#I'll do character epilogues later in their own post!

[mylordshesacactus]

Suncrest Epilogue: Worldstate

Hey, I got around to this post eventually, right? Surely that's what matters.

So, as established in this post: Working together and with the help of some allies, the party managed to ensure Max the bard held concentration on a Wish spell to save the world for ten-plus-one full rounds.

In doing so, all hostile fae were banished back to the Faewild. Friendly forces from the Wild Court of Summer were also banished--Shasta, nearly an archfae in her own right, could have resisted but chose not to, exchanging a respectful nod with the party before closing her eyes and allowing the Wish to send her back to her wife and kingdom. While fae-touched, the remaining friendly werewolves and warlocks of the Feathered Serpent were spared from Max's world-healing wave--that was an exception that the party had to earn, and was in fact their reward for reaching the top of Round Seven.

Interestingly, the unicorns--the party's friend Albion, and his sister Cambria whom they rescued from a Dominate Creature spell in the Summer Palace--were not affected. Unicorns are as much celestial as fae, always; and unlike the other Wild Court reinforcements, they were drawn through their own portals in accordance with their own nature. They can always find a path to that which they exist to protect.

Albion, ultimately, stays only long enough to reunite with his sister and say his farewells. He's done good here--but he only crossed over in the first place in pursuit of the Silverlight Hound, the original true-fae werewolf that he'd been battling in his home forest. He stayed to protect that werewolf's victims--as his failure to defend his home forest had caused their pain, they were now his responsibility as well, and he could hardly abandon them in the face of a full-scale invasion. But that danger is past now--and his own home is without protection while he remains here.

He goes home--but Cambria stays. Her charge was the rabbitfolk village of Little Ivywood and its surroundings...the village that the party found brutally slaughtered, killed without mercy. No one escaped that massacre. The only survivor of Little Ivywood is Splinter, the rabbitfolk that the party rescued from the Summer Queen's harem (along with a rapidly-triaged group consisting of those in a condition to run once freed....and also those for whom death, once they broke the stasis magic, would be a mercy centuries in coming.)

Splinter is...exhausted, and traumatized, and fae. The city of Suncrest is misery to her. Instead, the Ranger sends her to his own home village of Thistledale--a small, quiet farming village very similar to her own, deep in thickly-wooded mountains. Cambria stays with her, and Thistledale becomes her new protectorate.

But that Wish spell didn't stop at just ending the invasion. That was all the power of the universe, channeled with grim determination into pure, uncorrupted love for the city of Suncrest, and her people, and everything the party had endured in order to get this far. That kind of power soaks into the earth, pools in the city's foundations. For the next decade, Suncrest--which has always had a reputation as a rugged but honest city, clear-headed and independent but tight-knit, fiercely protective of their own, proud but not arrogant--becomes the truest sanctuary in the Spellbound Dominion.

Fae cannot enter the city by any means--and they also can't remotely charm anyone in the city. In fact, all charm, domination, possession, and other mind-control effects shatter on contact with the city. Anyone whose free will has been taken from them, once they enter the gates, finds it returned. Magical fear effects die against her walls; no one within the city can be magically Frightened against their will.

Of course that kind of power fades eventually--an unstructured echo of simgle spell that was more plea than command, it could never have maintained itself forever. But something does remain.

That final battle took place in what was once the working-class market square--not the center of the city, it's actually distinctly the eastern third of the map--but very much the heart of the campaign. It was where the Firelight Festival was held, it's where most of the party's conversations with Olassa happened when she wasn't in her office at the guardhouse, they crossed that part of the map a million times while in the city. Under the corrupting half-annexation of Suncrest, as it was being forcibly merged with the Faewild...the city became unrecognizable.

It was, at the time, a gutpunch--this massive, gnarled, twisted fae-touched monster tree, filling the market square and making it unusable. It made the whole area into difficult terrain, it burned when exposed to fire, the roots ripped up the cobblestones--it was the ultimate sign of how bad the situation had become.

When the Wish takes effect, all of those choking, invasive fae plants retreat, magically repairing the damage they'd caused in the process. But that great oak, an absolute behemoth of a tree--the diameter of the trunk is best measured in hundreds of feet, and it towers over the skyline, its branches covering at least two-thirds of the city--remains. And for a decade, it's fed on that echo--that last-chance Hallow spell that's defended the city of Suncrest, and everything it means.

The great tree's magic is more subtle, but also more stable. Even though most of the city is in its shade the shadow is warm as sunlight in the winter, and cool in the summer. As the Hallow effect fades, people no longer snap back to themselves dramatically the moment they step foot within the city--curses no longer break on contact, fae charms don't run into a wall of solid silver the moment they try to reach out to a dreaming mind in Suncrest. But...those spells are less effective. People fight them off more easily. Things that once made you freeze in terror now seem possible to fight. "Mechanically", the tree grants permanent advantage on saving throws against mind-control effects. But from a Watsonian perspective...

So long as that tree remains--and it will remain for hundreds if not thousands of years, unless some calamity befalls it--anyone within sight of it, or within the reach of its massively sprawling root system, will find it just a little easier to be free.

Its leaves, no matter the time of year, are always a gorgeous tapestry of red and gold--an impossibly massive oak tree in perpetual autumn, forever heralding the end of Summer.

[louellaby]

FORGET-ME-NOT

REPLACED!MC AU

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W A R N I N G

May contain bad grammar, limited vocabulary, and OOC characters. Please mind that English is not my first language, and it takes a lot of courage for me to post due to my anxiety and paranoia.

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taglist: @books-and-catears @owl778 @yourlocalgrass @kaiserkisser

PROLOGUE | CHAPTER I | CHAPTER II | CHAPTER III | LOUE'S LETTER | CHAPTER IV | CHAPTER V | LOUE'S LETTER | CHAPTER VI | CHAPTER VII | CHAPTER VIII | CHAPTER IX | CHAPTER X | LOUE'S LETTER | EPILOGUE

C H A P T E R V I

「 A Chat Under the Stars 」

A beautiful night sky blessed the grand ball being held at the Demon Lord's Castle. The sky had a darker colour, mixed with purple and blue hues as if it were painted by the most skilled painter. The stars did their best to outshine the beautiful glow of the moon, illuminating the whole realm. It was certainly a wonderful sight to behold.

After the prince's and his butler's welcoming speeches, everyone was left to their own enjoyment. Chatter filled the room as everyone met up with the people they knew. But you? You stayed in place; back against the wall, and an empty glass in hand. It was previously filled with the most exquisite Demonus, but before you knew it, you already chugged it down. Not one drop remaining. You thought you would enjoy the party, maybe even get the chance to talk to your demons again, but somehow Soley was always there to take them away just before they could even notice your presence.

You previously arrived at the castle with three angels and one sorcerer, but they got swept away from you by their adoring crowd. You watched as Solomon laughed along with other sorcerers and witches. Simeon was with Luke, discussing Devildom food with the other angels who were invited, and Cassiel was nowhere on the floor to be found. The more you watched, the more lonely you felt. You already tried hard enough to catch everyone's attention, but enough was enough. To calm your aching head, you stepped outside for a while and into the quiet gardens you ventured. You were hoping to be alone, to do some thinking, but there you found Cassiel, along with Leviathan. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, something you didn't mean to listen to.

"I already told you multiple times, Levi. You don't need to act like that around me just because we technically aren't brothers anymore."

"A-Are you sure...? I just th-thought that you would be disappointed with me. I know it was a long time ago, but I... I did fall..."

"... Are you saying all this because you feel guilty falling with your brothers?"

"What? O-Of course not! No matter where they go, I'm always there to follow them!"

"Then stop acting all sad whenever you see me. That's not the look I want to see whenever we meet, you know. No matter what you become, Levi, you'll always be my brother. You and your brothers will always be family to me, and I'm proud of all of you."

"C-C-Cassiel...!"

"Wh-Whoa, hey, don't cry!"

A smile slowly appeared on your face as you watched the Avatar of Envy cling onto the angel in front of him. He sobbed so loudly that you couldn't hear what Cassiel was telling him, but you know that he was trying to comfort the demon. The moonlight illuminated both of them in their embrace. It was a beautiful view. Until Leviathan's D.D.D. rang, and he answered the call immediately upon seeing the ID.

"I-I'll be right there...!" With him only saying that in return, the caller hung up on him. You already had a feeling who it was, and apparently Cassiel did, too.

"Let me guess... the little princess wants you to pick up the toy she purposely dropped?"

"Cassiel... th-that's..."

"I'm sorry, Levi, don't mind me. Go on ahead and help her. I'll be staying here."

"Thanks...! I'll see you again later!"

As soon as Leviathan ran off back inside the castle, Cassiel cleared his throat and turned your way, looking at you straight in the eye. "It's quite rude to eavesdrop, you know." Despite him saying that, he had a gentle smile on his face. "Step into the light with me, MC. You'll be able to feel its warmth."

"Does the moon emit warmth?" You questioned with an innocent twinkle in your eyes, heading towards him and taking his outstretched hand. He was slightly taken aback and chuckled at your question, covering his mouth with the back of his free hand as he looked at you.

"Well, no, I don’t think so. But tonight's special, so it might? Maybe you can stay here with me long enough until we feel it. What do you say?" He was looking at you with gentle eyes. With his question, you felt like he was holding his hand out for you to take even when you were already holding it, so in return, you gave his hand a light squeeze, which he appreciated. The two of you found a place in the garden where the moon shone the brightest. Cassiel pulled out a blanket out of thin air and laid it on the grass before ushering you to sit down next to him.

"How did you do that, Cassiel?"

"Someone I know has always been fond of picnics since he was a child, so I taught myself how to conjure up objects such as this. It's quite handy for such occasions, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's amazing!"

"Oh, it's hardly that. You're a sorcerer yourself, MC. Surely, something like this is elementary for you."

"I, well, I didn't learn something like that yet... Oh, but I can summon my pact demons whenever I want!"

Cassiel raised his eyebrow at you before slightly nodding to himself. "You mean the seven brothers, right? You must have a lot of power and influence on them to be able to summon them whenever it suits you. I'm glad that it's you who has that power over them and not..." He trailed off, eyes wandering to the lake that rested in front of you both. He watched as the water rippled with every leaf and flower petal that fell onto its surface. You already knew what he was trying to say.

It looked like Cassiel didn't like Soley. Maybe he still didn't get over the girl's first impression on everyone. But your first impression of Cassiel himself wasn't a nice one either.

"To be frank, and I mean no offence to you, Prince Diavolo, but I never wanted to attend this school. A place crawling with demons is not a pretty sight for me, but I have a duty to uphold. It is the very reason for my presence here.

Please do not misunderstand anything."

You laughed at the thought, wondering how Cassiel changed in only a few months. Whenever you saw him at school, talking with demons, he had a smile on his face. It wasn't a forced smile out of politeness, no. It was genuine. He really was enjoying himself.

"You must be wondering what changed me, mustn't you?" As if he could read your mind, Cassiel gazed at you with a slight smirk. His head rested on the back of his hand that lay on his bent knee. Your surprised face made him laugh before he sighed and turned his head back to the water, adjusting his glasses and resting his chin on his hand. "To be honest, I didn't actually change. I was just lying when I said I didn't want to attend this school. In fact, it was me who begged Michael to let me participate as an exchange student for the new school year."

"Then why did you lie on the first meeting?"

"Well, I... I was scared." You felt the angel's hand twitch as he spoke. He chuckled to himself before shaking his head. "But it turns out I had nothing to be afraid of. The brothers still treated me the same way they did before the war, so I thought that I could stop pretending and just be honest with them. I still love them as my family, even when most of the angels don't anymore."

