#like a stamp to a letter

[capn-o-my-soul]

okie i made an art but there is some context to it

so my sister was studying in the haunted theology building on her college campus because it was open and it had rooms to study in . and since it is a theology building lots of people who like catholicism go in there. so my sister finishes working on her paper or whatever and it's like 2 am and she sees a piece of paper in the hallway that says "what is your favorite saint?" with a bunch of names of catholic saints that people like that they put on there. so my sister (an atheist) makes up a fake saint name (st. chadwick the bold) and writes it on the paper.

however, since it was darkish and lateish she accidentally wrote "bold" in a way that it could be misinterpreted as "bald"

now the next day she's having a movie night with friends and tells them about it and one of them draws a very reverent, very bald monk-saint on a whiteboard . and then they make a prayer to st. chadwick the b[o/a]ld

and then when she told me about it this weekend i thought i could use it as a chance for calligraphy / gothic graphic design practice so i made this

behold

[corviiids]

sparknotes for chapter 9 of as you like it because a very kind commenter asked for a breakdown and if theres one thing im good at it's breaking down

(spoilers for the fic obviously)

tihs chapter gave me so much trouble. i sat on it for so long i literally hated it by the time i posted it but im starting to forgive it now. it was, as ive said, originally way longer, and the next part of the fic was supposed to be the second half of this one... but it was starting to get absurd and i realised that neither part would have the weight i needed them to have if they were lumped in together. (with some relief, honestly, because i kind of had wanted them to be separate initially but didn't think they'd be long enough. i dont know myself very well.) anyway, the next chapter should be a bit of a doozy now although hopefully not SO absurdly long.

this chapter picks up where the previous cliff hung off, which is to say, after the 'shadow' akechi reveals that he's actually just the real ass guy. akechi in the palace what will he do. the chapter doesn't immediately kick off with ren's reaction though and that is because ren is the most repressed man alive and does not know how he feels about it.

so, akechi disguised himself to enter his palace, which is significant for a few reasons:

1. he's disguised as himself

which i think is ironic in a fun way, but it's also just a very basic nod to the fact that akechi pivots between which of his personae is his default. this isn't necessarily super meaningful, but he does later refer to the black mask suit as

a costume, instead of an outfit. i mean, don't read into it too much, he's just talking, but i did think that probably points to how he feels about his appearance generally.

2. more importantly, his disguise involves taking off his mask.

so he's disguised, yes, and he's disguised as himself, yes, but that disguise is a literal unmasking, which is also kind of ironic. in presenting himself this way he has literally and figuratively made himself vulnerable. they're inside his heart, and the entire time he's in the palace, he is exposed... again both literally and figuratively because he also starts sharing more with ren than he ever has. look, i just think it's fun to have a character who has so many layers that he has to lie so hard that he becomes himself again.

i only want to point this out because (this is also part of larger meta about mona lol) akechi knew about the metaverse, but there is no way to intuit the method of stealing hearts without guidance. it's such a specific and involved process. thje most akechi could work out on his own was that if you killed a shadow, that person would have a mental breakdown. no way to guess that if you send a calling card and then go in within the next 24 hours and take a physical manifestation of a thing that you didn't know existed (process) would lead to that person ahving a change of heart (result). so even if akechi had a palace and knew about it, even if he wanted to do something about it, he would have assumed there was nothing he could do about it - i also have no idea what the process would be for sending yourself a calling card, even if he DID know about the process. so basically in this fic akechi found his palace and just assumed that was it. he was like, fucked up lol. anyway

this just straight up isn't true HAHA so i put in the silly little dichotomy of akechi gently taking ren's arm to protect him from slipping on the ice while telling him that he lied about caring about him. i think in this chapter as akechi begins to openly explain more and more of his thought process, this is probably the first truly clear glimpse you get of exactly what akechi's distortion is and how deep it runs.

the things akechi says with total conviction in this chapter are just... not true, not a fair or founded way to view the world (or the art of performance haha), but he says them with total conviction, and hopefully it should show off how unreliable he is as a source of exposition. one commenter asked about this moment of akc's eyes going yellow and if it was somehting that happened in canon - not really, i was just thinking about those little moments in the game after you send a calling card where the game cuts from the person to their shadow to do a little oneliner about their distortion.

akechi's IN his own palace, so i thought it would be fun to kind of make it a physical thing that can happen to him where he sort of merges with his shadow for a brief second in the moments when the distortion is strongest.

