#“Would you still love me if I was a worm?” “In that case I'd also be a worm so probably”

[chill-vibes-but-rainbow-panic]

Sure this is Apple Cousins why not (/lh)

[vaguely-concerned]

Romanced Taash has an energy I can only describe as like…

Rook: …Taash would you still love me if I were a worm? 🥺

Taash: What? Why? Has anyone told you they’re gonna do that to you? ‘Cause that’s real fucked up. That’s Not Cool. I’ll beat them up for you if you want to so they can’t do that. Just tell me where they are. Oh shit. I gotta ask Emmrich if he can turn me into a worm so I can be a worm with you in case it happens anyway so you won’t be alone. He’ll probably need my blood or something and it’ll be real creepy and corpsy but that’s fine that’s a small price to pay. Wait. What do you mean would I still love you. Of course I'd still love you. With my whole also-worm heart if it came to it. Why would you even ask that.

[arciam]

I liked your point about the build up in Jayce's emotions and how it would distract from Viktor's minimal reaction to hearing the news!

The scene where Jayce tells Viktor is obviously done that way to have it be a scene between the two of them and not involve a random doctor character we don't know, but it's honestly really cruel to put it on Jayce to be the one to deliver the news to Viktor.

(In real life medical situations the doctor would just tell Jayce that Viktor will wake up, they're doing testing, and they'll explain everything to Viktor once he wakes, and then Viktor could decide if he wants Jayce there for that or not. Which would create another plot issue, because Viktor would probably say no. I guess it does say something about the state of Piltover healthcare that they just tell Jayce everything while Viktor is still unconscious)

But for your meta's, maybe you could share some thoughts about this scene overall, and both their reactions to the news? I always guessed Viktor probably already knew, but was avoiding it up until this moment.

(Ask is referencing this post.)

Thank you, first of all! 💛

As for your question... you really opened up a can of worms with that one.

I've spent a good part of my day pacing up and down my apartment, contemplating 1) Jayce's degree of awareness prior to Viktor collapsing, and 2) the ramifications thereof. And frankly, it kinda confuses me.

Just to get this out of the way real quick first: I do agree with you on Viktor's side of things. I don't believe he knew (as in, previously received a diagnosis), but he would have felt his "body eroding" for a while, and by the time he was coughing up blood... well, it doesn't take a scientist.

However, precisely that brings me to the tricky bit.

I feel like the show wants us to feasibly believe that Jayce was more or less blindsided by how bad Viktor's health was, but - he saw Viktor randomly bleed out his nose and mouth after a coughing fit.

(Again: it shouldn't take a scientist to realise that's not a "headache". Yet the next time we see them, Jayce is cheerfully getting ready for the opera and listening to the "vision" Viktor had as he was literally coughing up a lung.)

A scene like this should normally play out one of three ways:

The afflicted character B quickly hides the evidence, leaving character A in the dark (-> didn't happen)

There is some sort of attention drawn to the dawning realisation of character A, such as a shocked facial expression or "You're bleeding..!" (-> didn't happen)

Neither of the above, which under normal circumstances would leave us under the impression that character A already knew (-> sort of maybe happened..? I'd still argue Jayce seems just the slightest bit too surprised and yet too little concerned by the situation to really sell that though...)

Secret fourth thing ig?

Either way, the semblance of a conclusion I've drawn - seeing as I can't really make the other pieces fit seamlessly - is one of narrative logic instead.

See, the first time we as the audience see Viktor cough (and are thereby immediately clued in, since no one in fiction ever coughs if they're not actively dying), it happens markedly out of Jayce's sight, in a scene that is all about showcasing to us just how unaware Jayce is of the growing disparity in their relationship.

So while it may not make a lot of sense if you think too hard about how Jayce wouldn't have noticed, I still believe that what's being conveyed to us by the show is indeed mostly an ignorance on Jayce's part concerning Viktor's declining health... so much so that it almost comes across as indifference.

...Which, of course, is very much not the case for Jayce, but the fact that it's easily misconstrued as such probably also serves to let us see how it might be perceived from Viktor's point of view.

After all, there's a reason I once referred to Jayce as a "boyfailure who keeps wanting to do the most and thereby accomplishing the least":

When it comes to showing his love and devotion, my guy literally started with overthrowing the government and necromancy, before slowly working his way towards such far-fetched concepts as *checks notes* "telling your crush you admire them".

Regarding your other points:

Your take on the particulars of Piltovian healthcare and how it differs from a real-life setting is very interesting, though I must admit, I tend not to make these comparisons myself - not because they're without merit, it just hardly ever occurs to me to do so, really. 😅

(Although, something you said did make me think of something somewhat unrelated which might become an entry in the "Underrated JayVik" series at some point, so... stay tuned, I guess..? 👀)

But yeah, I think in this case, you're probably right about it being slightly contrived by the creators so as to grant the characters - and us! - this intimate moment. And the scene is definitely better for it imo.

[frankingsteinery]

i mentioned victor's delusions in brief previously (here), but because of the inherent complexity (and almost contradictory aspect) of their nature i decided it warranted its own post!

victor, alongside other psychotic symptoms, experiences delusions of guilt and persecution. a delusion is an involuntary belief that isn't rooted in logic or evidence; a person experiencing a delusion is fixed in their belief, and they can't stop believing it even if they know it isn't true and/or despite contrary evidence.

while victor's delusions–specifically regarding those that revolve around the creature–by in large turn out to actually be true, i.e. the creature actually harmed his family and victor by extension, during the point in the novel when he was experiencing them, he has no evidence to suggest that this was the case, and within the context of the rest of his symptoms, they'd still be considered delusional ideas.

for a variety of reasons, i'm still on the fence on whether i'd categorize victor's mania and grandiosity during the creation process as constituting delusions of grandeur. and to what extent is this sense of grandiosity justified, because he DID discover the secret of life itself… does that not almost warrant the feeling of being superiorly intelligent, this sense of infallibly, and the belief that they should be lauded for their achievements, in almost anyone who could have made the same discovery? it's tricky because i’m not sure if i just have an aversion to the "victor had grandiose delusions during the creation process" take simply because the vast, vast majority of those who make that argument also make the argument that delusion of grandeur = arrogance = evil = victor sucks (and that line of thinking is a whole separate can of worms in of itself…), or if i actually don’t wholly agree with it; for this reason i won’t touch on this here yet

with that out of the way–

like i’ve stated before, victor’s psychotic breaks are either triggered by the stress of the creation process or the death of one of his loved ones. this results in delusions of persecution, which is defined as when the affected person believes that harm is going to occur to oneself or those close to them by a persecutor, in this case the creature, despite a clear lack of evidence. initially, this starts with paranoia:

“Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had become…”

“With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet”

this paranoia develops into a delusion as victor’s belief that the creature means him harm, despite having nothing to support this idea, becomes fixed. this comes to a head after the creature’s animation: 

“I beheld the wretch…He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs…where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life”

“I issued into the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as if I sought to avoid the wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my view. I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on”

delusions can often feel like a sudden truth (the false belief) has been revealed to you. victor himself notes this sudden, extreme shift in perspective within himself:

“...dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me; and the change was so rapid, the overthrow so complete!”

as victor recovers physically, this delusion becomes less present as the acute phase ends, and victor’s fears regarding the creature fade into the background as he enters the recovery phase. he stays in this manner until psychosis is again triggered by the stressor of william’s murder–then, victor’s delusion of persecution returns. however, this time, he believes the creature is not only going to harm himself, but was the murderer of william. once more, this starts with paranoia:

“Fear overcame me; I dared no advance, dreading a thousand nameless evils that made me tremble, although I was unable to define them…The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings.”

and then develops into a fixed belief:

“I perceived in the gloom a figure which stole from behind a clump of trees near me; I stood fixed, gazing intently: I could not be mistaken. A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch…Could he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murderer of my brother? No sooner did that idea cross my imagination, than I became convinced of its truth… He was the murderer! I could not doubt it. The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact.”

while it turned out that he was actually correct in this assumption, what’s important to emphasize here is that victor has absolutely ZERO proof that the creature was involved with the murder of william, apart from seeing a shady-looking outline outside of geneva after walking in the rain all night. victor is not thinking clearly here, which he himself acknowledges in a phenomenon known as double book-keeping. double book-keeping refers to a mental process where an individual maintains two conflicting beliefs or realities simultaneously--where a person might experience delusions or hallucinations while still having moments of awareness that these perceptions are not grounded in reality. here, victor holds two realities (believing in a delusion while being aware that this belief would not be shared by others):

” My first thought was to discover what I knew of the murderer, and cause instant pursuit to be made. But I paused when I reflected on the story that I had to tell. A being whom I myself had formed, and endued with life, had met me at midnight among the precipices of an inaccessible mountain. I remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at the time that I dated my creation, and which would give an air of delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable. I well knew that if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I should have looked upon it as the ravings of insanity…”

and, in fact, the only evidence he has is (seemingly) proof to the contrary i.e. the locket found in justine’s pocket. yet victor holds this belief with the intense conviction characteristic of delusions, as well as the incorrigibility of a delusion, as he’s continually resistant to his family’s logical counterarguments, as ernest recounts the events to victor upon his return home:

“This was a strange tale, but it did not shake my faith; and I replied earnestly, “You are all mistaken; I know the murderer. Justine, poor, good Justine, is innocent.”

he goes on to make the same assertion to his father and elizabeth, without once questioning the validity of his previous belief. 

victor develops delusions of guilt surrounding the trial of justine, the delusional belief of one's personal guilt for an event, real or imagined–it is an extreme and unwarranted feeling of remorse or guilt that someone has done something terrible. people with delusions of guilt may also believe they are "evil" or have committed an "unpardonable" sin and deserve to be punished forever. despite having no hand in the results of the trial, and again, no proof that the creature was even involved, victor is convinced of his guilt to the point of agony. for example:

”My own agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial. I believed in her innocence; I knew it. Could the dæmon who had (I did not for a minute doubt) murdered my brother also in his hellish sport have betrayed the innocent to death and ignominy? … The tortures of the accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold.”

