#a lot of the original order didn't have any appearance descriptions

[magpieandpossum]

*knock knock KNOCK* HELLO!!!

Hi sorry to suddenly appear and break down your door with excitement but I am a botanist and a DS9 fan and I like Stardew valley quite a lot (plus it's my sister's special interest) and I cannot tell you how excited I am for your game. Please let me help you alpha test it or something. Please let me talk about theoretical xenobotany. Let me babble on about the Keiko polycule

HELLO THERE!! I'm overjoyed that people like this game concept/design so far, I didn't expect so much love and excitement for my little coding/design project, I love y'all so much!! <3

Plus, I'd literally love anyone to talk my ear off about xenobiology, Star Trek, or anything in-between! I'm still in the very early stages of everything, somewhere in stage 1 of the roadmap below, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't been fiddling around with the plant mechanics quite a bit! The most difficult part of everything is 100% always the NPCs, less so the questlines than giving them schedules and little routines. I'll keep updating everyone who's interested with any progress I have! @enbyhoneyfluff @timetot @feral-pigeon-art @thelastgenderbender And thank you all here for tagging the original as "Starfleet Valley", I am shamelessly stealing that as a nickname for it until I can settle on a title <3

[Image description: Timeline graphic titled "Starfleet Valley Roadmap" with four boxes in chronological order, descriping stages of game development. First box reads: "World Tilemap, Player-character animation and design, object collisions, area transitions". Second box reads: "Day/Night cycle, weekday schedule, ability to grow plants, stationary Keiko and main botany questline". Third Box reads: "5 Main NPCs (Odo, Sisko, Dax, Bashir, Kira), NPC animation, NPC schedules, NPC side quests, NPC rapport". Line marked "first beta-testing". Final box reads "Player character customization, planet exploration" with a sidenote that reads "These are long-term things I want to add to the game, but aren't necessary to play a complex story!". *End image description*]

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Character Profile - America

Character Name: USA, Murica, Alfred, Alfie-come-lately, Al. 1585-1775 - Alfred F Kirkland. 1775-???? - Alfred F Jones.

Age: 16 as of 1775, 18 in 1789, 21 mid 19th century. 25 by WW2 and still generally in that range.

Height: 6'0/183cm in 1775, 6'2/189cm after 1850ish.

Physical Description: This child was born a tungsten cube and grew into an adamantium adult. He's tall, broad-shouldered and strong. USDA Grade-A corn-fed BEEF right here. He's muscle as fuck with a good inch of fat on him every which way. Really putting the dough in doughboy. He's athletic, with the shoulders of a linebacker but is shockingly graceful and easy in his body. Arthur loved him enough that the confidence and good nature he exuded in his posture and looks are 100% genuine 80% of the time. He was an absolute cherub of a baby and grew into the kind of good looking that would really be described as more beautiful than handsome if he wasn't as broad as the baptist definition of sin.

Eye colour: Pacific, deep water navy, NASA mission blue. Dark, dark blue. Almost black, if not in good light.

Hair colour/style: Amber waves of grain. Two or three shades darker than Matt's and less red than Matt's or Jack's. Imagine all the wheatfields of America at the reaping, find the average tone, and that's Alfred's hair colour. Rich, harvest grain gold. It has a good amount of wave to it that shows even with its being short. He's generally worn it short and to one side to show off the wave he can get. Had some wicked curtain bangs in the 90s tho.

Other distinguishing physical traits: He has never worn a beard in his life, but it tends to come in redder than his hair. Aunt Bridgie's genes really start flexing there. He's got a mostly faded scar over his heart from Matt's pyromaniac-ass burning down DC. And probably more I'll have to add here later.

Personal Appearance/Style: Alfred loves looking good. The first thing Francis taught him was how good he could look and he's been following it ever since. He prefers blue suits, but he'll wear warm greys and black. He knows he looks like a ten-course meal in just grey joggers and a NASA t-shirt against those golden guns of his though. Also, the uniforms he picks are the ones that look good on him. Does he look like shit in one shade of olive drab? He's swapping it out. He showed up in Japan on the Black Ships in the most flattering cut of the Navy officer's uniform there was and it looked fucking good on him, all that dark blue with gold accents. He likes brown leather over black because the warmer colour looks better with his golden boy looks, and he knows it.

Verbal Style: He uses a neutral American or a less broad New England accent when overseas but slides in and out of any possible American accent at home. He got shot at during the Civil War because even in blue the whole goddamn time, he would slide into his original Virginia accent and have to duck rifle fire. Fucker probably sounded slightly transatlantic for a while in the 20th century. He doesn't purposefully code-switch from culture to culture; it's just automatic. He speaks several languages fluently and without an accent if he wants to, but he uses a southern accent speaking Japanese or a Kennedy Accent when speaking German. He knows it's not a jelly doughnut, Deutschland, promise! The more Arthur annoys him, the thicker his American accent gets.

Level of Education: Arthur educated him at home, got him, tutors on literally anything that Alfred fancied, apprenticed him out to any trade that interested him; printing and gunsmithing were the big ones, and then sent him to Harvard when he got bored with that. He graduated from West Point just before the Civil War and personally shot a few of his classmates who sided with the south :) but turned more to engineering, commerce and math after the war. He didn't reappear in the east until the 1880s, so he did a lot of mail-order books and self-study during that period. He also got another degree from The University of the Pacific in that period out west.

Occupation: The government is always trying to rope him into shit, but the boy's heart is in the stars, and something the government did has to be a big deal before he gives a flying fuck. His main squeeze is NASA, but he occasionally shows up to DC to steamroll some favours out of congress, especially when he has the urge to fly something experimental or a particular issue has been bothering him.

Past Occupations: Soldier, sailor, airman, astronaut, gunsmith, printing press operator, mechanical engineer, heiress, physicist, chemist, biologist, anthropologist, archaeologist, mechanic, railroad engineer, cowboy, blacksmith, cook, construction worker, gamekeeper, welder, a gold miner. The boy has some restlessness, okay? He's had many jobs.

Skills, Abilities or Talents: Alfred, even amongst nations, is quite freaky. Super strength, damage resistance, resurrection power that's faster than almost anyone. He can fly, drive, handle or otherwise operate any vehicle without training. He knows how they all work. He's also highly gifted in math and physics. He has been known to make California tremble a wee bit when he's genuinely well and fucking pissed. He'll get his ass lost on a boat or on foot, but in the air, he's possibly the best navigator on the face of the earth. But literally, he can do almost anything he sets his mind to. It's unnatural.

Admirable Personality Traits: Optimistic, idealistic, brilliant, generous, confident, fair.

Negative Personality Traits: Self-righteousness, recklessness, thoughtlessness, arrogance,

Sense of Humor: Silly, slapstick, observational.

Physical/Mental illness or affliction: He's sometimes just shy of narcissistic but usually pulls himself off the brim. Arthur's sons might be eligible for an ADHD diagnosis, but I did that on accident before I got diagnosed rifp. He's not the anxious or depressed type. He has had periods of pretty acute PTSD.

Hobbies/Interests: Computers and tech, filmmaking, archaeology, camping, hiking, adventure sports, surfing, paleontology, working out, protein foot products, star gazing, listening to audiobooks and podcasts. But, like, literally everything interests this kid.

Favourite Foods: BBQ; he can't pick a favourite style tho. Burgers, cheese fries, pizza, strangely flavoured novelty chips. Apple pie with ice cream and blueberry maple ice cream is his and Matt's favourite. Paw-paws are a very rare treat. Huckleberry-flavoured anything will make him absolutely grin.

Most important personal item: He expected to inherit Arthur's pocket watch like other sons did their fathers in the 18th century, so in 1976, when Arthur did give him the pocket watch and a very expensive wristwatch because the pocket watches had gone out of style, he has worn it everywhere since. To Mars and the Mojave, he'll wear that thing everywhere and get it repaired if it takes any damage.

Person/friend close to character: Matt's his best friend. He and Maria are also close but belligerent. Arthur is also in his top 5. Kiku, Ludwig, Tolys, Romano, Mai, etc, are all on his very close friend list. Of older nations, he and Brighid are very close, if complex.

Brief family history: He was born in 1585 or so in Virginia. Arthur said, "finders keepers," From that moment, he was the man's firstborn child. In his childhood, he mainly had Arthur and Rhys, and Alasdair and Brighid, somewhat less until later. He's never met his grandmother or her ghost. He was an only child for about 20-30 years and spent a lot of his childhood functionally an only child with Matt in Francois' care. The two youngest 'siblings' he's got he's not quite sure what to do with them. The relationship isn't precisely sibling-like, but he's pretty fond of them, and he has some trauma from being ditched in New England during the British Civil War, so he saved their asses in 1941.

Most painful experiences in the character’s past: I don't think anything can top the Civil War because he represented the Union, i.e. the United States. It took him years and years to recover, especially because he was living a rough out west lot of the post-war. He got consumption while personally marching to the sea to burn the fucking shit out of the Confederacy. :)

Their Song: Babylon by Barnes Courtney.

[hellobitchlet]

Things from the beta/early on that I wish Genshin didn't forget about or retcon:

- pretty much every mystery and plot line that the Mondstadt cast was setting up. Not just Kaeya and the male 5 stars (but definitely including them bc. There's a lot of stuff) but also the 'smaller' stuff that never left 4 star character stories like Sucrose's species, Bennett's origins, and Amber's grandpa. And that's not even going into Lisa's Akademiya connections that made her look like she'd be important in Sumeru. Or Mona and Klee lore before astrology and elves were forgotten so much that Layla is treated like just another filler 4 star.

- the concept of a 'mutant' type of electro that is the same colour as the possible light element. And the concept of elements having subcategories in general.

- dendro being this pretty, darker shade and actually having stuff to do with plants, instead of this boring, neon green light that just makes pictures that sometimes looks like plants. I really like dendro slimes and the thorn wall attacks that the dendro samachurls have. Wtf is this dendro specter and these dendro mushrooms?

