#anyway not to kin here- i mean i know you asked me for my kinning powers but the first time i took mbti i got ESFP so kjdhgjlkdfsghdklh wow

[amaiaqt]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤミㅤbreaking newsㅤ⋆ ｡˚ㅤ♡ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤif it's okay with you ! ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤkinich !

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"you're being a total creep again, kinich !" ajaw snickers, only for the smirk to fall off his face when he's swatted away for the nth time that hour, snickering turning into cursing. "hey ! why you—"

"for such a small thing, your mouth's big enough for a foot to go down it." kinich grumbles, sick and tired of ajaw's jeering antics. as ajaw yells at him to take his words back, he walks off, his footsteps heavy.

he was supposed to be in a decent mood today; he had a commission that tasked him to head over to your district, so he could have talked to you for a while. but as soon as you saw him . .

"oh, hey kinich ! you looking for kachina ?" you grin cheerily, eyes looking up from the block of wood you were carving just to spare him a glance. just a glance, you looked right back to the wood after a few seconds. "no, i'm—" he tried to correct, but you chimed again. "ooh, looking to buy then ?" he blinks, then nods, thinking you knew about his purpose here after all. but you spoke again, "so what is it ? a gift ?" and you gasp, giving him a teasing look; "for mualani perhaps ?" his eyebrows furrow more than he intended, as a result you laughed it off and apologized. but he was too busy thinking about why everyone seems to think he likes mualani to bask in the sound of your voice. he could ignore it before, when people both of his tribe and mualani's would whisper about what relationship the two shared. it was solid between them after all that they were more siblings to each other than anything else. but when you started to think the same, he didn't like it. he liked you, but you seemed to wholeheartedly believe that he liked someone else . .

he didn't mean to walk off after you told him to wait a moment, he realized now, as he walks away from the spot he was previously standing idly in, watching you work away in your shop before he walked away, that, that was rude. but he doesn't know how to apologize right now.

"give it uuup, they obviously don't like you back if they support the idea of you with someone else. what a shaaaame~" ajaw sings in the background, following after him like a leech.

"they don't know, yet." kinich reasons, but ajaw was always the voice of unreason. "like you plan to let them know, just face it. either you confess and get rejected or never get the chance, you'll come out the loser both ways anyway." ajaw stuck his tongue out, and the urge within kinich to grab it and use it to fling the saurian as hard as he could was strong.

"heey, kinich !!!"

he stops in his tracks, looking back to see you rushing up to him. you panted, leaning on your knees to catch your breath when you reached a few feet away from him. you pat your pockets, looking for something only to groan. "damn it ! i ran all the way up here because you forgot the goods you needed to pick up for your commission, but i forgot them back at the shop myself." you curse, tousling your own hair in habit.

he watches you, his tense shoulders relaxing as he observed how you recovered your breath.

"gee, how do you move so quick ? i could barely run to save my life." you huff, hands on your hips. "then again, moving quick is basically how you make a living. . never mind. anyway, why'd you walk off; was it my comment ?" you ask with a nervous chuckle. "sorry, i was just messin' with you."

he doesn't mean to, but he lets out a huff of a laugh. "it's fine," he steps forward, closer than he means to. "sorry for walking off, if it's okay with you, i can walk back with you to get the items."

"i don't know mualani, are you sure about this ?" he asks, looking down at the bouquet in his hands, fixing up one of the leaves.

"they're gonna love it, trust me !" mualani cheers, "seriously, you should've told me you liked [name], i definitely would have set you up way sooner !"

kinich inspects the bouquet in his hands, mualani had it made for today specifically, so he technically owes her a favor. that aside, the bouquet has some of your favorite colors, but he can't help but think about how he's going to give it to you. he's planned it out meticulously, 70% on the investigation—finding out your favorite colors, flowers—, 10% on making the final decision, and the remainder on the execution. . which he hadn't thought about.

"what a pathetic display ! not only did you get them stupid flowers, but you don't even know how to give it to them." ajaw sticks his tongue out.

"i think it's cute ! the flowers are pretty, and i'm sure they're going to love them—" mualani's words of encouragement are cut off by a playful coo.

"ohoho, look at you two lovebirds." you chuckle, popping out from behind ajaw, and kinich nearly threw the bouquet in the farthest direction possible to divert the scene.

"oh, [name] !" mualani jumps as well, and the pair's fluster probably made the scene look more like what you had mistaken it as.

realizing this, mualani pushes kinich towards you, "oh no, no no no [name], you've definitely got the wrong idea !" she reasoned, grinning as she nudges kinich closer to you.

you, on the contrary, stand confused. "wait what ?"

kinich watches as you blink up at him in confusion, and he looks back at mualani in a rare moment of hesitation. he was certain, but he wasn't. if you supported the idea of him with another so much, then maybe there truly was no chance you had any romantic feelings for him—

"[name], kinich doesn't like me, he likes you !" mualani spoke for him, pushing him forward even more.

"huh ?!"

"well he has for a while now, but apparently even kinich feels shy sometimes ! he even had me help set you two up, had the whole date planned out for you two and everything !"

mualani was saying too much, she was saying everything kinich wanted to himself. it was all on impulse when he suddenly stepped forward and dragged you away from both mualani and ajaw, who blink at each other once you're both gone.

"kinich ?" you stumble after him, utterly confused.

"i'm—i'm sorry," kinich finally says when he stops both of you a good distance away. "mualani was saying everything, i couldn't get a word in."

your eyes widened, "wait, what do you mean ? what mualani was saying was—"

"if it's okay with you [name], i like you. i have for a while now, and i might for a long time."

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ© amaiaqt, 2024 ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤdo not plagiarize !

[thevoicefromanotherworld]

"YOU'RE PLAYING WITH FIRE, LITTLE ONE"

I love this story so much, I think is one of the bests I've written in my whole life (I've been writting since 2018)

I mainly wrote this because (I need Sergei to fuck me so hard I can even be able to walk for a week) I love Kraven so much

I hope you like it!

The hunter knew he was being sought.

He could smell the police dogs running deep into the woods looking for his scent. His father, despite being a bastard, had taught him well.

He hid his trail easily, and slipped with the speed of a panther and the stealth of a fox through the trees.

He made his way through the woods until he reached a thick area, where the bushes were thicker. He hid there and waited for the dogs to go in the opposite direction. He had stuck an arrow with his blood into a distant tree, so that the animals would change course and follow the decoy instead of him.

He felt the vibration of their paws against the ground as they ran to where he had left the arrow. The prison guards rushed to follow the dogs, at which point the hunter took advantage to come out of hiding.

He reached for his bow. She placed an arrow on the string and prepared to shoot at the slightest noise out of the ordinary. Thanks to her heightened sense of hearing she could hear the gurgling of water in a nearby river. She walked there, paying attention to her surroundings.

If there was a river there, that meant there were animals nearby. She didn't feel particularly hungry, but she had to hunt anyway to have something to eat in the coming days. She was on the run, she couldn't make any mistakes. Any mistake would cause her position to be discovered, and she wasn't willing to return to that prison.

She would never be locked up again

Never again

She walked for ten long minutes until she made her way between two trees. In front of her was the river she had heard before. She approached slowly, paying attention to her surroundings. The river was in a clearing, an open place where she could easily be attacked. She held the bow in her hands, while she leaned down and drank a long drink of water.

He splashed some more on his face, cooling his hair as well. When he finished he shook his head to get rid of the excess water, like dogs did.

That was when he heard it, a cracking of branches behind his back. He turned quickly with the arrow ready to be fired, but stopped when he saw her.

A woman held a wicker basket in her hands. She watched him for a moment with curiosity reflected in her dark eyes. He saw no fear in her expression, only respect and something else he couldn't identify.

She was probably wondering who he was and what he was doing in the middle of the forest in the middle of the night. He slowly lowered the weapon, although he remained alert just in case. He didn't trust anyone, even if that someone was a girl who looked like she had never broken a plate in her entire life.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Who are you?"

-My name is Ilia, I live here - she answered overwhelmed, shaking her head before pointing to a place in front of them hidden behind the trees - I mean, my house is there - he explained - it's not far - he added - look, I don't know who you are or what happened to you, but whatever it is, I can help you

-I don't need your help - he argued seriously - I can take care of myself

-I have no doubt that's true - she murmured, staring at him - even so, I won't leave you here alone in the middle of the forest - she nodded - follow me

She started walking, but he didn't move. He watched her for a few seconds without saying anything. She turned to him again.

-It won't be long before it gets completely dark - she said - and when that happens, the wolves come out to hunt - she shrugged - they wouldn't do anything to you, but they would devour me at the first opportunity. I don't feel like dying today, honestly

"I wouldn't let them get close to you," he said very seriously, holding her gaze. "They'd have to kill me first."

"That's very kind of you," she admitted, while her cheeks were blushing. Sergei didn't know if it was because of him or because of the cold that was beginning to be felt in the air.

The hunter followed her closely, covering her back. He didn't know why, but ever since he had seen her, he felt the strong need to protect her. He shook his head to push those thoughts away. She slipped into the gap between two trees, and he followed her.

The landscape in front of him was unlike anything he had ever seen before. A small wooden house stood in front of them. He thought it was funny that there was an entrance door, since only she lived there. Still, he thought it was a nice detail, as if somehow the house was complete that way.

A small garden full of white and red flowers covered the ground in front of them. They walked down the narrow path in the middle. He gently pushed the door open and entered. He motioned for her to do the same.

He ducked his head so as not to bump into the wooden doorway. The house was simple, a small home with everything necessary for living. Ilia walked over to the fireplace and threw in several logs that were lying next to it to rekindle the fire. She turned to look at him as she used a poker to stir the embers.

-You can leave your stuff there if you want -she pointed to a spot next to the door-

He nodded, leaving his fur coat and bow leaning against the wall. He felt his thigh, making sure his knife was still there. He walked over to her slowly, looking at the decor.

"You have a very cozy house," he said, and she gave a shy smile.

"Thank you," she said. "It's not luxurious, but I have everything I need." She put down the poker and wiped the ash on the knees of the jeans she was wearing. "I'm going to make some hot chocolate. I'm freezing," she said, rubbing her hands together to warm up. "Do you want one?"

The hunter couldn't remember the last time someone treated him so kindly

Like a human being

He didn't feel like it, but before he could think about it any longer, he found himself nodding slowly as he said:

"I could use something warm," he smiled gratefully.

She nodded and walked to the kitchen. The space between the living room and the kitchen was open, so he could see her preparing the chocolate. She took a bottle of milk out of the fridge and poured some into a saucepan.

She placed it on the fire and waited a few seconds before adding the ounces of chocolate. Then she stirred the contents with a wooden spoon. The smell of chocolate filled the air. He closed his eyes and breathed in the aroma. It had been a long time since he had smelled such homely smells.

He watched as she stopped stirring and put a lid on the saucepan. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail with the help of a rubber band she wore on her wrist. The skin of her neck was exposed to him. Unable to help himself, his gaze slid over her, wondering how it was possible for someone to look so pure and attractive at the same time.

As if she had felt his gaze, she turned around. Their gazes met for a moment, before she broke eye contact.

"It need to rest a little," she said to somehow fill the silence between them.

He nodded, as his gaze returned to the photographs that were placed on the fireplace. He noticed that most of them were of the forest they were in, although there were some of a city he didn't recognize. He reached out to see one in which a horse could be seen running.

-"Did you take it?" -he asked, showing it to her. She nodded as she approached with her arms crossed over her chest-

-Yes -she confirmed, her cheeks turning red again, a gesture that the hunter found endearing- I'm passionate about photography -she confessed- sometimes when night falls I like to go out and try to photograph some wild animal -she looked up at him- that's what I was doing when you found me -she pointed at the wicker basket that was now on the kitchen counter- I always carry some bait with me to attract them -she laughed nervously- it must be that they don't like this meat, because none of them has ever come close

-It depends on the animal you want to attract, the bait is different -he explained, looking at her out of the corner of his eye- What animal do you want to photograph?

-A wolf -he answered quickly- they terrify me, but I think that getting to photograph one of them would be like having overcome that fear, you know? -she probed, he nodded understanding what she meant-

-I could help you -she smiled half-sidedly- I'm good with animals, especially wild ones

-Aren't you afraid of them? -she asked looking at him curiously-

-No -she answered- we could say that I have a kind of gift

-I would like not to be afraid of them -she murmured- it would be nice to photograph them without having to worry about them ripping off my arm

-Fear is a neurological impulse in the brain that helps keep the brain tense and alert -he explained- it doesn't have to be negative if you don't want it to be -he whispered- you will learn to control it -he said- I will teach you

-Okay -she nodded, losing herself for a moment in his blue eyes, until she remembered the pot she had on the stove- I should take out the…

-Of course -he stammered as he sat down again on the sofa next to the fireplace-

He saw her pour the liquid into two cups. She handed him hers and sat down on the small armchair opposite him. He was surprised that she didn't sit next to him. Since they had entered the house, it had been clear to him that she wasn't too given to physical contact.

He wouldn't push her, he wasn't that kind of man. She took a sip of the chocolate, the heat of the liquid went down her throat. He smiled as he leaned back, resting his head against the cushions for a moment.

