#so thank you for enabling me to do so

[vesper100]

jumping in on the OC questions, we know he's sick in the head, but what is Rodolf like to the other monks? does he put up with anselm......does he know what gregor is up to.......

Well his whole life since he can remember has been devoted to the church, scripture, monastic practice. He was basically prepped to be a religious leader of sorts since infancy, so when it comes to anything like that - piety, spiritual guidance, etc - he's the perfect figure to turn to. He commands a lot of respect and reverence from his abbey. Anselm looks up to him lovingly, Rodolf feels the same impassive fatherly duty towards him as he feels towards all the brothers under his care. Gregor DESPISES him and Rodolf is too detatched to take it personally and just kind of views him as a lost impious soul in need of guidance.

But also because the church is the ONLY thing he's ever known his interpersonal skills are..... Lacking... He can't really understand personal feelings or problems outside of the lens of scriptural philosophies. If something horrifying happened to you then it was because God willed it, if you're unsure or lost then you just aren't devout enough, that kind of thing. He's not remotely cruel or hostile, but can come across really cold and sterile just because his nature has no warmth to it whatsoever. He kind of operates under the values of fear and reverence, because that's how he learned to view 'love' growing up. When Rodolf says he loves god, he means it, but what he is actually feeling is a mixture of fear and reverence. When he acknowledge's other's love of him, he means he is aware that they fear and revere him.

All this being said, he's still human (as much as he doesn't believe it). Rodolf is a socially composed person and polite and rational enough around others but he's REALLY unpersonable and awkward and sucks at entertaining guests at the abbey... Like a guest could make a joke to him and I doubt he'd react and you wouldn't be able to tell if it's because he doesn't get it (sheltered) or doesn't think it's funny (stoic). He's kind of reclusive just because interacting with people outside of ecclesiastical duties is kind of exhausting for him lollll

[bandtrees]

they would get divorced in one universe just to find eachother in another one

alternatively titled: sometimes you're the level-headed token flesh-head impulse-control-and-polycule-member of a stubborn, eccentric, and hearty telephone-headed drug addict, and there's cruelty in the world you deem fit to suicidally fight, and that either goes about as well as you'd expect it to, or you learn about love and the value of your life and junk along the way

[yellowocaballero]

Omg hi Ms. Yellow Caballero big fan of your work <3 For real though, I'm really excited that your sharing the Weekenders, it was a joy to read and I'm bongocat-ing now that others also get the privilege to read it as well.

Referencing your tags, would you please elaborate of ableism in fandom and, like you said, how fandom treats characters with unpalatable disabilities?

Hi Ms. Bud Lite I'm a big fan of you <3

TL;DR A fear of writing characters of highly marginalized identities shields you from criticism and discomfort, but it's actively stigmatizing to people of these identities and as a writer you really need to get over yourself and write The Icky People.

I guess I'll come out swinging on this one and say that fandom doesn't like severe mental illness. (As a note, when I say severe mental illness (SMI) I mean illnesses such as psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, personality disorders, etc)

Obviously, nobody likes people w/SMI. It's just insanely egregious in fandom to me, since fanfic writers absolutely love writing characters or HC characters with depression, anxiety, or a specific variety of PTSD That Isn't Scary. People actively reject any character HCs for a SMI. When people write a character with SMI, they nicely downplay it, ignore it, substitute it for a disorder they like better, or rewrite it. It's completely untolerated, in both headcanons and in fanfiction, and every time I bring it up I always get the most interesting reasons why somebody couldn't possibly acknowledge a character's SMI in their writing. I've heard all of these:

"I don't know enough about the disorder to write it accurately." Do research.

"I'm not X, so I can't really depict it." You probably aren't a cis white man, but you depict those guys just fine.

"It feels insulting to the character." There is no shame in having a SMI.

