#and btw to all the young people who might read these tags

[thesesoldierboysarebi]

Will mostly be reblogging for a while I think, but I’m gonna be real, 70 percent of my reason for making this blog in the hopes of writing was that I noticed a big chunk of CoD x reader posts on this hellsite have readers with like…concerningly low ages. There’s a lot of reader character minor-coding going on, and it’s weirdling me out (no shade to young writers, I know a lot of the reason is that a majority of CoD fanfic writers are 18-25 here, which, yk, fair that you wanna see self-inserts with similar ages).

But as I said, it gives me the ick, so if/when I end up writing x reader, I wanna go ahead and make it clear that I will not be writing a reader character in a romantic/sexual position BELOW the age of 25 at most. Most of the Call of Duty men are, like, 28 at the youngest, and I’m more inclined to write reader characters with matching ages, especially afab readers.

In other words? I’m gonna write milfs and dilfs. I’m gonna write top!reader. I’m gonna write unhinged women that leave the various men of TF141 screaming crying throwing up. I will NOT be writing virginal, innocent, or overly naive reader characters; I do not do minor-coding. Y’all have been warned.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Just read your eridan essay. I left a lot of words in the tags (sorry about that btw. I'm @kitkat-not-karkat, those were my tags) and I just. Holy fucking shit man.

THANK YOU FOR PUTTING IT INTO WORDS. Like. Genuinely. Thank you.

That said, do you have any ideas on why Eridan might specifically flirt as a sort of default response sometimes? (I really hope I'm not misremembering that, the fandom bastardizes the poor guy to be Cronus 2.0-)

I have my own personal speculation here, but I'd love to see your take on it!

I think it's a few things all working in tandem, and I think you definitely nailed at least most of it! I do agree that a huge part of his fixation on romance is the fact that a romantic partner is "supposed" to stick around, and Eridan is simply desperate for attention and friendship.

There are a lot of people who idealize relationships and believe that they're the "fix" or "solution" to their emotional problems, and Eridan's obsession with blackrom in particular (where the caligulas part of his trolltag comes from) definitely has shades of that. A kismesistude is an outlet for violent urges, as well as a romantic interest who ideally doesn't ghost you or leave you alone (cough Vriska cough), and one of the two concupiscent quadrants that needs to be filled so you don't get culled.

An interesting thing is constantly being implied within the comic, which is that moirallegiance is actually kind of the most important quadrant for trolls, but their culture has de-emphasized it in favor of the two breeding-related quads. After all, since adult trolls don't have to raise their own young, what Karkat calls "mating fondness" is biologically much less imperative to their species compared to the quadrant that keeps volatile trolls from going berserk and killing people.

Moirallegiance is always treated with a sort of mysticism - it's called "magical" by the narration in relation to Kanaya and Vriska's moirallegiance while that's still extant, it's the only quadrant described as "soul mates," and in contrast to "mating fondness," Karkat mentions the "mystical forces governing moirallegiance." Moirails - Equius and Nepeta being confirmed, but I genuinely believe that that's what Feferi and Sollux would have resolved to in that hypothetical golden ending - are also the quad that spends the most time together, rather than the two concupiscents. The initial description of the pale quadrant even outright says that the attraction is "instinctive." There's something magical and destiny-laden in a moirallegiance that just isn't there to the same extent in the other three quads.

But in Alternian society, kindness, guilt, and the other kinds of things you'd share with a moirail are considered weakness, especially for highbloods. When Feferi is breaking up with him, Eridan flips out the hardest at the implication that she felt the need to take care of him, insisting that he was perfectly fine. I think this is the reason, in addition to the painful breakup, that Eridan never pursues pale relationships, even though a moirail is what he desperately needs. Instead, he pursues the much more societally acceptible pitch quadrant, which can serve a similar purpose of discharging some of his pent-up aggression.

Moreover, his flirting isn't nearly as relentless as people think it is, although he IS both really stubborn AND really socially inept, which makes it difficult both to get a "no" through his brain, AND to make it stick. Another part of it is that he's operating at very little self-awareness, which means he'll often be doing something without consciously realizing it. Also, he's desperate as hell, and has basically no ability to differentiate good and bad attention. This leads to a pretty messy cocktail that basically means:

He'll hit on anyone at least once (desperation), with the exception of people it would be really weird to hit on, for example, their dancestors, who are way older than them.

If a rejection is not made excruciatingly clear, he probably won't register it as a rejection (dumbassery).

Nearly any attention he gets might be misinterpreted as flirting, even after a rejection is made (desperation, also, can't differentiate between good and bad attention).

Even after a rejection is made and he logically understands it and outright says he respects it, he might still act in a flirtatious way unconsciously (zero self awareness).

Because he will hit on anyone at least once, and is constantly making things weird and leaping to "romance?" even when there's no flirtatious intent, people kind of assume he's always hitting on them, even when he isn't.

His emotions always running at a fever pitch, and the lack of self-awareness he cultivates in order to help deal with his horrible cognitive dissonance, mean that even HE'S not sure about his real feelings. He's always feeling SOMETHING very, very intensely (it's the trauma and anxiety), which he mistakes for true caliginous hatred, or fevered flushed intent. Unlike Cronus, who's basically just trying to get some action, Eridan genuinely feels something for people, and his extreme lack of emotional intelligence means he has no idea how to parse his own tempestuous emotions. He always leaps to feverish concupiscent attraction because that's just how intense his emotions run at any given moment.

#4 is happening to Feferi and Sollux, IMO, while Rose never properly rejected him, so he still thinks they have a chance, and the same happened with Vriska when she started ghosting him post-kismesistude. #5 can be seen in his last memo with Karkat, where Karkat starts to wonder if past!Eridan was redflirting with him by inviting him to LOWAA, even as Eridan himself has no idea what the fuck Karkat is talking about.

Thing is, he DOES actually accept rejections once he gets them through his thick skull, which sets him apart from Cronus, who gets rejected, knows it, and keeps going. It's just... Eridan's messy. His emotions are all over the place, and too big for his stupid body, so he's always making things weird and intense.

I blame his lusus, personally. In a previous post, I talk about how a huge factor in his inability to identify negative attention is because he's basically being emotionally neglected. This has also led to his desperation for attention in general. When combined with the trauma from all the murdering and the pressure society puts on him to fit into a certain mold, it leads to some pretty explosive emotional ourbursts, of which his intense, insistent, and downright uncomfortable flirting is a major facet, but also, only a facet.

