#its the ask of those who don't have surnames lmao

[fitzrove]

Now that I'm talking about history sklslsldldld here's another post...

Historical accuracy in fanworks - why?

A recurring thing w me is that people get annoyed with how obsessed I am with historical accuracy 😭😅 Like people have had to physically restrain me from doing 5 hours of research for a throwaway line in a fanfic, and one friend and I once had an hour long argument about word choice... But unfortunately I am just Like This lmao.

The thing is though, it's not because of any inherent sense of superiority or anything like that lol, I just have preferences. Also, I'm not the kind of person that needs everything to be 100% accurate all the time, I can still have fun JAPFLDPGPF. Basically, for me it comes down to a few things:

1. Suspension of disbelief / immersion

With historical fiction, the "he would not fucking say that" kicks in w dialogue easier than w something set in the modern day. Sometimes it's because of glaringly modern language (a 19th century guy going "sup" or something xD) but other times it's because a character is way too familiar with people of a different class, or acts/dresses/speaks too casually in general.

My hugest pet peeve with this are character names for side characters that the author made up 😭😭😭😭😭 As a non-native English speaker I don't really get the urge to insert random English names into my stories even when the stories are in English, I always look up the historical context and try to use names that a parent would give their child in that context. I'm sorry for naming and shaming but in one tdv fic Alfred's surname was Smith and I had to put down my phone because it broke my immersion so badly xD

2. Enjoyment

Historical accuracy can also be a characterisation thing!!! With crown prince rudolf of austria specifically his whole appeal as a character comes from his neuroses, and his neuroses are the specific way they are because of his specific position and status, and all that those entail in his historical context. It makes a story so much more interesting if these are properly taken into account 👀

3. What's the purpose of fanfic?

To me personally the purpose of writing and posting FANfic, as opposed to writing other stories, is threefold:

Making a point about the original story (is it a fix-it fic? An AU reimagining? A canon-compliant elaboration on something I think could expand upon a character's personality or two characters' relationship? These approaches all comment on the original work and its themes and characters.)

Personal enjoyment/self indulgence (I write what I would like to read)

Hopefully connecting with other fans (persuading them to see my Vision re specific characters/relationships, the setting, or the work as a whole; keeping the fandom alive; inspiring other people to make fanwork; providing entertainment; finding people who are the same kind of insane as you and making friends)

To me, putting historical accuracy into my fic or drawing inspiration from history fulfills all of these goals. With the first one: the original work usually comments on its era in some way as well, so drawing inspiration for the fic from that era complements it and keeps them grounded together. IRL history can also give you fun ideas to put in. W the second one: I love late 19th century history specifically and historical accuracy is my kink KSLFPEPDOFO. W the third one: I like sharing weird/funny/interesting historical facts w people so we can enjoy them together 😌 I also like Informing people of things that happened in history so hopefully they can have as much fun w the knowledge as I do. I try not to do this unsolicitedly and in general try to avoid criticising anyone for historical inaccuracies without being asked to because that's boring, I'm not trying to be cinema sins here

4. Exceptions

Sometimes historical inaccuracy is more fun than historical accuracy, though this is highly personal - you just have to do what you think is best and accept that something you enjoy might be something that breaks another person's suspension of disbelief (and hence makes them not enjoy the story). My personal metrics are roughly:

Sojblfpldlpf fun fact an unnamed person and I had a conversation about rudolf's probably not existing [redacted] register last night and while writing a fic about it would be historically inaccurate, the conclusions we arrived at about it were pretty funmy and interesting. With gay and homosexual implications

One of my favourite pastimes is to comb over crown prince rudolf's life and purposefully misinterpret random things as gay KSOGODPFOTK 😌😌😌 it's a good way to get fic ideas. So um yeah idk where I was going with this post haha

[necroangelz]

🪽

i love hearung people infodump about stuff wven its stufg idk pleasr peladeplelfeldmf dies

( the angel apologizes for the late response to uur ask . it's been more than a week .oops . it's okay though because this infodump is HELLA LONG. /SRS )

i adore ppl who listen to infodumps > < /p gen

『 🪽 』

infodump about an oc

so, then, let me tell uu about the story of the half demon and the human she loved. (aka my demon Slayer ocs doomed Yuri )

this infodump is gonna require some prior knowledge to demon Slayer tbh > < I'm too lazy to explain details that are specific to the demon Slayer series Soz ... also my autocorrect might randomly capitalize Slayer so just ignore that

so let's introduce the characters !!

