#Also. if you're thinking it. you're absolutely correct!

[alyssumlovesthecosmere]

well, i'd argue that "tana d'vei [whatever]" is more of an action, as opposed to a person (though you *did* have people who's job it was to be the "tana", aka the person who has everything memorized so i don't disagree there either, just being a bit pedantic). And agreed re the roles!

for sure, i do think that writing down would be less common, but it would still exist. But i do think once the printing press got started that we may see some amount of written stuff *and* a lot of arguments against it. Also i can just *imagine* once we get to the internet age and having the discussion being on a site like, idk, stack exchange, and people are quoting things back and forth and then there's a question of whether that's actually considered halacha or not

huh, you're right about the rav getting smicha from rabbi. Gonna go check my snhedrin a second (because that's where the aggadah about rabbi yehuda ben bava shows up). Oh okay i was remembering wrong, he wasn't the last one - he was the one who saved dinei knassot etc

Arguments about the correct accent? Why, don't you trust the continued tradition in Eretz Yisra'el?

yes and no? I would, if I lived in Eretz Yisrael at the time etc etc, but I can still see people being like "well we left before All These Changes (that naturally happen to languages over time) Happened"

I think Te'amim would be *used* but not davka invented - from what I recall, they were only codified as symbols later in the game of history, but the torah and tanach (and mishna apparently and gmara maybe too!) had melody to them, as that helps people memorize (i mean even without codified melody, the mishna is *absolutely* melodical and poetical)

Agreed to both your idea of the generational naming scheme *and* that history would be so cool and weird in such a world

in addition, as we would still have beit hamikdash, and therefore lishkat hagazit and the snhedrin, halacha would be *fascinating*, as to an extent, sanhedrin hd the ability to change things, moreso than we have now!

(also - appologies about any dropped a's within the text, my a key is sticky and i probably didn't catch all of the missed ones)

Just had a shower idea about an alternative history where the Second Beit HaMikdash is still around in modern times....

-The field of dermatology is dominated by Cohanim because they're the only ones who can diagnose tzara'at and they want to be as educated as possible

-Airlines that fly to Israel are built to have livestock storage for people bringing korbanot

-Pigeons never became feral en masse, at least in Israel and in areas with a high population density of Jews, because dove-keeping stayed extremely prevalent due to their use in korbanot

-Price caps were enacted on transportation to and from Israel during the pilgrimage seasons

-The astronomical observatories in Israel are considered sacred sites because of their usage in determining the months.

-The old method of fires on high points to announce the new month is still used in Israel and some nearby regions because of tradition, but once Jews became established further and further across the globe, a communication center was established in the Temple compound. At first, it used messenger pigeons, horseback runners, and ships. It was upgraded once the telegram was invented, then again when audio radios were invented, again when telephones were invented, again when television was invented, and again when the Internet was invented.

[blu-ish]

hey!! absolutely adore your sonadow comic and language headcanons; im partial to the headcanon of sonic being japanese and having moved to the states knowing japanese, english, and a quite a bit of spanish. i also see the robotniks as german, and shadow being of hispanic dissent. i think shadow came preloaded knowing english and german, but learned spanish on the ARK with maria, as well as throwing some spanish around with sonic here and there.

if it's alright, i was hoping i could give a quick translation correction since this is a fairly basic sentence and i've also learned a new word from looking it up ^^; i've been learning japanese for a few years now so i like to flex my brain when i can

if you're talking about losing a person/loved one, we could use the word "Ushinaitakunai" [失いたくない]. this is also it's own phrase with "desu" [です] tacked onto the end, meaning "(I) can't lose you" [失いたくないです]. This isn't directly stating lose by death, but saying "lose you" in english can also be vague.

so instead it would sound like " Watashi mo anata o ushinaitakunaidesu." [ 私もあなたを失いたくないです。] "I also don't want to lose you"

hope this isnt overstepping, and sorry for the long message! can't wait to see more of your artwork in the future ❤️

OMG???? THIS IS AWESOME, THANK YOU!! Also your headcanons are so real I love love love the idea of Shadow having hispanic heritage as someone who is myself, him and Sonic knowing languages like spanish fills me with so much joy JHEBJDB

ALSO thank you SO SO MUCH for taking the time outta your day to give me a correct translation 🥺its no trouble at all!

