#[yes I'm aware this is not lined up with the myths

[that-little-fucking-shit]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaad. How do I ask a girl to be my Valentine

@sea-siblings

I thought we established that it was I who got proposed to. I did none of the proposing. I don't know?? Go ask your mom?!?

[grumpy-nyks]

The Fernweh Saga by @lacunafiction - Davor edition

I-I think Ms. Verner doesn't like him...😳

Davor "Dove" Kovač 🐝 RO: Becca Warrick

Personality: cautious // aloof // pessimistic // flirtatious (only towards Becca ...and Reese??) Traits: head // independent // resistance // believer Past affinity: math Primary ability: extrasensory awareness Past susceptibility: forward. 'it’s better to push forward. don’t look back on the past when you have new places to be and things to achieve.' <<< his motto

🕊️ Fernweh: Davor lived a happy life there and didn't think about leaving in the future. Maybe for some trips, but he knew it would always be his place, his safe place... 'It was a mistake to come back here.' - that was his first thought when he tried to fall asleep on the first night in Fernweh. The nightmares came back as he thought they would. He wants to leave as soon as possible because he feels that it is not safe for Becca to be here.

🕊️ Gramps Dan: That was his gramps who taught Davor how to play the guitar. As a young child, Davor always admired him and believed he was the most intelligent person in the world. After the death of his parents and how his grandfather treated him, he was devastated and angry. He wanted answers soo badly but didn't get any. He lived loathing his grandfather ever since. The news of his passing stirred up a lot of negative emotions that Davor had previously managed to suppress. At the beginning of the story he couldn't care less about his grandfather, but because of his journal he started to believe him. Things that his granfather lived through made Davor even more angry at this messy town …but he's willing to forgive his gramps…

🐝 Becca Warrick: It was a ...funny story that brought both of them together and they look after each other ever since. He considers Becca as his precious (not in a negative-possessive way) treasure, he literally can't let anything bad happen to her. That was also she who came up with the nickname 'Dove'... (and she's literally the only person who calls him that, others wouldn't dare...). He had feelings for her for quite some time but didn't act on it... until now. Although he didn't express it, he felt very nervous about Becca being in the town where he grew up. He was curious (but also scared) about what she could think of this town. He felt like he was revealing more of himself to her…. and he forgot about any worries pretty fast, because the town started being weird as fu--.

🕊️ Reese Verner: Back then Davor was quite cheerful and enjoyed competing with Reese regularly. They teased each other a lot. Davor always thought that Reese had a crush on him, was it true tho? donut know, but he certainly had. ...why does he appear in his nightmares? Maybe the crush stage never disappeared...? Seeing him again was a nice experience, sure... but ignoring the circumstances, he is still unsure if it was worth it and is struggling with his thoughts… Would it be worth it to return to Fernweh just to see him... again? welp, good thing he doesn't have to think about it much, am I right?

🕊️ Sofia Dorran: The two of them maybe did not have a strong relationship, but he knew Sofia is the ideal person for engaging in intelligent conversations. He enjoyed spending time with her, solving the puzzles that gramps created for them both. Davor wasn't a fan of fantasy books, but she managed to change his mind about them. Davor knows that Sofia did take good care of his grandfather, but he still doesn't quite know if he's grateful for that or wished she spent her time more... valuably... He was tempted to ask Sofia to borrow that book she found in his grandfather's bedroom, but he thought better of it. It's better to leave Fernweh… Even so, his curiosity wasn't properly fed.

🕊️ James Corvin: Maybe not brothers by blood, but definitely brothers by choice. Davor treated him as if he was the brother he always wanted to have. Back then Davor always placed a high value on his family… until now. At the time, Davor tended to be more impulsive and James was usually the one who kept him from getting into trouble (which often involved Reese). It was really hard, for both of them, to see each other after so long. Their first interaction was pretty awkward... I would even say that most of their interactions were . James noticed how Davor changed the question is: for the better or worse? I don't even know. Everyone can sense, that things around them are different now, and they aren't as close as before. Will it change?

🕊️ Alek Corvin: …To say that Alek wasn't a fan of Davor would be an understatement. Was it because James spent most of his time focusing only on Davor trying to get him out of trouble? Did Alek observe any possessiveness from Davor towards James? Or maybe simply because of the bond between those two, which was truly something that others would envy and desire? Davor never considered it, especially when he left Fernweh permanently. :)) As you can imagine, Alek doesn't seem very happy about Davor's return… But he took an interest in his new friend, Becca, which did not go unnoticed by Davor and he isn't really happy about it.

🕊️ The Waitress: Oh boy, it seems that Davor has taken up a new hobby, which is glaring harshly at the waitress. He finds her mistrustful and he smells trouble. Had they met when he was younger, there may have been a slim chance of them getting along.

🕊️ Waffles!: So um… Davor has a little issue with dogs and because of that his relationship with Waffles isn't as wonderful as I wish it would be... However, I believe that with time and help from Becca, they will eventually become friends.

[crunchystarz]

Hi, I just found your work and I literally love all of it!!! If it’s not too much of an issue (you can delete this if you want), can I please request self aware Malleus who reader badgers with questions about fae folklore upon him coming to their world?

Like, there’s so many interesting things about fae in mythology! Is giving a fae your name really bad? Does iron hurt him? Does he get offerings? Ahhhh, my head is spinning just thinking about it!

"COURTING?!?"

Self-aware!Malleus Draconia x GN!reader

Summary: while relaxing you ask Malleus about courting rituals among fae

Cw- fluff, gn!reader

Word count:1433

A/n: this is not proof read I fear🙂‍↕️; hopefully I did this ask right if not you have every right to call me a witch in front of the towns folk (also thank you so much for your sweet words o⁠(⁠(⁠*⁠^⁠▽⁠^⁠*⁠)⁠)⁠o I try my best)

Mallues had always been interested in human behavior and culture, he just found them so fascinating. The complexities, the intricacies, the way humans could be so unpredictable. When he became aware of your existence he was no different wanting to know every little thing about you. To him you were like a puzzle he desperately wanted to solve.

What he didn't expect was the way you were as curious about him as much as he was with you. Since he started living with you, you'd always ask him about himself and fae. Was it true you couldn't break a promise? Was the never say thank you thing just a myth?

It was just so interesting to you. Did the fae from his world line up with the folklore from your world? You were just so curious. At first you were scared to approach him about it. Too scared it might be too personal and you might offend him. However he asks about humans all the time wouldn't it be fair if you did the same?

Malleus quietly watched you as you sprawled out across your mattress. Green eyes just taking in your features as your own skimmed across the novel you had taken a liking to as of recently.

Suddenly you rolled over on your back. The raven hair watched, confused on what you were up to, before you fully sat up and stared up at him. He searched your face for any signs of discomfort or you being upset.

“Is everything alright [Name]?” The prince asked. You nodded, a small smile tugging at your lips and you lifted up your book. Malleus tilted his head confused.

“I just have a question, “ you started, closing the book. You'd constantly ask the horned fae questions so it wasn't a surprise when you sprung one out of nowhere. He let out a hum.

“ What is it, child of man?” He responded, voice soft. You looked a little flushed before clearing your throat. You met his gaze, his eyes watching you waiting for your question.

“Well it's that I'm very curious, how do fae court each other? Is it like In my books or is it completely different? “ You asked, sitting on your knees now. Malleus's eyes widened a bit and a flood of pink blush spread across his cheeks.

“Where is this coming from…” the raven hair spoke, his green eyes darting away from your face. Seeing his flustered expression made you smile a bit. You shook your head.

“Just curious is all” You said looking up at Malleus with an innocence he couldn't place. Just…curious. He cleared his throat trying to find the right words.

Finally, he let out a soft sigh and folded his hands in his lap.

“Well,” he began, his voice a bit quieter than usual, “courting among the fae is... a deeply significant and intricate process. It’s not something you enter into lightly, like any relationship it’s to be treated in a…delict matter.” He glanced at you briefly, his green eyes meeting yours before looking away again.

“Fae’s live a long time, yes;however we typically choose a partner only once so courting is very something that we do with caution “ He added. You smiled and nodded your head for the horned fae to continue.

“Courting often begins with gestures—small but meaningful acts that convey one’s intentions. Gift giving as you humans call it, usually a flower from a private garden or a trinket with a significant value would be given” Malleus spoke, placing a finger on his chin.

“Each gift is a declaration ,like a message that carries unspoken words if you will. Usually they're enchanted with magic as well” He started again

Your eyes sparkled with fascination as you leaned forward slightly. You were utterly engrossed. You'd always been a fan of the mythical world; You were always so excited whenever Malleus would answer your questions.

“woah…” you murmured. “Do both parties exchange these gifts?” you asked tilted your head. The prince’s eyes landed on you and he smiled softly. He let out a quiet hum.

“Once recognized and accepted, yes it is very common for the person to give back in signs they want to move forward, “ Malleus replied. You nodded, mouth slightly agape.

You recall something about fae being known to be possessive with their things, did that apply to partners as well?

“So Mal, I heard fae can be very territorial. Does that also apply to their partners—like um do you guys get jealous easily and stuff?”

Malleus took a moment before responding.”Well yes I do believe fae get very territorial…while I do admit we can get jealous most of the time it's more so out of a place of protection and wanting our partner to be comfortable rather than out of pure envy—not to say we don't sometimes get jealous of course” He spoked. You hummed, sitting back on your knees.

“Courting someone is like taking a small piece of you and giving it to another. It's a big commitment so it's only natural to feel a sense of possessiveness when it comes to the person you devote yourself to“ The prince added on with a shrug. You placed a hand on your chin, hanging onto his words.

