#so get the whole gist

[locksnrocks]

Secret Relationships - an option to make the Evil Polycule work and it involves removing one main character entirely so I don't think it counts

Thought more about how the Evil Polycule could actually work in the series and I can't help but go on another rant. But I'm weak and would have to take the scenario describe here and say that it could only be feasible in the show's present timeline if Seonghyun isn't a factor at all. Which I guess counts as a copout but oh well. Creative writers could make it work, I have no doubt!

So I think it would come down to Soohyun getting Daon to accept the ring during the dinner exchange- as stated before, without Seong's presence I just don't see Daon having the strength to resist Soohyun, especially with how hard he pushes. And because Soohyun understands what a threat Jaemin is with his hold on Daon, he will want to address it and goes ahead with telling Daon exactly what Jaemin has done.

Daon does the Jaemin confrontation BUT this time Soohyun goes with him. I like the idea of Soohyun hanging back out of sight because

he knows how Jaemin operates and wants Jaemin to confess without using Soohyun's presence as an excuse to focus elsewhere, and

for drama

Jaemin snaps and moves in on Daon, but now we have the delight of an enraged Soohyun charging in and putting a stop to that mess. Jaemin is truly caught so pulls his hail mary with the self-stabbing. Daon is horrified, Soo is shocked but in this scenario he is blessed with exactly one (1) braincell (which he is karmically owed after agreeing to that dumb fake date plan) so he processes the following realizations very quickly:

Jaemin will stop at nothing to keep his hold on Daon. Like it will take legitimate death to keep him out of the picture.

For all his rage, Soohyun is not a murderer.

Even if he could pull if off, Daon would never forgive or forget.

For better or worse, Jaemin has made himself a permanent fixture in Daon's life (again, Seonghyun has to be a nonfactor because we saw in the show that even with Jaemin's desperate self-harm, Daon pulled away thanks to Seong's influence).

So Soo makes Daon go look for bandages to get him out of hearing range and says something along the lines of "You think pulling this move let's you win? You've played your final card and now Daon knows exactly who you are. You are no longer in control here. What happens next is on my terms."

He can rub salt in the wound once Daon returns and Jaemin is bandaged up, Soo takes Daon's hand and makes a show of kissing the ring he gave him earlier (Daon would be wearing it as he accepted). Just a real 'kick Jaemin while he's down' moment. But Jaemin does actually see the writing on the wall (blood loss aside) and understands the message Soohyun is sending: If you want Daon, fine, but it's going to be a packaged deal.

Jaemin gets sent to the hospital - I imagine Soo would just call emergency services rather than let Daon take him. Soohyun and Daon return home. Daon is in a state of shock and just generally disassociating. His state really hammers in to Soohyun that Jaemin's hold on Daon runs deep. So he calmly tells Daon to go ahead and pack an overnight bag "and we will go to the hospital to check on him tomorrow."

And just like that, the two of them becomes a We. We will check on him. We will pick him up. We will go to dinner next week. We will pick you up from work tomorrow.

Thus the Evil Polycule is born 🎉. They fell into that pattern naturally during their uni days in the manhwa, so it isn't so far fetched to say they could fall into it in the show- the timeline is just different.

Bonus scene: After telling Daon to go ahead and pack the overnight bag, Soohyun also uses this moment to solidify his position with Daon- he can use the "pull him in close and kiss the ring he gifted him again" move, they have a 'deep stare at one another wordless exchange' moment and that leads to them having their first (?) time sleeping together.

Yays all around!

Still no one goes to therapy (a significant requirement if this is to work, especially for Daon).

Still a solid 80% chance Daon ends up atticwifed (cabin-husband'd) judging by the Christmas Death Cabin Scene. Just seems like something Soohyun and Jaemin would agree on doing to him eventually.

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

I'm slowly making my way through a new project- editing the entirety of the album PUNCH by Autoheart to the Life Series.

I was originally planning to post all of the edits in order of the songs on the album, but I instead made the Lent one first and am too excited to keep it in my drafts any longer while I work on the first four songs of the album (especially since we're coming up on finals seasons and the amount of time I'll have to work on these is gonna plummet so fast). So instead, I'll be posting them as I make them and make a masterpost of them all in order at the end.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this! I'm really proud of it and a lot of work went into it.