- this isn't quite an established thing, but speaking of dendro: I miss when it seemed like there was a point to not having dendro characters in the beginning. I miss when it seemed like dendro would be important at all. I miss when it seemed like Baizhu and Yaoyao would be important at all. I miss when it seemed like dendro not being available pre-Sumeru would be acknowledged in-story. And this is coming from someone who was barely around before Sumeru, who barely got a taste of Genshin before the racist dendro nation.

- the Abyss Order being equally (or even more) as important as the Fatui and not being so shafted by the writers that it's delegated to short, yearly quests and rare appearances in world quests. I mean, you would think that the antagonist group closely connected to the protagonist would be more important than the one that has nothing to do with them. Right?

- oceanids!!! Oh my god Genshin why did you expand on Oceanid lore through Idiya the update before Fontaine and then retcon it as soon as possible???? Idiya I'm so sorry bbg.

- the existence and importance of the afterlife? I mean, it was briefly mentioned in some Sumeru artifact description, but otherwise the afterlife has been completely forgotten about since Hu Tao's story quest. Which doesn't make any sense to me because without it, the archon war and the Chasm is the only significant thing about Liyue in the long term. Which is more than Fontaine, but the other nations have way more notable things about them. Liyue is seriously sustaining itself on Chinese culture and adding new stuff to it alone, huh.

-speaking of Liyue lore crumbs forgotten about in favor of focusing on the Adepti way too much, what was with Chongyun's yin imbalance? Is it really just a side effect of Hoyo throwing in bits of Chinese mythology that is disconnected from the rest of the lore? Really?

[muninnhuginn]

Hi Mun!!! I wanted to ask if you have any other kdramas or cdramas you would want to recommend? :0 I still need to catch up with Stranger/Secret Forest, but I’m curious if there are any others I should check out too!

That I do.

Okay so I'm trying to decide how much to factor in enjoyment vs quality here because I have a few shows I really enjoyed but are, um, well, you have to let some stuff pass.

I will mention that my tastes in terms of romancey stuff tends to lean towards non-existent or subtle and so that's largely reflected in my recs. The only exception to this on the list is Flower of Evil. (I didn't intend it but this list doesn't actually have any main BLs/GLs either. A lot of people ship various combos of the main three in MLC and WCL though.)

Shows below cut in no particular order:

Flower of Evil

(modern kdrama)

I wasn't sure how to start with this one so I'll just nab the description from Wikipedia as it's actually fairly accurate here:

Baek Hee-sung is a man who hides his identity and past from his wife Cha Ji-won, a detective. On the surface, they appear to be the perfect family: A loving couple with a beautiful six-year-old daughter who adores her parents. Cha Ji-won and her colleagues begin investigating a series of unexplained murders and she is confronted with the reality that her seemingly perfect husband may be hiding something from her.

I don't want to spoil much about this, but it's very cat-and-mousey. It's evil with the cliffhangers. At one point, it briefly becomes a buddy comedy between a guy and another guy he kept in his basement. And there is one scene where people just sit in a car crying for two minutes. So, like, it has the range? I think of it as a guilty pleasure kinda show personally, but it's probably the closest to Beyond Evil of the shows on this list.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

(historical cdrama)

Full disclosure: I have only recently finished this and it has somewhat taken over my brain so I can't claim to be in any way unbiased here. Li Lianhua is a lying liar who lies who may or may not be the fallen hero Li Xiangyi (he is). He wants to get by pretending to be a doctor and minding his own business, but unfortunately, the plot is out to get him. And so he, along with Fang Duobing, end up investigating various crimes as Li Lianhua tries to find the body of his former senior to lay him to rest before his own body gives out on him.

My favourite thing about this show is a) Li Lianhua, and b) the dynamic between the main trio. The levels of trolling and identity porn at any one time are through the roof. It's a comedy until it isn't.

Reset

(modern cdrama)

This is the incredibly rare type of show known as a decent *modern* cdrama. It's a timeloop show and is fairly short at 15 episodes. It's about two strangers who are trapped on a bus that keeps exploding and their attempts to uncover why and how it keeps happening. Being a modern cdrama, some of the police stuff can be fairly... heavy-handed, but I think the writers do what they can despite that, and it does use the different bus passengers to explore different societal issues, which is neat.

Overall, it's a bit of a mystery show, a bit of a character drama, and a teensy bit of romance which is for the most part nicely underplayed.

White Cat Legend

(historical cdrama)

This is waaaaaay more down the enjoyment end than quality but I'm having such a good time here. This is originally based off a manhua (I've only read pieces of it myself) but mainly just takes the characters and some story beats and does its own thing. I watched the donghua first and tonally that was an interesting experience in how it raced between funny cat shenanigans and reckoning with the nature of war crimes (though the donghua stuck much closer to the og source overall). But the live action so far is staying firmly silly (I'm midway through so it will shift at some point, I'm sure, just can't see the tonal whiplash being as bad as in the donghua).

Anyway! To explain what the show actually *is*, it follows a guy who has been cursed to become a cat (in the manhua/donghua this means he's like a walking furry but the live action has it more of a werecat/shapeshifter deal which is good because I could not handle that cg 24/7) and his attempts at running investigations as part of the local court. This is not helped by being the only competent guy in the entire place. Still, at least his underlings are *incredibly* entertaining in their failures. So, most of the show is investigating crimes against a backdrop of Li Bing (catto dude) trying to uncover the origins of the curse and why the old court and his father died. There's also a purple dude with whom he has History and an italian vampire. And vice president shangguan, who is one of those rare female characters you get in historical cdramas where the show is actually normal about her existence *without* just entirely brushing over the implications of her being in her position as a woman.

Move to Heaven

(modern kdrama)

This is a genuine rec where I'm not going to say you have to let quality pass or whatever because it's objectively good and doesn't have a high entry barrier. It may be good to watch an episode at a time depending on your mood though rather than trying to marathon it or anything.

This show basically follows the 'move to heaven' team, who are summoned to clear out the belongings of the deceased. Each deceased person has a story associated with them and as part of tidying the belongings away, there's an element of investigating to find out what their story was. It can be a tearjerker at times, but it can also be incredibly sweet. Also, it has a canon autistic character where it actually strikes a really good balance in terms of not infantilising him whilst still having it make sense why he wants help with certain things.

Nirvana in Fire

(historical cdrama)

This is my beloved. My favourite cdrama of all time. But I suspect it may not fit for you if Secret Forest doesn't. Still, I'll mention it and say to look up the diagrams to keep track of all the characters in the early episodes (...yeah, it's that type of show).

Anyway, this show is about a terminally ill man who takes on a secret identity or two as he plots to take revenge/bring justice (depending on who you ask) for the crimes of the past. This is part of the 'lying liar who lies' subgenre. It's much more serious and complicated overall than Mysterious Lotus Casebook despite the superficial similarities, but it does have its lighthearted moments.

Misc. shows that didn't make the list

I'll mention Signal (kdrama) and Kairos (kdrama) because they both have neat time travel mechanics, but with huge stipulations here. Signal is the objectively better one of these two and the male mc in Kairos is unbearable at times but at the same time Kairos has enough good points to keep me watching. The friend trio of female mc (they're just besties frfr) and the villain romance subplot especially. Signal had potential to be amazing, but for me, some of the time travel mechanics fell through and it was almost BBC Sherlockian at times with some of the 'profiling' deductions.

Signal's premise is that there's a walkie talkie that links the past and the present between a current day consultant profiler (with a distrust of the police despite now working for them) and a past police officer who is dead in the present day. It follows various cases between the past and the present that are interlocking with each other, with the overarching mysteries being present day profiler's backstory and past cop's death. I feel like this started out decently, went hit-and-miss, had a few episodes where it was absolutely amazing, and then lost steam somewhat, though the ending hit the main points.

Kairos' premise centres around a mobile phone. When a phone is disconnected, the number ends up being assigned to someone else. So, the two main characters, living a month apart in time, have the same number and thus can communicate with each other. The male mc in the future has recently found out that his wife and daughter have both died and the female mc's mother has gone missing. So they've both got a scenario they need the other person to help them with and as they change things, more new problems keep cropping up. It's a show where the premise is super interesting, but I personally found it a very frustrating watch, not least because of characters making decisions that were in-character, but incredibly stupid and *not* in the entertaining way.

Also, as I didn't include any BLs/GLs, I'll mention that I cannot in good conscience recommend Guardian (cdrama), but it's such fun trash and it has Shen Wei. It's a bit like shows like Torchwood and Buffy in that it's ostensibly modern era but there's magic (sorry, 'aliens') and a team that's meant to be keeping on top of it all led by Zhao Yunlan. He meets Shen Wei and then proceeds to *keep meeting him* at various crime scenes because Shen Wei sucks at this whole low-key deal.

On a similar note, Couple of Mirrors (cdrama) is a republican era GL. The two leads are well-written, but it's basically like two different shows mushed together (a soap and an assassin/cat-and-mouse chase). It has Yan Wei though! It's about a popular writer meeting a photographer (who is also an assassin) and them both discovering that the writer's husband really and truly sucks.

[yvesdot]

I do a lot of book reviews, and so I am occasionally asked how I handle the discomfort of trying to be "objective" when evaluating art. The truth is, I don't; I aim for empathy: the understanding that someone can do something I don't like and don't get and it can be good; and self-confidence: assurance that I make my judgments lovingly and with sufficient thought.

With that said, here are my Grand Thrix ways of judging good art (my own and others'). Maybe they will help some other people! (Even if only to decide that they don't trust my taste. ^^)

1. WHAT IS THE GOAL?

2. IS IT A GOOD ONE?

3. DID THE ARTIST SUCCEED?

focus factors: intention, good-heartedness, and surprise.

WHAT IS THE GOAL?

It's useful to ask what an author appears to be trying to do-- does this author value lengthy description, for example, or are they trying to be as concise as possible? Do they want to surprise the reader with a plot element, or is this a case of intentional dramatic irony? Does the author want their work to move slowly or quickly? How do you know this, and how certainly do you know it?

