#9 pages 0 plot

[luffington]

fur & feathers ♡

✧.* art credit!

➤ summary: You tried your hardest to stay out of their way this time. Unsurprisingly, you ended up sandwiched between them instead. (18+)

➤ pairing: sir crocodile x afab!reader x donquixote doflamingo, crocodile x doflamingo

➤ word count: 4.2k

➤ warnings: sub!reader, mean dom!croc & meaner dom!doffy, double penetration, anal sex, size kink, belly bulge, oral (m receiving), creampie, breeding kink, degradation, objectification, power play, she/her & 'girl' used

➤ notes: purely self-indulgent filth..... i am not seeing heaven's gates

NSFW under the break! minors dni thank uuu

Being Sir Crocodile’s personal secretary obviously had its benefits. Traveling to all sorts of conferences alongside him, meeting important and influential people, and always feeling protected. You lived a more lavish life than the vast majority of Alabastans, and all it took was looking the other way when documents with a winged Jolly Roger appeared on his desk. But it had some major downfalls, too, like putting up with whatever the hell was going on between your boss and that blonde feathery freak. 

You tried your hardest to stay out of their way this time. Unsurprisingly, you ended up sandwiched between them instead. 

Fragrant and flashy perfume clashed with the thick and heady scent of an expensive cigar, overwhelming your senses and making you dizzy. Crocodile’s lengthy cock was buried deep in your throat. You choked and sputtered around it, trying your hardest to use your mouth well and please your boss. Doflamingo’s harsh thrusts into your pussy from behind were making it difficult.

Your wrists had long lost their strength to support you, so you were positioned on your knees and elbows. The dark-haired man comfortably reclined on a stack of plush pillows, his ring-covered hand resting on the crown of your head. Doflamingo gripped your hips hard and repeatedly slammed his enormous dick inside you, practically penetrating your womb. You didn’t have to see him to know that he was maniacally grinning. 

You were fully naked and on display for the two men (to be fair, the blonde was already half-naked when he entered the room). Their perfectly sculpted and scarred bodies were also completely bare, but somehow they both still had their coats on. You would have laughed at the absurdity if it didn’t remind you of their high status and how far below them you were. Or maybe it just was an unspoken challenge between them – first one to take theirs off loses.

They had already made you cum three times before they even got their dicks out. Under the guise of being a gracious host, Crocodile had allowed Doflamingo the honor of your first orgasm of the night. He had made you straddle his thigh and get yourself off by rubbing your bare cunt on his leather pants, bouncing his leg up and down and cackling sadistically at your humiliated expression. Then Crocodile had eaten you out as the other man fondled your tits, and then Doflamingo had strung you up until you couldn’t move an inch while they worked together to torture your pussy. They were each menaces on their own, but somehow sharing your body like this didn’t make their egos clash – they cooperated. It was only a matter of time until they figured out something kinky to do with Crocodile’s sand powers, and then you’d be truly fucked.

You were losing yourself in the salty taste of Crocodile’s cock, the thickness of it stretching your mouth almost painfully while your nose repeatedly brushed against his neatly groomed pubes. Slowly forcing your head up and down, never giving you more than a second to breathe. He was barely sweating, looking down at you with cold eyes as he puffed at the cigar hanging from his lips. A direct contrast to Doflamingo bullying your poor cunt and shoving your body forwards onto the other man’s lap with every thrust. 

A dry finger suddenly prodded at your asshole, causing you to choke around your boss’s cock. Crocodile clicked his tongue. “Two holes at once? You’re being greedy, Doffy.” His words were teasing, a wicked smirk on his scarred face while he continued ignoring your obvious protests. 

“You get to use her whenever you want. I think that’s pretty greedy.” The blonde frowned, continuing to insistently circle his fingertip around your rim. “Besides, I’m trying to do something nice for you. You can have her pussy, so I’ll take her ass.”

The dark-haired man exhaled a cloud of smoke. Without his hand holding you down, you pulled off of his dick with a lewd wet noise and spun your head to face Doflamingo. “W-wait… both… at the, ahh, same ti-ime…?” Your muddled mind tried to express your fear, knowing full well that neither of them would care. “C-can’t fit…”

“You don’t know that until you try,” Doflamingo replied with a twisted grin. Actually, he wasn’t sure why the three of you hadn’t tried it yet. Perhaps it had something to do with your size difference. Both men were unnaturally tall – the blonde often made fun of Crocodile for only being 8’4 – and their cocks were more than proportional. Each was longer than your forearm and practically matched the thickness. Your stomach felt close to bursting from just one. 

Looking to your boss for help, you silently pleaded for some hint of kindness inside the man. His cold glare and cruel smile granted you none.

At first, you had assumed Crocodile was the nicer of the two, that he felt some kind of sympathy and held regard for human life. You quickly realized in horror that they were two sides of the same sadistic coin. The same need for dominance, longing for powerful positions, and lack of hesitation to step on anyone below them for their own benefit. Sure, Doflamingo used his strings very inappropriately in the bedroom. But Crocodile had never taken off his hook during sex, resulting in a few ‘accidental’ fading cuts on your back and thighs. Doflamingo was very open about his madness, while the other kept it neatly buttoned up under silk dress shirts.

“Don’t worry,” Crocodile rubbed your cheek, feigning gentleness, before saying, “We’ll make them fit.”

You gulped, feeling very much like prey caught in a fatal trap.

Doflamingo stopped his thrusts with his cock deep inside you and sucked his pointer and middle fingers in his mouth, coating them with enough spit to not rip your hole. He would never be generous enough to use actual lube. 

He snickered when he caught Crocodile watching his movements and swirled his tongue teasingly around his digits. “Enjoying the view, baby?”

“I’m enjoying a break from that ridiculous smile of yours.” The other man replied smoothly. “Maybe I’ll use my fingers to shut you up the next time you say something irritating.”

“Your fingers are too rough,” the blonde pouted and shoved a long finger inside your asshole in one go, making you cry out and clench your fists. Neither man acknowledged your pained reaction, though you felt Doflamingo’s cock twitch excitedly inside you. “My mouth feels all sandy afterwards.”

Crocodile smirked to himself — he controlled every grain of sand in his body, so any bits left behind in Doflamingo’s mouth (or in his clothes, or the crevices of his body) was intentional. His gaze flickered down to you, grasping the base of his cock and timidly licking at his tip. “You can do better than that, slut.” You instantly swallowed it halfway, not daring to upset your boss.

The dark haired man let out a content sigh as he watched the beautiful scene in front of him. Your back glistened with a thin sheen of sweat and a giant red Doffy-shaped handprint still burned on your ass. The blonde’s pace had slowed down slightly so he could focus on preparing your asshole with no gentleness whatsoever. He used two digits to spread your hole wide, then spat directly inside it. You whimpered at the filthy feeling, sending pleasant vibrations through Crocodile’s cock. 

“Fuck, that’s hot.” Doflamingo swore, watching his saliva disappear inside you. “What a good little whore.” You unconsciously wiggled your hips at his praise. 

The more he pushed and prodded deep inside you, the harder it was to focus on pleasuring the cock in your mouth. Wordlessly, Crocodile placed his hook on the back of your neck, the sharp edge dangerously close to your throat. The message was clear – you immediately got to work, cheeks hollowing and sloppily drooling around his dick. 

Doflamingo nodded his chin at the heavy gold object. “You ever finger anyone with that glorified fish hook?” 

Your entire body went cold. Hopefully that wasn’t a suggestion.

“No, but you can be the first to try it out.” 

“Aww, Croc, you’re making me blush.” He didn’t seem even a tiny bit flustered.

Ignoring you was part of their sick game. Making you feel so incredibly small and unimportant. Nothing but a fleshlight for two of the most powerful men in the world to share while they bickered among themselves. 

Trying to regain their focus, you clenched your holes and moaned loudly. “Shh, darling,” Crocodile cooed mockingly. “The adults are talking.”

You hated how much that humiliation turned you on and made your core ache with need. 

“Well, she seems about ready.” Doflamingo chuckled, unceremoniously pulling out of your swollen pussy, his cock angry and red and shining with your juices. You fought to keep your lower half from collapsing to the bed. “How do you wanna do this?”

You looked up at Crocodile questioningly, not daring to take his dick out of your mouth yet. Your boss gently tugged at your hair and you raised your head, coughing and sputtering for air. You suddenly felt a shameful sense of emptiness – you missed having your holes stuffed full.

He stroked the back of your head as if you were his pet. “Any ideas, doll?”

It was the first time all night that they asked for your opinion, that you weren’t passively taking every bit of pleasure and pain that they graciously gave you. You gulped nervously, looking between both men. Doflamingo seemed especially excited to hear you pick your poison. 

“M-maybe… I could… sit in your laps?” You replied timidly, unsure if your input even mattered. 

“Is that a question or an answer?” Crocodile raised an eyebrow.

As calm and collected as both men seemed, you could tell they were growing impatient. Their cocks dripped precum and subtly twitched with need. You were desperate for stimulation, too, so you steeled your hazy mind and nodded resolutely. “I want to sit in your laps. Feel you both so deep inside me. I… I might go crazy if you don’t fuck me.” You turned to Doflamingo, batted your eyes innocently, and added, “I’ll be good for you, I promise.”

The blonde threw his head back and moaned exaggeratedly. “Fuck, baby, you’re straight out of my wet dreams. Why don’t you visit Dressrosa sometime?”

“Don’t get any ideas,” Crocodile gave the man a hard glare, helping your shaky body into a sitting position. “She’s mine. The best secretary I’ve had in years.”

Doflamingo cackled. “I forgot she’s your fucking employee! There’s no way you two actually get any work done. I bet I can open any file cabinet in your office and find cum stains on those papers.”

“Open anything in my office and I’ll throw you in my Sea Prism Stone cell.”

You rolled your eyes as you maneuvered yourself into Crocodile’s lap, using his shoulders for support as you straddled his slightly spread thighs. Their twisted flirting was seemingly endless. Couldn’t they have picked a better time?

“Don’t get bratty, darling,” he snickered and quickly slapped your breast, making you yelp in surprise. “Unless you can’t survive another minute without our dicks inside you.”

You nodded and bit your lip, feeling your juices trickle out of your hole and drop down your leg. “Please, sir, I need you. Need you both.” Crocodile hummed in satisfaction – he had trained you so well. He pressed an intoxicating open-mouthed kiss to your jaw and simultaneously twisted your nipple. 