"Did you... Did you wish you fell with them?"

Silence met both of you as the angel wandered in his thoughts. He tried to pick the right words to say, but what exactly were the right words for that question?

Yes, he wished that it was different. He wished to have followed the brothers down into the Devildom, but fear stopped him from taking that first step. And because of that fear, he kept regretting it to this very day.

"That's enough about me," he said with a shaky sigh before fidgeting with his glasses a little and taking you in his sight once again. "Tell me how you've been, MC. I'm sorry I haven't been able to spend time with you at all, but you always seemed so busy with the others."

Was he jealous? But why would he be? You two haven't even exchanged many words until tonight. You averted your gaze and tilted your head up, admiring the shine of the stars out of your reach.

"Have you..." You paused to think, trying to gather your thoughts into clear sentences. "What would you do if... if you don't feel welcome at a certain place anymore? Like, I mean, what if that place was something you love because your, uhm, family was in it?"

Was that too obvious?

As you hoped he wouldn't understand the meaning behind your words— or maybe you did, you kept staring at the night sky, which turned out to be embarrassing to keep your face visible, so instead, you hung your head low. You couldn't see Cassiel's expression, so you didn't know that he actually got your message. He stared at you, wide-eyed as he was surprised. He already saw how close Soley was getting to the brothers. He didn't like it either, but the fact that they were pushing you aside just for her? He was furious. How could they?

In the Celestial Realm, they kept receiving news about how you were making the brothers' lives better; how you were helping them see the light in that deep, dark pit they dug themselves into. So to see you in this state, arms wrapped around your legs and face buried in your knees while you tried to keep yourself from crying; Cassiel was fuming. But because you tried your best to hide your feelings, he felt like he needed to respect that. He knew you didn't deserve any of what the brothers were doing to you, so he said something that he thought might be better than the current treatment you were getting.

"Why don't you leave the Devildom?"

"MC! There you are!"

You just entered the ballroom when someone called out to you. You turned your head to the side and found Soley running your way. When she looked at what you're wearing, she paused for a moment, the clear hatred on her face showed before it disappeared within the blink of an eye. She clearly wasn't good at hiding how she felt. At least not at first.

"Soley? Do you need something?" You asked, your voice pulling her back from her thoughts, and she shook her head in response.

"I'm just looking for Cassiel. Have you seen him?"

You studied the girl's face and movements, barely processing her words as you remembered what you talked to the angel about.

"You don't like Soley, do you? You always seem upset whenever she's in the conversation."

"Ahaha, you're quite perceptive, aren’t you, MC? Well, you're right. I'm not really fond of her even when she's a human. I try my best to avoid seeing her."

"MC?"

"Oh uhh, n-no, sorry. I haven't seen him. He disappeared as soon as the ball began."

Soley looked at you in disbelief as if she knew something that you were clearly hiding. You became curious at what that look meant, but she brushed it aside and went off on her own way. Where to? Right, back to the demon brothers.

You took another glass full of Demonus, hiding yourself in the lounge that Diavolo and Barbatos prepared specially for you just in case you needed it. You plopped yourself on the soft couch and let your shoulders release the tension they built up. You let your mind wander until it reached that very question once more.

"Why don't you leave the Devildom?"

「 LOUE'S LETTER | CHAPTER VII 」

[flamerunn3r]

Sorry this is unfinished but I need to post these now just bc idfk when i'm gonna actually finish the rest realistically. Idk it will happen eventually. For now heres the great p5u ramblings post detailing my thoughts designs

This is my own personal interpretations but is also somewhat speculative in nature. I'm mostly trying to deal in already established characterizations and epilogue set ups but there might be stuff I've missed or forgotten (i also haven't played dancing yet sorry if there's something in there I hadn't accounted for). This is kind of like if I took the creative reigns on the story where I'd continue for it. Only the investigation team for now (and 2 boss characters I have an idea for) but maybe I'll do the shadow ops at some point. Only 4 characters for now but I'll reblog with additions when I finish the rest or if I edit any of these

Yu Narukami

He's currently attending school as a journalism student in the city or just starting out as one. Enthusiastic about his field but still tries to find the time to keep up with his friends and visit Inaba on his holidays. I felt journalism made alot of sense for him with the themes of persona 4. I liked the sport jacket and turtleneck but wanted soemthing different so the scarf was chosen to keep the same kind of silhouette. I made the collar on the winter coat large and I feel like Narukami's large uniform collar is a key part of his design. and I wanted to call back to that in his casual outfit. The summer outfit I mostly kept close to his summer outfit from p4. I'm kind of unsure on it though I might come back to it. I mostly wanted to keep his outfits smart and simple. For his meta verse outfit I really wanted to go all out with the bancho (kingpin) stuff and other delinquent tropes. I lengthened the uniform coat a little because I wanted it to look like a tokko-fuku. Alot of smaller detail inspiration was taken from Izanagi. The lenses in the mask are supposed to mimic glasses. I'd imagine he'd take off the mask the same way he throws off his glasses in myriad truths.

Teddie

I can't imagine him leaving Inaba and the TV world behind. Still staying in town and working largely the same job. He's got his own place now albeit small (still a step up from the closet though). At some point the IT asked Mitsuru to pull some strings so he actually has a legal personhood now. The animal hoodie is something that came to me spontaneously but I knew I needed to include it. I really that his normal outfit in 4 keeps the white and red of the bear costume in the outfit so I tried to keep the colour scheme here too. Most of his later outfits are less flashy and more casual so I tried to continue that trend. I didn't want to lose the rose from the corsage completely so I included a rose pattern in the second shirt. Alot of his outfits feature light blue so I wanted that in at least one outfit. I considered making the hoodie light blue initially. I don't think he'd have a metaverse outfit he'd just use the bear costume.

Naoto Shirogane

I'm under the assumption Naoto is still presenting masculinely to the general public as of p5 but I may be mistaken in this. If I'm wrong I'd still probably largely keep the outfits similar to this. Naoto's still working as a detective and I don't think that's ever really going to change. One thing that a hypothetical p5u would have to address is what Naoto and the shadow ops would have been doing during the events of persona 5 and I unfortunately do not have any ideas for what that would be at the moment.

I feel alot of the appeal of Naoto's design is the kind of boy detective fashion. I went at this design with the intention of kind of refining that into something a little more adult while still keeping in a similar vein. I did have to ditch the pageboy hat unfortunately as I felt it made them look too young. These outfits were kind of design as pseudo work clothes which is why I tried to make them a bit more formal then the other characters. Something I consider notable about Naoto's design but deliberately avoided here was the rolled up pant legs. It's very obvious in 4 it's done because Naoto is short but I feel like Naoto would start getting that either custom made or tailored to fit. I was initially going to forgo the blazer on the summer outfit but the design felt empty without it. Naoto having a noir detective themed metaverse outfit is an idea I'd had for years but I tried to incorporate design elements that were princely. I alot of the inspiration was from Sam Spade specifically. Deliberately made similarities to Akechi's white crow design. The band around the hat is supposed to invoke the similar one on the old page boy hat.

Yukiko Amagi

Still working at her families in but is taking online courses during the off seasons. She's mostly happy where she is but is keeping her options open. Occasionally makes visits to other ryokans out of town for ideas for her families own inn, as well as an opportunity to for her to sight see.

The headband was included in her design in p4 as a like retro design thing but I find it too important of a marker of her design to remove it. I understand the why they went with the hairstyle they did for her golden epilogue but I feel it just ends up making her look way older then she is. I thought her having her hair up would be a nice change since she does it so rarely and settled on a ponytail. Tried changing the bangs but the ones she already had just felt right. I wanted her clothes to carry this kind of air of sophistication so I tried to keep them relatively simple and sleek. She's wearing pants in the winter outfit but I chose the longer coat to keep a similar skirt silhouette. The choker was largely inspired by the scarf she has in her winter outfit. Despite being a different colour the cardigan was also chosen to tie back somewhat to the sweater she wears with her school uniform.

In some side material it's mentioned that Yukiko has an interest in western fashion and aesthetics (part of what made the castle manifest the way it did) and I wanted to lean on that in some way for her metaverse design. I ended up going with a masquerade ball theme. I tried to keep the dress to something simple and easy to move in. The gloves and boots take inspiration from her persona in terms of design and size. I wanted to incorporate elements from her work kimono as well hence the ribbon around the torso and flower patterning. Probably the most unsure of this one of the metaverse designs so far. Especially the colours (considered making the reds pinks initially). Might revisit this one.

Ok that's all I have for now I'll probably do Rise's next 👍👍👍

[fategoflatass]

So, I posted not to long ago my honest surprise to this whole endeavor that delevoped right before my own two eyes. Wanted to post my thoughts (?) on it earlier, but today's the day my Internet company decided to be crappy once again, so yeah.

Just as a heads up: I ramble a lot, and I love writing. Beware of that.

As he said those first lines, let me tell you: I was screaming. Albeit not too much, since I'm used to these kind of scenes to be interrupted rather sooner than later, so I kept my expectations where I could see them. Even then, I was enjoying myself quite a lot.

It's just, them, you know? Like, there this trope (?) that I love where a character whose true self is restrained due to reasons gets to be themselves around this one person or these group of people. Trope that, clearly, applies with these two losers. No wonder I'm so attached to them, huh? I also love losers, but that's beyond the point.

The moments where Jinshi gets to be himself whenever Maomao's around always give me such fuzzy feelings in my chest. Is like reading snippets of a high school romcom's script, you know? And I love high school romcoms! They have that tad of awkwardness proper of their age that always makes me go aw. Or at least the good ones do.

Something that happens to me with this LN is that, and I don't know what the author does but, I always feel like I'm part of these scenes? Like, I'm present. And it can be endearing, but turn awkward as soon as things go wild like here. Nothing wrong with that though: he's a twenty-year-old dude whose teenage hormones have never been satisfied, being the closest he's ever been to his first love, you know what I mean? He's wilding, and I'm not here to judge him on that.

But yeah, my man's head over heels and here he either falls on the most comfortable mattress or crashes against the concrete floor.

At this moment, I had already banished from existence. Her finally realizing (or allowing herself to realizing) his true feelings is something I've been waiting for for so long it's insane! Now, that doesn't mean that what awaits us from now on are butterflies and rainbows—they're angsty, so it could get worse. Call me pessimistic, I don't care. I won't believe in the progress I so long for until I see it.

Now, I talked before (and I'll do it again later on) about her denial on their situation, the possibility of them being a thing and all that, so let's focus on loserboy instead.

I get it that he's just so damn tired of this bullshit, yet I highly doubt this is the proper way to deal with things? Either way, he seems to have enjoyed it way too much. Could this be considered a kink awekening? Because if so, he and his European toad should be sent to horny jail ASAP. He's too much of a menace for anyone to handle, I'm telling you.

I've nothing to say here, unless you wanna hear me scream for the tenth time?

I mean, can you blame him? Even when he's such a popular guy among the ladies (as she mentioned earlier in the epilogue), none of them can satisfy that rooted need that he has—to have a person by his side who seems him for who he truly is and doesn't judge him for that. Someone who's able to see beyond his looks, even if they're so blindingly attractive is humanly impossible.

And once he believed to have found that someone, of course he never let go. He couldn't care less about their difference in status, because what's so wrong to want to be genuinely happy for once in your life? Is it so wrong if they don't share something so insignificant when it comes to love with you?

Maybe not for him, even thought that'd bring him the discredit of his peers (not like he cares that much about that, though)—but for someone who's constantly avoiding trouble and thus would like to pass as unnoticed as possible? Yes. A lot, may I add.