[captainsjack]

au where gus is a little too stupid and repressed so when shawn finally does take the chance and tells him he loves him, well gus has to let him down (gently of course) because he’s straight. (“you know if i was then you’d–” “please don’t finish that sentence”). and it hurts gus to see shawn so broken in front of him and to see how much it affects him and how hard it is for him to even hide it, and if gus could change anything in the world this would be it because he’d do anything to make shawn happy. but that’s not how life works, is it?

and i think it takes a long time, the better part of a year, for him to figure everything out. but eventually he does, because it’s all he thinks about. why did it hurt so much to tell shawn no? why did it feel so wrong to say those words? why does it feel like there’s something missing when he already knows that what’s missing is something he doesn’t want? (he doesn’t? right?). and i think it’s gradual, something he keeps thinking about and questioning in the back of his mind for a long time, and idk how he gets there, maybe there’s an ‘oh’ moment when he looks at shawn one day, maybe he wakes up and everything just clicks, or maybe it’s even subtler than that. but eventually gus realizes that he’s gay and in love with shawn (and has been for a lot longer than he’d like to admit).

he sits with it for a while before he decides to say anything because he has to make sure, really sure, because this isn’t something he can screw up. but eventually he’s confident enough to want to tell shawn, and when he finally decides to do it, he’s struck with the realization that he might be too late. he might’ve missed his chance. shawn told him he loved him almost a year ago and gus doesn’t know just how far his feelings went, so what if shawn was over him by now. he’s acted like it after the first few weeks, so what if gus is too late?

but then i think gus would suck it up and tell him anyway because if there was even the slightest of a chance that shawn still loved him, then gus would take that chance over the millions of ways it could go wrong. if shawn could be brave and do it then so could he.

i think he plans a speech, spends too much time going over all the words and apologies and explanations, making sure he has it all memorized, but when shawn answers the door, all the words in the world other than four disappear. when shawn looks at him as gus shoves his way out of the rain and into his apartment, as his breath shakes and startles and stops at all the what ifs, the only words he can find are “am i too late?”

shawn frowns and looks around a little, because, “i don’t think so, it’s only 8:30. wh–” and then gus shakes his head and grips his sleeve so tight his fingers hurt and his voice breaks a little as he says “no, shawn, am i too late?”

shawn blinks, and gus is still looking at him, eyes big and wide and wet, and then shawn softens as he realizes what gus is asking. he swallows over the lump in his throat and all it takes is a little shake of his head for gus to take the leap and kiss him.

[snarkspawn]

may I offer you more soft kenbig in these trying times

[serpentface]

@mouseymagus

(response to tags where I mention Brakul making a crab soup)

IRL I USED:

3x snow crab clusters

1.5 onions

1 large habanero

Uncounted, substantial amount of garlic cloves

Thyme

Fennel Seeds

Cumin Seeds

About 1/4th of a lemongrass sprig

A lot of turmeric powder

Bit of fish sauce

like 2 sazon packets (mostly for MSG)

A substantial amount of sweet soy sauce later added to taste (used it as a balance because I went too hard on the turmeric+cumin, though some would have been used either way)

A lot of plain yogurt

Spinach

[No measurements used for basically anything I do things entirely to taste when making soup and adjust as needed]

In-universe version would have an overall similar tasting mix of herbs and spices. He also has access to meatier crab, and would be making larger batches. Two types of fish sauce would have been used, one that's intense and provides most of the salt content, and one that is very sweet and mixed with date wine (the sweet soy sauce was a substitute for this, some kind of sweet port wine mixed with fish sauce would probably be more accurate).

Vegetables are all finely chopped (outside of the lemongrass) as they will be eaten in the final product. Everything except the yogurt and spinach is combined with water and allowed to cook for several hours to make the broth.

The broth should be very strong, somewhat excessive on the spices because it's going to be balanced out with yogurt. Once it reaches a good point, the heat should be turned low and the soup allowed to cool before the yogurt is stirred in, which should prevent curdling. This should be A LOT of yogurt, it's the key ingredient. Cream could also be used for a sweeter result. The color should end up very light golden-yellow.

