lizmidfordsblog

[lizmidfordsblog]

When the cats find out that Jules helped Beacrox cook their breakfast, they recoil like they’ve been burned. Eruhaben watches with twitching lips as Hong launches himself at Cale, tiny kitten leg kicking away the spoon half-way to his lips with an all-mighty yowl. “NOOOOO!” There’s a long moment of silence as they watch the spoon clatter to the floor, spinning wildly in a circle until it stops. Then slowly—very slowly—Cale looks up at the skittish kitten, empty hand still curled up in the air. The poor man never gets to speak.

chapter six of you, singularity is out! enjoy the long awaited fluff and comedy featuring our favorite characters :)

eruhaben then proceeds to knock out someone with a spoon.

leave a comment if you enjoy!

[lizmidfordsblog]

So many small details, which make TCF such an incredible story...

Remember back in the beginning, when Cale was getting his first Ancient Power, the Indestructible Shield? How On and Hong were there since the start, and how Cale told them to keep what they saw a secret?

Now, remember when Cale came to the tree for the last time, and was glad that the weather was foggy, because it would hide what was happening to outside viewers?

...I'm 100% convinced On created that fog on purpose. The clever girl figured out that Cale wanted to be unseenand could use some help. So, she created a fog cover for him on purpose. And that was before Cale took her and Hong in. She was already helping out.

It's a small detail, and Cale never realizes it, but it always makes me so happy to find little secrets in the background like that. And there are so many more to find, if you look for them.

Like that time Cale is in the Magic Tower, and the symbol on the wall is a star surrounded by five others. That implies that the Magic Tower was allied with the White Star before it fell. It never comes up again, but the detail is there, and it gives the entire Whipper Kingdom uprising so much more depth to it. Why wouldn't the bastards who experiment on people be allied with the final boss? It makes perfect sense!!

Or how Redika was the one to develop the new magic bombs, and by having Choi Han injuring him so much so early on, there are no more bombing incidents by Arm in the TCF timeline. I totally forgot about that one, and a fanfic had to remind me it was even a thing.

Or the fact that the White Crown, which consumes Dragon blood, left a phantom image upon the bone Dragon which Cale found in the swamp. It implies that the White Star had the Crown feed upon that Dragon as he killed him, and I made a whole theory how that battle left the White Star so injured he decided to break his plate on that spot and leave a piece of the Dominating Aura behind, to loose some "weight" from his over-burdened plate. And how it makes sense that the Dominating Aura would show Cale the glimpse of that Crown for a moment, despite it no longer being there, because the two are connected and the Dominating Aura definitely WANTED Cale to realize something was up.

Or that moment when the nobles are announced as they enter the meeting in the beginning of the story, and every named character plays a role later on: Antonio becomes an ally, and Karin becomes an enemy.

A tiny detail like Mayor Obante witnessing a Dragon's aura, and that Dragon being a "typical arrogant Dragon who tells everybody to kneel", who is later revealed to be Rasheel, and that description fits him perfectly.

So many wonderful details, some of which never come up again or for a long time... They all make this story so much richer.

[lizmidfordsblog]

not me spitting out reddish-brown every other line in my fic because i'm trying to be "as close to canon". only to find out it's the wrong eye color T-T

EDIT: I GOT RECIEPTS

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

I apologize for the crappy quality, my laptop is being weird.

chat, i was today years old when i found out that cale henituse's eyes are actually reddish-grey? not reddish-brown? what am i doing with my life.

[lizmidfordsblog]

chat, i was today years old when i found out that cale henituse's eyes are actually reddish-grey? not reddish-brown? what am i doing with my life.

[lizmidfordsblog]

Who is Cale Henituse? And Who is Kim Rok Soo?

In a previous post, I mentioned how OG!Cale's The Birth of a Hero future was Kim Rok Soo's worst nightmare. Raon never lived. The Henituse County was razed to the ground. Eruhaben was likely killed off by the Dragon Half-Blood or the White Star.

How do we know that was his worst nightmare? Because Kim Rok Soo (KRS) has already lived through it with the cataclysm and everything that unfolded afterward. I'm currently writing a thesis on the fluidity of identity, and the sheer lack of staticness of KRS's entire life & his personhood is physically staggering.