"I can't understand what it's like, so it's better to be cautious and avoid giving characters stigmatized identities." There are LOTS of experiences that you'll never understand because you've never had them - you just don't want to write anything you're uncomfortable with. People with SMI make you uncomfortable, and you don't want to write anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, or think of a comfort character in an uncomfortable way. SMIs are marginalized differently than solely depression/anxiety/The Nice PTSD, and by refusing to write them you're actively contributing to the stigma.

I think (?) I've spoken in the past about how I believe that the rigorous external and internal policing of writing people of marginalized identities is actively harmful towards efforts to increase diversity of experience and background in fiction. A lot of fanfiction writers are just terrified to write people who they can't directly relate with, because they're worried 'they'll get it wrong' and be Big Cancelled. I think this is negative enough when it prevents people from going outside of their comfort zone, but on a macro level I think this results in people refusing to write characters of marginalized identities as all. It's an insidious thought process, and it's reflected in people's unwillingness to diversity their writing or acknowledge canon diversity.

'Well, I don't understand what it's like to be Black, so I don't want to write Black people'. 'I want to project on this character, so I only want to write them with mental illnesses and identities I have'. 'If I write a marginalized character incorrectly people will yell at me, so I won't write a marginalized character who's marginalized differently than me at all'. Can you imagine writing a lesbian character with a boyfriend because 'you feel uncomfortable writing lesbian experiences'? It's blatantly homophobic. But people do that with disability and race/ethnicity ALL THE TIME.

People with SMI notice that you feel uncomfortable with them. It's obvious. They notice when a character has a SMI + anxiety, and you only write their anxiety. They notice when a character displays symptoms of a SMI in canon, but you write it out. And POC notice when the characters of color are written out. I know we all like to project on the blorbos and relate to them, and in the joys of your own head do whatever, but as a writer if you only stick to identities you're comfortable with you are actively being a worse writer. Which to me is the REAL sin lmfao.

[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.

[emry-stars-art]

Omg PLEASE tell us more about the hurt/ comfort after Neil gets back from evermore after being kidnapped

Oh you know the fun parts to brainstorm 👀👀 First I needed to draw some of the comfort so here’s a sketch:

Anyway this is aftg we’re talking about, specifically Riko and Nathan, so once again; it’s rather vague but take care reading on (or skip to the next bolded sentence for the comfort 💕)

I honestly still don’t have all the specifics on what might happen at Evermore! One option is just to make it very similar to Neil’s canon Christmas break, because the angles are similar: in canon, they want Neil quiet and obedient to play exy and not act out against his treatment, and in this au the only difference is instead of exy it’s… violence, essentially. But let’s be honest. This is a royal au, we have to add some things, right

So the main tenant is “they want Abram to do what he’s told without argument”. In my mind that includes being forced to watch every bit of Nathan’s work and then having to do it himself. Of course, Abram is still stubborn and still hates doing it more than he hates anything else, so it takes a long time for him to hurt or torture or kill anyone the first time he’s asked. Usually there is heavy coercion and harm before he touches anyone.

But the point isn’t to get Abram used to doing it, because he’s already as used to it as he will ever be. The Moriyamas’ focus is more on breaking down the stubborn streak and strong moral compass. The best way to do that, they figure, is to take away his personhood altogether. So Abram is never referred to as a person, and instead they more or less treat him like some inanimate weapon or like a dog. A very volatile, vicious dog. Kennels and muzzles and commands and all. Some starvation and sleep deprivation when they decide it’s “necessary”. Even long into his recovery Abram can’t hear a word like heel or sit without his muscles twitching to do so.

So it’s a mix of the dehumanization and punishment. Riko has almost free reign once again, though Tetsuji will step in at times when he deems it’s too much. (Though I don’t think he considered waterboarding/near drowning every time Abram is made to bathe or shower “too much”.) Near the end of Abram’s time, a week or so before he’s either rescued, somehow returned, or escapes, Tetsuji revokes Riko’s privileges altogether when Riko causes some heavy head injuries that concuss Abram and make him lose his sight for a while. It’s not permanent, but it’s long enough term that when he gets back to Palmetto, Abram takes a long time away from most people to recover. He doesn’t trust himself not to act before he can think when he can’t see his surroundings.