"It's very good," he replied, raising his head again to look at her.

"Thank you," he smiled. "The recipe is from my mother. The trick is to leave it on the fire for two minutes. That way the flavor is more intense."

The hunter wondered where his mother was and why she wasn't there with her, but it wasn't his business, so he didn't say anything. He watched her intently for a moment before speaking.

"May I ask you how did you end up here?

“You mean living in the middle of the forest?” she asked, he nodded. “Big cities overwhelm me, so I thought this would be the best for me.” She took another sip from her cup. “I prefer to be here and go shopping in the nearest small town whenever I need to.” He nodded.

Silence fell over them again before she broke it.

“And you?” she asked. “What were you doing in the middle of the forest at this hour?”

“Hunting,” she said. It wasn't really a lie, she was just embellishing the truth a bit. “It's what I do.”

“Correct me if I'm wrong,” she said. “But don't hunters usually hunt with hunting rifles, instead of with bows and arrows?”

-I prefer to do it the traditional way - he smiled amused at her curious expression - those modern weapons can jam and fail - he fixed his gaze on her, as if she were a predator cornering its prey - that will never happen to the bow

-You talk as if you were much older than you look - she commented making him smile -

"That's because I'm much older than you" he thought before taking a last sip of his chocolate.

-Maybe I am - he challenged her, leaving the insinuation in the air - Can I ask… why you let me into your house?

-What do you mean?

-Well, I'm an unknown person that you found in the middle of the forest in the middle of the night - he sketched an amused smile - Do you do that with all men?

-You're the first - he murmured, his cheeks turning red-

-Repeat that - he ordered, fixing his blue gaze on her, an almost animal growl stuck in his throat-

-I say that you are the first man I have let into my house - she whispered, watching as he put the cup aside to rest his elbows on his knees, leaning forward-

-Why? - he questioned - Why have you let me disturb your peace like this?

-You're not disturbing anything - he answered with a small mouth, the blush on his cheeks intensifying when he added - the truth is that I enjoy your company

-You're playing with fire, little one - he muttered, drilling into her with his gaze - Are you willing to burn yourself?

-I don't know - his eyes did not leave hers - And you?

The hunter slowly got up from the sofa and walked to where she was. He held her chin between his index and middle finger, making her look up. A broken sigh left her lips at the unexpectedness of the action.

"So much time here alone in the middle of the forest…" he whispered as he ran his thumb along her lower lip. "When was the last time someone made you feel good?"

"I don't remember," he admitted under her watchful gaze.

"Maybe I can…" he sat down slowly beside her, "refresh your memory."

He held her cheek gently, his gaze connecting with hers immediately, as if he were silently asking her permission. He didn't need to say it out loud, when his gaze lowered to her mouth, he knew that she also wanted it to happen as much as he did.

The kiss was slow and deliberate at first, Ilia's lips slowly getting used to his movements, following his rhythm. As time passed, she became more intense. The hunter took her lower lip between his teeth and tugged at it, causing her to gasp against his mouth.

Ilia felt him push her body back, slowly knocking her down onto the couch cushions. He pulled away for a moment. Her eyes were dark with desire, her lips were flushed and her hair was disheveled, proof that this had only just begun.

He remembered how pure and virginal she had seemed the first time he saw her and now there she was, about to spread her legs for him.

Only for him.

-I'll try to go slow, be gentle -he growled, looking down at her mouth again- I don't know if I can do it

-I don't want you to be gentle -she replied, pulling on the straps of his suit to get him closer- you're not going to break me

-Sergei -she murmured, finally introducing herself-

-Sergei -she repeated this- I… -she blushed- I need you -she breathed in raggedly- please

-Don't beg, little one -he smiled- let me give you what you want

Little by little, their clothes disappeared until they were on top of each other as God brought them into the world. Their eyes locked for a moment, before he buried his head in the side of her neck. He kissed the place where her pulse was beating, drawing a ragged sigh from her, while his scent filled her nose.

-You're so ready for me… -he murmured, kissing the spot between her breasts- and I haven't even touched you yet… -he whispered, resting the palm of his hand on her lower belly, not touching her where she needed it most- I want to taste you -he growled, opening her legs, leaving her completely exposed to him- Will you let me? -he asked, momentarily raising his gaze-

-Yes -she gasped, feeling his breath against her swollen and needy center- please…

Without warning, he lowered his head. His tongue moved over her folds with the mastery of someone who was obviously done that before.

Ilia moaned loudly as she arched her back, pressing herself against his mouth.

She brought her hands to his curly hair when he found her clit. She pulled on it just as she had done on her lip before, as if she were a boar snatching the last piece of flesh from one of its prey with its teeth.

The pressure in her lower abdomen only grew. A gasp/sigh came from between her lips.

"Sergei…" she warned, "I'm…" she moaned, "very close."

She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a scream. He saw her and pulled away for a moment to gently remove her hand from his lips.

-Don't do that, I want to hear you - she smiled half-way - no one will hear you scream here, darling

She lowered her head again, this time her movements were faster and more disordered, causing her to slowly fall closer to the abyss.

-Shit, Sergei! - she screamed, she felt his smile against her skin -

-That's it baby, give it all to me - he murmured -

A few seconds later he unloaded hard on her tongue, of course he then took care of cleaning the mess with his lips. When she had caught her breath, without warning she sat on him, impaling herself on his cock.

Sergei's eyes opened wide in surprise at the suddenness of her action, although he gradually forgot about it when he noticed her still slippery against his member.

-Darling - he mumbled, looking at her firmly - What are you doing?

-You haven't cum yet -she replied, holding her gaze- and I thought it would be nice to reward you for giving me the best orgasm of my life

He smiled, sitting up slowly, the change in position making them both moan.

-So the best, mhm? -he murmured, moving his hips up, hitting her walls- let's see if I can give you the second

[starsofarda]

And I am following from here with part 2 lol

Also, I am standing with the first cousin thrice removed, this drama is something my family has in common and definitely I have first cousins thrice removed (and I envy a tiny bit functional families).

Anyway. Also, I know, but also I am having fun, so pls? forgive any incongruences.

Normal: Westron

Typed: Legolas and his sylvan dialect

Italic: Sindarin

Bold: Khuzdul

Bold in red: Ancient Khuzdul

Cursive: Quenya

When Galadriel received a first message indicating that the Fellowship was at the borders of Lothlorien, she sighed with relief.

But when a second message arrived carrying news of what appeared to be a very tall Elf with red hair, she had to make sure that she heard loud and clear.

It couldn't be.

She exchanged a pregnant look with her husband Celeborn, who sighed in frustration and closed his eyes - they probably were considering whether helping with the secret errand was worth having a war criminal - and cousin thrice removed - walk through their realm.

Galadriel in particular was telling herself that DEFINITELY it was ANOTHER Elf with red hair.

And they decided to take the risk, if anything the entirety of the Elvish army would outnumber him, if things went downhill.

Maybe.

---

The fellowship entered Lothlorien carefully, before being spotted by Haldir and the other guards - all of them young compared to the ancient Elf, he wondered if they knew well about what he did back then and if that changed things for the rest of the company. Maedhros looked really uncomfortable, if he remembered Galadriel well he was very sure he'd be killed on the spot.

Such thing did not happen, however.

Aragorn, who seemed to have taken the mantle of leader of their group, seemed to be negotiating some sort of passage on behalf of the Dwarf - something strange to him.

As far as he remembered Dwarves and Elves were getting along well enough.

He would have to ask - there was not a chance that the halflings would know, and Aragorn and Legolas were busy discussing with Haldir. He sighed softly.

"Uh... Gimli son of Gloin, right? Why are Elves not getting along with Dwarves?"

Yeah, he truly needed to brush up his Khuzdul. He was however pleasantly surprised when the Dwarf responded back in the same language.

"Tis right, lad. We hold a lot of grudges here. Also, why do you know Khuzdul, albeit ancient?"

"I see that it has not changed a lot. I used to be a really good friend with Dwarves. One of my brothers more than me, he was a smith."

"You both sound quite the sensible people, for being Elves. As for the ancient Khuzdul, we learn it, but it is not commonly spoken."

The two stayed in silence for a while, mulling over the conversation. The discussion with Haldir, on the other hand, was getting heated. Gimli grumbled, crossing his arms. "Wish I could understand what they are talking about."

Maedhros made a half smile. "It seems that the negotiations around passage means that you, Master Dwarf, shall pass blindfolded and tied. And I might follow, as the unwelcome guest that I am."

And that made Gimli nearly blow up the negotiations. Legolas looked at Aragorn in frustration, whilst Aragorn looked at everyone and was not impressed by the behaviours shown.

"Well then, everyone will proceed blindfolded and tied." Aragorn announced. Legolas was less than thrilled.

"I am their kin! I refuse to go blindfolded and tied through this ordeal!" Gimli scoffed. "Seems like I am the only one thinking that this is fair!"

An argument was about to start and at that point Maedhros went to Haldir. "I will go blindfolded and tied, if this is the condition. Elr- no, Aragorn clearly knows what he is doing and time is pressing."

The discussion kind of died down and no one really talked until they reached Caras Galadhon - and Maedhros had a moment of undefined emotions once the blindfold went down. Something like remorse and nostalgia and time passing by nonetheless.

But when the Fellowship was then in front of Galadriel, then it was the true trial. Maedhros only caught one word, full of contempt and hatred in his head, something that suggested that were it not for the laws of the land he would have been slaughtered.

"You."

And then Galadriel spoke in the unknown language that Maedhros had been hearing. He kind of tuned out the speech, until the attention shifted on him in full.

"And you. I thought you were dead." Galadriel was clearly holding back from stabbing him. Maedhros shrugged. "I thought so too. I got re-embodied in the mines, more or less when a Balrog came out."

If looks could kill, if only looks could kill.

"Pray that the Valar have made the right decision."

"I would like to say sorry."

The next thing Maedhros felt was probably the hardest punch to the face he'd experienced in a long while and the Fellowship around him all shouting and looking at him - maybe not Legolas, though. And Celeborn with a bloody fist and looking at him as if considering another punch.

Maedhros, seeing how the situation could look from an outsider's point of view, had to call Aragorn.

"Please, could you relay this to the others? I deserved it, probably I deserved more, but my cousin and her husband decided to be way more merciful than expected."

Aragorn was still reeling a bit from the shock, as far as he knew the lady and lord of Lothlorien were relatively peaceful. From behind, however, Galadriel's voice reached him. "You are not my cousin, I crossed you and your brothers out of the family tree after the first kinslaying."

"... Sorry about that too."

"If you are here it means that you have a role to play, therefore I am not going to interfere. But you and I are going to have a long conversation."

With that Celeborn and Galadriel left, leaving the company with attendants to guide them to their flets.

Maedhros felt the gaze of the entire Fellowship on him - that was bound to be an awkward, but much needed conversation. Anything, if it helped him prepare to respond to whatever Galadriel had to tell him.

Anything, if it meant that he could have his new companions trust him, even a little bit.

[opinions-about-tiaras]

So apparently the Rohirrim-focused Lord of the Rings animated movie is actually happening. I have to say that after it kept getting pushed back and there was no hype, no trailers, no nothing, I thought it wouldn't. But no, they showed like twenty minutes at Annecy and apparently it looks pretty good? They released no trailer to the public, but they did release some promo images, and I like what I'm seeing:

Image quality is kind of shitty, but that sure is the Golden Hall, and I do like a redhead. Very Princess Mononoke vibe from the whole thing.

So this is honestly a pretty good idea. I have zero interest in watching old man Viggo Mortensen track Gollum for four hours. That is... that does nothing for me. But the saga of Helm Hammerhand is a great hook; it's in familiar, iconic locations, but the events themselves are sketched out so roughly you can do an awful lot with them. There's political machinations, betrayal, war, conquest, pride, envy, some of that good shit that Tolkien really excelled at. Helm's daughter didn't even have a name in the appendices, which means that you're free to flesh her out just about any way you like.

But anyway! This got me to thinking about Helm and his reign.

So I hauled my books down off the shelf and read up on ol' Helm, and... okay, wow. I was honestly sort of surprised by what I found there. I remembered this, but hadn't really thought about it before.

Helm, the storied king of Rohan, second in renown only to Theoden and Eorl himself, is sort of... he isn't great. He sort of sucks, actually, I think.