Orphanhood, child abuse and alienation are all examples of instability we see reflected in real life. They don't necessarily have to connote instability, but in KRS's case, they did. Shifting from different homes, in the care of (or lack thereof) of different adults etc. These are age old tales, of children aging out of systems and working hard to get into college to support themselves. Here, KRS stands out as one example out of thousands.

But the author takes this to the next level; in the Cataclysm, that already fragile sense of identity is fully squashed.

During the Sloth Test, Kim Rok Soo defines his high school experience as uneventful and peaceful. He's finally out of his abusive situation and can reset, can lay down his roots. He begins to develop goals, fosters connections (however little they are) and has the drive to reach for those goals through working jobs. The moment he dares to dream of more, the Cataclysm takes place in what can arguably be a moment in Earth 2's history that revamped every single human being's identity.

Once, Lee Soo Hyuk (LSH) was a third rate actor playing extras. Now he's lowkey the hope of the diminishing Korean population. He's the only Ability User with two (recorded) abilities.

Once, Kim Rok Soo (KRS) was an orphan working in a restaurant earning money to attend college. He'd made something out of himself, no matter how little or fragile it was.

Now he's effectively nothing, as is enforced and told to him by literally everyone in this new society that prioritizes efficiency & usefulness over all else. He states it himself, considers it true himself: he was useless until he activated his own Abilities.

Then we have the dismantlement of the central shelters, then latter on a period of stability where he forges bonds with Choi Jung Soo (CJS) and Lee Soo Hyuk (LSH). He again, finds a place for himself in a broken world. And what happens? That, too, disappears.

Kim Rok Soo is someone used to change, placing and taking down different masks in order to survive. The irony of his existence is how he literally gets his soul swapped, another complete revamp of his identity. He's no longer Kim Rok Soo (not that he had much attachment to it, as KRS emphasizes throughout the novel) but rather he's Cale Henituse now. With all the connotations of the word.

I chose to write my fic specifically to interrogate this shift of identity. In TCF canon, we never really get to understanding the implications of OG!Cale's disappearance from the perspective of his loved ones. I adore KRS with all my heart, and cackle at all the 'trash' comedy going on. But I also think about the sheer tragedy of no one realizing OG!Cale was missing, or that KRS had replaced him. That's not on Choi Han, Raon or any of the family members KRS has gained post-transmigration.

It makes me think of just how alienated OG!Cale purposefully made himself that-- forget Deruth (who I can expect to be busy with work) but Ron, who was by his side every day did not realize. That's terrifying; it makes you wonder, what makes a person themselves? Their physical body, their soul, or their personality?

If KRS!Cale suddenly switched bodies back, would any of his family members realize?

(I know they would, cue our Dark Tiger quite literally recognizing KRS in the Sealed God Test, but think about it!!)

Jules works as a character because she's someone from OG!Cale's past, who knew him intimately (as close as a family member), and hence, at the realization that this is not him-- is understandably and rightfully equal parts pissed and scared. The funniest part is, this fic was never meant to be a romance, I was just toying with the idea of someone who actually knew OG!Cale before KRS took over, finding out about the soul swap. I'm really excited to see how the author tackles this with Ron & Beacrox in Part 2, who have long begun to suspect our beloved KRS!Cale.

Actually, this makes me think of Alberu, who's doing some identity swapping/obscuring of his own. I wrote a bit about it in to your eternity, but I might do a separate post just waxing poetry about the sheer beauty of him as a foil to our beloved Cale. And Choi Han. And OG!Cale. Ughhh!! Even Eruhaben, himself (as someone who has had a fixed identity/personhood across his thousand years) acts as a foil to Kim Rok Soo, who flips between identities like they're clothes. And who, ironically, has this change satirized via different characters always misunderstanding him (calling him a dragon, thinking he's a god etc.).

Any way, that is my daily dose of mental breakdowns courtesy of our favorite slacker. Sorry if I kept rambling obvious things, its just that every time I reread the novel, I'm just blown back by the characters. TCF, as it's core, isn't a plot-driven story but rather a character-driven on. It's heart is in it's found family and I think that's beautiful.

