#because the number of other supernatural things that are real in that universe is kind of mind-bendingly weird

[andy-the-8th]

OK this is a DCOM blog according to the title so I'm going to say it's worthwhile to post about So Weird on here

Watched the first season yesterday and spent the first few episodes in a perpetual state of WHAT?!? before finding the groove

Literally....everything exists. The aliens, the ghosts, bigfoot, immortals, everything.

And yet, no one seems to come around to the thought that this is unusual and characters maintain their skepticism throughout and it's hilarious

"honey I know we all concluded that we saw an alien crash, were traumatized to the point of amnesia and/or had our minds wiped save for literally painful images of gray aliens probing our brains, but don't you think claiming you saw a ghost is a little far fetched?"

the aforementioned alien episode, upon establishing that fact and setting up a suggestion of how to find the crash site....just ends. And is never mentioned again!

that was the part where I had to be like OK this is truly like the X-Files where the monster of the week is a paradigm-shifting horror or revelation and then we just roll right along like nothing happened and I kind of love it

IT GETS ACTUALLY SCARY sometimes, I'm only a few episodes into season 2 but like, the Will o' the Wisp episode was genuinely creepy

Which, regarding said episode, I spent the whole time impressed with Patrick Levis's comedic and creepy timing, like especially for a teen actor he did a good job pulling off making the demon possessing his usual character's body feel like a completely different character, and all the genre-bending trickster moments, I was just like

Anyway I'll probably post about this more later on but yeah season 1 was good

[edgybutnotveryedgy]

My Very Unhinged Lila Theory Part 1/3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Lila isn’t a good liar. From the beginning she has told lies that a even a fifth grader would never take at face value. Let alone adults. Yet she has so many people who believe these lies to the point that she has multiple women convinced that they are all her mom. She is enrolled at multiple schools. She has a secret lair in the Paris catacombs. She has been caught in her lies multiple times even, yet it wasn’t until Confrontation that she was caught in any of these lies. 

The easy thing to do is to say that this is just lazy writing or plot convenience or something, but I don’t like that answer. It’s boring and lazy and I like to have fun. That being said, I think to begin with the real question we should be asking is: why do people blindly believe Lila? 

Knowing what we know about Lila as of season 5, I think that it is worthwhile to look back on her former appearances. Going through former episodes, I have come to the ultimate conclusion, I don’t think that Lila is just a good liar, even in universe. I believe she is using some sort of power or magic to make people believe anything she says. 

To begin with, I would like to address the following. There are canonically other forms of magic and superpowers in the Miraculous universe. Obviously we have the Kwami, but on multiple occasions Plagg mentions other kinds of magic. In Origins Part 1, Adrien, after putting on his ring, says “No way! Like the Genie in the Lamp!” followed by Plagg saying “I met him once. So he grants wishes. Big deal. I’m way more personable!” There’s also mention of Dragons a few times in the series, as well as United HeroeZ showcases many different heroes and villains who have abilities of their own. There’s also The Legend of Ladydragon with the Renlings, who are similar to Kwami, but still are not Kwami. 

Furthermore, Miraculous is a part of a shared universe. Any show that goes under the Zag Heroez brand is a part of the shared universe. This includes Zak Storm, Power Players, and Ghostforce. Obviously Ghostforce has its ghosts as its main supernatural element. Power Players has a life giving magic called minergy that brings inanimate objects like toys to life. Zak Storm has aliens, witches, ancient gods, Atlanteans, time travel shenanigans, magic wizard aliens, star people, magic guardians, and skeletons. And that’s just scratching the surface. (seriously please watch zak storm. It is so underrated and needs more eyes on it.) These are just the shows that have aired. There are more shows that have been stuck in production hell, like Fairyon, Pixiegirl, and others that all have other magical elements. Bottom line is that a character in Miraculous having powers that aren’t connected to Kwami’s is not unreasonable, and in fact would add a lot world building wise. 

To begin with, I want to note some specific quotes from episodes involving Lila that I believe suggest her having some sort of abilities. I recommend that any readers should go rewatch the episodes themselves. In this post I’ll just be covering episodes in season’s 1 and 2. So lets begin!

Volpina 

When Marinette first gets to school she hears everyone fawning over the new girl Lila. Here is her dialogue

[Shortly after watching Lila drag away a clearly uncomfortable Adrien.] [Marinette is panicking because she thinks Lila is going to seduce Adrien and then he'll never love her.]

Marinette: *gasp* "where are they going? Alya! We've gotta stop them."

Alya: "You need to chill out Marinette. My Ladyblog has the highest number of hits ever after that Lila interview!"

Marinette: "what's going on? I mean has this Lila girl hypnotized everyone or something?"

Tiki: "You wouldn't be a little jealous, Marinette?"

Marinette: "huh? Me? Jealous? No way!"

[Marinette proceeds to run after Adrien and Lila]

...

While Marinette is spying on Adrien and Lila, Adrien is looking at the book he stole from his dad. Lila comes over talking about doing history homework with Adrien.

Lila looks smitten with Adrien. 

Her eyes look down and she notices the book Adrien has, then she immediately looks shocked.

Lila: "What's that?"

She pulls the book over to herself to look at it while Adrien starts to panic.

Adrien: "uh.. Nothing! Just stories about superheroes." (Smooth save bro)

Lila puts her hand on Adrien’s hand.

Lila: "I love super heroes!" (It feels like she's specifically trying to form a character that she thinks Adrien will like)

Lila turns the page and it shows Ladybug.

Lila: "Ladybug?" (She seems genuinely excited when she sees this.)

Adrien: "She's amazing!" (He's so smitten)

Lila suddenly has a jealous look. She puts the book down and moves herself and her chair over closer to Adrien.

Lila: "A girl doesn't need to wear a costume to be amazing, you know."

Adrien panicking autistically: "uhh, i don't know? I mean i-"

Lila: "so! You've got a little soft spot for the bug huh?"

Adrien: "me? Oh no. Not at all!"

Lila: "You know, I actually happen to be very close friends with ladybug." 

Adrien: "Really?"

Lila: "We can chat about it if you want! Not here though. Why don't we meet at the park after school, and I'll tell you everything."

Adrien suddenly has to go to fencing practice, and he drops his bag. Meanwhile the book falls out, and Lila slips it away with her shoe. Before giving Adrien back his bag.

Why is she so obsessed with getting Adrien to like her?

Heroes Day Part One

Lila has apparently convinced her mom, the ambassador Ms. Rossi, that school has been closed down and isn't reopened due to akuma attacks, as well as apparently she has convinced her mom that ladybug is useless and unable to save anyone. Like... Doesn't her mom watch the news? Or go outside? She's an ambassador. There has to be more to this than just Lila being a good liar. Especially to her own "mother."

While in her room looking over the heroes day footage

Lila: "Liar! Traitor! Coward!"

Gabriel comes up on the screen to announce his contribution to the parade as well as to denounce Volpina.

Gabi: "in honor of the wonderful Ladybug who has saved my son Adrien and myself, and who relentlessly protects all of us every day. I have financed this tribute to Ladybug, because Ladybug is the only true hero unlike her mediocre imitations, such as Volpina."

As soon as Gabriel comes on screen Lila goes quiet and is suddenly very interested to know what gabe has to say. I just think this is interesting. 

After hearing what Gabriel says about Volpina, Lila gasps and looks upset. She then proceeds to throw her laptop against the wall, then dramatically yell

Lila: "I HATE YOU LADYBUG!"

Next the scene cuts to Gabi doing his Hawkmoth thing. He sends an akuma out to Lila. 

Lila is just sitting in her room looking very alone and upset.when she hears the akuma wings fluttering she looks up. Suddenly she looks frightened and jumps back a bit gasping before it goes into her bracelet. 

Hawkmoth: "Volpina."

Lila: "Hawkmoth!" (She says this very happily)

Hawkmoth: "Your dreams were once a reality, until Ladybug turned them into a nightmare. Regain your power of illusion, and make this heroes day a nightmare for all Parisians!"

Lila: "With great pleasure Hawkmoth."

...

After Volpina does her whole thing and makes everyone in Paris worried,

Hawkmoth: "Dear Volpina, you've performed your role well for the time being. We will meet again very soon."

Volpina: "I'll be waiting, Hawkmoth."

After being detransformed, Lila looks up, and she has a very sinister smile.

About Volpina

Powers of Illusion. She uses her powers to make people believe what she wants them to believe, such as in her debut episode, where she uses these powers to convince Ladybug and Chat Noir and Adrien as well as all of Paris, that she is amazing and that she accomplishes great feats. As we know though, this is all an illusion. Much like her lies. She also uses these abilities to ruin the reputation of Ladybug in Hero’s day, as well as to attempt to trick Ladybug and Chat Noir. This mirrors her behavior in later episodes as well. 

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 16 of Nona the Ninth

So I'm realizing now that these John chapters are occurring during times when Nona falls asleep in the story, so they may be Nona's dreams. But Nona has to describe her dreams to Camilla every morning, and so far she's only talked about dreaming about the pool scene, she doesn't talk about having these dreams about John, so I'm not sure they're actually her dreams, or if there's something going on here where Harrow and Nona are both in the same body and are having different dreams, like what happened in the last book, but I don't know

I wonder if she had some telepathic sense of Honesty getting all upset on the other side of the door

Well, I don't think that would really have inconvenienced Ianthe that much, but it would have been inconvenient to actually be down with the crowd during that, so

So they do think that necromancers are the same walking dead bodies, or that the register the same way to those kinds of tests?

I was going to wonder why someone would specifically breed a dog to have six legs, but honestly, people specifically breed dogs to have a lot of random features purely to match someone's aesthetic idea of the The Ideal Dog, so sure, I can believe there's a breed of dog in this universe that was bred specifically to have six legs

It's interesting, because Hot Sauce could totally have let Honesty come with them and also go see the broadcast, but she didn't. I wonder if she sees the other kids as too young, but doesn't see Nona that way even though Nona is a lot more innocent than Honesty and Hot Sauce even specifically told her not to go to the park earlier, when she brought everyone else there except Kevin. Or maybe she just thought she had a better chance of coercing Nona into letting her go or coming with her if Honesty wasn't there?

