#thanks smart anon

[aweina]

i’m OBSESSED with brat tamer! mike!!! chocolate lipstick had me SCREAMING

i know a lot of people hc him as submissive which yes we <3 submissive men but also just the thought of him being so out of control of his own life that taking control of you makes him feel secure. just like the thought of you whining and bratting when he’s so tired and exhausted and so the only feasible thing for him to do is put you back into your place.

i love mike schmidt

i melted while reading this bc you’re absolutely correct (*_ _)人

cw slight degradation

everything around mike is so out of his grasp, and when he met you he suddenly felt the urge to control. it’s mostly out of concern for your wellbeing, like he would do with his own sister. but even with abby, he couldn’t seem to keep up with her spontaneous behavior. then he realizes how easy you are to be bossed around, despite your cute little pouting and the insults you throw at him — he can shut you up in a matter of seconds.

adding to the chocolate lipstick lore, he’s just so exhausted doing his boring job. like doing laps around the mall periodically, getting asked such mundane questions like directions to particular stores, or even monitoring the security cameras with one eye open because nothing ever interesting happens. your recent recruitment alongside him made mike despise you because of how bratty you are, especially when he has to take your workload.

to cope, mike basically lectures you and calls you mean names. he harshly pinches your cheek when you’re spewing out curses when the monitors aren’t working. he calls you a “fucking idiot” when you manage to lose your walkie-talkie after he’s been calling you for the past ten minutes. he’s tired of your shit, but he really does love being mean to you. your expressive anger and whiny little voice just makes him look forward to going to work everyday.

[buwheal]

*its an old Ecard featuring Garfield. There is a picture of Garfield commenting about his annoyance that its only midweek and the bottom text says "hang in there"*

[timblrdrake]

Every time I see your tags I’m fucking cackling. The gift that keeps on giving, an absolute legend.

thanks! it’s where i put my best material

[thingsaday]

I absolutely adore your design for charged yellow I just wanna hug him and then uncharged yellow deserves one cause it's only fair

Aw, gee! They sure appreciate it!

[metukika]

do you ever think about Tsubomi........just like how important of a character she is to the whole narrative of mp and she isn't even in the show that much, how its implied that she hides her true feelings behind a mask, how her and mob are childhood friends and how she sees his powers as a neat trick that got boring after a while, her kawaii moe idolization that mob holds of her, do you ever just think?

she's definitely the character that's blown out of proportions the most in canon. even the way teru and ritsu view mob, or how mob views reigen don't compare because in those instances they are (or at least claim to be) powerful psychics. the closes thing might be how mob views ritsu's personality during the first season, but even they're brothers, so it's expected they'd think of one another often.

but tsubomi, even popular or pretty, really is an average girl. and even her looks and personality are warped by mob's nostalgia and his crush on her.

it really makes you wonder, after the show ends, how you really don't know much about her character. aside from like once scene following her, and what dimple says about her during the divine tree arc, we don't get much. interestingly, what we do get doesn't entirely fit well with mob's view of her being borderline perfect (her telling him to get a clue, for example).

even though she's a big part of the overall narrative, we don't know about her much, which ofc is deliberate. mp has a lot of questioning the people you look up to/rely on story lines. though unlike most of the other characters, she isn't being malicious or purposefully deceitful. she's just trying to live her life.

so yeah i do think about her ^^;

[onesidedradiostatic]

I've seen some people speculate that Alastor might have fought in WWI, because he would've been the right age at the right time, but like. Guys. First off- he's black, armies were segregated until the end of WWII, and they conscripted WAY less African-American men than white men. Secondly, out of all the black military units during WWI, only two of them actually fought in the war. Most were just for labor.

Also, you have to be medically examined and cleared as "able bodied" in order to serve in the first place- based on what we DO know of human Alastor, he would've been rejected anyway on the basis of bad eyesight (given that he wore glasses/a monocle) and being too thin. If he was a practitioner of Vodou in life, as he's been heavily implied to be, he also could have been exempted back then due to "incompatible religious beliefs". And let's be completely honest. It's Alastor. And the percentage of draft dodgers during WWI was even higher than that of the Vietnam War, which is FAMOUS for the sheer number of draft dodgers. So... no. I do not think he is a veteran.

me who sucked at history, nodding my head: yes, yes anon that is a bunch of smart stuff you said. yes definitely alastor could not have fought in WW1. no he is probably not a veteran nope 🫡🫡🫡🫡

[fatuismooches]

The most ominous and threatening motivation: Imagining Dottore judging your grades.

