#I've never come up with a tradition like this for lore before this is really fun

[translothcat]

[Text: What's Horizon Day? // The Crossing of the Horizon, or Ascendance day, celebrates a young person turning 20 and, in turn, reaching adulthood. // Ah I see. Is the crowning part of it? // It's a tradition the Royal Houses tend to include. It holds more significance for the crown line, but it's still symbolic for us other members too.]

The Crossing of the Horizon / Day of Ascendance is a tradition I've come up with for Alderaan!! It's not super exciting or unique it's just a coming of age celebration. The Royal Houses (I class the alderaanian houses as royalty- especially in this earlier time period) place more significance on it than regular citizens would. Regular citizens treat it more like an 18th or 21st. By this time, it's not actually a legal age for anything (that's just 18) but it's still treated as a significant threshold into adulthood, mostly just a cultural thing.

Cedar (the one asking the questions) is around the same age as Amira, so the Mizumi House realise that he has to have his Horizon Day too, and plan one for him :] which is huge for him, considering he really loves the idea of getting in touch with his Alderaanian heritage and culture.

Still going to think on fleshing out the traditions for it. I'm thinking it's just a party for most people. Royalty have the crowning from a parent. This stings Amira obv bc dead parents :(. It'll probably be her Aunt doing it unless I can think of someone else who would. hmm there should be more interesting things going on I need to think on this yes

oh also on her necklace that's a kyber crystal with her name engraved in aurabesh

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

Good Omens Fic Rec: Big Name Feelings

FANDOM AU! • Crowley is a BNF fic writer, and Aziraphale is a lurking artist who might be just a little parasocially in love with him. How they ever became friends is beyond him, but here they are: One month out from Prophet Con, and Crowley is asking him to be his boyfriend. Just for the weekend, of course.

Length: 103,997 words

AO3 Rating: Explicit / Spice Level 🔥🔥🔥

Best for: Safe in Public, Human AU, Slow Burn, Fake Relationship, Pick-me-up

Triggers: None

Read it here, fic by ghostrat

*Minor Spoilers* It's here! The finale of one of the most entertaining and immersive fanworks that I have ever experienced is finally upon us! I feel like most of you who follow me here are aware of this fanfic or have read it. However, for those who haven't or might come across this post later: I'm begging you to read this one. Buckle up; it's a long post today.

So, if you're not aware, this fanfic involves writer Crowley and fan artist Aziraphale. Crowley, being ace, seeks a boyfriend to shield him from unwanted attention during an upcoming convention. Aziraphale, smitten, agrees to be the fake boyfriend. This Arrangement is sure to work out exactly as planned!

Every one of the author's stories feels cinematic to me. The worlds are always so real and immersive, but this one, in particular, will have you feeling like you're actually watching the story unfold in real life. Some of that is achieved through embedded media like chats, artwork, and Tumblr posts, bringing a sense of reality to these conversations. The rest comes from really rich prose. You'll flow through it very easily, yet deeply.

The use of fandom and a convention as the backdrop for this fic was, to be honest, genius. I've seen attempts before, but none captured the spirit quite like this one. The fandom lore for The Nice and Accurate Prophecy (the in-universe fandom they're in) was rich enough for us to fully grasp the shape and feel of why they loved it so much, yet it never impedes the ongoing story. This story perfectly captured what it's like to be a fan: how friendships develop, how ideas and fan theories are freely discussed, the passion for a shared topic. The con, in particular, will fill anyone who has ever attended a fan convention with a strong dose of nostalgia and love. Oh, and having them in their 50s? Thank you! There is no age limit to fandom!

Having Aziraphale as the artist and Crowley the writer was not the most obvious choice, but it's one that worked amazingly well for the story! Crowley struggles with words and expressing his feelings in real life. However, in stories, he can build his own world and express whatever emotions are on his mind. Aziraphale, who does not wish to draw attention to himself in real life, expresses himself through his bold and beautiful artwork. His specialization in traditional, physical artwork is so fitting for him, though he's not unwilling to try new tech. There is a scene where they stumble upon some street art that Aziraphale had done. I teared up at that scene, and it's not even angsty! Just the casualness of it, how it's not Aziraphale but Crowley who boldly leads them to it, how Aziraphale doesn't sing his own praises. He's not self-deprecating, but he doesn't celebrate his work. He's still learning that he has value that's worth celebrating. At least now he has Crowley to teach him to be proud of himself.

They are both beautifully written characters. It's a real testament to the skill of the author to bring these characters into such a different reality and have them be unmistakably Aziraphale and Crowley. Sure, they're updated for the time and setting, but their souls are still the angel and demon we know and love. This setting is an amazing way to explore the different sides of their personalities. Crowley's asexuality, in particular, was one of the best depictions I've ever read. It brought a new level of understanding to me, and I'm sure many of you will feel a kinship with him. Really pay attention to what's being said here, there's some really deep and insightful passages that are worth analyzing. Like this moment, which may have been a subconscious thought, but again speaks to how deeply the author understands the characters.

This was such an amazing experience as a fan. I've never had a fic feel like this much of an event before. Every chapter drop was so exciting; I never knew what exactly to expect. And now, with the end being over 100k words?? Where did that word count come from! That's insane! I'm sad to leave this iteration, but I'm so excited for what's to come next. So please, if you haven't read this, give it a try. It's such a impressive work, so much time and effort was put into this and you can tell. It's not only a love letter to Good Omens, but one to fandom and fanspaces as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this journey

There are some explicit scenes towards the end, but they are all marked and skippable, so I'd say you're perfectly fine reading this in public.

Edit from after actually seeing the finale: no I’m not tearing up it’s just really dusty in this room. I’m being so normal rn 🥹🥹🥹

Read it here, fic by ghostrat

[meanbossart]

Another much overdue ask compilation! Some short-ish lore asks (Gale, Gort, DU drow relationships and pet-companion preferences) and a couple of art/advice ones sprinkled in. THIS IS BY NO MEANS ALL OF MY ASKS so as usual I appreciate everyone's patience!

I actually think he'd give them a pass entirely as soon as he noticed. Correct me if I'm mistaken but half-drow get No love from underdark drow and are usually surface babies right? So that fruit is miles away from the tree lol. I think he generally has a bit of a soft spot for mixed kinds since he himself feels like an amalgamation of sorts.

Thank you! They're kind of a pain in the ass to draw at times for that very reason but man I do like the look 😩if other people like it too then that makes it all worth it!

THAT'S TRICKY TO ANSWER BECAUSE OFTEN TIMES I'M NOT... REALLY TRYING. I've draw a ton of horror comics for mine and my partner's series' SAD SACK and SORTIE, so I think it just comes naturally to me 😅 also I do genuinely find expressive and, uh, rugged faces more attractive? (I think they look rugged, again that's what people tell me at least.)

I think the secret might be adding bits of realism in there. I get a lot of comments about the wrinkles and eyelashes I add to my art, as well as the way I draw individual teeth (though I've lately been making an effort to simplify my style in favor of drawing faster, so I haven't done that as much or in as much detail.)

Both symmetry and the lack of it can also add to that effect. I have employed both facial unevenness and almost point-perfect symmetry to achieve something a little frightening or otherworldly in my work. [MORE UNDER THE CUT]

Thank you so much!!! The contrast is very much intentional, that's what DU drow's character is all about ;)

Hahah well I somewhat doubt Bhaal would care that his spawn gets named, but either way he stripped himself of his name as soon as he killed his foster parents and abandoned the Underdark. He had a drow name that I jotted down somewhere but it's completely irrelevant because nobody has used it since he was a child, and he doesn't remember it (even pre-tadpole/having his brain scrambled.) Here's a little write up about his origins that might shed some more light on that: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/739688837431836672/did-drow-ever-have-a-childhood-before-the-temple

And about his original drow-given name and the reason behind it: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/741350986692591616/drow-had-to-have-been-given-a-name-by-his-adoptive

Everyone just referred to him as his supposed race, or as Bhaalspawn or Bhaal's child, and any other similar titles. Orin called him "kin" and "brother" and Gortash likely called him his associate. Post-tadpole the camp grows entirely used to calling him "the drow" and he has no desire to change that or to choose a proper name.

THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH😭 no reason to be intimidated, I'm just some rando drawing BG3 fan art LOL I've been drawing since I was a child, and started taking it semi-seriously when I was 16 years old, so twelve years ago! That's around the time where I got my first non-display tabled and used that well into my twenties, prior to that I only did stuff on paper and liked to do inks color with pencils. I never really ventured into traditional painting at all except for a little bit of water-coloring in college.

Traditional and Digital art are very much different beasts. Which one you want to start with is, in my opinion, just dependent on what you want to do. Digital art gives you a lot of tools that makes learning easier, but you might find yourself having much steeper of a learning curve if you ever decide to do traditional art instead. If you want to be good at both, you need to practice both, since the skill doesn't entirely translate from one medium to the other.

Naturally you will be able to draw well on either, it's just... Different. I will say though, that I think if you're still learning you should use whatever allows you to look directly at what your hand is doing, so either traditional or display tablet/Ipad. I have no idea what a non-display tablet would do to a beginner, but remembering my experience with it I feel like it might be a huge detriment to developing the skill (feel free to share your experiences in the replies if you disagree, as I would definitely be curious to read them!)