Back at Palmetto, it might take most of them a while to realize how bad it was. Day is most familiar with how Evermore works, but he was still high up in the chain of command and respect, so he wasn’t necessarily familiar with the underworkings like that. Abram was raised in the environment, he is horrifically good at more or less acting normal. And when he’s fully awake and conscious, he’s very good at keeping things separate - people can still touch him with enough warning, he still holds conversation when he has to. The worst things come to light slowly - the first time he wakes up in a flashback Abram and Day immediately decide it’s best if he doesn’t stay around Andrew. So Andrew kind of has to watch from the outside and it kills him. He watches when Abram refuses to bathe, but if he doesn’t get clean the wounds will get badly infected, so Day kind of has to make him. But Andrew can’t help - because as Day expects, Abram panics and Day ends up with several bruised ribs and nearly broken fingers. Abram won’t wear high collared or tight shirts any more, and one time in helping the Queen care for the castle’s hounds Abram has a panic attack when he’s accidentally left alone for too long. There are little punctures over his cheeks and nose in a circle across his face. He has a hard time eating around others. Abram never tells them what happened to him, but Andrew and Day slowly figure it out anyway.

As they figure it out, everyone does their best to adapt. While Abram’s still recovering his sight, Day announces himself and most of his movements. He talks all the way through finally washing and detangling Abram’s hair (even after the long time he spends on it, they have to cut out the worst mats) when Abram tells him it helps to hear a friendly voice in a language that isn’t the Moriyamas’. Day talks more often and more softly than he probably ever has in his life, because he’s made himself Abram’s main caretaker. Not to say he doesn’t make honest mistakes, because they all do, but he’s quick to change his behavior.

Then, when Abram’s almost fully recovered his sight, Day lets him stay with Andrew once more. Now it’s not as much Abram watching out for the prince - he will do his job well enough, but sometimes he still has to step back and away because of course he does. And Andrew’s approach is very different than Day’s. It isn’t as much his voice as it is his presence, or when he uses his calm but direct authority to tell Abram to go to sleep, I’m going to be right here. After Abram’s panic attack in the kennels, Andrew discovers that if there’s nothing around to pull Abram into a panic attack he won’t generally fall into one again after leaving the stressor, and Abram finds great comfort in some grounding hold on some part of him. Usually the back of his neck or his hands. He won’t let Andrew hold a knee or leg when they’re sat together, but he will put his weight against Andrew’s shoulder for balance. Little things that Andrew figures out by asking or trial and error. When Abram slips, accidentally refers to himself as “it” or “thing” - words he’d never use normally and sometimes even flinches from - Andrew learns to stay within arms reach, sometimes talking through his and Abram’s schedule. If it’s bad enough Abram might play with Andrew’s fingers and hands while he does, like he’s trying to make sure he can still touch someone without hurting them. This afternoon we discuss plans for the upcoming festival with Day, Captain Wymack, Abigail, and Aaron and Katelyn, and after we’ll eat. Join me in the garden? Always official, non-confrontational events. Slowly Andrew gets Abram readjusted to eating at a table and speaking without seeking permission first.

But again. There’s a lot of possibilities and things are always subject to change or be added, so this is kind of my jumping off point! (And is half of this summarized from things I’ve written? Yes. But I want to have something else polished and posted first so 👀 I hope to circle back to this soon) Thank you for the ask!! 🥰

[morethanwonderful]

[hand up] I'd like to know what Tai Su is! I've almost read all of MXTX's books and I see withdrawal looming on the horizon so I'd love to be sold on a new rec. What's the premise? Does it have an official translation?

Oh boy do I have an answer for you

The short version of this answer is that Tai Sui is a no-romance steampunk xianxia cultivation novel about a very silly rich boy who cons and fumbles his way into discovering all the ways that immortality is kinda fucked up, actually. It's hilarious and heartbreaking and has some of the wildest, most in-depth worldbuilding I've ever seen, as well as some of the most insanely deep and compelling platonic relationships. There's no official translation, but there's an extremely good fan translation by E. Danglars.

