#but i haven't finished translating that line and i'm not 100% sure what's going on

[finnlongman]

for the ask game: corvids pick at cú chulainns body?

In both versions of the Death of Cú Chulainn, a scald-crow lands on Cú Chulainn's body and this is taken as a sign that he is actually dead (they were not sure up until that point).

In BMMM, the early tale, an unspecified scald-crow lands on him, and Erc mac Cairpri says, "Hmm, warriors don't usually let birds land on them, he's definitely dead." (§23 in Kimpton's edition.)

In OCC, the late tale, Medb and the men of Ireland send Badb ingen Cailitín to find out whether Cú Chulainn is dead. She goes in the form of a bird (a richt eóin), later specified to be a richt fuince .i. fennóigi - "in the form of a scald-crow, that is, a [different word for scald-crow]" (§42 in Van Hamel's edition).

A scald-crow is also known as a hooded crow. I like your use of 'corvid' here to be as all-encompassing as possible. Many retellings say "raven", for some reason, but look at these funky little guys. Why not have it be one of these. I used to see them all the time when I lived in Cork, they're certainly common in Ireland.

[gleefulpoppet]

fic writer 20 questions - ask game

I was tagged by @bitbybitwrites As for tagging more friends, I think everyone I know who writes has been tagged but if you haven't been tagged, then you should play, too!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

32

2. what's your ao3 word count?

1,635,923

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Glee! Specifically Klaine.

4. top 5 fics by kudos

Pressed Against The Glass Better Knot Bow Tie Company: Act One Soulsongs and Seastars  Rock, Paper, Scissors Sonder

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I try my hardest! I mostly write "live" these days, though, and I get behind because I'm hitting "post chapter" and then starting a new document to write the next. I read every single one and treasure them dearly. They keep me going, and I appreciate them so much. I plan on getting to the ones I've missed eventually!

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

No can do. I promise Klainbows 100% of the time. I read and write fanfiction to escape the hell that is reality. If the boys haven't found a way to make life work together... the fic isn't over yet! ♥♥♥ I suppose that Magic Spoken at Midnight is a tiny bit angsty because we know they have a lot of work ahead of them to restore Pantasia (but it's not angst between Klaine).

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Okay, now this is a hard question! I think my favorite ending is tied with Rock, Paper, Scissors, and Never Crossed the Line.

8. do you get hate on fics?

Luckily, no!

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

I do! I didn't find fanfic (or Glee) until I was very much an adult. All my stories are almost exclusively Explicit! 😂 I started writing smut because I wanted to read stories that treated sex as something that could be both smoldering hot and sacredly beautiful at the same time. I've tried several times to sit down and write PWP, and it always turns into something more. And I've learned I just have to embrace that about myself!

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've ever written?

No, I never have. Maybe someday?

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

I sure hope not.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so.

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

I was part of the fandom project PROM-US and wrote two chapters of that. I've never co-written something with just two people where you would plot it out together and such.

14. fave all time ship?

Klaine forever!

15. wip you want to finish but doubt you will?

I have a few "brainstorming" documents where I write lists and quick paragraphs when they jump into my mind and research articles, and... you get the idea. I wouldn't call them WIP exactly. I know some of them I might never get to write. But as for WIP, where there is some sort of structure? I will get them done! My brain won't allow me to sleep at night if I don't convince it they'll all get done.

16. what are your writing strengths?

I hope it's writing conversations that are hard to have. Digging down into details and asking hard questions. Working through things with another human being without someone slamming a door and leaving. Writing about vulnerability in intimacy. (I think that conversations can be more intimate than sex, for sure!).

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

I can't stand missing a moment of their lives in some of these AUs I create. I want to know everything they're doing. The first few months of a relationship are so crucial, and I LOVE that part. I'm not sure it's a weakness so much as I wish I was comfortable skipping huge chunks of time and not needing to write 400 words about how they looked at each other the first time they made toast together in the morning.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I shall leave that to people who are much better at it than I am.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

Glee

20. fave fic you've written?

