#anyway i might do more of these eventually because i do indeed have a lot of /thoughts/ about these characters

[rin-solo]

ALRIGHT, I AM FINALLY REBLOGGING THIS<3

Amazing post! I really enjoyed reading it. Now, I don't think I'm going to go too deep into my own theories because I want to do my own (more story- than music-based, though) analysis (will probably do it saga by saga so as to avoid the word count problems ...)

Overall really thorough, so I'm going to add just a few things here and there:

I strongly believe Just a Man is a prophecy in some way, or at least heavy foreshadowing (deliberately picking imagery for each saga in Act 1): comet/meteor -> TROY; candle/blaze -> CYCLOPS; ripple/tidal wave -> OCEAN; reason/blame -> CIRCE; man/monster -> UNDERWORLD (I'm not going into detail on why I believe this for now because I will be in my post eventually.)

Fun (?) parallel that came to mind: Odysseus claims to be the "man who, unlike you, has mercy" to Polyphemus (which is an at least partially inaccurate claim spoken out of resentment) and later does the same with Poseidon in Get in the Water (my beloved 🫶), except there it's much more genuine and much more presented through other words/actions rather than outright stated (making it a lot more authentic and accurate.)

Odysseus was 100% correct in going to Aeolus, and I am tired of people criticizing him for this, sorry. I mean, Hermes later tells us literally that "no mortal can pass Poseidon's storm," meaning that they couldn't have gotten past that storm without divine intervention. The few animatics for Storm that exist probably massively undersell how bad it actually was (I'm actually currently making my own one because I think this song is underrated.) And then it's also not Odysseus' fault that the wind bag was opened; apart from not trusting anyone with the wind bag, he actually didn't do anything wrong in the Ocean saga. Going to Aeolus is really the more responsible thing, in my opinion, rather than trying to survive with a fleet of ancient, very sinkable ships in an impenetrable storm. They would've all drowned had he not decided to do something about it.

I wager Aeolus' "Keep your friends close" was trying to give Odysseus a hint at how to beat her game. I don't think she was setting him up for failure, as some believe. If he had actually kept his friends close, he would've probably won. I am convinced that Eurylochus wouldn't have opened that bag if Odysseus had actually entrusted him with it.

THANK YOU for everything that you said about Ruthlessness. The amount of people who misunderstand that song .... sigh. And yes, I believe the ripple/tidal wave reprisal was deliberate, not just because this is the tidal wave to Remember Me's ripple, but also because this is Poseidon's own ripple to 600 Strike's tidal wave.

I've actually always interpreted the ending of There Are Other Ways as Circe "opening her heart" somewhat, as she has now been shown that she is potentially hurting good/innocent men by striking first. Odysseus proved to her that such a thing exists, and she might actually be rethinking her approach now (I hope so; as understandable as her actions are, they're still harmful.)

Thank you also for pointing out how "No longer you" only means "not the man you are right now" as opposed to "a monster," as I've seen so many claim.

And, last but certainly not least:

If the (heart)beat signifies looming/imminent/perceived danger by at least one involved party, I am eyeing very, very interestedly the fact that it disappears as Odysseus finishes his "... just go home" speech in Get in the Water (my beloved 🫶) and is present neither during the 3-second pause nor "Maybe you could learn to forgive?" Hm, yes, very, VERY fascinating indeed...

... Of course, I was going to close off with this one 😂

Anyway, that was really fun to read and I hope you enjoy my additions :) I'm very curious what you think, actually!

Epic Analysis - Act I

So I made a joke a while back about analyzing the themes of the musical and that'd be ten pages long and it turns out I'm not that far off considering just act I has ~checks mark ~ 8 pages and over 4K words lmao.

I want to preface this by saying I'm pointing out things that I have noticed while listening to it - I'm no way claiming to be right about anything, and there things I may have missed or may have misundertood.I don't have a degree in music nor am I a professional writer/songwriter, so you can interpret the points bellow however you wish.

And to follow along with.

Red - Song titles

Orange - repeated sentences that appear later on.

Blue - motifs

I hope you all enjoy and please do me a favor and like and reblog this with your thoughts because I lost a good amount of brain cells doing this.

Also, please share your thoughts and theories, too <3

And if you kindly could like and reblog so this can reach new people I'd be greatly appreciated.

The Horse And The Infant

We get our first introduction to Odysseus' electric guitar with his motif.

We also learn a bit about Odysseus himself - he can operate well under pressure, he is a good captain who knows the strength of his men and he also says: "Neo, avenge your father (Achilles) kill the brothers of Hector"

We hear a heartbeat when he's thinking about Penelope and Telemachus. (This will be important later on, trust lmao).

Zeus appears and we can hear his synth base.

We hear the music box that will later be heard again.

Odysseus begs Zeus to not make him kill the infant.

"Please, don't make me do this"

"The blood on your hands is something you won't lose, all you can choose is whose".

Just A Man

We get our first introduction to Odysseus' acoustic guitar.

But when does a comet become a meteor?

When does a candlе become a blaze?

When does a man become a monster?

When does a ripple become a tidal wave?

When does the reason become the blame?

When does a man become a monster?

Is important to note that the acoustic guitar disappears completely as soon as Odysseus decides that he has to kill the infant to ensure the lives of all of those he loves. It's also important to note that despite providing Zeus with alternatives, he still does what it takes as he said he would not long ago.

Here we also learn of Odysseus' hunger - And his is vastly different from pretty much any other character - because his hunger is about seeing his wife and his child - is not literal, but rather metaphorical.

And another interesting fact - we hear a choir singing back Odysseus' words back to him and that won't be the first time that it happens.

There's a possibility that's the crew doing so - but if he's in the wall and they're bellow, how exactly do they know what's happening there? And how can they hear what's he's saying?

I point this out because Jay himself has claimed that only gods can summon their own choir, so - what exactly is happening here?

Full Speed Ahead

We are introduced to other character and one foe that arguably poses more threat than the gods - hunger.

And Odysseus has enough hindsight - at that moment - to know that there was something was off because he could see fire but no smoke, which is an interesting thing in and on itself considering that we often say that "where there's fire, there's smoke".

He also stops Eyrulochus from barging in the island and states that he should go ahead with Polites, because they could find a way of no one ending up dead.

But when Eyrulochus states that they don't know what's ahead, Odysseus says that if they don't return six hundred men can make the whole place burn. (This is interesting, and quite telling if I say so myself).

Full Speed Ahead serves to drive the plot forward, but also gives us insight into Odysseus' mindset prior to Polites' death.We close the song with Ody's eletric guitar again.

Open Arms

We are presented with Polites' philosophy about kindness and greeting the word with open arms.

"You can relax my friend"

"Greet the world with open arms"

We can hear a (heart)beat - not to be confused with the heartbeat we hear in the name of Penelope - as soon as the minions ented the sound space with "welcome" and the beat remains there until we hear Polite's say: "See".

I said not to be confused with Penelope's because this beat does sound like a heartbeat - it picks up the pace and slows down but is not present in every song nor is it present in every section of the songs it shows up in - which leads me to believe it might mean something (unless it's a random beat, but I'm being honest I have a hard time believing that).

So our first theoretical introduction to this sound happens when they are near perceived danger - but we all know what the danger motif sounds like at this point (which I won't tackle because is everywhere and it doesn't feel necessary as off now).But the beat disappears as soon as the situation is resolved and it does not appear again.

And again, Odysseus is warning the winions that if they don't make it back safely, his men will burn the island down. And here, Odysseus presents Polites with the idea that Open Arms with no discernment can sometimes lead them down a path they do not wish to go - "that's what you get with open arms".

But when they manage to "succeed" living by what Polites' said, Odysseus begins to ponder which is why Athena shows up.

Warrior of The Mind

We are introduced to Athena as a character and we hear her motif for the first time.

We hear the heart(beat) again as soon as Odysseus asks Athena to show herself. So here it seems to be present again near perceived danger, or at the very leas near the unknown.

And we hear his electric guitar motif right before she asks what his name is.

Polyphemus

Again, we hear the electric guitar and his motif but on a different scale than what we usually get (I'm pretty sure)

And not for the first time, we have Odysseus having enough awareness to notice that something is off, because everything is too perfect.We hear the heart(beat) again once Polyphemus asks "who are you?"

Here is the first time where said beat can be perceived at different metric sections than they'd normally be for a normal beat, here they are present in certain words.

At first, we hear it constantly until Odysseus says they come in peace, and they stop and come back in the word "sheep". It appears between that and favorite, and appears again in "favorite", again in "right" and "deep", and then in "know" and then the beat is gone.

But is important to note that in this first section, we only hear one beat per minute.

It stays gone for a good portion of the song and it shows up again as soon as he stops saying: "A gift for you and a gift from me" and it sounds a little bit more stuttery in this part but is gone again before Odysseus says his name is "nobody".

And we hear the electric guitar again in this section. And then the beat again - this time two beats per minute.

This is the first instance in which we hear the beat associated with actual danger, but not only danger but also presented in a context of someone claiming they come in peace right after they kill a sheep that was there just minding its own business and then in a context where one of the parts is being manipulated but has also made up their mind about things will end.

As for the song itself, there are some things I find interesting in it because I don't think we talk enough about how the themes are connected, or about this particular theme that I'll touch on again.

But Polyphemus asks Odysseus what gives him the right to deal that kind of pain - i.e: the pain of losing his friend sheep, and asks him if he doesn't know that pain he sows is pain that he'll reap and proceeds to warn him that he'll learn that is not so fun to take."A trade you see, take from you like you took from me".

Everyone talks about how this line is foreshadowing to him taking Odysseus favorite person from him - and it is! But it also shows us something else: Consequence (which isn't the first we see off and won't be the last). Odysseus himself will later say he didn't lose any of his men in the war - because up to that point - he was a brilliant commander that thought up an idea to bring a horse into a city so that they could win, but before Astyanax - which is a point I'll make later on -, Odysseus was never presented with the consequences of his own actions.

This isn't an argument about who was right or who was wrong - but objectively, about the principle that every action has an reaction, and that's when Odysseus will learn this the hard way. So the song and the character are telling him (and us by extension) that Odysseus entered the cave, killed the sheep and that actions will have consequences. He obviously didn't know that he was killing something important to someone, especially someone that could kill him - but that's the thing, whether he knew or not doesn't matter to Polyphemus. He still felt the pain of losing the sheep, and because he felt that pain, he had to make Odysseus feel the same.

There was an action, that action caused someone pain, and so because of it, that pain must be felt in the same way to be understood.

And then again we see Ody's mind at work - with him tricking Polyphemus with the lotus wine -. Odysseus is trying to fix the situation with a gift - as a way of saying, I may have taken something from you, but here I am giving you something back -.