That imagery got me through my lab training I'm not even kidding I was the first one to pass the histology practicals in one go during assessment 😭

The delulu got me making the most detailed specimen slides, on Dottore we stress 🙏🛐

Good luck on ye finales, may your pen be swift and your mind even so 🫡

HELP THE IDEA OF DOTTORE JUDGING ME HAS ME SHRIVELING UP INTO NOTHINGNESS... physically CANNOT handle that so I'm going to imagine him praising me after working my ass off instead 😭🙏🙏 (and congrats on your training!! that sounds really hard im proud ❤️)

"On Dottore we stress" is going to be my new catchphrase thank you. We are all stressing on Dottore to keep us going fr 🤭

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

judy is also a v cute grandma english name bc of judy garland i think

wait holy shit i didnt even think of that oh my god. jade has MAD wizard of oz symbolism holy fuck your mind is galactically huge

-mod dave

[silverskye13]

Something I do when wanting to put links in author's notes is to write it at the bottom of the fic in the rich text version, then cut and paste it on the notes! It's far easier that way imo - Dove

Dove where have you been all my life.

[altraviolet]

Hi! I wanted to thank you for getting me into MTMTE and IDW transformers in general. The comic format is smth that's hard for me to get into, but The Echo Garden has given me enough motivation to try it again, and I have been having the time of my life.

I think so far the funniest experience of my backwards approach to this fandom has been learning which creative, amazing, amusing parts of your fic are, in fact, actual canon. I thought that things like Movie Night, Cyclonus' horrible signing, and some aspects of Swerve's bar were probably something you extrapolated yourself based on character dynamics. But apparently the source is just as fun, endearing and fascinating as your work. Despite all these "spoilers", I was still unprepared for the small mech piloting the massive mech that is Ultra Magnus to have actually had another mecha suit layer of protection all along. That made me laugh. Knowing which characters make it to the end has been comforting in the tenser moments of the comic, but has not stopped me from letting out a tear or two. So I don't think being spoiled has worsened my reading experience at all.

I can't wait to eventually return to The Echo Garden with a new-found appreciation for the crew. Right now, reading MTMTE feels like getting more of The Echo Garden. I imagine that later the inverse will become true. Thank you for your writing and thank you for the beautiful way you have captured this wonderful crew of characters. And thank you for introducing me to this side of the Transformers franchise I wasn't able to convince myself to try out before.

hello lovely anon!

ah, wow! thank you so much for this kind message! I've been sooo curious how it feels to read TEG first and then MTMTE, and you've sent me such a nice message about it!

as a huge fan of JRO's work in MTMTE, this part: Right now, reading MTMTE feels like getting more of The Echo Garden. feels astoundingly amazing to hear. thank you! and yes, I think the inverse will become true- I wrote TEG because I missed MTMTE so much!

I'm glad the spoilers didn't affect your enjoyment of MTMTE and I'm super glad you gave it another try! I really hope Skybound makes the comics available in print again, so folks can get their hands on it. it's a comic that deserves to be preserved and enjoyed =)

thank you again for the kind message! it felt really nice to receive 😊💎❤️💙

[the-darkestminds]

I’ve seen E/riel’s say > “that Elucien’s (book) theories all revolve around Lucien and not Elain (like how Gwynriel’s theories revolve around Azriel & not Gwyn), because she needs to leave the NC & her family to find herself and become her own person. She needs to leave her friends Nuala and Cerridwen who played a pivotal part in her healing. The rejected mating bond that's been hinted at has nothing to do with Elain. It has to do with Lucien's parents, Helion and Lady Autumn. A rejected mate bond would be a huge storyline for any book but it's going to be a side plot with the side characters involved in Lucien's storyline. Who cares about Elain being a seer or a spy when she can play the socialite trophy wife to Lucien the grand Emissary and High Lord. She can mingle and plan parties and be pretty and charming at balls because apparently she's a giant extrovert (which we have not seen). For all this discourse around an E/riel book being bad for Elain because Azriel would be the focus and not Elain, I have yet to see a plot for an elucien book that centers on Elain and not Lucien. So I find it hard to believe they actually care about Elain, when she seems like nothing more than a means to an end to give the poor ginger cinammon roll Lucien the story and ending they think he deserves. That Elain is expected to live with Jurian, who was directly responsible for her being Made, and be neighbors with Graysen. Because her mate decided that it was totally appropriate for him to be friends with both of those specimens.”

