#hopefully this is coherent because i'm not gonna look it over too much lol

[xx-vergil-xx]

okay so I'm finally reading Hounds and I have to yell at you here, too because

DESIRE

you write them SO GOOD, you write them SO FRIGHTENING, the enormity and deepness and awful ceaselessness of human want! humans want CONSTANTLY! they want sex and they want love and they want violence! this is why I think that Dream and Desire are SO similar because dreams and desires cover the entire breadth of human emotion, the good and the bad! except Dream responded by repressing so hard he turned into a black hole and Desire responded by going fucking insane!!!

(also, on a more serious note -- how far into Hounds did you get when plot hit you? and was it something like that you just kinda realized you were writing it and it was going somewhere, or did you have a concrete idea that came to you? always interested in other writing processes, because i tend to start writing something for the ~aesthetic~ and then I'll have a plot that'll smack me in the head and I have to go back and redo stuff lol)

hello hello!!! first off, as a devoted patron of ur absurdly good work it’s an honor and a delight hello comrade in arms <3 <3 <3

thank u so much!!! writing desire was just so unbelievably fun bc it’s characters like that that are so fuckin maxed out knobs-turned-to-11 insane where for myself, as primarily a poet with a fondness for Strange and Off-Putting Language, i can just go crazy go stupid ya know? i fully agree with your desire and dream similarity thesis i really think that they hate each other because they are so similar that it drives them both up the wall — dream reviles desires indulgence and desire thinks dream has a major stick up his ass but deep down they’re two sides of the same lunatic coin, they’re batshit when it comes to any and all emotions (and dream’s repression continually bites him in the ass because his emotions get so compressed he inevitably spills over and lashes out — my favorite example being nada getting cast into hell like he’s so overcome with embarrassment and almost shame at rejection and also grief at what he’s done to her that it makes him act like a Major Fucking Asshole because he loses control anyway sidebar sidebar). i love desire and if i can work their voice back into the fic at a later point god knows i will because it was a joy to write them (on par with the corinthian who has been my FAVORITE voice so far ugh my blonde bastard beloved <3)

i too started with a Vibe Only — it was about half a chapter in my notes that was hob in a nightclub in berlin seeing someone who looked like dream (i think that became ch 3) and a chunk abt dream where i was trying to conceptualize how imprisonment in a body would work for a very non-corporeal being who can’t die, mostly as an experiment in body horror — hounds emerged from these little scraps and the plot has come along in organic fits and starts. not sure where ur at in ur read (holy shit i never imagined it would be as long as it is now) but little arcs sorta developed for me one after the other — the rescue trope first bc i am a sucker, then corinthian arc, and now this current one, and it’s sort of a ridiculous stroke of luck that they’ve all escalated on each other enough to form a coherent and rising plot that actually is leading up to the moment i’ve been beating my head against the wall abt for the last two days (thanks to @aberfaeth for her infinite wisdom and feedback and also giving me a god tier concept that i’m stealing to use). that’s often my typical process, i tend to go very organic, but i’ve never done it with something this long and i’m shocked it’s still functioning. hopefully this gift from the muses and the spirit of hob gadling continues onward as i desperately attempt to figure out how this is gonna resolve!

thank you a thousand times over for reading! <3

[nebulous-tundra]

i saw your statements on jumin being too infatuated with mc and it would stress her out- i wanted to put my two cents! (even if it’s been awhile) i’d also like to hear your opinion on just how their relationship would pan out (mostly how jumin adjusts and how crazy he gets over safety)

soo tbh it was slightly difficult with the aftermath of Jumins route because at the back of my mind i was always scared of that. ironically i used to do the same thing that mc would worry that jumin would do. i used to throw my entire being and love onto people then instinctively leave after a while. but tbh? i don’t think Jumin would do that. While yeah his infatuation is a little much, it seems this can be a contract kind of thing (jumin gives etc while mc gives support), and mc worries abt being replaceable, i don’t think so.

In my opinion his infatuation would (hopefully) lessen to more of just a love that exists? jumin IS still the most loyal person in the world. but i also know that he’s the last person to think that his wife not “contributing” enough is literally a world ender. i’ve seen this in many relationships, and they’re probably just going to shift their love into the smaller domestic things rather than the large gestures jumin would do. it’s still there, but it’s dialed back jusstt a bit. With the rika thing, genuinely would get insecure abt that so you perfectly encapsulated how this kind of mc would react tbh.

i know myself enough that if i started getting thoughts that jumin saw me as a replacement, i’d run and never come back /j. this is long, and i’m really sorry if i’m bothering you! thankyou!