"A trade you see, a gift for you and a gift from me"

I also find it interesting that Odysseus talks about the power that's in his hand when referring to the wine. I understand that apparently it was Dionysus' wine, but if we think about another possible meaning, it could also refer to Polyphemus own thirst (and his father's, by extension) which is the thirst for power, not on the traditional sense but rather on the sense that he felt his power over the island and the sheep was taken away, so in order to gain it back, he must kill the people that took it from him.

Survive

We hear Zeus' reprisal of The Horse and The Infant but I'm pretty sure the tempo is a little bit faster than what it is in the previous use of it.It could be because the same way Zeus ordered Odysseus to kill Astyanax, he's ordering his men to kill Polyphemus who also happens to be a child Cyclops - but I think there's more to it than that.

We hear the guitar again.

Odysseus explicitly states he's ready to kill. "Is just one life to take".

"When we kill him then our journey is over"

We don't hear the heart(beat) here at all.

And then Polyphemus takes over the song and the motif as well, and kills Polites.

And then he says "You've hurt me enough".

"Six hundred lives I'll take, six hundred lives I'll break, and when I kill you then my pain is over" (Sidenote, I was looking at Spotify and the lyrics there were "then my deed is over" and it make me question everything because I always heard it as pain and everywhere else has as pain so yeah, Spotify sucks).

Going back to the point, I always found it interesting that Polyphemus would say that when he kills the men his pain will be over. Because it made me wonder - does he mean his literal pain or the psychological one? Is not like he didn't care about the sheep - he did - quite a lot. So is it possible that he's not referring to just the physical pain but a different one too? Because here he sounds more vulnerable than he did in the previous song when he says "enough, you've hurt me enough". He doesn't even sound angry, but rather quite vulnerable.

So if my interpration is correct - this is also the first time that Odysseus sees the emotional pain he caused on one of his foes, but is also the first time we have another character stating that for said pain to be over, the thing that caused it has to be dead.

Remember Them

This is Odysseus "coming to terms with his losses" (I'll touch on why this is on quotes later). But we again get his eletric guitar and Odysseus resilience being brought to the forefront.

He goes back to his military mindsight quite fast considering what just happened, and he delivers his orders very fast at that moment.

And after a whole song without the (heart)beat - it appears again when the other cyclops appear in the soundspace and ask "Who hurt you" and it disappears as soon as Athena appears.

So here the beat appears again in perceived danger - but also when someone is actually hurt.

And this is when Polyphemus is presented with the consequence of his own actions as well. He killed some of Odysseus pain out of retribution because Odysseus killed his sheep - so now Odysseus stabs him in the eye so that they can get out of the cave -.

And now, instead of killing the Cyclops, he decides to let him live, which will have consequences. As I said before, one song ago Odysseus was ready to kill him, but he had no qualms about doing so either; however, as soon as Polites dies Odysseus' whole mindset changes.

He decides to spare him like his friend would have wanted, but he also gives his own name away due to what I can only surmise to be resentment. Is almost like he's saying: "This is the man, that unlike you, has mercy".

Also, this is what Odysseus says:

"Remember me. I'm the reigning king of Ithaca"

"I am neither man nor mythical"

"I am your darkest moment"

"I am the infamous Odysseus"

And again we hear a choir in the background as he says all of this. Could the choir be the crew? Maybe - but if that's the case, why would they enter when this is singularly about Odysseus himself?

My Goodbye

We get Athena's motif again.

This song does a great job of recontextualizing Warrior of The Mind.

We hear Odysseus' guitar again - and I believe we get both of them although I'm not entirely sure if I'm being honest. I touched on this before, but I find it interesting that Athena tells Odysseus that he needs to put his emotions aside while actively being emotional herself. She's the one that's berating him, calling him a waste of effort, she's the one that sings a whole break-up song about it while Odysseus just wants her to be gone.

The lyrics and the musicality show us that Athena does care about him - we can feel that especially after Odysseus tells her that she's alone because of the notes on the piano, is almost like his words have a physical effect on her -.

Storm

The trumpets!

And we have Aeolus' motif.

Luck Runs Out

"How much longer 'till your luck runs out? How much longer 'till the show goes south?"

You rely on wit and people die on it"

Here we have Odysseus blindly deciding to ask a god for help. When we consider the fact that he just lost his best friend because he decided to barge in some place he shouldn't have, his choice to just climb to the top and ask for help makes even less sense, unless, you consider the fact that he took Polites' advice about "just asking for help" to heart.

Then Odysseus states that he still believes in goodness and that people can be kind - and we'll later learn that remains to be true even after everything - but he doesn't seem to grasp, yet, that blind goodness/kindness can have consequences - is no wonder we always say that no good deed goes unpunished.

Now, remember when I said that before Odysseus could both grasp when something was off because of the lack of smoke or because something was too good to be true? Why does that change? And it does, because he should've known how gods are - hell, he just had a huge blowout with one a few songs ago -, so why does he lose this hindsight all of a sudden?

Eurylochus' concerns are very valid - he has a point about Odysseus' relying too much on his wit to get people out of situations. He shouldn't have questioned him in front of the entire crew, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a point.

Here, we also get a glimpse of Odysseus' current state - he says that he took six hundred men to war and that none of them died there -, which is true, but why isn't he addressing those who died after?And get the (heart)beat all over this song too.

Keep Your Friends Close

We have the (heart)beat again.

Is interesting that Aeolus' remark about keeping friends close and enemies closer led Odysseus to be distrustful of his crew, and yet, the god didn't say not to trust the crew, she just said: "Keep your friends close".

But because of what just happened one song ago, Odysseus doesn't feel like he can trust the bag to anyone else, which means he doesn't switch shifts with anyone and ends up falling asleep.

"So much has changed, but I'm the same".

Storm motif.

Full Speed Ahead motif.

Poseidon shows up.

Ruthlessness

Oh, this song!

First of all, the lyrics do a great job of presenting us with Poseidon philosophy and character

"Guess the pack of wolves is swimming with the shark now" This line here, oh is beautiful. Because Poseidon acknowledges that Odysseus and his men are dangerous (the pack of wolves) and that they can be brutal in their own right - he's not taking away their merit like many would in this circumstance -, but he's saying they're swimming with the shark (him). Meaning: They are under his domain now, under his control, and he now has the upper hand because he's not only distant from them but also has more power. (Credit to Mortius for the amazing analysis of this line)

"Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves"

I touched on this before, but I needed to highlight how I have seen far too many people completely miss the point of this song - not only on YouTube but also here, for some reason -. People argue that Poseidon asked for an apology which Odysseus didn't give and that's why he killed most of his fleet.

No.

The entire song is an exposition of Poseidon's philosophy - it's a way of showing us that he doesn't believe in mercy or kindness, that he believes that in order to survive one must be ruthless at all times. He's literally saying: "If you had been ruthless and killed my child, I wouldn't be here right now because I wouldn't know who did it".Or even then - I don't think he'd have sought Odysseus out. The reason he does is precisely because Ody decided to be merciful instead.

So is not like he's looking for a genuine apology - there was nothing Ody could've said that would've made Poseidon spare him -, he's just toying with Odysseus at that point.

Odysseus' apology (which he gave, in the ancient Greek way) wouldn't amount to anything.

We hear the (heart)beat again as soon as Poseidon tells Odysseus is time to say goodbye but it gets faster as soon as Odysseus enters the sound space and it stops completely on the word "scape".

"Captain, captain, captain"

When does a ripple become a tidal wave?

"When does a man become a monster?

"I am your darkest moment"

"The monster that always draws near"

We actually get Odysseus' acoustic guitar here too. Now, I'm still debating why Jay decided to reprise Just A Man here, especially with the ripple and the tidal wave (obviously, because they are at sea and all that, but I believe there's more to it than that).

If we follow the idea of consequence, it could suggest that this is the ripple effect of Odysseus choosing to spare the Cyclops, but it could also imply more about the Vengence Saga.

And as I said before, is interesting that Poseidon states that he's a monster and I wonder - did he mean it literally or figuratively? And I also wonder, how does Jay mean it? Because the whole concept of the man and the monster - besides reminding me of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and how in said book the allegory presents the duality of human nature, and how the balance between darkness and light is what makes one truly human - makes me believe that we might have an allegory at play here.

If - and that's a huge if - Jay is going for a similar allegory with Odysseus' arc it makes sense that he'd choose two disparate symbols of it (the man and the monster).So share your thoughts on this topic because I'd like to know.

Puppeteer

Full Speed Ahead motif.

There's a debate about whether or not Ody knew Eyrulochus was the one who opened the bag but we can talk about this later.

Circe's motif.

Here - we are once again presented with the theme of hunger - for food and for a woman/ for sex (let's be real) - and the "a woman" line always takes me out. We also get some context into Circe's character - a woman turning men into pigs once she feeds them -.

At first, we aren't clued in on the reason why she's doing. All she says is "think of your past, and your mistakes. They'll be the last mistakes you make".

And we again are presented with someone who has power and seeks to maintain it. This is our first introduction to her - she simply states that she has all the power and that she's not playing with people, but rather manipulating them like a puppeteer does.

She has the strings and she controls the outcome because she can twist and bend people to her will. The closest we get to something deeper is with the line "the world does not tend to forgive".

Wouldn't You Like

Hermes! I love him but there's not to say about this song, except that Hermes tells Odysseus that Circe can make him fall in love with her - so the fact that she tries and fails tells us exactly how much he loves Penelope.

Done For

Odysseus' guitar and motif.

The heart(beat) is very present here.

Here we are presented with more information about Circe's motivation. She states that she has people she needs to protect, nymphs she can't neglect. So in order to maintain control and power over the situation, Circe preemptively strikes before any harm can be done to her or the people she cares about.

Odysseus here tries to trick Circe but she doesn't fall for it. And the thing, Circe and Odysseus' reason isn't different at all - both want to protect the people they care for, but they're going at it in different ways.

She does tell him that the last time they allowed people to live, they faced a heavy loss. We don't know exactly what happened, but once can only assume that it wasn't pretty, so Circe learned from it and decided to use of her art of persuasion to get what she wanted.

There Are Other Ways

Here, Odysseus starts to repeat back what Circe said in her own song, almost as if he's slowly following her lead, until he thinks about Penelope and we hear her motif and her viola.

Here Odysseus vulnerability and the proof of his love for his wife is what convinces Circe to help them. She must've come across countless men before and I think is safe to assume none of them denied her before.

And that's the thing about Circe - when presented with a good reason to help, once she realizes that Odysseus just wants to go home, that he loves his wife so much that even after twelve years (lol) he remains faithful to her, and is desperate to see her, and that's a good enough reason to help him.

Circe already knows who she is, already knows what she's capable of and what she's fighting for.

Odysseus is on the way to figuring that out.

The Underworld

Full Speed Ahead motif.