“Starting without me isn’t fair.” Doflamingo grumbled petulantly as he shuffled into place behind you. It took a few tries until he found a way to comfortably tangle his hairy legs around Crocodile’s, their pelvises almost pressed together and his massive cock smacking against your spine. The blonde bit your earlobe and laughed when you flinched.

Your fists clenched onto Crocodile’s smooth fur jacket, breasts flush against his muscular pecs, while soft and wispy feathers grazed your back and sent ticklish shivers down your spine. The air felt electric with anticipation and excitement and pure unadulterated lust. Your body might hate you the next morning for this — no, you’d feel the aftermath of their desire for at least a few days. But at that moment, you needed your holes stuffed full more than you needed oxygen. 

With a shaky breath, you stood on your knees, their long cocks still barely fitting underneath you. Doflamingo tapped the crown of his dick against your rim before holding it steady. They waited with bated breath for you to sink down.

Two Warlords were inside you.

You felt like your body was ripping in half. And yet the pain made you even wetter, a debauched moan spilling from your lips and eyes rolling back into your skull. Both men simultaneously groaned in satisfaction, an angelic choir of devils singing your praise. Being on top gave you a refreshing sense of control… one that didn’t last very long.

Crocodile’s hand settled on your hip to gently coax you down, while Doflamingo pressed hard on your shoulders. When it was finally too much and your body refused to take any more – not even halfway down their massive lengths – tight strings wound around your thighs and forced you down the rest of the way. You cried out in anguish, speared on their massive cocks.

Thankfully, the two men let you adjust once you had their entire lengths inside you and rested in their laps. You shuddered in their hold, trying your best to calm your rapid heartbeat. Perhaps there was a hint of kindness in their decision, but it was more likely for their own benefit. A broken toy was no fun to play with and they weren’t even close to being done with you. 

Crocodile reclined against the bed’s headboard and let out a low whistle. “Fuck,” he swore in a gravelly voice, eyes half-lidded and seemingly hypnotized. “You are so fucking full.” 

You looked down in perverted fascination to see your stomach bulging unnaturally, almost making you appear pregnant. He ran his hand over the well-defined outline of his cock and you felt it twitch inside you excitedly.

“What? No fair, you’re hogging the view. Let me see.” Doflamingo pouted, leaning over your shoulder. He giggled ferociously at the sight. “Oh, that’s sexy as hell.” The hand that wasn’t manipulating his strings joined Crocodile’s to rub over your bulging belly, applying pressure to your womb and making you keen. “That feels good, huh? You like when we force our way inside your tight little holes and rearrange your guts?”

Your face burned red at his filthy words but you nodded rapidly. Your boss frowned and pinched your clit, causing wetness to pool in your eyes. “I thought I taught you to use your words.”

“Y-Yes, sir, I love it.” Doflamingo’s long tongue snaked out to lap away the single teardrop running down your cheek. 

“So obedient.” He nuzzled into your neck almost affectionately. “So good for us.”

Moments like this made you question what your relationship with them was. Sure, you were definitely more of a prized possession than a romantic partner, but maybe you possessed them in a different way. You would never voice that thought aloud, but it’s what prevented you from quitting your job, getting the hell out of Alabasta, and finding an actual partner and decent life somewhere else. They could have anyone in the world they desired, but Crocodile hadn’t been with anyone besides Doflamingo and you since the first time he fucked you on his office desk, much too horny to try to seduce you back to his bedroom.

And while you didn’t know what the other Warlord got up to in his own kingdom, at the very least, he always came back for more. Doflamingo could tell vicious lies dripping with sugar like no one else, but part of you hoped there was some truth in calling you gorgeous and perfect and his good little whore. 

You knew you were probably deluding yourself, but Doflamingo’s warm mouth sucking marks into your throat and Crocodile’s palm rubbing over your stomach soothingly made your heart ache and veins burn.

“Alright, enough. Let’s get started.” The blonde used his powers to raise your body slowly, revealing their cocks glistening with your juices. 

“No strings,” Crocodile interrupted, but added with a smirk, “Yet. Let her do it herself for now.”

Doflamingo licked his lips and leaned back on his hands leisurely. His strings loosened but didn’t disappear. “Show me what you’ve got, puppet.” 

This was a test. There would be hell to pay if you failed, though you weren’t sure if passing was humanly possible. You continued to rise up at the pace Doflamingo’s strings had set, inch by delicious inch rubbing against your walls until only the tips were inside you. “You’re both so big,” you bit your lip seductively. “I feel so empty without your dicks.”

Then you quickly sank back down to the base, knocking the air out of your lungs. Head flying back to rest on the blonde man’s feather-coated shoulder. Crocodile’s cock kissed your cervix as Doflamingo’s bullied its way inside your asshole deeper than anything was meant to go. 

You repeated the motion again and again, doing your best to clench your holes tight and take their entire lengths every time. 

“This is getting boring,” the blonde rolled his eyes impatiently. A subtle twitch of his fingers forced you onto your knees then slammed you back down to their laps, their balls slapping against your sensitive skin. You were too overwhelmed to even comprehend what happened, but the man continued to manipulate your body at a brutal pace. 

“Much better.” Crocodile agreed, taking in your blank expression and glazed-over eyes. Your mind completely shut off, focused on receiving every bit of carnal pleasure that the two Warlords graciously gave you. You were completely under their control and at their mercy. Your boss cooed at you mockingly. “Poor girl. There’s not a thought in that pretty little head of yours, huh, doll?”

Your silence answered his question so perfectly that he didn’t even punish you for not responding. 

“She fucking loves it. Look at her drool.” Doflamingo grabbed your chin and forced you to face him. He delighted in your debauched expression, tongue lolling out of your mouth, before leaning back and slapping your ass. Your body spasmed around their cocks. 

The blonde used his strings to hold you down as far as possible, admiring the bulge in your stomach again with a sick grin. You hardly noticed it — you hardly noticed anything at this point. Then he ripped Crocodile’s lit cigar from the corner of his mouth and haphazardly threw it across the room. Miraculously, nothing caught on fire. 

“That was expensive.” Crocodile snarled. 

“I don’t care about your fucking tobacco.” Doflamingo grabbed the other man’s slicked-back hair and slammed their lips together in a hungry kiss that was all teeth and tongue. You watched dazedly as they licked at each other’s mouths like feral animals. Matching each other’s intensity and fighting to maintain their dominance. With his free hand, the blonde groped your breast, squeezing it in his large palm before rolling your nipple between his fingers. 

The men pulled away, panting heavily from the intense kiss. A thick string of saliva kept their lips connected. Doflamingo broke it by swiping his tongue across Crocodile’s reddened bottom lip. 

“Let’s get her pregnant, Croc. I want her tits swollen with milk so I can suck them dry.” You felt a shiver run through your entire body. What a terrifying, deranged, yet tempting thought. You didn’t dare voice your thoughts, but the blonde still felt your ass clench around his cock. He cackled and roughly tugged at your nipple. “I think our little girl likes that idea.”

Crocodile’s dark eyes turned to you. “Consider yourself lucky that he’s not in your pussy.” As if he was wearing a condom himself. As if he even owned condoms. 

Doflamingo suddenly leaned forward and knocked you down with his weight, causing you and Crocodile to fall like dominos. The dark-haired man was almost flat on his back and you were crushed between their bodies, breasts uncomfortably squished against your boss’s fleshy chest. A cloud of pink feathers suddenly encompassed you, hanging loosely from the blonde’s shoulders and fully caging you in. Now that he was on top, he released the strings from around your thighs. Doflamingo gave a particularly harsh thrust forward and you yelped, the change in angle hitting an extra sensitive part of you. Crocodile’s cock insistently pressed against your g-spot.

The blonde placed his hand softly on Crocodile’s cheek, caressing the sharp line of his jaw. Very out of place, very unlike Doffy. But when he pulled away, a single thin thread followed his fingertip like a spider weaving a web. 

“Get this fucking thing off of me.” The dark-haired man growled, grabbing at where it attached to his jaw in vain. Panic raced through your mind — you didn’t want to literally be in the middle of their fight. But Crocodile didn’t seem truly angry, more annoyed that this happened again. 

“I’ll be nice,” he chuckled menacingly. He slowly moved his pointer finger in a come-hither motion and Crocodile’s hips followed the same upwards path, pushing his cock even further inside you. “See? Just wanted to take the lead.”

Doflamingo immediately resumed his inhuman pace, pistoning in and out and making your ass cheeks jiggle from the impact. One hand mimicked marionette motions as he manipulated Crocodile into mirroring his speed and ferocity, and the other held your hip firmly in place. He perfectly timed their thrusts so they pulled out and pushed in at the same exact time, knocking the air out of your lungs and setting your core on fire.

As godly as both men appeared, they were still very much human and rapidly approaching their orgasms. Your boss’s chest heaved underneath you, eyelids fluttering shut and pink dusting his cheeks. Doflamingo panted like a wild beast, letting out breathy, excited giggles at the sight of his two pretty puppets. A few stray feathers had fallen off his coat which landed in Crocodile’s messy hair and clung to your sticky skin. The overwhelming need to possess and consume both of you made the blonde’s head spin. 

You raised your head from where it was buried in your Crocodile’s chest, now covered in a puddle of your drool. “Please, s-sirs, I need-“ You were interrupted by Doflamingo deftly rubbing your neglected clit in tight circles. You choked on your words, looking at your boss pleadingly. 

“You may cum, darling.” Crocodile offered you a merciful smile. 

Stars flashed before your eyes and you swore you ascended to heaven, every nerve in your body tingling and toes curling tightly as you cried out the names of your saviors, before you came crashing down to earth with an unabashed and sinful drawn-out moan. Moments after that bright white light washed over you, thick white cum exploded in both of your holes as the Warlords cried out simultaneously. Doflamingo kept Crocodile’s hips flush against your body as his heavy balls stuffed you full and only lowered them when he had let out his final spurts. 

“Fuck.” The blonde’s breath caught in his throat as he watched his cum spill out around his length, dripping out of your ass onto Crocodile’s dick underneath. You had never felt so used, so filthy, and fuck did it feel incredible. 

The dark-haired man felt your heart beating rapidly against him and noticed you slowly slip into darkness, your consciousness fading. “Stay with us, doll.” He stroked your hair and ran his rough thumb over your cheek. 

