Fics I'll never write:
Shadow and Omega get into a fight one day and Shadow ends the fight with "why are you so angry and unreasonable all the time, huh? Everyone says I needed a therapist, why don't YOU go see a therapist?" To which Omega laughs, of course, until Shadow says "I bet you wouldn't even last one second in a therapist's office."
So of course, E-123 "can't say no to any sort of challenge from the ultimate lifeform" Omega parks himself in the office of the specially-licensed GUN therapist the next morning.
And then the rest of the fic is from the baffled perspective of this poor therapist trying to figure out robot psychology. Both she and Omega are in agreement at first that therapy probably won't work on him since he's just a robot and that it'd be better for him to see a programmer-
-until the therapist starts to see some behaviors that look an awful lot like abandonment issues. And she has to convince both Omega himself and everyone else in her department that she's onto something and that talk therapy might actually increase his efficiency on the battlefield.
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ever since 266, I saw many people say that because megumi doesn't want to be a jujutsu sorcerer, that means his conclusion doesn't have to have anything to do with using his technique or completing his domain and that him just getting saved is fine, and that is his purpose in the story, and I completely disagree.
Megumi has always treated his technique as a curse in his life, one he had never wanted and one that had always hindered him. he viewed it as a crutch, a weakness, something that controls him rather than him controlling it as its user. it had dictated his life ever since his birth and subsequently forcing him into the gruel jujutsu world, with his father selling and abandoning him, the expectations placed on him by Gojo to surpass him because of his technique, along with now, Sukuna stealing his body, his autonomy, his agency, and his ability to make a choice along with killing his sister and hurting his friends just because of his technique. Him learning that instead of fearing his technique and treating it as something he'll never control or grasp and that its power is way beyond him, he does have the strength and newfound mindset to control it, be its master and be able to completely understand and interpret his technique would be a great way to conclude his character arc and his rocky relationship with his technique.
him completing his domain doesn't have anything to do with jujutsu sorcery. his domain is a representation of his sense of self, his self-identity, his character, so to speak. it being incomplete from the start was to show you that megumi hadn't grasped his sense of self yet, hasn't found an identity unique to himself outside of wanting to save his sister (and later, yuuji) and his complete disregard for his life in general. his incomplete domain is basically showing you his incomplete character. I just can't really fathom the domain not being completed especially after him being at the climax of his character arc. it's more than just a jujutsu thing for megumi's character, it represents him.
also, megumi's purpose this entire arc to just be saved is hardly a good conclusion to his character. his entire life, he'd been stripped of his autonomy, the power to choose, the power to control his life. that was what reggie's curse was: let fate toy with you, become a clown, then die. his conclusion should be him breaking AWAY from that curse, to stop fate from toying with him, and instead of just laying down and letting life kick him over and over, he stands up and finally kicks back, fights against the circumstances, saves himself, instead of doing nothing and just letting others save him. what would be the point, then? he'd be reduced to a literal plot device, whose entire role in the story is to let his body be taken over by sukuna for his technique, and he doesn't even save himself, he just lets others do the work for him. that would be a horrible conclusion. it wouldn't make his dream of wanting a peaceful life earned for me, not because megumi HAS to be useful or has to prove himself to deserve a simple life, but because he hasn't really changed. he's the same as he was before, letting life toy with him over and over and reduced to just the damsel in distress who constantly needs others to do the work for him.
I want him to fight back. I want him to save himself. I want him to put in the work to change his fate.
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Been thinking, there's an issue with how creators and readers often approach the theme of "coming back wrong", since so much of the emphasis ends up being put in the "they came back part". Especially on the readers' side, the idea that someone would do whatever it takes to bring you back is parsed as romantic and devoted, which it can be, but it overlooks a big element of the concept.
Coming back wrong, or even just performing forbidden rituals etc in general, for it to be impactful needs to place a big AND constant focus on the in-universe equivalents of Do Not Resuscitate & bodily autonomy when one can't consent.
It's not just the coming back. It's that you don't know what type of body, what type of mind you're coming back to. It's the dysphoria, if it can exist (and it should), and the expectation that you'll be okay with whatever was done to your inert body when you couldn't decide over it. You're back, you're alive, surely you can get over the circumstances under which it happened, be thankful.
You don't even need to get abstract with "the inherent feeling of wrongness that comes from being brought back from death", most humans can't relate to that, it's vague to the point where it isn't real stakes. It's just a non-issue mentioned to give a fake sense of stakes.