“That sounds… intense,” you admitted with a chuckle, fidgeting with the drawstrings of your pajama shorts. “But also kind of romantic in a way.”

Malleus tilted his head, watching you intently. “Do you find it romantic, child of man? The idea of being cherished so deeply I mean” he said, words soft and careful.

Your heart skipped a beat at the question. The way he asked it, his voice low and steady, made you feel as though the room had somehow gotten smaller.

You fumbled for a response, you could feel the way blood rushed to your cheeks. “I-I mean, I guess so? It’s nice to think someone would care that much. But, um, I don’t think humans handle that kind of intensity as well as fae do,”

Malleus watched you with an intensity you couldn't quite place, His green eyes taking in your features and reactions.

“I suppose not,” he mused, “human emotion always amazes me, you know, such little time yet so much emotion it's truly fascinating in my opinon “ He mumbled. You hummed in response clearly lost in thought. It got silent for just a moment.

“Have you ever been jealous, Malleus?” you asked suddenly, the question slipping out before you could stop yourself.

Malleus blinked, surprised by your sudden boldness , a faint blush dusted his cheeks. He looked away, just like earlier when you had asked about courting.

“Jealousy… is not something I have experienced often. But,” he hesitated, his gaze returning to yours, “I cannot say I am immune to it…there have been times where my emotions get the better of me” the horned fae admitted.

You tilted your head, curiosity sparking in your eyes. A playful smile tugged at your lips “Oh Really? What kind of things would make someone like you jealous?” you asked, your tone teasing, yet curiosity laced your words as well.

Malleus gave a soft chuckle and playfully rolled his eyes, though his blush deepened slightly. “I suppose… moments when a certain someone I hold dea gives their attention to another,” he admitted his words more serious now. “It is not a feeling I take pride in but I cannot deny that I don't like seeing them with… others if I myself are not involve;it's selfish yes but I cannot help but feel possessive at times“

Your eyes widened a bit in surprise, you just looked down and nodded. “Yeah I honestly get that… I think it’s natural to want someone’s attention, especially when you care about them. It doesn’t make you bad, it just means… well, you care.” you muttered.

You were taken aback by the sudden feeling of slender fingers on your face. You blushed as one of Malleus’s hands found their way on your cheek. You couldn't help but melt.

“Yeah…” is all he said, yet it felt as if there was more that threatened to leave his tongue. The room was silent once more. Neither of you moved, just watched each other. The rays of the setting sun falling onto you.

If he were to court you…would you accept it? Is what he wanted to say. If he were to go home would you take his hand? Instead he just stayed quiet green eyes observing you. There's still very little he knew about humans. Very little he knew about you.

He did know he wanted to be with you...

MASTERLIST

[mimicofmodes]

I saw a post going around about costube historians analyzing period film costumes for accuracy and it kind of got under my skin, so I'm sitting down and writing ... not exactly a response to it, but a discussion of the topic.

(It would be a direct response except that I don't actually watch costube, because quite frankly I can't watch/listen to people discuss things I already know. And I don't want to be like "they don't do X!" when maybe they really do X and I'm just not aware. But a lot of the complaints hit the same points that have been brought up against fashion historians for reviewing costumes for decades. I would also note that I have looked into specific videos where there were claims of terrible costuber behavior and watched them and found nothing.)

If you're going to analyze a period film's costuming in any way, you should still interact with the historical aspect to some degree. If you want to talk about the use of bold stripes in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, for instance, and you don't mention that they were in style during the period the film appears to be set in, it's kind of weird.

Likewise, yes, if you're critiquing primarily from the angle of historical accuracy, you should also engage to at least some extent with the reasoning behind the inaccuracy. If a reviewer doesn't do so at all, then yes, their review is probably not as good as it could be.

People pointing out an inaccuracy (or many inaccuracies) are not inherently scolding the costume designer. Even if their tone is something other than sweet. Sometimes they are scolding other people involved in the production, like the director who mandated a particular costume, or just a general notion of TPTB. Usually they are divorcing the art from the artist, though, and just reviewing the costuming from their particular viewpoint and knowledge base for a likeminded audience.

Sometimes, yes, they are complaining directly about the costume designer. This is not a crime. Some costume designers (for instance, Sandy Powell) have an incredible grasp on fashion history and excellent taste when it comes to diverging from it. Others simply don't have as in-depth of an understanding and make design decisions sometimes based on stereotypes and myths. Some costume designers will explain their decisions in interviews or blog posts and make it clear that they didn't make a truly informed decision about accuracy because they didn't know enough about the period. It's important for both sides of the equation to stop painting the other with too broad of a brush ("ivory-tower elitists who have no idea of a production's needs or budget" vs. "costumers who know how to sew but not how to do historical research").

If you're allowed to complain about a writer or a director or an actor doing something you don't like in a movie, you're also allowed to complain about a costume designer. You're allowed to have aesthetic preferences, and even to talk about them without hedging every five seconds to make it clear that others can disagree, although some of this is beneficial with any critique. Why would it be otherwise?

This seems really obvious to me, but maybe it's not? But "they costumed that female actor in an anachronistically sexy way because sex sells" is a feminist issue. The assumption that women's bodies should be sites of less-clothed allure while men's should attract by being more covered (with more layers than in modern dress, with cravats, etc.) is sexist. Complaints about female characters being costumed inaccurately are often being made along these lines, and pointing out that the producers insisted on it or something does not mean it's suddenly unproblematic that every female character deemed fuckable has to have low necklines at all times and modern shiny hair.

It's true that fiction isn't non-fiction and shouldn't be taken that way, but it's also demonstrably true that viewers do take cliches in film aesthetics as accurate when they see them enough times. People cite Scarlett O'Hara's 18" waist. They believe there were no bright colors before the 1920s and that women couldn't have put their hair up unless they were wealthy. These beliefs have consequences when it comes to public perceptions of history, and if films perpetuate them it's perfectly reasonable to point out that they support ideas about e.g. gender roles that trads express today.

It's also simply funny when a film's hair or costuming or makeup is supposed to evoke a lack of artifice but actually requires quite a bit of artifice because people don't naturally have perfect hair and skin and so on.

If you don't like reviews of period films that focus on the accuracy of the costuming, maybe ... don't watch/read reviews by fashion historians and historical costumers? At least unless they're vetted for you by someone who doesn't mind that?

[lizzyscribbles]

In honor of the Vengeance Saga's release tonight, I'm taking a break from my regularly scheduled MHA content to have a little ramble about something Epic related that I've had brewing for a while.

I want to talk about Eurylochus (who, for some reason, my brain desperately wants to call Eurydice, which is an ENTIRELY different greek myth inspired musical that I love but it REFUSES to remember that, but that's besides the point), specifically the hatred he seemed to get after the Thunder Saga.

Now, let me just say, I have not read the Odyssey, I don't plan to and I don't particularly want to. I am solely coming at this from the perspective of someone who has just listened to Epic and kept up with Jay. So, if you have read the myths, this is probably not the post for you. :)

I understand where the hatred of him comes from, I honestly do. At first glance it is kind of hard to understand why he had the right to be upset with Odysseus after everything he did, but I think just taking it at surface value is doing the story a huge disservice.

Let's start allllllll the way back in the Ocean Saga with the wind bag incident. Now, I'm absolutely not saying that Eurylochus should bear no fault for this, he DID disobey Odysseus's direct order and could some of that have to do with the fact that he wanted treasure?? Maybe? But I'm not convinced that was entirely it. That's mentioned at the beginning of the song, and then never really brought up again. (Yes, I am aware that the in the myth it is because of treasure, but again, I'm going off just Epic).

Jay tells us that every character in Epic has an instrument, those in the fandom know this, and we also know that Eurylochus's instrument is actually the crew. So, when he sings, he's usually singing for the combined opinions of the rest of the crew. In "Keep Your Friends Close", we hear Odysseus start to really deteriorate for the first time. You can hear the crew start to get a little weirded out by it, because until this point Odysseus has been pretty steadfast and strong and suddenly he's turned into this paranoid, tired mess. He doesn't talk to anyone after the beginning, he just sings to himself while the crew sings backup. The crew has never seen Odysseus like this before, as far as we can tell, and I think it worries them, especially since this whole bag situation seems to have started it. What I'm trying to get across here is that Odysseus is acting really suspicious in the crew's eyes. We know this because the crew actively tells us this in the line "Everything's changed since Polites." There has been a massive, unsettling change in Odysseus and I think it's deeply concerning them. I think they brought those concerns to Eurylochus, who I think was also being actively shut out, and Eurylochus got worried that there was something much worse than a storm in that bag. If you come from that perspective, it makes sense he waited until Ithaca was so close to try to open it, because with home so close, if there was something horrible then they were close to salvation. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and I guarantee Eurylochus tortured himself for that mistake for the rest of his, unfortunately short, life.

Again, I'm NOT saying that this was the right decision, but I am saying that I can kinda see why he did it.

Let's move onto the Circe Saga. I hear a lot about how it wasn't fair that Eurylochus was so mad about the Scylla incident when he wanted to leave the men who became pigs behind on Circe's island. However, think about it this way, Eurylochus didn't actively send those men into Circe's palace, nor did he choose to turn them into pigs to save himself. When they turned, he had no idea whether they COULD be brought back, he probably already considered them dead. He was not the one who condemned them, and I don't think he wanted to leave them behind, but he didn't know if they could be saved and trying to do so may have lost the rest of their feeble crew. Remember, they've just lost nearly their entire fleet, I wouldn't be surprised if Eurylochus was scared he'd lose even more if they tried to save the men that may have already been condemned.