You smiled, dazed and dopey. “Th… thank you…”

“Taking everything we give you and thanking us after… absolutely fucking perfect.” Doflamingo breathed heavily. You wailed from sensitivity as he pulled his cock out of your abused hole and the man beneath you followed suit. More globs of cum dripped out of your pussy and ass and spilled onto Crocodile’s fur coat sprawled out beneath him. Doflamingo giggled in delight. “Better wash that for him tomorrow, little girl.”

“She’s a secretary, not a servant.” Crocodile rolled his eyes, knowing that anyone in a position lower than Doffy’s was interchangeable to him. He swiped two fingers down the cleft of your ass, collecting sticky strings of cum and making your oversensitive body jolt. “But good girls clean up their messes, right?”

You obediently sucked his fingers clean, swirling your tongue around his digits and moaning like a whore at the salty taste of their mixed semen. 

Doflamingo untangled his body from yours and reclined back with a satisfied sigh. “When’s round two?”

Your eyes nearly popped out of your skull, but Crocodile spoke before you could protest — his words held more weight than yours, after all. “That was round four for her. It’s a miracle that your dick hasn’t killed someone yet.”

“Fine, I’ll wait.” He pouted like a spoiled child. “But don’t go soft on me, Croc. You’re the only one who’s fun enough to share toys with.”

Crocodile rolled you off of his chest none too gently, but thankfully, you had a plush blanket and padded mattress to land upon. “If we’re both ready to go, why not do a round without her?” His predatory gaze met yours. “I’m sure she would love to watch.”

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

How to read the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Light Novels

I was recently reminded that there is a lot of people who simply don’t know that they can read the Case Files light novels, and that there are people who do know but have no idea where to find them. This is especially a problem when these people have only watched the anime and want to know where they can find more of the story. Since it kind of requires you to go through some hoops (not a whole lot but still), I decided to take a page out of @humbertozero​‘s excellent Fate/strange Fake resource post and make one for my other favorite Type-Moon Fate spinoff, the dossiers of El-Melon.

Read the First Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.1 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Second Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.2 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Third Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.3 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Fourth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.4 (PDF) (EPUB1) (EPUB2)

Read the Fifth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.5 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Sixth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.6 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Seventh Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.7 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Eighth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.8 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Ninth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.9 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Tenth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.10 (PDF) (EPUB)

Important note!

It should be noted first that I am just the compiler here. I am neither the translator nor am I the files’ creator. So all credits go to...

Credits

Credits and thanks to TwilightsCall on the Beast Lair forums (from which the majority of the other creditors originally posted their contributions) for translating the first 4 volumes and some of volume 5, thus getting the ball rolling. Further thanks to azwhoisverybored for translating the rest of the series from volume 6 onwards, and thanks to Kneenaw for starting the translation for the rest of volume 5. Thanks to Dotelias for making EPUBs for volumes 1-3, thanks to  cereal_ for making EPUBs of volume 4, thanks to u/confusedkuratowski on Reddit for making EPUB of volume 6, and thanks to ProtoformX for making PDFs and EPUBs for volumes 5 to 10 as well as for Adventures volume 1!

And big thanks to Makoto Sanda for writing Case Files in the first place!

Further explanations

Anime

The anime adaptation of Case Files, with the mouthful of a title that is Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note, is particular to use as an entry-point in the series, because it only partially adapts the series. See, the author, Makoto Sanda, said in interview that the two first arcs/cases in the series didn’t quite work as scripts for anime episodes, so the anime only adapted the third case/arc, Rail Zeppelin, which is more action oriented than the more mystery focused first arcs. But because they still needed to explain stuff like Gray, Reines, El-Melloi’s students, etc., many of whom are relevant characters to the arc, the first half/six episodes of the anime is about introducing them.

So to the question “where do I start reading after the anime?”, the answer is unironically to restart at volume 1. And then you may skip volumes 4-5 since they are the Rail Zeppelin arc and there are not much differences besides some characters not being present during that arc. This is why I think you can watch the anime first if that’s more your speed (I have my problems and criticisms of the anime but that’s irrelevant to this post).

And you can’t start with the anime and start reading with volume 6, the first 3 volumes have characters and plot points that come back for the final arc, so you’re gonna be incredibly lost if you think to consume the series this way.

Weirdly enough, despite being original episodes, the anime originals are most likely canon in some ways. Episode 0, the original OVA, is an expansion of an anecdote Gray mentions in the first volume’s prologue, and Episode 1 takes place during Waver’s travels before the story starts and is an actual story, one of the 3 incidents Sanda has in mind for Waver’s journey before he returned to London. Episodes 2 to 6 take place during the one month period between volume 3 and volume 4, and finally the special OVA take place on Christmas also in between arcs.

Manga

The manga has gorgeous art, but, at the time of writing, it is unfortunately only translated up to the second case right now. Still, go check it out.

The Adventures of El-Melloi II

The sequel series currently ongoing, started a year after the first Case Files ended in 2019. You might know it as “the (other) series where Rin shows up grown up and also a pirate”. @reignsan has been compiling pretty thorough chapter-by-chapter summaries of the volumes by @kaibutsushidousha if you don’t mind being spoiled. Or you can be patient and wait for azwhoisverybored to finish translating them on Beast Lair in this thread.

At the time of writing (27/07/23), the first volume of Adventures has been completed and compiled into PDF and EPUB forms.

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files material

This is absolutely not required reading in any shape or form, those lore books are usually of interest only to dumb nerds like me lol. A timeline of the Clock Tower? An explanation of its politics? Yes please. But it also has insights into the characters by the author that aren’t in the books proper, as well as behind-the-scenes explanations for some decisions (for example, why it’s Gray with the American spelling instead of Grey with the British spelling). Only the glossary/encyclopedia is translated, but give it a look...after you read the series, because it assumes you did and has some big spoilers.

Drama CD

What’s that? You heard something about a Buzzfeed quizz about the most handsome Clock Tower teachers and how it’s somehow a plot point? Look no further than one of my only posts that did numbers. Read the summary, it’s hilarious.

[tacagen]

rating thawne's deaths on a 10 point scale

snapped neck: 6/10. ok. not good, not bad, well-deserved, timeless, impactful. i love the way thawne is still complaining about that one though.

flashpoint: 9/10. imagine becoming a living paradox and proceeding to rant about how your speedster nemesis cant hurt you now (very normal way to put it btw.) only to be pierced by a fucking sword. dumb and classic, all good here.

the button: 100/10 THE DUMBEST DEATH OF THEM ALL AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE. also a classic, imagine being told multiple times that youre going to die and fucking carry on like youre the Smartest here and nothing could ever happen to you and actually ima adopt you barry. thawne's character at its finest.

running scared: 8/10. not bad. ironic last words and 'on my life i swear' about the promise he intended to break all along. once again, dead because he couldnt shut the fuck up and look around him. iris, my beautiful tired of thawne's shit queen, I STAN.

the flash cw season 1: 5/10. dont remember it much asides from being totally pointless as it has 0 effect on thawne's existence further and our beloved Genius of Time Travel, who can Calculate Every Single Timeline Consequence To His Actions revealing his fucking name to his ancestor and bullying him into murder by suicide.

legends of tomorrow season 2: 10/10. love this one. top 10 reverse-flash moments. my dude got together like 15 other versions of himself for each to do practically fucking nothing other than to group pose and die. an honorable mention: poor black flash who got called a monster just for trying to do his timeline protection job and who endured all of thawne's shit only for it to turn out completely pointless as well. then again if you think about it, everything that happens in cw is pointless.

the flash cw season 6: 2/10. does that even count as a death. makes zero fucking sense. 2 points only for thawne being a total loser and resembling negaduck's 'crisis on infinite darkwings' death.

suicude squad: hell to pay: 10/10. i gave this 10 points already just for his last words 'fuck my life'. again, DOESNT KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP WHICH GETS HIM KILLED. thawne believing in the afterlife in the first place feels out of character to me though.

finish line: 0/10. it was very hard to waste a character like that without even realizing it AFTER WRITING HIM WITH SUCH A DEEP UNDERSTANDING BEFORE but you've done it, williamson ⭐

legends of tomorrow season 7: 7/10. very balanced death, little bit of thawne having zero fucking braincells, little bit of meaning. not even complaining about the concept, silly little domesticated rat doing his silly little job of preserving the timeline. i approve.

jurassic league: 10/10. first i suggest we just stop and think for a moment about the fact that we got a DINOSAUR THAWNE in a list of deaths. second THIS PREHISTORIC DUMPLING GOT FUCKING EATEN. third insert an extinction pun. perfect understanding of thawne being a fucking joke of a character and meme potential.

flashpoint beyond: 12/10. did NOTHING in the plot. meant NOTHING for the plot. just spawned as a corpse and looked pretty in the morgue (10 points already purely for The Page) and i respect that. 1 more point for the button encore and another to martha wayne. thank you for your service queen, we'll never forget your impact on this one.

knight terrors: the flash: 8/10. this mf lasted exactly 3 pages. neat but a bit sad if you think about it. not only got killed unprovokedly but his precious museum he just tried to protect got damaged as well. didnt even get to finish neither the tour or his point about barry not being able to wake up (again, only tried to help in a way by that?). also i like the way he's once again a creation of barry's subconsciousness acting suspiciously fruity.

[findingyourrootscomic]

Been a while since I did a reflection. ^w^

Wow, look at this! Finding Your Roots is officially five years old. On this day in 2018, I sketched the first six pages of FYR. Now it's 2023, and with 510 pages publicly released and 567 drawn, I'd say we're doing a pretty bang-up job of moving this story along! Three gym badges obtained, 12 chapters completed with a 13th halfway done (including intermission chapters), 0 deaths passed, 1 revive used, and 9 catches caught. I'm so happy with the progress I've made on this comic in this half a decade I've been drawing it. The cast is growing, the story is moving, and the actual plot is finally kicking off!

Because of this comic, my life has been permanently changed. Since starting it, this comic breathed new life into me. I found an audience for my stories and writing. Every day my work is showered in love, and it is an absolute dream come true. I'm an accomplished comic artist now with two completed works and two more in progress, and we'll keep going until we finish every single one! Through comicking, I was even able to finally find an audience for my prose work, which is even MORE a dream come true! And it's not just about my fictional work, but my life as a whole. Being a comic artist has become my identity. I spend hours every day working on my stories. They held my hand through mental illness, strife, and recovery. They gave me purpose and helped me look to a future I could no longer envision for myself. Thanks to their help, I was able to graduate college (I started FYR just before my freshman year began), and now this month, I'm starting a proper career in psychological research! I'm moving in with my best friend (again), my pets are thriving, and for the most part, I feel healthy and sound. I don't think any of this would've truly been possible if I never found support for my writing!

