but I don’t.. want to just be lazy.” You mumble, playing with your new acrylics you got done with Jungkook. They’re Christmas themed. “Jungkook.. works a lot. And he's always so proud.” You say quietly. “I know working in a grocery store isn’t as cool as his job but..”

Yoongi looks over at you, a gentle expression on his face. “You have a lot to be proud of too.” He says, giving the documents back to you. “and even just part time is already a big thing. You’re a different category than Jungkook, remember that.”

“How do you know?” You ask, surprised.

“both simple observation-“ He smiles a bit, before he flips a page of your document. “-and the ability to read.” He chuckles, causing you to become a bit shy now.

He's right. It’s all written down right there.

“You’re right in the middle of categories. That’s got to be confusing.” He gently tells you. “Go slow and steady. They offer a training day, take it. I’ll bring you and pick you up, and then we’ll decide whether or not you’ll sign it, okay?” He asks, and you nod, watching him drive home in silence.

The moment you both step out in front of his house, you do something unique-

You hug him, an actual, full on hug, arms wrapped around him as you rub your cheek on his chest to scent him. “thanks.” You mumble, and Yoongi awkwardly pats your head, before you run off at the sight of Jungkook after giving yoongi the documents, as the dog hybrid is seen opening the front door to greet you.

“Well, that’s new.” Jimin hums. “is she growing closer to everyone but me now?” He half-jokes- though yoongi can hear some genuine insecurities.

“I think it’s simply evening out, Jimin.” Yoongi tries to explain. “see it like that. Her attention is like a bottle of water. And before, it was all just filling one cup- yours.” He says as they’re both inside the kitchen now, him taking out two glasses and a bottle of water. “But now, there’s more cups to fill. And Jungkook’s simply gets a bit more from her.. well, because it’s a special cup, you could say.” He chuckles.

“I was just as spoiled, huh.” Jimin sighs, taking the glass of water from him, staring at it.

“Pretty much. But just like her, you’ll adapt.” He gently hums, hand on his. “it’s just a bit tough right now. And hey-“ he says, leaning over the table a bit to get closer, faces only inches apart.

“-You’ve got your own special cup too, no?”

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

Jungkook and you cuddle on the sofa, when he notices it again.

Sometimes, whenever you’re close like this, or he offers you just a tad bit too much physical affection, you seem to become almost drunk off of it. He’s noticed it in public too, whenever he hugs you fully and gives you a lot of kisses or even just a hand on your back running up and down a bit too often. Now, he knows that cat hybrids can get excited from a lot of physical contact- but you seem especially sensitive.

Almost as if you’re not the same category as himself.

He doesn’t really know how to ask you, considering that it might be a touchy subject- but he’s also endlessly curious. Though, right now, it’s not a very pressing issue, as you’re both in the privacy of the home he technically shares with Yoongi. These days, your things have found their way into this house as well though- from clothes in the wash, blankets on the couch, or stuffed toys in his bedroom that you wanted to show off but forgot to take back.

He can’t say he doesn’t like it.

You’re happily purring against him, rolling over onto your back, sweater rising up a bit to reveal your stomach- and he can’t help himself as he leans over you to kiss the skin, cold top of his nose making you giggle. “You’re so pretty.” He chuckles as well, moving up to kiss your lips now. You’re buzzing with emotions now, tail swiping from side to side, smacking hard against the couch now as he charges you up again.

It's then that you bite him, and he notices it.

As if he looks at you for the first time so intensely, he realizes a few things. From the more pronounced feline shape of your pupils, to the more defined sharpened teeth of yours. It doesn’t just seem like you’re a different category- you most likely are.

And yet you seem so aware? Something doesn’t make sense- but right now, it’s not the moment to ask about it.

Instead, he watches how you let go of his arm again, only some slight marks present on his skin, proving that you didn’t mean to hurt him at all- that it was just a reaction to get rid of all that excitement. It’s cute to him, most of all, so he doesn’t really care about it, happy sighing along with you as you both entangle your legs together before you cuddle up, getting ready to nap a little.

It's Jungkook’s favorite part of the day.

If he didn’t like his job so much, he’d stay home with you all day every day, and he’d never get bored of anything at all as long as you’d be there at his side. But to spoil you how you deserve it, he needs money- so it’s currently for the best to be away for seven hours and be able to offer you the best he can.

And you deserve only the best, in his opinion.

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

You feel ashamed when Yoongi picks you up from your first day.

You had to take breaks way more often than you thought you’d have to, it was honestly stressful despite the fact that you did nothing but stock shelves for four hours. You’re being paid- but you also feel almost defeated. You can’t see yourself doing this long term- you feel absolutely drained.

“I know I’m repeating myself, but it’s fine to admit if it’s not for you.” Yoongi tells you, who just starts at your lap. “no shame in it.”

“Why can’t I be normal?” You mumble.

“Because no one is.” Yoongi simply chuckles. “some might fit a common standard. But there is really no ‘normal’. Only average at best.” He explains.

“then I wanna be average.” You say.

“But that’s not you.” He shrugs. “and we all like you the way you are.” He offers. “Jimin mentioned to me that you don’t like Christmas. Are you upset because of that right now?” He wonders, genuinely curious.

“Christmas.. I don’t know.” You tell him. “It’s all.. a lot. Like, the lights, and the noise, and everyone’s always on edge, and nervous..” you confess.

“Its stressful.” Yoongi concludes, and you nod.

“And I also always feel bad.” You admit. “because.. Jiminie always gets me a lot of presents, but all I can give him is.. stupid stuff I made myself.” You say.

“Ah, now I get why you want to work so badly.” Yoongi clicks his tongue.

“I want to give you guys nice stuff too!” You cry out, finally letting it all out to someone. “I want to make you happy too, but I can’t do anything, and I can’t buy anything! I can only take, that’s it!” You huff angrily, ears pinned back when you notice Yoongi pulling up to a small grocery store. “Huh?” You wonder, distracted, when Yoongi runs a hand over your head- the touch able to calm you down quite a bit as you look at him.

“you and Jimin are very similar, you know?” He smiles. “You need to be more open. Don’t suffer all by yourself- getting help isn’t admitting defeat.” He says. “how about you help with chores at home, and I’ll give you some pocket money for it?”

“But then I’ll take money from you again.” You deny.

“Its not that different from working. You do something, I’ll pay you. Simple.” He shrugs.

“…OK.” You nod, determined, as he reaches over to wipe your cheeks, tears staining them that you didn’t even notice falling.

“there we go.” He grins, before driving back home with you.

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

After Yoongi had informed the rest of them back home about your actual issues with the holiday season, Jungkook is now busy making sure the new Christmas lights aren’t blinking anymore but instead glowing steady, settings adjusted. He's almost done, when you rush into the house, almost tripping upstairs. “everything okay?” Jungkook calls, Jimin and Yoongi looking after you as well.

“Everything’s fine, promise!” You call down. “I just gotta wrap some stuff!!” You say, before something chatters, making Yoongi chuckle.

“So all those Years.. she didn’t hate Christmas at all?” jimin wonders.

“I mean, cats are pretty sensitive to stuff like that.” Jungkook mumbles with his head almost entirely stuck within the large Christmas tree. “and she’s a different category so- ouch!” He flinched when the pines prick him a little.

“I never thought that the difference in just seven percent is that big..” jimin shamefully sighs to himself.

“Well, you know now.” Yoongi reassures. “the past is the past. Let’s focus on the future.”

You’re downstairs a few hours later with a few colorful bandaids on your fingers from papercuts, watching the cookies in the oven bake with Jungkook hugging you. Some of them are shaped like cats, others like dogs. “can we eat them when they’re done?” You wonder.

“They’ll be hot though.” Jungkook chuckles. “you’ll burn your tongue.”

“I don’t wanna wait..” you huff.

“I’ll distract you then.” Jungkook suggests. “we can go put the presents under the tree while they cool down.” He says, letting go of you to take them out, careful not to have you get hurt.

“Okay.” You nod, fetching all the little things you wrapped admittedly a bit chaotically. Still, everyone’s proud- it’s not an easy task for you, and it’s clear that you had to take breaks multiple times in between wrapping to get your focus back on track. “mine look all crumpled up..” you pout, sitting on the floor in front of all the presents.

“You got drastically better though after the first two.” Yoongi comments. “that one there looks pretty neat.” He points to a small one, and you purr at that, before you turn. “You want some?” He offers the peeled tangerine, which you take.

“She’s warmed up to him.” Jimin notices from the sidelines, and Jungkook nods, tail wagging.

“Isn’t it great?” He says, though his tail slows when he notices Jimin’s rather somber look. “Why are you so against us loving her.?” He asks, and Jimin looks towards the dog hybrid in surprise.

“What?” He asks, caught off guard.

“I don’t know. But it feels like you’re.. upset that she’s befriending Yoongi. Or that she loves me now.” He explains.

“I’m not upset.” The older human denies. “I’m just.. scared.”

“Of what?” Jungkook calls, bewildered. “aren’t we a family now?”

A family.

Jimin hasn’t really thought of it that way- but Jungkook’s right. Yoongi and the dog hybrid aren’t taking you away, really- they’re more like an extension now, added on instead of pushed into the existing bond you two once had. The only one who pulled away had been himself.

“we all love her. In different ways.” Jungkook smiles. “the only one who’s making it weird is you.” He jokes, before he joins in, tugging on your tail playfully to get you to turn and tackle him, Yoongi sighing as he has to make sure you both don’t tumble right into the tree.

And that night, a switch had been flipped.

Jimin finally jumps over his own shadow again, helping you unwrap your presents, while also almost brought to tears when he receives yours. It’s all warm, and happy, and almost like you’re both back to normal again- but one look around him offers him a true picture of what it is now.

You both have always considered each other family-

You’re just a few more people now.

[thebirthofvenusfly]

okay but i like thinking about the events of ISAT/siffrin's struggles not as them going from a party of normal people with normal struggles to "everyone essentially now has to help Sif heal from That," but as, "everyone in the party has had their own immense, long-term struggles, and this happens to be Siffrin's." like, siffrin is not just a, "problem child," or the standalone outlier in terms of angst

here me out

[major ISAT spoilers, especially for acts 3-5 btw]

siffrin doesn't know all these things in act 1, but:

Odile has had a life-long struggle with identity. Her mother abandoned her family at a young age, her father (presumably heartbroken and betrayed) has never kept any mementos or photos or stories of her and likely avoided speaking of her at any and all opportunities. For the most part, Odile loves her culture but admits she was an outlier in Ka Bue and always stood out from the texture of her hair and eyebrows. She's tried to settle before for the peace of just letting it be, but after meeting that travelling merchant, she realizes how badly she does want to bridge that gap in her identity and has now spent years travelling--all only to find that it didn't quite fix her problem and she hasn't been able to find herself entirely in Vaugarde either. She doesn't dwell too much on her mother, but I feel there is a part of her that could never forgive the hole her mother left behind.

Mirabelle has similarly struggled, though in terms of religion and sexuality. She holds herself to a very high standard of Changing and being a, "good," Housemaiden, and has gone to great lengths to learn as much as she can in efforts to reinvent herself and Change, as she feels she, "should," do, because that's what Housemaidens and diligent followers of the House of Change, "should," do. She is so adamant about this that even prior to the game, even prior to the King's reign--which was several months-a full year before ISAT begins--she is forcing herself to look into relationships to potentially date, bond, and even have children with someone and she doesn't want to do any of that it. She is distraught because she doesn't want to change that aspect. She doesn't want to become what she's not, or try to force herself to feel things she doesn't and can't feel, but she isn't being a good Housemaiden or a good member of her society if she stagnates.

Bonnie's plight primarily comes in with the King's reign, which again, has been for a few months now. They live with their older sister who loves them and cares for them tirelessly, but she is taken by the King's Curse and frozen in time--an event which presumably happens in front of Bonnie, who is encouraged by their sister's last words to just run from the village as far as they can to safety. If that isn't terrifying enough, this leads to them wandering the wilderness for days, exhausted, dehydrated, presumably starved/ill-fed, and lonely, and likely scared out of their mind. Their only saving grace is Siffrin, who happens to find them and save them. The comfort they feel with Sif is called into question when they have to watch Siffrin take a permanent, debilitating injury to the eye to protect them. While the incident seems to roll off Siffrin's worries pretty seamlessly, this is a lot for Bonnie, who by now, has recognized a pattern of the people they love being permanently hurt or altered in some way all just to protect them. They're convinced they're a recurring problem, and after the death ritual talk in the House, has to prepare themselves for the haunting reality that they might really lose everyone they love (and, again, this is a lot. Especially for a child).

Isabeau has tried Changing before, and while it did help him make leaps and bounds, he is still in a constant struggle to love himself fully. Let's be honest here: Isabeau is easily the most emotionally put-together party member, and most equipped to handle the stresses of the party in terms of feelings. This does not make him immune, however, to his own negative feelings. He even cites as wanting to become someone that Siffrin wouldn't be, "ashamed," to know. He also mentions that he is remorseful of the new image he's given himself, as an air-headed, jock type of person, which often leads people into genuinely believing he's stupid and thus treating him that way. Not to mention, as the emotional mediator of the party, I'm sure he occasionally gets stretched thin between helping everyone else manage their problems and altercations.

all this is to say: everyone in the party has their problems, and a good sum of these are not all instantly solved by the end of the story. all of them, siffrin included, are left in a space where they have plenty of healing to do but can confidently and comfortably still rely on one another.

