#all my knowledge is connected to the image not the title!

[hongjoongspoetry]

Just Another Night, Until You | Choi San

❤️‍🔥 Summary: Hectic nights at work is nothing out of the ordinary for you, but when a man is wheeled into the Intensive Care Unit with second degree burns all over his body and in the need of immediate medical attention, your life takes a turn as his body heals on his own by the mere presence of you. Shocked by the discovery, you stay by his side as he recovers and together you come to terms with your unexpected connection.

❤️‍🔥 Pairing(s): Firefighter!San x Emergency physician!Reader

❤️‍🔥 Genres/Tropes: Soulmate AU, non-idol AU, best friend's brother, oldest daughter and youngest son, slice of life, fluff

❤️‍🔥 Warnings/Tags: female reader, no use of (Y/N), brief description of burn injuries, medical setting, san is living up to his romance-cat title, pet names (darling, my love, love, honey), MC is a Jeong, a lot of physical intimacy, kisses gallore, san is down bad for the MC, brief description of motorcycle accident and fractured bones (not explicit), the fear of losing loved ones, emotional exhaustion, a few swear words, not beta read!

❤️‍🔥 Wordcount: 7.5K

❤️‍🔥 Author's Note: Click the image for a better resolution (Tumblr I hate you). Wihooo! And there goes the second to last instalment of the March Event ;-; im lowkey sad it's ending soon although it gives me more time to work on other stuff!! anyhow, this one was really fun to write and I hope you'll enjoy it, be prepared for a lot of love sick sannie 🥹 Btw I'm not a nurse/doctor or have any "proper" knowledge regarding how things go down in the E.R or hospital for that matter either, so this is all based on excessive research. Thank you for your understanding!

This is all fiction and not meant to represent any idols involved in any way or form. This work is rated SFW, however it contains mature scenes such as descriptions of serious injuries, medical procedures as well as adult language. Minors, please, read at your own risk and refrain from interacting or following my blog!

AO3 Masterpost Moodboard Event taglist

It was an exceptionally calm hour in Seoul National University Hospital. Most nights were bustling with life, whether it’d be residential patients abusing the call button, relatives refusing to leave after visiting hours were over or an incoming emergency putting the whole hospital in a fit. But not tonight. The clock hanging on the wall opposite of the nurse’s station in the emergency department recently struck midnight. You slumped down by your desk as Haneul, your roommate, best friend and fellow colleague, dragged her legs behind her and nearly toppled over her seat. You finished off the last rounds of checking in on the inpatients on your floor, yet your social batteries were already drained and the nightshift had just started. 

Haneul blew a raspberry before her head dropped onto the desk with a soft thud. She groaned and threw herself back on the chair, her arms extended and legs elevated. Her slip-on shoes barely hung onto her feet and she wasn’t faring any better.

“I’m so tired,” she complained and went limp in her seat. “I can’t wait to clock out and return to my boyfriend.”

You let out an amused huff, the pencil twirling in your fingers coming to a stop as you caught it mid air. “You mean your bed?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Ha-ha, really funny Haneul.”

“It’s a bit funny, admit it!”

You rolled your eyes at her, but couldn’t fight off the smile that spread across your face. It was never a dull moment when in Haneul’s company. You were certain that even if death were around the corner, she’d still find a way to make the situation feel light. That was probably why you two had hit it off at university. She was mostly, if not always, in a cheerful mood, while you walked around with a dark cloud over your head. Had it not been for Haneul approaching you solely because your shirt was similar to one of her favorite character’s outfits in a drama, you probably would never have become friends. A decade later and you were tighter than two peas in a pod, and even decided — after your first semester — to move into a flat together which was still your current home.

“Whatever… I can’t complain as it’s at least a quiet night.”

The unspoken rule of never mentioning the obvious flashed before your eyes and you cowered from the blazing look Haneul shot your way. The air was caught in your throats and neither dared to move an inch from your places. You slowly turned your head sideways, waiting for a patient to peek their head out or scream that their pillow needed puffing up. As the empty hallway continued staying silent and the motion sensor lights didn’t turn on, you exhaled in relief.

“You got lucky there,” she said and logged into her computer. 

As you parted your mouth to answer, a voice broke through from the radio placed on the wall-mounted brackets. A report concerning a handful of people who were hurt in a fire set loose in an apartment came through and everyone ditched their tasks to get ready for the newcomers. You and Haneul, along with other nurses, ran to the trauma bay and occupied a room each where you, hopefully not, would get a patient each. The sound of multiple sirens grew louder the faster the ambulances sped toward the hospital and didn’t stop until the flashes of red and blue colored the building. Despite being employed for two years and counting, you never got accustomed to the ear piercing noise or blinding lights.

“Nurse Kim, could you prepare the wound care kit? Nurse Hwang, bring the respiratory support system. We don’t know what we’re dealing with so we need to expect the worst!”

The commotion from the triage area reached your room as the patients were being rolled into the hospital and underwent the initial assessment of their conditions. The code red patients would fall into your hands and you, together with your team, would do your utmost to lessen their injuries. You put the other glove on and waited by the door of your room. The sight before you was jarring to say the least. The victims of the fire were all in different conditions. Some crying and wincing from the burnmarks while others lay completely still as if the burned skin wasn’t a painful inconvenience. The wonders of falling unconscious. An elderly nurse with a couple of years beneath her belt pushed a stretcher toward you and you hastily moved out of the way. 

Nurse Yeon quickly spewed the little information she knew of the unconscious patient, but you couldn’t focus on her words. Your entire attention was given to the man before you. He looked peaceful despite the soot smudged across his face and several burn marks littering the majority of his body. He was also handsome — very handsome. That, you couldn’t deny. His black strands fell over his closed eyes and brows. Most of his features were sharp and defined, red heart-shaped lips in a slight pout, a long nose with a prominent bridge, high cheekbones and a few beauty marks peeking out from beneath the smeared ash. But you knew that, out of everything, his most alluring feature was his eyes — even when closed. You could see the feline-like shape that reminded you of a panther in the wild and you found yourself wondering what color they were. A tingle erupted along the pads of your fingers, almost begging you to move his hair out of the way. 

“...He was found unconscious in the building after being caught in the fire. Red category. He has second-degree burns on twenty percent of his body, severe smoke inhalation and is currently in respiratory distress. We’ve initiated oxygen therapy. BP is low and bolus fluids were administered to stabilize circulation. He is unresponsive, likely due to hypoxia.”

Nurse Yeon brought you back to the present and you ignored the highly unprofessional thought. With the help of Nurse Kim, you connected him to a monitoring machine and proceeded with the remaining steps of the protocol drilled into your spine. You administered high-flow oxygen via a non-rebreather mask to address the smoke inhalation and to prevent breathing issues later on.

Facing away from the patient to grab a scalpel in order to cut his already torn shirt, you just about turned your head and called out, “Nurse Kim, give him an IV fluid with saline to prevent shock and maintain blood pressure as well as a light dose of morphine to relieve him of pain. Nurse Hwang, hand me the scalpel, please.”

The nurses wasted no time following your orders. While Nurse Kim stabilized the patient’s blood pressure, you drove the sharp end of the scalpel through the center of his shirt to expose the injured area and assess what else you had to work with. As expected, there were blotches of irritated, red skin all over his upper body. It didn’t look too bad but would scar if left untreated. Your main concern was the smoke inhalation, but the high-flow oxygen proved effective, as the pulse oximeter showed that the oxygen saturation in his blood was slowly improving and you could swiftly move on to treat his wounds.

“Nurse Hwang, hand me the antiseptic soluti–”

A horrified gasp cut you off mid sentence and your head flung to the doorway where a nurse — a trainee at that — stood with her wide eyes and mouth hanging open behind her health mask. The interruption crawled beneath your skin like electricity. You glanced down at her nametag.

“Trainee Park?”

The student didn’t budge nor make a noise of acknowledgement and you had half a mind to terminate the established contract between the hospital and nursing school. You understood the weight of students gaining hands-on experience in a hospital setting, but it was beyond the agreement for a student to interrupt a life alternating moment for the patient.

“Trainee Park I won’t ask you a second time, what is it?!” 

Antiseptic solution in hand, you faced the student again, though her focus wasn’t on you but on something behind you. A line formed between your brows as you followed her gaze, leading to what she was staring at. Your patient still lay unconscious, his chest rising and falling in rhythmic motion, but you weren’t caught off guard by his regulated breathing. The patches of glaring red skin that previously looked painful to the eye were replaced with a lighter hue as if his body was recovering on its own. It was inhumane and in all your years as both a student and a licensed doctor, you had never seen anything like it. However, everyone in the room knew exactly what it meant.

“Fuck…”

One of the male nurses found the patient’s ID-card in the cardholder neatly tucked in the pocket of his pants while changing him into a hospital gown, but it was the teary look on Haneul after seeing the man’s face that everything clicked in place. Choi San, the little brother of your best friend, was your soulmate. 

The realization didn’t hit you while standing in the center of the trauma room or when his injuries healed more quickly beneath the touch of your finger. The fact that you had found your soulmate dawned on you early one morning, as you were making rounds between the remaining victims of the apartment fire and came across his room — the last patient to be checked on. The thought of finding your soulmate hadn’t crossed your mind in years. It was locked away in your old high school classroom, along with your youth, when you used to fret over who your soulmate might be. Would they be a foreigner? A celebrity? A boy or a girl? Rich, kind, or rude? The possibilities seemed endless, and you often spent more time daydreaming about the different outcomes than focusing on your studies. It was a miracle you didn’t fail most of your classes.

It was only when you set a goal that you lost interest in who your soulmate was and dedicated more of your time to studying. Little by little, as assignments piled up, you pushed the thought of your other half to the back of your mind and forgot about it. Of course, there were instances when the topic would come up every now and then — meeting distant relatives for the first time in forever and having them ask about your partner, or going out to dinner with Haneul and watching her get so drunk she forgets her own name, but still manages to make bets. Looks like you’d be treating her to that BBQ after all.

You entered the room and stopped at the end of the patient bed staring at San’s sleeping form. The harmless jealousy seeped into your bones as he lay there oblivious to the turmoil wrecking havoc inside of you and you wondered if, despite his unconscious state, he could feel even a glimpse of your emotions. Because you could feel him throughout your entire shift. The change in breathing, eyes fluttering, the subtle rise and fall of his chest as if he was right there with you.

The joke you once cracked to Haneul when you first started working there, something along the lines of finding your soulmate while tending to their wounds, wasn’t funny anymore and left a bitter aftertaste on your tongue. You sighed and glanced down at the patient chart hanging off the bedside. His vitals were good. More than good considering he was being driven straight from a burning building. Doctor Jung ran some tests on him during the night and they confirmed that San suffered greatly until he arrived at the hospital, until he reached you.

The doors of the room were violently pushed open and the eldest Choi entered as if her brother wasn’t lying there unconscious. Her unexpected arrival stopped your thoughts from spiraling further and your heart from racing into palpitations. It was weird to see her lips pressed into a thin line and eyes void of light, replacing her usual dimpled smile that would brighten your day. 

“How is he?” She eventually asked and buried her hands in the pockets of her white coat.

You cleared your throat and mimicked her stance, both of you focused on the resting man. “He’s healthier than a newborn baby.”

Five hours of constantly being on your feet, moving around and not having the chance to take a five minute toilet break put you in a hazy mist. It wasn’t until now that you felt the weight of the situation sink in. Who would’ve thought your best friend’s brother was your soulmate?

“You know,” Haneul started and broke you out of your thoughts. “I’m happy it’s you. Someone I know and trust as much as I trust myself.”

The words were oddly warm and spread a branch of hope through you. While you were too caught up with your work and then your own feelings, you didn’t stop to think what Haneul thought of everything. Her two worlds were colliding and it could either be good or bad.

“Is it weird?”

“Not at all… It’s the best thing I could ask for. That my best friend and brother get along… Just…” Haneul gnawed on the side of her bottom lip and turned to you, “Just don’t hurt him, Jeong. San is a tough cookie, but he has a fragile heart and I really don’t want to ever choose between you. You are both very dear to me.”

“You won’t have to. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t hurt him even if I tried.”

Haneul chuckled despite the tears making their escape down her cheeks. “Is it really like how they say? Are you already… affected by him?”

You breathed out a laugh at that. The countless nights spent talking and making fun of other couples who had already found their happily ever after were sure biting you in the ass, because it was, in fact, exactly how they said it would be. The unexplainable pull drawing you toward him, the yearning to be by his side and feeling him everywhere. Every skip of his heart, harsh intake of air and twitch of his fingers were all transferred to you

“Yeah, it’s exactly how they say it is.”

