#but now i'll probably dive back into my book

[munsster]

rockstar standards

A/N: PLS PLS PLS DROP SUGGESTIONS FOR HOCKEY STEVE/EDDIE im having a total brainfart but i need to break into the hockey au game bc i love it 😻 (gif creds: @cuntyarmand)

Pairings: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader, 90s AU

Summary: Corroded Coffin starts to gain some traction, and you can't help feeling stranded. 1.5k words

Warnings: minor angst/hurt comfort, fluff, pining, pet names (bug, sweetheart, sweets, baby), jealousy, undressed cuddling,

You watch him parade around the stage every Friday night. Sometimes he's playing the home stage, other times he books random amphitheaters and dive bars. But today, he's drenched in purple light on the outskirts of Chicago. It's by far the biggest venue Corroded Coffin has played. You sit by the pop up bar, but bodies are packed like sardines in this place. It's hot and loud, but it's worth it to see him so elated.

Even through his streaky eyeliner, you can tell he's adoring the attention of the pit. You can see their red fingernails and shiny tank tops and free flowing hair. You never thought Eddie would be the kinda thing you were attracted to. You also know he's not the kinda guy to be attracted to something like you. You know guys like Eddie usually go for the Pam Andersons and Courtney Loves. The Party girls. Not the ones who have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than watch a romcom alone.

That Sunday, Eddie pulls onto your street. It's late and he has a ringing headache. He couldn't think of anything better to do after touching down in Hawkins again. You'd headed home the night before, and it made his gut wrench knowing he wouldn't get to see you the rest of the weekend.

Your door creaks open, and he's smiling on the other side. He's already leaning against your doorway with the bouquet he bought earlier from the woman selling them on the corner.

"Missed you, bug," he huffs, "Can I come in?"

You step aside without another word, and he hangs his leather jacket on the coat rack like always. Something feels off when he sits on the couch to find you're on the complete opposite side from him. Usually, you're not shy about cuddling up beside him to watch a movie or share snacks or just talk.

He frowns and scoots closer, leaning in to grab at your ankle playfully. You kick his hand away, brow set hard above your lethal glare.

"Sweetheart," he huffs, tilting his head in confusion, "What's going on? Where's my cuddlebug?"

"I dunno, somewhere in Hollywood?"

His eyes nearly pop out of his head at that. You're his favorite girl and you know that. So why're you grilling him now.

"Tell me what's goin' on. What did I miss?"

And you look serious, too. This isn't some running joke he missed out on while he was away. He's not sure who bruised your confidence, but he's sure he'd like to have a few words with them. He hates the way your lip wobbles and your eyes avoid him cause it gives you away. That's how he knows you're heartbroken.

"Eddie," you whine, swiping a hasty tear from your cheek. "I just don't know why you keep me around when you could have any of those girls at your bon vivant gigs."

"Fuck is that supposed to mean, bug?" He barks it out on accident, sitting back on his haunches with a scowl. "I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm gettin’ rid of you."

"Eddie, please... you're gonna make it big and get shipped off to Tinseltown, and I'll still be here, teddy. Probably being someone's lonely, suburban housewife. It's what I'm made for, and that's not what you want."

"You're wrong."

"And maybe you should go," you whisper, choking back a sob and standing from the couch.

"No, sweets, you're wrong," he says, standing and striding over to you, "You've got me wrong, and you've got you wrong."

You cross your arms over your chest and finally look him in the eye.

"'S that so?"

"Yeah," he tuts. And he has the most charming, most dastardly smile you've ever seen, flashing his canines like a gentle killer. "'Cause I'm gonna take you with me."

"Teddy."

"Nope, I'm takin' you with me wherever I go, and there's nothin' you can say to change my mind. Even if you hate my music forever, fine, I'll fix you up in a nice five star anywhere we go. You can sit and watch all the movies you like. You'll be nobody's housewife, baby, 'cause I'm keepin' you."

You roll your eyes, batting away tears when he grabs your hand to pull you back to the couch.

"And what if I said that's not what I want?" you suggest, testing his rockstar resolve with your big, wet eyes and stubborn quips.

"Then I'll give you somethin' else. Anything else. But you're mine no matter what." If only you knew how proud it made him to call you his girl. To know you support him even if you don't love his genre.  "Now, would you come closer? You're killin' me."

You obey with a frigid pout, letting him drape your thighs over his and brush his ring clad paws over your cheeks, down your neck.

"But what about your groupies and the pretty girls at the bars or in the front row?"

"What about 'em?" he says, just barely shaking his head, "I'll have somethin' way better waiting for me."

You chuckle. "You're crazy."

He cocks a brow. "Old news."

When he notices how close you've gotten, he smiles. Your manicured nails graze over his chest with the only light washing over you from the dimly lit kitchen. He can't resist his palm curling behind your neck, pulling you close for a sweet kiss.

"Where d'you keep your vases?" he mumbles, remembering the tulips resting on the little table.

"Kitchen. Above the fridge," you say with your fingers already slotting between his to pull him towards the warm light. He loves you like this: sickly sweet and tender, holding him all gentle in your hot pulse. You go to reach for a painted ceramic vase, but he wraps his arm around you and turns you away.

"Ah ah ah, drop it, sweetheart. That’s my job," he says against your temple, holding the lip of the vase and patting your ass. He takes the bouquet from your grasp and sets both on the counter by the sink. You hand him a pair of scissors and he carefully snips the stems jagged, filling the vase with water.

His stomach flips when you wrap your arms around his waist and clasp your hands at his belt. He sets the prepared arrangement aside and turns in your embrace.

"All done," he says wickedly, palming your face with his wet hands. You jump back with a squeal, pelting a dish rag at this chest.

"Use a towel, you slob!"

He chuckles and wipes his hands on his shirt, tossing the towel over his shoulder and leering at you like he's starved.

"Come here," he mumbles. You go a little shy under his gaze, dropping your head and shuffling towards his presence. He catches you by the hips, dipping down to catch your mouth in a prying kiss. You grin against him and he groans, tugging you tight against his body.

"Always love how soft you are, baby. Surprises me every time." He shakes his wild mane and purses his lips for you to kiss this time.

"Where d'you want the flowers?" he says.

"Bedroom?"

His eyes light up involuntarily, and he grabs the vase, bounding off towards your room gleefully. You jog to catch up with him, and when you enter the threshold, he's expertly positioning the vase next to a stack of books on your dresser.

"Much cleaner than mine," he says, gesturing around the room, "You keep it nice in here."

You shrug. "Could be cleaner."

"You can never see mine," he teases, knowing full well you already have. He slings his arms low on your hips, adoring you in the blue light of dusk. "Can I undress you?"

You bow your head and whisper, "teddy..."

"Not like that. Just wanna hold you."

You kiss his slanted mouth sweetly, nodding.

He reaches for the edge of your soft cotton dress, pulling it up and over your head. He whistles low upon seeing your undergarments, whipping his shirt off and onto the floor somwhere. You giggle, helping him with his belt buckle. He traces your temple with his lips leaving kisses along the way. He steps out of his jeans and lets you lead him around the bed.

His curls sprawl out against your pillows, and he welcomes you into his side with a lazy smile. Your reach to touch his waist and softly feel over the scar below his ribs.

"Little tender, bug," he hisses. You bat your eyes up at him scared, pulling your hand away.

"I'm sorry."

He shakes his head. "No, please," he whispers, cradling your wrist, his eyes locked with yours. He draws the hair away from your neck, replacing it with his fingers to dance down along your spine. You’re warmer than he’s ever felt before and thankful for it. His hands are cold, but he doesn’t have to worry about it for very long when you bring each fingertip to your lips for a kiss.

“You’re my girl, alright? Always,” he whispers and you nod, “always.”

masterlist

[limonmelon]

armandaniel reclist

Because I really have to start putting these somewhere and because I need everyone to read these and give them the love they deserve:

outcast of all this night by gaypiratedivorce - "After a month in Dubai, Daniel Molloy is back home and miraculously alive, eager to get to work on his first draft. The vampire Armand has other plans." first in an insanely good (and complete!) series.

two truths and a liar by andrealyn - "Facing down the press junket for his book, Daniel Molloy is prepared to hype up his hit novel. He's less prepared to have Armand crash the tour to play bodyguard and doting assistant and he's definitely not ready to have his secrets spilled on a world stage because Armand wants to play games. The longer he sticks around to torment Daniel as he chases him across the country, the longer he stays. So, who's really winning this game?"

to the edge of the earth by andrealyn (you can tell I love her Daniel voice) - "There's nowhere that Armand can run where Daniel won't find him. Using the Talamasca's information, his own dogged determination, and eternity sprawling ahead of them, Daniel's going to find his maker and figure out why Armand keeps running. When he catches him (and he will), he's going to prove that it's going to be the two of them, forever, and that he's going to love Armand the way no one has before."

and then what? by andrealyn - "The droning hum of Louis' boredom is going to drive Armand mad. Instead of accepting it, Armand seeks out the kaleidoscope chaos that is Daniel Molloy's mind to learn why he's so special, so fascinating, so interesting. Every city he finds him in, he learns more before he makes Daniel forget. Every city, Armand grows a little more addicted. And every city, Armand does something he's not supposed to do -- falls a little more in love and eager to give Daniel the memories of who they are together."

his thoughts were red thoughts by spqr - "Daniel’s barely thirty; he can’t fathom one century, let alone five. It’s probably a wonder Armand doesn’t spend his time skulking in a cave somewhere, muttering to himself, covered in the blood and muck of his innocent human victims."

care and keeping by katplanet - "Louis shakes his head. “And now he's got you stepping on him.” Daniel picks his drink up and necks the last half of it. “I have not,” he says, “stepped on him, as of yet.” “But you want to.” “I think so?” Daniel puts the empty glass back on the table and scoots it out of their immediate limb radius. “I think I could want to. I want to want to.” “There you go,” Louis says, “tell him that. That'll set the mood.”" With some really great Louis/Daniel friends who love each other and also fuck too.