"All I hear are screams"

The bells we hear are ringing the same notes that we hear in The Horse And The Infant as soon as Odysseus finds Astyanax.

"Captain, captain, captain"

"This life is amazing when you greet with open arms, whatever we face we'll be fine if we lead from the heart... Greet the world with open arms".

"Waiting" with Odysseus' motif on a different scale on the piano.This is the first time Odysseus truly addresses what has happened and what he's gone through.

Here he is, looking for the prophet to help him get home, and yet he's being haunted by the voices of those he lost and their last thoughts before they died. Yes - he's hearing their literal screams as they pass the river Styx, but is more than that. For the first time, he can actually see the consequences of his own choices and his actions.

No Longer You

Tiresias' motif.

"There is a world where I help you get home, but that's not a world I know" - This line here is brilliant, because not only addresses the fact that in the original poem Tiresias does tell Odysseus what to do and what to avoid, but it also further solidifies that this is very different from the original epic.

I see a song of past romance (Siren's song)

I see the sacrifice of men (Scylla's throat)

I see portrayals of betrayal (Mutiny)

And a brother's final stand (Lightning bolt)

I see you on the brink of death

I see you draw your final breath

I see a man who gets to make it home alive but it's no longer you

No Longer You is a great way of setting the stage for the next act, by providing Odysseus with a vague warning about a man who is hunting and a man with a trail of bodies behind it, it allows his mind to wonder and the ponder who that man can be. The interesting thing is - Tiresias is telling that the man that makes it back home is no longer him - as in no longer Odysseus, as in no longer the current Odysseus -.

At that moment Odysseus already has a trail of bodies behind him. Whether or not the deaths in the cave were his fault isn't the argument here, but rather that they happened and happened under his command. But here Odysseus is presented with a future and a past he can't change or can't control.

Monster

Odysseus' guitar motif that gets pulled away.As discussed by my amazing mutual @rin-solo in her Monster essay, Odysseus is non-judgmental by nature.

Monster is Odysseus debating if mercy is not the thing that has been killing his men all along, if him caving to guilt is the reason they're not making it home. He's not justifying the actions of his foes, he's not saying they're morally right in doing what they're doing.

Is the Cyclops struck with guilt when he kills? Is he up in the middle of the night? Or does he end my men to avenge his friend And then sleep knowing he has done him right?

When the witch turns men to pigs to protect her nymphs Is she going insane? Or did she learn to be colder when she got older and now she saves them the pain?

He's simply questioning if these people are allowing themselves to be stopped by guilt or by mercy, he acknowledges their perspective, he acknowledges that them doing the things they way they're doing them is what keeps them alive.

"Ruthleness is mercy upon ourselves"

Here Odysseus addresses those he lost again, and is the first moment where it feels like he's really allowing the grief and the hurt to set in.

I said it before and I'll say it again, Monster doesn't seem to about Odysseus choosing to become a monster because he wants to, but rather because he feels is the only thing he can do under the circumstances. With the context we get from songs that will come, Monster seems to become more and more about Odysseus not wanting to feel guilt about the choices he knows he'll have to make to make it back home.

He wants to throw the guilt he feels away:

"Does a soldier use a wooden horse to kill sleeping Trojans cause he's vile? Or those he throw his remorse away and saves more lives with guile?"

Monster also seems to be Odysseus' way of starting to understand his own morals, of coming to terms with them, of accepting things about himself that he didn't seem willing to do up until this point.And once again, we hear a choir in the background singing the words back to Odysseus.

[silentauthor96]

Thinking about how Hayato has had multiple opportunities to play for better baseball clubs and always refuses

Thinking about how he currently cuts his baseball playing time in order to spend more time in the daycare with his brother and the kids

Thinking about Hayato watching his dad leave, choosing his own stubbornness over their family

Thinking about how Hayato's father doesn't even publicly acknowledge the fact that Hayato and Taka are his sons or that he has kids

Thinking about how despite how he talks about (and to) Taka, Hayato steadfastly refuses to even consider not being there for his mom and his brother

Thinking about how no matter how much his mother and brother irritate him and inconvenience him and honestly drive him crazy, Hayato will never abandon his family the way his father did

Thinking about how, no matter what he says, when Hayato has to choose between baseball and Taka between anything and Taka, the answer is always

Taka

[opiopal]

yall wanna know something I think abt a lot? teenage/ little sibling mc au's. Mc gets brought down to the devildom at like 15-16 yr, obviously there is zero romance and instead they just get kinned as the 8th sibling in the HOL.

you guys wanna know what else I think of a lot? little sibling Mc being an agent of chaos when their found family trope isnt paying attention.

I can't help but imagine that once mc is kinned they get crazy spoiled. not spoiled rotten but they know they can get away with a LOT because they're now seen as the cute youngest that doesnt know any better. but obviously they do since they are a teenager who knows how the world works.

and I mention the agent of chaos thing is because they were already attending highschool before hand, so they quickly notice how highschoolish RAD feels, so they were able to jump into the social ring a lot faster then regular Mc. and thus have the ability to get information from people who trust them/like them. so it ends up being useful to them. and now to my leading point: imagine a sort of friendship with Mephisto. its really more like, a symbiotic relationship. they are around each other for a reason. and that reason is RADs newpaper club.

it first started out with Mc staying after at RAD with lucifer to help with a few things, eventually Mc was put in a random room to hang out in after they did all that they could. which turned out to be the room for the newspaper club. after a while they get bored because their D.D.D died and they snagged a paper that was meant for the next day. eventually Mephisto enters the room, goes to tell them to leave which quickly they say "Dia told me I can be in here, if you have a problem with what the lord wants you could always go tell him that!" which shut him up fast. a good couple of minutes go by before the silence is broken by Mc speaking up and going, "You know, this is kinda boring." offended, he whips around, "excuse me?"

"theres nothing interesting here. interviews.. talking about things that everyone already knows about.. like, I could google half this junk." "I- well what would you know!?" "a lot actually. you dont appeal to any of the students here."

he glares for second before inhaling slowly, remembering that diavolo might be nearby.

"oh yeah? as if you could do better." "I could actually," "well i would love to hear it then."

he says sarcastically. though Mc speaks anyways.

mc adjusts how they were sitting and scans over the paper for a second.

"a gossip section would do it good." "what?" "come on dude, its non-sports club 101, if you want people to pay attention to you, you need to appeal to them. I was in theater for a while and we'd bribe people with free food if they sat through the whole show. this place loves drama. and lucifer being drawn riding on a unicorn isn't funny enough to get more then one person to buy it."

slowly they start talking a bit more casually and stop being so hostile. eventually Mc says that they could tell him the gossip they hear if he wants to make a part in the paper for said gossip. so, from then on they slip notes to him about student drama. which does indeed get more papers told!

though one day, someone pisses Mc off. not really that they were the one insulted, but they heard a few demons talking shit about their older brothers. so for the next week Mc takes a good amount of notes on those demons. which eventually they go to Mephisto with their notes and gave them to him. when he questions why these particular demons, he's met with a very angry "if those cunts want to talk shit and not mind their business then why shouldn't their own business get talked about." for a moment he wants to press further... but unfortunately for him he found himself actually caring about this human very much so he couldn't help but just want to make them feel better... and this much of a consititant story would draw people in so its totally not that he kinned this kid as well, totally!! so for about two weeks the gossip section has an ongoing story that causes nearly the whole school to get a paper to stay updated.

of course every bit of gossip uses code names to keep people from being outed on anything. and honestly some of the gossip might end up being people bringing it to the newspaper club themselves, so maybe a small confessions page ends up being opened.

obviously this is something a little cracked, and just a not very thought out thing that exists bc it makes me giggle when I'm daydreaming before I fall asleep<3 and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if there was already a gossip section in the school papers, but unfortunately I was never ever able to make it past the first few lessons of session 2 of obey me, which sucks:/

[zukosdualdao]

Thoughts on what the Gaang would call Iroh post canon? Toph obviously would stick with Gramps, but I'm not sure about the others. I feel like just calling him Iroh might be too informal, but I don't know that any of them would feel close enough to call him Uncle for a good while yet. (Other than Zuko, of course.) There's always General Iroh, but I think that's a title he'd like to put behind him. I cannot remember for the life of me how any of them address him the few times they're all together.

ooh so what i remember of the instance in canon of the gaang referring to him:

sokka calls him iroh when detailing the plan to rescue katara and zuko and try to take down the dai li in tcod, and katara calls him general iroh in sozin’s comet. there might be some other instances (i feel like i remember at least one instance of aang referring to him by name but i could be wrong), but mostly i remember them calling him “your uncle” whenever zuko brought him up in the latter half of book three.

with that in mind:

sokka still definitely calls him iroh. onlookers might indeed find this too casual, but neither of them care, lmao. though he would do just do this anyway, part of it is because of iroh's history, and while i think sokka does trust by the end of canon and especially post-canon that he is a changed man, his pragmatism insists on that distance a little bit. but i also think they come to quite like, understand, and respect each, though sokka still just calls him iroh because he would prefer to just refer to people by their names in general. this works out for iroh, who would much rather people call him by his name or an affectionate moniker than any sort of official title these days.

i think katara might still refer to him as general iroh directly proceeding post-canon (she means, as i believe she did in sozin's comment, it as a reference of respect to iroh's actions trying to make up for his past wrongs, a la leading the battle to take back ba sing se with the white lotus.) he eventually tells her that she doesn't have to, though. it's a gradual switch, as she still catches herself doing it a lot, and though she wouldn't be the first one in the gaang to do so, she'd probably occasionally call him uncle iroh as they come to know each other, but mostly calls him iroh.

does toph call him gramps in canon? i don't remember, but if so, ADORABLE, and regardless, i can totally see it. he does not mind this at all, he gets that it's an Affectionate Nickname. if they're in a more formal setting that calls for something (like a summit or something) she might call him iroh, but really, it's mostly gramps.

i think aang might call him general or even prince iroh - mostly because it stood out to me that he called hakoda 'chief hakoda' when meeting him - but the second iroh says he doesn't have to, it's all uncle iroh all the time! (he is the first, outside of zuko, to call him that.)

i think suki would probably stick to iroh for a long time, mostly because she didn't know him very well in canon, but once she and iroh do grow to know each other well enough, she might use uncle iroh occasionally.

i have to include my buddy zuko, even though we know he mostly calls iroh 'uncle'. he does sometimes still call him uncle iroh, which we see a couple of times (esp in book one i think) in the show, but that's mostly just in casual settings. one notable thing is that NO ONE is allowed to call iroh just Uncle like zuko does. that's his uncle, excuse. (no one ask me or zuko to explain why it's different when they call him uncle iroh. it just is.) though this is entirely unspoken. aang tries this once and receives a glare from zuko so strong that he refers to him only as "zuko's uncle iroh" for a month straight, including to iroh's face. lmao.