”During this conversation I had retired to a corner of the prison room, where I could conceal the horrid anguish that possessed me. Despair! Who dared talk of that? The poor victim, who on the morrow was to pass the awful boundary between life and death, felt not, as I did, such deep and bitter agony…But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation.”

  The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered like an evil spirit, for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond description horrible, and more, much more (I persuaded myself) was yet behind… I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures such as no language can describe.

delusions of guilt are often accompanied by low self-esteem, depression, and sometimes suicide (attempts); victor experiences all of these following the trial. this delusion is maintained throughout the rest of the novel.

lastly, during the chase at the arctic and on walton’s ship, victor experiences delusions surrounding his family. in his final attempt to hold onto those he lost, victor becomse unable to distinguish between reality and the delusions that sustain him:

"During the day I was sustained and inspirited by the hope of night, for in sleep I saw my friends, my wife, and my beloved country… I persuaded myself that I was dreaming until night should come and that I should then enjoy reality in the arms of my dearest friends. What agonising fondness did I feel for them! How did I cling to their dear forms, as sometimes they haunted even my waking hours, and persuade myself that they still lived!...I pursued my path towards the destruction of the dæmon more as a task enjoined by heaven, as the mechanical impulse of some power of which I was unconscious, than as the ardent desire of my soul."

Yet he enjoys one comfort, the offspring of solitude and delirium; he believes that when in dreams he holds converse with his friends and derives from that communion consolation for his miseries or excitements to his vengeance, that they are not the creations of his fancy, but the beings themselves who visit him from the regions of a remote world."

ultimately victor's delusions evolve throughout the novel; what starts as paranoia becomes a fixed belief that the creature means to harm him and his family, which eventually develops into a certainty that he's responsible for the deaths of his loved ones. by the time he reaches the arctic, he clings to delusions of his family still being alive and that they're talking to him.

i'll probably make yet another post dissecting what this all means in context, i.e. like avo said; the implications of the treatment of victor as a character due to these symptoms of a "weird" "scary" illness... buuuut. again. another time!

[shadowcrow]

Neve/Rook

Sunset in the city

Sunset in the City

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were kidnapping me," Neve didn't have to be looking at her Trouble to know she was smiling.

Neve chuckled; fondly of course, before making sure Nora's eyes were still solidly covered by the blindfold. Her girlfriend thought it funny to put her palms over it too, just show off that she really wasn't peeking. Still, it meant a lot to her that Nora trusted her so deeply (as much as it terrified her). Tonight was meant to be a sweet night, so she held on to the former feeling. She'd done her best to plan this out in secret for weeks until it was perfect for the other woman- Neve was determined for it to be a good distraction from their day jobs.

It had gotten off to a bit of a rough start- Nora was late coming back from Treviso with Lucanis and Bellara, barely able to shoot a tired grin at Neve before rushing to clean up. And in Neve's case, Dock Town had been as busy as ever- work piling up even in the middle of Venatori schemes and a double Blight. She was lucky Rana kicked her out, refusing to let her stay in their new office when she had a woman to woo.

Considering how it felt guiding Nora to the small picnic spot she'd set up high in Dock Town… yeah, she owed her a favor for this. Even if it wasn't how they usually operated, if Nora was delighted in the end- it was worth the compromise for a little romance.

"I knooooow where we are!" The sudden exclamation got a chuckle out of Neve. The silly woman had been guessing where she was being taken ever since they'd left the Lighthouse. No matter how much Neve had tried to confuse the rogue- she had an impeccable sense of direction. So, it wasn't a surprise that Nora was able to tell where they were.

Well…

There was also the fact that the smell of Dock Town was damn impossible to replicate. The only thing that had ever gotten it right was Fade Magic evoking the smell in Neve's memory- no one could ever come close otherwise.

She didn't want to mention how thoroughly delighted she was at how Nora knew the smell of her home. The warden had entrenched herself in Dock Town as much as she'd wormed her way into Neve's heart. Dock Town seemed to adore the light she brought to it- the people greeting her as if she was a permanent fixture and treating her just as kindly. Some days, that was not at all, but Nora still fought for it- bled for it, and oh, she loved it.

"Aren't you clever?" She teased instead, squeezing Nora's strong shoulders and pushed her gently to the right spot. Looking around her, Neve was pleased that despite the stumbling on leading a blindfolded Nora through the Eluvian and around her home, they weren't late.

She didn't have to see Nora's face to see that smile. "Maybe- still pales in comparison to you." For a woman who's never been in a relationship before, she was damned smooth with the way she made Neve's heart flutter. Neve couldn't say she didn't like it, it was painfully honest coming from the rogue who'd made off with her heart.

"Can I peek now though?" Nora looked adorable with her pout and hands covering the blindfold Neve had slipped around her eyes several paces back.

Neve fully rounded to Nora's front and took a moment to drink in the sight of her much taller girlfriend. Her hair lit up as the sun cast light upon it, almost like fire and Neve could imagine the way it would play amidst her eyes when she blinked them open in a moment. Perfectly highlighted by the setting sun, slightly impatient but an ever mischievious quick to her lips that drew her in. She didn't smile as much ever since Lusacan awoke so Neve was delighted to be the root cause of the joy Nora found in this moment.

She smiled, rolling her eyes at herself- she'd become a sap ever since she and Nora made whatever had been between them something more concrete. "Yes, you can look now, Trouble," Neve's hands reached up to untie the blindfold while they were face to face.

Pulling away, she didn't get far as Nora's hands caught her wrists and her gorgeous eyes drank in the sight of her in a similar fashion. A bit of a girlish joy filled her chest as Nora's eyes went half lidded after a moment of admiring her; just before she leaned down and placed a sweet kiss on waiting lips. "You look beautiful." Nora mumbled, still holding Neve to her chest which earned her a fond eye roll.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, I look like I usually do."

"Which is beautiful."

"Keep that up, see where it gets you."

"As long as its with you." Nora kissed her again, distracting Neve from her goal but not wholly deviating from it. The aim was to spend a few uninterrupted minutes with this woman- so what if they spent most of it lost in each other?

The light shifting outside of her closed eyes reminded her of her goal. "Alright, stop that before we miss why I brought you here."

"To a random roof in Dock Town?"

"Yes, but this one… has a lovely view." She stepped aside, shifting her hands to hold Nora's and tug her closer to where she'd set up their little picnic thanks to Harding. It endlessly amused her that Nora actually enjoyed some of the dwarf's heinous culinary experiments- it paid off as Nora sniffed around and perked up at the smell of the awful noodle dish hitting her. "And yes, I did bring someyhing for us to eat."

Nora's face lit up in such a gorgeous smile that Neve had to steal one more kiss- she couldn't help it, really. "You did this for me?" She asked in an awed whisper, adoration and something deeper shining on her face.

It scared Neve, a little, a lot actually- she still wanted to have it all with the woman before her. Enough so that she swallowed the fear to return the smile, "With a little help. But yeah, I did it for you."

Nora excitedly pulled her down to the ledge of the roof, boots kicking against the wall as the woman swung her legs before turning that grin back to Neve. "You're a romantic, Neve Gallus," Nora teased, nudging Neve's shoulder with hers.

Neve didn't answer straight away- once again struck by how the sunset highlighted the woman's features. If she focused, she could see a hint of a pointed ear peeking out from behind wavy hair. Nora was comfortable enough with her to just be herself, to be silly- to be vulnerable, to let the mask drop and to just be, no matter how that translated to anyone else. Affable, humorous or the more blunt, stoic side that showed up in extremely rare situations. She'd been lucky to see every shade of emotion from Nora and she cherished all of them.