Haneul eventually left to do her last rounds and finish writing reports until the sun peeked over the horizon, signaling the end of your second night shift that week. San didn’t wake up until a few hours later and despite being hooked to a monitor regulating his state and showing nothing out of the ordinary, you didn’t leave his side for even a second. The dread of another emergency report coming through squeezed your abdomen until you were on the verge of puking. Just the thought of parting from him almost sent you hurling your insides in the guest bathroom. You were lucky to have wonderful colleagues who understood the circumstances and reassured you multiple times not to worry about finishing your reports or doing rounds. Nurse Hwang and Kim even passed by with snacks and water before returning to work.

The clock struck early morning when your chin slid off your knuckles and you were unpleasantly awoken from your slumber. The fear of falling to your death had you jumping out of your seat and taking in your surroundings. The sun gently shone through the windows occupying the entire left side of the room and filled the space with auburn streaks kissing your face. The warm rays seeped through the cherry blossom trees planted along the outskirts of the hospital. You found the view to be exceptionally beautiful during the early mornings when the pink petals detached from the branches, swirling in the air like snowflakes and covering the boring cement pavement..

A laser like heat bored into the side of your head and you scanned the room to find the source, only to get lost in the eyes of your soulmate. A wide smile stretched across his face and you realized the dimple gene ran deep in the Choi family as an identical pair to Haneul’s popped on San’s cheeks. You couldn’t shake away the image of a content and well fed cat at the sight of him. 

San immediately shifted the blanket to the side and had one bare foot planted on the floor, ready to leap out of bed and wrap you in his arms. The man just about managed to stand on both legs when you rushed from your seat and gently pushed him back down.

“No, no, please, sit!”

San fell back on the mattress without much of a fight. The moment your hand made contact with his shoulder, an explosion of tingles erupted along your palm, spreading like wildfire through your arm and out to the rest of your limbs, reaching the tips of your toes and fingers. The air caught in your throat and, like magnets forced together, your eyes found his again. Neither of you had to vocalize the question balancing on the tip of your tongues, asking if the other felt that crackling fire. San sensed the twinge of worry squeezing at your heart and hummed in content, he reached out and grabbed one of your hands in his to ease the burden atop your shoulders. He smiled so hard his eyes turned into crescent moons and hadn’t you known better, you’d think he’d start purring like a cat receiving ear scratches. 

“I’m fine. I don’t need rest because you are here.”

You ignored the heat pooling beneath your cheeks at his rather flamboyant response and steered the conversation elsewhere. “What were you thinking running into a burning building?”

The words came out effortlessly, as if you had known him since your youth.

“I didn’t do it on purpose…” He began and jutted out his bottom lip. “My feet just moved on their own, call it an instinct. Besides, I couldn’t just leave everyone inside. I’d put shame on the entire fire department!”

“Curse you for being reckless and kind hearted, San.”

“Yet thanks to my recklessness, I landed in the hospital and found you.”

The cheeky reply nearly made you pop a blood vessel. You didn’t understand how he could be so calm after facing death less than eight hours ago. The monitor attached to him shouldn’t have been stable. Based on your past experience with burn victims, San should’ve been startled and shaken up, and in some uncomfortable pain. Instead, he remained unnervingly composed, his eyes fixed on you with an intensity that made you question your own knowledge. His calmness felt unnatural, given the circumstances. The heart rate monitor, which should’ve shown elevated readings due to stress, stayed oddly steady and only spiked up when you spoke, moved or looked at him for too long.

“San… we are soulmates. We would’ve met eventually,” you hissed, trying to mask the look of realization on your face. The soulmate bond explained his calm demeanor. As he said, he was fine now that you were there, while you just wanted to cover him in bubble wrap and not let him out of your sight.

“Yes, but not soon enough.”

You abandoned the conversation for now as it wouldn’t lead anywhere. San was deadset on his decision being correct even though it was a foolish one and you still had a job to do. Ignoring the way he followed your every movement, a polite smile and creased eyes never leaving your form, you adjusted his pillows and checked the IV attached to his forearm. 

“Do you need anything else?”

“Hmmm, just you.”

Had you met under different circumstances, perhaps in a grocery store where you'd bump carts together or on a packed bus where he’d give up his seat for you and stand by your side to shield you from the other commuters, his charms would’ve worked. But you didn’t. Instead San decided to search the burning building for others with no gear, just his strong will and hope clinging onto his back, and all his attempts at flirting were futile as you couldn’t get the image of his unconscious body out of your head.

“Too bad,” you settle on saying. “You can’t have me before twelve PM.”

The pout intensified and he even crossed his arms in retaliation. Seeing a man in his late twenties throw a silent tantrum wasn’t something you thought you’d ever find endearing, but there you were, suppressing a laugh and yearning to smooth out the wrinkles on his forehead. 

“Do you have to go?” He whispered and looked up at you through his lashes.

“Yes, unless you want me to be fired?”

“Fine! But the second that clock hits twelve, you and I are both getting out of here.”

“You can’t just leave, San, they have to run tests and–”

“I’ve never felt better and I think every doctor in the building can agree with me. What I will be if I don’t get to spend time with you is sick, and sad, and heartbroken and–”

“I get it, I get it!”

San lived up to his promise of spending time with you. In fact, he wasted no time running down the hallway the moment the minute hand switched to twelve, asking everyone dressed in white cloaks where Doctor Jeong was. The question left his mouth for the tenth time that minute just as you rounded the corner, ready to check out. San gave you all of three seconds to bid your colleagues goodbye before whisking you away. His plan of getting to know you consisted of lying tangled up on his sofa with a meaningless movie playing in the background, while his fingers caressed your back and his eyes shifted back to you every other second, as if he couldn’t believe you were real. 

You weren’t faring any better. Your head was neatly tucked beneath his chin, and your hand was splayed over his right pectoral, the tips of your fingers gently rubbing soothing motions beneath the curve of his collarbone. Had you known your soulmate would be a kitten with separation anxiety, you’d have stalled on meeting him for a little while longer. Although, deep down, you knew that was a lie. San was everything you needed him to be and more: attentive, gentle, sweet, kind, caring — the list was truly endless. 

The days spent cocooned together — San on sick leave to recover from the accident and you having the next two days off from work — made up for the thirty-something years you hadn’t been in each other’s lives. In just forty-eight hours, you created a bond that most lifelong best friends would envy. He shared embarrassing stories from his and Haneul’s childhood days — sweet memories of how his mother dressed him in Haneul’s hand-me-downs, despite her closet mainly consisting of flower dresses and cute skirts. In return, you told him about that one time you accidentally locked your parents out on the balcony and then hurled your breakfast back out from the anxiety and fear of never seeing them again. If only little you could have understood the wonders of spare keys and that your grandmother was already on her way to solve the issue. 

The first night was spent staying up late, talking about heartfelt stories and niche interests to the point where you both passed out and didn’t wake up until late afternoon the next day. Who knew your hunk of a fireman liked collecting sweet plushies and was adamant on learning how to crochet?

That wasn’t everything though. A week into your freshly established relationship and San hadn’t missed to stop by your workplace once to give you lunch, coffee, midnight snacks or a quick peck on the cheek. It was easy in the beginning when San didn’t return to work for an entire week. The soulmate bond proved that he wasn’t in need of resting as much as his company thought and he eventually had to return earlier than expected. It was weird to be glued to each other for hours on end to then not be able to see each other because of your hectic schedules that never seemed to align. When you’d return home from a long night shift, he was dressed and ready to leave. 

You voiced your worries to Haneul during a lunch break, saying how you were afraid of moving too fast, but now that you barely got to spend time together, it felt like you were moving at a snail’s pace. She mildly reassured you that it craved more than some social distance for your soulmate bond to break and that it would take some time for you to find your footing in the relationship.

However, working multiple shifts a week while running on little to no sleep left you too exhausted to plan an outing whenever an opportunity for the two of you to spend time together appeared. Date-night looked different in the Choi-and-Jeong books. Instead of glamming up and booking a reservation at a fancy restaurant, you decided to stay in and watch a movie that would sooner or later be forgotten as you’d be too enamoured with each other. Haneul walked in on one too many make-out sessions, and thus, you came to the decision to host movie nights strictly at San’s apartment.

Like many times before, you lay atop San, his legs parted, giving you the option to cage his left one between yours. One of his arms was bent and propped behind his head to act as a cushion, while the other was curled around you, his hand pressing against the small of your back in a comforting embrace. Your cheek was mushed against his chest and your hand limply rested on his bicep. A movie played on the big screen and a plethora of snacks were strewn out on the coffee table but left untouched. You joked about how, ever since San entered your life, your sugar cravings had dramatically decreased because he was bringing too much sweetness into it.

“Honey?” San broke the comfortable silence and spoke over the characters on the TV. You hummed in reply and he continued. “I want to ask you something.”

As you shifted to get a better look at him, he pulled you in a tight embrace and you immediately stopped moving. “Don't look at me, just… listen? Please?”

“Okay, Sannie, what is it?”

“How do you feel about… moving in… with me? Or me with you!” You could hear the blush attacking his cheeks and embarrassment clinging onto his voice as it grew higher in the end and the words came out in a rush.

Joy tugged at your lips and you couldn’t stop the light hearted chuckle from slipping out in the room. You broke out of his gentle hold and grabbed his hand in yours, and planted a chaste kiss on it.

“I think I’d love that.”

Without warning, he squeezed your cheeks between his palms and captured your lips in a tender kiss, leaving your insides warm and mushy. Despite having muscles the size of a watermelon and broad shoulders that could carry the entirety of Noah’s ark, San was a real softie. He had the habit of holding you as if you were the most valuable possession on the earth, a feather which could crumble at contact or a cube of sugar that would melt beneath the rain. The shared kisses were brief but left a tingle on your lips that you couldn't get enough of and nearly whined in retaliation as San withdrew to catch his breath. 

“I adore you, like really, really much,” he confessed and kissed you again, and again, and again. The peppered kisses were planted all over your face — nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, eyes, forehead. The endearing act of love pulled a string of giggles straight out of your tummy, cursing you with an ache that your grandmother would call remedy for the soul.

One moment he was on you and the next, he turned you over to lay against the couch while he  scrambled to his bedroom on the other side of the apartment. You pushed yourself up on your forearms with only your upper body lifted as you curiously watched San runoff as if his rear caught on fire.

“Sannie?” 

“Just a second, honey!” 

Rough shuffling reached the living room, but it was the loud crash of objects clattering on the ground that you almost headed to see the commotion yourself. San’s reassuring voice telling you everything was okay didn’t help you relax, but you trusted his judgement and remained seated. The eager wait was short lived as San returned with something tightly clutched in his right hand and stopped by the end of the couch, back uncomfortably straight and face pinched into a serious expression. Hadn’t you known him for a little shorter than a month, you’d assume he was about to get down on one knee and ask you to live the rest of your life by his side. 

San cleared his throat and extended his arm low enough for you to see his well manicured fingernails. You shuffled over closer to the end of the sofa and sat up on your knees. His fingers unfolded and exposed the trinket laying in the center of his palm. An apartment key. The spare key to his apartment to be precise.

“I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but I’ve never been sure of anything more than this and I really want to take this next step with you.”

“Are you asking me to marry you or move in with you?”

Red dusted his cheeks and he had to look away. Your own lips curved up as his eyes creased into crescent moons, a telltale of his dimpled smile making an appearance. San covered his mouth as if it would make his smile disappear. Testing the waters, he asked, “Would you say yes?”

“I guess you’ll have to find out.” 

San was sure he could pass out right then and there. His cheeks hurt from smiling too much, but it was the only pain he would ever welcome with open arms. You climbed onto the couch and jumped into San's arms and he effortlessly caught you, his hands finding their designated place on your hips and thighs while your arms slid around his neck like a koala. Your fronts were pressed against each other, but you continued pulling him toward you, as if the chance of becoming one entity was higher than inventing flying cars. San dipped you down princess-style and stole a long kiss, one that you were more than eager to reciprocate. Your fingers tangled in his black hair, nails soothingly scratching his scalp, and your heart swelled with so much love and happiness it felt like it could explode and fill the living room with colorful confetti.

It was a shame the human needed air every few minutes because all you wanted to do in that moment was feel him everywhere. Breaking apart, you rested your forehead against his, hot breaths fanning across each other’s lower faces, chests rising with fervor as your bodies desperately tried to reclaim the lost oxygen."

“I’d say yes a hundred times over,” you breathed out, “but let’s save that for after we meet the in-laws.”

“My parents have already scheduled a day for when we can go to Namhae,” he eagerly replied to which you hastily leaned back, nearly sending you both tumbling over.

“San! I swear you’re unbelievable.”

“Unbelievably in love with you.”

Lips swollen, eyes welling with joy and hearts beating erratically, the world paused as you looked at each other. The diploma neatly placed on your desk and the knowledge you had collected over the years seemed insignificant when the love you harbored for San could regrow burned forests, mend broken bridges and heal even the most shattered of hearts.