YOU KNOW ME BABY IT WAS MESSY AND COMPLICATED the tldr.: is that they were "buddies", absolutely no romance intended there on either mine or DU drow's part, but due to his nature the friendship was extremely weird.

Here's a couple of replies where I go into more detail about it: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/739191190871818240/i-dont-have-a-particular-question-in-mind-sorry

https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/744952815768764416/so-not-sure-if-youve-covered-this-but-i-thought

That's definitely reserved for the vamp LOL DU drow very much enjoys when Astarion teases and fusses over him, and while Astarion probably got a kick out of acting that way around such a big and scary looking guy at first, I think by "now" (later and post-game) he's pretty much immune to DU drow's looks and just enjoys doing it in earnest.

He's not at all averse to being touched (even rather intimately) by close friends, but he wouldn't be quite THAT vulnerable with anyone else.

HE REALLY DISLIKED GALE... He irked him out by seemingly fostering a rather persistent romantic interest in him for at least half the time they spent together (very much based on my interpretation of their in-game interactions at the time, though my Gale might have been a little bugged.)

But also they had a... Fairly in depth relationship still? Gale was a staple in my party, and even though I antagonized him constantly by the end of the game it still felt like they had so much weight in each other's lives, if that makes sense. I might need to do a bit of an "update" on the DU Drow/Gale lore sometime, I feel like I've had some thoughts since that warrant more exploration of their dynamic (you can find a lot of old asks about it if you just search the Gale Dekarios tag in my blog though).

The gist of it is that DU drow found him arrogant and duplicitous, his constant optimist irritated him to no end and felt like it veiled a stream of self-pity (two things DU drow despises) Gale's attempts to get through to him only added insult to injury. By the end of the game he decided to pursue the crown of Karsus and this only lost him even more respect in Drow's eyes, seeing as he doesn't value godly power at all.

I was pretty overwhelmed by the game at the start so I actually missed a lot LOL including Scratch. I did get the owlbear cub though, which DU drow gladly welcomed into camp since it was injured - but I think he would have wished for it to remain a wild animal and to return back to it's home after it had grown up a bit. He didn't really make a "pet" out of it more than he just looked after the little guy in the way it's mother might have, probably with Shadowheart's help.

He wouldn't be opposed to proper pets though if one were to stumble into his life. He'd definitely be more of a cat guy because of their independence and strong little attitudes.

It is very hard to build proper rapport with him. He will be "friendly" to most people who have a good sense of humor about them, but friendSHIP is another thing entirely.

I think it's kind of circumstantial. He's very economical in his relationships and doesn't really seek them out at all - so a situation where he's forced to be in someone's company might be the only way to develop a bond with him, as he doesn't appreciate insistence either and that's more likely to push him away. He doesn't value status or titles either (kind of looks down on them really) so that won't help.

I think he just likes people who are true to themselves and their nature, sometimes even if the nature is one he disagrees with at it's core. This is why he liked Gortash, why he and Shadowheart got along so well, and why him and Astarion fit together so seamlessly despite seeming so different. Likewise I think it's why he didn't jive with people like Gale or Wyll, because they seemed to be rather... Dishonest with themselves and their own end-goals.

[charbies]

I'm mashing together my review of totk and reactions to random encounters with the masterworks I've had lately into one stream of consciousness

Totk should have had true continuity, not a 6 year time skip that we never get to see, experience, and feel. It's not that hard to bridge 2 games with a 1-2 min cutscene, esp in a zelda game. Majora's mask starts with quick, but meaningful exposition that bridges OOT to MM! The intro to wind waker is a 6 minute long cutscene!! This series thrives with its detailed, intriguing intros, so what happened?? Before I even launched totk the night it came out, I booted up botw and replayed the final boss & ending because I was so stoked to see the transition in story/world and wanted to honor both games. Instead boom, we're walking in a cave w/ no context.

I was so disappointed that zelda wasn't a companion character to link in totk, it was disempowering to her character arc. Really thought this game would build off of botw's snippets of link & zelda working together in memories. The teasers and trailers for totk gave this perception that she would be there (which would also "break tradition" like devs wanted, ffs). When I was on the tutorial island I was fully convinced I'd be finding her and we'd reconvene like "ok what's next." When I realized 20 mins into the game that she was GONE gone, as in will not reappear likely until the end of the game damsel-in-distress-style, my verbatim thought "wait... really? Is this still going to be good?" Which was kinda sad, for a game I waited so many years for :/

I had major pet peeves with the copy/paste nature of the cutscenes with the old sages. The dialogue, bgs, pacing, literally all identical. They just hot swapped the character models for the sages and said that was good enough, wtf!!! I live for cutscenes in games, I have since I was like 5. This felt lazy, and seriously demotivated me from completing the dungeons bc I knew there was going to be nothing novel or intriguing to look forward to

The secret stones were gimmicky af. Sorry. Also stupid name, they couldn't even opt for "sacred?" Ik in other languages they have way cooler names, which would have helped. Link's fucking thanos glove of stones was a stupid gimmick, I cannot believe they didn't think to alter that concept to be more mythical, or creative, or just original. I would have killed for the stones to relate to the triforce in some way, or to do away with the stones and have this game connect to the triforce, since the whole direction of this story was going back to ancient myth & lore.

the Zonai lacked depth, and honestly just felt like a boring distraction even tho they were supposed to be a central focus of this game. I 1000% agree with other folks posts on the take that rauru was a flat, 2-dimensional colonizer. Sonia got sidelined. yikes. ew. no thanks.

^similarly, ganon really was given no character or depth imo. It's like they did a fantastic job making him visibly LOOK scary, so they didn't bother to give him motives beyond "I'm bad, I do what I want."

the cliche "back to normal" at the end irked me. Link could have come out with no arm, keeping the zonia arm, or at least scars w/ the zonai arm pattern and that would be meaningful. Zelda got factory reset from irreversible draconification in a method that for all intents and purposes, could have been done as soon as link got rewind ability. There was no investigation or inclusion of the other dragons, which seemed like a missed opportunity. Actively working on reversing her could have been a main quest in game!! Like 1. Complete all dungeons/get all stones, 2. you can now go round up the spirits of rauru & sonia and reverse zelda yippee, 3. you and zelda go beat the shit out of ganon together. The dragons fighting was beautiful, powerful imagery, but honestly I think too much potential was traded away just to execute that one fraction of the boss fight.

The masterworks book annoys me, which is sad bc I love concept art. I wanted to be a concept artist growing up, I can accept that you'll often see things that never make it into the final cut. I was enamored with early posts abt things like zelda's haircut, char designs, etc.

But more recently I'm seeing the anthology side of the book taking major liberties that it didn't even bother showing us directly or alluding to in the game, and I think that's such a cop-out. They are literally telling us instead of SHOWING us in the game they release a year ago, and spent SIX YEARS making. There was a festival celebrating the return of zelda/defeat of ganon?? Freaking show us that!!! Show us link & zelda acclimate to post-calamity life. Show us imperfect, non-linear healing and resilience. I would have loved a festival scene w/ link and zelda that conveys the nuance of celebration and recognition of their efforts, and the contrasting weight of what they went through. Show me zelda, exhausted after a festival struggling with guilt and indecision about whether to bring back the monarchy with hyrule's restoration. Throwing in a "oh btw imagine if we actually had done this" post-game makes me so irritated and feral. It's like the post-release canon is sidling up to fanon and saying, "hey look we can do that too! look at our fan art" idk if that makes sense, I don't think I'm explaining it well. But it just feels disingenuous.

I'm not a timeline purest, I don't need everything to interconnect, but I don't love how assertions in this book invalidate connections and lore of other games. Also really don't love how this game overwrites and sidelines the sheikah.

I know majority of my disappointment stems from my own, personal expectations of a game that, let's face it, was probably given many mandates and initiatives to appeal to *everyone* in broad, lackluster ways. I still love the world and characters of zelda, if anything, totk reaffirmed what I love and want to prioritize in my art that I didn't see present in this game. Fun fact I used the world of botw to learn a lot about drawing landscapes & composition. It actually inspires me a bit to try to learn to do comics, which has been a longtime goal I've been too busy and/or timid to pursue lol.

mmm anyway if u read this and any of this resonated DM me and lets froth at the mouth and commiserate lol

[haileyywrites]

Alhaitham had never been known for making friends or forming relationships with others, and most tended to avoid him. But under circumstances where neither of you knew each other, everything was different. Sadly all good things must come to an end and some wounds never heal - especially when you're forced to confront them under professional circumstances...

-> Alhaitham x gn-reader!

-> Fluff and angst! Heartbreak? Possibly ooc - I hope not! This story is purely fictional so it might not be lore accurate!

What you and Alhaitham had was never going to last, as much as it broke your hearts you always knew this to be true. But for just until you graduated, you could live life to the fullest and fufill all your dreams - to study at the Academia and live without regrets. Perhaps the last part was unrealistic, but one could always dream. It had never been in your plans to fall for someone - quite opposite actually, as you would be married off after the summer. Alhaitham was certainly not your first choice in any case, but it just happened...