Above all else I want to read a confident book: a book where the author could not only defend every choice, but speak passionately on why they chose it. Is the prose concise or long-winded? Does the plot meander or adhere to strict regularity? How does the book maintain conversation with its fellows? "Effort," "difficulty," or "originality" are smokescreens: any choice can be justified, and I want to see the author choosing with intention.

Examples: Most Romance genre books are purposefully using simple prose. A book's climax is almost certainly trying to be climactic. It can sometimes be hard to tell whether an author is intentionally or accidentally confusing the reader.

IS IT A GOOD ONE?

What makes a good artistic endeavor, to you? I generally prioritize good-heartedness (love, joy, kindness, etc.-- which can manifest in making your reader sob like a baby!) and surprise (doing something new with something old, showing me something unique, working around my expectations) above all else. You might prefer goals of genre-busting, progressive politics, pushing the boundaries of language, and so on. Frankly, there's no objective answer to whether you "should" or "should not" try to do a given thing with your art.

Examples: Most literary fiction is not concerned with the kind of plot structure I personally love. Books written with other minority groups in mind may purposefully alienate me in order to make a point about whose perspective ought to be catered to. Some books intentionally insult the reader in a way I don't feel is merited.

DID THE ARTIST SUCCEED?

We all know the feeling: the book is supposed to be sexy, and it is not. The scene is supposed to be serious, and it is not. The dialogue is supposed to be funny, and you wish you were being shot in the head rather than forced to read it. I try to ask myself how confident I am in what the author wanted and why they might have failed before railing against a book; there's a difference between a debut author struggling with plot and an established author being transphobic because nobody bothered to hire a sensitivity reader.

On the other side of the coin, you have the books that don't personally connect with you but are clearly well-written: filled with tropes you don't like, effective at elements that annoy you, ultimately not something you enjoy at all but clearly effortful and lovingly crafted pieces of art. Often I have to concede the author is doing something fascinating and doing it well, but good Lord if it doesn't personally bore me to tears. Oh well! Someone out there is reading the same book and gushing; it's just a matter of getting the right reader.

Examples: I was confused, but I see that the author wanted to confuse me, and though I didn't enjoy that confusion, I agree that it made sense and it worked; credit is due. When I'm reading YA I often give allowances for a novel which has a lot of silly unbelievable drama, because it's more than fair to write that way for teens. You won't find me knocking bara just because that's not my kind of man; clearly it works for its audience (whom I love).

To put it more broadly, did the artist go into their work hoping to do something (with intention)? Was the thing they were hoping to do something worth doing (something good-hearted and interesting)? Did they succeed? If so: 5/5! I hope this metric is useful to someone else, and that it brings infinitely more artistic joy into the world.

[thegreenshota]

Hi this is the person offering to make the monokubs game. I went through your posts to see what your personal canon is for the characters (And Kurokuma and Shirokuma) so I can be accurate but I didn't find much. Can you tell me more about all of them? I also saw a post with some IDs, but they were kinda small. Do you have IDs for them? Because I can incorporate those.

oh! about personal canon! okay sure i previously wrote short character analyses so that people could understand better, but the original was originally in Russian and I will simply put it through a translator (many letters) .･ﾟﾟ･(／ω＼)･ﾟﾟ･.

monotaro, aka izamu arai monokabs do not remember their father as well as motherkuma, which is why he does not hold a personal grudge against his father, but, as a ninja whose code is to protect his clan, his attitude towards his father is similar to the views of fumiko izamu is a very active child and has been one since birth, unlike his twin, fumayo, with whom he is the complete opposite a typical ninja fan who decided to delve into the philosophy of these warriors and went too far in this so much so that he awakened in himself a desire to revive the art of the ninja, or to be more precise, to regenerate it in order to create something new on the ruins of the old

valor, honor, complete dedication to his task and not a little stupidity and naivety - a brief description of a young ninja he did not throw words around just like that, but was constantly engaged in training, both physical and spiritual his hyperactivity found application in the art of ninja - this turn of events motherkuma did not expect, giving monotaro to the sports club, but is very glad that brother found a comfortable path for himself obviously, shsl ninja

the previously mentioned twin brother, aka fumayo arai, aka monosuke while his twin was running and jumping on the playground, the boy was immersed in books, but he was fascinated not by artistic or scientific, but by financial literacy most likely, the aspect of a constant hole in the family budget influenced the young man so much that he himself decided to find out how all this works in your business and quickly began to receive not only pleasure, but also real profit various types of services at school for a fee, from homework to spreading rumors - all this to monosuke of course, he was not engaged in dirty deeds - he did not touch any of these aspects, he just surrounded himself with people capable of doing all this an intellectual, overly cultured and having the habits of an aristocrat motherkuma did not lose when she entrusted the financial aspect of her start-up business to the hands of fumayo shsl banker

netsumi arai, aka monophanie

the only girl among the younger generation and this did not embarrass her in any way, probably exclusively thanks to the always nearby fumiko, who was not only a mentor for her sister, but also her best friend since childhood, monophanie adored flowers, which she surrounded herself with as much as possible and noticing this, motherkuma decided to help develop this interest into talent and knowledge so slowly but surely netsumi became a florist who knew both the scientific aspect of flowers and the creative approach to creating bouquets very cheerful and incredibly frivolous monophanie only seems stupid and very incompetent in appearance, but in fact she is a very empathetic person, feeling other people's problems and is ready to be there to support in difficult times for all family members, it was this pink flower that helped them not to lose heart and not give up as was previously mentioned, monophanie loves her sister very much, one might even say more, than her brothers, so she unconsciously adopted not only from her character but also from her appearance a lot from the motherkuma

shsl gardener

kayoshi arai, aka monodam his life fully justifies the phrase: "you have to sacrifice something to find something new", and, unfortunately, he gave too much in order to become what he is at the moment a genius of his family, who, unlike others, did not need to reveal his potential in something specific, because a photographic memory, quick assimilation of knowledge, musical ear and a predisposition to learning languages ​​- all this made the boy a prodigy there was not a single one in his environment or in the family who could beat him at chess when he was only 10 fumiko saw in her younger brother only a sign from above that all their troubles would be solved thanks to such a young supermind but everything changed in one day. cheerful and proud of his skills monodam will forever remain in the memory of those who know him

once on a trip, in which motherkuma accompanied monodam to another competition like "the smartest" there was an accident in which the bus went off the road and crashed as soon as motherkuma regained consciousness, she first of all ran to check on her little brother, but she saw a terrible picture by the feel of a person from such wounds not only not alive, but he can no longer even be called a person - lacerations and open fractures were both on his legs and arms. it was difficult to say what other wounds he had, because kayoshi's whole body was covered in blood rescuers arrived very quickly and took the still living boy to the hospital along with his sister, who only prayed all the time that kayoshi would survive, because at that moment she felt a sense of guilt for what she had done as never before. her worries about the life of her family member were so strong that she didn't even notice that she had suffered in this accident too, she had one whole eye left monodam lay in a coma for a year despite the fact that they were able to put it back together. in what sense? literally. his body was so destroyed that his limbs would never work, but thanks to new techniques they were able to replace the non-working part of his body with mechanical implants he even stopped looking like that boy outwardly but fumiko didn't think of giving up and was ready to fight for her brother's life until the very last day of her own life. fortunately, her efforts bore fruit and one day he woke up emotionless and dead inside, monodam no longer felt joy in its true manifestation, food no longer had taste, the world no longer had colors only hatred and wild resentment towards this unfair world mechanical chips were installed in the damaged brain, which allowed monodam to save his knowledge and even directly upload new ones, but, obviously, from that moment on he was no longer a genius from birth, but only a living example of how far medicine has advanced now in the eyes of society he is not a genius, but a living computing machine, having all this knowledge only thanks to doctors monodam was very disappointed with this news, but not more so than the fact that he can no longer even be called a man he was ready to kill, chop, cut, do a bunch of other brutal things to people, because he harbored hatred for all living things, blaming the earth on which he walks for the situation he is in now, but there was only one thing that allowed monodama to keep his sanity - his older sister, who was always by his side. even when this event happened to him does he blame fumiko for what happened? no, because it was she who gave him that happy childhood that was taken away from kayoshi shsl cyborg, former potential shsl prodigy

teruo arai, aka monokid everything is monumentally simpler with him than with any of the previously described cheerful, wild, the life of the party, even though he is a guest in all companies, number one from the end, whom everyone wants to see the youngest of the five monokubs, although you can't tell by his appearance. well, what can I say, miracles happen thanks to puberty since childhood, his soul lay in music and fumiko supported this passion as best she could, which led to a musical career teruo's rebellious and marginal image, coupled with his brilliant playing, was quickly able to attract a lot of attention, and after the release of his first album, written by him independently at the age of 16, he made it clear to everyone - soon the world will see the shine of a new world star shsl guitarist

the amazing arai family has yet to highlight its youngest talent, who can rightfully be called kanaye arai, aka nanokuma his young age should not deceive you, because the boy's intellect is developed far ahead of his biological age living hand in hand with his wild family since childhood, kanaye adopted the experience of each of them, because in the case of nanokuma, the entire young generation from izamu to teruo, including, of course, fumiko, was involved in his upbringing the boy admired the magic of cinema all his life and always wanted to adopt this knowledge, so from an early age he learned how to use a camera, lighting in the frame and setting the frame. in addition to filming, the guy spent his free evenings creating all sorts of scripts for his short films, in which his siblings were the main actors surprisingly, but in character, nanokuma took more from his mother than monokubs, just like motherkuma, so when these five failed rangers give out cringe again, fumiko and kanaye catch the facepalm together preparatory course of the shsl director

