#They're not Misunderstood but they are Misinterpreted by people

[bitch-butter]

this might be completely out of left field but i got really curious: how did web's parents meet? their dynamic is so weirdly interesting to me like. tehy are very much a product of their time and all but they also? love their kids and ars trying to parent them the best way they know how. they're older of course they are, but were they ever like. Young? were they ever Carefree and so in love that everything else seems to have fallen away?

I really, really love Web's parents. For a long time I would see depictions of them that were a little one dimensional, which isn't necessarily true to how people are even if those people Are dicks, so I thought a lot about the kind of people that would raise a person like Web.

His mother, Lee, I was especially interested in, because I envisioned her as this very composed person in public, but the cracks constantly show because she feels things very deeply and she's very perceptive. Her own mother (who we meet in Part 6) was a maven, and built up her own business, and was a very eccentric woman in her own right, and I don't think Lee really loved it growing up. So her reaction to being uncomfortable with the unconventional way she grew up and the way her own mother just Was was to be more pulled back, and she's very much an introvert that prefers putting her head down and working than being out with people. It's something I think Web got from her, an appreciation for time to be alone.

From that, I see her and Web's father meeting early in life through mutual friends. John was raised much more traditionally, and had a more formulaic outline for his life, so when he met Lee and liked her he was pretty instantly ready to be married. It would have been an enormous deal that he was interested in Anyone, because John even as a young man was just not that committed to anything except work and future work. Work for him means security, and providing things, and if you have work you seem like a more solid, dependable person, so his fixation on it Does come from a pure place but it manifests in being pretty tightly wound.

However, they didn't get married right away. Lee might have liked him, but she didn't want to be married to him, so they both agreed to take their time as they saw fit. Obviously this would have been fairly scandalous, because they saw each other Seriously for 2 or 3 years before they eventually married, but that's the good thing about incredibly stubborn people. They're hard to rattle lol

During that time I think they truly Did fall in love, and deeper than that they built a mutual and abounding respect for each other. They're both hard workers, they're both smart, and they both Appreciate the same things (books, polished silver, riding horses). So much so that I think the period right after they got married was probably their most carefree, and the time in which they felt the most young. Neither of them are very interested in Society (such as it is) but they loved leaving the city on the weekends and in the summertime to go spend time Really alone together. Which is, I think, why Web tells people he was raised in Connecticut even if they Lived in New York, that was the place where he got the most human picture of his parents.

They're complex people, which I love, and the ways that they felt their own youth and celebrated it were I think distinct. I see them as high functioning introverts with a lot of legacy to both live up to And get past, which they do once they feel secure enough in everything they've built.

[twisting-roads]

DEBUNKING COMMON RAIN WORLD MISINTERPRETATIONS

The target audience for this was for people who don't know too much about the game as well, so I'm going to explain things that a normal player might already know.

Rain World is known for how it simply throws you into the world with almost no tutorial, and is often praised for it.

But this lack of explanation if you do not go out of your way to find it has also lead to a lot of misinterpretations from those who did not read all the game’s available information, or misunderstood what they were being told. I used to watch some RW lore videos that would explain and summarize these things, and in the past I believed them.

I’ve since stopped doing that after having some time to actually process what I’ve been reading, and I’m here to say...

YOU ARE ALL WRONG ABOUT RAIN WORLD.

Ok, hyperbole. Not everyone believes these, and art can always be interpreted in different ways by different people, and I won’t stop you from having these beliefs. But also, there’s plenty of ingame content which completely disproves most of these unsubstantiated points from those who do not fully research the game before making videos about it.

Looking at you Tale Foundry…

The purpose of this is to pick apart some of the sadly far too common points I’ve heard many times before from Youtube videos, to Tumblr posts, to people I’ve spoken to on Discord.

Starting with my least favorite…

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“The 5 karma were seen as sinful”

Obvious westernization of a game based off fucking Buddhism aside, there’s no ingame text directly supporting this claim. There isn’t any that says otherwise, but we have good reason to believe this isn’t the case.

The 5 natural urges, as they’re sometimes called, were NATURAL. They were what bound you to the cycle. They never worsened your life or made you a terrible person should you keep following them, but an aspect of life on the same level as suffering or ecstasy.

Hey, I’ll break down the 5 karma and their meanings to show you that they're not just "sins"

I believe the natural urges have 2 different meanings: an animalistic one, and a more “human” one.

KARMA 1 This obviously represents violence, as you see one guy stabbing the other. I believe it also represents competition and intense emotions, For example: Artificer experiencing intense grief and lashing out in violence as a result. It was not the violence that started it, but her emotions. (Yes, its Downpour. But it’s a good point.)

KARMA 2

They’re having sex. They’re fucking. They’re- ok you get it. Karma 2 represents reproduction. But, I also believe it’s desire. Joyful bodily experiences, and such. The 2 figures seen here are in a much more playful pose than if they were simply doing this only to reproduce. No, they’re having fun.

KAMRA 3 Connection. Bonding with others. Yet also trade and personal belongings. Attachment to things that are not yourself.

KARMA 4 It’s mentioned ingame that this represents gluttony It’s overindulgence, you know. Similarly to karma 2, it can also be searching for fulfillment. I'm not particularly good at telling what the meaning of this could be.

KARMA 5 Self preservation. Self preservation can come in many forms, from an animal running away from a predator or somebody getting defensive after being accused of something or being threatened, this one is rather vague about its meaning.

I do this to show that the 5 urges have very NEUTRAL meanings. It being positive or negative is entire dependant on context. They’re not sinful, get out of here with that Catholic shit!

The 5 karmas have both positive, negative, and neutral contexts which they can fit into.

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“The ancients hated being alive”

The ancients simply hated the cycle itself and its unknowable properties, as well as being much more aware of things like karma and the urges. Rather, they valued being effortless to disconnect themselves from this cycle.

“This was an eternal dilemma to them - they were burdened by great ambition, yet deeply convinced that striving in itself was an unforgivable vice. They tried very hard to be effortless.” – Bright Green Pearl (DS)

Some practices did of course include things like starving yourself, but as mentioned by Moon, these methods proved to be mostly obsolete. Void Fluid fundamentally changed their culture from what we see. Rather, we do see the ancients enjoying life and valuing it in their own way, which is INCREDIBLY important to some of the games themes, but I’ll get into that later.

"[...]'In this vessel is the living memories of Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel, of the House of Braids[…] Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel nobly decided to ascend in the beginning of 1514.008, after graciously donating all (ALL!) earthly possessions to the local Iterator project (Unparalleled Innocence), and left these memories to be cherished by the carnal plane.The assorted memories and qualia include:Watching dust suspended in a ray of sun (Old age). Eating a very tasty meal (Young child). Defeating an opponent in a debate contest, and being applauded by fellow team members (Late childhood/Early adulthood).’...and the list goes on. I'm sorry, little creature, I won't read all of this - the list is six hundred and twenty items long.” – Deep Magenta (SH)

There’s quite a lot to pick apart here, I had to cut down some parts short, but even the cut parts have important details. Just not important enough for me to bring up here.

The Memory Crypts we see ingame are… well where memories are kept. The qualia (personalized experiences) is stored within these mutated fleshy neural organisms referred to as “cabinet beasts”. These of course, contain the “living memories” or qualia of those who have ascended. There are people smarter than me who have already covered these ideas of course, so I won't go TOO indepth.