Endearments by Nothing_But_Paisley - "Daniel never compared him to a Botticelli angel or a Bernini cherub, never called him a demon or an imp. Such images scarcely existed within that wonderfully secular modern brain of his. Daniel was entirely a creature of the flesh."

open up your skull, i'll be there by typefortydeductions - "He shakes his wrist free and brings it to his mouth, licking up the trail of blood, his eyes never leaving Armand’s. He turns, and walks away, and spends a restless night in his own bed with his dick half-hard and the memory of Armand’s blood and Armand’s hands and Armand’s final whispered words before he upped and left Daniel sprawled newborn on the floor." this series floored me it's so good please read it.

mystic seaport is that way by exastris_scientia - "Daniel should really get more sleep and stop getting himself into these situations..." this series has it's boot on my throat. written pre-Season 2.

bend your dream with the road | VOTE TO END OTW RACISM by meronicavars - "Daniel is asleep dreaming of his own unreliable recollection of Louis at Polynesian Mary's all those years ago and Armand wants to dive into his dream and wrench Louis out, shake him until he realizes that Daniel is his, Daniel has always been his. Isn’t this something Louis should know? That Daniel was his gift to Armand. Why must you torture me with his presence? He wants to ask. Why would you bring him here if not to punish me?" also part of great series and written pre-Season 2.

the man who wasn't there by obstra - ""I just couldn't bear to lose you and Louis in one day.” Armand is looking away from Daniel now and picking more ferociously at the edge of his sleeve, like he's avoiding something big. He's almost afraid to ask, somehow he can tell this is going somewhere significant “Why would losing me be the same as losing Louis Armand? Just some kid you met decades ago in San Francisco, tortured a little bit then threw aside? Explain to me why. Does this have anything to do with the fact that my memory of the 70s has more holes in it than swiss cheese? I thought it was just drugs but I also thought San Francisco was just drugs and look how that turned out.”"

a haunting just for company by valkyrisms - ""I know what a breakup looks like," Daniel says. "The better question is, why are you coming to me about it? I'm the one who broke up your little sham." "This is what humans do, don't they?" Armand asks, letting his voice drop. "Crashing on their friends' couches when there's a blip in their romances?""

Simplicity by WendigoDreaming - "Daniel's memory is a gaping hole morphing slowly into the shape of Armand." also part of an ongoing series!

The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning by trinityofone - "He should have left when he had the chance. But he wanted to see how it ended. His mistake. Because the story wasn’t done with him. All at once it was grabbing him by the throat. (A version of Daniel's turning featuring visions, sex, and sexy visions.)"

forever's gonna start tonight by trinityofone (actually just read all their IWTV fic thank you) - "I’ve lost my mind, Daniel thinks, still lavishing kisses to the chest of the creature that killed him. He says the next part out loud: “I fucking hate you. And you hate me. So something is making us do this.” “I don’t hate you,” Armand pants. “You mean nothing to me. Don't stop.”"

more to come!

[ms-demeanor]

sorry if you've answered this before, and i hope you don't mind me asking, how do you know so much about computers and what seems to me like everything in the world? how did you become so knowledgeable? it's amazing

i just know a little about a lot of things and I probably have a fair number of things that I've dug into more than most people and less than people who actually focus on that stuff! It's kind of an illusion!

I do know a lot about computers and that's because I've worked at a computer company for 12 years and have been deep into a computery subculture for about 20 years - I do genuinely know a lot about consumer computers. That I'll own and that's experience.

I know a fair amount about literature because I've got a degree in it!

I know a fair amount about journalism because I've got most of a degree in it and I worked with journalists for a long time!

I know a fair amount about nutrition because I've got most of a degree in it and because I've been focused on reading a lot about nutrition for more than a decade because of my own food issues!

But mostly I'm just someone who falls down rabbitholes and has a decent ability to recall what I find when I run down them.

Also I get curious about things and will just go. Experience them.

Like at some point i came across a site for people who own and use RealDolls and I got interested in learning more. The site required an application because they didn't want people just trolling so I applied and I ended up reading through the whole site and reading the magazines they sent out for years after because it was just interesting. The way these guys bought clothes or compared repair techniques and cleaning techniques, the way they constructed identities for their dolls - it was all interesting! So now I know about the proper way to store a RealDoll and how their skeletons are put together and the best way to prevent rips or clean inserts.

Now imagine that with everything.

I got interested in quack medicine so I ended up reading the entire back catalogs of quackwatch and science-based medicine.

I got interested in the history of aspartame as a scare-word and I ended up reading a couple of books, SEVERAL entire blogs with decades-long runs, purchasing a military magazine from the 90s, and submitting a FOIA request.

But, like. I don't own a RealDoll or work in that industry. I am not a medical professional. I am not a chemist who works with aspartame. So I get these weird little collections of information where I know what *seems* like a lot to someone who hasn't looked into it but I know a lot less than someone who has taken the time to actually dedicate themselves to that topic.

And sometimes it's a years-long dive and sometimes it's a months-long dive and sometimes it's a few hours of me digging online until I feel satisfied with what I've learned and I never come back to it, but I've got three more talking points than your average joe at a party would.

(Also though I've attended various colleges at various levels for ten-ish years now and I've taken probably more college-level classes on a lot of subjects than most people have because I've now spent several years just kind of kicking around at community colleges and deciding that a cartooning class sounds fun or that a mesoamerican art class fills certain transfer requirements or that I might as well brush up on spanish, french, and german. Access to low-cost college classes in california is a big part of this, and having the time and money to take classes while i'm working is something that I've been very lucky with)

I've also worked pretty much continuously since I was 18, sometimes holding multiple jobs at once, and I know a lot of interesting people who do a lot of interesting things and I ask them about their interesting experiences and if they offer me a chance to go do cool shit with them, like launch a high altitude balloon or blow up some dynamite that's about to expire or join a band, I do it!

I was also one of those kids who had no friends and spent too much time at the library so I'd do things like read through medical textbooks or pull a book of home chemical formulas out of the trash and read it or take it into my head that I was going to read all of Shakespeare before I got to high school so I was a really annoying twelve-year-old and that kind of thing never really let up.

I don't know! I don't think it's that unusual and I think most people do this kind of thing I just happen to have less focus than a lot of people and talk a lot more.

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Floyd Leech - Beach Wear Voice Lines

When Summoned: When it comes to the open seas, count me in～! Me and Stitch're gonna totally tear up the place! (Stitch: Hup, hyah!)

Summon Line: I don't get how we just opened up a book and popped out on a deserted island. On top of that, there's this super weird creature here, too... This is awesome!

Groooovy!!: Stitch, whaddya wanna do next? There's no way I can get bored if I'm hangin' with you. (Stitch: Ahaha, ehehe!)

Home: Let's go, Stitch! (Stitch: Ye!)

Swap Looks: Haaaah～ It's hooot.

Home Idle 1: The Beach Dash is one of 'em exercises here on land, huh. Sounds like it takes a ton of moxie, so I think I'll get Crab-chan to do it.

Home Idle 2: I went diving for some fish. Now all that's left to do is get Goldfish-chan angry and fired up so we can use his magic to grill it to perfection～

Home Idle 3: Devilfish-chan's hyped up way more than normal. Can't tell who's supposed to be the upperclassman here at all.

Home Idle - Login: Oh, I'm obviously gonna have a blast on a deserted island I've never seen before! Stitch, if ya find somethin' good, let me know. (Stitch: Yeaaah!)

Home Idle - Groovy: I feel like I've seen that Gantu guy somewhere before… Ah, yeah, he looks like a shark that I ran into on a sunken ships once.

Home Tap 1: I wonder what space is like. There's a ton of scary things out there, so maybe exploring space next would be cool after I'm done bein' on land.

Home Tap 2: This place is waaay different from what I'm used to back home, from the color of the sky to the creatures that're livin' here. Even if ya say it's all one ocean, every little thing's completely alien.

Home Tap 3: I guess sandals ain't actually half bad. I can probably coordinate my look by changin' up what anklets I wear and nail polish I use, too.

Home Tap 4: I never really got why people wore clothes when swimming, but I actually really like this flashy getup!

Home Tap 5: What're you goin' on about now? If you keep on bein' all noisy like that, Stitch might have somethin' to say about it.

Home Tap - Groovy: Good thing we all landed on this deserted island. If we were all thrown into the stormy seas, there's nothing you guys woulda been able to do, right?

Duo: [FLOYD]: Let's see which of us is stronger, Goldfish-chan～ [RIDDLE]: I have no intention of playing along with you, Floyd.

Requested by @thelonepearl.

[blueteller]

Thanks for answering! If I can ask more but what made og!Cale (and also KRS) not like their previous life? And is the novel not still complete?