If you'd like to know more about the story and/or why I think it's so damn good, you can click that link up above and read my much longer rec post.

Tai Sui's pretty different from MXTX's stuff in some ways, especially since it's not a danmei, but it was also basically my own first foray into the word of non-MXTX web novels, so I know from experience that transition can work out well :).

[johaerys-writes]

Re: revisiting the Thetis month(s?)- oooooh I cannot blame you. Heavy times. So fun stuff! What about the boys building that ill fated boaty boat when they were kids? What other projects did they get up to? ((Ps I’ve read Dawn, Revisited so many times now. So lovely and heartbreaking))

Ill fated (and ill advised) boaty boat adventure ye ask; that ye shall receive. Now up on AO3! :D

[geneticcatalyst]

as promised, an exploration of my one pet problem in fandom, or: misinterpretation of jby's first death (ft. zzs)

heres the thing. i occasionally see people reference what seems to be a misconception of the (english translation) text in qi ye. both the fact that its a translation and the metaphorical phrasing make it pretty clear to see why they got the wrong idea, but i firmly believe its still the wrong idea. i am by no means calling the people who got this mixed up dumb or bad, i am simply leaning over their shoulders going 'wait no bestie pls read that again pls read that one more time!!' because this is one of my favorite books and this thing is a key piece of one of my favorite things about it.

i said i was gonna pull screenshots for this post but i think it will be a little while before i get to another reread and i can't ctrl+f the google doc so im just gonna whip this out from memory. if anyone does have this particular passage on hand feel free to pop it in here. the rest of the context/explanations are just from my cursory research, im not chinese or a historian.

cards on the table. the only thing i love more than unhinged gay romances is unhinged platonic soul mates. its catnip to me. i go feral every goddamn time. and i havent stopped losing my mind about zhou zishu and jing beiyuan since that first qi ye scene. what do those guys have going on? not even sure they know but it's A Lot. ive got like 18 other unpublished drafts trying to work that out slash losing my fucking mind at the lengths they go to about each other. that relationship is at the center of both novels even if the spotlight isnt on it. so I admit that my readings are colored a bit by how much i like that they like each other!

which is why im shocked baffled and, ok, lightly salted, to see a few people make the claim that zishu (personally) tortured/killed beiyuan in his first life.

so what the text says is that after helian yi stopped trusting beiyuan (after su qingluan's accidental death), he was basically put to death. but even the emperor has to have a half decent reason to execute someone. the text describes these reasons- ten of them- as zhou zishu's masterpieces. it also refers to them as great shames to beiyuan's standing. what's happening is that helian yi has zishu frame beiyuan for treason or other betrayals against the emperor/the country. it isn't specific as to what, but it doesn't really matter, because its all fake and zishu is really good at his job. so yes, it is fair to say that zishu is the INSTRUMENT of beiyuan's death, but he didn't kill him, he just laid the groundwork.

the text goes on to another slightly confusing line where it says something to the effect of that when each of these accusations were read out in court, each line drew blood from jing beiyuan. that's a metaphor! it's just saying that his reputation was torn apart and ultimately his fate is sealed, despite the phrasing there are no literal injuries happening.

also, i may not have the timeline perfect on this part, but in zishu's introduction in the beginning of the novel, the narration tells us outright that while zishu is partially responsible for beiyuan's death, he was like. cool about it. in what seems to be the first and only time he ever steps out of line or goes against helian yi's command (!), after setting all this up but- if im remembering right- before the news actually breaks in court the next day, zishu warns beiyuan. now this admittedly doesnt do a whole lot because the only other possible option (cut and run) isn't a very good one, but it's the only thing zishu can do. he doesnt have to, but he does it anyway (!). of course beiyuan doesnt even consider doing this, he's stubborn and heartbroken, but he really seems to 1. appreciate the risk zishu took here to try to give him a chance and 2. not hold the whole set up against zishu or take that bit personally.