As a noble heir of your family it was traditional to marry as soon as you reached a certain appropriate age, your parents wished to give you as much time and freedom as they could, but it was a duty and given responsibility you could not avoid. As you grew older you were allowed to fufill one final wish before settling down with your chosen consort - anything within reason. Though you had already been properly schooled in Fontaine, but you had requested to study at the Academia should you be fortunate enough to earn a place.

Your request was quite surprising to your parents, but they allowed it. Should you not gain a place you would be granted another wish. Fortunately you did manage to earn a place as a student and free to pursue your chosen studies. Your parents were not blind to the fact that you had chosen studying as a method of prolonging your arranged marriage as your studies would take time, but they allowed it.

With your bags packed you were quickly shipped off to Sumeru, you had never been there and it was your first time away from family. It was quite uneasy and intimidating to enter a whole nother land all alone. Even worse your guide had never showed up, meaning you were stranded all alone in an unfamiliar place... That's when you met him.

“You look lost.” He had said in a monotone voice.

You turned to look at him in surprise, “You could say that...”

It wasn't like Alhaitham to care about some lost strangers, but as he walked past you he couldn't help but stop for some reason. You looked so defeated standing there moping all alone, so he simply asked to make sure you weren't in trouble.

“My escort never showed up, so I've been standing here for some time... I guess I was hoping they were just really late.” You tried to smile.

“Where are you heading then?”

“Um, Sumeru City.” You looked at him curiously.

“I'll be heading back there myself, I can escort you.” He offered.

“Oh, um... I'm sorry, I don't know if it's a good idea for me to follow a stranger.”

“Understandable and wise. Anyway, it's that way - just follow the road and signs. If you change your mind I'll be at the Tavern.” Have waved you off as he left.

You stood in place looking at the dirt road he had pointed towards. It went through the rainforest - which you had no experience with, making you second guess venturing through it alone... He didn't seem like a bad person, though it would be naive to believe he couldn't be one, but you were out of your element.

“Wait!” You shouted after him.

He stopped before turning to look at you over his shoulder, you took in a deep breath before catching up with him. You stood a few feet from him as you fiddled with your fingers as you prepared yourself to ask for his help.

“If you could please show me the way.” You sheepishly smiled.

“Sure.” He simply replied.

Your journey was mostly, but it was only awkward in the beginning. You came to enjoy it as he confidently lead you towards the city and you didn't have to do a single thing beside keeping up with him. It was nice to be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery in silence. After arriving at the city you simply said thanks and goodbye before going your separate ways.

Neither of you expected to see each other again, it was complete happenstance you even met at all and Sumeru was quite a large continent. You didn't even know each other's names, but it seemed your meeting that day had been fate after all - as you had been paired up with him in a project. His name didn't ring a bell, but there was no mistaking his silky gray locks and teal-red eyes.

“Alhaitham?” You called out as he hadn't paid attention to who he was paired up with.

He turned lazily towards you and his eyes widened as he recognized you immediately. He looked quite puzzled before looking at your attire and the books you were holding, then he understood everything.

“We meet again.” He replied.

“Yes. It's nice to finally put a name to the face, I forgot to ask when we last met.” You smiled.

Alhaitham wasn't fond of group projects or group work overall, but he didn't mind when it was you. You were passionate and hardworking, you also didn't believe yourself to know everything even with the knowledge of the Akasha - unlike other scholars. Perhaps it was because you were from another country that you acted and saw life do differently, but he frankly loved it.

“You've got it all wrong." He pointed at your writing before beginning to explain your error.

“Oh, I see! Thank you, Alhaitham.” You smiled.

Your reaction was far from what he'd expected... Most scholars hated being wrong or corrected, they were too prideful. While you would be annoyed with his know-it-all attitude, you appreciated being lead to the right solutions and answers more than being proudly wrong.

It was never in either of your intentions to fall for each other, but you did. When both of you finally admitted your feelings it was made clear that this would only last as long as your studies did. But real life wasn't as easy, feelings weren't that easy to forget and move on by a certain date... But you didn't think about it back then, you were just hopelessly in love for the first and last time in your lives - nothing else mattered.

The day you would leave back to your homeland was one you wished you could forget. From the moment you woke up was filled with silence as neither of you wished to acknowledge the fact that soon you would see each other for the very last time... Both of you couldn't say a word, but wanted to say so much at the same time.

When the boat approached you had turned to look st him with pleading eyes, hoping and praying he would beg you to stay - give you any excuse to stay. But he stared back at you with a blank expression that broke you. You started to argue and scream at him, you couldn't even remember what was said anymore. He eventually joined in as you destroyed each other's hearts and your whole relationship. Perhaps you had hoped it would have made things easier if you hated each other, but all you felt was longing to apologize...

You went on with your lives with your shattered hears. He became a Scribe and eventually even the Acting Grand Sage. You got married and became the head of your family as your parents grew old and retired. With Lesser Lord Kusanali back in control she invited you personally to visit your old school again, a request from an Archon could not be refused and you didn't mind a vacation - you were unaware at the time of Alhaitham's position.

Sumeru hadn't changed a bit, but it was rather comforting to see a familiar place after all these years. Seeing the familiar cafe's and restaurants made you think of Alhaitham... You wondered if he was still studying or if he had taken another path in life. You wondered if he still hated you after how things ended, as you were unaware he never hated you in the first place.

“This is the office of the Acting Grand Sage! This is Alhaitham.” Lord Kusanali introduced you.

You froze in place as you stared at the man before you, he did the same. You had both grown older, but so little had changed. In between blinks he could see you still in your Akademia uniform with those ridiculous stacks of books you always carried...

“You seem to already know each other.” The Archon quietly added.

“Yes, we went to school together.” Alhaitham replied.

Someone suddenly came up the elevator and happily jogged to hold your hand, everyone's attention was now on them.

“My love!” They called you.

“Yes?” You replied with a smile.

Alhaitham could clearly connect the dots, especially as the one holding your hand had a matching ring on their ring finger. It was strange to hear someone call you a pet name, you two hadn't done so during your relationship. He was always aware this was going to happen after you returned home, but seeing it himself was a different matter - he didn't expect his heart to still ache for you after all these years...

“I can't believe you went to school here! This is place is simply incredible and quite difficult from what I've seen!” They exitedly rambled on and you dutifully listened.

“Excuse my rudeness, but I have some matters to attend to.” Alhaitham interrupted.

“Okay...” Nahida nodded in understanding, sge didn't have to read his mind to understand the situation.

Without the Acting Grand Sage your tuor and talk with the Archon continued - she actually proposed that you take the job, but you already had a duty as the head of your household back home. Nahida remarked it to be a pity but ultimately understood. Before leaving to continue your work you needed to talk to a certain someone once and for all.

“Knew I'd find you here.” You remarked as you walked up to him.

“I guess old habits die hard.” He avoided your eyes.

“I heard all about you helping a traveler to rescue Lord Kusanali. I suppose it makes sense for you.” You chuckled.

“I suppose so.” He simply answered.

"I'm not surprised she offered the position of Grand Sage to you, but I'm even less surprised that you didn't take it." But he only hummed in reply...

You sighed heavily, “Are you really going to be like this? Please just talk to me.”

“I am talking.”

“Alhaitham...” You groaned in frustration.

“What is it you want me to say?” He finally turned his full attention to you.

“I don't know maybe an apology?”

“I should apologize for what you started?” He raised an eyebrow at you.

“I didn't mean it like that! Listen. I will be leaving tomorrow and I don't want to end things like last time. I truly cherish those years we spent together and you will always be special to me. I love you, but it was never going to happen - I want us to move on.” You explained.

“What about your spouse then?” It was almost as if ge didn't hear anything past "I love you".

“You know it was an arranged marriage, but they are lovely. They are my best friend and I couldn't be happier having them by my side, but I don't love them if that's what you're asking, not romanticly anyway.”

“I see. I will apologize for my words and for hurting you, but I won't apologize for not stopping you.”

You said nothing in reply as you were stunned by his words, “What do you mean?”

“That's what you had hoped - that I would try to stop you. But like we agreed, when the time came I would let you go. So I did.”

“...Did you want me to go?”

“Of course not. I still don't...” He quietly replied.

“Alhaitham...” You said speechlessly.

“I know.”

Alhaitham closed his book loudly before standing up from his spot and walking a few steps away from you. He then turned to halfway face you.

“Goodbye, and have a good life.”

With those words he left you to sit alone with tears threatening to spill down your cheeks. No matter how many years had gone by your heart had not healed or stopped loving Alhaitham, perhaps it never would. But it was clear that neither had his. Life was cruel indeed to have made the one you love to be the one you cannot have...

A/N: This is so rushed I'm so sorry! There are a million fics waiting in my drafts but I'm experiencing the worst writers block! I simply can't ficus on any of them for some reason... I am not very proud of this work but I want to keep my posting consistent for you guys!

Anyway, feel free to like and or reblog if you want<3

[goforth-ladymidnight]

On ACOTAR Faeries and Names

For some reason, SJM undoes most, if not all, of traditional faerie lore in her books. (I haven't read TOG or CC so I can't comment on those.) The cynical part of me thinks it's because faeries can be difficult to write well, therefore she took the easy route; the more forgiving part of me thinks it's because she set out to explore why humans believed certain myths about faeries, but then lost interest as she spent more and more time in the realm of the Night Court. (Side note: I find it odd that SJM chose to emphasize that the Illyrians are NOT really faeries, whether High or "lesser". I honestly wonder why that is.) Regardless, there's nothing very faerie about SJM's High Fae, etc. except for their ethereal beauty and pointed ears and the fact that they can do magic, I guess.

