#(this is not bound to any specific verse either)

[ozzgin]

Yandere!School Q&A 2

Answering some of the questions involving the Yandere School universe. Gender neutral reader, mildly NSFW/suggestive in parts.

Just curious, is there a difference between men and women in the yandere/darling academy?

Not at all. In theory, there could be a difference in uniforms, as seen from the occasional depiction of skirts, but that's really up to the student. As in, they can wear either, regardless of gender.

When it comes to you, on the other hand...I feel like they'd either ask you to wear pants, or heavily reinforced skirts. Too many creepshots and perverted attempts otherwise.

I know the yandere school verse is meant to be silly but I’m genuinely invested in the lore and worldbuilding now. What classes are taught in both schools? Do the darlings resent the yanderes? WOULD THEY BEAT THE YANDERE STUDENT’S ASS IF THEY GOT FOUND OUT??? SO MANY QUESTIONS SMFKEDKK

To be honest, I still haven't considered all the logistics!

I'm imagining a mix of both when it comes to classes: you have yandere-specific courses, and then general subjects with some practical applications. Obviously you can't do without mathematics, for example. If you don't understand double integrals, how will you determine the area you need to cover to reach your Darling who's running for the hills?

Also, I don't think the Darlings would be too upset. After all, they are studying solely to find themselves a yandere one day. What is a little baffling is that out of all the damn darlings in school, this guy ends up chasing after a ‘yandere’ student.

One of the Yanderes at Yandere Academy is bound to be a Platonic, and they're probably going insane watching every student and teacher going after the school Darling. Do you think they'd be on the staff or a fellow student?

There's plenty of platonic yanderes, both among the students and teaching staff. They make up the security brigade, ensuring your safety and keeping dangers away. If other students let their infatuation go overboard, they will be quick to correct it.

In fact, this is where their yandere skills shine most. Taking care of you.

Ohh what about yan art teacher using reader as the model for nude portraits in class?

That'd be like opening Pandora's box. What's to guarantee that the students won't go feral? Even as a regular model, removing any article of clothing within the artistic depictions is strictly forbidden. The other teachers already have to sort through stacks of confiscated fanart involving you, they don't need a boost in lewd creations.

Unless you mean a private encounter with Yan!Art Teacher for some extra credit. That's a whole different story. 👀

for your yandere school au if I was in readers situation, and I got a free full?? scholarship?/ to a fancy school?/? I no longer need to go along with family tradition I’m getting that free scholarship it’s not like I particularly needed a bunch of people to stalk me 🤷

I'm kind of hoping that Yandere School comes with a full scholarship, too. Bonus points if they offer legacy benefits. Reader comes from several generations of graduates, after all.

Not to mention, you already have a bunch of people stalking you, if we are to count the yandere family members. You'll feel right at home.

The darling is christian in some other scenarios right? What if in sex ed class, she said that she would only do that if she got married? Imagine every single yanderes trying to be a good husband material but the darling is so damn clueless about it

I don't think the religion was ever specified, but you're free to imagine it however you'd like, anon. I can definitely picture the yandere students perking their ears at such statement and taking it as a challenge. You want to wait until marriage? Then they’ll bring the marriage over right now. You have to wonder if there’s some current fashion trend you’re unaware of, as every student has asked for your opinion in rings. You’d assumed it’s a question involving their own, personal acquisitions, so now there’s a bunch of classmates fighting outside because they all got different answers and clearly only one of them holds truth.

That one teacher who got all those accidental smut submissions about Y/N is gonna be feasting tonight

I suspect most teachers have a neatly organized storage full of content involving you. Whether it's accidental submissions, confiscated doodles, illegal photos and so on. Hell, they probably trade the stuff like collectibles.

"You got the fic I asked for?" one teacher asks lowly, resting against the wall.

"Uh huh."

Another teacher swipes through a thick folder with the efficacy of someone who does this too often.

Imagine yandere school y/n slips up and accidently calls a teacher mom/dad. Or worse (or perhaps better depending on who it is), mommy/daddy. y/n is embarrassed, yandere students are jealous, and teacher is now horny.

Terrifying affair. The teacher will have to evade weeks, maybe even months of assassination attempts coming from the students and parents. Reader probably joked about it at the dinner table once, and the mom/dad has been spiraling ever since. How could such a mistake happen? Have they neglected their darling child?

“I-It’s not what it looks like!” one student will stutter, terrified to find Reader’s parent behind them.

“I’d say it’s pretty obvious, you’re doing a terrible job. Hand me the binoculars”, they demand in a whisper, glaring at the object of their envious stalking: the teacher.

How would the readers parents/fam react if the reader complained about the school staff or a student? [Gym teacher dress coding reader] With this as personally speaking I would be really annoyed. The yan family could also take it as an insult because I know for a fact they make sure the reader has all the best stuff. As well how they're bothering or unfairly treating the reader. And if the yan fam connects that the school is yan (students and staff) they would FLIP OUT. But that's out of the point

I’d say it depends on their relationship. Remember, Reader’s parents are graduates of Yandere School, so it’s entirely possible they were taught by the very same teachers and staff. Thus, they might be reluctant to question their authority.

“You have to understand, I had my best intentions in mind”, gym teacher will explain to the parents with a solemn face.

“No, you’re right. We’ve seen the way those kids look at our (Y/N). Who knows what perverted thoughts linger in their mind?”

The grey-haired man dabs a handkerchief across his forehead, visibly paler.

“E-exactly. It was all to protect (Y/N) from any indecent, uh, risks.”

Gym teacher prob got a forest downstairs

Only one way to find out. Better put on your adventurer's hat! 👅

Okay but like, the poor principal having to deal with the entire Yan!academy

He probably stares in the mirror every morning, noticing yet another grey hair, or that his eyebags have gotten worse. He's going to need an early retirement. "I tried my best", he mumbles to the portraits of the previous principals.

How would the yandere school react to reader being hypersexual? P.s can I be raccoon 🦝 anon? [I'm afraid you'll have to pick a different emoji, anon, as raccoon is already taken]

I mean, I can totally picture a playboy/playgirl kind of Reader who skips class to smooch one of the students in a storage room. Or Reader getting too flustered and excited and begging one of the teachers for "help" after school. I'm sure most would comply without hesitation.

Though you may have to deal with a horde of jealous partners who don't like to share. Next thing you know, you have to compile a sexy time chart and schedule the smooching to fit everyone in.

hai ! this is related to yandere school, i’m curious to know what if reader decided to accept the scholarship to darling academy? like i can imagine readers parents worried and proud while clumsy yandere is absolutely celebrating abt it :D

Knowing Reader’s luck and Clumsy!Yandere’s misfortune, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more yandere students lurking the Darling Academy grounds. Or even worse, some darlings begin to develop intense feelings for Reader. Worry not, your clumsy best friend will always come to your rescue.

[genderfluid-insomniac]

For the NSFW Asks, what are Macaque and Sun Wukong favorite spots to fuck their S/O?

NSFW alphabet with Macaque and Sun Wukong (separately with reader)

Macaque~

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He’s the best at aftercare since he is already well-versed at reading people and you’re no different. You both are very good at communication so unless he’s fucked you so your only able to mumble you’re able to say what you want. Usually, it consists of a warm bath for both of you and drying off with a warm before drinking some water or warm tea as you cuddle together.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

His favorite body part of yours is your thighs and neck because there’s so much soft skin to mark up and bite, not to mention how plush they are for him to grab and rest his head on. Your neck is the perfect place to take in your scent and mark up your neck for all to see that you’re taken.

Your favorite body part of his is of course his beautiful six ears and how they’re all so sensitive, fluttering and twitching at every touch or kiss you press to the shell of one of his ears. Another favorite part is his chest, how it’s decorated with beautiful scars showing how strong your mate is in addition to his conviction to protect you and the flustered reactions you get from trailing kisses down it.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He likes to cum in you as a sign of possession and he loves how it looks when his cum is dripping out of your hole. The feeling of you squeezing him as he orgasms in you makes him feel like you’re his and how he’s able to do something no one else can as your mate.

He will respect your decision if you don’t want him to cum inside you and pull out, smirking as he cums on your face and kissing you. Regardless of wherever he cums he’s going to clean it off with a warm damp cloth.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He’d never tell anyone this but he would love to be worshipped and praised for hours about every aspect of him. Specifically about his ears and how he looks without glamour because he’s already very hesitant to show people what he really looks like and if he hears praise from you he’ll be putty in your hands.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

As much as he acts all suave and smooth he isn’t that experienced however it doesn’t mean he’s terrible at it. On the contrary, Macaque learns very quickly by your reactions and what you like and don’t like. Even finding little favorite spots to worship on your body that you didn’t even know existed and always checking in to see if you’re alright or if anything he’s doing is hurting you. Either way, he’s going to find out through soft lustful whispers or silent lewd actions.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Macaque’s fine with any position as long as he gets to see your face and those gorgeous expressions of pure ecstasy you make. Because of his trauma with Lady Bone Demon, he doesn’t like being in any restricting position like having his hands or legs bound and unable to move like he’s caged in. He generally wants to be close to you, to kiss you, and to hold you.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Macaque’s a mix of both but is more serious than goofy and does tease you or playfully mock you.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Granted he is a monkey so the word “groomed” has a different meaning for them and he is very well groomed (you help him since it’s a relaxing activity for both of you). He knows there’s definitely animal fur-safe dye but one he’s not taking any chances and two he just doesn’t wanna dye his fur.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

He tries to be romantic but Macaque has his own way of being romantic towards you and though to others it might seem strange or distant you know it really is loving. He is very intimate though and gives so much loving pleasure that shows every ounce of care he has for you.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Macaque does masturbate whenever he can’t be with you when he’s aroused since he’s not going to steal you from any important work you’re doing to fuck you as much as he wants to. He has patience.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Primal play games, breeding, praise, body worship, teasing, and marking.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

His favorite places to fuck you are private places and places that are his. He doesn’t want to risk anyone walking in on both of you for obvious reasons but the risk factor of possibly being seen makes his heart rate spike and makes him even harder. It should go unsaid that any place that either of you find uncomfortable or don’t want to fuck in is going to be respected on both sides.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Any reactions you give when he’s training or working out since it’s very obvious for him to feel when someone is looking at him. Seeing you sweat from post work out or flushed face.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

This is obvious but anything that hurts you or brings up any trauma for both of you. Other than that he’s willing to try stuff out but will draw lines for your safety both physically and mentally (green, yellow, red color codes check-ins).

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

He has no preference for giving or receiving but he adores giving you oral sex because he knows how to play your body like an instrument and fully loves drawing orgasm after orgasm from you while anchoring your hips so you can’t pull up unless you yell the safeword.

Like before Macaque doesn’t have much experience if any but he’s a very quick learner and becomes very skilled just by trial and error with your reactions. Even more skilled if you tell him what to do and what not to do in regards to what you like or want.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

He can be both if it’s been a rough day and some things that irritated him or someone came onto you then you’re in for a rough fucking (ofc your safety is the top priority even though it’s intense). If you’re both feeling soft toward each other then you’ll have very sweet loving and sensual sex.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

He finds them okay and is open to them since he can make them just as pleasurable as long sessions and it can be done just as skilled.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He’s willing to try stuff out and experiment as long as it doesn’t hurt either of you.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

It’s Macaque. Someone equal to Sun Wukong. He can go for hours and will still have a good amount of stamina thanks to the regular training he does.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He does not own toys and doesn’t know how to use them well but one quick Google search or conversation with you will solve that.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

This should be obvious as Macaque will tease you till you give up or can’t function and is merciless.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He isn’t that loud despite how he is very dramatic and makes hushed moans and groans. Loud enough for you to hear and for his voice to become scratchy if you both do have sex for multiple rounds.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

He’s a possessive motherfucker so expect your body to be covered in hickeys and bruises. Most of them he purposely made so you can hide them but there are a few that are pretty hard to hide so others can see you already have a mate.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Again with the training he does and the amount of battles he’s been in he’s pretty toned and muscular which he’s more than willing to show off. However, with everything he’s gone through his body is littered with scars, and many of them he purposely hides because he thinks they’re all ugly, especially his blind scarred right eye.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

It depends if he's worked up then it’s pretty high but most of the time it’s a normal amount if the world isn’t ending like the normal hijinx that happens.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He’s not going to fall asleep until you’re asleep and taken care of.