[halucynator]

END OF 2023

sorry to anyone who didn't want to be tagged xx

hi! most of you will know me as lucy (unless you're @m3ntallyunstable34 and know my real name lol)

so yes, i am lucy. and this is me reflecting on 2023 on tumblr because it seems like a logical thing to do considering this year sucked like 20% less (one of us is lying reference) because of all my amazing online friends. so yes i guess in a way this is a mutual appreciation post 🫶

@berryzxx you wouldn't believe me when i tell you you were the first mutual i didn't have to be all professional and got to be a crazy bitch with lmao so thank you for not judging me and talking to me like we're besties (we totally are btw bc i said so) mwahh

@longlivestv the loml literally owe my life to you bee 🫶🫶 you are one of the main reasons i'm friends with all of the people i will mention after, so tysm and thank you for being so sweet to me and i love flirting with you /hj ilysm 💗 also if im too young to fall in love why do you keep running through my brain? 😍😍

@loserdiaz one of the very few people i get to openly talk to and not feel weird doing it akshdasjhd ilysm april <33 and youre one of the only people i will ever admit has better pick up lines than me (thats a huge honour btw) so thank you for keeping up with me and flirting with me it makes me feel very special mwahhh and ily and we should totally snuggle by the fireplace you know i made those cookies you like (sab reference) 😍🫶

@weeping-in-the-willows thank you for being the absolute SWEETEST person to me <3 ilysm and btw you were my first discord friend and i'm so honoured about that ajshdnjfe you're so nice and ily and i hope you get everything you want

@theladyinwhite13 thank you for appreciating my unhinged comments and you're one of the few people who deserve to be told that they are funnier than me (i rarely ever give anyone this honour btw so its very special) and i think you might appreciate this reference 'so what if i just wanna be a little out of my mind'

@bodybetters and @its-tortle karo and tortle my beloved <3 ilysm you're like two of the BEST mutuals ever and i was so honoured happy excited (any other positive adjective) when i realised you followed ME back?!? i was literally so ajshdnjfe i can't even put it in words you're like my favourite people on this hellsite (affectionate)

@suugarbabe ajdhhgajsgf my pookie <33 you always stand up for me and ilysm for it youre the nicest to me what did i ever do to deserve you 😭❤️

@patrophthia omg the absolute sweetestt!! youre an angel and ilysm and i hope you have the best life every <33 ilysm thank you for being so nice to me and making me feel valued asjdhajksd i love youu

@theautistmwitch omg idk how youre still sane after hearing to my traumatising jokes 😭 ilysm mwahh❤️thank you for being so sweet to meee it makes me so happy <333 can't wait to traumatise- uh i mean make you laugh even more next year!

@kurtcobainsgreencardigan ajkshdad i had the time of my life 'bullying' [insert their name] (i dont wanna get cancelled yk just in case people actually like them) with you <33 [i mean you technically didn't 'bully' them but we bonded over that] you're so funny and sweet and ily<3

@catastrxblues nadine the loml <33 i LOVED chatting with you and ranting to you and reading your answers to my asks akgdskg im so glad to have you as a mutual and i would love to have some more ranting convos with you in the future haha asdhjhajsh ilysm mwahh <3

@nyctophile-me omg you're so sweet to meee 😭😭😭 ily you're like one of my favourite wives too you're one of the only people i will ever share sab with mwah ❤️❤️ id love to talk to you more next year <3

@magicandmaybe @andi-is-bored @alltheliars and @animallover4000 omg you're all so sweet and ily and we didn't really interact a lot this year but i loved chatting with you on discord 💕

@imperpetuallylost omg ilyy you're so unintentionally (or intentionally?) funny ahsjdnfne and i guess it's inevitable sorry sky but it looks like you (lea not sky) deserve to [redacted] goosebot and it's well deserved ajsjdjdne ily and id love to interact more with you next year <33

@london-affairs literally started talking to you like 5 days ago and we were flirting non stop that's CRAZYYYY ily btw pookie 😍

@m3ntallyunstable34 my literal best friend!! i absolutely love you mwah mwah mwah thank you for being my best friend and dealing with me for 12 years llama im shocked you're not insane yet ahsjsj ilyyyy ❤️

these are the mutuals that made me throw my phone across the room and scream in excitement when i realised THEY followed ME

also i will take this moment to thank all of you for making my year amazing and i love you all so much and i hope you have THE BEST 2024. thank you so much for being a part of my crazy blog i would never have imagined 438 people would find this silly little blog 🫶

@cassiopeiasdaughter @faultsline @underthenightskydreamsneverdie @theostrophywife @slytherinslut0 @imperpetuallylost @themidnightarcher @stvrlighhttt @psychedeliccc @prettybaby-grande @nqds @themidnightarcher @i-miss-you-im-sorry @cottoncandywhispers @svnflowermoon @finalgirllx @fallingforfictionalcharacterss @ashisgreedy @moonffe @suugarbabe @wordsarelife and @xobridgertonblues (i might've tagged some people twice sorryyyy)

[hugheses]

these are just some thoughts after seeing ur post on the hockey thigh thing btw, and i hope you hear me out. you being a lesbian (im bi and i have a gf currently), which is something you emphasise a lot, and not being attracted to these dudes doesnt make this whole parasocial archive any less weird or creepy. i'm not here to shit on or invalidate your passion, because obv its something you care about deeply from how much your scour the web for all these old things, even of their mother when she was young. and genuinely, thats pretty cool, i work in archival and i have a lot of respect for that with the effort you've put into it.

but i think you are encouraging others to imitate this blog and culture, when it comes to other players who aren't as in the media as the hughes family. like i agree that its part and parcel of the job as athletes who represent a multitude of things like ur franchise ur family etc, but i feel like we just shouldn't proliferate this. i know people on twitter are unjustly harsh and oftentimes critical to the point of meanness, but i think some points they share are valid. just bc its on the internet, doesnt give us the permission to do stuff ykwim? like imagine just going up to the hughes and giving them a scrapbook of every media moment from their mothers childhood, to her college, their dad, and them as kids and now as adults. thats just straight up weird. and don't even get me on the sexualisation, i get they are adults but isn't that just basic respect?

i know having an internet community is rlly important to some, and im sure ur followers would still give you that support u need even if you dont constantly supply them with these media things, or dangle ur secret archive like a carrot over them.

hoping you have a great day

you clearly put a lot of time and thought into this, so i will give you that same level of consideration back. i think you have some misunderstandings about me, hockey fandom, and fandom culture as a whole.

first, the lesbian thing. admittedly tumblr search is very broken but according to it i’ve mentioned the word lesbian twice on here, as a disclaimer for why i might not be the best person to understand what male attracted people find hot. it's possible it's come up a few other times but it’s definitely not something i "emphasize a lot". it's somewhat ironic that you bring up you being bi and having a gf in what reads to me like a deflection on your critique that i say i'm gay too much, when you seem to think me saying i'm a lesbian is bc i'm trying to deflect on sexualizing these guys. which admittedly is the most confusing part of your entire ask. is this solely about the thigh ask? if you’re worried about "basic respect", hockey fandom is probably not the place for you. i know i don't like seeing 500 reader insert posts every time i open anyone's tag, which is why i have related terms muted and block people who don't use them. however this is very much a part of hockey fandom and i’m aware of that. on the flip side, the unfortunate reality is that hockey players are some of the nastiest misogynistic men on the planet who generally do not see women as actual human beings beyond mommies, maids, and holes. if i WAS sexualizing these men 24/7 i would feel well within my rights to do so, and could make an only slightly ironic argument for it being feminist praxis. if jack hughes can ask girls to flash him, i can have a little sexualization, as a treat. 