Was this the right decision? No, I don't think so, but I understand why he thought it was.

That's why I think trying to compare the Scylla incident with the Circe one is like looking at apples and oranges, they're really not the same thing.

Next, the cow incident. The infamous "my father will hear about this". I don't have much to say here. It was stupid, yes. However, have y'all ever been so starved you'd do anything to get something to eat? I become a bitch if I wait a few too many hours between meals, going for days, your perception is going to be MASSIVELY screwed. Still, after all, not too surprised that Eurylochus didn't listen to Odysseus. Again, stupid ass move, Eurylochus, but I get it.

Finally, Mutiny, the song that brought this all about. I think a lot of people took this song as Eurylochus being a bit of a hypocrite, that Odysseus isn't allowed to do the things he, himself, did. I don't think that's the case here. I think Eurylochus is confused, because this is COMPLETELY out of character for Odysseus. This entire musical has been Odysseus trying to avoid death in any way he can. He's tried to protect his crew even when it puts himself in danger (see the Circe Saga) and then, seemingly out of nowhere, he sacrifices six men to Scylla without so much as a discussion with his crew. This is very, VERY unlike him at this point, and it scared Eurylochus. It scared all of them.

I don't think he's doing this because he's mad that Odysseus gets to do shit he didn't get to do. No, I think he's terrified because this is a complete 180 and now they're all at risk. He's confused as to why Odysseus is suddenly okay with everything he's told Eurylochus NOT to do up until this point. He's saying, "you told me not to do this, why are you now doing this? The whole time you fought for the crew and now you just killed them no warning, what the hell?? What's happened to you?? This isn't you??" He's not saying that he didn't do anything, he's saying this whole time you've protected us and now you're not, wtf? In simple terms, "you told me not to do something and then you did it"

The prophet said as much, "It's no longer you." This was no longer the Odysseus they knew, and when he willingly sacrificed his crew, they realized that they were no longer people in his eyes, they were tools to get back to his wife and child.

I'm saying this to bash Odysseus AT ALL. In fact, the scariest part of Thunder Bringer is that I fully understand why Odysseus did what he did, and in his shoes, I'm not sure I'd have done anything different. I think Odysseus is an excellent character and I LOVE HIM, we see that these decisions haunt him constantly throughout the rest of the Sagas, but we have to remember we get to hear a lot more about the situation than the crew did. We're inside Odysseus's head, they were not.

Again, was Eurylochus completely in the right? Absolutely not. But he also wasn't completely in the wrong. He was working with the information he had available to him, it just happened to be missing important pieces.

Eurylochus was trying to protect the crew and himself from a man he didn't recognize anymore, and I can't blame him for that.

...Plus, I think we can all agree that the real bitch here is Zeus who made Odysseus choose between himself and his crew and then immediately punted him to Calypso's island FULLY KNOWING that the only reason Odysseus made that decision was because he wanted to see his wife and son.

Screw you, Zeus.

[chim-aera]

be good to me

I feel heavy, tired. like dew laden grass wet and scraping stuck to the back of my ankles like plaster of paris, like paper mache dripping and course, glue running down my thighs making every step more and more difficult.

I want to be light. deer light, fawn fast. rabbit racing. I want to bolt and run and run and run. through meadows and glades, let me be Atalanta let me be free. but I sink knee deep into the earth and Gaia gently lifts me out of her mires, setting me carefully onto my own trembling two feet.

everyone is moving quicker then me. flitting like bejeweled little dragonflies into their next chapter, their next page, while I'm left stuttering, stammering in between inkwells trying to wipe the murky stains across my palms trying to force in my own meager scribbles to fit somewhere, anywhere, then my own fragile mindscape.

I'm tired of being a poet im tired of being pathetic

I haven't picked up the pen in months, ages. too long, yet not long enough. I try to hold them down, clench my teeth like stark white enamel shining sentries yet the melonchaly worms its way out of my throat until it's spat into my palm all convoluted and chipper like an owl hacking up a pellet and instead spitting out its own beak.

I'm so tired.

I want to be loved.

gods damn it.

I want to be loved.

I always figured I'd prefer a dear destruction, enjoyable and pleasurable, soak me in honey, bitter with aconite, smile and call me darling as you drown me alive. as hands, rough and tender, crush my windpipe, as it was nearly done oh so long ago.

pull me down by my hair, yank me up by my chin, hold me down. with force, with chains, push me into the floor, the earth, Gaia winces, for I'm no Daphne, be it may, but no bark, no wooden armor will grace this fragile form of mine. no, I'm out in the open as all the hounds' fair game.

call me pretty as you summon forth my destruction, yet put me back together with soft words and praises. I'm used to sewing needles and crimson thread. the seams crude and trying, like everything I ever do if you dare to look close enough.

gods. gods I dont think I want to be destroyed anymore.

I want to be held. I'm tired of this awful, putrid self induced purgatory, let me for once, be held gently, caress my face, cup my cheeks in warm or calloused palms, let me nuzzle into them, desperate, like a cat melting into a caress. let me need you. will I let myself need you?

I've spent a lifetime picking myself apart with embalment tools. scalpels and pliars, neatly dissecting my diversities my dualaties until they were lined up in pretty little jars. an emotional, egregious apothecary if you will. I don't want this anymore.

hold me.

be good to me.

I'm resourceful, yes. like a fox, like a scholar, like a poet, like a fool. I've survived this long on clever little lies and armor sewn from hellebore, ivy coating my skin as a second layer of poison yet it only weakens myself.

I will exist. I will persist.

but gods, I am fragile.

unwind my paper wings, my metal key, see how battered my skull is. my mind clouded and clogged up with words and screaming. insults and fears toxic and tiring. my hands shiver, my body creaks, I want to collapse, into the cool dark dirt. into pillows, down soft and cottony, into someone's arms. hold me gently, hold me firm..

gods, I want to be protected.

that's all I've ever longed for.

but I sheathe my own sword. I've always been my own knight, my own champion, as meager a job I do, i keep myself alive. perhaps this is how Joan of Arc felt, I am not righteous but I understand that madness we deem holy that drives you forward into myth or misery.

In the end, she didnt want to die. no prophecy can warn you of how it feels to be aware, conscious as your soul slips agonizingly slowly from a mortal shell into that shadowed little waiting room we call the afterlife.

I don't want to go out like that.

please.

please.

as much wildness as I still cling onto. the sharpness of my words, the bite in my voice, the curve to my jaw, my teeth, my hands. my fierceness, my sensuality, hides sensitivity. It's armor too, a mask of itself, all honeyed kisses and fae fake frivolity

I'm so scared

I've always been. fear sets into my skull like a second soul. but will I ever discover how to soothe it?

please, please I'd let you destroy me if you asked nicely enough. I'm so used to people wanting to, theres some sick joy in watching something already so broken shatter into nothingness just to pick itself back up on trembling, trivial tenacity isn't there?

kintsugi.

let me dip my scars in gold, glaze my fractured fragments in ichor.

but as pretty as it may be, no amount of metal changes the fact that vase is still broken.

that I'm still broken.

gods. please.

I want to be held gently, because they want to.

"be good to me, I beg of you."

I'm so good at begging.

so please, please.

be gentle, I break easily, and I'm so tired of forging myself back on Hephaestus's irons.

I just want to be held.

please, be good to me.

[howlingday]

So, jaune magic is actually straight-up death. When the brother They're whole strict they made up the 4 horsemen. Adam got war, jaune got death, and I don't know who got pestilencing. And famine.

If jaune would ever go at full power, a Coffin would Appear above the sky releasing death to reap souls. An example of how the power system works for them. The more war that happens, the stronger adam Apostle gets, meaning He can summon more troops and stuff like that. The more you go to war with them, the worse he gets to fight. so counters to him are single strong targets Since that doesn't count as war jaune Doesn't really have a weakness also the four horsemen are The maidens from the original show they're considered myth.

Jaune: Okay... Deep breaths...

Jaune: Mmngh...

Ruby: (Waiting with bated breath)

Jaune: Ngh... Agh! Dang it...

Ruby: Aw, you were so close, too! I could feel it!

Blake: No, he wasn't.

Ruby: Well, maybe from your perspective, but from where I was watching from-

Blake: Penny, did Jaune make any progress?

Penny: Yes, he did!

Ruby: See?!

Penny: Jaune has managed to perspire more than he has in his previous attempts!

Jaune: ...At least I'm working up a sweat?

Yang: Hey, that's my line!

Ruby: Yang! Where have you been?

Yang: Oh, you know, doing dragon things.

Blake: Dragon things that you haven't told us about.

Yang: Because they're supposed to be a secret~!

Blake: If they're so secret, then why would you tell us?

Yang: Because why bother doing them if you can't tell anyone about it?

Blake: (Opens mouth)

Ruby: I wouldn't bother. Yang always wins, one way or the other. Usually by dropping the subject.

Yang: So, what's going on here?

Ruby: See? We're helping Jaune use his mana like he did before!

Jaune: If only I remembered how to do it.

Yang: How'd it happen before?

Ruby: Jaune got into a fight with Cardin.

Yang: Well, ask ol' rock face to throw down.

Blake: We can't. He's too scared of Jaune.

Yang: Yeah, sure. What's the real reason?

Ruby: It's true, though! Jaune's mana was so scary, it puts my hair on end just thinking about it!

Yang: Really? Well, maybe I should throw down with ol' Vomit Boy here?

Jaune: Come on, it was one time!

Yang: Yeah, yeah. So, you up for a spar?

Jaune: Do I get to say no?

Yang: Sure, but you probably won't be able to get your mana out until then. It's how I learned to use mine!

Jaune: ...Alright. Let's do it!