You know what, I'm just going to excerpt the whole thing, which isn't that long:

Of the Kings of the Mark between Eorl and Theoden most is said of Helm Hammerhand. There was at that time a man named Freca, who claimed descent from King Freawine, though he had, men said, much Dunlendish blood, and was dark-haired. He grew rich and powerful, having wide lands on either side of the Adorn. Near its source he made himself a stronghold and paid little heed to the king. Helm mistrusted him, but called him to his councils; and he came when it pleased him. To one of these councils Freca rode with many men, and he asked the hand of Helm's daughter for his son Wulf. But Helm said: "You have grown big since you were last here; but it is mostly fat, I guess"; and men laughed at that, for Freca was wide in the belt. Then Freca fell into a rage and reviled the king, and said this at the last: "Old kings that refuse a proffered staff may fall on their knees." Helm answered: "Come! The marriage of your son is a trifle. Let Helm and Freca deal with it later. Meanwhile the king and his council have matters of moment to consider." When the council was over, Helm stood up and laid his great hand on Freca's shoulder, saying: "The king does not permit brawls in his house, but men are freer outside"; and he forced Freca to walk before him out from Edoras into the field. To Freca's men that came up he said: "Be off! We need no hearers. We are going to speak of a private matter alone. Go and talk to my men!" And they looked and saw that the king's men and his friends far outnumbered them, and they drew back. "Now, Dunlending," said the king, "you have only Helm to deal with, alone and unarmed. But you have said much already, and it is my turn to speak. Freca, your folly has grown with your belly. You talk of a staff! If Helm dislikes a crooked staff that is thrust on him, he breaks it. So!" With that he smote Freca such a blow with his fist that he fell back stunned, and died soon after. Helm then proclaimed Freca's son and near kin the king's enemies; and they fled, for at once Helm sent many men riding to the west marches.

It's been some years since I read this, and I have to say that... well.. Helm doesn't come off as the wronged party here, or as a just, evenhanded king. He comes off as a murderous asshole.

Freca is clearly an overmighty vassal, not doing proper homage to his king. This is a good reason for said king to mistrust him, but so far he hasn't done anything actually wrong.

Freca wants to make a match between his son and a daughter of the royal house. As someone with royal blood himself, a cousin to the king (Freawine is Helm's great-grandfather; Freca is probably Helm's third or second cousin) who has a mighty fief, Wulf would be an acceptable match. Helm, however, doesn't just demur, refusing the match; he responds to the offer with an insult. That's his right as king, of course, but it's still a dick move.

Freca responds by getting angry and "reviling" his king, and then issuing a veiled threat; saying in essence that Helm needs him more than he needs Helm. This crosses a number of lines; even when the king insults you in front of his entire court, you really can't do that back to him. Helm would be entitled to demand an apology, or banish Freca from his councils, or any one of a number of other appropriate proportionate punishments.

Instead Helm escalates about as far as you can escalate. First he forces Freca from his hall, probably so he can't be said to have slain a guest beneath his roof. (The Rohirrim are based on Anglo-Saxon cultural traditions and this had a strong, though not unbreakable, concept of guest right. I'm making a bit of an assumption there, tho.) Then he essentially says that in his eyes, Freca isn't one of the Eorlingas, one of the Men of the Mark; he is a Dunlending, which of course places him outside of the king's protection.

Then Helm simply straight-up murders him with his bare hands in cold blood.

Following this murder, of which there is not even a pretense of it being an act of a king dispensing justice rather than that of a thug murdering a rival, Helm puts the cherry on the sundae by dispossessing Helm's heirs and family and driving them from their homes by force.

And I mean. Fuck me. This is classic "how blood feuds start" shit. If I were Wulf I abso-fucking-lutely would have raised an army and come back and conquered the shit out of Rohan. The king murdered your dad! In front of everyone!

Helm Hammerhand is the proximate cause of his own kingdom's near-demise.

[neverpathia]

okay I felt like writing so off I go

average broken and smitten interaction I guess. my AU. nothing much here, not really, except them being toxic and mutually enabling each others' horrible codependent coping mechanisms. platonic smitbroken. not a ship, keep that in mind.

once AGAIN it's a little OOC because I cannot write broken for the life of me. but hey broken mentioned please give it a shot

pristine cut spoilers

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Do you ever feel...hollow?" A voice, mellow yet deep.

The Broken sat listlessly on the grass, legs resting sideways against each other. Gently, slowly, he leaned down to trace something on the dirt. He wasn't quite sure what it was going to be, though.

The Smitten knelt and clapped him on the back firmly in jest. Broken blinked, eyes wide in mild surprise like a baffled, scraggly kitten.

"Ow," he mumbled.

Smitten ignored the 'ow'. "But surely not! How could I ever allow my soul to remain barren; when her beauty walks the face of this very earth?"

Broken pondered this. "I guess so."

Smitten leaned forward, closer to Broken. "Why do you ask, friend of mine?"

Friend. The others saw him as a friend now, or at least one of them did. Broken didn't know how to feel about that. He wanted to be happy. He wanted to crawl into a hole and die for daring to let someone else actually look at him as if he were a worthy person.

"I don't know." Broken's finger left a trail amidst the dirt; a shallow, curving depression with no particular direction. He smiled. It seemed a little fitting. "I kind of always do. Feel empty, I mean."

As if he hadn't said something like that to the other Voices a billion times.

The Smitten laughed. How was he always so amiable? Where did he find that energy? "Fear not! For she is never far off from us, and her radiance permeates all."

"You say 'she' like there aren't a lot of Princesses walking around now," said Broken.

"Isn't that even better?" said Smitten. "More of my dearest Princess, more love."

Love. The concept that had once felt so familiar, now completely foreign. But something about it was still familiar somehow. Broken didn't know if he understood it, if he could understand.

"You...haven't seen mine, have you?" Broken glanced up, away from his meaningless scribbles.

"Oh, I may not have seen all of her, but I most certainly love every facet of the Princess with all my heart." Smitten's bold voice resonated far too loud.

Broken said nothing and only looked at his stained fingertip.

"I have loved her at her best, and I shall continue to love her at my worst." The Smitten was clearly having fun. "Undaunted I shall trudge, for she is of endless permutation: but each face of hers is pure perfection! Do you not feel the same, my comrade, my kin? You are among the first to show her respect beyond mere camaraderie; to revere her as I do."

Broken didn't know how comfortable he felt about Smitten's words. They sounded a little too close to...something he himself would say, but more flowery and somehow almost worse.

"I loved...love her too." Broken picked at one of his braids with his clean hand. The ribbons embedded inside, the ornaments holding it in place. "One of her."

Smitten raised an eyebrow at him. "And how shall that do? You ought to love all of her!"

"She is above me. She showed me mercy, and I...love her for it." Did he have a choice? Would he have made a choice? "She...You've seen her, haven't you? The one they call The Tower."

"Ah. She who reigns above, is she not? She who dwarfs us all beneath her looming glory."

Broken didn't know how to respond. He hesitated for far too long before he forced the words out. "...I miss her."

"But of course! It's her, after all."

Broken didn't have the heart to tell Smitten that he didn't think he was really listening.

But he didn't like the weight of it all from before, and he wanted to get it off. He needed to get it off. So he went ahead anyway, even if he didn't like it; even if he was going to hate himself forever for speaking those words and thinking those thoughts.

"I don't know. She hurt me. And in one life, I hurt her too. But in another I forgave her. As if I was in a position to, as if I should have done that, as if I was above- as if I was equal- but...she let me. She showed me grace. She..."

The Broken brought his knees close to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, huddling into himself, the dirt on his finger smearing across his thigh.

The Smitten tilted his head, loose ringlets shifting across his shoulders. "And why else should she show you grace, if not for her sheer perfection?"

Broken tried to recall what Paranoid and Hero had said. She hurt you. She didn't know you. She wasn't who you thought she was and she never had been. She was...She was...

"I shouldn't love her." Abruptly, he covered his mouth with his hand and averted his eyes. But he continued speaking into his palm, each syllable slow and deliberated. "But I should. But she hurt me, but I hurt her, and I hurt the others too, I should have been hurt, I should have been used, she should have... I don't like this. I miss her. Maybe I shouldn't miss her. But I really miss her. And I don't want to miss her anymore but maybe I should."

"So you question yourself?" The Smitten was growing more wary now. "So you doubt the greatness of your love?"

Broken shook his head. Long lashes brushed across gaunt, cracked cheeks. "I really don't know. Is it right? Am I right to love her? But I don't want to hate her anymore. But I don't want to love her, not when it hurts so much-"

He was silenced by a strong blow across his face. The Smitten had slapped him, fast and hard. Broken cupped his cheek, astonished, reeling against the ringing pain.

"Have you lost your mind?" The Smitten was enraged. "Have you no heart at all? I believed you had always understood. Always, always, you have known! A being of devotion just as I am!"

"Oh..." Unsteadily, Broken looked up at Smitten. "I see."

"You miss her, or so you claim. You yearn for her, do you not? These are the feelings of the heart! Never have they led one astray, ever! You find yourself cherishing her presence. You find that her wrongs cease to be, because they have never mattered! For Princess and Voice were meant to be one. You used to feel like you were hers, and you still are. You love her. We love her. You love her as I do, you love her."

The Smitten stepped backwards after his monologue, heaving slightly, as if it had taken something out of him.

"Believe me." Broken dropped his gaze again. "I wish I did."

Smitten spared him a disdainful glance. "Then you do. Wherein do you unearth such frivolous problems?"

"Smitten, why do you love so much?"

"I was under the impression that you were much the same manner as I. To love is the one true right."

"Is it really the only right thing, or are you just telling yourself that it is?"

"And how could it not be echoed within the halls of my being, were it not such an absolute?"

There was another moment of silence.

"I don't know." Broken rose from the ground and began to stand. "I think you're blind."

"Blind? Blind? Fie! I daresay, the only blind one here is you!"

"I want to believe in love. I do."

"Then so you shall. Nothing stands in our way."

"There's something you're refusing to see, Smitten." Broken met his eyes. "We're separate beings now. Bodies and all. You think of me as a traitor. To love, and to you. You think I'm supposed to be like you, and you're still trying to see yourself in me."

Broken took a long breath before he said, "But I'm not one with you, and we're not the same. Not anymore, not ever. Please...let yourself be."

Smitten didn't reply for once, rendered speechless somehow, though Broken couldn't tell if it was due to anger or shock.

Broken sighed. "Maybe what I thought was love wasn't even real. If I let go of it, could you let go too?"

Smitten clamped his hands around Broken's shoulders, his grip harsh and unyielding.

"Nonsense." A low, raging undercurrent belay Smitten's tone, still orotund and loud as ever. "It was real, and it is real, and nothing can ring ever truer. Harken to your heart, its beatings, it's sensations! Harken to your soul and the very person that you are! Is it not clear, then?"

But then Smitten relaxed his grip on Broken. "I just want the best for you, my friend. I wish for you to be at peace. Why? Why must you choose otherwise?"

And at this brief, unprecedented show of kindness, the Broken was unresponsive at first.

Then it hit. He couldn't help it. He didn't want it. He began to cry.

Small, nearly imperceptible trembles and snivels. Tears gathering at the corners of large blank eyes. Why was he suddenly being nice to him? Why now, after what he had dared to say? After he had made himself a traitor in Smitten's eyes?

"It's not a choice, Smitten," said Broken. "It's what I've always been. Maybe...this is it. I still feel so numb. So tired, from forever. Maybe you're right. Because when I used to love her, it didn't feel so empty anymore. I had something to believe in. I had hope."

So what if the hope was false? It was better than this. It was better than this dark and barren and sad and pathetic thing that was his soul, his body, his entire being. It was at least the illusion of a safe refuge. A sort of escape from what he was and what he had become.

The delusion felt good. Perhaps it was all that mattered.

The Broken spoke between sobs. "How could those moments have been my worst when...they made me feel the best?" He felt the descent of tears down his face; the taste of wet salt on his tongue. It was disgusting. Weak. Pitiful. Like him.

Smitten reached over and patted Broken on the back, and he caved, melting into his friend in a sort of embrace. Too readily, too vulnerably.

"Are we just playing pretend?" Broken whispered, pressed against the frills of Smitten's vest.

"No." The Smitten spoke softer this time, keeping his voice lower. "It cannot be pretend."

Broken let him talk. He'd had enough of the argument.

"When all the fibers of your being are peeled back," Smitten murmured, "love is the only thing left. No, it cannot be pretend, for we cannot help but find them beautiful and what we feel is so profound, so pure. It cannot be pretend because it's who we are and what we were meant to do. Make her happy. You seek it. You desire it."

"I do want to," said Broken.

Smitten smiled. "And she's out there."

"I...do want to, right?"

"You do want to. Your hesitation is a lie, to none else but yourself."

The Broken felt wary and he felt truly seen. He felt uncertain and he felt resolved. He felt terrified and he felt at ease. He wanted to turn away, to return, to relapse. He wanted to love, to obsess, to languish in the comforting cage of those thoughts forever. He wanted to flee, and forget about everything, and never even think about Her again.

Despite everything, after all, the Smitten was still his friend.

Smitten pulled away and tousled Broken's hair. "You poor, poor, misguided soul. Once you saw the light and now you shun it."

Broken wiped his tears with his sleeve. "And it was brighter, wasn't it? And it felt safer...I think..."

"Sit awhile with me, my friend. Mayhaps comfort may be found in the silence yet; a calm to precede a change."

And so they sat on the grass. And so it was still.

And so it was all horribly wrong.