So really, THANK YOU to everyone who reads FYR. Thank you to everyone who reads any of my comics! This is a journey we're all on together. The comic is maybe a third of the way done, possibly close to halfway depending on circumstance, and we're just gonna keep going and going and going to the end! I'm so fucking excited y'all, I'm excited for what we've accomplished so far and I'm excited for the future I get to look forward to! This comic is gonna keep getting better and better, so if you're up for it, keep reading! In return, I'll keep on drawing. ^w^

Thanks so much for five amazing years, guys. Here's to five or ten more!

[menheramar]

Otogi No Uta Masterlist

This series has like 3 fans so I figured I'd make it easier for people to get into it. The story is told through a series of "movements," CD dramas, and a manga. It also has cute comics, posted on the official Mute Twitter. This list will focus on collecting sources for English speaking fans.

If you don't know anything about the series, you should start by reading this twitter thread by nemuruoogarasu! Feel free to look through the unofficial wiki as well, you can learn a little more about each band and character there. The series is mostly based on the bands and the characters, so pick your favorites :)

After that, listen to some of the songs. I have a playlist compiling them from the official channel here, and I have listed them below as well. There is no specific order you have to listen to them in. Be aware that some of the songs are not uploaded in their entirety, as some have to be purchased through the official drama CDs. The full mp3 files can accessed through amazon.jp.

Story

The story is a bit confusing to follow, and as of writing, not everything has been translated. I will be updating this as often as possible.

Basically, Otogi no Uta is about several bands fighting with special music powers in "Live Battles" against each other. This is in order to obtain "The End," a thing which can grant any wish. Those who posess music powers are called "Utaibito," which could roughly translate to "Melody User," "Musician," or "Music Person" in english (though I left it as is in the manga).

Comics

As of now, most of the comics are untranslated. They don't follow the main plot, and mainly consist of cute and silly interactions with the characters in their mute forms.

Some mute comics have been translated on the wiki, and most of them can be found on the official Mute Twitter. (I ran out of hyperlinks in this post but they are both linked above.) A few have also been translated by me and are at the end of each manga chapter.

There is also a series of short comics from the official website explaining some of the concepts in Otogi no Uta. I've translated them here.

Manga

The manga serves as a backstory for each band and character. You should probably get to know the characters a little through the wiki first so you are not completely lost. Each two chapters go over the backstory of how one of the bands formed and what their goal is and set the group dynamics and personalities.

Also to note, each chapter title corresponds to a song by that band! All chapters have been translated by me.

Ch 0 - Prologue (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 1 - Ensa no Roubitsu Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 2 - Ensa no Roubitsu Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 3 - HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 4 - HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 5 - Kazoe Uta Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 6 - Kazoe Uta Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 7 - Weltreise Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 8 - Weltreise Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 9 - Reine Seele Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 10 - Reine Seele Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 11 - Jyuroku Yaman Hana Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 12 - Jyuroku Yaman Hana Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 13 - Rinnegyo Kei Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 14 - Rinnegyo Kei Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 15 - LOUDBRAVE Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 16 - LOUDBRAVE Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 17 - Epilogue (tumblr) (mangadex)

Movements

There are 45 "movements" (and 2 overtures and 1 prelude), starting here. Make sure you don't miss the tabs on the top of the page to read all of them! I believe it goes over all the bands meeting up to participate in the live battles.

Songs + Drama Tracks

From my understanding, the drama tracks that aren't part of a "vs" CD go over mostly the same as the manga but more in depth.

Note: The wiki has auto translated lyrics for untranslated songs! A lot is still untranslated, but I'll do my best to gather everything here. If you find any links to translations, please send them my way, I'll be sure to add them!

Shuan no Gokumon - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Togabito no Shirabe - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Ensa no Roubitsu - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 01 Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 02

Hitoribōshi - Issun-Bōshi Komo Yūgi - Issun-Bōshi Kazoe Uta - Issun-Bōshi Issun-Bōshi DRAMA TRACK 01 Issun-Bōshi DRAMA TRACK 02

Blinzen Parade - Bremüsik Gutes Fest! - Bremüsik Weltreise - Bremüsik Bremüsik DRAMA TRACK 01 Bremüsik DRAMA TRACK 02

Rosen Melodie - BLASSKAIZ Ritus - BLASSKAIZ Reine Seele - BLASSKAIZ BLASSKAIZ DRAMA TRACK 01 BLASSKAIZ DRAMA TRACK 02

HaPpY uNBirThDAy♠ - AlicexToxic (translated lyrics) HaVE A NicE tRIP♧ - AlicexToxic HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ - AlicexToxic Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 01 Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 02

Liberty - Momotroop Imperfect - Momotroop LOUDBRAVE - Momotroop Momotroop DRAMA TRACK 01 Momotroop DRAMA TRACK 02

Note: I will be shortening "Mushoku no Sora to Warau Ito" to "MSWI" Ochiyuku Hasu No Hanabira Rinne Wo Mitsumete - MSWI Nehan Jakujo - MSWI Rinnegyo Kei - MSWI MSWI DRAMA TRACK 01 MSWI DRAMA TRACK 02

Jyuroku Yaman Hana - Kashin no Okina SPECIAL VOICE DRAMA

Fantasie Nacht - Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club Kaimei no Doukoku - Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 01 (translation) Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 02

Hitorigoto - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Keep on… - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Rinne no Kubiki - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 01 Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 02 Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 03

Möbius - BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic ♢WoNdeR PaRTy♦ - BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 01 BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 02

Oshimai wo Kono Te Ni - all (translated lyrics) Medorē (DJ Remix) feat. Issun-Bōshi - connected the songs of 7 units from the 1st series by Issun-Bōshi Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS - DRAMA TRACK 01 Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS -DRAMA TRACK 02 Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS -DRAMA TRACK 03

[sarascamander]

Okay, review for crystal of time!

1. I adore Sophie in the previous books but now she's my WIFE. SHE SLAYED SO HARD IN THIS ONE. Her pov is my personal favourite to read and I keep waiting for her turn particularly because I love her setting and position. She was held captive, she had to be a bride, she was the closest to the enemies. So I love the fact that we get to know more about the twins through her, I love her struggles and frustration, her scheming and manipulation and the way the enemies are keeping eyes closely to her so every of her actions need to be calculated. Again, she slayed so hard. She was a badass and iconic. Sure Sophie can act like an airhead sometimes but you can't deny that she can be cunning and clever when she wants and she proves that time and time again in this book. This is my favourite book of hers (sorry book 2 Sophie, you have to take second place now).

2. I have a whole rant on Rhian and Sophie on another post. In short, I ship them so hard

3. The first years are adorable!!! I love every and each one of them, they're so cute and small and wholesome.

4. Anadil's rat... OMG GIRLY LET ME HUG YOU (she'd kill me)

5. The author knows what he was doing when he gave us Dovey's perspective. The only comfort I have is that she's with Lady Lesso now, and they're HAPPY TOGETHER.

6. Am I the only one that thinks Agatha and Tedros kind of blend in the background in this? At least in part 1. They were still amazing though and Agatha is rocking it as always.

7. Sophie and Agatha friendship!! Platonic soulmates at its finest, I just stan them so much. They will always love and protect each other and I find them the purest. Also, that scene where they helped Tedros walked and kept him warm is so wholesome!!!!

8. But the way Tedros kept doubting Sophie's loyalty made me want to strangle him honestly. Have some damn faith.

9. Is Aric and Japeth...more than friends? It certainly implied heavily, I think and despite being two matching psychopaths with 0 screentime together, I ship them ngl. There's just something so vulnerable and pure whenever Japeth talked about Aric and the way their relationship is described.

10. Ngl, it was a slow start for me especially in part one and the only pov I find interesting is Sophie's but the plot certainly picked up. However, there are also a lot of Info dumps in my opinion. Suddenly I'm facing a long paragraph that covers like two pages of what happened and has to slough through it.

Initially I want to give it 3 or 4 stars but the ending always leaves a mark and always leaves the biggest lasting impression of the book so it's a 5 for me lmao.

[veloxiraptors]

Vic's Midpollo/The Authority Rec List

Core Content:

- Stormwatch Vol 2. (issues #4-6) contains Midnighter & Apollo's origin story. It's written by Warren Ellis, and anything written by him is guaranteed to be good. The team they’re part of is blatantly a satirical take on the Justice League and it’s hilarious. While these are the only issues that include Midnighter & Apollo, I definitely recommend Ellis’ entire Stormwatch run (Vol.1 #37-50 & Vol.2 #1-11)–it made me fall in love with Shen & Jenny Sparks more than I already was. 

- The Authority Vol.1 (issues #1-12) was also written by Warren Ellis; this is truly one of my favourite comic books of all time. The character interactions, plot, and art are all fantastic. I started reading this run for Midnighter & Apollo, and by the end I had fallen in love with the entire team; they’re rough-edged and violent without being gratuitous, witty without being corny, and it was fun as hell to read through them slaughtering both interdimensional colonialists and also god. There is unfortunately a villain who is an Evil Chinese Stereotype in the first arc though.

- The Authority Vol.1 (issues #13 & #29) the first & last issue of The Authority written by Mark Millar. It sucks ass but these two issues explain Midnighter & Apollo's adopted daughter (#13) and show them getting married (#29) which is the only reason I'm reccing them in the first place. It’s gratuitously violent without reason, and hurls slurs, homophobia, racism, sexism, and addiction at its readers for no reason other than shock value. 

- The Authority Vol.2 (issues #0-9, #11-13) Issues 0-9 are an absolute blast, both the art style & tone were more in line with Ellis' run than Milars, and we get a call-back to the first arc of The Authority Vol.1 which I thought was pretty cool. Issues 10-13 take place after a 4-issue mini-series (Coup d'État) that culminates in The Authority ousting the president of the US, which I didn't read bc I had no desire to. Issue 10 is a direct follow-up to that arc, but it's rarely mentioned throughout issues 11-13 which is why I kept them. There were definitely parts of Vol.2 that I wasn't fond of, but the good far outweighs the bad in my opinion.