-----------------------------------------------

Goodwitch: Are you sure we shouldn't intervene, Ozpin? After all, Ms. Xiao Long is set to a higher standard than Mr. Arc.

Ozpin: Yes, I'm sure, Glynda. And you'd be surprised what a little friendly competition can do for training.

Goodwitch: I hate surprises, Oz.

Ozpin: I'm well aware.

-----------------------------------------------

"Set us off, Rubes!"

"You got it! Ready!" Ruby lifted her arm high into the air. "GO!"

Yang disappeared in a blink, leaving Jaune bewildered on the ground. He looked around for any sign of her, before noticing the shadow on the ground. He looked up to see her hurtling towards him like a missile. He backed away, only to get knocked into the back wall by her landing in his mid-section. She jumped back with a laugh.

"C'mon! Is that it?"

"Ouch..." Jaune groaned as he stood up. "That really hurt."

"Yeah, that's what a kick to the stomach does, Jaune!" Yang called with a snigger.

"Huh? Oh, no, I meant my back." He called back. "I didn't even feel your kick."

"What?"

-----------------------------------------------

Ozpin: Did you see it, Glynda?

Goodwitch: I did. It was faint, but there was cloud protecting his body from the kick. So, Mr. Arc is a necromancer?

Ozpin: Indeed, and very intuned as well. It normally takes decades to achieve that level of unconscious response.

Goodwitch: It could be a fluke.

Ozpin: We'll just have to see.

Goodwitch: ...

-----------------------------------------------

"Alright, Jaune, if you didn't feel that kick, then how about I instead kick things up to where you will feel it?" As Yang said this, she drew mana from her scaled arms until they became golden balls of flame. Before was just a sample of the least she could do with her draconic mana, but now she was really wanting to show off. "Don't worry, I'm sure you've got another outfit you can wear!"

With a toss, a fireball launched at Jaune, making him leap to the side. Barely missing to the point where he could feel the intense heat, he watched in slow-motion as another fireball was closing in on his face. Throwing up his hands, he fell to the floor, grunting as he hit the ground.

A black cloud spread from where he landed, the thick miasma reaching across the floor until the whole floor was covered in the foreboding fog. Ruby and Blake scurried to the top of the bleacher, every fiber of their being telling them touching, or even breathing the vapor blanketing the floor could be the last thing they'd ever do. Penny didn't feel this same fear but followed the others up the bleachers as they fled. Yang jumped into the air, watching as hands rise from underneath her to grab at her. She didn't want to think what would happen if she was caught by them.

"Hey!" She called out. "Nice trick, but you're still wide open!" Yang was about to summon another fireball when she suddenly felt something grab her shoulder. Something colder than ice, so cold that it burned! She turned, finding a horrifying skeletal face gazing back at her. She wanted to scream, but felt her body lock up in fear. Was this it? Was this the end?

"ENOUGH!" Professor Goodwitch stood panting from the top of the staircase, and the black fog and the grabbing hands and the skeleton face all now fully disappeared. "I think... I think that..."

"Allow me, Professor Goodwitch."

-----------------------------------------------

Ozpin: While I encourage pushing each other to our very limits, I also believe that setting boundaries is just as imperative in our mana development. Especially when canceling mana puts a strain on our dear deputy headmistress.

Goodwitch: Hah... Hah...

Ozpin: So, let's all take a break and discuss what we did right, what we did wrong, and how we can improve on ourselves. Hm... In fact, sparring matches such as these shall be postponed until you all write an essay on the subject.

Ruby: Even us?

Ozpin: I considered having only these two writing it, but I believe the bystanders are just as at fault as the participants. So yes, I will expect essays from you three as well.

Ruby: Ah, man... (Looks to Penny)

Blake: Don't even think about it.

Ruby: I wasn't!

Ozpin: Are you alright, Professor Goodwitch?

Goodwitch: ...I am now. It's been a long time since I've had to undo mana that powerful. Ozpin, you knew, didn't you? You knew that he-

Ozpin: Yes, I did. (Looks to Jaune) And that is why he is here. So that he can use it in the best way possible.

Jaune: So, uh, how'd I do, guys?

Blake: (Stepping away)

Ruby: (Hiding behind Penny)

Jaune: Guys?

Penny: They are terrified of you.

Jaune: What?! Why?! What happened?!

Penny: Your magic had nearly harmed them, as well as Yang. If Yang had not taken to the air with her draconic mana, it is very unlikely that she would have survived.

Yang: Sheesh, way to talk about a girl behind her back. (Slaps Jaune's back) And you, man! What the heck was that? Nearly had me, ya know!

Jaune: I... don't really know.

Yang: Well, whatever it was, you only scared me a little bit!

Penny: Actually, you were the most terrified of the group.

Yang: Would you get outta here!

Jaune: Ruby? Blake? Are you guys... Are you guys scared of me?

Blake: ...Fear is beneath me.

Jaune: Huh?

Yang: Always the poet, huh, Blake?

Jaune: What about you, Ruby? Are you scared?

Ruby: ...Not anymore. You did scare me, though! Something about your mana just... It doesn't feel good Jaune. Like, it feels dangerous.

Jaune: Oh...

Yang: ...But?

Ruby: But... so did Yang's mana.

Jaune: Huh?

Ruby: Yeah, like, when I was starting to use my mana, Yang's mana used to scare me so bad! Then I started to get used to it. And now my hair doesn't even stand on end anymore!

Yang: Just give it time, do some practice with it, and everything should be fine. Right, Blake?

Blake: ...We still have to write our essays.

Yang: Always gotta bring down the mood, don't you?

-----------------------------------------------

Ozpin: That went quite well.

Goodwitch: Our students nearly died, Ozpin.

Ozpin: But they didn't. We got lucky, and lucky isn't always a bad thing. We caught the issue in time, so we don't have to worry about the council taking matters into their own hands.

Goodwitch: They will eventually, Ozpin. Sooner or later, they'll find out we don't just have a necromancer in attendance. We have one of the four horsemen.

[persephoneism]

I honestly just hate the misconception that Zeus assaulted Demeter. We honestly have no source for that, I'm pretty sure one source says that Zeus came to Demeters bed and that's it?

I'm not sure why this idea is so popular. Maybe it comes from people wanting yo make Demeter even MORE tragic by adding the assault which is just odd.

OR it's because people can't seem to differentiate regional cults who usually had their own beliefs, myths and genealogy. In the Orphic religion (if I remember correctly) Zeus takes the form of a snake and assaults his mother Rhea who gives birth to Persephone. Rhea essentially becomes Demeter and it isn't explained why. People usually ignore the context of regional cults with contradictory stories and try to stick them all together in an attempt to make a cohesive narrative (it never works)

Or maybe people just assume that all Zeus' relationships were not consensual in myth.

There are actual polytheists who even believe that Demeter and Zeus' relationship was non consensual that's how popular the idea is. Maybe my girl just had sex, besides Aphrodite she's the most sexually active of the "traditional" Olympian goddesses

Yes! That's a line from the Theogony; their affair is also brought up in The Iliad, where Zeus names Demeter as one of his favorite lovers. In other texts, both are mentioned as Persephone's parents, but without going into any details about their relationship.

I never got the impression he forced Demeter, and I can't really see how anyone could surmise that from the scarce sources we have on the subject. Also Greeks didn't really shy from describing coerced sexual encounters, even if the victim was a goddess. Women getting tricked, abducted, chased etc etc. We don't have anything of the sort with Demeter and Zeus and no, I do not count Orphism because, like you said, that was originally Rhea (plus I haven't really delved into Orphism enough to decipher why things happen as they do; I've just read some of the Hymns. But much of it seems to be symbolic and allegorical.)

Given how often Zeus is perceived as a villain in online spaces, and written as one in a good chunk of retellings (even those about myths that have nothing to do with him!) I actually do think people are unaware that many of his affairs were consensual. Like, Hera being forced to marry him is such a widespread idea, but that does not occur in any text I'm aware of. In The Iliad, Homer very much implies that they were lovers before they were wed, but you rarely see anyone bringing it up, despite the source for it being, well, Homer, and not some obscure author no one has ever heard of.

Alas, following a religion doesn't mean you've done your research 😞 Demeter is Cool to me because she's not a maiden goddess, but neither is she married; she's out there doing whatever she feels like doing, and nobody is controlling her, or condemning her for living her life.