Neve laughed, disbelieving at how utterly and thoroughly she'd fallen in love despite trying to remain distant. It was as clear as day that she'd failed; a romantic picnic with Nora's favorite dish in Dock Town to watch as the sunset on her (maybe even….their) city? Oh, Nora was Trouble and Neve was helpless against the call.

She answered, once again, "Don't tell anyone." Neve winked at Nora.

Nora entertwined their fingers, clasping her free hand tightly before leaning down to lay her head on Neve's shoulder with an entirely too pleased sigh. "Warden's Honor, I won't tell."

Neve hoped she couldn't hear how her heart raced at the intimate contact. She didn't continue the conversation, choosing instead to relish in this moment of peace as the sun set on another day in Minratuous. Broken and full of danger, but trouble wasn't always a bad thing- in fact, Neve loved it all the same.

[dock57]

Fellow Monkey Wrench fan here! :D

So... I'm currently working on a post (planned to have some accompanying artwork) speculating/analysing the potential biology of some characters.

I am aware that a lot of questions are still unanswered and that there will be a lot of "knowledge gaps" (which I will address in that post), so think of this project as being part-educational, part-theory, and just a fun project in general (a couple of concepts/headcanons here and there).

Thought I'd share a couple of teasers (from how I plan to structure it to a couple of sneaky excerpts):

Shrike and cephalopods (I like cephalopods so I have a feeling I'll enjoy researching this one)

The scientific basis behind the colourful flames Ricket, Jawbone and the other skeleton aliens have (which I've mostly finished)

The biological implications of radiation for the Agari and Jawbone (from a theory I had where the Cataclysm involved some kind of radioactive material being leaked into space - halfway finished with that)

IRL species that share traits with Tyneen (I'm no reptile or dinosaur expert (and there may be some unexpected ideas here and there), but I'm curious to hear anyone else's own theories)

IRL species that share traits with Agent K (one or two of them may surprise you, but there is some method to my madness)

A lengthy ramble investigation to see if Beebs has more in common biologically with walruses or with humans (I'm already dreading this one because understanding human metabolism and body composition is already a confusing exercise, let alone those things for walruses)

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this project so far!

[WOW. WOW IS WHAT I GOT TO SAY! Don't take that out of content, I am really AMAZED by the detail you went into this. Honestly you went into thoughts I would never really thought of. For starters, the flames of the Osteon kind, such how different color flames are different chemical combinations. That's such an interesting detail to paid attention to. Even the concept/idea as to how their biology works? I enjoy that! I myself am someone who likes to find answers or reasonings as to how things work for world building, species, and devices and such. I'll be honest, but I haven't thought too much how the Osteon species work. I think a lot for Shrike and Beebs, but that might because they are based on animals I can research and connect their traits too. As for skeletons? Its a bit hard for the connections between them and what is factual, besides relating it to human qualities, even though, they are not human (or terrans in this case). I enjoy seeing other fans thinking about their species more and how to connect to their real counterparts. The bullet points for the Agari is super interesting to read as well. I can see exactly where you got the idea of heterotrophic for one theory. As Us, in their design, you can see a skull of another being on their shoulder.

For your Agent K point, I am not sure what a Marine Flatworm is? I typed it in and got this:

This is referring to your bullet point for Agent K. When it comes to Agent K... I have no clue what he is supposed to be, a reference to, or even inspired by? I love Agent K however and his design. Back to the flatworm, I can see the idea for it for Agent K.

Because I mean, look at this man. Look how he moves...

He makes me think of a Ribbon Worm as well! However, not as cute or appealing looking compared to the Flatworm you have mentioned! (Ribbon Worms look like something that has come out of the human body- like an intestine...) As for Queen Tyneen, I don't think I have anything to add? She's definitely a dinosaur, and I would say the crest could be feathers as we know for a fact that dinosaurs had feathers! As for her colors? Not a clue! But they are very pretty together! Got to love our favorite Pirate Queen!

Also, not sure if you meant to add something for Beebs and points about his species being inspired by Walruses, but I don't have anything on my end speaking about him and his kind!

As for my own thoughts about this? I honestly don't have much! I am interested to see what these posts are that you plan to do for each theories and ideas you have for the species of the Monkey Wrench world! I do enjoy reading what you guys send me when it comes to your own thoughts and if I have anything to add myself. I think the information itself was just interesting to read! As a fan myself, I just love hearing others and their rambles they have for Monkey Wrench, as it by far my personal favorite when it comes to indie animation projects!]

[wonuwrites]

ot13’s reaction to “would you love me if I was a worm?” 🪱

Tbh idk what this is either but i got inspired after eating a cheesy gordita crunch and watched a bird look for food a few days ago so here ya go LMFAOOO

Warning: nothing really. blame taco bell.

also randomly putting songs on that came on for the people in case yall wanted new music to listen to <3

🪱 S. Coups: (Song Note: this song is so Seungcheol coded and I can't even tell you why lmaoooo)

"A worm?" "A worm," you said before taking a sip of your beverage. One of your favorite past times was asking Seungcheol stupid questions you'd see on tiktok and see his reaction. He always entertained them and you were thankful because both of you knew the answers meant NOTHING and that your relationship was solid. Or so you thought. "Well, if you were a worm I guess I would be a bird." "Excuse me!?" "Yeah, I'd be a bird." "Baby, birds eat worms though..." "Yeah and? Don't I do that every night anyway?" He asked while raising a cheeky eyebrow before taking a sip of his drink. You couldn't help but blush at his crude joke and hit his chest softly which caused him to laugh before pulling you close.

🪱 Jeonghan: (Song Note: im feeling nostalgic today~~ lmfaooooo)

To say you caught Jeonghan off guard is an understatement. You would be in the car with him listening to the radio in a comfortable silence when you just sprung the question on him. He half tempted to pull over and give you a genuine "what the fuck" face but instead he just scoffed and started to laugh. "Where did this question come from, (Y/N)?" He would question you. "Just answer, baby. Would you, Yoon Jeonghan, love me if I was a worm?" The use of his full name made him laugh before he just rubbed your thigh and glanced over at you. "Baby, I love you even when you act like a clown. I would love you no matter what."

🪱 Joshua: (Song Note: I got nothing but like yeehaw lmfaoooo. sorry Shua.)

Sometimes, Jisoo and you would give each other "silent treatments" when you were both play fighting and today, it was Jisoo's time to give you the treatment. Why? Well, you ate some leftovers he was thinking about for the last two hours and it killed his pride lolol. While he wasn't mad because truth be told, he was happy you remembered to eat, but still you should've known he was thinking about it because y'all were 'soulmates' or whatever. You rolled your eyes when you realized he was giving you the silent treatment as he started to make Ramen. You started to just playfully annoy him while wrapping your arms around him and just doing the yapping for both of you. He was close to cracking once you started but he finally lost it when you asked him "would you love me if I was a worm." When he didn't say yes right away, you then gave him the "silent treatment" and then it would be his turn to try to annoy you into talking to him.

🪱 Jun: (Song Note: ooo should I do a "sour" version of this? Someone tell me yes pls)

You honestly caught Jun off guard when you asked him. He would just stare at you confused before slowly nodding at you. When you laughed at his reaction it would make him even more confused. You would drop it shortly after you asked but he would think about it for awhile. Shoot, he might text some of the members for advice because well, you really stumped him hahaha. Before you both went to bed, he would roll over and whisper, "So... would you love me if I was a worm?" You would just roll your eyes before kissing him and telling him of course you would.

🪱 Hoshi: (Song Note: Stan BamBam for clear skin. This shoulda been the title imo.)

Soonyoung and you had a really goofy love life for the most part. Sure, you both had your "serious" moments but there was no questioning that you both knew how to be unserious. Today was one of those days. You both were laying on the couch together watching Spongebob. Soonyoung was mindlessly playing with your hair before you decided to hit him with such an important question for him. "Soonyoung?" "hmmm?" "Would you love me if I was a worm?" His hand would stop massaging your head for a minute while he thought about it. You fake gawked at him because he didn't answer as quick as you thought he should. Before you could scold him he would give you a smirk before wrapping his arms around you tight, "why be a worm when you can be a tigress, (y/n)? Let's be tigers forever and ever and ever." You would groan at the 'tiger agenda' but would laugh as he started kissing you all over your face.

🪱 Wonwoo: (Song Note: literally one of the most underrated songs to EVER exist.)

Wonwoo thought he would be safe from this question when it came to you. You see he had already been hit with this question from several members of the maknae line. *cough cough* Mingyu, Hansol, Seokmin, and Chan. *cough cough* so when y'all where getting ready for bed and you asked him he couldn't help but laugh which would make you so confused. He would just smile at you and find you so precious, "of course I would love you if you were a worm you lil cutie." He would give you a soft kiss before pulling you into his chest while you smiled stupidly and contently at his answer.