Of course you can! I'll answer each topic in this order, as it will make the most sense:

the current state of the novel

why OG Cale did not like his previous life

why Kim Rok Soo did not like his previous life

how transmigration happened, and why it was good for both of them

First topic: is the novel complete?

At this moment, the novel is still in the works: more precisely, Part 2 is still in the works. Part 1 of "Trash of the Count's Family" (title from "Eat Apple Pies" English translation; the manhwa title translation is "Lout of the Count's Family" due to convoluted legality reasons) had been been completed in year 2022, with 776 chapters.

While I considered Part 1's ending a satisfying conclusion of the main story arc, it still left a lot of unanswered questions – and I do mean a LOT. It felt less like the end of a book, and more like an end of a season. So Part 2 is really the continuation of the same story.

Between Part 1 and 2, there were additional "extras" published, which were numbered as chapters 777-799. So that when the prologue for Part 2 came out, it was numbered 800, and everything from 801 up was Part 2. Yesterday on Munpia, where I read the novel in Korean (through an automatic translator of course, since I don't know any Korean. Let me tell you, it's a pain...) came out chapter 1006, which makes TCF Part 2 currently 206 chapters long.

The author originally predicted that Part 2 to be 300 chapters long. No one believed that, myself included: because the author is one of those writers who always end up writing much more than they intended, hahaha! I know that feeling well. I'm estimating Part 2 to be at least 500 chapters long by the end it's done, probably around 600.

...I know that the length of this novel might seem unreasonable, but it's really not being stretched for content or money purposes: it's truly Plot all the way through. It's all story. There really is just that much story to tell, and it would not be as satisfying if you cut any of it out.

I admire this writer a lot. TCF is so much fun. I freaking love this novel.

Second topic: why the Original Cale Henituse did not like his life?

We have to go back to the very beginning: the marriage of Count Deruth Henituse, and Jour Thames. (You might have seen the name "Drew" being used sometimes, but it's really just the matter of translation. I'm sticking with "Jour".)

Jour had a very complicated background, but I won't dive into all of that here – what matters is that Jour had a very special power. It was a Wood Ancient Power called "The Annual Rings of Life", and it allowed her to see the "annual rings" of all living things: past, present and future. Meaning she could see the fate of a person, including how many years they had to live.

And when she looked at her young son, Cale, with that power, she saw something very unusual. His "annual rings of life" were "warped". Meaning, he would experience an unusual fate in the future, and in result become a Variable: either a regressor, a transmigrator, or a reincarnator. Or, more than one at once. So she told Cale:

"You are someone who will have an unusual experience with time."

Basically, she saw OG Cale's future fate and realized that the world is going to be in Big Trouble, because gods only make Variables like that happen when something really big and really bad is going down.

Now, it's just my speculation – but on top of it, I think Jour could see her own "annual rings". Meaning, she knew she would die young, and that by the time Cale became a Variable, she would no longer be around. So, knowing all this, she decided she needed to help out as much as she could: she wrote down a journal for "the person who would possess her son's body" in the future.... and commited suicide.

Why? Because it allowed her to split the power in 2 pieces. But that is a much longer story, and we're here to talk about OG Cale.

But it all starts right here: with Jour committing suicide, although no one knew that was the case at the time. All they knew was that Jour went on a short trip to Harris Village for some reason, had a carriage accident on the way back, and then died soon after, despite her injuries not seeming very serious.

That unexpected death devastated both Deruth and Cale, who loved her very much. Deruth was emotionally broken and Cale reminded him much of his dead wife, because they both had red hair and looked very similar. I imagine he started avoiding Cale for that reason, although it wasn't at all mean-spirited: Deruth was simply depressed over his beloved wife. To cope with his broken heart (and possibly to give Cale a new mother figure), he soon chose to remarry rather quickly, to a woman named Violan, who already had a son named Basen. Basen was 3 years younger than Cale.

Basen's existence is the reason why Cale chose to become "trash". You see, while on the outside people thought that Cale was outraged at his father "replacing" his mother so soon, or that he resented Violan... that wasn't the case at all. Cale quickly grew to accept them both as family. However, unlike Jour (who was from a small noble family), Violan was descended from a merchant family. She and her son were not nobility. Because of this, Basen faced discrimination from their relatives, who did not approve of Deruth's second marriage.

Young Cale, seeing Basen insulted and belittled by other nobles, created a plan. He told Basen to lie to everyone that he was Deruth's biological son, and that he was a Henituse by blood. Then he began acting like a completely spoiled brat. He complained, he yelled, he threw things. At the age of 15, he started drinking. He did everything in his power to completely ruin his reputation.

Why? All for Basen, Violan, and later Lily. Because he wanted them to be accepted by noble society. If he, Deruth's firstborn, was removed from succession, that would make Basen the next Count. And then no one would be able to disrespect them.

While it might seem like a crazy plan (and let's be fair: he came up with it as a child), it was actually surprisingly effective. No one saw through his act: not even his butler Ron, who was a trained assassin by trade. Cale's acting abilities were flawless. He played the drunk, spoiled noble with a trash reputation perfectly. Basen was quickly accepted as the heir by the public; although nothing in the family had been formally decided. While this was going on, Deruth did not know why his son was acting like this, but he never really lost faith in him; he probably thought it was all about Jour's death, and Cale would mature in time. It was also said that despite everything, Cale still acted respectfully towards his father, and was distant but still respectful towards his step family. Their family were thus strained, but not broken.

When Kim Rok Soo transmigrated, he was under the impression that OG Cale was deliberately shunned by the rest of the family. But that distance was purely artificial, but OG Cale's own design. When KRS!Cale "stopped" acting distant towards the rest of the family, the Henituses happily embraced the change. They likely thought that he finally allowed himself to heal from Jour's death and move on. That's why no one questioned him about the "change of personality", even though they all noticed it immediately.

Now, we have to talk about the TBOAH ("The Birth of a Hero") timeline. What happened before OG Cale regressed, and transmigrated into KRS's body.

In the TBOAH timeline, when OG Cale was 18, he met Choi Han on a rainy day. OG Cale was "drunk" (actually just pretending to be, as his alcohol torelance was secretly super strong), and Choi Han mentioned being from Harris Village, which had just been all massacred by assassins.

Now OG Cale, full in his "drunk trash noble" personna, probably had his own reasons for provoking Choi Han. He likely thought that getting into a fight would prevent him from getting sent to the Capital for an important celebration, and letting Basen shine. But he also honestly hated Harris Village, which was the place where his mother died. So he insulted the dead villagers to Choi Han's face. Choi Han took it personally and beat him up quite a bit for it. That incident was what inspired KRS!Cale to change the events from the TBOAH timeline, despite his lack of desire to get involved with the "plot of the story".

What exactly happened between this point and OG Cale's transmigration 22 years later is mostly speculation, but we do know some things from the TBOAH timeline thanks to KRS!Cale.

Firstly, soon afterwards Basen went to the Capital, and it was attacked with bombs. Basen either got lucky, got injured, or died in the incident. Whichever actually happened then, Basen certainly could not remain alive for long; 2 years later, the Henituse territory was attacked by the Indomitable Alliance, as their first act of war. We know that the territory was unprepared, and suffered countless casualties. Among them, the entire Henituse family died, except for OG Cale.

So we have a clear order of events for OG Cale in the TBOAH timeline: his happy early childhood, his mother's death at 8, soon followed by his father's second marriage and the appearance of his step family, OG Cale sacrificing his heir position for Basen's sake, a terrible adolescence focused entirely on ruining his own reputation and acoholism (the latter which followed him into adulthood, and no wonder), and finally losing his home and his entire family at the age of 20.

Not to mention, the 20 years of war which followed afterwards. The TBOAH timeline sucked for absolutely everyone.

When soldier Cale was 40, during the "final battle" of all the allied forces against their enemy, he got trapped under his allies' corpses. As he laid there, he witnessed Choi Han facing the White Star, the mysterious enemy leader. OG Cale saw as White Star suddenly grabbed Choi Han and declared:

"Time is warped oddly for you."

The words made him recall what Jour told him years ago. In that moment, OG Cale realized: the White Star had his mother's power. Then the White Star shoot a stream of fire at OG Cale, intending to casually finish him off.

...but OG Cale did not die, because at that exact moment, the God of Death offered him a deal.

What kind of deal? And why? Let's get back to that in a bit.

Third topic: why Kim Rok Soo did not like his life?

First of all: from the very beginning, KRS was screwed. Why? Because he was born with a curse.

What curse? And why? I'll get back to that bit later, too. But what matters is: it was a curse of bad luck, which made KRS loose every single person he cared about sooner or later.

KRS started off not too differently from OG Cale – he wasn't a noble, but he had two loving parents. However, a tragedy struck early on, and both died in a car accident. As a young boy, KRS got adopted by a distant relative named Kim Seung Jong, his uncle.

KRS's uncle, who turned out to be a gambling addict and an alcoholic. He took KRS in only to use what little money his parents left for him, starving and abusing him. Eventually, KRS ran away.

What happened to him shortly afterwards is a bit unclear. It's possible he lived on the streets for a bit. But eventually, he had to have landed in an orphanage, because he went to high school like a normal teenager with an ordinary life.