E/riel’s are acting as if we’re saying Elain needs to forget her family and she’ll never get to visit them. Feyre literally called Elain a pleasant companion and the wraith twins are being paid by Feysand to spend time with Elain. It’s literally canon. I’ve seen many Elucien’s discuss theories on Elain and her seer abilities. Her taking down Koschei, involved with Vassa, fixing/healing Spring Court. Elain being a spy doesn’t make sense given the characterization of her character. Elain does give off high society vibes. She danced and personally greeted each guest at balls. Nesta said that Elain used to enjoy balls and parties. Elain who could convince anyone to do anything with a few smiles. I do believe that Elain is an extrovert, but she’s traumatized (understandably) after being thrown into the Cauldron and everything else. I’ve never seen an Elucien call Elain a trophy wife. It’s like E/riel’s are putting words in our mouths.

I’ve seen E/riel’s talk about how Elain is so similar to Mor: bright, extroverted. But then they change it to Elain being in introvert then back to her being an extrovert, or how she’s an ambivert. They constantly change her personality and the theories about her character/their “forbidden romance” ship. If Lucien chose to live in Velaris, I could see E/riel’s throwing a fit. “He’s stalking/harassing her!” But then they criticize him for not putting in “enough effort”.

And Gwynriel’s have come up with so many theories/story arcs about Gwyn outside of Azriel. Her wielding Gwydion, her possibly finding Narben, her research on other worlds, working through her trauma, using her invoking stone, leaving the library, her sisters death.

I see this all this time anon!! Such a popular argument among Elriels that all of the stuff with Koschei and Beron and Spring all focus on Lucien and not Elain. But I don’t see it that way. I think Elriels think this because they believe Elain is happy and thriving in the Night Court. They have a difficult time imagining a scenario in which Elain leaves the NC to discover her true purpose and what she wants out of her immortal life. And I guess yeah, if Elain were truly content it would seem silly for her to leave. But is Elain’s destiny really to live in the background of Feyre’s life? No, of course not. Just like it wasn’t Nesta’s to fill whatever role Feyre could come up with once the wall came down in ACOWAR. Each sister has her own unique journey. I think it’s crazy to suggest that the mating bond between Elain and Lucien is some minor issue. This is a huge deal in sjm books, as she has made clear many times. It’s part of Elain accepting herself as Fae, coming to terms with the loss of her human fiancé and the life she imagined for herself, that she can still have an epic love despite having lost her first love. Lucien can help her do that because he’s suffered something similar. I think right now we are not seeing Elain at her best, based on what we know about how she was as a human. She could charm anyone with a single smile, beloved by everyone she meets, a ray of sunshine, etc. Is this what we see from Elain right now? No. So just because we don’t know exactly what the plot will entail doesn’t mean it’s Lucien-centered. (Although I love Lucien so much I am dying for him to at least get 50% of the POV of the next book!) I have never seen any Elucien theory reduce Elain to being a “trophy wife” so that definitely sounds made up!

Minor HOFAS Spoilers ahead!

As far as Gwyn goes, I think it’s very obvious how much more she and Azriel have in common. They both have intense trauma, they both suffer from feelings of not being worthy of love, they are both tied to the Illyrian plotline via the blood rite, they both have a connection to the multiverse (Azriel due to his interactions with the Asteri and Gwyn with her research into multiple worlds with Merrill). Add in the bonus chapter and I think it’s pretty obvious where things are headed 🤷‍♀️

Also side note, what did they expect Jurian to do to stop the king of Hybern? Jurian is a hero who has likely seen more horrors than probably any other character considering he lived as an eyeball for 500(?) years and had to watch every horrific thing Amarantha did. I think implying he’s some evil asshole is so silly. Jurian is awesome. 😤

[notallangelsaregood]

Disguised twilight and Yuri accidentally witnessing thorn princess appear out of nowhere. exterminate the mole like it's nothing and then taking the documents and vanishing

Thorn princess proceeds to exterminate the mole, grabbing the suitcase containing all the documents inside it and gently wipes the blood out of her content face, grinning at her quick and impeccable work.

“All done, one less bad man (knows nothing about the contents of the coded files, the shopkeeper didn't tell and she didn't ask). I'm so glad, now the world is slightly safer for little miss Anya, Bond and Loid-san. Oh, and Yuri, how could I forget about him?” The assassin said, humming, mostly speaking for herself, as she walked out of the crime scene.

Twilight – “...”

Yuri – “...”

Twilight – “Well, that was unexpected.” I'm glad she is thinking about our family, though. And what a revealing outfit, maybe I should talk to her about it when I get home? Wait, what? WH-

Yuri – How can she forget about me? All she thinks about now is the chihuahua girl, the big white fluff and Loi-Loi, this is not fair. Oh shit, is this random WISE agent going after her? “If you run towards her, I'll kill you.”