calling me weird and creepy isn’t actually negated by following up with saying you're not trying to shit on or invalidate my passion and you respect the effort i put into it. if you think i’m weird and creepy, you’re allowed to feel that way, but actually own it if that’s what your opinion is.

you imagined this scrapbook scenario and then say that it’s weird. i agree, that hypothetical thing would be weird. good thing i’m not doing that, will never do that, and take many efforts to have a strong fourth wall and keep this blog separate from the people it's about. i am a firm believer in keeping fandom private and secluded! that's why im not tweeting all of this and tagging them. 

it’s a big leap for you to assume that i do this because i "need support". not that it matters, but i do all of this because i find it fun and i’m being generous with people who do not have the time/resources/know-how to find this stuff on their own. there's nothing wrong with finding a community online, but i had one before doing all this. in fact, all of this has been really more trouble than it's worth in terms of harassment vs kindness lmao. some people on here have been lovely to me, but i’m beyond the age where i need virtual validation from strangers. you’re right about one thing, i do dangle my secret archive like a carrot, largely for petty reasons because of a few specific assholes. 

you seem to think i’m the only person who does stuff like this. update/archival accounts are very common for musicians, actors, even like... tiktok influencers. were you not online when people hacked an airport security cam feed to watch one direction sit and do nothing? everything ive ever posted on here has been available to the public. i’m just good at finding stuff. even within this smaller sports fandom on tumblr, i have been inspired by OTHER BLOGS who were doing this before me and go way harder than i do. i didn’t invent the concept of collecting information and images about public figures like you seem to think i did, but thanks.

if you want to critique fandom culture as a whole, go right ahead, but i ask that you keep the sanctimonious lectures out of my inbox, especially when they're based in assumptions. any one of these things could have been questions i would be willing to chat about if you were actually curious about me and what i do. i in fact have lots of opinions that might surprise you on many of these things you mentioned. but i will have those conversations with other people, who talk to me with the respect and dignity that i deserve.

[rweoutofthewoods]

i am astounded (not actually surprised though) that people are "disappointed in you" when they can READ THE TAGS on a fic you posted, and then they go ahead and read the fic and expect it to be something different than what it was labeled as. And Then send you an essay about their disappointment and about how you "usually don't promote violence" or something (even though you've written a longfic about the wizarding war, which is violent, but i digress.)

don't like the tags, do not fucking read <3 it's really simple actually.

loving tennessee baby btw xx

Fanfic is beautiful in the fact that you can tag everything and readers know exactly what they’re getting into most of the time. I think media literacy is a lost art and I’ve had conversations especially with young people in this fandom that shows me some people don’t like reading things that make them uncomfortable or that don’t tell them what to think. As much as I love fanfic as a form of escapism, I think we need to read things that make us uncomfortable because otherwise we sit in our cushy little boxes and ignore real, ugly, things in the world.

I could preach forever but I won’t 😭 because I’ve said this all before. Because you’re absolutely right, my first jegulus fic was 200k words of war and death and morally complex situations. So, I am who I’ve always been and I write what I always write.

The very first thing I said in the opening notes of Tennessee Baby is and I quote: “I will give you all your disclaimers and warnings. Read the tags. Everything else after that is not my problem.” I 1000% stand by that for Tennessee Baby and ANY of my fics. I always warn and tag and anyone’s reaction or upset is not my problem.

I really blame no one, and have total empathy and sympathy for why some of my writing might not be people’s cup of tea. And people miss tags or warnings. I have too!! But also, that is the readers responsibility not mine. Everyone has to worry and put themselves first, and I can’t cater to every single person who reads my work. So YEAH read tags people and remember authors have no responsibility to write things you’re comfortable with, you’ve got to take care of yourself.

I’m so glad you like Tennessee Baby I’ve so enjoyed writing it and I’m excited to continue the story and show you all where it goes <333 mwah!

[stillwithmeisonlyyou]

I have a sort of family angst hc about angel and i don't know if this is %100 canon compliant but for the sake of breaking our hearts lets pretend it is

What if angel ran into molly s son in hell who he doesn't really know from life because he passed away too soon. Like maybe he saw him as a baby or smt but doesn't know him personally and somehow never ran into him in hell before because he was shunned before this guy died

And also molly s son (i dont really have a name 4 him) went down the path angel did in life, drug addiction and all. In my mind he also died kind of young, like not so young for all this not knowing each other thing to be possible but young ( like maybe around 30,kinda like angel), and he commited. (also after angel left the family they probably pretended like he didn't exist, so this guy probably wouldn't even know he was from the family) So they are in some sense parallels of one another.

Than one day they run into each other because this son is also shunned from the family for one reason or other and he is distraught and drunk. At first angel doesn't even know it is from his family, but he wants to help regardless since he has been there before. (also this would kind of happen later i think, it still takes a little charachter development for him to have that empathy and act on it) so he suggests and somehow convinces this guy to come to the hotel and stay for a day or two. (Also i feel like this would be interesting because this guy is still in active addiction at this point and angel wants to help, but there is also a rational concern from others that there is a risk he could lose himself trying to help him) then as he keeps talking angel realizes this guy is from his family and not only that but he is molly s son who he never got to meet. Needless to say he has complicated feelings and feels so much guilt, because he is once again reminded by how he hurt his sister but also this happened twice to molly from people who are closest to her.

As I said I love family angst. I also kind of wrote like a cringy song lyric/poem type of thing for their situation. I might share that later

Btw if you like this idea and write a fanfic about it pls tag me id read it

[literaticat]

With Algonquin closing, ive been hearing talk that YA is dying, YA writers are ditching YA to write adult, and only unicorns and super trendy YA books will get bought now. As a debut author, this is making me feel SO doom and gloom about my career even before it’s started! Do you have any thoughts? Thank u Jenn !

Not to be mean, but baby where have you BEEN?

YA has been "Dying" for like, the better part of a decade, and has been fully rigor mortis, toe up with a tag on it, authors "ditching YA", etc, for several years. If anything, YA has recently experienced something of a reanimation -- the former corpse has officially got a pulse again and is breathing, though perhaps still a little clammy. The hotness of 2024 is complaining about how MIDDLE GRADE is dead. Keep up! ;-)

In reality, everything is cyclical. Categories or genres or trends or whatever boom, they get oversaturated, sales fall off, eventually they come back. And people ALWAYS say that "publishing is dying" that "only trendy books will be able to be bought now" or whatever whatever. I was reading DEAR GENIUS, the collected letters of Ursula Nordstrom (highly recommend btw), and there was this whole part in there about bookstore people complaining that TV was destroying the publishing industry, nobody would buy books anymore, authors should just pack it in, etc. It was literally the same conversation, and that was like 70 years ago.

(For a bit of a reality check, you might check out this post from the pinned FAQ: I heard that traditional publishing is DEAD, is that true?)

As for your opening premise, I think it is faulty, AYR closing hasn't really got much to do with the other stuff.