I wonder what she means by that

If this is meant to be from one of the other books somewhere, I wasn't able to find it, and I don't remember it appearing, either. It also doesn't seem to be anywhere else in this book

So she does seem to know House genuinely, at least a little bit, and doesn't need whatever telepathy thing to understand it, but it's just a broadcast and Ianthe isn't actually there, and she doesn't mention having trouble again after this. Maybe there is something about seeing someone that ties into this power somehow? But the way Nona describes it doesn't really make sense without something supernatural happening

I wonder what kind of history New Rho has that there are 17 official languages. The only two real countries with more than 11 official languages are Bolivia and India, Bolivia having that number due to officially recognizing a large number of indigenous languages, and India having that many because there are like 700 different languages spoken in India, so only 22 of them being official is actually relatively conservative (and the country with 11 official languages is South Africa, which obviously also has colonial history). But I was under the impression here that most of the linguistic diversity of New Rho was due to people being temporarily resettled from other planets, there's basically no way that those languages would be official languages in this context. So is this then saying that there were 17 widely spoken local languages in New Rho before all the resettlement happened? Or does the fact that it's called New Rho mean that it has some colonial history (I mean, independently from whatever colonial history it has with the Nine Houses), and therefore was in the same situation as Bolivia and South Africa? If there are any indigenous people in this city, Nona hasn't made any comment about it

Earlier, it seemed like We Suffer thought that the negotiator was coming to negotiate with BOE specifically, Ianthe, or, I guess, John, seems willing to negotiate only with the local government, and even then, this agreement that she is suggesting seems to be designed to be broken instantly so that John can then do whatever he wants as punishment for that. Was there actually planned to be negotiation with BOE? Or does John not yet know what happened to the Sixth House and BOE are hoping they can force a negotiation with that info?

I also have to wonder how she's avoiding issues caused by the resurrection beast. I don't think it's someone pretending to be Ianthe, because she has the right eyes, and there isn't realistically anyone else who could have arrived in the shuttle

That's very much not a description of Ianthe's hair. Is she wearing a wig? Did she create different hair for herself with necromancy? The idea that Ianthe's natural hair was not aesthetically pleasing enough for this broadcast and had to be replaced is actually quite funny

I wonder if this is like, they know about the Sixth House and are hoping that they'll just be able to show up somehow, or if they know they left of their own volition and think they might be here for some reason but don't know that they're kind of being held hostage by BOE, or if this is just a general kind of thing they say when trying to reclaim old territory

So Ianthe has adopted Cytherea's name scheme, I guess

I still have no idea how they use European royal titles in the Nine Houses. Before becoming a Lyctor, Ianthe was a princess, now she is a prince. What is the difference between a prince and a princess in this context? Certainly not gender. Is prince a higher title than princess? It's not clear

Is... is she still dead? Did John not actually resurrect her? Are we doing more Weekend at Bernie's where he's just parading around her never-rotting corpse and being like, yo, what's up, this is my daughter?

Or maybe, if she's actually alive because it's not possible for her to die, but just still missing her soul, John can't actually do anything about that?

Anyway, I'm sure if Gideon were actually alive she would have things to say here, and those things would probably be "what the fuck Ianthe" and she therefore wouldn't be part of the broadcast

Anyway anyway, I guess that's what happened to Gideon's body. I imagine John probably sees other people having possession of it as a national security risk at the very least, since it can be used to undo his blood wards

Confirmed I guess that John just doesn't have any clue that Gaius and Gaia are not in fact related

Apparently Kiriona is actually just the Maori equivalent of "Gideon", I can see how that would work out if there's no /g d/ and r is a rolled r or a tap. But you'd think that if John wanted to preserve the Maori language in some way he would have actually done that 10,000 years ago instead of, I guess we're supposed to take away, having everyone speak NZ English?

Also, John seems to be labeling her his heir, which is odd even aside from the fact that she doesn't seem to be alive, since John hasn't had an heir for 10,000 years and probably doesn't expect to ever die. I guess maybe after two people tried to kill him and one almost succeeded in the last book he is starting to feel a little more mortal? Only, to actually be his heir, I think Gideon has to be alive first

So, as previously mentioned, there have so far been zero towers in this story, so I can't imagine what the significance of "Tower Prince" is

I do not know what the poison cats are a reference to

I mean, doesn't Hot Sauce have history fighting necromancers? Whatever else she thinks they are, she should definitely know they're real

I couldn't make much of the conversation with the Angel in the car, she seems probably involved in some stuff, but exactly what stuff, it's not clear. But then

So when she said she was "sort of" a doctor, did she mean she was a vet?

Honestly, at this point I think it's equally likely (maybe more likely!) that this was meant in "multiple people in the same body" sense rather than the "gender-neutral" sense. But it really should be "them" in this context, the way that "her" in the previous paragraph in the same context is also a object pronoun, and the way that we usually say "it is me" and not "it is I" like you're fucking Dracula or something

Wouldn't Camilla have gone out to pick up Nona and figure out what happened to Pyrrha before this? I can understand if she didn't want to go out when the broadcast was happening, but I don't get the impression that the Building is that far from the school - if Pyrrha left before noon to get Nona and then didn't come back for a couple hours, wouldn't Camilla go looking for her at that point?

But I wonder if she somehow wound up at the barracks and is now being asked to give the Emperor's Evidence, whatever that is

[jemmo]

i don’t know how else to describe eternal yesterday, and the profound affect watching it has had on me, other than it’s the most quietly heart-breaking show I’ve possibly ever seen. It presents its subject matter so simply and plainly in a way that makes it feel huge, overwhelmingly huge, painfully huge. It’s premise is not for supernatural drama, it isn’t played up, not laughed at or exaggerated or used to give things more unnecessary emotional weight, it simply gives physicality to the real experience of letting someone go, to having to let someone go, to having to let go, and the indescribable pain of it that you can’t truly know until you’ve experienced it. It’s a glimpse into this short period of time, less than a week, that is so private to them, and is so concentrated with emotion, that truly does feel like time stopped, holding on, the fear of the moment passing, so instead the pain of it is just dragged out. You think of course they should do this, fight for every last second they can have together, but then you come to realise this life after death, this impossible extension, its a curse just as much as it is a miracle. We always wish we could know when we are going to lose someone so we can take that chance to say goodbye, but is that easier or harder? how do we wrestle with the pain of holding on but the pain of letting go? its a situation we cannot win, its simply a situation that has to happen, and we have to let time tick on. 

there’s so many moments i want to bring attention to in this series but i’ll hold back and just talk on the 4 that feel the most special to me. first, a personal one, because in so many ways oumi reminds me of myself, and never has that been more true than the line “honestly, i feel comfortable when i’m alone. and i hate myself for being comfortable”. i cant think of another character that has embodied this anxiety i have in myself so much, and so simply, this ridiculous contradiction of being so at peace in your own company and despising that peace sometimes, wishing it wasn’t so peaceful, so maybe you wouldn’t be alone, maybe you’d do something, go out there, find people and things to do, and yet all that time maybe you’d be thinking “i’d like it so much better now if i was at home by myself”. its kind of ridiculous, and maybe people like us do need a koichi to be the company in our lonely peace, but yeah... i just have never felt so seen by a show before.

secondly, that final conversation oumi has with his father, because this whole time the situation feels so insular. even though other people know, and other people love koichi, and koichi loves other people, this is about oumi and koichi, and no one can truly understand the immensity of what those two are feeling in that moment. its like i said, you cant understand it unless you’re in it, unless you’ve experienced it. and yet, at the end, this minorly present, distant father comes in and says “what you’re going through, i went through that too”. and its the kind of conversation that doesn’t happen because they’ve both experienced this supernatural phenomenon of a love one existing after death, it happens because they’ve both lost people they’ve loved, and that something thats universal, and the people watching don’t need to have experienced anything supernatural to empathise with that. its when the audience truly realise that this story might be insular to them, but the story has also been told infinite times by countless people, and such the emotion of it is both theirs and everyones.

third, i think my heart actually crumbled to pieces when koichi said someone could have 2 number 1s. its his phrase, he loves mitchan the most, mitchan is his number 1. and its only given more weight when oumi says it back, and even more so when we hear his ending lines, about always wanting to be number 1 to someone, and that someone being his number 1 too, and how much of a miracle that is. for that same person, knowing he has to leave that person he loves the most, to say you can have 2 number 1s, saying to oumi its ok, you can move on, in the future you can have people that are precious to you, thats so fucking beautiful, and is an act of such love i cant even put it into words. you can feel so guilty sometimes for moving on from a loved one, for even feeling like you’re replacing them, so that gesture, that permission, that almost request, to not lose happiness and love because you’re losing them, to let yourself be happy again, because thats the biggest gift you could give to those you lose, thats just beautiful. 

and finally, the moments in episode 6 where koichi is starting to disappear, and when people start to walk into rooms and not see him, i don’t think i’ve ever seen such a good metaphor for what its like to have a same-sex partner and for them to never truly be seen as your partner. because when that nurse walked in and was just talking to oumi, like koichi wasn’t there and yet he was, and oumi got so mad because thats the most important person in his life how dare you not see him, how dare you ignore him. i think it was him saying ignore that connected it for me, because thats what its like when you walk in with a same sex partner and you’re not recognised or seen as a couple. I thought to myself if this nurse walked in and oumi was sat with a girl, how he’d instantly be asked if its his girlfriend, but no he’s sat with a boy so you dont even bother asking, either because you dont think to or dont want to. we get flashes of it throughout the show with people not knowing about their relationship or the relationship between the teachers, how the gay is hidden. and with koichi gone but not gone, he’s like a ghost in oumi’s world, and i feel like that’s what it can feel like sometimes, walking around with someone you feel like no one else can see when theyre all you can see. theyre there but no one draws attention to them, no one wants to acknowledge them or it, the relationship, the ghost in the room, to the point you want to scream they do exist, how dare you think they dont. and when oumi gets angry on koichi’s behalf, thats what happens, thats what it can sometimes feel like experiencing homophobia. its horrid and angering and you want to scream because how dare they do that to the most important person in the world but theyre at peace with it. koichi has accepted his fate much like someone learns to accept hate and harrasment, they become at peace with it. and you can get angry all you like but that doesn’t change anything, that doesnt stop it from happening, thats what it feels like. you get that when you lose someone, you get angry when other people have moved on when you cant, you wont, you dont want to, you think why dont people care anymore, how can they be so unfair and unkind and unfeeling, which is why its shocking that themes of loss can mirror these queer experiences, where a partner can feel invisible to everyone even when their heart is beating. thats why i think this blending of actual loss and actual invisibility with queerness being hidden and unseen is just heart-breaking genius.

this show is heavy, and has honestly brought out in me one of the most condensed visceral reactions to media ive ever had. i feel sad, i feel drained, i feel broken. ive cried so much, and my sadness is physical, my heart hurts, it feels heavy. and yet... i do feel at peace. i feel at peace with this sadness because its something you have to learn to do in life. these experiences are inevitable and ive always tried to avoid these heavier shows, things i know will hurt and make me sad and feel things, where there isn’t a core of happiness, a good ending to keep you together. but sometimes it has to be embraced to see the beauty in it, because as koichi said, despite what happens, despite the tragedy and sadness and loss, at the core of the story if two people meeting and falling in love, and how that simple, human connection, that we all have, is a miracle, so treasure it. 