[pomplalamoose]

DILF Luke headcanons / story draft pt. 2

🌹modern day AU🌹

A/N: Guess who's back with more dilf Luke content!🤠 Thank you SO so much for liking the first part as much as you did🫶🏻 I hope you'll enjoy this second part as well!

part 1, part 3, part 4, part 5

• his possessiveness isn't something he allows to be seen on the outside

• he is aware that he has no right to call you his own, even though he desperately wants to

• but you're so much younger than he is and, above all, have grown to become his child's best friend

• he does not want to take you away from them

• nor does he want to cause an awkward situation that might threaten to break your friendship

• and while objectively speaking all three of you are adults, he still views himself as the one that should be the most responsible

• this however won't stop him from thinking about you basically every minute of the day

• maybe he can't have you but nobody said anything about not buying you little presents here and there and offering his help whenever he can

• he wholeheartedly enjoys the way you are unable to hide your blush of excitement when he surprises you with a pretty necklace or a new pair of earrings

• he loves to hear your weak little protests and how easily he can make them fizzle out with a soft smile and the gentle promise that no, it wasn't expensive at all

• no, he isn't just getting you things out of the blue

• just take a look at the calendar, soon it's Christmas!

• soon it's your birthday!

• it's the beginning of summer!

• you have known each other for a year now!

• he always finds a reason

• of course you make sure to always wear his gifts too, they're beautiful and well chosen, matching your style perfectly

• oh how his heart sings whenever he can be a witness to it

• everyone is supposed to see and know that he was the one who got them for you

• it's his secret way of claiming you, of making sure to tell everyone else that you're taken, that someone already has their eyes on you

• if it wasn't for your lovely smell he would have liked to buy you a perfume to wear as well

• meanwhile you are absolutely clueless and think nothing of it, surely he's just being extra nice because he's finally used to your presence in his household?

• maybe he wants to make up for how he acted before?

• similarly your friend doesn't think it's weird either, after all that's just how he is, you know?

• he cares so much for the people in his live and of course he'd eventually come around to liking you a lot too

• after all, how could he not? You're around his house most of your free time

• secretly you are a little bit disappointed

• it may be foolish to hope for your friend's father to have taken an interest in you but your heart isn't interested in common sense

• I think you'd struggle admitting to yourself that you have a crush though

• he's your friend's father

• how would this work anyways?

• nevertheless your attraction stays

• it's the only thing you don't dare to talk to your friend about

• in your day dreams you fantasize about his big hand resting on your thigh while he drives and find yourself wishing for it to travel just a little bit higher

• you feel giddy with barely concealed nervousness whenever he touches you, hoping that this time he will make a move

• he never does

• and never does his touch find you outside of his car

• See? This gesture is altogether innocent, you tell yourself

• after all he never comes this close to you in any other situation and yet...

• "oh, he's being such a dad!", your friend says when you ask them about it

• "he keeps his hand near me as well so he can easily catch me when he needs to abruptly hit the brakes"

• and they're right, Luke does indeed reach out with his right arm to stabilize your upper body whenever he slows down the car

• still, his hand isn't just conveniently near to do so, it's literally on you during the whole ride

• maybe you've failed to mention that exact fact to your friend though

• you are conflicted and confused and eventually, despite your stupid heart insisting to speed up whenever you see him, decide to let it go

• from an outside perspective nothing about your relationship changes

• you continue to spend much of your free time with your friend

• their father further upholds his offer and drives you home at night

• every time, without fail, does he hold on to you

• and despite this going on for a long while you are none the wiser

• you are still uncapable to read his emotions

• you have not the slightest of clues about what goes on inside of him

• you remain in the dark about his past

• in many aspects he is more of a mystery to you now than he used to be when all you knew was his name

• yes, his demeanor has softened towards you

• but regardless there are certain moments in which you catch yourself being slightly frightened of him

• just like at the beginning

• your friend never mentions the peculiarities he puts on display and so you keep silent as well

• not seldomly does he get a call from work during dinner and while he always leaves the room, too polite to answer the phone at the table, you still are able to overhear how sharp and commanding his voice turns

• you seriously struggle to meet his gaze when he returns after

• sometimes during car rides, you try to make small talk

• you always mean well

• you want to pick up a topic you had earlier that day or to ask about a recipe he made for you and your friend

• maybe this way you'd get him to spend more time with you?

• but often his grip will grow hard enough to bruise

• it catches you off guard every time and when you squeak in pain he throws you a quick sideway glance, loosening his hand immediately

• he never speaks nor lets go of you completely, although his thumb will be rubbing soothing circles into your leg in silent apology

• should you try to initiative a conversation again after, he might answer; though in such a clipped way it shuts you up soon enough

• more often he'll simply shake his head, asking you to remain silent

• the first time you spend a night at your friend's house you feel as if there were a pair of hungry eyes watching your every move

• there is absolutely no reason for anybody to do so though, and nobody around that would have a reason to anyways

• and yet...

• of course you wouldn't mind Luke noticing the pretty top you chose to wear, the one who's neckline goes just a little bit lower than usual

• though unfortunately he seems to be very distracted and never looks your way

• so you simply strike it up to be your nerves and lively imagination; staying in a foreign place is always exciting after all

• staying with a handsome older man even more so

• as a matter of fact, however, Luke's eyes never leave you and as it gets late it takes all he has to restrain himself from snatching you away and dragging you to his own room

• you're lovely on a normal day but look absolutely ravishing in your soft pajamas

• the knowledge you won't be far away for a whole night being all too tantalizing

• maybe you are wearing short pants and so there are some faint bruises visible around your left knee

• ironically you're not aware of their existence, yet it's one of the first things Luke catches sight of and it makes him feel some kind of way

• not only are you wearing his necklace but clearly showing off what he did to you as well

• he likes it a lot, even though not the way in which they came to be

• so while you're contemplating slight paranoia he eventually has to remove himself from your immediate vicinity

• it's not becoming to lust after a young woman during late night dinner

• and the fact that you are afraid to get lost in unknown rooms in the dark doesn't help either

• your friend thinks it's hilarious and discusses it at length

• "the house won't swallow you whole because you take a wrong turn once"

• "it's only a little portion of the rooms you haven't been to yet, stop worrying!"

• "you're not prone to sleepwalking why and how would you even end up there?"

• good humoredly Luke laughs along at his kid's and your bickering but has to discreetly change his seating

• his pants grow uncomfortably tight at the thought of you accidentally walking into his bedroom

• he knows he doesn't have the strength not to make a move

• suddenly he sees himself demanding a kiss or making you beg to let you leave again

• he has to excuse himself early

• your friend and you are listening to a voice message some random guy from university/your job sent you, their father is in hearing distance but you think nothing of it

• innocently and rather excited you start talking and giggling about it, you can't believe he asked you out!

• when all of a sudden Luke gets up and leaves abruptly without a word

• you freeze and are immediately upset

• did you do something wrong? Maybe used a word or expression he didn't like? Is he angry?

• your friend just shrugs their shoulders and continues as if nothing happened but you can't stop thinking about the cold gaze he threw your way

• for the first time since meeting him he doesn't say goodbye or offers a drive home when you have to leave

• later your parents ask why your face is stained with tears, yet you can't give them an answer

• little do you know his anger was not directed at you but at the little boy who dared to show his interest in you

• he didn't even mean to listen and now has only himself to fault for the raging jealousy raising its ugly head

• additionally he's furious and ashamed at himself for his feelings

• his usually endless patience simply vanished into thin air at the prospect of another getting the chance he's been dreaming about for over a year

• he's acting like a teenager and he hates it

• he desperately needed to rein himself back in, he needed air

• and so he made a run for it, afraid to accidentally leave his anger out on you

• had he known what his disappearance caused, he would have acted differently

• you never went out with the guy who sent the message

• you are hesitant to return after what happened, despite your longing to go back and somehow fix your mistake

• whatever its is you did, you have the urge to throw yourself down at his feet and ask for forgiveness

• you don't even care for what you would be apologizing

• you could text him if course, he gave you his number, remember?

• but you don't dare to

• your friend repeatedly assures you that everything is fine and keeps passing on their father's greetings and inquiries about your person

• nobody is mad at you and least of all him

• so eventually you give in, despite feeling quite anxious about it

• to make it worse you receive a message when you arrive that your friend is still stuck in traffic and that it might take them a while

• "my dad will let you in though, no worries"

• all of a sudden you feel very much like your lungs stopped working, you are panicking and seriously consider turning around to leave

• but of course Luke knows you are coming and of course he knows the exact time as well

• he has opened the door before you can fully make up your mind on whether to wait outside or to ring the doorbell

• your words fail you

• just the sight of him makes your heart soar

• he greets you nicely enough and asks you to come in

• "it's great to see you again, it's been a while"

• however it's not like it used to be before

• something feels different

• and quickly you realize: parts of his walls came back up

• the realization chokes you

• Luke senses you're upset and despite vowing to keep his distance once and for all can't hold back from asking if everything is okay

• of course it's not

• and the way his gaze softens into familiarity is too much for you to take

• you leave to go home without waiting for your friend, instead telling them you were feeling quite ill all of a sudden

• it's not even a lie

• Luke knows exactly what just happened but forces himself to remain firm; it's for the best

• sadly I think this would put a strain on the relationship with your friend too

• you don't exactly grow apart, you're too close for that, but of course they realize there's something going on and your decision not to talk to them about it hurts their feelings

• don't you trust them anymore?

• it's during a dark autumn afternoon that you're caught by a seemingly endless downpour

• you're far from home, you don't have the money to call for a taxi and all your trains got delayed

• you think about your friend; they live near

• but you also know they aren't home, as they're currently visiting family in another part of the country

• their dad however...

• he said to call him whenever, you remember

• but what if he doesn't pick up? What if he doesn't want to see you again?

• maybe he's more willing to help when you're standing in front of him?