Living with San was nothing out of the ordinary, except that you saw each other more now that you lived under the same roof. Considering your shared apartment with Haneul was bigger than San’s, it only made sense for the Choi siblings to switch places. That way you kept your room and San took Haneul’s. You quickly realized you could��ve just moved into San’s apartment instead as neither ever went to sleep alone. More often than not, San would crawl into your bed, claiming it was cozier than his, but you knew even the ground would be a great sleeping place as long as you were in his arms. That was precisely what you wanted — to be in San’s arms. Instead you were working another night shift, the most hectic one since the fire incident a couple of weeks ago. 

A young man, no older than twenty, had been in a motorcycle crash, leaving him with severe pain and swelling in his right leg, which was pushed into an unnatural position. The skin was entirely torn off, exposing blood and muscle tissue. You had a suspicion about how severe the situation was, but it still called for an X-ray examination. As expected, the results confirmed multiple fractures of the femur and tibia, requiring surgery the next day at the latest. Changmin, as his driver’s license indicated, was in immense pain and even struggled with breathing difficulties into the night. This left you and your co-workers with no choice but to monitor him closely throughout the remainder of your shift. To say it was tiring would be an understatement. Your feet were so sore it felt like walking on a rug of medical needles and your back ached, begging you to lie in bed and not get up until the birds returned from Southeast Asia.

The only thing pushing you through the long day was the fact that you knew San was waiting on you at home. It didn’t matter if he was awake or not. Your tense muscles relaxed by the thought of burying your face in his chest and forget the world until your batteries were restored again. It became a routine for the both of you. When one had a more physically draining day at work, the other was ready to pamper them and make them feel completely taken care of. 

After a few failed attempts to insert the key into the door, you finally managed to unlock it. A stream of blue light illuminated the otherwise dark apartment and was accompanied by muffled voices coming from the living room. You haphazardly threw your shoes off, not bothering to neatly place them next to one of San’s hundred pairs of sneakers, and instinctively followed the animated sounds that belonged in a cartoon. 

The scene you were met with nearly brought you to tears. San was seated in the middle of the sofa, a fuzzy blanket thrown over his head and shoulders, with two mugs of hot cocoa steaming on the table in front of him. The bag slung over your shoulder slipped off and fell to the floor with a gentle thud. Your jacket — a gift from San’s closet — was at least two sizes too big, making you look like a bear ready to hibernate. The colorful scarf you had been wearing since your teenage years reached up to your nose. San whipped his head in your direction and his stoic expression softened into one of understanding at the sight of fresh tears coating your waterline. His lips curled into a small, reassuring smile that spoke more of compassion than words ever could. 

He quickly lifted one side of the blanket and beckoned you over with a gentle command. “C’mere honey.”

That was the last straw for your tears to start rolling. You wasted no time shedding your outer layers of clothing and curling into San’s side. A sob that you had been holding in throughout the entire car ride home vibrated against his chest. San ran his hand up and down your back while whispered praises tickled your ear. He planted a kiss on your crown and pulled you over him as he fell back against the couch. You adjusted yourself more comfortably, both legs falling on either side of his hips so as not to fall, and he swiftly maneuvered the blanket to shield you from the chilly atmosphere. The minutes ticked by and you had no perception of how long you stayed in that position, but your sobs eventually subdued to soft sniffling. 

“How did you know?”  You whispered, a tremble hanging onto your vocal chords, and sat up. 

San’s hands travelled to rest on your waist, thumbs rubbing circular motions into your flesh. “I just… felt you.”

“Felt me?”

He hummed, “I still do. Happiness, sadness, fear, anger — everything, right here.” His hand hovered over your heart and you understood. You really did. 

There was no scientific explanation for the emotional connection that kept you in tune with each other’s feelings. The unexpected pressure weighing down on your lungs at even the slightest discomfort or worry he experienced, like when he stumbled upon a video of a duckling being separated from its mother. It was uncanny how your heart soared hours before he came home with good news about a promotion, or the unexplainable sense of pride you had been carrying all day — only to discover it was coming from San, who had helped a kitten down from a tree. You’d never forget the day the bitter taste of dandelion greens spread across your tongue, only to find San lying in bed, caving under the weight of his blue emotions. The best part of the connection, though, would be the buckets of love pouring into your bucket as he hugged, kissed and worshipped you. However, there was one emotion you hadn’t received any signs of.

Your fingers found purchase on the hem of his shirt that rode up his stomach and revealed a sliver of the toned skin beneath. “I don’t feel… your anger.”

San flashed you a blinding smile and spurts of daffodils curved around your heart. “That’s because nothing makes me angry, love.”

“Really? Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

A beat passed and you sighed, “I’m always angry.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re angry, just… frustrated.”

“It’s practically the same thing,” you argued and continued fiddling with his shirt. He captured your hands in his and halted your anxious picking.

“It isn’t, not by definition. We feel frustrated when we are unable to progress, while anger is the response to something we perceive as wrong or harmful… You’re not angry, my love, you’re frustrated and probably overworked too.”

Your bottom lip caught between your teeth as you mulled over his words. It made sense, and you didn’t need to voice the comfort it brought you; he felt it. The unruly waves quieted to a steady push-and-pull, letting you breathe as the knot of emotions slowly untangled to nothing.

“You know, I’m supposed to be the older one out of the two of us.”

A hearty laugh filled the previously gloomy room, immediately illuminating the four cold walls, and San caught your waist again as he shifted, the echoes of his laughter filling the space.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. It'd be my honor to make you feel like a teenage girl again.”

That he did. It was almost embarrassing how his sweet gestures had you leaping face first into your pillows and rapidly firing your feet against the comforter. One would believe you were closer to being fifteen than thirty, and while you had a mild crisis, you were still grateful San brought that youthfulness out of you again. 

“Was it a rough day?”

The sentimental moment burst like a fragile soap bubble at the slightest of touches. You took a breath of air and San slid his hand further up your wrists, placing his thumbs in the center of your palms while the remainder of his fingers wrapped around the back of your hand. It was grounding and kept you from re-visiting the gut wrenching thoughts that plagued your mind while tending to the young patient.

“A young guy was rushed to the ER… He got into a motorcycle accident and flew maybe a good ten meters from the crash place, and totally fucked up his leg. It was by sheer luck he didn’t suffer head injuries, let alone injuries to the rest of his body.” 

You still saw the image of his bloodied body and torn clothes, a sight that would leave you with nightmares for days.

“He was in really critical condition, San. We couldn’t leave him alone for even one second. I’m talking about twenty four-hour care… He’s going into surgery tomorrow. He’ll survive, but it’s just... He reminded me of you. How you’re literally in danger every time you go to work and– and how easily I could lose– lose– lose–”

The words caught in your throat as your voice grew higher in pitch. San gave your hands another squeeze and pulled you back down onto him. You wasted no time burying your face in his neck and his arms automatically wrapped around you — one finding purchase at the back of your head while the other securely encircled your back.

“I don’t want to lose you, San.”

“You won’t lose me, love.”

“You don’t know that!”

“What I know is that I always do my best to come back to you in one piece. To my home, no?” The hand that had been placed against your head wrapped around the back of your neck and gently massaged it.

Like a flower opening up to catch the first few sun rays of the day, you put your heart out and allowed San a glimpse of what was inside. 

“It just scared me,” you said between shuddering breaths. “Anything could happen, San, and I don’t know what I’d do with myself if you–”

“Honey.” His voice wasn’t stern, but it held a certain finality to it. As gentle as a newborn kitten, he carefully eased you back, pulling you away from where your face had been pressed against his neck. With a soft motion, he tilted your head slightly, getting a better look at your face.“Thinking of the what ifs isn’t good for anyone.”

You wanted to reply with an ‘I know’, but you knew better than to lie to him. 

He wiped a stray tear off your cheek and you nuzzled against his palm. “Look, I love that you think you need me, but it’s not true. We managed more than fine on our own and just because we’ve found each other doesn’t mean we can’t function alone anymore… I love that you feel comfortable enough to lean on me, darling, but at the end of the day, you’re strong because of who you are and not because I’m here.

“And if, but just if, anything were to happen to me, I need you to know that you aren’t alone. You’d still have Haneul there. My parents. Your parents. Nurse Kim and Nurse Hwang too. That’s eight more people than me.”

Your hand enveloped his cradling your cheek. “I don’t want to think of a life without you in it.”

“Good because you’re stuck with me forever and ever and ever and ever!”

A wet giggle sounded through the living room and San’s rough chuckle blended perfectly with your sweet hiccups. Overwhelmed by the affection filling your humble abode, successfully warming every corner of the apartment, you intertwined your fingers behind San’s neck and determinedly pulled him into a heart-searing kiss. Your mouths molded together in a perfect fit, much like the famous art piece by Auguste Rodin. The sculpture representing a pair of lovers destined to remain together forever, until parted by death.

San breathed life into you with simple gestures that could restore chivalry. His eyes finding yours in a crowded room, silently checking up on you as you were both tugged in opposite directions by your mutual friends. Walking the empty streets after a successful date night, the gentle brush of his fingers skimming over yours before slipping between the gaps and pulling your hand into the pocket of his coat with the excuse of keeping you warm. Slothing his front to your back in the solitude of your home as you’d be too busy for a long cuddle session on the couch. Not to mention the kisses spread throughout the day—morning, noon, and night. He’d see you off with a peck and welcome you with the same sentiment, wishing you a good night or day before taking off.

The memories you collected during your still-new relationship pushed you forward, giving you hope and belief that you were going to get through this. San’s promise of never leaving — intentionally or unintentionally — comforted you and the dreadful thoughts hadn't returned, and hopefully, they wouldn’t ever. But if they ever did reoccur, you knew San would be there to chase them away.

© HONGJOONGSPOETRY 2025. All rights reserved. Copying, editing, reposting or translating my work is not allowed.

[redhandedstag]

005 , SPLASH OF RED

. . . dark, single muse template: 8 pages, includes magic ability info. has a title page, character basics and personality description on the second page, appearance description and personality notes on the third, appearance and magic notes on the fourth, a connections page to showcase characters they know, 2 pages for backstory and an extras page where you can pretty much put anything you want, so long as you keep the credit. this document is mobile friendly! the line colours are default ones. if you're using, please keep the credit and consider a like and reblog. goes a long way to help creators out! HOW TO USE this doc uses a few tables so i suggest having some knowledge on how they work if you plan on editing anything about the appearance of them. i also recommend keeping your text around the same number of lines as shown in the template. it prevents the doc from going all wonky! to edit the images, click the original image and select the "replace image" button. i suggest making sure the images you want to add are a similar style to the original - similar size or shape. the red star symbols/emojis are for inserting links. copy your link, highlight the star, click the little 'insert link' button, and insert your link - I like to change the colour of my stars once the link is filled in, but you don't have to. PC Once you have the document open, go to the top bar and click "file". There will be a "make a copy button" that appears third down from the list. Then you can name your version of the document and go from there! MOBILE Open the document in your standard browser and click the 'open in app' button. From there, click the "..." button at the top right corner and select "share & export" button. Then you can select "make a copy" at the bottom of the list and you can go from there! after that you should be good to go! if you have any questions or issues that arise, please let me know. keep in mind I'm not too active on this site, so if i haven't noticed your question, i'm not ignoring you! just haven't seen it. have fun!