The ancients greatly valued titles and achievements just as us. They still lived normal lives. As well as this, they valued personal experiences and memories of the carnal realm so much they built an entire citadel to store memories.

As we can see as well, Seventeen Axes has quite a lot of enjoyable memories from throughout their life. Eating nice food and winning a debate contest and getting validation from their peers? That sounds rather… complacent with the 3rd and 4th natural urges, doesn’t it?

I do not believe this screams “I hate being alive!” as much as people have made it out to be, and is honestly ruins part of the game’s messages of compassion and personalized experiences, especially in the game’s ending where Survivor dreams of home.

“You have no name. I once had! I was embalmed, adorned, readied for the journey. So proud. There was jubilation! My name was sung, loud and clear. Did they know? That I didn't quite leave, didn't quite stay? Should I be ashamed? That I linger here, where my memories are kept? Should I be ashamed that I now envy your flesh prison?” - Four Needles under Plentiful Leaves

This is leaning into personal theory territory, but...

I personally believe that the ancients were somewhat terrified of the unpredictability of the cycle and the fact that life would always have more suffering in it.

RW’s religion is heavily based off Buddhism. This is well known of course. The Cycle is a variation of Samsara. Now, I’m not Buddhist, and I’ve tried to do my research about some of these topics. Feel free to correct me, I’m simply going off what I know. (Also I'd love to hear what you have to say regarding your thoughts on the game!)

In Buddhism, each new life you could be taken into the body of an animal, or even end up being tortured in hell for a very, very, VERY long time if you made the wrong decisions, which made escaping it as soon as you could seem like a rather reasonable thing to do.

The ancients never fully grasped the scope of the cycle, and the prospects of having your soul wake up in the body of some miserable worm with no memory of your past or any ideas of your future might’ve seemed bleak.

Suffering is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean they hated being alive, like I said before.

------

“Rain World is post-apocalyptic.”

It really isn’t. There was never any apocalypse. The ancients simply left on their own accord, leaving behind their mark on the world that will slowly be buried once again in the ever so present cycle.

“The bones of forgotten civilizations, heaped like so many sticks.” - Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets

The world is thriving, even. The purposed organisms left behind have evolved and taken over and become it’s own ecosystem.

The iterators are dying though. Dying very slowly, but soon they’ll all decay and everything will move on.

It’s all just another manifestation of the cycle.

------

“The creatures in Rain World cannot die”

This is definitely something I hear from people who haven’t played much of the game and only hear about it from outside sources and watch the gameplay.

Yes, it is easy to believe this. As slugcat, when you die, you wake back up again. This is entirely a gameplay thing and not actually related to the lore. Saying this might seem like I'm avoiding the question at hand here, but the rules that apply to you do not seem to apply to other creatures.

Every creature in the game has a 4 integer ID (it can go higher, but not in a standard playthrough).

This makes every creature you see an individual of sorts with its own randomized values or appearance.

As well as this, creatures spawn from specific marked dens. When you kill a creature that spawns from a certain den, the next cycle, that creature’s ID will never appear again. Instead, the den spawn is replaced by a creature of the same species with a different ID, or a new species entirely.

Through gameplay, you see that the respawn rules that apply to you do not apply to other creatures. I’ve heard many points about how these dead creatures are transported to another alternate universe where they are alive, but I really do not want to delve into that theory. You do that yourself.

Excuse my unprofessional language, but this is kind of stupid. Billions and billions of little timeline splits accounting for every single insect and microbe that dies seems far too complex of a solution. Occam's Razor and all that.

With this gameplay element you see, I also want to give LORE explanations as to why this is incredibly stupid.

1) If death had no impact, the 5 natural urges would not matter

If no creatures died, there would be no point in eating (karma 4), competing with other species (karma 1), or any form of self preservation (karma 5). Reproduction (karma 2) has no role and there would be absolutely no reason to do anything any longer. All natural processes would be useless.

2) Light Blue Pearl

The information received from the cycle is most likely from the Light Blue Pearl, found in Outskirts.

“[...]The repeating mantra is important because it symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and death, and the termination verse is a symbol for ascension above and beyond it. I don't know how familiar you are with the nature of life and death, but I imagine like all living creatures you have some intuitive knowledge? Then you know that death isn't the end - birth and death are connected to each other like a ring, or some say a spiral. Some say a spiral that in turn forms a ring. Some ramble in agonizing longevity. But the basis is agreed upon: like sleep like death, you wake up again - whether you want to or not. This is true for all living things, but some actually break the cycle. That doesn't apply to you or me though, you are too entangled in your animal struggles, and for me not breaking that cycle is an integral part of the design. Our mantras keep repeating.”

“Then you know that death isn't the end - birth and death are connected to each other like a ring, or some say a spiral. Some say a spiral that in turn forms a ring.“

This line is very misunderstood. Moon specifically mentions birth and death. She mentions death. She never brings up the notion that nothing truly dies either.

As well as this, Moon says that “some say”, implying that even the ancients weren’t sure what the cycle was either. This is more important to my point regarding how the unfathomable nature of the cycle was why the Ancients were so averse to it from above, though.

------

“Sliver of Straw found the solution.”/"There is/isn't solution"

No she didn’t.

.

.

Ok fine I’ll explain.

If you’ve played Rain World you know that the purpose of the iterators is to find the solution to the “Great Problem”, the problem of how to ascend ALL living creatures.

You’ll also know Sliver sent out the Triple Affirmative…

“[...]affirmative that a solution has been found, affirmative that the solution is portable, and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable. She's also one of few that has ever been confirmed as exhaustively incapacitated, or dead. We do not die easily.[…]” - Pale Yellow (SL)

After sending out this affirmative, the iterators became conflicted. They never could figure out if she really ascended and had found the solution, or if it was some sort of catastrophic error.

The answer to the Great Problem is clearly intended to be as obscured as possible. There cannot be an answer one way or the other. The themes of it and the endless tolling of the iterators would not be as impactful if we knew there was or wasn’t a solution.

“[...]Either way, after that these different factions developed, as well as a huge forensic effort to recreate and simulate Sliver of Straw's last moments. Some of the simulations were wrapped in a simulation wrapped in a simulation, in case something dangerous might happen. Nothing much has come from it.[…]“ - Pale Yellow (SL)

Here’s my favorite way of explaining what I mean…

Imagine Schrodinger's Cat, the famous thought experiment. There’s a 50/50 chance that when you open the box, you either find the Solution, or find out there is No Solution.

Except you cannot open the box. And the box is entirely theoretical and nobody’s seen it. It seems impossible, but maybe one day you’ll find that box. That’s what the Great Problem is.

Sliver apparently having found the solution would have completely broken everything. Five Pebbles wouldn’t have ended up hurting himself and Moon had Sliver finding the solution been known with certainty. He was taking a shot in the dark.

------

“Ascension is akin to suicide.”

I strongly believe this point harms the role that ascension and the void sea play in Rain World’s narrative. Ascension is meant to be a final destination, a goal you build up to and prepare for when you’ve lived every bit of life you possible could, and can now move on.

Bringing up the Memory Crypt pearl from earlier, Seventeen Axes lived an incredibly fulfilling life from what we see, and ascended happily.

As well as this, Buddhism strongly encourages those who wish to liberate themselves to discover their own path, which is also subtly shown through the gameplay, as there are many many routes you can take to Five Pebbles, Looks To The Moon, and The Depths.