[tuometarr]

Hey my favourite author of the year,

I have read hundreds of Supernatural fics this year, and To Be Found Without Searching was my number one favourite. I always have a soft spot for Midam, and I have read a few Midam fics, but they aren’t the most popular ship. It’s so rare and I had to settle to read some of the fics even though a lot of the plot was out of character because I need Adam to have a better ending. He deserves so much better. And then I stumbled on To Be Found Without Searching and to build a home’verse. I have never read such a in character and a logical canon compliance/divergence fanfiction in years. I stayed up a whole night to read your work and I immediately jumped to your tumblr to write this. Thank you. All the plot lines in the Cage with Midam was perfect. It might not all be compliant with all the SPN universe lords, but it was the best description and progression of their bond, even if you took out the soul mark part. The whole Cage part, I totally forgot the soul bond for a bit and actually thought that that was canon. It is now canon in my mind. I even hate Sam and Dean a little bit now, after reading it. I can feel how strongly they love each other, and how REAL it is even when at the end of this fic, Michael didn’t even have a physical body. Somehow, it doesn’t even matter for me. Adam has his happy ending, sharing a body with Michael. It dawns on me at all this time, Michael was waiting, searching for ways to be in Paradise on Earth with his Father and his brothers, without humans, but he actually found Paradise in Hell, in the Cage made for Lucifer’s punishment, in Adam’s mind, with Adam. The time they spent bonding in the Cage was found Paradise for Michael. I love you. I haven’t commented on a fic in a long time. But this fic makes me feel love, and loyalty, and satisfaction that I haven’t in a long time. Thank you. Please keep writing Midam when or if your inspiration strike. I’d love to read every single word you type about them. There are many many things more I can’t put in to words right now but I stayed up the whole night to read the fic, so maybe another day

Hello

First of all, I am so so sorry for only now getting back to you!!! I was shadowbanned for a month so I wasn’t really on tumblr

Secondly I am at a loss for words, absolutely speechless and moved to tears. I cannot handle this level of praise. This is the kindest thing that has been said about my writing. I have no idea what to say. I am at awe to hear that my writing could move someone the way you say it has done for you, I am very humbled by your message. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your kindness. It means everything to me, in a way I cannot quite express. I am just a person and to have something I made be loved in this way is just something so special. Especially tbfws which I made in the quarantine times to handle being alone a lot, the idea that even after such a long time it can still bring people joy is just so important for me to hear. Thank you so much for reaching out!

I cannot promise I have anything written soon but maybe I will try to get something done for Adam’s birthday, you certainly have inspired me to keep writing 💕

(Also I just have to say I always find it fun people say they forgot the soulmate thing for a bit, it is so funny because I forgot it for a bit too while writing lmao but I think it goes to show it wasn’t really about the mark it was about these two characters finding each other)

Again thank you so much ❤❤❤

[elijahrichardwrites]

Nite & Daye Lore

Supernaturals Part 1 - Vampires

Creatures with bright eyes once known to only roam the night.

More info under the cut

Note: While a majority of the lore mentioned here is accurate for any time/place in the universe, some things here pertain only to the events and story of Nite & Daye.

While "vampire" isn't the final name of these creatures, they are very much inspired by classic vampires.

General Information

Majority of beings in this universe have what's called "essence" (think Chinese's chi/qi). What separates vampires from the rest is that they can use their own essence to heighten their abilities and in turn must also consume essence from an external source. There are many methods of extraction but the best way is usually by consumption of bodily fluids, particularly blood. Hence, why they are called vampires.

Sub-types

There are 3 main sub-types (2 that the majority of the people in this universe are aware of).

Red-Eyes

Most noted by their vibrant, bright red eyes, Red-Eyes are easily revered as the most disliked of the vampires. Known to have more violent and aggressive behaviors as well as extremely bad tempers, it was not uncommon for anyone known to be a Red-Eye to be discriminated against in the past. Time has proven to be helpful to the Red-Eyes as stereotypes of their kind were broken.

Could Red-Eyes be more pugnacious than the other vampires? Sure. However, the real key differences between the Red-Eyed sub-type and the Blue-Eyes are that they're able to use a large amount of strength in quick bursts, move faster, and overall be more destructive in their attacks.

Red-Eyes are also characterized by the fact that while they have a harder time reproducing more Red-Eyes "naturally", they have a higher chance of turning a human into a Red-Eye.

Blue-Eyes

With light, ice-like blue eyes (think Underworld), Blue-Eyes are known as the softer, more kind sub-type of vampires. They are usually stereotyped as having gentle demeanors and in turn are considered one of the weakest supernatural types, let alone sub-type.

While deemed weak, Blue-Eyes actually have strengths in different areas than Red-Eyes. They tend to be a bit more intelligent as well having plenty of endurance. Essentially in most things, Red-Eyes can run faster but Blue-Eyes can run farther.

Mostly being the opposite of Red-Eyes in many ways, Blue-Eyes are the exact opposite of Red-Eyes in the fact that the rate of turning a human into a Blue-Eye is extremely low. With that being said, "natural" reproduction is much higher in Blue-Eyes, therefore most Blue-Eyes are born as Blue-Eyes.

White-Eyes

White-Eyes are different from the other sub-types in the fact that there's not much known about them due to many not even knowing they exist. In fact, when people started to notice the existence of White-Eyes, it was chalked up to being a new kind of Blue-Eyes, eyes so light they appeared white. However, White-Eyes have actually existed since the beginning of time, going as far as being traced back to The First.

White-Eyes are actually the strongest supernatural type (believe to be because of their connection with The First) and can nearly easily kill anything. They're also nearly impossible to kill by anything but another White-Eye. In fact, if someone who isn't a White-Eye kills them, it's purely out of luck.

With White-Eyes, the rate of reproduction is the lowest among all types of supernaturals. Part of the reason they were kept out of the public eye for so long was that their numbers were so low. It would be hard to find something when there's not a lot of it, right?

There's still plenty of information pertaining to vampires in this universe but since I mainly wanted this to be a more general post, I'll save those for another time (especially since some are specific to different WIPs). If anyone has any questions, my ask box is always open (:

Taglist: @midnights-melodiverse, @isherwoodj, @cedar-west, @bardic-tales, @cactus-motif, @fearofahumanplanet, @marinesocks (if you'd like to be added, feel free to ask me or DM me. If you'd like to be removed, please let me know as well!)

[professoranimatedbanana]

Felix Morrissey - Homework 1

Who are you?

My name is Felix. I am 21 and primarily consider myself a composer, programmer, and artist. Plus, I’m working on getting my BS in electrical engineering. I have also dabbled in songwriting, 2D animation, writing, video editing, and game design. I enjoy developing a diverse set of skills because it will vastly expand the possibilities for things I can create. I want to be able to combine a variety of art forms together to form unique experiences which I can share with the world. I’m often happiest working by myself, which has led to me finding a lot of motivation in the idea of being able to make complicated things without requiring help from others. For my senior capstone, I am designing and building an analog synthesizer entirely by myself.

Where are you from?

I was born in Portland, Maine, but early in my life I moved to Gorham, Maine. My parents soon after divorced, so I was always split between two homes. I primarily lived with my father in Gorham and later Portland again. I would regularly spend weekends with my mother, who lived in Gray for a couple years before moving to Cumberland. On my father’s side I have a younger brother and on my mother’s side a younger and an older brother. At each house I lived in, we always had a large number of pets which influenced my fascination with creatures of all kinds. Today I live in an apartment in Orono and continue to take care of many pets, including a cat, a rabbit, lizards, fish, and frogs.

What art do you like to make?

I have a special preference for the Sega Genesis game system and creating art and music within the limitations it offers. I spent a large portion of this summer working on an album of music which works entirely within the Genesis’ sound capabilities and will be capable of running on a console. This preference is informed by love of chiptunes and pixel art, which both work within limitations, but by doing so are able to create an aesthetic that appeals to me. Plus, knowing the limitations of a system and seeing a piece of well made art, music, and/or programming which seems to push those limitations always fascinates me.

While this video isn’t running on a Sega Genesis, I created the art and music so that they all fit within the system’s limitations. The only thing that keeps it from being possible to run on the system is the fact that the processor probably wouldn’t be able to draw the oscilloscopes in real time.

What other artists inspire/influence your work?

I’ve always really appreciated the artwork of Wayne Coyne, front man of the psych rock band The Flaming Lips. While music has always been his main passion, he also managed to develop an eye-catching abstract art style. His works tend to be painted and use contrasting colors, resulting in art which is messy, yet striking. A common motif throughout his work is a human figure facing some kind of otherworldly object, contrasting the normal and the supernatural. My favorite thing about his work has always been the use of color. There tends to be contrasting, vibrant hues, but they’re always placed in a way that looks satisfying and cohesive.

Wayne’s lyricism has also been fascinating to me. While love is a common theme in his music, it’s never about specific love, it’s more philosophical. A lot of his songs are about the contrast between the human feeling of love which brings people together and the cold meaninglessness of the universe. He often sings about learning to find meaning through love despite the existence of death and decay. One of their most popular songs “Do You Realize” is about how even though everything will die, it’s important to live in the moment. My favorite album of theirs “The Terror” is a concept album which imagines a world in which love doesn’t exist, yet humanity manages continue on. The music is fitting, being very strange and distorted, but at the same time oddly beautiful.

How do you challenge yourself in your work and process?

I inadvertently challenge myself by being incredibly picky and critical when coming up with ideas, which has had both a positive and negative influence on how I work. On the negative side, it has made it difficult to find the motivation to practice drawing because the ideas I come up with don’t often inspire me enough to start drawing them. For example, I’ve always been put off by the idea of drawing fan art for some reason, even though I’m pretty sure that has been a big contributing factor to a lot of modern artists ending up as experienced as they are. On the positive side, I like to think that the things I do end up drawing almost always feel meaningful to me. I think it’s setting high expectations for my work that tends to push me to put my all into my work and create stuff I’m proud of. Another way I challenge myself is by working under self-imposed limitations, preferably ones which have the added benefit of expanding the accessibility of my work. An example of this would be making stuff capable of running on the Sega Genesis as mentioned earlier.

[inbtswethrrust]

MINDHEIST MASTERLIST

Hey guys! I've recently received some asks regarding mindheist deleting their ao3 account, along with all the works. Someone was kind enough to send me pdf files for all of the works published on ao3 by mindheist, and so here is a compilation for all of them with the links for the files!! Enjoy your reading. By the way, if at any point the writer themself would like me to delete this post, I will.

So the post doesn't get too long, i'll put up a divider! Happy readings!