To be clear: I love Algonquin Young Readers. I have sold many a beautiful book to AYR over the years; they were my special favorite. (Don't tell the others!) Their founding publisher, Elise Howard, who I aspire to be for real, is an absolute Dear Genius herself and a wonderful editor and person (and now, agent)!

I am very grateful to have been able to work with the whole team there for the past decade, and I am sad that the program Elise started and Cheryl Klein and the others continued will be coming to a close, and that two wonderful editors and a terrific marketing person will be looking for new jobs (but I do hope/believe/feel strongly that they will all land in good spots, they are really great!) -- HOWEVER.

Algonquin was bought by Little Brown several years ago. And whilst Algonquin the brand is closing now, those books are not disappearing, they are just being folded in to LB. In other words, the backlist books will still be in print, and the frontlist/forthcoming books are still going to be published, just with a different publisher name on the spine. Also Algonquin only published like... 2, maybe 3 new YA books per season? It's a small list! (Small but mighty! -- but still, very small!)

So.... I'm not sure what, if anything, the news of their closing says about the larger world of YA books? In other words, obviously it is NOT GREAT, it’s a sad loss, we loved that publisher, it's good for the publishing ecosystem to have a variety of publishers so fewer is not good, capitalism and massive corporate conglomeration and whatnot are sucky things, it's awful when nice people are out a job -- but there's zero reason for you to take that news as like, an OMEN about YOUR CAREER or something. It has nothing to do with you. Unless your book was coming out from Algonquin, it won't affect YOU at all. (And even if your debut WAS an AYR book... hopefully those effects would be minimal at the end of the day, as those books are still coming out!)

[lej222]

What do you think Jisu's intentions are in all these? Reading chapter 136 last night i first thought he was helping Miae by making Cheol jealous but when academy kids and songi came miae gave a big smile looking at cheol and jisu was actually annoyed seeing that! What is his motive actually?? He is acting manipulative? What will he gain from thiss he's a sly fox😬

Really good question which is really hard to answer! 😃

So keep in mind these are just my thoughts, I can always be wrong.

So far, we know very little about Jisu, but clues about his character have been given to us since the first chapter, and so most theories about him have become true. I think we should look at his character in a chronological timeline.

Right off the bat, I'm writing this with the assumption that Jisu is likely autistic (seems to be a general observation in the fandom, I also made a post about it). From very early on in childhood, Jisu seemed to be slower than the kids of his age (like touching his head way after he was hit) and had a sort of expressionless face even in elementary school.

At one point in time, Jisu becomes Miae's classmate in elementary school, around the time Miae met Cheol. They used to live in the same neighbourhood for a short while, because as we know, Jisu also kept moving around like Cheol (all the Jisu and Cheol parallels!?). Jisu was likely bullied by the other kids for his 'unique' personality, which, in the 90s meant that he was simply different but no one would have known why around that time (it was a different world for sure, autistic kids were told they were stupid for being slower and they were likely targets for bullying, even more than now). We see a short memory of young Miae telling Jisu she can make his bullies pay. This is the only fragment of memory we get until Jisu leaving school. We have no idea what happened in the meantime, but when Jisu is forced to write a goodbye letter, he mentions how he liked Miae the most for which Miae starts crying while Jisu is just standing there awkwardly. End of their childhood interactions.

-> now, first of all, I believe memories are super important in the story and they are tied to the concept of fate. As Miae and Cheol's relationship progresses, we can suddenly see memories Miae was not even aware of having. Jisu's memories are still hidden because Miae doesn't remember him. This is a very important point because it is the reason we will definitely keep seeing him in the story.

My speculation is that Jisu had a fondness for Miae as a kid, but it was not necessarily romantic love (and he likely did not understand why he had that fondness). We know Miae treated him like a normal person when he was bullied. Without knowing their interactions, Jisu likely found her interesting (btw, autistic individuals can have fixations on people as well, Jisu is now fixated on their coincidental encounters).

Years later, Jisu transfers in the spring semester in 1998, right before Cheol transfers in the fall semester (coincidence that much??? More like fate lol) We can see he remembers every name and face, making categories as to which school they attended together (reinforcing the idea that Jisu might be what we would call a 'genius' which is not uncommon among people on the spectrum, in fact, most geniuses have ASD). Jisu sees Miae and notes that her hair is weird (now we know why lol) and then moves on. A year later, when they end up in the same class he's surprised, but doesn't really care. As coincidences seem to pile up, like Cheol kicking Miae's pencil at his chair(he gives it back btw, while Miae thinks it was Cheol), they are sent out to the corridor together, they become folk dance partners, Jisu finds Miae's name tag and uses it to avoid punishment, they are both called to the teachers' office for doing bad on their tests, Jisu wants to give back the nametag but doesn't have it on him (!!!!! important!!!) And he still doesn't seem to care that much, it's Miae who tries to talk to him.

It's not until their detention week that Jisu becomes more talkative with Miae. And it's likely around that time he acknowledges the coincidences and decides it's fun. That's when the funny fate in the story takes action and makes Jisu meet Miae in the most random scenarios. As soon as Jisu acknowledged its existence, fate tried to help him. Mind you, Cheol and Miae haven't acknowledged their relationship as of now (interesting right?). So Jisu thinks it's a fun situation and keeps talking to Miae, even the teacher notes how he never really shows this behaviour around anybody else. After that, Miae starts showing sides of her Jisu likely hadn't seen since they were kids, like she smiles at him. I think, and take this with a grain of salt, from these interactions Jisu has likely started developing feelings for her, and he's probably not aware of it.

Jisu wants to help Miae, because he likely wants her to be happy. But he might have started liking her along the way as well. I don't think he always met Miae intentionally, it would have been practically impossible, but he has the ability to plan what to do (the cigarette incident). He knows how to push Cheol's buttons -->> important note here!!->> once Jisu said something like he knows what guys like Cheol are like. I've seen a theory in the Korean fandom that Jisu naturally seems to dislike people with an authoritative presence, like the teacher who hit him (and Jisu's silent defiance was obvious). From what he can see, Cheol likely falls into that category (we readers know it's not true) and Jisu is bothered when Cheol chases Miae around as if he's acting against Miae's wishes. Which obviously raises the possibility that Jisu had a kind of person in his life who was acting the same (a strict father? abusive teacher? the bullies?) which would explain why he was always rude to Cheol. Again, it's just a theory. At the very least, Jisu wants to be Miae's friend and likely felt left out in that situation. He might like her, he might not, but he will definitely be important in the story if you ask me.

Sorry for the long answer😃

[aromantic-character-showdown]

[image description: tags that read "# also all of the entropic float characters hace really cool designs # someone needs to tell me what it's about". end image description]

well, boy, im so glad you asked!

before we get there - hello, the person who has been obsessed with the visual novel in question for almost a year speaking. for any poll you see an entropic float character in, i am always one of the people to have submitted them, and i am the person who has been writing most of the propaganda for them (qpr-competition is also me, btw, any "i wrote that massive essay" over there come from me as well). my obsession is in part fueled by the fact that almost nobody knows it, but ive been working on that

with that out of the way...