...Except that one incident with some evil dimension travellers noticing his curse, mistaking it for something else, and trying to kill KRS. And also someone else using him as live bait. But hey, KRS got his memory erased afterwards, so it's not like the trauma of those events affected him or anything, right?? :')

Soooo anyway, all was going well for KRS. At the age of 20, he got into a university and had a part time job as a waiter. All was good!

...Except then the Monster Invasion started. That's right! You read it right! You thought KRS was from a normal modern Korea?? SIKE, he was from a post-apocalyptic world all along!! KRS spent 3 days under building debris, drinking rain water and slowly starving, until he was rescued by a young hero named Lee Soo Hyuk. LSH lead KRS into a nearby Shelter – a place with supernatural properties which were immune to monster attacks – and left. All was good!! ...Except then the leader of the Shelter turned out to be a huge jerk and started bossing KRS around and beat him up on occassion. Luckily, the Shelters failed 10 months later and everybody at the Shelter died, including that jerk!! ....Wait.

So KRS survived not just one, but 2 incidents where everybody around him died. But that's ok, because he joined the organization lead by LSH and another cool dude named Choi Jung Soo. Sure, they risked their lives every day by fighting monsters and rescuing people and fighting organized crime on the side – but hey, at least KRS had friends now, for the first time in his life! So that's good, right?

....Except, several years later – around time when KRS was 26 – a super powerful monster called an Unranked Monster killed everyone in KRS's team. But it was fine! Totally fine! He just survived everybody dying around him for the 3rd time in his life, and everybody kept talking about him behind his back how he's an unfeeling bastard because he's unable to cry anymore... but who cares! KRS became Team Leader now, and he was determined to have zero casualties from now on.

That's right! ZERO. CASUALTIES. Because he's the most stubborn person alive, and also insane. So of course, he managed to actually pull it off.

So KRS spent the next 10 years being an absolute bada**, taking down mob bosses, fighting monsters and keeping all his team members alive, but also keeping distant from everybody and not having any friends because hey – if you notice a suspicious pattern of all your friends either vanishing or dying since you were a kid, you'd probably stop trying to make friends too.

36-year-old KRS was totally fine, and emotionally stable, and absolutely-not-at-all traumatized by all the deaths he's witnessed so many times. Just like OG Cale was probably-not-at-all traumatized by how his entire family died, or the next 20 years of war witnessing people brutally dying everywhere and an evil overlord taking over the world. They were both totally fine, I assure you!!

...Anyway, what was that 4th topic again??

Fourth topic: how and why the transmigration happened, and why was it good for both of them?

Right, let's start with OG Cale's deal.

The God of Death is able to make deals with people in life threatening situations. When the White Star attacked OG Cale, it allowed the God of Death to offer him to regress back in time and then switch places with one Kim Rok Soo. But why OG Cale? Obviously KRS had the qualifications to avert the events of the TBOAH timeline and the End of the World, being an experienced leader of an apocalyptic world – but what made OG Cale so special?

Well, there could be several reasons. One of which was how despite all their differences, their lives were similar in many ways. Both OG Cale and KRS lost family when they were young, experienced rejection from society, and had military experience. Not to mention the acting skills. OG Cale was able to successfully take over KRS's job, and that was no easy feat. KRS's team noticed the change of course, but they were much more happy about their totally-not-depressed-and-potentially-suicidal Team Leader was finally starting to open up, than the fact that he apparently went "crazy" one day and decided he suddenly liked alcohol now.

Another reason, perhaps, was how OG Cale's mom had the Annual Rings of Life power. It was quite important for defeating the White Star, and the way Jour set it up, only her son – or at least, the person in her son's body – would be able to find the Ancient Power; specifically the part which was able to see fate, aka. the future. The White Star got his hands on the "weaker" half of the Annual Rings, so he was only able to see the past: which saved OG Cale, as during the confrontation where the White Star tried to kill him, he wasn't able to recognize him as a future regressor & transmigrator.

...There's also Jour's Thames heritage, but that's a a whooole other topic. (Also the possible connection between Cale Barrow's last body and the Thames, but that's just a theory right now so it doesn't really matter.)

So, that covers the part of "why OG Cale". What about KRS? He couldn't be the only person capable of defeating a final boss like the White Star, right?

Well, remember how I mentioned that KRS was cursed since birth? Well, turns out that it was all the White Star's fault! Apparently KRS was meant to be born in the fantasy TCF world. Except the White Star was a reincarnator, who reincarnated using an ancient curse. To be reborn, the White Star stole bodies from other people, like KRS. Those unfortunate souls would then pass on and reincarnate in a different dimension, except bearing a part of the very same curse. The curse which makes sure that "you can never cherish anyone ever again". While the curse was weaker in the victims of the White Star than the guy himself, it still affected people like KRS. Because the God of Death was the one who originally created the curse, he felt really guilty about it. He tried to remove it from KRS, but was unable to.

...until the transmigration, that is! So, part of the reason why KRS was chosen for the transmigration (or rather, to be the "victim" of OG Cale's own transmigration) was that it allowed the God of Death remove the curse from him. Which allowed him to FINALLY make friends and be happy.

OG Cale, in return for this deal, got: a time regression which saves his family and the entire world, the truth behind his mother's death, a new environment to live in unrelated to his traumas where he could heal, and most importantly, a young reincarnation of his birth mother, whom he got to adopt as an uncle.

KRS, on the other hand, got: a blood family that cares about him, a free luxurious lifestyle with lack of responsibilities, new environment to live in unrelated to his traumas where he could heal, a detailed guide about closest future tragedies to prevent, and most importantly, a life free of the curse he unknowingly suffered from his entire life and the ability to keep all his new family and friends close to him.

....Phew. I hope you don't mind my explanation being so long.

To sum it all up:

the novel has two parts, Part 1 is finished, Part 2 is in progress

OG Cale lived in a lie and then through a war and got to start over

KRS lived through constant suffering and trauma and got to start over

their positions in life made it perfect for a transmigration switch with no loose ends

I hope this explanation helped!

[sleepymaven]

The Bsd "Fyodor is Atsushi's Father" Theory:

My Not-so-Deep, Not-so-Serious Explanation on Why This Could Totally be Canon

Signed: A Sleep-Deprived Idiot

(Spoilers for the Entirety of Bungou Stray Dogs)

So... with Chapter 118 in bsd releasing, I have noticed a lot of Fyodor as Atsushi's father related things popping up and... I'm not mad about.

If anything, I'm happy the theory is getting more attention. People even seem to be taking it as canon fact, even if just jokingly.

Really, I believed the theory was plausible since it first was brought up in the fandom, but I never actually thought it would be canon because that just seemed too crazy. But those were the thoughts of a sweet summer child since the manga has gotten to the point where that might be the least crazy thing possible.

So, here I am at my keyboard yet again, ready to ramble about how, if this does somehow turn out to be canon, this might be actually rather predictable even to those who don't dive deep into the nitty-gritty lore.

Now, I won't ramble on and on endlessly about the book and Atsushi's ambiguous past and how he may be the book or a page from the book and yaddy-yadda. Instead, I'll focus on some key aspects of Atsushi's character design. First off...

His hair.

As I said, this is not all that serious or deep, so take my words with a grain of salt before you start bashing me or something for being ridiculous. You signed up for ridiculous when you started reading past the title.

Anyway, back to Atsushi's hair.

As we almost all know, Atsushi used to have a black streak in his hair that was later removed for unknown reasons, but he also has white hair.

Now, I could jokingly proclaim, "Hehe, biologically impossible Fyodor x Nikolai lovechild," and be done with it, but I am no clown, unlike Nikolai. No, I have a better, probably completely wrong, idea.

Most of us know that Fyodor has a thing for white-haired men.

Exhibit A: Every fucking member of the Decay of Angels

I rest my case.

Also, I feel the need to mention that 3 out of 6 of them have red-ish eyes while the other two have purple-ish/blue eyes. Just pointing out that little tidbit I noticed while finding pics for them.

So, it would make sense for Fyodor to pick and choose which attributes to give to his quote-on-quote "son" when he made him from the book, picking out certain traits he found appealing and pleasing to the eye.

(Also, yes, this could mean that Fyodor could have chose specific attributes that were similar to Nikolai. Boom, lovechild route.)

This could explain certain similarities between the characters who seemingly have no biological connection between one another. Their only connection then only being through Fyodor by just knowing him.

Got all that? Alright, next up...

His eyes.

Now, Atsushi's eyes are rather unique, even for the world of Bungou Stray Dogs. What also sticks out about them is the fact that they are pointed out and focused in from time to time.

Example:

(Fucking gorgeous eyes he has, btw)

To break down the colors of his eyes... While in normal lighting in the anime, they appear to be normally purple and yellow with just a hint of green in it, but under the full moon (as seen here) we can see that his eyes are a light green-yellow at the bottom and purple on the top that fades into blue.

(There are also a few times where his eyes also change while using his ability. Like when they turn almost fully yellow.)

I want to point out the colors of his eyes and the fact that they change due to certain circumstances (i.e: using his ability, being under the full moon), which is clearly not normal in their world seeing as how other ability users don't seem to do that at all.

(Edit here: I actually would like to mention that, in the manga, Nikolai's eyes also change color. The green one sometimes will change to match his normal eye whenever he uncovers it. I saw a theory talking about how it might change depending on whether or not he is lying at the time, which is pretty neat. More Atsushi and Nikolai parallels.)