🪱 Woozi: (Song Note/Rant: If you are still sleeping on Ian you need to reevaluate your life because OMG.)

To be completely honest, I can see Jihoon just giving you a blank stare because his brain just went ???? he didn't know the trend and the question would break his brain. He didn't know what to say so he would just go "uhh sure?" You would fake sulk at his answer and he probably would text one of the younger members to ask for help. I can see Hansol being like "the answer is always yes!!! omg." LOL

🪱 DK: (Song Note: why do I want Seokmin to sing this to me to help me sleep at night? omg)

You would be sitting next to Seokmin on a park bench watching birds just be birds. You were both waiting for Soonyoung and his partner to meet you for a double date and were currently in a comfortable silence. That was until you asked him, "Seokminnie, would you still love me if I was a worm?" As you asked that, a bird had grabbed a worm from the ground and flew away. You both were flabbergasted at the timing and just broke down laughing together. Once you both calmed down he reminded you he'd always love you no matter the life time but for the rest of the day he would lovingly call you "bird food" as if it were a pet name which left Soonyoung and his partner hella confused lmaoooo.

🪱 Mingyu: (Song Note: Nelly will always be that girly for me <3)

One of MIngyu favorite errands to run with you was going grocery shopping. Just spending time with you while planning meals to eat with each other or grabbing snacks with his favorite snack just fueled him with so much happiness. You loved it too because when you were with him, you could turn your brain off and just be yourself. That's why Mingyu wasn't too surprised when you looked at gummy worms and deadpanned asked him, "Baby, if I was a worm would you still love me?" You couldn't see the loving smile he had on his face before he wrapped his arms around you from behind. "Of course, baby. You would be the prettiest and nicest worm to exist."

🪱 Minghao: (Song Note: ngl this might be a future song reaction thingy for my ot13 series I do.)

When you asked Minghao if he would "still love you if you were a worm" he would giggle at your question because duh. He's in this for life baby. He would tell you he would find the BESTEST dirt for you live in and would fight any birds that would try to eat you. It would honestly be just a giggle fest between the both of you.

🪱 Seungkwan: (Song Note: CLC deserved better.)

Seungkwan and you were staying in for the night and were both just hanging out while mindlessly scrolling on your phones. You then crossed a meme that reminded you of the "would you still love me if I was a worm" question. You decided now was the perfect time to make your lovable stud muffin to answer your question. Once you asked him he gave you a stank judgemental side eye before *respectfully* ignoring you. You kept scooting closer and asking him before he couldn't help but laugh and just saying "yes."

🪱 Vernon: (Song Note: When the remix is better than the original... Red Velvet wins always.)

To be real, Hansol was READY for this question. He had seen it on his fyp and knew it was only a matter of time before you would waddle over and ask him if you would still love him if you were a worm. He would be doing whatever Hansol does and just say "yes, I would love you if you were a worm." and also "yes I promise." He would find it very funny when you were pleased by his answer.

🪱 Dino: (Song Note: this song has no business being as much of a bop as it is.)

Chan could go two different ways lmao. He would either laugh at the question before saying "of course I would, but would you love ME?" Or, he would overthink it. Were you an Earthworm? A gummy worm? A pinworm that would be a pain in the ass? He just had to know. Soon you both would be ranking worms and would forget about the question hahaha.

btw just wanted yall to know how committed to writing Chan's part I was:

I forgot what they were called LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anyways, which one was your favorite? Mine personally was Seokmin's. I feel like I've been writing so many sad things for him lately so it's been nice to write something super cute like that. <3

Hope yall enjoyed <3 if yall were worms, I would love you all :)

[magspieart]

HIIIII! LOVE YOUR ALIEN AU AND CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT!!

Their design is so coooool!! They give me the vibes of "someone finding a wet pathetic beast and trying to help them trying to be as not frightening as possible, while the animal is fighting for their life in the scariest day of their life not understanding"; good stuff

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, LOVE YOU AND THIS AU!!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT WITH US AND HAVE A GREAT DAY!

(Also, on a completely unrelated note, I wanted to ask how the boys would see a YN who has trouble walking or with chronic pain /totally not projecting, OF COURSE IF YOU WANT TO, if it makes you uncomfortable please ignore this last part, ok byeee!)

AWWW THANK YOU!!!! Sweetest thing ever I swear, I'm glad you're enjoying my brain worms so far. They absolutely are finding a wet cat outside and taking it in like those women on tiktok-

I won't pretend to know much about mobility aids or chronic pain but I will try my best! I'd love for people to find themselves in my work and quite frankly, what sort of world-builder would I be if I didn't consider all angles?

I think that as these guys were based off of arthropods and crustaceans, they would actually be very accepting of mobility issues and chronic pain. Molting is something very common, and is experienced by everyone in this species, but it causes a lot of issues for movement and can also be quite uncomfortable at the best of times.

It probably wouldn't be the typical type of accommodation we're used to, but I think canes, wheelchairs, and pain medication would always be on hand. Or some variation of it anyways.

So far this is what I've come up with!

I kind of went overboard and expanded upon some other things as well, just for funsies!! I tried my best to research what were the best/most suitable forms of aid for canes and wheelchairs and tried to mix that with what i think their tech would look like. As well as trying to consider what might help them!

Such as the mandibles. Sometimes during molting anthropods/crustaceans can lose antenna or even limbs because of getting stuck during the process. As some of their species have mandibles that stick out quite prominently, I think this could cause issue in molting and may result in losing them entirely. However, its totally possible to be born without or have them amputated for medicinal reasons. In these cases, I think they may use prosthetics, probably either porcelain or metal. The only issue with this is that it wouldn't replicate the same sound as the mandibles when talking so this may still make it difficult to communicate.

Anyways!! Taking all of this into account, I believe any reader with chronic pains would be well taken care of! (To be fair, they might even assume something similar to molting is occurring to you at first. Before realising of course that's not the case). Especially with the boys as they are royalty of course, they have the best care avaliable at all times!

I really enjoyed this ask so dont worry about making me uncomfortable with it!! I welcome all questions about their species and the relations with the humans!! Especially reader based! If any of this is inaccurate please do let me know, as I've mentioned before I'm not very knowledgeable in this area but I'm always welcome to learn if I've made some mistake in my research!

Hope you enjoyed my little ramble >:)

[marshmallowprotection]

Girl i just wanna lyk that i really really really love the way you write yoosung. I especially love the fact that you do not write him as a dumb guy like some writers do and it means a lot to me as someone who relates to him and struggles with low self esteem when it comes to my intelligence

Yes yoosung might not be the smartest of the bunch and he is impulsive- but he isnt stupid. Academically he is really good especially given how strict the kr education system is. And even outside academics he has been quite quick to figure out things and take action accordingly. Without him Saeyoung wouldve been dead in two instances. Besides he was also quick to place aside his feelings towards rika after her expose ESPECIALLY given how much rika has meant to him all his life. He still stepped up and called the authorities to arrest her and protect everyone from being drugged. Yoosung was also quick to suspect Jihyun regarding the information related to rika's death. Sure you might say that he did not "handle the matter well" but it will never change the truth. Jihyun infact was hiding a whole can of worms. And him hiding information related to mint eye has led to rfa members becoming more vulnerable to the cult.Yoosung is #2 in LOLOL. Just below seven. And Im p sure LOLOL is based on League of Legends which is a strategy based game. And obviously you need some amount of critical thinking skills to play a game like that. Alot of writers tend to make him bad at gaming and i dont like it. So yeah yoosung is far from being stupid and i am glad some writers take their time to emphasize on that. Love you

A lot of the characters in MM end up flanderized by the fandom, unfortunately. In the case of Yoosung, I want to say that it's okay whenever someone writes him as being young or naive, because there's nothing wrong with being young or naive as you're coming into your own. Everyone starts somewhere, and you don't start out knowing everything and anything there is to know about the world!

Compared to the rest of the cast, Yoosung really hasn't had as many life experiences to grow from just yet, and that's okay.

Being young isn't a bad thing. He has all the time in the world to grow and continue to make strides toward understanding everything he wants to know about the world and more. Yoosung isn't a baby, he's always been a stellar student and goes out of his way to join clubs as soon as he discovers he's interested in something he's never done. It occurs to him that if he wants to know something, he has to seek out the people who already know how to do it.

He's comfortable enough to say, "I don't know what I'm doing and I would love to learn how to do this right." In fact, watching him learn how to bake over the years felt like such a wonderful nod to him as a person. When he decided to take on a culinary path after the events in the RAE, I cheered because it felt impactful to his interests. That was so much more respectful to him than what the VAE tried to do, but we all know how I feel about the many faults of the VAE.

There are parts of the VAE I did actually enjoy, and Yoosung taking charge to do the right thing despite knowing just how desperately he didn't want what Rika was doing to be true was one of them.