I've already written about Aging and Lying when it comes to ACOTAR's Faeries, and I thought I'd touch on another aspect of faerie lore that SJM chooses to ignore. (Heh, that rhymes.)

Names.

His [Rhysand's] eyes shifted to my face. “What’s your name, love?” Giving him my name—and my family name—would lead only to more pain and suffering. He might very well find my family and drag them into Prythian to torment, just to amuse himself. But he could steal my name from my mind if I hesitated for too long. Keeping my mind blank and calm, I blurted the first name that came to mind, a village friend of my sisters’ whom I’d never spoken to and whose face I couldn’t recall. “Clare Beddor.” My voice was nothing more than a gasp. ~ACOTAR ch. 26

Clare and her family are killed because Rhys revealed that name to Amarantha, even though he admitted later (in the next book) that he thought she made it up. So, Feyre's fears were not unfounded, but once she is Under the Mountain with everyone else, she is still reluctant to give her name when Amarantha asks for it.

Lucien is even brought forward and refuses to give away Feyre's name. For his defiance, Amarantha orders Rhysand to shatter his mind before Feyre finally gives in and shouts her name for everyone to hear. The Lady of Autumn even repays her sacrifice by helping her with one of Amarantha's "household tasks".

What is the sacrifice, though? It would seem that the only reason Amarantha wants to know her name is because Feyre knows hers, and wants to address her "properly":

“Feyre,” Amarantha said, testing my name, the taste of the two syllables on her tongue. “An old name—from our earlier dialects. Well, Feyre,” she said. I could have wept with relief when she didn’t ask for my family name. “I promised you a riddle.” ~ACOTAR ch. 35

In traditional faerie lore, it is said that names have power, so giving a faerie your name gives them power over you. (It is important to note that they cannot take anything from you. It has to be given.)

There is a scene in Hayao Miyazaki's animated classic in which the young protagonist Chihiro signs a contract to work for the sorceress Yubaba. In a beautifully animated sequence, her signature floats away and into Yubaba's waiting palm. She literally signed away her name. Chihiro is then given a new name in exchange: Sen. By the next day, she has already forgotten her original name and her purpose (freeing her enchanted parents). It is only when another ensorcelled young man gives her the bundle of her old clothes with a card in the pocket (with her name written on it) that she remembers who she was, and why she's there.

I just think it could have been very interesting to give Feyre a similar plotline in ACOTAR. By giving Amarantha her name, she no longer has it, and can no longer remember it. (And since the story is told in first person, it's easier to convey.)

How she gets her name back could be handled in one of two ways: Lucien gives back her name like the true friend he is, or she doesn't remember it until the very end.

If we explore the second option, this is what I'm thinking: Amarantha sought to break Feyre in mind, body, and spirit. The one thing she could never take from Feyre was her love for Tamlin.

“I love you,” I said. “No matter what she says about it, no matter if it’s only with my insignificant human heart. Even when they burn my body, I’ll love you.” My lips trembled, and my vision clouded before several warm tears slipped down my chilled face. I didn’t wipe them away. ~ACOTAR ch. 43

In my Faeries and Lying essay (linked above), I think it would have been more powerful for Amarantha to want Feyre to admit to lying about her love for Tamlin. In the same vein, I think it would be that much more impactful for Feyre to admit that even if she does not know her own name, she knows she loves Tamlin, and that's enough.

It's the one thing Amarantha couldn't take from her. It's the reason Feyre went Under the Mountain in the first place. And most importantly, it's the answer to the riddle. Love. And that's enough.

[valtharr]

So. Which Ultraman series would you recommend for starters? Also would Shin Ultraman be a good starting point if you have never seen anything Ultraman related?

Honestly, those are both kinda tough questions 😅

Let's start with the Shin Ultraman one:

Shin Ultraman is a great movie, probably my favorite kaiju movie (sorry Pacific Rim and Final Wars), and you need no prior knowledge of Ultraman, mainly because the movie is basically an abridged version of the original 1966 series. So, as a movie, I recommend it, but I'm not sure about it as an introduction to Ultraman. Mainly because - just like Sentai and Rider - Ultraman is primarily a kids show, while Shin is aimed at a more mature audience, which is why I don't consider a great representation of the franchise as a whole. Don't get me wrong, it totally gets the themes and everything right, but the vibes are just different. So, I recommend watching it, but not necessarily as an introduction to the main franchise.

As for which actual series I recommend for a newcomer... well, I should preface this by saying that I've only really seen New Generation series (late Heisei and Reiwa era). The main reason for that is honestly that those seasons are shorter (about 25 episodes instead of the Showa and Heisei 50). But yeah, my recs are gonna be New Gen only.

I think the safest bet in my eyes would be Ultraman X. It doesn't really call back to any previous seasons, and it's pretty "vanilla" in its setup: The Ultra and his host are distinct characters from each other, the host works for an anti-kaiju defense force, etc. It sticks to the "formula" pretty closely, closer than any of the other New Gen shows I've seen... with the exception of one:

Ultraman Z is also pretty by the numbers, and has the distinct advantage of being fully legally available one Youtube, both subbed and dubbed. The main reason I recommend X over Z is that Z leans a bit more into the greater universe of the franchise, with appearances from old characters, one of which actually ends up playing a major role. That said, it was the first Ultra season I watched in full, and it wasn't like I was totally lost, but I would recommend watching Orb and Geed before jumping into Z. Speaking of which...

Ultraman Orb is actually the most recent season I fully watched, and I really like it. The main character is just really cool, and while the supporting cast starts off as kinda annoying, but they grew on me a bit over the course of the show. It's also pretty serialized, with some mysteries that slowly get revealed throughout the story.

Ultraman Geed, like Ultraman Orb, is a bit of a fan favorite. Now, technically, the main villain of the show is a major villain in the greater Ultraman lore, which at first might seem like this would be a bad entry point, but the show provides you with enough context that you can just treat as backstory. I also like that it kinda gives you a bit of "best of both worlds" when it comes to Ultras: The main character is actually an Ultra in human form, but there's also a secondary Ultra who does the more classic "bond with a human host" thing, so you get both common flavors of Ultraman in one series. Also, for what it's worth, I once commissioned a Youtuber who knew basically nothing about tokusatsu, let alone Ultraman, to review Geed, and he ended up liking it.

Finally, I'm gonna shout out Blazar and Arc, the most recent seasons, with Arc's second episode having just aired the same day I'm writing this. Blazar has some Ultraman staples, like the defense team and the human and Ultra being separate entities, but also does some new stuff with those tropes, like the Ultra not being able to properly talk, and the host actually being the head of the show's main defense team. Obviously, I can't say much about Arc yet, but it seems to go in a bit more traditional direction. Both are also available on Youtube, with Blazar having two audio tracks (Japanese and English) that you can switch between, and Arc having separate uploads for its sub and dub

Also, I should mention: Every Ultraman season prior to 2020 is available on BluRay via Mill Creek Entertainment, and from what I can tell, they seem to be region free. At least I had no problems watching them on my German PS4.

[bagginshieldlibrary]

Canonverse list!

GIF by itscrochetnotknit

We're starting off with Oak and Mistletoe by HildyJ.

Summary: After a life dominated by a strange form of sickness, Thorin is sent to the Shire to seek a cure only Bilbo Baggins can offer.

Rating: Teen and Up

Word count: 55,643

This is not really your traditional Canonverse fic. Erebor never fell but Thorin is "cursed" and Bilbo is their last hope for a cure, due to his skills. Its a really good exploration of emotions and senses and how sometimes all we really ever need is a change of perspective.

There is a second Explicit part that is not linked to the fic so I've put it here.

Our next fic is Roses of Iron by Porphyrios

Summary: Two years after Bilbo returned from his adventures, he's made his peace with being back in the Shire. He still wonders what might have happened if things were different, but figures all that is behind him now. A mysterious visitor turns out to be someone he never thought he'd see again, and he's shocked by the news he hears.

Rating: Mature

Word count: 152,426

This fic is a work of art. The added lore, the explorations of both Bilbo and Thorin's character, the exploration of the dwarrow culture, and how how the story flows. Its a long fic but it's not a slow burn, in my humble opinion.

Here we have The Age of Miscommunication by SilverSkiesAtMidnight

Summary: “It’s got such a presence to it, even from a distance,” Bilbo says softly, and there’s a general murmur of awed agreement from the others. “Why, in all my fifty years, I never thought I’d see such a thing, and we haven’t even arrived yet!”

Thorin’s sword hits the ground with a clatter, and Balin chokes on his pipe.

The hobbit doesn’t look at Thorin, too busy thumping Balin on the back. Once the dwarf seems able to breathe again, he looks up, to find thirteen wide pairs of eyes fixed on him.

“What?” he says defensively, though he’s not sure what he’s defending.

“You’re how old?” Kíli squeaks.

Bilbo frowns at the young dwarf. “I’m fifty years old. Well, fifty-one, come springtime. Though it is not very polite to ask someone their age so bluntly,” he tells him primly.