[bellaxgiornata]

Honestly I cannot believe that I've been on tumblr for just over a year now and somehow there's already so many of you wonderful people here that are reading, enjoying, and supporting my silly little fics. When I jumped over here from AO3, I had not anticipated how much fun I was going to have getting to chat with all of y'all while also sharing my stories with those of you who aren't on AO3. I've definitely made some wonderful friends this past year because of tumblr and I just want to say thank you to everyone for the support. I always mean it when I say y'all are the reason I keep writing these stories 💖

I could certainly get sappier but instead I'll just invite y'all to join me for my first ever celebration! There's a few fun things below the cut that y'all can pop up with in my ask box starting today May 3 through Wednesday May 8! I tried to think of some interesting things that I could realistically make time to do with everything currently going on in my life, especially because I'm also still trying to stockpile rough drafts for many of my stories so that I can still have updates during my upcoming "writing hiatus" (that I'll explain more about later). My plan is to answer things as they come in and hopefully have them all finished shortly after the celebration ends. And once the celebration finally ends, I'm hoping to give y'all an update to a story or a one shot!

Hopefully this will be fun for everyone!

Let's Chat! - Feel free to send me an ask about anything at all! No, seriously. You want to tell me about your day? An upcoming vacation or exciting accomplishment of yours? Do it! Or maybe you want to ask me questions about one of my stories or my writing process? Hell, feel free to ask me about myself, chat about coffee, music, books, pets, whatever!

Discuss Headcanons with Me! - Have any headcanons about Matt Murdock, Frank Castle, or Michael Kinsella that you want to chat about or share with me? Send them in! Or are you interested in a headcanon I might have about one of them in a certain situation? Feel free to ask! We can chat about the boys!

Send Me Fake FFTD Installment Titles! - Create a title name for an installment for my Falling for the Devil series (ex. "The [insert title]") and I'll write a couple of sentences about what I could picture that installment being about! You win bonus points if you can actually stump me on coming up with a plot for your title. But also who knows, maybe some title suggestions could spark an idea for future updates...

Let's Play a Game! - We can play would you rather, have you ever, or fuck/marry/kiss (or kill). For the record, f/m/k can be with anyone from Daredevil, Punisher, Defenders, Kin, or even any of Charlie's characters that I'm familiar with (Matt, Michael, Owen, Henry, Tristan, or Adam) or those of Jon's that I'm familiar with (mainly Frank, Shane, or Julian). If you can think of another game feel free to play it with me!

Ask the Boys! - Do you enjoy my weird internal dialogues with fictional characters that probably make me sound crazy? Great! Feel free to send me an ask to either one or all of the fictional men that live in my head (Matt, Frank, and/or Mikey) and I'll relay whatever they respond with in something of a short internal dialogue!

Request a Sneak Peak! - Since I have been stockpiling quite a few WIPs and rough drafts for a couple of months now, I am open to y'all just requesting a sneak peak. If you do, I will share a snippet from a fic I choose at random from something that's either a fully finished rough draft or still a work in progress!

**You're more than welcome to participate multiple times, but all I ask is that you (1) send things in separate asks, (2) are not rude to me or anyone else, and (3) are 18+ to discuss anything spicy (this is an 18+ blog anyway so I'd hope everyone here already is).**

[nevaroonie]

Welcome

My amazing pfp is done by @/vind3miat0r

My amazing bg is done by @/poedays

Heya how are you? I hope you're doing good! Im Nevy (though I don't mind nicknames <3 nuthin weird though-) and I like to dabble in the addiction that is writing. In fact, You've probly read a few of my works! Unsure? Hmmmm... Have You Read Any Of The Below?

David Shaw Was Paying Attention

Done

Scared

Anyways enough of the shameless Promo, Like I said Im Nevy! And I've been in the redacted fandom for a few months. And I'm a writer! Though I dance in the art of drawing.

that sentence made no sense but it's fine.

Some Info About Nevy!

Birthday is Ðec 19 Single As A Sour Cream N Onion Pringle My Favorite Color Is I Love Angst A Lot And I Mean A Lot I LOVE MATH My Favorite Drinks Are Coffee And Water! LoRe WhOrE I Make Desktop Backgrounds! Link Here 👉🏽Heheheh AroAce I Got That ADHD, Autism Thing also I AM DYSLEXIC LIKE BADLY PLEASE BARE WITH ME 🙏 Class Of 2024 🎓 My Favorite Animal Is The Vampire Squid

Oh! My Favorite Redacted Characters?

William Solaire <3 Ollie <3 Huxley Asher Hush

Favorite Listeners??

Baaabe <3 William's One That I'm Manifesting Darlin Freelancer Ollie's Baby Doc <3

Anyone In Pink Is An Unreasonable Favorite That I Won't Explain

Kin List?

Baaabe Asher Freelancer Treasure Darlin

Hmmm.. I Think That's All To Know About Me.

Oh! Check Out These Amazin Humans

@dawnofiight @achios @poedays @porters-fangs @honeymarune @aurorialwolf

Oh OH one more thingy! Some VA recommendations!

Reverie Audios Mr.Laveau Escaped Audios GoodboyAudios Yuurivoice Gav VA Crow Dance The Stroke Of Midnight CardlinAudio Shining Armor ASMR Jouska Scythe Audio ZSukaVA

Anyone In Purple Has A Tumblr That I Know Of

Oh Im Not Afriad To Call Out Anyone. So Don't Be An Ass On My Blog <3. I Will Call You Out And Read You 😒

If you have any other questions feel free to ask me <3

Oh! You're interested in what I write?! You adorable human :3 Here take this 👇🏽

MaStErLiSt

The wonderful Blinkies were made by the amazing @/milogreer

Wanna see my Digital art journey?? Or just my art ingeneral? Check out > Nevy draws stuff

Wanna learn random shit bout me? Check out > nevy lore and I think nevy - lore

Wanna see what I yap about? Check out > Nevy does things

Wanna see my french journey? Check out > Nevy is learning

Wanna meet some really cool people? Check out > Nevys moots <3

I RUN THE @williamsolaire @alexisgetty @whereiwanttobeiswithyou @amornoo accounts

The Vega Account password is lost to time, sadly

[riggedtraps]

IT'S ALL BULLSHIT, IT'S ALL A LIE...

...AND I'M JUST A PAWN IN YOUR STUPID GAMES.

Hi, I'm Amanda. Or you can call me Mandy, I don't care. I'm 29. I guess I'm a woman, but I don't care about that either. She/her or they/them is fine, maybe even he/him if you want. Definition of the 'mean lesbian' stereotype.

I work for Jigsaw, so watch what you say around me. He helped me and maybe He can help you, too. DMs and asks from anyone is fine.

I should probably mention I have BPD. Petulant, impulsive and self destructive. So if I'm rude, it's probably me being a cunt, not you.

that intro better be in character or ill cry </3

anyway ooc introduction!!

i'm gia, i use they/them pronouns. im agender (and so is amanda, she just doesnt know it yet!). i also have bpd too, so yes, will be accurate to my experiences. im a minor so nothing too nsfw or gross.

literally anyone can interact! whether ur a rp blog or not, i will literally roleplay with anyone, even oc blogs (y'all are so cool). send me asks or dm me, whatever works. any ships too, i dont mind, though ofc mandys only romantically interested in women and nonbinary folks, but platonic ships with anyone works! :3C

i'm making this because im obsessed with saw rn its my special interest and i kin amanda so hard <3 first ever roleplay blog ive ran, so excuse any mistakes. gonna try keep amanda in character as much as possible, but may add a few headcanons in here and there. if she's ooc, please excuse that too. 🙏

of course, it's amanda so there's gonna be triggers for self harm, suicidal tendencies, mental health, and then general triggers for the saw franchise. will tag things such as self harm with 'tw self harm' or 'tw cutting' so block those if you don’t wanna see it.

also gonna reblog stuff i think amanda would like, so stuff like punk, goth, music stuff—but also blood, weapons, horror. not full gore but implications of it. will trigger tag them, so block those if you don't wanna see it.

gonna use ❪ ❫ for when out of character. e.g ❪hii!! :3❫

'꩜—mandy rants' : making in character posts

'꩜—gia rants' : ooc posts

'꩜—mandy answers' : tag to keep track of answering asks

'꩜—mandy rps' : for roleplay threads

'꩜—mandy writes' : short stories i imagine amanda wrote as a hobby/vent

my main blog: @messyscarletdreams

'♫—mandy's playlist' : songs i associate with amanda/think she'd like

each blog i interact with will have their own tag of their user for easier tracking

each character i interact with has a tag with amanda e.g '❪ john & amanda. ❫'

my saw oc blog: @poor-impulsecontrol

[sonniemon]

syudou feat.Hatsune Miku - Amazing Happy Halloween Night (English Translation + MV Analysis)

アメイジングハッピーハロウィンナイト/syudou

SONG LINK: https://youtu.be/CeqLqlr5ba4?si=9Yafq_kn4HAkn4LZ

Obsessed with the visuals and storytelling of this song, yasutatsu really outdid themselves and I love the character designs (not to mention the major amazing digital circus vibes hahah)

Anyways, I tried my hand at translating the song, I’ve also included the character profiles and my other rambling thoughts below

-

Song Translation

Before I knew it, I was standing in a world I didn’t recognise 

Without even knowing my location, day after, day after day after day I cried

There’s no time to lose

Happy Time! Funny faces are pulled

Happy Time! And jokes are made

Happy Time! Stuck in this absurdity 

Both hope and fear melt away

If I remember correctly 

There’s a job that I’m supposed to do

A loving home…

Pump…kin head….gear [1]

But for some reason I can’t find a reason to care

Come now, the night of dreams has begun

The cheerful music reverberates and doesn’t cease

Shout it with me now, today is—

An amazing happy halloween night!

Jack-o’-lanterns, pranks, anything goes, it's an all out party!

Even if you live earnestly it won’t amount to anything

Here anything is possible, why you ask?

Because today is an amazing happy halloween night!

It’s long gone! It’s long gone!

I already told you there’s no exit, and there won’t ever be one

It’s long gone! It’s long gone!

Ideologies, rules and morals have no bearing here

In this amazing happy halloween night!

“I am not a robot”

Is the box you click without a second thought, however…

Is that really the truth?

Happy Life! Oh well, just listen to the music

Happy Life! And dance in an erratic way

Happy Life! Trapped in these repeated movements

I lose my ability to even doubt it anymore 

Without a will of my own

I’m nothing more than a lobotomised electric sheep 

A nightmare NPC

But for some reason, like this, I feel at ease

(What the f%#k!?)

Oops, appears your voice has become distorted 

Worry not, everyone

I’ll sew their mouth right back up

Amazing happy halloween night!

Good children’s mouths are full of chocolate and candy

If you don’t speak your mind clearly then we won’t understand [2]

Now pull yourselves together everyone, and sing—

Amazing happy halloween night!

I found out! I found out!

I found out! I found out!

I found out! I found out!

I came to understand the truth to it all

And that’s exactly why I don’t wanna acknowledge any of it

Come now, the night of dreams has begun

The cheerful music reverberates and doesn’t cease

Shout it with me now, today is—

An amazing happy halloween night!

Jack-o’-lanterns, pranks, anything goes, it’s an all out party!

Even if you live earnestly it won’t amount to anything

Here anything is possible, why you ask?

Because today is an amazing happy halloween night!

I cried and cried! I cried and cried!

I must’ve tried real hard to kid myself huh?

I cried and cried! I cried and cried!

There will be no end to this party

Amazing happy halloween night!

[1] - Pumpkin in katakana starts with パン ‘Pan’ this is the protags name so this could be how they got it

[2] - 歯に衣着せぬ means to be outspoken however syudou has changed one of the kanji to ‘silk’ 歯に絹着せて so I think he’s going for some kind of pun about their teeth being made of silk? I’m not really sure

-

Character Profiles

Yasutatsu posted the character profiles on their twitter (link to post) so I’ll go over them here

A: Pan - Negative. Wants to go home asap.

B: Up - Found Pan when they were lost and helped guide them back. Mood maker.

C: Socket - Looks cute but they have a wicked tongue. They wear the food scrap on their head as a form of fashion

D: Iris - Can see the unseen. Has sharp ears.

E: Quiver - Will help you out if you’re in trouble. Dislikes being touched.

F: Easter - A highly cautious rabbit. Folds clothes beautifully.

G: Taurus - Strong on the outside but sensitive on the inside. Is often bothered by Socket’s abusive words.

H: Jolly - Elusive and always smiling. Loves jokes.

-

MV Analysis

The mv is packed with cool details so I’m just going to ramble about the whole thing here.

My interpretation of the song is that Pan was brought to the amazing happy halloween night world after putting on a VR headset. This is supported by the black bars on the top and bottom being slightly curved, resembling what it looks like when you’re playing a VR game. Also the lyric ‘pumpkin headgear’.

At the very start of the mv, you can see this text which kind of looks like a program boot screen.

What’s even more interesting about this background though is that it is the exact same rooms as seen in Bitter Choco Decoration. Why? I have no idea hahah.

Also!! A commenter pointed out that this exact background is seen in In the Back Room too, but with different coloured lights. In the backrooms mv this view is shown to be from a surveillance camera, so now I’m thinking that these rooms could each be for different experiments? And the protags from these three songs are in different ones.

After completing the captcha’s for syudou, Yasutatsu and Miku, Pan is brought into the world. And from the very start something is already amiss as the side of the screen is distorted and a little virus guy can be seen in the window. He can be spotted throughout the whole mv but is most prominent at the end.