Now, this might seem like a bit of a stretch just like the rest of this post, but the colors used for his eyes are similar to the eye colors of people Fyodor knows, though they are different shades.

Purple like Fukuchi. Green and blue from Nikolai.

Fyodor's eyes are also a shade of purple, kind of, so... Yeah, that works too, but Fukuchi's shade of eyes are closer to Atsushi's.

Yeah, that's all I can think of now and this is already way too long (if I start talking about Atsushi's mysterious past, I'm going to make this a mile long. Maybe later tho), so I'm ending it here for now.

Alright, bye ya'll.

[pipsqueakparker]

the third act break up

helluva boss isn't a romance but it also kind of is, and if we're considering romance genre tropes/structure, we're mid-third act break up right now.... which is one of my least favorite tropes BUT in this case, it's being played well and the writers are using it to genuinely deepen/further blitz's character

just in comparison, i'm almost finished reading this book that lowkey highkey sucks - i'm not gonna name it, i don't like shitting directly on a book usually, but it's the 3rd in a series of romance books & in it we ofc have the third act break up done in a bad way. (pls don't take this as me shitting on the romance genre at all, i adore romance books, i even liked this author's first book)

1, the stakes: the stakes for blitz & stolas (relationship-wise) are like kinda mundane really but feel so fucking high because we see how genuinely they feel for each other and we've watched that change over the course of the show - especially here in season 2. when it comes to stakes, they don't have to literally be life or death, they just have to feel that way to the characters and then by extension to us.

"when i see him tonight" gave us the stakes, that song alone solidified how much this relationship means to both of them. "i'll fucking die alone if this goes bad" - yes, thank you stolas, i feel that.

in comparison, in this book, the stakes are shaky. the mc is a woman who's never felt good enough to be loved & doesn't want a traditional relationship that ends in marriage and children & the love interest is an actor with big dreams that gets an offer to do a show across the country. we're being told they're high, but it's not really being SHOWN. i don't feel it, i don't feel like these characters will really fucking die if one of them moves across the country for six months, y'know?

2, the miscommunication/lack of communication: another trope i hate is miscommunication/lack of communication - unless it makes sense.

in the book, love interest never tells mc about the job offer - but for why? it gets blamed on her anxiety disorder, which i also took issue with the portrayal of that, but it never digs deeper into why she really feels like telling mc about the job offer could negatively impact their relationship. (it's still new, it might make the mc feel pre-abandoned, etc. etc there are so many ways this COULD have been something to not mention, but instead.... she just didn't)

blitz & stolas? they literally just can't sit down and have a calm chat, and that makes fucking sense for them as characters. @rusty-lustful-fireflies made this post comparing their trauma responses that i thought was brilliant -def check it out, and in the meantime i'll summarize it like this: blitz lashes out and stolas folds in. their conversation in full moon is one of the best examples of a misunderstanding between two characters i've seen, they are both taking each other's words the wrong way, but it makes sense as to why they're doing that. when stolas asks for the grimoire back, blitz immediately jumps to abandonment, he's lost everyone in his life and he has this one really really good thing going with stolas that he doesn't want to change and bam. it's changing. he's angry. he's going to say it.

stolas... could have worded things better, i understand why that was blitz's first thought, but stolas was trying to make it this grand gesture and it just wasn't hitting your audience, sweetie. blitz wasn't made for grand romantic gestures, he's a ball of trauma. and he acts accordingly. and stolas, in response, realizes "i've buffed it", is probably triggered from getting yelled at considering HIS own trauma.... i could deep dive their conversations at the end of FM and the beginning of AT, but we've all analyzed those to death. we get it. the point is... it made sense. neither of them were technically in the right or the wrong, it was just genuinely not being able to effectively communicate because they were both heightened and thus... we get the third act break up that's not really a break up. which brings me to...

3, the aftermath/development: yes, the third act breakup is meant to be the thing that pushes our characters to actually fix something within themselves... and we're still mid break up, but with ghostfuckers, i think we can see that being done. one thing specifically stood out to me as evidence that this is something more significant to blitz than any usual fight or breakup.

this post from @timkontheunsure was the first one i saw discussing this part, and i've gotta say i agree wholeheartedly with it & i think this is the beginnings of genuine development for blitz. to summarize in my own words (but def go read their post too):

blitz isn't just fucked up on the idea of being/dying alone anymore, when he was fucked up on that he just went to find someone else to fuck and forget it. no, now blitz is fucked up on not having stolas specifically, and it's much deeper, to the point that he's beyond just fucking someone else to forget it. no one else could do it. he's gotta turn to the ghosts. it's the difference in coping that we're shown that makes this moment different, and this moment being different, in addition to blitz finally admitting verbally that he's fucked up over stolas in that last moment with millie, that leads me to believe we're going to get genuine character growth over the next two episodes.

and this was what made me start thinking and typing up this post, because i'm nearing the end of this book, we're mid third act breakup, and this mc is similar to blitz in her desires to have a relationship but not the way everyone expects her to have one, and in her favorite method of coping: fucking someone else until she's not sad anymore. this is how she meets the love interest, and she tries to use it again mid-book when she & love interest are fake dating and she's sad that they're not real dating - and, then, we get the break up, love interest is gone.... and she turns right back to "i gotta find someone else to fuck to get over it".... and normally i probably wouldn't have thought twice, but this time i did. because we got that fucking beautiful example of the difference between coping with being lonely & coping with being without the person you love in ghostfuckers yesterday and it was SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS FUCKING BOOK.

anyway, this is my dissertation on how this animated demon show that's not technically a romance just took a romance trope & is really doing it so much better than the literal romance book i'm reading right now.

hope you liked it. thank you for your time!

[cryptid-intraining]

Thoughts about the Mexican GP and the season so far.

Very happy at yet another Ferrari win, would have loved the 1-2 but I'll get into that. Any points taken off Lando is great in my books and it's starting to look like McLaren is now at risk of losing the WCC as well if Ferrari keeps this up.

As a Max fan, he absolutely deserved those penalties but I think anyone complaining about how unfair it is, is being silly. He did the move, got the penalties. That's fair. Fucking around and finding out is a gamble all drivers make at some point, sometimes getting those penalties is a price they're willing to pay.

My biggest issue with the narrative and criticism Max has been getting about those two incidents is that it was sloppy driving. I think Martin Brundle called his second move a "red mist" moment and I think in light of what Max has said about the incidents, that is just untrue. I think it's fairly clear to see it was a calculated decision that Max made as soon as he realized that the RB20 did not have the power to hold the McLaren behind. In his own words, without the penalties he may have ended up ahead of the Mercs but Lando probably would have won the race.

He dropped a possible 13 point loss to 10. That's a championship move, that's how you win the WDC. Race wins and podiums don't matter to Max at this point clearly (yes he would prefer to be winning, obviously) his goal going into every weekend is just about finishing higher than Lando or as close to him as possible. That car does not have the tools for him to go offensive and outscore Lando every race so of course he will do anything in his power to ruin Lando's races and slow him down and get in his way. It's strategy.

And dragging that car back from 20s of penalties to P6 was a feat in and of itself, especially if you look at the races that Perez and Piastri had. Especially Piastri, considering he had the whole race and superior machinery and ended up in P8, behind Max and KMag. Really not a good weekend from him overall.

Onto the Ferrari's. I honestly don't know what to say, Carlos was incredibly strong all weekend, well deserved win. But once again it feels like Ferrari sometimes really struggles in managing to bring home a 1-2. They're often too afraid of their drivers fighting out front which is fair but asking your other driver to lift and coast every five minutes or so was a ridiculous call that cost them the 1-2. You cannot LICO on hard tyres for the majority of a race and keep temperature in them, which makes you lose grip and nearly crash as we saw. Charles was very lucky and very quick to catch that snap before it put him in the wall.

Not taking away from Carlos' performance because he was just the quicker driver that weekend but once again when he comes under pressure from Charles he tries to get Ferrari to pull team orders. It's something he has done time and time again and it gets a bit frustrating to see. If team orders had not been established prior to the race, he had no grounds to come on the radio and comment on Charles closing the gap in the first stint. If I heard that radio message without context I would have thought Charles had dive bombed him or something, it was ridiculous.

Now, I know Carlos was asked to lift and coast too but I think in context to Carlos' radio message and the weird atmosphere between them after the race (could be reading into) I don't think Charles was particularly happy with the strategy.

And finally McLaren. I think we are so wrapped up in the hype of having such a competitive season that we're not seeing what this year is going to end up being for McLaren and that is: disastrous. They've been so shockingly indecisive this whole season and I think if Ferrari keeps this performance in the last leg of the season it is going to cost them the WCC as well because they've just been acting like they've got it in the bag and I think that's the key difference in attitude between McLaren and Red Bull, to some degree Ferrari too. Max himself has said it, even if he's 50+ points ahead he's not going to let Lando pass him easily because that's not how you win. Dropping your guard and thinking you're safe is how you lose, coasting to a win is how you lose, if that was how Max Verstappen raced he wouldn't be a three time world champion and he certainly wouldn't still be 47 points ahead.

But it feels almost like McLaren are just assuming that the WCC is safe because they have good drivers and the fastest car but I think there is a possibility they're going to walk away with nothing and it's going to be very embarrassing for them because everyone expected immediate performance from their drivers once given a championship car, that's what everyone has been saying about both Lando and Oscar for the past few years, that they're championship material and they just need the car.