But if you take inspiration on DNR, from people whose lifestyle was changed radically from being saved from a situation where they may have preferred to be allowed to pass on. Like, say:
You come back, and you gotta learn to use your body from zero, and you'll be reliant on others forever. Or you come back and you look so different you feel disconnected from yourself, and every waking moment is uncomfortable. Or you come back, and too much time has passed, you feel like the life you were meant to live got away from you. Or you come back, and what was done to your changes you so fundamentally you end up isolated even if it's no one's intention. Or the ones that brought you back didn't do it selfishly but out of entitlement to your life.
The wrongness needs to be acknowledged often to the point of tediousness, only then would the spectator get a real sense of "okay, I see now why that'd be an issue, and why many would hate it".
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So, you wanna prep for Lostbelt 6 by reading a bunch of fairy lore for background information. Luckily for you, I’m a turbo nerd when it comes to this particular brand of folklore. In this post I’ll be compiling links to assorted text and audio sources of information and entertainment related to all the real-world fairy lore that pops up throughout the chapter. I’m gonna try to avoid just wikipedia links as much as possible, so some of the text sources are gonna be a little dense, but that’s ye olde texts for you. This will be semi-ongoing as things pop up, so you can keep an eye out if you want!
Note: I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but there will be possible spoilers as to what’s in the chapter ahead, so watch out!
Without further ado, here’s the list under the cut:
HUGE MASSIVE CONTENT WARNING: Many of these texts are going to have adult themes and triggering content, particularly sexual assault, rape, and general non-consent in romantic or sexual relationships. I’m going to start including individual warnings for texts where I know it comes up, but even if I don’t note it, please proceed with caution and take care!
A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures by Katharine Mary Briggs - Exactly what it sounds like on the tin. Here’s where you can read about all the different fairies and creatures that tend to be more in short folktales, from baobhan sith to barghests to Ainsel and beyond, all in alphabetical order. If you find a fairy name you want to look up, it’s probably going to be in here somewhere.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare - I mean c’mon man. C’mon. There could always be a first for someone though, so if you are that someone - this is the most famous work featuring Oberon the fairy king, and the big one that F/GO and basically all other post-Billy Shakes media works pulls from. If you’d rather watch a staging of the play instead of read a script, here are some performances by Rice University and the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, and if those two in particular aren’t your jam I guarantee you there’s going to be a staging somewhere you can watch. As a bonus, here’s an absolutely lovely musical arrangement of “Philomel, With Melody” (AKA the lullaby Titania’s fairy servants sing to her) by the band Caprice. It’s not the most relevant, I just want to share it because it’s nice. WARNING: The crux of the play revolves around a love potion plot, so there will be themes of manipulation, non-consent, and potential sexual assault played for laughs and romance. It’s arguably mild compared to some of the other texts on here, but I would still be careful!
Translations of Melusina (Melusine) stories by D. L. Ashliman - D. L. Ashliman’s got a massive online treasure trove of folktales and folktexts, it’s always a fun time to go on a rabbit hole through his(their?) site. If you want stuff specifically relevant to Melusine though, here’s the page for her.
Versions of the Tam Lin ballad compiled at Tam Lin Balladry - this one’s going to be relevant because of the extremely high likelihood that NA will follow the JP merch labels and localize the “Fairy Knight” title as Tam Lin. Because it’s a ballad, there’s plenty of audio versions put to song, the most textually accurate one I can currently find being by Bob Hay & The Jolly Beggars. Besides that however, there are also versions by Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Tricky Pixie, and my personal favorite, the one by Anaïs Mitchell of Hadestown fame and Jefferson Hamer. If you want a more standard audio adaptation, the Tales of Britain and Ireland podcast will have you covered. WARNING: The start of the ballad is explicitly about sexual assault, with Tam Lin having been a rapist prior to meeting Janet. Janet’s own encounter is usually portrayed as consensual, she’s apparently a weirdo who heard the warnings and went “So that means FREE SEX?”, but some later versions do change her encounter into rape as a bizarre way of censoring her having sex out of wedlock. In addition, the ballad deals with themes of abortion. Basically, if any of this stuff is a trigger for you, I would proceed with extreme caution if you choose to listen or read.
Habetrot and Scantlie Mab - an archived version of a fairy tale about Habetrot. For similar stories, search for stuff under the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index type 501, “The Three Spinning Old Women”.
Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain) by Geoffrey of Monmouth - Now this one may not seem immediately obvious in its relevance outside of “hey look, Arthuriana!”, but trust me, This Is A Surprise Tool That Will Help Us Later. The relevant parts are going to start at Book 6, with Vortigern’s shenanigans. There’s also a podcast audio adaptation by Myths & Legends, split into part A, part B, and part C, if you would prefer that.