Entropic Float: This World Will Decay And Disappear is a visual novel that features a cast of 14 characters in an Anomalous Clocktower. the anomaly is of the timeloop type - every 24 hours, as the clock strikes midnight, time rewinds, and you might or might not be able to remember the events of the past loops.

ive said this before and ill say it again - i consider the selling point of the game to be the characters, which is great, because at its core its about getting to know and love them - the phrase "mortifying ordeal of being known" is used verbatim in the route leading up to the true ending.

for example, Peri and Abel, both featured in this poll, are canonically aroace. they have been joined at the hip since they were kids, although that wasnt quite for the right reasons - Peri was being raised as a bodyguard for Abel and his older brother. at the core of their shared character arc is the struggle against amatonormativity - people assuming that, since theyre a boy and a girl and are best friends, they must fall in love with each other eventually, and are just too young right now; that they should give it time, and it will happen. the pressure is worrying for both of them, and Abel in particular has gone on puberty blockers; "these people must be right, but i dont want to become someone who falls in love, so i will stave off my growing up".

Jasper Jasmine "Jazz" Jekyll, who has been voted out in the preliminaries, is grey-aromantic and pansexual. however, the more present in the narrative part of her character is that she is a trans woman, and that she considers her gender to have changed rather than having always been there; "i was fine being a boy until i wasnt". she is working towards her masters in social studies, and has used her falling into the anomaly as data for her thesis.

as i have said, there is a total of 14 characters in the main cast; ive told you about three, as they are fitting for the theme of the bracket, but all of them are queer of various flavours, and written in a very alive way - from Shinji who im pretty sure is only stated to be bisexual in his profile and nowhere in the rest of the text, to Kanatsun who brings up questioning his sexuality in his memories and is still written down as questioning, to Loam whose gender identity isnt respected because of their disability, to JJ who throughout the anomaly gains the courage to come out as trans to his adoptive mom... theres a lot of different ones! fourteen of them!

and btw, its free, and available on steam and itch

Oooh!!!

[borealopelta]

10 questions for 10 writers

the beloved @arokel tagged me aaages ago and i'm finally doing it yayyy!

1. Is writing a hobby or a way of life?

a hobby i think. i do write a lot and it's a big part of my life but i wouldn't define myself as a writer you know? i'm just someone who writes :)

2. A journal full of notes or a clean completed manuscript?

journal full of notes!! i usually get tiny snippets of Disjointed Scenes stuck in my head and i recently realised that if i wrote them out i could. come back to them later if i wanted instead of forgetting them like a cool person. so i'm doing that in my notes app for now. but theoretically i'm all for a clean manuscript i'm literally incapable of writing a fic out of order aside from my little notes

3. Who or what inspired your writing?

honestly this question is stumping me a little. i don't know? i've been writing and telling stories from a very young age and i never had Big Inspirations. i do have people who influence my style (see the three authors i mention in question 8....holy shit to be able to write like that) but inspiration? idk i don't think i'm even getting what kind of inspiration this is asking about.

4. Which is worse: Someone you ‘idolize’ reading your first draft or listening to you sing?

Definitely singing. i don't mind people i look up to reading my stuff! even if it could be improved!! but singing for an audience is horrible :)

5. Has writing from someone else’s POV changed your perspective?

i'm a very emotional person and experience everything all the time except for when i shut off and stop feeling at all for a bit. the latter is a rare occurrence and i'm generally all about emotions so writing my favourite oc who operates on a Very low emotional spectrum was (is) a really interesting experience. i have to put a lot of thought into how bella sees the world but i Love the way his brain works so he's always worth the effort and i'm thankful to him for showing me something new

6. Tumblr, AO3, LiveJournal, or FFN?

no wattpad....how quickly forget our dark history. anyway yeah it's ao3!!! i Love the way ao3 works i did Not learn to navigate FFN well enough (not for lack of trying btw) to ever really use it

7. AO3 word count? And are you satisfied with it?

137,805. i'm a notorious fic deleter so it's not representative of the amount i've written over the years but. yeah! i'm happy with that. i obviously want to write more but word count is one of the stats i care least about

8. What movie/book gripped you irrevocably?

for books it's either the hungarian selection aka Verhovina madarai by Bodor Ádám and Termőtestek by Sepsi László - two novels i think about literally all the time - or Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Mathias Énard which i keep recommending to LITERALLY everyone because it's so beautiful. btw read tell them of battles kings and elephants by mathias énard it's so beautiful. for movies i guess dead poets society? aesthetically & also its message is so beautiful and i love a robin williams film

9. What’s the highest compliment you could ever be given, and have you been given it?

i don't know!!! any compliment makes me happy. but i love hearing that people came back to reread multiple times. like omg!! welcome back i'm so glad my sillies are in your brain

10. What defines your writing style?

i like to think my descriptions are pretty definitive, i loooooove stacking adjectives and adverbs and stuff with hyphens and commas and ands and other verbal connective tissue i love describing things in very specific ways and i think my writing also has a unique rhythm because of how hungarian works and how that translates to english. but that's just inside my brain idk!! my writing might be the most generic shit to everyone else :]

[raccoonfallsharder]

tiny lil violet anon here!! hh second guessing is really common w creatives (i would know.. i'm a digital artist) but i want you to know that you're probably one of my favourite fic writers and you actually inspired me to start working on a rocket x reader fic of my own a while back!!! (would you mind if i sent you my fic if i ever finished it?)

honestly, i dont think you have to worry about how well you capture rocket's voice bc honestly you're one of, if not the best i've read— your triptych day 17 fic was genuinely mindblowing for example?? your understanding of how different people write rocket is so in depth and the way you made all three renditions of rocket different but so clearly still rocket got me awestruck (do you have any tips on writing the 3 different rockets btw? i'd love to understand more about how you differentiate them! ><)

i remember reading the boring adventures of space pilot and sweatshirt girl for the first time after reading the rocket comics and thinking that helping rocket out on that ferry was exactly what i was hoping someone would write?? it was the fic i needed and didn't deserve LMAO literally every thing you've written has always filled a gap that i didn't know was there & didn't know i needed ♡♡

sorry for the ridiculously long ask ^^; your work genuinely means so much to me and im totally in love with how you write rocket— while ik every artist doubts themselves, i want you to know that the work you create is so much better than you give yourself credit for!

tiny little violet nonnie!! (⸝⸝o̴̶̷᷄‸o̴̶̷̥᷅⸝⸝) you precious sweet little flower. please don’t apologize for long asks - i love them (they just take a while for me to respond to). this was also so, so sweet, and the idea that any of my writing means a lot to you kinda makes me teary ♡

i would love to read your fanfic! even if you don’t finish it! you can always send it my way via dms or share via ask if you wanna stay on anon. or post it and tag me ♡ the fact that i was able to inspire you a little bit is honestly one of the most lovely compliments i could receive and it is truly an honor