- The Authority: Revolution (issues #1-12) starts with The Authority dealing with the consequences of taking over the USA in Coup d'État, and it still made sense despite the fact I never read that arc. I was slow to get into it, but by the end I was flipping pages as fast as I could read them. The first few issues set up some interesting ideas and it follows through in knocking them down in a satisfying way. Their fight against the Big Bad felt a little too clean-cut in my opinion, but issue #11 has some amazingly angsty midpollo content.

- The Authority Vol.4 (issues #1-17) takes place after a crossover event spanning 3 mini-series between the biggest Wildstorm properties, but all you need to know is this: it's the apocalypse. While Midnighter and Apollo are separated by circumstance, it makes the issues where they appear together all the more impactful in my opinion. The original Authority run by Ellis will always be my favourite, but this run is definitely second place. The series wraps up nicely on a beautiful and hopeful note, and while there were still a few loose threads, this is definitely one of the better comic series ends I've read.

One-Shots & Miniseries:

- Planetary/The Authority: Ruling the World is a one-shot crossover event. It’s a pretty fun read, minus the fact that H.P. Lovecraft makes an appearance.

- Wildstorm Winter Special 2005: Two Dangerous Ideas is a funny little one-shot where Midnighter and Apollo meet their alternate-reality counterparts: Daylighter and Pluto. Hilarity ensues. 

- The Authority: Human on the Inside (miniseries) the plot makes no damn sense but Midnighter & Apollo have some really cute interactions in this and the art is soooo pretty.

- Lobo/The Authority: Jingle Hell the art is an... interesting choice and the writing is a rude, crude riot. I found this in my local comic shop's dollar bin and while it definitely belongs there, I do not regret buying it.

For the love of all that is good and gay please do not read Stormwatch Vol.3 it was part of the New 52 relaunch and reading it caused me psychic damage. 

And feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions!

[roughdaysandart]

4-29-24 Progress/Updates!!!

EDIT: Holy god, I forgot to add the like 7 prolougue parts to the outline below...Jesus christ... This is is gonna be a LONG work, guys...

-----[ORIGINAL POST]-------

HOLY SHIT I did ALOT of writing/edits these last few days!

Also tragically remembered that I wanted all flashbacks/past sequences to be monochrome (except for blood, fire, significant objects), so ha I wasted sooo much time last week coloring the Chapter 0's first few pages! But it looks sck as FUCK, almost like Noir!

Thankfully I finalized the main plot/arc differences BEFORE drawing too ahead. Im SO excited with the filler content/edits Ive made, SG has a very VERY compelling charcahter development plan/backstory thats REALLY gonna take what the original Rough Day already gives us about her to a different FUCKING level.

So now that my major writing-fever/panick in getting the overarching charcater developments finalized has FINALLY ended, I can share the almost finalized sub-chapter titles! Maybe you can gage some of the struggles well be seeing by the titles alone! Also for the sake of organization, Ive divided Rough Day (ABCR) into 4 'books/seasons', with the last one obviously changing/being altered based on the last few chapters that @no-droids releases whenver theyre ready!

CH 0: PREFACE

 PT 1: Other Talents

 PT 2: Rules and Habits

CH 1: ROUGH DAY

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 2: HEARTENED IN HYPERSPACE

PT 1: Ow, ow, ow, OW-OW-OW

PT 2: No longer.

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 3: NEGOTIATION SKILLS

PT 1: Useful.

PT 2: Convincing

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 4: REST

PT 1: Unrelenting Interruptions

PT2: Quiet Murmurs in the Dark

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 5: OF METAL AND MEN

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 6: A SHOW OF GOOD FAITH

PT 1: Forget about it. Forget about it.

PT 2: The Deal

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 7: RUSHED

PT 1: Honor

PT 2: Something

PT 3: Natural, Not Normal

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 8: THE FLOOR IS BETTER

PT1: In Memoriam

PT2 : Oil and Water

PT3: Stepping Stones

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

Book/Season 2: TORN

CH 9: BROWN EYES

Pt 1: Listen and Learn 

Pt 2: Unintended, overheard.

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 10: JUST THE TRANSLATOR

PT 1: TBD ("devastatingly, upper-hand”?)

PT 2: TBD (“Fireside Chat?”)

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 11: CHAPTER 11

PT 1: Promise Me

PT 2: It’s Yours

Pt 3: If You Close Your Eyes

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 12: BEGINNER’S LUCK

PT 1: TBD: (“Lucked out/”?)

PT 2: Shot to the Heart

Prolouge: Part (chapter #)

CH 13: KAR’TAYLIR

PT 1: …and to lose.

PT 2: Is to love...

Prolouge: Finale

CH 14: WHENEVER YOU WANT

PT 1: TBD

PT 2: Everything, and then Everything Again (Confessions of a Middle-Age Trauma Queen)

Book/Season 3: THE CHASE

CH 15: OUT OF TRILLION  (Parts TBD)

CH 16: ASK ME AGAIN TOMORROW(Parts TBD)

CH 17: WHISPERS OF YOU(Parts TBD)

CH 18: HOME(Parts TBD)

SEASON 4: BE NOT AFRAID (TBD)

CH 19: BE BRAVE

CH 20: ANOTHER ROUGH DAY

CH 21 - End

Possible epilouge

I seriously cannot believe how intense and real and FUN the editing/writing process has been...I never thought of myself as a ...like a writer but holy cow I feel like I could envison an actual written work or show having the story arc Ive written for SG. Im very proud of what Ive done!

-----------------------------------------

Rough Day Originally by @no-droids

Roudh Day ('Abridged for Christian Roomates') Comic by @roughdaysandart

[yourlocalartsonist]

ROTTMNT Moths Fly In Packs Masterlist

“You are worth the work it takes to love you.”

Is what Salena was raised to believe. But after her mother mysteriously disappeared and father passed a year later, living with her aunt only provided conditional love (if you could even call it love). Same deal with the only two friends she made at school. Love is strangely hard to find, no matter how easily you give it.

But maybe all she needs is a change of pace? Some new faces, some new friends, some new adventures? Yeah, that'd be pretty nice! A fresh start on this tricky trail of love.

Who knew those new friends would be green, though, am I right?~

[Ask Box/Q&A Closed For Now :3]

Warning: This fanfic is not made for the faint of heart since it does deal with some heavy and traumatic topics. I add content warnings before every chapter so if it seems like something you can't safely handle, scroll past and find something else! No hard feelings :3

Thank you to @yosajaeofficial for being the Assistant, @urlocalmj and misfortun3_ismyname (on TikTok) for being the Beta Readers, and @chaoticspeedrun @ramblehour and @goldanrabbit for being the Plot Trackers!

—

Arc I - They Love Me, They Love Me Not (9/14)

Setting our story up, nothing more I’m sure~

Arc II - Oh, Lilac! (0/30)

Fun wholesome happy times with the gang! Right?…

|To Be Continued|

You can also read it on ao3 btw~

—

Character Roster Page

—

✨Extras✨

Storms Create Stronger Bonds - @yosajaeofficial melted my heart fr

—

[gerbiloftriumph]

Floating Castle Liveblog (first read)

The King's Quest series has been graced with a very silly and very wonderful trilogy of adapted novels, and of them all, the first is my favorite. I have read it more times than I should, and liveblogged my musings on Goodreads in real time, er, multiple times.

Below is my first readthrough. Follow along with my initial, baffled, but ultimately delighted, self. Obviously, spoilers for an objectively terrible but subjectively amazing video game novelization from the 90s.

(and if you want to read the Floating Castle yourself, well, [I'm sure there are avenues online] but you didn't hear that from me)

May 7, 2018 –

page 0

Let it be officially known: I am terrifically excited to read this, and a little nervous, too. Please be good. Please be good. But please don't be SO good that I want to break my wallet trying to get a copy of See No Weevil. [side gerbil note: at the time, one of the only copies of See No Weevil, the third book in the series, available for purchase online was selling for $8k. No, that's not a joke.]

page 6

I miiiight be wrong, but wasn't Merlin's Mirror blank for all the years Alexander was missing, too? I have a feeling I read that somewhere...eh. I should read the actual game manuals sometime.

page 9

It's a touch on the fluffy side. A whole paragraph is dedicated to Alexander getting out of bed. But, let's be clear, that fluff worked really well a few pages ago with the storm, so. Plus, it's from the 90s, so. For some reason fantasy from then seems to be fluffy

page 10

You out of shape magician boy, you. Then again, 4 deep flights of castle steps (probs rough flagstone, rather uneven) is probably hard to climb, so. Fair.

page 14

Graham is such a good king. Like. Really really good.

page 26

Come on, magician prince. You can think of somethiiiing.

page 18

Sir Brian of House Blessed, I presume.

page 40

A: Oh, you stuck Graham's soul in a crystal? Very Ocarina of Time of you. What year did this come out? B: ...why is this actually kind of a good book? Like, from an honest fantasy novel perspective, not just a King's Quest adaptation perspective, it's actually not that bad. Slightly dated with its fluffy descriptions, but I've read plenty of worse fantasy before.

page 47

I didn't expect to enjoy a magician turning into a tree as much as I am, and I love Alexander being all good and diplomatic and not swearing anyone out for Cyril's complete uselessness.

page 49

I wonder how old Alexander is. I don't think it's said. How far past Manannan are we? Has KQ5 happened yet? These are not crucial questions, and yet. I'm curious. Do we know about Crispin? He's probably fractionally more useful than Morowyn. But only fractionally, cos he's still mostly useless.

page 54

Alex (paraphrased): So. All I have to do is sneak into Telgrin's evil doom castle, figure out where he hid a crystal of undetermined size with King Graham's soul in it, steal it (it had better not be car sized), sneak out without getting caught, and get home before his empty body dies, and you can put the soul back in? Cyril (quote): Oh, yes. Almost certainly. Probably. I think. Sounds like a PLAN, guys. Let's go!

page 54

Addendum to the above REALLY AWESOME PLAN. Do it before Telgrin tortures Graham's soul into hideous unrecognizability. Y'know. No pressure or anything.

page 58

I like Cyril. Road trip with the boys!

page 65

What sort of spooky ringwraith nonsense....

page 74

That’s....that’s just lembas bread. Literally just lembas.