one day, a not very conscientious person, whose name is erased from the family tree, being the definition of a black spot in history, started a family and produced a decent number of children he loved his daughter immensely, as well as his wife, but how it really was - only he himself can answer after a while, he abandoned the family, left his mother with pennies in her hands, and did not even say goodbye to his daughter the problem was that by that time he abandoned not only two girls, but also the other six children, who were so small that they could not even speak fumiko murakami, who thought that her beloved father was her main support in this world, stops believing in miracles and in one moment her world collapses unfortunately, for a child it was too hard a blow, but in the desire to protect her younger children and her suffering mother, she stood against the current, completely forgetting about her own needs she was ready to become the new mother of the family and this time not the murakami family, but the arai family maiden name, which she changed in order to forever erase that bastard who deprived the giant family of any hope not only for a bright future, but even for banal survival

fumiko arai, aka more famous motherkuma a caring older sister who, thanks to hard work, was able to raise her brothers and sister as well as she could while still a child being her mother's housekeeper, she got to know sewing better, which brought her many times more pleasure than anything else starting with ordinary patches on the shorts of the hyperactive izamu or stripes on the shirts of netsumi, the girl increasingly revealed her potential as a tailor, and then completely delved into the professional part of this action a thorny path, because in addition to her own career, she had to pull the whole family on her own back, she coped with it and achieved considerable success obviously, her seasoned character played a role in this

soft character on the outside, but don't let yourself be fooled, she clearly knows her worth and won't let anyone hurt her or her family in addition to the talent that the academy awarded her, she also masterfully copes with raising children, combining a kind and airy nature with strict control and a demand for clear actions unfortunately for her, "they have inherited their father's character many times more than they would like"

motherkuma, shsl fashion designer the girl already has a formal talent because she graduated from the academy and already has her own fashion house, which has a gigantic reach she pulled all the younger ones on her back, because dad went out for bread she has an animal hatred for him and wants to find and avenge what he did she had to grow up very early and temper her character to the limit, thanks to this she was able to give basic education to her siblings she may seem very fucked up from all this group of pipsqueaks, which is formally true, but she still loves and cherishes them very much they call her a second mother and she doesn't like it, because it ages her very much, and she, after all, is a girl only in the prime of her life

[jaysficarchive]

The Picture of Monochrome

Chapter 3: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Description: Monochrome continues her crime spree with a new target. Meanwhile, Mona attends Calhoun's party and gets her first taste of what her life as a thief brings.

Taglist: @floof-ghostie @calciumcryptid @mayameanderings

A lot was on the agenda today: rehersals, picking up dresses and shoes, getting hair and makeup done for tonight. Those could all wait until Monochrome was finished paying a visit to another friend of Helene and Felix's, one Mr. Roald van der Woodsen. Mona likened him to Dorian Grey; handsome on the outside, but horrifically ugly on the inside.

Law may have been his profession, but making passes at Mona and just about any other attractive younger woman was his passion. Too many sex scandals, all ending in hush money payments, under his belt to make any woman trust him with just about...anything.

Roald's wandering eye found itself on Mona too many times for her liking. She avoided being alone with him, forbid him from ever touching her, and made sure to always keep her drinks away from him. The man was old enough to be her father.

Stealing from him was payback for everytime he made her a target of his perversion. Roald had plenty of magnificent paintings that'd look better in the homes of others or herself.

And this time, she had help.

Pushing open the doors to his sitting room, Monochrome snapped her fingers as two henchmen called Tint and Shade appeared at her side. The pair released the robots to carefully take the original artworks out the frame and replaced them with black and white replicas.

"Get these outside to Neutral. Don't let van der Woodsen see you," Monochrome ordered.

"What about you?" Shade asked.

Monochrome wickedly grinned under her mask. She had something special for him.

"I'm going to pay him a personal visit."

Creeping her way through the manor, she found her way to his bedroom. She had no need to worry about her footsteps being heard; he'd think it was one of the maids anyway. Her steps slowed the closer she got to his room. Monochrome had to be careful not to make any other noises.

Light poured out the crack gave way for Monochrome look inside. Sure enough there was van der Woodsen and a young woman in his bed. Have mercy on that poor lady. Before she could strike, she heard him say something.

"I tried to hire some of his men, but he just laughed at me!"

Monochrome froze. Who was he talking to? She narrowed her eyes as she listened in.

"For a city with so much crime, hiring people can be so difficult. I offered them anything and everything!"

Pressing a button on her mask, the conversation was recorded. Could this have to do with Francis's death?

"There's nothing to worry about, Helene. Everything's said and done now. Sad to see the boy go. Business is business though."

Helene! Of course she'd be involved with this.

Mona's suspicions about her in-laws being involved in the death of her late husband, their own son, never went away. Everything surrounding it seemed too convenient. She could just sense it. For whatever reason they took him from her, both Helene and Felix would be dealt with accordingly.

Sudden sadness about Francis filled her heart. Life wasn't the same without him. She didn't show it but the grief continued to eat away at her. Staff members pointed out her increasingly nonsensical behavior of things Francis used to do.

Balling her fist, Monochrome made her escape out a nearby window. Revenge would have to wait.

Don't get comfortable, van der Woodsen. Next time, I'll get answers out of you!

Mona--dressed in an elegant white gown--looked at herself in the mirror. This would be her first public appearance since her husband's death. Despite being unsure if this was the way to go about it, she needed the money. Moreso now that a baby was coming.

"You look beautiful, madame." Salome stared in awe.

"Thank you, Salome." Mona pulled a stack of cash out her purse. Shen then placed it in Salome's hand. "You can take the next month off. I know you've been wanting to visit your family again."

Salome's eyes widened. "Madame, I-"

"You've been at my service since you were 19. Relax and go back to your family." Mona placed her hands on Salome's shoulders. She saw her younger self in the maid--a promising young woman trying to get by in the world.

Tears welled in Salome's eyes as she nodded. She walked to the door, stopping to face Mona one last time. "Thank you, mistress. Good luck."

Mr. Calhoun's estate was nothing short of amazing with how packed, lively the place was. Guests greeted her with bright smiles, handshakes, and even some kisses. A few asked to take pictures with her or for autographs. Mona felt like she was in Hollywood all over again.

Halle and Mamie soaked up every bit of attention they got, flirting with the sons of a few guests. Mona let them. They were young and having fun.

She searched around for Calhoun.

I hope he remembered.

She certainly didn't forget. It wouldn't be her first time selling art; but to do so with stolen pieces was entirely different.

Selling stolen works worked just like traditional art. Unlike money or jewelry, art had fluctuating value. If the artist died or was popular, values shot up. Getting buyers was the hardest part. Some were particular about if a product was stolen or not. It was a lesson she learned the hard way during her first year as an artist.

Hopefully selling them to Calhoun and his associates would bring in a profit, or at least a bit of money.

"Thirsty, Mrs. Beauvais?"

Mona mindlessly took the drink from the offering hand, thinking it was a server. "Mèsi."

"You, uh, told me you got some things you wanted to show me."

Mona's eyes widened, realizing that Calhoun gave her the drink. Curse her for being so unaware! That was no way to treat host nor potential client. "My apologies! I was looking for you everywhere!"

"No hard feelings. Where's your stuff?"

Mona led him out a back door to where her car--which contained the stolen art--was. Calhoun called a few of his men to come and take the goods inside so he could look at them. He then handed her a large stack of money.

"What's this for?" Confused, but not complaining.

"You kept your word. I respect that." Putting an arm around her, he walked her back inside. The pair walked into the room where his associates waited. Mona did her best to feign nervousness. For some reason she couldn't. Being around these men wasn't natural yet she felt comfortable. Finely dressed they were, these weren't record executives or museum curators.

These were the people her husband fought against in court. Who she watched being taken to prison. Some probably still held grudges against him. A bitter taste entered her mouth. Still she continued to let Francis down with her newfound criminal ways. It brought her back to the day of the funeral.

How could she betray him like this? She swore in her vows to be faithful and true.

"Gentlemen, this is Mona Lisa Beauvais. You might know 'er. Got some stuff she wants to sell ya. Can't hold her for too long, though, she's here to perform for my wife."

With the snap of his fingers, his men brought in the stuff. The bosses looked over each artpiece with keen detail. Some scratched their chins estimating the values in their head.

Mona, silent and emotionless, stared off. Grief was a whirlwind of emotions. Was this how her mother felt when her father died? Constant emptiness and walking dead among the living? But maybe there was a bright side to it. She could say her criminal acts were all because of grief. But what if her new lifestyle caught up with her? What if someone from inside her circle sold her out? Where would she even go? Who could she run to?

By the time the deal was done, she made well over a hundred thousand dollars. Just in time since her performance was about to begin.

"Nervous, Mrs. Beauvais?" Halle asked, adjusting her costume. "You shouldn't be. That Woodsen guy isn't here either so that's good for us."

Mona said nothing. Her mind was an empty void, consumed with emotions she wouldn't be able to put into words if she had a dictionary.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the one, the only: Mona Lisa Beauvais!"

Thunderous applause followed with cheers filled the room as Mona walked onto the stage. She shone like an angel thanks to her white dress. Nothing about her was angelic, at least not anymore. With a deep breath, she took the microphone in one hand. The band played, letting the smooth jazz flow through the room.

"In the glow of a twilight sky where the gentle breezes sigh, two souls on an island, lost in time, with the ocean's whispers and love's sweet rhyme."

[wolfpackmuses]

While Tumblr is breaking into a million tiny pieces, here are some headcanons/verses I've come up with for Gummigoo! Here's hoping this post isn't sent to the shadow realm. The verses I have are being posted first in this list.

Verse: Main Description: Follows closely to the main events that have happened, so far, in The Amazing Digital Circus (TADC). Basically this his most "canon" verse and can go anywhere in the second episode to very closely after the ending of that episode, although a bit of that likely will not be canon-compliant due to not knowing what happened to Gummi afterward. With that said, the main idea for him in this verse is basically just to be the head of a villain gang of gummi alligators trying to steal various things inside the game he's in to try and make a "living", per se.