ISAT is just siffrin's chapter of major emotional plight, and everyone else's is presumed prior to the narrative (i can also acknowledge that siffrin definitely got the worst of it though LMAO)

[starvail]

just lyney a common criminal.

lyney / gn!detective!reader

synopsis : you never imagined that you would experience such a detrimental loss of trust, in someone you thought you would spend your future with, in just a few hours - but you guess you haven’t thought there would be a day where you would have to interrogate your partner over his true identity, either.

content : very short, established relationship, angst, hurt/no comfort. major 4.0 archon quest spoilers!!

words : < 1k

a/n : the povs are constantly changing to highlight how disorganised the reader and lyney’s thoughts are on each other because of the current events. so if you think the narrative is messy, it’s intentional!

“15:33, chief detective [full name]. interrogating mister lyney snezhevich for being prime suspect for…”

lyney doesn’t like this. the way you say his name sounds so bitter and cold, similar to the biting weather in snezhnaya. your voice wasn’t it’s usual inviting tone, your posture was tense, with shoulders back and head tilted while you read the documents that were flush against the table.

“…discrepancies to the testimony you have given to the court trial will result in a one hundred thousand mora fine and another public hearing.”

this would be the first time where lyney will have experienced your work persona and he wished he never had to at all.

not because he is worried about what you would do to him, nor potential punishments for the crimes he supposedly committed, but because he knows that you are unforgiving and merciless; as long as he is in this room, with handcuffs around his wrists and crimes to his name, in your eyes, the two of you are nothing more than strangers that know a little too much about each other.

however, in your own case, you think that perhaps you don’t really know lyney at all, the real one anyways.

“i don’t understand why you’re interrogating me like i’m some common criminal,” lyney tries to jokingly reason for you to relax, but your hardened expression does not falter in the presence of his plea.

not wanting this to be included in the recording, you pause the device.

“sir,” something dies inside lyney when you address him with such formality. no ‘love’, no ‘sweetheart’, no ‘starlight’. in your mind, he had lost that privilege the moment the papers were served to you.

“we are in a professional setting. i ask that you keep all conversation unrelated to the trial to yourself, or until after the record has finished.”

“but it’s me, lyney. your lyney.” his hands attempt to reach out for your own, “you don’t have to act like this with me-”, but you pull back. he visibly wilts at the rejection, you swear you hear something shatter.

and your heart hurts, burning with remorse. it squeezes and squirms at the sight of your partner, wanting nothing more than to comfort him, to tell him that this wouldn’t take long and that everything is okay.

but absolutely nothing is okay, your mind echoes back.

for all the years you have known him for, it’s not okay that he didn’t tell you that he was a fatuus; that he was from the house of hearth; that his father was arlecchinco.

it’s not okay that you realised that the very reason why he kept you company, why he held your hands so tightly, why he ‘courted’ you in the first place; was so that a harbinger had surveillance on fontaine’s security affairs with access to a direct source, that being you.

it doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots on that note.

you sigh, wanting nothing more than for this to be over, to go home and to grieve the loss of your lover - the imagine you had of him, more so.

“sir, the moment you stepped foot into my interrogation room is the moment you have become ‘some common criminal’. now, i implore that you answer the questions i had previously mentioned.”

you click the device back on again and lyney is forced to face the music.

an hour passes and the interrogation is over the moment the story was concluded, but lyney is not fully present to care. he’s too focused on you. on how no matter what he said, or the amount of time had passed, your cold shoulder still persists.

“thank you for your cooperation, sir.” checking over your documents and the recording, you silently pack everything up, ignoring how indigo eyes stare at you.

but no matter how much you willed them to stop, your hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

you are barely able to insert the key to free lyney from the constraints, let alone pocket the cuffs.

“darling, can we talk, please?” lyney is quick to stand and asserts a firm but gentle hold on your hands. he notes how frosty your finger tips are and he starts thinking that he should warm them-

but you are already forcing yourself away from him. lyney watches you ball your hands into fists and kept them close, as if the notion of his touch disgusts you.

“were you ever going to tell me?” with your voice barely above a whisper, lyney watches your tough exterior begin to crumble. a straight to the point question, and gods, you couldn’t even look at him.

despite this, the both of you knew the answer already.

“… i… i just…!”

he never intended for you to ever find out.

lyney can see your irises swirling with uncertainty and disdain, all directed at him.

he wants to retort that while he hasn’t been honest with you, he does trust you. that, if he were to tell you everything, you would be in danger, a target. he’s been lying to protect you, to protect the ‘us’.

“i… can’t, darling.”

and it’s ironic, that lyney, a renowned entertainer that frequently showcases his abilities to hundreds, is now struggling to find the words and confidence to fully explain himself. years of trained silence and secrecy has rendered him voiceless. lyney does not know where to even begin, but he can feel the ghost of his father’s constricting fingers wrapping around his neck.

“then i think we are done here.”

“(name)-”

“have a good day, sir.”

you do not look back. the door clicks shut. and lyney is alone.

[fadedneonzzz]

Some very very sad news today, Rooster Teeth has officially closed its doors without warning to many including many people working at RT. It’s rough as now the fate of RWBY is currently in limbo with WB looking to sell the IP off along with the other popular IPs. Now it’s very likely RWBY will be picked up by someone at some point as it’s pretty profitable as a franchise, that’s not what I’m worried about. What worries me is RWBY getting the gen:LOCK treatment in which a new group of writers are tasked with continuing the story with no input from the original writers or creators. The last thing I want is another company trying to reinvent the wheel with RWBY to “revolutionize” or make it “more appealing”/“more profitable”. My hope is that the majority of the original cast is kept, most of CRWBY is retained, and that the only change made is the company attached to it. Ideally, I want a company that will allow them to continue their vision for RWBY with as little interference as possible.

Also, if you’re celebrating this because you think RT deserves it or because you think this will be the death blow to RWBY, kindly fuck off. People legitimately lost their jobs without warning, these animators worked tirelessly to deliver a show loved by many more and entertained people for over 10 years to continue the legacy and memory of Monty Oum. It’s really disgusting to see people take joy in this. Yes, RT was definitely a flawed company, in fact it did plenty of shitty things over the past 5-6 years, but even still I don’t think there’s a single person who deserves to lose their job and potentially livelihood because of it.

Now am I a little too optimistic? Maybe, but that’s just how I am. There’s definitely a chance we’ll never see another volume of RWBY again, but I think it’s better to cross that bridge when we get there instead of fixating on the doom and gloom.

[hallowpen]

The Influence of Thai Culture on Attitudes towards Disabilities as it Relates to Last Twilight

(This is a combination of personal experiences/observations having lived in Bangkok and my learned academic knowledge/own personal research. I am not an expert by any means, but I wanted to offer some insight from my own personal point of view.)

While Thailand has certain provisions in place to prevent disability discrimination, it is still very much present in Thai society. Disability legislation is not strictly enforced and accessibility is extremely limited. That is not to say that efforts aren't being made to promote education and inclusivity, just that views and attitudes toward individuals with disabilities have been slow to reform. As such, there is a negative stigma that exists in Thailand where disabled individuals are, for the most part, seen as a burden or an inconvenience. There are certain cultural aspects that, unfortunately, contribute toward this outlook:

Collectivism and Tradition - Thailand can be labeled as a collectivistic society. What that means is, there is a tendency to favor the 'grouped' majority over individual interests. As a result, individuals with disabilities are less likely to be integrated into their communities. The urge to conform to group rules and traditions hinders Thai society from accepting "disruptive" change. Communities prefer to avoid the uncertainty and ambiguity of the unknown, which reduces the amount of conversations centering around disability education. I stated in my review of LT, that there needed to be a deeper conversation surrounding the experiences and realities of the disabled community in order for the series to have the impact it intended to. And this is why. It needs to be talked about, otherwise nothing will change and, much like the last part of that final episode, ableist views/language will prevail.

Religious Influence - At this point (if you are a fan of Thai dramas), you probably already know that Buddhism is the predominant religion in Thailand. We are taught to be merciful towards the weak and to give of ourselves to those who are less fortunate. While helping others should absolutely be seen as morally good, these viewpoints can also give rise to societal stigmas surrounding disabilities. Receiving unsolicited assistance as a disabled person became a constant question of: are you genuinely concerned out of kindness OR because you somehow see me as 'less than' and therefore feel you have a moral obligation to step in. In LT, I understood Day's insistent worry of being on the receiving end of someone else's pity. There was a reason why it was so prevalent in his story and why he questioned the motives of others' actions so frequently. Because Thai culture has inadvertently labeled disabled people as being 'frail' and 'in need' and who should, therefore, be met with sympathy.

Caregiving - While there are social welfare programs and services available in Thailand, generally, it is the responsibility of the family to care for and provide for their disabled relatives. Intergenerational care is a big part of Thai culture, but in this instance it's not entirely positive. The broader Thai society infantilizes people with disabilities, which means they are often disallowed from making their own decisions by those who care for them (sound familiar?). As a result, they live under less than ideal conditions that exclude them from being active members of their communities. It's upsetting that people with disabilities exist largely out of the public eye, when opportunities to be present in society and engaging with their community could potentially change their status and offset stereotypical attitudes. One of the best parts of LT that I will continuously praise it for, is Mhok's version of caregiving that completely turns these views on its (their?) head. He's not afraid to stand up to Day (or how Day's been conditioned to feel toward his blindness) and gently pushes him toward self acceptance and engagement within his community. Mhok is subtle in a way that he does what is required of him as a caregiver without ever taking away Day's agency. And that was extremely important to see against Day's mother's more 'traditional' care.

Treatment - I'm not well versed when it comes to Thai healthcare. I do know that outside of traditional medicine, access to more advanced modern treatment is highly dependent on income and social standing. Other than that, it is a disabled person's prerogative to seek treatment if a treatment exists for their disability and is accessible to them. It is also their prerogative to refuse treatment. Neither decision should be judged or actively swayed by outside perspectives (though this happens more often than not). It is highly plausible that someone in Day's position, coupled with his mother's status, would have both the access and the desire to receive a corneal transplant surgery. The outcome of Day's vision being restored was never the issue for me. The fault lies in its execution and what was implied in the aftermath.

...that's all I got. I don't really know how to end this...I'm tired.

(Please note, this is not at all meant to paint Thailand in a bad light. Thai society is fairly accepting of individuals with disabilities and positive attitudes do exist, but certain perspectives need to change!)

tagging @lurkingshan @waitmyturtles @shannankle

[thechekhov]

Hello! Just wanted to say I love all your content but I wanted to ask if you had any advice/tips for running curse of strahd? I'm working on getting ready to run it with some friends/my partner and while I've run a fair amount of homebrew stuff this is my real first attempt at a legit module so I was curious if you could share anything since I believe you also are running/had run that module as well?

Thanks for asking! This is a very fun question!

I have indeed run Curse of Strahd. It was my first foray into long-term DMing and my team and I finished that campaign a little under a year ago. It was awesome, and I'm always excited to talk about it. Curse of Strahd had be a great game if everyone is on the same page!

First of all, I'm gonna say

Having Experience with Homebrew will be a huge boon

When I ran CoS, I followed the actual module about... 60% of the time. It was good... as a baseline/blueprint. But the reality is that I changed up a lot of the details. Either because I didn't like the vibes of the story, or because the plot points were antithetical to my team's goals. I changed up an entire floor of Ravenloft. I threw away a whole storyline for a major NPC because I felt it was too boring.

I think most people who run Curse of Strahd do this, actually. I've heard countless tales of how others Homebrewed their own meat onto the skeleton, and still came out of the campaign with an awesome, Strahd flavored experience. So don't worry about that part.

Here's my advice:

1. Everyone should vibe with what Strahd IS as a game.

Strahd can be a lot of things - you can Homebrew your own motivations into him, or make him a her, or change the history of his castle if need be. But if there's one thing Curse of Strahd is... it is DARK.

The Venn Diagram of Parties Who Understand That Suffering Can Be Fun To Roleplay and Parties Who Had A Good Time Doing CoS is probably a circle. You cannot do this adventure with a group of people who just want to hit monsters a whole bunch. It's an inherently 'oh my god this SUCKS' adventure. That's the main theme. Your players need to be able to enjoy that sort of game, otherwise they will just be miserable.

One of my players, upon arriving in Barovia, immediately said 'I hate it here' and then continued to say it for the rest of the campaign. That is kind of the catchphrase of CoS. Your players need to be comfortable with that sort of bleak horror and overall misery. It makes the end and the potential to finally end Strahd worth it.

That being said, Strahd can also just be... a lot. It has death and torture and psychological horror in there. KIDS DIE. Please discuss this stuff with your table, and remove elements if they guarantee a bad experience for everyone!

(Yes, you can trim down some of the viscera if you need to, that's fine. But keep in mind it will still be tragic. It SHOULD still be tragic. I set some boundaries for myself, but I also killed a whole town in an avalanche. It happened to be the only town my players had grown to like. It was a dick move. It was exactly what you would expect to happen.)