I do also think this is why Five Pebbles failed. He tried to brute force his way to ascension.

Suicide implies that ascension is only meant to be a fruitless escape and that it’s wrong to ascend. I… do not want to go into why suicide is bad. It’s a strong topic and I’m just here to talk about video games. But ascension is a neutral thing that you can choose to do or not do and to wait until you’re ready.

------

Conclusion...

I really only have the time to cover these 6 misconceptions, and I believe it should be enough. There have been many others I’ve seen, such as the ancients being malicious or that there weren’t any civilizations before them, but there’s not as much to say about them, and they aren’t as common.

Rain World is a very confusing game. I’m not upset at people who think these things to be true, and I do not believe they’re stupid or don’t have any media literacy. I just wish that the people who did actually cover this game did some more looking into it, and actually discussing it with Rain World fans.

Also I should say, that during this entire discussion I have avoided talking about Downpour- RW’s DLC- as it’s more of a official fanmade project. And so much of what it says may not be entirely in line with Vanilla. Because my life isn’t easy and of course there has to be an incredibly divisive and confusing thing like this that I need to avoid bringing up so that way the conversation isn’t muddled.

Thanks if you managed to make it through all this by the way

[whetstonefires]

Thinking about the parallels set up between Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu, and how actually most of them are oddly specious.

The sketch of the backstory lines up, but on close examination they're mirror images.

Wei Wuxian wasn't kicked out of his sect, he left it. Wei Wuxian didn't hate the house he grew up in, he loved it, and getting the people there killed was the absolute last purpose for which his dark powers were ever intended.

Jiang Cheng was no Mo Ziyuan--his jealousy was a complicated thing all twisted up with love, and while he would lash out at Wei Wuxian both as a casual means of shit communication and more damagingly in moments of high tension, he had neither the desire nor the ability to bully him, and in general respected his boundaries almost too well.

When Wei Wuxian destroyed himself about Jiang Cheng, it was to give him cultivation, and protect his life and happiness. He would never have killed him.

Madam Yu was a domineering aunt-like figure, who hated Wei Wuxian for reasons of reputation, and because she had resented his dead mother, but she crucially did not have the power to actually disrupt his lifestyle to any significant extent.

Mo Xuanyu was shut up in a small room to rot; Wei Wuxian didn't even attend classes unless he wanted to. Mo Xuanyu was weak and disliked; Wei Wuxian was brilliant and popular.

Mo Xuanyu's uncle is a cipher of a figure, without character or agency, a nonentity who is resented to death apparently mostly for what he didn't do; in theory he is the master of the house, but he certainly never protected his wife and son's punching bag from them.

And this is what got me thinking along this track: because people keep interpreting Jiang Fengmian as this, as exactly like Mo Xuanyu's nameless uncle, a nonentity who lets his wife make all the decisions, and is contemptible therefore.

He shows up in fic characterized this way all the time, handled narratively as a gap rather than a person, an absence where there should have been a parent, and it's...totally inaccurate? The man only has a few scenes but the things that are most firmly established about him are:

he regularly goes out of his way to protect Wei Wuxian

he's extremely fond of Wei Wuxian

he cares a lot about ethical behavior

he's conflict-avoidant and gentle

he can and will overrule Yu Ziyuan when he's made up his mind, and there's nothing she can do about it

his communication skills are mediocre at best

he doesn't understand jiang cheng

he has a dumb sense of humor

Now almost none of this made it into cql besides point 4 and maybe 6, 5 is technically there but buried by the cinematic framing, so I totally get why the fandom on the whole struggles to characterize him well, and it's easier to write him off.

But it keeps bugging me to see him and Yu Ziyuan squashed into the mold of the Mo, because not only is that boring and reductive and kind-of-missing-the-point, it's like. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's characterization suffers a lot when you alter the environment and take away the influence exerted by their shared father figure.

Jiang Fengmian was Wei Wuxian's primary adult role model and it shows.

Jiang Cheng's relationship to his own sense of ethics is fraught because 'teaching him good ethics' was his dad's number one parenting goal, but they misunderstood each other so badly (partly because Yu Ziyuan kept loudly misinterpreting them to each other, which is so realistic I can't get over it, that's exactly how it works good lord) that Jiang Cheng has a direct association between the concept of 'doing the right thing even when it's hard' and a feeling of personal inadequacy.

The fact that Wei Wuxian got their dad-person's approval for being exactly himself and Jiang Cheng not only couldn't do that, he couldn't even get that same level of approval when he really pushed himself to rise to expectations, because Jiang Fengmian did not intend that warmth as a 'reward,' and so never realized he was withholding it, and therefore misunderstood Jiang Cheng's visible jealousy as a dangerous sense of personal entitlement that had to be carefully restrained, which reinforced his distrust of Jiang-Cheng-the-person and fed into a shitty loop where they were less and less able to relate to one another--that's fantastic. That's so human! I love it so much.

Both their failures are their own but at the same time it would never have gotten so bad if Yu Ziyuan hadn't been interjecting herself in there, in the middle of their relationship, fucking it up. That's family, baby.

I would ofc like if there was more fic engaging with the subtleties of all this because it's so good, mxtx did such elegant work here and it is not sufficiently appreciated. But it's the kind of thing that's hard to write good fic about; I am struggling with it myself.

So mostly I wish there was just more fic that didn't impose Mo Xuanyu's cliche angst backstory on Wei Wuxian, who has a whole different thing going on.

[olderthannetfic]

I follow a couple writing blogs and some of the advice they give makes me wonder if they ever actually like. Interact with readers.

I keep seeing posts from them like "Show don't tell! Trust your readers, they're smart! They'll understand what's going on!"

And it's like, are you sure about that?

Some people don't know how to read or interpret anything. I read a comic online and in the last page one of the characters fell into a huge mud puddle. In the latest page she's shown standing kind of far away in the background, all muddy.

I've seen multiple comments from people going "omg is that blood? Is she okay? Is that a gunshot wound?"

So yeah no shit writers are worried about their work being misunderstood and misinterpreted. You can literally show a character falling into mud and people will still not understand that it will result in them being covered in mud.

--

I think that advice means "Don't make your work as dumb as the dumbest reader because that loses you the ones you actually want."

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Language Barriers

same anon as like 5 minutes ago, I remembered the fluffy prompt! Could you write a Sanders Sides DLAMPR fic (before they get together) where all of the Sides have different love languages? And they’re all trying to flirt in their own way, but the others keep misinterpreting it? A lot of TSS fic features the Sides having different love languages (and I’d like to think they do, in canon), but I’ve yet to see a fic that specifically focuses on that fact and describes the differences between love languages. Feel free to ignore, and remember to take care of yourself! – anon

hey I love love love love LOVE your writing! If you’re open to prompts rn, I’ve just reread your story "Idiots, Idiots, Everywhere" and it’s awesome, thanks very much, BUT. Are you willing to write a Sanders Sides fic where it focuses more specifically on all the Sides having different love languages? Bonus points if it’s DLAMPR (but platonic PR, this is an incest-free household) and all the Sides are like “…but he’s like this with everyone”. No pressure at ALL, but it’d be cool to see how you approach that. – anon

Read on Ao3

Warnings: none

Pairings: dlampr

Word Count: 3431

Or, five times the Sides misunderstood each other's love languages, and one time Thomas got fed up with it and decided to just...explain it to them with the efficiency they have when they're trying to explain something to him. Which is to say: it takes them a second to get it. The Imagination helps.