Twilight – “Have you seen the same thing as me? I'm not crazy to risk trying to run after her. Besides, my wife would kill me if I come home late.” Quite literally, I suppose.

[baby-xemnas]

i gotta bitch, sorry

twt is making me too mad because people are drawing fanart as if heart pirates are dead because uwu sad Law, this really tells me how little you care about what Bepo was telling him. comparing it to fleavance or escape from doflamingo family just for the sake of uwu sads is wrong

situation is tragic enough they got beaten and the Polar Tang is destroyed but how about you care about Bepo a little and listen to what he is saying - they will recover and rebuild

i didnt wanna post this at first but saw 3 more LAW LOST HIS FAMILY!! tweets and some fanart implying that they are all dead and i cant stand these people deadass

for the record i am not arguing it from a "dont say that he lost them because its too sad" but its simply incorrect, its inambiguous that they are fine. they are all great swimmers.

all those people dont give a shit about Bepo's reassuring speech telling Law not to lose hope. i hate them

[webslingingslasher]

j can we get some angst with any peter soon🙏 (no rush tho ofc)

how about some nerdy!peter angst?

[aipilosse]

This is probably a stupid question, but you said you're open to ones about Sauron: do you know what he was doing after Morgoth was defeated the first time? It doesn't make sense that he would be in Valinor, but I see people say that he was. Am I missing something? Thank you

Anon, this is not a stupid question at all and I've also puzzled over where the idea that Sauron was in Valinor after the otherthrow of Utumno came from. From reading the Silm, it really sounds like Sauron defected to Morgoth at a very early point, well before the elves woke up, and did not leave him after Morgoth's defeat.

I guess at a high level, here's the timeline of events:

World is created. Valar arrive.

Melkor decides he want to be king of the world, screw Manwë and Eru.

Tulkas arrives and chases Melkor out. Melkor begins to sulk away from the Valar.

The Valar make the two lamps. Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.

THEN we get this first information about Sauron (from the Annals of Aman in Morgoth's Ring):

Now Melkor knew of all that was done; for even then he had secret friends and spies among the Maiar whom he had converted to his cause, and of these the chief, as after became known, was Sauron, a great craftsman of the household of Aulë.

So, yeah, Sauron became a follower of Morgoth at a very early point, before the making of the lamps. He also had to have been not aligned with Morgoth exclusively at some point in order to become known as a great craftsman of the household of Aulë.

So when does he leave? I don't know, but I think it's before the elves leave Cuiviénen.

I think it's actually an important plot point that Sauron is out in the world working as an agent of Morgoth after Utumno is overthrown, and crucially Utumno is overthrown because the elves have woken up and the Valar want to defend them but have not yet contacted them. One of the highlights for me in Nature of Middle-earth was all the references that Sauron was causing chaos while Morgoth was in Mandos and then in Valinor. This was already in the Myths Transformed chapter of Morgoth's Ring, but there were even more details in NoME.

Here's Myths Transformed because I don't feel like fishing out NoME (and I think this is more complete and canonical anyway):

We my assume, then, that the idea of breeding the Orcs came from Melkor, not at first maybe so much for the provision of servants or the infantry of his wars of destruction, as for the defilement of the Children and the blasphemous mockery of the designs of Eru. The details of the accomplishment of this wickedness were, however, left mainly to the subtleties of Sauron. in that case the conception in mind of the Orcs may go far back into the night of Melkor's thought, though the beginning of their actual breeding must await the awakening of Men. When Melkor was made captive, Sauron escaped and lay hid in Middle-earth; and it can in this way be understood how the breeding of the Orcs (no doubt already begun ) went on with increasing speed during the age when the Noldor dwelt in Aman; so that when they returned to Middle-earth they found it already infested with this plague, to the torment of all that dwelt there, Elves or Men or Dwarves. It was Sauron, also, who secretly repaired Angband for the help of his Master when he returned; and there the dark places underground.

So, I think we can conclude Sauron spent time in Valinor during the Age of the Lamps, but was already leaning or completely converted to Melkor's agenda at the time, and he left well before the elves arrived, very possibly before the elves woke up. I am not aware of any information that suggests otherwise, though if anyone has it, I'm happy to hear it.

So I think the many stories of Sauron in Valinor with elves are just playing with the idea and having fun with it, because it is an interesting idea, and not really worrying about the timeline. And I will end on that non-judgmental note!