2. Read ahead - A LOT AHEAD.

For a self-contained world, Barovia isn't actually that big. It's a very small map, compared to some that span continents. That means you have the ability to flesh it out, as it were.

To add to that... some areas are... severely underdeveloped plot-wise. Sometimes there are places your players will go where it FEELS like it should link up to another point in the game but it just... doesn't. There is room to expand there. Use your Homebrew skills to connect the dots that the module doesn't!

I greatly recommend taking the time to either read through the whole adventure OR listen through some video-essays. There IS some cool stuff that comes in in the later game that you can grab and put down breadcrumbs for from day one. Or add to your own story twists.

My recommended resource for this is the Curse of Strahd DM's Guide video series.

...and to that end...

3. Start living in Ravenloft Castle WAY before your players get there.

Listen..........listen. look.

Look at this, and suffer as all GMs have suffered.

Castle Ravenloft is unarguably the biggest, stupidest, most architecturally ludicrous hurdle when it comes to GMing CoS. And I am here to tell you - IT IS DOABLE.

You can understand the castle, you can grow comfortable with it. But you need to start early. Hell, I think I began to set up Ravenloft maps before my players even knew it existed. Then I stopped, because I was scared.. but then I went back, and I.... roleplayed SOLO on my off-days! I set up little scenes between Strahd and others and imagined him setting traps, and doing other things. It helped me understand which staircase led to where, and what floors were accessible from which angles.

A part of me actually thinks that there should be a mini GMs-only class where a more experienced Strahd GM takes some time with other GMs to guide them through a map of the castle. A CoS Learning Oneshot, if you will.

There's also a LOT of talented mapmakers that create beautiful, digital CoS maps! Here's one:

Even if you are playing analogue, at a physical table, I greatly encourage you to check it out for reference. The official CoS maps are bleak and a little bit more... rustic? Than they are gothic.

Anyway, in order to avoid talking your ear off, I will end it here.

My last bit of advice is... to have fun!

Yes I know I just said that Strahd is an inherently bad-vibes game. But it's actually GOOD to let your players goof off now and then. Don't be afraid to let them do shenanigans. It builds character, and allows them to regain the energy they need to role-play properly heavy elements later.

My group did a whole bunch of funny stuff. They felt so bad about losing Ireena that when they saw Ismark, instead of explaining themselves to him they cast Darkness and tried to scramble away. There was a running joke that the cleric was too good to know about sex, so they used the euphemism 'play cards' around her, much to everyone's amusement. They got kicked by a walking house once and never forgot nor forgave. And finally, they defeated some Flame Skulls by putting them into a bag of holding.

Anyway, the point is... have fun! I wish you and your party the best of luck. :)

[audreyscribes]

Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: 🥂HEBE: Goddess of Youth and Forgiveness 🙏

Author's note: Hello everyone! In lieu of posting the major gods demigod headcanons, here is the minor gods version!As usual these headcanons will contain what it's like being claimed and what it's like for the respective god and cabin, followed by a small story between you, the reader, and the respective demigod of that god. Thank you for reading and please like and reblog! [PJO MINOR GODS DEMIGOD HEADCANONS MASTERLIST] Disclaimer: To new fans or strictly TV watchers of the PJO series, future spoilers for the entire PJO series books will be referenced. Read at your own risk.

When you get claimed, things start to make sense. You smell fresh, your skin is bouncier and smoother than usual. A cup appears in your hand, in a form that is familiar to you and it is filled with your favourite comfort drink. You take a sip and it makes you feel right at home and brings you vigour to you. 

Your half-siblings explain that cup is magical and is also your cup-bearer. It never goes empty, at its optimal temperature and freshness, and you can share your drink like a fountain for others to drink at your own will. The catch is it is limited to only one, non-alcoholic drink, which is the same drink that appeared when you got claimed.

They say the drink tells a lot about the individual, however, there have been some questionable drinks such as one child of Hebe who had a goblet that had never ending pickle juice. At some point, they had to get the drink changed by going to Hebe if they could have a different drink because of reasons that led to pickle juice incidents. 

It’s not just a never-ending drink beverage. It’s actually a pretty effective weapon. You see its potential use when you had the insane idea to create a flood and took a shot when you saw a horde of monsters. Like turning on the hose all the way, the drink shot out of the chalice like a firefighter’s hose, the strength of it pushing you backwards from the force of it, all the while a flood of your drink flooded away the monsters. Percy Jackson came forwards and was confused yet laughing his stomach off when he came over because of-said flood. 

Being a child of Hebe makes sense when you look at yourself. There’s a sense of youthfulness to you. You’re either baby-faced and/or have been mistaken regularly for a younger age. It may be convenient at times while also being very annoying to deal with, but at least the slight annoyance is smoothed over the fact that you are a child of Hebe, and from what you hear about your godly parent, it just makes sense.

To a certain degree, some children of Hebe can magically turn themselves to look younger than their actual age, but they can’t look older than they actually are. However, don’t do this too much because there’s a chance you might not be able to reverse it in a timely manner. Don’t worry, according to Hebe, the max limit you’ll be able to turn young is at 8 years old. Anyways, enjoy getting those sweet children prices and discounts! 

Though you also have a ‘childish’ trait that is just a part of you; either something like baby fat, soft baby-like hair, a childish voice- once you’re claimed though, you learn how to control it on command. You have no idea how useful it is as a tactic to deceive your foes by using a child’s like voice to drop down their guard to only attack them right after. 

Being a child of Hebe also means children are naturally drawn to you. If you’re not a big fan of children, don’t worry about it. There’s some sort of effect that makes the children around you be very well-mannered. 

You can also make people look more youthful; for a more powerful child of Hebe, they can make others look actually young. You can make a good business in giving people good skincare, which is revolving clients from the Aphrodite cabin . Or make great bucks from the Hermes cabin alone to make the campers look young and open a whole lot of more pranks. 

In all seriousness, the children of Hebe are probably let out on more minor quests by Chiron with the Satyrs looking for young demigods. If you don’t like being in school, I get it but you have an important task of seeking any potentially endangered demigods and protecting them from monsters that threaten them.

There’s a strange thing among the children of Hebe that isn’t even conscious. You know how sometimes parents will keep a memento of their child when they were little? Like the locks of their hair when they were a baby or your baby teeth? Well, all children of Hebe still have it and have them on them. Like the children of Tyche, it acts as their lucky item or in this case, their totem, amulet or what have you. You have heard many stories of how your fellow half-siblings have to protect your lock of baby hair from others to preserve their youthfulness to actually fighting off the tooth fairies. Apparently, children of Hebe baby teeth are very prized among the tooth fairies-

Hebe sends you guys arcade games or just ordinary games, regularly for you all to play, as she manages an arcade called “Hebe Jeebies”. It’s a blast to the past and you’ll find yourself transported back to your childhood. 

Speaking of childhood, children of Hebe are masters of childhood joy and nostalgia. This ranges from being able to name and make toys from anyone’s childhood to saying nostalgic memes, references, and such. You are abhorred when younger demigods don’t know “What is Love” by Haddaway. Good thing you know Rick Astley will Never Gonna Give You Up. 

With Hebe also being worshipped closely with her mother, Hera, you and your siblings manage Hera’s cabin-temple as proxy. If anyone is going to survive Hera’s wrath or one of her bad days, it’s the children of Hebe. Your cabin is treated like a hero because of this. 

If you’re a fan of chicken, well good news for you! Well, if you like the animal chicken and not actually eating chicken as a meat. Hebe’s sacred animal is the chicken so it’s not unusual to have a chicken coop. 

Not many people know that Hebe is also considered the goddess of Forgiveness. Like Aphrodite and charmspeak, you can talk to people to forgive themselves, and in others as well. You don’t tell them that they have to forgive and forget, that they’re allowed to remember but forgive, but at some point the burden will become too much and you can let go. 

When you get claimed, you feel slightly rejuvenated and giddy that you haven’t felt in a very long time. You almost felt like a super young again, before you were still unaware of the world of the gods. You weren’t sure if it was just the fact that you got claimed or it was Hebe’s blessing. Your skin definitely felt tighter, plump, and soft like a baby. As you were inspecting your arm and how smooth it was, you also caught the whiff of something like warm milk and baby powder?

You saw something shimmer in the sky and you squinted. The light seemed to blend a bit before it took a form. You saw what looked like to be a chalice before it floated down into your hands. As soon you grasped it, it became heavier. You inspected its outside appearance before you could hear something like liquid? You raised the chalice up a bit to peer the interior and then out of nowhere, liquid began to spill out of it. You let out a gasp and sputtered, pulling back the chalice as it filled with the mysterious liquid. 

Upon instinct, your tongue darted out to lick off what was on your lips before you wiped off what you could with your arm. Then the taste finally hits you. 

You blinked in confusion, smacking your tongue against the root of your mouth to gather the taste again before realisation hit you. You looked at the chalice, the liquid seemingly familiar to you before you tentatively brought the rim to your lips. You tipped the chalice just so and took a careful sip. The liquid poured out of the chalice and it flowed in a familiar way to you before and you gasped in glee at the taste. 

It was your favourite drink of your favourite flavour. It was the right consistency, the right temperature, and its peak state that you liked so much. You looked at the chalice in awe. Inspecting it and wondered how you even had it, and it’s appearance before you heard shouts. 

You looked up and saw a large boy with dark skin with remarkable features. You looked at him in awe and you faintly noted the Brazilian flag around his person. He greeted you with a bright white smile as he waved, before he began to speak happily. 

“Ola! meu nome é Paolo! filho de Hebe e seu novo irmão. Prazer em conhecê-lo!” he introduced himself. 

You understood what he was saying completely fine and waved, introducing yourself in your own native language. Paolo’s eyes lit up as he understood you fine as well, before he began to talk to you eagerly. You wondered if the children of Hebe all spoke different languages, they still understood each other properly. If this was true, you wondered if it had to do something with the language of Youth, how babies seemingly talked and understood each other, even if they had differences, yet seemed to share a deep innate language with each other.  

“Come, come, let me show you around!”  said Paolo, gesturing to you to follow. He happily helped you grab your stuff from the Hermes cabin and led you to your new cabin. 

When you entered it and felt a strong wave of nostalgia hit you, even though this was your first time in this cabin. There was just something about it that seemed familiar to you however. Even the bed you were given reminded you of your childhood bed, if not its appearance but how it felt. The entire cabin had bits of nostalgia as you saw stuff from your own childhood, as if the cabin had catered areas of pieces of your time existing. 

As Paolo introduced you to the cabin and showed you around, you both shared your own drinks from your own chalices, Paolo introduced you to a soft drink called Guarana, while you let him taste your personalised drink from your own chalice. He showed you his chalice in the form of a different vessel and showed you how to change your own chalice shape into your preferred form; whether it could be a regular mug, a tiny teacup, a kiddie cup, or whatever you so desired with any appearance and design on it.  

The two of you continued to share drinks and talk, letting you get to know more about each other; comparing your own childhoods with each other, your cultures, and the similarities and differences between you. 

a/n: Sorry to the Brazilians and Portguese speakers for the use of google translate. I've tried to remember of what I've heard before and reviewing the Brazilians speaking to get a sense of casual speaking when I was watching the QSMP but hope it's bearable. Please forgive me 🙏 if someone gives me a better way of saying it, send me an ask, I'll replace it with that

[yahoodarling]

Ayato/Thoma x SelfAware Gn Reader part 1 6.5k words

General warnings (not all themes are present in this post): yandere themes, mentions of suicide(in theory and enacted) and major spoilers for Inazumas quest line including character stories. 

Author note here: I understand the narrative style of this fic is going to be a little bit different than usual. This fic highlights a lot of internal thoughts and justifications so the description of things isn't as ‘fluid’ as normal. I hope you enjoy it anyway.  I want to post this as a ‘teaser’ of sorts but mainly to see how it gets received. The next update would be the completed fic. I see it potentially reaching 17/20k words but if people don't like the style then i'll just have to see. 

It's disgusting. It is discomfort incarnate to have such foresight into the fate of the world and yet be bound to its own laws of destiny, especially when what you were sure was to take place is altered. You no longer have any ground of understanding except the uncanny feeling that things are not as they should be, to be so similar and yet be so changed. You knew things will end up alright, as long as you do not interfere then Inazumas political warfare will reach a peaceful end and it did. You watched, noted those ‘special’ to the world, those who have a story, a life, a reason and you took the responsibility of not getting involved and it worked. You became an npc, avoided any confrontation with those deemed ‘special’, avoided any influence in the ‘plot’, watched as a hero came, a nation saved and a people newly united. It worked. Your foresight was correct yet… things changed. With no base to rely on, how were you to know what the ‘future’ must be, how were you to know what to avoid, who to avoid and what minor choice may change a future?

The hero has left, gone to Sumeru you guess, no, you know, you know the hero leaves for a new nation but so has your foresight and with that comes the change.

The one day gathering supplies, one day speaking to a fellow npc to fill some sort of social need, one day being in the ‘dark’ and you've caused a spark.

“Oh Aoi, good morning to you!”