I don't disagree, I think they both will get a WDC eventually but it's put them both on these pedestals of performance that they've just been unable to live up to yet. Lando has not been consistent, he has shown he has a long way to go in terms of wheel to wheel battling and needs to improve his ability to make calls and strategy decisions on the track and Oscar has to be more competitive in qualifying if he wants to pose a threat to Lando.

And the team needs to pull it together if they want to win. Stop asking your drivers so much, don't let them call all the shots on strategy because it doesn't work. Sometimes when I hear their radio messages I actually start to lose my mind because why are they having full conversations? It's too much information for too little. Drivers should never be that involved in the strategy, it's distracting for them and shows everyone else how little faith the strategists seem to have in themselves. It feels like they're improvising as they go.

All in all, I think this season is going to do more for Max's reputation than any other championship season he's had. 2023 was dominant and incredible but people will always just say he had no competition and therefore it means nothing which is an insane thing to say about the most successful singular season in the history of the sport, 2022 for some reason people just write off. Once again, they'll just say he had the best car so of course he'll win, and 2021 is obviously fraught with controversies that overshadow what was objectively a brilliant season for Max. But 2024? It's showing that he does not need the fastest car to win. Not even the second, but the third fastest car (at points the fourth) and he's still 47 points ahead.

It's brilliant. Hasn't won a race in months and he's still winning. In a car that at points didn't even turn, with an engine that seems to want to fail every other weekend, with a practically non-existent teammate, and a team that feels like it's falling apart around him.

But it's just the car. Okay, so where's Lando? Oh, right, 47 points behind.

See you in Abu Dhabi.

[unreliablesnake]

Goodbye (Vincent de Gramont x reader)

Note: A follow-up drabble for this.

For all you knew, Vincent hadn’t signed the papers before you left him for good. You could only hope he would come to his senses and do it before your lawyer arrived the next day, but either way, you knew he would do it once he accepted you weren't coming back.

You were heading to your seat in first class, already sipping a glass of champagne like you always did during these flights. But today you truly needed some alcohol. Yes, it was you who left him, but it still hurt to know it was over. You wanted to make it work, you truly did your best to accept him with every flaw of his, but you reached a dead end with him.

While the other passengers began to arrive, you pulled out your ebook reader and dived into the book you had begun to read a few days ago. It was a romance novel, although there were comedic elements that made it truly entertaining. It was nice to get lost in a world where a relationship was working and everyone was happy.

One of the flight attendants suddenly began to explain that there will be an unexpected delay, but you didn't make much of it until it was announced that the flight was cancelled and everybody had to get off of the plane. A mechanical issue, they said. But you had a bad feeling, that maybe it wasn't entirely true.

A man your age you had met on the plane kept you company as you made your way back, but you choked on your carefree laughter when your eyes landed on Vincent. You should have known, the whole last minute mechanical failure was so fake in retrospect. They would have known sooner, not two minutes before take off.

“Who is he?” he demanded, his eyes fixed on the poor guy on your side. “I thought you said you weren't seeing anyone.”

“I'm not seeing anyone, we only met on the plane.”

The man next to you shifted uncomfortably before saying, “I'll leave you two alone.”

“Thanks. Good luck with the wedding,” you told him with a warm smile, even waving as he walked away.

Your back was to your dear husband, and you were thinking about leaving him there. You didn't want to talk to him. There was absolutely nothing to talk about. Well, except for two things–the cancelled flight and the divorce papers.

With a sigh, you turned around and gave him a tired look. “Did you have anything to do with the cancellation of my flight?” you asked as you stepped a little closer.

“I can't just let you go like this, I had to do something,” was all he said, as if it was perfectly normal. “I won't sign those papers either. I love you. I don't want you to leave me.”

“Vincent, it's over. I don't want anything from you anymore.”

He bit on his lower lip before putting his hands on his hips and turning away for a moment. You could tell it truly hurt him. That wasn't your intention, you always hoped he would take it well. But he clearly didn't. All of a sudden you felt guilty for doing this to him.

But no, you couldn't give in. You couldn't let him manipulate you and make you stay somehow. The only direction you were willing to go from this airport was New York. Or hell, any other city in the States as long as you could leave. Paris was beautiful, but it wasn't your home anymore.

“Just one more night,” he suddenly said. “Stay for one more night and think it through.”

With a sigh, you put your hand on his arm as you stepped closer. “I'm not going anywhere with you. I loved you, I truly did, but it's over. Sign the papers. Please,” you asked him.

Silence fell between you, but you could tell he was about to say something. He probably wanted to object, but he didn't speak up because he now knew you wouldn't stay. But then he took a deep breath and said, “If you ever change your mind, if you want to come back, I'm here. I'll be waiting.”

Smiling at the thought, you stood on your toes and softly kissed him. “You deserve someone who loves you. I'm not that person anymore.”

“I'll miss you, love” he told you as he pulled you into a tight hug.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

A while ago, you wrote that you were planning on writing an essay about the "subtextual queer-coding" of Louis's character... I want it bad, CJ.

I've said that a few times now; to quote myself from my Javier's bisexuality essay, "-one day I'll crawl out of my bog to write my analysis on the queer-coding/subtext of Louis' character because if I read "lmao Louis is such a Straight" one more time, I'm going to let the gators take a bite out of me just so that I can feel something other than irritation for once."

Dramatic, but that's how I felt in the moment of writing that essay.

I have two twdg essays I'm working on with other ideas on the backburners, not to mention essays and other projects for other fandoms on my side blogs, among more personal works... so y'know what, anon? For you, I'll do a impromptu mini-essay right now since I don't know when or if I'll ever have time to dedicate a full-length deep-dive essay to the topic.

Also, big thank you to @pi-creates for once again providing me with screenshots!

Louis is bisexual-coded and CJ's gonna prove it [probably]

First thing's first: queer-coding, what is it?

Just so that we're all on the same page, here's the basic idea: implications that a character is queer through intentional [but not always] subtext, and/or the use of stereotypes to indicate a character's queerness without outright stating it. It's been around forever; look up the history of The Hays Code to learn more, but essentially the film industry was like, "That's it! no swearing! no more blasphemy! no drugs or alcohol! and definitely no homosexuality! good, clean, god-loving movies only!"

So, what were writers and film makers to do? Why, they code their characters, of course.

There's a lot to learn about the history of queer coding, the good, the bad, the in-between--but I'm not here to give you that lecture. I'm here to talk about Louis.

Ah, Louis. My favorite TWDG character. Love him. Adore him. Written countless thought pieces on him. Definitely bisexual.

Well, to me he is, anyway.

It's like a spidey-sense in the back of my head, I look at Louis and I go, "I know what you are."

When it comes to interpreting media, my stance is that while authorial intent is important, it doesn't dictate my interpretation.

I lean more into "Death of the Author" in all the media I consume, whether that be books, movies, TV, video games, etc... unless there's a circumstance where I feel learning more about the author would benefit my reading of their material... hence why I care little for what the writers/devs of TFS say about the story/characters as I don't want their influence, yet I'm reading all of Tillie Walden's books in order to better understand the Clementine books for my analysis.

As a bisexual myself, it's true that I may just be projecting onto my favorite character due to my desire to see a bi4bi couple in one of my favorite video games. That's how most headcanons come to be, no? We wish to see ourselves represented in characters we love, especially when we feel mis/underrepresented in media.

I believe Louis has some queer coding going on. I don't believe it's intentional, but it doesn't need to be in order to exist. It's there, I feel it when I play the game, no one gets to tell me otherwise.

First let's tackle the idea of, "how can Louis be bi if he's never seen flirting with any guys?" ...because I have a feeling that might come from the same people who say "he's such a Straight," y'know?

We know for sure that Louis likes girls--he has a crush on Clementine no matter what, and he makes a point of saying he's never had a girlfriend before... so if he's bi, why doesn't he also point out that he's never had a boyfriend before?

Because Clementine's not a boy.

No, really, it's that simple. Clementine is his only love interest in TFS, and having him bounce around flirting with everyone wouldn't be in character for him. He's friendly, sure, but friendliness and being flirtatious aren't the same thing.

But if he's bi, why wouldn't he flirt with his best friend, Marlon, or with Aasim? Mitch? What about the great chef god Omar?

I don't know--why doesn't he flirt with Brody? Or Ruby?

Again, I must point you to my essay on Javier and how much I disapprove of this notion that all bisexual characters have to "prove" they're bi by flirting with all genders--if they aren't running around DTF with everyone, then are they really bisexual???

First of all, stop that. A lot of people, usually straight, are under the impression that bisexuality is about who and how many people you're dating/sleeping with when no, that's not it.

Second, why would he flirt with them? He's not that type of character, and none of them are his love interest. His love interest is Clementine.

In ep1, during the card game, Louis asks Clementine if she's ever had a boyfriend [he wants to gauge her interest in boys since he's a boy], and he says she can ask him if he's ever had a girlfriend before [letting her know he likes girls] and that he hasn't, by the way. Hint hint.

Louis has no reason to add that he's never had a boyfriend, either. The game's making its intent clear with this: Louis is a potential love interest for Clementine.

It does this with Violet, too. It's just different. Violet doesn't need to explicitly state that she's only into girls, the game goes to great lengths to show us this through the writing. C'mon, we all know what "Minnie and I... we were close," really means. Your spidey-senses were tingling, especially if you're queer, too.