[good-beanswrites]

Ahh ive been reading some of your writings and they're just so warm and fluffy to read (if that makes sense??) Though i cant really express it in the tags ;; also if its alright, may i please request blanket with mikoto or tears with fuuta? - @erimnar

Omg thank you -- I've been so grateful for your tags! :)) And thanks for the requests, I had a lot of fun with these woo! I went with a real fun one for Mikoto/Blanket (once again, picture T1 minigram vibes) and I'll post a slightly angstier one for Fuuta/Tears soon 👍

“Mikotoooo, just share with Muu,” the girl pouted. “I mean it!”

He scooted out of her reach. “What are you gonna do, stab me about it?”

Muu’s jaw dropped, but there was no real horror behind it. “Maybe!” She lunged for him again. 

After a strange rattling from the walls had woken some in the middle of the night, all the heat in the prison had seeped away. Es had left to fix it immediately, and no one had seen them for hours. In Mikoto’s opinion, they seemed better versed in law than plumbing and mechanical fixes. He had no idea how long they’d all be shivering like this in the winter chill.

The prisoners walked around all morning in a mismatch of spare layers. Mahiru giggled inside one of Shidou’s extra doctor coats, far too big on her. Mikoto hadn’t stopped laughing that Shidou owned extra doctor coats in the first place. Yuno’s stylish hats could be spotted on several of the prisoners, Mikoto included. (He’d given his own beanie to Kazui, earlier.) Fuuta had handed out a concerning amount of sweatshirts, and Muu had some fashionable scarves that gave enough warmth to be useful.

In addition to the ridiculous getups, they each carried their bed sheets around their shoulders. Mikoto was surprised to find himself the envy of the group.

A while back he’d requested a weighted blanket; he remembered finding one helpful when work got too overwhelming. Milgram had provided a fairly large one, though he felt it hadn’t worked as well here. He didn't expect it to cause a stir until Shidou pointed out that its weight would make it even warmer than his own. Following that, it didn’t take long to attract the small army of murderous children that were after him. 

As he stepped away from Muu, Yuno leapt at his other side, ready to snatch the blanket off of him. Although Haruka and Amane were too nervous to make a grab at him, they stood anxiously nearby rooting for his loss. Mahiru had jumped in as well. Her quick movements forced Mikoto to spin around and draw it even closer around his shoulders. Caring less about the blanket, but always ready to tackle someone, Fuuta joined the scuffle.

It wasn't like Mikoto cared about the blanket, either. He had no issue sharing it with the others. He knew the attitude in the prison had been dropping recently. Despite the brief camaraderie from sharing articles of clothing, everyone’s mood had been especially bitter today. As physical discomfort added to their mental strain, things could go south quickly. The place needed to liven up a bit.

He stepped back from the blanket thieves, flicking the corner of it from Fuuta’s hands. 

“Not so fast!”

Fuuta fumed. “You asshole…”

Yuno, meanwhile, seemed up for the challenge. “You’re quick!”

“I’ve had a bit of experience…” He flashed a wicked grin. Mikoto didn’t talk about his family much, but a few of the others knew he grew up on fairly good terms with a younger sister. His big brother instincts had developed just fine.

He darted this way and that. He faked and sidestepped and spun. As his opponents grew bolder, he ended up sweeping the blanket off his back. He swung it around the room with less effort than expected. He was stronger than he looked, and easily kept the girls at bay while wrestling Fuuta for the blanket. He let out a laugh as he fought back against all the grabbing hands. Taking advantage of the height difference, he lifted it directly over his head.

The position wasn’t the most secure, though. His taunts were quickly replaced by feigned cries as the others dragged him to the ground. As they pinned him down, a cheer erupted from Haruka before he covered his mouth. The others joined in the celebration as they claimed their prize.

Mikoto lamented, “you’re so cruel… you’re all so cruel…” It was good, he thought, hearing them all laugh.

The loss of his blanket wasn’t his only punishment. Heaving an exhausted breath, Yuno flopped down directly on top of him. She tucked herself and Muu into the blanket. Then Mahiru wiggled in, beckoning to Amane and Haruka. By the time they all nestled in, there was just barely enough room for Fuuta to squeeze in with everyone. 

Mikoto wheezed from under the pile of prisoners.

“Okay, okay,” he said. “You win. Fuck -- let me breathe...”

Mahiru just made herself more comfortable. “But you’re so warm!” The others muttered their agreement. Not one showed any sign of moving. The prison was far too cold to give up heat like this, after all.

“That’s because you all made me work so hard!” He huffed. “Come on.”

“What are you gonna do?” Muu giggled, doing a poor impression of his voice, “murd--”

“-- Aw, shaddup…”