Pan sits at a table and its set the same way as bitter choco, yes I know this is a common way to set a fancy table but after the previous bitter choco reference I think this one is also intentional hdhsj

Eyes can be seen in the sky. These are the same eyes on the jacket for the song itself and they very much resemble Jolly’s eyes, implying that he is watching over everything. At this point in the video he also appears explicitly to distract Pan from thinking too hard about who they really are. Hi dee ho!

The chorus hits and from what I understand NPC streams are definitely being referenced here lmao. The characters move in repetitive movements and the lyrics pop up as messages along the side, imitating the commands the viewers are giving. The falling gingerbread men and candy also resembles a donation system (like the one on twitcast for example)

Jolly and Pan are the only ones that don’t participate in the dance, and at this point it’s pretty easy to gather that Jolly is the one leading the show and isn’t like the rest of the characters.

Oh, that’s where Pan went. They were off trying to find an exit. But obviously there isn’t one.

Jolly makes Pan answer an “Are you a robot” captcha, oh sorry, I mean CABOCHA. Translator’s note: kabocha means pumpkin.

And this is where the real ‘plot’ of this world kicks in. It seems like they’re forced to complete captcha’s all day and Pan is desperately trying to prove that they’re human. Desperately trying to stay human. And well, by the end we see how that worked out.

Then we get this really cool sequence of Jolly trying to coax Pan into becoming an NPC. And I’m about 86% sure the line ‘I’m nothing more than a lobotomised electric sheep’ is a ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ reference but I haven’t actually read the book so can’t really say.

Pan doesn’t give in to the brainwashing just yet though and rips the pumpkin TV off their head, yelling “What the f#%k!?” A very digital circus moment.

Jolly breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges the swearing. Saying he’ll sew Pan’s mouth up. When this happens the captcha changes to “Select the images you wish to edit” and Jolly picks all the tiles with Pan’s mouth. Stitches appear over their mouth, completing the pumpkin look. These stitches stay throughout the next sequence too. It’s the details like this that make me love this MV so much.

Pan is back to completing captcha’s but they are noticeably struggling and taking longer to answer them. Until they ultimately start making mistakes on the last two.

“Select all images with elephants”

Pan is prompted to retry the captchas and tattered pieces of the other characters who we haven’t seen for a suspicious while start falling down the screen. “Shicchatta!” (I found out!) is repeated six times and this is entirely my own speculation here with no real basis, but shicchatta is very close to sounding like shinjatta (they died). Repeated six times for the six other characters who have mysteriously disappeared.

Pan learns the truth behind everything and falls to the ground, not wanting to accept it. They’re glitchy which I think implies they’ve transitioned into being more of a robot than human. Or that they’ve been infected by the virus. This same glitchy effect can be seen on Jolly though, who we already know isn’t human.

As the only one left, Pan is forced to start NPC streaming. The virus we saw creeping around earlier has fully deteriorated the world and can be seen floating around in the background. Tears in their eyes, Pan desperately goes through the motions as if begging the viewer for help. The other characters are seen briefly but they’re crumpled and taped back together, obviously not real.

Pan eventually breaks and reaches forward, literally slamming their fists on the screen but Jolly nonchalantly pulls the curtain down, hiding them from view.

Now another wacky detail here, is that around halfway through the mv. Jolly actually escaped the confines of the headset. Look at him again here during the first chorus, he’s behind the black bar at the bottom of the screen just like everyone else.

But then, the next time we see him and all the scenes after, he is clearly outside of the black bars. Essentially meaning he escaped the program. Fun!

Pan is seen crying to themselves and the lyrics confirm that this party will never end. Jolly forces Pan to face the camera and they give us a deranged smile, having well and truly lost it by now. The screen glitches and shows their NPC pumpkin form. Their decent into longer being a human is complete.

The song ends with a verification failed screen but a split second before this, a blacked out version is shown and this one says ‘verification complete’. Spooky!

(edit: some extra lore, it was pointed out to me that in the niconico upload, the verification doesn’t fail!)

-

And that’s it! If anyone actually read this far thank you hbdjsj

Apart from the very obvious Amazing Digital Circus references, I also see hints of FNAF and Poppy Playtime in here. The environments and atmosphere are all very mascot horror. But! The song still stands on its own. The captcha element is a cool spin on things and Yasutatsu’s chara designs are really fun and expressive. The song itself is also great but that’s to be expected from syudou.

It’s just all really cool, have I conveyed that I think its cool yet !!!!

[transthadymacdermot]

Decided to finally bite the bullet and bravely send you an ask bc we've been following each other and silently interacting for weeks now but I just want to say I am SO curious about and invested in your OCs. Please talk to me about your favourite, I am desperate to know more, they seem so richly fleshed out!!!

Omg I'm so glad you like them! ok so my favourite, to probably no one's surprise, is my babygirl Eoin O'Donnell

Primarily he's just called by his first name or by his surname depending on who the speaker is but he is sometimes also called "Eoin Dubh" (pronounced roughly "owen doo" or "owen duff" depending on the dialect of Irish; the characters would pronounce it in the former way) which translates to "Black Eoin," black here being more akin to "evil" rather than anything about skin colour (as Irish that meaning is so much more prevalent that the word for Black as in skin colour is "gorm," literally meaning blue, to avoid calling someone evil).

Anyway he's a young (maybe mid 20s but his age is vague) man living in the south of Co. Armagh in what is today Northern Ireland in... a vague time in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century when there's a war with France and widespread agrarian violence. His location is also vague (are u sensing a theme) but it's very rural, primarily catholic, and here's on the map roughly where it is on a map of Ulster, the northernmost province of Ireland. ignore the other stuff on the map this was the only one on my camera roll lmao

Eoin is... a deeply troubled young man. His childhood was marked by poverty and a father who he only learned wasn't called "da" when his name was announced at his execution. When he was in his mid teens his mother essentially kicked him out of the house to go earn some money, following which he descended as quickly as any 16 year old boy suddenly independent into crime. This eventually got him arrested and he was given the choice between the noose and the army; after choosing the army he successfully convinced several of his new comrades to desert with him and become highwaymen. When his aunt found out about it she dragged him home and forced him to join the local anti-landlord anti-protestant gang so that he could have a more. um. socially acceptable. outlet for what she saw as a natural inclination towards violence. Nowadays he leads this gang and generally terrorises the countryside with his friends.

Personality wise he's known for being a womaniser and kind of generally not right in the head. This second fact is mostly because he's autistic and therefore has a really really hard time connecting with people or controlling his emotions but has no idea why (and it frustrates him constantly because he knows something's wrong but he can't figure it out and causes him to lash out. horrid). His autism also causes him to throw himself wholesale into people pleasing in the weirdest way possible; essentially much of his whole gangster schtick is about trying to get the other lads to think he's cool and to get his neighbours to either deem him so necessary he can't be excluded or be so scared of him they don't dare piss him off by picking him last during a game of football again or whatever. Likewise, he sleeps around so much because he feels less like someone is trying to kick him out of the club for being strange & off-putting when he's literally on top of them. Also ❗ he has a whole complex surrounding the concept of evil because from day 1 he has been taught by everyone from The Establishment to his own damn aunt and uncle that he's horrible or evil or even actually demonic because he's autistic / he's Irish / he's poor / his dad was an awful person and it has caused him to spitefully throw himself into being the worst person possible and to, to quote my notes, "develop an abrasive personality and a tendency towards extreme violence and kinning the devil."

Some more stuff about him:

His special interest is in what we would probably term the natural sciences today... think Stephen Maturin but with fewer resources. He loves bones and skeletons and reconstructs models of birds using collected bones and wire in his spare time

He's illiterate. He speaks English and Irish fluently and has some Latin but he can't read or write at all, with the exception of being able to kind of scribble his own name

He lives with his girlfriend Aoife, but their relationship kind of sucks in that he mostly just uses her for someone to do his laundry and she primarily likes him because she thinks it's hot when he kills people. Also he's obsessed with his childhood friend Mary, a similarly troubled young woman who does love him back but REFUSES to even date him until he STOPS killing people (since it's dangerous etc). Aoife on the bottom right and Mary on the top left below

Eoin's best friends are his cousin Donal McCluskey and his friend Dan Maguire. Dan is like his partner in crime and they're close enough that. well. you look at them and think one drunken handjob in 2006 if you know what I mean. and then he kind of uses Donal as an emotional crutch because Donal is also a whole case unto himself and loves to flay himself alive emotionally for other people. Dan on the bottom left and Donal on the top right above

Ummm his other most important relationship is with Kathleen, the daughter of the local pub owner. She's a longtime fwb of his who he has a complex and sometimes extremely toxic relationship with. She helped him fake his own death once, he distracts her father while she smokes behind the pub rather than running the damn shop, etc. They have fun

He was of course raised catholic -- though he doesn't really attend mass as an adult for obvious reasons -- and his confirmation saint is Michael

If u have any more questions PLEASE ask them I could talk about him for 1000000 billion years. or I can answer questions about his friends too. genuinely they're like parasitic organisms in my brain atp

[mrs-monaghan]

well, i see that your blog is cock friendly, and even tho its a jikook blog, there is something that i think we should adress (i'm not saying that this could be a reason for jk's crush, im not saying it could not), but...

Namjoon's cock!!!!! I suare, if everything in that body is proporcional, you know, i mean YOU KNOW he is fucking big!

Oh anon I really wish you hadn't gone there.

Now we must talk about JK and his anti Minimoni agenda. We now need to delve into this and get to the root of the issue. We must!

Jimin's hand on RM's lap.

JK: 👀

Love it. Okay let's take a look at some photos, shall we? Jimin's type.

Oh wait, before we proceed, JK's crush on RM i have never thought of it as an actual true crush. I think its played of as such for laughs. But I think JK just really admired him for his talents and what not and I don't think JK is attracted to RM in the slightest. Not even a little bit. Imo.

Now back to Jimin's type. 😁

Number 1) Wonho

Number 2) Black interviewer

Number 3) Usher

Number 4) JB who is basically JK's doppelganger in some of his photos 😅

Number 5) Gonna casually drop Tony

And last but not least Number 6) The main topic:

Jimin has a type. Okay? He likes them muscles and them thick men and them hot men and them arms and chests...and thighs... anyway, Mimi has a type. And while none of the men above hold a candle to his actual boyfriend, you can see the similarities.

Jungtiddies. Check

Thighs. Check

Arms. Check

The whole damn body. Check

Where I'm I going with this you ask? In short what I'm trying to say is, RM is Jimin's type. My friends and I disected this the other day and concluded the JK Minimoni thing probably has something to do with the fact that RM is Jimin's type to a T. JK looks at RM and sees himself. And then add the fact that RM is a genius and JK's insecurity goes through the roof!

(And like anon mentioned, JK has that Jungkonda, yes but on this post I also share what RM is working with so.... like I said. JK & RM, same thing basically 😂)

See, yeah, JK comes between Yoonmin and hates that Suga thirsts over his man. But, he is not threatened by short, skinny legged, with an ass almost as big as Jimin's, Min Yoongi. He knows Jimin will never see Suga that way. So he can dislike how Suga behaves with Jimin, but sometimes he even ignores it and doesn't look bothered at all. But when it comes to Minimoni he just has to insert himself. For eg, I saw something today.

Look at Jimin's face after JK adds in his 2 cents because of course he did

Minimoni moment, JK is like "not today Satan" He refuses for the audience to associate Jimin with RM and its the funniest shit. I mention here how JK inserted himself when Minimoni were practising the own it dance. Even though he wasn't really supposed to be there.

Disclaimer: The following opinions are my own, I will give them but please feel free to form your own

So listen. I will be the first person to tell people to stop treating the Tannies like characters in a fanfic. And I have mentioned many times that there has never been any in house dating (sans Jikook) That just wouldn't work and BTS wouldn't be together if that was the case. So please, please try not to read too much into the following tiny analysis. It's just something a friend pointed out to me and I couldn't believe it myself. It's short and quick, easy to miss. But it shows just how deep this thing with JK and Minimoni goes.

Okay so In the Soop season 2 episode 3 around 6 minutes in. (Thanks @serendipitous-sky)

Jin tells JK to go wake up either Jimin or V. Of course JK goes to wake up Jimin. Duh!

Sidebar, this isn't the point of my post, I just feel the need to point out that Jikook look at cameras ALOT. The whole time he climbed the stairs on the way to Jimin's room he was staring at that camera

If you guys remember correctly, Jimin was kind enough to switch rooms with RM the night before. RM couldn't sleep in the main house due to all the noise. So they swapped. But JK forgot this. So off he goes to what he thinks is still Jimin's room (he cheated/helped Jimin to get this room btw, but that's an analysis for another day) Anyway, back to JK looking for cameras.

If you're looking to mess around with your boyfriend and not get caught its important to find blind spots. So yes, Jikook are always making sure they know exactly where those cameras are. I'm sure y'all get it. 😏😏

Anyway, off he goes into the room and he's surprised to be greeted by RM's snores.

He forgot this wasn't Jimin's room anymore. But guys, here's my thing. JK is here, right? He has heard and seen that that is RM asleep in that bed, right? So you'd expect him to leave, right?

Wrong!! JK goes further into the room!

But why 🤭🤭🤭 that's my question. He had already established that was RM in the bed why did he need to go further into the room? What did he need to see? He literally has no reason to confirm it's RM in that bed when he already knows it is. So my guess is that he wanted to confirm RM was in that bed alone.