Physical Touch

If you were to ask anyone, they would tell you that Patton loves giving people hugs.

It’s the bane of some of their existences, they’d try to claim, and the others might just shrug and say that’s Patton for you. He knows his kiddos love it, at least a little bit. But he won’t lie, he does love a good hug. There’s just something so magical about how, out of all the shapes humans could have possibly been, they’re just perfectly designed to hold one another. Isn’t that just perfect?

Logan would probably say something about evolution and adaptation to the needs of their environment, or something, but he’s not gonna rain on Patton’s parade. Humans are hug-shaped, so they’re gonna hug. Besides, he’s not complaining when he’s working downstairs in the winter and he’s gotten too absorbed in his work and then a Patton-shaped heating pad just comes along and hugs him.

Patton loves hugging all of the Sides. Logan because he’s always so surprised by it, in a good way! He gets this soft little look that is almost on the edge of a smile, like he wasn’t expecting it but it’s the best possible outcome he never could have predicted. Or when he’s trying to comfort Patton and he hugs with undeniable certainty.

Virgil is also fun to hug, because he’s such a pouty-face about it. He snuggles up as much as any of them but he has to put on his mopey show first, just in case anyone’s watching. Virgil also gives the mopey hugs too, but then he makes himself just a bit bigger so he can wrap all the way around Patton. Which is the best.

Speaking of wrapping all the way around, Janus has six arms and he uses every single one of them. They get into competitions sometimes—not serious! It’s all for fun!—about who can surprise-hug each other the worst. Or best. Janus is currently winning from the time he managed to make himself look like the chair in the living room with a blanket over it; Patton sat down and boo!

Remus isn’t allowed to do surprise hugs, not after he accidentally tackled Patton into his Kraken’s pond and they had to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to get out of the pond. But Remus’s hugs are the kind that squish his soul right back into his body and ugh, there’s nothing better than that after a long day. Besides, it’s not like expecting Remus’s hugs takes anything away, he’s still going to squeeze him so hard he might not be able to breathe for a few seconds, but that’s Remus!

And then with Roman—Roman hugs the way every single knight from a fairytale should hug. He just makes you feel safe and precious and like nothing in the world could hurt you. It’s why Patton always sits next to Roman during scary movie nights, after all, even if he gets teased about it a little. Roman doesn’t mind.

So yes, Patton does love hugging all of them. But it doesn’t have to be hugging! It can be holding hands, or just leaning against each other, just as long as he can feel them and tell himself yes, they’re okay, they’re right here, I love them.

Because he does. He loves them terribly. Even if they think he’s just a big fan of hugs.

***

2. Quality Time

Virgil has the reputation of being the cat of the Mindscape for good reason. Not because he hisses at things that don’t cooperate—the other Sides are not excluded from this—and not because he spits up hairballs—it was one time, Remus, and it was entirely your fault—but because he has a habit of just appearing in the same room and hanging out for a while.

…alright, it’s not a habit, he does it on purpose.

Companionable silence really is the best way to go about things. You’re both close enough to talk if you want to, but each of them is allowed to do their own thing and hey, there’s another person doing their own thing too. Which is why it’s his favorite way of hanging out with Logan, especially when he needs to make sure that something gets done. He’s always down to affectionately bully Logan into whatever he asks him to make sure he does.

He does that with Remus too, but it’s not exactly the same: Remus needs someone to make sure he doesn’t actually destroy anything, and he’s more than happy to oblige. Especially since he likes to get a bit of a heads-up before a rampaging beast goes barreling through the kitchen at some ungodly hour of the morning.

If he’s never beating the cat allegations, Janus sure as hell isn’t helping. There’s a big window in the Dark Sides’ half of the Mindscape that is perfect for lying in for, oh, a few hours on end. Remus has many—too many, if you ask Virgil—pictures of the two of them just basking in the sun, dozing like they haven’t got a care in the world.

Virgil’s actual favorite place to sleep is with his head in Patton’s lap. Especially after he’s just finished baking, when he’s all warm from the oven and he smells like sugar and spice…Virgil will sit on the counter or the floor and listen to Patton talk about whatever he wants and then while the oven bakes, he’ll fall asleep right in Patton’s lap. He even gets first dibs on whatever just got made.

Roman makes a game of it. He’s the Prince, every good Prince needs a rogue to work with. They trek all over the Imagination, having adventures, defeating monsters, it’s the perfect mix of Roman’s quests and Virgil’s need to be a creepy little shit in every dark corner he can find. Being with Roman even makes boring council meetings fun, because he gets to terrify the idiots that they’re just gonna fight later anyway and he gets to spend time with Roman.

He doesn’t care what he’s doing, not really, just as long as he can spend time with them. He just…wishes they would understand that sometimes.

***

3. Words of Affirmation

Logan is no stranger to impostor syndrome, but that doesn’t mean he has to allow it to plague those he cares for. Understanding something to be true on an intellectual level and feeling the validation that comes from hearing someone else voice it are two very different things. The other Sides are each remarkable in their own right. They deserve to hear it.

Patton is kind. He does not say that lightly: kind people who choose to be kind because they know how difficult it is are not individuals to be trifled with. Patton makes the conscious choice to try and be better every single day. He is earnest and sincere, sometimes painfully so, but he does not allow himself to be dissuaded by obstacles. How could Logan not want to express his admiration?

And Roman…oh, Roman is a wonder. There is so much that goes into his work that often goes unnoticed, or underappreciated, and it is a crime that Logan too often finds himself on the wrong side of that line. Roman is clever and funny and has a work ethic that, truly, rivals Logan’s own. For every slight he makes, however unintentional, he tries his best to make up for it by telling Roman in no uncertain terms how honored Logan is to be part of his creative process.

Remus is an entirely different story, no pun intended. Remus is unabashedly and unapologetically himself, and as such is a marvel to behold. He cares not for the sanitization or reduction of anything in his work, and so Logan does his best to follow suit. Remus is who he is, and it is beautiful.

He tells Janus he’s beautiful too. And not once is he lying. The first time he did it, Janus laughed in his face, at least until he realized Logan was telling the truth. He then didn’t see Janus for an entire week. It ended when a little snake plushie appeared outside of his door in the middle of the night with a tiny note that just said thank you. He tells Janus he’s beautiful every chance he gets now.

Virgil is his little alley cat. Perfectly fine to approach on his terms, but will let him know with no uncertainties when he’s getting a little too close. It doesn’t help that Virgil is quite fun to tease, even if all he’s doing is giving him compliments—true compliments, mind you—and watching in amusement as Virgil curls up into a ball with his hood pulled down over his ears as if that could hide how red they are. He’s not cruel about it, of course; he stops the moment Virgil appears genuinely uncomfortable and there are certain topics he doesn’t go near. But Virgil can’t always hide his little grin and so on it goes.

He’s quite happy to shower them with his words, he just…doesn’t know if they’d believe him if he said I love you.

***

4. Acts of Service

Words are difficult. There is so much ambiguity to be found in even the most basic of sentences, and when it comes to matters like this, Janus prefers to take as few chances as possible. Whoever coined the phrase ‘actions speak louder than words,’ Janus definitely owes a drink for how spot-on it is.