page 81

Okay, there’s a thing I don’t like. Little episodic things periodically happen but so clumsily. I think it’s to give Alexander “items” to solve later puzzles, like the games. Direct quotes here: “Good apple,” Cyril said. “Very good.” “Sweet.” “Mmm.” And that’s the end of the exchange. Like. I get it, apples will probably be important later but. That dialogue is less than riveting

May 8, 2018:

page 87

"He’s going to try to ride a kelpie. I’ve never been so excited about a plot development in all my life!

page 108

I very much enjoyed that bit with the ogre, and now we’re hiding in barrels to sneak in. This book is like, nothing but all the best possible Fantasy Highlights.

page 123

Also, I’m fond of this exchange: “You are an evil man.” “So it has been said.” Telgrin shrugged. “Personally I’ve always found that such abstractions do not apply well to the real world. They make matters that are by their very nature complex seem rather too simple, don’t you think?” “Evil,” Alexander repeated."

page 133

Ewwww what is that thing. That’s a horrible beastie.

page 139

Where was he? Yes. Who was this beside him? Yes. Alexander those are not answers to your questions.

page 146

“All I’d have to do is wait until Telgrin is out of the room, step through the mirror, reclaim my father’s soul, and return through the mirror.” Alexander *liked* this plan."

page 162

It's absolutely just The Best Parts of Any Fantasy shoved together in one frantic ball of fury, with maybe three pages at most devoted to each new Fantasy Segment. I'm so into it. It's not a challenge to read by any stretch--I'd say it's middle grade fiction level--but, like, yo. It's crazy fun so who cares. (darn it, book, you broke my theory about where Telgrin had stuffed Graham. Boo. I was enjoying my guess.)

page 163

If my baby boy has broken his arm punching this ringwraith there will be hell to pay from me. I will protect this scarf-wearing lad at all costs. I say, when he's probably my age and knows at least a little magic and how to use a sword and has no problem crawling around dungeons and enemy castles.

page 165

Alexander is SUCH a pile of snark. Yeah, this is going well, he thinks. Now we have *four* knights chasing us.

page 168

“Cyril, I really don’t think—“ “*Enough.* there’s no time for discussion. Prepare yourself.” “No, Cyril, I— Aieeeeeeee!” Boys please

page 170

Are you KIDDING. It took us ages to get INTO the castle. And now we’re stuck outside again. P sure Telgrin is going to raise security after that debacle and kerfuffle you just caused.

page 175

Cuss the ever loving frick out of that tree root. You’ve earned a little less-than-princely reaction after this hell day.

page 181

Graham’s been soul-less for about a week at this point if I’ve added up right. He can wait a bit more, probably.

page 183

THIS IS NOT A HELPFUL SOLUTION TO THE MANY PROBLEMS AT HAND.

page 185

“Did you speak, Sir Frog?” “That’s Prince Frog to you.” Alex, please reign back the sass a little bit. You’re not helping matters.

page 194

We’ve found a princess, convinced her to smooch, he turns human again, and the first thing she says is “but....you’re *beautiful.*” Agreed, yo.

page 204

He’s been walking around with a hat this whole time? I hope it has a feather in it.

page 219

My baby Grahaaaaaam. Sorry about the week of agonizing torture. We came quick as we could. That whole scene with you and Telgrin was so cool and you’re so brilliant and I love your stupid regal face. Also. This exchange; “What happened?” “I’m not exactly sure. All I know is that Telgrin came uncomfortably close to killing me.” Y’know, no big deal.

page 223

"It opened its eyes, blinked, and said, “Hmph. What’s happening? Where am I?” “It’s all right, dear,” the first head said. “Go back to sleep. I am just going to kill this man here.” “Oh, that’s all right, then.”

page 228

I’m amazed Telgrin hasn’t raised hell and panic after losing Graham and his staff. Like. This isn’t a good event for our villain but we everyone seems remarkably calm.

page 231

“Is *everyone* in Daventry this obstinate?” Yes. You messed with the wrong royal family, tbh.

page 234

I love this. I love this book. In ways I cannot express because truly it is not a good book and yet. And YET. The setting is phenomenal, the cast both old and new entertaining, the language occasionally dips beyond melodramatic into actually decently lyrical, the action is relentless, and EVERYONE IS SASSY. Be it Alexander, Graham, this new princess, Telgrin. Everyone.

page 243

“I don’t suppose that you’ll tell me what you were up to.” “I don’t suppose.“ The sass is too strong. It’s blinding. I don’t want this book to end.

page 248

“You know, Alexander, I am not normally given to strong emotions. I do not often make declaration of animosity, for these do not agree with my usually thoughtful and scholarly nature. I must, however, tell you that I hate you.” The sass.

page 249

“The wonderful thing is, I have the power to make it all come true. All of it – the pain, the disfigurement, the death. I tell you, sometimes it’s a truly marvelous thing to be me.” Stars above I’m dying this is so good

page 250

This book is amazing. I am dying.

page 252

No, seriously. I am actually laughing out loud at this point. I love this. “She shall marry me unwillingly, or not at all!“

page 255

“Oh, I see the way of it. It’s blame-everything-on-Telgrin time, is it?” It hurts. My joy hurts too much. I’m crying with joy.

page 260

Cool guys don’t look at explosions.

page 269

This castle even has murder holes. Like. This is actually a good solid piece of fantasy, with accurate castles.

page 273

“I could attempt to fly you down.” All in all, Alexander thought he would rather just jump."

page 293

Graham is such a flirt.

page 297

No there’s no more page to turn!!!!!! Nooooooo I want moreeeee. .....aahHahdhsbdjdhdbuebfjxi.

May 8, 2018 – Finished Reading

five stars out of five stars

[newty]

heres my current dion timeline! completely subject to change bc halone knows it has changed many times already! all the stuff in italics are my headcanons, incl ages, which are in parentheses. extreme spoilers abound

aka my 'dion is a 35yo hag w a lot of unhealthy responsibilities & relationships partly caused by underdeveloped lore but im gonna run with it anyway' agenda.

843 (0)

Dion born in Oriflamme

Mom????????????????????????

I think she was just husbandless and hard-up and she got taken advantage of to some degree by Sylv. She can still like, talk to Sylv but they don't have a relationship.

p o v e r t y

849 (6)

- Kanver Independence movement

Wants freedom from Dhalmekia. Trade disruption likely.

850 (7)

- Southwestern Alliance

Alliance of Rosaria & Dhalmekia to oppose Kanver's independence movement. Trade disruption v likely.

852 (9)

Dion awakens as Bahamut. It's nighttime when the scary magic stuff starts and hes just a baby :(

Mom takes him to church bc he's possessed. hiiii priest who fathered him. wtf is going on w this kid.

Mom sells him to Sylv. Weird child headache & poverty solved! Soon after, Sylv becomes emperor and Dion is made prince & imperial scion.

857 (14)

- Kanver Independence obtained

Trade along the Crystal Highway & beyond absolutely disrupted. Sanbrequois interests split between dispute with Waloed and the continental economy.

858 (15)

- Remembrance Ceremony

Dion mobilized in his first sortie--a rebellion inspired by Kanver. insert smth abt having too many thoughts abt money & societal disenfranchisement + responsibility to the public here.

Dion meets the Rosfields.

859 (16)

- The Triunity of 859

Sanbreque joins the anti-Kanver alliance to discourage further revolutions in its territories.

860 (17)

- Night of Flames

The Phoenix Gate attack. Triunity broken. Anabella becomes Empress. Harpocrates fired.

Dion removed from court and sent afield against Waloed. Terence (12) joins him as his page.

861 (18)

- Rosaria attacked by Ironblood & Sanbreque 

Dion knighted as a dragoon and their highest commander. Part of restructuring to incorporate Rosaria.

863 (20)

Terence (15) promoted to squire.

865 (22)

- Battle of the Twin Realms

Bahamut fielded. Sanbreque wins Strait of Autha after decades of a blockade, but were prevented from further conquest by Waloed's alliance with the Dhalmekian Republic, who were concurrently warring w the Iron Kingdom at the Nysa Defile. Teredio confession happens after this.

867 (24)

Terence (19) knighted as a dragoon.

870 (27)

Terence (22) becomes his second in command.

873 (30)

- Battle of Nysa Defile

Dhalmekia vs the Iron Kingdom, Titan vs Shiva, no help from Waloed, Sanbreque's Bastards sent to assassinate Shiva

- Fall of Drake's Head (Oriflamme)

An aetherflood spawns in the crystal mines and consumes its workers. Oriflamme then languishes and the surrounding area experiences poor harvests and trade.

- Battle of Belanus Tor

Bahamut vs Odin. No reinforcements & reports of saboteurs in the capital. Sanbreque loses the Strait of Autha and an entire legion. Dion told to maintain position and continue fighting despite heavy losses.

- Annexation of the Crystalline Dominion

Dion leads the invasion of Crystalline Dominion, which becomes the new imperial capital. 

878 (35)

- Fall of Drake's Breath (Iron Kingdom)

No one cares. Fears about Cid reignite.

- Rosalith Destroyed by Titan

No one cares. The Imperial family doesn't even talk about this when they plot world domination???????

Black Shields cause havoc elsewhere in Rosaria.

- The Crystalline Impasse

The Republic of Dhalmekia at war w Sanbreque over Twinside. Sylvester plans to accept their treaty, take reparations, and backstab them by making Dion destroy the last of their forces. He sends Dion to his camp on the bank opposite Boklad.

- Fall of Drake's Fang (Dhalmekia)

Dhalmekia's chances for a decent treaty completely vanish.

- Olivier Becomes Emperor

Dion and Terence (30) receive news of Titan's death, but must still maintain hostilities and turn Twinside into a battlefield. They learn of Olivier's ascension to the throne. Joshua meets with them.

Dion returns home and bickers about things. Sylv talks about conquering all of the Twins, and again orders Dion back to his camp to fight the Dhalmeks.

- Meeting w Joshua & Decree

Dion meets with Joshua in the imperial palace and promises to assist him when he is done with Sanbreque business. Afterwards, he makes his decree to coup.

He never returns to his camp? Just plots and pulls out the dragoons and artillery right at the castle?

- Rise of the Wyrm coup

Sylvester, Anabella, and Olivier killed. Twinside destroyed.

Kihel (14)'s grandmother dies in the destruction—if Kihel's grandmother was someone she met semi-recently and who took care of her while she was in Twinside. Or are the lanterns a continental practice rather than a Sanbrequois or Dominion one, so she could have learned about them back in Kostnice? Or was Kostnice just another stop on her travels, instead of a home?