If you liked this post, or wanna geek over these characters more, shoot me a text! I'm always down!

Also, feel free to check out my fic! I currently have a chapter out talking about Beacrox & his displacement from his home/finding a new one with the Henituses.

[lizmidfordsblog]

I have been here since day 1 literally dying because of how well-written your story is! I’m normally not an OC fic reader, but this one literally did a one-eight on all my expectations! I have one question though, it’s okay to ask 👉👈

I’m really curious about the relationship between Jules and our OG!Cale? One point you think he hates her, then we find out he doesn’t AND THEN the last few lines of the fic about the GHOST BRIDE oof?!!!

Have you read through the entire novel? We barely get our belovdd Original Cale, so how did you pin sown this amazing characterization?

omg, thank you for being such a sweetheart! i have read through part 1 and most of what's out there for part 2 (i'm letting the chapters stack for the summer haha to binge read). so don't worry about spoilers and the like! most of jules' story is curated with future spoilers in mind such as jour thames, og!cale, hunters, choi jung gun etc (HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE FIC HEHE).

i will admit though, i haven't read the side stories yet since i'm saving them for a rainy day. i hear that there's a side story about og!cale living as kim rok soo?

as for my characterization of og!cale, i remember being heavily inspired by pendwelling's frame the halves and call them brothers mixed in with my own interpretation based on what we know from the novel. for me, he exists as someone deeply pragmatic (owing to the decision he made to act as trash) and reflective, but still somewhat immature and rough (during his younger years, cue choi han beating him). og!cale is the definition of growth, of evolution with time.

that makes him very realistic, since we as people grow as well over time. i wanted to show that dynamism; between someone thinking they're doing the right thing (such as pushing jules and his family away) interposed with their own conflicting, often time uncontrolled emotions (hence him losing his temper/accidentally hitting jules with the wine bottle).

i never intended on villainizing him in the fic (and i'm sorry if it came across that way). og!cale was a child, he should have been allowed to be as such. i presume if his sense of identity & belonging was rooted more securely in the henituse family, he would have acted like pendwelling's characterization. we already how he acts in canon. as for how he acts with jules' presence in his life, i tried to show some sort of middle ground between the two. he was only grounded as long as jules was there BECAUSE she acted as that bridge for him. so the moment she left to pursue her dreams, it was like og!cale was left behind fixed in time, never to rise higher but only to fall lower.

this is a little spoiler, but inferable through close reading of the fic: og!cale never hated jules, instead, he felt suffocated by the implications of her existence. i theorize that canon og!cale was always a tad too smart for his own good. that perspective allowed him to be suspicious about jules' role in his life as his sworn sword. he felt guilty that her life revolved around him but at the same time, he resented her for not having more self-respect as to rebel against that role (since og!cale would have done something similar if he were in the same position). mix that in with teenage hormones, and you got a mess.

i hope this helps somewhat! please feel free to ask me as many questions as you want! and oh, please give pendwelling some love whenever you can (they're the reason i got into the fandom in the first place!)

[lizmidfordsblog]

In the middle of writing my fic and just, I'm so baffled by the intricacy of this novel. All my respect to the author at just how detailed, ironic and yet deeply tragic KRS's very existence is.

Everyone that KRS has ever dared to love ended up dead or a fate worse than death. We have implicit confirmation that he began distancing himself from his team after LSH & CJS deaths. But I keep thinking back to him throughout the years (a little kid, teenage, young adult etc.) always grieving then daring to be happy only to have it shot down over and over again.

His parents passed away? His uncle takes him, only to abuse him.

He ends up at an orphanage? Sure he doesn't have friends but he's earning money and will go to college. Cataclysm happens.

He's stuck under debris for ages. But then he meets our movie star LSH, right? Wrong, LSH goes off to save other people, KRS gets bullied by PJT, the shelters collapse and he loses everyone. It's just this never ending cycle of tragedy over and over again.