Not like he cares much, though. His intentions are clear: he's gonna jump on a pool that at first seems dry as hell, hoping for some water to make its presence and muffle his fall.

I'm sorry, but that last line sent me.

But even then,

‼‼‼

BRUH IT HAPPENED

LOVED THIS VOLUME 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND

[hamliet]

Rereading A Storm of Swords

In light of my recent Fire & Blood reread, I decided to reread the whole ASOIAF series because, well, why not. Below are some general observations/musings on the themes, character arcs, alchemy, and foreshadowing. I’ll do this for the others as well. It’s not really a meta proper, so much as observations and thoughts.

Thoughts on A Game of Thrones here and A Clash of Kings here.

Themes

Duty vs Love

Again, Martin contrasts duty and love. Robb forgives Catelyn for freeing Jaime because "what you did, I know you did for love... Love's not always wise."

Meanwhile, Tywin treats his children as pawns, literally trying to marry them again and telling them they'll do what he tells them because of duty:

"Go," their father said. "We shall talk again after you have composed yourself. Remember your duty."

And Brienne defends Robert by telling Jaime that his rebellion is justified because of love:

"Why is it that no one names Robert oathbreaker? He tore the realm apart, yet I am the one with shit for honor." "Robert did all he did for love."

I don't really have a ton new to say that I didn't already say in my ACOK's post, but again, Martin doesn't seem to see duty/honor and love as actual opposites, but instead suggests there's a balance to be struck. The idea that duty at its most extreme transforms people into things, however, is something I'll talk about more later.

Individuality vs Ideas

Part of the reason ASOAIF is so complex is that it's deconstructing the idea that enemies and villains and "red shirts" are just empty ideas rather than living, breathing people. We have this idea throughout all books, but it's emphasized starting in ASOS:

"Enough." The Hound's face was tight with anger. "You're making noise. These names mean nothing. Who were they?" "People," said Lord Beric. "People great and small, young and old. Good people and bad people, who died on the points of Lannister spears or saw their bellies opened by Lannister swords.

Then we have Jon starting to empathize with the wildlings:

He did not want their friendship, any more than he wanted Ygritte's love. And yet . . . the Thenns spoke the Old Tongue and seldom talked to Jon at all, but it was different with Jarl's raiders, the men who'd climbed the Wall. Jon was coming to know them despite himself: gaunt, quiet Errok and gregarious Grigg the Goat, the boys Quort and Bodger, Hempen Dan the ropemaker. The worst of the lot was Del, a horsefaced youth near Jon's own age, who would talk dreamily of this wildling girl he meant to steal. "She's lucky, like your Ygritte. She's kissed by fire."

Martin also uses this "red shirts" idea to open and close the book in the prologue and epilogue. Chett and Merritt aren't particularly sympathetic characters on the outset, but from being in their mind, even if we see Chett as an incel-esque character and Merritt as a coward, we feel their fear and hopes and self-loathing too. It's impossible not to see them as human, and when they realize they're going to die... well. It leaves us with a strange feeling.

We Are All Just Songs

"We're all just songs in the end. If we are lucky." Oh look, we've got a title drop here! A title drop!

ASOIAF is playing with the ideas of stories. For example, characters like Sansa adore simplistic stories of courtly romances. Arya enjoys badass historical stories. Bran enjoys ghost stories. Daenerys enjoys stories about her family's history.

Well, any wonder each of their stories are deconstructing these ideas?

But Martin isn't saying stories are stupid or bad. If anything, he's saying we need stories. Stories are the ideals that help light our way through messy reality.

True Kings, True Knights

Throughout the first few books, we have Sansa telling us "he was no true knight" about the vile people serving Joffrey. The point isn't to mock Sansa, but instead to deconstruct her ideals. Through Sansa's pure-hearted belief and compassion, even for people like the Hound, they start to change and become more and more knightly.

Please note I'm not saying this is okay or whatever, just saying there is some romantic coding between them even when they're apart in the books. Should Sandor return and meet Sansa again, I would expect it to be a textbook chivalric romance:

a highly conventionalized medieval tradition of love between a knight and a married noblewoman, first developed by the troubadours of southern France and extensively employed in European literature of the time. The love of the knight for his lady was regarded as an ennobling passion and the relationship was typically unconsummated.

The "no true knight" mantra is also picked up this book by Brienne, who inspires similar change in Jaime. It's also repeated by Daenerys, with a twist:

"Some kings make themselves. Robert did." "He was no true king," Dany said scornfully. "He did no justice. Justice . . . that's what kings are for."

Again, I highly doubt we're going for a scorched earth burned ashes deconstruction here, but instead digging to the heart of what this means. What does it mean to be a just ruler for Daenerys? As much as she needs to mature and accept worser parts of herself, much like Sansa and Brienne, her general ideals are not themselves wrong, even if their application in the real world is messier than in songs.

Protecting the Innocent:

We have this theme throughout the story: those who protect the innocent are heroes. We even have this in the lore of the story itself, such as the Knight of the Laughing Tree (who is clearly Lyanna, and the incident clearly jumpstarted her relationship with Rhaegar).

Also, can't believe I have to say this, but in ASOIAF, hurting kids iz bad. It's particularly Bad. It's Bad Bad. (Nota Bene: I do not get how the House of the Dragon fans and even its actors do not get this very basic principle in ASOIAF). In earlier books, we had Ned full of regret for the deaths of Rhaegar's children and fear that Robert would hurt Cersei's. Now in ASOS, Martin hits us with this idea in almost every storyline.

Robb loses a lot of his army to punish someone who murdered two children in revenge for his own children. Oh look, it's almost like ASOIAF doesn't condone "an eye for an eye, a son for a son":

"They died," said Rickard Karstark, yielding no inch of ground. "The Kingslayer cut them down. These two were of his ilk. Only blood can pay for blood." "The blood of children?" Robb pointed at the corpses. "How old were they? Twelve, thirteen? Squires."

Then we have Daenerys and the Unsullied and the children crucified on the way to Meereen. The truly evil idea is seeing kids as a weakness, an idea that makes Dany "feel faint":

"To win his spiked cap, an Unsullied must go to the slave marts with a silver mark, find some wailing newborn, and kill it before its mother's eyes. In this way, we make certain that there is no weakness left in them."

Plus, it's stated directly:

Yet he saw himself as a hero, and heroes do not kill children."

Then we have Melisandre arguing that hurting children even for the best of intentions is the right thing to do, but the framing of this--through Davos' eyes--tells us this is completely wrong. Even if you lose your army and your life like Robb. Even if you lose everything. It's. Not. Worth. It.

The Lord of Light cherishes the innocent. There is no sacrifice more precious. From his king's blood and his untainted fire, a dragon shall be born.

(Clearly, this also foreshadows the demise of Shireen.)

Again, Davos, one of the most moral characters in this story, tells us directly what we should think:

"...what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?" "Everything," said Davos, softly.

This storyline also seems to be combined with Nissa Nissa, even though Nissa Nissa is an adult and not a child, because Azor Ahai has to sacrifice what he loves most. Stannis will sacrifice Shireen, his child, because she's what he loves most, but it won't work. I'd suggest that the idea is less "Stannis just wasn't chosen" and more "don't kill the innocent."

If there is a sacrifice to defeat the Others, I 100% do not see a Nissa Nissa situation happening, but instead a willing self-sacrifice.

Look Back! Look Back!

All of the characters have to look back if they are to go forward, as Daenerys is reminded by Quaithe. The problem is no one's doing that in their quest to look ahead.

Tyrion: "Some part of him had hoped for less indifference. Had hoped, he jeered bitterly, but now you know better, dwarf. Shae is all the love you're ever like to have". He has to face what happened with Tysha, to face the fact that he participated in that and became her monster, to ever be a better man.

Arya needs to face herself as a Stark and as someone who wants a family even more than she thinks she wants to be powerful: "Jaqen was gone, though. He'd left her. Hot Pie left me too, and now Gendry is leaving. Lommy had died, Yoren had died, Syrio Forel had died, even her father had died, and Jaqen had given her a stupid iron penny and vanished."

And Daenerys has to face her father's legacy, and likely will when she accidentally sets off Dear Old Dad's wildfyre in King's Landing: "If she was not her father's daughter, who was she?" This is the central question of Daenerys' arc. Her identity is in her status as the last living Targaryen. The question is whether she wants to continue the Targaryen legacy of madness and slavery, or destroy it (which she's doing).

Foreshadowing

Arya

When thinking of the original outline Martin somewhat scrapped and that Arya/Jon idea, I do wonder if this is a leftover idea meant to tell us something about Arya's future (namely, that Gendry is likely her love interest instead of Jon):

Arya gave Gendry a sideways look. He said it with me, like Jon used to do, back in Winterfell. She missed Jon Snow the most of all her brothers.

Tyrion

Well, Tywin says this at the start to Tyrion: 

You are done with whores. The next one I find in your bed, I'll hang.

The irony is Tywin won't find a whore in Tyrion's bed. Instead, Tyrion will find that precise whore, Shae, in his father's bed. And he "hangs" her by strangling her with that necklace.

Jon

Jon "had slain the wildling Orell, but some part of the man remained within the eagle." This is pretty likely foreshadowing for Jon remaining in Ghost for a bit before he's resurrected.

Jon and Daenerys

The story has a middle section somewhat littered with romantic longings and first loves. Daenerys is torn about Jorah, whom she doesn't love like that, and has a crush on Daario. She also sleeps with Irri. Arya and Gendry begin to show attraction. Jaime and Brienne. Jon and Ygritte. But here are some lines between Jon and Ygritte that hint at his romantic future:

She punched him. "That's vile. Would you bed your sister?" "Longspear's not your brother." "He's of my village. You know nothing, Jon Snow..."

"Then I'd push him in a stream or throw a bucket o' water on him. Anyhow, men shouldn't smell sweet like flowers." "What's wrong with flowers?"

Lol well at least she's his aunt?

Jon's already been strongly associated with blue roses, so this hints that Ygritte isn't a perfect match for him. She's kissed by fire, but not actually fire and air herself, like Dany is. Daenerys also liked the fact that the blue rose growing in a chink of ice at the wall "smell[ed] sweetly."

Lastly:

 A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall.

Again, I feel like this might be foreshadowing for Dany and Jon having a child someday. The one thing that makes me skeptical and wondering if the child may be more metaphorical is the timeline--whether or not there's enough time for them to bear a child and save the world from the Others. That said, there's plenty of foreshadowing for it, so...

Sansa

The White Ghost clearly predicts Sansa's hairnet's role in Joffrey's assassination, as well as offers a prophecy of Sansa slaying a giant at, a giant who tries to destroy Winterfell. This may indicate Sansa literally kills a giant at some point, or it might be metaphorical. The one who needs to be slain by Sansa is Littlefinger, but he hasn't really been associated with giant imagery yet just kidding @isammy7936 pointed out the obvious: that the Baelish family crest is the Titan of Braavos.

There's a followup scene of Sansa tearing Robert Arryn's doll that destroyed Winterfell later in the book, in the presence of Littlefinger who was helping her build it. I don't doubt that Littlefinger will help Sansa claim the North at some point, but I also see him trying to destroy the Starks.

Jaime

Oh, Jaime.

I cannot die while Cersei lives, he told himself. We will die together as we were born together.

When I reach King's Landing I'll have a new hand forged, a golden hand, and one day I'll use it to rip out Vargo Hoat's throat.

Smells like foreshadowing to me, although I don't think it will be Vargo Hoat's throat he rips out, but Cersei's he strangles.