If you go fishing with Violet and Brody, you've told the game you're more interested in Violet than Louis at this point, so you find the heart with her and Minerva's initials carved in it. That's the game making another thing clear: Violet likes girls, she's the other potential love interest for Clementine.

Y'know, in case all the "Louis or Violet" choices weren't enough of an indication.

The first card game is usually what I see pointed at when someone goes, "lmao Louis is such a Straight" for asking Clementine that, and I'm like... this? Are you sure?

Honestly, my theory is people really want Louis and Violet to fit into the straight himbo/lesbian friendship dynamic, which like... you can still do that if he's not straight. I'm just sayin'.

"But CJ, how else would we know he's not straight if he doesn't show attraction to boys?"

By looking at literally everything else about him. He doesn't need to openly flirt with other boys to be bi. Bisexuality is more than that, it's a personal queer experience. There are things in the subtext of his character, and TFS in general, that lead me to believe he is.

Heteronormative thinking could be playing a part: "cis/straight's the default until proven otherwise." Hence why some need more "proof" of him expressing interest in people who aren't female...tbh I think some people are just dumb and miss the point of headcanon in fandom culture. It's not about what's objectively true with heaps of evidence, it's about looking at canon and interpreting it through our personal lens... but whatever it's fine, ignore me, I'll just continue on then-

I believe the Ericson crew don't operate under that line of thinking.

I touched on this a little before, but TFS's narrative is steeped in queer themes; an oppressive older generation who uses force to try to shape the Ericson crew to be like them, and if they fight back, they're punished; found family and acceptance, love in a world that doesn't want you; the troubled youth of Ericson being abandoned because parents didn't want to deal with them, sending them away to be "fixed." There's no getting away from it.

I think Louis puts it best when you appeal to him in ep1: "This is how adults do things, not us."

They're a generation who only had each other, abandoned by the adults who were supposed to love them, supposed to make them better. They're a generation of genuine acceptance when it comes to each other. Clementine and AJ are able to integrate with them because they're the same way. When AJ sees the heart with Violet and Minerva's initials in it, he doesn't question how two girls could be together, he just says, "Oh. Love." and then he moves on. He grew up differently than you and I, they all did.

We also need to consider where Louis came from before Ericson.

Louis has an artistic hobby in music, something we haven't seen before in TFS as we're often too busy trying not to die to explore hobbies. The most we see of something similar is when Mariana listens to music on a cassette player.

TFS introduced characters who have interests they pursue outside of survival, and they're more artistic things. Louis plays piano and writes music. Tenn's an artist who reintroduces AJ to drawing. Aasim writes and openly journals about the days as a record. Omar takes great pride in his cooking, which is an art in of itself. Violet mentions not being into arts and crafts, but she still makes Clementine a pin when you take her route, and she wants to dance with Clementine if they're romantically involved. Minerva had a talent for music, and Sophie for art when they were there, too.

I don't think I need to tell you that many look down on the arts--I think we're well aware. We're also aware of the stereotypes of men in the arts, no? "A boy who likes art?? Son, why can't you be normal and like sports!?" That nonsense.

Louis grew up wealthy with parents who gave him everything he ever wanted, except for one thing. As he tells it, he wanted singing lessons so he could be a real musician, but his father denied him; "You get to be happy, or you get to be rich, can't be both."

Huh... can't be both, can't have both, can't like both... where have I heard that one before?

Alright, maybe interpreting the use of the word "both" here as a metaphor for bisexuality is a major stretch. I know, but listen, in my experience there's always this feeling of "pick one" when it comes to outsiders who don't understand. The fact that Louis' father tried to teach him a "dad lesson" in this specific way is... interesting, to say the least.

The implication is that Louis was a spoiled brat and his father tried to teach him that you don't always get what you want in life... but why draw the line at music, specifically? Music is something his father could've thrown money at. Louis could've had the privilege of the finest vocal coaches at such a young age. He could've become a glowing success and never ended up at Ericson.

Music isn't gendered nor is it inherently queer... but I often wonder if his father would've had the same approach if Louis came to him and said, "I want to be a professional baseball player," instead. After all, in many circles it's more sociably acceptable to have a son who plays baseball, or any sport, rather than a son who takes singing lessons, no? And the fact that his father presents it as a "choice" between the arts and conformity.... C'mon, it's representative of a "choice" people try to enforce on bisexual people: pick the "gay" option and face the consequences, or pick the "straight" option and adhere to easy heteronormativity. That's not how that works, by the way.

But I digress, it's probably not that deep, but still.

Louis' response to all of this was basically, "Fuck you, I'm gonna destroy your marriage. That'll teach YOU a lesson." Real chaotic bisexual behavior here... Okay, I joke, but he's always been one for the dramatics, I suppose.

What I'm getting at is the concept of a character, typically masculine, enjoying the arts only for their more conservative family to disapprove makes an appearance in a lot of stories containing queer themes. It's understandable to raise an eyebrow at Louis for having a backstory like that, even if it's "not the point."

Now, let's examine his relationship with Clementine.

I will die on the hill that clouis is bi4bi.

Louis is peak bi love interest energy.

When we think of a typical straight male love interest, what do we think of? Specifically in the romance genre? I don't know about you, but I read a lot of romance, and well... the leading men tend to have some things in common. Y'know, he's unbelievably handsome and broody. He's an asshole but it's kinda hot? I guess? Not really, but the leading lady's into it. He's what you'd find under the definition of "toxic masculinity" but it's fine, she's going to fix him! With her love! He's really not that bad, he's just sad about his tragic backstory! And also, he's really hot!

Every time I pick up a book and I get the sense this is where it's going, I take a moment to debate with myself whether I'm willing to power through this in hopes that the book does something actually interesting with it... it usually doesn't.

Louis doesn't exactly fit in this mold, which in my opinion, is a good thing. Instead, he's charismatic and friendly. He cares about people and isn't afraid to show it. He watches over AJ until Clementine wakes up, and gives him his food after AJ eats all of his. He's interested in music, but he's not a weak survivor. He struggles with his self-esteem and the guilt of his actions hurting those he cares about. He's hurt and traumatized over Marlon's death and it causes him to lash out, but he gives Clementine a genuine apology. He strives to be better for her, AJ, and everyone at Ericson.

He's sweet with Clementine even before they're romantically involved, and if she doesn't share his feelings, he accepts that. He doesn't feel entitled to her. He isn't the "Nice Guy" trope.

He respects her autonomy, and admires the strengths she has rather than feeling threatened by them. He doesn't get jealous or possessive. He's never physically aggressive with her, and he never makes any sexist comments about how she can't do this, or how she needs to do this, because she's female.

It's the fact that he'd like Clementine no matter what. Louis feels like someone who likes who he likes regardless of gender.

Louis is soft, something that can be construed as weak, even though that's far from the case. It's not just his personality, either; let's take a quick look at his physical appearance.

Louis has a softness to him; long hair, freckles all over his face, his lips are fuller, he's tall and thin but not exactly broad in the shoulders, especially when compared to the other men in TFS. His appearance isn't considered intimidating, and I wouldn't say that his traits lean heavy into the masculine.

We joke about him being so fashionable in the apocalypse, but his long jacket is more evocative of "fashion over function," a stereotype often thrown at feminine fashion... though I suppose you could argue that's where he keeps Chairles so it is functional.

There's the way he presents himself, and yes, even the way that he stands at points, I have no other explanation for other than, "......it's the vibe, there's bisexual energy there."

Look, I'm no body language expert, okay...

...but c'mon, what is this?

I know it's dumb, but there's something to it, that's why so many of us make the "Louis ain't straight, look at how he stands" jokes.

All of this contributes to the subtext of Louis being a bisexual character. It's not about how many genders he openly flirts with, it's about how he's written, both as a character and as the male love interest. It doesn't matter how intentional it was because it's there, I recognize it.

Again, I'll reiterate that this is how I interpret TFS, clouis, and Louis as a character. As a bisexual myself, I'm going to have bias toward this topic. At the end of the day, it's fiction and Louis is a character, y'know? Headcanon is all in good fun, and I'd like to hear y'all's thoughts on this subject.

I don't know what else I can say other than, "Dude, just look at him!"

[penguwastaken]

This is the review I wrote for my Danganronpa Togami fan translation that I am currently working on, which I figured I might as well upload to Tumblr.

In June of 2023, after reading Danganronpa Togami for the first time, I wrote a review of it on Twitter. I want you to pretend like that review doesn't exist. Completely disregard it because BOY was I wrong.

When I first read Danganronpa Togami last year, I absolutely despised it. I was miserable almost the whole time. But I'm not the same person I was a year ago, I was naive and stupid, but now I have an IQ comparable to Albert Einstein! So basically what I'm saying now is I'm smart enough to understand it now. I couldn't disagree with my original review any more as I am now a based and enlightened Danganronpa Togami enjoyer. That's right, ME, the person who for a year made fun of this novel trilogy, finally sees the light I would like to issue a formal apology to Danganronpa Togami for being so stupid and blissfully unaware of its peakness.

Jokes aside, the more the novel sat in my head, the more conflicted I began to feel about it. I felt pretty mixed about it when I first read it, but those feelings only grew. Were my criticisms warranted? Did Danganronpa Togami really deserve the treatment I gave it? I picked it back up and gave it a second chance, and I was surprised to discover that it was... really good? I thought you were supposed to be this edgy, nonsensical, stupid book, that's how I remembered it at least, so what happened?