KAGUYA UBUYASHIKI

picrew

kaguya's name above links her playlist that i made a few yrs ago !! the playlist is quite old and i don't add new songs to it as much but i quite love it a lot > < i think the songs suit her well so there's no reason to change anything

at the start of the canon series (like lets say kaguya is in the story because thats how i wrote it lmao) Kaguya is 25 years old. as her surname "ubuyashiki" implies, she's an adopted member of the ubuyashiki clan. her mother was a pillar (a pillar of what, I'm not sure yet ahaha...) who disappeared before kaguyas birth, and left the infant Kaguya at the doorstep of the ubuyashikis. they decided to take her in and raise her alongside kagaya ubuyashiki, the head of the demon Slayer corps at the start of the series. Kaguya is 2 years older than kagaya. she is also his only surviving sibling as the rest of their siblings committed suicide years ago (canon fact i read just now lol)

she doesn't know much about her mother, and only knows her mother through the stories that others tell about her. unfortunately, due to their line of work, those who knew her mother end up dying until she's the only one carrying her mother's memory. there rumors though that her mother had an affair with a demon right before giving birth to kaguya

Kaguya hopes to find her father one day. how she will do it, what would she do (ask him why it had to be her mother, ask him about her mother, kill him, form a relationship with him, etc.); she doesn't know.

fun fact about her father: originally she was going to be the daughter of muzan kibutsuji. because this was a common trope i did before, i made ocs who were the daughters of villains. i didn't really regard the villains as parental figures because i was in love with them, but i suppose i enjoyed the family dynamic this trope would have. it was interesting to imagine the villain parent as being softer and kinder to their daughter (if they were on the same side [kaguya would not have been on the same side as muzan, obviously]), their daughter being spoiled, treated like royalty, and inheriting the same villainous traits from their parent(s)... i actually did have another oc who was muzan's daughter, although she didn't exist in the same "universe" as kaguya lolz

... looking back at my childhood and family history i can see why i was so in love with this trope

anyways. Kaguya harbors a secret that she doesn't hide well, so most people are aware of it, but out of respect no one accuses her of anything. Kaguya might just be a half demon half human (okay well take out the word "might" because she IS). she exhibits great inhuman strength and speed, she can heal quickly from any injury (it's not as fast as the regular demons' regeneration, but she can survive injuries that humans would usually die from. she recovers quickly from injuries and never gets sick. healers love her. literally. i used to ship her with shinobu.) she's also allergic to sunlight and wisteria. she gets severe rashes when she stands under the sun for too long and her body temperature rises quickly when she's outside. hence, she wears a wide brimmed hat to protect from the sun. i also think she would wear her universe's version of sunscreen. she also feels nauseous around wisteria. heaven knows what would happen if she ingested it.

she's sort of a prodigy when it comes to being a warrior/fighter. she began having rigorous training to fight demons since she was 8 and since then she has become a high profile demon Slayer. (that age might change... it used to be 6 but i thought 6 was too overkill lol. that's really young isn't it. she should be at the playground /ref)

I'm a bit undecided about what her breath style should be. it used to be breath of the Phoenix (based on the song the Phoenix by fall out boy) and i have a design of Kaguya with red robes which would fit that breath style more, but I've grown used to purple robes Kaguya! i know i could have Kaguya use breath of the Phoenix while wearing purple robes, but robes are often symbolic of a slayer's breath style, and purple robes just don't really give Phoenix vibes.

Kaguya with red robes ! i use this design in an AU of kaguya's story. i won't go into the AU in this post but all one needs to know is: it's based on moon knight. because i just so happened to have a moon knight phase around the same time i was really obsessed with kaguya's story

another breath style Kaguya could use though is wisteria breathing. i just thought of this recently so it's a wip idea, but it could be interesting bc wisteria breathing is strong against demons but it will also hurt her. wisteria and all that. it feels symbolic of her as a character as well.. somehow

anyways, Kaguya is aloof, keeps her distance from others, acts invulnerable and cold, although she has moments of warmth and can still show kindness to others. she prefers that others do not get to know her on a personal level and keeps everything professional. her brother and her 1 or 2 friends encourage her to loosen up and they've tried everything to get her to socialize with others.

she's desensitized to her pain and others'. the corps often gives her the hardest jobs simply because she's one of their best fighters, so she's used to long battles (and winning). she's not cocky when it comes to fighting, but she certainly knows that she will eventually win. she rarely shows fear. she knows that a scared warrior is not what people need.

obviously she has a dash of trauma added to her character.