Now hear me out, even if Jimin was in that bed lying down fully clothed just shooting the shit with RM, it would not have gone down very well. At all. Shit, would have hit, the fucking fan!

We definitely wouldn't have go10 a season 2 of ITS or anymore BTS for that matter 🤭🤭 I'm just saying, for the sake of a million things, I'm glad RM was in there by himself.

JK as he's leaving says;

And off he goes to look for Jimin. We already know what happens after this. Nothing, coz we were robbed.

But anyway, conclusion: RM is the only one who actually threatens JK. And no this doesn't mean he doesn't trust Jimin. He knows Jimin would never but it doesn't stop him from wanting to make sure everyone most especially RM, remembers who Jimin 'belongs' to.

The End. Stan Namjikook for clear skin

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 10

Maximum Loser

Welcome back to Fantasy High where the Abernant sisters are having sandwiches in front of the burnt ruins of their old mansion. You know, normal sibling activities! As we learned last week, Aelwyn is working for Kipperlilly (Adaine calls her Cottoncandy Bitchfuck which is one of my faves just for the levels of obvious disdain and degrees of separation from the original name) and Adaine wants all the info ASAP. Here is a rundown of what Aelwyn tells her (along with speculation on my part):

KP seems to be loaded in a way that isn’t connected to her parents' jobs (Dad is a realtor and mom is a clerk for the treasurer’s office). [Could she possibly be getting the money from her party member with a rich dragon ancestor? And could she be using her mom’s government job to get inside info somehow?]

KP has been employing Aelwyn as her “arcane errand girl”. She’s basically been getting her magical contraband which Aelwyn figures are spell components. Adaine asks why their party wizard Oisin can’t just do it and Aelwyn says that KP was very adamant about him being “protected”. [Does that mean protected as in not in trouble so he doesn’t get expelled and mess up their party comp or protected as in “I don’t want him to know what I’m doing because he wouldn’t approve”?]

KP never had Aelwyn steal a cloud rider engine for her but she did have Aelwyn download schematics for one which she thinks was so that it would be on her browser history not KP’s. [Aelwyn, do NOT get framed for this girl’s crimes I’m BEGGING you.]

Similarly, KP never texts Aelwyn any info. They always talk in person so she keeps clean at least on paper. 

There are two specific things that Aelwyn had to procure that were kind of hard to find because they’re more divine than arcane: Devil’s Nectar and Ambrosia. [We don’t learn what the properties of those are exactly but they seem pretty clearly to be the divine and infernal versions of the same thing. Maybe they can make a god or a devil? Sounds like it’s part of the resurrection plan–or maybe they want to raise a new god?]

Anyway, Aelwyn promises to shoot Adaine a text the next time KP reaches out to her so she can spy via scrying (I'm reminded of Spy, Tongue, Curse again). She also shows Adaine her tiny apartment full of senior cats and microwave dinner trays that’s sorely in need of a deep clean. Adaine invites her to swing by Mordred to get her laundry done and maybe hang out and Aelwyn seems tentatively receptive, even though the aggressive positivity of the house and its residents (who she does ultimately care about) majorly grates on her. 

[Also! Not plot relevant but their relationship progress is in full swing with open “I love yous”, only slightly undercut “I believe in yous”, and kisses blown as they say goodbye. I’m trying to be super streamlined with this recap so I can get it finished on time but I had to at least quickly mention how delighted I was by this scene which I have watched so many times. They’re doing it! Sisters!]

We next cut over to Riz who is in the car with his mom and he’s so so so over this whole semester. He keeps talking about everything that’s going on with the bored, anxious, almost whiny, but mostly resigned tone that makes her pull over and force him into a nap. Here are the mystery relevant bits of their conversation pre and post nap:

Sklonda’s case was defending a married firbolg couple–Alonso and Hespia Loam. Frosty Faire was supposed to be held at their farm but then they were accused of embezzling and the event pulled. [Firblog are giant-kin if that matters.]

They maintained their innocence and Sklonda believed them. The case was actually going to be a slam dunk because they found forgeries and docs submitted on their behalf. But then they got murdered so the case was over. [Forgeries and docs submitted on their behalf reminds me of Lucy’s god change form.]

Sklonda thought this case was strange because there’s no financial incentive to frame the loams. [Sounds like the motive could have been just moving the festival to a different location to me.]

The reason they were under suspicion was that amounts of money matching what was embezzled from Frosty Faire were deposited into the Loams' account but Sklonda was able to show that that was all bogus and that the Loams didn’t even use online banking and that a Bastion City VPN was involved. But again, before they could track that down beyond “somewhere in Solace” it got shut down due to the murders (which the cops are now investigating btw but this is a Brennan story so how useful will they really be? [This is also giving me KP vibes but in fairness, that girl is just suspicious.]

Lola Embers is the one who recommended the move from Loam Farms to the Thistlespring Tree. [A possible Ruben request since he’s her client?]

Riz also tells Sklonda all about what’s going on with the demon stuff and the Lucy stuff and the campaign stuff. Sklonda is concerned about the demon stuff but she’s honestly more concerned about Riz breaking his back and losing sleep over Kristen’s campaign. She’s very fired up and a bit incredulous that he’d work so hard for his friends who, from her POV, are always slightly bullying him (“Your name isn’t The Ball. It’s Riz!”). And, while she’s on it, he would be a great candidate himself! Riz assures her that their dynamic is fine and then worries her again right away by saying he’s absolutely gonna check out the crime scene. She sighs deeply and says they can check it out together because she knows she’s not talking her son out of it. (She also says she’ll try and get some info from her old co-workers but again, cops in a Brennan world so we’ll see how useful they are.)

Post Grix exploding, Jace hosts an impromptu assembly: Things are bad y’all! With Aguefort gone and Grix blown up (not to mention Yolanda dead), they’re getting to the point where it’s not clear that the school will be able to continue functioning. 

The whole cleric track is going pass/fail which none of the Rat Grinders seem to have strong reactions to (Ruben smirks and Buddy looks confused, but the rest look bored or unfazed). This news especially sucks for Freshmen and Sophomores who won’t be able to take the Last Stand exam Porter mentioned in an earlier episode. Some upperclassmen who maybe weren’t doing so hot (like Max and his party) look kinda stoked. Fig does insight on Jace and her roll is low (5) but he seems like he’s sincerely stressed about this unforeseen situation. 

Post assembly, Hilariel calls Fig (after 18 missed calls to Fabin’s phone which is on Do Not Disturb) to invite everyone over to spend The Lunar Yulenear (fantasy Christmas) with them (and also inform her that Gilear’s string of good luck is still going strong. He cracked his back while limboing and grained 2 inches in height!). Fig turns that into invites for everyone at Mordred (including Aelwyn who is a wanted criminal in Falinel and Sandra-Lynn who is Gilear’s unfaithful ex–wild crew). Fabian wants the chance to talk to his mom but by the time Fig hands over the phone, she’s already hung up. 

Riz fills everyone in on the Loam Farms situation and Gorgug worries that the soil at his house is corrupted now. Adaine reminds everyone that Fig is still super cursed and they should probably start looking into that soon. Kristen and Fig get naked for no reason so we’re gonna move on from that to Fabian getting a text from Mazey. Apparently she's just gotten some big news and she doesn’t know exactly who to talk to. He rushes away from his naked friends as quickly as he can (so valid) and goes to meet up with her. (While he’s en route, Riz wonders if the RG’s killed rats were being killed sacrificially and Fig wonders if Lucky FROSTblade had anything to do with the FROSTyfolk festival). 

Fabian meets up with Mazey who congratulates him for killing Grix since he mega-sucked and was shooting nets at kids. Then, she says that she knows that Fabian and his party have kinda always had the school’s back over the past few years and she trusts him which is why she’s telling him what she’s about to say. Remember how anything Aguefort says, even as a bit, is canon? Well, apparently he said once in an email that if there’s no principal then the school becomes a democracy and the student body president becomes principal. Fabian is baffled: surely the vice principal would become principal, right? But no. The system is set up so that there’s always one all powerful principal and one VP who is supposed to be Kalvaxus (remember, he was supposed to be imprisoned there forever). So she’d have to take classes (has to be a student enrolled in good faith) AND be principal and she doesn’t feel like she can do it. Fabian is awkward but encouraging and says he’ll do his best to help her and ask his friends for advice. When he does, Riz right away is like, "They’re gonna kill her, dude,” so Fabian rushes back and invites (practically begs) Mazey over after school so he can keep an eye on her. 

Once school is out, Fig does her bodyguard thing and secretly trails Mazey so she gets to Seacaster Manor safely. Once she’s there, she and Fabian have a bit of an awkward beat and then Mazey, who has clearly misread the situation, tries to make out with him. Fabian pulls back which makes Mazey confused and embarrassed. Fabian really quickly tries to reassure her that it’s not that he didn’t wanna kiss her. He’s just not in that mode right now and she’s in danger and they’re trying to kill her. She has NO idea what he’s talking about so he Facetimes Riz and the Mordred crew to explain. Mazey says that killing her wouldn’t make the killer the new Principal–it’s not Pokemon Champion rules. But Riz says that every person who’s had the top spot has been sidelined or killed so it’s safer to be careful. Maybe killing her would prompt an early election and whoever wins will be promoted early. She asks if this suspicion is just because they hate the Rat Grinders and Riz says that they have good reasons to be suspicious. They are all outraged though when Mazey says that the Ratgrinders famously hate them and have since Freshman year. [Hilarious that they were apparently publicly seething and haven’t been on the BK’s radar at all.]

Anyway, Mazey says she appreciates the concern but rushes to leave, embarrassed. Fabian tries to salvage the awkward encounter and tell Mazey that his reaction was about how stressed and worried he is, not about how he feels about her and Mazey seems genuinely concerned about him. Like, as a person. Is he eating? Is he sleeping? Is he being cared for in this big empty house? Fabian musters some bravado about how he’s a legend and the legend continues but it’s mixed in with some super obvious red flags about making his house a place people want to come to so he won’t be alone. Mazey says she’d still want to hang with him even if he wasn’t a Maximum Legend and then leaves to his cavernous, home, solo. 

Back to Adaine! Her next big roll is Mystery and she wants to learn about the giants and their gods. She uses a portent to get a 27 (which she needs because clues cost more right now) and here’s what she learns:

So first off, Ruvina is a Seasonal god (Winter) vs Sol, Helio, Cass, and Galicaea who are Celestial gods (Sun, Moon).

A bridal gift would only be given to the spouse of a sibling so that means that the missing dead god is Ruvina’s sibling. Brennan specifically mentions how hard/weird/complicated it would be to be prevented by Oblivati Mori from speaking of a spouse or sibling. 

There’s no mention of the missing god but there are mentions of the OTHER seasonal gods so Adaine can determine by process of elimination that the missing god is the summer one. 

She wonders if Sol or Helio stole the summer domain since they’re sun gods but Brennan said if they did, it wasn’t in one violent act. There’s no obvious crusade or anything like that. 

There is a certain point where “Sun” starts being capitalized like a name (like how in the Bible God is He not he). 

The bridal gift is only mentioned in early texts, not recent ones. Recent texts have a lot of mentions of fire. 

She doesn’t find any text concerning the gods followers. She does however find text that says “Beware the blades of the red fire”. These seem to be connected to the shatter star rage crystals but there's no clear timeline of them showing up once the god died. It seems like they existed at the same time. 

So, a lot of info but no big Aha! moment yet. 

She rolls Work for her third track and fails so she takes a stress token (up to three now). She only rolls well enough to not get fired (which, girl, just get fired! Make money another way! Ask your newly caring sister for some funds and don’t ask where she got them!). 

Lastly she rolls to relax but fails (been there girl) and has a deeply unsatisfying massage given to her by Lydia. 

Kristen is up next and her first roll is Popularity (makes sense) on the middle schoolers (you lost me). In fairness to Ally, there is method to their madness. They said in the Adventuring Party that the idea was that the school is across the street from where the bodies were found so maybe they could do some recon. Still, on the face of it, bonkers plan and Riz is low key wondering if his mom was right about them picking the wrong candidate. Anyway, she passes and now has advantage on charming any new middle schooler she meets lol. Brennan also makes her roll Perception and on a 14 gives her nothing. Ominous! 

The second thing she’s interested in is Relationships and she wants to talk to Lydia and also Buddy. With Lydia, she wants to know if there’s a way for them to talk to Bakur. Lydia says that Bakur is conscious and aware but she can’t talk to him because it would compromise the security of his gem prison. However, if they come up with a safe way to talk to him she’s game to participate, especially since she’ll def be a target if stuff with Bakur’s god is going down. Lydia also mentions that it seems like Cass might have been especially vulnerable in the Astral Food Court which makes Kristen even more suspicious of Kalina than she already was since she was the one who suggested that plan in the first place. 

Riz does Detect Evil on Lydia with his necktie so he can recognize Bakur’s magical aura on anyone else in the future and Brennan says that will also give him the ability to recognize anyone connected to Bakur’s god in the future. (Riz also says he wants to do the same on a Helioic cleric and the moon, presumably for the same reason but he doesn’t explicitly get to it this session). 