Sun Wukong~ A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

You’re going to have to tell him what to do or give him some advice besides common sense since he’s not totally familiar with them. He can help with a lot i.e. bringing you to the hot springs on the mountain to clean you up, cuddling with you in his nest of blankets, or getting you food or water from the orchard or freshwater streams.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Without a doubt, his favorite part is your hips or thighs since there is so much space to mark up for others to see you’re his mate and lover. They’re also so plush and easy to grab and squeeze when he’s worshipping you.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Like Macaque he wants to cum inside you because someday he’d love to have kids and would love nothing than to breed you. Of course, if you’re not okay with it then he’ll gladly pull out and if you’re on birth control you’re gonna have to explain it to him cause he doesn’t exactly get how he can cum in you but not get you pregnant.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Even though you both are bare to each other Wukong still wants to keep his glamours up since he thinks he looks ugly without them and in his mind who could blame him? From being thrown into the trigram furnace which gave him his scary red eyes, being burned by the samadhi fire which singed his fur in many places to having scars around his head from the circlet. So please give him all the love he deserves which is all the love you can give and more.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

He acts like he has experience and knows what to do but he has zero experience and it kind of shows even though he puts on a good act of being confident and cocky about it. Of course, he has a rough idea of what to do but he wants to make it as pleasurable as he can for you so help him out and give him some advice.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

He doesn’t really know the names of any of the positions just more of an idea of how each person is positioned but he adores being able to see all the faces you make when he’s fucking you stupid. He’s not as flexible as people might think but he can do a lot of positions and is very curious about trying different positions with you.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Short answer, yes. Long answer, have you seen this man er- monkey rather because he is so silly and that doesn’t stop for when you’re in the bedroom. He’ll make jokes on occasion about your reactions or act like he can’t hear what you when you beg just to hear you more.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Granted he is a monkey so the word “groomed” has a different meaning for them and he is very well groomed (you help him since it’s a relaxing activity for both of you). He knows there’s definitely animal fur-safe dye and can be convinced but it takes a lot with the promise that it can’t be extreme or large.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

He’s very intimate and loving during the moment. He loves to be cheesy both in and out of the bedroom, it comes out way more when he’s with you than with the others, and mostly falls into laughter because he catches himself staring lovingly/lustfully at you (it’s become a habit at this point.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Because he’s extremely isolated and unfortunately can’t always have you with him or you can’t take him with you he only has one option if he gets horny. He masturbates more than one would think but he is extremely touch-starved (both him and mac are).

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Primal play games, breeding, praise, body worship, and marking.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

His favorite places to fuck you are private places and places that are his. He doesn’t want to risk anyone walking in you both since that thought alone makes him furious and of you for obvious reasons since you’re his mate and his alone. It should go unsaid that any place that either of you find uncomfortable or don’t want to fuck in is going to be respected on both sides. However, it is difficult since both of you worry that one of his siblings will walk in which is bad for both sides since neither one of you wants the monkeys to be traumatized from seeing something they shouldn’t of.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

All it really takes for him is to see you working out/ sweating or especially affectionate as much as he will deny it because if the time gap between you both seeing one another is big then yeah he’s going to be motivated.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

This is obvious but anything that hurts you or brings up any trauma for both of you. Other than that he’s willing to try stuff out but will draw lines for your safety both physically and mentally (green, yellow, red color codes check-ins).

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

He loves giving you oral sex because of the noises he can coax out of you and how your body writhes in pleasure with each orgasm he causes. He won’t stop you if you want to suck his dick and very much enjoys it, praising you for what you’re doing and not stopping the moans leaving his mouth. All in all, he is more leaning towards giving but is happy receiving.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

He can be both if it’s been a rough day and some things that irritated him or someone came onto you then you’re in for a rough fucking (ofc your safety is the top priority even though it’s intense). If you’re both feeling soft toward each other then you’ll have very sweet loving and sensual sex which is usually what happens since he loves worshiping you while taking it slow.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Doesn’t like it much but it is helpful when MK is coming over to train he forgets so he’s trying to convince you in his way that you both have plenty of time despite knowing you don’t. He can and will make them just a satisfying compared to when you take your time.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Wukong is absolutely down to experiment (as long as it’s safe and consensual) with different kinks or positions and may suggest some himself. He is a risk taker but it’s more toned down now and he’s more wary of the consequences from said risks, doesn’t mean he’s going to half-ass fucking you stupid until his name in the only thing you can say.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

It’s Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Someone who took on all of heaven and didn’t break a sweat. He can go for hours and will still have a good amount of stamina thanks to the regular training he does.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He doesn’t own toys because of the obvious reasons of he doesn’t need sex toys since he doesn’t even understand why someone would want a machine in you even if gives you pleasure. You’re going to have to explain it in other ways ;) and he’ll come around, seeing how/why people like using vibrators, dildos, butt plugs, gags, nipple clamps, etc and how he can make you’re body melt into euphoria with the help of these help little devices. He will tease you if you own any and ask if you’ve thought of him whenever you use them.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He doesn’t tease as much as Macaque but he still loves the reactions you give when he teases you and much prefers to fluster you with spooking you in different forms like when he was a bird or a butterfly. He teases you maybe 2 or 3 times a day but loves every second of it.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He’s loud and makes a lot of groans, praising you about how warm you are and how you grip his cock just right.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

He for sure asks you if he can use his clones in the bedroom and the moment you say yes is when 3 or 4 Wukongs, including the real one, are marking you up so people know you’re his. He doesn’t get jealous of his clones usually but there are times and they’ll all compete to see which one can make you cum the fastest or give you the most pleasure.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Again with the training he does and the amount of battles he’s been in he’s pretty toned and muscular which he’s more than willing to show off. He does have a bit of a dad bod which isn’t bad but you find it cute and especially the little peach colored heart on his chest. Unfortunately because of his actions against heaven and his tough journey to deliver the scriptures with his master the king has many scars from serious injuries as well as the samadhi fire burning (singes)his fur in places. One of his insecurities is his fire red eyes from the trigram furnace. Every one of his insecurities under his usual light armor you find attractive and beautiful, complimenting how handsome he is whenever he undresses and kissing each scar with so much gentle love.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Wukong’s sex drive is pretty high given he is clingy (in a good way) and wants to be around you so much, if it’s including how touch-starved he is then he loves to make love to you as it’s the best way to show how much you mean to him.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He’s very tired after any session since it’s definitely more than one or more rounds but he wants to make sure you’re comfortable and relaxed. Wukong tries his very best to do aftercare right since you’re his mate but sometimes he wonders if there’s anything else he can do to make you more comfortable. Maybe tell him what you want and it’ll be yours, if it cuddles then you aren’t getting away from him until morning or until you have to leave.

[whumpbby]

Thinking that because it seems that the Demonic Cultivation was mostly something that Jiang Cheng took care of - either as a way to unload his grief or as taking responsibility of his shixiong's mess - it's possible that the Jiang disciples were the ones that were the best versed in dealing with DC.

Now I am headcanoning that - because JC seems like a man that has shit in hand and runs a tight ship - there's a group within the Yunmeng Jiang trained and experienced specifically to deal with Demonic Cultivation specifically. Like their Spec Ops. They are prepared to come in fast and hot, deal with the issue asap and start the clean-up - armed with talismans made to deflect DC, tame the corpses and help send them on.

So, like, one day WWX hears that there's some Demonic Cultivator causing problems in the area he's hunting with the Lan juniors and goes to deal with it. It still pisses him off that his only lasting legacy is not about his genius or his heroics (or even his good looks), but it's this thing he invented out of horrific desperate need and that's now used to cause chaos and hurt people. So, he feels it's his duty to go there and talk some sense into the person in question.

Except, as soon as he arrives at the scene and ascertains that yeah, the issue is serious and maybe it's better for him to send the disciples back home and call in reinforcements (Lan Zhan), because he can take the DC down, but the clean-up will be immense - when suddenly a group of cultivators land in front of them with a swish of purple robes and gets to work.

The battle is almost sad. In no time at all the fierce corpses are tamed, the cultivator thrown down and bound with talismans, and the cultivators are dispersing across the area to set up burials for the corpses and arrays meant to send the ghosts onwards.

It's all precise and quick, sure steps and short commands. A well-oiled machine with soldier-discipline cleaning the area of resentment. So unlike the usual exuberance and free-style of the Jiang.

Wei Wuxian is kinda stumped. How are these people, and why are they getting in his way? He didn't even manage to get any fun! You, baby Lan disciple, explain!

"They're the Red Brigade", the disciple explains in a hushed voice. "Jiang-zonghzu's personal guard. They hunt Deminic Cultivators."

Red? Ah, their uniforms are adorned with a red ribbon on the shoulder. How sentimental of Jiang Cheng. His shidi really missed him! (or wanted him dead, there's also that option). But no time to contemplate that, because these guys are super efficient and if WWX wants to do any investigation of his own (translate: being his nosy self) he has to haul ass before they clean up everything!

So, he goes to the leader of the pack with an intention of comparing notes! The guy is respectful, but so cold! Eh, is he even a Jiang? So much like A-Cheng! Well, he knows how to deal with people like that - everyone will fold when bothered for long enough!

So, he keeps following the leader and talking bullshit, as his brain takes notes on everything he can see around. The talismans they use, the arrays, the spells - that's all pretty high level and super interesting. Huh, even their clothes are embroidered with talismans (a page out of the Lan book, maybe? Sneaky, Jiang Cheng, sneaky!) and their they use ghost flags...

But something is strange. He can see traces of his own work here and there - and he's used to seeing is tools ironically used across the cultivation world, but these are... kind of not? There are traces of his work, but the sigils are not his, the flags are not his, the talismans are not his. Like someone engineered his work backwards and created something that was similar, but entirely different.

As if someone wanted or needed tools to deal with Wei Wuxian's creations specifically, without the risk of being used against them in the heat of battle. One of the cultivators has a qinqin strapped across her back - the strings are made from metal, so it's not for musical cultivation (huh, so that's how Jiang Cheng came up with the idea of disrupting Su She's music in the Guanyin Temple, it wasn't coincidence.). They came in prepared to counter anything a Demonic Cultivator would throw at them.

Hell, he can admit that going through them on his own wouldn't be easy (because he was always helplessly optimistic about his own skills)...

Oh, Jiang Cheng did his homework.

"Wei-gongzi, can I help you with anything? Shouldn't you be taking the Lan juniors home?"

Uh-oh, he was getting on someone's nerves. Better retreat for now.

But he wasn't about to drop the matter.

The Jiang Sect had a SPECIAL OPS! how was he supposed to leave that be?

He was invested, he wanted to discuss! He needed to compare notes!