This question always fills me with panic. How can I pick? I am absolutely loving writing Sonder right now. It's a WIP that I update several times a week. It's captured my heart. As for one that is already finished, I think I'll pick Since Sense Sensory. Ask me tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll pick something different!

Thank you! This was fun!

[onewhoturns]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @silurisanguine so let's see...

1) How many works do you have on AO3

65 (across multiple accounts)

2) What's your total AO3 word count?

819,102 (across multiple accounts) (also some of those are collab fics so I can't take full credit)

3) What fandoms do you write for?

Lately not much, but previously - in reverse chronological order; Arcane, Oxenfree, Dead By Daylight, We Know the Devil, Assassin's Creed (Syndicate), Dishonored, Life With Derek, HP

4) Top five fics by kudos?

A Helping Hand, Scandal, Denial, Brute, Night Blooming Flowers

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

In the past I'd say "i reply to every comment" but that's somewhat dependent on my mental state and there's a bunch I haven't replied to lately, but I do try to (eventually) reply to every single comment. I love comments more than anything tbh, which is probably why my top stats tend to be comments, cause i LOVE LOVE LOVE having conversations with readers and getting to fangirl with them ahaha

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I mean I don't have that many finished multichap fics. If we're talking pre-ao3 I had a super duper angsty hp fic i wrote in like elementary or middle school lmao

7) What’s the fic you write with the happiest ending?

Again, I don't have that many finished multichap fics, and most of my fics have a happy or bittersweet ending. Maybe So It Goes?

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I'll be honest, I feel like I probably have but I do not remember it. I mean, I know I get blocked by people who hate some of my ships (jonalex, emsider, reader ships etc), but if I've ever received hate (which I am like 90% sure I have) I do not remember what it was for. Seriously, hate just goes in one ear out the other I do not recall what it was for because I literally do not care enough to remember lol

9) Do you write smut?

For sure.

10) Do you write crossovers?

Not really? Not lately at least, though I've done some aus inspired by other works.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but I don't really check anywhere

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone asked me if they could translate something and said go for it, but I don't know where that is.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Several. I do a lot of rp fics.

14) What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I cannot choose. Lots of ships with my OCs, but i guess for canon-only, maybe jonalex? But i'm indecisive, I don't want to pick one lmao

15) What’s the WIP you hope to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oof. Too many. I'm so bad at finishing things. Unwilling Survivor and Holy Spirits and A Helping Hand are all big projects that I want to finish but I have no idea how that will happen.

16) What are your writing strengths?

I'm so bad at analyzing my own writings tbh. Maybe visceral emotion? Not sure, but I do love yearning and anxiety and metaphor.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh, finishing things. 100%.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I prefer to write around using a translator ('they said in [x language]' or 'it sounded something along the lines of [meaning of translated words] but their [language] wasn't great' etc) so I don't have to worry about sounding garbled, or I ask for help

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter in 3rd grade lmao

20) Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I cannot possibly choose. I love anything with Sam in it (so all of the au stuff I've done with her, as well as Unwilling Survivor), I love my jonalex stuff (including Lucky in Love, which I think is such a niche au of an au that I tagged it as original fiction as well lmao), and of course A Helping Hand has to be in there, and might as well include the fae au for emsider and the xreader for acs, and any jonalex i wrote with hammie, and and and-- basically everything lmao, I can't pick favorites.

tagging: @h4mm132l1c3 @artabria @reddgiant @cognacandlilac @artemis-crimson and anyone else that wants to do it, I feel like a lot of people have done it already and i tried to pick people from a variety of fandoms

[nicohverse]

Entropic Float in 2023: An Update!

 Happy New Year, everybody!

It's 2023 and I have a lot of plans! I'll start out by offering reminders that there's a survey to influence the contents of the Entropic Float DLC (Letters To A Beloved Ghost) and make sure that you get to see your favorite characters again, as well as a few pieces of official Entropic Float Merch available on my etsy store. There are stickers of the full cast, keychains of the protagonists and antagonist, and pin buttons of each standard ending- But if there's a particular piece of merchandise you'd want to see, feel free to contact me and let me know.