i realized Kaguya is extremely similar to mizu from blue eye samurai. i didnt intend fur that—kaguya was made AGES before BES was released, but i think that's really cool lol

RISA AKAGI

kaguyas childhood friend who died at 25. she was a demon Slayer of a high rank, just like her dear friend. came from a rich family with parents that loved her; sadly they never understood her deep down. they didn't understand her dreams to pursue creative arts like writing and music. instead they wanted her to marry so they can become more wealthy.

her parents did arrange a marriage for her, but they lost their wealth anyway. and soon enough, risa lost her husband and her family.

risa was used to dealing with expectations. her peers often viewed her as a perfect unattainable standard. someone to watch and be jealous of. someone to compare themselves to.

she was a practical person who kept calm often. a lot of people liked her and thought she was easy to get along with. she always knew what to do, how to behave, to get people to like her and do what she wanted them to do. many people in her circle liked to act as if they know her well/personally/deeply but she's a guarded person who knows how to keep people away, just like kaguya. the difference between them is that risa can fool people into believing they're closer than they actually are

i actually never thought of what risa's breath style would be. kaguya was her main mentor when she was in training so maybe she developed a breath style based on kaguyas? like early on she was using a common breath style but ended up developing one similar to kaguyas. I'll think about it further though.

that's all i can say about risa.

so what's their story anyway?

their first meeting was when they were children (eight and eleven, risa is 3 yrs older). it was a short meeting, almost unremarkable, although they kept thinking of their meeting bcz they wanted to meet each other again very badly. their wishes were granted and they meet again as teenagers (14, 17). this time theyre able to form a friendship and oh, how close they become. it's like a once in a lifetime bond. and speaking of lifetimes they feel like they know each other from a past life.

^ note I'm not tryna be weird about this, they didn't develop feelings for each other until they were both adults/chronologically 20-somethings. Kaguya physically matures faster due to being half demon so physically she looks about risa's age if not older. she doesn't act like a regular young person either due to her life experiences. i made their ages like this to emphasize how she is stronger in terms of physical power despite being younger.

they are inseparable... except for complications in their life that do separate them. one, as they grow up, risa's marriage to an older man is arranged. as a result she doesn't have as much freedom to do what wanted (ie, hang out with Kaguya) like before. they find their ways though, don't worry. a bit after their marriage, risa's family loses their wealth somehow and they're forced to move to a small very rural town

two, Kaguya obviously has to hide her true life from risa. keeping such a huge secret causes fights and other troubles between them but what else is she to do? she just can't tell a regular civilian about the demon Slayer corps and demons at all . she wants to keep risa safe too so she has to tell her Absolutely Nothing

all of that becomes for nothing though when a demon attacks risa's family, killing her parents (and siblings that live with them, if i decide to give her siblings. i should give her siblings), her husband, and her husband's family too probably. but basically a lot of people are dead. Kaguya arrives and kills the demon, but at that point only risa was the survivor. Kaguya tells her about demons and demon slayers, and risa chooses to enlist in the corps.

when risa enlists, she's 20 and chronologically Kaguya is 17. of course she hasn't really properly ENLISTED yet because she has to go through the final selection ! ( i kinda find it funny that they call it the "final selection" when there's no other selection process for demon slayers other than this, but it's also kind of a final thing in the way that many people Die from it ) so risa moves to kaguya's estate and trains for three years before entering the final selection. obviously she survives and passes with flying colors because she was trained only by the best (kaguya <3). she became friends with the people she saved/helped in the final selection too

so now at 23, risa is a demon slayer! things go quite well in her career. she goes on pair missions with kaguya at first so that risa's safety is ensured and she doesn't have a hard time. risa is worried she actually isn't that good of a demon slayer and at some point she hates relying on kaguya during pair missions, thinking that her success is only because of kaguya and not because she has any skill at all.

aside from that risa also tries to deal with the trauma of losing her family and the mental and physical strain that comes with training and fighting demons. she's terrified that she too will lose her life one day but when she fights alongside kaguya she feels safe, and when she goes home to kaguya after a successful solo mission, she's determined to do her best fighting demons for the rest of her life so that she's happy when she dies

but then she thinks, does she really want to do this for the rest of her life?

kaguya thinks of the same thing too, because before this she was fine being a simple weapon for the corps. a weapon with no friends, no connection to this world, and no real passion in life. she's so strong, obviously she's meant to be a demon slayer, right? but being with risa causes her to rethink everything and what she truly wants

the two of them discuss if they want to retire when they're a bit older. get a nice house in the countryside and live together, raise livestock, and live a calm life where they never think about their missions and they never have to raise a sword against a demon again