• despite your anxiety you have no other choice and so decide to check if he's home

• it's still pouring when you arrive and by now you're soaking wet

• Luke isn't home, probably still at work

• pressing close to the front door you sit down on the steps, trying your best to stay out of the rain

• by the time you see the headlights of Luke's car you start crying from relief

• there is not a single patch of your clothes that remained dry and you're more than freezing cold

• your teeth are chattering and you struggle to move your fingers, let alone your legs

• you hear the car door slam shut and then his steps on the path leading up to you

• he's wearing a black suit

• (this is important because even in your horrible state you are aware how absolutely hot he looks)

• when he spots your huddled together shivering form, he's momentarily at a loss for words

• still crying you raise your eyes to look up at him and for a few short seconds you're afraid he doesn't recognize you

• then his face drops

• he reaches for you, and holding you close, unlocks the door to let you in

• now able to take a proper look, his eyes travel up and down your body while he rids himself of his jacket and runs his hand through his wet hair

• it's like you can see the gears in his brain switching as he draws himself up to his full height

• when he speaks it's in such a stern tone that you can't help but wince

• his following orders are sharp and you have to RUN to follow him as he basically drags you upstairs to the master bathroom

• he tells you to undress as he's already turning on the shower for you

• he's not asking, he's commanding

• "Yes, Mr. Skywalker"

• you're so caught off guard you oblige as fast as you can

• no longer do you dare to call him by his first name

• when he sees you struggling with your frozen limbs, he helps pulling your soaked sweater over your head and assists you in getting out of your jeans before leaving you to yourself

• he informs you he'll be waiting outside

• once you are done he immediately is all over you again

• he tells you exactly what he wants you to wear, puts a pair of extra thick woolen socks on your feet and swaddles you in a blanket like a burrito

• only when you're so tightly wrapped up that you're basically unable to move, does he seem to calm down

• he places you on the big sofa in the living room and makes you a tea

• he towels off your hair while you drink it

• he takes your face in his hands and asks if you're okay

• you nod and then he goes OFF, pacing back and forth in front of you while giving you the lecture of a lifetime

• what in God's name were you thinking to not immediately call him? He would've left work early!

• you could've died walking through this weather by yourself, look at you, you're still shivering!

• you weren't dressed appropriately whatsoever! A car could've run you over, they wouldn't have seen you at all!

• under no circumstances is he allowing you to go home tonight, you're staying here where he can have an eye on you!

• his voice is getting louder with every sentence and then you're crying again

• it takes him a moment to catch himself but then he apologizes

• he asks if you would like to call your parents and hands you back your phone when you nod

• still sniffling you comply

• he remains next to you, listening in closely and throws you a stern look whenever you try to leave something out

• you know he expects you to tell them that you're staying the night too, so you do

• he softens and tells you how good you did once you hang up

• he cooks dinner and insists for you to eat even when you tell him you're not hungry

• he makes you another tea after

• "are you warm enough?"

• there is a lot you want to ask him about but hopefully it can wait for tomorrow

• he offers to accompany you to his child's room so you can go to sleep

• you shyly tell him you'd rather stay downstairs with him, maybe you could watch some TV together?

• after a moment he agrees

• you really wish he'd change out of his work clothes, it's more than distracting

[yurislilygarden]

I saw you were looking for ideas for Vaggie so I thought I might suggest something?

kinda simple but in the show Vaggie is very protective and also lowkey kinda violent. I definitely think she would not trust reader and the only way she would ever get neutral about it would be through Charlie. If the hotel residents ever want to try and contact reader through the screen (I think you mentioned that as a concept once) or do anything regarding contacting reader I definitely think she’d be the least on board. Vaggie would likely be worried about this hurting Charlie especially since reader seemingly just watches them all the time. Plus if the hotel residents even see how Heaven is reacting to this (the whole idea of reader being like gods sibling or whatever) Vaggie really would hate it even more just cause she hates heaven and it’s principles. Basically she’d be pissed, Charlie would have to convince her to be neutral, she’d worry about reader hurting Charlie or the other hotel residents, and she’d hate the idea of someone watching them suffer (I feel like she’d be initially on team “watching for fun” but after talking with Charlie she might be convinced to be on team “forced to watch”). A lot of Vaggie is going to rely on how Charlie is about it.

sorry this was kinda long and I hope it makes sense

Don't worry anon, it all makes sense <3

The thing with her being unable to trust reader and going anywhere neutral because of Charlie is one of the only things I have written down.💀 She'd be indeed the last on board if the hotel people decided to try and contact the reader in any way (I'm pretty sure that I did mention contacting through screen once if I remember correctly, but I need to go through all he asks again anyway (planning on adding a tag to make them easier to find)). Vaggie would be so against most stuff regarding reader due to being worried about Charlie (and others but they don't need to know shh)

No one should tell her about the heaven ideas in the negative stage because otherwise getting her to neutral would be so goddamn hard (it would nearly throw her back to the negative about reader zone when she finds out about it when being neutral).😭

I also think she would be initially on the team that thinks that reader watches them (suffer) for fun but with Charlie's (and a little bit of the others opinions) she will EVENTUALLY get to the mindset of thinking that reader simply watches out of curiosity and doesn't mean much harm. (She would at one point get to the 'maybe they can't do anything besides watch but I'm still gonna be on guard because what if they can do something else' team lmao)

[inventors-fair]

More than Playable: Typal Runners-Up ~

And our runners-up this week are @feyd-rautha-apologist, @misterstingyjack and @nine-effing-hells!

@feyd-rautha-apologist — Leeches' Kinship

Sometimes when reading these cards I'll go back and look at sets, and this one made me realize that there were indeed quite a few vampires around Strixhaven! If this wasn't intended to be on Strixhaven, well, that's my bad, but that's also what ya get for not including it in your submission. Having a cheap drain effect is pretty awesome, although clever limited players will know that you wouldn't want too many of them in your deck at the expense of creatures. But then, the creatures you get (if they're vampires) will be all the better, so win-win.

Morbid as a Witherbloom mechanic would be more than reasonable, IMO. If there's overlap with the Silverquill folks, that's fun as well, possibly. They do both overlap with vampires! And there's that little sweet spot for where overlap matters, and I think having overlapping subthemes with one small lean makes for a cool draft common that suggests to the players how flexible they can be. I may or may not have talked myself into liking this card a lot more than I did initially but that could also be the Vampire's curse. Hardly matters—I dig this thing and think that it gets one withered thumb pointed right up.

@misterstingyjack — Worldsoul's Boon

What I'm enjoying about the flavor is that most of the elves are assumed to be in white and green, but on Ravnica, there are plenty of Golgari elves, Simic elves, and even a few kickass Gruul elves to boot, and most of the mono/multi white cards wouldn't even come close. I feel that the flavor text itself is a little on the nose, and I'm not sure right now if it's implying that elves are closer to nature or if it's more along the lines of fantasy racism. Convoking is awesome, of course, but just plain attacking is pretty much right along green and white lines, yeah?

That said, if you have a one-mana Elf, turn two adds an additional three power to the board on top of potential lifegain. I feel that this could've definitely been pushed to three mana for that reason alone, and not just because there are a plethora of one-drop elves in any given format that you should keep an eye on. Small notes: 1) I also don't think you needed "then" in the first trigger; 2) Is it just me or is the text on this card really squashed? Anyway, let's back up to the good stuff, because as much as this might suggest typal at first glance, I think it speaks more to Ravnica's diversity in species and the eventual feeling of playing hybrid in a manner that's honestly pretty smooth. Having an Elf is a bonus, not a requirement, but having a creature? That's all that matters in the end. Just gotta have the RIGHT creature. Neat design and unexpectedly interesting!

@nine-effing-hells — Greater Glories

Whoof. It's a real conundrum if this card's undercosted or not. Obviously, Forced Adaptation is the baseline here, but we have to remember Luminarch Aspirant and the like which can give the counter on the combat step that the creature attacks. So you're gonna get the buff straight away, and then every turn thereafter. Now that said, it's pretty fragile, and auras fall off more than we'd like most of the time so I'll give you that. Still, for two mana, this is an aggressive all-star, and I'm not sure if I'm too down for how that plays out.

But we're also pushing boundaries here, and I think we both know that for three mana this card would be practically unplayable. Even if it gave trample for that cost, that's fairly steep, and I'm sitting here biting my metaphorical nails trying to make a decision. In the end? There's a non-zero chance that this card would be really annoying in a set without strong combat interaction and/or removal for either creature or aura. I don't hate it, and the Warrior aspect totally checks out for green on any world. Theros is the first one that comes to mind, but I'm equally drawn to Kaldheim, or really anywhere that's got warriors! It's a versatile and challenging card.

General commentary will be up soon as it's up. @abelzumi

[batsplat]

CASEY AT TH RWNCH CASEY AT THE RAAAANCCFFHHHHHH AMMSKSKSTWNFHJSJAJKSKEMEKDKDKE

ammskskstwnfhjsjajkskemekdkdke indeed

anyway I'm gonna continue like. gradually working my way through these as I continue to have #thoughts about MY personal season highlight... I DO think it's interesting and... well, not notable, because I'm not surprised by it... let's stick with interesting. how, y'know, valentino could within reason be at least a LITTLE annoyed by how regularly casey continues to slag valentino off in interviews. this has basically been complete one-way traffic since 2014, and it's not exactly shown much sign of abating! casey had that horrendously long podcast interview in 2022, and he's still said some pretty snippish things this year. including the eighty-ninth round of jerez 2011 memorial corner. whereas twelve years worth of valentino post-mortem of this rivalry essentially amount to 'laguna 2008, wasn't that fun'

and y'know, it's always fun when something happens that basically confirms your priors. I mean, ofc I didn't expect casey to rock up to valentino's ranch one random sunday in november, buuuuut I also obviously didn't have the 'don't they HATE each other??' response. some of us know our lore!! first off, ofc there's been a bit of a detente anyway - they met again in 2021, valentino spoke about messaging casey about his daughter in 2022 and so on. but the other thing is that they've also generally had a tradition of talking quite differently from each other in press than what their face-to-face vibe is like. by several metrics, this is actually valentino's warmest major feud - at no point does it ever get as actively unpleasant in-person as the other ones do. which is interesting in a lot of ways... I was talking here about how casey brings a bit of a valentino-esque energy that contributes to the rhythms of this rivalry, where he kind of buries the grievance of laguna 2008 short term but then just keeps carrying it with him and silently seething. so then when it really goes off the cliff edge, casey himself definitely has a lot of agency in that tonal collapse

and so. how that relationship looks like interpersonally has... if anything been determined more by casey than it has by valentino. you obviously have the cardinal sin of laguna 2008, but from valentino's pov this is very much in the 'acceptable strategies to try and spook your rival into handing you the title' camp. now, obviously, you can disagree with that - but it's not actually valentino trying to make an enemy out of casey, whatever casey might think. when casey goes off and says all sorts of things about valentino in the immediate aftermath - including that valentino had only done it because he knew casey was faster!! and flirting with the brake check allegations - and then gets a massive walloping from the motogp community and shows up to brno a lot more contrite and apologetic... well, y'know, valentino does accept it. no bother. obviously makes a note of it as a potential future method to Get To Casey, but he clearly isn't really taking it personally. valentino actually engages in markedly little off-track escalation of this feud... he matches casey's hostility with interest, which is how they eventually get trapped in the pettiness death spiral of 2010-12, but he's not just conjuring up a feud out of thin air

idk, just nothing particularly surprising about the ranch invitation per se. again, the amount they've said about each other post casey's retirement has been radically mismatched, with valentino making his last kinda nasty dig way back in 2013. there's just not ever really been a grudge on his part!! all's fair in love and war, they tore each other to shreds on the track and casey was kinda bitchy to him off it, but also that was fine and fun and it's over now. CASEY is the one who's always been all over the place with regards to valentino, which is how you get him talking about how valentino the guy was probably fine but he didn't KNOW that guy... how he'd like to have a dinner where valentino and him could tell each other their struggles... reckoning with how he DID admire valentino and DOES occasionally actually like him as a guy, as much as he might wish not to... all that sort of stuff. and valentino did low key love casey as a rival!! just this massive intricate challenge, this ridiculously talented rider who he had to get better and better and ever more creative to beat. this stuff, right:

so yeah, idk, it's fun! I did always kind of wonder how much of casey's Output valentino was seeing these last few years - and I feel like he must have seen SOME of it, surely. but it's not surprising somehow that it just... doesn't really bother him. he's certainly never been tempted to reciprocate. and you can still see so much of that complex dynamic there in the ranch footage... it is a special rivalry to the both of them, they never hated each other quite as cleanly as their rhetoric would make it sound, and if you give valentino the chance to show off to casey for a full day - well, that's an opportunity he's very much going to enjoy

[lbibliophile-sw]

Soundscape

Also on AO3 [960w] @ailesswhumptober - day 21: "this will make you feel better, ok?"