[crispys-records]

john walker's helmet-to-beret uniform change: a uniform analysis by a guy who frankly knows very little about marvel

as a reference, i never really read any of the marvel comics as a kid depicting john walker as either captain america or u.s. agent. i did NOT watch falcon and the winter soldier until after i watched thunderbolts which may or may not be an insane watch order. but the little things i do know give me the tiniest bit of confidence to make this analysis, because its got very little to do with him as a character and more in the way he is portrayed to other people.

still, im a little out of my league here, so if this is total bullshit, common knowledge, or both, you can... call me mean things in my ask box i guess

lets start with his first, captain america-esque uniform.

when you look at steve rogers, the star is in the center of his chest, and he has both red and white stripes vertically on his stomach. although with a little more embelishments, sam wilson has the same kind of set up, sort of hammering home the fact that he's following in steve's footsteps and carrying his legacy. on the other hand, john walker's initial uniform has the star on the right side of his uniform and there are only red stripes horizontally across his chest.

comparing the "real captain america" uniform to the john walker one, there are some pretty easy patterns i can connect here. for starters, the fact that the uniforms are different brings to mind john's hopes about being captain america--that he isnt there to be another steve rogers. he wants to be his own captain america, so obviously, he would have a different uniform. also, the fact that john walker, steve rogers, and sam wilson are very different people can also be seen in that.

going a bit deeper, let's look at the designs themselves. steve's, and sam's, uniform is more symmetrical, more controlled and neat. it shows a more level-headed approach to the title of captain america, and represents steve's nature. on the other hand, john's uniform is skewed to one side. when he faces the camera, the star is on the left, which is where your heart is. john is more emotional, less controlled and calm than steve rogers was. he loses himself to rage and emotion. and then he kills someone in front of the public, and now the blood that he spilled will be a part of his image forever. theres no white on his uniform to stain. theres only red stripes.

now, i didn't even realize this until i started watching falcon and the winter solider, but his uniform actually changes at the end of the series going into thunderbolts. he has white stripes now. and oh my god, am i going to unpack that.

the fact that there are now white stripes shows a change in character. john goes through this character arc in the show which kind of goes to shit in thunderbolts but thats just him getting the ghostbusters "every movie has to start with them at rock bottom even if things start looking fine at the end of the last movie" treatment. i think john, as he steps away from the mantle of captain america, starts allowing himself to be hateful. while before, it was more of a struggle to be "righteous", to be the government's golden boy. so imagine that now, hes not the governments perfect soldier anymore. hes a disillusioned mercenary, down on his luck and coming out of a post-captain america spiral, and obviously hes letting whatever kind of resentment he had boiling during fatws dictate him. it cements him as a human character, like steve. he's strong and hes righteous and hes just. hes also miserable and angry and an asshole.

also, notice how in the dark, the only thing you can see is the white stripes? how the red, which was brighter in his first uniform, is obscured in the dark? im cornplating, sorry

and finally, the thunderbolts after credits scene uniform which i had to scour many a john walker fan account and fan blog for (ty guys i love you all).

it hasn't really changed much, apart from the lack of a star (replaced by an A) which i think could signify his full seperation from the us government. theres no longer a part of him that glorifies it, not after valentina tried to kill them more than once. like yelena threatened when val announced the Avengers: they own the government now. he doesnt have to worry about being that perfect government pawn, although he probably still will worry about being perfect human, because all he has to do is say "no, i wont fight this country ending disaster for you" and the government is toast.

also, the helmets, which i just thought was so cool to think about.

in the beginning, his helmet is pretty much a near one-to-one replica of steve roger's helmet. its smooth, its hard. it covers up his face, shows the bare minimum facial structures: two eyes, a nose, a mouth. it shows only what people want to see, the A on the front, for America. this is not john walker. this is Captain America, a hero for the people. a hero meant to replace the one that they lost.

as u.s. agent, his helmet is still the smooth, undefining helmet, but its lost the A. because like valentina says, they don't need a captain america anymore. she just needs a soldier who can do the dirty work for her. it obscures the wearer, and takes away the definition, leaving just a nameless figure. because u.s. agent isn't meant to be a public hero, just a soldier.

for a majority of thunderbolts, john walker doesnt wear his helmet. the helmet was originally something to hide behind, but he's not hiding behind anything througout the movie, and it shows. his divorce, his spiral, its all out in the open for bob and the rest of the team to disect. hes not trying to pretend to be nice, he's bitter and miserable.

and then, in the post-credits scene, he's wearing that stupid little beret which is so cute. im giggling just thinking about it. the symbolism is kind of obvious here. val or john, or both, decided that they're done trying to hide john's true persona from the public. his whole thing is that hes not captain america, hes a shitty, grittier, worse thing. so instead of hiding his face, they leave it out in the open, but they dress it up a little so that he doesnt look like a total deplorable freak to the citizens of the us. its all a little pr.

for all the hate that the beret gets, i do kind of like how it ties up john's character arc.

if youve made it to the end of what is kind of a really impromptu essay then thank you... im very unlikely to write thinkpieces like this again until we get more new avengers content or until i watch something about one of the characters that makes me think, like Black Widow or rewatching Antman and the Wasp. anyways thanks for reading

[skyedancer2006]

Ok so Cookie Run hyperfix go brrrr I wanna talk about the Beasts for a bit :)

I’m absolutely loving these guys so far; they’re such good mirrors of each of the Ancient Heroes (especially Shadow Milk to Pure Vanilla, but that’s a topic plenty of people have talked about before lol). Them being negative flips on the Ancients’ virtues, showing how even things like Knowledge and Resolution can have harmful sides, is something I enjoy a lot, and I’m looking forward to what the game does with Eternal Sugar and Silent Salt once they release.

Right now though I want to ramble about their title: Beasts. Why are they called the Beasts? Aside from the mass destruction and chaos they caused, the name doesn’t seem all that fitting. They aren’t animalistic in any inherent way; they aren’t “mindless beasts” as the saying goes. They were former heroes and saviors that had a fall from grace.

I’ve seen some fan works giving them more beastly forms they can change into like the Dragon Cookies do. And if anyone knows me, you know I love a good old transforming/shapeshifting character! So I latched on to this headcanon real quick, cause honestly it would make their title make a lot more sense. Also it’s just cool :)

So, what sort of creatures would these theoretical other forms resemble? Time to analyze each character, their design inspirations, their symbolism, and more to determine this. This got long, so I’ll put it under a cut

Shadow Milk already has a very clear connection to snakes, both through the religious symbolism with the Garden of Eden (which is seen in his gacha animation via a snake eating an apple; image below), and with snakes often representing lies and trickery; Deceit.

So him being something snake-like is the obvious choice.

Mystic Flour is also relatively easy: spiders. There is an abundance of spider enemies in the Pagoda areas, with the boss of the first half being the Webbed Spider Queen:

This spider already bears a resemblance to Mystic Flour, with its abdomen having markings that look like her face and Soul Jam. It also comes out of Mystic Flour’s cocoon, which honestly looks like the stereotypical “spider cocooned its prey” depiction, background webs and all.

Mystic Flour cookie’s philosophy about enlightenment and letting go of worldly desires is heavily based on Buddhist beliefs, and spiders actually do have some symbolism in Buddhism and the Vedic philosophy from India. In the Vedas, spiders are depicted as hiding reality in illusion, similar to the illusory perfection Mystic Flour creates. And a spider web is a common way of explaining the Buddhist concept of interpenetration; all phenomena in the universe being interconnected. Less connection to Mystic Flour there, but I wanted to note it.

Burning Spice also has religious symbolism behind him, this time coming from Hinduism. He is heavily based on the destruction deity Shiva’s more wrathful depictions. In Hinduism, destruction is more of a neutral force; part of the balance of the universe along with creation and preservation (the deities Brahma and Vishnu respectively). Burning Spice being such a harsh inversion of that neutrality fits the Beasts’ theme of being twisted virtues.

Shiva has a few animals associated with him, such as bulls, cobras, deer, and the one most important for this discussion: the tiger. Burning Spice already has stripe markings on his arms, and his main follower that we see in the game is Nutmeg Tiger Cookie.

Making Burning Spice a tiger would be a bit odd because of Nutmeg Tiger’s existence as one of his followers, but the idea of a giant, wrathful, firey tiger is just too perfect for Burning Spice in my eyes. Maybe add in some bull features to make him stand apart a bit more.

Eternal Sugar and Silent Salt I can’t really do much with yet since we don’t know anything about them other than their respective corrupted virtues, being Sloth and Silence. Eternal Sugar’s design seems to have an Angel and Devil theming, so perhaps some sort of bird? And Silent Salt I have absolutely no ideas for. I’ll have to figure these two out once they get added to the game and we learn more about them.

Anyways, hope yall enjoyed this silly analysis thing :) Also take a bonus doodle of snake/dragon Smilk that we did before making this post and that inspired us to write it in the first place lol (design still being workshopped; looking at him now we really should have made his hair into a cobra hood)

[weirdsht]

Disillusioned 1 . Horrible Intuition - Cale/Reader

notes: I'll try to update this once a week

tags: mild cursing

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Constructive criticisms and any kind of interaction are more than welcome

Requests are open and welcome

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Navigation Masterlist prev . next

Kim Rok Soo’s knowledge about the new world he is in was all from the novel titled ‘Birth of a Hero’. That and whatever he had read in his study at the Henituse castle.

So when those reddish-brown eyes of his landed on an unknown figure that looked important, he was confused. Good thing Eric Wheelsman has his back, aware that his dongsaeng is not up to date in whatever’s going on in the capital.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard of them but that’s _____ Perduellio, known as Roan Kingdom's Medicus[1], and they are a northeasterner too. They have been adopted by the Perduellio family who is aligned with the Gyerre Duchy.”

The person in question was busy running around healing whoever they could. They were wearing a white robe that reminded Cale of Ancient Greece or Egypt[2]. However, this one looks more luxurious as unnecessary details have been added such as gold linings, sash, beads, and crystals.

Despite all those details what caught Cale Henituse's attention was not their clothing. Rather, the number of guards they have following them.

“It is said that they have a weak body so they have guards everywhere. The story was that the Perduellio couple encountered _____ on the streets when they were 4 years old and immediately felt a connection that’s why they were adopted. Then 5 years later, they manifested a healing ability that seems to be a blessing from the Sun God. Oh, they can also perform small light tricks. In fact, I think they were supposed to showcase some of it today.”

Midway through Eric’s words Cale had stopped paying attention. Instead, he observes the adopted Perduellio. Eric might say that the guards are there for _____’s safety, but to the redhead, it looks as though they are guarding a criminal.

‘Oh well it’s not like I’ll meet them anytime so not my problem’

…Cale spoke too soon.

After the plaza incident, Crown Prince Alberu requested for that very same person to be Cale’s healer. It was to strengthen that image of the crown providing the young master of the Henituse County with the best as he recovered. 

While Cale understands and agrees with the intention, he has a hunch that this decision will smack him in the back later.

“Don’t worry young master, I know all information about young master _____ and have deemed them safe! Actually, the second child of the Perduellio family is said to be something akin to an unofficial maiden of the Sun God. The only reason it’s unofficial is because they are not officially affiliated with the Sun God Church as the Perduellio’s said their health would not be able to handle it.”

Cale, who is now relaxed and lying down on a bed meant for foreign officials, became a bit interested in this fact. Even though the Roan Kingdom has no official religion, families would still consider it a great honour if one of their relatives were deemed a saint or a holy maiden.

“The young master also doesn’t have to worry about political battles. Even though the Perduellios support the third prince, young master _____ is known for not taking any political sides. This is especially true when it comes to helping those in need. It is also why the young master is famous even with the common people.”

What Hans said brought some relief to Cale’s mind. He already has enough on his plate and he doesn’t want to add to it by joining a political strife. But even if he did he’s sure he could make the crown prince act as his shield. 

Hans finishes his report by saying that Cale is to be healed 2 times before the King gathers everyone and makes a proclamation. Each session will last up to 30 minutes only. This was because the crown prince insisted that no guard shall enter Cale’s room while _____ is healing him. The limited time is the Perduellio County’s compromise as they reasoned they don’t want _____ to become sick.

“Humans are odd, why are they healing other people when they are sick? Well, you weak human also save people when you are weak yourself…”

Cale pays no attention to the black dragon’s ramblings in his head as he observes _____ who has come to heal him. 

“That’s odd, I thought the guards were for that human’s safety. Why do they look more relaxed now that those guards are gone?”

He can’t hear anything. Cale can’t hear anything. Blah. Blah. Blah.

He doesn’t need to know any more unnecessary details that might potentially hinder his slacker life. He has already heard too much about the crown prince, no need to find out secrets about this healer that weren’t even mentioned in the book.

However, he can’t deny that the guards are acting odd. They are too strict with the time, and instead of it looking like they are worried. To Cale, it looks as if Roan's Medicus is a prisoner who’s granted limited visiting time.

During the two sessions everyone, Cale and the children averaging 7 years old, could tell that the healer knew that Cale was fine and didn’t need to be healed. This is more prominent by how the only thing they seem to be doing is removing Cale’s stomachache from eating while lying down and replenishing his energy.

Speaking of replenishing his energy.

The Vitality of the Heart works wonders when it comes to keeping Cale in tip-top condition 24/7. However, _____ makes him feel more refreshed. Every time the healer replenishes his energy he feels as though he has taken a particularly good bath. As if he was soaking in freshwater where the temperature was just right. 

Weird considering that their power is supposed to be from the Sun God.

“Human this is weird! That human seems to be using a new power, but don’t worry this great and mighty being can tell that it isn’t dangerous!”

Maybe if Cale tries really hard enough then he will not hear unnecessary comments that can jeopardise his slacker life…

“This is our last session correct?”

“Yes, uhm as you already know young master Cale, this will be the last time I get to officially check on you. You seem to be fine now but try to rest if you can. I heard that you’re going sightseeing in the Ubarr territory, I hope the sea can help you relax.”

Their soft and gentle voice along with tempting words about resting, slacking off in Cale’s vocabulary, sounded like music to the young man’s ears. Unfortunately, his itinerary in the Ubarr territory doesn’t line up with the doctor’s prescription.