At some point, during the early chapters, KRS commends Raon for not giving up despite all his pain. KRS lowkey detests himself having given up early on living a happy life. Still his heart wavers and yearns for companionship simply because that's a fundamental part of being human.

Every single time, he has to gather the courage to be hurt again. I'm thinking now, forget his OG world, in his current one too-- whenever KRS!Cale brings in another person into his family, he's subconsciously bracing himself to lose them. It's ironic that he thinks he stopped fighting back fate, when in reality, all his meticulous preparations, his scheming and his self-sabotage of his slacker life-- are all proof that KRS is not willing to lose these people. The OG!Cale's future is KRS's worst nightmare.

Every single time he brings another member into his family, KRS is silently saying-- I know this opens me up to hurt, for I've lost more people than I've ever had, but still regardless, I want you. I love you. I care for you.

All of this, in retrospect to the reveal about the WS' influence on KRS' life, makes this so much more tragic. The WS looked down on the importance human connection/companionship, considering it useless to the path of godhood. KRS embodies that importance, despite steeling his heart, he continues to care. He's our snarky self-sacrificial middle-aged twink, who finally gained a family willing to literally fistfight god for him. And you know, you know that if the WS stupid curse didn't parasite onto KRS's life, then you know from the Sealed God Test that he'd have had that family too in another life, in another world.

Just going on this rant gives me the heebie jeebies about writing my fic, purely because I keep wondering about how the hell I am ever going to give this man justice with my amateur writing. Sir, respectfully, I know you hate this question but, are you human?

[lizmidfordsblog]

Summary:

Choi Han’s flat on the floor, Beacrox on top of him holding a knife to his throat and using his hair as a dish rag. Lock's foaming at the mouth, Raon and Hong are on a counter looking like they just rolled in a pile of cocaine, all while Maes tries to fan off the flames of a burning oven with a literal broom. Jules stares. “...I am going to need a drink.”

Jules now has a vested interest in keeping Kim Rok Soo alive, all while finding a way to bring Cale back—no matter what the cost. Simple, right?

Instead, she’s busy pulling dragons off the ceiling, getting bullied by a blonde elf, and refereeing knife fights in the kitchen.

[lizmidfordsblog]

Imma be real with you, your fanfic was so well-written ad I enjoyed every single word. You sincerely had me hooked line and sinker. You are one of the people I see as inspiration when writing fanfics for tcf. I loved the way your writing portrayed both Kim Rok Soo and Cale Henituse so well. I also loved how you balanced the entire cast so they felt authentic while interacting with Jules. Overall, I enjoyed your fic so much and I hope to make something as good as your fic in the future.

oh my goodness, thank you so much for your kind words. i'm literally melting into a puddle. i'm so honored that you appreciate my fic so much when there are so many good tcf fics out there!

i look forward to reading your fic in the future :) our community is small but very supportive, so we are each other's biggest cheerleaders!

if you liked to your eternity, i hope you can look forward to the next installment in the series--you, singularity, which includes more fun interactions with the rest of the characters :)

[lizmidfordsblog]

Welcome to the final chapter of to your eternity!

i'm a little emotional seeing the end of this fic. this fandom has been incredibly welcoming to me and i'm deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to join this community. i was given a space to express myself while practicing and improving my writing!

if you enjoyed jules & cale's journey, please stay tuned for the next fic in this series you, singularity which will focus on slice of life/fluff & angst snippets of your favorite tcf characters! i hope to see you all soon!

[lizmidfordsblog]

time has passed by so fast. we're already at the penultimate chapter of this fic! thank you all for all your support and kindness!

i hope you all enjoyed the ride thus far (for all the Adin haters, i think you will enjoy this chapter).

[lizmidfordsblog]

hello! this is liz, the author of to your eternity!

after getting much encouragement from flame, i've decided to make this tumblr. please feel free to ask me anything, especially in relation to the fic! i'll be writing primarily tcf fanfiction, but i'm currently reading orv and rothms as well! i'd love some recommendations!

also, in celebration, please have two new chapters!

summary:

"the thresholds of our destiny, the paths we walk different each time, how many must i traverse until i find you again?"

i hope you all enjoy, thank you for your continued support, and i look forward to chatting with you all!