(｡•́︿•̀｡)

i’m also so grateful that you enjoyed sweatshirt girl ♡ one of my favorite things about fanfiction is that it can give us the stories we need and deserve (or give us the opportunity to write them!). honestly reading grounded all i wanted to do was pick up that raccoon and take him home and feed him warm food and that’s how sweatshirt girl happened ♡o(╥﹏╥)o♡

so part of the reason i took a long time to respond is because i was trying to really think about how i write the different rockets. and i decided i only have one “tip” for you (or rather, one thing that worked for me and which i hope might also work for you.

but you know im gonna take ten paragraphs to get there!

tbh even though i refer to them by their respective authors, i don’t think “i need to write rocket like skottie young” or “i need to write rocket like james gunn.” i think “i need to know rocket, and understand him, and figure out how he would react & interact in skottie young’s galaxy” or “in the mcu.”

my short tip for writing any character is understand what makes them tick. what drives them? what do they long for? how do they hurt? what do they fear? in what ways do their insecurities and survival mechanisms weave together and impact the way they see the world, interact with friends, protect themselves from enemies?

your best tool as a writer of characters is your ability to empathize with them.

know and love your characters the same way you do your best friends. as authors we are playing god with their world and their lives and it’s a little bit of a sacred responsibility to at least make sure we understand them as well as we can ♡

so for rocket specifically…

fundamentally, my personal interpretation of rocket in any universe is someone with profound empathy, who feels pain very deeply. and since he hasn’t had the opportunity to like, see & practice healthy coping mechanisms lol, he has learned to survive by trying to hide that empathy and that pain under layers of calcification and sarcasm and spikes and blades. and it like, kinda works?? but sometimes it ends up hurting people who don’t deserve to be hurt and when he realizes that, the hidden empathy kicks in and he hates himself all over again.

and like many people, rocket also doesn’t really want to give up his pain. people tend to fight to keep their most hurtful memories or vulnerabilities locked inside. they build so much of their identities around them.

so the real question comes down to, what is each rocket’s source of pain? how does that impact how he interacts and thinks? what is his support system at the point in time that i’m like, crashing his party? how does that impact his interactions and thoughts?

skottie young’s rocket gets laid, so he’s not going to be worried about seducing anyone tbh. he’s probably got the most confidence out of all the rockets, at least on the surface. geez, the 2014 run? it’s like. all about his copious ex-girlfriends and about he’s the only one of his kind in the whole universe. if i were gonna write a full fic based on skottie young’s rocket, i’d base my foundation on the idea that the reason rocket has so many exes is because he’s constantly searching for something that he doesn’t believe exists (basically, someone who can make him feel not-alone) and he probably ends up sabotaging his chances every fuckin time he gets close.

ewing’s or rosenberg’s rocket? still canonically gets laid but has gotten treated like dirt enough times — including being betrayed by people he trusts at various points — that he’s always waiting for that to happen. and mcu rocket? that boy is so insecure about his worth on every level that if he has any pleasant interaction with anyone, he’s probably baffled about why the fuck it’s happening.

all this to say: how do you see (each) rocket? how does he move through the galaxy his authors creates for him? and how does that change when you step in and make something different for him?

it’s late here and my brain is foggy so i’m sorry if i didn’t fully and properly answer your question, sweet little violet .｡༅:*ﾟ*:✼✿ all this to say that if i am successful at all in effectively communicating rocket, it’s more about studying (my interpretation of) who he is in each setting than studying a writer’s style, if that makes sense.

ahhh good night, little love. i am an old baba yaga and i must sleep

[mixedkid-matchup]

you do not have to answer this!! I'm using you to confess my dubious feelings for the Percy Jackson series bc you also expressed like some weird feelings about it, and I kind of thought the series was untouchable bc of how much everyone I see fawns over it, and I have GOT to get this off my chest to someone who might get what I'm saying. But I have major issues with the writing/premise/series bc it's just feels so deeply colonized and it's bothered me since it FIRST came out and everyone in middle school and high school was reading it and teachers were assigning it. Like the whole premise for the Greek gods being in the US is that they follow Western "progress" and it completely disregards all the amazing things Indigenous did and our way of life, and also removes the importance of place-based culture for both Greek stories and Native peoples (like okay all the Greek stuff moved to the U.S. but wth happened to all our spiritual figures?? The story completelya cts like Native people weren't here and didn't have complex beliefs and ways of life connected to the land, and the gods were just free to take over here with no issues). As a mixed Indigenous kid it just rubs me wrong in all the worst ways and the academic systems love affair with Greek and Roman stuff and Rick Riordan's sheer popularity has been forcing this stuff in my face foreveeeerrrr 😭😭 I was surprised to see your tags about the fandom being weird before too tho since I don't interact with it, so I hope you don't mind this ask and just know I kinda feel the same way!! Ok thanks bye sorry for the rant.

BRO I HAVE HAD THIS RANT ON HAND FOR A LONG TIME ITS OKAY!!!!!!!!!

I THINK IF HEARD ABOUT THIS ACTUALLY. but you explained it way better. like when i first read percy jackson ok fine i was 11, i obviously caught onto the ableism and such but i did not catch onto this until i thought about it when i got older. you're super right. the whole thing about ww2 being caused by demigods was the weirdest shit ever i literally did not remember reading it until i read lightning thief again last year. why did hitler need to be child of hades. THAT IS QUITE LITERALLY HOW PERCY DESCRIBES HADES WHEN HE SEES HIM. LOOKING LIKE HITLER. then what you're saying how they move with the places that are the most progressive and basically take over..... like it's just ..... incredibly misplaced and insensitive.

but about the fandom being weird (its literally encouraged by riordan's book tbh), in heroes of olympus, hazel is a black girl from lousiana in the 1930s?? or 40s idk anyways i think she dies and then nico brings her back. whatever, everyone draws her lightskin and with orange hair, and super skinny, (which she's from louisana. shes darkskin and does not have "caramel" hair i hate white men sometimes.) and shes like 13 btw and in a relationship with frank whos like 16. weird as hell and everyone thinks theyre so sweet. and also rick cannot write meaningful young women. and especially not girls of color. like its WEIRD how piper is portrayed as some pick me girl she constantly feels the need to express shes not like the Aphrodite girls. and rick had to make it weird with aphrodite anyway by making them a whole stereotype of snobby boys and girls who love putting on makeup. they had drew, an asian girl & counselor of aphrodite, straight up mean to piper bc she likes jason. like for no other reason. drew only wants to participate and go on the quest because of jason. and other stereotypes like making leo, latine, be super flirty.

and lets really talk about how annoying annabeth was about the blondes are dumb stereotype because, girl we can talk about misogyny and people not letting you do things because of it, but lets also talk about how you are TWELVE, and the blonde stereotype is tired. i never liked annabeth, she was really tone deaf as someone whos half black. OH AND FRANK. they had this weird ass arc where they implied he was fat because of lack of confidence? like when he got confident he, lost weight... because of a blessing of mars? i dont even know.

like as i get older its more and more annoying to see it. i literally rolled my eyes when i saw rick talking about colorblind casting when people got mad about annabeth. he could of said anything else. how this could reconceptualize annabeth's arc around misogyny and now racism. and purposely alter her character to fit this new black annabeth. but no. people treat colorblind casting as a pinnacle of progressiveness.