crap this was the person talking abt jumin and his infatuation and i forgot to elaborate on a point. i think he would want mc to contribute but i don’t think he expects her to be a breadwinner or to like compensate for anything? like maybe this is just 12am thoughts but i believe he’d be happy with love and the effort being put in the relationship. IMSOSORRYSJSN

first of all, thank you for the response! i don't know that i would use the word contract, to me it seems more of an understanding than Jumin is xyz type of person and MC is [whatever your MC is under the confines of canon responses] and they work well together. Jumin can support in his own way and MC can support in her own way and that's exactly what works for them. i see ppl sometimes claim that MC should be working a job like Jumin does so the responsibility of money doesn't lie solely on him and so MC is "contributing" to the relationship(usually in argument that the Normal End is actually better than the Good End, i've talked about here and here why Jumin probably wouldn't want her working if it wasn't with him) but i sincerely don't think that would be an issue for him since he a.) loves his job b.) already makes way too much money doing that job and c.) money being an issue is really only applicable for middle to lower income couples where finances can be sketchy or prone to any sort of economic fluctuation. for Jumin, MC's income would be completely superfluous and unneeded, as well as taking away time he could be spending with her/calling her/chatting with her. in his mind i think MC "contributing" to their relationship is already being fulfilled more than well enough. all Jumin needed in his life was someone to see him for who he really was and love him for it, that's one of the reasons why he loves MC. plus, what with spending time with her, talking with her, being lovey dovey, eventually starting a family, he's also having all his personal desires fulfilled as well.

i can see MC feeling replaceable, not because she thinks Jumin would be happier with someone in his own tax bracket, but because to her it feels like he might only be with her because he thinks she's the best he'll get... settling, essentially. the MC i portray is someone who isn't anyone so special, she looks bland, doesn't seem to have any particular talents, and now lives in the shadow of Rika- someone's who no one has a bad thing to say about, not even the man that is going blind because of her(as MC will later find out from Jumin). i think most people would be an insecure mess being constantly compared to that, and that's before we take into account Jumin's unrequited feelings for Rika. i guess what i'm trying to say is that money and jobs isn't, hasn't been, and never will be how she "contributes" in Jumin and MC's relationship, and it's not a reason MC should feel she's replaceable in.

and.....omg i haven't even got to your original question LMAO i just wanted to get the money/job contribution thing outta the way, my answer to what i think Jumin would do as his emotions calm in the later stages of their relationship is under the cut for length lol i'm so sorry i'm like this

i said earlier i think one of the reasons Jumin loves MC -and a big component of why he's attracted to her in the first place- in that she sees him for who he is, not who he's supposed to be(think Bad End1), nor who she wants him to be(BE2). the only people Jumin has ever felt this gaze from is his dad, Jihyun, and Rika(and by extension, Elizabeth the 3rd).

Rika was special because she was the only woman among them to do so, and thus for a time occupied Jumin's heart in a way he never truly articulated until his own route. for Jumin it could only be a 'what if', and i think that's partially why he ended up investing so much in Elizabeth: he could almost perfectly live out his fantasy of Rika with out any fear of rejection, project all his ideals and on Elizabeth, and she could never disagree since, hey, cat's can't talk. i think the reason Jumin felt this love so deeply is because it was his first even remotely romantic possibility in his life up to that point, rather than him being especially attracted to Rika because of some particular quality about her aside from his perception of her perception of himself.

onto how i think this all comes together in how Jumin and MC's relationship is different and more meaningful; i think they're perfect for eachother. i think Jumin's love for MC isn't only limited to how she sees him, but how she treats him and those around her, he's said on multiple occasions how he finds particular features of hers to be cute like her ears and her sleepy eyes(even when Sarah Choi points out how mob MC looks lol), he loves how she treats him like letting him ramble about vitamin d and looking out for his emotional well being, he loves how she behaves like when she (can) threaten to beat up the people making his life difficult and (can) call him at ungodly hours of the night just to poke fun and mess around. for comparison we never really see him make comments quite like that about Rika, he just says she's kind and beautiful. on top of all of that, Jumin is the fiercely loyal type who's more than willing to keep someone in his life even if they grow to be different than how they met, he cares so much to the point he can't help it.

as an aside, him and Rika could never work out though since they're fundamentally incompatible and would likely both drive the relationship into the ground, it's also a personal belief of mine that Jumin would only stomach Rika's domestic violence to a certain degree, likely the point where she blinded V would be the point where he finally cuts off the relationship, since Jumin doesn't have the same savior complex as V.

as for his, ahem, strong emotions, they are certainly a force to be trifled with, and while i do think how he chooses to express those emotions will gradually peter out to a more reasonable level of dramatic, i still think the depth of his love for MC will remain the same as it did on his day 10, as that's just his nature.