Entropic Float: Letters To A Beloved Ghost

As mentioned above, there's a survey to influence this DLC's content, but that doesn't mean I don't have plans for it! In fact, I already have a few of the side stories drafted. The DLC will be 5 USD or included in any pledge to the Entropic Float 2 Kickstarter. It will feature all new original art and music, and over 100k words of new content. By reading letters to you exploring unseen moments, past and present, you'll accumulate points toward meeting with somebody who's been hoping to meet you since long before you were invited to the clocktower. Not all letters will be required to finish the DLC's story, but all will be available.

Some side stories haven't yet been planned, as the survey is still open- But those that have been drafted include the pasts of Shinjiro Nozomi's friends, an oddly magical discovery at a small concert attended by Jasper Jasmine Jekyll, and a classic 'battle so we can become friends' between witches. Some will provide closure to doors left ajar in Entropic Float- Others will open up brand new doors for the sequels to shut- And others still will simply give you more time with the dear friends you made over the course of the game.

I plan to close the survey on 03/31/2023, and hope to have the DLC ready for release by the end of summer 2023.

Entropic Float 2: Land Of The Witch

I'm going to begin work in earnest on EF2 now that the new year has begun. I didn't 100% keep to my plan of not starting till the new year, but I managed to at least sort of take a break! I'm not going to be jumping right back into biweekly development updates, because this game has a lot more ground-up building to be done and I have a lot of other things to square away- I'd rather not post the same 'I got some of the point-and-click working the way I imagined' update too many times. I'll update once a month until development is progressing strongly enough to share more.

But you'll be getting introduced to the cast of the game quite soon- In next month's update, most likely! Though character trailers will come a bit later down the line.

Entropic Float 2: Land Of The Witch is... A point and click adventure game focusing on the 'Pine Creek Anomaly'. One year after the resolution of the anomalous clocktower in the Black Rock Desert, Kanatsune Ame is assigned a similarly difficult case. A rural town in the Appalachian Mountains disappeared five years ago- And the Anomaly in its place has only recently signaled its presence by opening an invitation. What will the World Anomaly which stole the town of Pine Creek reveal?

I can't give a timeline on EF2's development quite yet, but I'm tentatively hoping to run a Kickstarter in summer 2023, so that pledges to the Kickstarter can be swiftly translated into the reward of the Letters To A Beloved Ghost DLC. Before running the Kickstarter, I hope to have a demo ready to play, so that I can put my best foot forward. After all, EF2 is going to be a point-and-click adventure, not just a visual novel- Though I do plan, for accessibility, to also offer a 'kinetic novel version' in which the events of the game are arranged into a semi-canon order of experience.

The demo will of course be free, and will cover from the beginning of the game through to the first open exploration area.

The full game will be priced at 15 USD. While Kickstarter reward tiers will be determined closer to its launch, pledges of 5 USD will include the Beloved Ghost DLC only, while pledges of 15 USD or more will include both the DLC and Entropic Float 2, essentially giving you the DLC for free if you pledge at 15 USD exactly. I wish I could offer EF2 for the same zero-dollar price point as the first game, but I hope that the increased production value will make up the difference!

Any Other Projects?

Well, I wouldn't put this category here if I didn't have some other stuff going on. I'm considering participating in a few gamejams with short and sweet VNs. I'm also doing the art for an RPG that a friend of mine is writing. And of course, I'm selling on etsy, taking commissions, and working a day job. Wouldn't it be nice if I could just devote all my time to gamedev... Alas. Well, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for tuning in! More to come!

[fragmentwitch]

Pondering Eua and Re:Unanswered Questions

Me after finishing Gou:

I have several questions but I will spend most of this post trying to answer just one.

If a new rule allows Rika and Satoko to transfer to the same new fragment after dying, did she really keep track of which Rika since that was made only after the Chandelier death?

Is Gou Rika Matsuribayashi Rika? Or Chandelier Rika? If the Rika she gets in her happy ending isn't her actual original Rika, could this be the cost Eua might have vaguely warned about and not actually the loops bleeding into people's memories?