JIKOOK:

The Ocean at the End of the Universe It's hard to find just one person in a sea of stars. (space au)

Wish I Would've Known The worst part isn't hatred. The worst part is not talking anymore, and never understanding why. (based on the song we don't talk anymore)

You're My Genie, Lamborghini (You're My Teeny Weeny Meenie) You know those people saying technology is driving people apart? Yeah, fuck them. (twitter au)

with it's sequel... You Got the Best of Me (Synth Riff) Two social media sweethearts get married. Baby boomers crash and burn in the distance at this flagrant display of millenial culture. (continuation of ^^)

JINMIN:

Galaxy S♡ we all have those memories that don't end, even when everything is over. Some call that critical error. Others call it human existence. (androids/robots au)

Watchers of the Eternal Flame Jimin goes to Rio de Janeiro to live his passion. He leaves Rio da Janeiro having found his dream. (summer olympics au)

NAMGI:

In My Blood Sometimes fate is a flat tire and a crushed bumper. (a/b/o au)

TAEKOOK:

i try to picture me without you (but i can't) "You think relationships last in the village? You want one with me? You think you'll be happy?" Maybe Taehyung did think that they could be happy. (sequel to Watchers of the Eternal Flame, summer olympics au)

And, Home (Will Feel Like Home Again) Between the oily residue of night market tables and the rickety steps of the Hakone mountains, there is a little bus station in the fog. (travel au)

Fool Me Once (Shame On You) Fool me twice, shame on me. (established relationship)

Ghost Story It was an untold story with no ending, until now. (ghost au)

Invisible People The most important things are the hardest of all to see. (ballet au)

Let Us A relationship is a two-way street. (strangers to friends to lovers)

Never Let Me Go Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey. (soulmates au)

Pour Up (Drank) If you can read this, take another shot. (frat au)

Rich Bitch When you make six figures a year, Valentino isn’t that big of a deal. (the au is,,, tae is rich)

Shark In the Water As far as fairy tales go, this one doesn’t have a lot of faeries. Tales, yes. Tails, that is. Just the one. One (1) tail. (mermaid au)

Terrible Things Happen (Sometimes, They Save You) Min Yoongi wakes up from a nightmare on a sunless afternoon to a reality more twisted than his dizziest daydreams. (american horror story au)

The Day The Earth Stood Still Somewhere in New York, Seoul, Florence, Los Angeles, is a tale as old as time. (pre-apocalypse au)

起死回生; To Live Again Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us. (historical au)

SERIES: I'm feeling electric tonight

(fake dating au.)

Kiss Me Hard Before You Go Dramatization. Do not try at home.

I Just Wanted You to Know (That Baby, You’re the Best) If you experience headaches, nausea, or heartbreak, discontinue use and talk to your doctor because relationships might not be right for you.

Think I'll Miss You Forever Happy endings sold separately.

SERIES: Interstellar (historical fantasy au)

Give Me Your Hands (I Will Pick the Stars for You) I miss you like the moon misses the sun, destined to chase you until the end of time.

Perihelion Perihelion: the point in the orbit of a celestial body at which it is closest to the sun.

SERIES: Moonrise (werewolf au, abo au)

Bad Moon Rising Taehyung has always wanted to be a superhero. Jeongguk has always been a supernatural.

I Fear the Fever, It Runs Electric There are some perks to having Jeongguk as a boyfriend. For one, he makes procrastination impossible.

Shaking Inside My Bones For better or for worse, everyone gets better at this. It’s practice. It doesn’t quite make perfect but it gets pretty damn close.

SERIES: The Ones Who Watch Us (horror au)

They Can See Us There are two things that you should hope always follow you. Number one: your shadow. Number two: your reflection.

Why Aren't You Scared of Me? (What Do You Know?) There are much worse things to be scared of.

SERIES: Where You Go, I'll Go To (grim reaper au)

In the Blind The world, as most people see it, is only half the story.

Time would envy us (part two, by nikkumeul) This is the other half of the story. This is forever. OBS: same link as above, starting from page 26)

SERIES: You bring good to my lonely life (honestly) (hollywood movie star au)

Love Will Always Be A Lesson (Let’s Get Out of its Way) Lesson 1: It's not real

Pizza Magazine Love is a strange, strange thing. (OBS: same link, starting from page 156)

YOONKOOK:

We Who Hide From the Sun “It’s the oldest story in the world. One day you’re seventeen and planning for someday. And then, quietly, and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” (childhood friends to lovers au)

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Admin's Note:

Okay, i'm back now. these are all the mindheist fics i've gotten the links for, thank you to all who sent them to me, very much appreciated! the links lead you to a pdf file on google drive, owned by my own account. i'll have those up all the time, but in case something happens and they get removed i advise you to download the ones that you want to keep personally! hope you enjoy the read babies, love you all!! and thank you again!! and thank you to mindheist in the first place for writing all of these amazing fics.

[writingwithcolor]

Gingerbread man as golem

@yaronata asked:

I would like to write a character who is Jewish and uses a Golem. She's based on the D&D class of the artificer which looks magic but isn't, because they produce all their effects with inventions, like the "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" quote. Her story is that her very Jewish town was under attack from a terrible monster when she was little. Her Rabbis made a Golem to protect the town, and it succeeded but was torn to pieces in the process. She was fascinated by the Golem and as a kid didn't see a big difference between it's sentience and person's so was really thankful for its sacrifice like you would a person's sacrificing their life for you. They thought all the pieces had been devoured by the monster before it died, but she went looking and found the piece used to animate the Golem, which she, kinda misunderstanding called its "heart". She kept the piece and grew up to be an incredibly skilled cook, specialising as a baker in the town. I imagine she would make a lot of really good food for the Jewish holidays, or to break fasts on ones like Yom Kippur or Tish'abav. But she also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice and the town still being alive, because I feel "we are not dead woo" is a big theme for Jewish holidays from my research, so it could fit, for which she invented ginger bread men to be the golem, and gave them little "hearts" of fruit or honey, and you're meant to eat them limb by limb like the beast did before eating the heart. This would be the inspiration for using the "heart" piece later to make her own giant gingerbread Golem to help her save the world.

These are my questions 1) would it be considered bad or disrespectful for someone who isn't a Rabbi to make a Golem, or is this method of taking an animating piece someone else made disrespectful? 2) Her journey will take her far from her town and her Jewish family and friends and she will likely travel with gentiles. Would it be disrespectful for a Golem to be used to protect a lot of gentiles and one Jew in the course of saving the world? I don't want to fall into the stereotype of someone putting all their effort into valuing and protecting very specifically the group that in real life is oppressive to them. 3) While she is not using magic and is actually mimicking its effects with technology she invents, is this drawing too close to the line of "magical Jew"? 4) I like to "play test" my characters in ttrpgs to really get a feel for them before I write. Would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character when I am a gentile, and would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character in a setting where there are demonstrably real gods other than the one of Judaism?

I really like this character idea and I think it's cute and fun and rooted in Jewish culture but I really want to make sure it's respectful and as good as I, a gentile researching on the internet, thinks it is. Thanks so much! Have a nice day!

My answer to this is very complicated because there are things I both like and do not like about this premise. First of all, I love the idea of a cookie golem, and I'm even imagining the magic word that brings him to life (EMET/truth) would be written in icing. And I'm okay with the part about how she found a piece of the old golem and used it to build a new golem, because that makes sense for a golem made from a baked good when you think about how people use sourdough starter to make a new batch of sourdough.

However, here are the thing that make me cock my head to the side like my little sister's German shepherd:

1. re: "magical Jew" - that's not a trope I've ever heard of. Remember, marginalized groups don't receive identical disrespect across the board. It is indeed a trope to use Black people or disabled people as supernatural plot devices who exist only to further the stories of white main characters or able-bodied main characters. But I can't say as I've ever seen anyone using Jewishness that way. Usually if we are someone's one-dimensional plot device it's as someone's lawyer, fixer, "money guy", etc, not a supernatural force. So this isn't something you have to worry about.

2. I have a certain level of discomfort with you playing as a Jewish character just because playacting as a marginalized culture you're not part of strikes me as off, but I understand that that's how you gain insight into a character you're about to write so it's more of a writing exercise than anything else. (I wonder if D&D regulars from marginalized groups have written about this -- I've only played a few times casually with family so if I did run into this type of discussion in my social justice reading I wouldn't have absorbed it. If anyone is curious I played first as Captain Werewolf, and then switched to playing as Cinnamon Blade because lawful good was too hard. :P )

3. I would prefer you omit the detail about eating the cookies piece by piece symbolically, for two reasons: a. it unintentionally evokes Communion by having appreciative people consume a baked good symbolic of an entity who sacrificed his life for theirs, and b. focusing on the details of flesh consumption reminds me too much of Blood Libel (yes, a gingerbread man is in the shape of a person but how many of us actually think about it literally, the way this act would cause?)

As to your first question: I'm fine with her making a golem even though she's just a rando. Second question: I see what you're saying and maybe it could be more okay if it's really clear how well these gentile folks are treating her? And questions three and four are answered above.

I really do love the idea of a giant gingerbread man golem. Cookie golem T_T <3

--Shira

I would like to second Shira’s point about not ripping apart the gingerbread cookies. I honestly would prefer they were used as decoration, and other cookies eaten instead, since that part just feels so not-Jewish to me, but I don’t have golem-specific issues other than that. It seems like you have already been doing a lot of research, which is appreciated.

As far as the ttrpg/DnD aspect… I bounce back and forth on the topic of playing characters that are so very different from our experiences, other than in fantasy-related ways. However, I am aware that a lot of people will play with, and experiment with gender in game, and learn something about themselves in the process (the number of trans players of ttrpgs who tried out their gender in game before they were out is high). It’s different with Judaism, and even more significantly different when it comes to things you can’t convert into, like various actual, real-world races. But because people do sometimes experience growth from experiences like this, I’m hesitant to dissuade players completely. I do urge you to, at a minimum, bring the same care, research, and willingness to learn, that you brought to this question.

--Dierdra

This sounds like a creative storyline that you could have lots of fun with 😊

At first I was confused by this part:

She also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice

But then you really got me thinking about different types of Jewish holidays and how they come about, so thank you for that!

Because it’s often the little details that either make a story super powerful or kind of nonsensical, I think it would be a good idea to decide what type of holiday is being created here:

A full-blown chag with restrictions on labour and halachic obligations? These are commanded in Torah and new ones can’t be added.

A minor yom tov with halachic obligations but no restrictions? These were instituted by the rabbis prior to the destruction of the Temple, so again new ones can’t be added.

A public holiday or equivalent? This would usually be declared by the Knesset in Israel, and filter to the rest of the Jewish world from there.

A community-based yom tov with specific customs only for people in the know, such as certain Chasidic groups celebrating the birthdays of their deceased leaders? I asked around, but no one can really tell me how these holidays get started, which is probably a good indication that they arise quite organically from a group of people who all just feel that it should be celebrated. Probably not created by a single person, as such.

Something she runs from her bakery, not religion-based, but more like a day of doing special products and deals the way many small businesses do on their anniversary?

Now, if the people of a modern-day town were actually saved by a real live Golem, that would arguably be the most overt miracle for many generations, so there would be a decent chance of options 3 and/or 4 happening. It’s entirely plausible that there could be special foods for this day that become a tradition, including Golem cookies. People who directly benefited might also return to the site where the Golem fought the monster and recite the prayer, ‘Blessed is Hashem, Master of the Universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place.’