OKAY this is one of my favourite bits of the chapter HAHA the deep soda lore. i dont expect anyone to remember all the way back to chapter 3 but:

literally nobody asked about this but i love the phantom thieves!!! i dream of all the little silly moments of being a team that they must have that we don't get to see in gameplay, for obvious reasons of it wouldn't really work in a game, but i can imagine them in my brain. i can imagine their trickshot contests that get their asses kicked. i can imagine them chanting at each other to chug while joker and oracle compete to down an entire bottle of brand neutral mountain dew baja blast. i can dream.

soda lore is gay.

i dont honestly think it's inherently a bad thing necessarily but this part does kind of set up like... you can see akechi very early on in life forming this worldview that the truth isn't always what you want, you know? this was a 'lie' he and his mother both bought into, they both knew what the truth actually was, so it wasn't real dishonesty, but they just had this little fantasy. i just thought it would be fun for akechi to have a way to bond with his mother and feel closer to her, and that way is by buying into this white lie. idk

akechi's mother isn't really a character and i don't want to form her into too much of one because i think it's very much the point that, like... he made this point in an earlier chapter but having lost her at a pretty young age i think it's quite crucial that akechi doesn't really have a fully formed image of who his mother is outside of what she was to him as a child. so i actively don't want her to feel too real or defined. im not interested in making an oc out of her because i think it defeats the purpose. that said, this line exists to maybe gesture very vaguely at the notion that akechi's mother was a very bright person who similarly was stuck in circumstances that didn't serve to foster her real potential. just the image in my mind of a person who's clever enough to get across algebraic notation in chess by flipping through a book in a few minutes, but was never exposed to the opportunity to learn chess until this moment in someone else's house, and also the particular situation of learning this skill WHILE at someone's place as a call girl, i dunno . i hope im treating this with the grace it deserves but i wanted to build just this particular image in vivid colour while also keeping the reality quite blurry and vague, just to give the reader a sense of where akechi came from while still preserving his limited pov.

my thoughts on the phantom thieves' methods (and how they compare to maruki) are definitely too long and involved to put into a post about this fic chapter specifically, but maybe one day. i also wanna stress im not like... strictly anti-phantom thief or anti-heartstealing lol but i do have thoughts about the philsophy of it and the thieves' hypocrisy WHATEVER that's not for this post. i bring this up only to crow about finding a way to bring up the experience machine (ie maruki's reality) in this fic without it being royal compliant and have it be... hoepfully... sufficiently relevant to the plot. wa hoo! the experience machine came up for the first time back in chapter 4 and im just delighted that i finally got to close that loop. by the way, that experiment is also called the lotus eater machine after the lotus eaters in the odyssey! i dunno that it's actively my favourite thought experiment but it's definitely up there and i think about it a lot.

TITLE DROP

i think i spoke once about what 'as you like it' means. it's obviously the name of the shakespeare play from where 'all the world's a stage' comes, but it has a couple more layers to it as well - akechi's palace is a place where he performs to what he believes other people want or need to see from him - so his appearance is as you like it. and his accusation of the thieves' heartstealing methods is that they twist a person's internal reality to suit their vision - that's the meaning he's taking here, claiming that joker is turning akechi into an unfamiliar new thing, as [joker] like[s] it. you get it.

this running joke of ren really hating vents wasn't something i planned but im attached to it now. prayer circle for his knees

ive basically given up on making sense of samerecarm, which is par for the course for any rpg or video game really where reduction to 0hp/revival are mechanics. like, im inclined to think 0hp is more equivalent to unconsciousness, because... well... otherwise it's pretty cold that they left akechi dead in the engine room without even looking for a way around the wall. lol. but one of mona's revival lines is 'being dead isnt easy!' or something like that, so i kind of just give up and assume it's video game logic you'r enot meant to look at too hard lol. the way i reconcile it for my purposes is to say it's a sort of metaverse-exclusive state of being which is not quite dead but sort of in a limbo state wher eyou can be brought back with specific revival magic, which i refer to as being down. that's uhhh, that's different from the battle status of down... which you get after being hit with a crit/technical/weak skill... look, don't think about it. joker in crow's arms.

this is literally meaningless i just wanted to include a cameo of my very favourite persona q2 battle theme.