Post-RAE, he took a step back and realized he pushed himself into veterinary medicine because of his long-standing grief and utter determination to make sure nobody had to grieve as Rika did, and while he adores animals and never wants to see them suffer as Sally did at the end of her life, him pursuing a path of culinary enjoyment after seeing him adore making food from the start of this series felt like him deciding to do something for himself as opposed to doing for others.

He can still make a difference in both peoples and animals lives by being a culinary master! Yoosung deserves to do whatever he wants because it makes him happy. I'd support him no matter what path he wanted to take, be it veterinary medicine, psychology, or culinary school. But, it's nice to see him be able to reflect on what matters to him most at the end of the day and choose what he wants to do on his own terms. He should be able to live the life he wants to lead no matter what path it is.

But, in regards to people writing him as "dumb"?

He didn't have to grow up quickly to survive something difficult, and that's why he may feel different compared to the others in terms of his "maturity". Zen and Saeyoung are hardly older than he is, but they have been forced to learn how to adapt as fast as possible compared to Yoosung because life... was not kind to them. Just because they've had more time to learn how the world works doesn't mean that our boy Yoosung is "dumb", it means that he's got a lot more to sit down and learn about the world. That's all.

And frankly, you don't magically stop needing to learn one day as an adult. If you want to make sure you continue to be the kind of adult who always listens to those younger than you when they tell you the world needs to change for the better, you need to keep learning. You need to actively focus on listening to other people when you're out of your league. You will never know everything, not by a long shot, and to say you do would be factually wrong.

I was a year younger than Yoosung when the game came out, and having grown with this game, I can tell you I've grown up so much since that time, and I hope to continue to grow with time. I know this world can only be a better place if I—and everyone else in it— choose to grow with it rather than become quiet and complacent.

The problem with the way Yoosung is written when it comes to this issue is that sometimes people make him clueless for the sake of being clueless as opposed to being gullible or naive. Because we can't deny that Yoosung is a gullible guy. He looked up when he heard it was written on the ceiling, but the main reason why he looked for it on the ceiling came down to trust. He trusts his friends even if they treat him like a baby, and their opinions matter to him. If you tell him something, he wants to believe you!

He doesn't want to believe someone would outright lie to him, even as a playful joke, and people can fall him a fool for that if they want, but I think it says a lot about Yoosung as a person that he's willing to trust with all he's got to give unless presented with something that's undeniably wrong, such as Jihyun lying to everyone about what was really happening behind the scenes.

Honestly, I haven't seen too many people mischaracterize Yoosung in my side of the fandom in a while, but I think that's because I've gone out of my way to make sure that I'm only seeing posts about all of the characters that don't irritate or squick me out, LOL.

I think some folks have a hard time balancing his gullibility with his maturity, especially when it comes to fans who are as young as he is. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when I see something that doesn't mesh with my understanding of him. I tend to assume they're young like he is and haven't really realized that Yoosung's kind of an outlier in his friendship in terms of life experience.

He's book smart, and he's a good judge of character, but this boy is not street smart like Zen or Saeyoung! And, you know what? That's okay! Why would he be? He's never had to worry about a roof over his head. He's never had to be afraid he wouldn't survive to the next day. He's always had his parents there to support him, and he's done his best thanks to the support of his family and friends. He's had a very normal upbringing, and there's nothing wrong with that. He may not be as "interesting" to some folks, but Yoosung is a good boy, and he isn't "dumb" or "lame" for having a "typical" experience.

[trans-queen-administrator]

Worm Fanfic Recs

No rankings at play here, just my favorite fics that I think other are really good. There are fics I like that aren't listed because I have a bad memory, but everything here is something I really really enjoyed. I have biases obviously, this isn't objective.

The Fics

Our Private Crises - A nailbiting murder mystery with unique and well done POVs from a different character each chapter. The mystery and reveal at the end were stellar, and it got me attached to characters I never thought I'd care for. 29k words. Complete.

It's Cold Out There Every Day - Missy is trapped in a time loop on her birthday. Genuinely stellar characterization, it has the best Missy and Aisha I've ever read and its such a creative and well executed premise. 41k words. Complete.

Tilt - Unpowered homeless girl Taylor fakes a thinker power to get in the Wards and secure housing. She's even more self destructive and self deprecating than in canon. 10/10 characterization for a slew of POV characters including Taylor, every ward but especially Sophia, Rachel, Lisa, and a ton of other characters. Despite not going through all of what canon Taylor went through, this fic nails her character better than pretty much any others. 220k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

Tear Apart, Stitch Together - Taylor triggers with Shatterbird's power and kills thousands. Short and sweet, everything that's there is great and it wraps up well I think. 13k words. Complete

Memories of a Simurgh Victim - The Simurgh attacks Brockton Bay. Has two storylines, one following Taylor and one following Amy and Vicky. Among the most fucked up things this fandom has to offer, a terrifying showcase of the Simurgh and her power. 62k words. Taylor's story is incomplete but the Amy and Victoria story is done.

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Pleasures - Cherish altpower Taylor tries to consensually fix Amy's incest fetish. A trainwreck I can't look away from, the worlds first psychological horror romcom. It's so fucked up and so amazingly funny, and has good well written characters. I don't like Pillbug and I'm not a big fan of altpowers, but this fic is still one of my favorites because it's so damn compelling so definitely check it out if you actually like either of those things. 211k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

Roots - The Slaughterhouse Nine attack a small town with a roster of OC capes, but something is very off about the place. POV shifts every chapter, and the OCs are interesting and unique. The S9 are also wonderfully characterized here, I've never had a fic make me sad for Crawler of all people. 67k words at time of posting. Ongoing. Criminally underrated.

Roma Fade - Ciara and Fortuna both try to grow past who they were as capes and find themselves as people in a small town post Gold Morning, having found common ground posing as moms to a recovering Taylor. I'm sure fake dating would never end in real attraction, that would be absurd. Incredibly gay, incredible characterization for everyone, the best post-GM fic around in my opinion. 87k words at time of posting. Ongoing but currently on hiatus.

Case - Lisa and the Simurgh start a detective agency. It's just great humor and a lovely story and wonderful despite being short and deceased. 14k words. Dead.

Silence is not Consent - Taylor intervenes and saves Victoria from Amy and gives her a place to stay, Victoria massively struggles dealing with what happened. Amazing characterization, Victoria's POV is unique and incredibly well done, and her seeing Taylor from an outside perspective is interesting. Be warned that this is a very heavy fic emotionally, but it's really fucking good. 212k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

A Word - Altpower Taylor is obsessed with writing a story. I don''t know how to describe this fic honestly it's hard to do justice, but it has perhaps the best conclusion to Gold Morning I've seen in a fanfic. 11k words. Complete.

Scarab - A fantasy AU where powers are thought to be magic, and the Faerie Queen takes an interest in Taylor. Filled to the brim with creativity and passion, this fic is teeming with fresh ideas and interesting depictions of canon characters. The worldbuilding is great as well, no other fic on this list has a map, so this is clearly a cut above the rest. 139k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

Swallowtail - Ok I lied this one has a map too. Taylor with an incredibly interesting stranger power joins Faultline's crew. There is a truly astounding amount of AU elements and alternate powers for canon characters, it feels like a new world while still being recognizable and distinctly Worm. Has a large amount of alternate POVs and the first arc can be rough, but it's creative and amazing. 360k words. Ongoing but currently on haitus.

Soliloquy - Ex-Slaughterhouse 9 Taylor is in prison, bitter at the world and herself and especially her clone who saved the multiverse. A heavy fic about someone slowly recovering and becoming a better person when they're convinced it can't be done. Made me cry. 71k words. Complete.

TWNY - Post-GM Taylor finds herself in the world of RWBY with a pair of moth antennae. Multiple POVs, all very interesting despite me knowing nothing of RWBY. Probably the best characterization of Taylor in any post-GM crossover fic, she's heartbreaking in the recent arc, and it feels like the fic has barely scratched the surface of what it'll eventually cover. Also it's very gay. 136k words. Ongoing.

The Great Escape - Eidolon is struggling after his reputation is destroyed and Cauldron is revealed, and then the Birdcage opens. Amazing use of seldom seen characters, great POV with Eidolon, well done and interesting fights, has String Theory. 107k words. Ongoing but currently on haitus.

Happiness Is Inevitable - NSFW. The only damn erotic mind control Simurgh smut in the fandom somehow. Besides the porn (which is a lot of the fic, who woulda thunk it) the story itself is actually pretty interesting and has a lot of creative parts, and it has better characterization than most fics. 29k words. Ongoing?

Oneshots

Break me so that I can be whole - This accursed fandom is tragically bereft of QA / Taylor fics, but this one shot is great, love an eldritch take on shards. Probably fucked up but I'm not actually a good judge of that so be warned. 1.8k words.