He didn't speak to you, it was directed to the npc shopkeep you were chatting with and yet it grabbed your attention. Thoma is ‘special’, Thoma is relevant and so he must be avoided and you failed. 

Thoma spoke of how lovely the nights have been, of the soft whistles of sea, even to npcs Thoma was a gentleman starting conversation. He then noted how ‘unique’ your eyes are, a depth to them hes never seen before. That comment frightened you, made you rush to leave, to stop the change. Quickly you felt a hand on your shoulder,

“Please excuse my rudeness but how about we have a stroll? I know its unfair of me to ask a stranger such a thing but… you remind me of a home away from home, if you would grant me such a pleasure that is.” he ended with a chuckle.

You have been so realistic up to this point, so good at avoiding ‘change’ but you have a heart and knew all too well that whatever feeling Thoma is experiencing is something important to him. You have a heart and so you accept.

A single light hearted stroll became a weekly meet at the shop front, ‘coincidentally’, which became a personal relationship which became a friend. It's alright though, Thomas is a social guy, he's close with many npcs who never impacted the ‘plot’, you can be one such npc, that's fine. Change is fine. 

It's not fine. Meeting with Thoma you eventually met with other ‘special’ individuals you knew by name before they even knew of your existence. It's a weird feeling to know a person before getting to meet them, all the private details, their worries, their joys and yet to remain oblivious.

“A formal greeting from the Kamisato Clan, I am glad to see Thoma has a new friend. Do treat him well, sadly I must make short of this meet.” and the man who is most likely the most influential to whatever ‘plot’ is to come of Inazuma greeted. Kamisato Ayato was amongst your top ‘DO NOT ENGAGE’ list other than the archon herself and yet somehow naive bliss and a VERY convincing plea(almost suspiciously good) from Thoma to have lunch by the beaches near the residence of the Kamisato Clan lead you right into his ‘life’.

You have no ‘life’, you are meant to have no ‘life’, no value or effect and yet by each interaction with those deemed ‘special’ by the world your plans crumble.

Ayato then promptly bowed and walked out the residents gate, a body guard joining him as he started his track along the path you had just taken towards the city.

“ah right, he has that meeting. A pity, if his schedule was more open id have asked for him to join us.” Thoma turned to you with a quick hesitant smile, “he's really not as imposing as you may think he is. ah well… maybe he still is but just in a different way then what the people expect. If you'd like, maybe I could let you know when my lord and I are doing something casual, if you would be comfortable with that of course.  I forget just how intimidating the idea of being casual with a clan lord can be to someone who doesn't know him as well as I do.”

“Thank you for the offer Thoma but i'd like it if we just kept it the two of us. You are right, the idea is a little frightening right now.” 

You knew what Thoma meant by all that, he means that Ayato is a genuine person underneath his political mask. Ayato is a brother, a friend and a man caring for those deemed under his protection and to those lucky enough to see under his mask they may be met with the unlucky fate of becoming a target to his mischievous nature. 

Still, the idea of getting involved with someone so influential is nauseating even if just for something ‘casual' as Thoma has in mind. In truth you shouldn't even be here, here near the Kamisato Clan, here near someone like Thoma, here in Teyvat in the first place. You shouldn't be here. 

“I see, that's expected haha.” Thoma smiled at you wildly, reaffirmed at the idea of something going on in his mind (if only knowing what said idea was was as easy as opening a character profile and reading a line directly out of his thoughts) “Well we are still here for a good time. Let me get that blanket and pillows for the beach quickly. You are going to love it!” Thoma quickly skipped into the yard of the clans walls while you waited outside and watched as the npcs you recognized pattered around the area. 

That one person at the commission board, you had forgotten his name by now after fulfilling Inazumas reputation months ago. There was the old lady sweeping in the yard, what did she comment on again? … … it never came to you, it was all forgetful anyway. 

A sudden feeling of envy hit you. They were forgetful, oh how lovely that would be to ease your nerves. To know that each day the sun rises you can follow your coded script without fear of altering the fate of the very universe by the time the sun goes down. Wow, you've messed up haha. 

Thoma returned quickly as promised, a blanket and two pillows clutched under one arm as a basket was held in another but probably most heavy of all was the giant smile on his face, wrinkling his cheeks with a sense of genuine happiness. No wonder you messed up, it would be impossible to say no to him. It's all his fault and yet you felt you could never put the blame on him. 

“Well, sorry to have starved you of your lunch for so long, we are nearly there and I can't wait to see your reaction.” Thoma then lead you through a short path of the surrounding forest and down towards the beach. 

Perhaps your recollection of the game isn't accurate, you could have sworn a group of enemies should be nearby the beach here but all along the coast line was just gentle laps of the waves apon white sand. Thoma layed out the blanket with little worries evident on his face, he placed both pillows down then removed his shoes, each unclad foot stepping on the blanket to avoid spreading sand all over it, you promptly did the same, sitting down and placing the basket you had down next to his. 

“This place is lovely at any time of the day but especially during sunset, I would have asked for you to join then but I feared it would make things inconvenient for you but still, spending the afternoon here is just lovely nonetheless.” he criss crossed his legs and then beamed at you.

“Come on then, don't keep me waiting, i'm dying to try out one of your baked goods.”

Right. One of the first things you did when you realized you were now living in the game was (panic, cry, internally scream in confusion as to how this has happened and if your world will keep on going and you aren't in it) actually to set up an identity for yourself. Running around and claiming to have come from another world and how you somehow know very personal details of select people and the future fate of the nation would lead to either your banishment or a future altered and possibly worse where peace was not founded, the resistance killed off and the entire plot of the ‘game’ thrown off. Not a good idea. Instead you tried to incorporate yourself into the ‘npc lifestyle’ as quickly as possible. You came up with a backstory that befit this world, you are a failed Sumeru scholar who has come to Inazuma to lead a new simple life outside of your failures. (In truth you stole inspiration for the backstory from some npc you think was on Sangonomiya Island.) It makes sense, people you tell won't  ask you more about your past details in fear of being insensitive and Sumeru scholars are sometimes brought to Inazuma. You explained your (fake) predicament to a shop vendor who referenced you to the local baker who took you on. Now you bake goods behind the walls, don't face any customers and have a very npc-like backstory and job. You set yourself up well which was helped by all the knowledge you have of this world. Too bad you messed up all that work and are sat in front of someone ‘special’. Maybe you can salvage the situation, maybe it's not as bad as you think it is, you only have ‘maybes’ which isn't helpful since you had a ‘definitely’ to rely on before Inazumas ‘quest’ was finished by the hero. 

You just smile at Thoma and reach your basket. “I made some simple bread rolls and brought some butter and jam but I also made some black sesame biscuits before leaving work. Thanks again for convincing my boss to let me off early today, things get busy there.”

“Not a problem, I don't often take days off either but I think I just needed a break today and imagined it would be a nice chance to get to know you more. How about you pass me one of your rolls in exchange for a serving of okonomiyaki? Sorry it's probably cold by now but should still be good.” He reached into his basket taking out some wooden containers as well as some cloths, likely for cleaning any spillages, and handed you one with you exchanging and giving him a roll and butter from your pack. 

You both nibbled at each other's creations, the bread rolls were still slightly warm on the inside since you had baked them before leaving, which Thoma commented on how lovely it is with the butter. The okonomiyaki you took pieces out of was cold but packed with various spices and toppings which really highlighted Thomas skills. 

“I just love that we can do this!” Thoma announced after his last bite. “I love getting to make and share things with friends, it's touching the combined effort put into it as well as the delicious outcome we get to enjoy. Haha, my lord and I do a similar thing but its outcome is not as enjoyable as warmed bread and butter, if anything it's concerning haha. Remember how earlier I said how he can be a little intimidating, our little cook outs are one such example. I really have to steel myself for those.” he chuckled and then leaned down on his elbows.

Once again, what he's trying to explain is something you already know of but need to act oblivious to. You have to convince yourself to be unaware and yet need to be aware enough to avoid ‘changing’ anything, this task has grown rather wearing but is essential to keep up your act. 

“Oh? How could cooking together turn out so threatening? You two are close though.”

He laughed

“It's because we are close that he feels he can torment me with his cooking. I swear, i'm surprised i haven't kneeled over and died yet. Worst part is he knows its tomenting, it's the best part to him! Agh- i've had so many of my own treats i've made be ruined by whatever his plan is. Haha, its amusing to look back on but just so daunting in the moment. When I said we could do something ‘casual’ with him I do not mean having one of these cook outs haha, I could never subject you to that.” 

The nature of the conversation stayed light hearted, you both exchanging from your baskets while sharing stories or light hearted moments, you had altered your side of things a little, you spoke truth of personal events but under the filter to fit with your backstory, that way lies couldn't catch up with you or forgetting lots of little made up details. The outing was rather pressuring in concept, so much could go wrong since you are involved, but in reality it was very nice. You had kept yourself back a lot when it comes to building relationships with the people around you in fear of your influence potentially changing something important but you are still human and still have social needs but even people like your boss, coworkers and the shop vendors you chat with in passing never fit what it meant to have a friend, to have someone to sit next to and simply have a good time with. 

Maybe you've been in this world for too long, you fear you may slip into making a ‘normal’ life here now that you've had a taste of what it means to ‘live’.

The sun started moving, waves became more rash upon the shore and the signs of the afternoon turning to evening became evident. You started packing up your basket and containers, lightly chatting on with Thoma about the seaside. To the side you heard footsteps and Thoma sat himself up straight to look at the oncomer. 

“Oh! Done with the meeting my lord?”

Your hand slipped in fright, the container lid clattering as you tried to put it with its matching box. Shit, why is he here? Shouldn't Ayato be too busy? Isn't that one of his whole character points? Not once was ‘strolls on the beach’ mentioned in any of his character lines. You looked up and smiled at him in greeting, your face tugged up tensely and trying very hard to look at ease. You decided it would be easier to let Thoma handle him and just got back to packing your things away. 

“Good evening to you too,” he chuckled softly and shifted his gloves, “the meet is done without any problems. When I got back home I wondered if you were still out here, seems I was right. I can now also fix a prominent mistake of mine.”

Even though you tried your hardest to avoid eye contact and look busy it's not like you had mountains to put away, you were left empty handed with a pair of well polished shoes in front of you, their sheen contrasted with the speaks of sand now defiling them. You took a breath in and looked up properly to meet his gaze. 

“I do apologize for being so rash earlier, I would have liked a proper introduction. As you can surmise i am Ayato, Thoma has mentioned of you before and I am glad to have the honor of meeting you in person.” he smiled in greeting, no doubt he would have offered a hand or a bow if you both were at the same height but for now a smile would do. 

“Right, it is truly an honour Lord Ayato. Thank you for extending your welcome to me.” you bowed slightly.

He laughed slightly, deeply amused. 

“Do just call me Ayato in private like this and last I recall, yes my property is in the area but that doesn't warrant me the entire beach side. In truth I have not welcomed you at all.” 

Thoma sighed slightly, “My lord please don't tease them so readily, I would like to eventually re invite them here but I can't do that if you've scared them away.”

“Of course, maybe then I can truly offer my welcome and they may join us to tea in the confines of the clan.”

Thoma sighed again at the slight continuation of Ayato's mischief. You took the opportunity of their exchange as an opening and stood up.

“Thank you for the food today Thoma and for bringing me to such a lovely place. I'll get going before it gets too late.”

“Oh, let me walk you back then.”

You shook your head in defiance, “No need, I know the way and it doesn't make sense for you to walk all the way just to have to return. Bringing me here was amazing in itself.”

You turned to Ayato and bowed again, less in respect and more so to keep away from eye contact. 

“Thank you again Lord Ayato. Stay well.” and quickly you make your way off the sands of the beach and towards the trek back home into the outer city. 

Thoma and Ayato stayed still, simply watching you go in silence until you were out of eyesight. It was Ayato that broke the silence.

“You are sure they do not carry any ill intent?” he said monotonously, still looking at the spot you disappeared to.

“I am sure. They are a decent person and I double checked, they don't have a past linked to any organization. Sure they are rather anxious, I see it often, a little skittish at times and slightly paranoid but it's not at the prospect of the clan. Haha, if you've taught me anything it's to be aware of people's intentions, if anything they are trying to run away rather than to get close. I can assure you, they don't have an agenda against the clan.”

Ayato breathed out, then turned himself to properly look at Thoma, his face relieved. “If that's your judgment it must be true then.”

…

An odd moment of silence spread between the two of them on the beach, both looking out as the sky took on warmer hues of yellow and orange clashing with its deeper blues. 

“You've been coming here a lot more recently and to have invited a friend here as well, has your mind been on your homeland?”

Thoma chuckled and leaned back out on the blanket, now dusted with sand and corners crinkled after the day's events, “I have. Thinking about the mountains of Mondstadt and all the memories just out there across the ocean. It's not in a sad sense, not at all, it's just that recently-,” he paused, looking away from the ocean and down to his lap, slightly gnawing on his lip in thought, “recently i've felt more… connected with myself. It's a nice feeling if not slightly concerning. I feel i'm getting to know myself better but it also just clearly shows how much i have yet to discover.” He sighed, closed his eyes and fully laid down on his back. 