Alternatively, if it’s important that your MC created the holiday, something like option 5 might be the best. Hopefully this will still fulfil what you need: you describe her as incredibly skilled, so I can imagine the day when she goes all out on the Golem cookies being one of the most exciting events of the year for the townspeople, just because her baking is that good. Plus, they already have a personal stake in the Golem’s sacrifice, so I definitely think it could be a thing without being an official holiday. Also, if she is outside of an all-Jewish environment, don’t forget that she would have to decide whether to commemorate the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar or the local one.

Coming back to the cookies, sorry if we’re getting a little repetitive on this point! But I don’t see the cookies being torn limb from limb as part of a celebration. First of all, this doesn’t sound like a very celebratory thing to do, to say the least. Can you imagine explaining that to a three-year-old on their first Yom HaGolem? They would be terrified! (I don’t read this suggestion as accidental anti-Semitism so much as getting carried away with a metaphor, which I’m sure as writers we have all done!)

But also, it’s worth pointing out that our commemorative foods aren’t usually that literal. If you think about hamantaschen, maror, or apple in honey, they’re all symbols. That’s not to say that having Golem-shaped cookies is a problem, as this sounds like just a bit of fun that the MC is having and not something that is directly at odds with Judaism or Jewish culture. But it’s worth bearing in mind that the more literal you go from there in terms of tying the cookies to the event they commemorate, the less culturally aligned your holiday food becomes.

Finally, about the Golem protecting non-Jewish people: I like this idea! There’s a stereotype that we only use whatever is at our disposal to help ourselves and other Jewish people, so a Golem being created by Jews but helping others as well is a big plus for me. Of course, as has already been pointed out, this would be an odd choice if her Saving The World team were anti-Semitic or otherwise disrespectful to her/her community, but I don’t think you were headed that way!

-Shoshi

I have to come back in here just to squee over the phrase “Yom HaGolem.” Well done :D

--Shira

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

I think my fascination with the way girls are written in things made to sell merchandise to boys stems from the fact that, at least for a lot of the western media I was aware of growing up, I think a lot of these things had gotten somewhat... I don’t know how to describe it. Self-conscious? Self-aware? About the way they wrote women, and the fact that they were writing girls and women.

I’m mostly familiar with 2000s-2010s era media in this regard, but from recent viewings and what I recall from my childhood, the way a lot of girls and women in fiction were written were, well... There was an element of a lot of them being Girls TM . But I also distinctly remember a lot of them having things like intelligence, tenacity, and courage being defining traits. I distinctly remember that when I was younger, I held a certain level of envy for a few of these girls specifically because they seemed smarter, bolder, and more capable than I could be at the time (by virtue of me being a real eight year old with undiagnosed autism, and them being fictional 12-22 year olds with supernatural abilties lol, but yeah).

A lot of them were also either, deeply reverent for certain systems greater than herself, or deeply irreverent, in particular when the systems get in the way of her personal goals. But in either case, I got the impression that a lot of them had, on some level, a very strong internal compass of what they felt was right and wrong, what they felt was worthwhile work vs what they felt was not worth her time. And they do try to follow it as close as they can. It manifested oftentimes with them being a voice-of-reason/heart-of-the-team figure, sure. But that doesn’t diminish the fact that this is a trait common among a lot of them.

Which is to say, I feel like a lot of them would have been very active, capable characters... if they had been conceived as a character in a story for literally any other genre. Because by nature of them being a part of that, well, she had no choice to play support because the chart says girl leads don’t sell! She has to be the heart and voice of reason because when you’re trapped in support, that’s how a strong internal compass manifests itself. In-universe she’s regarded as intelligent and tenacious and courageous, but not much can be done about it other than support roles and a few paint-by-numbers focus stories, because the chart says girls don’t sell among boys.

And it’s like, I dunno. Kind of fascinating to me in a sad way. Because I have read interviews by some creatives - female creatives in particular - on some of these IPs and I think they really did want to create better women in these series. But I don’t think that a lot of the characters would quite reach greatness, because the fundamental infrastructure of the story and in particular the systems that these stories were created in and under would not let them.

[billiejean485]

... Still (over)thinking about how creating a Senti(monster) and leaving it to live out its days could work.

... Here's a thing about magic: it sets things off balance. Doesn't matter if it's black or white, it still tampers with the universe that's already working on its own. Unless (maybe) if it's something like Ladybug's power that undos all the other magical activity and what it messed with.

It's kind of like... introducing a new specie into an ecosystem that doesn't have it. If it's similar enough to something that already exists, then it should go fine. If it's not, well... it can destroy it - depending on how many animals for example you do entroduce in.

Still, you gotta count in the addition. The ecosystem has practically built itself to sustain a certain number of... everything. You add more cattle, for example, where you shouldn't and what are you going to get? Overgrazing. And this is just one obvious example of what it may do.

To quote the very characters of the show: "everything needs to be in perfect balance". So, if spurring Sentis into life is something like Tikki being able to create anything (non-living I hope), then there has to be something to counter that, like Plagg does with the power to destroy. But what is it? Have the writers even thought of that? Did they even care to think about it?

... Then again... The Miraculous world seems to be in a mess already because of the existence of Kwamis and the like. How many bad things have been the work of Plagg alone? Their world is not the same as our real world. Sure, we don't have the explanations for everything, but it definitely wasn't the doing of the same supernatural forces from the cartoon.

.... Ugh.

I'm starting to realize why Astruc accused us of overthinking.....

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

How long would it take the volturi to solve the Kira case?

Fascinating question, anon, I like it. So much so you get answered much earlier than you normally would be.

Shinigami and the World of Twilight

In Twilight there are few supernatural creatures that remain in our world. There's vampires, children of the moon, and the shapeshifter. However, these need not be the only supernatural creatures.

There have likely been mass extinctions (seen in Children of the Moon) and there may be more creatures that are so uncommon that we just don't see any hint of them.

Death Note's Shinigami easily fall into this category.

They live in another dimension, and in the human world (which they rarely visit in person), they're invisible to the eye save for those who have touched their death note. Their methods of killing are so unobtrusive, (heart attacks by default or whatever method they please), that they're unlikely to be noticed unless someone (i.e. Light) is trying to make a point. And in the grand scheme of things, Shinigami also kill relatively infrequently, meaning that any odd death gets passed off as that: an odd death. Also being forbidden to kill for the sake of a human being means that the deaths tend to be a) random b) whatever amuses them the most. That'd be hard to pick a pattern up of.

Shinigami exist in such a manner that I doubt even the Volturi are aware of them.

Some Ground Rules For the Post

I don't see why vampires would have an innate ability to see Shinigami that humans lack. As a result, the Volturi are in the same boat everyone else is, they can't see a Shinigami unless they touch that Shinigami's notebook.

Also, per the manga, the Kira case takes place from 2003-2010, meaning that as Twilight is happening (or before if Aro and the gang somehow solve this faster than L would), the world is mired in the Kira case.

Bella would certainly have been talking about it in Twilight. As would Edward, as he once had his Kira foray as well if on a much smaller scale and with a lot more junkies.

For the sake of my nitpicky need to have everything line up, we're going to push Death Note back a few years, to the beginning of Twilight.

Also, we're taking out L. If L's there, Aro can rely on him doing most of the work for him and only show up at the end to either murder or turn Light once L's narrowed down exactly who it is. That's not really fair per the ask, we have to leave the Volturi on their own.

With that, let's start.

Kira Makes His Appearance

Light's appearance was by no means subtle, he wanted to be noticed immediately, but he also didn't want to be noticed as a human being.

He made no televised announcements, left no messages, sent in no letters saying, "I am God, tremble before me". Instead, he let his silence speak.

He killed via heart attacks those he considered having broken the law to some heinous degree and then he sat back and watch. The public dubbed him Kira first and he only became a confirmed presence, something more real than a specter and a human who could be caught and brought to justice, when he murdered Lind L. Taylor in a public spectacle.

But this is a world without L, which means no Lind L. Taylor, instead we have Volturi and company in Volterra, utterly unconcerned with the human world.

Of course, they immediately notice once an undeniable pattern becomes clear. Human criminals are dying en masse of heart attacks, someone is making a message. The question is, to what end?

Aro wouldn't immediately think this is a human. This kind of power, this kind of gift, to be able to seemingly kill any person in the world at any time no matter the distance, is something too strong for a human. It would be unheard of to have this much power as a human.

Which means Aro believes he's looking for a vampire breaking the law.

The trouble is, it's only humans. The newborn wars are raging as always, every major coven he's ever heard of remains untouched, and there's been no noticeable uptick of deaths among the vampire population.

The only difference to them is that more of them are dangerously close to breaking the law, as crime rates are now plummeting as criminals live in terror of a spiteful god who might strike them down at any moment. This makes murders performed by vampires, in certain areas, far more noticeable.

(As Light is probably killing off known gang leaders, drug lords, etc. left and right, it's probably pandemonium in certain cities/countries. So vampires are probably alright in these places as I'm sure there's a lot of murder going on as survivors try to fill the power vacuum.)

Still, the Volturi have to put their heads together and try to think why any vampire would do this? To what end would they murder all these humans, in such a noticeable manner, and not even to eat their victims?

Aro concludes he's looking for a very young vampire, likely newborn, someone who still thinks of himself as very human and beholden to human society and who isn't aware of Volterra or else does not consider them a threat.

The Volturi Investigators

I think Aro's going to take the lead on this one. There's his gift, obviously, but he'd by far have the most interest.

Caius would be upset by the nerve of Kira, but he has no patience to track him down either when it becomes exceedingly obvious that this is going to be tricky. That, and it just doesn't seem like his thing to me. He's going to mostly sit this one out.

As for Marcus, he's not up to it.

Which makes Aro our lead detective.

The Investigation

Like L, the first thing they do is try to pinpoint the first deaths. There was the immediate deluge, of course, but that screams of confidence in this assassination gift.

Kira likely needed practice to perfect his gift or even realize he had it at all. There's going to be a first victim and it will probably be messy.

Given enough investigation, this probably leads Aro to Japan, where a man taking children hostage suddenly dies in the middle of the hostage situation when televised on national TV (though not outside of Japan). Given that Kira's a vampire, he could have moved from where he started quite easily, but Aro's willing to bet he's still somewhere in Japan.

What Aro does know is that Kira's keeping close to human society. Kira will be reading human papers, watching human television constantly, and appears to be very well-informed concerning his future victims. Both locally as well as internationally. Kira is likely still in a human settlement.

So, the first thing Aro does is look for an unusual number of casualties in any city or town in Japan. Kira will probably be in the newborn phase, may truly be only a few months old, and given his actions has probably been abandoned by his sire. Even if he has unusually high control, he's got to eat sometime, and thanks to his own actions the murder rate in major cities is way down.