,,, well

one day, risa goes on a solo mission and doesn't come back. kaguya knows where she went so she searches the whole place for her, and searches even farther, but none. she tells corps workers stationed in nearby locations to keep an eye out for risa, she searches every week for her, but she doesn't see her nor hear from her for months. she doesn't even find a dead body

what she does find, a few months later, is risa turned into a demon. she would find out later too that demon!risa had already killed a few humans in their time apart. demon risa has no memory of her life as a human, so her first instinct upon seeing kaguya is to attack her. risa is quite strong as a demon. it hurts kaguya to see risa fight with a variant of the same techniques she used when she was still a human

kaguya wants to save her, she wishes there was an ending to this battle that didn't involve risa's death, but she's relentless in her attack. it was either risa died or kaguya died

so she's slain by kaguya. let me just copy paste this line from my notes:

"as her head gets chopped and falls off, one moment from her human life flashes before her eyes. a blurry memory of her and kaguya sitting in kaguya's estate, drinking tea and enjoying the afternoon sun. the memory constantly changes shape and briefly morphs into other memories that she can't process, and it feels like a scene playing from far away. like a memory that isn't hers. risa doesn't think this is from her memory at all, due to the blurriness and transience of it. she dies facing the sky and a single teardrop falls from her eye."

risa was 25 when she died. kaguya was chronologically 23

as one can guess, this whole ordeal traumatized kaguya even further than she is already traumatized. poor thing. all of this would have taken place 3yrs before the main story (so kaguya would be 25 too when the main story would roll around)

okay, so what really happened to risa on the night she disappeared during the mission anyway? how did she become a demon?

i don't have a LOT of details sorted out, but basically she was wounded and super duper hurt during the fight, the demon she's fighting offers to turn her into a demon (i'm guessing she should've been fighting a demon moon then... oohh what if she thought she was fighting a regular demon but then a demon moon shows up and offers to turn her??) obviously she declines the offer but in the end she gets forcefully turned into a demon. so yeah !

i would also like to note that in this story, the demon slayers are aged up just a little bit. i'm sure it makes sense to someone that a lot of demon slayers are young—because they die before they can grow old— but a part of me was unsatisfied with that! so a lot of the pillars are in their early to mid 20s, with the exception of muichiro who is 17, tengen who is 31 (this bitch is 23 originally wtf??, and gyomei who is 44 (HE IS 27 I THOUGHT HE WAS IN HIS 40S)

thats all i have to share i think. thank GOD its all over now /s if one has somehow made their way to the end and read everything in this ramble, comment uur fav video game or something .

aaaaaand thats the end of kaguya ubuyashiki and risa akagi's wonderful backstory and their happy ending.

[redwayfarers]

🎨 🍵 👽 for both Cass and Isa? :3c

ty for dropping by <3

🎨 Is your OC artistic? Can they draw or paint or do they prefer another medium? Are they a writer or musician or do they do something else? Give us a quick run down of what they can get creative with!

Isa is a woodcarver. She didn't have much time to perfect it while Commander, but having sharp claws does have its non-lethal usage sometimes. She initially took it up as a way to practice coordination and hand movement in her new mythosi body (on her Mom's suggestion and Mother didn't object) and fell in love with it. A lot of her early woodcarving is kept in her rooms in Lapis, some of it is in Sabir's hands and some of it is in Esmerelda and Mom's.

Cass isn't artistic, not in the traditional sense of the word? He knows music, he sketches, but none of that is original or necessarily good. He has a good ear for music and catching rhythm and tones, but that doesn't mean he can replicate them himself. He'd kill to be a musician, though. Music is one of the great passions in his life.

🍵 Are there any rumours about your OC hanging around? Nasty ones or just good humoured? Got any gossip to share about them?

Isa's the ex-Commander of Plaithus - of course there's rumours about her. Before her discharge, there were rumours she was dating Sabir. Some people thought she sharpened her fangs before battle to make herself extra vicious on the battlefield, though those are undercut by how chill she is outside of it. There were nasty rumours too, but Isa ignored them. After the exile, she was rumoured to be rabid (though that's just kicking someone while they're down type slander) and that she's best kept away from Plaithus because she's off the leash and truly, truly, a wild beast.