Ayato looked down on his friend, doing as he does best and figuring out just what was going on in his mind, his feelings, the reasons for such feelings and the potential catalysts that brought them about. He kneeled down onto the blanket beside his friend, form straight from a lifetime of practice. 

“Does your new friend have anything to do with it?” he asks only to be met with silence, Ayato doesn't need an answer, he already knows it's true but just why that is so is still unknown.

“It isn't that you have fallen for them have you? I didn't think of you as one for love to occur after a reasonably short time.”

Thoma opened his eyes languidly and responded this time.

“I don't think it is love. Not yet but… i'd say i've definitely fallen for them haha, in whatever way that is i'm not sure but it feels… unbridled in nature.” he closed his eyes once more and shook his head at his own emotions. He tugged on a smile and relieved himself of his weighing thoughts, “So i'd appreciate it if you don't chase them away okay? I look forward to figuring out what's going on with both myself and with them.”

Ayato nodded wordlessly, not needing to disturb the quiet with a response.

…

“Ayato, did you notice the look in their eyes? It truly just- it just instantly made me feel like i was reliving my home town but also… not. It was familiar but also so foreign.”

“I hadn't gotten a good look at them in truth. They seemed rather determined in keeping their eyesight on anything but me.”

Thoma nodded in acknowledgement, “Makes sense. I do hope they warm up to the idea of the three of us doing something together eventually. Haha, once they've settled their nerves they are very comforting to talk with, I think you'd like them.”

Comfortable silence stretched along the two, the shades of yellow and orange in the sky deepening to reds and purples. 

In time Ayato stood up, no doubt with the intent of work to finish. He turned to leave before side glancing at Thoma. 

“The nobushi that often occupy these beaches, you've disposed of them correct?”

“Did it just this morning to make sure the beach was safe for today as well as to clear out the threat they bring.”

Ayato sighed in annoyance. 

“I still can't understand how those ruffians believe they outwit us, thinking being close to the clan means they may spot our vulnerabilities.” he shook his head slightly, like the ‘danger’ the oathless samurai possessed was nothing but a pesky fly. 

He then made his way back to the clan home leaving Thoma to steep in his own thoughts. 

It was after this interaction that you decided to cut things down. At first you imagined Thoma to be the safest ‘special’ person to come across, given how social he is and loved by many you could become a face in the crowd while also tending to your social needs and appeasing Thoma who, and you still wonder why, wanted to get closer to you. Following the path you've taken recently, of course you were wrong, infact Thoma should have been on that list of ‘DO NOT ENGAGE’ for the very reason you thought it was safe to, he's social. Very quickly you had realized in your time meeting with him that he would smile and wave to many walking by, one such instance was panic inducing when you noticed Yoimiya come over to greet him. Before she had fully skipped up to the both of you you had promptly dismissed yourself and ran back to the confines of your walls to avoid meeting someone so ‘special’. 

This was Thomas' problem, he is the network that is connected to so many ‘characters’ that by staying by his side means undoubtedly meeting with the others. Today's incident was clearly that, you met Ayato, you were right there at the clan bordering the line of stepping into the grounds of one of the most impactful places of Inazuma and it was Thoma that had convinced you to do so. You had been too lenient on your rules recently, too selfish. You don't follow these rules you've written up for yourself because you want to but because you know it's for the better of the future and altering such a future because you can't stay inline is selfish to every being in Teyvat that could possibly be influenced by your choices. 

To live means to influence your environment, to live means to leave an impression that proves your existence. You wish for nothing right now other than to ‘die’, be void of life and find comfort in that, to finally release the stress of what it means to have all this information of the world and not belong in it but you are still human, you have needs to fulfill and ‘dying’ is not one of them. 

It was time to cut Thoma off, it hurt because you knew it would hurt him but it would be better this way. That night you closed your eyes to rest, determined on your new path but gut wrenching in a myriad of emotions, fear, pressure, uncertainty, sadness. You haven't slept well ever since coming to this world and that night was no different. You fell asleep cursing the ground you walk on, cursing the details that swamped your mind, cursing your very existence and the trouble it causes to both this world and yourself. 

Seperating yourself from Thoma was simple, firstly you changed your shopping time, no longer ‘coincidentally’ meeting with him like you had these last few weeks. Secondly, you asked your boss for more work, that way you have an excuse. You aren't a ‘bad guy’ for just leaving Thoma, no its because work has been busy and you just don't have the time. This system worked, you hadn't stumbled on him while in the city and the few times he did come to your workplace you simply told him that you were busy and needed to get back to work. This system went on for weeks and was perfect for devoiding your existence of ‘live’, which yes was depressive, you could feel yourself go mad at the amount of work you put on yourself and lack of outlet, but it worked. The extra work did help with the issue of mora as well (the value of mora being confusing ingame where how a single egg was 400 mora and yet 1 mora is represented as a single coin but you realized quickly it was just the ingame market system) which lightened the financial strain a little. You worked from early mornings to late nights, arms dead by the end of the day. In truth you know it isn't a healthy cycle, often coming home and skipping meals just to bathe and sleep, but it was necessary. 

Inazumas rains soaked the land, luckily no thunder was present but the trek from the city to nearby village was still made difficult in the wet weather. Your eyes focusing and unfocusing, legs on autodrive walking you towards a particular customer of your workplace who the boss is very fond of. The old lady you were delivering to had been coming to the bakery for years but in her age can no longer make the walk to the city. Your boss found it mandatory to provide for such a loyal customer and so your weekly walk to deliver her breads was on the way. 

In the rain was silence, just the sound of your wet shoes on the mud and the rhythmic clank of the wooden box you carried and its latch. The world began to blur, shapes and colours combining as the rain obscure your vision and the melody of your steps, the rain's patter and the wooden latch soothed your mind. Peaceful, a sleepwalk yet not unconscious. 

Peace is never retained. 

“Look, a stray lamb. Ha! The rain brings fortune indeed.” a swallowed out voice but a few steps away from you got you out of your daze. A wandering samurai, perhaps 3 all together, walked from the side of the path towards you from the river. If this had been ingame the confrontation would be nothing more but an annoyance, 4 ‘characters’ to choose from to easily snuff them out or the option to just run away until they gave up chase. In reality this confrontation means little less than a deathly denouement. Heavily armed, well trained men with seemingly no morals and a thirst for sick entertainment against a human bering no vision, a basket of bread and a fatigued body leaves little wonder as to how this will end. Panic arose at the realization, the very human phenomenon of ‘fight or flight’ kicking in, and as a baby bird strives to the air you push off your feet, adrenaline quickly awakening your senses and urged your body to a change of direction and just as a fledgling's first flight you fall. Hard. Your mind may have awoken but your body had not caught the message, instead you lay your head in the dirt, all motive diminished, just your sad existence lay bare for a bunch of hostile mobs, stupid coding of copy paste enemies, to take your life. In all honesty this is perfect, you wish to retain as accurate to an npc life as possible? What better way than to die a meaningless death. That brought enough comfort to you to allow yourself to close your eyes (disregarding the other factors such as shock, exhaustion and most likely a concussion from the fall)

Perhaps a few of your questions will be answered now, if you die here will you reawaken into your own world? Will the months of lifetime in this fictitious game be nothing but a dream or will you truly die and merely sink into the mud as nothing more than a mistake upon this world? Neither as it seems the feeling of the rain pelting on your body ended, the sounds of swords being drawn and clashing washed away and your head, though still paining, layed on something far more welcoming than wet earth. 

“Are you regaining consciousness then?” you feel hands lean your body up, a hand moving you face side to side prompting your eyes to open. They are met with the analytically eyes of Ayato still looking over your features for whatever wear and tear you may have gathered. 

“To have fallen so gracefully in such a life threatening moment, truly your abilities are unmatched to any I have seen before. I am surprised you garner such mud and bruising, I had expected you to be dressed in only the most comfortable of clothing by the way you so effortlessly went to rest.” Oh for fucks sake-

You properly awaken, now relying on your own balance to stay sitting upright and Ayato moving his hands away only to have his eyes peering closer to you. You swipe at your face, lumps of mud clinging to your hand in turn. You heave a sigh just to gather yourself for a moment before speaking. 

“What happened? Why would you be here if it means I'm not dead? Ah- sorry,” you jumped into accusations before even giving thanks, not suspicious in the slightest, “my head is still sore. Sorry, I must thank you for rescuing me, I would be dead if not for you.” 

Ayato hummed and nodded his head. “To answer your question, I was on my way to the city before the rain started, not wanting to get wet I waited here under this shelter until I saw you stumble right into that group of noboshira and now we are sat here. As for your apology, it's accepted, you are welcome.” 

Why was he acting like this? Mischievous sure but with a slight hint of pride or cockiness in vulgar terms. Sure he's a noble but usually he adores the ‘polite lord’ act rather than ‘cocky aristocrat’. His attitude reminded you of how he interacts with those he deems ‘close’ rather than a stranger he's met only once. Yes you are close with Thoma which may influence how he sees you but surely not to the extent of you two being ‘close’ in turn. 

And still you must play the fool, be gracious and oblivious like you could never tell between his mask and his true face. 

“Thank you so much Lord Ayato, truly you've saved my life.” 

You stand to bow, to leave but he holds your wrist at the movement.

“Do not move so hastily now, the rain is still ongoing and I would not like to see a recurrence of you laying in the mud, no matter how amusing the first time may have been. Do sit back down.”

No denying that, no matter how much you wanted to make distance between the two of you, trying to run away would only cause more problems. You sit back down on the bench, a rickety structure just outside the village with hardly enough space for two. 

You look to the ground at your feet, watching as rain drops just a few inches away. Ayato sighs, made clear you have no intent of starting a conversation. Perhaps his political side kicks back in, going blunt and straight to the point. 

“You have been avoiding Thoma these last weeks, he's become distressed at the idea he's done something wrong.” you do not reply. 

“Is it because of my involvement? I understand you may be pressured by our difference in class but both Thoma and I have made it clear that should not be a problem when in private so why is it you fear me? I have seen those intimidated by my title but your anxiety runs deeper than that. I personally don't care as much but if it distracts your relation with Thoma then I suggest it should be dealt with.”

This questioning is unnerving, it is tearing right to the point where the only truth is to reveal the true origin of your situation. That cannot happen so you reply with what you usually do, not exactly a lie but a truth wrapped along with missing context. 

You fake a sigh, “My Lord I am… I am an introverted person by nature. When Thoma approached me I- I accepted his conversations not to be rude and i do genuinely enjoy being with him but i- he's a social person, I knew he was and it was uncomfortable for me to get involved but I tried it's just the moment I met with someone such as yourself, someone so… powerful I realized just how large his social circle is. I can't keep it up, being with him means being with others and I cant handle that.” it was the truth, yes you played it up a bit but hopefully it's an explanation Ayato would accept. 

“So you do not consider your friendship special enough to warrant such efforts?” 

“No!” you lift your head to him, for once properly looking at him, “It is, he is special, he is special beyond your understanding it's just that… I don't fit in, I don't belong by his side and meeting you and others just proves that.”

Ayato looked at you for a moment, seemingly lost in your words, perhaps not understanding the phrasing you used but he quickly morphed back into his usual laid back but self assured look.

“Was that your decision to make?” He let out a soft huff of air and looked forward to the oncoming rain. Why did he wish to avoid the rain? Given his character trailer where he casually accepts it, his skills being water based and summoning quite literal rain not to mention the casual manner his attacks have him kneeling right into it, how could he act so off put by walking along when the storm was hardly harsh, a summer spray in truth, you wouldn't have accepted going on this delivery if the weather was any worse.

“It's comforting. Something I can appreciate both from a distance and up close. Water has a tendency of being both stubborn and flexible, it moves as it wishes and chips away at that it deems in its way. When in motion it is hard to stop, when stagnate it proves hard to move.” 

Ayato turned back to you, eyes alight with something more than just his blue hues, they appeared with a sheen, not from the gloss of tears but of something you couldn't exactly tell what it embodied. Without a character profile to read it actually is very hard to tell what goes on in his mind. 

“Such waters remind me of you. So stubborn in some label you've put yourself under and yet so quick to wash away when it is threatened. You call such a label as being ‘introverted’ but I imagine it's something more isn't it? Perhaps it is insensitive of me to get into, from Thoma I hear you've had an unfortunate past in your time as a scholar and the depths of your reason may lay there but if you truly wish to integrate into a life in Inazuma then avoiding the people you come across, myself and especially Thoma, all under the pretext of being ‘introverted’, then you will find your burdens much heavier.”

In a very storylike fashion the rains seemed to ease, droplets turning to drizzle. Ayato stood up and readjusted his coat cuffs, “At the very least explain to Thoma your reasons, I did not exaggerate when I said he has become distraught.” 

You stood in turn, head buzzing but no longer in the previous pain. You nodded to Ayato, your anxieties haven't shown any actual proof and yet you hurt someone who has shown nothing but kindness and acceptance to you, it is wrong. 

“I will, you are right.”

Ayato offered his hand to you for a hand shake, both as an untold promise to explain yourself to Thoma and as a simple goodbye gesture, you shook it with a strong resolve. 

“I look forward to hearing more about you in the future. Do keep yourself well and avoid potential naps in the mud, it's not the most comfortable of places.” he smiled at you with a cheeky glint of amusement before turning his back and walking to the direction of the city. 