The job of Marshal Commander is stressful and hectic and for every problem he solves another two seem to pop up in its place, but Fox does try to practice self-care. He delegates where he can. He accommodates the medics’ instructions as much as his duties allow. He makes sure to eat, even if it is just ration bars between meetings or while completing formwork. He stays hydrated, even if a rather higher percentage than advisable is caf. And he tries to sleep.

He blocks out his schedule and he leaves his office, he locks his comm to all but emergencies and he settles into bed. And then he lies there. Fox tries to sleep, but if he is anything less than utterly exhausted, then his mind just goes around and around in circles – work and worries and his mind replaying everything he might ever have possibly done wrong. He stays in bed, the medics have been very firm that resting is better than nothing, but too often just ends up watching the hours count down until his next shift, frustrated with the knowledge that he is neither sleeping nor working nor even enjoying himself.

He is fairly sure that at least part of the problem is that his room is too quiet. Clones are social creatures, spending their whole lives crowded in next to each other. Fox is one of the elite few with rank sufficient to earn the privacy of an individual bunkroom; a luxury that he is now finding he would rather do without.

He’s tried borrowing a bed in one of the general barracks, hoping that the sound of his vode around him will settle him. And to be fair, it did stop him from spiralling. But only because he startled every time one of the other troopers moved or made a sound, constantly alert in case something needed his attention. And honestly, it was just plain awkward, feeling like he was intruding on his subordinates’ private space.

It might have been easier sharing with the other commanders – fewer people and closer in rank – but they mostly each cover different shifts, so there would be little difference to his private room anyway.

So he starts looking for other ways to cover up the silence in his room.

He tries the radio; but finds himself either cursing the inanity of talk shows, or taking mental notes for work from the news bulletins. He tries music; but he never realised just how many styles there are to choose from. And even when he eventually finds ones that might work, it just leaves him lying in bed feeling guilty about the indulgence.

It is Senator Organa who finds him a solution, during one of the stolen conversations when they are not yet Fox and Bail, but ‘Commander’ and ‘Senator’ are more than their titles.  

Fox shows up to their early morning meeting – ostensibly a security briefing regarding an upcoming press conference – with eyebags almost as big as his oversized cup of coffee. Official business quickly out of the way, Organa asks after his health. To his own surprise, Fox finds himself honestly describing his problem, frustrated by his persistent inability to just make his tired brain cooperate.

Organa ponders for a minute.

“Perhaps a slightly different approach is needed. You know, I used to do a lot of hiking when I was younger. I am assuming that your training covered wilderness safety as well as urban environments?” Fox blinks at the non-sequitur, but nods. “What is the first sign of danger in natural environments?”

“Silence.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t quite understand what that has to do with -” Fox’s comm beeps. He looks at the message and grimaces. “ Sorry, Senator, I need to go.”

“Of course. I’ll send you a file, and you can tell me how it goes.”

Fox is kept moving from crisis to crisis all day, but when he settles down that evening he sees that the Senator has indeed sent him a sound file. He wonders what it is. Perhaps he has sent his own music recommendations; Fox is interested to hear them even if he doesn’t have any real faith that they will help.

Fox opens the file, and his room is filled with a cacophony of noise. Or… perhaps not. It takes him a moment to parse the medley of natural sounds, but he starts to pick out distinct patterns within the chaos. Clearest, are the long fluting calls – a melodic rise and fall with a flourish at the end. Next, he notices the intermittent clusters of chirps and squawks, several sequences of each. There are lower rhythmic sounds: a regular creaking, a flowing drone, and something that almost sounds like bonk. And behind it all, a whirring buzz in a dozen different pitches and rhythms…

The next thing Fox knows, his alarm is going off. And he feels more rested than he has in weeks.

That night, he plays the file again. But instead of losing himself in the deluge, he focuses on picking out one sound, learning its rhythms and variations, letting the rest of the soundscape flow around him and fill all the empty spaces in his mind.

The next night, he chooses a different sound to follow.

Another day later,  he manages to steal time with the Senator again and gushes about all the sounds he has identified and listens raptly as Bail tells him about nightingales and cicadas and pobblebonk frogs.

Three weeks later, just as the soundscape is becoming familiar, a new file appears in his inbox.

And so it continues. Fox spends his days run off his feet, treasuring the rare hours he spends with Bail, and each night he is lulled to sleep by the sounds of Alderanian wildlife.

When the War ends, Fox follows Bail back to Alderaan. That first night, lying in bed between Bail and Breha, should be a dream come true. And Fox is so so happy. But he is also staring at the unfamiliar play of shadows on the ceiling, feeling the itch in his brain as it refuses to let him relax. As much as he wants to be here, he also finds himself ruefully missing his music player.

A warm breeze brushes his face, and with a burst of clarity he realises that he doesn’t need the tinny recorded wildlife after all, not when the reality is right there. He focusses on the sounds coming in through the open window – the lilting call of the nightingale, the creak of the frogs in the pond, the droning hum of cicadas – and lets them wash through him. Then he focuses on the steady breathing of his partners beside him, and lets the combined melody drag him down into sleep.

[thespianinthebackcorner]

okay so Hazbin season 1 just ended (spoiler alert) and by GOD that was an ending. I love it. I was panicking so bad after Alastor just disappeared halfway through the battle and then afterwards the only ones who seemed to notice were the Vees (of course they did. I see you Vox) but he came back later anyway. More spoilers and theories under the cut

BUT! He came back eventually, he's not dead. That scene in the studio was... A lot. I love it, it perfectly sets up next season- Alastor is clearly going to be the star of the show. Husker was right, he is bound to someone, and he's clearly not happy about it. actually he's just going through it as a whole, clearly there's more on his mind than the battle. He's on his last nerve, and one thing I noticed was that throughout episodes 7 and 8- and, now that I think about it, the whole season- there's a couple hints towards Alastor repressing his true feelings, and that the consequences are starting to come back to bite him. It's even outright implied through his conversation with Charlie- he himself says that just because he's smiling it doesn't mean anything about what he's actually feeling underneath. Much like Alastor I also enjoy seeing characters cry and lose their hold, and I think next season will be that moment for him.

Kay I need to reorganise this post. Bullet point time, ATAR style

Season 1:

hints all over the shop that Alastor is repressing his feelings and it's going to come back

Confirmation with the scene at the end of Episode 8 that Alastor is indeed bound to someone and those binds are incredibly tight, he can't get out easily

According to him, said deal restricts his actions to an extent, enough that he's starting to feel suffocated

I know Dad Beat Dad was a joke for him, but from the way he protected the hotel I think he's also starting to realise how much he actually does care about Charlie in his own way.

Compared to the beginning of the series, Alastor is getting pushed closer to the edge more often. He's getting more annoyed and losing his composure, the amount of swearing he was doing in that last fight with Adam Asshole Supreme shows that just fine- not to mention his reaction to Husker's confrontation and his clear annoyance and even jealousy of Lucifer throughout Dad Beat Dad.

Enough hints that he's being controlled by Lilith for the fandom to notice at large

Lilith being hinted to return to Hell in Season Two

Not stated in the actual show but Alastor speaks with a Transatlantic accent, which is a fake accent created by tv and radio presenters of his time. What we hear isn't his actual voice, unless being in Hell also changes your voice, which considering Vaggie didn't change after coming down and Pentious didn't change after going up doesn't seem to be the case

Predictions for Season Two:

Alastor's clearly had enough of his restraints, I think he's going to find a way out of it

Lilith is not going to be happy with him for that, I get the feeling he's also already done something she's not going to like

Lilith Is Going To Bitch Slap Alastor (this is inevitable and I am looking forward to it)

Considering sound is Alastor's greatest asset and what he does, i think at some point it's going to be taken away from him- either through inability to speak or inability to hear, or both

This would also mean he'd need to resort to visuals for communication, which will likely be a struggle- I don't think Alastor is the type to learn sign language, he's a radio presenter, so he's going to have to learn it somehow. I'm not actually sure if anyone else at the hotel does but Husker might (he seems like he would, just for kicks). Or they might come up with some other way to communicate

If I'm right then he'll also have to properly learn to lean on the others instead of stepping away like he usually does

At some point that smile and that accent are going to drop. And it will be a MOMENT.

Season Two will be based on a villain, yes, but this show is all about redemption and while Alastor clearly doesn't want to try that in the traditional sense, I think the next season is definitely going to be redemption for him in a different sense- less redemption, more healing.

The other patrons of the hotel are definitely attached to him now, Lilith better watch her back.

Side note, Pentious better come back and get his girl he's not leaving like that

Maybe I should turn this into a fanfic

Maybe it's copium but to me next season will be ALL about Alastor and how he fits in with the show itself. And I am so ready for it. That boy is going to cry whether he likes it or not.

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

don’t know if you’re still doing headcanons but maybe a continuation of yuno with blue rose reader where they have a semi-secret relationship? like only a few people know about them (like sister lily and/or sylph)? you can ignore this if you want

Yes I am ^^ My requests are indeed open, I just haven't had a lot of requests as of late, and life has kept me busy from other projects. In any case, I hope you like this! ^^

Pairing: Yuno Grinberryal x f!reader who is a BRK Fanfic type: Headcanons Genre: general/fluff Length: ~0.5k

Dating, under the radar, was difficult. Very difficult. Though, you supposed that dating with someone from another squad would probably have been difficult even if you weren’t trying to keep it a secret.