[septimusmoonlight]

Anonymous: I was reading through some of your post (great posts 10/10 btw) and I saw the tentacled masses one and your tags mentioned a marriage ritual?? I want to know all about this and I can't believe it hasn't been asked about, also I would 100% marry a tentacled mass

Ahh, the tentacled mass, masters of dubious consent! The marriage ritual I mentioned for these things isn’t much in comparison to their usual reproduction methods - it’s almost gentle, even.

A tentacled mass will only perform a marriage ritual on a subject who has actively pursued it without prompting. This usually doesn’t take very long, as people chosen by tentacled masses tend to remember how good it feels to be taken by one, and so usually return to the mass that fucked them the first time to ask for it to happen again. When the human initiates, the tentacled mass gladly takes them up on it, filling them with eggs and cum, giving them a large batch of squirming tentacle children (tentaclets?) to birth, reveling in their cries, relishing the process of molding its human incubator’s body to its needs.

After this happens, the mass inserts a specific tentacle into its human just after they’ve finished giving birth to the young ones, coils it up inside of them, makes them swell with it - and then it marks its mate, the tentacle inside of them glowing as a scrolling mural of spirals pours down the human’s right arm, from shoulder to wrist. The mark looks almost like a sleeve of tattoos in the color of the mass, whether it’s bright magenta or a deep royal purple, and in dark-skinned mates where this doesn’t show as well, the lines are bordered by white-pink or white-purple to clearly show the sign of ownership, of a bond, of a match made in ecstasy. At that point, the human’s brain has likely been taken in by the combination of aphrodisiacs and sexual pleasure, and has legitimate love for their new spouse - or, if they don’t experience romantic attraction, a deep bond of friendship like no other.

Not only is the mark on their arm a constant visual reminder to the human as their status as a spouse and breeder for their tentacled mass, but it makes it easy for humans in the same situation to find each other in public - which can make for some very interesting conversation. Oftentimes, though, in a rather sweet twist, the spouses of tentacled masses will also buy themselves rings to wear, because normal humans won’t take the mark on their arm as a sign of marriage, and might try to pursue them otherwise.

No other human can ever satisfy the spouse of a tentacled mass, though. Not after their mate has showed them what true pleasure is.

[clownfire]

Spoilers ig for the just rolled for pd s2 ep17 (also cw for use of the term qu**r, in reclaimed and academic usage, I self-identify as such and feel comfortable using the term, but I understand why others don’t).

Honestly I’m okay with GhostKnife not being reciprocated. I’ll feel bad in the moment for Will sure, but I know it’ll serve the story the crew want to tell and trust it will be played well. 

Now I’m not saying that I dislike GhostKnife, it’s a compelling pairing with a strong basis in canon, and I reckon the guys could pull it off really well if they decide that’s how they wanna take this subplot. And Will’s crush is canon! William is a canonically bisexual character who gets to progress the plot and have interesting dynamics with other characters, all whilst being queer and all that having nothing to do with his queerness and without it being ignored (I can’t say the same for another William...Duffers). We know that the relationship going to become more story relevant, and will be addressed. The crew aren’t ignoring it for the sake of baiting a potential queer audience like larger studios do, this show is independently run, and funded and consumed by a predominately queer audience 

Similarly, jrwi isn’t your regular show that’s written by a team, who hand scripts off to voice actors who are hired to read a character’s lines; If Condi and/or Slime don’t feel comfortable role-playing that or don’t know where to take the pairing, they don’t have to. I’d rather it not become canon than it be done poorly, ya know? That’s what fanfiction’s for anyways (that just might be my cynicism from being in the IT fandom leaking through tho). 

And honestly I’d be refreshing to see a queer teen pairing not eventuate into a romantic relationship - not because one of them dies or a big dramatic coming out scene that gets rejected - but simply because they’re young adults who still need to figure themselves out, and have the literal weight of the world on their shoulders. Media with lgbtq+ characters are honestly swamped by copious amounts of teen-mlm-slow-burn-pining. The jrwi boys can break the mold if they want to.

This post isn’t meat to disway people from liking the ship, making content for it, or wanting them to get together (I’d be a bloody hypocrite on all three counts if I was), but - even though we’re not as bad as twitter can be - I think the fandom might need a friendly reminder in case GhostKnife doesn’t become canon and a vocal few flip their lid.

TL;DR - GhostKnife is a great pairing but I wouldn’t be disappointed if it does not become endgame, ultimately it’s up to the crew and what they want for their characters, and if you don’t like that then write your own ig.

read the tags btw for more thoughts but ramble-y

[performativezippers]

13, 14, 18? and i do have an extra question similar to 10—that's allowed—has any of your writing or that of someone else's stuck with you? a sentence or event or feeling?

I just answered all of this and it deleted itself!! AGHHHHH i hate the internet. Lemme try again but sorry, it'll probably be shorter and madder now!

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

I'm not the right person for a like medical mystery hurt/comfort. Too close to home on that one (sorry to all the people who wanted an angsty follow up to Alone, just not my thing). I think a lot of what I write at this point comes pretty easily. Feelings! Longing! Being stuck! All that works well for me these days.

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

I'll only loan ones that I'm not particularly attached to. And yes, Michelle does still have my copy of Finlay Turner is Killing It, thanks for asking!! (BTW please read this book, it's so funny, it's about a mystery writer who gets mistaken for a hitwoman and someone hires her to kill their husband LMAOOOO)

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

Since you didn't pick one for me, here's one from Advice that I think is interesting:

Kate purses her lips, trying to remember. Everything before feels like a dream, like she only woke up to the harsh real world the day the phone rang.

“I was young,” she finally offers. “I think…you never think it’ll happen to you, you know? It’s always someone else—someone else’s brother, someone else’s child. Every time I’d see something in the news, or hear about something happening in Iraq, it didn’t feel real. It was like seeing a car wreck on the freeway; you’re like, ‘oh that’s so sad, I hope they’re okay’ but it never feels like it has anything to do with you, even though you’re driving on the same highway. It was always like, ‘that couldn’t happen to him. He’ll be fine.’”

This is a much bigger block of dialogue than I usually write. I try to never go more than two sentences without a break for an action beat, because people don't tend to talk like that. People tend to talk in shorter bursts, waiting for a listener to chime in or nod, say "oh man," something. Monologues aren't actually that common, and I think they're boring to read. Kate in particular doesn't ramble, doesn't say much. Her lines tend to be short and weighty, all of her words very purposefully chosen ("I just think we need to keep things, you know. Compartmented." That's so short but says SO MUCH.) So here I was pushing myself to the limit of how much she might talk, especially in such a tense and emotionally fraught moment, when she's trying not to cry in front of Jane.