Is Satoko a piece of Lambdadelta along with Vier/LD3105/Mitsuyo and Eua a piece of Featherine's? And not actually Lambdatoko? Or is Ryukishi just trolling with having Eua babble nonsense (Thinking Emoji)

Where/when will the Logic Error occur?

I used to believe the error was in the original series going off the VERY VAGUE statement about the beginning and end being connected. Never has there ever been a perfectly airtight idea of what the real Logic Error is though, and the new mechanics shown by Gou really makes my brain hurt.

Are Hanyuu and Eua the same person? Are Eua and FEATHERINE the same person?

I continue to have hope Hanyuu doesn't get retconned into being a Big Bad Evil Demon Lady named Eua, despite mounting implications that suggest otherwise. I had originally been led to believe Hanyuu was a piece that was left to roam the game board by her Game Master: given that she's been part of the Hinamizawa world for 1k years I wondered for a bit if she was a Witch that somehow lost her memory. Kotohogushi is a bit dubious on the canonicity so I have to remind myself the translation about Hanyuu coming from a line of 'alien' like people transferring their consciousness from another dimension with a grain of salt.

But Eua looks so much like Featherine I've been rewatching her scenes lately and thinking... this line I really keep thinking about:

What did Eua mean by this? She phrases it like there is someone/something of a higher power than even herself.

In terms of ranking, Lambda described Aurora higher than Voyagers/Witches. She was one step below THE Creator (supposedly there is a typo where there is actually just One Creator and Aurora is merely a Witch with a comparable power to a creator but idk Japanese so cant verify this).

From the way she worded things, she isn't talking to Satoko exclusively: she's talking about Vier, LD3105, and Mitsuyo. Referencing that it took hundreds of millions of loops for Eua and Satoko to meet 'once more'. Surely this can't mean Rika's looping merely referring to Hanyuu and Satoko; that sort of looping sounds beyond 100 years' worth.

Could it be that Eua is a self-aware god piece referring to all the various Expies in the WTCverse as being the same person at the heart of things? Possibly... but let's remember that Featherine lost her memory when her device was damaged; Lambda described it as one severe enough to alter her memory, appearance, and personality. It happened once, and Featherine would likely be extremely guarded against letting it happen again. How it happened is one more mystery.

Back to Eua: when Satoko asks her to 'alter' the rules of the game, and she acts like it's no biggie, then this carries heavy implications of being the Game Master/Territory Lord. If she was merely a piece, no amount of self-awareness would make her capable of altering the actual rules on a whim would it?

There's also this line she spoke to Satoko in episode 18ish: "The horn that granted the cat power was damaged, but mine is not."

Note that she says horn singular. Not plural. She doesn't say "mine are not" and confirms Rika was given the looping ability by something external. Yet she doesn't assign it a name (Hanyuu), just refers to it as an object. Which might be a hint as to how Featherine might create piece Witches: her device might be a way of transferring loop power with more permanence that gets around a 'sponsorship' which can be withdrawn at the Witch's discretion.

Also recall that when Satoko touches the Oyashiro statue (whose arm is intact but has a hollow head), it shatters on the upper part and only one horn falls out onto the floor. Not a horseshoe shaped device like Featherine's. It's also black, while Eua's is all white. Yet Hanyuu's horns are still with one chunk missing and colored black. Eua also mentions she isn't supposed to even have a name, in fact, her meeting with Satoko seems almost by 'chance' (she speaks like Satoko summoned her to the fragment in this manner). Hanyuu's full real name is given in a chapter that is dubiously semi-canon, so Ryukishi might elect to leave it out of Gou, but her husband Riku Furude gave her the nickname 'Hanyuu'. (Which still contains the character for Feather)

These observations are making me consider the possibility that Hanyuu and Eua are separate personas of a singular entity: The smooth horn belongs to Eua while the broken one belongs to Hanyuu. Black and White; a contrast between the kind demon mother who feels Rika's pain and lived on the gameboard & the demon who relishes in tormenting humans, too above to be part of the gameboard herself.