Except... there's no uptick.

Crime, murder, in Japan is universally on a downwards trend. Major cities like Tokyo and small rural villages it's all the same, there's nothing noticeable.

Kira either isn't in Japan or... he's not eating.

Aro wonders if, perhaps this assassination gift of his, somehow feeds Kira. He is, after all, stealing life. He does it via heart attacks but maybe, somehow, the very act of stealing life is all Kira needs. Perhaps he doesn't have to drink blood due to this.

This blows Aro's mind for a few days but eventually he decides that, no, he's never heard of this. True, he's never heard of this gift either, but all vampires drink blood. Even Carlisle, who drinks animal blood, still drinks blood and suffers great negative effects for his avoidance of a natural diet.

Kira the vampire must still eat.

Which means, in the absence of any other explanation... Kira's not a vampire. Kira is likely a very gifted human.

Aro's mind is blown again because Holy Fuck, what a gift. Kira has blown Jane and Alec, who were only immediately noticeable in their own village, completely out of the water.

Except, the trouble is, neither Aro nor anyone else in the Volturi is a detective. Aro knows enough about human society to pay his taxes, to hire secretaries, and keep on the up and up, but he doesn't actually solve human crimes.

What he's looked for for thousands of years are vampires who break the law: and they have certain patterns, motivations, etc. that are more or less easy to spot. More, the entire point of his law is that, if Aro notices then it means you broke it. There are those that can and do fly under his radar.

How is he supposed to find a gifted human who can kill anyone in the world any time he pleases? From a brief perusal of Japanese news, there's no one immediately obvious as gifted or strange by local papers.

From earlier killings, Aro notes that Kira doesn't seem to kill between 8 in the morning to 4 pm, which might make him a student but also could mean he's working those hours.

And even if he is a student? How in the world is Aro supposed to touch the hand of every student in the entire country of Japan? Aro, who makes it a point not to navigate the human world.

Aro Calls in the Expert

When you want to hang out with the humans, there's only one vampire to call: Carlisle Cullen. As we're setting this in early Twilight, neither Eclipse nor Breaking Dawn have happened. To the Cullens, and Carlisle, Aro is simply a wise king and Carlisle's old friend.

And I'm sure Carlisle has been watching the Kira case very closely and is very disturbed by the entire thing. Kira's methods are very much not Carlisle's m.o.

Aro gives Carlisle what he knows: Kira's probably a gifted human, probably somewhere in Japan, probably in school, and has access to an extensive amount of human media.

That's it.

That's all Aro's got.

As for the police at large, without L, they haven't even narrowed it down to Japan yet.

Carlisle points out that, as much as he hangs out with humans, he doesn't think he could find the needle in the haystack either. However, he definitely wants to help in any way he can.

However, they do have something. Aro can't touch the hand of everyone in Japan, however, Edward can unobtrusively listen to a much larger segment of the population.

(Alice is off the table as she's best able to see the future of those close to her. Without knowing who Kira even is, let alone being close to him, she has no idea what he's going to even do next. She's likely very frustrated by this.)

Surely, whoever Kira is, he or she will be contemplating their victims more often than not. It's a long shot, but Edward might be able to find that needle in a haystack.

How's Edward Feel About That?

Edward's extremely conflicted. On the one hand, he doesn't want to disappoint Carlisle, and this is the first time Carlisle has ever asked him for a favor of this magnitude. And, in theory, Carlisle is right, all creatures are worthy of life.

On the other hand, Edward's on Team Kira. He thinks these rapist, murderer, pigs all deserve to die and is rooting for Kira to put the fear of God into them. Emphasizing this is when Bella was nearly raped in Port Angeles, but her would be rapist suddenly remembered himself and vomited in terror at the idea that he might be next should he get caught raping her. (As it is, Edward catches him, and a few weeks later he dies of a heart attack in prison. Edward pops the champagne).

More, if Edward goes to Japan, it means he has to leave Bella. Bella has proven she cannot survive without his personal protection. More, he's not sure he can survive without her presence. He can hardly contemplate the idea of leaving Bella, though he ultimately must, but to do so soon? He though he'd have a few more years, likely until they graduate, but now he and the family would have to move all the way to Japan in a matter of days.

Not to mention this would be letting Aro know that Edward's... not technically breaking the law but not not breaking the law either. Bella clearly suspects he's not human, she just doesn't have the right word.

And then to give Kira up to the Volturi? To have his activities stopped, to be turned and placed into the guard, or else murdered? Edward feels like he'd be selling out the brother he never knew.

But also Carlisle and imagining Carlisle's sad, disappointed, face.

Edward says yes but he really wants to say no.

He sneaks into Bella's room in the middle of the night, and for the first time, makes her aware of his presence. He tells her that regretfully he must leave her, he's off to do a man's work and catch Kira, and that they will never see each other again.

Then to Edward's horror and disappointment, Bella's completely on board for Edward catching Kira and thinks it's the noblest thing he could do. Charlie, being a chief of police, utterly despises Kira and Bella carries forward this sentiment. People deserve the due process of law, not being murdered off by some jackass conning people into believing he's a god.

Bella wishes him luck and tells him to return as soon as he can.

Edward just numbly says he won't be returning. This really is it. Goodbye forever.

Bella's utterly broken (though not nearly as much as canon as Edward didn't dump her for being boring).

Edward in Japan

Well, turns out, Edward's not actually that useful. There's a few problems.

First, there are a lot of people out there claiming to be Kira, or even convincing themselves that they're Kira. They do this to brag, to feel special, for any number of reasons.

None of them are Kira.

Second, Edward can only go out on cloudy days or at night, this severely limits when he can wander the streets and the people he'll run into. More, even if he starts with Tokyo, Tokyo's a big place. That's a lot of wandering to do.

Third, say that Edward does come across Light Yagami. Edward immediately dismisses him as being utterly insane. See, Light Yagami is talking to his imaginary friend, Ryuk, bickering about which apples they should buy from the store. Edward sees the giant clown demon that Light believes only he can see and goes, "Ah, another lunatic, cheerio."

Edward does not find Kira.

The Investigation Continues

Aro likely keeps Edward at it for months. It doesn't matter how long it takes, they're going to track down Kira and they're going to find him. It might take years, but dammit, they'll find him. Edward despairs that he will ever be able to go back to normal life.

Luckily for the gang, Bella saves their bacon.

Bella, ruminating on Edward's mission and on Kira, starts doing her own internet investigation. She doesn't get very far, but she does have those prophetic dreams to help her out.

Bella has a seriously weird dream about the moon, night gods, Kira, demons that look like giant crows, notebooks, and Light Yagami's face. Somehow, just as in canon with vampires, Bella's able to somehow put this together.

She calls up Edward (as they parted on more amiable terms, and so quickly, Edward did not yet disconnect his number) and tells him that Kira's name is Light Yagami, he's attending the University of Tokyo as the top student, and his murder weapon is an evil notebook.

How does she know this?

She looked it up on the internet.

Well, Edward isn't sure how to take that, but he also has nothing to lose. They find Light Yagami, Aro shakes his hand, and holy shit, Bella Swan was right. (Aro now decrees that she will be turned, much to Edward's horror and insistence that she has no idea he's a vampire, and has plans to recruit her for his guard).

What Are We Going to Do About Light?

Well, on the one hand, Aro discovered a new species today that he can do nothing about. Luckily, they seem to have their own laws that have more or less the same result as the Volturi laws: don't get noticed.

On the other hand, he's disappointed that this all-powerful gift was not a gift at all.

On the other other hand, Light does not seem to be an ordinary human. He's... lucky, for lack of a better term. No, it's more that he doesn't need luck, he somehow has such an awareness of everything around him that he assimilates it perfectly into his own plans. As if he can manipulate the very universe to his favor.

That's intriguing and useful, and in any other situation, Aro would jump on taking that chance and at least seeing what happens.

So the question becomes, does Aro turn Light or not? On the one hand, that's a useful gift, on the other hand, this kid's a loose cannon and a lunatic.

This Kira thing cannot continue, and Light, even as a vampire, would likely insist on continuing it somehow.

Luckily, there's a solution to this.

Aro burns the notebook, much to Ryuk's protesting despair. Light loses his memories of Ryuk, the notebook, and having been Kira. Before Light even knows what's happening, Aro turns him.

Three days later, Light wakes up a very confused vampire, gets the Volturi pitch with Chelsea there to help loosen bonds, and accepts a position in the guard to, oddly enough, stop those like Kira.

Aro's confused, but hey, they'll see how this Light thing works out. Aro also likely tells himself that he will watch for Ryuk trying to drop Light another notebook like a hawk.

The Kira case is never solved for humans: Kira just disappears one day as if he never existed. As for Light, I imagine he plots the destruction of the newborn armies, and Caius watches in utter fascination as this kid ruthlessly exterminates them all.

Bella is shortly turned into a vampire, much to Edward's despair, and due to the giant mess of this is also likely recruited to Volterra.

How Long Does This Take?

Given the need for the Volturi to first investigate, then Edward, I give them at least a year. Maybe a year and a half.

And really, it's Bella who saves their bacon.

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

Tropes & AUs: Art Block Support

Use the Random Number Generator to randomly select a new AU or trope to use with a character or fandom of your choice, to get your creativity flowing. SFW list, generally.

Roll twice for a unique twist, if you are struggling.