“Really weird… Now that I pay more attention to it, they kinda smell like you human…”

But first, Cale is going to pretend to be deaf for his sanity…

Also, smell? Again? Just what does he smell like? First, it was the crown prince, then it was this baby dragon. Why does everyone have questions regarding smell?

In any case, it’s not like they’ll meet again right?

Wrong again! 

Cale was unfortunate enough to encounter the healer again while they were in the Dubori territory of the Caro Kingdom. Poor Cale was planning to pretend he didn’t see anything. But since his luck seemed negative, they made eye contact as soon as he thought of his great plan.

Well, it’s only right to properly greet his healer back in the capital right?

“I didn’t expect to see you here young master _____ much less without guards.”

“Ah no young master Cale, I still have them. They are just currently changing shifts so I have a few minutes to myself.”

A few minutes to themself… Perduellio’s adopted child said in their usual soft, gentle, and almost inaudible voice that Cale wouldn’t have caught it if they weren’t in close proximity. Cale had known since back at the capital how soft-spoken _____ was but didn’t expect that it would be this difficult to hear them.

However, he still caught and heard those words.

Words that again, sound as though there’s more to _____ than being the precious adopted child of the Perduellio’s family.

“However young master Cale, you look as though you are going beyond the territory walls. Please be careful as I’ve read about a phenomenon occasionally happening there.”

“What could that be?”

“I’ve read in an ancient text that dead mana rises there sometimes, but no one knows when it happens…”

_____ suddenly stopped speaking as they noticed a few things:

Their guards are coming over, and;

Tasha caught their eye

“Oh seems like my guards are here. Also, I would like to apologise as I didn’t realise…”

The usual prim and proper _____ is now rushing to get back to their guards making Cale unable to hear the last bit of their sentence. 

Good thing the invisible black dragon did.

“Human! That weird human knows that Tasha is a Dark Elf! While they were bowing to you I heard them say ‘I would like to say sorry as I didn’t realize you have a Dark Elf with you’.”

What now? Cale couldn’t comprehend how _____, whose supposed power was only healing and light magic tricks could know. So he asked Tasha if any nobles knew about her.

“Me as a Dark Elf? No way young master, that’s like asking for a death sentence. However, I am a bit close to Perduellio’s blessed child. Even though they are blessed by the Sun God, their healing powers don't have any purification in them.”

Safe to assume that _____ has known about Tasha for quite a while now but hasn’t said anything.

Cale can feel an additional headache coming. He has a hunch that this would be far from the last time he deals with that healer.

And wouldn’t you know…

Not even a day later Cale encounters _____ again. This time it’s in the most unlikely place you’ll see a child of the Sun God would be. 

The City of the Dark Elves.

Or the City of Life as they named it.

It was a peaceful morning, their stay in the City of Life was extended because of the dead mana rising. Despite that, Cale didn’t mind as he planned to take this chance to sightsee and talk to the necromancer. 

“Young master Cale, young master _____ is now in our healing ward. I don’t know what happened to them but they seem to be in bad shape. I figured I’d let you know as they were your healer previously. I have also sent a message to the crown prince.”

…Who would have thought the first thing Cale gets to sightsee in this city of life is this world’s version of a hospital.

‘Ah damn it, why is my intuition always right?!’

[1] Medicus is the Latin term for healer that stemmed from Medeor that means to heal or cure

[2] my main vision was Claude de Alger Obelia's clothes minus the chest window lol

[mj-ackerman]

Translation of Tatsuya Endo's Interview with Katsumaru: (You can read the original here X)

Katsumaru: My wife and child are both big fans of "Spy x Family", so they were both excited for me to be able to meet you today. Why did you choose the theme "Spy" in the first place?

Endo: I didn't have any particular desire to draw a spy story or something like that, but I had always liked military kinds of things and was interested in war related things, so when I combined those aspects with the theme of "lies", it naturally ended up as a spy story. However, I haven't seen many spy movies, and for movies like "007", I've only seen one or two of them.

Katsumaru: What? Really? The information about spies that appears in the story, even for someone like me who's been an avid follower of the genre, gives an impression that it's very well thought out. How on earth did you acquire such knowledge?

Endo: Most of it is from books. And then some of it is from documentary films and the likes. There was an old movie called "Shiri" (This is a 1999 Korean film), it's about the battle between North Korean Special Operation Forces and South Korean Intelligence Agency. I liked that very much.

Katsumaru: The setting, in which the husband, Loid, is a spy and the wife, Yor, is an assassin, reminded me of the movie "Mr & Mrs Smith"

Endo: When the series was just starting, I see that title being mentioned a lot in the comments, but to be honest I've never seen it before....(Laughs). I didn't have much time to prepare for the serialization, and since it's a comedy, I thought I didn't have to be that particular about the settings as I drew it. I incorporated the knowledge I had gained from books, but since it's still a manga, I kept the "No way, that's impossible" aspects to it.

Katsumaru: I think it has a really good balance between realistic depiction and entertainment. Spies are part of everyday life, and some of them even established a "fake family" as in "SPY X FAMILY". In reality, there are cases where married couples had been living together without realizing that their husbands are spies.

Endo: That balance is what I pay the most attention to. I guess you can say it's a process of determining the "minimum level of reality" in each scene.

Katsumaru: How concerned are you about the difference between "reality and manga", Endo-sensei?

Endo: This one is difficult. It's a case by case basis, but in manga, there are many parts where I can just go "let's fake the reality at this part for the time being". When you're working alone, you don't have time to do research about this or that fact. However, in anime, you have to create much more detailed settings, so there isn't much room to put on tricks. When the anime team would ask me "What would happen in this part?" I would often reply with "I'm sorry but I haven't thought about it yet...." (Laughs).

Katsumaru: Have you not strictly defined the scene or time period the story is set in yet?

Endo: I had the image of the period setting somewhere between the 1960s and 1970s. I'm trying to explore what I can do with the technologies in this era thinking "This technology might be possible". I also have softened the reality of things, such as the political form. The cold war between the East and West is also part of the motif, but if you just tell the readers that "it's a conflict of ideologies" , it won't make sense to them. So, I put it into a form that is easy to understand as a manga, there are also some parts that I, myself don't know about after all. Similarly, in the real world, for example, spies probably have very few horizontal connections, right? Like for security reasons. However, as a manga, in order to develop the story, it was necessary for me to depict conversations between spies. All the more that this is a comedy story, so it wouldn't work without conversation. It's difficult to find the right flavor between the two.

Katsumaru: It's pretty unique that you came up with the name "Dalc" which is similar to the name of the currency "Mark" (It's Deutsche Mark which is no longer in use since 2002) used in Germany.

Endo: It's actually a combination of "Mark" and "Dollar". I often use names of places and buildings that actually exist in real life. However, I have a pretty bad memory, so I often ask myself later "Where did I get the name of this place again?" (Laughs)

Katsumaru: Is there any expert historical research or supervision of intelligence agencies involved in this?

Endo: I basically think about all the detailed settings all by myself.

Katsumaru: Since the real-life aspects are well-constructed, I thought an expert in international politics was involved in supervising this.

Endo: There are also some readers who read too deep into the historical situation, but I didn't actually put much thought into the details in writing the story. This is just a fictional country called "Westalis and Ostania" after all.

Katsumaru: In "Spy x Family", there are some Russian-speaking names such as "Anya" and "Yuri" that appears, but spies in that country uses more analog method. For example, "flash contact", in which documents are handed over to another person as they pass each other, or a "drop dead", in which documents are hidden in an agreed-upon location and later picked up by a colleague. There is also a method for communication. Although this method is considered extremely inefficient, it is sometimes considered to be highly secure because it prevents interception of communications.

Endo: So there's still that kind of analogs even now huh? Now that technology has developed and everything is digitalized, I certainly think it's much safer now. In other countries, there are organization such as M16 (United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service) and CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency), Japan also has organizations with such characteristics.

Katsumaru: The "Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau (Public Safety)", where I worked, is the counterintelligence arm of Japan. In "VIVANT" (It's a 2023 Japanese Drama), which I supervised, Hiroshi Abe and Ryo Ryusei are playing roles with these type of characters. We have obtained as collaborators people who have a lot of information and people who are in position to meet various people such as reporter.

The only problem was that we didn't have enough people. The CIA has a large number of subordinates under it's station chief, and a large budget. When I was temporary transfered to a Japanese embassy overseas, I was alone, my budget was limited, and I was also reponsible for issuing passports, so there is no doubt that working at an intelligence agency overseas with better environment had allowed me to concentrate more on my mission.

Endo: Do you hire locals overseas?

Katsumaru: There are times when we ask locals to work with us by paying them a reward. Or, we can ask them to connect us with people who has information. The Public Safety is very good at finding and training people who can bring good quality information and can do good work.

[chromatic-lamina]

chapter 1107 spoilers

Howabout that cover? Howaboutthat cover? How ABOUT that cover?

Bepo, with a lovely warming pot of tea (or a kettle at least), and a club? (to protect the captain?), finds him skiving off with a snow leopard, a funnel, and maybe an empty bottle of Vodka. Chapter title is: "I've been looking for you", and it refers to the giants, I think, looking for the Straw Hats, and Usopp (especially), looking (out) for the giants, and Catarina Devon doing what, exactly? But Caribou, snivelling little sop of a man that he is, looking out for Blackbeard (his current lord and saviour). But, I'm with Bepo, looking out for Law!

The Blackbeards' land on Egghead and St. Jay Garcia Saturn says he knows all about Blackbeard's background, and Catarina knows it too, and I think it's maybe something separate from the "D" initial, cos', after all, it is in Teach's public name. But we see Van Augur--(like, why is the anime captioning him as Van Ogre when Augur is written clearly on the screen? But anyway). The last time we saw him

was

here in chapter 1081 when Bepo went Sulong and escaped with Law. Most of us thought that Blackbeard's crew had been split in half because

it was assumed that events were happening concurrently, but

Van Augur and Catarina Devon are here (on Egghead), and perhaps Van Augur could have warped himself there, but here he says

he hasn't mastered the warp warp fruit enough to get him and Catarina off the island, so it's unlikely that he could have warped himself all the way from Winner Island. SO, did they pursue Law and Bepo, and the two are nearby, or with the giants, or, or, or? Or is there some other explanation (about Van Augur--I know that Law's whereabouts is still relegated to cover pages)? I'm not a close reader, so I'm happy to have anything pointed out.

But, looks like Catarina will be able to clone

Saturn, and looks as if Saturn knows it. Of course, this guy below (Caribou) would be relevant. Can't wait to see his role!

I'm out of order, of course! I don't think that Law got recaptured, but I still think there might be a giant connection. And speaking of the giants

Usopp's reaction was just

heartfelt, was, ahhh, my heart, and Nami and Chopper were really cute too. And yeah, it's been some time, so the quick recap was necessary. AND, lots of small things I just loved either for humour or poignancy, like:

Brook abandoning everything for the sake of a cup of tea (even though he says he wasn't stopping for a cup of tea)---and Lilith sending forth messages (to raise the barrier, I'm guessing) because Brook is all too calm that the Sunny is heading towards the barrier, and bound to be fried by it. Lilith is not at all equipped for dealing with Straw Hat madness. And no-one can seriously out-machismo

Zoro. He's just too silly and strong. And!!!

the Pacifistas turn on the army, the army needing to suppress a workers' revolt. And that's Kuma in the bottom picture, isn't it? It looks like Kuzan, but PX is written on the cap, I think, in the picture. Again, let me know, please!

Bonney just

being in awe that

she gets to see Nika (and Nika teaches her how to throw a rubber punch, extra future bad news for Saturn, I hope). And

Kuma and Vegapunk (what's the far right image?) take in Nika too. Love Franky's way with words here:

telling Bonney she needs make use of her legs, and Vegapunk decides he's gonna stay (or die), and Borsalino's gonna make sure of it. But!

the power of love is all pervasive! (at least when Sanji's wearing the boots). Although his love was used for protecting Bonney rather than Vegapunk, and probably has more to do with Germa modifications than love, but it is Sanji's motivator, and attacks Kizaru's knowledge of "how things work"!

Kizaru/Borsalino's face in the first panel really shows how much power he's losing. Sentomaru took a path Kizaru could have taken, but didn't. He's following Bellamy's path, so it'll be interesting to see where he ends up. Because he's too smart to be a blind lackey. Being an aware lackey is some powerful conditioning/mental gymnastics.

And I think that's about it. Hoping Kid gets a cover page soon too!

[spiderin-space]

“Aynno had lost her physical abilities but retained her quick wit; Shamura’s mind was broken, but their body was still whole. What an odd little pair they made.”

“Aynno has been taking things one step at a time, ever since she was indoctrinated into The Cult of The Lamb. Once a Darkwood librarian, she now serves as the curator of the God of Death’s collections, serving them after they rescued her from the ashes of her old village. She thought her life was finally returning to normal… that is, until The Lamb approaches her, asking for her help with easing one of the infamous Bishops into their mortal existence. It’s no simple task: Shamura is of course well known for their ruthlessness, and they aren’t afraid of showing it to Aynno either. But as the weeks turn into months, the pair slowly begin to learn that first impressions aren’t always accurate… and that they share more history together than they may realize.”