Fíli makes a choked sound, and Nori lets out a vicious string of swears in Khuzdul."

Rating: Teen and Up

Word Count: 6,683

A comedy and a half. The company reacts drastically to finding out the age difference between hobbits and dwarves. I laughed, giggled and eye rolled at the theatrics.

Our first explicit fic rec is young savage things/ barely worth remembering by pomgore

Summary: For a moment, Thorin looks winded, his eyes wide and his jaw set tightly like Bilbo has wrung him out to dry. He seems out of his depth—it’s written all over his face, really—and Bilbo would be moved to sympathy if he didn’t know that somehow, this warranted Thorin seeking him out in the middle of the night. He remains guarded for both of their sakes.

“I have never courted anyone before, and I was not educated in the art before the dragon came.”

“Alright.”

“If I remember correctly, you have been- involved, with other hobbits before.”

“... I have.”

“Please teach me how to kiss.”

Rating: Explicit

Word count: 8,649

This fic ripped my heart out and then healed me. Its written in away that makes you want more and more, just like Bilbo and Thorin.

And last but certainly not list we have Songs in the Dark by Leoandlancer

Summary: After the resolution of the Battle of Five Armies and the beginning of the restoration of Erebor, Thorin and Bilbo are still carefully, and respectfully, distant to each other. Each certain the other wants nothing to do with them after the betrayals they've committed. However, trapped by a cave-in while exploring the lower halls, Thorin and Bilbo are suddenly, and unavoidably thrown together and slowly they begin to sort things out.

Rating: Teen and up

Word count: 13,400

Close quarters apologies and reconciliation, angst and fluff. Thorin singing. Really this fic hits all the delightfully good spots for one so short.

Also this fic is locked so you need an account to read.

0 notes

[horizon-verizon]

Twilight "Mates"

Have you ever wondered what the deal was with the Twilight movies and books having their vampire couples be called "mates"? Well, they aren't exactly soulmates.

I've had this information with me for literal years. I can forget what I had for lunch, but not this apparently. Now it's your turn to share in my misery.

For those that don't know, vampires in Twilight are not at all like the traditional, erotically charged vampires of modern popular media.

Like humans, vampires in Twilight can have many partners or have monogamous relationships but they cannot "break up" with their lovers and move on to new ones like humans can. At least not psychologically and truthfully enough to be in "real", new relationships. Vampire love-grief is a state or emotion they can't "forget" bc they literally cannot "forget" anything, and that's one of many unsettling things about Twilight vampires. which is why they never give up until the murderer of their mate is dead themselves, or if they are like Victoria, whoever they love the most or anything similar to their own sort of love, is dead. Either way, vampires will likely take their revenge. Vampires are forever stuck in the psychological state/personality they had right before they were turned. So they don’t respond to change all, and they really don’t need to except in special circumstances that require it, so they’re even less inclined to be psychologically adaptive. Only falling in love has the influence to significantly change them. As Meyer makes it. 

Because Meyer makes it that vampire’s enhancements apply to absolutely everything.

Twilight is a romance fantasy, not a vampire tale, but there is still a marked difference to how vampires versus humans form attachments, including their romantic ones, that all comes from their particular brand of "vampirism". The vampire lore is meant to build into and support the relationship of the main couple: Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. AND how vampires form lasting romantic connections are majorly inspired by Mormon celestial marriage and the exaltation principles.

A)

In Stephenie Meyer’s world, Bella and Edward are technically soulmates and Edward in Midnight Sun claims that Alice/Jasper and Rosalie/Emmett are, too. Other vampire couples don't seem to have the Cullen "privilege" or state of being soulmates who were drawn together emotionally, though:

AroxSulpicia

AthenodoraxCauis

AmunxKebi

JamesxVictoria

Descriptions:

Aro basically arranges his own mating by courting Sulplicia This clearly is not a spontaneous or freefall progression we'd imagine for how a bond b/t soulmates.

He and Caius lock up their mates so they could avoid the same debilitating grief and vulnerability that Marcus has. It is not necessarily for their wives’ sake.

Back in ancient Egypt when he was worshipped as a god, Amun picked Kebi out of all his slaves.

James had two main reasons to stop trying to kill Victoria when he hunted her down: he wasn’t able to AND he saw she'd useful. He later sees himself as having “won” anyway because now she’s with him forever by falling for him. To me, he considers their relationship to be him “owning” her and her gift, both useful for when he needs to get the hell out of Dodge.

These particular relationships reveal feelings and circumstances of ownership and selfishness, especially on the men’s part.

If soulmate relationships are supposed to be mutually compulsory between the two people, why the emotional incongruencies, power imbalances, and clear rationalization that goes into how most of the shown Twilight pairings are formed? 

And If someone is able to choose a romantic partner based on what they perceive are convenient and the motivation weren't pure-hearted or emotionally-driven...doesn’t it negate the one essential part of soulmateship? That someone out there is absolutely the best romantic option and the perfect match for you even when you didn’t choose them, and they were metaphysically given for both of your happiness?

At the same time, vampires can never forget their lover nor lose the memories of them, nor can those memories lose their sharpness, clarity and intensity. Makenna found herself still in love with Charles even after her first year as a newborn so she went back for him and turned him. He just so happened to still be in love with her after that year. Marcus literally can never forget how he feels about Didyme, nor can he feel less about her than when they first met or when they first acknowledged each other as their “person”.

B)

Soulmates (as a trope) have been depicted as anything from emotional/psychological prisons to psychologically safe havens. Sometimes both depending on the actual pairing’s dynamics, the action of the plot, and the themes of the story.

I think that the “both” sometimes happens in the romantic vision of Twilight when it comes to vampire mates.

This “both” still belies the very idea of a soulmate: that this one person is the best, inevitable, perfect, and only romantic option for one other person. 

If only one pairing are definitely true and real soulmates (as Twilight claims Bella/Edward are) and most of the others are circumstantial first-come-first-serves, can we really claim that mates in Twilight are definitively a destined soulmate? Or that soulmates even exist in the world of Twilight?

Instead, Twilight vampires experience another take/revision of the soulmates trope.

C)

THEREFORE: Twilight vampire mates are not supposed to be ideal nor true “soulmates” like those proposed by Plato and those portrayed in media ever since. 

There are no soulmates in Twilight. Not in either the "purest" nor original meaning of that word.

Instead, as a vampire, calling your "forever" romantic partner your “mate” is a both linguistic phenomenon and a narrative device that describes and realizes the potency, doggedness, and persistence that characterize how Twilight vampires love their "mates".

Meyer has her vampires use the term "mate" because:

Outside of the U.S. and in the U.K., the “mate” part of “soulmate” can be associated with the same word used for someone’s platonic companion or acquaintance. But in the U.S., it's used in with a scientific connotation--particularly observing nonhuman animals--. Thus it is regarded as too formal to seriously use in one’s casual day-to-day in the U.S., or it’s considered way too British and people who do use it casually do it either to be facetious or it's become a habit.

Meyer wanted to further distinguish vampires from humans and used their more animalistic, bestial qualities (their instincts to devour and attack) to characterize them as having “mates”. Paralleling them to nonhuman animals, which again, refers to how researchers and those taking care of the animals call their reproductive partners their “mate”. ironic since vampire women and girls cannot birth vampire or vampire hybrid offspring.

Twilight vampires dissociate themselves from humans, so of course they’d have a different term for their “important” lovers.

The term--or the idea behind the term--has been used in the vampire world of Twilight since before many vampires existed (Aro and Cauis) and I imagine that vampires would say, “why bother changing it now?” Unless it was a “recent” term, but no evidence suggests that.

Vampires canonically themselves don’t “change” values, philosophies, or mindsets without there being an intense catalyst, the strongest of which Meyer makes romantic (BellaxEdward) or very quasi-familial love (Tanya, Irina, Kate, and Sasha). 

Soulmates, as an idea, are supposed to be nonchanging and unavoidable, or “constant”, permanent, and position two people together inevitably. The word “mate“ illustrates the circumstance of not being able to change/display a “persistence” of the bond being out of the control of the singular vampire. They cannot determine their own romantic feelings but it's because they themselves cannot "change" (no matter how slippery the substance this is under closer inspection, that's the lore we're working with). The persistence associated with the nonhuman animal mate-bond and with any sort of social bond--human or nonhuman facilitates.

And following the assumption being made about nonhuman animals collectively being more creatures of instinct than humans are, like nonhuman animals Twilight vampires are also creatures of mostly instinct. They are “slaves” to their own instincts so that they often lose control and break things and people around them if they don’t practice not to.

D)

So finally, the word “mate” in the Twilight saga seems to be an associative term to express the reality of being a Twilight vampire in love.

Irina quite literally is willing to kill and die for Laurent, a person who didn’t like her as much as she liked him because she will never be able to forget Laurent nor the times they spent together and will always feel the pain of losing him with the same intensity as the first time of losing him.

Love in Twilight appears to be perilous and futile in the sense that it regularly makes vampires risk themselves in foolish ventures to ruin those who killed their mates. Yet (emotionally as well as thematically/symbolically) love for vampires is also necessary.