So, that leads us to the million dollar question: who is the entity if we put both horns together? Do we get Featherine Augustus Aurora? Or the Oyashiro living in this reverse-world Hinamizawa and hiding inside the actual statue? (Seriously is there a corpse in there? Wtf)

Or are these two halves of a GM making a tug of war for control over the Higurashi Catbox via their loopers? Now THAT is a mindblower if true.

We got our answer that Takano forfeited her villain role before Gou actually began so that may explain why the legend of Oyashiro is told deceptively 'wrong', but how does one account for the unbroken statue with a removeable head... could we potentially get a fragment in Sotsu where Satoko doesn't break the arm off it as a child and thus it affects all the loops afterwards? Hmm.

Either way we haven't actually caught up to GOU chronologically speaking, so until Sotsu comes out, there's no way to tell for sure if Eua and Hanyuu are one and the same or if they are actually two halves of a whole. But I will be a happy camper if this crackpot theory turns out to be right. Usually I'm wrong though. Lol

But now I'll definitely see about cooking up a diagram or something if we can actually make a branching map of the different Rikas to figure out which one is Gou Rika.

[hangonimevolving]

The Iron String.

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

Here we are. It's August. Five months plus since the start of the U.S. pandemic, lockdowns, and general disruption to society. Over 5.26 million confirmed cases in the United States alone to date, and 167,000 deaths. Our world around us has changed.

Much of the last two months of summer for me were spent in an agonizing holding pattern concerning the almighty School Question. What would happen in the fall? Would schools be reopening? If so, how would that look - would we just act like life is normal, or would there be modifications to help prevent transmission of the virus? If so, what on earth modifications are even possible for young children that are reasonable, and to which little kids can even feasibly adhere given their ages and needs? If it proves too difficult to reopen schools, what would be the plan? Would there be some sort of virtual learning program, and how would it differ from the shifts that happened this past spring, with teachers scrambling to educate themselves on distance-learning technologies and teleconferencing utilities in order to teach a room full of kindergartners on Zoom? Surely, with several months to ponder the possibilities and plan for vairous contingencies, schools would be more prepared with better, more structured and thought-out plans for fall, than what they had in the spring... right?

Er, wrong. WRONG. The short version of how this situation ended, at least in our geographic area, is that the public school system (and my own kids' small, family-owned private school) made the decision to reopen to face-to-face teaching by the middle of July. Late in the game, both also hastily threw together a virtual option for students - but the virtual option was tantamount to a continuation of the fly-by-night Zoom teaching that had been put into effect at the very start of the lockdown.

I for one was entirely disappointed and disgusted with this. With SO much time to plan, this is really the best that could be done?! Bruh, NAW. I wasn't having it.

So blah blah blah, hem, haw, blah. Research, research, research. Reading, millions of review websites, forums, blogs, legal defense funds, Department of Education website, nonprofits, clubs and associations and collectives.... a phone call with an old friend from high school with over 10+ years experience, and a series of long and informative text message exchanges with two other friends, one a veteran with over 15+ years with three now-adult children, another a mom about my age of children about my kids' ages, facing this situation just like me and working through options just like me...... and, after all this, I knew exactly what I would be doing. What WE would be doing, in our family.

By June 13, it was official, and it was all systems go.

Ladies and gentlemen.... I am officially a homeschooling mom. Like, a LEGIT homeschooling mom. As in, I am doing a 100% parent-led homeschooling curriculum plan, FULL-time, with my two children.

I won't lie. In a million, bajillion, baskillion years, I don't think I ever intended to find myself in this place. I'll also say with honesty, that I have admired from afar the rare few homeschooling families that I somewhat know, and the flexibility and creativity with which they approach academics and learning in general.

I have also been increasingly dissatisfied and frustrated with the academic progress of my own children... Dr. Spouse and I have had long discussions where we've tried to speculate on the things that we haven't been satisfied about in our kids' schooling. The list has been long. But even as we were able to identify specific shortcomings in our children's particular educational environment, I've felt a rising sensation of control-freakism and bootstrapism in my chest, that has whispered to my conscience: "if you feel something is wrong here, don't sit around waiting for someone else to fix it. And, when you articulate your concerns in a constructive, non-threatening, but clear way, and people have smiled and nodded and claimed they'd follow up on those items, but in the end, they havent taken those concerns seriously - then it is time to man the f&* up and TAKE CARE OF THAT SHIT yourself. Because YOU are the only one you can trust. YOU are the only one who can do it right, in your own view. So either do it, or stop feeling dissatisfied about it."