Verse: I am the law Description: This verse basically follows the idea that Gummigoo actually ended up being a sheriff or lawman in whatever game the main cast from TADC get sucked into. This isn't to say he could still be corrupted or turn to be evil, but he's much more friendly in this type of verse and is doing everything in his power within the game to try and keep the peace in the small towns that he operates in. This verse will likely need to be fleshed out later.

Verse: Circus Gator Description: This plays along with one of the headcanons I have, that will be explained below, in that Gummigoo becomes the newest addition to the Amazing Digital Circus (ADC) despite Caine's objections to the matter. How he is convinced, I'm not sure, but whatever happens, allows for the gator to stay for the time being. That said, he is obviously not entirely comfortable with his new surroundings and is trying to sort a lot of stuff out in his new home, all the while trying to avoid being Thanos Snapped if he gets on Caine's bad side. Because Gummigoo is well aware he could be gone at a moment's notice, even if he has become more sentient and aware of his surroundings, even though he was built originally as an NPC.

Verse: See all, remember all Description: This verse has the idea that, although Gummigoo is sent back to the game, or wherever NPCs are stored by Caine, the gator remembers everything that happens and does not have his memory wiped or anything. Although anyone he talks to thinks he may be going crazy, the gator vows revenge on Caine, somehow, someway, in order to join the rest of the main characters in the ADC however he can. While he doesn't seem like he could do much to actually get back into a section that he was thrown out of, the gator has found some... interesting developments that could provide a link between the game/wherever he is stored and the ADC itself...

Headcanons

Despite the fact that Gummigoo didn't exactly meet any of the people from TADC for long, he felt more connected to them just due to the circumstances he was thrown into.

Gummi still isn't entirely sure what he saw under the map when he was with Pomni. He has his theories, but he can't exactly prove any of them.

Gummi does not trust Caine or anything he says. Although his interaction with the "ringmaster" was incredibly brief, something about the situation threw the gator off and he isn't sure why.

Gummi, despite being thrown out at the end of Episode 2, does end up back in his original game, right by his fellow companion gators. Despite the game itself being part of Caine's "adventures", the world itself seems to continue living on without intervention.

Gummi does actually have multiple appearances. While he was shown as a normal gummy-like gator in the original game, he can be swapped out to resemble an orange/green gator that looks more like his real-life counterparts.

Gummi has started to grow some theories about Caine and the world he's stuck in, despite the fact he is only supposed to be an NPC. He has started devoting some of his time to try and find a link between the game and TADC to determine if the two worlds could move back and forth.

Despite Gummi not remembering his mother during Episode 2, something about being sent back brought memories back of her, despite the fact she never truly "existed" which has confused Gummi even more.

Gummi is fully aware of what happened in Episode 2, although it doesn't seem his companions remember much about it at all.

While not really being a cowboy by any sense of the word, Gummi does actually own two western-esque pistols, jeans, boots, and shirts that could make him fit the part.

This said, if Gummi does join the circus along with the other main characters, he does take on more of that cowboy role and wears the above mentioned articles of clothing along with his cowboy hat.

While Gummi himself isn't too sure if he "liked" Pomni, there is still something about her compassion and her kindness toward him that hooked him. He couldn't say what feelings he has, if any at all for her, but his mission to find a link between the worlds does somewhat come from wanting to talk to her again.

Gummi, despite trying to find his own way to link the two worlds, has found odd things around the game that don't seem to line up with the setting or time period, such as odd buildings and doors. He can't say what they are, or where they lead, as he never got close enough to inspect them, but he thinks that those buildings and doors could possibly be the connection between the game he's in and TADC that he's looking for.

If Gummi ever gets the chance to join the circus, he will not hesitate to curse Caine out, even if most of his curse words are censored, due to what happened at the end of Episode 2.

[freeing-the-souls]

Something happened in the coffee shop and someone recorded it, so I guess I'll just explain so there are no confusions.

[The video description starts here.]

//Marta's text is in quotations so it can be differentiated from the other person, even though I think it's obvious who is talking in every case. More ooc and translation under the cut.

Marta is working in the coffee shop when a man enters through the door. He is covering his face and body a lot. He goes to Marta, clearly trying to be intimidating.

"Buenos días, bienvenido a [No he pensado un nombre]. ¿Qué va a querer?"

Dame todo lo que haya en la caja —he says.

"Me temo que no puede hacer eso señor. ¿Qué va a pedir?"

Creo que no entiendes lo que está pasando, así que déjame explicártelo. Yo te estoy amenazando, así que tú me das dinero.

"Oh, no, lo he entendido perfectamente y le estoy informando de que eso no es posible, así que pida algo o me temo que tendrá que salir del establecimiento."

Bueno, tú lo has querido —. He takes off his hood to reveal stunky ears and starts preparing to use acid spray. —Entonces, ¿Qué va a ser?

"Wow, no sabía que había furros aquí, qué miedo! Vete, ahora." —With a hand move her scythe appears, the blade next to his neck.

Hey, n-no hay que recurrir a eso! —He runs away as quickly as possible, mentioning something about how there are too many superheroes nowadays.

Some people can be heard talking about how exciting it is to be in a hero's debut.

[End of video description.]

I want to say that I'm not a superhero, I just have a cool summonable scythe that can separate souls from bodies and I have dealt with annoying clients before, so I just took the first opportunity to make one run away. It may not have been my best idea, but I didn't think about that while doing it. I wasn't going to take his soul, and if I did he would have gotten it back in five minutes anyway. Please, tell me this guy won't be back, I don't need these problems now.

Translation:

Good morning, welcome to [I haven't come up with a name]. What are you going to order?

Give me everything in the register.

I'm afraid I can't do that sir. What are you going to order?

I think you don't understand what's going on, so let me explain it to you. I am threatening you, so you give me money.

Oh, no, I understood that perfectly and I am informing you that that's not possible, so order something or I'm afraid you'll have to leave this establishment.

Well, you asked for it. Then, what's it going to be?

Wow, I didn't know they had furries here, so scary! Go away, now. (The "so scary!" Is sarcastic, in case it wasn't obvious.)

Hey, n-no need to resort to that!

End of translation.

The original version of this post wasn't that bad, it showed more of Marta's personality, but it didn't fully read as someone trying her best to keep her job by not annoying any client. She'll keep this job, they can't afford to lose an employee right now.

That guy will be a recurring nuisance, so get used to the lamest(affectionate) villain ever.

I put her in the universe with heroes especifically so people would mistake her for one, but she won't be (probably, things can change in the future, but I doubt it would ever become her main thing because of other things I have planned).

The comment about the scythe's powers is meant to be reassuring, like saying it can't actually kill, but you can imagine how that sounds.

The name of the arc is: I'm not a hero! And will be tagged the same way arrival was (arc: [name of the arc]).

[mediaevalmusereads]

The Unit. By Ninni Holmqvist (trans. Marlaine Delargy). Other Press, 2006 (English 2008).

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: science fiction, dystopia

Series: N/A

Summary: One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty-single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries--are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered outsiders.

In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful.

But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and...well, then what?

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: suicidal thoughts, sexual content, ableism

OVERVIEW: I don't remember how I came across this book, but it has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I decided to pick it up and plow through it, and boy, did I need to plow. While the premise is interesting, this book was somewhat hard to read because the writing style felt inexeprienced and uninteresting. I don't know if that's because the prose in Swedish is constructed that way or because the translation doesn't capture the feeling of the original, but regardless, I struggled to enjoy this book, so it only gets 2 stars from me.

WRITING: As I mentioned above, the writing in this book feels extremely inexperienced. The sentences don't vary much in length or construction, and there's a lot of telling over showing. There's also a lot of hedging and filter words, and descriptions are so straightforward that the author fails to create any sort of emotion or atmosphere. I know that all seems very harsh, but I can't describe the writing in any other way: it doesn't feel affective.

On top of that, the style didn't quite read in a voice that I would associate with a 50 year old narrator. This is not to say that the sentences or vocabulary should be archaic, but I felt like the voice was somewhat young.

Lastly, the level of unnecessary detail was a bit hard to absorb. Holmqvist appears to flesh out her world by adding a lot of lists: the various food items on order, the plants in the garden, the tests our protagonist undergoes. These lists are inserted into scenes that seem to have little or no purpose, perhaps only existing to show what life is like in the Unit. Personally, I didn't think all this detail didn't make the world feel any more real, nor did I get the sense that the author was trying to convey a sense of being overwhelmed by luxury. It instead just felt like a poor attempt to show how much thought Holmqvist put into imagining this place, and frankly, she doesn't do a good job creating a sense of subtle threat or dark undercurrent to all that's going on.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows Dorrit Weger, a single childless woman who is whisked away to a "Unit" when she turns 50. In Dorrit's world, law states that childless, unmarried persons must submit to these Units, which use their populations to conduct "humane" scientific testing and organ donation. As Dorrit begins to settle into life on the Unit, she falls in love with a man named Johannes, and after something impossible happens, the two must decide whether to accept their fates or try to escape.

The worldbuilding of this novel is somewhat confusing. Dorrit seems to live in a world in which gender abolition has seeped into law. Gender roles, for example, seem to be illegal, and men aren't allowed to do things that "improperly" show off their strength. Dorrit is also encouraged from childhood to refuse to submit or be dependent on a man, and putting off childbearing until one's career is established is praised. At the same time, however, there are laws that designate unmarried, childless people over a certain age as unneeded, and Dorrit fetishizes being a feminine woman and submissive partner. As a result, I wasn't sure what Holmqvist was trying to critique - was it overzealous feminism? The idea of "usefulness" to society? It was never clear, and the politics seemed to contradict what I understand of feminism, leftism, and so on.

On a similar note, I felt like there was a lot of potential that simply didn't get utilized. For example, Dorrit thinks a lot about her dog, who was her closest companion before arriving at the Unit. Such a bind could have been an excellent opportunity to explore the value of relationships that aren't between married people or parents and children, but Holmqvist doesn't seize this opportunity, so Dorrit's pining feels repetitive. The same is true of the friendships Dorrit forms inside the Unit; before, Dorrit struggled to make friends because she always felt like a third wheel, but in the Unit, she finds more people like her. Again, Holmqvist doesn't seize this opportunity.