- Fall of Drake's Tail (Twinside)

Taken to Hideaway, then return to Twinside. Kihel finds & nurses him. He reunites w Terence, who survived Somehow.

- Ran'dellah Attacked

Dion and drgs intervene to save Dhalmekian statesmen. He sends Terence to Kihel. The drgs have lost their highest leadership.

- Fall of Drake's Spine (Waloed)

Dion got on Mid's boat somehow, accompanies the team to Ash, and remains with them at the Hideaway.

- Origin

Twinside and its populace completely destroyed. Terence and Kihel are implied to die. Dion reunites with Harpocates. He and the Rosfields go to fight and are also implied to die. All magic removed from the world. 

GAME ENDS 

879 (36)

- 1-6 Months Post-Game

Dion is returned to headquarters and rehabilitated. idk anything abt the bros. Tarja amputates his right arm. He leaves with a bit of money to return to Oriflamme and keep up the Repent gig. 

- 6 Months Post-Game

Fic starts.

---

*at some point cid fights bahamut at oriflamme's crystal. idr enough abt when cid left waloed to guess

**dions hates evil and yet. he cant identify it in his dad. even when he's totally old enough to realize that the night of flames was super sus. compartmentalizing king ig

***idk how old olivier is. i thought he was like 5 until i saw most ppl pinged him as like 10.

****i have no plans of doing anything in depth w mom so im not worried abt her rn. the important part is how scary and badly understood his condition is + how sylv offers explanations, regular meals, and greagor's absolute love in return.

*****terence has a baby face + the squire detail rly solidified the age diff to me. ultimately 5 yrs isnt a lot, but it's more significant when theyre younger, and it gives dion more to sweat abt when he talks abt loathing the power dynamic between them

[chainsawgirlfriend]

Why you should play St. Agatha City

It's free to play, with regular updates as progress is made. This game is still in its alpha state, on chapter 0 out of 7, and kind of lengthy - the unfinished demo alone is several hours of gameplay if you wanna 100% it, but I think it's worth it, and here's why.

1. The main character.

St. Agatha City is an city-exploring mystery game with dating sim elements. This is Pixy Burrow! She's the main character. Unlike a lot of traditional dating sims, Pixy's personality and backstory is just as crucial to the plot and the world she inhabits as the people she meets. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but on the plus side, this means the choices you have her make can have consistency, and consequence. Her responses to situations are also designed to avoid the flat, accidentally unrelatable main character syndrome!

2. The city of St. Agatha itself

St. Agatha is a mid-sized Midwestern city, in the state of Missouri. Though the demo only allows for Pixy to explore the places within walking distance of her apartment, there is a lot of lore and scenery to absorb and explore, with more to come. There is a sinister side of the beautiful new place she's found herself in, which is suspiciously overfunded in recreational activities and decor, but has cracked sidewalks and a lot of unhappy citizens.

3. The cast

There are +20 characters you can meet, and 9 potential love interests of varying personality, background, and gender. Shitty MS paint doodle below...

You've got line cook representation, boylosers, failwomen, cringebeings, autistic boy swag, wolfgirls, a wizard (???), the puppet from Interpol, and Marjory. You figure out who is who.

4. It's got voice actors, fan artists, and a budding community

Art shown: Connor drawn by ghoulenjoyer on toyhouse, Norman by @idiotdoodoohead, Roger and Baxter by @audio-drama, Candyman by SodaWizard_ on Twitter, Denver by @diet-soap, and Baxter by brodyisgone on Instagram, and again by @morgast :3

This game has VAs and will eventually be fully voiced! Currently over half the cast of Chapter 0 are cast, and new voice lines are being added all the time.

5. Production transparency.

Like I said, this game is free. There is no kickstarter, no fundraiser, no merch to sell, and no goddamn ball pit. You couldn't get All or Nothing'd here if you tried, because the only way to throw money at this game is via optional tips, cuz it's hosted on Itch.io. However, due to this and the scale of this game, updates can be slow, but there's a lot of transparency in production - with update previews being posted on the game page, and a very active Discord.

The game is supposed to have eight full chapters, which have been plotted out, with an estimated production span of a few years minimum to fully finish.

6. I made it.

You don't know me (probably), this isn't a flex, that's just self love. You can download it on itch.io! And I'd love it if you do, because I am very proud of my work, and I'd like to ruin the internet with it.

If you have any questions or anything, let me know! you can find a link directly to the download in my pinned post, and you can ping me for a Discord invite!

[which-star]

Hi! I just reread the Spider-Women crossover and was wondering if you recommended any of the Spider-Verse events for Cindy/Gwen friendship content?

Another related question, do you recommend any of the Spider-Verse events for any specific Cindy Moon content?

Hi ink! I've been refreshing my memory on the spiderverse events for you and I have a relatively long answer that's honestly a really short TLDR: none of them are must-must-reads 😭 I'm going to go through every spidey event Cindy was apart of (that I could think of) so, if any of these interest you, you can check them out for yourself or ask me to summarize/condense in another ask because I would be happy too! Long post ahead!

For Silk specifically, she played the biggest role in the original spiderverse event where she was introduced. That's where she meets Gwen and Jess for the first time, so you get the background of the Spider-Women dynamic and there's some fun back and forths in the middle of all the running. Fair warning: this is before her solos so the Cindy/Peter undertones are still there and she's not really the Silk we know now. She's fresh out of the bunker, just became a hero, immature and reckless... and still being underestimated and babied --- just really different. (I can do more meta but I won't make this ask a ten page essay bc I love you guys). Still, I think it remains to be the spiderverse event where Silk plays the biggest role.

For that event, Spider-Woman Vol.1: Spider-Verse (Spider-Woman 2015 #1-4) will get you into the thick of it. It's right after the big group breaks off into a bunch of tie-ins and missions (The Amazing Spider-Man 2014 #9-10) so we get to focus on a narrower cast. I don't think you particularly need to read TASM when the Cindy-writing is... not great, but if you want further background on the event itself that's the starting point for the whole event. If you find yourself wanting to know the end after the Spider-Woman tie-in: TASM 2014 #12-15 is your answer!

Otherwise, I can't really name a particular big spidey event where Silk is particularly relevant. You can skip Spider-Geddon (the sequel event to Spider-Verse) since it's mainly centered around Otto Octavius and Miles Morales, but Cindy does pop up throughout Spider-Geddon #0-5 to say. like. two-three lines total. Peter had a mini spidey team-up for the Sins of Norman Osborn/Last Remains arc that Cindy participated in with the other 616-adjacent spideys + Gwen. Not a must read but you get to see them team up again! It's not the best Spider-Man run, but when the spideys show up it's right as it finally starts picking up so it's not as much of a slog like it would be if you were reading the whole Kindred arc.

Last Remains you can start reading at TASM 2018 #48, TASM: The Sins of Norman Osborn #1, TASM #49 and then TASM #50LR-54LR with #55. The issues denoted with LR follows the spidey team-up while the regular #50-54 just follows Peter.

The Edge of Spider-Verse 2022 event leads into the End of Spider-Verse event and issue #5 shows an alternate universe Silk from Earth-71490, which is fun! Marvel Voices: Spider-Verse 2023 has a Cindy short that was interestingly done even if the ending fell a bit flat for me. Spider-Verse Unlimited Infinity Comic (2022) is also, surprise, not really required reading but for the sake of being thorough her solo episode is #40 and she is part of the final act in episodes #49-53. I liked ep.51's paneling and you get a good grasp of the storyline Cindy's a part of with just reading the episodes mentioned above.

Oh! Speaking of Edge of Spider-Verse, Cindy does play a relatively big-ish role in the End of the Spider-Verse (Spider-Man 2022 #1-7) when they explore a world with Silk as the main character and Peter as her guy in the chair. BUT the writing is soo 2D, plot paper-thin, and it manages to mischaracterize everyone involved. Slott doesn't even touch Cindy till she becomes a plot point and even then it feels like he's scared of writing her after the backlash of him creating her (as he should be tbh). It's not worth reading but there are certain things established that might play a larger part later like Cindy being retconned into being the Queen totem instead of the Bride. If you wanna get mad at all the spider-girlies characterization, read this event LOL, just keep in mind that it's not a good representation of anyone and boooo Bailey.

Now as for the ones I'd recommend... to be honest, there's a lot where I liked the ideas there but not particularly enough to say you should go through the trouble to read. I would definitely recommend Edge of Spiderverse #5 because it's fun and cute and the Marvel Voices short since it's unique and both of those are easy to find/read. Events where Gwen and Cindy actually exchange a line or two are in Spider-Verse, Last Remains, the Infinity Comic (I think, either that or they share a panel lmaoo) and the End of the Spider-Verse where Gwen calls Cindy bossy pffft. I liked seeing what would've happened if Silk was the main spider-character in EotS and there's a Felicia cameo in LR where silkcat shares one panel and two lines ragging on Peter. As much as I don't like Silk's early depiction, I do think the original Spider-Verse event shares some interesting nuggets about Cindy so if you are a brave soldier you can tread the waters there. And if you made it this far... thanks for reading; you get a medal!!

[tnc-n3cl]

Zonai-Rito Connections?

As part of my LoZ fanfic, “The Realm Walker,” there’s (eventually) trips to lands outside of Hyrule.  I was doing research in BotW to try and get an idea of what’s beyond the edges of the map to draw my own simple map of the world (which I won’t post as is here, as it’s WAY too big, you can check it out on my DA gallery if you’re interested).  You can’t get much of an idea of what’s to the southeast of Hyrule, but by standing on top of the Lomei Labyrinth Island you can get see that the bottomless pit at the north and west of the map (I call it the Great Scar Canyon BTW) ends with the little rock spires looping into the tall mountains at the edge of the map.