In the aftermath of Vestaran civil war, which saw Vasco twisting the tale of Cass' efforts in nation-wide contract to find missing Guild mages and which marked his reappearance in the eyes of the Vestran elite, a lot of rumours came to be. Nobody had any idea why he's Wayfarer Inteus, because there hasn't been a magiani in the family line for generations (and Theo made sure nobody knew who he was after disowning him), so they started speculating that he just stole the surname. Straight up pretended to be an Inteus when he's not. After nearly (accidentally) killing his youngest sibling Aftonio (one of the kids who went missing), there were rumours that he has a hate boner for mages as a whole and is a mage hunter. A good rumour though is that he's Sero's former apprentice, and that one's true, given his sometimes unusual approach to doing contracts, as well as a certain level of fairness he both provides and expects from you. You don't have to like him, he doesn't have to like you, but he thinks both parties need to uphold their end of the bargain.

👽Describe your OC as if they were an urban legend or myth!

I mean, Isa does look like an urban legend, she has dog-like mannerisms, dog-like claws, sharp fangs, a lot of black hair on a pretty pale skin and white eyes. I think the joke writes itself here

Cass just sticks out wherever he goes, because of his genetics (he'd punch someone if they ask if he dyes his hair) but here I wanna talk about gorgon!Cass (aka his Exile AU) because before the mythosi blood, he looked handsome, yeah, but also a lot more ordinary. Auburn hair, brown eyes. But the blood made his eyes and hair go bright red, he has a split tongue, retractable fangs, talons and before the exile, had green scales on his joints and the sides of his face. True to himself, he refuses to cut his hair and it's very red and very long. Truly, a myth lmao

[italoniponic]

Hiring I really want to rant about something but in too shy to do it on my main so I'll be anonymous!

So hear me out Playing the piano with Sam, it says that one of Sam's hobbies is playing the piano so imagine playing you are my sunshine on piano with him<33and silver too since I think he would play piano because it's calming to him so imagine this!

While yall were on a walk in the botanical garden yall came across a big piano, it was a sunny day with silvers animals friends following close behind yall "silver look it a piano!" You point to the piano with a soft smile of your face.Silver sees that smile and without noticing it he was also smiling, a smile that radiates the sun.Only for your eyes, his voice fills your ears sending a chill down your back...

"Would you like to play it?" He said in a tone as soft and fresh as snow, you nod you head and follow the prince like male to the piano.A piano sitting there for who-knows-how-long with vines crawling inside itself and on its legs,but the piano made no effort to remove them,only sitting there as if it welcomes the vines presences like how it welcomed yalls.Infact you think the piano incouraged the vines to keep going, to let them lean on it for support I'm it's life-

Ding

Snapping out of thought, you saw silvers slim finger pressed against the key.He beckoned you to sit down and you did, right beside him.You watch as his fingers danced across the keys, every so often you would hit a note together yall made a beautiful song, a sing the painted the air,sky,flowers,plants and even the animals that watched yall.The animals had gatherd around the grand piano watching as yall make life itself into a mere melody. "Awww this is so sweet" the white rabbit cooed, earning a squeak from the field mice "did you know silver played the paino??" One asked, "hmmm I don't think so" another spoke and the last mouse spoke in a somewhat harsh tone "do yall not pay attention!? He learned a few weeks ago after hearing y/n play it!" All of the animals were talking amongst themselves and sang praises about yall, but a single sparrow by the name pando only watched from afar.

The sparrow only watched "Why are they not doing anything?" The sparrow grumbled to itself, after some thinking about what it should do it came to a decision.Pando knew those other animals will only watch, they won't try to help like pando does.Pando has been trying to get yall together for sometime now but each attempt has failed.

Without any waring a sparrow knocks you on the side of you head,that little thing had alot of force for a tiny little bird.The pressure from that hot made you knock into silvers cheek, it didn't hit to where pando wanted to, infact pamdo wanted you to kiss his lips not his cheek but the sparrow digressed.Honestly humans aren't that smart, like how they think they are.

Ahhhh sorry for the essay 😭😭

I was listening to kou wo okiakete paino cover while listening to this <3

not a problem, dear anon <3 when you get more comfortable, you can actually send something on your main someday!

aaaaaa characters playing piano is one of my weaknesses <3 especially bc piano is one of my favorite instruments, all above the rest, so you already have my heart on this one

Sam playing the piano <3333 I'll actually write down this idea for later, if by any chance I get the right inspiration to write it. all credit to you ofc, since it's originally your idea!