Soulmate AU (Tattoo or Mark)

Mermaid/Selkie AU

Small Business Owners (Rivals) AU

Supernatural Beings AU

Space-based AU

Found Family Trope

Soulmate AU (Physical change / Visible Change)

Pregnancy AU (Deliberate or Magical/Technological Accident)

Body Swap AU

Enemies to Lovers

Lovers to Enemies / Frenemies

Fell into a Story AU

Lost All Memories Trope

Oh No, I own a farm and need a handsome person who knows how to run it to help me AU

Organised Crime AU (or Disorganised Crime AU if funnier)

Finally Addressing Burgeoning Tauma and Mental Health because the writers fucking won't AU

Taken Hostage & Assumes No One Will Come Trope

Pirates AU

Superheros AU

Sleeping Beauty-styled Spell or Accident AU

Shared Memories AU where they all end up learning more than they could ever have imagined

Monsterfucker / Cryptid chaser AU

Monster/Hunter Trope

Aliens are Real / Men In Black styled Trope

University AU

Substance that Inhibits ability to (not bang everything / lie about anything / focus in battle / use magic / your choice) Trope

Possession AU

Crisis of Faith Trope (In self, family, fate, deity patron, etc)

Undercover Agents (One person, prefers fake life over time)

Fake Relationship/Dating for (Event) Trope

Polyamory with all non-related persons AU

Warriors AU (Any kind)

Supervillains AU

Mortally Wounded Confession

Bartering with the Gods/Ancient Evils to bring their friend/love/other back to life AU

Their normal lives are an elaborate DnD game/they play DnD

Secrets kept are breaking down/existential and identity crisis AU

Doomsday Prepper AU

Scientist who knows the end is coming but no one will believe them / Prepper AU

First Date Trope

Wedding Day AU and/or the Chaotic Wedding Day shennanigans

Secretly Cursed AU where things go wrong constantly and they are trying hard not to die as those who love them strive to fix this

Centaurs (and general Taurs) AU

Daemon AU

Gender Swap AU / Loss of Gender or Discovery of Identity AU

Babysitting for the First Time AU

Everyone Else is a Baby, Send Help AU

Haunted House Sleepover AU

Hospitalised due to illness or injury AU

Obtained Magical Item that Hurts to Use but Saves the Team AU

Cyborg AU

Domestic Fluff AU

Beach Day Trope

We're going on a holiday AU (Cute or chaotic, your choice)

Broke Intern AU

A social media influencer AU (any) and/or scandals

Spy AU

Dragons are Real AU (if Dragons Real in canon, then they are Transformers now)

Secret Collector of ____ and now the other(s) have found out trope

Secretly good at ____ but has no idea / Flustered or confused by praise Trope [The 'can't everyone do that?' trope]

Everyone has wings AU

Angels and/or Demons AU

Vampires and Werewolves AU

Depression AU

Imposter Syndrome Trope

Bank heist and/or secret mission AU

Mythology AU (Use a myth for character)

Ah Bugger We're Gods Now (Somehow) AU

Journalist AU or Lawyer AU

Olympic Hopeful / High Level Competition Rivals AU

Community Garden Meet-Cute AU

Set fire to cereal, send help / Chef AU

Castaway/Stranded on an Island Trope

Minimum Wage Workers Suriving AU

Accidentally ran into a Cryptid AU

Massive Weather Event (eg flood, fire, tornado, cyclone, tsunami, blizzard, earthquake) AU

Day Trip to (Movies, Zoo, Theme Park) AU

Snow Day AU and/or trapped in a house by Snow

Stuck in the past AU

Accidentally changed the timeline AU

Assassin AU

Assassin / Target AU

High Level Noble Nonsense and the housemaid/stableboy/nb servant you bond with most AU

Formal Dinner and How It Went Wrong AU

Finally Getting Vengeance Trope

Terminal Illness / Deathbed Confession AU

Witch/Wizard AU eg. potionseller / that one person who comes in for healing potions daily and you're getting Concerned

Scientists AU

Homemade Gift for a Special Person AU

Speaking to the Dead (Ouijia Board, talking to the graves, solo grief but ghosts present) trope

Birthday (Forgotten)

Birthday (Surprise Celebration)

Doctor/Nurse AU

Chill Out Day / Self-Care Fun

Talk About the Anxieties that Imprison AU

Tavern Hijinks AU

Accidental power acquisition AU

Steampunk AU

Being Hunted AU

We Die As One (Battle/Ambush) AU

[bokashi]

Legit My Favorite Fics of All Time Holy Shit (Haikyuu)

I'll organize it by ship and try to include some details. I have a massive, well-organized folder of fics (probably over 100 fics jeez), but these are my favorites, the ones I've reread the most, or have taken up a lot of my headspace. Enjoy. :)

Bokuaka <3

Rules - ConesOfDunshire - Explicit, AU: Musician Autistic Bokuto, Accountant Akaashi - A bokuaka classic and probably my favorite Haikyuu fic of all time. Truly my favorite (top 3 at the very least). It's such a lovely story with minimal angst and a frick ton of fluff, and we get to watch as these two beautiful boys fall in love with each other. Well worth the read.

This Smacks of Rainbows - darkgaaraluver - Teen, AU: soulmates, still volleyball players at fukurodani, pre-canon, reincarnation - I love reading stories from Akaashi's perspective because he is a poetry gay and so we get the most beautiful language when describing Bokuto. There is so much pining and angst in this it hurts. Truly, this fic causes pain, but the comfort that follows is so sweet, that it makes it worth it. I reread this one at least 5 times after first discovering it.

like patience on a monument - titanscrow - Teen, Canon Compliant, slow-burn - Literally just read this one. That's how good it is. I already KNOW that this will be on my list. As the author says in the notes, they're allergic to sadness, so although this is a slow burn, there isn't a lot of angst in my opinion. Seeing Bokuto from Akaashi's eyes is once again, one of the most beautiful things, but we also get peeks at how Bokuto views Akaashi and that's honestly what changed this story from really good to an absolute favorite. (Note: it's all from Akaashi's POV, but when you get there, you'll know what I mean.) The author also came out with a new bokuaka fic (~5000 words) and I am IN LOVE WITH IT. So please read that too!

O-week is Wild - KnottyRoses - Teen, AU: College, FLUFF, COMFORT, BEAUTY, GRACE - This is my comfort fic. Feeling down? Read this because your mood will be lifted. We follow bokuaka during O-week (a Canadian term, but basically college/uni orientation). Bokuto is such a sweetheart. Characterization may be a little off (for Akaashi moreso), but I truly dream that this is how their personalities would develop in this universe, so it doesn't matter!!

polaris - ClementineKitten - Teen, AU: reincarnation, pining - Honestly what really gets me about this fic is Fates' little mentions of their previous lives. I love watching these boys fall in love through snippets and this is the perfect fic for that.

how you wish it would be all the time - drifting_i - General, Slow burn, post-time skip, "domestic bliss" - I think about this fic all the time. It hits me when I least expect it. Personally, I love the idea of Bokuto and Akaashi keeping in contact and seeing each other when they can, and this fic is an amazing example of that. And really, it is so freaking well written. I fell in love with this story and I hope you do to.

Iwaoi

Six-Month Lover - afuzzyowl - Explicit, pining, fluff and angst (a lovely combo, but if you're afraid of angst, it's not that bad!) - This one is so cute, and it's from an alternating POV, which is always nice with longer fics. It's particularly lovely because we get to watch Iwa fall for Oikawa (and using the best metaphor to justify it, a door opens—I realize now that sounds like a flattykawa joke, but I really just like that metaphor). But anyways, the way Hajime falls is soft and beautiful and it makes me believe in good things?! I just love it.

I sure hope that guy gets fired - Xov - Teen, time loop, pining, pre-time skip - This is another fic that is in my top 3. Truly, one of the best. *chef's kiss* I'm a sucker for fics with supernatural elements (body swap, etc.). We once again watch Iwa fall in love (are you sensing a pattern), and his POV is so wonderful. It's so well written and feels in character. Watching the relationship between Oikawa and Iwa bloom makes my heart swell. Please, please read this one.

and suddenly, we were strangers - izayas - Teen, angst with happy ending, amnesia, canon divergence, time skip - This made me cry for so many reasons. It's a rollercoaster of feelings and although the angst is there, iwaoi are still pretty much together, so it doesn't always feel like angst, it just feels like a speedbump on their road to happiness. And it diverges from the other two: this time we watch Oikawa fall in love, although for very different reasons! :) :(

you'd be happier instead if you stayed in [my] bed // sometimes b sides are the best songs - ClementineKitten + overwhelmingly_awesome - Mature, time skip, angst (up the wazoo), alcohol, pining, infidelity (iwa has a fiance) - CRAP! I love this one!! I think this is the last of the top 3. It's a two-parter, links included for both parts. We return to formula with Iwa being behind on the whole feelings thing (what's new). And it hurts and it heals? This fic is truly hurt/comfort for the soul. And also shockingly rational, which is often unusual in Iwaoi fics. They approach situations like adults (mostly... cheating is wrong straight up, so that's immature). If you're looking for adult Hajime and Tooru, I'm pleased to say that this feels like two adults figuring out a tough situation patiently. That's just one way to sell this wonderful fic, I could go on... But I won't...

lips like sugar - ohhotlamb - Teen, first kiss, canon compliant, (1 teeny tiny boner), kissing practice - YES! I shall include 1 kissing practice fic, it would be rude not to! No more elaboration because it's short enough for you to enjoy on your own!! And it's KISSING PRACTICE, come on, why are you still here, GO READ THIS FIC!

Matsuhana

聞けよ [Ask] - AshenBee - Teen, slow burn, time skip, quarter-life crisis (lol relatable tag), unemployed hanamaki <3 - What a beautiful story... I love Matsuhana content. We get little snippets of these boys just trying to figure out life and it's wonderful. LOTS of pining. Hanamaki moves in with Matsukawa for a bit. I don't even know how to sell this fic because it kind of sells itself. It's a character study of Hanamaki and as a young adult going through similar quarter-life crises, it's relatable and helps to deal with those feelings.

call me maybe - totooru - Teen, partially a text fic (not all of it, lots of writing), HUMOR, fluff, AU where Mattsun goes to Karasuno - Let me tell you this is straight up the funniest fic I've read. I cackled out loud so many times. It's insane. I'm an easy laugh, so maybe that says something, but either way, if you need something to lift you up, this is a greater fic for it. No angst, just prolonging the inevitable, and two boys who basically fell for each other right off the bat. A dynamic duo truly.

Miya Atsumu & Osamu (BIG BIG SPOILERS FOR THE FIC IN THIS DESCRIPTION, JUST BEWARE IF YOU WANT TO GO IN BLIND)

for just another day - sieges - General, canon divergence, photography, BIG SPOILER BUT I DON'T WANT TO SEND PEOPLE IN BLIND BECAUSE IT MIGHT WRECK YOU: major character death - This fic holds a special place in my heart for many reasons, but mostly because I lost my brother a little over a year ago. Completely different from this situation, but nonetheless, incredibly difficult. I 100% sobbed reading this fic. And it really helped me unpack a new part of my grief and my relationship with my brother. I really love what this story did with handling the death of a sibling, not sure if the author went through something like this, but it felt very real to me. (And now all I crave is Miya twins angst...) Also, I swear there's some form of closure. It's not terribly sad! It obviously deals with heavy topics, but at least for me, it felt like being wrapped up in a blanket and being told that everything will be okay.

I try to avoid sadness and angst at all costs (that one bokuaka fic that shall go unnamed really did a number on my grieving ass, so I can't handle anything like that anymore—it was so bad that I had to unpack it in therapy, jeez...). Most of these fics have mild angst or a lot of fluff to make up for heavy angst. There are definitely a lot of angst fics that I have saved, but obviously, that's not always my favorite brand for shipping (I just want everyone to be happy most of the time). Let me know if you read/have read any of these, I'm always up for discussion. :)

[archived-kin]

genshin modern au cheat sheet

i’m planning to do more pieces set in this au, so i’ve put together a quick list of the characters i'm planning to write about/include!

there are three main groups here - the zhao family, the ragnvindr family and friends, and the Miscellaneous Pals™

(the next volume in this au is going to be a xiao piece, and that should be up within the next two or so days!)