Alchemy

Daenerys and Red

Continuing with Dany's theme of becoming red, sulfur, fire and air, the first city she takes is Astapor, a red city:

In the center of the Plaza of Pride stood a red brick fountain whose waters smelled of brimstone, and in the center of the fountain a monstrous harpy made of hammered bronze... Even through the thickness of her sandals, she could feel the warmth of the red bricks underfoot. 

The other red association I've seen is her dream that she is Rhaegar fighting the Others at the Trident. Most seem to think the battle against the others will end at Winterfell, which I tend to agree with. However, the fact that the final climax should involve red at some point makes me wonder, because this takes place specifically at the Red Fork of the Trident.

That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar, riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper's rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent. Some small part of her knew that she was dreaming, but another part exulted. This is how it was meant to be. The other was a nightmare, and I have only now awakened.

Then again, fire is certain to be involved in defeating the Others, so it might well be red enough with that.

Bran and White

To continue the Starks are water and earth and white idea, Bran has this quote:

Moonlight painted the wet woods in shades of silver and turned the grey peaks white. Owls hooted through the dark and flew silently between the pines, while pale goats moved along the mountainsides.

Sansa and White

When I reread AGOT, I did take note that Sansa was given a red rose by Ser Loras, rather than the white he gave other girls. But in ASOS, Sansa talks to Loras about that very moment, and the point of this conversation is to reveal how little it meant to Loras. He gave her a red rose because he grabbed a red rose first, not because it meant anything. Seems like a meta commentary.

Arya and White/Water

When Arya dresses like a girl for the first time again, she wears something "lilac-colored, and decorated with little baby pearls."

Furthermore, Arya routinely stops to give water to the dying, even the executed. Even when people, like the Hound, ask for wine (red), she gives them water.

Brienne and Jaime

For Jaime and Brienne, there's very little I can say about their alchemical weddings that the fabulous @argentvive hasn't covered. The first is the dual in the creek, which is with swords and violent, while the second is in the bath. The first one is also littered with romantic and sexual imagery, and is frankly what I'd call metaphorical sex:

No sooner did she turn one cut than the next was upon her. The swords kissed and sprang apart and kissed again. Jaime's blood was singing. This was what he was meant for; he never felt so alive as when he was fighting, with death balanced on every stroke... He laughed a ragged, breathless laugh. "Come on, come on, my sweetling, the music's still playing. Might I have this dance, my lady?" ... She looks as if they caught us fucking instead of fighting.

Brienne is also marked as water/earth, and white, while Jaime is red and fire. Jaime tells Brienne:

Think of Tarth, mountains and seas, pools, waterfalls, whatever you have on your Sapphire Isle, think . . . 

Jaime slid into the offered seat quickly, so Bolton could not see how weak he was. "White is for Starks. I'll drink red like a good Lannister." " "I would prefer water," said Brienne. "Elmar, the red for Ser Jaime, water for the Lady Brienne..."

But after their second chemical wedding in the baths, they take on each other's qualities much more. Jaime dons his white cloak, lives in the white tower, and gives Brienne his Valyrian steel sword, which is colored with Lannister red (and is also a phallic symbol).

Arya and Gendry

Arya and Gendry's scenes become slightly romantically charged in this book. After she dresses like a girl, this conversation takes place.

Gendry put the hammer down and looked at her. "You look different now. Like a proper little girl." "I look like an oak tree, with all these stupid acorns." "Nice, though. A nice oak tree." He stepped closer, and sniffed at her. "You even smell nice for a change."

They then fight in a scene that parallels the Brienne and Jaime wrestling scene above.

Reconciling Opposites:

Another idea in this book spoken of by multiple characters is that of reconciling opposites. That's what alchemy is fundamentally concerned with. Meera states that hate and love are essentially two sides of the same coin. Barristan says greatness and madness are the same. Melisande says:

"The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good." She took a step toward him. "Death and life. Everywhere, opposites. Everywhere, the war."

Again, George has pretty much confirmed Dany and Jon are the Song of Ice and Fire, so they need to unite.

Tyrion

One thing I wonder about is the use of homonculus (sometimes represented as a dwarf) and a rebis in alchemy, and whether or not Tyrion is intended to be a portrayal of either or both or neither. Homonculi are sometimes called "monsters", a name Tyrion bitterly embraces by the end of the book. Oberyn says that after Tyrion's birth, there were rumors he had the genitalia of male and female, but Tyrion didn't. At the same time, he does have odd features like two different colored eyes, etc that might hint at him being seen as an alchemical rebis. I don't know.

Other Thoughts

Tyrion as a Targaryen

Not only do I think it doesn't thematically work to have Tyrion as a Targaryen, but I think the line used at the end of this book as evidence ("You . . . you are no . . . no son of mine") strongly indicates the opposite--that Tyrion is indeed his father's son. You see, Tywin literally says the exact same sentiment only a few chapters earlier to Jaime:

The strained silence went on until it was more than Jaime could endure. "Father . . . " he began.

"You are not my son." Lord Tywin turned his face away. "You say you are the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and only that. Very well, ser. Go do your duty."

If people want to argue the Tyrion Targaryen angle, this is not really evidence itself.

Tyrion the Monster

Tyrion's the first of the Main Six to dive off the cliff, starting at the end of this book where he lies to Jaime to tell him he killed Joffrey, desperate to hurt Jaime the same way he's hurting. He's enraged he literally saved the city and no one cares; they all just want him dead for his disability, for things he cannot help. He can't even find love because of it, and he craves love. So he finally decides to be the monster they think he is.

Insofar as the other two likely heads of the dragon go... I think they'll take similar approaches to their dark spirals. We see hints of it this book. Daenerys won't look back until confronted with it, so she'll probably be like "let me prove myself with fire and blood" (actually, this is exactly what her ADWD arc leads to her deciding to do). Jon notes the fact that people assume bastards are craven and scheming, and I do not doubt that is exactly what Jon will become after he's resurrected: he's probably going to ditch the Wall, the fight, and everything for a time.

Jeyne Westerling

Poor Jeyne. Despite her mother's machinations to get Jeyne to seduce Robb, I do believe she and Robb genuinely loved each other--as much as anyone could. Their story seems to be a deconstruction of the "love at first sight" trope, wherein they love each other but don't entirely know each other, and have to get used to each other as people rather than as just objects of love. Hence, Jeyne turning to Catelyn for advice. Which frankly was a wise thing to do :'')

The True Fight

Davos reminds Stannis what the true fight is: up north, fighting the Others. I'm sorry but I can't see the books ending with the show's ending, where the true fight is against humans. No, this isn't thematically contradictory with the idea that the story is about humanity or the human heart against itself; the opposite in fact.

The true fight all humans face is against death, and what we do to live in the face of the reality that we're all going to die.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

FIPTION: There Is A Crack In The World (Review)

So, I finally finished "There Is A Crack In The World", the largest part of my fiction reading trade with @fipindustries. It's taken me a while, and I haven't spoken about it much here as I read, sending my in the moment thoughts to Fip directly, instead. Part of the reason I didn't finish it sooner was because I am abroad, and I've been distracted by not being in my own home, hanging out with my boyfriend, actually hanging out with Fip in person, but regardless; I am done now and here are my thoughts.

Crack in the World is a really interesting book for a lot of reasons. There are a bunch of things I didn't like about it, and a bunch of things I really did like about it, and it's fascinating for me how those things intersect. I'll start with my biggest criticisms; the writing itself is very one-and-done, unedited prose, which, combined with this being a novel written in a second language, results in text that feels fairly sloppy in parts, spattered with spelling and syntactic errors, odd sentence phrasing that needs a second eye making adjustments. There are some moments where I can feel the author had a clear picture in her head, but where the details didn't come out as clearly as might have been liked to the reader. These issues would be the biggest barrier to this getting published properly one day, but it's also arguably the most straightforward to fix; the book just needs a thorough editing pass, either by Fip or another editor. The intent is clear enough that I think someone could fix up these issues without any author input, and indeed I found myself doing so in my head as I read. The core meaning is solid, and so when thinking about the book I am going to largely ignore the typographical stuff, the narrative now feels fairly accurately transcribed into my head where I can prod at it as a consolidated story, and it is that story that I'll be reviewing.

The important context for CitW is that it was written when the author was, per her description, dealing with having been in a pretty bad place, and so the tone that the novel seeks to strike is a pretty grimdark one. According to the aftermath post linked at the end, parts of it were an exercise at writing "unrepentant misery porn". Maybe I am desensitised to dark fiction, but a lot of the book didn't really come off that way to me, but in a way that's almost to Fip's credit; even when she's trying to write a dark and miserable story, Fip's delight in writing about whacky characters playing out dynamic adventure narratives comes through in many places, and so the book's dystopic setting feels more Mad Max than 1984. The setting is dark and grim, but it's a cartoonish kind of grim that is, to be frank, mostly just sort of fun. There's a teenage edginess to a lot of it, which Fip has talked about being an accurate description of the mindset for some scenes. The times when that edginess doesn't work are, ironically, when the book really tries to be dark but in a way that pushes into being too crass to be endearing. There's a lot of blood and gore, which I appreciate, but then there are anal rape and shit jokes, which I do not, it feels a little bit too immature and too aspirationally edgy. I think some of that is regretted in retrospect. It doesn't detract too much from the overall feel, though.

The plot is also surprisingly straightforward, not as labyrinthine as I had expected at its core, a fairly conventional dual-protagonist adventure arc culminating in crossed paths (with several side-vignettes, as I discuss later). The ending is dark and follows up on the themes of hopelessness the most effectively of anything in the novel. After the entire book, I think that the background thematic radiation has built up enough for it to be earned, by that point. The final chapter and epilogues are a little fast and blunt, but not unworkably so.

There are two big strengths to the book, two things that I really liked. The first is the characters; Fip is primarily a visual/comics artist and you can really tell, even via writing alone, that she really likes coming up with cool characters with their own specific emotional vibe, and setting them off to interact with each other. These are guys who all feel like they should come with their own splash screen, tag line and iconic halloween costume. There's something almost superhero comic strip about the iconic identities of the characters, about their specific skills and motivations, true even for those that don't actually have their own "superpowers". But don't get me wrong, there's plenty of superhuman individuals on display, here; we have impossibly tenacious gun-wielding assassins, murderous, practically invulnerable clown girls, jungle mercenaries using anti-air rifles as a personal pogo stick, Russian mobster types, a literal dark lord... It's very whacky and fun when you get down to it, which is what really tempers the intended grimdark tone. You might fear that there's some dissonance there but it merges into something unique and interesting. That said, perhaps a more tightly edited version could change some passages with that in mind.

The second thing I really liked was that the story is used as a sort of... Stage setting for a bunch of smaller, more contained narratives, almost smaller parables (sometimes literal parables) that slot into the story. These are clearly separate ideas that were floating around in the author's head, and a lot of them are more tightly written than parts of the main narrative, more fully formed from the start. The two interlude chapters are the clear standouts in the whole work, and both are examples of writing in the style of these little vignettes. I do almost wish that the rest of the story was more integrated to match, there is a risk a few times of the non-sequitur insertions coming across as a little piecemeal, but this becomes less of an issue near the end - the second interlude is at once its own thing but is deeply connected to the rest of the story, and it makes absolute sense that it comes when it does.

One thing that the vignettes also highlight is the difference between pre-planned narrative trajectory/pacing and the "write on the fly" nature of the rest of the novel. There are some times where, in comparison, the "standard" chapters are at risk of tripping off required plot occurrences by rote without dwelling on them, and it's most notable by contrast. Keeping the little sub-stories in the novel is well with it though, and the pacing issue could be fixed with editing.