[yesimwriting]

Happy new year! I wish you all a blessed 2025 ❤️

Now personally I don’t care the new years kiss tradition is about kissing your significant other, every single friend I love is getting love back from me when I’m drunk.

Bestie reader should absolutely give Louis the biggest platonic SMOOCH because he deserves it. He’d walk around with lipstick on his forehead or something, take a pic, save it for later to make fun of the level of readers intoxication.

a/n happy new year!! i'm totally the same about nye kisses and drinking, i get a little sappy and suddenly everyone in my life needs to know how much i mean to them lol i love this concept and it's perfect for the first fic of 2025!

also as a side note, going out/drinking with a vampire seems so perfect, ultimate scary dog privileges bc let some creepy man try anything and suddenly louis has a little late night snack <3 it sounds so freeing

----

The music's heavy pulse has aligned itself with your own, the base of it reverberating through your chest so thoroughly it might as well take the place of your heart. You can't bring yourself to dislike the feeling.

"O-kay." Your enthusiasm breaks the word into two. You let yourself lean into the feeling, into the fullness of your joy. "I think the regular vodka's stronger than the jello shots, because it's vodka not vodka-jello."

Louis presses his lips together in an attempt to keep from grinning too broadly. "That makes sense."

Your eyes narrow as you give yourself a moment to absorb the response. "It does," the words are much more contemplative than they need to be, "I'm so smart."

This time, Louis lets himself react. He laughs at the deliberateness pressed into your syllables. You're too out of it to think to mind his reaction. "You're drunk."

You straighten slightly as if that'll be enough to prove him wrong. "I'm happy."

Louis extends an arm, placing a hand on your shoulder in an instinctual attempt at keeping you steady. You're not exactly implying instability, but he's been spent enough time around you like this to know it's better to be safe than sorry.

"You're drunk."

You tilt your head at the correction, blinking at him curiously. "For some people, that's the same thing."

"Yeah?" The word is much too amused.

You nod enthusiastically, shifting your weight from foot to foot in a way that leaves Louis squeezing your arm a little tighter. "Yeah." You pause, eyebrows drawing together pensively as you struggle to grasp your next thought in its entirety. "I love you. I want you to be as happy as I am."

"Okay." He lets out a partial laugh. You're a good, terribly affectionate drunk. "I'm very happy. I promise."

His assurance doesn't seem to ease you. Instead of moving onto a separate topic of conversation or attempting to escape him in order to track down another shot, you frown. You step back slightly before lifting your arm. "Here."

You're holding your wrist out in front of him so innocently Louis can almost make himself forget what you're offering. "That--that's really nice of you, but I'm okay."

You frown, staring up at him with wide, sad eyes. Louis sighs, his fingers gently bending around your forearm. He pulls your hand down towards your side before stepping closer to you. In an abundance of precaution, he angles his head towards your ear. "I had that boy that grabbed your arm earlier, remember?"

"My blood is perfectly good--blood." Great, he's stumbled onto this argument again. You're not looking to be hurt, but for whatever reason, you're convinced that Louis's refusal to consume your blood to any extent is limiting your friendship. "Seriously, a doctor has never struggled to find my veins."

The defense is slurred and devoid of serious logic. Still, such a consistent mentioning of something he's always trying to ignore...always trying to forget makes it difficult to focus on anything else. The blood moving beneath your skin is warm against his palms, and it--the scent of it...

It is possible to stop. Some know how to resist, how to take just enough to feel something without bringing a life to its end. Lestat had possessed that kind of control, had used it when creating Claudia.

The thought leaves him more somber than he's prepared to be. Even if he could sense that kind of strength in himself, he--he couldn't use you in that way. Introducing you to his world at all was a cruel enough act on its own, he doesn't need to taint you further.

Louis squeezes his eyes shut, exhaling before pulling away slightly. He lifts your arm slowly, his thumb brushing against your wrist's pulse point. You watch him silently as he brings your inner forearm to his mouth. He presses his lips against your skin. "It's not you."

You're quiet for a second, something oddly sober briefly flickering behind your gaze. "I know," you relent slowly, "On some level, I know."