[adracat]

So I have a feeling I'm gonna ramble on here, so tl:dr is basically I love your writing, thanks for sharing. With that out of the way:

I started by reading your G Witch myth analyses here on Tumblr. TBQH a lot of it went over my head, but I enjoyed them all (went through a mythology phase in like elementary school, so it's been a minute, but I still casually enjoy learning about myths). Then I saw you have fics on AO3. And as a millennial on the interwebs I am aware of the site, but as someone generally in the ace sphere of things I haven't actually spent any time over there. Anyway, I found your Law of Causality series and because my Sulemio brainrot is boundless I read As Above So Below. And boy howdy did I enjoy that. Like, read it a few times. The story telling is really good, and I love the little notes you stick on at the ends of the chapters. Now I am not a Prospera fan, so I didn't read Chaos and Night for a while. But eventually I decided I liked your writing enoughto give it a try. What can I say, I truly enjoy the world you concocted and wanted more of it. I'm glad I did, because I think that may be my favorite of the three stories. Still don't like Prospera as a person in general, but you wrote her so well. Like, girl, don't go making those stupid-ass choices. But obviously I see why she did, because her characterization comes through so strong in your stories, so she really had no choice in her decisions (tragically, yes). But, not to state the obvious or anything, Notrette is the one who steals the show. My favorite of your characters. The times where she is so open and honest and vulnerable in sharing her feelings with Prospera kills me every single time. She gets the best lines due to those situations. Like there are at least three times where she bluntly asks Prospera to stay in the garden, and that's not even counting the handful of times she asks for them to be a family. Damn. We all know what's gonna happen, but it doesn't make that knife's edge any less sharp. I have many favorite lines of hers, but up there is when she come back from Delling and tells Prospera she was only able to do it by thinking of her. Man, that whole interaction gets me every time and I gotta take a moment to pause and reflect. Absolutely heart wrenching. Anywho. Their toxic, tragic relationship is just so dynamic. Plus, again, all your mythology easter eggs were delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed looking up the different names and stories as I came upon/recognized them. (I'm actually naming a new character of mine in an upcoming ttrpg I'm joining after one of the gods I learned about and then did a deeper dive into late one night.) I'm sure there was quite a bit that slipped past my notice, which is a testament to your vast knowledge of a wide variety of deities across different cultures. Theophany was like a sweet afterwards/gift when it came out. Loved how it ties in the two stories, and how the two relationships mirror each other. Devastatingly so, and also in a beautiful way. I will never get over Prospera always being so firmly rooted in the past that she kills off so many healing futures she might have had. And how Suletta refuses to do the same, even without knowing her mother's tragedies, and is able to focus more on her present with a certain amount of forethought as well. Ugg, cycles indeed. I have, of course, read your other G Witch fics (the finished ones anyway, will get to the last one when it's completed). Those are great as well, but I mostly wanted to gush about your Law of Causality. I have read each story multiple times now. Just last night I finished reading all of them, in order, in their entirety. I can't get them out of my head (kinda want to go and reread my favorite parts again already) which is what lead me to reaching out to you. I'm not sure if this is poor etiquette or whatever, and I'm not an elegant writer like you, and it's certainly obnoxiously long, but I figured I've gotten so much enjoyment from your writing I ought to let you know. So. Thanks.

This made my day! Thank you so much for the gushing praise. Law of Causality possessed my soul while writing it, and I honestly think it may be the best thing I've written purely on a cohesive and thematic level. I wanted people to dive deep into everything I was doing there and think about why certain references were chosen. I'm looking for a moment to actually do a lengthy write-up on the stuff that may have been too obfuscated lmao. The two pairings are complimentary and contrasting tellings that I loved bringing to life. Prospera I knew would be a hard sell for people, but I'm glad you gave it a chance! Notrette's lines were a treat. (Ngl I reread too for them) I'm glad I wrote her saying the wildest off-the-wall shit to contrast Prospera's self-inflicted misery brainhole. It's incredible to know my work is seen and appreciated <3

[billiejean485]

Okay - a long rant ahead and some explanations.

I would also like to point out that what I'm about to talk about mostly concerns the Christian community and it may not be interesting to anyone else or would just lead to pointless arguments that I don't want to be a part of, so - read at your own discretion after the explanations.

EXPLANATION

Yes, you have probably all noticed that I haven't completely stopped indulging in Miraculous stuff, especially after this post, and the reason is - I am simply enjoying (or have been doing so up till now) the concepts, the fan art and the never used possibilities and lost potential of the show and its characters. Which leads me directly to the second part of this post.

TO THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY WITHIN MIRACULOUS LADYBUG FANDOM

Yesterday, I gave this vid a watch and discovered something I wished I knew from day one of this show.

Among all the good points, something really struck me, and it was this:

.... Look.

I know Thomas Astruc is an atheist (or however he defines himself) and that he's a very anti-religious person - but this is downright offensive.

So, what I wanted to bring to attention.... was that this show really isn't just some goofy fantasy x sci-fi mix that doesn't delve into religion or myths - but that that is far from the truth.

Miraculous goes directly into everything and reshapes it to the viewing pleasure of people who have no religious beliefs whatsoever and are, like it's creator, of a mindset that it's all just nonsense, thus disrespecting culture and faith of humongous groups of religious communities.

As an (Orthodox) Christian, I can't talk much about people of other faith, though I know there were also big problems with the Muslim communities. Because of that, I am just going to stick to what I'm capable of concluding.

... You know, we all have the right to believe whatever we want to believe in. If atheistic people don't want to believe in anything, that's their choice. But spitting in the face of absolutely everyone who is of different opinion, especially through a worldwide known show (and directed at kids, to make matters worse) is definitely not alright. We have the right to choose our faith as much as any other individual and absolutely no one should be allowed to say that we should keep to ourselves as some kind of 'minority' and let the 'majority' take over, because they're right since there's a bigger number of them.

Speaking up about something negative within a certain religious community that affects everyone is one thing - telling them to shut up altogether is another.

If you think I am blowing things out of proportion with this.... do a little research on Astruc's X (formerly Twitter). I kid you not when I tell you that I have practically quoted him in the last line of the paragraph above my previous one. Amanda does the same in her video as well.

But what am I really getting at here with this post?

I wanted to send out a warning to fellow Christians that are watching the show and to boost up the awareness to this problem.

Literally... all the problems I've been having with the show for the past two years come down to this. The way the characters are treated, the direction the show is taking... everything. If I had known about the creators' opinions on this topic I would have seen disappointment a mile away, and it never would have affected me as bad as it did.

I stopped drawing for a whole year for crying out loud! And I've seen during that period that many people are absolutely unaware of what is lurking behind the curtains. The show is meant to take you to a certain point of viewing the world the way its creators believe are right, and it's not going to stop doing that anytime soon. What's more, I believe (and I am talking from experience here, from other disappointments in my past) that things are only going to get worse.

The Love Square is bait. The prolonged plot is there to keep the viewers interested. Heck, Astruc confirmed that publicly - it's needed to exist in order to keep the show successful and running. He thinks he's doing a good job at it, and, to be fair - business-wise, he is. That doesn't speak about the quality of the story though. But that's another topic I'm not going to bring up here...

I just wanted to give a heads-up to peeps, who do have an incorporated belief system in their lives, to not get swindled. It's not innocent fun, and that's going to get more obvious as time passes and the creators get more freedom to express their opinions.

I'm sorry if you've invested yourselves in this show as much as I have. I truly believed there wasn't another system directed against religion somewhere in its shadows and that it was a safe watch - however, it isn't. If you do have a life dedicated to something this show is against, all I can tell you is - re-evaluate what you're watching here.

For all the rest of you.... I suppose I have nothing to say. If you read all the way up to here and still disagree with me... well, feel free to do it. But I have no discussion to be made with you.

[presefone]

*takes a deep breath* ok so i want to talk about my personal criticism regarding the myth of persephone in common media etc because this has been told so many times across enternainement that i feel like some of its meaning has been lost through time. i'm a huge history enthusiast so this plays a role, definitely, and i'm not saying anything else besides what i'm writing here is wrong ; these are just my thoughts on it. basically, hades and persephone are not the protagonists of the story and they never were. it was always demeter. homer called it 'the hym of demeter' and praises her love for her daughter instead of anything else. there's truly no discussion about 'hades and persephone's love'. hell, persephone doesn't even have a line in the hym ; we don't hear her thoughts at all, which of course opens to a very welcomed interpretation but alas, let's move on. zeus' offers his daughter to marriage without hers or her mother's consent and awareness. his daughter, who he never helped raise and nor was involved in any way. his daughter who was never truly his daughter in anything but conception, but was above everything else demeter's creation, her most treasured companion, her gift and sole happiness in a world of mortals and olympians. a young 'maiden', stolen by death, never to be seen again. all gods knew of zeus' allowance and where persephone had been sent to but couldn't tell demeter, at all, by orders of their king. yet one god took pity of demeter's pain, hekate. demeter, who roamed the earth crying for her baby, who was taken too soon, without warning, to the darkest place in myth ; death. and demeter, who raged like the mother earth herself to get her child back, who cried and screamed in pure agony : all of this is the central theme of the hym, not hades, not even persephone herself. this is a clear story about ancient greek lives where fathers would send off their daughters to marriage without questioning their wives, and where daughters died too young in the process. i say this because normally what we have is a very ''cool but brooding hades'' who is ''misjudged by everyone'' and a ''sunshine and flowers persephone who is the only one who makes him smile'' and against that we need a clear antagonist, so common perception has a demanding, cruel, controlling demeter. this is not accurate at all. demeter is not the villain and again, neither is hades ! but he isn't the victim here too ! did persephone go willingly? only two myths tell that, so, it isn't the wildly accepted version. in most, she was kidnapped, taken, or lurred. and after that, we don't hear what happened because unfortunately her view does not matter, nor hades', nor their possible bloom of love. it is not really her story nor hades'. i personally fufill that gap that yes, she did come to love hades, hence the eating of the seeds and the marriage bond (and after all, hades was hit by eros' out of aphrodite's demmand to avoid kore from becoming yet another virgin goddess, so again, outside forces). her position as queen became more and more tempting as she is a goddess and any god wants power and glory, a maiden to be rival to hera, and stand up to her mother as equals, and not just a tool to her existence. my persephone longs for that power, for that duty, for that respect, and i take into accord the other myths she comes by as the dreadful, just, allurring queen. i also complete in my head that it was always her destiny from the beggining to be a god of underworld, since her name itself is leading to a destroyer and not just spring. but it all comes down to the meaning of the hym, of demeter, of her being 'kore', being a girl, a young girl, stolen and taken too soon. dead too soon. like the many greek women who were sold off to marriage never to be seen again ; dying in more ways than one.