Other little things I liked: the bounce back and forth between protagonists in alternating chapters was very fun, and helped keep the pace up. I liked seeing the world from different perspectives, and from characters with very different roles in the world. For that matter, I liked the world itself; the worldbuilding was fun, if a little tropey, and I enjoyed trying to dissect the lore. There were a few things that didn't hold up to scrutiny lore-wise in retrospect, but that's understandable given the serial publishing. On the other hand, there was a lot of cool thematic stuff and character foreshadowing that was clearly planned well in advance and paid off really well. I'm avoiding specifics due to spoilers, but there are a lot of fun surprises in this novel!

So that is There Is A Crack In The World. Not a perfect book by any means, but a lot of fun and vibrant ideas. Fip has been sending me her excellent artwork for the story, which really adds a lot, and that compounds my desire to see this adapted as a sort of pulp graphic novel, given an ideal world. At it is, if there is future development of the story to be had it would be in a thorough editing pass. This is not required, however; the story is a fine artefact as it exists on its own, as rough around the edges as it may be, it tells an interesting and satisfying tale of some very cool characters. It's a shame I didn't get through it faster, but I'm very glad I took the time.

Great job Fip. Next up I read The Milkman (although that may also be slow coming; my preemptive apologies).

[rickie-the-storyteller]

WIP Title Meme Tag

Thank you very much to @rbbess110 for tagging me to do this! I've never done this one before.

RULES: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the most intriguing title, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs. (this part is optional tho)

The thing is... all my writing files are all over the place lol. That being said, I have some good titles that hopefully you guys will like a lot! I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys ask about my work.

Most of my file names are chapter titles.

Steph's Crew: The Misfit Manifesto

Exam Week

The End (of February Mocks)

Life with B

Nothing but the Truth

A Million Lives (and all of them suck)

Suspended

Life Without B

Why I Could Never Be a Rebel

Detention

The Aftermath

Bret 2.0

Half Term

Ben's Leaving Party

It's Too Late to Apologise

Climbing Uphill (slowly but surely)

Figuring Life Out (it sucks, but it's necessary)

Times Are Changing

Moving On

Alice's Sitcom-esque Family

I Have a Crush on You

Where Are You, Ben?

How to Get Back on Track

Movie Night's with El

I Miss My Man

Is This What Love Is?

Boyfriend

Anything Could Happen (almost)

Honeymoon

Library Sessions

An Unexpected (and Unwanted) Visitor from the Past

Drunk, Lonely, Miserable Losers

We Don't Talk Much Anymore... and It Sucks

A Night to Remember

A Night I'll Probably Never Forget

Where's Steph?

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The Beginning (of our final exams)

Epilogue (Stephanie's letters to her friends)

There. That's all the chapters in order (at least, I hope it's in order... idk tho). Something about this story that's really fun is that each of these chapters is in the perspective of a different character! Originally, it was just in Steph's POV (it was supposed to be her journal). I'm still very much in the process of editing this one, so some of these could still change in future (some of these chapter titles are way too long imo).

Steph's Crew: Unreported Violent Crimes

This is the sequel to the first book! I've only started it a couple of months ago... so there aren't quite as many this time. It's not quite finished yet, but I'm definitely going to add more chapters to this later!

The News Report

So, Some Guy Died Last Night...

Pillow Talk

The History of Stephanie and Ben

To Take Matters into One's Own Hands

Visiting an Old Friend

Stephanie's Upbringing

I've Never Had a Best Friend

The Story of Em and Jack

This is a story that I'm posting on Wattpad! I've already posted chapter 1, but I've got all these other chapters in the works as well:

Jemily

Flashback #1 (Elementary School)

Friends

Summertime

Meeting Mom

Jen's Party

Flashback #2 (Freshman Year)

"You broke me."

Back to School

"I think I loved you."

The Best Friend Zone

Flashback #3 (The First Breakup)

Square One

Thinking about the Future

Homecoming

Together

Be Good

"Let's NOT fight about this."

Fast-forward (College)

Another story that I'm planning to post on Wattpad is my Five Seconds Flat series... but I'm not going to post any of my file names/chapter names here, because it's literally based off of the Lizzy McAlpine album of the same name lol. All the chapters are titles from the album. Here's a link to it in case you want to see it, though (the album is awesome, btw. Hope you guys enjoy it!!):

AU

(I'm posting this series here in September! So you guys will get to see this very soon... I'm super excited! There are 10 chapters this time - this story has an ensemble cast of characters, and each chapter has a new focus character. There isn't a single "main character" - though some characters appear more than others)

1: “Starting Point" (focus character = Zephyr)

2: “Meet Cute” (focus character = Eurydice)

3: "Just This Once…" (focus character = Caius)

4: "Junebug" (focus character = Juniper)

5: "New Friends" (focus character = Cassius)

6: "Don’t Be a B-word" (focus character = Avalon)

7: "Say it with Chest" (focus character = Isadora)

8: "Things Shouldn’t Be Like This" (focus character = Adara)

9: "Hey, Brother" (focus character = Xander)

10: "Shut Up, Marcy!" (focus character = Marcelline)

Imma tag these people to do this next: @fayeiswriting, @kirsten-is-writing, @e-s-willswriting, @jay-avian, @clairelsonao3, @sarahlizziewrites, @mjparkerwriting, @silverslipstream, @winterandwords, @exquisitecrow, @elizaellwrites, @writingalterras, @thecreakywriter, @sam-glade, @hollyannewrites, @ryns-ramblings, @autumnalwalker, @toribookworm22, @blind-the-winds, @falesiacats, @j-1173, @gummybugg, @jessicawestonauthor, @thelavenderwriter, @jay-avian, @mysticstarlightduck

[elegyofthemoon]

Hsr for the ask game thing! Or if it's been asked then hi3 :)

YAAAAAAAAAAAY RAMBLINGGGGGGG

the first character i ever fell in love with:

sampo :) i actually started playing hsr because of sampo! he just seemed like a silly little dude and i do tend to like the "goof but has some big lore potential going on". it took like a day of resisting to actually download the game lmao

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Himeko..... I was actually really excited to get to know Himeko more when I had first started off. I mean come on: she's so beautiful! But laksjdfh I think overtime she eventually stopped standing out for me that I lost interest. That plus now that I've played HI3, the reason why I like HSR! Himeko feels like it's only because of HI3 Himeko and the importance of Himeko in the HI3 plot and for many characters' developments 😭 Sorry Himeko

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

I guess KafHime tbh? I think aesthetically they're a very very pretty couple, but I just can't get behind it at all. Or I just have no reasons to get behind it since I'm not exactly invested in either characters. Though Kafka is definitely growing on me because I built her (accidental pull) and she's been doing such massive damage so like you know.

Even then I don't have anything to say about either characters aslkdjfa

my ultimate favorite character™:

surprise to no one it's Dan Heng ALKSJDFAKLSJH I can go on about why I like him, but tldr: I just got attached to him at a very very crucial point in my life and he's just a nice comfort character to me ^u^ I loved being able to get to know him further on the Luofu and all things about the High Cloud Quintet ! So... yeah :> also I miss him --

prettiest character:

IM STUCK BECAUSE I THINK DAN HENG IS SOOOOOO PRETTY BUT ALSO ARGENTIIIIIII ARGENTI IS SO BEAUTIFULLLL RADIANT KNIGHT WHO COMES WITH HIS OWN SPARKLES AND OURGHHHHHH

it's hard T _ T its very hard to tell T _ T

my most hated character:

I don't really have a character I hate. Just more disinterest towards. Dr. Ratio is definitely up there though (I ramble about him later lmao)

my OTP:

listen.... i know it has been a while.... but I still really love Serval/Cocolia. I rarely read fanfics aside from if its written by my friends but Servalia had me clawing through AO3 and Tumblr just to search for more fics for them. No one posts about them much anymore but I sure love them so much okay.

my NOTP:

i'm not going to say which ship but its one of the dan heng ships.

favorite episode:

I'll write this as "favorite update". Penacony has been suuuuch a fun ride honestly. So I'll say that entire section has been tons of fun. As of now I still haven't finished it in its entirety, but I can sense 2.2's story will probably be my favorite because I've been waiting to get to know Robin more and the Watchmaker!! But 2.1 has been fun because I just love seeing Acheron's section of it heheh :)

saddest death:

UHHH as of now, I think Aventurine's death in 2.1 was really sad :/ Hoyo did a really good job writing Aventurine and his story that once you get to the finale of the 2.1, I found myself kinda torn on how it ended. Aventurine who placed his bets on his own death because that is what his good luck is good for - winning against all odds. The epilogue scene with Aventurine walking off into the Nihility's shadow kinda got me too. And this is coming from someone who is like very.... meh on Aventurine? I can't really bring myself to get super invested in him but objectively, he is a really well thoughtout and well created character. I just have no feelings towards him.

favorite season:

I'll write this as "favorite area". It's still Penacony askldjfahlsk There's sooooo many things happening in Penacony and I loved being able to put the pieces together to figure out what's going on. It's also the first area that I had nearly read all the readables in because I'd make it my goal to finish reading every readable and 100% every area before the next update in Penacony :> I want to better understand the area I'm in and give myself ideas for where the story can go. The second area would have been Belobog because it's the only other area I was trying to 100% and read all the readables for (are the readables important in Belobog? no but some of them sure made me cry a bit LMAO)

least favorite season:

"Least favorite area" Honestly... Herta's Space Station. But that could also be because when I first started HSR, I was still orienting myself to the new world, so the space station is the least i remember. It's not that I hated it; it's trying to orient you into the new world and I was just confused for majority of it. I just don't remember enough about it nor about the people within it to care for it.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

Objectively: I'll say he's interesting and I am interested to see his development. But Dr. Ratio. I don't get it. I've seen people talk about him wanting education to be accessible to ALL which is GREAT but personality? Can't stand him.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

Ruan Mei my most beloved. I want more of her and I feel like we didn't get enough of her. She's just so interesting as a character and while she may not be the most caring of characters - and reasons why people shit on her - I still feel like her view as a character is interesting. And even her motives of wanting to become an Aeon. I want to understand her better. Why? What drove her to want to become so? I WANT TO UNDERSTAND YOU MISS

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

not a beautiful cinnamon roll but she sure is beautiful but i love Jingliu 😭😭😭 one reason why i don't like interacting with majority of the fandom is because of their viewpoint on Jingliu's companion quest. I had way way clearer thoughts on the quest when it was fresh on my brain, but I actually liked it a lot more than the fandom let on about it, and I know that people were kinda shittalking about Jingliu afterwards and that made me Mad on her behalf because I think she's a really nicely thought out character. But then again, if you know me: white hair character who is defined by mourning and grief. you know the deal LKAJDHFALKJD

idk. I just feel like she deserves better than how the fandom treats her.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

I mean whatever the hell Rondo Across Countless Kalpas had going on, Black Swan/Acheron sure kinda has me feeling a way (in which i'd risk wanting a dance with Acheron. me too Black Swan LAKJDFALKS). Also in a way Servalia too I mean. You know.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

No one asked but I actually kinda lowkey ship Firefly/Robin. Like very very lowkey. My only reasoning is when 2.0 was fresh and i was in Mourning over Robin, I once sent a very giant and long essay to my friend N about me late night perusing and overanalyzing Firefly and Robin's deaths. like why specifically them ? Why did they have to die?

I took it in a very symbolic matter. I thought too much about Firefly's monologue about her answer to "Why do people slumber?" and her answer being "Because people are afraid to be awake" or something like that. And about how it was "If I can stop one heart from breaking" that played in the background of all this - a song that praises the comforts of a dream in the face of bleakness. In both cases, in my view, it felt like having both of them die at least in that update, the deaths also seemed to signal the idea of ceasing this concept of a dream and to face reality etc.