[silverflcme]

plotting call! hello! below are a few plot ideas that have been bouncing around in my head for some time now. i've gone ahead and divided them up into specific verses / settings, too. some of them i do have a preference on which muse i play, but other than that i'm super open to plotting!! message me if interested?! ( fyi - all plots can fit any pairing )

ranching / small town verse:

the son of a powerful ranching family in town just got out of a prison for a crime he was made an example out of. he's been locked up for awhile now, disconnected in a prison out of state, and has come home to find his family's dynasty is pretty much falling apart. on top of that, his long term ex girlfriend (or baby momma even) is now in bed with a rival family. i'd want to play the son who got out of prison in this plot.

with that, the sister of the same ranching family as mentioned above. who is a golden child turned mess of a person after something that happened in the family and has drinking problem she hasn't admitted / confronted yet. a romance with a ranch hand for her family who showed up unexpectedly with a bad past ( maybe even lying to her ?? ) who gets involved with the drama. i'd want to play the golden child turned mess for this plot.

the city muse who has it all together, returns home to their small town / ranching town / mc town, for either a sweet home alabama vibe or another reason. either way, they come back to town and come face to face with their ex who was their biggest 'what if'. very much exes / mutual frustration to lovers mixed with a little bit of crime in the background for a bigger plot.

cliche golden child / preacher's child and the town fuckup. two of them always exchanged glances in school, but then they vanished senior year without a word. now they're back years later, working at the town garage, full of tattoos, they're still the one moms can't stand. while the golden child is still dating their high school sweetheart and playing piano at church. their worlds finally end up colliding and things are never the same after that. i'd want to play the preacher's child for this plot.

romantasy / supernatural verse:

human muse and secret occult ( fae , elf , werewolf , etc. ) muse in a dark academia setting. human is a new graduate student at a secluded but prestigious private university. the occult is blending in with the humans ( either hiding from their family / where they are from or some other reason ) and working as a scholar for the school. human and occult end up getting close then queue falling in love and the whole discovering what they are and then plunging them into some bigger plot that has to do with why the occult muse is hiding out amongst humans. ideally, i'd want to play the human in this plot.

human and royal fae are bound together through a magical bargain. but the fae, who's been on the run from their crazy fam, has been caught by their family's bounty hunters, determined to bring the fae back ( for reasons that can be discussed ). because of the bargain, the human is forced to come with. dangerous part? the fae's family hates the humans. so the fae must glamour the human at all times, keeping them safe from their family while the human must try to blend in. ideally, i'd want to play the human in this plot.

high season verse: ( i watched sirens and omg )

a bored, married heiress who is suffocating in luxury ( lol ) is vacationing in the hamptons or somewhere lush for the summer. the other muse? her new driver, tennis coach, yacht captain or deckhand, anything. they're younger, too. an affair begins for the summer, but drama always happens in the hamptons. either they make her jealous with their friends and potential lovers their age, or she's hanging her power over their head. it's toxic but delicious.

exes vacationing with their new partners at the same holiday estate. maybe they're famous. maybe they're royals. either way, tension is high, jealousy even higher, press circling... all the angst and drunk words they never said before.

a much younger muse was the assistant to the wife of a very very wealthy and much older businessman. after a string of scandals and an unexpected romance, the businessman leaves his wife and puts a ring on the finger of the assistant. this is their first high season as fiancees and it can either be very angsty and dramatic, smutty and hot, fluffy and fun. anything i just want to explore this dynamic. if you've seen sirens then you get it lol

swinger plots? that's it. that's the plot lol.

mafia verse:

inspired by 'bound by duty'. both muses are from family's within the new york outfit and both are widowed. one muse is being prepped to take over the family's illegal business and because of that, is being forced to remarry. then enters the other muse, who is newly available after their spouse died. now, for appearances, the two are having to get married and merge their families - despite neither being fully healed from their first marriages.

the rival's son and the don's daughter. give me romeo and juliet but set in a mafia world. they're both chaotic and toxic and feel like they're untouchable. they meet through their mutual love for the luxurious night life, and during a drug filled night, they sleep together - opening pandora's box and making it a terrible, but steamy love affair that can end in burning flames if we let it.

fantasy / period verse:

a bastard child falling for the heir's betrothed. they've been in each other's orbit for years, but now she's promised to his half brother. she never wished to be anyone's queen but his, though. now the two of them have to fall in love from affair and dare to cross a line that could easily get them both killed.

war is looming between houses and one muse has been sent to what is currently the safest house on the map, to protect the queen's young children aka the heir to the throne. second muse is required to watch / attend to them. but both are filled with tension, fear, feeling like they're useless in a time of war, etc. so tensions rise between them, but they eventually become someone they turn to as war gets closer and closer to their doorstep.

because i'm basic as hell....an a.licent h.ightower and c.riston c.ole esque plot.

[mxmarsbars]

i need specific songs on when the pawn and who they relate to on the life series immediately.

THIS IS MY TIME \^u^/

spoiler alert. most of them link back to either traffic!impulse/clock duo or traffic!pearl (and sometimes traffic!tango) because i’m crazy and am mentally ill about them specifically >_< sorry

this is also all just my interpretations and if you want to see if these songs are applicable to your favorite characters, LISTEN TO THE ALBUM. IT’S SO GOOD.

ANYWAYS here’s my list. explanations below the cut.

on the bound: impulse (clock duo?)

to your love: impulse (clock duo)

limp: impulse (clock duo), tango (tangdubs), pearl (her + scott/divorce quartet)

love ridden: impulse (clock duo)

paper bag: impulse (clock duo), pearl (her + scott)

a mistake: impulse, pearl, tango

fast as you can: pearl (her + scott/divorce quartet)

the way things are: impulse (clock duo), pearl (her + scott/divorce quartet)

get gone: impulse (clock duo)

i know: impulse (clock duo)

on the bound:

this one specifically reminds me of 3l and dl impulse kind of centering around him putting so much faith into certain things, bdubs specifically. these decisions have never ended well for him and often get him into even deeper trouble, but he still thinks it’ll do him some good. even if something inside of him is smart enough to know it won’t.

to your love:

very liml clock duo to me. impulse just trying so hard to move on and distance himself from bdubs but seeming to still have that soft spot for him. he tries to hold his ground, stick to the promises he’s made to himself, but bdubs always seems to make him break. think back to the clock giving scene that season, how impulse crumbles and shuts up when bdubs refuses to listen to him but is still so sweet to him. bdubs never takes him seriously and it makes cutting things off so hard. even with the distance and resistance, impulse folds.

limp:

what is something impulse, tango, and pearl all have in common? the people who have hurt them just seem to refuse to take accountability! ever! hell, they even egg them on just to get a rise out of them and to vilify them later.

bdubs is the common perpetrator for two of those three. impulse and tango never wronged bdubs, and yet he betrayed them mercilessly anyway. and then he tries to paint himself as a hero and saint later, deny his sins to their faces, laugh at them. he fondles their trigger and blames their gun. gives them a reason to get revenge and gets mad when they do it.

very similar with dl pearl, it’s kind of self explanatory. even if she wasn’t perfect, she’s never given any closure and her life is actively made worse by those just as bad as her. they claim to be above her, to have some moral high ground, even when they abandoned her just like they accused her of doing. and they never fail to hold it above her head.

love ridden:

more clock duo, just following their relationship as it slowly but surely falls apart. they just don’t work, no matter how hard they try to push down the problems and start over. they have such a beautiful relationship arc to me, and this song specifically reminds me of how liml serves as their breakup. impulse finally puts his foot down and realizes he can’t put up with bdubs anymore. he’s not his soulmate or husband anymore. he’s just bdubs. and that’s okay. they’ll both move on one day.

paper bag:

oh, the pain of wanting someone so badly but knowing you can’t because they only hurt you. even attempting to make things work is futile. all hope is done in vain. so maybe it’s better to not hope at all.

which is why i think it fits liml clock duo very well (the first verse being the disappointment impulse felt during either his 3l or dl death, you choose). impulse, despite everything, is desperate to make something work. and he tries, but bdubs just refuses to do the same. impulse and his trauma is the mess he doesn’t want to clean up. and every time he tries to get closure, to talk to bdubs about how he feels, it’s shut down. bdubs just doesn’t seem to understand and can’t take him seriously. impulse thought he was a man, but he was just a little boy. so he turns to starving, to distancing himself, to abandoning that hope. it hurts, but it works.

and dl pearl! funny coincidence that the song references a star and scott is associated with those. she’s still lingering on the good things they had in last life and has that hope that it might be the same this time around, but it isn’t. scott hates her, and y’know what? she hates him, too. because she has to. he denies her feelings and calls her crazy, how can she not hate him? she’s forced to distance herself for her own sake and his by extension. she’s the mess he doesn’t want to clean up. that he doesn’t want to face and accept. it’s killing them both, but if starving is what it takes to survive, she’ll do it. she has to. he left her no choice.

a mistake:

i love when normally relatively level headed and smart characters go batshit. that should happen a lot more often. please.

this song has and continues to remind me so much of traffic!impulse, specifically his ll, liml, and wl variants. he’s forced to be responsible and mature and good all the time, it’s exhausting. so when he starts going array, he can’t stop himself. it feels so good letting lose, dabbling in the chaos, letting that imperfection shine through. impulse is a kind person at heart, of course, but he’s just so tired. why does he have to always be the bigger person? why can’t he just make a mistake? and he will always be vilified for this, which is all the more encouragement. if they’re going to treat him like the bad guy, he might as well give them a reason.

this song reminds me of pearl (dl + wl) and tango (liml + wl) for very similar reasons. they are so often made out to be a bad person whenever they act out of line, even if that out of line is just acting like everybody else or having a valid reaction to being wronged or hurt. a person can only take so much demonization before they crack and be the villain they’re painted as. what’s the point in being good if nobody even cares?

fast as you can:

dl pearl time! she cannot catch a break and neither can her soulmate and the rest of the quartet (and anybody else caught in the crossfire). she is crazy and she is messy and she is ruthless. it’s all she’s allowed to be given her circumstances. and towards the end, when she has to band together with those people who drove her to that state, it’s hard. she can’t just forgive them for all they put her through, but she won’t deny that it’s nice having a place in the group. being taken care of. having someone sacrifice themself for you. but the fight is never over. she’ll always be choking on “why”s.

it also kind of reminds me of clock duo and tangdubs, but that’s just me being crazy. i don’t think it warrants an in-depth explanation.

the way things are:

imagining being stuck with someone who’s hurt you so badly, having to stomach being by their side because you can’t escape them. that could ABSOLUTELY be impulse and pearl.

honestly for clock duo, it reminds me more of liml than dl, despite the soulbound. but there’s definitely still some footing in the latter. impulse is still linked to bdubs, even if the soulbound is broken. and it’s hard being apart the next season, but it’s for the best, impulse knows that. he hopes that eventually all the pain and suffering will be worth it. that he’ll be able to move on. and y’know what? he does. he’s forced to bear every dismissed concern and unreasonable excuse and betrayal, and it hurts, but he moves on.

very similar for dl pearl, especially at the end of the season. she ends up teaming with the people she hates the most because she kind of has to. she knows it’s her best bet, even if it’s nauseating. and it’s hard, fighting on their behalf, by their side. but she manages. even with all the name calling and victim blaming and fighting, she moves on as well. maybe not entirely, but enough to get her through the season and the ones to follow.

get gone:

this is one of THE liml clock duo breakup anthems to me. impulse just wants bdubs gone. he’s put up with his shit for too long, and he can’t do it anymore, and he’s completely in the right for that. because he tried. he tried to make things work and talk about their issues and come back stronger, but bdubs just won’t listen. and impulse is tired of waiting for him to. he’s tired of sitting around, hoping bdubs will care, praying he’ll change. impulse knows now what is good for him, and it’s not bdubs. and he can only take so much of that man before he just can’t anymore. before that price needs to be paid. before he makes sure bdubs finally pays it.

i know:

clock duo are never beating the dysfunctional and miscommunication allegations. impulse knows what bdubs did. bdubs knows what he did, too. he just won’t admit it. and for a long while, impulse is able to handle that, even if it aches. he lets bdubs ignore their past, ignore all the mistakes he’s made, all of what he’s ruined. but eventually impulse realizes he can’t let him bury it any longer. it’s not helping either of them. he’ll be there if bdubs does confess, but if he doesn’t, that’s whatever. impulse will be gone by then. hopefully.