I can imagine him playing some classic jazz, one of those old vintage love songs and he singing with his low voice, charming as he is. It would be with a older!reader, probably you two are running this little store for some time, he asked you for the job bc he likes your company and you're quite a good seller... but then, after hours, the store is closed and Sam is playing a little soft melody in the store's piano...

OMG OMG OMG I NEED TO WRITE IT DOWN JUST IN CASE THANK YOU FOR THAT

now, Silver's part <3 (or, in which Cherry stares at the text fondly, then giggles because of the animals then has a laughing breakdown because oooh I know where this is going)

I want to be canon that Silver knows a little bit of piano. Like, maybe one or two songs that Lilia taught him once and he kinda plays the keys more out of ear-intuition but it produces a good sound. Not super profissional but still charming and sweet

ngl at the middle, I thought "maybe Anon read 'I Wonder For You' since the animals are talking? should I mention this? it could be a coincidence tho" so when "but a single sparrow by the name pando only watched from afar" came out I LOST ALL MY SHIT

I JUMPED SO QUICKLY ON MY BED THAT MY CAT STARED AT ME ANGRY LIKE "what is more important than my beauty sleep that you can just be quiet and still, human???"

I was laughing all the way to the end FR sparrow @pandoa attacks again

still, kissing Silver's cheek <333 is better than doing nothing. Love it, love it, love it! Thanks, Anon, for this sweet little scenario you had. made my afternoon shine brighter, my coffee sweeter, my toast with butter more soft, my smile bigger, my cat... he hates when I move around my bed, he doesn't understand romance </3

also I agree, its a amazing cover and it fits all the scenario's feeling!

thank you, dear! you and everybody is always welcomed on my asks <3

[roccinan]

In ref to all that 'kid at 14' stuff. Yes I agree with everyone, LCDP writers have some serious continuity problems. Not to be the devil's advocate, but LCDP was a done for thing that was meant to end in S2 until Nerflix decided to pick it up. So when they originally made it, it didn't matter if Andrés was 30 something cause it didn't change anything. Then Netflix arrived and made S3, 4 and 5 and things HAD to be added (so there were bound to be plot holes, it was inevitable). So now Rafael comes along and it's just easier for plot purposes to give Andrés Pedro's age. So okay. Kinda can forgive that.

What I still don't get is their surname's and all the family history. Because yeah, actors decided they were bros from dad and that got confirmed in S5, okay. BUT then what about the 'your father' along with the fact their surnames suggest they have dif father but same mom.

Also when Andrés reveals his illness he says 'tengo la enfermedad de mamá' as in mom's illness. NOT 'my mom's illness' but 'mom's illness' which just makes things a little confusing going by their surnames🤷‍♀️. And then (if I remember correctly) his file says 'de Fonollosa García' (or some such surname like that) so where the fuck does Marquina fits in in all this, and also who the fuck is García then? Because okay, if for some reason Papá Marquina didn't give his surname to Andrés and de Fonollosa was the mom (which again why????) it still leaves me confused about where the hell do you get the García from.

And this is all a plot hole that originates from S1 and 2 so for that they don't have the excuse of 'Netflix made us add to a finished product'.

So that's it, I hope this is at least somewhat comprehensible. And sorry for the rambling😅.

(P.S: remember I'm a biologist (in training)? So I have this thing where in thanks for bothering people with my nonsense I sometimes drop bio related stuff. I work a lot with bats, so here, have this little guy I was with a couple days ago. And sorry if you don't like them😅. But honestly how could you not? Just look at this cutie and that smiley face🥺. We decided to name him Dukúr, and we got pretty close.)

Hi! Thanks for joining this cursed convo haha! Your rambles are more than welcome ;)

Yeah lol I still think it’s hilarious that they tried to set an age and height for Andrés for no reason, only for those two specific details to be proven wrong at every turn. But I agree that we should look at S1/2 with a different context since like you said, Netflix picking it up meant new additions that don’t quite match up (like Andrés’ age) were inevitable. Still funny but understandable.

re: surname: Despite how on board I am with the same father hc now, literally all clues in S1-3 pointed at same mother. And you pretty much pointed out why! Anyone watching would have assumed they shared a mother. I guess we could say Papa Marquina was just blatantly not there for Andrés so he felt the man was more of Sergio’s father. We could also say Andrés is just self-centered and assumed he could say “mom” and Sergio would just know he’s talking about his own mother lol.