Official website for Knocknarea, or Cnoc na Riabh - Knocknarea is a big ol’ hill in Ireland with a bunch of Neolithic cairns on it, the most famous of which is claimed to be Queen Medb’s tomb. For anything else related to Medb, go read the Tain.
The Wikipedia page for Cernunnos - this is the point where I have to give up on not linking wikipedia, alas, as the sources here are little too tiny and scattered. Cernunnos is a Celtic god from Gaul, he’s got horns, we’ve got his name and some archaeological depictions of him, and that’s basically it, because unfortunately no stories about him survived. If I can find a better source about him to link, I’ll drop it here.
Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory, Volume I and Volume II - Not including this initially was a huge oversight on my part, but this is pretty much The text for general Arthuriana and one of the really big ones that Fate takes influence from. You can read this for stuff about Morgause and Morgan, but it’s also just good to have on hand for anything with the Round Table in general.
I’ve also got a bunch of podcast episodes that don’t really fit in with any of the above that I’ll list here if anyone wants more dank audio content:
Robin Goodfellow: His Mad Pranks and Merry Jests by Tales of Britain and Ireland - Relevant if you want some alternative tales of Puck and Oberon. WARNING: The episode itself covers its warnings pretty good, but before you click - there’s a lot of adult content in this one, including the thumbnail image. Most of the stories adapted are going to get pretty bawdy even at best, and there’s one that explicitly involves an attempted rape that the titular character thwarts. Proceed with caution, and also maybe don’t listen in public.
Black Dogs and Englishmen: Black Shuck in English Folklore and The Barguest: Demon Dog, Silly Sprite or Spectral Hound?, both by Fabulous Folklore with Icy - Listen to these two if you want more info on barghests.
Scottish Halloween & Vampire Fairy Witches by Stories of Scotland - Listen to this if you want a retelling of a story involving the baobhan sith along with other Scottish traditions!
And that’s all I’ve got for right now! If I find any more relevant sources, or if someone directs me to said sources, I’ll be sure to add links to this post. Until then, happy reading and listening, and I hope everyone has fun with LB6!
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🖤 (from desmond!!)
attractiveness:
repulsive / hideous / ugly / not attractive / unappealing / not unattractive / meh / no preference / ok / mildly attractive / nice looking / cute / adorable / attractive / pleasant on the eyes / good looking / hot / sexy / beautiful / gorgeous / hot damn / would tap that / perfect / godlike / holy fuck there are no words.
personality:
grating / irritating / frustrating / boring / confusing at best / awkward / unreasonable / psychotic / disturbing / interesting / engaging / affectionate / aggressive (when necessary in order to protect her as her sworn sword) / ambitious / anxious / artistic / bad tempered / bossy / charismatic / appealing / unappealing / creative / courageous / dependable / unreliable / unpredictable / predictable / devious / dim / extroverted / introverted / egotistical / gregarious / fabulous / impulsive / intelligent / sympathetic / talkative / up beat / peaceful / calming / badass / flexible.
how likely they would have sex with them:
not if they were the last person on earth and the world was ending / fuck no! / never / no way / not likely / not sure / indifferent / I’m asexual / maybe / probably / it depends / fairly likely / likely / yeah sure / yes / would tap that / hell yes / fuck yes! / wishing that could happen right now (the Pain of being married & being a queen & wanting to be a good role model for your children & ur sworn sword is a kingsguard) / as many times as possible / we are already having sex.
level of friendship:
never in a million years / worst of enemies / enemies / rivals / indifferent / neutral / acquaintance / friendly toward each other / casual friends / friends / good friends / best friends / fuck buddies / bosom buddies / practically the same person / would die for them / true friends / my only friend.
first impression of them:
i hate them so much / i don’t like them / i don’t trust them / they annoy me / they’re weird / I’m indifferent / meh / they seem alright / they’re growing on me / truce / I think I like them / I like them / I’m not sure if I trust them / I trust them / they’re cool / they’re genuine / I think we’re going to get along / I really like them / I think I’m in love / oh fuck they’re hot / I love them.
current impression of them:
i hate them so much / i don’t like them / i don’t trust them / they annoy me / they’re weird / I’m indifferent / meh / they seem alright / they’re growing on me / truce / I think I like them / I like them / I’m not sure if I trust them / I trust them / they’re cool / they’re genuine / I think we’re going to get along / I really like them / I think I’m in love / oh fuck they’re hot / I love them.
send 🖤 and my character will answer about yours; specify. || ALWAYS ACCEPTING.
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