They then check on Fig to try to figure out what the heck her deal is and they find a lot lol. There are four main things happening with her aura. The strongest is the anarchy sigil on her forehead that marks her as the Archdevil of Rebellion. The second is her burgeoning paladin rage aura which matches Lydia's but seems more fiery and is also unaligned. The third is her warlock mojo which is unaligned as well. And the fourth is the lemony yellow aura of her curse. Her being a tiefling doesn’t even crack the top five of what’s going on with her apparently! 

Anyway, on to her second relationship thing–Buddy. Kristen finds him putting a Rat Grinders sticker on her locker which she peels off, clearly annoyed. There are three main important parts of that conversation which are as follows:

Kristen asks if there’s any rage talk happening at the Helioic church right now and Buddy says that Sol is angry–lots of people left the church during the months of night situation which makes sense. Worshiping the sun god during eternal night feels like a losing proposition. 

Buddy thinks it would be a great idea for his grandpa–Helioic evangelist Bobby Dawn–to become the new Cleric teacher to save everyone from going Pass/Fail. Kristen thinks that sounds like a nightmare and I have to agree. Buddy says that it’s fine because the cleric teacher has to worship *some* god, right? Might as well be Helio. But we know that’s untrue because Yolanda gave up her active connection with a specific divinity in order to minister effectively to her whole class. And I can’t imagine whoever raised Buddy would make a fair teacher who’s welcoming to all faiths. 

Buddy wants to “take Kristen into counsel” about her brother who he thinks is going down a dangerous path as he’s being exposed to various worldly elements at Aguefort. I have no idea what Buddy considers a dangerous path–for all we know Bucky is actually fully fine and coming into his own. Buddy offers to take Bucky under his wing and Kristen casually but very firmly says, “I’ll never let you do that.” [She really should check on him though, just in general.]

They close the conversation off with some faux cheerful/polite sniping about how Kristen’s god died again (point Buddy) that ends with Kristen saying that Cass will come back again as opposed to Helio who only came back once (point Kristen!). [She also tells Buddy, as she’s wont to do, that she met Helio and thought he was a total frat boy loser–just mentioning it in case it comes up again. He seems pretty sure that Kristen will come around though. Tres prodigal son.] 

Fig’s turn! She aces her Paladin, Bard, and Warlock classes–A+ across the board. [She gets to roll her Bard class at a DC 5 even though it’s her second track for reasons Brennan doesn’t tell us. We also learn that Lucilla Lullaby is now on sabbatical after her conversation with Fig. Girl, go to therapy.]

Anyway, Fig is working with Porter and Zara and they want to talk to her. She’ll have to pick her pact soon and though she’s doing really well, they’re not quite buying that her powers are coming from her deviation to Cass or doubt. Porter recognizes that protective, German Shepherd energy in her and when Fig floats rage (protective rage) as what’s motivating her, he has a positive reaction. Him jumping on the rage thing would already be a little suspicious but the next thing he says is, "If there was some other power like that that you knew could support Cassandra, [and] was connected to your friend Kristen, maybe that's a worthwhile thing to explore.” And I very much want to know if that’s a Porter nudge or a Brennan nudge because that really sounds like he’s hinting towards Cass’s sibling. Incidentally, Porter is an Oath of Ancestors paladin and an earth gensai since we’re keeping track of affiliations. 

For her next track, Fig wants to roll Mustery and ooh boy, Nat 20!

Here’s her bonkers/genius plan: She disguises herself as Wanda and boards a bus she knows Ruben will be on from all her recon. Adaine casts Nystul's Magic Aura on her to make sure that any detection spells will ping as whatever they want them to and not Fig. When Ruben boards the bus, she says that when she made a hasty exit after the festival she was breaking up with her boyfriend and when he asks what music she’s listening to, she shows him a fake episode of the Complicated Women Podcast about Lucy Frostblade. Ruben is instantly rattled and starts looking for the podcast but “Wanda” says it was an early release episode she got because she knows the producers. She lies and says they’re talking bout how they found Lucy’s body and Ruben says he used to be in a party with her. When Fig asks what she was like, Ruben speaks positively of her. She says she was noble and stuck to her guns. He’s really itching to get more info about the podcast and Fig says that she’ll send him the MP3 if he gives her an email. Ruben gives her Lola’s email (They have SOL instead of AOL in Solace) and his cell and then Fig Dimension Doors away, mysterious as ever. 

For her final action, she tries to roll Relationships for Riz but she doesn’t roll high enough to catch him with how busy he is. She still leaves him a nice note and signs it from Gorgug. In response to that, Riz sends back a very long, gushy text that’s so grateful for the check in. Gorgug has no idea what he’s talking about but returns the gesture by making him an Artificer Infusion: A Medal of Wit which gives advantage on Int checks and throws for an hour (one time use). Cute all around!

Let’s close out the episode with Fabian. Popularity: 29. He’s maxed out the track. Any stranger he meets at Aguefort is charmed by him for a minute. He gets a neck tattoo that says Maximum Legend. For Mystery, he wants to check in with his dad to ask about Hell/Curse stuff (but he clearly mostly just wants to hear from his dad). He fails and takes a stress to succeed with the help of the AV Club. Skrank and Shellford help him set up a little broadcasting booth that can reach the Nine Hells assuming Bill has the correct equipment. He tries to broadcast and the equipment is working correctly but Brennan rolls a 3 in front of the board so he gets no response. He speaks into the void about how he’s a Maximum Legend while in his house, utterly alone. 

He rolls for Fighter: B. He rolls for Owlbears. Fail. He rolls for Bard–the DC is 25 and he gets a 24. He’s at four stress so the next token will be a rage token. The table persuades him to take Fig’s cursed Bardic instead. He gets a single point which gets him to the 25 which is a D. Then Brennan gives him a Con save. He fails. Brennan says that, with that fail, he loses control of an important bodily function. He gets to choose which one it is and in front of who like a nasty game of Clue and…look. I’m gonna try and say this as delicately as possible but Lou is not making this easy for me. Lou’s decision is that he will lose control of his bowels in the middle of bard class. That’s as far into it as I’m gonna go–if you want the gritty details you’ll have to get them from the man himself. 

Terpsicore, his teacher, is very supportive and kind about it, but one of his classmates, Quincy, takes his lute and breaks it, calls Fabian a Maximum Loser, and quits Aguefort on the spot. He headbutts the door, making his head bleed, and says, “I fucking hate this school!” 

Which, on the one hand, valid sentiment to the latest bout of (almost literal in this instance) Aguefort bullshit. But headbutting the door to the point that he’s bleeding? Sounds a little bit like rage star effects to me. Is it connected? Or was this just the last shitty straw for Quincy? We’ll have to tune in next time to find out!

Honor Roll

Fig for Her Clutch Investigation Skills

Fig has honestly been killing it just in general lately. A pluses across the board? What a GPA jump! But I have to particularly commend her for skillfully keeping Ruben on the hook the way she has. This is maybe her most perfect ratio of bit to plan so far. It’s so funny but also going so well. And that Nat 20? Chef’s Kiss. 

Detention 

Lou (the player) for Describing [REDACTED]in Graphic Detail

I don’t care if Quincy was affected by the rage star or not. He was right. That *was* nasty. 

[outfoxt]

Affixes, Clitics, and Particles

i think that these parts of language are really cool! so im going to try to explain them :D also i definitely did not get sent down an hours long rabbit hole of linguistic papers and i also definitely didn't find out that the reason i wanted to make this post is actually a misconception :D i love ignoring things :D

Affixes:

the wikipedia article for affixes says that "in linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form."

in hopefully simpler terms, this basically means that an affix is a letter, or a group of letters that form a single sound or syllable, that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form.

some examples of these are the somewhat well known prefix and suffix, but also the beloved infix:

prefix: undone suffix: spotless infix: abso-fucking-lutely

sidenote: my favorite thing about english infixes is that they pretty much only work with expletives. in fact, there's a tom scott video about expletive infixations!

Clitics:

wikipedia defines a clitic as such: "a clitic is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a word, but depends phonologically on another word or phrase."

in layman's terms: a clitic is a letter, or a group of letters that form a single sound or syllable, that has the function of a word in a sentence, but depends on another word or phrase based on the sound rules of the language.

a few examples of clitics can be seen in finnish (which also has a great many affixes but we're not talking about those right now):

-ko/kö -han/hän -pa/pä -kin

the spelling of the clitic depends on vowel harmony. if you want to learn more, this dissertation is all about finnish clitics!

you may be asking yourself how to tell the difference between clitics and other parts of speech. well this study has just the thing for you! quite a few tests are suggested by the author of this study if you want to be able to tell if something is a clitic or not, including some of the following:

a phonological test observe how the clitic forms a phonological unit with an independent word. (do not ask me how this one works i dont know) accentual test "clitics are accentually dependent, while full words are accentually independent." put simply, if you can't put stress on it, it's probably a clitic syntactic test a word can stand on its own and be subject to normal word processes such as tense changes while a clitic cannot do this

Particles:

"'Particle' is a cover term for items that do not fit easily into syntactic and semantic generalizations about the language[.]"

read: "particle" is a miscellaneous, catch all term for anything that doesn't fit into the above two categories (or any other word categories like nouns, verbs, etc.)

the author of this study (who i'm going to refer to as Zwicky from now on because it's easier) says that theres no such thing as a particle and that its distinction from affixes, clitics, words, and clauses is unnecessary. i think thats an. interesting take.

anyway even though Zwicky just said theres no such thing as particles (which, how could he do that? theres kids around! we dont want to ruin the magic!) he concedes that there is actually a group of words that are commonly called particles that he agrees are actually particles. but he decides to call them discourse markers instead. because fuck you.

i dont like any of the words that Zwicky included so i made a list of my own:

-ね (ne) eh (canadian english) innit (common transcription of "isn't it", british english)

the funny thing is im coming out of this still not entirely clear on what a particle is. i thought i knew, i did some research, realized i didnt know, and now i'm here. based on how Zwicky puts it, it feels like the category of "particle" exists to accommodate the fact that there might be words* that arent affixes, clitics, words, or clauses but it feels like Zwicky is just being contrary. I should probably have done more research but this post was supposed to be done 24 hours ago.

out of context highlights from my research process: - sanskrit - the panini rule - doch - verbosely long section titles

*i dont actually mean words, i mean a morpheme which is a letter or a group of letters that form the representation of one sound that carries meaning, but i didn't want to make that sentence long and unreadable

if i'm wrong, please tell me! i would appreciate being corrected, i know i am not an expert on this topic in the slightest.

[animatorweirdo]

When the Dragons Fly (Book 3)

You have found shelter for the coming snowstorm, but now one of the younglings is missing. Ramuel ends up in a difficult situation but finds comfort in his strange new friend.

Chapter 5

Warnings: some mistrust, a dragon being missing, frustration, slight angst, mentions of abandonment, fear among people, mentions of getting hurt, some sad thoughts, and comfort.

------------------------------------------------

The wind has picked its pace. Snow blew through the fortress, pushing and swirling around the grey stones. Luckily, the ruins provided enough cover from the wind, so your people were able to build tents and fires to prepare for the night. You felt glad to make this decision since it would have been too dangerous to cross the mountains in a snowstorm. You were also grateful that Torim was docile enough to share the place for the night. Your dwarven friend kept his space from you and your dragons, but your companions still felt weary toward him. 

“Do you really think we can trust the dwarf? He did threaten to shoot you,” Baelen started as you, him and Deanna went over the travel plan. 

“His reaction was normal. Be glad that we managed to settle this peacefully. Besides, you and the others shared the same reaction when you found out about our dragons,” you explained while holding the map on the table. 

“The least we can do is respect his decisions and have our dragons at a safe distance,” you stated. 

“I know, it's just… I still feel a bit weary of him. Like why is he here instead with his kin?” Baelen questioned as he glanced toward the dwarf. 

“My guess is that he was part of the battle in the north. However, he was then knocked down and woke up later to find everyone gone. Injured and separated, he is most likely trying to flee and find his way back home,” you concluded. 

“That… makes sense. I don’t suppose our good friend here would like to share how he ended up separated from his kin,” Baelen said as you all glanced toward the dwarf. 

Torim was observing everyone from the higher floors. He had a sharp glare when he stared at the dragon younglings, who were playing and eating in the front yard. 

“I think you should keep the young dragons away from him unless he snaps and tries to kill them,” Baelen advised. “Anyway. I’m going to set the men on the lookout. Better prepare now than later,” he said as he left you and Deanna. 

Aelon then ran up to you with a concerned expression. 

“(Name). Smoke is missing,” Aelon started with a worried tone. 

“What do you mean he’s missing?” you questioned with a frown. 

“I mean he’s missing. I can’t find him anywhere,” Aelon explained. “I think he got lost or something,” he added. 

You silently cursed as you already knew why the young dragon was gone. 

“Or he went back,” you uttered and Aelon looked at you confused. 

“I think he decided to be stubborn and go after Ramuel. Smoke still doesn’t know that he’s not Samuel,” you explained. 

“What should we do?” Aelon asked. 