And that's something I'm super excited about based on where i am with HSR with arguing with Sunday over the concept of comfort vs freedom.

BUT BACK TO THE POINT OF THIS QUESTION: this concept and me fixating on their meanings, it gave me a reason to kinda put Firefly/Robin together. It's kinda nice parallel with each other in a way haha

[creativename87]

WAIT WAIT FOR THE ASK GAME!!!

🥤, 🍄, 🪐, 🍦, 🧩 :D

(for this)

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love STOP. STOP. omg the power ur giving me,,,, i am (slowly) collecting a list of pjsk fics for u hehe so it wouldn't be any of those -- but if i had to pick one to rec it would prolly be 'Punishment For A Monster' by mimiquack -- my 2nd favorite and if you've ever even touched the jjk fandom, even dabbled in it, stuck your toes in for a brief moment, you have to read this. it's been the only fanfic (i can recall) that ever made me tear up i love it sm

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings OOH OK OK well let's go with kim dokja & kim dokja's company i count that as a ship-- even if it's platonic-- so i hope it works,, OK so post epilouge i assume once kdj wakes up (HE WILL) all of kimcom gets a big house together with tons and tons of rooms and instead of sleeping in their own rooms-- for the first month at least-- they all sleep in kdj's room together on cots and kdj's SO CONFUSED as to why that's it. that's my headcanon. technically everything after the epilogue can be counted as headcanong but hvyuhjkbhy whatever

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now - my friends, - my writing, annndddd - time management!

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate Sigh..... a character i hate... i mean those are kinda hard to find-- i usually grow to love a character but lemme see if i can find one really quickly (comes back a day later) yep. ok. so i found one i don't hate him but i for sure dislike him tgcf fandom DO NOT COME AT ME this is like the hottest take out of all hot takes for u all but i don't particularly like hua cheng. IM SORRY. I know he's 1. loyal, 2. caring, 3. charming and handsome, but i just can't IM SORRYYY

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately? ,,,,,,,,,, Smut. Like sometimes if i have enough hope in the concept or i want to see the rest of the plot i'll scroll past it (like it comes on chapter 6 and i'll skip past cause i'm too invested in the story) but usually if it appears i'll click out (sometimes i'll click on a fic knowing it has smut and kinda hoping it'll be skippable and then it either is and i skip it or it's definitely not and i just click out of it so i consciously know it's not a deal breaker but it's something that usually makes me click out TT)

[bubblegummintie]

Here’s that masterpost I mentioned in my pinned post. It took awhile to fix some things but I'm going to be dividing stuff to make it clear what's original works, more canon works, and then a mix of both for a server I run. (Still loosely taking applications or well, for small interviews for people to join it. 18+ kind of server and pretty rad. Dm me if you want to ask about it!). 

A lot of the ones posted or planned to be posted/are being planned to eventually write for a small series I'm doing for an au idea for Smile for Me are heavy topics and contain death, trauma, and just might not be good for some people to read. Don't feel shame in skipping them because I do have plans for more wholesome works to post in between the one I just finished and a continuation of that one in prologue/epilogue form (depends on which I write first). Keep yourselves safe and read the tags for things! {Will edit later and work on adding more to the masterlist as time goes on. If I forget, I'll try posting the links until I post the link to this list}

.˚ *꒰ঌ✦໒꒱ * ˚. Angst Writings .˚ *꒰ঌ✦໒꒱ * ˚.

✧˚₊‧ Original Character works ✧˚₊‧

𖤐 “Nightmares, Nightmares. When Will They Stop?” - is a small story with my OC, Kouya Rivermasu that deals with a great deal of heavy topics. It was my first time posting something so it might not be the best, but read the tags before actually reading it to make sure it's a good story for you. 

 The link is: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50809402

˚｡⋆୨୧˚ Bloomhaven/AU spin on canon events ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

❦ “Am I Better, Am I the Same, or Just Worse?” - is a two chapter fic that deals with the trauma of childhood, post-Habitat events, and has Boris having a panic attack while in the process of legally adopting my Flower Kid — Aspen. It's set in the current era we live in so these events happen closer to 2 years ago in our time and deals with my seaside, flowery town being mentioned so far. Has a good ending so a lot less trauma, but still deals with canon events.

The link is: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51182377/chapters/129324394

⊹₊｡ꕤ°₊ ⊹ More canon type events ⊹₊｡ꕤ°₊ ⊹

❀˖° "Bad Choices Lead to Dead Ends" - is a two chapter fanfic that will potentially just get it's own section eventually due to it being the second part of a series I'm planning now. It follows the loop au that some people have used where Kamal and Boris are sentient. The twist? One of them is destined to die and the other is meant to stay back to watch the aftermath. The first chapter is Boris' POV and the second is Kamal's POV. I'd suggest reading one after the other to really put into effect the two halves of a picture type style put in. It gets really sad so I'd bring some tissues and skip out on this one if you're sensitive to death and your comfort character dying.

The link is: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51857044/chapters/131115796#workskin

The link to my friend's art for the fic: https://www.tumblr.com/l0nelyappariti0n/735082417599168512/bad-choices-lead-to-dead-ends-chapter-1

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗ Lighthearted/Wholesome Writings ˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

✧˚₊‧ Original Character works ✧˚₊‧

࣪𖤐 [Placeholder]

˚｡⋆୨୧˚Bloomhaven/AU spin on canon events˚｡⋆୨୧˚

❦ [Placeholder]

⊹₊｡ꕤ°₊ ⊹More canon type events⊹₊｡ꕤ°₊ ⊹

❀˖° [placeholder]

More will be added over time so be on the look out and if you lose this post, just know it's in my pinned post as well!

[sonderwrit]

C116: Rest

I Have to Be a Great Villain - Masterpost

Author's Weibo post:

Translation: Brothers and sisters! Success at the speed of life and death! More is out, oh yeah! Here are two handsome photos, this world isn't short! There are plenty of chapters to play in~ Saw some mistakes in the update before 00:20 (accidentally updated a later mini-theater [with the chapter], so it's normal if you didn't understand it, in the future updates will come bit by bit~)

Chapter 116 translation below the cut (note: as the author mentioned, this chapter is extra long, yay!)

---

Qin Xian: As long as we do everything in this book once.

QX: We'll find the answer.

Wang Yi: This book?

QX: Right.

WY: Hm, the first part isn't hard; it's just minor stuff like practicing and sleeping together. (It'll take several years to lay the groundwork.)

WY: But I'm having trouble understanding after flipping to the end.

WY: What's this disciple and master pair doing?

*Epilogue of the story*

QX: Hm. He should be sitting on his master's knees to rest. [<- originally had low EQ, now it's worse]

WY: So it's like that, but it feels kinda strange. [<- losing his memories = losing his humanity]

QX: Where is it strange?

WY: I'm not sure. 

WY: Maybe my level isn't high enough to understand the mysteries in it.

#There are no XXX enlightenment books on the mountain, so these two cultivation "geniuses" are being beaten down by their own self-study#

WY: Uuf…well, all we can do is try.

WY: (A voice in my heart keeps telling me to trust Master, weird…)

WY: Although I can't see the connection between "re-enacting the contents of the book" and "understanding what 'like' means," since Master says to do so, Master must have his reasons.

[Upright] [Upright #2]

QX: Mm.

WY: Then let's start with the first chapter. There's a while before we reach the parts we don't understand, so maybe we'll get it by the time we reach there.

—

S-0: *yawns* (It's about time, the stupidity medicine should've fully taken effect by now.) [It'll make someone dumb without affecting their intelligence, so it's very convenient.]

S-0: (Although I feel sorry for Qin, he's probably too dumbed down to understand what I did by now.)

S-0: (Let's take a look.) *squeeze*

S-0: (Hm? So quiet, is it already bedtime?)

S-0: (But Nascent Soul level cultivators need very little sleep.) [This better not be a negative side-effect of the medicine.]

S-0: (I'll use my authority to check his physical condition…)

S-0: (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!)

S-0: (Why are they—sleeping in one bed?!)

QX: Who's there.

S-0: MreEEEOOOOoowwww~

WY: Uh…Master.

WY: What's wrong…?

QX: Nothing. Go to sleep.

WY: All right…Master should sleep too.

—

S-0: ……

S-0: (Aish. Did it turn into this kind of relationship again.]

S-0: (The original novel's Sword Saint Qin was a cultivator who utterly doted on his disciples.)

QX: "Seeing my disciple is equivalent to seeing myself."

S-0: (So it's very normal to see this scene of filial piety between Master and disciple.)

Cultivator*: "Daoist Qin, we have enough seating mats for this meeting. (You're a bad influence hugging and clinging to each other!)

*Judging by panel below, this is probably the sect leader Wu Jin

S-0: (But…though not as intimate as Yunshan Sect's master [Wu Jin] or Demon Abyss Master [Ren Shukuang], Qin Xian does get close to the male protagonist later on in the plot.)

S-0: (However, after interacting with the protagonist shou, he gradually discovered that the latter's venomous senior brother* was ruthless, tyrannical, and of mixed blood, so he stopped caring for him as much. In the latter half of the story, when the Daoist and Demonic forces fight, he'll realize the good points of the protagonist shou and truly fall in love with him.)

*Wang Yi's character

QX: "I don't care that you like others, I just wanted to tell you, my heart is yours."

S-0: (He became the last member of the harem—)

S-0: (And the so-called vicious senior brother who betrayed the immortal sect naturally had a bad ending…)

S-0: (His immortal bones were destroyed and he was left to fend for himself in the mountain cliffs.)

S-0: (Can they really reach that ending with their current clingy status…)

S-0: (Forget it.)

S-0: (Worry about the future when the future comes.)

S-0: (There's still time before the main mission. The Main System might even leave before long.) …meow~

WY: Master, I can walk on my own.

QX: Master feels cold, so I need you to warm me up.

S-0: (Moreover…this seems to be the first time these two interacted without either of them knowing about their "fate.")

QX: (The book was right, disciple's hair is indeed very soft.)

S-0: (No more pressure from the mission.)

S-0: (No more worrying about being separated.)

S-0: (Let S-0 take care of everything.)

S-0: (Of course, you need to pay this cat for overtime work.)

S-0: (Hmph hmph~ That reward will be—)

[Wang Yi: 17 years old, Qi-Refining Stage]

S-0: (Let S-0 see what sort of scene will happen—)

WY: Why did Master get so dirty again.

S-0: (When the blank paper System Y meets an equally blank Mr. Qin.)

WY: Bring your face here,

WY: I'll wipe it for you.

S-0: (It's really great~~~~)

QX: That's right, disciple's cultivation has already reached the zenith of Qi-Refining Stage. You can breakthrough anytime, right?

WY: Yes. I can build my foundation immediately.

QX: Mm, Master will protect you.

WY: Thank you, Master.

[Specification: In the cultivation world the levels are: Qi-Refining > Foundation Building > Golden Core > Nascent Soul > Immortal Ascension > Overcoming tribulation and becoming a god]

—

WY: Urk–

WY: ?!

*fades into past Y and X flashback*

System Y: ?!

Qin Xian: Ah.

QX: What's this?

QX: It's not the invading army.