So, after doing that, I decided to go down into the secret room in the basement and murder all the Guardians there for the LOLs and saw this…

…And thought to myself, “Wait that looks kinda like the symbol in the trailer for TotK…”

Specifically, one of the “tear” symbols that appears on the wall carving at 0:24, just you know, rounder.  Then I was playing HWAOC to get some screenshots of its map to base my map on and lo and behold I notice this…

…There’s a swirl pattern on Revali’s armor!  It’s a bit different, looking like a “6” on his back but a “9” on his chest.  It’s hard to see cause of the scarf, but it looks like the “9’s” are connected.  Is this evidence that the Rito were influenced by the Zonai?  Maybe it’s a coincidence, but then there’s this…

…Right there on Teba’s armor, flanking the Rito crest, are symbols that look even more like the “tear” than the little swirls on Revali’s armor!  Could some of the Sky Islands have been present above the clouds of Hyrule before the events of TotK and the Rito saw them?  Or perhaps the Rito found other ruins of the Zonai people and copied this symbol?  Could the Zonai have shared this symbol with them in the distant past?

Of course, that’s assuming that the Zonai are the ones that built the labyrinths, they are called “Lomei” after all… Is Lomei a Zonai word, or could there have been another lost tribe in Hyrule?  Perhaps the Barbarian Set isn’t Zonai and this “warlike tribe that once inhabited the Faron region” was the Lomei instead?  Or maybe the Lomei were an offshoot of the Zonai and the ruins outside of Faron are what's left of little outposts they made as they fled Hyrule?

Of course, it’s possible there’s a real-world explanation for this symbol on Revali’s armor.  On page 307 of the Creating a Champion book there’s a quote from BotW’s Lead Structural Artist, Manabu Takehara, that states that Rito Village at least has Andean influences.  Which leads me to this…

…That same “9” symbol in Shadow of the Tomb Raider!  Now for some context… Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s plot revolves around Lara Croft trying to retrieve a powerful artifact that was created by the Mayan Gods before it can be used to “remake the world” by an Illuminati styled group called Trinity.  A group of Mayans fled Mexico (presumably during the fall of the Mayan civilization) with this artifact and made their way to what is now Peru, where they built a hidden city in a mountain valley.  Eventually they intermingled with Incan populations and later some Aztec people arrived and the result was the merging of these civilizations in the city of Paititi, which is still inhabited in the modern day.  While in Paititi you get two outfits to blend in with the locals, and this is one of them, the Serpent Guard Uniform worn by high-ranking members of the Cult of Kukulkan. 

The screenshot I took focuses on the side of the uniform, but this symbol can be seen at the edges of the skirt from all sides (though from the front it’s partially blocked by tassels).  There are two other uniforms, worn by Jaguar Warriors and Eagle Archers respectively, that don’t feature this symbol, so perhaps it signifies the wearer's rank (which could explain a similar symbol being on Revali and Teba’s armor) or it could have some religious significance because several people refer to you as “priest” while wearing it.

I did a quick Google search for Aztec, Incan, and Mayan symbols and couldn’t find this exact symbol, and Paititi has seen limited exposure to the outside world, so who knows if this is an actual Mesoamerican symbol or not.  (Although there are a lot of blocky geometric shapes much like you find on Rito rugs, clothing, and pottery and such.)  It’s a fun coincidence if not though.  Either way, since Zonai architecture has such a heavy Mesoamerican vibe it could be reasonable to assume that in-universe those same vibes in the Rito could have been influenced by the Zonai originally (maybe).

[r95irth]

Will- oh-WIPs!

I think I'm going to start this weekly (or monthly) post to boost my confidence. (and convince myself that my WIPs do go forward) Order is important it's priority list.

Burning Roof - Chapter 115 is being beta-read. Chapter 120 is being written - Page 2/10 It's the most important part of this arc and I can't mess this up or it will fuck one character's arc for the rest of the story (pressure? nah)

Just a Drop - Chapter 30 Bonus - Finished - 20 pages in total - JGY's scar missing plot point dealt with LXC, a tiny bit with NMJ + MXY's secret boyfriend reveal. Waiting second reading from me + beta-reading eventually. I'm so happy I finished this, I was stuck on it for so long because the smut part blocks me (there's no smut, I chicken out, and followed my dear beta's advices and it works)

Jiaoren - Chapter 7 - Page 1/10 - Xiyao AU where MY is a Jiaoren in Sunshot and Jiaoren's flesh can grant immortality if given willingly. Unstuck myself last month on this Xiyao + wangxian story. It was supposed to be a short story it's not going to be that. I'm not surprised :c

Ghost story - At Page 42 - Xiyao + 3zun dynamic fix it supposed OS that is (surprise) not going to be an OS, I was stuck because I started it after a dream and I had 0 plot. Currently scripting and plotting it with the help of my beta to whom I finally asked for help. I have the start + the end but still figuring out the middle and how-to-get-to-the-climax part (the most difficult one for me)

Heaven official - Xiyao where JGY ascended at the end of MDZS. Went wild on twitter a few days ago with the idea, scripted this completely, wrote the prologue of 1 page and half. Ahahha. Fortunately Shiome made an awesome art of the core idea so accidentally my brain is fed, let's see how long it holds until it comes back scratching and hissing.

9 months - Scripted completely !! Now time to write the first page. Still figuring out the first line.

Freaky Friday MDZS version - Serie of OS where sibs characters of the serie swap place to fix canon. Vaguely scripted. I wrote 1 and half page of a prologue and now I'm chapter 1 with the first word JIN ZIXUAN and that's it. I know next scene is JZXuan pov waking up at the Yunping brothel at the age of 8. But brain wants to draw it not write it.

Cultivator.exe - Chapter 2 - Page 10/10 - Brain is like : no plot, only slice of life, and body is like : no plot, no progress.

KittYao - Chapter 2 Page 5/10 - Self explanatory title? JGY wakes up as a cat because of XY. No script only vague plot. Brain wants to draw it, not write.

Nice to meet you - Chapter 6 / 44 pages in total - I have to rewrite this in omniscient pov, I decided. I do not know how to write omniscient pov, brain replied. Then we're stuck, we said. what about drawing it, wouldn't that be omniscient pov by default? Brain whispered, we never tried a WEBCOMIC format, maybe it will be fun! Lazy ass who knows how much work a comic is not listening.

Take Care - Wrote a bonus chapter about Maho's feeling toward Satoru that is around 20 pages, decided I didn't like that but I like what I wrote and now I don't know where my characters are at so we're all stuck. Next chapter is 20 pages long and far from over and I'm tired. I walkway get stuck every 20 pages that' why Home format is better it's 10 pages chapter so I get comment boosted. Waiting to see if BNHA's end will give me a fan boost to come back. If not, I will write an alternative end and wrap Take care at Satoru and Mahô getting to UA and todomomo getting a positive pregnant test.

Novel number 1 - 5irth - Have to re-read and re-write the first part then publish it on KDP eventually after maquetting it. I hate re-writing + I have to re-write in French and I'm scared I lost my level.

Novel number 2 - Constellations - Stuck with one character's power in one book, stuck with the plot in the other book. It's in French too. Brain wants to draw it/turns it into a webcomic. I hate that loop.

If you want information about any of this WIP or a tiny sample of it, feel free to send a request/ask here. I don't have a life anyways, I've got things to write instead.

Yes it's too many WIPs, I know. But I have an explanation for that : it's hard to live with my brain. It stays rent free inside my head and I can't get it out.

[ofmiceandpeace]

Heyo! I have come with the ASP question ask. Feel free to answer in however many or little words you want for any of then🫡

0. What were the opinions of those around you to the book compared to yours and what's your opinion/any comments on those opinions?

1. did you read asp for school? if not, why/when?

2. what were your first impressions of the book? did they change?

3. favorite character and why?

4. favorite part and why?

5. favorite quote and why? (Or just a quote you like)

6. what’s the tea on brinker? (love or hate?)

7. why do YOU think gene jounced the limb?

8. was gene and finny’s relationship strictly platonic or was there other stuff going on? pls explain any relevant headcanons<- hcs optional

15. Did asp affect you personally at all? how so?

HI YES.

0. People around me like the book like I do and it's some people's favorite book (which, same). We all think it's very moving. How would you not think that after those last few pages in the last chapter where Gene is recounting his memories with Finny???? It makes me so sad.

Yes I did.

I honestly can't remember well. I think that I thought it was boring / going to be boring on my first read. I'm not good at analysis so I only really got the meaning after listening to analyses on the book's themes and plot points and character traits and things like that. Like on the first read, I binged most of it on a weekend so I just read the butt paragraph and didn't think anything of it..???

I love Gene!! He reminded me so much of myself. Okay wait I didn't mean for that to sound narcissistic but it's just so cool to relate to a character so heavily. He's so complex and tragic.

Let me think... all of the scenes are good but something I thought was really cute was the one right before the trial. Like you know when Gene and Finny are studying and Finny admits that he always 'knew' the war was real. The best part is after that, where they're kind of laughing about it and Gene's like "I liked your idea a lot better." So basically the interaction I will put here since it's really cute:

LIKE AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW then brinker saunters in and ruins everything.

5. A quote I like, perhaps my favorite? is a small part in the last chapter. It goes: "Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last I had." URGHHHHHH "SO AT LAST I HAD" OK THIS QUOTE IS SO SO SO SAD!!!! So I guess that's why I like it...

6. I HATE Brinker. I'm sorry if this opinion is shallow but bro couldn't have minded his own business??? He wanted to seem more mature and conduct a whole ass trial by himself and it caused Finny to break his leg AGAIN. Then he freaking died??? Like nah. At least in the 2004 he gets a small redemption at the end, kind of.

7. I think Gene jounced the limb (obviously subconsciously, not purposefully) kind of out of spite. Like he realized that he and Finny were not rivals, and that Finny was on another, higher level than he could ever be. So now that Gene realized he was wrong, he was kind of mad at himself and at Finny (at the fact that Finny was so good). So because he was mad at Finny subconsciously in that moment, his knees bent and the whole thing happened.

8. Please. If there wasn't an official relationship there was obviously some pining happening, from the way Gene described him that one time, and the way Finny acts towards him.

9. ASP definitely affected me personally. Like I said before, I related heavily to Gene; his whole psychology and character traits, being jealous and insecure and paranoid, is so me. He's also introspective and I think about my psychology a lot which is kind of annoying and strange. But moreover, the ending lesson being that people mistaken others as enemies because of their insecurity resonated with me and I kind of realized I'm a negative person on the inside. I don't know if that sounds whimsical that I took that lesson to heart, but I think about it all the time. Also A Separate Peace literally takes up a lot of my time 😭 that and Peace Breaks Out. John Knowles was really on something with all these boys' prep school novels.

Thank you for the ask 😁😁😁😁😁 I think this is all I'll answer lmao