there only real sticking point for his and MC's relationship ever ending prematurely is MC herself. particularly if she ever fell out of love with Jumin. this largely depends on how you see MC, if you're like me, she serves as a self-insert, and then the question becomes what do i see myself having an issue with. i'm also someone who runs away from attention for fear of rejection, so i can see MC subtly sabotaging her and Jumin's relationship as an expression of insecurity and fear. i can also see Jumin fighting for the relationship the second he realizes what is happening for all of the reasons above.

i think everyone has at least a small fear of being replaced, and in MC's situation that fear is more than justified, but the wonderful thing about their relationship is that so long as MC chooses to trust Jumin, that fear will never come to fruition, and once they both overcome that, they will have a long and healthy relationship until Luciel's spaceship explodes and destroys the earth. until then though, i'm gonna keep making comics about them because Jumin's cute and i want me and everyone else to live vicariously though MC(and even Jumin, to and extent, because everyone could use their own MC in their life)

anyway this post is long enough, thank you sm for giving me a reason to ramble away, feel free to send any more thoughts my way >:3c

[mrpenguinpants]

Alrighty it's been a few hours and I'm fully awake so here's the (mostly) coherent response that I promised:

Okay so when you mentioned how the unknown god said “the arrogation of mankind ends now” it made me wonder if we (Aether & Lumine) had a hand in that calamity that destroyed Kaenri’ah? Whether accidentally or on purpose (hopefully w good intentions tho) we triggered the calamity and the unknown god stepped in like “it’s time to STOP” and even though a lot of other factors went into it she kinda scapegoated the outlanders? Maybe our presence was disrupting the balance of the world lol

OH AND WHAT IF THE UNKNOWN GOD USED TO BE KAENRI’AH’S GOD BUT SHE TURNED HER BACK ON THEM AFTER THE CALAMITY??? BC SHE THOUGHT THEY WENT TOO FAR W THEIR ALCHEMY????? MAYBE??????? Did you already mention this I honestly don't remember lmao sorry

But also I’m super intrigued by the fact that the sky is a hoax as Scaramouche said and the possibility that Kaenri’ah is in the false sky 👀 Bc rn we can see Celestia in game as an actual physical place and I wonder if Kaenri’ah used to also be a bunch of floating islands but the calamity yeeted them into space or something lmao? This also just reminded me that in the traveler’s voice overs they mentioned that the day/night cycle in Teyvat is much shorter than in their world (and ofc we can see that clearly in game) and idk if that was just a hand-wavey way to incorporate this game mechanic into the lore or if it’s actually significant but maybe it means something????? Like idk the calamity fucked up time in Teyvat or something????

Idk I’m word vomiting rn I said I’d write a coherent response once I’m awake but turns out I just can’t be coherent in general lmao

HELLO! IT’S BEEN A FEW DAYS BECAUSE I’M SUPER BAD AT REPLYING ON TIME BUT I’M HERE NOW! TUMBLR WON’T LET ME REPLY TO COMMENTS BUT I AGREE WITH WHAT U SAID ABOUT CHILDE. HE’S SUCH A ONE BRAINCELL DUMBASS BUT HE’S MY DUMBASS. [nvm tumblr fixed itself] I am holding onto his boss fight so I can beat him into submission with Xiao. I AM SO EXCITED FOR FEB 3. IT’S TOMORROW!!! 

---

Okay, not gonna lie, I really want Aether and Lumine to be horrible people lol. Not in a sense that we caused the calamity in order to wipe out humans with evil intentions, but Aether and Lumine are really sheltered in a sense. Since it’s only been the two of them and they don’t seem to stick around in the same world. Lumine doesn’t appear to have a lot of feelings and hangs around the abyss order while Aether seems to be gaining human emotion (since he basically had a mind reset) and that could be why Dainsleif issued his whole “prove to me that you are fit to save her”. Since he’s super into humanity and hates the Gods. That kinda stuff. But this is me spitballing and wanting everything to be sad haha. 

Yo, I wanna see that. The unknown god spitting metaphors and flowery language just to say “yo wtf are you doing, it’s time to STOP.” I definitely believe in our presence was disrupting the balance since Lumine says something like “outlanders don’t belong here” or something like that. Plus all the shit that happened with Aether throughout the story. Saving Dvalin and sealing Osial. 