The de Fonollosa Garcia thing is throwing me off too though LOL (also funny thing is I was literally just wondering what his second surname was and then you sent this ask, answering my question haha). OK so I’m sure you understand this way better than me, so I hope you don’t mind me asking the following series of stupid questions in response asdfaadf:

To my understanding (correct me if I’m wrong!), Spanish surnames go “father’s first surname” then “mother’s first surname.” So if Andres for some reason took his mother’s surname, would he be allowed to take both of hers? Or is that just not a thing? As in, could de Fonollosa be his (maternal) grandfather’s surname and Garcia his grandmother’s surname?

The other alternative (again, I’m not sure if it makes sense in the cultural context?) is that Andres was a bastard child, but his mother was married to someone else. So Garcia really is his mother’s last name and de Fonollosa is his stepfather’s last name? 

OR, the theory that I hate the most because it feels in-line with lcdp writers asdsdf, Garcia was supposed to be Sergio’s last name, but they changed it to Marquina at the last minute and forgot to change Andres’ file. Moral of the story: writing as they film has its perks, but it also leads to objectively awkward plot holes about basic details LMAO

P.S Yes, I do remember! I see your biology pics a lot on Tuuli’s blog haha Listen, I may not personally go near bats for no reason IRL, but I feel so blessed seeing these adorable images. He has such a cute little face omg, so pure, so blissful- thank you so much for sharing these pics of Dukúr with me :D He has blessed my crops, cleared my skin, filled me with humble happiness!

[janiedean]

Oh? Oh! Now me moved to suicide bait, like we don't know except for a few hate-filled messages and she's telling you she's going to kill herself? Like I don't know, but yelling at random people on the internet isn't going to attract empathy? (And ++ for Bruce Springsteen, can I have some analysis too? Hum... You're a.. Hum.. A bad woman! A very bad woman! And you're Italian! Does it count as anon hate?)

you're a poop head ( this is me trying to get you to give us that sweet bruce springsteen content by sending you hate )

these were two anons but it’s 11 pm and I can’t do two analyses lmao

OKAY GUYS, SINCE ANOTHER ANON ASKED A FEW DAYS AGO, HAVE ONE OF MY FAVORITE UKNOWN BRUCE SONGS!

Shut Out The Light is an outtake from 1984′s Born in the USA, which eventually ended up being the b-side on the BITUSA single 45′, and finally published to everyone’s happiness in the box set Tracks in 1998 but played live in other occasions. It’s from the Nebraska/BITUSA era, and it’s another Bruce songs focusing on the Vietnam war question.

As in BITUSA, we have another veteran coming home, but differently from the previous song, he’s just come back and hasn’t tasted the whole variety of rejections he’ll have from society yet. But, differently from BITUSA as well, it touches on other issues. Let’s get into it!

The runway rushed up at him as he felt the wheels touch downHe stood out on the blacktop and took a taxi into townHe got out down on Main Street and went into a local barHe bought a drink and found a seat in a corner off the dark

So, again we have the cinematic opening - this could be right out of a movie: you can imagine visually the protagonist (who is a he, not an I differently from BITUSA) getting off the airplane and goes back home in the taxi and instead of going home goes to get a drink. Actually, this has a lot of interesting choices because he buys a drink and wants a seat in a corner in the dark, so he tries to not take space and he doesn’t want to be seen, and rather than meeting his family, he goes to have a drink.

Spoilers: our guy has issues. Now, let’s move on:

Well she called up her mama to make sure the kids were out of the houseShe checked herself out in the dining room mirrorAnd undid an extra button on her blouseHe felt her lying next to him, the clock said 4:00 amHe was staring at the ceilingHe couldn't move his hands

Here we moved to presumably the man’s wife. She leaves the children with her mother - because she wants some private time with her man, or because she’s worried about something else? probably the first, though, because then she takes the time to pretty herself up and open the button on her blouse, as in, she’s trying to look more attractive for him after they haven’t presumably seen each other for a long time.

So: they presumably have sex - she’s lying next to him - but he can’t go to sleep, and he’s staring at the clock at four in the morning and then at the ceiling and can’t move his hands, which suggests he might have sleep paralysis or something of the kind, which is also a consequence of trauma, and actually, as we go into the refrain, we have the confirmation:

Oh mama mama mama come quickI've got the shakes and I'm gonna be sickThrow your arms around me in the cold dark nightHey now mama don't shut out the lightDon't you shut out the lightDon't you shut out the lightDon't you shut out the lightDon't you shut out the light

Spoilers: this guy has ptsd. Bad ptsd. Very poetically put, but:

he wants his mother to come to him (calling for your mother is like, your basic instinct because she’s the person you should technically be closest to as the person who brought you up and raised you and birthed you);

he has the shakes and he’s gonna be sick (could be triggered panic attacks, flashbacks, dissociating - obviously it’s not detailed because it’s a song and not the DSM, but the symptoms are there);

he wants his mom to hold him (actually: throw her arms, so doing it almost violently) in the cold dark night (a situation that sounds fairytale-scary);

and he wants her to not shut out the light - ie he doesn’t want to be with the lights turned off because the darkness triggers memories (if you read any vietnam memoir you know that they hated night stake outs because they couldn’t see shit and they could be ambushed at any time).