[waythroughtheice]

Question, this has to do with your fic Synthesis Reaction.

Do you have some kind of headcanon about the noise and how it affects Geo, considering that Black Ace/Red Joker are mostly shown as expressionless, one thinks that it affects not only physically but mentally Geo in some way.

Thanks for the ask!

Let's see........you know, I hadn't considered the potential side effects of the Noise, other than Geo adapts to it. But I think that's a fair assumption, so let's explore it a bit!

In Synthesis Reaction's 'verse--and in canon--the Noise is essentially a substance that sort of causes.....disruption amongst the Waves of an EMian, causing any sort of merge to either fall apart. For a pure EMian, they might lose data (body parts), or in case of not getting away fast enough complete deletion, becoming more Noise themselves. Noise is--exactly what it sounds like: Noise. It's white noise that interrupts and disrupts any sort of "harmony" the EMian had within itself. Incredibly dangerous, and though you can build a sort of immunity to it through constant, low dose exposure, it's not a real immunity, since all EMians succumb to the Noise invading them and disrupting their harmony.

It's why only two EMian beings have confirmed to have control over Noise and be immune to it: Sirius (post-game SF3), and Mega Man, whose particular ability as an EMian is adapting any power he gets hit with for himself.

I'm still debating what Sirius's deal is, but with Mega Man, it's because he can take any power he's hit with (provided he survives), and bound back later using it as his own. It means Mega Man creates a variant of the power, specific to his own use, and to use a new power typically he changes form--changes his own Wave "harmony", if that makes sense, to use that power.

(I headcanon that the way the cards work in SF work is that Mega Man is manipulating the parts of himself by reading the data the cards provide--like reading strings of code and doing their action--hence why Omega-Xis can change into a rattling gun before being changed back his normal form, for example. It's easier to temporarily modify parts of yourself--change your Waves--than change your whole body, which is why Form Changes are rare and only for specific powers, and are often times on a time limit. Objects at rest want to stay at rest, and Mega Man naturally wants to go back to the natural form.)

So, when we reach the Noise forms, it's a form to use a power antithesis to EMians. It's a lot of power, since Noise is everywhere. If EMians deal with reality typically, then Noise is distortion (to use Pokemon terms, haha). The Noise is used to fuel and massively amplify Mega Man's attacks (as seen in game!); the Noise form is used when Mega Man as a way to expel it from his normal form. If his normal, natural form is the Mega Man of reality, the Noise form is the Mega Man of distortion. The Noise wants Mega Man in that form. Reality wants Mega Man in his normal form. Geo and Omega-Xis straddle the two, which is likely why Geo seems expressionless. He's trying to maintain control of the massive power that is coursing through him and is trying to keep him in the Noise Form. (Canon states that the star on his Noise form indicates that Geo is in control.)

I think there are a few things we can say here about the Noise form.

He's really concentrating to maintain control (as mentioned).

The Noise is the antithesis to Wave Forms (EMians), which are emotion itself. That's why he's emotionless--he loses in part his ability to feel because Noise is anti-emotion.

Ironically, the forms he takes mirror those who caused him great emotion: Ace, and Joker, and both of them actually act as light and dark mentors respectively, which it is doubly ironic when you consider the color palette used for Black Ace and Red Joker.

Geo is maintaining control by remembering the importance of his bonds, and by mimicking the power, feel, and styles of more adult EMian fusions, who he looks up to/and or respects a little.

Bonds, however, are antithesis to Noise, so he's continually striding the middle line. He's containing the Noise through an older form which reminds him of his bonds and purpose even as he himself loses emotion, and/or his mind becomes perfectly logical.

As for a specific side effect.......I'd imagine he begins to be able to see Noise easier, and he straddles the line between disconnected and caring, hot and cold mentally and emotionally a lot. He maintains control of himself, but he does grow older because of it.

[avocado-writing]

i absolutely ADORE the little universe you've made for the light the dark and the spaces in between and i don't really have any specific requests, all i'm requesting is whatever work in that universe that you've already come up with or if you do get an idea for something for my favourite throuple this is an excuse to post it hihi

Notes: first of all, fav throuple? 🥹 I’m asking for your hand in marriage. Second of all I got an ask about reader being nonbinary in this series but this fic explicitly discusses them being AFAB (but GNC, could be read as trans or not). set in TLTDATSIB verse, ish, the time period is a bit wonky (14thC ish) — consider this an au where reader follows aziraphale to France after their initial meeting, finds Crowley there too and everyone is pointing at each other like that Spider-Man meme going !! Immortal!!!

words: 2k

rating: T (sex references, mild peril)

pairing: crowley x reader x aziraphale

tags: TLTDATSIB, polyamory, Fem/Masc!Crowley, Fem/Masc!Aziraphale, GNC!Reader, historical, jousting

“Are you sure? It’s terribly dangerous.”

“Aziraphale,” you sigh, “I don’t do it because it’s safe.”

“Well why do it at all?” she whines, grabbing onto your hand beseechingly. Crowley looks up from where she’s been admiring her reflection in your armour. You turn to her for support, instead she shrugs. 

“I don’t know. For glory? For honour? To prove that I can?”

Aziraphale glares at Crowley to join in but is met with the same reaction. It seems that Crowley is determined to stay neutral in this scenario. How annoying. Just like a demon to find the most awkward solution for both parties.

You tie the linens around your chest a little tighter. Under your full plate it should be difficult to tell the shape of your body but you don’t want to take any chances. Aziraphale pouts and you sigh, turning back to her to take her hand in earnest.

“My darling, I’m not like either of you. When they look at me, they will only ever see one thing. I can’t change my body around and be whoever I want to be. I have to take these measures to be viewed as anything other than what I was when I came squawling from my mother.”

You cup her cheek and she nuzzles into your touch. 

“Besides,” you add, wickedly, “am I not good at wielding a lance?”

You grin, thinking back to the three of you laying together last night. Aziraphale harrumphs and Crowley laughs at her.

“They’ll be fine, angel,” she finally pipes up. Aziraphale doesn’t seem certain but finally relents, letting Crowley adjust her surcoat and take her hand.

“Good luck,” Crowley says, but the smile on her face suggests she doesn’t think you’ll need it. You give her a wink.

“With my two ladies cheering from the crowd, how could I lose?”

You give them both a kiss goodbye before Crowley finally wrestles the angel away, likely to get her a drink and a pep-talk before the tourney starts. As they leave, your squire begins to enter, his face turning beet red as Crowley ruffles his hair.

“Hello, Oliver. Make sure our good knight doesn’t fall from his horse, will you?” she says as she goes. Oliver tries to form a sentence, fails, and winces as Crowley sways away. 

A tiny slip of a lad, you took on Oliver not only for his immense courage despite his small stature, but because you both shared a secret - one which you uncovered when accidentally walking in on him changing. You’d recognise a bound chest anywhere. You thought no less of him for it, and told him he needed not beg for your silence: you’d keep it gladly.

“Sire, I’m here to help you finish dressing,” he states, when he finally manages to get a handle over his own tongue. 

“Well timed, Oliver. Help me with this breastplate.”

He heaves and helps with the leather straps, buckling you in place. You’re swelteringly hot. Ah well, time for that to get even worse when you ride out into the sun. You take a moment to check yourself over, only noticing Oliver’s quietness when he fails to point out one of your pauldrons is loose. You furrow your brow and turn to him.

“What’s on your mind, lad?”

“Might… Might I ask a question, sire?”

“Me saying no has never stopped you before,” you jest, but when you see him scuff his foot against the floor, you drop down to be able to look him in the eye. “What’s the matter, Oliver?”

“Your ladies… you’ll fight for them both, yes? For their honour as one?”

“Yes, I will.” You don’t go into great detail about your relationship but you trust Oliver with the truth. He sees Aziraphale and Crowley clucking around you like hens before a joust all the time anyway, and the boy isn’t a fool. He can do the arithmetic of it.  

“And they’re happy with that arrangement?”

You laugh a little, but put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Those two love each other as much as they love me. My life would not be a happy one without them both in it, and they feel the same.”

Sacrilege, but really, little in this room would be considered holy by the church. And besides, you have an angel as one of the willing participants of your relationship. You think it’s probably fine.

Oliver nods. He seems to understand, but still appears like something else is weighing on his mind. You really do smother your smile this time.

“Oliver,” you tell him, gently, “I also think that you might be a bit young for Lady Crowley.”

He blushes.

🗡️

You can barely see with your helmet on, so you keep it under your arm for the time being. You cut the figure of a man well enough anyway so for the moment there’s no need to worry about your face being on show. In fact, you’ve gained a reputation for being quite handsome.

Handsome but very spoken for. Apparently there was a lady discussing giving you her favour to joust, and Crowley spilt wine all over her skirts. Then again, she did the same when a knight rode up to ask to fight for Aziraphale’s honour, and suddenly found that his helmet crest had inexplicably burst into flames. 

Crowley knows how to mark her territory.

You run a hand over your horse’s nose, humming a soothing little note as she nickers and whinnies.

“I know it’s hot, girl. Let’s give them a show and then we’ll both get out of this damned armour.”

You saddle up, letting Oliver pass you your helmet and your shield. You ride as a freelancer so neither of them are burdened with some noble’s crest; instead you ride under your own: a pair of wings, one white, one black. A little nod to the two who matter the most to you.

You ride onto the field as horns herald the start of the joust. You know a few of the knights competing, and are well aware of your first opponent - Kenelm the agile, a man you’ve faced several times over and are at equals wins against. He nods at you from his steed, hailing the crowd as he’s announced. You look across the seating, and see Aziraphale and Crowley in the front row. Where they always are, whenever you compete. With an ineffable inevitability.

“And, riding under his own banner, Sir Kerkylas of Andros!”

Even with her glasses on you know Crowley is rolling her eyes at your chosen pseudonym. You ride up to the pair of them, grinning.

“Be careful,” Aziraphale begs for the umpteenth time. She passes you her favour: a little ring, golden, set with a pair of wings on it. 

“I will be,” you say, kissing her hand, then quieter: “You do remember that I can’t die?”

“Yes, but we don’t know if dismembering will do you any good!”

Crowley reaches over to present you her token, a pin embellished with a silver snake. You stow both in your saddlebag. 

“I’ll buy you a drink if you take the helmet clean off his head,” she whispers. 

“You’re on,” you agree. Crowley reaches out to caress your face, then stops and retreats abruptly.

“Better not lay that on too heavily. I think I might kill your squire.”

A glance over your shoulder reveals that Oliver looks like he might combust. Taking mercy on the poor boy, you nod your goodbyes to the two of them and ride up to greet Kenelm.

“Ken! Didn’t think I’d see you back in the saddle so soon after that humiliating defeat in Dover.”

Kenelm rolls his eyes but holds his tongue.

“Ah, Kerk. Sorry, didn’t see it was you. I was blinded by the pomp of your armour. I forget that you need to compensate for something.”

Ha, if only he knew. 

Despite the ribbing the two of you exchange a smile.

“Good luck, Ken. And remember, aim the lance at me. Poor Cynisca was dreadfully irritable after last time, when it seemed you were trying to skewer her flank.”