You look at him, then, with a careful awareness that often leaves him feeling like you're the one capable of looking into his mind. "But it better not be because you think your existence is some terrible burden you're inflicting onto me."

It's a warning he's used to hearing. His lips part, but before he can think of a response, the crowd around you shifts. A variety of voices blend together as they start to count, "...Ten...nine...."

"New years!" You beam, reaching for Louis's hand as you turn towards the others.

The countdown continues, the numbers oddly in sync for a bar so full of drink individuals. The clock hits midnight, the crowd erupts into cheers.

You grin, straightening fully as you lean towards him. Before Louis can think to ask about what you're doing, you press your lips against his cheek. He can feel the residue of your lipgloss against his skin, but he can't bring himself to mind it. This isn't the first time you've gotten a little affectionate while drunk, but normally there's some warning. "What was that for?"

You shrug innocently, "New Years kiss."

You let go of him fully, halfheartedly pushing his arm off your shoulder as you start moving away from him. "Where are you going?"

"I want another shot." The response is absentmindedly thrown over your shoulder, like Louis should have had the foresight to follow you.

A part of him is glad that your back is to him. This way, he can grin openly without encouraging your behavior. "Slow down--you're in heels."

You turn at that, flashing your middle finger before continuing forward. Oh, you're not going to get the hear end of this tomorrow.

[bloopitynoot]

Reading TGCF: Chapter Nine

For those who don't know, I am reading TGCF for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag Bloopitynoot reads TGCF. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read BUT if you followed along with my SVSSS read, the rules and vibe are the same.

I was debating aloud today which tea I should have when my partner stopped me. She looked me dead in the eye and said, "you know which tea you want" and ofc she was correct. We both had masala chai with milk and sugar.

I will drink all of it until my pot of spices run out. I stand that this is peak winter tea.

Tea aside- let's go chapter nine!

(first off- ignore all of my penmanship in this photo, I had to refill my pen partway through this page so it's looking a little bit rough LOL).

And we have the ship name in the title! I hope cute things happen this chapter :'3 p279

I am absolutely NOT into this garden face's tongue!!! What the fuck p279

My guy, a secondary location is really never a good sign. Those soldiers of Banyue are intense! p281

Why am I over here feeling bad for the garden face. Poor guy has been sort-of-dead for so long, seeing his own body now is causing him body dysmorphia. pp282-283

This pit is actually horrific. They definitely get tossed in here, no question about this chapter's plot, but OMG it's built so terribly- hanging corpse and all. p286

ofc Xie Lian is over here sacrificing himself without a thought first. p288

Well shit. The traitor wasn't A-zhao. Based on the sound they made, this kid is probably super dead t the bottom of this pit. p289

My heart! oh no, sweet baby. Xie Lian's reaction to San Lang jumping into the pit :((((((((((((( p292

I am assuming San Lang has left the building and Hua Cheng is here now. The way he caught Xie Lian- SO CUTE. p296

Xie Lian: Hey san lang, can you put me down? "San Lang": no. Xie Lian: ?? "San Lang": it's dirty. p298

"It's not important whether you are human or not" :'3 my heeeaaaart p299

oof. okay and then after these sweet words he immediately hits him with a "friendship shouldn't be determined by..." my guy. This man wants you as his husband. p300

ooo! The intrigue! Who actually are the two wandering the streets of Banyue if the Preceptor of Banyue is with them rn. p302

I love Hualian and the Banyue General trauma bonding over the preceptor of Banyue right now. Both of them united by the same enemy. p305

This is what I absolutely love about MXTX. She makes such interesting morally grey stories and characters. I love how she so often makes the "villain" of the story, in this case right now general Kemo, feel straight forward until they really aren't. Once you get to the "villain's" side of the story you're like- huh I see what you did, why you did it, and how it makes sense. Like this guy was really just protecting his family the only way he new how to, or was even able to. pp310-311. I just love how complicated everyone is and how rounded each character- even if they are the grossest garden face man- are.

omg. I thought the situation with the "General's tomb" was just a coincidental story not that it actually was Xie Lian LOL oh no. p318

Not the Hua Xie! Meanwhile San Lang is probably swooning that this guy took his name. p319

Xie Lian: I was so embarrassed that I felt the need to fake my own death. like same bro XD been there. p321

Okay but now I'm curious as to why the snakes no longer obey her. As a side but also on this page, I do hope Fu Yao has some character growth. This kid takes everything at face value when there is clearly a fuck ton more going on. pp325-326 I do not think this girl is evil!