so what actually happened at the end of beiyuan's first life? he was sent the 3 zhang of white silk. the text does explicitly say this once, but if you're not familiar with the practice it may not click. receiving the white silk from the emperor is what happens when you're too high ranking to execute like a commoner but you've fallen from grace and are being politely asked to hang yourself in order to clear your name. and of course beiyuan, stubborn and heartbroken, does. yes, it's a forced suicide, but it isn't a murder.

anyway, its in that secret conversation, where zishu secretly meets with beiyuan seemingly to try to convince him to save himself and beiyuan outright refuses, that beiyuan promises that if theres a next life (ha), they'll get drunk together. and of course against all odds, there is and they do.

the thing about the idea that some people might think that zishu killed beiyuan is that after that nothing between them makes sense. even if it was at helian yi's request, i just cant see that not permanently damaging the friendship, i don't think beiyuan could immediately pick back up being best friends in the seventh life with that memory in the way. why would zishu go out of his way to warn beiyuan one day if he was perfectly capable and fine with killing him the next? why would beiyuan not only be happy to meet zishu again in the seventh life but also go out of his way trying to save zishu's? none of their other interactions really make sense if you believe there was a murder done there. idk. it clouds the whole throughline of the story which is that they have a bond!

i think maybe people think it is in character due to the other ruthless murders, and they're not wholly wrong, but that's the kicker for me. zishu will murder all kinds of innocents no questions asked, but he's suddenly trying to give an out to his coworker and drinking buddy? hello? thats insane, and that's the point.

furthermore, if you think maybe it would make sense for helian yi to have beiyuan violently killed (since it keeps fucking happening later), i actually have to become helian yi's lawyer for a moment here and say that that doesnt make sense either. helian yi is sitting on a throne gained by shadowy means but he's the Good Guy Ruler and that reputation is important. hes not a cruel person and he may have become paranoid but he still has a shared history with beiyuan. plus, even the emperor has to abide by a certain amount of decorum when he wants to have people killed, especially when that person is also a high ranking member of court. beiyuan's status is basically second only to the royal bloodline, he's essentially the prev emperor's godson, as well as a previously close confidante of helian yi himself. the white silk was regarded as a privileged, dignified means of offing someone. helian yi is perfectly within social acceptability to do this to beiyuan with the pretext of beiyuan's disgrace. but it would be pushing the boundaries for the good and just emperor to suddenly have one of his top advisors and members of high nobility brutally killed like a common criminal. he could probably do it, but it would reflect on him and his reputation too. he could do it in secret, but would have to cover up the disappearance of a prominent court figure. it just makes sense to use the white silk as the neatest, most acceptable legal justice channel here. maintain emotional detachment, be polite, everybody's honor gets honored and such.

so that's the ted talk. theres even some beautiful fanart on here of white-haired first life beiyuan holding the white silk! he wasn't tortured or outright executed, and he chose to obey rather than escape or fight the false claims of treason even though his friend tried to give him the only out he could manage. to interpret things differently really skews the character motivations and plot for everyone- beiyuan, zishu, helian yi- in a way that warps the story out of believability, imho.

[quatregats]

🌹!

From a fic in which I throw Hornblower, who has learned to play piano by rote, in with one of Stephen and Jack's music sessions, and everything goes swimmingly, as you can tell by this very congenial start:

Hornblower, who had already decided that he disliked Aubrey immensely, baulked at the invitation, but he could not find it in himself to refuse it, an action which he felt would be very much like surrender.

Thank you very much! <33

[crescentfool]

@catnatch drew whiffy the squiffy for me for artfight! thank you for drawing my girl she is the best 🥺💙

[brown-little-robin]

reassuring my friends about their rambling at length on random subjects by rambling, at length, on random subjects

[cactusnymph]

For the prompts: Touching and 35. "kissing their bruises and scars" with Aylin and Isobel (and Shadowheart if you feel like it! all moon wlw welcome) pretty please! This is fun and your writing is beautiful ^^

Isobel still can't believe that she not only got her life back but also her Aylin. Twice blessed by Selûne is what she would normally say, but the gods work their magic in strange ways and when she thinks too much about it—about how Myrkul was the one to give her a second chance at life and how a Chosen of Shar is the one who freed her Aylin—her head starts spinning.