But it was sensible. The rest of your squad, the Blue Rose Knights, would probably scold you for having a boyfriend. Because you were supposed to be a strong and independent woman, who didn’t need a man by her side. Which you were! You didn’t need him. Not like… that anyways. You wanted to be with him. And Yuno didn’t look down on you for being a woman, so it wasn’t like the rest of the girls might think!

You really did love each other.

Plus, you had figured, that since Yuno had a lot of fans, who might be jealous, ultimately it was easier for the two of you to keep the relationship secret. You could spend the limited amount of time together, at more peace without screaming fans trying to separate you two. Or so you both thought.

So, you were left with having to sneak around, and try to choose date places where you wouldn’t be seen. Which, most of the time, meant smaller villages or more rural parks. Walking in the woods and such. But… it wasn’t unpleasant.

Actually, it was really nice. Being able to just spend time together, away from the hustle and bustle that was always present as Magic Knights.

You were also so very thankful for Sister Lily for helping you two out. She was the only one who knew, with the exception of Sylph, that you were dating. And that was because Yuno had needed advice on how to approach you in the beginning.

Which was endearing, it really was. And she was such a loving, supportive figure for the both of you, without whom your secret dates in Hage wouldn’t really have been the same. Especially since she helped with gathering a basket of something to eat, with Yuno aiding with the costs of course, for your dates, and try to keep it under the radar from the kids and Father Orsi.

“You’ll tell people when you are ready,” she said when asked about if she thought that they should tell about it.

Really the only one you were worried about babbling about it was Sylph, but Yuno had convinced her to keep quiet about it somehow.

So, for now, you were content with where you were. Plus, there was a bit of a thrill in having to sneak around, which was fun. The idea of being secret lovers was like straight out of some romance novel, and it filled your stomach with all the more butterflies.

Eventually you would have to tell the people in your life. But this was a nice phase in the relationship; a lovely point in time on your shared road into the future.

[streettealee]

Alright, because of the post I just reblogged off of you: Grace Blackthorn. I love her, too. If you were given free rein to write her character's story post-canon, what would you do with her given the confines of her existing ending? I personally think I would remove her from London altogether and send her to another Institute for a fresh start.

Grace. All right. There is a lot I'd want to rewrite about her direction if I could control canon, but alas, I can't and it wasn't the question.

As for post-canon, I would indeed remove her from London too. It's makes the most sense considering all the memories in London, many distressing, and the reminders of what she did in the past and what was done to her for those actions. I truly think anyone who gets locked up in the Silent City for any amount of time emerges with a slight shift of mind. Plus, while I doubt many of the remaining TLH cast would realistically stay in London their whole lives, I do think Grace would benefit more from a distance between herself and, at least, James and Cordelia.

I'm not sure which Institute I would think best for her to go. There's a decent amount of scientific innovation that goes on in France, but somehow I feel it's not the place Grace would want to be. I don't know how many men Tatiana pimped her out to, nor can I recall whom they were and where they were from, but I just feel like even the entirety of France and it's diverse areas would not quite be her scene for healing.

Because that's what I'd write for Grace post-canon. Healing. I want to see how she does not quite wrestle with guilt - because how can you feel bad for doing what you needed to survive? - but does struggle with the ghost of Christopher. It would hurt anyone pretty bad if the one person who unwaveringly stood by your side and cared about you when they did not have much reason to, who encouraged you to find that last piece to complete their life's work, just died. And died by the hands of your adoptive family, no less. This is one my nit picks because I wish we had seen Grace defeat Tatiana rather than Cordelia - it would have felt more significant, in my eyes. She had more emotional stake in it.

Anyway, I would send Grace perhaps to another Institute located in the UK, actually, or Ireland. I do not think she would be comfortable going to Idris, simply because while she is more open to the Shadowhunter identity, she would still have a lot of complicated feelings there and it'd be a lot more difficult to sort out when also living in the country where your orphanage was. And I also would not send her to America (sorry, I know, there was a fanfic where this happened and I fully respect it, it's just not what I would have done (I also know more about other countries than I do about America, so I'm more comfortable dealing with them)). Ultimately, while I'm thinking this out, I'm settling on Ireland because I think it feels removed enough for Grace to feel like she can breathe and, if all the stories are true, it's the centre of a lot of supernatural activity, especially involving Fair Folk.

I point this out because I think Grace is the kind of person who has to keep busy to keep going. I feel like she spent too much idle time as Tatiana's ward and wouldn't want to be reminded of that. I'd write about how she works the day investigating local Fair Folk issues involving mundanes and others (I think she also shares Kit's close ties to Downworld, if not so comfortably to begin with but gradually more so) and training, then goes for patrols every couple of nights or so, before letting herself relax, exhausted, before some fireplace and allowing herself to feel what she feels so she can eventually move on. She might still work with scientific invention, because she does indeed seem curious, but I think it'd be some time before she really got into it again.

Basically, I want to write Grace in grief for all she has lost, and taking the time to go through that and heal each wound in her, before we look at things like whether she ever has romantic interest again, who she befriends, whether she reconnects with anyone from the London Enclave, and so on. I think she might reach out to Lucie first (I would argue she still writes letters to Jesse anyway) just because of their potential for a decent friendship and their previous partnership. And I am always looking for f/f ships, so a little part of me wants Grace/Lucie, but considering canon Lucie/Jesse and how important that is - I'll leave it alone. Close female friendships are also brilliant and we do need more of them even in TSC.

But anyway, I think I've rambled long enough. Hopefully that was a satisfactory answer to your question. I really enjoyed thinking through this and sharing.

[scoonsalicious]

man i miss Pocket x Buckybaby🤍

Major x Bucky are like the older wise version of Pocket X Buckybaby. Pocket and Buckybaby (as the nickname) are the babies. Our babies.

Reading unusable just made my heart swell with emotions. The snippet of Unbroken LEFT ME BROKEN. I can’t.

As much as I enjoy Major x Bucky, Pocket x Buckybaby is tattooed in my heart.

Btw I just saw someone said they’re team Lebron😂, and i think it’s because Major kinda looks like the ‘mean’ girl in Lizard’s POV. (If we switch Lenovo as reader, gahdamnn, everyone would be pissed at Major)… or they just love chaos AHAHAHAHAH.

Major does have flaws but subtle, and not the Pocket level kind of flaws. I can tell Major is not perfect. I have a feeling that she’s actually insecure of her own appearance and action but always keep her head high due to her divorce, something like that la.

I get it why it bothers some readers because we haven’t yet to see her bad bad moments. Plus, we were introduced with Major being the ‘baddie’/‘independent’ woman from the beginning. It is a drastic change from Pocket to Major. Not to mention this reader and Bucky are like rabbits 24/7😂 We’re seeing majorly of their body/physical chemistry here before it starts going to the emotional chemistry. (Might I also remind people that things would be crazy after Major and Bucky is officially in a relationship because that means war for Lebron?😂We’re still in the introduction on its way to rising action!!)

Also, we’ve been seeing more on Bucky’s and Lenovo’s POV (especially Bucky). It’s refreshing after Unwanted but I do hope we get to see Major’s POV soon because I’m starting to get attached on Bucky😂 I feel like I’m Bucky. Not only that, but Mother Pookie great mind too. I can’t wait for whatever she’s planning on WFLT.

Anyways, I feel like I haven’t done this for a long time but I wuv you Mother Pookie🩷🩷🩷. Here is your kitten smooches to boost your day!!!

PS// There are new pics of Sebastian Stan (at the Cannes event i think). He so cute. Too fucking cute. I want to pinch his cheek!!! HE SO CUTE LIKE A SMOL BLACK KITTY. I just wanna pet him.

(This is how I see him in the pic)

Me too, Pookie. Me, too. It's why I'm struggling with WFLT; I keep wanting to run right back to them. Pocket and her BuckyBaby are, always and forever, my babies, just like you said. So, I'm eager to get to Unbroken eventually. Even if, for now, I'm just jotting down little snippets here and there as they come to me.

Major and her Bucky are indeed more mature individuals, lol, which might be why it's harder to write them, because my brain just wants to jump to the most dramatic, angsty shit possible, but I am like 'NO! These are adults!'

Lizard is where I will have to get my drama out, lol. Girl's gonna do some crazy shit. Like, not full-on Cunthrage-evil, but more real-world crazy. Like, if you were friends with her on socials, you wouldn't interact, but you wouldn't block her, either, because the drama is too good.

Major's not perfect. She's got some combat-related PTSD we're going to explore, and though she would probably never admit it, she's insecure about Bucky's relationship with Lily. I know we're focusing a lot in these early chapters on Major and Bucky's... well, sexcapades, really, but I wanted to establish them as being crazy for one another, and to kind of really showcase how quick of a change this is for Lily.

But as you said, this is the RISING ACTION, lol; we'll get there!

But, I, too, love chaos. (Actual photo of me climbing the ladder of chaos below)

I love you so much, Pookie! <3 I hope you and your kittehs are well!

[dandelion-wings]

oho are you asking for rarest rarepairs? because i like my rare pairs raw (and apparently full of brats)

from vague canon evidence if you break your neck in the right way to whomst'd've the fuck and why, I got:

Venti/Hu Tao

Furina(post archon quest)/Hu Tao

Rana/Jeht (though i think you've already talked about this one?)

Focalors/Venti

Focalors/Guizhong

Sorry to respond to this over a month later--all my spoons fell in the insinkerator about the time this ask came in, and I put it aside for when I had more energy and, uh, forgot about it. >>;; But I was delighted to find it again today!

Venti/Hu Tao

We all agree that Hu Tao 100% clocked Venti in last year's Lantern Rite event, right? And she's pulling the same "I'm going to pretend I don't know but I totally know" she does with Zhongli, right? Except Venti thinks it's fucking hilarious, and the "I know you know I know you know I know" we don't see during Waterborne Poetry was a fantastic game for them both.

And since we have Waterborne Poetry as an event, it would be fun to build it off that! It might take some massaging of specific timeline details because they just? sort of dropped several characters and the actual event? at the end, but I'm gonna be honest I didn't love the last few beats of that event anyway. It felt like it kind of puttered out disappointingly after a lot of initial promise, so I wouldn't mind the opportunity to rewrite some of that. Anyway, this would be a "behind the scenes" where Hu Tao and Venti continue to coordinate the actual event in the background while everyone else is doing the quests, being playful and teasing and occasionally deep and profound with each other (because they both do that exact vibe well), with a slow-burn growing interest that sort of kicks into higher gear when the rest of the group comes back and recounts the Finch/Callirhoe moment. Because, like, Hu Tao's not normal but she sure is mortal, and Venti knows how to enjoy fleeting pleasures and she is definitely not missing her shot, so- yeah. They go for it. XD

Furina/Hu Tao

Once again leveraging an event, I'd hang that off of their appearances in Chenyu Village in the latest Lantern Rite. Hu Tao (who thought Furina was both cute and fun to fluster in their first meeting there) ends up going to Fontaine to help with the spooky movie props mentioned in that conversation. She is essentially vacationing under the pretense of a "business trip," though she is indeed interested in Furina's play/movie and has a lot of suggestions to make, both helpful and otherwise; since she is stealing the chance at a vacation, though, she also makes Furina take her around to see the sights "as a token of our business partnership!" So they have some cute moments at all the good tourist spots, some cute interludes having tea together, and at least one deep and thoughtful conversation about mortality and the joys and sorrows thereof... and that eventually blooms into kissing in the back room of the theater.