Book Worm - Dragon helps teach Taylor how to read and speak and understand language post-GM. Bittersweet and lovely. 2.5k words.

Defiant Didn't Dox Saint For Nothing! - Taylor goes back in time and the first thing she does is kill Saint because he sucks. Cracky but I like it, fun little oneshot. 1.6k words.

Ruling Ash - Glory Girl flees Brockton Bay during the Slaughterhouse Nine and ends up living with Damsel of Distress. Cute, and Starsong before Ward is very interesting. 2.8k words.

My Sunshine - Leviathan goes worse and Brockton Bay is destroyed. Taylor and Victoria survive. Very somber, but well executed. 3.4k words.

Cherry on Top - A character study of Cherie Vasil, showing how she went from running away from Heartbreaker to joining the Nine. Extremely well written, absolutely incredible depiction of her character. It depicts abuse and actions typical of Heartbreaker and Cherie, so be careful reading. It's a lot emotionally. 12.7k words.

Devil in a New Dress - NSFW. Shatterbird / Reader, I'm not explaining myself on this one. Neat Shatterbird characterization, hot, pretty fucked up so be warned. 1.7k words.

[seeyouonsaturn]

WHOC TIME

Whoc hours because they won't leave my brain (also Whoc is the official ship name now, congrats. Silly word.) Nobody asked for this but I do not care. I am throwing this at you. Flinging it, even. Oh was I supposed to reblog the ask game and hope someone takes pity on me? Nah bro, here's the Entire Thing.

Havoc my darling can be found here. She's shipped with Whirl, after approximately 5 million years of slow burn because, well, it's Whirl. Honestly in his terms that went pretty fast. We love an utter disaster of a romance. They're everything to me. RIP you idiots.

ask game

1. Who would ask “would you still love me if I was a worm?” and how would the other(s) respond?

I could see Whirl asking. He heard it somewhere and he never misses a chance to fuck with people. Havoc just sort of stares at him with an unreadable expression for a moment, processing what the fuck he just asked her, then responds with a deadpan "It'd be an improvement". He loses it.

2. Who comes up with the best date night ideas?

It ain't me that's for sure

I'd say it really depends on your definition of best. Havoc likes a romantic and intimate atmosphere, Whirl prefers to do something that involves action, and none of that mushy stuff. Most of the time, he wins out (Havoc is happy enough to go along with his plans as long as they aren't too wacky, and she knows he's not that comfortable with intimacy). But on some rare occasions he'll go out of his way to plan something romantic for her. Don't ever tell anyone about it though, he'll deny everything.

3. Who’s better at carnival games?

We all know it's Whirl. He fucking slays at the shooter games especially (and Havoc gets a giant teddy bear as a prize).

Havoc is banned from Whack-A-Mole because she whacked too hard and broke the board (but she did technically hit the mole. Whirl got into a fight with the owner about denying her her rightful prize). But you know that game with the hammer where you gotta hit it as hard as you can to ring a bell on top of the pole? Whirl saw it and YANKED Havoc over there. She broke that too. Whirl also got a giant teddy bear. He gave his a makeover. But he also kept it, which seems like a good sign.

4. Who drags the other(s) onto a rollercoaster?

Definitely Whirl dragging Havoc. He's so used to wacky flight maneuvers that a rollercoaster is nothing to him. Meanwhile Havoc is not having fun. She's not made for speed. Why would you make her do this. Why did she agree to this.

5. Who does the most chores?

Havoc. Rip. It's not that Whirl does nothing, but Havoc's spent long enough as a medic to be a bit particular about organization and cleanliness, while Whirl honestly doesn't really give a fuck. So if she wants their habsuite to be in some sort of order, it's on her to upkeep it. She does make Whirl patch up the holes he puts in the wall though. After patching up the holes he put in himself in the process.

6. Who gets drunk the quickest?

Despite her size, Havoc's actually quite the lightweight, mainly because she just hardly ever drinks. She's not against it or anything, but she's constantly on-call in case there's a medical emergency, so it's very rare for her to let herself get intoxicated. She needs to be able to drop whatever she's doing and perform emergency surgery at any point. There are no vacation days.

7. Who watches the most reality tv?

They both do this for date night. Just put on whatever dumb shit they can find and then spend the whole evening dunking on it.

Havoc at some point gets really into human medical drama series and comes out with a very skewed impression of human medicine.

8. Who insists their way is better even though it’s objectively the worst way?

Probably Whirl, considering his problem solving methods usually involve multiple guns. Have you ever considered rational thought? He has not, and he is offended by the very notion. Havoc is so tired.

9. Who believes in ghosts?

Unironically? Neither, at least not the funny spooky kind. Whirl might get into it for the bit (and Havoc might support him for the bit if they're messing with someone else).

The spirits of their countless fallen comrades haunting all those that still live? Yeah, that feels like a thing, but it's, like, normal at this point. You learn to live with it. Don't worry about it.

10. Who texts the most memes to the other(s)?

Do I even have to say Whirl. The moment he realizes the possibility, he'll start communicating exclusively through memes. After being on the receiving end of this for far too long, Havoc in turn is now aware of every meme known to man and mech. And she does know how to use them, though she uses this knowledge so seldom, no one ever sees it coming until she drops one in the group chat and everyone goes wild. Whirl is so proud.

11. Who makes the most typos/autocorrect mistakes?

Both. Havoc needs to keep autocorrect on because her fat fingers make it difficult to hit the right keys on the tiny keyboard, and she usually pays attention but sometimes things slip by.

Whirl meanwhile can't type for shit with his claws but he also gives zero fucks about it. He would NOT bother with autocorrect. You get what you get. Good luck deciphering that shit.

But if Havoc sends one word wrong, she will never hear the end of it.

It's probably easier for both of them to just give each other a call instead.

12. Who’s a more nervous flyer?

Definitely Havoc. Whirl's an aerial bot, he's obviously made for all that, but Havoc's a whole tank. Do not put her in the air. Big ships like the Lost Light are obviously fine, but dear Primus do not lift her up or anything crazy like that. She does not like heights.

13. If they have matching pfps, are they cute, funny, weird, etc?

Oh you know Whirl would do the silliest fucking thing he could think of. I can't even give you an example because he's funnier than me. Havoc humors him, and is kind of touched he wants to match with her even if it's for a joke (but she's not doing anything obscene, please, this is a professional account).

14. Who’s better at writing professional emails?

Surprisingly, Whirl. If he bothers to sit down for it and do it properly at least. Which he usually doesn't. Havoc's never been that great with wording stuff, and though she's gotten a lot better over the past couple of million years (a good few million years of practice do make a difference) she still prefers to have someone proofread her writing. Preferably someone like Ratchet though. Whirl might edit it to make it worse on purpose.

15. Who steals the other(s)�� food?

Whirl just straight up sticks his face in there and vaccuums it up before Havoc can stop him. If she holds him back at the shoulder he'll manage to elongate his neck somehow. He's worse than a cat. Menace.

16. Who’s more willing to commit murder for the other(s)?

Whirl's always down to commit murder, it's hardly even special. Sure, he'd commit murder for Havoc, but he'd commit murder for a corn chip. Literally just "I'd kill for you. Please ask me to kill for you." / "No, Whirl."

Havoc would kill for him too if she had to, but only as a very last resort. She hates killing so much. She has centuries of trauma. But if it was that or losing Whirl, she wouldn't hesitate. She does still have the old instincts, however buried they may be.

17. Their child is chanting “McDonalds! McDonalds! McDonalds!”, who says they have food at home, joins the chant, or buys a single black coffee and leaves?

Whirl is chanting. You know Whirl is chanting. There isn't even a child present. Havoc is the one who insists they have food at home.

If there's other guys with them, Whirl could also be the one who gets a black coffee and leaves, though he might also get himself a Happy Meal. And not share it. He just wanted the toy, and maybe some nuggies. Havoc can have one(1) nugget, because she's special.

Not if it's Sparky wanting McDonald's though. Sparky would get her McDonald's. Hell, Whirl would get her a whole guy if that's what she wanted to eat. "Whirl. Put down the gun. We have food at home."

18. Who uses more slang?

Whirl uses the worst slang terms he picks up from god knows where specifically to piss people off. Tell me Whirl wouldn't say skibidi rizz if he knew what that meant. Or even if he didn't. Look me in the eyes and tell me he wouldn't.

Havoc has no idea what the fuck he's talking about but she just sort of goes with it.

19. Who uses emoticons?

Havoc somehow gives me the distinct vibe that she'd use emojis like an old lady. Probably has the fucker saved in her phone as "Whirl 🚁".

Whirl just spams them indiscriminately and with abandon. It's like hieroglyphics.

20. Who would absolutely slay at the met gala?

No idea what either of them would be doing there, and honestly I think Havoc makes a bit more sense for this... but my heart says Whirl (probably the other kind of slay though).