NO THANK YOU! :((((((((( The highly poisonous snake rain!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOPE. p327

Fu Yao my boy, please think things through

This guy is getting mad at the wrong people and about to narc on Hua Cheng.

I am not ready for the next two chapters. They are the last two in the book and I have a sneaking suspicion shit is about to get fucked.

[strange-anni]

Yeah I do think that's the reason why they swap. El can't have the pure vanilla flavor bc she is not pure. (Doesn't reflect my personal beliefs) At the same time, Max can't have the Strawberry bc she is not a strawberry, so they switch.

It's just so interesting bc I do believe Will is trying his very best here to recreate history. He's always probably subconsciously trying to recreate all the trauma but do it better this time. To try and find a solution or healing for all the pain that was inflicted upon him. So El orders the vanilla, plain simple and pure and at fist it seems to work but then Max wants so swap ice creams and El is the Strawberry again.

I think that's big theme in the entire show. Will trying over and ever to set things right but in the end he always fails. He's trying to get control over the situation but it's just not working.

I think it's the same for Fred. He lives on Cherry St. and it's another attempt at recreating innocence which is then squashed when Fred is the one telling inappropriate things to Nancy making her feel uncomfortable.

Gosh, you're right with the Poplar Tree! I totally missed that there wasn't an "u" in there haha

But yeah, it does make a lot of sense for Chrissy then. Her life was also really short, she was there fast and just fast she was gone. I do wonder though, considering that Poplar Trees seem to grow after a wildfire and then protect the little seedlings until they take over, if there is a similar meaning for Chrissy? If she also did protect anything which then took over?

I need to think about the one with Patrick too as I'm not sure either but he was part of the basketball team and therefore part of the more popular crowd. Does that have anything to with it? I honestly don't know though.

If Will is "crazy" because he has DID, then how is Mike "crazy"?

That's such a good question! At first I thought Mike has such a huge influence on Will bc they are best friends and he means so much to Will which could still be true tbh. But then again, is there more them both being crazy than just that?

Another reason could be that Mike knows Will has DID even if he doesn't know what it is exactly or why Will has it in the first place.

Then there is the fact that Mike is also always into the supernatural things. He always believes Will and is on his side never doubting him. That in turn made me think of Joyce. Like they are both very similar in that aspect and since you mentioned that Joyce might have schizophrenia, I was thinking what if Mike has it too? And since it's genetic.. could it be that Mike is actually Joyces son? A bit wild of a thought process I admit but yeah, if you look a little deeper into it you can find lots of clues that Will and Mike might have swapped place at one point in there life.. so I don't think it'd be totally out of left field?

Yes Yes absolutely correct! Children need to be given the tools to seek help if they ever experience something like (se*ual) ab*se. There is absolutely no downside to giving then the proper education early on so they know and have the words to tell others if something is not right. And while we're at it, teaching them about consent and the fact they can and should say no when something doesn't feel right to them is also so important.

That could be good reason as to why "he" likes it cold. If Lonnie suffered from hyperthermia it would not surprise me if the house was also constantly cold or not that well heated in winter which would add to his home making Will uncomfortable.

This is the source El finds in the void and it's twofold. It's the father. In this case it's Neil but he's just a stand-in for Lonnie.

The other source is the Steel Works warehouse BRIMBORN but that's not how it is presented to us throughout season 3.

It reads more like BRIMBORN as a shadow covers up the B pretty consistently, making us unable to read it

Warning for discussions of CSA under the cut

We also get the full address of the steelworks warehouse and it's

Brimborn Steelworks 6522 Cherry Oak Drive

This is how where the MF possessed Billy. Cherry Oak Drive

Lonnie also means oak tree

Max also tells us Billys full address

Billy Hargrove 4819 Cherry Lane

Billy lives on Cherry Lane but he lost himself and got possessed by the father at Cherry Oak Drive. A lane to drive on...