Lastly, I wasn't sure if the ending was narratively satisfying. Without spoiling anything, I will say that I can kind of see how it fits with the story. However, the author doesn't really dwell much on why Dorrit makes the decision she does, so it doesn't fully resonate with the narrative as a whole.

TL;DR: The Unit tries too hard to be a dystopia about the "usefulness" of human life but ultimately fails to be a thoughtful commentary on feminism, reproductive rights, parenthood, or any other theme it touches. Because the prose is more focused on telling than showing, it's difficult to feel invested in the protagonist and her world, and without a coherent message, it's unclear what readers are supposed to take away from the plot.

CHARACTERS: Dorrit, our protagonist, isn't exceptionally compelling, but there are some aspects to her character that make her more interesting than some. She had this strange fetish for being submissive and feminine in a world that seems to be structured against those things, but I couldn't tell what Holmqvist was trying to do with the situation. I also was never quite sure of Dorrit's beliefs. One minute, she seemed to resent being considered disposable and sneered at the concept of parenthood; the next, she seemed to fully believe that people must have a "use" for society. By the end of the book, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to get out of Dorrit's story, whether it was supposed to be a tragedy, a triumph, or something completely different.

Johannes, Dorrit's lover, was not entirely compelling either. While he was kind and gave Dorrit the sex she desired, I didn't feel like the two had an exceptionally strong emotional bond. Their relationship thus felt very surface level.

Dorrit's various friends around the Unit seemed kind, but many of them lacked depth. Elsa was probably the best written of all them, but even she was a little confusing because of her attitude towards people with children.

Even the staff at the Unit didn't make much sense to me because of the sheer number of people who were willing to bend the rules and help Dorrit. It was difficult to me that something like the Unit could exist when its own staff seemed morally opposed to its operations, and it just reinforced my belief that this story had no coherent vision.

[beantothemax]

Behold. Some vague character descriptions for two of the characters that appeared in the Original Work. None of them have names because of story purposes and because I can't think of names. And if you see any connections to other character then no you didn't.

The Villain: Standard Villain, except not really as he kind of just wants to retire. He probably got sick of getting beaten up and "killed" after the 10th incarnation and has just been putting dramatic effort in so that things don't get boring boring. And then it did get boring and tiring and now he has chronic pain and now he just wants to retire. I can't do well with physical descriptions but he would take the Traitor to McDonald's and order 1 Black Coffee for himself. If he's taking younger kids to McDonald's he would drive them to a better fast food place because McDonald's sucks. Get better Fast Food Standards. That's the vibe I'm going for.

The Hero: The shining peak of Heroism and Good, except you gave him anxiety what have you done. You shouldn't have put so much pressure to save the world on some guy, now he has a Savior Complex. He needs to take a break and start being selfish. He is a genuine good person though. He probably knows how to do a lot of odd things due to the amount of side quests he just did in the many incarnations of worlds. He's literally the guy your friends talk about when they tell you they know a guy.

Also am planning on all of the characters being literally some person before getting immortal and having to fight eternally for the "fate of the world" A Never-Ending Cycle is a Cycle that becomes repetetive and boring and also incredibly stilted.

!!!!! KIWI I LOVE THIS ORIGINAL WORK STUFF AAAAA

The Villain trying so hard to keep their 157th reincarnation fresh by playing up the dramatics, but eventually just gets tired and wants to take the Traitor to mcdonalds so he can get some shit coffee is amazing. he’s done this song and dance more times than he can count, he’s earned a break

and the Hero having a savior complex is !!!! yeah he would after so many reincarnations huh!!! the fate of the world is always on his shoulders so he better help everyone he can!!! gah!!!

him knowing how to do a bunch of random stuff because of all the side quests he’s done is actually perfect. if you need someone to collect 10 horned beetles for you or find an ancient gemstone in a cavern he’s your guy

[tristallyn]

who the fuck is goldy anyways what's a brave and the gold

Goldy CCC [LastName]

Human

Fish

Object

Aliases

Golty, Godly, Goatly, Goat Man, hey zeus (by Stopwatch)

Goldon Freeman (by themself)

CCC, Triple C (by Vbilgert)

Relatives

AU Goldy, Alt (by virtue of Being the same entity?)

Biographical information

Date of birth

January 14th

Physical description

Species

Human / Energy Being / Goldfish Cracker

Gender

Nonbinary (any pronouns, primarily they/them)

Height

5'3 (human)

3'6 (fish)

1'7 (object)

Eye color

Yellow

Appearances

Portrayed by

Trist

Debut

@badassfishusern

Goldy is a strange, multi-species entity originally hailing from the object show universe, according to them.

They have 3 forms:

A human with an orange ponytail, freckles, and a large, dark marking around the left eye. The only form that manifests the eye scar as a marking. Referred to as Human Form.

A pure orange energy being with a goldfish for a head, as well as a fish tail. Has visible scars around their left eye and base of the tail. Referred to as either Energy or Fish Form. For most purposes, this is their default form.

A living goldfish cracker with the scarf placed over the bridge of their tail. Visible scar of a large crack around their left eye. Referred to as Object Form. The only form they can't freely shift into, needing external help in order to do so.

POWERS:

these are covered more indepth in this google doc, this list is a shortened version

Void Access: can freely clip into a space known as the void (sometimes referred to as the inbetween), can act as item storage, a safe place to stay, or fast transportation via warping in an out (called Voidwarping)

Universal Knowledge: goldy is aware of MANY other universal versions of themself, and can receive a constant feed of what they're doing or thinking. they cannot directly interract or influence the other goldys and the same applies in vice versa

Electric Magic: can summon and fire electric attacks, and can charge metal objects and themself with large amount of electricity

Partial Electric Immunity: they won't die immediately if you shock them, but it will still hurt a LOT. applies to their own electricity thrown back at them

Clippy: can VERY easily clip through walls, floors, and other various things. allows them to access the void

Real Life Speedrunner: capable of performing various videogame glitches but in real life

Regenerative Body (Fish form specific): while in fish form, any physical damage will gradually heal over time. if they die and their SOUL is still intact, they can regenerate their body entirely!

Trivia

Voiceclaim is Khonjin (khonjin house)

Violent tendencies directly scale with how small they are[1].

Made up their own middle and last name[2]?????????????????????

Can write in perfect comic sans. Uses this almost EXCLUSIVELY as a threat

Has their own quotebot (@incrediblyboyse). They're aware of it, and has stated on MULTIPLE occasions that they didn't make it and that they don't know who runs it.

References

[drbobbimorse]

I’d be interested in seeing who you fancast! I totally agree with you. It’s boring to see the same faces over and over again.

I honestly don’t remember any except for a handful, because I was doing a fancast of just the original order (with Regulus as a bonus). Here’s the ones I do remember: 

I lied. I got inspired to finish my fancast lmao Didn’t do Albus or Aberforth cause they’re both in their late 80s during the first Wizarding War so what’s the point? Richard Harris (yes, the late Richard Harris. He was the literal embodiment and perfect casting choice for Dumbledore and he’ll always be Dumbledore for me, sorry Michael Gambon) and Ciarán Hinds are perfect. Anyway, here’s a complete fancast of the original Order during the First Wizarding War:

Alastor Moody: Sean Bean (Moody would’ve been at least 27 during the First War – it started in ‘70 and he died in ‘97, simple math – but I do love older actors so I kept him aged up. I mean, some of these people live to be over 100! I’m not 100% sold on him though, so suggestions are welcome. Honestly? If Dom wasn’t already Bill, I’d say him for young!Moody)

Alice Longbottom: Romola Garai

Frank Longbottom: Russell Tovey

Benjy Fenwick: Ben Kingsley

Dorcas Meadowes: Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Dedalus Diggle: David Dawson (something about his role on Ripper Street sold him to me as Dedalus and I will never budge on it)

Emmeline Vance: Gemma Chan

Fabian & Gideon Prewett: Robert Emms

Lily Potter: Annalise Basso (only flaw? She’s American lol) or Ellie Bamber

James Potter: Ryan McCartan (another American) or Rupert Evans (when he was in TMITHC) or Ben Whishaw (both are too old but I couldn’t find the perfect combination of British, 20s, thin, untidy black hair and glasses. Seriously, I always see fancasts for James without glasses and like ??? Are y’all dumb af?! The main reason people mistake Harry for his father is because of the hair and the fucking glasses)

Marlene McKinnon: Amara Karan

Sturgis Podmore: Alex Pettyfer (I read ‘square jaw’ and Alex never left my mind lol), or Brett Tucker (also not British but look at him!)

Sirius Black: Ben Barnes (ok ok ok, he’s beyond overused and I’m guilty of it too but he’s literally the only overused fancast I actually like for the Marauders!) or Aneurin Barnard. Another good alternate is that guy who plays Nick Scratch on TCAOS. (Any of these guys would also be good for Regulus, they all look passable as siblings tbh)

Remus Lupin: Charlie Rowe or Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Peter Pettigrew: Philip Wiegratz (again, not British but he’s so hard to fancast! And all the fancasts I see for him are either studs or thin, conventionally attractive Brits. That’s not fucking Peter, okay? He’s a chubby little fucker, fancast an overweight or obese actor, you cowards)

Caradoc Dearborn: Adrian Lester

Edgar Bones: Ioan Gruffudd

Elphias Doge: Jeremy Irons

Mundungus Fletcher: Caleb Landry Jones (again, not British but something about the description of Mundungus brought him to mind and he just didn’t leave)

Severus Snape: Louis Garrel (perfect except that he’s French and a bit too old lol) or Jamie Bell (I always see him fancast for Peter and nope, nope nope nope. With a nose like his, all I can see is Snape lol)

Arabella Figg: Charlotte Rampling

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Could I order a Ready-Made, Loose Leaf Ginger tea with Cloves and Lavender (Foul Legacy) in Enameled Pottery please with some additional customizations.