So: the entire refrain is about how he has bad ptsd and he’s not handling it even if he’s trying to keep it under control, this just after he comes back from Vietnam.

Established that:

Well on his porch they stretched a banner that said "Johnny Welcome Home"Bobby pulled his Ford out of the garage and they polished up the chromeHis mama said "Johnny oh Johnny, I'm so glad to have you back with me"His pa said he was sure they'd give him his job back down at the factory

So: this guy got at least a welcome home party and we know now he’s named Johnny (reference to When Johnny Comes Marching Home? MAAAYBE SO) and that he has a best friend named Bobby who drags the car out of the garage (so he hasn’t driven it since Vietnam and no one else has) and tries to do a nice thing for him by polishing it and they can do something normal. Johnny’s mother - the one he wants at night - is happy to see him and she’s glad he survived, while his father discusses his job (mind it - the mom is worried about him being back at all, the father is worried about Johnny’s employment, as the One Who Things Mostly About Work In The Family as we already see is a recurring theme). And mind: he’s sure Johnny will get back his factory job (so, another unskilled worker who got drafted while poor) which as we know from history and the follow-up songs, Johnny will most likely not get.

Which sounds nice, except that then we go back into the refrain and nothing has changed - welcome party or nor, bff with the car or not, job or not, Johnny still isn’t okay at night and still doesn’t want the light turned off.

After the refrain, we get into the last part:

Well deep in a dark forest, a forest filled with rainBeyond a stretch of Maryland pines there's a river without a nameIn the cold black water Johnson Leneir standsHe stares across the lights of the city and dreams of where he's been

Now we have the name and surname of the guy - Johnson Leneir. He could be with his wife and family (the kids out of the house) but instead where is he? A deep dark forest, filled with rain, as in... a forest that could match Vietnam’s since again, Vietnam is filled of rainy forests and it was where most of those people have to fight. He’s in Maryland, but beyond its stretch there’s a river without a name, so the river in Maryland (if it’s there at all) or the land beyond that stretch of land is a river in Vietnam - a lot of the people there didn’t necessarily know the names of where they were or knew where they were being sent - and the negative association is made by describing the water of that river as cold and black, which are hardly words with positive connotations. Also, he stands in the cold black water as in he walks into the river same as he might have done in Vietnam (there’s a similar scene in Tim O’ Brien’s If I Die In a Combat Zone and idk if Bruce read it but it was published in ‘73 so he could absolutely have), so he can’t detach himself from that experience but at least he’s not risking death by re-interpreting it. 

Then: he stares across the lights of the city - a place he’s cut away from when he should belong there, and that’s to say he’s not belonging even with the bff and the supportive family and the beautiful wife, when instead he can’t help going into the woods and the cold dark river because he can’t leave Vietnam behind, and dreams of where he’s been, as in - as I said: he thinks he’s back in Vietnam or he thinks back about Vietnam and he can’t leave that behind him, and again the refrain doesn’t change -- he still doesn’t want the lights turned off, he still wants his mother, he still has the shakes, he still will be sick at least for the foreseeable future, because the war fucked him up and he’s not well and he won’t be until he gets help.

Will he turn into the guy from BIUSA? Given that this song is its b-side in the single, COULD DEFINITELY BE A POSSIBILITY. Will he get his life straight? We just don’t know, but here we have in three short, simple vignettes a full-on picture of someone who came back from a war traumatized that we can identify with as it concentrates not on his war experience but on things we all can relate to (the wife, the kids, the parents, the best friend with the car, wanting your mother when you’re afraid), which shows that Bruce can write a fucking song even if he wasn’t in the guy’s shoes personally (he got a 4F and GOOD FOR US ALL), and this in an historical moment where people pretended Vietnam never happened. I personally kind of wish he published it properly before 1998 because it’s a gem imo, but it did come to light outside being the single b-side and IT’S A GORGEOUS SONG AND I STAND BY IT.