~

YIPPPEEEEE I am Cringe but I am Free .

~

I’m gonna be real honest, I don’t expect many people to read this oneskdk considering how niche it is 😩 I p much wrote this solely for myself as a way to develop/build on their relationship because I Will kiss that spider if it kills me (it probably would tbh)

But on the off chance someone is interested…

~

Aynno didn’t have much going for her, a scrappy little stag librarian in her tiny Darkwood village, so small it felt like even Leshy himself forgot about them at times. But that all changed, after the Bishop of Chaos was slain by The Lamb. Left scarred (both physically and mentally) following the upheaval, she was taken in by the kindly sheep, and even offered her old occupation once it became clear she was too disabled to perform normal labor around the cult. And things were going good, as she slowly learned how to live again…

…At least, until the Bishop of War and Wisdom is brought into The Cult of The Lamb. Sensing that Shamura may have a more difficult time adjusting to cult life, The Lamb seeks out Aynno, believing her connection to books and knowledge may serve to help ease them into their new existence. At first, they want nothing to do with the deer, seeing her as merely a babysitter who’s only purpose is to keep them in line. But as the pair slowly open up to one another, they begin to realize that maybe, just maybe…

…mortal life is worth living for.

~

As with all of my works, I’m going to start uploading chapters onto my AO3 next Wednesday!! (Also as a little bonus, this particular story is going to be building off one of my previous fanfics, After The End, if yall wanna get a head start for context 👀)

~

Even though this is extremely self-indulgent, I hope yall will give it a read!! And I’ll see yall on Wednesday!! :3 💛

(Title image with no words below the cut)

[becauseimanicequeen]

4 Minutes Theories (Ep. 1-8) Results

The finale was last night, so I thought I would do one last theories post where I gather all the theories I've had since the trailer and the teaser (which were kind of sweeping since the trailer and teaser didn't give me much to get super detailed about), including the theories from episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, episode 4, episode 5, episode 6, episode 7, and some wild-ass theories I posted in between these posts and episodes. Let's see how wrong I was throughout the show.

Pre-premiere theory: The moments Great sees ahead of time are moments that might help him redeem himself from a past mistake/transgression. (Confirmed)

I could argue that Great's do-overs were based on an obstinate need to "prove" to Tyme that he's not a coward, but I won't (lol).

Pre-premiere theory: The car accident is the trigger for Great’s visions. (Confirmed)

Pre-premiere theory: Title is involved with Korn. (Half-Confirmed)

I half-confirmed this since Title has a semi-connection to Korn through Great, Fasai, and Warit.

Pre-premiere theory: Win is battling some contrasting, opposing forces (internal and/or external). (Confirmed)

This theory was based on the background of the poster for JJay/Win. I solely based it on the red and green contrasting colors.

Ever since it was revealed in the 2nd episode that Win works for the police, I've had the feeling that the contrasting forces he's battling are his attachment/feelings for Tonkla and his duty to uphold the law.

Considering he went rogue to find out who killed Dome, practically gave Tonkla the knowledge of whom killed Dome, and yet tried to arrest him (not to mention shooting him when he got in the line of fire), just to name a few things, I would say that this idiot has been struggling the whole time.

Pre-premiere theory: Den is a neurologist and friends with Tyme. (Half-Confirmed)

I half-confirmed this because I don't think it was ever confirmed that Den was a neurologist, right? I mean, all the brain scans in his office might be evidence that he is. But I half-confirmed it anyway.

Pre-premiere theory: Den has a situationship with Korn. (Wrong)

I kept this theory only because I wanted to see Bas and Job together. It was a delulu wish, and I will keep being delulu about this.

(I'm still on my "Non is alive" agenda, so I can keep this wish alive forever, lmao.)

Pre-premiere theory: Dome is a mystery person operating under the radar without showing his true alliance until the end. (Scrapped)

I scrapped this theory a long time ago.

Pre-premiere theory: Great and Win are brothers who will butt heads from time to time. (Wrong)

Pre-premiere theory: Fasai is the other character with a condition similar to Great’s. (Wrong)

I knew quite quickly that this wouldn't happen, but I kept it unconfirmed all the way to the end because you never know...

Also, it gave me an excuse to add some Fasai/Natty to my post, which is a win in itself!

Pre-premiere theory: Great’s (Bible’s) tattoos have something to do with the story. (Wrong)

I was sure this wouldn't come true ever since someone told me before the premier that those were Bible's real tattoos. But I kept this theory anyway because that meant I could use this image in all my posts:

So, even though I didn't "win" this theory, I still won.

Pre-premiere theory: Great becomes Korn’s target because he can see ahead of time. (Scrapped)

I scrapped this weeks ago.

Pre-premiere theory: Great hit the person with his car at 11:01 (or they died at 11:01) and that’s why he sees clocks stopping at that time. (Wrong)

Pre-premiere theory: 11:01 is when Great can see 4 minutes into the future. (Wrong)

Pre-premiere theory: Someone will die/fake their death. (Confirmed)

As I've written in the previous posts in this series on my 4 Minutes theories, this theory was pretty obvious from the start. Sammon kills characters all the time, lol.

But, I also mentioned in one of the previous posts that I won't confirm this theory until one of the more important characters dies (excluding Great and Tyme). The ones I thought would die were Dome, Title, and perhaps Korn.

I was right about all three of them, so I'm marking this one as confirmed.

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Great is having an out-of-body experience. (Confirmed)

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Korn will do some shady shit to prove to his dad that he can take over the family business. (Confirmed)

Korn definitely did some shady shit. Especially in the real past timeline we saw in the 6th episode. You can't convince me he didn't beat up Nan in that warehouse when he came out a wiped the blood off his hands. So, I will confirm this even though I really wanted to see more of what shady shit he got involved in to please his dad.

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Tonkla is at the center of it all. (Half-Confirmed)

This theory was based on the background of the poster for Fuaiz/Tonkla. At first, I thought he had a target on his back (which became true as soon as he became the prime suspect in Title's murder), but at one point, it felt like it developed more into Tonkla being at the center of this whole thing (like he was the spider in the web).

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that I would only confirm this if Tonkla's timeline was the real timeline (which it seemed to be, even though there were some anomalies in his timeline as well) and if he became the prime suspect in both Great's shooting and Title's death. Since he only became the prime suspect in Title's death, so I will only mark this as half-confirmed.

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Fasai has a connection with Korn. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Tonkla will betray Korn. (Confirmed)

I mentioned last week that I would only half-confirm this if shooting Great was the only betrayal we got. And I was totally fine with that. But then Tonkla said that he'd cheated on Korn when Korn was gone, which means that Tonkla himself thought of it as a betrayal. So I will confirm this.

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Great's visions of himself and Tyme are his present self's memories of their time together. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Great had a cardiac arrest/near-death experience at 11:00. (Confirmed)

Wild-ass pre-ep. 2 theory: Great will get Tyme's heart (after Tyme is shot). (Wrong)

I knew this wouldn't happen. (Besides, this wasn't the Transplant I wanted.)

Revised/developed wild-ass pre-ep. 2 theory: Tyme is having his own out-of-body experience. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Dome is Tonkla's brother. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Tyme has a precognitive ability similar to Great’s (or might develop one). (Wrong)

I was right that Tyme would also have an OOBE, and I was right that his heart also stopped at 11:00. But we never got to see any precognitive abilities from Tyme. So... Wrong.

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Fasai (and/or her father) is in league with someone within the police force. (Confirmed)

Well, Police Colonel Warit (who they called a general in the subs more than once, btw, but it said Pol.Col. Warit on him on MDL a couple of weeks ago when I needed to double-check on another character's name, so I'm going with Police Colonel) is one corrupt asshole. He's also a corrupt asshole that confirmed this theory for me. So, thank you? I guess?

Pre-ep. 3 theory: There are different timelines at play. (Confirmed)

Well, this one is pretty obvious, right? I've written a long ass post about my thoughts on the timelines and a post with the scenes in the first 6 episodes in chronological-ish order (including both the real past and the different timelines) and then one about Tonkla's timeline (ep. 1-7).

My theory included:

The real past/Tonkla's timeline

Great's OOBE

Tyme's OOBE

The present

A couple of weeks ago, I also wrote that I would only confirm this if I got the majority of these timelines confirmed, which I did.

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Great has 4 minutes to wake up/get his heart to start beating again. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Tyme is getting close to Great because of Great's family and their connection to the illegal gambling sites. (Confirmed)

Wild-ass pre-ep. 3 theory: The number 4 marks a character with death. (Confirmed)

The number 4 (which in Cantonese is pronounced very similarly to the word "death") marks characters with death.

The characters that came in contact with number 4:

Great, who was shot and flatlined at the hospital.

Tyme who was also shot.

Manee, who Great hit with his car and left to die.

Dome, who was killed by Title.

Title, who was murdered by Tonkla.

And the elderly lady in bed number 4 who, most likely, died because of her illness.

I previously wrote that I would confirm this if I got the majority correct. Also, I said that NDEs didn't count.

If I don't count Great and Tyme, I've got half right. But since I believe Great and Tyme didn't come back to life again, I have the majority correct. So, I'll confirm this theory.

Revised/developed pre-ep. 3 theory: Tyme is looking into the illegal gambling sites because his family fell victim to either them or Great's dad. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 4 theory: Great's actions during his OOBE won't change anything in the present. (Half-Confirmed)

I will half-confirm this because I'm still not sure whether Great's actions did help Tonkla hear his brother (or if Tonkla was in some weird ass timeline too). And I'm too tired of this show to keep thinking about it, lol.

Pre-ep. 4 theory: Tyme's choices in the real past are the reason Great is in the hospital having a cardiac arrest. (Scrapped)

I scrapped this weeks ago.

Pre-ep. 4 theory: The note saying "Can you forgive me, Great?" is written by the mystery woman in the gallery (Lukwa). (Wrong)

Too bad I didn't use my initial theory in these posts though, especially the part where I thought that particular note came from someone who talked to Great at the hospital in the present. It's just that the words were filtered through Great's mind, which is probably why the handwriting was different.

Anyway...

Pre-ep. 5 theory: The bodies the police find are the people who died in the real past. (Half-Confirmed)

I will only half-confirm this because I initially included the shareholder with the red umbrella in this theory as well (and that Nan's body would show up somewhere at some point). But I did get Dome and Title, so I'll half-confirm it.

Pre-ep. 7 theory: Tyme and Great met as kids (Confirmed)

I based this theory on how Tyme said "You're still afraid of dogs?" in ep. 6.

That was it. Now, let's look at the final results.

Final Results:

Total theories since the trailer: 36

Confirmed theories: 19

Half-Confirmed theories: 5

Wrong/scrapped theories: 12

(Btw, my stats should've included 37 theories, but I couldn't find the 37th in any of my posts, so I chose to omit it from this one.)

Well, that went a lot better than I expected from such an intricate story like this (with different timelines, questions, mysteries, etc.). I was not expecting to have more confirmed than wrong theories. Either way, I'm glad this is over because I need something else to fill my brainspace. (At least until the next Sammon show comes out in November, if I remember correctly.)

That's it for Ice Queen Holmes, at least for now. Over and out.

[supper-ansuta-broth]

Let's go over some interesting details regarding the Enstars x Project Sekai collaboration event!

First of all, I think it's important to note that this is the first time !!-era+ has made an actual event out of their collaborations. !-era had this happen a few times, but for the first time in nearly five years, it's happened again.

First of all, besides for April Fool's Day campaigns, very rarely does Enstars change their title screen background. Usually, it's just some CGs from their latest anniversary campaign (or, in 8th's case, whatever the most recent unit TRIP album is, but I sorta count those as anniversary cards too since they're limited and were in lieu of actual 8th anniversary cards). This collab, though, is one of the rare times it does change.

Another strange detail of this event is that it lasts longer than an event usually does. The login bonus has 9 daily rewards instead of the typical 8, most likely to account for the extra time new players coming from Project Sekai may need to join and get adjusted to the game.

For what is likely a similar reason, the tour portion of this event also requires far fewer stars to get to the milestone sets along the route than normal (25 and 65 stars respectively).

Another thing to note here is that there are only two available event cards as opposed to the usual four there are for tours (not counting the cards obtainable from the gacha).

Moving on briefly to Project Sekai, its portion of the serial code campaign requires players to attend a Connect Live (essentially a virtual concert), which requires a ticket purchased with currency that requires an in-app purchase to obtain. To my knowledge, this is the only campaign ever to require an in-app purchase to complete.