Source

Billy was a Cherry Lane at first until he got corrupted in the Cheery Oak Drive

Billy is short for William and a stand-in for Will

We also learn more about cherries and their availability

Hopper says there is no cherry in the 7-Eleven. Apparently they had only strawberry

That's not entirely true tough as we see with Alexei here. In fact it seems like they have only cherry and cola. But Hopper still drove there even though it was way out of his way. So I'm sure he would have gotten cherry if it were there, right?

Well, maybe it's more like an either/or situation with the Seven and the Eleven in which one number is the cherry and the other is the strawberry . Maybe they are mutually exclusive

As we've already seen though, it's Will who is already associated with cherries via association of Billy which in turn can only mean one thing

Eleven is the strawberry

But

In the end there is no difference. Cherry and strawberry taste the same. They are the same. Just sugar on ice

But what's a strawberry anyway?

Source

First of all of this goes with the Will Byers has DID theory.

For the longest time I was convinced that Will created Eleven on the day he vanished in the woods but I don't think that's what has happened any longer. I think she was there long before. Ready to take over whenever Will needed her to use her superpowers to absorb what he couldn't face.

That's why Eleven is a strawberry. She was there ready to save Will whenever Lonnie sold off his son to buy dr*gs. It's why there is still a cola next the cherry in the 7-Eleven. Coca-Cola or just coke. Other sources also say that a Strawberry is a woman who willingly sells se*ual favors to buy dr*gs. (although willingly is hardly the word I would use here)

In the beginning of the first season El could barely speak and was more like a child who didn't understand anything. This was also done for her protection throughout the years I think. The less she understood what happened, the better it is for her (or so the reasoning goes)

But she still understood the most important part

[ciphers-fragments-au]

First of four ref sheets for this blog's AU "Cipher's Fragments"

Here's Bill Cipher's ref sheet, including both younger and older form to match Stanford Pines' age throughout the AU. I like to call his skin details "deer freckles". He has gold littered around both of his designs!!

Next up is Stanford Pines

When all ref sheets are complete I will create a pinned message with all of them together to have easy access on info/refs.

-@sylveon-and-velveon

[alexjcrowley]

I just realised that Robert Sean Leonard is the Kimi Räikkönen of acting

[starflungwaddledee]

please draw captain vul realistic birdman next

piece of cake. captain on deck!

[beneathsilverstars]

I didn't even consider bonnie not actually having a best friend with that post. My best friend gave me bad definitions when we were kids bc she thought it was hilarious, and she's still one of my closest friends in adulthood

Per my last ask, I thought the joke was that the adults didn't get little kids humor/pranks

it definitely could not mean anything bad! trolling your friends is a time-honored tradition. but there's a lot of things like that that can be fun, but can also get taken too far, or be done too unevenly.

i feel like with "gullible" in specific it's easy to imagine like. "oh bonnie. you are SO gullible." "what's that mean?" "oh ^^ super cool and awesome" "yay!" <- it is now established that not only is bonnie the most gullible person in the friend group, you can also get away with calling them that, which makes it doubly fun to tease them this way!

and it's not like malicious, nor did it even notably bother bonnie at the time - they still consider the person who told them this their best friend! but maybe if bonnie had a true best friend who prioritized them over the rest of the group, that person would've told bonnie the actual meaning at some point, yknow?

and ofc it still could have been a perfectly fine thing, with bonnie getting their friend back just as often! you can't know from just these two lines.

but as i said, i think everyone in this party grew up some level of lonely/alienated. and the rest of them are old enough now to have looked back at some of their own youthful experiences and gone "ah. i think they were actually making fun of me." so these particular people - despite enjoying a bit of familial teasing and trolling and mean joking themselves - heard this particular story and went. hm. well. i'm not going to say anything. but i am going to take note of this as a potential issue.

[dropespeon]

kaito and sonoko deserve to be online friends i think

[deservedgrace]

Am I being petty? My dad is always saying stuff like “I’m praying for you to be successful” or “god made you perfect”. I know he means well but it’s so uncomfortable whenever he does those things. I don’t want you to pray for me, I need real help. You don’t know the real me and you probably wouldn’t be as proud if you did. He still thinks I’m the perfect Christian boy instead of an atheist who’s figuring out their gender. He claims to love and support whatever I want, but he always leaves out being a girl when listing off topics, and has questioned me at random times about trans athletes when I’m too tired to think of an answer.