“There’s nothing much we can do. You can try looking for him, but I’m afraid the wind will become too harsh for you and Falconer to fly,”  you stated, crossing your arms. 

“Do we have to leave him behind?” Aelon asked. His voice filled with sorrow and reluctance to do such a thing. 

“We can’t really go back either. All we can do now is hope he will find his way back to us in time, or that he gets too scared trying to follow Ramuel,” you replied.  

“Oh no…” Aelon looked down with sadness. 

“I’m sorry, Aelon. Trust me, I would not leave without Smoke if things weren’t this serious,” You laid your hand on his shoulder with a comforting look. “I can try to put Baleria to look for him. She can take care of herself and fend off enemies, but even she will not go too far from me,” you explained. 

“Okay…” Aelon uttered. 

“Go check on Aegar and Viserya. Make sure they’re at least okay,” you said and your little brother walked away. 

You released a heavy sigh and rubbed your brows at the situation. Why did it have to come to this? 

“It seems this young dragon really loved this boy, Samuel,” Deanna remarked. 

“The two were close when he was still alive. Now Smoke thinks his twin brother is Samuel,” you sighed, walking back and forth. 

“Why can’t things just go according to plan at least once?” you mumbled as you decided to check on the scouts and other things in the fortress. 

Concealed beneath the trees of the forest, the second host quietly observed the orcs who had established their camp around the former elven fortress of Himring. The wind howled down from the mountains, and the land was gradually blanketed in white as snow began to fall.

“Damn it there’s so many of them. I think (Name) was right. Going through here is too big of a risk,” one of the chiefs uttered. “If we turn around now maybe we could catch up with them on the mountain road,” 

“Don’t be a fool. There is a snowstorm coming, and we can’t waste time spending another night in the town,” Horren said. “We have to get through today. We only need the right timing and a spot to get past them without notice,” he observed the orcs. 

The people in the host were standing anxiously, hidden by the trees and ready to move once the Chiefs came to a decision. 

Ramuel was sitting on a rock, holding his knees and watching as the people walked around anxiously. His mind felt heavy. He did not dare to talk back to his mother, but he already missed his friends and the safety their presence provided. 

A quiet groan reached his ears. Ramuel jolted and turned around toward the forest. His eyes looked around the bushes and the snow, till his eyes landed on a familiar golden-eyed dragon that peaked behind the bushes. 

“Smoke!” Ramuel exclaimed in shock. 

Smoke got excited and jumped out of the bushes to greet him. 

“No! No! No! Why are you here?! “ Ramuel repeated to himself as he turned toward the dragon. “Stay hidden!  They will hurt you if they see you!” he ushered as he pushed the dragon’s head down. 

“Ramuel… Is everything alright? Who are you talking to?” his mother questioned as she and his father glanced at him. 

“Nothing! Just…. talking to myself a bit. I kinda miss my friends,” Ramuel quickly replied, keeping the dragon hidden behind him.  

“Oh, Ramuel. Everything will be alright,” his mother said assuringly before they looked away. 

Ramuel took the chance to stand up and push the dragon away from his parents. He led the little dragon behind some boxes and wagons that provided a good hiding spot from the other people. Smoke luckily followed without an issue and Ramuel sat down against the boxes, staring at the dragon before him. 

Ramuel whined, holding his head in frustration. 

“You really shouldn't be here,” he uttered, but the dragon only tilted its head at him with a curious look. 

“I’m not Samuel. He’s dead. I’m Ramuel,” Ramuel held his head, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall at the thought of his brother. Smoke whined, then nudged his snout against Ramuel’s hand. 

Ramuel gently petted the dragon’s head. 

Ramuel looked Smoke in the eye, the surprise and frustration leaving his mind. Despite everything, he felt comforted by the dragon’s presence. 

"Thanks for coming, though. I’m glad to see you too,” he said softly as he petted the dragon. Smoke purred and laid down in the boy’s lap. Ramuel smiled, finding comfort in the presence of his strange new friend in this unnerving situation.

Taglist: @natchayaphorn@kimnamnu@thatrandomidiot182@springfountain@maedhrosiseverything2me

[an-unexpected-sideblog]

hiiii sorry it's late but thac draft 2?

Hi there! I assume this is for the WIP game, though (finally!) my fic for THAUC is no longer a WIP! You can find my project partner's post on it here.

I'll very gladly provide you some info anyway, as the fic drops the day after tomorrow (ahhhh!) as part of THAUC 2024 run by @fellowshipofthefics. I had the amazing privilege of collaborating with @mrmrbaggins on this project, all 15k of it (and as they very aptly put, we could have written 50k on this if not for the need to meet the deadline, lol!).

Our prompt was "In order to stay in Erebor, Bilbo must be adopted into a dwarven family, but not every dwarf is keen on that idea." We thought about going really angsty as the most obvious choice, but we actually decided pretty quickly instead to lean into humor, adding the follow-up: "Oh, but not because they're xenophobic, quite the opposite: Everyone wants to claim their favorite hobbit burglar as their brother!"

While writing we both laughed out loud at our own hilarity several times, though a little true feeling snuck in and (flatteringly!) made @mrmrbaggins tear up as well. If you like found family, I think you'll really enjoy the fic, anon!

You can read Of Kin and Courtships on or after Dec. 15th :)

Snippet below the cut as part of the WIP ask game (and thanks again for asking; send another if you like!).

--------------

“Protection,” Bofur muttered to himself, flipping the visor down on the metal helmet with a clang that rattled his skull. He wished his lucky hat fit underneath, not just as his usual talisman, but as much-needed padding. “Can’t do the other things, but protecting is easy. Easy. Like a pickaxe through coal. Just keep him alive and don’t sweat to death yourself.”

The plate armor rattled and clanked like a rattly cart full of loose scrap metal, but Bofur knew the heavy - and hot - armor was a necessary component of his part in their plan. The Ur family’s plan (which was mostly Bombur’s plan, to be fair) only needed three days to prove their best three qualities to Bilbo and thus convince their favorite hobbit to join their family forever. So Bofur had encased himself in metal and loaded about sixty pounds of weapons on top of that, and the mere sight of him at Bilbo’s side should send any shady dwarves running.

Unsurprisingly, Bilbo heard him coming. No need to knock on the door, even, for a curly-haired head was already curiously sticking out into the hallway with a bemused expression. In answer, Bofur lifted up the metal visor and grinned, which only widened as Bilbo’s jaw dropped.

“Mornin’, Bilbo!” Bofur said cheerfully. “Ready to get goin’?”

“Bofur?” The hobbit gaped incredulously and looked Bofur up and down, taking in the shining silver plate mail etched with angular runes that covered Bofur very literally from head to toe. “What in Yavanna’s name are you wearing?”

Bofur laughed. “I know hobbits don’t go in for warfare much, but I thought you might recognize ‘armor’ by now!”

Bilbo fixed him with an exasperated look. “You know what I mean, you daft creature! I’ve seen you in actual battle with less armor than this. Is it… ceremonial for something?”

“Have you ever known me to stand on ceremony? ‘Course not! I said I’d escort you ‘round the Mountain today, and this is just the best protection possible.”

“Oh,” said Bilbo, brow furrowing. “Is it likely to be very dangerous to walk about today for some reason?”

“No, nothin’ like that,” Bofur said quickly. “Just, eh, no harm in bein’ prepared, right?”

“...Right,” Bilbo agreed doubtfully, but still stepped out and closed the door behind him.

[extraordinarilyextreme]

today, i wanna talk about this point that i've referenced a couple times across my yrzx fics:

For the fate of the world, Wang Ye relinquished his days of peace and tranquility. To save Zhuge Qing’s life, Wang Ye could sacrifice everything beneath the heavens. (from 岁月不待人 | the moon and the tides, you and i)

i'll start during Beijing arc, when ZCL asks why WY doesn't just give up Feng-hou Qimen to the ppl who want it.

in the manhua (ch. 185) & donghua (s3, ep. 3), WY's response is vague: "for various reasons, i can't give out [that power]."

(note that the dialogue differs slightly btwn these two adaptations, but the meaning is the same)

but in the live-action (s1, ep. 22), WY clearly explains that "it would throw the ways of this world into greater disorder. this calamitous fate must be shouldered by me alone."

these lines perfectly demonstrate one of WY's most defining traits: 心怀天下 / a heart that cradles everything beneath the heavens.

we see it first during the tournament arc, when WY admits to ZCL that he didn't need to get involved in this mess—but did so anyway because the fate of the world was implicated.

WY: Actually, whatever happens to you all has nothing to do with me. No matter how terrible the world ends up, I can still protect myself and my family and keep us unscathed. So, actually, I shouldn't have come here. [...] ZCL: What you mean is that if I continue my investigation, the future of this world may very likely develop in a bad direction. Daozhang, who this "bad future" impacts isn't limited to only me, right? The two of us are neither kin nor kith; you wouldn't have come to get caught up in these troubled waters because of me, right? WY: This, involves another concept. I call it the weight of fate. [...] And you, Zhang Chulan, you hold a high ratio of that weight. Your choice will change the fates of many, many people. (LA s1, ep. 14; see also manhua chs. 121-122 & donghua s2, ep. 12)

this is the extent of WY's selflessness. and as his conversation w ZCL continues, something else is revealed to us.

ZCL: The you who could have stayed out of this matter entirely chose instead to come here and persuade me. Did you also not choose the future that would have been best for you? (LA s1, ep. 14)

that 'something' is none other than WY's conduct: 明知山有虎，偏向虎山行 / knowing full well the mountains harbor tigers, yet insisting on traveling deep into the mountains anyway. or, in other words, the practice of forging on into promised danger.

which, coincidentally, is exactly how WY praised Zhuge Liang's character during his match against ZGQ.

可他却放弃了作为一个修者该坚守的一切。就算逆大势而行，也要投身到乱世当中，只为了去救那个明知已无可救药的天下。/ But he chose to give up everything that a cultivator should uphold and protect. Even if it meant opposing the momentum of the times, he threw himself utterly into chaos of the mortals—all to save a world he knew full well was beyond redemption. 为了那个天下情愿去和天理和大势对抗 / For that world, he was willing to hold off divine order and destiny itself. 明知不可为而为，这就是他那个级别的术士作为。/ To do something knowing full well of its impossible nature—this was the practice of a sorcerer of his caliber. (LA s1, ep. 13; see also manhua ch. 110 & donghua s2, ep. 10)

with such a heart of compassion (怜悯之心, HMH's words) and sense of responsibility, WY is unlike anyone else in his generation. instead, it can be argued that the character most similar to WY is in fact one of his seniors, lao-Tianshi.

they are, at least in the LA, the only two 麒麟 in the story after all (s1, eps. 8 & 20):

and just like lao-Tianshi, it's easy to think of WY as a saint (圣人) or a god—something "above" mortal humans. he's operating on a scale (格局) far greater than anyone else in our main cast; WY is always taking the whole world into consideration, even if that's the choice least favorable to him.

(LA s1, ep. 23)

and then Beijing arc happens. and by the end of it, WY has an epiphany:

“The me who has always avoided involvement with worldly affairs has no right to speak of leaving them behind.” (manhua ch. 196; see also LA s1, ep. 23 & donghua s3, ep. 7)

he's begun to have a reckoning with his own human-ness. he's starting to realize that he's fallible, that he's ordinary and secular, that he has attachments—and, importantly, that he wants attachments. that he desires companionship (just as humans are wont to do).

and it's with that moment of enlightenment that we dive into Biyou Village arc.

because, overall, WY has not actually changed that much. he still feels responsible for the peace and safety of the world; he still wants to figure out how ZCL and FBB are related to the Jiashen Calamity. he still remembers clearly what Hong-ye said: "you are the chosen one." (LA s1, ep. 4)

and even ZGQ himself remarks (manhua ch. 228; see also donghua s4, ep. 5):

yet when ZGQ's safety is at stake, WY doesn't hesitate for even a moment:

(donghua s4, ep. 5; see also manhua ch. 228)

that is not the conduct of someone who always thinks about the bigger scheme of things. that's the conduct of someone making a choice for himself, an arguably selfish choice, to save his friend and doom everyone else.

WY would sooner give up his Feng-hou Qimen and restart the Jiashen Calamity than see ZGQ in danger. that is how important ZGQ is to WY.

在王也的心中，诸葛青的命比天下苍生还重要。/ in Wang Ye's heart, Zhuge Qing's life is more important than everyone in beneath the heavens.

and that's because ZGQ is the first of his generation to approach him. to make an effort to befriend him. to look beyond the power he possesses and also see him.

(LA s1, ep. 15; see also manhua ch. 131 & donghua s2, ep. 14)

in other words, it was ZGQ who made WY's godlike love for the world human. WY is no longer an outside viewer looking down on the plane he feels beholden to; WY is a part of this secular world, and that is why he should want to protect it.

because the red dust realm is where ZGQ exists. here is where their bond exists.

(unrelated pic from manhua ch. 196; see also donghua s3, ep. 7)

tldr: Wang Ye places the world before himself, and Zhuge Qing before the world.

— all this to say, i really am excited for s2 of the live-action, even though the casting rumors have been disheartening. Biyou Village arc is a climactic chapter for YeQing, so i hope the adaptation does it justice.

(LA s1, ep. 27)