[splenderai]

In the spirit of bringing back Asks but also me just wanting to know but not knowing where to start: PLEASE tell me all about High Card. And about the two you guys in lots of your fanart. Yes I'm taking notes, and yes there will be follow-up questions in this impromptu High Card course.

one of the great things about michael for all who don't know him is that he's fully aware of how much a) i can yap for paragraphs upon paragraphs on end about anything in particular, and b) of a deranged lunatic i can become when it comes to my hyperfixations, at which point the yapping turns into a three-year dissertation, and yet, he still takes the dive and asks me about it with genuine interest. this is one of the many reasons why he is an awesome friend.

[rubs hands together with a wicked smile] thank you for asking about high card !!! sneak under the cut to learn more about the silly show that revolves around playing cards that give you superpowers and the even sillier people who control said cards:

the story is heavily inspired kingsman, and it centers around the existence of 52 playing cards that each hold a unique power. the higher the card's value, the stronger the power that's given to the user, who is called a player in the series. these cards, referred to as "x playing cards," are considered a myth, tied to an old folk tale about the four kingdoms of trapla island that banded together to defeat invaders, the sorcerer who helped turn the tide of the war by bestowing incredible powers to 52 of the land's strongest soldiers, and the crowning of the first king of a unified fourland. the cards most certainly exist, and there's a fight between opposing factions to retrieve them.

our protagonist, finn oldman, gets caught up in this battle while he's out trying to make money at a casino.

he's seventeen (eighteen by the end of s2), an orphan who lost his parents and older brother in a tragic car accident, and is now living on his own after growing up for almost a decade at the sun fields orphanage. he cherishes the place, often going back to visit the kids and lindsey, the kind man who runs the establishment. the orphanage is at risk of being shut down due to money issues, and finn has made it his priority to get enough cash to save his childhood home. he's a pickpocket with incredibly good eyesight, but that alone won't make enough dough, so he goes to the big city to try his luck at a casino. there, he ends up finding himself in the middle of a deadly shoot-out where these guys in suits are using some crazy-ass powers, and they seem to be focused on one thing: a playing card with a pattern on the back that looks extremely familiar. he has one just like that, the only thing he brought with him to the orphanage after the crash and his most prized possession. finn ends up stealing that card during the scuffle and then a car to make a getaway, but he gets followed and ultimately finds himself in a standoff, the barrel of a gun focused on him. he takes one last gamble, and, just like he'd seen the young man in the red suit do, plays his 2 of Spades card. it materializes into a revolver that always shoots in a straight line, and finn uses his great eyesight to disarm his assailant. he thinks he's just about gotten away scott free when the man in red, who was absolutely just dead on the ground after getting obliterated by the assailant finn had just decommissioned, stands up, covered in more red from his own blood, and demands finn give both of those playing cards to him.

and that's how finn meets chris redgrave.

through chris, finn meets the rest of high card, a secret organization working for the crown whose mission it is to retrieve all 52 x-playing cards and return them to the king so that they don't fall into the wrong hands. by day, the members of high card work at the old maid branch of pinochle, a luxury cars dealership. chris, noticing finn's skills, suggests that the young sharpshooter join their ranks. at first, he's reluctant, but when finn hears about the very nice paycheck he could earn, he's all on board. and so, finn begins his tenure as a car salesman slash secret operative under chris' mentorship.

high card is made up of the following individuals:

- leo constantine pinochle: fourteen, holder of the 7 of diamonds, "never no dollars"

his card allows him to transform any sum of money on hand into any object of equal monetary value. he can make a whole slew of weapons with a briefcase of bills, but he can just about only make a snickers bar if he's got two bucks.

imagine the heir to a luxury car dealership business who is stupidly wealthy and goes to a prestigious all-boys school. you probably imagine a short little brat dressed like some kind of snooty british elite schoolboy, looks down on everyone around him, and makes it known that he has both immense power and money. you're right. he also happens to be the leader of high card, and his father (theodore constantine pinochle, can you believe how pretentious their names are) is the president of both high card and the pinochle empire. he's arrogant and prickly, but he's good at what he does (except in the eyes of his father, who barely recognizes him as a son and views him more as an underling who constantly disappoints him... ouch.) he's basically the boss at the old maid branch. i think this series does not have child labor laws. leonard, please do normal fourteen year old things like playing video games and hanging out with your school friends. (he doesn't have any...)

wendy sato: twenty-one, holder of the ace of spades, "love and peace"

her card summons a sheathed blade that holds a very powerful energy once it's unsheathed (will not spoil too much)

oh, wendy. my wife. failgirl supreme. the kind to trip up the stairs and forget her glasses on the top of her head. she's also scary good at swordfighting and physical combat in general. her beloved father owned a dojo where she trained since childhood prior to joining high card. finn and chris are scared of her because it doesn't take much for her to scold them or raise her voice. she's not mean by any means; she just doesn't put up with their monkeying around. she struggles with self-esteem issues because she isn't able to control her card once the sword has been unsheathed, so she feels like a burden to the team when she can't use her full power (or does, and then puts them all directly in danger). at the old maid branch, she is in charge of accounting and the like.

vijay kumar singh: twenty-six, holder of the 3 of clubs, "green green"

his card allows him to manipulate plants, so he is usually seen fighting with vines

vijay. husband. criminally low amount of screentime for this oddball king. he's a gentle soul who is almost like an older brother / cousin to everyone else, especially leo (he tutored leo when the latter was younger, and they get along really well) he is a scholar, currently a phd student and part-time lecturer at the university of cribbage. he loves plants !!! he has a selection of potted plants, all with names, that he keeps at the old maid branch with whom he talks to regularly. the others, aside from leo, think he's a total space case (the autism is strong in this one, trust). he's very logical, speaks really intelligently, and will absolutely go on a tangent about plants and other stuff given the opportunity. so yeah, he might be a bit hard to talk to, but he's really kind and often cooks for the team or brings in sweets. he takes care of like IT and systems management at the branch.

- finn !!! his card is called "neo new nambu," and it's the 2 of spades

- chris redgrave: twenty, holder of the 5 of hearts, "calories high"

his card basically grants him immortality, using up his calories to heal any and every wound (but when he's out of calories, the healing power is essentially gone). a self-proclaimed "immortal ladies man," he is this frivolous playboy who doesn't miss an opportunity to flirt with beautiful women. carefree, witty, and incredibly well-versed in martial arts / hand-to-hand combat. he has an absurd sweet tooth and constantly carries bars of fudge around both for snacking and to keep a nice source of calories on hand. he's in charge of sales at the old maid branch. you think you know chris and what he's all about, but it's really a collection of masks. the true chris ? you'll just have to watch to learn more hehe.

also technically part of high card is bernard symons, an older gentleman who does not go out on missions and mainly stays at the old maid branch to do admin stuff. he's so, so kind, and finn affectionately calls him "grandpa." soft-spoken and is always taking care of the high card members in little ways.

then we have the bad guys. ohoho. the klondike family is a mafia-like organization that wants the cards for their own purposes. they're a funny, vicious bunch led by ban klondike, foxy grandpa in chief.

the assailant that finn deals with that i mentioned before is one of the klondike members ! they're a fun bunch of villains for sure.

that's really the best introduction i can give !!! the series is so much fun. it's not going to win any awards or absolutely floor you with the writing and plot, but if you go in not expecting a masterpiece or anything, it's such a great experience. the characters have outstanding designs (done by the very talented ebimo, who designed the charisma house characters as well !!!), and they are all really fascinating in my opinion. the art style is gorgeous, and the soundtrack is INSANELY GOOD. it's predominantly jazzy, so if that's your thing, you will absolutely love it. the english-speaking side of the fandom is fairly small, but it's full of a ton of really amazing people !!! the one thing that i think might deter you (if i remember what you'd said before) though is that there's no english dub. it has 24 episodes so far (no official news of a season three, but there is a surprise episode 25 being produced right now !!!), so it's not a super long commitment !!! so if you're interested, i would say definitely give it a shot !!! ep1 is outstanding and reeled me right in, so it starts off really good, promise.

and i think that's a good place to stop the yapping. thank you for asking about high card and taking an interest. 🥺✨️🫶

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 10.z

Every time she complained, her parents reminded her she was eleven. Those toys were for children half her age. Not for her.

Younger than I'd thought, but it makes her behavior make more sense (I'd expect a teenager to avoid grabbing food from a child, or at least have more complicated feelings about it. At eleven, "children" is not yet a separate protected group for her)

Nothing was for her except this dangerous, dancing light.  This was hers in a big, out of control way. She gulped in air, lungs hurting, breath still held. Muscles released because she couldn’t hold them taut any longer and then she clenched them again, and in the process almost nodded into the fire, nose touching it. She held onto the flame for as long as she could.

I can't tell really if this girl is an Other/becoming one/Aware, or if this is just normal pyromania

She found a place to crouch, to devour the stolen snacks.  To chug a soda until her throat hurt.  Trying not to eat, but to release that tension. There was only one way to release that tension.

this cannot be a sustainable rate of arson

She had an impulse, a desire to eat, to reach for food, but the walls that stretched to her left were without window or door.  Any energy food might have given her was denied to her.

I was wondering about the food thing, but it might be linked to the fire as well: if she's more flame than human, it makes sense she would be hungry as fire is. I'm also reminded of the norse myth where Loki fails to out-eat a man who is revealed to be the anthropomorphizication of fire, because nothing eats more than fires

A crowd dispersed, blurry, barely there.  Behind them, they left the echo of a song sung, filled with faith, of love and loss.  Behind them they left a wreath by the roadside, a girl’s portrait in a heart forged out of flowers, the image on the portrait bleeding away in the rain and the dark. The light helped to clarify her. The feelings heavy in the air helped to lift her up. This was a dying image, the rain putting out candles, the darkness creeping in. This was a door.

oh. She's the Girl by Candlelight.