Instead she focuses on the here and now as best as she can, grounding herself in the feeling of Aylin's warm body next to her. Her fingers gently follow the golden cracks along her love's skin—a testament to her strength and resolution.

Aylin sighs as Isobel follows the lines down her chest, over her belly and across her hips and thighs before pressing her lips against a dark bruise on Aylin's shoulder, darting her tongue out to taste it.

Aylin's breath hitches and Isobel smiles.

"Again?", she teases lovingly and Aylin turns her head to look at Isobel.

"I've been imprisoned for centuries without a gentle touch or the sight of my beautiful Isobel. You will forgive me if I have much to catch up on", she says and Isobel hums before continuing her journey down Aylin's body, her fingers traveling ahead of her lips as she finds every scar and every bruise.

"I have a question", Isobsel mumbles into Aylin's skin before licking one of her love's scars, right over her hipbone. She knows that this one was made by a drider. The one on her left thigh, just above the knee, by a dark justiciar. Isobel knows the stories behind all of Aylin's scars.

"If you wish to have a coherent discussion, maybe you should stop touching me for a moment", Aylin whispers, her breath coming quicker already as she squirms under Isobel's gentle administrations. Isobel chuckles.

"No", she says and revels in Aylin's laughter—breathy and happy.

"Well then. Ask and I will do my best to answer despite the dire circumstances", she says with half a smirk and Isobel laughs, gently nudging Aylin's thighs apart to settle between them.

"You've spend some time with our Sharran friend", Isobel says and gently bites the inside of Aylin's thigh. Aylin gasps and arches her back, her fingers digging into the blanket below her.

"That is not a question", Aylin teases.

"How do you feel about her?", Isobel wants to know and dips her head back down to nibble on Aylin's hipbones while her hands draw along the contours of Aylin's ribs.

Aylin seems to be too distracted to answer, chasing the feeling of Isobel's touch, pushing her hips up and spreading her legs a little further. Isobel isn't made of stone and Aylin is beautiful like this, but she also wants to know.

Her mind has been wandering every time she watches Aylin and Shadowheart sitting by the fire or in front of Shadowheart's tent. Ever the insightful one Aylin can see attraction when she sees it and Shadowheart is drawn to Aylin. Isobel understands.

Aylin is beautiful, courageous, fierce and endearingly blunt. Isobel knows what it's like to get caught up in her bright aura. But she also notices Shadowheart looking at her. They didn't meet on the best of terms but Isobel has come to respect Shadowheart. Has maybe even started to like her. And Shadowheart is trying not to enjoy their presence.

Isobel can tell.

"I might be—", a gasp as Isobel's head dips lower. "Intrigued."

"Intrigued?", Isobel asks with a smirk and bites at Aylin's hipbone again.

"There's much to discover", Aylin admits and Isobel has to agree. Thinking about Shadowheart while she has Aylin like this, naked and spread out on a soft blanket, breathing heavily just from Isobel kissing her scars... it makes her skin tingle with excitement.

"Do you want to invite her? Next time?", Isobel asks and Aylin sucks in a breath, looking up at Isobel through heavy-lidded eyes.

"Would you want that, my love?", she wants to know, her gaze piercing.

Isobel smiles.