Whenever Patton needs a hand in the kitchen, he’s always the first to volunteer. He can do up to three things in the time it would take another Side to do just one, after all, and he’s had enough experience cooking for the troublemakers (Virgil and Remus) to know how to get around most of their pranks. And how to get them back.

Logan, bless him, has a tendency to overwork himself at the best of times. And in doing so, he gets these terrible knots and cramps in his neck and shoulders from hunching over his desk for hours on end. It might not be the most polite of things to practically blackmail his way into giving Logan a massage, but the poor dear always falls right to sleep so he mustn’t mind too much.

Remus and his delightful menagerie of creatures often need more than their fair share of attention. He had to pester Remus into getting him a raincoat and muck boots that could withstand the acidic slime, but weekend mornings found them strolling cheerfully through pens and cages and paddocks, tending to the bizarre flock. Anything to make the chore more of a fun activity and less of, well, a chore, when Remus really doesn’t suit stressed-out frowns as well as manic grins.

Virgil has a terrible habit of not asking for reassurance when he needs it. Janus regrets the part he played in making it that way. So, no matter how small and stupid Virgil may think it is, whenever he asks for help, Janus gives it. A tug on his cloak or a soft please will have him do anything from turn the light in the hallway on to checking the poor thing over for wounds after a brutal nightmare. It took long enough for Janus to re-earn that trust, he’s not going to lose it if he can damn well help it.

Out of everyone in the Mindscape, only Roman truly appreciates his love of theater. Sure, the others are game to help out here and there, but when it comes to the art of make-believe, Roman is the proud owner of Janus’s ‘yes-and’ partnership. The two of them make all sorts of stories together, from villains and heroes to morally grey adventurers, to simple fairytales and old plays. Roman needs someone else to help him play the roles and Janus is more than happy to play with him.

Perhaps one day, he might be able to reveal that everything he does for them, he does because it’s them, but for now, he’ll happily play the role they expect of him.

***

5. Gifts

Roman and Remus do not, in fact, fight over who gets to give the most presents to the other Sides.

Instead, they fight over whose idea they work on first.

For Logan, Remus’s self-writing pen narrowly won out over Roman’s proposal for a never-ending notebook, if only because said pen squirted ink into Roman’s mouth before he could finish his argument. They ended up giving both to Logan at the same time, but the pen was decidedly on top and did its own little celebratory wriggle when Logan used it for the first time.

Remus nearly challenged Roman to a formal duel when it came to designing a heat lamp for Janus that wouldn’t run the same risk of burning out the electricity in their section of the Mindscape. They managed to agree on everything up to the design on the lampshade. Roman said it should be a yellow snake, curled up and sleeping, and Remus wanted it to be a big leaf that Janus could lay under like he was actually outside. The compromise was eventually reached over many hours of almost bloodshed and now the sleeping snake under a leaf is a staple in the corner of Janus’s room.

Roman cleverly proposed Virgil’s weighted blanket while Remus was being crushed under said blanket, leaving not a lot of wiggle room until he had to agree. Of course, he promptly fell asleep and cuddled Roman into a pile of goo, so technically they made both the blanket and the plushie at around the same time. Virgil still brings the little skeleton to movie nights.

Patton gets their presents one after the other, because you need one to understand the other’s context. A rebreather designed to slip on over the person’s face just like any other face mask, to filter out particulates and allergens. Something that could be worn for up to two consecutive hours before it needed to be recharged.

The other present was a box full of kittens.

”Ro?”

“Yeah?”

Remus pushes his goggles to the top of his head and looks over the desk. “Do you think they’ll ever get it?”

Roman sighs, closing his notebook and leaning back to stretch. “I don’t know, Re. I love them, really, they just…”

”Don’t realize.”

“Yeah. It’s okay, though. We’ll get there eventually.”

“Of course we will. Hand me that wrench, would you?”

“The one that’s covered in guts, or the one that’s made out of foam?”

“The foam one. I need to whack this thing but I don’t wanna hit it too hard.”

“I’m not gonna ask any more questions.”

***

+1: I Love You

”Hey!” Patton rises up first, clapping his hands. “Oh. I’m the only one here.”

“Only by a moment,” Logan says as he joins him. “Is Thomas here?”

“No, I just got summoned by—well, I thought it was Thomas but he’s not here.”

“Whoa, hey!” Virgil appears on the staircase. “What’s going on? I was in the middle of watching someone.”

“Don’t you mean ‘something?’” Remus appears, covered in slime and cackling. “Ah. I see.”

“I’ve got it,” Roman says, rising up and spraying his brother with something that somehow manages to dissolve all the goo without staining or spraying anything else. “There. Now maybe you’ll think twice about surprising Uma when she’s feeding?”

“Oh, I’m gonna do this so many more times!”

”I felt the exasperation from my room,” Janus sighs, appearing, “what’s Remus done now?”

“Why did you assume it was Remus?” Janus just looks at Logan. “Fair enough.”

”Now that we’re all here, what is this about?” He looks around, frowning. “Where’s Thomas?”

“That’s weird, is he not the one who called for a meeting?”

“What’s that?” Virgil reaches out and picks up a piece of paper from the coffee table. “‘Each one of you needs a card, find the matches.’ What cards?”

“Here.” Logan picks up something that fell when Virgil picked up the paper. “There are only five of them, though, and six of us.”

“What do they say?”

“Let me see…one says ‘Physical Touch,’ one says ‘Acts of Service,’ one says…oh, I see.”

“I don’t,” Patton says, “can you share with the class?”

“Wait, wait, I think I know what this is, is one of them ‘Quality Company’ or something?”

“‘Quality Time,’ yes.”

Roman nods. “It’s the Five Love Languages.”

“Thomas doesn’t even speak Spanish!”

“No, no, Padre, not literal languages, it’s…it’s the ways you express your affection for someone. How you tell them you love them. There’s five: physical touch, acts of service, quality time…”

“‘Words of Affirmation,’” Logan continues, reading off the other cards, “and ‘Gifts.’”

Virgil hunches his shoulders. “So what, are we supposed to pick one?”

“I believe the intention of the exercise is to…select which one is our love language.”

Janus huffs. “Why? What does Thomas have to gain from doing something like this? And where is he?”

“Maybe he’s not the one who summoned us.”

“Well then who did?”

“Maybe if we do the thing we can find out.”

Janus sighs, peering over Logan’s shoulder and squinting. “I guess this one’s mine, then.”

“‘Acts of Service?’ Very well. I suppose I’ll take ‘Words of Affirmation.’”

“Can I have the touch one?”

“Certainly.”

“Twins get ‘Gifts,’ obviously,” Virgil mutters, “which means I get the…time one, or whatever.”

Logan hands out the last two cards and they stand there for a moment, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing does.

Patton looks back down at his card. “Wait, did you say these are how we tell people we love them?”

“That is a simple definition of this, why?”

“Because you guys do these with everyone!”

There’s a pause. Logan adjusts his glasses. “Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but…yes, I do indeed give you all words of affirmation, because, well…”

“Aww,” Virgil says, “do you love us, Logan?”

Logan coughs, blushes, and adjusts his tie. “I believe that is a logical conclusion, yes.”

“Aww!” Patton squeals. “I love you guys too!”

”So whoever set this up knew that we were all trying to tell each other that—“ Roman starts.

“—and needed to hammer it into our heads what was happening,” Remus finishes.