He grimaces at being reminded of the faux pas before putting his helmet on and readying himself. You trot to your side of the tilt where Oliver is heaving up your lance. 

“You’ll win,” he says confidently, “Kenelm always rides worse the earlier it is in the day. If you can get a solid enough hit in, it’s over, one round.”

“I hope that your faith in me isn’t misplaced, Oliver.”

You helmet up, resigning yourself to see what little of the world you can through the frog-lip, and clutch your lance. It’s heavy but you’re used to it by now. 

An expectant silence settles over the crowd. Aziraphale buries her face in Crowley’s shoulder.

“Oh, I can’t look–!”

The flag is waved, and you charge.

🗡️

You reflect on how Crowley never bought you that drink. She insisted that knocking a man clean off his horse didn’t count as taking his helmet off. A technicality, flimsy at best - but Aziraphale was too relieved at your victory to argue either side. You went on to place second at that particular tourney, the fire of it inciting you to ride to victory in your next. 

You stopped for a while after that. It was doing Aziraphale in a little, and you loved him too much to keep his nerves that frayed.

But, nowadays, reenactments are becoming somewhat of a fad. Usually you find them a little gauche, and it’s more than a bit uncomfortable to relive some aspects of your past, but you never truly lost your love for jousting. So you allow yourself a little vice in it. Your heart aches whenever you’re reminded of Oliver, but you kept tabs on his family, and his descendants are doing quite well. One of them lives in London and works for a charity helping LGBT youth. It seems fitting. 

Plus, Aziraphale is a lot calmer about you jousting this way. 

“Are you alright?” you ask the man you just took off his horse. He looks a little winded and gladly takes your help getting up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Think it’s just my pride that’s bruised. You’re really good at this!”

You beam.

“I’ve had practice.”

You exchange socials so that he can follow up with any questions he might have, then turn to take your horse back to the tent the organisers have set up for you. Aziraphale and Crowley are waiting. Your angel has an ice-cream for you, which he passes over before tucking into his own.

“Who was he?” Crowley sniffs, peering over your shoulder. You roll your eyes.

“Just some kid interested in the sport. Stop being jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” he says, jealously.

“You did marvellously, my love,” Aziraphale interjects. You smile at him.

“Thank you, darling. I can be a fiend with a lance when I want to be. Even if I am a little out of practice.”

“Hmm, not out of practice as of last night,” Crowley says and Aziraphale chokes on his soft-serve. It’s good to know that even after seven hundred years, your sense of humour hasn’t changed a jot.

“Oh, and,” you say, reaching into your bag, “your favours. Returned to you after they brought me luck.”

Aziraphale slips his ring back on, Crowley affixes the pin to his jacket. Your hands linger on each other’s, as they usually do.

“Let’s go get a drink.”

“You didn’t remove his helmet, so I’m not buying.”

“Oh, you utter bastard.”

-

taglist: @angiestopit@dazed-soul@smile-eywa@staygoldsquatchling02@underratedboogeyman@specter-soltare@candlewitch-cryptic@cool-ontherun-world@emilynissangtr@willbedecided@cool-iguana@bdffkierenwalker @ilyatan @civil-groupie@foolishprincipalitee

[stitchbewitchs-blog]

Allow me, if you will, to write about something that has been rattling around in my brain since I first heard the first released songs from The Outsiders musical. It owes a lot of its theater legacy to Dogfight the Musical specifically in the way that it sounds.

Any musical post 2012 (the year Dogfight first played off Broadway) with a strong ensemble of male voices, more than a lot of shows, and folk/rock influences will have me thinking back to Dogfight. And my first listen of The Outsiders did exactly that, recalling the bounding, rollicking fun of the first few songs of Dogfight when the Marines land in San Francisco. I could write a novel about this, and I might post about it more, but I need to talk about the similarities between Little Brother (The Outsiders) and Come Back (Dogfight).

They are both the eleven o clock numbers of their show, the final big emotional song to really knock your socks off at the end of the show. They are both songs about grief, Dallas singing Little Brother after losing Johnny and Eddie singing of the deaths of Bernstein and Boland and his experiences coming home from Vietnam.

Musically, they choose to tell us of their grief in different ways. "Little Brother" has more rhythm, more blues influence, in the way that it swings and the singers add riffs. It includes some singing from the ensemble towards the end, building the crescendo of the song as Dally emotes his grief in a ramp up to the very last verse. The ensemble portion is a call and response, all of the voices representing Dally's desperation in his powerlessness to help his few loved ones (Ponyboy hurt, Johnny dead). In the final verse a violin slide (which is one of the creepiest sounds every) introduces us to his contemplation of his final action, the danger that is coming. Dally jumps up in pitch to sing "Johnny I am coming home/bout to take my final bow/hope you saved a seat for me/Johnny can you see me now?" before his death. The inclusion of the chorus and then their silence (as well as Dally standing alone onstage) emphasizes the solo singer but also his terrible isolation. His voice stands by itself for the very last time.

"Come Back" is Eddie's first solo song in the show. Every other song he sings either in duet with Rose or in harmony with his friends. The grinding, marching beat of the accompaniment (written in 12/8 triplets for the entirety of the song) echoes the martial drumbeat of "Some Kinda Time (Reprise)" as the characters go off to war. This is the beat of a dirge, the ebb and flow of the chords building to the crescendo of Eddie repeating how he does not know how to come back over and over and over in more and more discordant notes, his sorrow picked up in an electric guitar riff right before the end of the song. The repetitive nature of his crying out with no answer is the musical version of his isolation, a veteran of a war that no one wants to acknowledge, his invisibility in his home country. "Come Back" resolves itself musically (Eddie resolving on E which is the key for the final part of the song) when he sets eyes on Rose for the final scene of the musical.

Anyway I'm so normal about these musicals.

[notjustbaby]

hi, i’m jasper and this is an rp blog for baby from kpop demon hunters and i will be taking liberties! because this is for funsies (: ..also because he has! literally a single line that isn't song lyrics

ive watched the movie ofc. maybe more times than necessary. there may be spoilers.

blogroll -> @eldestoften, @heartsandwishes + its sideblog @thevoidofemotion, @panterasnarl, @dreamskipper, @someshadowshit spicy sideblog (21+ only, and mutuals preferred): @onespicybaby

headcanon tag: #headcanon time

baby's jinu: @unholi

here are the rules for those mobile bound:

18+ only, no exceptions (i was born in '96)

ic =/= ooc. also no exceptions

no drama, no callouts, none of that. i’m tired and this is a hobby

that said, if i do something, please let me know, politely. talk to me. i understand "curating your online experience", but if you're the type to jump ship at the first sign of something that bugs you, i'd rather you didn't come on board at all. COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT TO ME. it's so so so important. if i do something that bothers you, annoys you, angers you - let us talk it out. let us work through it. i can guarantee i don't even know i'm doing it, and i definitely don't mean to. i want to make friends, not business partners. this is for fun. let's have fun.

personals DO NOT interact with in-character posts! thanks

want to turn an ask you sent into a thread? feel free to make a new post and @ me in it!! i usually try to make them with that goal in mind, honestly! please do not reblog the ask

i do prefer to interact with mutuals! if we're not mutuals, i probably won't interact with you much, if at all. also, i will follow a sideblog but not a hub blog. few personals, either. asks and the like are always welcome regardless, though!

he can travel the multiverse, so you don't have to play a kpdh version of your muse! i like exposing my characters to strange, new things.... crossovers are fun and i have an excuse for how it works! if your character cant leave their home universe, baby can definitely wind up there!

i generally follow a single and very specific timeline. if you’re not part of said timeline, it means your muse belongs to a different universe, and while your character may never even find this out, please keep this in mind oocly. all interactions, unless discussed oocly, are generally with the same version of baby, and a different baby than your character might know! however, i'm trying to dip my toes into aus, so if you have any thoughts... if you need a better explanation, let me know and i can try! qwq/

if you want to ship w baby, please refer to the relationships page! it breaks down how i run things here. tldr; it's all in one verse unless you specifically ask for a pocket verse.

all my icons were cropped by myself, so i do ask that you not take them! obviously, i can't stop you, but honor's system.

blog est. 6.30.25

[parf-fan]

Star Shanties at PARF 2024

Geeky folk at its finest (as is to be expected of music written by Arthur Rowan), the Star Shanties project is not simply music about Star Wars: these are songs that could exist within the world of Star Wars. Each of the songs has lore, not all of which is relayed within the show. Full lore/flavor-text can be found in the video descriptions on the Twin Suns Entertainment YouTube channel, along with lyrics and the earlier versions of the songs.

Many a Parsec Running Down from Kessel Hondo Ohnaka (only flavor-text; no lyrics in description) Old Man Thrawn (only lyrics; no flavor-text in description) Hydian Way

Sing a Song of Obi Wan Bound for Nar Shaddaa The Trooper's Lament Hondo Ohnaka (again) (still no lyrics in description) Ghosts of Alderaan

This last one is the same songs from Saturday's 3:30pm set, plus one from Saturday's 1pm set. I therefore shall not bother linking them again. Still worth watching, if only because they added some PARF-specific verses to Hondo Ohnaka.

Not appearing in any of these performances but you should still go watch them if you haven't: Song of the Midnight Blade Admiral Raddus Let Shine Your Orbs Of Life Day

Time presses, and I have done naught to this footage and audio besides the fades at either end (and the patching of the third set). Please be aware that I cheer VERY loudly and somewhat shrilly throughout the first set; and there is hecking surrounding noise in the second set, as well as sunlight shenanigans (which I'd probably have left in anyway, for artistic reasons).

[nest-of-kyshf]

My personal interpretation of The Void (Hollow Knight)

To be honest, my interpretation of the void is possibly a bit… different than most others you see around. It does appear empty, yet I feel like that emptiness is because of it being above time itself, like, it flat-out can’t have a consciousness like any other thing that exists(if it has a consciousness at all). 

All conscious life in that verse is still bound to time, though wyrms with their foresight can prolly see/sense more of time/timelines in general, and that would likely REQUIRE having a mind that is just built different:™: in order to process that. Meanwhile, the void is unbound by ALL time, it’s ‘seeing’ all of the past, present, AND future all at the same time. Because of the void being so detached to everything going on, with its field of view of time being so vast, it likely can’t really be comprehended by creatures that live in a linear path in time- 

That’s only one part of the equation though, at least in my book, the other is this: It consumes everything about those who fall into it/succumb to it if it can, and I mean EVERYTHING. It does appear to prioritize the minds over the bodies of those it seeks to consume though, honestly, It could also be that in canon the bodies couldn’t reach the void for one reason or another- Pale King was sealed away in a little pocket dimension, the lighthouse keeper could’ve barricaded themselves inside of there before they succumbed, and the only other void-body that I remember seeing was in either queens gardens or greenpath (the one you get the collector key off of)which is… a bit far away from the void. 

It likely dosen't go out of it's way to consume things, mostly passively observing, but instinctively grabbing onto anything that gets too close.

Plus, with the nature of consumption, everything consumed becomes a part of the one that consumes- and with it consuming not only the body but the mind... every memory, sensation, feeling, all just gets… mixed into the dark mass of this thing that is unbound by time and therefore sees and processes things likely SO differently that it’s either incomprehensible, or the, and i mean THE worst overstimulation ever- 

Like I'm thinking, if someone were to comprehend it, it’d likely be a swirling mass of future, present, and past events mixed in with the memories, sensations, and everything else of all the things that have ever been consumed by the void mixed into one single, overstimulating moment. Even if it was just for a second, the aftershocks of just comprehending it fully would prolly cause your brain to just immediately short circuit and shut down due to being so overwhelmed.