[vividiana]

AO3 tag game

thank you to the lovely @khywren for the tag 💖

how many works do you have on ao3? 7

what's your total ao3 word count? 83,785

what fandoms do you write for? bg3 is the one that got me interested in reading and writing fanfiction in the first place. since then, nothing has wormed its way into my brain quite that much

top five fics by kudos?

the blood on my hands (scares me to death)

what a wicked thing to do (to make me dream of you)

she's an undiscovered element (either born in hell or heaven-sent)

could barely tear my eyes away

the light we shut out

do you respond to comments? yes! every single one, they bring me so much joy 🥰

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? OOF. definitely the pre-canon one-shot about Astarion's worst memory. it's hurt/no comfort, so I think that's pretty self-explanatory

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I already have the ending scene of my post-canon longfic outlined and that certainly will be the happiest ending of them all, but I don't think that counts yet 😅 so I'd say the act 2 confession one-shot, I'm quite proud of that one in general but the ending is especially hopeful

do you get hate on fics? nope and idk how I'd react if I ever do

do you write smut? occasionally. the middle chapter of "the blood on my hands" is mainly smut and I quite like how it turned out. it took me AGES to write though, bc it was my first ever attempt at smut and I had to push past a lot of internalized shame around sex to get the words down on the page. I would love to write more though. I have three ideas for smut one-shots floating around in my brain that I'm very excited about

craziest crossover? I'm not really interested in crossovers

have you ever had a fic stolen? I mean, not to my knowledge? I wasn't aware that was something that happens tbh. not sure what someone has to gain from stealing a fic but maybe I'm just naive

have you ever had a fic translated? no. I've briefly considered translating them myself into Polish, which is my native language, but there's a reason I wrote them in English in the first place. unfortunately, in my case at least, being fluent in both doesn't mean being good at writing in both

have you ever co-written a fic? no, but I think that could be a lot of fun!

all time favorite ships? Astarion/Durge and Lae'zel/Shadowheart

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I only have one wip at the moment, which is my post-canon longfic, because I've procrastinated writing the next chapter by finishing everything else I had started 😅 I don't doubt that I will finish it, I just think it will take a very long time and I hope I don't lose motivation somewhere along the way

what are your writing strengths? I think my dialogue flows quite well and by now I've gotten Eve's, Astarion's, and Lae'zel's voices down (I'm still figuring out Shadowheart.) I also like the way I write internal monologues/introspection/the characters internally grappling with their feelings

what are your writing weaknesses? basically anything that's not dialogue or introspection—specifically descriptions and moments that involve more action (including smut.) the first attempt just always comes out as "she did A. he did B. she did C" and it takes me a lot of work to get it to a point where it doesn't feel repetitive

thoughts on dialogue in another language? I pepper in some Gith into Lae'zel's dialogue and I have a chapter planned where Astarion will teach Eve some basic Elvish—that's pretty much the extent of it. I like when authors find a way to incorporate other languages into their fics, but in mine it doesn't really play much of a role

first fandom you ever wrote in? bg3, first and only babeyyy

favorite fics you wrote? my absolute favorite is "what a wicked thing to do (to make me dream of you)", which is a one-shot set in act 2 with alternating POVs and lots of mutual pining, ending with Astarion's confession. it's my comfort fic tbh and I have reread it many times bc I am the target audience of my writing lol. the fic I'm most passionate about and that occupies the most space in my brain on a daily basis is "the light we shut out" which is my chill domestic post-canon longfic that vaguely follows some overarching plotlines, but mostly it's just me putting Eve and Astarion in ✨situations✨

no-pressure tagging: @nerdallwritey @funniestbitchinfaerun @xxnashiraxx @verbenaa @roguishcat @obsessedwhyyes (sorry for any repeats!)

[taro-jpg]

Out of pocket Batfam fic quotes

"Duke could not overstate how much calling on Tim Drake should be a last resort. If you have Plans A-Z, asking for Tim's help should be Plan Ampersand. He was, simply put, ride or die. As in, you ask for a simple favour like a ride, and Tim might drive you off a cliff as a shortcut."

...

""Hey, Tim. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he said, turning back around.

Duke had a laundry list of questions: did you mean it, when you said you adored me? Would you forgive me if I hurt you? If I changed, would you love me anyway?

What came out of his mouth was, "would you still love me if I was a worm?"

"Are you kidding?" Tim scoffed. "If you were a worm, I'd design something to turn you back into a human. Unless you liked being a worm, in which case I'd design a state-of-the-art terrarium and you could live with me here. I'd also invent a machine so that we could communicate. So that I could say yes, idiot, I love you, every single day if I have to.""

...

""Who—who's there?" Gareth squeaked.

Everyone at the table drew their weapons, a varying assortment of guns, knives, and baseball bats. Duke shifted some of the light to Tim, bathing him in a ghostly, unnatural aura.

"Robin!" The man in the boxy jacket stepped forward. "We don't want to fight."

"Me neither," Tim said, voice breaking. "I just got yelled at by Batman. Nobody loves me. I just—I just want to be loved ."

He crumpled, sobbing into his hands. Tim was scarily good at faking a breakdown. Duke added that to his growing list of Concerns About Tim Drake."

- the robin declaration by waterunderthebridge12

[luce-speaks]

If you did a fire emblem promare au who would promare. Why

EMRY you sent this ask to me having no idea of the can of worms you just opened. i'm going to preface a lot before i get to the actual thing so bear with me.

first of all i want to say this is a lot of fun and i'm starting to think i should have a tag for my AU shenanigans because i love collecting these things and codifying them on tumblr. will keep you posted

second and more importantly: this promare au was not my idea!! please go see THE ORIGINAL POST by softlytired because it's their mind behind all this

okay. lets go

1: central concept

the art i linked to shows several screenshots of promare redrawn with ike as galo and soren as lio. this is really really smart for numerous reasons, including:

ike and soren share color coding (blue and green respectively) with their counterparts, as well as sharing similar builds and relatively similar styles/aesthetics

ike and galo both do the thing where racism is brought to their attention and they're like WHAT THAT'S AWFUL like hands down immediately against it despite living in a society that's much less progressive

soren and lio are both racial minorities in a way that gives them powers but also is plot relevant as a racism allegory

soren and lio are both dragon themed (less obvious with lio but it's notable in the scene where he attacks promepolis)

gay

this all goes out to softlytired who i'm sure considered these things when drawing the art. now it's time for me to do my part

2: filling out the side characters

with ike and soren in place the next question is how to fill out the rest of the movie's cast. i want to start by taking my best shot at who would fill each movie role and why.

captain ignis: greil or titania, take your pick. it's the same thing, it just changes based on whether you want this to be a greil lives au.

heris ardebit: oscar. i think he could pull off the evil scientist thing. also, they're both more withdrawn than their boisterous younger sibling, and they're both very protective of said sibling. which brings me to

aina ardebit: boyd. he's mainly here for the sibling thing and the goal of keeping the greil mercs and burning rescue as overlapped as possible. but what about the almost-kiss on the frozen lake, you ask? yeah that still happened. the only difference is neither of them were into it. (that idea is kudos to @tobegii, who also helped me brainstorm a lot of this.)

lucia: mist. mist's role as a healer is hard to translate to promare world, so i figured the next best thing would be letting her play a support role as the gadgeteer. testing new mech suits is a sibling bonding activity!

vinny: rolf. okay before you dismiss this as just me being mean to rolf i'd like to point out that letting him play sidekick means actually keeping the fourteen-year-old (?) out of danger for once while still letting him exist in the narrative. but also haha rat boy

varys and remi: gatrie and shinon. i feel like the fact that i introduced these two as a duo says it all. even though they're not technically a duo, they're the only two who are deployed together in the movie's opening scene that establishes the members of burning rescue. they have a similar brains-and-brawn thing going on. maybe shinon can be less racist in this one or something.

and for the enemies

vulcan: petrine. big scary lackey who doesn't actually have a very deep motivation other than being a horrible person. you could also use ashnard for this but i think petrine deserves some enrichment

kray: this is the difficult one because there is a good case for either sephiran (your traitor is In Charge Of The Fucking Government) or zelgius (your traitor is someone you knew personally and worked with) but for now let's go with sephiran because

biar: zelgius. it's funny okay

oh and prometh? by my calculations there is No Good Option. there just isn't. put altina in there or something. i don't fucking know