It both is one of only ways they get any sort of meaning or emotional satisfaction/compensation for their changeless lives. Yet it can easily become the cause of near self-destructive revenge missions that involve other vampires, perpetuating cycles of violence.

E) Mormonism

Meyer has Twilight vampires’ culture (and the central romance) centering itself around overlaps of love and danger when the stakes are desolation and eternal loneliness or loss of autonomy/power. However, if one is also familiar with Meyer’s loyalty to her Mormon faith and the Mormon principles of exaltation and eternal/”celestial” marriages, I think they’d notice that these two principles inform and provide the structure for both vampire matings and falling in the best kind of love.

Exaltation is a principle that:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) [teaches and believes in] that mankind can reach the highest level of salvation, to eternally live in God's presence, continue as families, become 'gods' or like God, create worlds, and have spirit children over which they will govern (Wiki).

So exaltation is when you become like God, you become "eternal" and live forever. Because you ha e died and have become literally closer to God. However, it is t enough to just die and go to heaven to be metaphysically/psychologically close to God.

Celestial marriages and sealings between family members--two requirements for exaltation--ensure that the marriage and the family are preserved after death until all the persons are in heaven together as “gods”.

And having children is a huge prerequisite for starting the type of families that religious Mormons seem to believe will bring them closer to God. Sexual reproduction/procreation is understood as a godly power because it provides the means for a devout to be like the creative God himself. God who made Adam and Eve and subsequently all of humanity. God who instructed Adam and Eve to go out and "multiply".

Adam and Eve took the apple from the tree to become more like God and to live in an “eternal relationship” (Weiss142) with God, each other, and their kids. The result, according to Mormons (including the LDS), is that humans struggle to triumph over their fallen state/human nature same term the “natural man”, who isn’t wicked so much as separate and alienated from God....but in practice is imagined as truly bad and wicked. Religious Mormons believe(d) the Joseph Smith (the 1830 Mormon founder) saw and understood all this reading of Adam and Eve in his first visions and wrote it into the Book of Mormon, which al provides the justification of exaltation and celestial marriages, etc.

Vampires in Twilight are very powerful due to venom and are like gods in the DC universe/Superman kind of way, but can’t procreate sexually--instead they have changeless lives and create other vampires usually through violence and carelessness. So they are both like gods but aren’t, possessing also the “natural man” state with their “bestiality”. They are, like Superman, very emotionally detached from humans and even from other vamps. They lack this “godly” power of procreation that humans and that Rosalie envies.

However, Bella gets to have true, valid, the “best” eternal life: a celestial marriage with Edward and having an immortal child that she, like Jesus and the perfect Mormon, put her body and very existence at risk for.

In the End

The idea of mates in Twilight is reserved for vampires and the nature of mating follows the soulmate trope without actually claiming to be the trope itself. 

Mates are not soulmates. It is a shallower re-invention that heavily depends on context and how language forms in a society to describe a social phenomenon set up by a steadfast interpretation of the reality of being a falling in love or entering a romantic relationship as a vampire. 

To repeat myself, when vampires take or recognize a mate, it’s not because that is the one and only person the universe/higher being grants them as a fit partner, so to speak. That person isn’t a mystical other half that completes them so much as the first and only person they fell deeply in love with or wanted to be so intimate with. First come, first serve. 

And the phrase above only applies when the person in love is a vampire in Twilight because it is an conventional, semi-arbitrary social term. Just how “spouse”, “girlfriend”, “lover”, “friends with benefits” are all social terms to label and describe a person who is meant to be one’s prioritized sexual/romantic partner.

So, to repeat myself, Twilight vampires are forever stuck in the psychological state/personality they had right before they were turned. Falling in love has the particular influence to significantly "change" them. As Meyer rules her lore. If they’re single and meet someone they eventually fall so deeply in love with (or become infatuated with), then that person will literally be the only person who could possibly romantically satisfy them. Ever.

In Twilight, mating can be either a decision (or coercion) or a circumstance or a mixture of both. It depends on the person’s intentions and desires and external circumstances. They must be in the right place at the right time to even be able to connect with others, as vampires are also solitary, very territorial and very violent. Still, humans similarly experience forming and getting into relationships circumstantially. 

[m0ssycobblestone]

JuLai Parties

So I've had this trigun worldbuilding headcanon bouncing around in my head for a while since I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff, and I thought it'd be fun to finally throw it to the void! Just gonna preface this a bit by saying I mainly imagine this in the tristamp universe because we get to see the JuLai event happen and it's the only one I've fully watched through (I'M WORKING ON THE OTHERS), BUT it could probably work with trimax/ '98 with a little tweaking. ANYWAYS

The concept at its core is basically, "What if, in the years following JuLai's destruction, people started throwing parties?" Then JuLai Parties were born.

Sometime after the Third City was destroyed, teens and young adults from the nearby towns began gathering at the bottom of the crater and throwing these parties in secret. They had to be secret because, let's be honest, a big party inside a crater where hundreds of people died is probably at least a little illegal, DEFINETELY frowned upon, and even if not illegal, law enforcement would try to stop them anyways if they knew about it. Plus, it's just slightly more fun when no one else knows about it. To keep it all on the down low, those who know about the parties have systems in place. News spreads exclusively through word of mouth, party goers are encouraged to only invite people they know, and, with few exceptions, never tell the older folk.

Part of the wonderful wonderful secret keeping skills of these god-knows-how-many 16-20 something year-olds (give or take) is night time shenanigans and 'leave no trace.' Parties are only held at night, and can take place any time from when the sun goes down to when it comes back up, though typically they end before the sun rises so everyone gets a chance to get home. Party goers are expected to bring their own supplies, including drinks, materials and a way to exit/enter the crater. Additionally, as kind of an unspoken rule/safety measure, any forms of entertainment (instruments, etc.) should be easy to carry around and any structures as easy to assemble as they are to tear down. It's silently understood that what enters the pit leaves with the sun.

Aside from generally being a fun thing exclusive to the youth of surrounding towns, it also acts as a way for some to process being so close to such a catastrophic event, mourn the loss of so many whether they were family, friends, or strangers, and pay their respects to the dead in their own way. Some party goers like to joke that, "If they didn't want a party here, they shouldn't have died in such a cool place," and it's a common thought that, in a city as big as it was, at least one person would have wanted their life to be celebrated this way. It is also common for those in attendance to believe in celebrating the memory and lives of those who have passed rather than sitting in sorrow. The parties also offer a good excuse to go out and meet new people their age from other towns.

I imagine most of the towns sit at around 30 minutes to an hour away by car from JuLai's crater, so it's not uncommon to see jeeps packed with groups or small caravans of Thoma carrying people to parties. To get in, most bring along ropes or ladders they tie to the memorials or fences around the crater's edge, using them to go in and later crawl out of the hole. Occasionally, the crater is used as a venue for small bands from the various towns looking to perform, with the parties acting as the perfect place to do so.

Every year after the incident, party goers have made it tradition to hold a special event on the night the city was destroyed. They throw a huge party with lights, music, and typically, a short speech from the person who first started the JuLai Parties to get everyone hyped up, lasting all the way from sunset to sunrise.

Also, not really lore but just a dumb idea that's kind of like, an addition to it, but in my head there's this cool little scene where after reuniting, Vash, Wolfwood, Meryl, and now Milly are going through one of these surrounding towns, hear about the JuLai Party happening that night, and end up checking it out only realizing when it's too late that oh fuck it's July 21st, which ends up kinda being a "Well shit, this probably doesn't bring back the best memories or lack there of, but hey! It's your birthday let's have some fun!" Which, after being there and witnessing the celebration of life, turns into more of a "Hey, look at them go, here they are persisting in the wake of a tragedy. They're all here remembering lives lost, and still finding ways to celebrate what was despite it all. That's kinda cool man." And slowly but surely, they all have some fun that night. Maybe, possibly, their view of JuLai grows the tiniest bit less negative too.

Anyways I made a playlist.

(Just for funzies, playlist cover and og picture under the cut, plus little notes on the playlist yippee!!!)

Playlist cover

Original

"People might not like what we do here, but someone would have loved it!" <---- I feel like someone would have said that at some point about the JuLai Parties.

Playlist Notes:

Summer Nights - SIAMES, Barbie Williams: THIS IS THE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL. Literally I was listening to this song one day and imagined it playing as someone and their friends were going to and while at a party, AND THEN IT SPIRALED INTO WORLDBUILDING I COULDN'T STOP IT.

Nina Cried Power - Hozier, Mavis Staples: This song specifically is what someone's band plays directly after the speech during one of the JuLai Anniversary Events.

[rantceratops]

Hey so like, I'm looking at your post about still believing in Luz and Hunter as siblings. I'm on board for that too obviously, and am thinking of the part where he's in The Collector's palace and feeling like no one is waiting for him. I guess I'm trying to rationalize somehow...why he wasn't thinking of her words "You're family now" right after he sent Willow off to her parents. I get why the writers wanted to include Luz's narration of "And if someone thought they had no one waiting for them, well, they were in for a nice surprise", yet I'm sort of telling myself that perhaps Hunter didn't want to burden Luz and Camila at that time or something. If he's Luz's sibling he could just walk to Eda's house and join them there after making sure Gus and Willow are reunited with their family. Maybe that's what he, Darius and Eberwolf did offscreen after they reunited. Hm..