“Well,” Janus sniffs, even as a smile threatens the corners of his mouth, “how dramatic.”

Virgil tugs on the strings of his hoodie. “Yeah. How dramatic.”

There’s another pause.

Roman coughs. “Uh, this seems like a good a time as any, um…Remus and I put together a festival thing in the Imagination for everyone, if you want to…if you want to come and see it.”

“It has everyone’s favorite state fair stuff,” Remus sands, “and there’s supposed to be a northern-lights kind of thing after it gets dark.”

“Can we cuddle?”

“Of course.”

“Will there be food?”

“Your favorite, shadow-ling.”

“You two are so thoughtful,” Logan says softly, “I would love to come.”

“I can get the good blankets from the closet,” Janus offers, and everyone grins, “should we meet there in ten?”

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!”

The Imagination is just happy they finally sorted it out. Now, to give the six of them a group date they’ll never forget…

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[pan-withnoplan]

Ah..confession blogs…i would run one but it would have to be one where I can be a hater back. I’d get one ‘SY actually hated LBH and was Stockholmed (proper definition too!)! Into loving him’ so I could just call him a cucumber-bro wannabe

I can say from experience: running a confession blog can be hell. Mine (from another fandom) has restrictions but ingl sometimes I just want to let everyone submit whatever they want and simply leave people to their bloody fights in the notes without getting involved and mediating, or alternatively just give it up altogether. It's toooough.

The bingqiu hate feels so unreal, like, it's ok, you don't have to ship them, and heaven knows there's an ever-growing boatload of fics out there that can cater to everyone's tastes, but to say that canon Shen Yuan would let himself get hitched to Luo Binghe without loving him is only misinterpreting and degrading his character. He's not a helpless little boy, he's just a repressed dude shackled by comphet and in denial about his sexuality and feelings, and in spite of his poker face it's obvious to everyone who looks that he truly loves Binghe and he's happiest when he's with him.

Not every reader is required to accept their relationship but we do have first place insight into his thoughts and should see the nuance. Shen Yuan's feelings inside the narration aren't even that different from other shou characters but so far I've only seen Shen Yuan be so thoroughly misunderstood to the point he supposedly "settles for" or "submits to" the love interest. He's such a good unreliable narrator, so good at lying to himself, that when he's truly honest with himself for a change, those who fell for it don't really believe it.

Of course, another reason for all these bad takes could simply be that they're trying to imply Shen Yuan would be better off with another character that isn't Binghe, as if he would behave any differently with any other love interest. But unless they say it outright I generally trust them not to sink to these levels.

[9800sblog]

May I pls request a reading for sunghoon of enhypen on what his ideal type is? Thank u if u end up answering 🤗🥰💓

sunghoon tarot reading

ideal type

personality

the devil, the tower, queen of swords, 6 of cups, the fool

very heavy, strong energy, seems like someone who is rude to most, only nice to those they like. this is someone with extensive knowledge about various subjects, would enjoy and do well as a teacher and/or leader. they take things very seriously, it's not someone easy to get close to, and they hold grudges for a really long time, the type of person to plan revenge for someone that stole their favorite toy when they were kids. they like to lead people to a road with no return, they have a dry sense of humor, sarcastic and often annoyed, they feel smarter than most people. they prefer things that never go out of style, and that applies to their friendships and other relationships, like they definitely prefer long-term romance rather than hook-ups. they don't try unless it's something they're hardly attracted to, they'd easily be a trendsetter, they have that it factor many are looking for, but they don't wanna deal with mainstream culture as it is now, they're not interested in interacting with all publics. they probably (definitely) work in entertainment tho. they give vibes of taylor swift reputation, mermaid, supernova - aespa, they're self conscious, they're a bitch, but at least they know it and know where to direct it. matter of fact, this is giving director vibes, they may love/work with cinema. he may already know this person, maybe through common friends, common interests or work, it's giving first love, school crush.

appearance

the lovers, 2 of pentacles, wheel of fortune, the chariot

classic beauty, easy on the eyes, they may look very similar to their parents, strong genetic, balanced and natural, as in no plastic surgery. balanced, and by classic, I mean they easily fit any beauty standard, the ideal type of anatomy. they seem to wear little makeup, not change their features a lot, otherwise, they change it to the point they look like someone completely different each time. their style seems like someone who got ready in the dark, but it works for them, they like to look like they're in a relationship and they're busy. they may wear often revealing clothes with no worry of what people think, they love to dress up and pretend to be a character, they may be an actor or just love to live a different life each day. the rockstar girlfriend aesthetic is similar. voluminous hair and eyeliner, like courtney love. not necessarily sensual, or dark, but entrancing, captivating and hypnotic.

additional information

judgement reversed, 5 of swords, 5 of pentacles reversed

oh they're so easily misunderstood so don't take this reading very seriously, it's easy to misinterpret them and I think that's their whole point, they like being mysterious and misheard. I could be wrong, tho. moles may be a relevant, prominent feature of theirs. they like being confusing, they're like circuses and horror movies.

*

[creaturefeaster]

Wire, could you possibly tell us more about the fish people race like kviikii (not sure if that was spelled right!!)

Smell yeah

Colloquially on land called fish people, but otherwise known by themselves as Tishvuqik. There are several sub-races of fish people, almost all of them stay underwater and amongst themselves. They are more rudimentary than land dwelling races, in recent history only just crossing the bridge into their own stone shell age.

Over a few recent hundred years, fish people had been emerging from the waters at increasing rates, however the very first recorded fish person found (alive) on the surface dates back to over a couple thousand years prior to modern times.

For the most part, it is only two races amongst their many that tend to wander onto land: the kind that Kviiki is, which is a shark-like race that resides within the waters along the hellbelt, and a more mudskipper-esque race which lives along the swampy east coast of Stolla. The latter are more commonly seen on land, and Kviiki was uncommon as she was near land when she died, and washed up on shore.

Most fish people are capable of being on land for several hours as long as the environment is humid, but they're very susceptible to the sun and dry out easily. They surface most often due to environmental changes in their homeland, and second most often out of curiosity. They aren't as familiar with land and it's races culture and technology, and so are often thought to be less intelligent.

They are misunderstood by the people of the land because, historically, they are not well documented and are misunderstood. They have their own social customs depending on their location, and are known to make land races uncomfortable.

They're very tactile (and very wet/tacky.....) and lack spacial boundaries, have been known to grab anything that they are interested in, including people's personal belongings, their facial emotions do not read the same as land races, leading to misinterpretation and conflict. There is friction brewing between the fish people and the land people in modern times due to customary disrespect, so most recent random encounters lean aggressive.

Fish people are not necessarily any more aggressive than any other race under normal circumstances however, and are simply a few steps behind in the technological timeline. In some small/isolated locations, fish people and land races coexist and have established positive contact, which is why you can find some fish people like Kviiki wearing more modern and land-oriented clothing. Trade is not uncommon.

They're usually very flexible and hunch over with exaggerated curves. They have a wide range of tones and patterns, often spotted or striped, and dual-toned. Almost all have two facial frills, ranging in size and location along the head/neck/collar, which help aid in hearing their semi-echolocative languages. Kviiki's frills are especially prominent and nearly connect as one under the chin, which is not as common. Many but not all also have retracting, fanged teeth like her too!