Continue cooking on low heat for a while after adding the yogurt (I let it go like 1.5 hours). You don't want it to boil again but want the yogurt-broth to thoroughly penetrate the crabmeat. Once that's done, you can either strain it to remove fennel/cumin seeds and the cooked down vegetables (and replace them with freshly chopped ones), or let it be and to eat as is. Either way this is the point where you add the spinach and let it cook for a while longer, until the vegetables are soft.

Resulting soup should be a thick broth that’s notably spicy, mildly sweet, and the bitterness of the spices should be subtle. Should have a distinct turmeric flavor with the cumin, thyme, and fennel being subtler. You can open up the crab legs and add the meat into the soup, or eat out of them on the side (ideally with bread to scoop up any remaining liquid, or over grain)

In context, Brakul really likes to cook and is like, Okay at it. He's got a good sense for flavoring and a very, very bad sense for timing. His soups are notably quite good because they are the one thing that is virtually impossible to burn. This crab soup is his favorite thing to make, it's kind of a fusion between familiar recipes he would have had back home (crayfish broth boils with herbs and chili-spiced yogurt) and flavoring more favorable to the Wardi palate (especially cumin and imported turmeric). He's bad at integrating the yogurt at the proper heat though so it usually ends up curdled.

Here’s photos of the process for the lore friendly curdled version

[mewkwota]

A Rare Moment

This is kind of a silly comic, but I ended up making it kinda cute at the same time. During my Harmony of Dissonance run I never found the Rare Ghost but by some crazy chance I happened to come across it once in Maxim Mode. I still haven't found it normally.

This was the only monster Juste couldn't find on his journey, so Maxim decided to lend a hand logging it in. How sweet of him, no? ^^

[byanyan]

byan being loudly and unapologetically themself being, in part, a defense mechanism. byan being so used to being told that they're too much by someone who's gotten to know them that they just put it all out there now to steer away anyone who wouldn't be able to handle them. byan keeping people at arm's length with their own personality and energy to save themself from being hurt again (if you can't handle them at their most, you don't deserve to make it past their walls, to see them at their quietest and most vulnerable). byan testing the people who can handle them at their most, intentionally trying to find their limits and drive them away because they're scared, because they don't know how to handle someone being able to tolerate all of them, because they're terrified of being truly perceived and not being good enough again.

[righteousdelusions]

im about to finish fight club everyone say hey yey for reading

hey yey ♥️

[good-beanswrites]

14, 17, and 23 :)

Wahh thanks pal :D

14. What were your go-to writing songs?

Lots of Deco*27, Kenshi Yonezu, Eve, and other various jpop artists – upbeat songs with lyrics that don’t tempt me to sing along are my go-to! When I did need something a bit calmer, I liked finding extended UTDR tracks to vibe to. Castle town and Fucking. Rouxls Kaard shop really hit the spot a lot 😂

17. Share your favorite opening line

I feel like I have opening paragraphs/sections that I really like, but there are fewer individual opening lines that felt the same. Three of my favorites:

Mikoto was no criminal. (< guy who murdered people.)

You are always, always talking about yourself. 

Mikoto could pick up on someone’s bad mood from a mile away, though the skill was unnecessary when the other party very clearly and calmly informed him, “I’m in a bad mood.”

23. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

There were a few moments of feedback/collaboration that come to mind, but it feels braggy to talk about that lol so I’ll stick with an actual writing process thing. Although it’ll probably still take another fucking year of progress, but I started a choose-your-own adventure fic and it’s felt like a huge accomplishment to explore and succeed in a new writing medium out of my usual comfort zone!

[curiosity-killed]

Every once in a while I’m struck by all the ways my gender was assigned as “whatever the situation calls for” throughout my childhood and I’m like yeah honestly my relationship with gender makes total sense

[gayvephelis]

every day i grit my teeth and barely stop myself from making an essay length post on edward twilight, horror principles, and the treatment of sensitive topics in fandom spaces but we're not ready to have that conversation.

[beneaththebloodylake]

「You're thinking 'people from Kansai are stingy' aren't you. ... Actually it's just me who's personally stingy.」

literally me but with uk/europe/whatever distinction americans decide to assign me

[cursezoroark]

Cain being ambiguously aged is probably a big sigh of relief. To me. Not even for shipping purposes I don’t think he and Mercury would get along that way? At least from what I’m seeing so far. but seeing as how he tends to flirt with others already and the innuendos that pop with it. I’m relieved he isn’t 15.