3: other notes and adjustments

with all of my "how far can i take this" out of the way i want to make an actual attempt to clean this up a little and tie up loose ends. this is my loose list of "how would i adapt the plot of promare to fit better around the tellius cast"

replace the character of kray with the duo of sephiran (the governor) and zelgius (the enforcer), and have zelgius absorb what little plot relevance biar has. maybe zelgius was the one to save ike from the fire, but it was sephiran's burnish flare that started it. they could also be a sort of two-stage bossfight, with zelgius sort of one-on-oneing them before sephiran breaks out the big guns mech

greil died in the fire that nearly killed ike, putting titania in charge of burning rescue and giving ike and mist extra character motivation

shinon's character is hard to work with if you consider how racist he actually is in canon, but i think you could tone it down a little and use his character to make a point about how racism can be insidious and masked ("if you terrorists stopped burning down houses, no one would have a problem with the burnish!" and things like that.) getting proved wrong about those supposedly moderate beliefs might even give him a chance to grow

we can pretty easily add in ike and soren's childhood encounter as well! when they met as children, ike had no idea soren was a burnish (not that he would have cared). soren has always wanted to find him again but was busy yknow running an organization. he's incredibly hurt and disappointed when ike 1) does not recognize him and 2) works for the government now. but before they pilot the mech together, they finally get to talk it out, ike remembers and apologizes, and it represents a step forward in their relationship that prepares them for the ultimate test of teamwork (mech piloting)

okay well that's been a lot of talking from me. it's really more pattern recognition than any kind of actual story planning, but i hope you enjoyed! if anyone else has feedback or additions, i would love to hear about them. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[missholloween]

👻 Trick or treat!! 👻

HELLO. I've decided to translate some of my frantic fanfic fics (done with the lovely @samuelandthesun) for this ask game, BECAUSE THEY'RE SO GOOD! It's such a shame yall don't know Spanish, you're truly missing out.

This one is one of the most recent ones, but also one of my all time faves. These fics either go two ways, incredibly dumb or really ansgty. This is one of the dumb and fluffy ones.

It was a Saturday's afteroon and the sun was hiding behind the city's buildings. Curt and Owen had decided to stay home that day, doing something unheard for them: rest. Owen was continuing with one of his books, while Curt had spent most of the noon half-asleep. They were both enjoying the day.

However, in a moment of clarity, a life-and-death question popped into Curt's head.

"Hey... Owe?"

Owen didn't get his head out of his book. "Yes, love?"

"Would you love me if I was a worm?"

"Love, could you repeat that question?" Owen said, blinking perplexed as he closed his book.

"See? You don't even pay attention to me, always with your books!" Curt whined as he crossed his arms and bit his lips. "If I were a worm, you'd step me without thinking."

"Curt, you're not a worm, you're a human being– What is this all about? Is it really about the book? Curt, you've been sleeping all day, I–"

"But what if I was?! What if I suddently became an insignificant and soft and disgusting being that could barely move and was just bird's food? Would you love me then?"

For a moment, Owen believed he was dreaming. Was that another way to show trauma that he hadn't heard about? Or was it one of those hidden camera shows Curt loved so much? Whatever it was, Owen knew he had to take it seriously, but when he looked at Curt's eyes, he couldn't help but let out a genuine laugh

Curt's tantrum only grew, pushing his fiancé. "See! You don't take my problems seriously."

Owen's laugh only grew, being close to tears. He cleaned his eyes. "Curt, I–"

"No, no Curt! Curt doesn't exist anymore! There's just a sad, lonely, partner-less worm."

"Okay. Worm," said Owen, "of course I would love you."

Owen then hugged his partner from behind, gently caressing his body.

"Even if you couldn't move or if I had to deed yoy. Even if you stopped talking, and you were just a little pink worm with the viscous skin in the world, I'd still love you with all my heart."

Curt curled up in Owen's chest, hiding his face on hid neck as he surrounded him with his enormous arms, trying to reach Owen's heart and hide there from the world. "... And would you protect me from the birds?"

"Yes, little worm, I'd protect you from the birds. And from other worms that wanted to steal your food or say that your hair is ridiculous."

"No, it's not, they just don't know about style! And they also have that shitty hairstyle like– Oh."

Curt had raised his head from Owen's arms, and was now looking at his partner, his eyes filled with love and tenderness.

"That's my Curt." Owen said, booping his nose and making him blush. "Besides, you can't just be a worm. You're more like a cat: one of those bug ones who only want to be pet and be held and who don't really understand why some doors are closed."

"Hey, I'd be a really intelligent and elegant cat- A pageant cat. You, on the other hand, would be a dog. One of those big ones who look like they could rip your arm off but who are the best thing in the world..."

Owen started laughing, bumping his head against his lover's, blushing too. "But what would we do as a cat and a dog? Lie down all day without doing anything?"

"Actually, yes, and we should try it now. You know, just in case we woke up and we were..."

And thus, between laughs and tangled limbs, both lovers rest for the day, being the best kind of animal they could ever be.

[eflaneurism]

Bookshelf 2025

a running list of what i've read this year! sorted into months by date finished.

my major reading goal for this year is to get through all the unread books i've already got on my shelf. any that fall into this category will be marked with 📚

legend for any other emoji tags is at the bottom of this post.

January

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Unknown Author Nov. 25 2024 to Jan. 03 ♻️ Continuing my reread of this series from last year (Yes, I do hate JKR, please don't worry) and loved this one, even if it took me a while to finish (busy life). The internal worlds of the characters (especially Harry's and how he deals with all his grief) get so much development and focus here. ★ 8/10

February

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde Jan. 05 to Feb. 02 Absolutely loved this and am so glad I went in knowing essentially zero about the plot. Forever adore a book that has me highlighting passages as evidence that the main characters are gay (can't fool me Basil). ★ 9/10

1984, George Orwell Feb. 10 to Feb. 19 ♻️🎧 Again guilty of a reread but this is one of my favourite novels of all time. The way Orwell builds his fictional totalitarian state is unmatched and the end of this book is just so so devastating. 1984 is a masterpiece that I will never stop recommending. ★ 9/10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Unknown Author Jan. 05 to Feb. 19 ♻️ What a wrap-up. I cried like a baby finishing this if I'm being entirely honest. ★ 8/10

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel Nov. 1 2024 to Feb. 21 A book that's been on my list ever since I heard an abridged version of the story in Jacob Geller's video essay, Museum Theft. This wound up being an interesting and even fun nonfiction read. I really enjoyed Finkel's descriptions of the artworks, they definitely had an impact on my investment, especially at the turning point of the story, when we learn their fate.. ★ 7/10

The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka Feb 21. An answer to the age old question: "Would you still love me if I was a worm?" The verdict? Not good. I read this as an allegory for any condition — mental or physical — which prevents one from being useful or productive under capitalism and thought it was a really great and sympathetic portrayal of that experience. ★ 8/10

Delilah Green Doesn't Care, Ashley Herring Blake Feb. 21 to Feb. 26 🌈 Read this knowing I'd hate it, and I hated it. On me for not DNFing at that point but it wasn't so long, so I figured I'd really ought to just slog through it. Reconfirmed my distaste for romance novels. ★ 2/10

March

Babel, R.F. Kuang Feb. 23rd to Mar. 11 🌈 🎧 So good I think I may have to change my mind about whether I enjoy Fantasy. The kind of book that you will think about often after finishing. ★ 9/10

In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Spaces, Irvin Weathersby Jr. Feb. 23rd to Mar. 16 This one gets a 'meh' from me. Admittedly, I went into this expecting it to be more art history than memoir, which was not the case. I do think that was a major factor in my not enjoying this book very much, however, I also felt like the story was a bit looping and directionless at times. We get lots of stories about Weathersby's experiences and bits of his knowledge around colonial monuments, but it felt like it failed to come together into anything really substantial by the end. ★ 6/10

The Dutch House, Ann Patchett Mar. 11 to Mar. 18 📚 This scratched the part of my brain that loves a character study. ★ 7/10

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams Mar. 18 to Mar. 22 📚 What a fun book. If I'd known how close I was to finishing this the first time I tried I would've just finished it. Adams has such a unique, fun style of writing and I definitely will need to read the next book in this series soon. ★ 7/10

Dante's Inferno: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, Paul Brizzi and Gaétan Brizzi, original text by Dante Alighieri Mar 22. A beautifully illustrated and accessible adaptation. Though I wish I'd read the original first. ★ 6/10

In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado Mar. 16 to Mar. 26 🎧🌈 Stylistically not for me. I can appreciate Machado's obvious talents and the bits in which her depth of knowledge on niche topics is given an opportunity to be expressed, but beyond that I found this memoir something of a drag to get thorough. The vigenette-style telling of each chapter made it difficult to become overly invested and the second-person perspective was downright distracting, even with its poetic justification ★ 4/10

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald Mar. 20 to Mar. 28 🌈♻️ Full of gorgeous imagery and quotation. Also oh so very party 4 u by Charli XCX coded. ★ 9/10

to be continued...

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆.

Tag legend:

📚 taken off the shelf, i.e. off my TBR

🌈 queer themes or characters

♻️ reread

📓 read for class

🎧 audiobook (sorry to the purists, i'm a busy guy)