Lantern, candlelit vigil and arson.  She was three halves put together.

beacon and boundary, grief and remembrance, destruction and delight

Following the swell of pain from the people in the car as they fought to get out as the fire erupted around them, the traces of darkness from her proximity to the Abyss were fed with another sort of power.

not wild about that! But she doesn't seem that sentient or capable of decisions against fire at this point, so I'm not holding it against her. It just seems that early power from killing people might be a bad influence

A girl who saw beauty and glory and herself in fires faced a group of men and women who held the small candles, who were awash in emotion and faith and remembering the beauty and best parts of a young teenager who’d crashed by the side of the road. There were alignments there. Places to meet. The chasing of the flame, the self-destructive pursuit, the fear, running… that was common ground between the pyromaniac and the girl who was suffocating in smoke.  They found places for the parts of themselves that weren’t whole to meet and to marry. The vigil and the suffocating girl married in their own ways, in the senselessness of a tragedy still in the making. They met and joined in hope.

I love this worldbuilding, complex spirits are rapidly becoming one of my favorite kinds of Others

And I guess the lantern doesn't count here, because it was just a tool collected, not a consciousness embraced. I wonder if Bailey could have become part of the Girl by Candlelight if she hadn't fallen into the Abyss?

This was a cell, yes, and she was imprisoned for life, but that life was to be a short one.  The parts of the diagram that had yet to be used were a kind of extraphysical machinery made of lines in the ground.  Machinery that would saw her open and puncture her, machinery that would leech out power, machinery that would latch onto her and pull pieces of her in separate directions with more brutality than if she was flesh and they’d lashed her to four chains and four horses, each horse set to run in a separate direction. She would be spiritually butchered and the pieces of her portioned out like so much meat.  It waited for a single word.

yeah okay that would leave you with some antipathy about binding

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be cool about this so I assumed you wouldn’t,” Moss said, staring at them with empty eye sockets.  “Cut away my ability to feel pain, cut away fear, cut away mercy.  I put other things inside.  Curses.  Lesser Others.”

fucking hell Matthew (do not let Verona find out about this technique) (or either or the others actually)

Fingers hooked in empty eye sockets, and she could feel the echoes there. You have to do it yourself, Matthew.  Reach back and around and then tear them out.  Then we’ll awaken you. I’m scared. The fear in the moment is the price you pay for advantage later.

fucking hell Matthew's parents!

A man who had been wounded early on, who had been condemned for the sins of his father.  Who had found peace and contentedness, but in the smallest and simplest way, and had no drive to venture further. Take away what he’d managed to scrabble together for himself, however, and…

No ambition, so it's not for that that he would pursue the Carmine Beast (at this point I'm assuming he knows what Edith is up to). But to keep her safe and prevent the Doom...

“We did as you suggested, and found the origins of the original echoes.  Sydney is twenty years old now.  She gave up the pyromania.  Became a different kind of wild teenager.  Found release in drugs and sex, instead.”

hey, she survived! And maybe isn't doing great, but it's still something

“Kennet.  I’ll be blunt, Matthew.  They get impatient if I spend more than a few days here, and they like and trust me more than they like or trust you.  You’ve been here for months.”

I'm curious as to who "they" are at this point. I guess Miss, the Faerie, some of the goblins, Alpeana, John? Not the Choir yet. That's a small group, I wonder if there were more Others who are no longer around?

“No.  They’re asking him to kill her.  She’s too dangerous.  Kennet’s become too large a town, things that would be fine on their own in a smaller place are concerning in aggregate.”

huh. So this is probably pretty soon before the Hungry Choir was made... I wonder if it was partly as a power source to replace the lantern?

“I wish… I had sworn something else.  The things I have in abundance are things he lacks.  Fire inside, something desired, a goal to move to.  I can patch over damage and he is so damaged.  I have the eyes of two people and a crowd, glittering with flame, and his eye sockets are empty and dark.  We would fit together so…”

oh that would be neat, I love a gestalt/mutual possession. And this is why you should qualify your oaths more! Saying "I will not possess your body without your uncoerced consent" would have fixed this

“No.  Possessive desire.  I want to live in the spaces inside his skin.  I want him to be mine, bright and alive.  I want to mix with him beneath the surface of his skin.”

this is very much my jam. Thinking fondly of shards from ward.

John had shot his longtime friend and companion, the girl Yalda.

huh. I'm admittedly a bit fuzzy on the timeline, but I'd assume that creating the Choir would have to be done soon after Yalda's death. And the Girl by Candlelight doesn't seem to be involved in that, which would mean she didn't make the Choir, and so isn't the mastermind behind the murder of the Carmine Beast

She needed and wanted something else.  The light and life that was Matthew. She would find some echo he’d left and marry herself to it, and she had no illusions that she would live for long after. Blackest oblivion would claw her to pieces and disseminate those pieces over dark void, but she would go with the echo of a man who made her life brighter.

awww

“We’re going to remember them, reminiscing on deeds and dares, and I challenge the everloving shit out of you, goblin and all, to name the best way to remember each of them.  Take your turns, give us your best memories of them, name their best deeds, or come up with the best way to remember them.  We’ll settle for the best one, with respect and spoils from the dead going to the person who came up with it.”

this is oddly touching and sentimental for a goblin funeral. Of course, I imagine most of the stories will be crude, but the structure is sweet

“And you shouldn’t draw any,” Snowdrop said.  “Nobody wants them, they suck.  It’d be thoughtless.” Cherrypop burst into laughter, pointing, while Peckersnot quietly glanced around, made sure nobody was arguing with Snowdrop, then smiled before sitting down.

I think the art is Verona's influence, good to see it encouraged

“We’re holding a second service later.  John’s swinging by, he’s out on patrol now.  The trio will visit.  We could have words with them then.” “Mmm, maybe.  What do we even say?” “We make peace.  If the Witch Hunters come in greater numbers…”

does Matthew know? I feel like he'd have to, but this does not seem like the thought you'd have about people you were trying to kill

“You want, Edith James.  You desire, you hunger, you have a spark of dancing flame you chase, and you have thoroughly cornered yourself.  You want a release of this building tension, and you will do something destructive or self-destructive to find that release.”

don't love that!

“Miss has returned.  The practitioners know.  If they don’t already know you and I are collaborating, she will tell them.”

I'd hoped they could keep that quiet for a bit. At least Maricica doesn't seem to know about Rook?

She’ll focus herself on the witch hunters who are on the approach, next.

goddammit more of them

“Guilherme hired the Witch Hunter.  He used the contact he’s been in touch with, a human who interacts with the courts.  I can’t ever be sure when he outclasses me in scheming, and he may never admit it clearly, but I think it didn’t go as he wished it would.  His attention is divided, and mine is singularly focused on countering what he does.”

what. why.

did he want the witch hunter going after Edith and Maricica? Because that's basically the opposite of what happened

“The door has been opened and I don’t think it will close until summer’s end, at the earliest.”

thing's happening at summer's end:

Carmine Furs ascension

witch hunters peak

Verona's housing situation goes back into flux

school starts

Maricica approached until their toes nearly touched, a foot of space between them.  She pulled back the wing and showed Edith the syringe. “How did you know the other one-” “A look in your eye, as you glanced at me.  Fear, apprehension, need.  Few things match to those specific proportions of those three things I saw.  Seeing how you looked at your husband confirmed it for me.”

so I had assumed the syringe was a weapon of some kind. But is it medicine instead? Maybe almost a vaccine against the Doom?

"The girls are motivated, thanks to Guilherme’s Witch Hunter.  They will come for you.  They will bind you. Perhaps until the end of Summer.  Perhaps this is the only way you’ll ever be free of that binding.  However it unfolds, I will buy your silence with this gift.  Do your best to avoid the binding, fight them, maneuver, enlist my help if you wish, enlist anyone’s, but you must swear that if captured and compelled to talk, you will say nothing about us.”

fuck! That's cutting off a line of inquiry. Good to know Maricica thinks the girls will succeed against Edith though?

And interesting "us". It's a bit weird phrasing if Maricica was just referring to her and Edith, so who else is involved?

“If left alone, the Doom of Edith James will dwindle and fluctuate in strength, getting weaker over time. That darkness that binds Matthew to you will lose strength over time and Matthew will be left to wonder and theorize why it changed its behavior. In the midst of that wondering, it will cross his mind that it was convenient that you two were drawn together by your need for him. He knows you better than anyone, and he will connect changes in your mood and approach to the changes in the Doom and see your hand behind it all.”

oh, so the opposite of a vaccine! What the hell Edith, that is incredibly manipulative. So she's been dosing herself to keep the Doom strong so that Matthew thinks he can't leave, I guess that's a mark towards him not knowing what's going on.

“You’re a villain more degenerate than any of our local goblins, Edith. Fostering the darkness inside yourself so it gives him a reason to save you, to stay close. Letting it fill that space inside you, extracting it, over and over, to make your own monster. Making it stronger to match his growth in strength. Do you put it in his food, or do you inject it into him while he sleeps?”

or dosing him I guess! what the fuck.

thinking about how desperate Matthew seems to find a way to save her permanently, how worn down keeping the Doom has left him, how it's blocked him from all other practice...

I was somewhat sympathetic to Edith on the assumption the goal of her schemes was to stop the Doom for good. What the hell.

Maricica laughed.  “That ugliness from inside you has grown to such terrible proportions as you’ve used it to poison the man you love.  You’ve no idea.”

no wonder this Faerie of Dark Fall likes her

The sweeping dark of oblivion that reached over her wore her face, now. It slithered inside Matthew because she couldn’t.