S/O didn't originally roll for Childe because they didn't expect to get him and hadn't finished Liyue yet, but got him anyway. So they would lightly bully him (like mocking his voice lines, calling him 'the child' or war criminal. All affectionately) and ended up kinda falling for him. Then their crush ramped up because of the Foul Legacy fight (moth pretty)

Thank you

Requests for this event are CLOSED!!

We have our first customized order! And what a lovely order it is, with lavender and ginger tea!

Let's see what this wish entails...

~ * ~ Digital AU Scenario, inspired by the terms "Discovery" and "Foul Legacy", set in Liyue

Fluff

Digital AU- An AU where Genshin Impact and its characters are seemingly no more than the wonderous programs we know today

Warnings for allusion to battle and fighting

~ * ~ Ten pulls. Ten pulls was all it took for the glowing stars to rain from the clouds, blue and purple and one, to your surprise, shining gold; all it took for several weapons to fall into your grasp, admiring the new four-star sword you received; all it took for stardust and constellations to drop towards your hands, grateful for the improvements to your already decent characters. All it took for him to come home, carried by the one golden star amongst the blue. You stare at your screen, mouth hanging open at the sight of Tartaglia staring back at you. At least, you think that’s his name- you didn’t read the banner very thoroughly to be honest; in fact, you only pulled because your friend dared you to, both joking and laughing about the newest character’s name. Tartaglia; Childe, you think, and snicker. It’s still funny. You just never expected to get him in ten pulls on no pity- how’re you even supposed to build him? He hasn’t appeared in the Mondstadt story or any of the in-game events, to you, he’s an entirely blank slate. One that you didn’t particularly want or need, but the mysterious ginger-haired man was here all the same. You furrow your brows, then set your shoulders. Well. If this is how he wants to play, so be it. With a few clicks you plop Childe into your team, right next to your healer, clinking on his character profile and scrolling through his talent descriptions with your fingers laced together This was going to take a lot of grinding. You loathe to admit it, but Childe quickly became one of the best damage dealers of all your characters. With his Hydro bow and blades he was a force to be reckoned with- it helped that you happened to be a particularly good shot with a bow, although you certainly couldn’t say anything good about Childe’s posture, it was so bad it made you burst out laughing when you thought too hard about it. A lot of things about Childe make you laugh, actually, including when you finally met him in-game. You were so caught up about how wonderfully funny everything involving him was that the Liyue archon quests went by in a blur; something about a dead god and Zhongli and Ningguang and the Fatui. Anything, from Childe’s voice to the way his name was pronounced to his own laugh, made you smile and chuckle. Sometimes you talk to him, or more talk at him, standing there on the screen. You enjoy teasing him, words witty and sarcastic but laced with affection as you call him names, “evil little war criminal” and “child man” being your favorite, and he simply stares back at you, eyes dead as ever and ever-present smirk still on his face. Your friend says Childe’s model doesn’t passively smile. You had shrugged then, saying it was probably a glitch, or perhaps Childe just liked you more. The Liyue arc is nearing its end- all that’s left to do is head to the Golden House to confront Childe, the story Childe, and fight until one of you drops dead. You laugh, for the hundredth time that day, looking at your own Childe standing strong on your screen, bow floating behind his back. You’re going to fight Childe with Childe. Is it a good idea? Probably not, but it’s funny. There’s a long monologue of lore before the fight actually begins, and you actually listen to it, despite your normal habit of skipping dialogue. There’s an almost enduring smile on your face as you watch Childe reveal himself as a Harbinger, something you’re not at all surprised about, and your Traveler blink in shock. At one point his automated gaze flicks directly to your eyes, and your smile widens fondly. Then he winks. You start slightly, grin fading into shock. But Childe’s back to staring at the Traveler, deadened blue eyes trained on their form. It’s a glitch. It must have been, and you shake your head to clear it as the battle commences, your Childe against him. It doesn’t take long to wear him down, not with your Childe built as far as you can push him- not quite level 90, but certainly getting there. You involuntarily wince at game-Childe’s shouts of pain as you whittle down the last bit of health from his Electro Delusion form. The moment you slice away the last chunk of HP, a cutscene plays and you lean back from your keyboard in satisfaction. The cutscene shows your Traveler getting thrown back and away from Childe, and you roll your eyes before returning your gaze to the Harbinger, now surrounded by water. Suddenly he transforms- first his arms and hands, then his legs, then himself- letting out a roar of rage from his new form. You gape in astonishment, admiring the now twice-as-tall Harbinger, covered in dark violet and black armor, mask now situated over his face with horns and a single, gleaming eye. You inhale when he slams his spear into the ground and your Traveler falls beneath the Golden House, before exhaling. “Woah.” For a while you just run around during Phase Three, trying to glimpse Childe’s new form from every angle- you want to see exactly how tall he is, admire the way his starry cape flows, map out the patterns on his armor. His voice, now deep and growly, makes you full on stop and stare, getting hit with several Electro arrows in the process. Your own Childe attacks back, of course, on your command, movements stiff and unyielding. You wish you could stay forever, but the battle ends all too quickly and you’re tossed out of the domain like a ragdoll, mourning the loss of in-game Childe, of Foul Legacy. Slipping your phone out of your pocket, you shoot your friend a message, something along the lines of “dude have you seen Childe’s Third Phase form yet” before glancing back up at the screen. Your Childe is staring directly at you, an unusual frown creased over his features. You let out a yelp and fling yourself back into your chair, eyes locked with Childe’s piercing gaze as concern flashes over his face. He reaches for you, of his own accord, and all you can do is look from him to your untouched keyboard and back, again and again. This is not happening, this cannot be happening- But your shock quickly turns to amazement and you quietly scoot your chair closer to the computer, still staring at Childe. His worry morphs into a smile, a soft, happy one you’ve never seen before, and his hand raises to brush over his heart. There’s a sudden flash of purple lightning, warping and twirling around Childe in a storm of rain and sparks. When the flood dissipates, Foul Legacy floats on your screen and you almost shriek, burying your face in your hands as you attempt to process the fact that Childe is most likely sentient and saw you admiring his Foul Legacy form. If he’s not sentient, he’s a really good AI. Childe purrs, the corners of Foul Legacy’s mouth turning upwards in a smile as he hovers a few inches from the ground, still looking at you through the screen. He reaches out, as if to cup your cheeks, looking slightly crestfallen when he remembers that he can’t. But a single glance at you hiding your face in your hands is enough to make him rumble in satisfaction again, voice growling low and deep from within his chest as he jerks his horned head towards the Golden House. “Don’t you like your own version of me better than that silly puppet in there?”

[transsexualhamlet]

Moriarty the Patriot + The Final Problem

aka another unecessary essay from ya boy on how yuumori, instead of taking away from the original text, adds meaning and depth to it

So I finally got around to reading the final problem after wading through all the memoirs of sherlock holmes and yes, I am in fact reading these because of yuumori. I wanted to see how it was portrayed, what the differences and influences from the original source were. I did end up getting incredibly attached to the original series too, so yeah... I'm glad to report that the original and adaption get along well.

And yeah, I have a lot of thoughts, most of them being just me generally praising yuumori. I think it was straight up genius how they pulled so much content from... well, frankly. The Final Problem was a 15 page short story tossed off by Doyle in order to have an excuse to be done with sherlock holmes, told from the perspective of someone who wasn't even there. And yuumori still managed to make it generally very accurate and complementary to the original, while still being, uhhhhh really fucking different, let's say that.

Read more because again, long essay

Just my observations on the final problem itself is that it is so underdeveloped and told from an outsider perspective. Because of that, so many questions go unanswered, and the reader gets a sense that they are only witnessing a very small part of what actually happened. Sherlock can't afford to go into detail on what Moriarty was even involved in, Watson isn't privy to what's honestly even happening most of the time, and Moriarty just... has this extensive network of organized crime that just isn't even talked about other than Trust Me It's Bad Bro. We don't know Moriarty's intentions, most of who he is, and more questions are honestly brought up than answered within the story. Sherlock knows, oh that's for sure, Sherlock knows what's going on and he has no fucking time to tell Watson. You get a sense that Watson himself isn't even telling all that went down.

So yeah, I can see where there's so much room to expand upon here, not even to change things or make it different because it would be cool, but there's so much that could be happening just within the realm of plausible deniability in the canon.

And I think that it's amazing how Yuumori chose to market itself that way- not as an adaption or reimagining- but that this was in fact the Real story, with Doyle's final problem being... honestly a bit of a cover up, a purposeful misrepresentation of a small slice of the full story. It lends itself completely to that, and I think that's amazing.

(One thing I do find funny is that in Yuumori the story "the final problem" is depicted as a full novella that could be published on its own... man it's not nearly long enough for that but I find it funny in any way)

Of course, there are elements of yuumori that are yknow, simply not realistically something that could have happened, but most of the story is actually within that range of plausible deniability since the canon is so vague and sparse. And since they state that things were changed on purpose to protect people and the moriarty plan, it basically covers that all as simply The Truth. It's well done, and very interesting, especially with the new anime ending taking them to Reichenbach itself.

Like, yuumori didn't even truly change the appearances of the characters, from the descriptions. (we're not counting the illustrations lol) like, Sherlock was never stated (as far as I can tell) to have a specific hair or eye color, hairstyle or such.... he was described as tall, thin, eccentric, messy, with like... long fingers and stuff. Man, yuumori did not go against that. With Moriarty it's different, though he was also reportedly Tall and Thin and Built Like A Yaoi Protag for some goddamn reason, he... you know, has these weird and unattractive features as well, which... in the context of Watson trying to portray Moriarty as unmitigated evil in order to protect the plan, were in this situation made up specifically to further the idea that he was just that.