1. the zhao family

zhongli, 36: history professor at the local uni who also plays the guzheng very well, tea-enjoyer, a very proud and supportive dad who loves his kids more than anything in the universe - probably unironically has so many pictures of them in his wallet

xiao, 23: taking a degree in psychology at the local uni, has a cool motorbike, bit of a control freak, doesn’t like surprises, will drop-kick you if you look at him or his sister funny, wants a cat but his dad’s allergic, never really grew out of his emo phase

yanfei, 19: baby of the family, prodigy lawyer-in-training, far smarter than many people give her credit for, likes building snowmen, has to protect her unsuspecting dad from Evil Salespeople looking to make some extra money

xiao and yanfei are biological siblings, and zhongli adopted them when xiao was 11 and yanfei was 7. the circumstances of this adoption is a mystery that none of the zhao family members seem willing to divulge…

the zhao siblings can have a little bit of tragic backstory. as a treat.

basically they were born into poverty and often went hungry for days on end. biological parents were distant and neglecting (though not actually physically/emotionally abusive - yet.)

when xiao was caught shoplifting bread and fruit from a local grocery store so that he and yanfei could actually eat, both parents went ballistic and kicked him out the house in the middle of one of the coldest winters the town had seen

poor kid was practically freezing to death out there, and yanfei raised such a fuss back in the house that mum slapped her square in the face to get her to shut up, which xiao saw through the window, and he promptly decided that he Was Not Putting Up With This Shit for any longer

immediately went to a neighbour’s house and told them what was going on, neighbours promptly called cps, and an investigation was launched

parents were deemed unsuitable for raising kids and (after a lot of back and forth) the two kids were taken into care

meanwhile zhongli was kind of sad because he had no friends or family in this town and all he really did was write articles, read books, and mark work

then one of his co-workers mentioned hearing about xiao and yanfei’s story and it hit zhongli so hard that he immediately rang up the adoption centre and ended up taking them in

and from then on both yanfei and xiao were very happy and healthy because zhongli was literally the best dad ever and put everything into taking care of them

2. the ragnvindr family (+ friends)

diluc, 29: budding businessman who still works at his dad’s cafe but is looking to open up his own company some time soon, still buys himself juice in those little cartons with the straws, still doesn’t know how raising bread works?? how does it get bigger???

diona, 7: diluc’s adopted daughter who has her father firmly under her thumb, bit of a spitfire but can also be the sweetest kid ever, enjoys making ‘potions’ out of grass and flowers and water (diluc can and will actually drink these potions because his love for his daughter knows no bounds)

kaeya, 25: diluc’s idiot little brother who’s changed majors at least five times and still doesn’t really know what he wants to do, practises fencing and horse riding in his spare time like a nerd, spoils his niece rotten

lisa, 26: the first of kaeya’s three roommates, has a degree in english and could easily have gone on to become a leading scholar but chose to instead open a bookshop that gets way more business than expected because she’s pretty and men and women alike are all simps

albedo, 23: the second of kaeya’s roommates, bit of a genius, has already started his chemistry phd, is almost concerningly pale and exhausted at all times, has not gone a day without breaking one of the cups for at least two years

venti, 21: the third of kaeya’s roommates, studying music, acts way older than he is sometimes but is mostly just a child, asks at least one of his roommates to marry him every day without fail, was and still is both a music and a theatre kid

lisa’s actually the one who owns the roommates’ residence because it’s on top of her bookshop

i was going to keep the whole ragnvindr family trauma thing but i decided that diluc deserved to be happy in at least one au so the brothers are still happy brothers :D

unfortunately that means that i’ve transferred a lot of the family trauma over to diona

essentially her mother died when she was a baby and her father, draff, turned to alcohol to get him through the stress of raising a child alone. unfortunately this led to him drunk driving one day, and he crashed the car into one of the wall’s of diluc’s dad’s cafe.

draff died on impact since he was in the front seat, but three-year-old diona managed to pull through despite her injuries. one thing led to another, diluc ended up taking care of her for a bit while the authorities sorted the whole thing out, but then he got too attached and decided to adopt her permanently

now diona has a dad, three uncles and an aunt who are all willing to shower her with all the love she deserves :’)))))

3. the Miscellaneous Pals™:

xiangling, xingqiu, chongyun, 17: local high school kids, they’re all kind of dating each other, low-key got adopted by xiao at one point, guoba is xiangling’s guinea pig and they all have joint custody over him

barbara, bennett, razor, 17: also local high school kids, also kind of all dating each other (but a lot more tentatively), regulars at diluc’s cafe, almost never seen apart

lumine, aether, ??: they keep showing up here and there around town to climb a tree and just sit there throwing leaves at people on the streets, then disappear. no one knows who the fuck they are

tartaglia, 23: nicknamed childe by his friends, also known as Mr Moneybags, is always just hanging around the local uni campus but doesn’t actually study anything there. his real name is ajax, but he thought that was lame so he gave himself a cool new one

eula, 24: new teacher at the local high school, her father used to be headmaster and was notoriously cruel to his students so everyone’s kind of wary of her, but she’s just really sweet and wants the best for her pupils :(((

amber, 21: number one eula defender, teaches the younger kids at the local primary, likes bunsen burners a little bit too much, still can’t remember how to spell the word necessary

hu tao, 25?: shady local mortician who may or may not practise illegal things, was kind of dating yanfei at some point but zhongli sent her packing as soon as he realised who she was, no one knows what her deal is

xiangling’s already a budding master chef and has received several offers from culinary schools, xingqiu is planning to study literature/language at uni but also might just go straight to trying to get a book published, chongyun is going to continue the family tradition of studying the supernatural with maybe a side job at xiangling’s future restaurant so that he doesn’t end up with no money if he doesn’t get any supernatural work

barbara is planning to go to medical school and also sings/dances in her spare time, bennett still doesn’t know what he wants to do but is considering carpentry among other things, and razor is dead-set on working at either a zoo or an animal shelter when he’s older

tartaglia never leaves the house without at least three pocket knives and a water pistol. he’s never had to use them yet, but you never know...

eula and amber live together and are probably dating but they’ll both just dodge the question if you ask them about it

they’re most definitely together though because on eula’s birthday amber brought her entire class of little kids to say happy birthday and bring her flowers

(incidentally amber is diona’s teacher)

[educatedinyellow]

2021 Fanworks Masterlist

I’m rachelindeed on AO3, and educatedinyellow here on tumblr. Here’s a round-up of my fan creations this year :)

(vid) Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane: You Matter to Me. A tribute to Peter and Harriet's evolving romance, from the 1987 BBC series starring Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter. 

(vid) Destiel: Fighting the Narrative. The forces of heaven, hell, and the narrative constantly put Dean and Cas into unwinnable, tragic situations, but they always fought to defy fate. Ultimately when the story ends, they break free and can write their own future together.

(fic) best things dwell out of Sight (Holmes/Watson, 9.5K, Ritchie Holmes) In a society where telepathic ability is too often equated with worth, Miss Mary Sutherland is short-Sighted. But that didn't stop her from smelling a rat in Mr. Hosmer Angel's courtship, and her case gives Holmes and Watson the chance to prove that the marriage of true minds requires no magic at all.

(vid) Holmes/Watson multiverse: Just Dance! It's a Holmesian dance party and everyone's invited!

(vid) Emma: Judge of your own happiness Emma learns the workings of her heart. A tribute to the lovely 2009 adaptation of Austen's "Emma."

(vid) Dean Winchester: My Kind of Man Dean's father taught him to be a certain kind of man, but throughout his life his loved ones try to help him figure out what kind of man he truly wants to be.

(vid) Destiel: Scarborough Fair Remember me to one who lives there; he once was a true love of mine.

Total number of completed things: 6 vids, 1 fic, plus 2 pencil sketches

Total word count: 9,600 words

Fandoms created for: Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries, Supernatural, Ritchie Holmes, Emma 2009 miniseries, plus a whole lot of Holmesian adaptations for my multiverse vid

Looking back, did you create more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? A little less, I think. This wordcount is pretty average for me, I usually bow out at around 10K words a year. But in recent years I've tended to make a few more fanvids than I did this year. In the last quarter of the year real life concerns took precedence, and that's fine.

What’s your own favorite creation of the year? I can honestly say I like them all, but my favorite vid is Scarborough Fair -- I've always thought the song was beautiful, and I think the match of lyrics and images turned out quite lovely. And I'm always pleased whenever I get a story written, because that's a good deal harder for me than any of my other creative endeavors. I loved taking the opportunity to add a little magical realism to a Victorian Holmes verse, I adore that kind of thing.

Did you take any creative risks this year? Not…really? Mostly I just did My Usual Sorts of Things :) I did see some progress this year though. I'm proud of the Diana Rigg portrait, it's a definite improvement for me in my sketching.

Do you have any goals for the new year? I have one fanvid already made that I'll be posting in the new year, but otherwise I have no idea what I'll be working on next. I tend to play things very much by ear.

Most popular creation of the year? Ahaha, this one is hilarious! So, the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal, yes? Well, apparently YouTube's algorithms took that as a sign to start promoting the hell out of anything whatsoever with a nautical theme…As a result, a Master and Commander fanvid that I made in 2019 for a small Festivids exchange suddenly and completely unexpectedly took off. This thing had less than 10 likes on tumblr, but purely thanks to mysterious algorithm magic it's currently clocking in at 33,000+ views on YouTube. Truly the funniest and most random thing I could ever have achieved popularity with, LOL!

Creation of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I'm glad whenever anyone looks at anything of mine! I do regret a little bit, though, that there is no online place within the large Destiel fandom devoted to sharing fanvids. I think Destiel fans might enjoy some of mine, but there's really nowhere in particular I can put them where they will be seen. I mean, I put them on AO3, obviously, but in my experience most people on AO3 are there looking for fic, not vids. And YouTube is not well organized for fandoms, there's too much else going on over there so these things tend to vanish quickly into the ether. *shrug* C'est la vie.

Most fun thing to make: Just Dance!! So many Holmeses, so many Watsons, even so many Moriartys! It finally introduced me to Sherlock Hound, which was a delight. Also, Lady Gaga's song is a bop and it was very cheering listening to it endlessly as I worked.

Most unintentionally telling thing: This was intentional, actually, but best things dwell out of Sight was the first fic in which I have been conscious of incorporating some of my feelings as an asexual person into my writing (not in a literal sense, the characters in the fic are not ace, but I'm personally aware of that element influencing some parts of the story).

Biggest disappointment: I've left Vimes/Vetinari languishing too long! Let's get those wheels moving again!!

Biggest surprise: I was so happy to hear that one of my tumblr friends enjoyed my Peter/Harriet vid and was prompted to check out the 1980s miniseries as a result, which they enjoyed very much! What a pleasure, to have gotten to introduce them to something they wound up falling in love with the same way I did!

Wishing you all the best for 2022, creatively and in all other ways, too!