Like, to try to describe it, I think that it’d be like suddenly seeing not only 360 degrees around yourself, but also seeing everything else around you in 360, as well as going through all of the taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight, and other sensations of every living thing around you ALL AT ONCE, without changing the way you process information at all.

Sure, the void likely can focus into a specific section of what it sees, (void given focus *nudge nudge*) but without the void actively focusing on a specific thing going on right now at that specific moment in time, it's likely so spread out through quite literally everything that it doesn't register as something that’s actually alive, even if you were to look at it in a much wider perspective- 

tho I also don't think that the void itself is conscious the way other things are, which just adds another layer of alien-ness that's going on-

[sunriseverse]

soooo about the dmbj sunrise au I read your iron triangle fic about it and the concept has me by the throat I would like to know more about the sunrise verse 👀 anything you feel like sharing

okay, let's see if i can do this in a manner that in any way makes sense, is organised, and is reasonably useful.

for starters, i'll toss over this introductory post, if you want a tl;dr that i made a bit ago (it is very abbreviated, and doesn't cover a majority of the verse beyond the barebones): sunrise at a glance.

i've been attempting to figure out a way to explain sunrise, and i think the best way to do it would probably be chronologically, starting from the effective beginning of history, as it pertains to rosemary and thyme. then i'll go a bit deeper into some world specifics, such as the martial sects, upgrading, and the politics of the zhang sect as it stands prior to the end of the sha hai parallel era. finally, i'll talk about some inspirations, both aesthetically and thematically.

PART ONE: the history

while technically the sunrise canon runs more or less parallel to real-world history up until slightly after the establishment of the mongol empire (565 before zhang reunification, abbreviated henceforth to BZ; real world equivalent somewhat varying depending on when you consider the mongol empire as having conquered china), once it diverges, it diverges rapidly. the yuan dynasty is founded in 448 BZ, and by 458 BZ, the first prototype silk-weaving machine is created, and rapidly thereafter (420 BZ) the first textiles factory is founded in chang'an (modern-day xi'an).

in 425 BZ, a pair of twins named zhang yihai and zhang yishan are born. due to their family's impoverishment, they're left at a daoist nunnery not long afterwards. they were trained in cultivation techniques from a young age, but were not considered remarkable enough to become disciples of any particular local master, and instead became wandering disciples, training sporadically under various independent masters in return for services rendered.

however, while they didn't become remarkable in this period of time, they were educated to a respectable level, both in cultivation techniques and scholarly arts. then, in 400 BZ, while travelling, they discovered a vase that was able to increase the abilities of anyone who held it. realising the potential of this artefact, they rendered it into an ink to create tattoos with, binding its abilities to their own bodies, and shortly after, created the zhang sect, the tattoos becoming the marker of the sect. unbeknownst to either twin, the vase was an artefact that had slipped into their world from a different world, and if they hadn't rendered it into an ink and bound it to themselves, carrying it would have aroused the attention of its original owners, the entity known as the hive. this binding also gave the zhang an innate ability to better resist hive-madness, ie brain damage caused by exposure to a humanly incomprehensible world and

for about five years, the zhang sect slowly rose in prominence, with zhang yihai and zhang yishan acting as co-leaders of the sect, known by a variety of titles (the most character-relevant being zyh's title of 锷女士 [e nvshi, lady of the blade/master above], and zys' title of 馥郁君 [fuyu-jun, lord of fragrant flowers]) . however, as time passed, the two siblings began to differ on what they wanted the role of their sect to be in the world—zhang yihai wanted the sect to be more martially-focused, aiding the people in a more immediate way, while zhang yishan felt the sect should be more scholarly, aiding the people by collecting and preserving knowledge, with the sect splitting roughly in half with which disciples sided with which sibling. In 400 BZ, tensions between the two siblings reached a boiling point, and the two came to blows—a fight which led to zhang yihai killing zhang yishan (partially due to the fact, which she didn't know at the time, that she was qilin-blooded and thus functionally immortal).

after realising what she'd done, zhang yihai took on the title of zhang qiling, as she was the only remaining member of her family, and carried her brother's body and performed his final rites. from that point on, she withdrew into seclusion, excepting for a brief period where she bore a child to continue the family lineage. without firm leadership, the zhang sect stagnated, faltering in its previous rise to prominence, and faded to a mostly unremarkable status, with its members split hereditarily from that point on either into hai or shan subjects, depending on which sibling their ancestors had aligned with.

in 360 BZ, the xie and hong families emerge. in 340 BZ, industrialisation accelerates, and the first steam engines are produced to power factory equipment. in 330 BZ the remaining jiumen families emerge, and align with the zhang sect.

in 300 BZ, wang zanghai compiles research on the zhang, and comes to believe that a hive artefact is responsible for their immortality. he artificially creates a rift in changbaishan in order to steal a hiveside artefact, but is killed in the process, with the artefact becoming lost.

in 200 BZ, the first steam engine train is created to allow for an efficient long-distance means of transporting goods. the first telephone is invented in the same year. in this window of time, the first people to find wang zanghai's notes on the zhang form the wang clan, vowing to bring the hive into the world, as they believe that this will allow immortality to be granted to all who come in contact with it. as the zhang are believed to be the enemy, they begin to infiltrate the jiumen.

in 120 BZ, the first automobile is invented. zhang ruitong, future leader of the zhang sect is born in 100 BZ. in 0 AZ, the ming dynasty is founded, and zhang ruitong succeeds in reuniting the zhang sect, as well as raising its status to that of foremost martial sect. in 85 AZ, xiaoge is born in tibet, and two years later in 87 AZ, hei xiazi is born in the chimkent (şymkent) area, a politically fraught region which will come under the control of the kazakh khanate, founded in 97 AZ.

in 95 AZ, an earthquake disturbs the hiveside artefact that wang zanghai stole, bringing it to the hive's attention, and the changbaishan rift begins to expand. as part of an agreement between the jiumen and the zhang sect, the xie heir is sent to fight the hive behind the rift. when the xie heir fails to return in the winter of 105 AZ, the jiumen renege on their agreement with the zhang, not wanting to lose any further heirs. the wang, embedded within the jiumen, begin to purposely open rifts, beginning the hive incursion. with zhang ruitong's death, xiaoge becoming sect leader, as well as the first zhang to undergo upgrading to become a ranger, and in spring of 105 AZ, the zhang elders form the first board to govern the sect, arguing that xiaoge is too inexperienced and busy with his responsibilities as a ranger to govern properly.

in 109 AZ, the first non-zhang sect, the gongsun sect, hosts a zhang ranger as the ranger programme expands. in 152 AZ, much of the lao jiumen are killed when qiu dekao trades the names of families with histories of grave-robbing to the government, as well as accusing them of wartime profiteering through the black-market sale of artefacts retrieved from hive-tainted areas. those that survive flee to beijing, where the jiumen become the jiumen association.

in 160 AZ, zhang qishan, better known as fo ye, heads the gutongjing research projects, an attempt to try and find a way to give immunity to hive-madness to zhang rangers through the study of a hive-touched species of snake, the heimaoshe. the project fails, but fo ye becomes aware of the wang, and trades zhang sect secrets in return for a reduction of rifts in the vicinity of his family, the somewhat estranged southern zhang. by 165 AZ, the zhang sect's influence is comparable to our world's mid-level nobility. by 170 AZ, the iron triangle have all been born (pangzi in 161 AZ, and wu xie in 169 AZ). the internet is invented in 169 AZ, and in 170 AZ, conscription of all qilin-blooded zhang sect members begins as the number of volunteers had dropped sharply in recent years. the same year, the zhang main board implements the first "kill switches" in upgrading procedures, allowing them to remotely terminate rangers if they are deemed a danger due to rift-madness. in 186 AZ, conscription is expanded again, this time to any zhang sect members of lower status whose positions are deemed non-essential.

in 190 AZ, the iron triangle meet. between 190 AZ and 195 AZ, the events of rosemary and thyme take place, and in 195 AZ, due to the discovery of anchoring as a method to make rangers' jobs no longer a death sentence, the draft is expanded again to include all adult zhang sect members, excluding those who hold high-level positions. in 197 AZ, xiaoge takes wu xie's place behind the rift in changbaishan. over the next ten years, a parallel to dmbj's ten year plan/sha hai takes place. unlike in dmbj canon, the reason wu xie kidnaps li cu is in order to find the lost wang hive artefact, which is drawn to innocence—something that wu xie, by this point, firmly lacks. in 206 AZ, the sha hai plan comes to a head, with the majority of the wang being destroyed. in the spring of 207 AZ, wu xie returns the artefact wang zanghai stole to the changbaishan rift, after which point the remaining rifts begin to naturally close as the hive is satisfied. in august of 207 AZ, xiaoge returns from hiveside, the iron triangle is reunited, and the hive incursion officially ends, ending zhang conscription, and xiaoge disolves the zhang boards, ending the sect's massive sociopolitical reign.

PART TWO: world specifics

part i: the zhang board, and sunrise as a dystopia

in the era of rosemary and thyme, ie the final years of the hive incursion, the zhang sect is not only incredibly powerful martially, but also politically. since the first hive incursion and the creation of the ranger programme, the zhang have been able to gain an unparalleled control over the martial world specifically, and the general populace more broadly. this is largely due to a number of facts: firstly, the zhang, as the only sect who produce rangers, are viewed as, and actively work to reinforce the view of themselves as, protectors of the empire. secondly, as areas become hive-poisoned after a rift is opened, the common people are encouraged to relocate to zhang-affiliated martial sect territories/compounds, as hive-poisoned areas remain dangerous for a long period after the rift is closed. the zhang-affiliated sects, aside from hosting rangers, also host subsets of the main zhang board, known collectively as "the zhang boards", comprised half of zhang, one quarter of the host sect, and one quarter of scientific and medical specialists, who are in charge of the ranger(s) each affiliated sect hosts.

in return for protection, those living in zhang-controlled areas must adhere to a number of zhang sect regulations. this includes the restriction of access to media that is labelled by the zhang main board as "anti-cause", including anything that criticises the zhang sect's power. this has led to the highly-lucrative, but also highly-dangerous, black-market for media such as film and literature, periodicals, the creation of pirate radio, and so forth. depending on the severity of what someone is reported as possessing, they can either be demoted and given restrictions, or they are given a hearing to determine a sentence, or, in extreme cases (such as being found to be actively associated with anti-zhang groups), exiled from the sect compound either for a set period of time or indefinitely.

zhang sect members are under stricter watch than the average zhang-affiliated person. rangers specifically are heavily monitored, especially in their access of non-sect created materials, and they are discouraged and punished for possessing any materials that may be interpreted as criticising the zhang main board, its marriage and reproductive policies, and its treatment of potential and active-duty rangers, especially any materials that may suggest the draft should not exist, or that the rangers and their families should be compensated for what is essentially a suicide job. for more "mid-level" crimes, forced confessions, similar to those of the 60s/70s in our world's china, are used as a way to reify the confessors of their position within the social and legal order, reinforce to others within the collective that they will be discovered and punished if they do not comply with zhang sect regulations, and communicate that noncompliance is harmful to the collective, ie the zhang sect as a whole.

in regards to marriage and reproductive policies, the zhang sect is incredibly strict within the sect. all of-age sect members are paired based on a number of factors, such as qilin blood status, place within the sect hierarchy, and history, both personal and familial, with compliance to the main board's policies. the aim of these pairings is to produce as many children as possible in order to maintain the ranger system, and thus the zhang board's power. while non-heterosexuality is not explicitly penalised, any sect member who shows resistance to marrying and producing offspring will face both social and legal pressure, and, in extreme cases, punishment in an effort to continue the zhang bloodlines. the only reason that xiaoge is allowed to maintain his relationship with the iron triangle is due to the fact that he is the first ranger and, at least in name, the leader of the sect, and the main board would risk losing power if they attempted to treat him in such a way, and, in this specific case, they would prefer for his family line to die out, since he survived the upgrading procedure all those decades ago despite their hopes, leaving them no possible rivals for control of the sect—and, even then, he faces unspoken pressure to minimise the nature of their relationship as much as possible.