Because of this situation, the Moriarty that is portrayed as yeah, a smart guy and a threat but seriously just A Bad Dude who seems to have no particular reason behind his actions save being A Bad Dude actually make more sense as a cover up behind a more dangerous secret of him having Real Feelings than the only stated reason being "he inherited being evil from his family". (like... watson, really?)

It explains the vagueness and the events and the weird connection between those two better than the original does, and that's really cool to me.

On their own, without yuumori to back me up on these things, reading this would have left me confused and depressed. But as a half truth immortalized as the real story, you get so much more out of it.

Especially these certain scenes:

When Moriarty just pops into Sherlock's house and they proceed to have a basically wordless conversation amounting to

"you know why I'm here" "you know how I'm going to respond" "well then" "here's date and time of our mutual destruction" "thanks I'll be there" "well I'll be off nice knowing you" "wow it sucks that we're enemies he's such a civil guy"

It just really adds something to that, don't you think?

And the subject of their fall itself, simply the fact that Watson wasn't even there. No one witnessed it. No one found even Moriarty's body. No one found evidence of anything at all.

All Watson could say was that Sherlock and Moriarty had gone up to the mountain together, Moriarty told Sherlock of his plans, let Sherlock write and leave a letter to Watson, and that they never came back down. So he came to the conclusion that they must have fought and both fallen off.... like, holding each other. Not really sure how they reached that conclusion, to be honest.

It doesn't even make sense, exactly told how it is. If Moriarty wanted to kill sherlock and survive, he would have just... brought a fucking gun. Or just pushed him off on the way up. As soon as he got him alone just fucking stab the man. It would have been that easy, but no, he had a whole ass convo with the man, they went up civilly side by side, and they stayed on the cliff a long time while Sherlock wrote that letter. Even then, Sherlock could have just waited to catch Moriarty off guard and pushed him off. But he didn't.

Why would they even have fought, if it was so scheduled? You telling me to believe that after this letter was written and moriarty stood there watching him sipping tea or whatever he was suddenly like "ok im ready to fight now", knowing they would both probably die, and if they were genuinely trying to kill each other and survive, that would even make sense?

Of course, these problems in the original stem just from Doyle no longer giving a shit and slapping this together after losing motivation for sherlock, he was obviously, not hinting at some great conspiracy in the slightest.

But damn, Yuumori really does change that all for you, huh. It adds a whole new layer of context to it. And I like it a lot, I like what they've done on their own, I like what they've done for the original stories, and I especially like what they've done telling the "real story" of this short, vague, mystery that otherwise leaves you feeling unsatisfied and confused.

[unkownknowledge]

Genshin OC: Spritefather

(A/N: I'm not used to character descriptions, I'm more used to story writing. So sorry if this isn't good. Also note that this character's history with Baal is a lot darker than originally planned)

Spritefather is an ancient immortal of unknown origin, he's rarely seen by mortal eyes but he is referenced in much of teyvat's legends. His legend depends on the region: in mondstadt he is the father of Barbados, who raised him to follow the path of freedom. In Liyue he helped Rex Lapis connect with mortals by showing him the many artist and singers of the land. In Inazuma he was the husband of Baal before they came to blows when she began the vision hunt. And in Schneznaya he's known as the man who told the Tsarista "fuck off pretender, I'm making cheese" when she ordered he move his camp to make way for a fatui building.

Personally

"Humans are so nice to look at, but Interaction is a bit of a chore."

-Spritefather

Spritefather is a very calm and kind man, as evidenced by his adopting of orphaned sprites and his ability to not lose it at over 30 children. He often wanders around the wilds of Teyvat to admire the beauty of the land and is often accompanied by seven of his children, each a different elemental sprite.

As mondstadt's legend's state, he loves freedom. To him freedom is the natural state of all things, and since he loves nature he loves freedom as well.

To him humans are difficult to understand, and their customs and behaviors are tiring to perform. However he finds Sprites to be more "simple". Their language is clear to him, and their customs and behaviors are casual and easy.

While he prefers to be around sprites and animals, he does love humans as well. He think the art they paint, the stories they write, and the songs they sing are all gifts to the world. Even if a painting envokes no emotion, a story has terrible writing, or a song makes your ears hurt, he will love it and the human who made it. Because to him creativity is the ultimate freedom, and as such is the ultimate beauty.

He is not above hate however. For instance the Tsarista hates his eldest son, so he hates her. However he also does not like to fight, so when he hates someone enough to act against them he will instead prank them and cause them misfortune. This is what lead to him calling the Tsarista a "pretender", because it upsets her, and getting in her way when she made the fatui headquarters.

He is, however, capable of fighting. He is an immortal after all, so it would only make sense he would be capable of defending himself.

History with Barbados

According to mondstadt legend, Barbados almost died in Decrabain's storms before he ascended to godhood. And it was only because of the Spritefather that he lived.

While the legend isn't entirely incorrect, it is plagued with inaccuracies thanks to the people of mondstadt not knowing of Barbados' origin as a sprite.

Long before Barbados met his friend Himmel, the Sprite struggled to persist in the cold storms that surrounded mondstadt. One day he almost faded away, thanks to an avalanche trapping him inside a cave in what is now Dragonspine. Luckily for him, Spritefather was in that cave as well. Though at the time he was simply known as the "husband of eternity", as he was the electro archon's husband. He saw Barbados was starving and freezing, do he picked up the little Sprite and hugged him close to his chest, using his power to transfer all his heat to the sprite. He didn't have much food, but he gave all of it to Barbados in order to keep them alive until the snow cleared away. In the six months they spent in their he told Barbados of the world outside of the storm, how even in war it was filled with beauty, of the many wonderous people he had met on his travels, and of his beloved homeland of Inazuma.

When the snow cleared long enough for the avalanche to clear away, both left, and while Barbados wanted to join the Spritefather the man insisted that Barbados journey his homeland and find people that could make this land worth living in.

Despite his insistence that he would not return, Spritefather continued to return to Barbados and help him live through the storm. Even meeting the bard Barbados became friends with, and comforted him when the bard passed away.

And while the legends say Spritefather taught Barbados to love freedom, he only taught Barbados the philosophy of freedom. And Spritefather, who usually dislikes unnecessary violence, wishes to smack whoever gives him credit for teaching Barbados to love freedom, because it further erases his child's friend from history.

History with Baal

(Note: this might change depending on lore for Baal as it expands)

Long ago, before they ascended to godhood, Baal met Spritefather. At the time he was not known as anything, as he was but an immortal who had nothing to his name. He would observe humans, but noone ever saw him, in fact it seemed that he was invisible to all but Baal.

They continued to meet many more times, each time growing closer and closer. Spritefather telling her of the great history of the world and it's people, and Baal telling him about her day. While to many this would seem an unfair exchange, to Spritefather her days as a mortal was the most amazing stories in all of Teyvat.

When she ascended to godhood Baal used he powers to make Spritefather visible to humanity, so that he may live with them and they may live with him. It was this act that lead to him proposing to her.

After his travels around Teyvat were done, and because of his encounter with Barbados, Spritefather brought up the idea of children to Baal, an idea she equally loved. And so they began to create many electrosprites, and any orphaned sprites they could find immediately became a part of their family, for many centuries the land of Inazuma was also known as the land of Sprites because of how many would fly around the land.

With such a loving relationship, one must wonder what led to them coming to blows.

Fall of Baal

(Tw: this bit includes abuse. Not detailed, but made crystal clear)

Spritefather was appalled when Baal declared the Vision hunts. She claimed that Visions are divine power, and as such belong to the divine alone. But the Spritefather saw it as egotism and denying mortals the rewards they worked so hard to gain.

Tensions rose quickly in their relationship, Baal became more and more frustrated at her husband's opposition to her plans, and how even her children became afraid of her after she began the Vision hunts. Eventually this lead to her most horrific act: abusing Spritefather. She claimed that it was "teaching him to love her" and she was "trying to bring him back to his senses", but his scars made it abundantly clear to everyone who saw him.

While many claim he came to blows with Baal, such an event never happened. What happened instead was Baal almost beat him to death, with a gift he gave to her no less. But the Sprites saved him. All the Sprites in the land of Inazuma came together and, with the combined elemental might of million Sprites, blasted Baal away from their Father and flew him to safety.

Sadly, however, this release of elemental energy did not leave many of the sprites alive. In fact, now only seven of them live. One of each element.

History with the Tsarista

Because she hates his son, Spritefather hates her. In fact many of the bard Venti's tales of Barbados troubling the cryo archon is based off of Spritefather pranking the Tsarista or otherwise being a nuisance. One of the best ones according to him is when he had a bug camp built in the place where Tsarista wantsd to build the fatui headquarters. While she could have killed anyone else, Spritefather is, well, immortal, so that was out. In fact he's the only person who has gotten the Tsarista to give up.

History with Rex Lapis

After a few centuries of being a God, Rex Lapis began to become apathetic to mortals, something Barbados mentioned to his father over wine.

Because of his love for mortals, and having seen the effects of an archon becoming apathetic to their people twice now, Spritefather decided to pay Rex Lapis a visit.

Yo keep him in touch with his people, Spritefather had Rex Lapis take the form of a human and then dragged him from his home in the heavens down to earth by the ear. When they arrived in Liyue he had Rex Lapis see the many arts of Liyue: the dancers, the singers, the poets, they painters, and even the cooks of Liyue. Over the course of a year he showed Rex Lapis the greatness of humanity, and renewed the god's interest in his people.

Description

Spritefather wears a cloak that is similar to a Sprite's body, however it is colored with the seven different colors of the elements. Under his cloak he wears a simple black leather outfit on his whole body. His eyes glow yellow causing them to appear as yellow dots beneath his cloak, and when his hair is visible it is short and brown.

The most notable part of his appearance below his cloak his the electro scar covering his whole neck, and below his whole outfit is almost his entire body covered in electrical burns and electro scars.

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This was my first attempt at writing an oc page. This oc came to be thanks to @genshin-scenarios take over event.

(Tagging: @golden-wingseos(incase you forgot, you asked me to tag you in my genshin writings), @storytravelled)