[generic-internet-name]

Hey remember when i bound the first half of from the archives? well i've finally done the rest! and honestly i am so proud of it. i tried some new things with the binding, and i am almost completely happy with how it turned out! the only improvement for next time would probably be actually measuring things.

thank you @sixteenth-days for writing something so good i needed to physically bite it.

[da-birb-writes-sometimes]

Hello! how you doing?? may i request for your event , epel with a fluffy platonic ''long distance relationship" ?

and as my backup i thought of riddle with ''farmer's market'' , like a funny romantic outing

and i think you said 2 backups ... if you then stargazing with azul , romantic hurt/comfort

i'm not used to requesting so if i did anything wrong sorry oopsie i didn't mean too 😅

Long-Distance Relationship; Epel Felmier

Content; Fluff, gender-neutral reader, platonic

Word Count; 650+

AN; Everything looks great, no need to worry! I hope you enjoy this, and the friendship with Epel! As a reminder, do not put my work — or others for that matter — into AI as it steals. Link to Masterlist

This summer had been quiet, with Professor Trein basically threatening Crowley to let you stay with him. But it was nice. You had a nice room with overstuffed pillows and old quilts. And an actually nice bed that didn’t have any springs poking out of it. After the chaos that had been the school-year, it was nice having a stable home environment. Also Trein gave you the freedom you needed, and didn’t hover, but was there when you needed him.

“Another letter arrived for you,” the older man said while waiting for his morning cup of tea to cool down. “From Felmier.”

Epel couldn’t come to visit as often as the others, as he was busy at the farm and doing promotional work to help bring Felmier Farms into the public’s eye. But he sent a letter every week, each with an apple stamp.

You opened the letter, curbing your excitement. There was rarely anything super exciting in them, but it was still nice to read what Epel got into.

Meemaw says I should be able to visit next week! So be prepared for a lot of stuff; could ‘have sworn you’re her grandkid an’ not me. Hope you like kitschy apple-themed clothes.

Epel is coming. Epel is coming! You hadn’t seen him in over a month, and the last time you did he was working the family stand at the farmer’s market. You couldn’t really catch up then, but now, now you could. You could finally catch up with your best friend. “Is it okay if Epel comes over?”

Trein looked up from the book he was reading and gave you a curt nod before going back to his book and morning cup of tea

Places to go with Epel; 

You had started to make a list, but nothing was really coming to you. You didn’t know many other places save for Night Raven College, and the small village where Trein, and now you, resided. Sighing, you spun in your chair, thinking. Epel was arriving tomorrow and you had jack-all planned. And sure, just catching up and hanging inside the home or out in the yard was nice and all, but you wanted to do something. “Come on brain, be smart,” you sighed, plopping down on the bed and groaning. Maybe some sleep would hel- “Epel?”

And standing outside your window was none other than Epel Felmier, carrying a backpack and an amusingly large box. He was moving his mouth, but you couldn’t make out what he was saying. Getting up, you moved towards the window and pushed it up.

“-et me in, these damn skeeters are eatin’ me alive,” is what you heard upon opening the window. And there were indeed a few mosquitoes trying their hardest to make a midnight snack out of your friend. “Long time no see, huh?”

You moved aside so he could let himself in. he was early, in the letter he said he’d be arriving tomorrow right after lunch. But Epel was here, in the middle of the night, hauling a large wooden crate into your room. “Yeah, but what are you doing here Epel?”

He let out a grunt as the wood crate finally got through the threshold of the window. “Visiting, like I said… Pa dropped me off early but I had some runnin’ around to do.” He reached into his pocket and handed you a small bee keychain. “Gotcha this in town, since you’re a busy bee.”

You lightly punched his shoulder, as you knew Trein would give the both of you a questioning look, but you were happy to see Epel. “So, what horrors did Marja send?” You peaked into the wooden crate.

Epel grabbed out a cardigan made of granny squares with apples and apple blossoms instead of daisies. “Matching sweaters,” he said with mock fear in his voice.

The two of you laughed though, as it was a sweet action, and once it started to cool off, the both of you would wear them together; like the cheesy matching outfits parents put siblings in.