Rana/Jeht

We have talked about this one, yes! Though I don't recall exactly what I said at the time, so I'll just answer as the meme prescribes: I would write this one using that bit about Jeht and her mercenary band accompanying a lost group of Akademiya scholars back to the jungle. Then they take a job there that puts them in proximity with Rana, either as a member of the group they're helping/escorting or hired separately as a local guide, and they go on a very classic jungle-adventure-with-budding-romance where traveling and fighting side-by-side forges bonds that turn into more. I like the idea of a bunch of side characters in the expedition who help with their development--I think Jeht could use a wise older woman who is as unlike Babel as possible, for one--and it's up in the air whether it ends with Rana joining Jeht's band, or Jeht (who does have so, so much trauma to process) deciding she needs to continue on alone for a while and them sharing a last kiss and promising to meet again some day. And then I say I'll write that reunion and don't actually touch it for six+ years.

Focalors/Venti

I absolutely could write any of these outside the constraints of canon, so much of my fic is AU, but I think this would be most interesting to me as in some kind of space between Focalors being designated Egeria's successor, and the separation into Furina-as-humansona and Focalors-in-the-Oratrice. Venti goes to visit the new Hydro Archon ostensibly to get to know one of the new ones; they have secret, quiet conversations about Celestia and the Thrones and what might make it possible to break one, and at what cost; and then it's not so much a romance here as, Focalors always did want to experience more than her divine self ever will get to, and, well- a bard is an expert at stirring passions, after all, and making a night's entertainment seem a grand and sweeping experience.

Focalors/Guizhong

TBH I don't know whether I missed a lot of Guizhong characterization in my years-ago rush through Liyue or if I'm just not good at putting together the threads we get from events, but she remains kind of a cipher to me? I have just enough of a mental picture of her to suffice for my Ping/Xianyun sadfic and that's about it. But given when Guizhong died vs. when Focalors ascended, while there could be material in itty baby Focalors meeting her (and in fact it could fit into the backstory of this), what I think I'd do is have it be separated by time: some mechanism Guizhong created is what Focalors comes across (or acquires in that itty baby-era meeting) that gives her the basis of the Oratrice, and the fic is her taking it apart, analyzing it, and rebuilding it to her purposes, learning what she can about Guizhong and her other works to help her with that analysis, and reflecting on this god she never, or barely, knew, who died in an effort to save her people. The romance is (obviously) one-sided and over centuries and is in many ways Focalors fantasizing about this idealized lover in order to drive her forward on her own, difficult, ultimately self-destructive mission. Though she is also, y'know, feasting on her own mental fanfic about the drama of it all. XD

[literaticat]

I have a question about career building.

I see a lot of places that it is very rare for an author to earn out their advance. So for debut authors, if they get - say 50k for book one, but they don't get that in sales, what happens? Are they able to sell a book two? If so, is it just a series of diminishing returns until they manage to get a following?

A lot of the things I see online about sophomore novels is that they are far harder to write, but I'm curious also about how the rest of that takes shape. Like, does there come a point where no publisher will ever pick them up again because their last book didn't sell well?

How does an author manage that?

Let's see if I can unpack this a little and reassure you!

First, while it's true that lots of books don't earn out their advances -- I don't know if I'd say MOST. Many DO earn out eventually, or at least come relatively close. More importantly, though: the publisher makes their investment back before the advance earns out, so a book doesn't actually need to earn out the advance to be profitable to the publisher.

Publishers know this, of course, and they also know that it often takes a bit of time for an author to find and grow their audience. So if a publisher wants to keep working with an author, they think the author has great ideas and talent, etc -- they will often offer for more books even if the first book hasn't necessarily gone gangbusters, or indeed, even if the first book isn't out yet. (This is also why they might make a two-book-deal from the jump -- because they KNOW that the first book is just the beginning, and it takes time, and they hope to be along for the ride as the author's fan base grows, etc).

So, usually the publisher is OK with taking a chance on you, assuming that sales will get better, yada yada. And if the unfortunate happens and the book performs REALLY poorly, so much so that the math just isn't mathing and they decide they do NOT want to pursue more books with you, well, there are other publishers, and those publishers don't know the details about the finances of your first deal -- if they love the book, they will be basing their numbers on how they think THEY will do selling this new book, not on the first publisher's numbers.

(This is especially true if you can pivot a bit -- ie, the book you are trying to sell to the new publisher is somewhat different than the first book(s) -- so like, let's say your first deal was for YA contemporary, it kinda tanked, you don't really want to work with Publisher A anymore or they have declined to do more with you -- but now you've written a high concept YA thriller -- Publisher B may say, yes, we see that you have this other book that just did meh, BUT, we think THIS book in this different genre will be a BREAKOUT for you!)

As far as "sophomore novels being harder to write" -- well, I think that people experience that for a couple of reasons. When they wrote their first book (or at least, the first book that got published -- maybe they wrote a bunch of books BEFORE that that never got published!) -- but anyway, the first time around, they were writing with no expectations. They didn't have an editor to "impress" yet, they didn't have a contract hanging over their head, they didn't know what the editorial process would be like, they didn't have a deadline, they didn't know what it was like to get their book publicly reviewed, they didn't have people asking them about their book/characters on social media, they didn't have any pressure about sales or marketing or whatever eating up their minds, their free time wasn't taken up with self-promotion, etc etc.

Then they got all those things. That's a lot of pressure they are feeling all of a sudden that they never had before! Little wonder it would seem more difficult. (Is it ACTUALLY "more difficult" in a literal way? Maybe not, but if it FEELS more difficult... then it kinda is, right?)

My friend, the brilliant writer Sara Zarr, told me a great piece of advice long long LONG ago (so long ago she probably doesn't remember this, but I have never forgotten!) -- she said something to the effect of, while you are on submission, and in the eons of "down time" between when your first book sells and when the editing and production process really ramps up, you should do your best to write at least the draft of the next book. Work on it absolutely whenever you can. WHY? Because when and after your debut comes out, your brain will be broken and you will have WAY less time than you anticipate. At least if you have a solid draft of the next thing, you have something to work with, rather than starting from square one with no time, lots of pressure and a broken brain!

My point is, authors obviously DO make it work all the time, and I have faith that you can as well. When the time comes, just remember, work on your next book whenever you have downtime, be flexible and able to pivot if necessary, and strategize with your agent, they have seen it all before and they are there to help!

[adracat]

So I have a feeling I'm gonna ramble on here, so tl:dr is basically I love your writing, thanks for sharing. With that out of the way:

I started by reading your G Witch myth analyses here on Tumblr. TBQH a lot of it went over my head, but I enjoyed them all (went through a mythology phase in like elementary school, so it's been a minute, but I still casually enjoy learning about myths). Then I saw you have fics on AO3. And as a millennial on the interwebs I am aware of the site, but as someone generally in the ace sphere of things I haven't actually spent any time over there. Anyway, I found your Law of Causality series and because my Sulemio brainrot is boundless I read As Above So Below. And boy howdy did I enjoy that. Like, read it a few times. The story telling is really good, and I love the little notes you stick on at the ends of the chapters. Now I am not a Prospera fan, so I didn't read Chaos and Night for a while. But eventually I decided I liked your writing enoughto give it a try. What can I say, I truly enjoy the world you concocted and wanted more of it. I'm glad I did, because I think that may be my favorite of the three stories. Still don't like Prospera as a person in general, but you wrote her so well. Like, girl, don't go making those stupid-ass choices. But obviously I see why she did, because her characterization comes through so strong in your stories, so she really had no choice in her decisions (tragically, yes). But, not to state the obvious or anything, Notrette is the one who steals the show. My favorite of your characters. The times where she is so open and honest and vulnerable in sharing her feelings with Prospera kills me every single time. She gets the best lines due to those situations. Like there are at least three times where she bluntly asks Prospera to stay in the garden, and that's not even counting the handful of times she asks for them to be a family. Damn. We all know what's gonna happen, but it doesn't make that knife's edge any less sharp. I have many favorite lines of hers, but up there is when she come back from Delling and tells Prospera she was only able to do it by thinking of her. Man, that whole interaction gets me every time and I gotta take a moment to pause and reflect. Absolutely heart wrenching. Anywho. Their toxic, tragic relationship is just so dynamic. Plus, again, all your mythology easter eggs were delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed looking up the different names and stories as I came upon/recognized them. (I'm actually naming a new character of mine in an upcoming ttrpg I'm joining after one of the gods I learned about and then did a deeper dive into late one night.) I'm sure there was quite a bit that slipped past my notice, which is a testament to your vast knowledge of a wide variety of deities across different cultures. Theophany was like a sweet afterwards/gift when it came out. Loved how it ties in the two stories, and how the two relationships mirror each other. Devastatingly so, and also in a beautiful way. I will never get over Prospera always being so firmly rooted in the past that she kills off so many healing futures she might have had. And how Suletta refuses to do the same, even without knowing her mother's tragedies, and is able to focus more on her present with a certain amount of forethought as well. Ugg, cycles indeed. I have, of course, read your other G Witch fics (the finished ones anyway, will get to the last one when it's completed). Those are great as well, but I mostly wanted to gush about your Law of Causality. I have read each story multiple times now. Just last night I finished reading all of them, in order, in their entirety. I can't get them out of my head (kinda want to go and reread my favorite parts again already) which is what lead me to reaching out to you. I'm not sure if this is poor etiquette or whatever, and I'm not an elegant writer like you, and it's certainly obnoxiously long, but I figured I've gotten so much enjoyment from your writing I ought to let you know. So. Thanks.

This made my day! Thank you so much for the gushing praise. Law of Causality possessed my soul while writing it, and I honestly think it may be the best thing I've written purely on a cohesive and thematic level. I wanted people to dive deep into everything I was doing there and think about why certain references were chosen. I'm looking for a moment to actually do a lengthy write-up on the stuff that may have been too obfuscated lmao. The two pairings are complimentary and contrasting tellings that I loved bringing to life. Prospera I knew would be a hard sell for people, but I'm glad you gave it a chance! Notrette's lines were a treat. (Ngl I reread too for them) I'm glad I wrote her saying the wildest off-the-wall shit to contrast Prospera's self-inflicted misery brainhole. It's incredible to know my work is seen and appreciated <3