*Edit: Supposedly, although I did not personally hear of or see it, there was a Connect Live that was free to access. Still, this requires knowing of and attending a limited event in order to get a reward, which is still very rare.

Project Sekai also opts to use Enstars' default 2* renders for its graphics involving the characters...

...as opposed to Enstars using the transparent renders from its own collab cards.

There's a lot more I could say, but I'll end it off with the event work. Namely, these notes:

This is one of the rare instances of any work having a special background, for a collab or not. This has been done before, notably with Café Cinnamon, but it is quite uncommon.

This is one of (if not the) only work instances I know of that uses unique rigged chibi models for any character that is not a regular idol or one of the generic fan models.

This work provides significantly more ribbons as reward for performing well, notably 10 for gold presents instead of the regular 5 (not shown here due to Tumblr's limit on how many images you can add to a post on mobile) and 5 for Great talks instead of the regular 2.

This work is one of the few instances that requires a special outfit to enter, and provides patterns for an outfit as a reward, but not patterns to that specific required outfit. (That is, the outfit you need to get in is NOT the same outfit you can get more of as a reward.)

Despite having four available idols to participate in this event work, there are only two available slots. This is likely for two reasons: there are only two event cards, and there are already four extra models in the work.

There are plenty of other things as well, many of which I've probably missed, but these are the big ones I noticed. I could have put these all in separate posts, but I figured it was better to make one big one instead of flooding people's dashboards.

[raayllum]

Because @kradogsrats got me thinking about it with their Harrow and Pip and Viren meta so now I'm throwing in two adjacently related cents

The first is that there is absolutely a fucking Premonition going on with dreams in the show (specifically Viren and Callum's dark magic dreams as well as Janai's nightmare) which only makes sense because all of these are 1) connected to Aaravos and subsequently star magic, and 2) dark magic which loops right back around to Aaravos

There are multiple times that images and ideas are relayed to characters who would have no way of knowing these things in the present

For example, Viren is surprised and asks Kpp'Ar about his arm, even when we know that Viren was the last person to see Kpp'Ar before he got coined, and presumably would've already been hurt / Viren would've been aware it had happened. But that doesn't seem to be the case given the dialogue

This also means that the answer Kpp'Ar gives either has to be not truthful and purely something Viren concocted (about something he didn't know had happened), which wouldn't make sense from a character or an audience standpoint, because in an episode titled "Old Wounds" we're going to remember the one visible wound we see on screen. So if the wounds are real and Kpp'Ar is truthful, there's some wonky magic knowledge time space stuff going on (which does sound like Star and adjacent dark magic to me)

We see this again with Janai's dreams concerning Khessa evolving past the point of a reoccurring nightmare to one that actually gives her, again, what we're supposed to assume is the Truth, even though Janai was leagues away from Aaravos (although she did hear his voice) and the lack of discerning his whisper wouldn't suddenly go away for no reason

And we Know there's some overlap between the dark magic dreams and the current reality happening outside the dreams, considering Viren's material reality in 5x02-5x03 directly informs his dreaming reality ("You keep moving" -> "We have to keep moving" as one example)

Most notably with the flower, Claudia begins discarding it in the dream before she drops it in real life, with Claudia receiving the flower in real life before it appears with her in the dream. So the interplay is not consistent moving in one direction solely to the other, but very much does exist

We even see this noticeably (upon rewatches) with Callum's dark magic dreams featuring foreshadowing for future seasons. Not only does having the Key represent dark magic in the dream make extra sense because it is connected to Aaravos, who is also connected to dark magic of course, it likewise has the Ocean rune on display in particular, hinting at things that haven't yet come to pass, but things that very much will

Why does this matter? Well... when Harrow does show up in Callum's dark magic dream, he is notably chained down

Or, y'know, caged like a bird

Now, this could just be because TDP likes its poignant but hella on the nose symbolism on a regular basis. It likes to use a variety of symbols concerning freedom, with a multitude of metaphors just in this episode alone: navigating a storm and steering a ship; keys and chains; the key; and verbally, books to go along with the idea of fate and destiny being "written" or being rewritten by yourself. And I'm willing to bet that that's Most of it

But also... the Claudia with the flower, Kpp'Ar with his arm, the cube with the Ocean rune, and all that stuff... alongside how blithering little we know about Star magic at the present. Hopefully "Dreamer's Nightmare," which focuses the princes and a town beset by horrible nightmares pre-series and set to come out early August 2024, could give some answers if S6 hasn't dropped by then

Regardless leads me to my second thing regarding what actually happened in that goddamn kindly bedroom between Harrow and Viren (innuendo half intended)

I think Harrow's soul got split

The main reason this makes sense to me is twofold on a plot level and then there's 1-2 things thematically, but let's talk about the most concrete stuff first

1) There is a significant chunk of time between the last possible chance Viren could've done the spell and when we see the binding actually fall

Now to be fair, there's a delay between Runaan's binding falling off and Rayla's (because story constraints) but it's worth noting that as Runaan makes his way to the balcony, only then does it begin to loosen. He's left the room and (rightly) assumed his job is done probably because he knew he was growing weak and still needed to send the arrow, but it's clearly something that gave Harrow a bit of time to like, Live. If Harrow had fully died earlier than that in some capacity, the bindings would have fallen off ahead of time, so Runaan did something and we know (thanks to the Flowers) that Moonshadow elves can enchant objects tied to souls, not bodies, even if other people can be fooled by their appearances

So although the novelization and the show indicate that Viren did something shady as hell ("If Viren wanted to defy his former friend one last time, he'd have to do it tonight"), it isn't something that could've fully killed Harrow at that time

Hence the split. As Kradogsrats pointed out, the Soulfang serpent spell is something that due to the unique nature of the specimen as well as it's not exactly something you can practice (S4 even emphasizes how specific ingredients have to be sometimes in order for a spell to work correctly as well as multiple TDP short stories showing what can go wrong if you lose concentration) it was something that could've gone so wrong so easily.

Some of his soul had to have stayed in his body (but possibly left Harrow momentarily unconscious). Maybe Viren thought he had failed and killed him, and that would explain why he does nothing in the hallway while the assassins are attacking (he seems to kind of know but not fully get what Runaan's binding means in 1x08), although he does seem to have a hint of reservation about Callum being there in the hallway, which wouldn't make sense if he was sure that Harrow was dead, because then who was gonna give a shit that Callum was there?

Another part of his soul could've gone in the bird, as the Soulfang was in the room and so was Pip (quite prominently displayed). Viren at least attempting the spell and it being partially successful would explain why dream!Harrow imprisons him further (after all, why not let it be Kpp'Ar, who literally got coined?) in addition to Pip. Harrow has Runaan's arrow in him during the imprisonment scene as well, so it seems likely that both Viren and Runaan had an equal hand in ruining Harrow's body on that level

The main reason I can see there being at least a partial piece of Harrow's soul in Pip is well

2) Runaan and Ezran

Even if we disregard the thematic irony of Harrow being trapped in the physical symbol of freedom (a bird), there is the fact that Ezran being able to talk to animals is like... the biggest tell that something is coming around with this goddamn bird.

Like Ezran's ability to talk to animals thus far has not had a lot of plot relevance, okay, outside of season one. Like him with Ava and the spider is the last time it's directly core relevant in ways that would be hard to get around. Like his bond with Zym could exist regardless as well as seeing through his eyes. Even if being able to talk to animals absolutely helped set that up, it's not necessary for Ezran to have the communication ability per se to have what he has with Zym, and thus far even as more animals have been introduced (most notably Stella) it hasn't really come into play.

The main reason to give Ezran an ability like this is so that he can talk to Pip. The main reason to remove Pip from the castle as of S2 is because - even in the original plans where Ezran didn't go home in 2x09, he would still would have off screen after S3 and inevitably run into Pip. So there's clearly something with the bird that will become evident upon him interacting with Ezran, hence why they've been separated.

At the same time, I don't think Harrow can wholly be in the bird just because that removes some of Runaan's teeth (and Ezran's subsequent potential beef with him) in ways the show just... doesn't do? I always think about how easy it would've been for Harrow to have no knowledge of what Viren had done with the egg/Zym until it was already over (which 1x02 kinda indicates) only for 3x06 to go "No, Harrow was fully conscious and complicit, even if he had reservations and it wasn't his idea." Our mistakes indeed. So I don't think it'd make sense to let Runaan completely off the hook, especially when we just spent two seasons giving Viren an atonement arc and showing that he can grow and change (and it'll be Runaan's turn afterwards -- especially because within the narrative of the show, killing Harrow is the Only Tangibly Bad thing he's really done, so if he's absolved of that than he doesn't really have a point of being here to the same degree).

Continent Split in Two

If Harrow's soul was split in two, not only would reconciling that (aka maybe letting it Leave Pip, the way the Moonshadow troupe and Sarai's breath had to be released) be a way for the boys, particularly Ezran, to get another shot at processing their father's death... It would also reflect the divide of Xadia itself because of dark magic, and how that literal rift metaphorically, magically, and literally, is being healed and mended over.

It would also have an interesting parallel of Claudia (presumably whether Viren lives past s5 or not) having to likewise learn to let her father go and cope/grieve in a healthier manner, and it would mean that Harrow never comes back fully formed (because Ezran has to keep being King, narratively / arc wise) but we finally understand what truly happened to him.

[xluciifer]

EXTERMINATIONS AND WHY LUCIFER WAS THE CAUSE OF THEM OCCURING 👑:

Let's start from the beginning all the way back when Lucifer was God's favorite angel in Heaven, curated around the image of what God, himself, deemed as perfect, the example for all seraphim kind. This is strictly based off my own perception, headcanons and research diving into the many religions that depict Lucifer along with Viv's vision she's created into the show.

( LONG READ BELOW THE CUT. )

God is the all seeing eye; He can see past, present and future. If we use this consensus and connect it to Lucifer, who I have referred to as Samael based on some scriptures, religions or TV shows prior to his fall and banishment. God always knew of his path down to Sin. He knew very well and created Samael as an example, a scapegoat, and put him purposefully in a position for that fate to happen. Give him the responsibility of being the keeper to foresee life in Eden and connect with the creations he made, teach them and have Samael be the spokesperson for God.

Even if God knew what was to befall onto Samuel, this was all a hunting grounds, a test to see if his willpower and faith in God would counteract the fate he foresaw for his favorite angel. And his answer was set in stone. Before I get myself off track, Samael was known in Heaven as a prince, though his status often made him feel like a pariah, especially after his exposure to the first humans in Eden. He didn't see himself As Above, So Below them. His interactions with Adam, Lilith and Eve started to make him question not only how Heaven and God operated - but why. Samael wanted to make a difference, him falling for Lilith was something he, himself, didn't foresee but her incredible grasp in knowledge pushed him further to question; to want to make a difference.

However, in the eyes of God, it was seen as a betrayal of trust; especially after Samael took it upon himself to offer the one forbidden thing in Eden: The Tree of Knowledge, where the sacred fruit that Samael even warned the beings in Eden about, was now offering to them. The chance of Free Will. Although in some depictions, Samael offered the fruit to Eve first, I'm going off Viv's vision that he offered it to Lilith first. Who, with Lilith's help, offered it also to Eve. Who then offered it to the wary one out of the bunch, Adam.

We all know what happens from here. God used Samael as an example and banished both Lilith and Samael to Hell, a place only deserving of those ridden with Sin. Here, is where Lucifer was born, dropping his Angelic dead name for a more suited title for him. This is also where those who believed in Lucifer's preachings about Heaven and God, rightfully now known as the Sins of Hell, fought back against his ruling and also banished those who believe in Samael, believing his actions in Eden spilled Sin into Heaven and tainted some of Heaven's highest angels and seraphims.

HOW EXTERMINATIONS ARE CONNECTED TO THE MORNINGSTAR FAMILY:

As Lucifer once tried to do in Heaven, he tried to do in Hell. Just like in "More Than Anything", Lucifer saw himself in his daughter; the person he used to be. In the early stages of Hell, Lucifer also tried his own way of redeeming sinners, to prove to himself, and to God, that his efforts previously in Heaven weren't in vain. That his efforts in allowing beings to have Free Will weren't all for naught. And truthfully, they weren't! But God is a bastard and never allowed Lucifer to see the good that came of allowing being to have Free Will, only allowing him to see the bad. Because he was being punished. Being the King of Hell, losing his status and connection with those he once was close to. As a reminder of his Sins.

Again, his efforts were fruitless, he was crushed down yet again and he no longer was graced with the word of God's voice; and this was the beginning of spiral into depression, his loss of self, and his aspirations. He didn't care about Hell; but Lilith thrived. She took over what we see Hell to become.