You sat back down on the bench, intent on waiting out the remaining drizzle, and leaned against its wooden pillars. It's all so conflicting, when you try to do right for this world you hurt and confuse those around you, if you try to appease the people around you you risk threatening their future. You bare a cursed mind of information, a cursed existence upon this plane, it isn't right to affect others by the curse you bare but it also isn't right to devoid someone so giving as Thoma.  You sit and contemplate until the drizzle gives way, your carry box placed by your feet filled with breads untouched by dirt and still awaiting their destination. 

Ayato strolls along the path to the city, it is not his usual reasoning for taking the trip but still a reason worth doing so. Along his path all threats had been eliminated, you should arrive just fine but it wasn't that which plagued his mind, rather it was a soft sense of amusement, a sense of glee that left him softly chuckling to himself. He adjusted the cuffs of his gloves, a sign to his Shuumatsuban in hiding that they are to leave him for a moment, once the soft shuffling of unseen ninja pass he turns is view to your direction, the distance hindering the sight, he needed a moment to himself, to gather all possible elements at play to give reason to his unspoken questions. 

“As expected, Thoma was right, they do hold some degree of depth.”.

[lorcandidlucienwill]

Ok man, I'm getting extremely tired of the Elriel's stagnant arguments. So let me debunk them. Forbidden romance! No, for God's sake, it is NOT forbidden. Feyre and Rhysand would support them both if Elain and Azriel truly loved each other. Not like Lucien would try to get in between them anyway. ElAiN dEsErVeS a ChOiCe! Choice implies multiple options! That means Lucien is a choice too! Elain has chosen Azriel for now! That doesn't mean she can't change her mind! Besides, haven't you EVER heard of the reluctant lovers trope? Be creative please. BuT wHaT iF tHe CaUlDrOn WaS wRoNg? Yeah, the Cauldron could be wrong about Eris and Mor, or it could be wrong about the Lady of Autumn and Helion. Why does this one line HAVE to be referring to elriel? SJM often uses lines like these to foreshadow plotlines yes, but she is never THAT obvious about it. Rhysand was being a hypocrite stopping the Azriel kiss! You could argue that he was, sure, but he was also trying to prevent a major political scandal. SJM isn't going to write Rhysand being wrong in any situation, lmao. Love or hate the character, it doesn't matter. That's just the way she has written him. Elain is an introvert! No. She's just traumatized. Nesta, her sister, says it. Lucien is a fake mate! Azriel showed mating behavior? Uhhhh no. Azriel went after MOR in the King of Hybern scene. Lucien went after guess who? Yeah, ELAIN. It was Nesta who realized Elain was gone and began to worry. Azriel only volunteered after Cassian couldn't go because he was wounded and he was the easy option aside from Feyre because he could hide in the shadows. And guess what? He saved Gwyn too! Maybe he just has a savior complex! Lucien is the one who was concerned about Elain's mental and physical health. Azriel seemed pretty chill when she wasn't eating. And he did NOT want to look after Elain. He made fun of Cassian for having to do it. ElAiN hAs TwO mAtEs! SJM is not going to write that. It would fuck everything up. She wants both characters to be happy. Gwyn is a lightsinger? Probably not, but so fucking what if she ends up being one? You think that's gonna deter Mr. Torturer Azriel? If anything that'll only bring them closer. Nice try. BuT luCiEn Is InTo VaSsA! NO. STOP IT. HE WAS CANONICALLY SEEN TO BE LOOKING AT ELAIN WITH LONGING IN ACOSF. DON'T SPREAD LIES. Vassa is definitely more into Jurian, which is a pairing that makes sense. Lucien is a side character. Um...no? Lucien has been around since book 1. He was a very significant character in that book as well. And in books 2 and 3, he might not have had as much screentime, but almost every moment he had was monumental. We see him survive the Night Court. We hear his story of fulfilling Calanmai, implying he is also chosen by the Spring Court. We have him helping Feyre kill off the twins of Hybern, bring back the army with Vassa, balance 3 roles and still dress immaculately, dominate Cassian with one word. He is also connected to almost every potential plotline in existence. Ok, this one isn't Elriel but some people say TaMlAiN! Because of the spring court foreshadowing. Guess who lived in the Spring Court for decades? Lucien! Guess who is the current Spring Court ruler but isn't doing much of ruling? Tamlin! Guess who also was able to do Spring Court Calanmai? Lucien! Wow, it almost looks like Lucien is going to replace Tamlin! SJM is not going to put one sister with another sister's ex anyway, that's weird. Elain has her chosen family in the Night Court in Nuala and Cerridwen! She belongs there! No. Just stop it. SJM could not be more clear with that line about the black dress sucking the life out of her and Elain being bothered by the cruelty in the Hewn City. Guess who is also pretty averse to violence? Oh yeah, Lucien! As for chosen family... Feyre had Tamlin and Lucien. They didn't end up being her chosen family, the IC did. Nesta didn't find her chosen family until her book. Lucien's band of exiles are not his chosen family either. Lucien and Elain are just really good at making friends.

[chaosverseline]

Imu sama as monkey d luffy great grandmother

I had a crazy idea

It a mixture of a lot of one piece theories regarding luffy’s family.

First off , Instead of imu sama being luffy’s mom.I am making imu sama as luffy’s great grand “mother”.

Why?

Because here is how it works,

Imu sama is the immortal ruler of the world government (pronouns are them and they. despite this they prefer female fashion),But secretly yearns for freedom , but can’t because of the responsibility of running the government.

Quoting from a Reddit post, “To make it simple: Imu ……..related to ya boi Joy Boi and because she is a a ruler she Needs to act like one in front of everyone….”

Imu sama may not be able to experience “full freedom”. however ,when they did have free time ,they would traveled around the world and go sightseeing in a disguise.

During this they met a young man named……….

……..xebec d rocks.

Yes that rocks.

But during this time ,rocks isn’t a pirate yet.

Or maybe he was just starting out .

What happens between imu and rocks was what started out as a friendship ,Then to lovers and yeah they banged.

Resulting a adorable baby girl ,The princess of Mary geoise. For now, we call her “Yriaf” for simplicity sake.

After Yriaf birth, rocks loves his daughter but still left to continue his pirate career.Which made imu bitter and harbor a grudge against pirates.

Imu and xebec broke up and went on to their separate ways,Imu takes Yriaf with them,But allows xebec to call from den den mushi ,writes letters and sent presents to their daughter ,Using a cipher pol agent (who swore secrecy )to deliver the mail.

Yriaf grew up to be a kind and benevolent woman despite being the princess of Mary geoise. She disliked the attitude of the celestial dragons and slavery. She treats people like her equal and tries her best to free the slaves and help treat/heal/nurse the injure/sick ones until they are healthy to go home or stay with her (she would pay them with wages)if they don’t have a place to stay.Sadly, she was banned from buying more than six slaves per month by imu sama

Imu sama didn’t do this to be cruel,They are worried about Yriaf getting the wrong people’s suspicions. Imu sama honesty didn’t like the whole slavery system ,But the majority of the world nobles wanted this and imu have to go along. otherwise imu will become unpopular and risk getting deposed or worse case scenario,Getting Killed.

As much power imu has,Imu can’t protect Yriaf if all the world nobles voices their disapproval (Kinda like Garp’s situation ).

because of this ,Imu is strict with their daughter.Eventually Yriaf ran off to her father’s ship to get some fresh air from the royalty business. There she met her father’s crew and develop a relationship with one of the crew mates. Rocks is fine with it,after a long shovel talk.

Imu sama,However…… is a total different story.

Imu straight up disapproves.

But there is nothing imu can do, Other than sending cipher pol assassins to watch but not kill the crew mate who caught their sweet daughter’s eyes.

Yraif marries the crew mate,Whose name is Edward Newgate,Yes that Newgate.

Their child would eventually be known as crocodile.

Yes that crocodile.

Then imu noticed changes in rocks as the years goes by,How by each passing year,Xebec getting even more crueler and unhinged, starting to have bloodthirsty ambitions thanks to his devil fruit that messed up his brain, until imu can no longer recognized the man they had used to loved.

For now,Xebec’s sanity is barely keeping together thanks to his paternal love for their daughter .But imu is not taking any chances if one day xebec snaps and cause irreversible harm to his own crew and potentially to imu’s family. Besides,Imu is still mad about xebec choosing career over them and the lack of child support other than toy stuff animals and unhealthy snacks. Yes ,imu can be petty like that.

So imu hires a hit on xebec, saying xebec is a terrorist threat and a crazy manic. Then sends a message to the elders to inform the world government of this dangerous individual.

Battle of god valley happens and imu takes back Yriaf. Gives her a decision to either take crocodile and never met up with Edward again or hand the custody of crocodile to Edward and forbids yriaf from meeting them again, save for one day per 5 years. Imu allows for calling via den den mushi for during the whole time but that’s it .

The princess chose the 2nd option and tearfully waved good bye to her love and child.

Years pass, crocodile left the white beard pirate crew and joins the revolutionary. Also get knocked up by monkey d dragon.

When Imu founds out , they are not pleased , But At least they gotten a great grand child out of it.

His name is ……

Monkey d luffy.

Pure Chaos.

[bibibbon]

MHA chapter 422 rant

For a MCs rising chapter this chapter definitely didn't revolve around the MC in any major way.

Izuku intropsection where, I have never heard of her! This is a major issue I have with how hori writes Izuku. Almost every character at least gets their pov probably said and presented in their rising chapters except of izuku whose own rising chapter felt like a true let down and disappointment to me

Inko is back! I guess. I was way more interested to what was happening to inko when izuku had to go through that whole painful process of losing his quirks and an arm and then regaining it but I guess she stayed in a default status and just crying for her son which understandable but i was expecting more from her. Heck I think I expected too much i thought that hori might do something with her character, something angst worthy. Heck I am seeing the dfo theorist and if it ends up being true then that would be cool angst potential but a horrible canon event considering that hori has stretched this far too long.

Izuku midoriya rising just for izuku to be a side character in this chapter. Like i said this is a rising chapter and we get almost nothing personal from Izuku himself no intropsection no nothing. This chapter was simply full of other characters reactions and trying to help him to get up and do his job which is sad. I don't know but how come no one in the story sees just how unethical and bad the situation is like that's a 16 year old boy running to his death basically on live television. Also Iam enjoying the izu and all might parallels yet Iam worried that this might actually be Izuku's last fight. Also aren't we gonna talk about AFO is attacking izuku with OFA's own quirks I just find it cruel.

Still not a huge fan of everyone needing to get their moments like this. Yeah my opinion didn't change I just felt like the moments and reactions were given to characters like asui and shoji and then we had to continue glossing over them. It feels Hella fast paced and at this point IAM not sure if hori wants to end or prolong the series🤷‍♀️. Also I had to check but can we talk about MOMO AND TORU LIKE !!!!

Melissa and Rody my favourites and Iam bias.

I wish we had more of ochako, iida and izu. Again another moment falls flat in there seires because we lack build up and development. I liked ochakos comment and the parallels with iida holding izu's hand and still holding it again but all of this seems empty because the original nerdy tiro that we had at the beginning of the series was scrapped for the boring todoroki, bakugo and izuku one. Heck we could of had an izucrew/dekusquad and that would of helped with the build up of this unlike what's going on now .

Bakugo didn't need to be mentioned in this chapter but he is 😑. As far as anyone can tell Iam not a fan of bakugo and I don't think he needed to be mentioned like the guy got his arc and whatever so why don't we just focus on the current situation instead of thinking about how we wished he was here with Izuku and all like it felt pretty useless.

In conclusion, it was an average meh chapter but I got annoyed considering the title being midoriya rising for it to not have any proper focus on midoriya.

Like I absolutely loved some of the character moments even though they lacked build up and were short AF but this chapter DOESN'T deserve to be called midoriya's rising.