I'm happy with how it turned out because I think it's still one thought strand, not a ramble of several connected thought stands that would need an action tag or break for an emotional beat. She isn't changing beats during the monologue, it's just that this thought strand includes an analogy that she has to explain.

I went back and forth on how to bring that in, if this would be one dialogue chunk or a few, but ultimately this is where I ended up and I'm happy with it.

(If you want to get nerdy with me about thought strands, beat changes, and action beats/dialogue tags, send me an ask and I'd love to get into it)

[protect-namine]

hiii i saw ur tags on the new genshin video and was wondering if you remember when/where the hexenzirkel was first referenced?? this was my first time hearing of it and im super curious what bit of lore i mightve missed! i didn't start playing until right after the first GAA ended (rip) so i know for sure theres some event-exclusive albedo/mona/klee stories ive missed out on. im not finding anything helpful on the genshin wiki though so figured i'd just ask! love ur url btw :)

I love your url too! it's cute!!

okay I'm about to unearth this can of worms so bear with me for the length; the hexenzirkel is one of my favorite mysteries in genshin. I imagine that the wiki page might not be updated with everything yet since this is really the first time we've heard of them in an official capacity, but we can extrapolate a lot from what we previously knew. I'll put this under a read more. :D

from what I remember, we didn't actually have any info on hexenzirkel for a long time. the first time I saw it ever mentioned was from lisa's voiceline on mona.

Mona? She seems to be an excellent mage, but I'm not a part of their Hexenzirkel. The idea of Irminsul exploration and formal tea parties just leaves me cold.

and barbara's character story about when alice tried to turn her into an idol (lol):

"But... aren't The Seven the ones that people are supposed to worship?" / "Yes, but not exclusively…" replied Alice, an elder of the Hexenzirkel, as she groomed the young girl for stardom. "Read this, it contains everything you will need to know."

I'm not super updated on lore but I believe those were the only instances we've seen the hexenzirkel actually mentioned by name before this year's windblume.

so for a while that was really all we knew: that there's this coven of witches who have tea parties and explore irminsul. and since irminsul was such a big mystery, it was intriguing to know about them! however, since we know that alice is an elder, we can kinda extrapolate a lot from what we know of alice.

(interestingly: lisa mentions hexenzirkel as if mona is a part of it, but mona's official affiliation is of mondstadt. I'm also not sure if mona knew about the hexenzirkel, or much of them, though she certainly knew about her master, and albedo's master, and alice. so idk if she's officially a part of them, but lisa seems to think so?)

(also, lisa was apparently known as a grand mage at one point but that's all behind her now and she won't tell us much about it)

what we know about alice is scattered in many areas, but what interests me is that she:

is the rival-friend of mona's master (from mona's story quest) and was in possession of her diary (which she left with klee)

is friends with rhinedottir/gold, since she took care of albedo after rhinedottir left with the heart of naberius

is the author of the teyvat traveling guide

seems to know about other worlds existing. some speculate that she herself is a descender since she references a lot of outside-Teyvat stuff (like her dialogue in the first GAA), and it was curious how she was the one to narrate aloy's character miscellany instead of dainsleif

"Teyvat's borders have grown fragile these past two years — looks like Mommy's going to have to get busy." what does she have to do with "teyvat's borders"? this is from the wings of feasting description (yes, the KFC glider)

is immune to irminsul memory wipes (from how she narrates wanderer's character miscellany, she seems to know who wanderer really is). in the same video, she mentions that she has a special job that allows her special privileges that allows her to observe the world through different perspectives (sidenote: lol dottore would kill for that kind of privilege)

is in good terms with venti, since he knows everything about how to get traveler to GAA, literally gives traveler the cheatsheet for the lantern in this year's windblume, has the dodocommunicator, etc.

from there, the community just kinda associated alice with rhinedottir and mona's master (we now know her name is barbeloth, as in barbelos the mother of all in gnosticism, which is another whole can of worms). and have (correctly) inferred that they both must be part of the hexenzirkel with alice.

we also know that all of their children/successors are in mondstadt (klee, albedo, mona) and are actually good friends. from mona's character story 4, we know that they regularly meet up to have lunch and exchange knowledge ("since [albedo and mona] are both people who seek to unveil the principles of the world, and both are accomplished students of famed masters, aligning themselves with one another and working together is perfectly normal."). I think this will become important in the storyline later (like maybe two years later lol), especially since alchemy and hydromancy are very closely tied to the secrets of teyvat, and they are both fields that albedo and mona learned from their masters.

the rest of this post is mostly speculation, but I've heard some interesting theories about the hexenzirkel over the past two years:

the adventurer's guild was set up by the hexenzirkel. some people have cited that the roof of mondstadt's guild looks like a witch's hat. ashikai made a whole video about this theory (which also has a lot of info that I probably haven't covered) if you're interested!

skirk (the person in the abyss who taught childe how to survive there when he fell in) is also a member. I think that's not confirmed right now, since we now have the names of the witches and skirk wasn't mentioned, but maybe they could be a successor like scarlett?

hexenzirkel has deep connections to istaroth and might even worship istaroth. I don't have all the details to how this theory came to be, but I remember thinking it seems possible! I think it's because mona/hexenzirkel has a lot of the star of ishtar symbol. albedo said that mona's island in GAA (minacious isle) was literally a mountain razed by barabatos and it's from the location where the thousand winds temple is (in the first GAA we follow a seelie from there back to mondstadt, which confirms it). it was also the island where you travel between past and present AND where you can see the sky with purple hues for the first time (before we got the desert in sumeru). usually the skies of teyvat are in blue-green hues. with the revelation that the witches once tried to fight venti, I think this lends some weight to their istaroth connections (though of course, venti is friends with them now). them sending their successors to mondstadt kinda harkens back to the time when mondstadt worshipped both time and wind simultaneously in the distant past.

finally, the new windblume event actually points to some new theories. the video seems to imply that mona is a fallen star that her master scried upon. whether or not she fell from the "true" or "false" sky is unknown at the moment. I used to think she might be a daughter of outlanders, but maybe she's actually a descender herself? or a star of the false sky? either way, I'm always curious about how she came to know a song unknown to teyvat.

But sometimes, on a clear night, she can be seen on a high mountain slope. There, Mona gazes up at the stars in the sky — so close, she feels, that she could almost reach out and touch them — with gentle eyes, humming an unknown tune to herself.

so all in all, hexenzirkel lore is pretty scattered. but once you know the key figures related to them, you can just dive into their lore and you'll eventually find out about them. I got into them because I liked klee and albedo so I read their character stories, which led me to alice and mona, which led me to the hexenzirkel.

now that they're finally officially introduced in the game, hopefully we'll see more of them in the future! I think, given that it took them 2+ years to be mentioned without any official appearances from the members, that they'll be important to the endgame story when we circle back to mondstadt/celestia/khaenri'ah.

sorry this was very long, but hope that gives you brief introduction to some of the most mysterious factions in the game! I love them so much, so I'm glad they're getting attention now from other people!!