YES. YES. I’M TOTALLY ON BOARD WITH THAT THEORY THAT THE UNKNOWN GOD WAS THE KAENRI’AH GOD. I love those tragic “I used to be the good guy but due to unfortunate circumstances it’s time to stab a bitch” (yo what a status. This is my status now). But I completely believe that Khemia was what caused the calamity. Or even, okay back to me spit balling even tho this isn’t really a theory (and I don’t think this is how genshin is going to go but my brainworms are taking over), since Khaenri’ah was an archoneless land, that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t gods the same way Liyue has adepti’s right? We don’t know what region Khaenri’ah is yet (at least I think) since Liyue is China and Mondstadt is Germany so I can’t say anything about folklore and what not. But each region so far has some sort of celestial being that isn’t an archon but still protects that specific piece of Teyvat. So what if the unknown god was technically a god, might have been the archon, but perhaps Lumine and Aether dislike the gods and tried to teach the people of  Khaenri’ah how to like, rise above or whatever, but that whole situation backfired and started the calamity. And the unknown god was just this whole, misunderstood situation the same way with the salt goddess in Liyue. Havria? I think that’s her name. That could explain why she went after the two siblings and said the whole, arrogation of mankind. 

Scaramouche you fucking bitch, explain to me in english what you mean!! Why are you leaving me off on a cliffhanger;; Stupid gremlin smh, I say this but as soon as I see his banner I’m gonna whale for him even though I hate using castors. I’m gonna finally use Mona and Lisa when I get him haha. That is very true tho, I believe Khaenri’ah is the false sky or it has something to do with the sky. YEETED THEM INTO SPACE LOLLL. This kinda reminds me of the gbf lore and the crimson horizon. Basically the gbf main story takes place above the clouds and the crimson horizon is what separates gbf with the “main world”. The main world went to shit so that’s why everyone now lives in the sky. It would make sense since the calamity turned everyone into monsters.  

Honestly, I can see it being some sort of hint because genshin is lowkey really bad at subtly hinting at things (COUGH ZHONGLI AND ALBEDO COUGH). Or it could just be a nod to irl people and the day night cycle but who knows. I feel like Venti or Zhongli would say something about it since the calamity started, Mondstadt went to go and help and honestly, the timeline of Khaenri’ah is so fucked. Either way, Scaramouche was on musk reef which does lead to the spiral abyss and time doesn’t act naturally there either so there might be some connections but who knows haha. 

Nah nah, I live for this kinda stuff. Don’t worry about being coherent because I’m never haha. Honestly, theory lore stuff needs to be more “slapping the whiteboard as I look at you with my sleep deprived eyes” instead of “this is my 20 page essay detailing the quantum mechanics of fictional characters”. 

[petrichorrose]

(he looks so pretty-)

So um

(Expect the crazy and wacc ass theories from me pretty much-and I just want Jesse back my heart hurts an asston mY SON MY BABY B O Y)

Obviously like p much the majority of the fandom, I can't stop thinking why his eyes are open while Steve, French, and the rest of the ppl have theirs closed and then I thought of how Steve did the Movements for a long while for Jesse. ngl my dumbass kept thinking he was just doing the First Movement over and over bc it was only him but he's doing all Five and I was like. We still dont really know what the Movements do in certain situations.

What happens of only one person does all Five?

Well,D2!Jesse's eyes being open might be what happens. What I was thinking of in terms of why (hopefully I'm able to explain this coherently), was that Steve doing all Five along with his Fuel, His Will pretty much burning into the hope and want for Jesse to come back alive made it so that Jesse's spirit might've jumped somehow to D2!Jesse, causing D2! to "wake up" but not completely, only having him (both of him?) be in D2!Jesse's body, staying there as if to keep him safe and not let him move on to, wherever the spirits go in The OA when they ain't jumping lol

Or, just thought of this now, Steve might've just woke D2!Jesse up, well "wake up," so that at least one of the Jesse's are still alive and with him, albeit his D2!self and in, ya know, another dimension. I'm not sure where Jesse is in this one, possibly with Rachel somehow or is being kept safe from moving on and ready to jump dimensions but not in D2!Jesse's body.

I still might side with the first version of this theory since BBA did say Steve, French and Jesse's consciousness' were there, though it's possible she could be referring to only their D2!selves consciousness'. Then again, their dimensional maps are open so it's also possible she's feeling theirs and their other selves from other dimensions as well.

Either way, I feel like they wouldn't permadeath Jesse nor Rachel since they're too important in terms of the 10 Angels to die forever.

Not gonna lie, there are holes in this theory, especially with how powerful one person can do when doing all Five Movements, I'm obviously making it more OP(?) than it really is.

honestly this is more of a comforting thought and kind of stable idea as to where my baby boy is ;w; and is inspired by a short story idea I came up with where Jesse wakes up in the pool alone after the ending of Part II and now has to figure out where everyone went and how to get to D3

basically more heartache because he's technically alone. again.