part ii: upgrading, and the precarious position of living weapons

upgrading is the colloquial term used to describe the process which the zhang undergo in order to become rangers. during the process, the body is torn apart and replaced with an average of 60% tech, or "mechanics", a number which varies depending on the "generation" of rangers (xiaoge, and the first batch, would have been about 70%, while newer rangers hover around 55% as improvements in tech optimise the mechanics). this is all done without anaesthetic, as anaesthetic runs the risk of causing the body to be unable to integrate the mechanics properly. generally*, the zhang are the only ones with the training necessary to survive upgrading.

however, even the zhang are human, and their minds are not meant to be able to comprehend input from non-organic systems, even with a large portion of modern zhang training going towards trying to equip potential rangers to deal with this input. in an attempt to solve this problem, especially that of a ranger potentially risking not being able to interpret a warning from their mechanics of a failure, interfaces were created. this allows the ranger to pull up a number of systems, such as diagnostics and recommended courses of action, and in newer generations of rangers, interfaces even allow rangers to access predictions of results of a course of action based on damage/injury levels, control nanotech particles to disperse them to mitigate any critical injuries until a fight is completed, and so forth. the interface in a proper upgrade is implanted in the cerebral cortex. included within newer generations of interface implants are hard-coded the ability to receive a specific command from the zhang boards that allow them to remotely "put down" a ranger if they're deemed a threat—usually due to rift madness aggression, but there have been a number of times where the reason was more muddy; more than one ranger in only the early stages of rift madness was "put down" not long after they began to question the zhang board.

part iii: the exception to the rule

while generally only zhang are able to survive upgrading, there is one notable exception: that is, hei xiazi. however, as the only official method of upgrading is through procedures administered by the zhang. hei xiazi, though, realised early on that the money was quickly drying up in grave robbing and instead booming in the trade of hiveside artefacts, and, already cursed due to a previous tomb excursion, opted to undergo a black-market upgrade.

however, due to the fact that it was black-market, it was essentially a one-of-a-kind event, and one that was largely done with an understanding of zhang upgrades obtained through extrapolation of zhang abilities, and a small amount of study of rangers' corpses which had not been recovered by the sect in the early days due to physical distance. as such, hei xiazi's systems are......................unique, to put it lightly. his mechanics are exposed to the elements rather than being hidden beneath synthetic skin, and a lot of the more specialised pieces are often not what they should be, but rather the closest substitute—something that is a persistent issue, as demonstrated in whatever was left. especially of issue is his interface system—half the time it doesn't work, and it often displays errors for minor issues, or mislabels critical issues as minor ones, and generally is an annoyance. while zhang rangers' interfaces are designed to seamlessly integrate with their personal usage style, hei xiazi's interface is akin to a video game tutorial pop-up—bright red, and almost impossible to dismiss. an amusing issue hei xiazi deals with is that while zhang rangers' interfaces run on their own, specialised frequency, his runs on a separate one—one that, in some areas, is also used by niche pirate radio broadcasters, meaning he has to manually disable his interface entirely or suffer listening to whatever is being broadcast directly in his head. also, unlike zhang rangers, his systems whirr audibly—not loud enough to not fade into the background, but noticeable enough if you pay attention. he also tends to run hot.

part iv: zhang ranger duties, and power-plays of the boards

zhang rangers are assigned to specific sects, and the area that falls under that sect's control is what they are responsible for. if a rift opens in their host sect's territory, they are the ones dispatched to fight the hive and seal the rift. in some cases where a rift is larger than usual, rangers from nearby areas may be deployed to help in the effort, in which case they will use sense-sharing to synchronise their attacks. i wrote a more in-depth post on sensesharing, and therefore anchoring, here: a beginner's guide to anchoring. once a rift is closed, a ranger is summoned back to their host sect, where they are hooked up to a system that projects a recording of the fight for the sect's board to review their conduct, which also forces them to relive the memories as if they are happening again. while it's justified as searching for early signs of rift madness, it's also a thinly-veiled means of asserting board control over the rangers, and if the rangers are found in error, they can be disciplined or given restrictions. while ostensibly rangers are highly-respected warriors, honoured for their sacrifices for the people, the boards, and the zhang elders, see them as potential threats to their power.

part v: sha hai, the bronze gate, and wu xie's honed ruthlessness

as noted, wu xie chooses li cu specifically because of his innocence. while earlier in the ten year period, wu xie may have been able to find the wang zanghai artefact, due to the events of 205 BZ, this became an impossibility. in 205 BZ, in order to contain the rift in changbaishan, wu xie created the plans for the bronze gate, and contracted a team to construct it. once it was completed, in order to minimise the possibility of anyone discovering a weakness in the gate, and thus its abilities to contain the changbaishan rift and the hive, therefore creating a possibility for xiaoge to have to go behind the rift once more, wu xie not only destroyed the plans he had created for it, but also killed the entire team.

PART THREE: inspirations, acdemic reading i've done, and other mischellanea and closing remarks

it will come as no surprise that sunrise is inspired by the 2013 film pacific rim (dir. gdt). for a long time, i've wanted to create something that gave me the same amount of passion as that film gave me in 2018-2020, and the idea of drifting, in specific, is one that's always fascinated me. sunrise was intended to be a one-off, pacific rim-inspired, fanfic—and, since then, it's grown into something far larger, as evidenced by the fact that my reply to this ask is over 3k. it is no longer merely daomu biji with pacific rim added as a topping, but its own thing, which i spend a not insignificant amount of time thinking about, speculating on, and adding to not only weekly, but even daily. however, aside from pacific rim, there's a number of other pieces of media that have inspired me when it comes to sunrise—his dark materials by phillip pulman, bad and crazy (2021), and the ascendant trilogy by k arsenault rivera are all works that have, in one way or another, shaped me, both as a child and now, as an adult, and impacted my writing. more generally, science fiction as a genre and explorations of dystopian fiction have heavily informed me in creation and in writing sunrise.

my tagline for the verse on ao3 is simple: the blade that cuts your chains still cuts another’s neck. sunrise is meant to be not just one story, but rather a world in which stories exist—stories which impact both the characters, and the others in the world they live in. things that seem like victories at first turn out to be tragedies for others—anchoring saves xiaoge's life, and the lives of other rangers, but also causes the expansion of the ranger's draft, putting countless other, previously-safe, sect members at risk. wu xie's construction of the bronze gate ensures the hive will remain contained—but it costs the lives of the entire team of builders to ensure that safety. the good of the many does not outweigh the good of the few; sunrise is not a world of black and white, but rather shades of grey.

besides media influences, sunrise has also benefited greatly from my own delving into academic texts. i'm lucky enough to now have access to an almost unmatched library of texts on chinese history, and historical society, culture, and a thousand other things, at least in the united states. while the texts i've read may not have had obvious impacts upon the world of sunrise, they've allowed me to better build the world of sunrise into a living, breathing thing in my mind. of the texts i've read, i've most appreciated food and environment in early and medieval china (e. n. anderson) and sexuality in china: histories of power and pleasure (howard chiang). i'm on break at the moment and also plan on reading the development of chinese martial arts fiction in order to solidify my portrayal of wuxia in sunrise.

sunrise has also allowed me to experiment with narrative in ways i had not done previously—both in terms of linearality, and in terms of perspective. all sunrise instalments so far are told in a non-linear format, and the next instalment i am (very slowly) working on includes both third and second person povs.

there is a large amount of miscellanea included in my lore notes, but it's largely specific to pairings rather than the overall world of sunrise, and so has therefore been committed. hopefully, this has been a decent exploration and explanation of the 'verse. however, i am always open to further questions, so if you have something specific you want to ask, please, feel free! and thank you, once again, @child-of-the-fairy-folk for asking me about sunrise :)

[miratenebrarum]

@de-fright-ful

Hi Gio! I’m spontaneously manifesting into your inbox with a strangely specific character writing prompts! Haha. Anywho! Disregarding the low hanging fruit of characters bound in a very literal way to objects. Do any of your characters find themselves getting emotionally attached to things they really shouldn’t? Such as objects, tools, routines, rituals, etc. If yes, does this attachment to these things limit them in any way? (Being unable to throw out objects/tools when they stop being useful, being frightened and upset if they’re lost, getting too comfortable in a routine and not able to separate themselves from it?) And bonus points! Are they self-aware enough to know they tend to become emotionally attached to these things?

[ HOOOH BOY OKAY THIS IS FUN because generally speaking? Most of my muses don't really care for. earthly possessions, let's say. some because they see them just as a mean to get something done, such as Enki with his books, some other because they really pay no mind to a specific object in particular -- 166 wants a bible with her whenever possible and Zazel plays around with her puppets, for example, but neither would really mind if those items were replaced with anything else, or Eugénie with her tools that could, and most often than not have to be replaced, even if she takes care of them as if they're her babies.

of course ignoring poor Dr.Shaw who's literally bound to a fucked up cursed amulet, weeeeell.

while he occasionally picks up random garbage during the game as well, P becomes. Something dangerously close to a hoarder in his post-game verse. Rather than the items themselves, with maybe the exception of vynils, he's more attached to the idea of the memories a certain item might bring - a lost pacifier that belonged to a child born during the frenzy, what remains of a portrait a man made for his lover, an old newspaper that talked about the anniversary of Krat. he's aware of his attachments, but doesn't see the issue with it.

Karl and his violin. Yea i could talk about Arma since. She's technically an object, but that's different, right? He's very attached to the violin, and to his little pub, and to his weekly solo concerts, and the memories that are still well hidden in that abandoned area of the park. Almost jealous, even. He knows well it's not a good way to deal with his mixed thoughts when it comes to Rachel, but at this point. What can you do?

Might as well play some Mozart and move on with your day. And hope nobody feels like interrupting and getting stabbed.

And lastly, Bendy and his merch. Wether it's a matter of ego or, once again, clinging on way better days, he doesn't know. Hell, I don't know either!!! maybe it's a mix of both.

Once again, it's not really healthy nor he's going to stop complaining whenever someone moves his plushies slightly on the left while cleaning. It's in character for him, anyway ]

[phanamu]

So in the vein of developing a witch in DP verse, it's probably a good idea to consider what a witch may or may not be able to do regarding ghosts. Going to write down a list at what historic ghost-related magic is supposed to do and how that may translate in this world's logic:

Disclaimer: not trying to co-opt, appropriate, or minimize real life practices, I'm just having silly fun with the ghost show on my fan blog.

Summoning or banishing ghosts.

Would there be a difference between summoning a ghost from the Zone versus one who happens to be on Earth? Would probably "cost" more to move them across dimensions.

Do ghosts manifest as themselves or are they communicating through a medium, whether that's a board or a person?

If it is a person, is this like reverse overshadowing where the human pulls the ghost into their body? How do you get them out again? Fun idea.

Affecting Ghost Behavior

This is primarily covered by canon blood blossoms and fanon ghost nip, but are there other ways to attract and repel ghosts? Traditionally the goal is to appease restless spirits and cast out pesky ones, so there's probably a range between the extremes of making ghosts high as balls and hurting them.

Soothe and calm ghosts? Sometimes ghost nip covers this when it's not used for comedy, but maybe something less hyper more mellow. Offerings of prepared food, incense, etc. Interesting tie-in to the concept of graves and memorial altars.