[hms-no-fun]

apologies if you’ve written this somewhere before, but in a couple of these #sarahposts you refer to a retcon you made in gf1, what was the change?

oh yeah! i don't think i've really extensively documented this anywhere, so i might as well do so here. let's start with the boring shit and cover the history, then i'll give you the full breakdown of what changed.

so when i wrote gf1, i had no sense that i would ever want to go beyond the realm of this one fic. but i DID have this idea of "the ultimate ultimate self," an entity that contains all selves which is never mentioned in homestuck. funny that THAT’S my first big canon divergence, rooted so deep in the philosophical. obviously the big existential kick of gf1 is this idea that retcon is somehow eroding john's connection to that ultimate ultimate self, or at least to his ultimate self generally. the extent to which this is TRUE remains to be seen, john/june is never an objective arbiter of their own subjective existence, but it is an important idea for the series nevertheless.

the other key ingredient is that for a long time i planned on doing my own audio drama adaptation of godfeels (as i mentioned at the end of this video). obviously i never got around to doing this myself and eventually abdicated responsibility to the far more capable hands of the podfeels team, but i did get as far as adapting godfeels 1 for a podfic (which is what they used for podfeels 1). so i took that opportunity to modify a few things to bring gf1 more in line with how the series’ cosmology had evolved.

RIGHT SO, what are the differences? well, they're almost if not entirely exclusive to the narration. and right from the start, we have a big addition:

[left is my original draft, right is the published version]

when i wrote gf1 i put ZERO thought into how long after homestuck proper it took place. remember that i wrote and released this before the epilogues came out, so it was only later that i adopted the timeline and framework of the epilogues. if anything i wrote gf1 thinking they were closer to *my* age at the time, meaning like 27-28, which might have caused me problems down the line. but this addition is also important because (as i rant about in this recent post) i think it's easier to swallow questionably in-character dialogue when you know that this is six years and change after homestuck. i still don't think the overall timeline gets emphasized enough throughout... honestly ALL of godfeels before chapter 8 lmao. looking back i was shockingly negligent in this respect.

what else?

lol ok sure

this was a pretty substantial addition owing to the fact that back then i really wasn't interested in writing anyone but the betas, and even then i mostly just wanted to write about june and jade. obviously that changed, so i wanted to do a better job of setting up dirk's murky relationship with june. ditto with june and terezi's murky romantic tensions.

this is The Big One. i’m not even sure i could tell you the precise significance of every change here, beyond the obvious one. would you believe that this was before i thought of X as a distinct character? but i still had the sense that the antagonism of the third person narration here was rooted perspectivally, and it’s my opinion that john at the pits of his worst depression is closest to X, the part of himself that judges his every action against the assumed perfection of all his friends. after june comes out and takes charge of her identity and Things Happen, i see X as reflexively turning their judgment outwards (though still with a core of self-resentment), which is how we eventually get the circus egotistica.

big changes here obv

some simplification of text here plus some additions. is the narration here describing jade’s voice breaking through john’s dissociation, or is it something more cosmic? either could be true...

minor alterations here, plus a probably too-cute stinger banging the drum that This Is An Ongoing Series Now Actually

and as far as i can tell, that’s it! very minor changes for the most part, but it’s the little details that get you every time :)

[askfallenroyalty]

hi! i’m (relatively) new to this blog, reading on webtoons. i looked through the tags and i’m wondering what the “goodbye epilogue” is? also there are some other characters (the other fallen humans?) who are in the header and seem to have mini comic(s?) of their own. where can i read those? or are they gonna be part of the redraw? sorry for all the questions i just love the story you’re telling heheh

// oh gosh be careful there's a ton of spoilers there asdfkljasldf but firstly: THANK YOU FOR READING! Makes me so happy to see people read my story and want more of it.

// ok so, the redraw (which is the webtoons/tapas/comicfury versions) is the definitive way to read the story. but it's going to take years to get the story fully redrawn

// the story originally was started in 2018 (February), but i didn't take it seriously and cancelled it after (in the redraw's comic order) mid chapter 3 because too many characters were in play and i got overwhelmed. but, once DR came out (October) I got re-inspired and continued in 2019 with a time skip.

Years later, here we are, the Tumblr version is almost over (epilogue has one more ask day, then a comic to wrap it up) That's like, chapters 3-7. Quite a big chunk of the story that hasn't been covered in the redraw. Some of that I feel was mishandled and needs to be fixed, so the redraw's purpose is to both fill in the missing gaps from the missing Chapter 3 and then the sections that I feel need to be re-written.

reading the tumblr AFR version is like reading a novel with missing pages. I'm in the process of refilling those pages, but that'll take years to do so. so while you can read it, I'd recommend just being patient ^_^; I'll be back in November with more comic updates.

If you still want to read the messy tumblr version, here's a link to the pinned post that covers how to read the comic.

best wishes in reading the comic ^_^

[randomnameless]

As claude is my fav character in FE16 one of the things that confused me about people praising Three Hopes GW as the "true claude" because GW Claude uses more violent methods to get what he wants and therefore somehow that means he's the manipulative schemer we the devs always intended , it just made me go ??? Like what??

Cause as your post pointed out, he already was a manipulative schemer in FE16. like we know he uses people to try to push things in his favor, but because it wasnt outright violent then somehow that made him a goody two shoes???

Like uh no. He's not a goody two shoes and he has always been morally ambiguous. he always had these flaws. it's one of the reasons I like his character.

the difference was he drew a line at how far he'd go.

Like why bother using force or violence when you have Hilda to charm people into doing what you want? Why fight the church when you can use them to bring in recruits to take down Edelgard and end her war? Why not use Byleths influence to bring people together in Fodlan and then use them to establish peaceful relations between Fodlan and Almyra? Why use violence at all when you can use guile.

Anyway hes always been a little shit lmfao. I can't blame people for not liking him for it either its totally understandable! The reasons you dislike him are why I like (and hate) him. He's secretive and he's manipulative, always has been.

But to his credit, he does have his limits and when he goes too far he steps back , apologizes or admits his faults, reevaluates and tries to do better- with ehh varying outcomes. And that's so realistically human. He's a work in progress.

He chooses to seek the truth, he always wants more information, and he's willing to hear people out. This plus his self awareness and willingness to change his view based on new information is IMO his greatest strengths. Everyone has biases, but how many of us are able to look at ourselves and consider what if I'm wrong.

By the end of the game his character is very different from where he began. His stance on Rhea and Fodlans faith by the end of VW is perhaps one of the most obvious changes.

whoops my venting warped into this LOL sorry 😭😭😭

Ooh don't worry!

I actually don't mind talking about characters with people who don't share the same opinions, if I had to talk to myself it'd be pretty boring lol

But yep, as you said, Claude is a work in progress, and I'll even say he still evolves between VW's end and his epilogue card*!

Yellow units have always been a wild card in FE, they're not your allies like green units, but they have their own allegeances and might become enemy units later on, or not.

And even if Claude has a manipulative streak and sometimes prioritizes his goals instead of the means used to reach that goal, Fe16's Claude is a Claude who is shown being able to take a step back, reconsider, realise he's wrong and ultimately move in another direction.

Claude can apologise and learn.

But there are lines Claude will not cross to reach his goals, at least in Fe16. And those lines are what Flamey jumps over during WC.

Come Nopes and... Clout crosses the same lines VW's Claude wouldn't have crossed, Claude can manipulate and be sneaky, Claude doesn't start wars. Fe16's Claude offers his sympathies to Billy after Jerry kicks the bucket, he doesn't give Billy his best Caellach impersonation.

And when his Nopes version refuses to consider other POVs or even reconsider, it's annoying because, hey, we know Nopes wasn't supposed to portray the lords in a good light else the player who inserted in Billy would feel bad, but we came from a Claude who learns and admits (even if it's subtle) he was wrong...

To a 1st year undergraduate student who thinks he is smarter than everyone in the room, and doesn't even bother to read his syllabus. Claude graduated, Clout didn't, and we have to follow the "non developed" Clout in Nopes making bad decisions on top of bad decisions... Yeah, I can see why it's really annoying for fans of guys character.

* I earlier checked the VW ending painting thingie, Claude apparently is holding a treaty to alliance lords and they are negotiating? But while both sides are backed up by soldiers, only the Almyran ones have weapons?

I know Almyra is a sour subject - I can think of both doylist and watsonian reasons why Claude never adresses the elephant in the room, even in the Fe16 room - but ultimately in his ending cards Almyra and Fodlan finally have their famous peaceful relationships and king Claude even furthers bonds with the two states, so it sort of worked in the end!

[nocompromise-noregrets]

I posted 16,488 times in 2022

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I tagged 16,412 of my posts in 2022

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Longest Tag: 139 characters

#that person generalising up there about how all smut authors are writing for that purpose and want to hear about its effect is entirely wro

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Chapters: 115/115 Fandom: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bard the Bowman/Thranduil, Bard the Bowman & Bard's Children, Bard the Bowman & Bard's Children & Tauriel, Tauriel (Hobbit Movies) & Thranduil (Tolkien), Bard's Children & Thranduil, Thranduil (Tolkien) & Tilda (Hobbit Movies), Sigrid (Hobbit Movies) & Thranduil (Tolkien), Bain of Dale & Thranduil, Bain of Dale & Bard the Bowman & Sigrid & Tilda, Bard's Children & Tauriel Characters: Bard the Bowman, Thranduil (Tolkien), Sigrid (Hobbit Movies), Tilda (Hobbit Movies), Bain of Dale, Tauriel (Hobbit Movies) Additional Tags: Post-Battle of Five Armies, Getting Together, Falling In Love, Fluff, Light Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Romance, Feelings, opposite of slow burn, Pining, Mutual Pining, Long-Distance Relationship, Family Feels, Family Fluff, King Bard the Bowman, Negotiations, rebuilding of dale Series: Part 1 of My Heart Is An Empty Vessel Summary:

Bard can't stop looking at the Elvenking. Thranduil can't stop looking at the Bowman. After the battle, Thranduil is exhausted and vulnerable and Bard is feeling overwhelmed, and they find themselves leaning on each other for support. Everything moves very quickly after that.

Chapter 115 (the epilogue) now posted! In which, ten years later, the day of Sigrid's coronation has arrived; but first, there is something that Bard and Thranduil must do.

Well, here we are. This is the epilogue to the most unexpected, bewildering, enjoyable writing experience I think I've ever had. Posted on the second anniversary of posting the prologue, because I do like it when things come full-circle. Thank you so much to all of you who've commented, kudos'd, encouraged, prompted, asked and inspired, especially to my invaluable beta @lemurious, without whom this story would never have got beyond the first few chapters.

The story is not over, by any stretch of the imagination; there are pushing 40 other works in this series already, and most of my other stuff is also set in this 'verse (one of these days I'll collect everything in this 'verse in chronological order...). The actual sequel Break You But You'll Mend is still in progress (and developing plotlines faster than I can handle), and there will be a story focussing on the relationship between Sigrid and Tauriel which will show more of the events of the last few chapters than I was able to do from Bard and Thranduil's perspectives and will also cover the ten years between chapter 114 and the epilogue of this story and Sigrid's reign as Queen of Dale; for a Sigrid's-eye-view of the moment of her coronation, there's A Moment On The Edge, and for Bard and Thranduil's arrival in the Woodland Realm after the coronation, there's Deep In The Greenwood. And there'll be one final one-shot treat set just after that one for the final day of Writers' Month 2022, coming tomorrow, 31 August. Oh yeah, and for a little more on the Bain-and-Lotta situation, there's Second-in-Command. :D :D :D

28 notes - Posted August 30, 2022

#4

Oh I'd love to read your thoughts on modern thranduil, legolas, any character you like

Hi, anon! I couldn't see myself writing a modern AU, originally (I'm not very good at AUs) so I didn't have many thoughts about modern versions of the characters, but then the idea for a daft Christmas movie AU came to me, and then All I Want Is You-'verse happened. In which:

Thranduil is Lord Greenwood, widowed, isolated, very lonely when his kids are away at boarding school, and he's rattling around in his enormous stately home with only Galion the butler for company. He owns, if not quite 'half the county' as Sigrid off-handedly puts it early on, a large country estate, which he runs as carefully, ethically and environmentally-responsibly as he can; he is painfully aware of the ridiculous privilege he's inherited through an accident of birth, and he tries his best to do good things with it all, support local community organisations and so on. He is rather reserved and, I think, actually quite shy (that's the British aristocracy for you...) which can come off as stand-offish and forbidding.