Honestly, I almost don't get the point of them including the "You're family now" line in TTT if they weren't going to follow it up with something a little more solid. Then again, one of my major gripes with the last three episodes in general are them constantly bringing up plot points that don't ever get any real follow-up("You're family now"; Hunter's flashstep powers(why did he even get them if they weren't going to be used in the finale in a major way? Seems like an odd writing choice so late in the game. And I am a FAN of him still having the flashstep, but I'm still pointing this out as a weird choice); Hunter not getting time to grieve at ALL; no Wittebro/Evelyn lore(I think TTT should have done a proper delve into their past. I don't necessarily think it's a good choice to leave it unexplored, but I'm kinda torn); Hunter's fear over the others finding out he was a Grimwalker getting glossed over with two lines when it was SUCH a Big Deal to him and he needed a proper conversation about it - that one's a BIG beef; probably several more I'm forgetting).

And like, back on Hunter and Luz Siblings, as I've said, it doesn't have to be straight up adoption papers or anything, it's found family, it doesn't have to be traditional anything. I just think it's so weird to have this really significant moment where Luz calls him that and he literally bursts into tears over it because he has no one at that point, but then there's not like, any other pay off or mention of it? (Camila also called him 'baby'.)

Imagine if Hunter had been looking sad after Willow ran to her dads, then Camila(and Luz maybe, even though she was still with Eda at the time), came up and smiled at him and hugged him? Really cementing that found family thing that was brought up with them. (And just to be clear, none of this means I would have wanted Hunter to live in the Human Realm, I was never a fan of that idea. I just want him to be Luz's sibling and visit the Human Realm often because he has a PLACE there that will always be there for him when he needs it.)

I pretty much figured they'd go for Dadrius, and I'm not like... livid about it or anything. I just think if they really wanted to go that route then they should have built it up more, and I personally would have also needed an apology from Darius to Hunter about how he treated him in ASIAS was wrong and how he's going to be better from there on out, etc, before I feel like that scenario would have any actual meaning or pay-off. (I am not bashing Darius, I like Darius, but he treated Hunter like shit in ASIAS.)

All this being said, I don't think the ending negates Hunter being Luz's sibling, even if Darius straight adopted him(I don't think he did), it doesn't mean he's lost his place with other important guardian/parental/mentor figures in his life. I think that's the most beautiful thing about found family. I think most of my salt just comes from them not really following a thread that was seemingly started in TTT and seemed like an awfully Big Damn Deal to the boy, considering how hard he cried.

I'm being salty and I have my critiques, but don't mistake this for me hating on the show or anything. I still really enjoyed the finale, but as a fan I have issues and things I didn't like.

[theladyofbloodshed]

So, I have a question. I am planning a new series with following a certain mythology. I know a lot of readers drag sjm through the mud about stealing names from mythologies (including myself), like the names of gods/goddess & places, and not coming up with none on her own.

How should I combat that?

Is it a tad bit better to come up with all new names and places but keep the mythology lore?

I am trying to avoid being like sjm. (Also, I am asking a bunch of other tumblrs this question so you might see it around).

Long post incoming...

I think the issue with some of sjm's mythology is that she rips it away from certain cultures and then does nothing with it or warps it to the point where she should have just invented her own name e.g. Morrigan is famous in Irish folklore as three sisters (who are also all the same goddess) who is associated with war, she can be seen washing the armour of soldiers who will die that day. She's also famous for trying to seduce/end Cuchulainn who was battling Queen Maeve. There is no way sjm just came up with the name, because there are some similarities with acotar mor... but then we've never actually seen her power in 5 books.

She just takes random bits from lots of different cultures. Acotar was supposedly inspired by Outlander which is set in Scotland. The Ballad of Tam Lin is also Scottish (but acotar really is not similar to it). We have Rhys/Amren/Nuala/Cerridwen which are all Welsh names. But then I've seen people interpret Nuala and Cerridwen as POC because sjm is so vague (not to say welsh people cannot be poc, but the clothing they - and feyre - first wear is more like Jasmine from aladdin). Morrigan is Irish. Azriel is Hebrew. Cassian is Latin. Nesta is Welsh. Elain is Welsh. Eris is Greek. Lucien is French. Puca are celtic. The bogge comes from old english for the bogeyman. The Weaver is based on strzyga which are slavic. Baba Yellowlegs is a rip off of baba yaga also from slavic folklore. Koschei is also a slavic legend along with the Firebird. Heck, just look at the Slovenian flag and you'll see three mountains with three stars above it. I've seen people theorise that Thurr is CC is like Thor and CC will be the norse ragnarok.

Calan Mai is a Welsh festival and the acotar version is a bastardisation of it. Fires are lit to ward off spirits and banish disease the night before. On the day, farmers traditionally took their animals out to pastures and singing/drinking happened to give thanks for a good season. A May Queen and King would be crowned and the village green opened. SJM took Calan Mai from welsh traditions and turned it into a giant orgy (of course). Thunderbirds are important to Native American mythology and sjm has just taken that yet again for a character. I've only read cc2 once but I feel like there was no description of Sofie whatsoever.

It's not wrong to borrow from mythologies and folklore. These stories have existed for thousands of years for a reason. My issue is the strange amalgamation of shoving so many together and snipping only the "nice" bits e.g. the Morrigan can transform into an eel and she loses an eye at one point and transforms into an old woman. Sjm cant have ugly main characters!

I think try and be consistent with the mythologies e.g. don't mix lots of different ones together if you're using "real" names because I don't think they gel well - this is my friend Thor, his brother Apollo, and their friend Anubis. There are sooooo many mythology/folklore books out there. I have a whole shelf because I love it. There are also so many websites. Delve into less commonly known mythologies/stories. Alternatively, be inspired by them and come up with your own creations. Or, come up with your own lore in general :-)

Ultimately, you are telling the story you want to write. Do what is best for you!

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 7 Minagoroshi pt. 10

Come to think of it, this is probably the most emotion we've seen Rika display in any of the arcs up to this point. Also, this section shows that Shion Sonozaki might actually be dumber than Keiichi.

I wonder if Japan has a fundamentally different interpretation of what a witch is compared to your more traditional European style witch? Or maybe I'm just woefully out of touch in that regard and the idea of a witch being basically immortal is the more commonly accepted idea.

Hanyuu and her nice new bag of I told you so's. Now, I know I've said this before in regards to the characters in the past, but Rika is such a dramatic child. She suffers one singular misfortune and she writes off all of her accumulated good luck as just gone forever. I'm not saying she's wrong for feeling that way, I'd be lying if I said I never experienced days where if one single thing went wrong I would start thinking everything was ruined forever. I'm just saying she's been such a rather optimistic character lately that this change to complete and utter defeatism is kind of darkly funny.

If Rika gives up and loses her last shreds of hope and becomes something that's no longer Rika, does that mean that Hanyuu was born from a similar situation? They've said multiple times that she's existed for a lot longer than Rika, so was Hanyuu formerly a human? I don't know if that's the case at all, but it's a fun little thought experiment I think.

Skipping ahead a little, Rika goes to school the next day in the vain hopes that Satoko will be there as well. When she's not she let's her despair takes over and starts being Rude Rika, telling Chie to shut up and she's going home. Chie then takes this thoroughly morose Rika to the teachers office and gets the skinny from Rika about how Teppei has come back and is basically making her life a living hell.

The rest of the main cast eavesdrop and overhear about Satoko's situation.

Say what you will about Keiichi, and I have, at length, and will again. But at least when he decided to plan, and then carry out a murderous plot he at least had the good sense to not scream it out loud in front of witnesses. Sure, everyone knew anyway because despite the idea that people remember the past arcs has only really become a thing as of Tsumihoroboshi everyone somehow knows everything everyone has ever done in this series.

Wanting to put a delay on Tatarigoroshi: Shion Edition Chie drives off to Satoko's home. Would Tatarigoroshi: Shion Edition give her the ability to kill people with her mind, do you think? I think it would. Anyway, she arrives at Satoko's house and is immediately screamed and shouted at by Teppei. Upon being yelled at that yes she's here, no you can't see her, she's just sick, trust me Chie goes back to the school.

Shion rants and raves at Chie's uselessness in this scenario and once again talks about "come on guys, murder!"

Rena proves once again to be the brains of this outfit, because honestly, if you're gonna kill the guy just do it, don't yell and scream about it. Shion decides the next logical course of action is to beat anyone who gets in her way with a chair. Which she does. She smacks Keiichi around with the chair until he convinces her to quit giving him brain damage and to calm down for a second.

Something that I like so far in this chapter is the fact that the TIPs are back to being more than just documents. I recall in chapter one the TIPs would have these extra documents yes, but it also had scenes like Rena and Mion talking secretively about how Ooishi is a servant of Oyashiro and the like. Then up until Minagoroshi here, the TIPs were all just extra lore building documents. So it's neat to see them go back to extra scenes and actions outside of the main narrative.

I'm trying to be more upfront with what I like so far with this chapter, because in very short order I won't have much positivity about it. Once the narrative switches back to Keiichi as the viewpoint I had a pretty miserable time of it, up until it switches back to Rika's perspective.