Their way of communicating is similar to how dolphins sound in real life, but with vocal practice they can learn to sound out more land-based alphabets. Their most acknowledged & shared language, when translated phonetically, really uses a lot "i"/"ee" sounds, which is why Kviiki's name is like that. The Kv in her name would be pronounced by fish people as a particular click, but the languages of the land would have to settle for a soft B/V-like sound instead.

They're somewhat short compared to the average bluple/human, averaging at around 4'6 in adulthood. They navigate their underwater world with both hands and feet, but on flat land both underwater and on the surface they typically stand vertically and bipedal. They can climb surprisingly well on land. Sometimes they are found chilling in trees.

Their lifespan is a little shorter on average too, their eldest typically not surpassing 65-- though conditions for them are unstable across the waters and their actual expectancy is ~35.

Oh, and many fish people are born with several other siblings at the same time! So Kviiki probably has like dozens of twin siblings out there.

☼

Hope there was something interesting for you in that wall of text teeheehee

[boreal-sea]

When challenged by people on things I've said, I am no longer going to reply "That's not what I meant".

I am going to say:

"That's not what I said".

Because oftentimes, the person has completely misunderstood what I actually said. Sometimes that's accidental, sometimes it's intentional. They heard or read something I literally did not say or write.

"That's not what I meant" leaves room for people to weasel in and nitpick everything and then pull out the thought terminating cliche of "intentions don't matter". This is how they shut you down so you can't explain what you "meant", because what you "meant" doesn't matter. All that matters is their outrage, which is building because now they're in a righteous anger fueled tirade about how you're making excuses and gaslighting them and trying to walk back from whatever it was you said.

So I'm not going let people play that game that anymore. If someone wildly misinterprets something I say, I'm just going to reply, "That's not what I said."

[fuckingguide]

people who are better at interpreting your emotions (or have had more practice at it): do you have any tips or advice on how to tell when your initial gut reaction is to be trusted, vs when it's an overreaction/incorrect reaction informed by past experiences that SHOULDN'T be taken into account? I find it really difficult to tell, especially when it comes to things to do with relationships with other people, where I have the added bonus of being autistic so I always have this undercurrent of doubt whether I'm misinterpreting what other people said or did and maybe I just misunderstood

to give an example: someone I'm fairly close with wrote me something today (about an ongoing complicated situation) that made me very angry. I communicated that I was angry, and why, we discussed the ongoing situation more, they apologised, I accepted it but said I was still a bit angry so I needed some space. I stewed in it for fifteen minutes or so. now it's been about an hour and I'm not so angry anymore, and I'm sort of starting to come around to the other person's perspective, but. I wonder if that's right, or if my initial anger was correct. the person said the right things when explaining, but only after I pushed for it a bit. that could be explained by the fact that this person is a bit emotionally constipated (like me), or it could also be that they're just saying what I want to hear. they only said it after I led them there by explaining why I was angry, after all.

does that make sense? I don't know how to tell when my initial reaction is irrational and once I calm down and think about it that's when I see things clearly, or if the initial anger is the moment of clarity and afterwards I'm just making up excuses for the other person, thinking I misunderstood their initial comment, or that maybe they're just reserved and that's why they didn't say the right thing from the beginning. I'm using this particular instance as an example but it's happened with other people too.

everyone always says to follow your gut but I'm just not sure my gut can be trusted. how do I tell when my gut is right? so far the only answer I've found is that there is no answer, you just have to decide if you're willing to take the risk of giving the other person the benefit of the doubt and keep going, until you presumably reach a point where you don't want to do that anymore. anyone have any advice by any chance?

[tmf-confessions]

confession #234

confession by @seander

Misinterpretations of Hailey's character annoy me to no end and I can't fathom how anyone could watch the show and come out of it with some of the takes I've seen on her. She clearly means well, regardless of how she may mess up at times; I can understand why someone may not like the way she tried to give Jake advice. She clearly didn't understand how difficult his situation was, and that's fine to dislike how she wasn't very understanding but I see the most bad-faith interpretations of it all the time? She wasn't really being manipulative or pressuring him. ( Not intentionally at least, I DO think that her saying she thinks they're bad to be around did put a little pressure on him regardless of her intentions ) Again, she maybe wasn't handling this as best as she could but what bothers me is thinking she had bad intentions behind this when she clearly didn't. ( + Unrelated a little, I do prefer that she wasn't perfect with responding to Jake venting! I hate when characters are suddenly therapists who can understand how exactly to help another character who is reaching out when the character isn't anything like a therapist. Hailey is a random sixteen-year-old girl, she doesn't really know how to deal with her own problems; What she says is very realistic to me! ^_^ ) The line "Sooner or later, Jake, you'll have to decide for yourself. Not me, not Drew, but you." is misunderstood quite a bit, Rosy did make a comment on this; "what Hailey is referring to here is Jake staying in or leaving the club. NOT choosing friends/a side. In context, it's only about Jake thinking of quitting after the competition due to pressure, which she is upset by." How exactly this got interpreted as being about his friendships with Drew/Hailey I do understand, but I don't understand seeing it as her pressuring Jake when she's making it clear she wants this to be HIS decision. She doesn't want what she or Drew might think to influence his decision, it should just be up to him. Again, again: My point is not that Hailey did nothing wrong at all or that she didn't make any mistakes, it's that she means well and I don't get how people think of her with bad intentions. That's all ( Sorry if this is too long lol, I'm just very passionate about my silly gacha show aha )

[partywithponies]

Sometimes people will get mad at you in the comments of posts and you can't even get mad because they've misunderstood or misinterpreted what you said so badly that at this point they're mad about a completely different post and a completely different version of you, both of which they made up entirely inside their own heads.

[winwin17]

Don't mind me, I'm just here to ramble about the frequent misinterpretation of Legolas.

In a lot of fan content, I tend to see him get portrayed as a feminine, scatterbrained diva or something along that line. He's depicted as girly and overly dramatic. It's not like I haven't been entertained by the memes about Legolas and his hair products or stuff like that, but hear me out - just because he's pretty doesn't mean he's girly or shallow (equating those two things is another separate issue altogether).

The thing is, even though he's pretty and has perfect hair, he's actually quite masculine, and his actor even has quite classically masculine features (face and physique). What's more, Legolas is an elf. Elves don't need beauty products, and I doubt most of them would care much for them anyway. They're naturally like the most beautiful creatures. Both the dudes and the ladies have long hair, so in that context, that feature doesn't necessarily suggest girlishness to me. Anyway, this is basically to say that I don't care for the self-absorbed, appearance-focused, girly diva interpretation of Legolas I see in fan content. There's much more to him than that.

The movies unfortunately gave Legolas his reputation as a Captain Obvious, which does him a disservice in bringing out this depiction of Legolas as a ditsy, dumb guy with an empty head. (It probably wasn't the intention, but it's a byproduct nonetheless.) Besides being portrayed as a Captain Obvious, another disservice done to him by the movies is the emphasis on Legolas as a cool action guy, superhero level, and maybe even invincible. But book Legolas is actually more human(?). That is to say, he gets scared and downhearted and cries just like all the rest of the Fellowship. While it's true that even in the books he does tend to maintain a more optimistic, lighthearted disposition than the others, he's still imperfect. He's still a person with hopes and fears and dreams and feelings, and he's not beyond forgetting the words to songs. ;p Yes, he cracks jokes, but he also does "not wish to go to Moria," and he grumbles when he has to be blindfolded in Lorien. Pretty relatable on many levels.