Edit: ok the range given/suggested is 17-19. I’m leaning to 19. That’s the “oh fuck I have independence (joy and dread) what image should I keep” vibes I get from the guy.

[trialsandtribble-ations]

The character arc lore could have had

[front-facing-pokemon]

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

idk im glad they didn't give us any actual details about caleb and evelyn beyond belos's memories and like. fifty-sixth-hand information from masha's story so audience members not paying attention would at least know who they are.

whatever nitty gritty details the audience comes up with on their own for what happened to these two would be infinitely more satisfying to them than what the show would have been able to depict in a flashback. especially working within what's appropriate for children's television.

caleb the person isn't important to the story anymore. the MEMORY of caleb, which belos has never let himself get over in 400 years, is the important thing. and you don't need to know much about caleb for that to work. and while i loved the parallels between the wittebanes and hunter and luz, as well as the clawthornes being a descendent of evelyn, i'm glad they never confirmed it, and it remains situational irony purely for the audience.

hunter's only connection with caleb is his DNA, which also ties back to belos's feelings. him befriending luz is something they did of their own volition. it's not because hunter is fated to play out every beat of caleb's life by virtue of being his clone. similarly, while i love a good hunter clawthorne, dell taking hunter as an apprentice and eda showing care towards him in s2 are because eda is kind to children and hunter independently had passion for palisman carving. it's not because they found out they were related, because the whole show is about found family.

having flashbacks to the real caleb and evelyn wouldn't have contributed anything to the story aside from fanservice. what matters is how belos feels about them. belos's ego and the desperation to be acknowledged by his puritan community and God aside, the idea of caleb haunts his every action. not the actual ghost of caleb-i've already discussed here why the idea of caleb's ghost literally haunting belos would be a poor writing decision. belos knew the person his brother actually was, killed him, and imagined a perfect version of him that he chased after for the next 350 years.

the tragedy is that the perfect version of caleb is unattainable, and now belos can never get the real caleb back. he refuses to acknowledge that caleb may have been flawed before the influence of evelyn. to phillip, everything he thinks is wrong about caleb is because he was corrupted by the boiling isles, and that's part of the reason he starts on a quest to kill all the witches. it's also why he makes so many grimwalkers. he desperately misses that ideal version of caleb, so he makes copies of caleb and plays family with them.

and belos loathes the grimwalkers. he kills them because he hates the magic they were made with. because he hates being reminded of his brother and what happened to him. and of course, he hates the grimwalkers for not meeting his expectations of what his "ideal" caleb would have been like. it's a fluid expectation that belos, subconsciously or not, changes as he goes, all in order to take out his anger on innocent children. he seems to recognize his enjoyment of harming the grimwalkers, though it's unknown if he understands the reason-which is that the "perfect" caleb will never exist, and likely never did. phillip's brother is gone forever, and it's all his fault.

and idk maybe in the writers minds caleb was a perfect brother and baby phillip was just a possessive little shit. or maybe it's the opposite and caleb messed up a lot in communicating with phillip on his relationship with evelyn. maybe evelyn was a perfectly nice girl who was perfectly supportive of caleb and phillip's choices or maybe she hated phillip and the other humans and did convince caleb to leave it all behind. it's a fascinating piece of backstory and i love seeing fanworks that talk about it! but anything more about caleb and evelyn that the creators add in canon would give actual context to their situation that we don't need! their story has been over for 350 years and dont affect any of the other characters beyond how it affects phillip!

nothing more about these two can be said that will contribute more to belos's character that isn't already conveyed with the barebones material we got in the show. this story isn't about "forbidden love," this is about how phillip was confronted with the fact that his brother found happiness outside of him, and that someone he's been taught since childhood to hate may not be all bad. it's about how he plugged his fingers in his ears in response to this and went on a 350 year long killing spree to prove to himself that he can never be in the wrong.

basically, i wouldn't go so far as to call caleb and evelyn's backstory "purposefully unexplained," but i definitely think the story is a lot stronger as it is than it would be if they did explain it all. not every detail of a story needs to have a word of god answer as to how it all went down. sometimes adding in unnecessary detail for completionism's sake just distracts from the point you're actually trying to convey. while there are a lot of things that i wished the show could have explored in more detail had it not been shortened, caleb and evelyn's story is not one of them.