[kickedin17]

Actually very funny that in the Only Band In the World the author was (affectionately) like "yeah so the clique is basically a cult but it's cool it's fun" and we also joke amongst ourselves about being a cult & now we're getting a bunch of letters from random Dema citizens (/banditos) who sound like they've started/are recruiting for an underground revolutionary movement which heavily idolizes Clancy, who in-lore is responsible for all the music we've been hearing, in a way you could perhaps consider cult-like in the same way some people consider irl music fandom to be cult-like. Aria and Barea and Jansen you're just like me for real

[postboxadventures]

1999 Deep Sea Creatures

[anastacialy]

y'know, i keep making a habit of swinging my bat at hornets nests, but i have to say i'm getting so, so tired of people complaining about shows not making perfect sense when they aren't even close to done. we're four episodes into this season of doctor who. we're four episodes into this season of bridgerton. and yet in both fandoms i keep seeing people whine that such and such didn't make sense or it wasn't explained all the way and by god you guys i think maybe explanations might come later in the season. this is something most viewers will recognize as being called a 'plot.'

[codecicle]

god i fuckin WISH i had the words to explain the way i view niklaus man. nobody understands him like me and exactly 2 (two) of my tumblr mutuals im going insane

[persephones-flower-garden]

I got wax stamps n shit for Christmas and I was having fun last night they’re so pretty

[amalgamationink]

NAPOWRIMO24 #15: Occultation

[imadhatt3r]

Why is shipping ANYTHING from California specifically so expensive. Like from every part of the US it's more or less reasonable depending on what you want, but prices on items from Cali are just insane.

[tequiilasunriise]

Honestly, can we please take a step back and laugh over how absolutely hilarious the spectrum that is humanity? This turned into a bit of a tangent so the muskrat dragging will be under the cut.

Like, on one hand we have Elon Musk who is throwing the world’s biggest, most publicized temper tantrum over random internet strangers being mean to him and rightfully calling his bullshit out. This man is trying so hard to cover his tracks after buying Twitter and time after time after time again he keeps being his worse enemy. If he would just shut his mouth and stop giving the rest of the world fuel to clown the fuck outta him, Twitter wouldn’t be actively burning to the ground in real time right now. Sure, these memes are incredibly funny and I am very much thriving over these homefires, but I do feel bad for those who relied on Twitter for business like small artists. This is only the iceberg tip of his vileness, mind you.

Moving on, on the other side of the spectrum we have the backbone of our society, truly the peak, dare I say the PINNACLE of humanity- softly apologetic ao3 writers. Literally some of my FAVORITE ao3 experiences is opening up the update and seeing author’s notes like, “I’m so sorry I haven’t updated in a while, my cat’s ovaries exploded and on the way to the hospital I got into a major car crash but don’t worry the doctor who took care of me was amazing and next thing you know we’re wives now with like, two kids and yes my cat is perfectly fine after all of this time.” Obviously this is a dramatization, but we all know and have seen those authors who literally went through the most traumatic, the most absolutely life-changing shit and STILL genuinely apologize to their readers for?? For what??? Not updating this Wenclair Griddlehark AU 200k words enemies to lovers slowburn??? Like, you are the least problematic person to ever exist please don’t ever apologize for not cranking out surprisingly well-written smut about some popular Tumblr Sexyman getting the wizzy dizzy glizzy gulp gulp guzzler 9000 because real life obligations got prioritized. 

(In all seriousness, yes, I love getting updates on my favorite fics as much as the next media enjoyer, but self care babes self careeeee. You may be a content creator of any variety, but you’re your own person first. Don’t ever feel the need to apologize for living your life because us shippers, shitposters, and all in-between can (and should) wait.)

tl;dr: The sheer duality of humanity is absolutely hilarious and I think we should talk about this more.

[lesbiangiratina]

Why is international mail like the most complicated thing conceived by man

[b-blushes]

tall small in a cup moment at the post office when the clerk passed me a stamp through the little slot and told me how much it cost and i repeated it back to her and we both stood and stared at the stamp for a little while like hmmm yep that is stamp.

[tele-mesmerism]

i kinda wanna try getting into letter writing again since i hacent sent anything since moving a yr ago... itll be toned way down as far as deco and fun stuff bc i still cant rly afford the sitting up spoons for spending hrs on mail like i used to. which i loved. but if thats stopping me from sending letters at all id rather send a more simple letter than nothing at all. bc ive also been so bad at msging ppl since getting sicker and its to the pt where i HAVE letters worth of wanting to talk to my friends. i wanna catch up w ppl i think fondly of my friends when i see them even when we havent talked in a yr in some cases u_u

[ehnrat]

I made a watermark for myself during my insomnia last night

Other concepts under the cut

Might go for the square one as well and just have the year/date outside the box