So here it is. Our original plan, prior to the pandemic, was to switch the kids to the local (A-rated) public elementary school for this coming year. We had hoped that a change in environment, teachers, and the accountability of being a reputed school in the public school system, would mean more organization and oversight, and that hopefully this would translate into better academic progress in our kids.... but the pandemic changed all our plans, and besides, I don't know if more "in theory..." type things ever really translate to palpable, effective change at the individual level (at least not for me anyway, I never have such luck).

Rather than seeing this weird, surreal circumstance has having forced me into the homeschooling decision (which, maybe it sort of did) - - for reasons I can't explain, I dove headlong into it, with great excitement and hope. I can't really figure out how I have been as enthusiastic or jazzed about it as I have been - - but lookie, I'm jazzed! Seriously. From the moment we made the decision to do it, I felt like a 1,000-lb. weight was lifted from my chest. No more feeling anxious or on the edge of my seat about decisions that are being made outside of my control. In this matter - I stopped waiting for other poeple, and I TOOK CONTROL. For my own kids, anyway.

I'll write a detailed post at a later time about some of the particulars of the homeschooling plan that I am using, the research I did, the materials I ended up purchasing, the knowledge and insight I required while in the preparations phase, and other stuff. But, for now - I've droned on long enough. I'm gonna share some pictures now.

To bring it back to the start of this post - - with this homeschooling plan, I have found my iron string. I literally felt this resounding, reverberating sense of CONFIDENCE the moment that I decided to do this, and effectively brought Dr. Spouse on board. NEVER, in my life, have I felt so right about a decision. I feel a tremendous inner harmony about it - like I've come home to myself, if that's not too weird to say.

Sooo.... here are pictures of Week 1 of our great homeschooling adventure.

Obligatory "First Day of School" picture....

Our newly-tweaked home office - - now serving as our homeschooling classroom!

Particularly proud of our new training clock, our large-format calendar, and the "today's date/weather" board that I made with vinyl die-cuts from my Cricut, some chalkboard-surface Contact paper, and some rainbow sparkly duct tape :)

Spanish class: kids use a fun new app for two class sessions a week

Dey working on simple addition/subtraction with Teddy Bear Counters

Dey slaying his worksheets in Handwriting class - we're doing both print letters and cursive

Vev learning to tell time, and to recognize and convey the time in both analog and digital notation

After reading several history textbook chapters on the origins, diets, nomadic lifestyles, housing practices, and modes of dress among prehistoric humankind - we did a "History in action" lesson where the kids were given 10 minutes to construct a shelter out of a "mammoth skin" (blanket), "two tree branches" (pool noodles), and several large "rocks" (throw pillows). They didn't need the full 10 minutes :)

Vev enjoying one of his first chapter books - an "I Can Read" reader during a Language Arts learning block

After a week reading science textbook chapters about the earth's atmosphere, we conducted science experiments to better understand the properties of air! The boys had a "paper race" using construction paper and pieces of cardboard as fans, to race two paper structures across a finish line. They discussed their expectations and each articulated a hypothesis about which paper would travel faster, prior to conducting the experiment; afterwards, we determined whether our "guesses" (hypothesis) were accepted or rejected :)

This is just a smattering. There's been so much, and in only four days. I can't believe how much we are able to learn and cover in our homeschooling time. And the crazy thing is, we are able to do Phonics and Grammar, Reading, History, Read-aloud time, Math, Spanish, Handwriting, and Science in only about 3 hours per day. We integrate things like art, movement, current events, and practical life skills into pretty much everything we do, but on occasion we are even able to do a discrete, planned-out period of time for these topics too.

The iron string is taut, and secured in its proper place. We are ready for it to guide us through this school year.