In my opinion, absolutely not.

I was actually just talking about the prayer thing with my friend last night. So many christians use prayer as almost a silencing method, whether intentionally or unintentionally. When I left the church I realized just how abysmal my comforting/supporting methods were because while I was in the church, I and everyone around me relied on cutting uncomfortable topics short with "well I'll be praying for you" or ask to pray with you about it, and offer literally NO other support while also expecting prayer to, just fix it magically. Hilariously, the same people that are always like, "god's not a genie, you're praying wrong if you're expecting him to answer every prayer you have" seem to ask for and expect genie-like responses from him while doing NO work of their own to support the people they're praying for. Prayer is Very Very often used as a substitute for support. Even when I was deep in the church it never felt sufficient, but I couldn't say anything because it was supposed to be sufficient and if it wasn't sufficient that was a problem with me and my "sinful nature". Churches and christians that focus on prayer over actually being the hands and feet of jesus (fucking doing something about it) aren't fostering proper community and support. They're fostering a culture of not being able to talk about difficult things, of suffering in silence, and of relying on a silent and unprovable god which often results in being taught to rely solely on yourself.

I really feel for you with the gender thing. I don't know the full context of your specific situation but I see "god made you perfect" used to silence any notion of being trans far, far too often. The implication being, being cis is the default, being trans is going against who "god made you to be", etc. I've noticed this especially of christians who believe in complementarianism (men and women have different roles to fulfill), many of them tend to "love and support whoever you are"........ so long as it falls into their tiny box of what they deem acceptable. I don't want to turn this into a whole thing about gender but even in a worldview that doesn't recognize the existence of trans people, there isn't a definition of womanhood that includes every woman and excludes every non-woman and vice versa for men ("a woman is someone who can have babies" excludes those with infertility issues, something that affects up to 20% of women, "a woman is someone who has XX chromosomes" excludes intersex women, "a woman is someone who has a uterus" excludes women who have had hysterectomies, "a woman is someone who has had a uterus at SOME point" excludes women that simply born without one, which happens to about 1 in 5000 based on a quick google, etc etc). My point being, they're trying to draw these confining and limiting boxes where they can't. Humans don't work like that. Their idea of perfection is something that is simply biologically and sociologically and historically unsupported. Gender is complicated because humans are complicated. It's disappointing that some people can't see the beauty in that and it's devastating that it often causes so much pain and suffering to those around them.

I really hope you're able to find proper support. If possible, I encourage you to (safely!!!) continue exploring your gender. And it makes complete sense that you'd feel uncomfortable about these things. Prayer without proper support is skirting responsibility at best. Tearing down trans athletes and doing the christian "god made you perfect" thing with the implication of cis being the default is not a supportive environment to be around. I'm not going to be able to remember the quote verbatim but one of my favorite god/trans quotes is something along the lines of "god made trans people for the same reason he made wheat but not bread and grapes but not wine; so humanity may share in the act of creation". I'm not necessarily encouraging this as a "gotcha" statement, I can hear in my head exactly how my church would respond to that. But outside the church I think it's a beautiful reframe despite me not believing in god anymore. And if you would prefer something less religiously related: I'm deeply sorry you're not in a supportive environment. There's nothing wrong with you. As far as I can tell you're having a very normal reaction to the shit you're having to put up with and the situation you're in.

[timeofjuly]

(not so sure if this counts as a story spoiler ask so you can pick any of my questions or ignore until the time comes.¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

in what order would the characters fall in love for mc?(e.g. 1.quinn 2.red ect.[or if mc falls for them first?])we already know the flashbacks of quinn and MC but not when they confessed/caught feelings, who did what first in what place and environment? these questions also involves the skeletons too if you don't mind us having a peek at future events. XP

although i am not the most observant of readers, your work is so interesting to read that I would put it on a petri dish to understand it more thoroughly if I can hahah, maybe even a piece of your brain too./hj