"Yes. Yes, I think I would."

feel free to send me more of these <3

[magicaldreamfox1]

If it’s not too late: phone sex operator vegas au?

hi hello ily it is NEVER too late to talk abt phone sex operator vegas au

so have u ever seen hit show castle (2009)–

akgkdl okay brace urself it's backstory time. so anyone who knows me knows that i am a big castle (2009) enthusiast (the ONLY show i refuse to watch with it's original english audio this is a german dub party ONLY) i have rewatched the entire series all 8 season MULTIPLE times. now i do this while giffing i put it on and then it plays in the corner of my screen while i do my thing.

and one day season 4 episode 12 came up. now if u are not well versed in castle (2009) lore in this episode a young woman is found murdered and her death is quickly connected to the mayor of new york who is a good friend of castle. now the mayor plotline isn't important what's important is that the victim used to have like a really good job and then gave it up and threw away all her electronic devices and moved into a shitty little apartment for seemingly no reason. while investigating the victim's job castle and beckett are led to: dial a goddess. a phone sex hotline call center.

most of this isn't important i just like castle

so as i was watching this i was like wait a fucking moment. vp brainrot → vp in photoshop → castle phone sex call center in the corner → vp phone sex operator au

so! now i get to the part where i actually tell u abt the au alvkdkfks

pete as the poorest most pitiful security guard in the entire world just trying to get thru his shift at this fundraising event getting his ear talked off by porsche who's currently lecturing him abt his sex life and masturbation habits. once the shift is finally over porsche gives pete a number to call and a few bucks and zooms off to a dick appointment with kinn. after a lot of contemplation and denial pete decides to call the number one evening and well who else could be speaking on the other end except vegas ofc? what follows is pleasant conversations, a lot of hr violations, inappropriate familiarity and possessiveness over customers, more feelings than anyone involved really expected and also. some hard earned phone sex

im very Very excited to write this it is All plotted out all i need to do is write it. i've already started on the hilarious first scene but i might have to rearrange some of it

here is a little snippet for u !!!

Pete wants to die.

This is not how he wanted to spend his shift.

They're doing security for some kind of charity event — Pete couldn't be bothered to remember what kind — and regrettably, there's not much to do except stand around, so Porsche has unfortunately taken the opportunity to give — entirely unsolicited — advice and commentary on Pete's sex life. In broad daylight. In front of the wealthiest people in Thailand. Loud enough so everyone can hear, since Porsche doesn't care much about trivial things like indoor voices.

Even though, Pete does not tell Porsche about his sex life.

But, of course, he won't let himself be stopped.

So, as Pete contemplates the benefits of strangling his coworker-turned-friend-soon-to-be-enemy, he chatters idly about his many hookups in clubs and bars alike.

"–like, you really need to get better at flirting, Pete, it's sad watching you. It's not even hard to pick someone up. But, like, bestie, you have no rizz."

"Porsche. What the fuck is that."

ask me about my wips !

[allylikethecat]

Chapters: 5/6 Fandom: The 1975 (Band) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: George Daniel/Matthew Healy Characters: George Daniel, Matthew Healy, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Original Child Character(s) Additional Tags: Christmas, Meeting the Parents, Angst and Hurt/Comfort Series: Part 4 of The Infection 'Verse Summary:

“Yeah,” said Matty, pulling his hand away from George’s to run it through his hair. If there was one thing he was good at, it was doubling down, even if usually that just made it worse.

“Christmas, what are your plans for Christmas?” Matty swallowed hard, feeling very small all of a sudden and like he was baring a piece of his soul, “because I would very much like to spend it together.”

“Oh,” said George and Matty wanted to die right then and there.

.

AKA The Christmas Fic™️

[slightlytoastedbagel]

Ok some people asked for it so here is the Fes Kohane analysis. (Sort of a Kohane in general analysis)

Under a read more for being long and also for anyone who doesn't want to see the card yet.

Let's start with the untrained.

There are a few Hammies here. We have our current Kohane front and centre, she looks confident, she's moving ahead. From the background, this Fragment Sekai seems to have a lot of glass buildings. At least I'm assuming that is a wall behind her.

To the right we can see Kohane from the very start of the game. Long hair and glasses, Miya Girls uniform instead of her later jackets and hats. She looks at the current Kohane with what I think is amazement, which is expected. The old Kohane would have probably died on the spot if she learnt what she would be like in a year. This also very clearly shows Kohane's overall journey from a shy girl without a passion to follow to the Kohane we know now, who has a shared passion and is working towards it.