Now, let's fast forward. Though Lilith controlled a lot of the reigns in Hell, Lucifer's word as King cemented most of the decisions finalized. Even though he didn't care. Sinners were a constant reminder of his failures, and they were overpopulating FAST. Now, Sera, one of the seraphims that never spoke against God regarding Lucifer's actions, was the closest he'd get to Him. And she came with a proposal. EXTERMINATIONS. Whether it'd been God's idea, Lucifer would never truly know. He didn't care. God cursed and chained him to forever live in his regrets for his actions against Him.

Lucifer heavily considered the deal but not without his own stipulations: his family and him were not to be fucked with during this time, because he cared deeply for the Sins who threw everything away in the name of Lucifer, they were not to be affected with either - and those with the highest status just below royalty and Sins had protection as well; but why is that? Why would Lucifer care in any vicinity for sinners like Overlords to have protection? The answer was simple: Lilith. If anything, the people of Hell were her people and not his, so he tried to meet in the middle of lowering the numbers in Hell without stepping on any toes.

The problem was, he did this without letting anybody know. He thought it'd be best to keep it under wraps and let the sinners believe that the exterminations were Heaven's idea. And I think Lilith learning on her own of the devastating decisions Lucifer made behind her back without her knowledge is what caused her to leave him.

His depression grew worse, to the point he came to terms with adopting what God always deemed him to be: The Sin of Pride. He wore his mask happily, wanting every inch of the Pentagram to know him as someone you DON'T want to fuck with, someone not readily available to bestow his honor upon; his way of coping with his chains to Hell. He started to hyper fixate and focus on what he once used to be, an angel, with incredible powers but used it for the sake of keeping himself sane. Ducks were of great importance to him especially after Lilith's disappearance because it was the only thing he had left that reminded him of her, from their past back in Eden.

Now, after all of this, having both the King and Queen of Hell absent, how is Hell still operating? Lucifer did the bare minimum to sate the Sins and the citizens of Hell. He was never here, there, or the other unless he absolutely NEEDED to be. His hatred for sinners grew deep, and his ego of his previous status kept him above water mentality, if barely. Lilith had Hell operating to the point where the people in every ring of Hell had people within pretty much managing the ring themselves: the Sins, the Overlords. Think of it like a Mafia claiming territory and ruling over their respective spaces.

MY BRAIN IS STARTING TO FRY AND I FEEL LIKE,,, I MISSED A LOT OF KEY POINTS AND THINGS THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE BUT. TADAAAA. MAYBE I'LL TRY REFINING THIS ONE DAY.

[midwestbramble]

The Three Souls

Many witchcraft and pagan traditions have a conception of multiple souls. Understanding these ideas can help in your understanding of why we are able to do things we normally couldn’t in soul flight. Plus having a background knowledge if you want to look deeper, beyond my posts, knowing what these mean will help in your comprehension of more “advanced” texts.

⛧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⛧

Contents:

Historical Beliefs

Middle Soul

Fetch

Upper Soul

Conclusion

⛧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⛧

Historical Beliefs

According to Claude Lecouteux, professor of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne, in his book "Witches, Werewolves and Fairies," there has long been a belief in a tri-part soul in northern Europe. Medieval Scandinavia and Germany had three names for different aspects of the human soul: Fylgja, Hugr, and Hamr. Thou he explains in that book as well as his book "The Return of the Dead," that "soul" is not a perfection translation for these three concepts. Even further back we see Plato's theory of the tripartite soul. He believed that every person had different amounts of each soul within them: reason, spirit, and appetite.

The 1600s saw a boom in the curiosity of the body. Doctor's who were just beginning to understand the human body, through rather morbid means, were beginning to link the soul to the brain; leaping off of classical ideas of the soul such as Plato's. Here we see the soul divided into three parts again: the rational soul, the sensible soul, and vegetal soul.

The triple soul, as a concept, has a long and varied history. It continues today as a concept in witchcraft traditions as well as a few religions.

⛧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⛧

Fetch

The fetch is also known as the lower soul. Generally it’s thought to be our survival instincts and the part of us that connects more easily to children and animals. This is the part of the soul that is thought to leave a witch’s body and travel the worlds. It’s also known as a double as there is a history of people seeing a person in one place (their fetch) and the actual person in another around the same time. Also thought to be döpplegangers.

⛧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⛧

Upper Soul

This part of the soul is thought to be connected to divinity, if you believe in that. Mat Auryn, in his book “Psychic Witch,” postulates that this part of the soul comes from a mix of past lives (why so many people can claim to have been Cleopatra in a past life). It’s this part of the soul that receives divine messages, that the lower soul then transcribes into symbols and messages that the middle soul can more easily understand.

⛧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⛧

Middle Soul

This part of the soul is reading this post. Meta. This is the part of you that talks, walks, tastes, smells, feels, and creates magic. It’s a mix of the upper and lower souls and uses the other two to interpret life and meaning. This is the part of you that’s deciding if this post is full of shit or not. This is you.

⛧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⛧

Conclusion

Technically, all three are you. In much of the folklore surrounding soul flight, the witch can be alive and breathing, sleeping soundly in bed, and still be off galavanting at the devils sacrament. So how are witches able to separate one of the souls and continue on living? Stay tuned and I will explain in another post.

Images:

Title image made on Canva

References:

Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages by Claude Lecouteux

The Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan Mind by Claude Lecouteux

Ancient Theories of the Soul

The Tripartite Theory of the Soul

Method in the Madness exhibit: The Three Souls

[total-convergence]

Bámi facial esxpressions

The sheep-descended sophonts again (previously named Auks but my english-animal-name-knowledge-lacking butt did not google it and now I have to change it because that already is an animal. Anyways). Their primary way of expressing themselves non-verbally is mostly using their whole body, and of course, the scent glands. Scent glands of the Bám (located near the eyes) can be extremely everted, or bent in several ways like the human lips. This diagram only coveres the basics. Báms are very emotionaly oriented fellows neurologicaly speaking and they are able to feel a myriad of feelings us humans can't even comprehend.

A diagram showing a few examples of how the Báms express emotions. From top left: Neutral - scent glands and the rest of the body relaxed. Sadness - ears plopped down and rotated slightly backwards, tip of the scent gland bent downwards, tongue hanging aimlessly down. Hapiness - neck erected, tongue flexed, ears aiming forward and upward, eyes widely open, both parts of the scent glands tightly flexed, but slightly everted. Attraction - ears aiming forward and upward, pupils dilated, scent glands completely everted, blushing. Rage - mouth open, tongue raised high above the head, eyes crossed, ears aiming backwards, face turning red, mouth open, neck erected. Frown - ears aiming backwards, lips flexed, back part of the scent glands (closer to eyes) shut, front part slightly everted. Fear - mouth slightly open, breathes more quickly, ears aiming backwards, hunched back, eyes wide open, face turns pale, tongue kept in a "ready to cover my face if something jumps at me" serpentine position. Gratitude - ears bent horizontally, eyes semi-closed, front of the scent gland closed but relaxed, back of the gland almost entirely everted.

[Image ID: A light blue, 8 square diagram titled "Bámi facial expressions". In each square, there is a portrait of a Bám, a creature with beige wool all around its body except for around the eyes and mouth, two short and soft, finger-like "apendages" made of lip muscles and a long, brown furry tongue. They have pale, pinkish skin, blue eyes and scent glands connecting to the eyes, going from the tear canal towards the nose. They are relatively short and look like slits if not everted. Ears are relatively small, human and sheep-like in appearance and almost woolless. Each portrait corresponds with the emotion pictured, and in each corner there is a light brown pictogram of a full body stance. It has muted, yet slightly chaotic graphics. Each portrait is emoting as described above. /.End ID]

[sunshine304]

FTH Fanbinding: "Disrespect" 'verse by Khashana

And here is my last fanbinding for the FTH crafts bazaar! @khashanakalashtar won one of the raffles and decided on having their own fic bound, a series of 12 parts for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I’m unfamiliar with the fandom; I know some basics like a few characters’ names and the elemental bender thing but that’s about it. But when I read the fic, I found that it didn’t matter all that much because it was a modern AU and was really enjoyable even without knowledge of the show!

As it’s set at Bryn Mawr College, I decided to use that as a bit of a throughline for the design, because it definitely was easier than trying to find many fitting pictures from ATLA where I often can’t even tell if it’s official promo or fanmade stuff. XD

The design for the cover was quite clear early on. Khashana had said that they’d like the colour red for the case (fitting, as Zuko is the central character), and so I settled on this lovely Duo bookcloth. Depending on how the light hits it, the linen looks either red or slightly orange as it mixes threads of different colour.

This was the first time I tried a full linen case and it worked super well! I had no problems and no creases, so I’m very happy that it was quite easy to do, actually. 

I didn’t want to go yet again for the red/gold type of cover, so I decided to write the title with blue, as Katara and Sokka are also heavily featured in the fic and they're colour-coded blue. *g*

For endpapers, I kept to Zuko’s colours, basically. I think it looks appropriate. Same with the ribbon and headbands.

The typesetting, ohhh boy. This took me the longest out of all the books, because I’d gotten it into my head to keep to the 12-part-structure (instead of, say, making chapters out of the parts). That meant that I wanted to make a little title page for each part. Which also meant doing graphics. Lots of them. T_T

Khashana had done graphics for all the fics/podfics, but not all of them worked for this book as they of course came from the show. So I used a few of them, doing some editing to get them to the right size, and then went hunting for more. I settled on a mix of edited photos of the college (like the houses that are mentioned in the fics) and edited screenshots of the characters that did a least look slightly like it could be a modern setting. *g* In any case, I tried to find a connection to the fic when choosing the graphic.

I also added little graphics at the beginning of each part that illustrated something from it in one way or another, sometimes basically repeating the title page, sometimes choosing a different image. 

Halfway through these edits, I was like, "OMG this takes forever, I should've just gone with a text-based title page." T_T But now I was committed! XD

I also added their current map to the book as I really liked how it looked.

I think the book came out really well in the end and it’s a well-rounded concept, but wow, did it take me a while. XD

Anyway, I’m very pleased with this book! :D

Thank you, @khashanakalashtar, for participating in FTH and for letting me work with your fic!

Materials used:

Printed on Clairefontaine Papago 80g

- booklinen Duo 222 - booklinen English Buckram (lantern) - endpapers: Chiyogami paper 60g - hot foil (Action) Link to the fic series:

[thesorcerersapprentice]

Altaluna (Protagonist), Act One:

The Fool: "The Fool depicts a youth walking joyfully into the world. He is taking his first steps, and he is exuberant, joyful, excited. He carries nothing with him except a small sack, caring nothing for the possible dangers that lie in his path. Indeed, he is soon to encounter the first of these possible dangers, for if he takes just a step more, he he topple over the cliff that he is reaching. But this doesn't seem to concern him - we are unsure whether he is just naive or simply unaware. The dog at his heels barks at him in warning, and if he does not become more aware of his surroundings soon, he may never see all the adventures that he dreams of encountering." - Excerpt from Labyrinthos.co

Altaluna (Protagonist), Act Two:

The Magician: "The Magician is one tarot card that is filled with symbolism. The central figure depicts someone with one hand pointed to the sky, while the other hand points to the ground, as if to say "as above, so below". This is a rather complicated phrase, but its summarization is that earth reflects heaven, the outer world reflects within, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, earth reflects God. It can also be interpreted here that the magician symbolizes the ability to act as a go-between between the world above and the contemporary, human world. On his table, the magician also wields all the suits of the tarot. This symbolizes the four elements being connected by this magician - the four elements being earth, water, air, and fire. The infinity sign on his head indicates the infinite possibilities of creation with the will." - Excerpt from Labyrinthos.co

Altaluna (Protagonist), Act Three:

The High Priestess: "[...] she can be seen in the archetypes of Persephone, Artemis, Isis and many more. When you encounter her, you will see her sitting on a cubic stone between the two pillars at Solomon’s Temple, Jachin, and Boaz. Jachin (right) is generally referred to as the Pillar of Establishment and Boaz (left) is the Pillar of Strength. The pillars also depict the duality of nature; masculine and feminine, good and evil, negative and positive. The High Priestess's location between the two suggests that it is her responsibility to serve as a mediator between the depths of reality. She is the third pillar - the path between. She believes that both pillars are equal and there is knowledge to be learned in both worlds. You will also notice that she wears the crown of Isis which can mean that she is a believer of magic. The high priestess wearing of the solar cross denotes that she is connected to the season of the earth and the earth itself. The crescent moon at her feet is seen also in many depictions of the Virgin Mary, and means that she has a complete grasp over her emotion and the pomegranates refer to the ambition of the priestess." - Excerpt from Labyrinthos.co

Tagging: @inkovert, @foyle-writes-things, @sodaliteskull and anyone else who would like to play.

Image Description below the cut! P.S. This format looks so much better on my Tumblr website.

Title: Tag & Ask Games, The Foretelling Description: Assign Tarot Cards representing your character(s) in act 1, act 2, and act 3, the tag some friends!