Legolas is eighteen years old, in his last year at boarding school, outgoing and friendly, into things like athletics and archery and history, and the member of the family most likely to be getting into trouble at protest marches, seed-bombing patches of wasteland, and probably superglueing himself to railings/diggers/bridges etc, given half a chance.

Tauriel is seventeen, very quiet and reserved, was adopted by Thranduil and his late wife when she was small after her parents died in a house fire - her dad was the woodsman on Thranduil's estate and Tauriel and Legolas had been best friends since they were tiny so it made all the sense. She likes horseriding, and she often goes and sits on the roof of Greenwood Hall to think. She also likes Sigrid, very much.

Bard is an exhausted, widowed single dad who was made redundant from his job as a museum curator (specialism: medieval weaponry) a few years ago and has been barely making ends meet as a delivery driver ever since. He'd like nothing more than to get another museum job, but there's nothing on the horizon. His one priority in life is making sure his kids are okay.

Sigrid is sixteen, also likes horseriding (and Tauriel, very much), and books and spends most of her time studying, working at the riding school at weekends in exchange for lessons, and looking after her siblings. (Her Da hates that she's had to take on so much responsibility)

Bain is fourteen, likes football and computer games, and if he were any more laid-back he'd be horizontal. He's quick-witted and more interested in his schoolwork, especially history, than he likes to let on. He's the artist of the family, too.

Tilda is ten, massively outgoing, given to asking awkward questions, thinks Legolas is the cat's pyjamas, and is probably going to be going to demonstrations with him just as soon as Covid's over. Weapons-grade cuteness which frequently requires warnings in chapter notes.

Thranduil has been noticing the very handsome delivery driver who's been bringing his wine orders (and may possibly have been making more orders as a consequence) but hasn't quite managed to actually speak to him...until he does, and then they bump into each other, quite literally, in town a couple of weeks before Christmas. At which point the kids take matters into their own hands. And then three months later the first lockdown happens and things rather accelerate from there. :D

I actually work, part-time, in a stately home, so I've ended up channelling all sorts of things into this story from personal experience, and I've been having a whale of a time with it, although I'm rather stalled on it at the moment (then again, I'm stalled on pretty much everything at the moment...)

I did write another modern AU for Tolkien Secret Santa, in which Bard and Thranduil were friends as teenagers and never quite got round to doing anything about (or indeed understanding) what they felt about each other before they went off to uni and lost touch, and then run into each other 25-odd years later; in that one Thranduil is a very repressed (and probably demisexual/grey-ace) top-flight QC (Queen's Counsel, a top lawyer) and Bard is assistant distribution manager for a brewery in their home town, and the kids are more or less as above - I had to put my foot down with that one at 14k words or it would have turned into another massive series and I haven't the time or the mental energy for it at the moment XD

I do tend to take the movie portrayal of Thranduil as inspiration rather than the book one, which is probably why my versions of him are all rather more reserved than many others. Which is why fandom is so awesome - there's room for everyone! :D

Thank you very much for asking! <333333 I've never really sat down and thought about my headcanons before, much less actually written a post for them. I am wondering whether perhaps I should do something like this for Empty Vessel-'verse (my enormous sprawling Middle-Earth-set series)...it's certainly big enough, and I do have a large number of headcanons for it at this point...

38 notes - Posted March 3, 2022

#3

I commissioned this art of Bard and Bofur from The Ace of Spades having a nice quiet summertime pint in the beer garden of the Golden Dragon from the always-awesome @geetimesthree and it is DELIGHTFUL! Look at their smitten lovestruck faces! <33333333 THANK YOU! :D :D :D

45 notes - Posted July 6, 2022

#2

I can't help but think that Tumblr is sleeping on The Boat that Rocked/Pirate Radio, given that it features two of the current sopping wet pathetic Tumblr sexymen boyfriends and by the end of the movie they're both literally sopping wet. I'd post a screenshot but the internet is also sleeping on this fantastically silly movie and I can't find any of the pertinent moments. Fans of Rhys Darby and Tom Sturridge being pathetic and wet, get ye thence! (and then come back to me and talk about why I'm right in thinking that Midnight Mark and Felicity are unlikely odd-couple best friends :D :D :D )

64 notes - Posted September 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better or catch up with (or tag whomever)

Tagged by the equally fabulous @mihrsuri, @palmviolet and @coopsgirl - thank you all! <33333

Favourite Colour: Purple, especially the blue-toned shades

Last Song: *checks spotify for what was playing in the car when I got home* Let Forever Be by the Chemical Brothers, although I wasn't really listening to it - I was cycling through a '90s indie' playlist.

Currently Reading: Nothing in particular - I haven't read a book in ages, being entirely without the mental energy and concentration, but I just received the English version of Ari Väntänen's biography of Hanoi Rocks' drummer Razzle and I am hoping to find the wherewithal to read it this weekend.

Last Movie: Good question, I can't remember. Hmmm. We've mostly been binge-watching Father Brown just lately.

Sweet, Savory or Spicy: All three, but not necessarily at the same time (although sweet chilli...hmm...)

Currently working on: Working up the wherewithal to try and make some progress on one or other of Empty Vessel, Break You But You'll Mend or All I Want Is You. Also the fourth unit of my Open University German course, since my third assignment was due in today and I submitted it on Tuesday.

Tagging: without any pressure, @writerman, @lonelyheartsmotel, @goldscythe, @spiced-wine-fic and anyone else who fancies doing this!

82 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

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[neonpaperlanterns]

Under the same Moon

[part two]

A/N: I said it in the tags but I'll say it here to, this work is heavily inspired by everlasting rain-fall. They created the pages au and with their permission I am posting this on my tumbler. Also you should totally check out their Tumblr. Minors do not interact. That is not a place for you. Stay away.

Noor was excited, she was happy. She had finished the final installment of her first book series. Under the same Moon wasn’t the most high brow novel out there. It was a cheesy, maybe a bit predictable romance. But it was hers and the fans that she had accumulated over the years, well she loved them. 

Letting out a sigh she looked over the book she had spent the last six months writing. It ended with a wedding. After all the pining Noor has injected between the characters of Junko and Sota she thought that them finally being together was a nice ending. She was still a bit unsure about the small epilogue chapter. Though it was too late to change her mind she was still iffy on it. Fans had begged that Junko and Sota have a family. They wanted to see their relationship come to a certain fruition. So for the people that had gotten her here she relented. 

Sighing Noor sat down at her desk, her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She was ready to start on another book.

What was she going to write?

She wasn’t sure.

But as she was about to jot down ideas her Den Den Mushi went off. Absentmindedly she picked up the receiver. Her pencil tapped rhythmically against the wood.

“Hello?” she asked as the other end was oddly quiet. That caught her attention. “Um hello?” she asked again. No one answered, there was only silence. Hanging up she pushed what just happened from her mind. It wasn’t the first time she got a bizarre call.

It was easy to forget.

So when she got another call a week later she answered without hesitation.

“Hello?” her brows furrowed as she heard someone breathing. Noor sighed and felt her shoulders slump. “Alright, I’m going to hang up now.” she heard a choking sound on the other end.

“Don’t you dare hang up on me again.” she felt her heart plummet into her stomach. The voice was high pitched and the words came out as a dangerous plea.

“Do you know how upsetting it was for you to not even let me speak last time? You didn’t even give me a chance.” her legs felt like jelly and she had to lean against the counter. She should cut the transmission but her brain wasn’t working. The caller let out a heavy sigh.

“It’s alright though. I forgive you. I understand that you didn’t mean it. I know how much stress you're under right now.” Noor’s ears were buzzing. “Being pregnant with that bastard’s child-” she interrupted the man on the other end.

“You have the wrong frequency.” she slammed the receiver down. The poor snail’s eyes went wide and then shut down. Clutching at her chest she had to sit down. 

Trying to push that interaction from her mind proved much more difficult. She didn’t get another call but the feeling of being watched started to permeate her entire life.

Going to the market left her feeling like every slightly darkened corner held a thousand eyes.

She decided to go to the new cafe that opened and she could swear she felt someone breathing over her shoulder.

Hanging her laundry out on a beautiful day left her with the feeling that someone was just behind the billowing sheets. 

The only place she felt like she wasn’t being observed was in her own home. It was the only place she felt safe but that was gradually being taken away from her.

Notes were being stabbed into her door. Or slipped under her door. Some of them were absolutely ineligible. The paper looked like someone had cried over it, the ink smudged and ran down the page. Then there were the ones that she could read. 

They were mad at her.

They needed her.

They hated her.

They loved her.

She broke their heart and deserved to die.

But they forgave her and they were going to take care of all of her problems.

She burned every last note. New ones would appear and she didn’t read them, just burned them. She started finding trinkets on her bedroom window sill.

She stopped sleeping in her bedroom.

Noor felt something break inside her when she opened her door and there was a horrifying pulsing mass of flesh. She had slammed her door shut and vomited all over the floor. She moved that night. Took what she needed and crawled through the window. 

She got a blissful three months until she woke up one morning with a note placed on her pillow.

I don’t need you to have legs.

Noor didn’t know what to do. They found her and she knew if she ran again they would still find her. And while the note was short it got their point across.

She stopped leaving her house. Stopped leaving her room. Instead she layed curled up on her floor staring at her ceiling. Watching the fan spin languidly as the sun passed outside. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do. 

How was she supposed to live like this? That thought plagued her as she drifted to sleep that evening.

Groggily Noor woke that night with aching limbs but feeling oddly coddled. She didn’t remember her bed being this comfortable. Letting out a soft sigh she burrowed further into the mattress. Sleep was about to take her again when there was a shifting feeling underneath her. Something cool slithered over her body as smooth feeling tendrils grasp her wrists. 

Noor has never snapped into lucidity so quickly. Surging upward she felt herself sink further into her bed. 

“Oh you’re awake.” The voice raked across her ears uncomfortably as her head turned sharply. Chest heaving and eyes wide she peered through the gloom of her room. Squished in the doorway was a pale grinning monster. Sharp teeth caught the little light that filtered through the room. 

“I wasn’t expecting you conscious so soon.” he let out a tsking sound as he crawled closer. A scream caught in her throat as she tried to throw herself towards her window. But she can’t move and the thing holding her shifts again. A jagged smile encompasses her vision and she feels her heart plummet into her stomach. A horrid shadow version of the grinning monster is looming above her. 

“Trying to leave?” She hears him laugh as tears well up and roll down her cheeks. Her mind was racing and she didn’t want to look at him. Didn’t want to see whatever he was going to do to her.

Was he going to kill her?

Torture her?

“Why are you crying? I haven’t given you a reason to do so yet.” Her breath caught in her throat as his hand came up to wipe her tears away. Almost gingerly he grabs her chin and turns her to look at him.

“I can give you a reason to cry later. But first I need to get you home.” His hand trailed down her neck and over her chest to come to rest on her abdomen. His fingers tapped along the flat planes of her stomach. A high pitched hum leaves him as he suddenly digs his nails into her skin.

Noor yelps in pain and tries to squirm away but he doesn’t let her get far. His grin dripped with malice as he chuckled.

“We need to take care of your little problem after all.”