To the right of that Kohane we see one walking in the opposite direction to the present Kohane. This Kohane is wearing the outfit from her untrained for the Power Of Unity event, which ended Vivid Bad Squad's first arc in the events. (It's also her outfit from Period Of Nocturne but that's not the important part here.)

This Kohane walking the opposite direction being further right than long hair Kohane could represent how, at the end of their first arc, Vivid Bad Squad were still focused on surpassing Rad Weekend. It's an event that happened before Kohane found Vivid Street, so she has to go further back to reach it.

The last Kohane is to the current one's left. She is with the rest of Vivid Bad Squad and is wearing her outfit from the Kick It Up A Notch untrained, since An is also wearing her outfit from her untrained card for the same event we can assume this Kohane is from the day of the Crawl Green event.

I can't tell if this is before or after her song, but I would assume it was after. The rest of Vivid Bad Squad being there is interesting, as the only other time the rest of a unit have appeared in a Fragment Sekai (that I know of) is Rui's. I think this Kohane represents her current ability: her performance at Crawl Green was stunning and the best example of her current skill level, however Kohane's inner thoughts during Vivid Bad Squad's group song show that she prefers to be with all of them. The fact this feeling is strong enough to appear in the Fragment Sekai proves this. (She cares for her friends so much I can't I fucking can't.)

The colouring of the glass is also interesting. Long hair Kohane shares the same color the rest of the glass does, but the three triangles where Crawl Green Kohane is are a greenish, pink and blue color each. These colours represent members of Vivid Bad Squad, the pink is Kohane, blue is Toya and green is An. Power Of Unity Kohane has a yellowish orange background to represent Akito. The fact he is separated from the other three like this is interesting to me. It could be because of what this Kohane represents (Akito's second focus) or it could be where each member is focusing on at the current moment. While An, Kohane and Toya look to the future and are somewhat satisfied with where they are currently, Akito is stuck in the past focusing on Rad Weekend and how he needs to improve. In which case Akito's back facing the glass is another point that could link to it.

Anyway that's all I have for the untrained. Let's look at her trained card.

I really like this hairstyle! It's definitely her best alternative one. Anyway, I was incredibly happy when I saw they incorporated her love for photography into the trained. Obviously she is holding the camera to her face, but the video reels as well. I don't know if the pictures in said reels are meant to represent anything, but one in particular did stand out and it makes me think that they possibly do.

This one here makes me think of the Sky Runners set, which could play into what I think these reels represent: Kohane's memories of the last in game year.

Alongside the fact that she is my favourite character, I was really looking forward to Kohane's fes card because, unlike the rest of the cast, Kohane doesn't have a backstory. Everyone else's fes cards tend to use their past to show a strong feeling, but a big part of Kohane's character is that she didn't really feel strongly for anything before the main story. The only thing she really had was photography, but she didn't properly show interest to pursue it until Vivid Bad Squad. A camera is used to capture moments, so it would make sense that, with her ties to it, Kohane would represent those memories through a reel. It also shows how much she cares for the world she has entered since the main story, Vivid Street, the Street Sekai and Vivid Bad Squad all mean so much to her.

I really like Kohane's fes card. She is a character who means a lot to me and I really like all of the touches to her growth overtime, both in character and in her relationship to Rad Weekend and the people surrounding it. Thank you to whoever has read all of this, I will probably add something on once I get to reading the fes card's story. I might do an analysis on Akito's fes card as well (will probably be shorter than Kohane's lmao) because this fes is something I've been anticipating for a while. Anyways, stan the Kohammie.

[artheresy]

Thinking about how Wingweaver Xili implied the Foxians of the Zhuming have a qualities that look more akin to the Borisin

Praying to god we get to go to the Zhuming and they actually give the Foxians more pronounced animal features PLEAASSEE

Also very very interesting to observe the difference between the Foxians depending on what ship they come from… I need to research this more because I would love to show that off in some redesigns/my own designs ig for some of the Xianzhou characters we already know and potential oc designs as well

So many Zhuming thoughts, my brain is full of them