[deliciousdefendorinternet]

a little list of some things I Hope to see if they do a 4th film.

also if you have any ideas of little things you'd like to see in the next film I'd love to hear them.

anyway my list would include.

its gotta still be a Bro zone centered adventure no side-lining them or any of the same crap they pulled with the world tour characters their still very much the focus. on whatever Journey the plot requires Poppy and Branch to go on and this way we see more of them learning abut each other like the other Bros being surprised by Branch's survival skills. and how he came to learn them and finding out just how dorkish Clay has become in his interests and how pampered and sheltered Bruce has been. to the point he's totally out of his element when they have to travel through forests and such. 2. a main villain that Judges Bro zone as a family this is a bit of a petty desire of mine lol but I'd love it if we had a villain who openly looked down on B zone. maybe the main villain is some sorta loner who believes in family being a weakness and nothing else so they judge Branch for letting his Brothers back into his life when he proved he was capable of surviving on his own. and also they just have a bitterness towards the concept of family for personal reasons so they see how flawed Bro zone are yet the fact that their still together as something to be mocked. 3. an actual none comedic mention of Grandma given how TBT sorta used her as a comedic gag in the two scenes in which she was relevant. so I just want her to for once be brought up without a bad Joke ruining the emotions of it like FR I just want one scene where she's brought up. and you actually just let the characters be serous about it maybe Branch finally tells them exactly how she died after refusing to talk about it for ages. and maybe he still blames himself somewhat for her death and was worried the brothers would think the same if they found out. 4. I've said about this one before but I Hope we see other Grey Trolls in the society it doesn't have to be a major plot point just something we see in the opening briefly. like I said before maybe Branch just casually Hanging out with other permanently Grey Trolls from different Tribes or even them having their own little group or something would be nice to see. I think the group idea would be a nice bit of worldbuilding and development as it would kinda show how differently Pop Village handles these kinda things now. where they aren't just about toxic positivity and brushing serous stuff to the side anymore but are actively encouraging people to talk about their darker emotions and such. 5. this one is probably the most unlikely on this list but I'd kinda like it if we saw Branch's colours get worse again and him actually feeling somewhat ashamed of it. maybe trying to hide it from his Brothers out of fear of either being judged or pitied. I just love the angst idea of him being found out and in a somewhat upset and frustrated way saying that he doesn't know why its happening again. claiming he's fine and that it must just be some kind of mistake on his bodies part and that it isn't his fault this time as that isn't who he is anymore. upsetting Poppy and his Brothers seeing him so clearly upset but obviously desperately trying to hide it and also the notion that he's ashamed of his Greyness and he sees it as something other people would blame him for is pretty sad. like I said it probably won't happen but Honestly I love the idea of actually showing his colours get worse again and him being insecure about it. especially in front of his Brothers it'd be emotional to see them see him this way. 6. another one that's maybe a bit out there but I kinda wanna see Peppy die as I feel him dying has some good story potential. for one it gives some angst to Poppy for a change she could blame herself as his death could happen as result of her actions maybe her not listenening to other people again. and trying to solve the conflict with the villain her own way results in them all being in danger and her dad dying to save her. and as a result her actions actually have permanent consequences for a change and she blames herself tho maybe on the outside she tries to slap a smile on her face.

but Branch sees through it and he can actually have a nice moment of helping her through things and even relating a bit given he blamed himself for what happened to his Grandma for years. plus it'd give Viva some heartbreak since she only just got him back in her life after all these years and now she's lost him again. which I feel in the end could bring her and Poppy even closer together. and like I said after TBT and the first film I'm desperate for some Poppy angst to balance things out a tad and actually give us some more scenes of Branch supporting her again. 😅😅😅😅 anyway those are some things I'd kinda like to see in a future film what about you?

[dragonprincebr]

[ENGLISH] Interview with Devon Giehl!

O Príncipe Dragão Brasil Team realized an exclusive interview with The Dragon Prince's Lead Writer and Producer, Devon Giehl! We asked about episode 8 from season 5, as well as questions by fans!

We translated the interview so more people can read about it! Here's the portuguese version.

Finnegrin was such an interesting and exciting villain! How did you guys created him, and is there any chance he survived?

Devon Giehl: It started because we wanted to take the characters to a sort of pirate town after they lost Zubeia’s help, they needed a boat to get down the coast. We started developing the idea of Scumport first and then we decided that the minor villain they would encounter In Scumport, this pirate-y lawless town would be Finnegrin. At first, he was only meant to antagonize the cast for one episode, but we had so much fun coming up with stories about the pirate town that we decided to invent the three-part arc in order to be able to fully tell a bigger story about the pirates and the trouble that Callum and co get in with him. So, we ended up saying “what if he chases them?”, “what if he’s part of the plot for the next 2 episodes?” that he pursues them and eventually captures them. We wanted him to be really mean, but also charismatic and charming and he was inspired by the character Al Swearengen from Deadwood. In terms of any chance of him surviving, I think it’s possible, I like to imagine that he had some magical or clever way of escaping his fate. I would like to see him again because I really had fun writing him. Maybe he got out, it’s possible, he’s a powerful ocean mage and a tidebound elf, so maybe. I know that there were jokes about why does he worry about drowning and I was like “why did I write it that way?” but I think even tidebound elves probably have ways of dying. It’s probably more of a metaphor than literally. If you go down far enough anything will be crushed down there. And she’s an Ocean dragon, she can probably just kill him in multiple ways.

In our understanding, a major theme of the episode was the lack of control of things that are bigger and deeper, like the tides of the Ocean, the dark parts of ourselves, which are things we can’t and shouldn’t control. And we wonder what will it mean for Callum, who values his freedom and his choices, when considering that in the last season, Callum lost control of himself when possessed by Aaravos, and now he reached this understanding of the Ocean arcanum.

DG: As a character, Callum explores the themes of freedom and to me that connects to themes of growing up in a way that there is this moment when you are young, especially when you are an early teenager, you gain some sense of self and you realize your individuality, your potential, the limitless power you can potentially have in the world.

You come into yourself in a powerful way and it’s really exciting and you feel like you can do anything. And then very quickly, as you get a little bit older, you come into a place where you realize it’s not that easy. There’s so many things in the world that are bigger and scarier than you, and you start to feel more powerless in how you may confront them, overcome them, and whether or not you even can, you start to make decisions more out of fear sometimes, out of desperation, you compromise parts of yourself, and it wears the way that person thought the world was infinite.

For Callum, in season 2 when he unlocked the Sky Arcanum, he was over the moon, he was excited, the entire world was open to him, he was free of everything. But now, he is a couple years older, a couple years wiser, for better and worse, and this is a scenario in which he was sort of backed into a corner and the only way out he could see was doing something that he didn’t want to do. To me it’s tough ‘cause it changes what he might think he originally believed in only connecting to the Sky. And it makes him a little bit more complex, he rattles his assumptions about his potential and he’s not quite sure anymore if he is who he thought he was going to be and I think all of us go through that at some point of our lives, and it’s really hard.

With maturity comes the sort of darker awareness of dangers of the world and your very small place in it. Whereas the Sky says “look, the whole world is yours, it’s open, beautiful and wild, you can be and do anything”, the Ocean arcanum says like “now, hold on, it’s not quite that easy and infinity possibility does mean that some of these possibilities could be bad”.

Another theme of the Ocean primal is accepting there are dark parts of ourselves, and it seems similar with the Moon primal, that recognizes that there are sides of other people that are hidden from view. So, is Callum ever going to try to tap into Moon arcanum?

DG: There’s a little bit of connection between the Ocean and Moon primal, because they are sort of the push and pull of the tide, they are related, they influence each other. In terms of Callum and the Moon Arcanum, from a more storytelling perspective he might. For me it’s hard to commit to that because the moon it’s Rayla’s special territory. It’s tough because if you have Callum to start to be able to do all this cool Moon magic, it actually kind lessens what Rayla is and what she is capable of. I don’t think it’s necessarily impossible, but I think it takes something away from her in a way we don’t really want the narrative to do currently, which is why we gave Callum his own identity with the Ocean and Sky for the moment. All of the moon stuff is very much how Rayla shines and she’s not going to get other arcanums as a moonshadow elf, we wanna make sure that she still gets to be cool and powerful with what we gave her and not just take that and give it to someone else.

And does the Ocean (and Moon) primal reflects the relationship between Callum and Rayla, considering we also saw the themes of trust between them – even when Rayla temporary hid the truth about what she was doing in his office – and eventually help mend their relationship?

DG: Ooh, that's spicy. I think both of them keep a lot inside, specially stuff that they feel ashamed of or frightened by, and I think that’s very natural for a lot of young people, even people in general. Rayla kept what she was doing from him, and it wasn't necessarily an attempt to hurt him or deceive him, it was very much because she didn’t know how to handle what she learned about the coins, she had no answer, she felt like “maybe if I learn a bit more, I can do something about it, but I’m not sure” and then in the end she has her little vision and she decides “I can’t figure this out right now, even though I really want to, I’m gonna have to go help Callum”‘. So I think it was very personal for her, even when you are in really loving relationships. They are not currently dating, but they do care about each other very deeply, there are still things you attempt to handle on your own and not share even with your partner.

I think Callum is a little bit the same way because there is that sort of like not quite mended trust between them, you also see reflected in how he doesn’t tell her right away about what he did to get out of Finnegrin’s grasp. I think once you unlock an arcanum, it doesnt mean you are gonna be a perfect person and act by the thing you’ve accessed, it just sort of is… sort of like mental breakthroughs, but even when you have little mental breakthroughs in real life, you can still screw up and take those breakthroughs and be destructive with them. The trust between them isn’t perfect yet, but they care about each other enough the other is not trying to hurt them. When Callum said at the end of season 4 “I’m so glad you are back”, everything that followed that, to me, was about him living by that realization, he’s not holding things against her, he understands and cares about who she is. It still is not what it was, but it’s more worthy to have her back in my life than to continue to be angry and resentful and sort of keep her at arm’s length. That doesn’t mean that they are gonna be totally honest and share everything with each other right away, so you still see both of them still taking on their individuals burdens and struggling with them.

What were Ezran and Soren feelings on Callum being tortured and then Rayla being almost fed to the Levianthan? We couldn’t get much into it because of time constraints, but we would love to know more!

DG: The episodes are only 22 minutes long. I would’ve love to do a scene where everybody has like a sort of immediate reaction. If I had to write that scene, I think I would have a lot of people, like Soren and Rayla, basically everyone, making a really big effort to see if Callum’s is okay and if Soren is okay, but I think Callum is in that moment… He doesn’t really want everybody’s immediate attention, he would probably say that he was fine and to check on everyone else, and that’s why you see Rayla with Stella, and everybody coming out, letting off the shackles and things like that and then you see Rayla going to Callum, I don’t think anybody ignored him or took him from granted, there was probably a very brief like, everybody checking in with each other, but his emotions were very confusing. He goes and sits down by himself, huddles up. Then Rayla reapproaches him and you see it play out as it did on the show. Everybody was pretty scared.

In this season, we saw Soren bring up the fact that Ezran, despite being king, is still a child. Is this conflict going to be brought up again, perharps by other people in his council or other Human Kingdoms?

DG: I won’t say how it comes out, but I think Ezran struggles as a really young kid versus the King. He talks like a twenty-five year old, he’s like really, really mature and trying so hard to “grown up”, but I think there’s parts of him that are suffering quietly because of that and we will see that come in to play. The fact that he is a child and there are parts of him that aren’t quite ready for all of this will definitely impact some things in the future.

Ezran’s grief in his short story was such an interesting take in his character, and i wonder if we’ll see more about it in the next seasons?

DG: Yes… Is that too much? That short story was more like a tease for the next three seasons, not just season five. So it’s something that's simmering in him during season 5, season 6 and onward. You’ll see a little bit more of it. He’s outworldly, very wise, very perfect, but there is a part of him that’s very vulnerable to pain, just like everybody, It’s easy to say out loud “peace and love and harmony”, but to actually act on that, not harbor any resentment, is super human. Even he is not immune to that. Everybody has things they are mad about.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FANS

Will the first human to ever do primal magic be explored more at some point?

DG: As far as I know, it’s really open ended and would be the subject of its own story, at some point, but i think it would be pretty cool.

Is there a connection between Aaravos and Callum’s mind, to the point of giving him nightmares? Or is there something else you can tell about a connection between them?

DG: I like the idea that he has nightmares, if anyone wants to write fanfiction about it, please do it! I don’t want to say much about their connection, but once Aaravos has control and touched him in some way, this connection still exists and it’s not something that just disappears, it’s with you Forever. That’s all i can say!

Will we see more of the Silvergrove, or if some of its inhabitants will be making an appearence?

DG: That’s too many spoilers, but we will see more Moonshadow stuff, and revisit their culture in a meaningful way.

Can you tell us anything about Claudia’s feelings on Rayla, or if they’ll be explored in the next seasons? Up until now, they didn’t share many positive interactions, and now Rayla was the main responsable for Claudia not freeing Aaravos, and also cut her leg (even if it wasn’t her intention).

DG: I think Claudia blames all 3 of them with the same amount of anger, I don’t think she focus on Rayla specifically. She sees Rayla as somebody who poisoned people who used to be her friends Against her, she hasn’t really taken the time to consider her as a person. She’s “The Elf” and has a really hard time moving on from that, and I think this encounter just reinforced that. It’s a very negative interaction and They didnt enjoy it. I don’t think she’s gonna blame Rayla especifically, it’s those 3 people – her old friends and the elf. It’s not a specific focus on Rayla.

Will we see more interactions between Soren and Corvus?

DG: Yes. Without saying too much about it, there’s na episode written by our sênior writer – Paige VanTassel – about Soren and Corvus and a storyline they go through. It’s extremely funny because Paige is the funniest writer in the room, and i hope people like it, cause they’re just so funny. The dynamic between Soren and his sort of goofy, himbo humour and Corvus who has deadpan reactions is delightful, and Paige made a Whole story about it. You’ll see it in a future season, and I love it!

In season 4, Rayla says “we can’t save everyone”, in response to her decision to no helping the Drake. Is this foreshadowing for something that might happen in the next seasons? Or it means a change of heart, in contrast to her saving Phyrrah back in season 2?