Thank you so much!!! My brain is pretty smooth most of the time so I'm not sure how much you'd get out of it, but I'm very flattered!! If there's anything in the fic you (or anyone else) wants clarification or my in-depth thoughts on, I'm always very very happy to give my commentary :)

I won't answer in terms of order, because it'd be a little spoilery (and my planning is not that detailed lol) BUT, if you'd like, I can tell you what traits MC/the skeletons have that'll make things work? I put A LOT of thought into it when writing MC's personality because I wanted her to be a good fit for all of them plus Quinn whilst still maintaining an actual coherent personality, which was a challenge lemme tell you! If you want to see that, let me know and I'll pop it into a separate post because it'll be LONG.

But I will say that one big, overarching thing that'll make all this work is that MC reads as really genuine. Her intent matches her actions. I actually go into this in the next chapter in relation to Quinn, but it applies to MC too. I think this would be a super important part of attraction for monsters.

Anyway! Onto the Quinn and MC backstory. I'm happy to answer this because it's not really a spoiler and I don't (yet) have plans to actually write it (it may come up at some point tho). I will put it under the cut, though, if anyone would rather learn this as I drip feed it into the story you won't be spoiled.

MC fell for Quinn first, or at least was able to identify her feelings as romantic, much earlier. They become friends at 15 and it takes MC like, a week, to realise that she's attracted to Quinn physically and then another one to work out that she's interested romantically too. MC is into a lot of people, so this isn't particularly groundbreaking or intense at first, but when her feelings start to grow beyond casual attraction, things get more serious.

Teenage Quinn was hella repressed (in soft, as it began, she's having some serious Gay Panic but doesn't have the emotional framework to describe it) and also didn't have a bunch of friends, so didn't actually understand that her feelings for MC were romantic. She just Really Likes this girl and has funny feelings around her, so what? They're just besties. Besides, MC could have anyone she wanted and if she was into Quinn, surely she would've said something, right? Right?!?

Meanwhile, MC thinks that Quinn wouldn't be interested and that she has wayyyy too much to deal with already without adding her best friend having a crush on her on top of it all (this is the beginning of MC acting in what she thinks are Quinn's best interests and trying to spare her feelings), so she doesn't say anything. She thinks can read Quinn pretty well at this point, surely she'd be able to tell if Quinn was into her because she'd start acting differently, right? Right?!?

This all comes to a head in MC's bedroom when they're both 16, so a year into the friendship. It is not very romantic - they're passing a bottle of chambord stolen from MC's parents between them and simultaneously feeling very drunk from the alcohol and very sick from all of the sugar, they've just finished trying to scrub said liqueur from the carpet because Quinn accidently knocked it over and now there's a stain in the pile, it's a school night, the second Twilight movie is playing on MC's TV and Bella is October, November, December-ing, and MC just looks at Quinn, in ratty pajamas and hair greasy, lips stained purple and eyebags dark under the harsh yellow glow of the ceiling light and just... blurts it all out.

Quinn doesn't get to respond until the next morning, though, because MC follows the confession up by vomiting all over the carpet and the caretaking and clean-up that follows takes at least half an hour, and then MC falls asleep.

[magnusbae]

saddened when my concepts are turned into angst, saddened when my ideas are good 'but this is better', saddened that it's often 'yes but' with the things I make instead of "yes and" to build on top of it

[leaf-in-a-flower-garden]

Getting re-obsessed over Two Embers cause it was supposed to be out by now.

[oakfathers-embrace]

"oh..." The child nodded, understanding, "How do druids get to talk to animals? Can I learn one day? I want to apologize to the bees before I get honey from the beekeeper."

Halsin chuckles, happy at the boys enthusiasm, and how he seems to be receptive to his teachings.

"It takes time, but I could help you start learning magic, then you can cast a spell which will allow you to do so. Alternatively, there are potions. But the potions are a bit expensive for a child, though I suppose you're old enough to begin leaning alchemy..." He ponders, wondering what the best path would be.

"As for your apology. While you cannot understand them yet, the bees will still understand you. We can return to them, if you'd like? I am sure they will forgive you."

[cicadagaze]

there are not many design discourse things I feel very strongly about. the color of Ravenpaw's eyes is one of the only ones that I am willing to fight to the death for