...

Edith’s parents were the wary, dancing, ever-pursuing shadows at the edge of her life, always wanting to be closer to her, when she didn’t care enough. The body of Edith, at least, was happy, content she had spared them too much grief.

this is reminding me a bit of Mary from Twig. wildbow returning to the concept of someone who looks like one's child but is not playing the role half-heartedly

“Good luck with our local practitioners, dear Edith. Put on a good show and convince them you’re our primary culprit, and we’ll release you from any binding or circumstance when we’re done.”

WELL IT FOOLED ME

and here I was thinking that "Edith was behind it all" was a bit of a letdown as a solution

"For now, you should do your best to survive. If you can keep your relationship with Matthew in the wake of this, it’ll be a miracle."

lol

She still held stasis, maintaining vigil, holding onto love even as it hurt. Even if that love, if she really were able to be honest with herself, was as good as gone.

:\

[uroboros-if]

Hi, I'm the anon who asked this and I'm here to scream about my MC I am so sorry for how long this is gonna be

Okay, so I call my MC Pandora, I have a reason for it Now, the reason why I named my little MC Pandora was because of this line in the synopsis:

"Your investigations into a strange occurrence will lead you to know far more than you ever intended to, unravelling what may be the precursor to the collapse of the reign of gods…"

Which, to me, sounded a lot like the MC is opening Pandora’s box. Then I was like, “Wow, it would be silly If I named my MC Pandora, and throughout the story and her investigations, it’s like she’s slowly unlocking the box… wait-” 

Ok characterization, in the myth “Pandora’s Box,” Pandora has various characterizations, sometimes being seen as clueless and letting her curiosity get the better of her and opening the box. Other times being seen as cunning, knowing exactly what is in the box yet opening it anyways. I wanted both of these for my baby, a happy middle with a leaning towards innocent curiosity, knowing what's in the box and the consequences of looking into it but letting the curiosity win and then realizing just how grave the consequences actually are partway through, yet instead of giving up and closing the “box” she keeps going because of all that pent up and hidden feelings she’s had about the way she’s been treated her whole life. Because oftentimes, when we do something that has consequences that we know of, we aren’t exactly aware of how bad those consequences are for us and others around us due to our innocence and lack of experience along with the feelings he had at the moment, especially if they are negative ones. In the case of the game, the “Box” would be the investigation and the downfall of the deities; this is what I strive for in how I play as her in later chapters btw.

In chapter one though she’s still in that innocence, she has negative feelings about the other gods, but it’s not to the point where if she was given the option to bring down the gods or leave things the way they were, she would pick bring down the gods, no she would turn her head and choose to keep the things the way they were. Most of her negative feelings are directed towards Salvatore, she really doesn't want to dislike them, but they are everything she isn't, and that pisses her off in a way she can't describe, and it pisses her off when other older gods call them "childhood friends" when in reality they know nothing of each other and in childhood she was just tolerating their presence because their mom is quite literally the Queen of the gods and she'd rather not get whatever punishment is given when you upset her child or whatever. With Luciel, on the other hand, it seems to be a completely different story. She is extremely fond of them, being the god of the only thing that ever be considered something that can last for eternity, death. (unless I missed something and there is a reincarnation system that you plan to add later or something) And also the fact that they gave her a purpose and their generally calming presence (and ofc they're pretty, which helps a great deal with likability) She was always a little curious about Ciocana, always feeling a little... drawn to them in a weird way, maybe it's the similarity of them being outcasts, but she wants to get closer to them, especially after that dance they had. Oh yes, that dance. She had always been fond of dancing; however, she'd never had that much fun doing it before, and the timing was even greater when she remembers bumping into that other god and that nasty numbness she felt afterward. She wouldn't mind dancing with them again. She has always adored humans in a weird way; they basically stood against her whole being, with how short their lifespans were, yet... they made her feel needed in their afterlife, and she has always been happy to help with whatever issue they ask of and the fact that they went to her about it too (even though she's the only option) it makes her feel all warm inside, and I imagine they're the ones who introduced her to dancing in the first place. I don't really want to write much about her opinions on Alessi because they haven't met yet💀

Pandora typically dresses in a mix of all the human-era fashion because her job is so tightly associated with humans it's impossible for them to not influence her in some way. She usually wears Greek and regency-era-inspired clothing, light and airy yet beautiful.

Thank you for reading about my silly I love them, and they can and probably will change quite a bit throughout the chapters, and I genuinely cannot wait to see where the story goes, but yeah, all of this is just based off of the first chapter 💀

My reply in the read more 💕💕

Pandora is such an amazing name and works so well symbolically/narrative-wise!! 😭 Especially in a setting that starts out once peaceful and then thrown into disarray when the "Box" is then opened, unleashing unto the world everything bad... but also Hope! You don't know much about Alessi yet, but I feel this also defines their character arc as well! Perhaps you'll see 💕

Oh, and I love how thoughtful you are with how you feel about the ROs! I was definitely trying to emphasize how completely different people view Salvatore versus the MC, which makes for super interesting character foils to one another! Salvatore, the golden child, and MC, "everything they are not." Even with that description, they are defined in relation to Salvatore, rather than evaluated independently. To add salt to wound, people assume you are friends...

Haha, I don't think reincarnation is part of the plan--resurrection or rebirth is against the order of the world! I am glad Pandora has someone she likes, in spite of her negative feelings towards other deities. Luciel is just as fond of her. (... And thinks Pandora is quite lovely, too!)

But 👀 they're also a little curious about Ciocana? Maybe loners just drift to each other!

So interesting to have an MC who is inclined towards mortals and a little against deities, although she would still choose to keep things as they are! I imagined that's actually how I'd feel in MC's situation 😭 begrudging against anyone who mistreats, happy to be of service, and yet not so extreme as to want to participate in overthrowing the gods... for now! 👀

Ahh, and I love the bit about the fashion! 🫶 Those two styles are so lovely, you should send some images of what you think she'd wear!!

But thank you so much for going into such detail and being so so thoughtful about your MC! I am astounded by the level of thought you put into Pandora, and in just one chapter!! I am starting to think I have the most amazing readers 😭😭 everyone has such deep thoughts about the story and I want to meet all those expectations!!

You inspired me so much with your ask to give more depth to the choices in the future! So again, thank you so so much for telling me about Pandora, I adore her!!!! 🥺🥺✨✨ Please let me know more of your thoughts if you ever come up with more, or if things change, or... anything!! 💕 I would be so so excited to know!

[zot3-flopped]

Seems like there is a lot of talk about fan fiction right now and it's made me think about my introduction to the larry world. I was a larry-curious/sort of believer for about 10-12 weeks at the beginning of the pandemic. Like millions of other people I was stuck in a small apartment in Chicago and my boyfriend got stuck in Spain for over 3 months. I was really loving Harry's Fine Line and hoping to see him when he set a Chicago tour date. I'd never been a One D fan - I'd come to Harry through Sign of the Times and then just stayed (still here actually!). I wasn't even really aware of Louis. But in that scary time, all alone, one Harry link led to another, then all of a sudden I was down the larry rabbit hole. It's just another quick jump to the larry fan fic world and I spent a lot of time just reading. Some of the stories are good, it's a world where nothing ever ends up bad and the over the top romance is appealing to lonely people. But reading that fan fiction is what made me actually start to question larry (that and just my reentry into the world once the total lockdown stuff was over). But I kept recognizing things in the stories that seemed to be canon in the actual real person Harry/Louis stories. And I realized pretty quickly that it was actually fan fic creating tropes for real people , as opposed to using real people stories to create fan fic. Long story short, it was just another couple of quick clicks through some debunking posts and I realized what a conspiracy laden mess it all was and I moved on. Forward 4 years and I'm still a Harry fan (got to see him twice!), however it's just amazing to me that the larry stuff is still going. But just today I saw two posts on Twitter that basically reference things from fan fic - and it's like they are linking it to real life Harry Louis. The real world and the fan fic world have almost completely blended in these people's minds and it's scary to see. This is 13 years from the start and almost 7-8? years since they've even been seen together - but I think the fan fic world keeps it going and going and going. It's really, really strange, as well as deeply unsettling when you realize how easy it is to fall into it all. I think lots of people are sort of looking back 4 years right now and thinking about what they were doing - and then all the fan fic chatter, just made me try to put some of that time into perspective. I'd never read fan fic before that, and I've never read any since then, but the success of the larry fan fic writers has as much to do with the longevity of the larry myth as anything else in my opinion. Hope that all makes sense! Always enjoy reading your thoughts!

Thank you! Yes, fan fic still fuels the fandom, although there are far fewer Larry fics posted on A03 than there were ten years ago.

[oldbaton]

Tbh there are a lot of reasons why Inferno is the most famous and discussed of the divine comedy, but I think we always leave out the fact that people are simply fascinated with the macabre. And it's one of the most macabre old texts I can think of. I think for many centuries it must have been one of the only spooky texts people had access to outside of verbal myths and tales. (Provided, of course, you could read). And it is, frankly, delicious. The imagery, the journey, the way Dante lays out hell. Beyond the scholarly aspect of it.... it's so damn interesting. And again, all these years later its one of the best macabre texts out there. Like. Few writers of any medium have ever come up with a line as raw as "ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE" like come ONNNNNNNN huge brain. (I'm aware that that is a translation but leave me alone). It's just. IT's so good and atmospheric and delicious. And again, I love that there was someone out there that asked themselves "ok but how would hell/purgatory actually WORK." Because everyone just goes straight to heaven. And let's be honest. That's the boring one to think about... let's talk about HELL.