None of this is meant to be a book purist's rude degradation of movie Legolas, but just to lament the way I personally feel he is so misinterpreted and misrepresented. Legolas isn't shallow or one-dimensional. He's brave, he's strong, he's caring, and he's open-minded enough to take risks and make connections that are unconventional. He's respectful to his leaders, he's passionate about saving the world, destroying the Ring, and rescuing Merry and Pippin. He's helpful and committed to the Fellowship even though he doesn't have to be. He's compassionate towards people he doesn't have to care about.

So while we have characters like Boromir who are so frequently misunderstood and misrepresented, let's have some justice for Legolas, too.

[desceros]

i woke up to this newest chapter and i could not delay my gratification + read it on the way to the vet!! i loved it! i had a feeling leo’s thing was going to be something like that (and was steeling myself for it…) but was unprepared for how much i smiled during the donnie convo. it was so earnest and honest and cute, even, how clumsily they both are trying to communicate and understand each other. his open need for her to stay in his life… viola girl i feel you! that was a crowbar to the knees!!! think i fell more in love with donnie and im chewing at my arm about it as a self-confessed leo girl.

i read that you were writing viola-chan as mostly neurotypical and (as someone who is, afaik, neurotypical) i feel like you hit the nail on the head especially as far as vi’s reactions to realizing her misinterpretation of her relationship with donnie + how hard she’s trying to see things from his perspective go. chapter 20 was especially brutal because i’ve also been in the position of having stupidly assumed and had it come back to bite me in the ass, so really well done on capturing that!!! (← extremely pained by the story but also impressed by the writing) the way she and donnie talk in this latest chapter reminds me of my own relationships with my neurodivergent friends (affectionate), and tbh just captures a sort of working-through-being-two-diff-people-with-diff-ways-of-thinking that is a part of having any relationship with another person. seeing them talk it through like that makes me root for them and want them to work out.

i’m a blurple au lover but i know it’s only in my mind (on my own starts playing) (also, the fact that don thinks vi-chan’s interested in leo? cutely wrong) and have properly shifted my focus to donnie for the rest of this fic despite whatever other leo propaganda you might deliver (clenching every muscle in my body). either way i’m eating well because you write both these turts so well. thank you for writing as much and as wonderfully as you do!

ohhh man i have been BURNING to write the donnie convo for like. five chapters. it's like. oh my god they're TALKING!!! LOOK AT THEM TALKING!!! SPARKLE EMOJI

yeah it can be a little tough for me because i am deeply, deeply neurodivergent. and usually i prefer writing from ND perspectives bc it's sooo much easier for me to imprint on my experiences with being misunderstood than it is to think. ok. what does that look like from the other side. but it's always good to stretch yourself creatively, and that's what i've been doing with viola-chan! so i'm really, really delighted to hear that it rings well to you = v=

i dunno how popular it'll be from now on since people are all but hanging leo in the town square, but i'm still very much a lover of the blurple symphony au!! i mean, come ON. who doesn't want a fic where leo comes crawling back to you on his knees bc on his side of things this has all been one enemies-to-lovers thing and oh god oh god please forgive him he's so into the lovers part of it now and seeing you look at him with such an empty face is akin to rending his very soul from his body???? COME ON.

[ikamigami]

How much you wanna bet that "those" people are going to make the "You're the only one I cared for" into something romantic? Even when Nexus called Solar brother more than once in this episode?

They will definitely do that and probably already did that but idk about it cause either I blocked them or they blocked me..

And yeah I think that it was also a part of why Nexus was calling Solar "brother" so much to show people that shipping solarnexus is just shipping incest..

Also I bet that they may misunderstood or misinterpret the title because of ' ' used for word brother.. even though I think they used it to show us that they're not brothers anymore in the sense that Nexus just disowned himself by his own actions..

[soulsxng]

If my oc's were misinterpreted by fanon, pt 1:

Abbadon

First of all, he's big and intimidating, so you know people would go rabid with anything and everything sex-related with him. People might try to say he's a himbo even when he's not, because muscles--

Outside of that, he would have little to no personality (Because obviously quiet = no personality, duh. Alternatively/additionally quiet because dumb). He's pretty much just one of the demon prince's brothers. He doesn't exist without one of them around, and it's pretty much as a yes man.

Another part of the fandom would almost definitely fall into the "He likes fighting, and he's big and quiet, so he's probably secretly abusive and cruel!"

There would also be too many people that would ship he and Mammon together orz

Baphomet

Trauma? He doesn't know her, he's too silly-goofy for all that.

Male Only, unless it's for sexy things.

"Contracts? :3c " 24/7 with literally anyone he comes across.

Touchy-feely, so that means he's had sex with or wants to have sex with everyone. Alternatively that he's a creep that can't respect anyone's boundaries.

He and Enoch are together and love each other, or are going to end up together once they realize that they're "still in love"/have been in love this whole time, vs. Any time Baphomet does something bad, it's because Enoch is manipulating him. Actually, Enoch is always manipulating him.

Kei told me to add the "omgeeeeee, he does magic and he's mysterious, and that's sexy so he can do no wrong" thing

Ber

This one is easy. They'd give him the good ol' "Just a slut" treatment. Either severely downplays, or severely overplays his scheming and manipulativeness, because of this.

Also would probably be hated on a lot because he's not nice to most people, and isn't apologetic about it. Gets immediately stamped with the "Problematic" label, and if you like him, then you're problematic for it, too.

Those that do like him would probably also stick the "Love will fix him!" tag onto him, and would ship him with literally any buff, attractive male character that he interacts with for more than 5 seconds. The same people would also give him the "He's She's so misunderstood!" treatment.

People on both sides would also probably think that all of the big moves that he's made that have effected events to the point that Creation had to step in to help fix it, weren't actually him. He can't be that smart, he's definitely working for someone. Or was framed.

Darrow

Do I even have to do Aro's? We know it's all going to boil down to "big, sexy fox man". Oversexualizes him to the extreme, ruining any character depth that he might have. Probably makes him a lot bigger/more built than he actually is, for some reason???

He can do literally nothing wrong. He's lawful good and has absolutely no inner conflict with that ever-- they'd probably also erase his more trickster-y traits because of this.

His backstory would also be twisted by a lot of people because obviously nothing bad he's ever done was actually his fault!

There would also be the group that would lean into the whole "feral" thing though, and make that his entire personality. Because they think it's sexy. Probably so they can ship someone (probably Sachi) with him and spin it as "Oh, that's the one person who can make him snap out of it, he can't control himself otherwise!"

Enoch

He would be someone that people either love, or hate. There would be very little in between, and the two groups would probably be fighting about it constantly.

Another that would be overly sexualized. Sadly, a lot of people would paint him as immediately trying to jump into bed with anyone he met from the get-go, just to get what he wants and manipulate them.

A pack of smaller things that come to mind: Bro-con probably (especially with Ellie, Zi, and Ahki), "He's just like his dad", Only thinks about himself, A "pick-me" girl--

Enoch and Baphomet are together and love each other, or are going to end up with each other when they realize that they're "still in love"/have been in love this whole time, vs. Enoch keeps Baet around to manipulate him, and do his dirty work for him. Doesn't care about Baphomet at all.

Don't ask me why, but I feel like he'd get stuck in the "hates/belittles women" club?