DG: I think when Rayla said that, she was having a very hard time. When you say things that are against your own nature – because i really think she didn’t mean it, she said the most mean, tough thing she could think of because nothing was going the way she wanted it to go. She was struggling with Callum, stuggling to connect with everybody, Soren was kind of annoying her, and I think she said something completely unlike her, in ways that are difficult to take back. And in the next morning she realizes what she did and freaks out, and it’s just another small mistake in her inability to process her own feelings very well. She routinely proves it’s not something she really believes, but in that moment she was feeling pretty low and angry, and it did not lead her to take great courses of action.

Could Callum adapt Manus Pluma Volantus the way he adapted the Ocean runes to allow his friends to breathe below the water?

DG: That’s a really good question. Maybe? To be honest we never though about that. Maybe it might not work the same way. But It’s possible!

About Terry: will his role remain as an emotional support for Claudia, or question what she does – which is something he already does, and in this season he did it twice, so we wonder if it’ll continue?

DG: I think he very much sees a version of Claudia that’s heroic, even though her methods are dark magic, and it’s a choice she’s making to save her father, and he genuinely believes that’s a good cause. He’s not like Rayla, raised to be na assasin, he’s kind of a normal elf, just a guy, he’s not quite aware of the world and the threat of Aaravos and what everybody else is fighting. He understands Claudia wants to save her father, but he has very limited knowledge on what that means.

From Claudia’s perspective, Aaravos is a “bro”, he sat on her shoulders for 2 years and helped preserve her father. So Terry's got a diferent set of information than the main cast, and sometimes people seem to not consider that – he doesn’t know everything our main characters have learned, and we’ve already seen him a couple times Calling her out when she tiptoes on the edge of cruelty, when she gets very angry, when she lashes out at Rayla and doesn’t give her the coins, when she lashes out at the dragon and wants to hurt it instead of just stopping, and that will continue. But he genuinely loves Claudia, he thinks she’s funny, charming, loyal to her family in a way that’s truly beautiful (even if for us, as the audience, is kinda twisted), he’s seen her best version and seen her do incredible things to get what she wants, but she’s slipping a little, and it’s alarming to him, so we’ll see more of that.

[oddygaul]

Chain Gang All-Stars

Great book.

I sort of hope Chain Gang All-Stars is never adapted into a show or movie. It’s certainly possible that it could be done with proper deference to the tone and message of the book, but I think it’s far more likely that it would end up essentially being what Chain Gang is in the story itself - a hyper-violent spectacle that people tune into because they think it’s cool and action-packed. I think Chain Gang All-Stars is very successful at walking the tightrope line of drawing the reader into the story and letting them flirt with what it must feel like to be a viewer of the program, while presenting enough reminders of its grim reality to prevent you from being totally sucked in. While there were times during the LinkLyfe segments where I was drawn in the way a viewer absorbed in a reality show would be, the battles themselves never give in to ‘just’ being badass. They were tense, certainly, and I was on pins & needles reading them, worried about the characters, but there’s a certain utilitarian brutality to the writing in those sections that keeps them grounded. I’d be worried any adaptation would make everything too stylish and exciting, thoroughly missing the point*.

*To say nothing of any potential dilution of the politics to appeal to a wider audience.

— “All other sport was just a metaphor for this.” —

Chain Gang All-Stars is incredibly good at giving every single character a depth and fullness, even ‘antagonists’, so that even the characters who infuriate us, we understand to a degree. The book doesn't justify evil deeds - there’s no excusing Wil’s dumb ass self - but it shows how easy it is for someone to placate themselves, to keep themselves on a surface level and not dig too deep into their own morality, to convince themselves that they’ve done what they could and that all those who have wrong done to them deserve what they get. The fluid perspective switches it accomplishes this with are fascinating, too. We get chapters dedicated to different characters, of course, be it our leads, our deuteragonists, and plenty of one-off side stories - standard stuff. But Adjei-Brenyah also rapidly switches between multiple perspectives within the same page, hell, the same paragraph at times, which gives us insight into a much wider breadth of viewpoints than we normally would.

By getting to see into the inner thoughts of quite a few Links, we get to see how, while their individual experiences are different, their imprisonment has broken them all in tragically similar ways. From Bishop to Sunset to Thurwar to Staxxx, we see a consistent, crippling lack of self-worth. The A-Hamm chain is unique in preaching a vision of solidarity, accepting one’s past mistakes, and focusing on how they’ve grown and changed as people. Despite this, at their core, none of them can truly find it in themselves to be forgiven, because Chain Gang grinds their lack of perceived value into them unceasingly - ultimately resulting in what is essentially suicide. The carceral system does not allow for or encourage rehabilitation, only suffering and self-hatred.

I thought it was a compelling decision to make the majority of the imprisoned characters we follow legitimate violent offenders. A lot of the abolitionist / prison-critical literature I’ve read often focuses on, or at least begins with, incarceration that is plainly, nakedly unjust, like long-serving non-violent offenders and mandatory minimum sentencing. Conversations about the treatment of murderers, rapists, etc., are naturally more fraught - it’s harder to get someone to imagine an entirely different system, rather than just adjustments to the current system.

Chain Gang All-Stars does not shy away from it one bit. We get self-reflection from multiple different Links, both those who regret what they’ve done and those who don’t; we get conflicted thoughts from family members who recognize that their lives have been fundamentally changed by the imprisonment of their kin, but are still ambivalent about forgiveness; and we get, of course, the fearmongering and appeals to pathos used by government and the media to try and stop any ideas of abolition from even beginning to take root in the minds of the public. The book understands that there’s no easy answers, and instead brings all of these perspectives to the reader, demanding they grapple with the issues themselves.

It does, however, make clear the absurdity of pretending that taking someone whose life has been indelibly touched by violence and putting them into a system that encourages and requires additional violence, by the state, by their peers, is somehow rehabilitation. It’s brought to an extreme in the novel, of course - Thurwar’s overriding instinct that every problem can potentially be solved by violence due to the constant killing she’s done is more reminiscent of a soldier returning to peacetime than anything else - but the message stands.

Some of the most powerful parallels shine through as-is, though. Even when you put aside the horror the Links are put through on a daily basis and the rampant normalization of state-sanctioned violence, the base lack of freedom and personal autonomy is what breaks people. Both during Chain Gang and our looks at other prisons, the regimented days, planned schedule, and inability to spend time or talk with the people they care about are basic human rights that are removed from prisoners every day. Hendrix’s silent prison (an idea I was horrified to find has been enacted before) shows this in one extreme - after being robbed of something as simple as his own voice for so long, Hendrix is willing to risk everything just to be able to reclaim that part of himself. Most heartbreakingly, the morning of the final doubles match, Thurwar’s only desire is to stay in bed longer with Staxxx. Leisure time with your loved ones, one of the most basic luxuries a person ought to have, seen as an unobtainable prize. Don’t need a dystopian near-future novel to see that happening.

Speaking of Hendrix Young, the voice Adjei-Brenyah uses for his sections was absolutely beautiful and oozing with character and I loved it. The way he speaks is simultaneously poetic yet so pragmatic - there’s an idiosyncratic turn of phrase in nearly every paragraph, and his love for the world and its beauty is never eclipsed by his cynicism and the horrible things happening around him. His sections were handily my favorites, despite the looming dramatic irony that overshadows them all.

— “I thought of how the world can be anything and how sad it is that it’s this.” —

As a literary device, the interspersing of worldbuilding notes and Actual Fucked-Up Prison Facts was a genius touch. By priming your brain to expect something more fantastical, the more grounded notes become something of a sucker punch. The first few are all in-universe lore explanations - they’re not entirely necessary, you could’ve pretty much got the gist through context, but the thorough explanation written almost as an ad read pulls you into the mentality of this world… so then, when it drops, say, the net worth and founding members of the Corrections Corporation of America and you get the inkling that this tidbit feels a little too specific to be made up, the lines between the book’s world and our own start to blur.

In addition to the unique cognitive dissonance it invokes, I think it’s a pretty effective strategy to convince or teach a reader who perhaps hasn’t done as much digging about the nightmare that is the American prison-industrial complex. Especially given that the main conceit of the book is a little outlandish, it’s very easy for me to imagine such a reader enjoying the story for its plot, but deflecting or doubting the themes with the classic “Oh, but this is an exaggeration - it would never happen like this! It would never be that sadistic”. In some way, the footnotes feel like the author directly responding with a “Yes, it would, and in fact has already happened this way previously”.

I do wish the footnotes stayed as dense throughout the entire book as they were at the start. In the beginning, they come hard and fast, blending the real and the fictional, keeping the reader on their toes. About a third of the way through, though, they slow to a trickle, becoming a rarity. Adjei-Brenyah keeps experimenting with what the footnotes can convey (“Don’t look down. Help me.” was particularly chilling), but the infrequency starts to make them feel like an afterthought.

— “Just jump.” —

The closer I got to the end of Chain Gang All-Stars, as fewer and fewer pages remained, I was increasingly desperate for something to break. Even as the story continued towards the inevitable, even as it showed me there could be no other way for things to go, I hoped for something else. Anything but what happened.

And yet… the ending gives this book’s message a lot of its power. It’s not a story where things always work out and the good guys always win - it’s a reflection of real problems, and those real problems don’t have such a simple solution. Chain Gang All-Stars is about people living in an unfair world, working within a cruel, unjust, system, and still finding the strength and conviction to believe that there can be positive change. It’s about knowing that progress can be slow, and that the system can feel daunting, and feeling powerless to enact change, and still imagining and pushing for the world to be better anyway. And somehow, that it faces that hopelessness head-on makes it more uplifting than a safer story with an easier ending.

[pikahlua]

so, I dunno if you typically answer questions like this, as it seems like most of your Asks are related to dissecting the manga, but!

in your opinion, what's the best way to write a post-canon fic without getting wrapped up in keeping it loyal to the still-unfolding story?

for context: i'm writing a (potentially long) post-war-arc fic at the minute, but seeing as how the arc is still ongoing, I'm finding it challenging to not stop and rewrite and every time i learn something new. perhaps this is a stupid problem to have lmao, but you seem so good at untangling the MHA narrative threads, so I guess I'm just curious if you have any tips for folks trying to weave 'em in our own way?

thanks in advance, and thanks for all your hard work in general <3

Aww I love this ask!

So if you think about it, there are plenty of great post-canon fanfics out there that were written without the full context of the series. The lack of information those stories have about the end of MHA does nothing to hurt those fics.

You have several options really. You can commit to adapting your story in future chapters to what may happen in the MHA canon as it goes, but that's a pretty difficult path to take. I started my fanfic based on the assumption we would eventually learn AFO's real name, but now I'm realizing I'm going to have to come up with a solution to the possibility he may have no other name. You could pick a cutoff point in MHA and write a story that doesn't rely on any information that might come later. You could write based on an alternate set of events to fill in the blanks so that your story is canon-adjacent and divergent. In any case, you have to accept the fact that you're writing a story before the source material has ended.

The real question you have to ask yourself is: what does "keeping it loyal" mean to you? I'd advise you to remember that, no matter what, you're not writing something that will be part of the official canon. That gives you a lot of space to move around. If you try to stick too rigidly to the canon when you don't know how MHA ends yet, then ask yourself what your story is even about in the first place. If your story is so up-in-the-air right now that the important beats in it could change at the drop of a hat depending on what happens in the canon, then you don't have a story; you just have an idea. There's nothing wrong with that per se. Plenty of authors write without knowing where their story is going or how it ends yet.

My suspicion though is that's not your problem. I'm guessing that you're just worried about small details or references to events in the canon that may incidentally occur in your story. To the best of your ability I would advise that you don't worry about such things. Just write KNOWING you will do that. It's a feature of fanfic to do so, not a bug. Anyone reading your fanfic will know that.

So now I come back to the question about what does "keeping it loyal" mean? I am writing an AU fanfic. I have to ask myself often what I care about when it comes to "keeping it loyal" because AUs have the potential to diverge so far from the canon material they're practically their own original stories. In this case, "keeping it loyal" to me is about the characters. When I write these characters, are they behaving in the way I would expect them to in the canon? I've chosen major events in my characters' backgrounds to make them behave similarly to how they would in canon because to me, the appeal of an AU is in seeing how my favorite characters would behave in a new environment. By extension, I've also chosen some events to happen in my fanfic that maintain similar themes to the canon. My characters may have to change some from their canon counterparts based on the specific events that happen to them, but there is a core vision of the canon in my heart I always try to come back to.

It's a lot easier to keep that distance between my story and the MHA canon because I'm writing an AU, and that helps me to answer your question because the obvious things my story and the canon have in common are the characters and the story themes. Those two elements would be my answer to you. The line becomes grayer when you're writing a story set in-universe to the canon. My best advice is to not get caught up in those details. It's far more important that you write and get out your ideas. You can always come back and edit things later, EVEN AFTER PUBLISHING. That's the forgiving nature of fanworks. That said, I personally think canon-divergent/alternate canon stories are supremely underrated, so I would embrace the label. It's up to you if you want to do that or just try to adapt to the canon as you go, but IT'S OKAY if your story doesn't completely match up to the canon. It doesn't make your story any less loyal to the source material so long as you maintain that integrity in other ways. No one is reading fanfic because they expect it to be a rehashing of the exact events in MHA anyways. They're expecting something new, something additional, whether it's an embellishment, a soliloquy, or an entirely alternate set of events.

Just write what's good for your story right now, and everything else is incidental.