Counterpoint, enraging ghosts. Is there anything that drives them into fury? Can that fury be bound and harnessed? Can any emotion?

Repelling ghosts. Again, blood blossoms, but what about things that just make ghosts not want to approach? Bells, salt, Foley by Tucker Foley, etc.

Negating ghosts. Hello canon ectoranium, but there's probably also wards or signs that could be painted on or something that shocks off ghostly influences, like a smelling salt. Or Tucker's weird cologne again, since it apparently makes you a less favorable target. Amulets of protection? What about things that force them solid? Weigh them down so they can't fly? Chains?

Compelling ghosts. Hello Freakshow staff. Does imply some fun things that could be done with crystals. Probably smaller scale stuff.

Filtering out ghost matter. Canon. Very interesting implications regarding whether or not you can enchant thread to catch ghosts or fish them out.

Empowering ghosts. Arguably canon with ecto-dejecto as a stabilizing agent, but could a witch consensually give a ghost more energy? Nocturne, Spectra, and Ember imply the possibility at least.

Ghosts helping to enchant objects. What? It doesn't always have to be about force.

Communicating with Ghosts

Generally less of a big deal given DP ghosts are usually corporeal, whether they're Just Like That or because Amity Park is a liminal space or, one of my favorites, ambient ectoplasm leaking out of the portal.

Still, this ties back to good ol spirit conjuring to find out more info. Could you compel a ghost to tell you the truth? Can you speak with a specific dead person to learn something? Necromancy was originally all about this. Literal spirit divination. Imagine doing that with an Ancient lol.

Perceiving ghosts isn't a given, especially when they can turn invisible. This is where my fanon idea of skeleton flowers may apply, or alder stones if Ghosts count as Fae.

Good ol' Ghost Speak as a language mediums might either inherently understand or can learn to speak. Most DP ghosts speak English for convenience, Wulf being a notable exception, and AGiT confirms a ghost script at least. Wonder if it can be used as a magic language, too? Could writing something in ghost make something more ghostly? Do you need a plasm source first?

Binding Ghosts

Magic circles, usually salt, makeshift thermos-portal combination trap if you can get a ghost in the right place? Paper seals?

Commanding ghosts to do your bidding. Freakshow's staff again, but contract magic could be cool to mess with. Using ghosts to curse other people goes back to Ancient Greece at least.

Can objects be attuned to ghosts after they die? Sydney's old mirror arguably acts as a limited ghosts-only portal.

Can more ghosts be bound to objects, i.e. Fright Knight and the Soul Shredder, Desiree and her lamp? What would that take from a human?

Can ghosts be affected by items from their past life? Could make it easier to affect ghosts with magic at the extreme end, or just be a convincing bargaining chip on the other if you don't mind a little blackmail. Cujo calmed down once given his squeaky toy.

Earthly sources of ectoplasm:

Just a fun thing to think about. Plants, stones, blood or souls if you want to be Edgy. Can plasm be collected with the right apparatus? Like a condenser? Fentons probably already have something like this, considering, but interesting to think about what their original home brewed equipment looked like, or a low-tech option.

Plasm storage. Jars that may or may not need to be replenished over time.

That's probably a solid start of things to think about. Lol if I come out of this with a mock grimoire for my OC.

[endawna]

hm. since his possessed, undead status in his dragon age verse is a stand in for his vampirism in his main, it mostly follows the same rules except for his vampire lord form. full on turning into a monstrous abomination usually means the demon is in control and has been driven mad by the mortal world. well, his abomination form is…defined. while a hunger demon and considered lesser ( and not having a ‘true intelligence’ ), it IS evolving or developing a sense of self very slowly. getting used to the world. it waits, watches. taking any opportunity it could to gain control over pax’s body whenever his mental barriers are compromised; when there’s a crack in the “walls”. influences pax’s hunger, cravings. manipulating what is already there. pax’s body is permanently altered to crave blood and needing it after his death & undeath. he technically should be a devouring corpse, but his soul/spirit technically shouldn’t be existing in his body, either. a consequence of forcing himself back into his body after he was ritualistically sacrificed so the demon could be bound to his empty vessel. whoops. anyways, the train is jumping tracks. there are specific situations where pax can shift into this monstrous form while largely staying in control but it involves compromising & making deals with the demon possessing him. it happens very rarely, as a result. though, he will if pressed.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 17th June

I've not talked a tonne about record labels. Mostly because I don't care about them much - certainly not enough to tell them apart by sound. Individual producers, sometimes. But record labels? I guess the Brill Building was relevant, but that wasn't a label so much as just a building that a bunch of songwriters independently worked from. And apart from that... yeah, I'd be hard pressed to tell you if any of the 50s and 60s record labels we've seen so far had a "sound", per se. All of which, I suspect, is about to change, because among this week's haul, we've got our first hit from a record label who will be synonymous with a very specific, very popular sound...

Here I Go Again - The Hollies (peaked at Number 4)

First, though, the Hollies again. And yes, I know this is not the Whitesnake song. Will that stop me expecting the Whitesnake song when I hit play? Apparently not. Instead of hair metal, we open here to snappy drums, a twangy guitar and some really tight harmonies. I think the latter are the main selling point here, honestly. The Hollies are in synch, and sounding pretty great.

It's a song about finding yourself trapped in a cycle. Here I go again, the Hollies launch in, in proper catchy Beatles-y fashion, hook first, verse second, here I go again. And then we get the explanation. I've been hurt so much before, the Hollies explain, I told myself, yes I did / No more, no more, won't get hurt any more. Which seems pretty straightforward. Except they're sitting there, and in walks just the right person, and here I go again / Makin' the same mistakes / Headin' for more heartaches. It's not entirely clear to me if this is a song about getting back with your ex, or just a song about being bitter about love and swearing off it, more generally.

Either way, the Hollies come off gloriously defeatist, asking mock-morosely what can I do when there's nothing I can do and pointing out how I can't resist you / And I knew when I kissed you. Which is the sort of mopey nonsense that might irritate me, if they weren't quite so knowing about it. Because the whole thing comes off a bit performative. Sure, they're sitting and sighing and swearing off of love for good. But they don't sound too sad about the decisions they're making. It's almost like the "guess I just can't resist you" thing is an excuse, you know? What's the use, I'll just give in they sing, and you can absolutely imagine a bit of a sly wink to camera. Oh well. Better just kiss this lovely lady we've just met. What a pity, eh?

My Guy - Mary Wells (5)

And then, like a counterweight to the Hollies' theatrical swearing-off of love, we get Mary Wells, who's just as determined, but in the other direction. She's in a relationship, and intends to stay that way. And thankfully, her resolve seems a little firmer than the Hollies'. Nothing you could say could tear me away from my guy, she sings, nothing you could do, cause I'm stuck like glue to my guy / I'm sticking to my guy like a stamp to a letter / Like birds of a feather, we stick together. Which is all genuinely really cute. It's a really sweet, funny way of singing about devotion, without making it sound weird and slavish.

And I also really like that Mary's guy is clearly not super handsome, and yet, she clearly loves him a lot, hence the lines about how as a matter of opinion, I think he's top / My opinion is, he's the cream of the crop. Which, okay, is subtext. But look at what comes next, the lines about how no muscle-bound man could take my hand from my guy, and about how he may not be a movie star, but when it comes to being happy, we are. Mary's guy is a pretty average dude, all things considered. And yet, they're happy together, and that's quite enough for Mary, don't you dare imply otherwise. Again, cute!

It also helps that musically, this sounds great. It's a lovely little slice of R&B, with a big, full band playing something that kind of sounds like it owes a bit of a debt to big band and swing tunes of yesteryear, especially in the intro, which was apparently based on the chords from two older standards, Canadian Sunset and Begin the Beguine. And then, get past the intro, and we settle into a chill shuffle, lots of hand claps, and some nice guitar touches, a bit of organ (I think?) in the background, brass occasionally peeking through. There are backing singers, but nothing too intense, and then on top of it all, Mary, with a performance that's sweet, slightly dreamy-sounding, occasionally dipping into something a bit huskier. It's fab, very endearing, and I also love the way she goes full on breathy in the outro, with these sultry little repetitions of the line about how there's not a man today who could take me away from my guy, echoed by the backing singers, with their fun what d'you say? / Tell me more / What's that? interjections. An excellent way to end a song.

I should also note that I think (unless I'm mistaken) that this is our first hit from a small, obscure record label by the name of Tamla Records, founded in Detroit all the way back in 1959, but merged with another company under the name of Motown a year later. Motown had had a bunch of hits in the US already, by 1964, most notably including tracks by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, but Mary was one of their first female artists signed, along with somebody called Mable John (no, I hadn't heard of her, either). And Mary did what none of their previous stars had done, and made it into the UK Top Ten, making her the first properly Motown artists we've heard from - a label to keep an eye on!

Shout - Lulu and the Luvvers (7)

Finally, from the sweet, soft romance of My Guy, we jump to something quite different, a brash, raucous Glaswegian covering a proper R&B classic, the Isley Brothers' Shout. This is a song that was originally improvised in 1958 as a way to round off the Isley Brothers' concerts, whipping the audience up into a frenzy with this call-and-response invitation to join in and get rowdy. The whole thing has a lot of gospel music energy, enough that you half expect an "amen" at the end, some exhortation to praise the Lord.

But instead, it's just an encouragement to shout for the sake of shouting, a much more rock and roll sentiment. The Isleys - and Lulu, in this version - wind up with a huge weeeeeeeeeeeeelll, before telling us, at high speed, that you make me wanna shout / Look my hand's jumpin / Look my heart's thumpin'. All of this is punctuated, of course, by encouragements to the backing singers to shout! shout! shout! After a bit of that, we get Lulu asking us to say you will, and then the say that you love me / Say that you need me / Say that you want me / Ain't gonna leave me. The backing singers are telling us to say! say! say! now. And finally, we get an account of how I was in love with you / From the bottom of my soul, complete with some perky shoobie doo waps from the backing singers. All of which is to say, there's a lot going on, here!

And that's before we hit the back half, where suddenly Lulu starts playing with the speed of it all, pulling it back to a swung half time on the I want you to know section, then speeding it up massively for the shout, whoooooo bit, bringing a saxophone in for a solo and ramping up the speed into a chorus of alrights, then lurching into a call and response hey-ey-ey-ey, a madcap, crazy shout, shout, shout, shout section and, eventually, a slow, massive final line, reaffirming that yeah, I feel allllllllllllriggggggght!

It's a rollercoaster of a song, basically - one big, fun, confusing rollercoaster of a song. I know the original, and it's just as mad there. But there's something about Lulu that seems even more improbable. When the Isley Brothers are singing, they're coming from this sort of rock and roll/R&B/soul/gospel tradition. Shout is energetic, but ultimately pretty much what you'd expect them to be doing. But Lulu? She's a diminutive Glaswegian with a poofy red hairdo, a cutsey mononym and a voice that's unexpectedly strident and brassy. It's doubly unexpected, somehow, for her to be putting stuff like this out - and yet, she does just about make it work? You come away a little stunned, honestly - Lulu's an absolute powerhouse, here.

I feel like all three of these songs had a completely different mood and feel, from the Hollies' performative moping, to Mary's sugary sweet contentment, to Lulu's absolute wild insanity. Looking back, the Hollies definitely suffer, in comparison to the other two. Their song was just kind of forgettable, I'm afraid. Between the girls, it feels a bit closer. But at the end of the day, there's not really much competition. Lulu's energy and general gutsiness impressed me, sure. But it's a song you really need to be in the right mood for. In terms of quality and general charm? Mary's got her beat, any day!

Favourite song of the bunch: My Guy