[hasquetzorkukudoneanythingwrong]

While this ask was prompted by Tezcatlipoca I'm expanding it to be more general: What do you think about the Mesoamerican Servant designs overall? Good parts? Bad parts? Something they can do better/fix? Moments where they dropped the ball entirely?

I'm not Mexican so I want to know what others think. I've seen people bash Tezcatlipoca for whitewashing reasons but I've also seen others say it sorta works because some people do look pale.

Alright then, I'll try to elaborate on my feelings as much as I can. There will be somewhat minor spoilers for LB7, so be warned.

So, starting off with the first one fgo has ever had, Quetzalcoatl.

If you couldn't tell from this blog, and the fact I've never brought it up, I absolutely ADORE her design! In fact, her design is the first thing that got me to start liking her. Then I found out about her dynamite character and the rest followed suit. Her outfit, while not technically being fully accurate, still looks very nice and her appearance is very beautiful. I'm not really sure what it is, but her design feels like it works well for a mesoamerican deity. Even if the people themselves never looked like this. There are some depictions that described Quetzalcoatl as being more pale in appearance, which might be part of what inspired it? Blonde hair has also been mentioned, tho not as frequently as just being pale. Overall, it's a banging design, and my favorite among fgo in general, even as a mesoamerican servant.

Since her design is pretty similar, let's do Kuku next. Now, obviously since she's a sorta copy of Quetzalcoatl, she's gonna look similar. In fact, before it was revealed she was an Archetype, I thought it was Quetz, just with a different but similar host. With the fact she looks similar to Quetz, I'm gonna love it. As for stuff unique to her, I am in love with the crystal looking hair, along with the cute western type outfit in her first ascension. Since Kuku is an odd case, she doesn't have a more traditional looking mesoamerican outfit, tho there are influences. Like her headrest in the final ascension, and the serpent imagery on her other 2 ascensions. Overall, more of Quetz but with a new spin, so great!

Next up, let's address Tenochtitlan. Her design is, generally decent. With all 3 ascensions kinda doing something different each time. The first one is the only one trying to be actually traditional. Now, if you've seen a decent amount of mesoamerican clothing, like I have in my research attempts, you could tell like Quetz's it's only vaguely a mesoamerican type outfit. With Quetz's tho, it does feel more genuine. Meanwhile, Teno's 1A has elements that stand out a bit too much. Like the weird top she has, and the prominent heels, and the weird face mask thing? Now, given her unique nature, there isn't a direct depiction of a deity to draw inspiration from, tho there were 2 decent ones. Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. Tho, while I can see some details present in Tlaloc, like her headdress, not so much with Huitzilopochtli. Her 2nd ascension is meant to be more like a modern fashionista, to kinda go with her "big bro's" modern day obsession. Which also kinda goes with the indigenous mexican gods still being somewhat active post age of gods, Somehow. Her final... is a mixed bag. While I generally do like it, it's clear something else entirely is being tried here. It's a sorta sci-fi-ish look, with mesoamerican inspiration that I'm assuming is meant to tie in with her mecha noble phantasm. Which is pretty nice still, tho a lil confusing as to why. Overall they're decent designs, but a bit further away from greatness in my eyes.

Now then, Tezcatlipoca. I will use this opportunity to mention that yes, many Mexicans and Latin Americans in general come in a wide variety of skin tones these days. While the original indigenous peoples didn't, Fate doesn't inherently have to limit themselves that way, given the unique lore around the gods taking human hosts. This is at least part of why I don't have a huge issue with Quetzalcoatl and Tenochtitlan looking not as tan. However, with Tezcatlipoca it doesn't work as well. For one thing, Tezca is very strongly associated with darkness, the color black and so on. Another thing, is that since we've already had other mesoamerican characters, who are paler and who's designs work well enough even with that, it starts to get a bit oversaturated now, especially with one that doesn't work nearly as well. As for the clothes, I do like the first ascension, going for the vibe of a rich and stylish war profiteer, to coincide with his modern obsession with guns. The 2nd is also very fun, cause it feels like a super hero/villain's costume. While I'm not the biggest fan of the mask, or the unnecessary opening in the one shoe, it's otherwise very fun, and I'm imagining going for something similar to Teno's 3a. But then when you get to his 3rd ascension is when his general appearance especially clashes with the rest of the design. A pale, blonde person dressed like that feels downright offensive. Something about the weird leather boots and gloves, along with the unnecessary skull inclusions and the poor looking headdress and facepaint, on this scrawny looking white dude feels like all kinds of wrong. Even ignoring the appearance of the wearer, it feels dumb. I dunno if you guys realize, but mesoamerican clothing was actually quite colorful, not this semi-monochrome mess. Which is another fact that makes the other designs work, but not this one. While black was an important color for Tezcatlipoca, he was also associated with other colors, like gold, red, blue and so on. If you threw a few of those colors and got rid of some of the edginess, it'd be a vast improvement. Overall, somethings work, but a lot don't too.

That's all for now, as I'd rather not get into npcs atm, maybe another time. So overall most of the designs are good in my opinion. Pale skin isn't inherently a deal breaker in my eyes, especially when other bits work aswell. Tho we very much could use more variety now, with many other skin tones like how modern day Mexicans have.

[barrenclan]

Quick question abt some of the cat's names. How did the queens come up with the plant names for some of their kits if they've likely never seen those plants? Pine, cypress, asphodel, none of those grow in their territory, right?

(I'm loving your work so far btw, you've singlehandedly rekindled my interest in Warriors & the blend of comic panels and traditional writing is perfect for this kind of story.)

They are legacy names! I believe I've said this before, somewhere in the lore tag. They come from a time when these plants did exist in BarrenClan (aka RoseClan) territory, and this is one of the only surviving vestiges from that time period.

Also, thank you! I'm really glad you like the comic. I think Warriors is an excellent springboard for creativity, even if the textual books themselves are kind of hot garbage.

[trillscienceofficer]

do you have a favourite species design/lore headcanon, something you wish you could see on screen/had been explored more? (worflesbian asking from main 💖)

another very interesting question! I admit I don't have quite the same penchant for worldbuilding that I admire in so many other Trekkies; I'm always thinking 'well I wouldn't want this species to be a monoculture, canon basically never question that assumption and it's boring', but then my pea-sized brain completely seizes up at the prospect of having to come up with an entire world history in order to explain why Trill fashion on DS9 seems to favor square necklines and long tunics heavily, especially for men. But again I digress! (And also, apologies, this got long.)

Of course my first answer is always going to be that I wanted anything about Trill and the joining to be less hand-waved as space magic on an episode by episode basis and more planned out, but even more than that I just would've loved to learn more about Trill as a planet (we don't even know for sure that it is in the Federation at all on TNG/DS9, though it's likely at least Federation-aligned). And I especially would've loved to hear both Jadzia's and Ezri's opinions about anything concerning the Trill homeworld and/or the Symbiosis Commission because I actually think their perspectives would've been pretty unique (and uniquely informed) on the subject.

As I mentioned in the previous ask, Jadzia's reticence in speaking about her family or Trill in general speak volumes to me, and imho indicates that she has a lot mixed feelings about the planet she's from. This also fits well with my idea that, no matter how 'revered' the symbionts are, joined Trills don't really have that much power on Trill and they kind of live at the margins of Trill society, comfortably but still under So Many rules designed to keep them apart from everyone else and especially other joined Trills. I think Jadzia may have realized that that was the case pretty early on, and perhaps found it difficult to articulate that realization to her family or any other Trill that doesn't share her perspective (you can see this a little in the way she and Lenara interact on “Rejoined”, too). And this is not even considering the way the Symbiosis Commission was ready to let her die in order to cover up past mistakes. I really would have loved to see Jadzia being somewhat forced to admit just how horrible that was and how little faith she must have left in the institution that should have cared about her joined existence first.

I think Ezri also would have interesting things to say, as someone who was an 'outsider' to Trill tradition even before becoming Ezri Dax. That plus her penchant for cutting precisely at the heart of the matter (again, that scene with Worf about the Klingon Empire!) I think she would have insightful things to say about Symbiosis Commission politics in general, not having the same stake in maintaining a facade of respect that someone like Jadzia, even as irreverent as she was, still might have had. I'm really very sorry that DS9 didn't bring this side of Ezri more to the fore wrt Trill.

As a last note, given discussions I've been having recently (plus your fic made me think about this even more!), I really wish Voyager had made it clearer that long-term Borg assimilation can't be so easily reversed, and that Seven's implants are prosthetics and treated them as such, rather than little more than aesthetic hints. Of course making them look like actual prosthetics rather than decoration would've been a start, and many artists and writers have done so luckily! But even more than that I would've loved if they'd been more consistently depicted as something that Seven uses because the process of Borg assimilation made her physically disabled. You could argue she already is in canon (the way she has to spend hours in an alcove to 'regenerate' means she is dependent on a machine in order to live), but of course Voyager falls into the trap of making her implants a superpower, which... eh. Of course her implants give Seven a lot of trouble too (her cortical node stopped working and almost killed her, not to mention the time that an interference from a Borg vinculum gave her the Borg equivalent of psychosis) but I really would have loved to see her less as a metaphor for and more as actual disability representation. Imho xB characters in general really skirt the line between metaphor and actual disability, and I wish that had been explored better and with more nuance, especially where Seven is concerned.