I'm going to try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, because something I realized is that Danganronpa Togami isn't something that can really be explained. It's something that has to be experienced, beginning to end. The summaries don't really do it justice, which is part of why I started this project in the first place. Though at some points I may dive into some minor spoiler territory, so I'll make sure to mark those parts. So consider this my apology and defense of Danganronpa Togami, because I have to admit that in my blind hatred for it, I probably did end up harming it's perception. So maybe, if just a little, I can rectify it here and maybe convince you to give it another chance like I did.

I will say, Danganronpa Togami is probably one of the darker entries in the series. It features a lot of sensitive content, such as graphic and violent imagery, assault, incest, and abuse. If that's enough to turn you away from it, that's fine and perfectly understandable, especially given Danganronpa's track record with those topics. And I will admit, there are absolutely times where Danganronpa Togami borders on being edgy. But I don't think it's without purpose, and it's handled with more severity than most entries in the series. Once again, if that's enough to make you not want to touch it was a 2000 foot pole, that's perfectly reasonable.

Everyone knows Danganronpa Togami is like, REALLY weird. Octopus suits, lightsabers, fortune telling human-cows, you name it. This all seems a little out of place, even for Danganronpa, but it starts to make more sense as you proceed with the story. These weird things aren't real, they're the result of an unreliable narrator. Contrary to what idiot me from 2023 says, I don't think having an unreliable narrator invalidates a story. Even with it, you can still piece together the events of the story and it creates what is honestly one of the best plot twists in the series that ties everything in the novel trilogy together.

If I have one critique of Danganronpa Togami, it's Byakuya's characterization. It makes sense in the context of the novel for him to be perceived as some kind of god due to circumstances and Blue Ink's POV and stuff, but that's not my issue. My main problem comes from the fact that some of his actions are just bad, plain and simple. He is NOT a good person in this novel. I guess it makes sense, this is before his character arc in Trigger Happy Havoc after all, but it just feels kind of weird and out of character sometimes. You could chalk it up to just "more unreliable narrator nonsense," but I feel that misses the point a little.

Danganronpa Togami takes full advantage of its medium, it's twists are something that you can really only put in a novel. It's difficult to explain without going into spoilers, but unlike something like Danganronpa Zero or Danganronpa Kirigiri, I genuinely couldn't imagine Danganronpa Togami as anything else. It's also filled with a lot of fun and witty banter full of references and charming characters.

Danganronpa Togami has some really interesting themes of identity and how one's past or situation can change their perspective. This is seen all throughout the novel trilogy, whether it be the protagonist whose a victim, an idol forced into a popularity debate, or its version of the despair disease, acting more as a placebo effect here. Its themes are a bit more subtle than other entries, not even I'm sure if I fully get them, but they're certainly interesting.

Unlike Danganronpa Kirigiri, which feels like a completely unrelated story with a few elements from the games and Kyoko (not saying that as a bad thing btw), Danganronpa Togami feels like it takes as many elements as it can from the games and stuffs them in. It takes place during the tragedy, features characters from not only the first two games but also the novels, has references to Ultra Despair Girls, brings back weird plot points like the despair disease from Danganronpa 2, and so much more. In a way, it's kind of like a big Danganronpa crossover (also featuring Kagami Family Saga because Yuya Sato couldn't help himself lol).

At some point, you've probably wondered: "is Danganronpa Togami canon?" Due to elements from in it and the divisive nature of Danganronpa Togami, you can't really find a straight answer about it online, so I figured I'd weigh in on the discussion. If you asked me back when I originally read it if it was canon, I'd probably give you a hard "no." But it's a bit more complex than that. It's a little more complex than just a simple "definitively canon" and "definitively non-canon." Disregarding the unreliable narrator, there are parts of the story that we do reliably know happened.

The closest thing to a reference to Danganronpa Togami in any other piece of media in the series to my knowledge is Byakuya saying "by the dignity of the Togami name" once in episode 7 of Danganronpa 3 Future Arc, however Byakuya swearing on the Togami name has been around before the novels even if it is prominently used in them. However, a more definitive piece of evidence towards its canonicity is in episode 11 of Danganronpa 3 Despair Arc, where you see Sonia leading an attack on Prague with a graph of a satellite in the corner. I think this is a pretty cut and dry confirmation in favor of Danganronpa Togami being canon, albeit told through an unreliable narrator's perspective.

And that about wraps up my review and personal thoughts of Danganronpa Togami. It's definitely one of the more weird, yet fascinating entries in the series. I don't think it's on the level of Danganronpa Kirigiri (I don't think any entry in this series is), but it has its merits and hopefully I could convince you to maybe check it or appreciate it a bit more.

[neonthewrite]

ooh a direct sequel to Bowman of Wellwood, I really want to see this, this is what happens between Bowman of Wellwood and for science, could we have some samples to wait please please please? (I told myself when I read for science that I was missing some elements)

Hello I loved the Little extract from Bowman and the Cat I really wanted to see Bowman and Rischa In the human world Just after the events of Bowman of Wellwood Now I'm very excited and I want more There will be- Are there any other extracts? And how long until the sequel to Bowman of Wellwood?? Please I need to know that I love your work and I can't wait♡

Are you writing a sequel to your Bowman book bc I would totally read it!

Got these questions all pretty close together, so I hope no one minds me addressing them in one post!

It's true that For Science (cowritten with the wonderful @nightmares06, author of @brothersapart ) takes place after the would-be sequel to Bowman of Wellwood, so readers of that AU probably noticed a few things that hinted at what might have happened in the sequel, titled Teven of Nowhere. Those who didn't read it ... well, I'll leave it to you to decide whether you want to dive into that crossover, but Brothers Apart as a whole is a great time so I highly recommend it!

As for other excerpts, this project was being worked on a while back (oh my god ... almost 10 full years ... I'm so OLD). So to write it now I would make some big changes to the style and such, even if the broad strokes of the story would remain the same. I haven't gotten around to completely fixing the outline for it, however I did post excerpts of it for NaNoWriMo 2015 - it was actually the reason I started a dedicated writing sideblog in the first place!

I could probably find a "new" (unposted, but still rather old writing) snippet to post soon, since everyone asked so nicely. :)

Lastly, I am really really grateful to receive these messages. Sometimes I can be quite hard on myself, especially my older writing, so it is really wonderful to know that something I made still gets responses like these ones.

I have not worked on the Teven outline in a long time. And the last year or so has been a struggle to work on any writing at all, for various reason. But this kind of encouragement is really helpful, and reminds me that I love these characters too. I miss them.

I gotta get back to work.

[perpetualexistence]

Sea Monster AU: Poor Unfortunate Soul (2/2)

(Why this cover in particular? Mainly because the thumbnail is cool. Also, annapatsu's covers always slap without fail.)

So! It's been a while! Partially because this chapter ended up longer than anticipated. Partially because I got distracted with other AUs because the ADHD mind takes me where it wants to take me. I think it's just going to be safer to not have a set schedule for when these come out because that's apparently just not how my brain wants to work. But I could never forget about this AU! Bit by bit, it will get done, as you can see here!

But here we are! Welcome back to Noah making drastic life choices because Alejandro is a toxic manipulative bastard. Drastic enough to warrant more content warnings.

Content warnings: Murder, cannibalism, toxic relationship, body horror

Once more, the asterisks return for the most gruesome bits. I've got a safer summary of what happens in the asterisks at the bottom.

If you ever think I need more content warnings, please do let me know and I'll add them immediately.

Without further ado, time to dive into Noah's further exploration into magic!

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With gills, Noah can now begin with proper magic. There's the spell that would make Alejandro smaller that he still needs to find in his book. There's also the problem of needing a back up plan. If he fails to shrink Alejandro, then Alejandro will kill him. He won't be able to talk his way out of it. He'll need the ability to fight back.

The book can sense his desire to defend himself. It flips to a page that promises a ritual that will grant his body the ability to do just that. It will even make magic easier to perform. Perfect. His only problem is the lack of details on the outcome. Try as he might, the book always flips back to how to cast the spell, and away from what happens after. Considering what happened the last time he tried to force something out of the book, he decides settling for this spell will be easier. The book throws him a bone with mention that this won't be as permanent as the gills, so that's something.

Noah's reading through the list of things he needs for the ritual. Rune knife, check. A bunch of salt, weird, but whatever. Flesh. At least a whole body's worth. The closer the attachment, the better the results. And to finish it off?

Consume the heart.

Noah's frantically looking at the alternative for flesh. He'd essentially need to alchemically recreate a human being. How many more ships would he have to sacrifice to make that happen? Countless, probably. People are already noticing the disappearances. There's no way he'd get all of this before he and Alejandro get caught. If Alejandro gets caught, people are going to go after him. Innocent people, sailing to their deaths because they have no idea about how Noah's been fighting to keep them off the menu.

So flesh it is. Time to kill a person. It's not like this is anything new. He already killed Chris. Even if that one was in complete self defense. And this one would very much be calculated. It'd be easier if he could just sneak away a corpse from one of Alejandro's feeding frenzies. But Alejandro's his ride there and back. There's no hiding a corpse from him.

So he's going to have to kill this one all on his own. In cold-blood. With his twig arms. At least he semi-knows how to defend himself.

Before he got Chef killed, Chef had insisted on teaching him self defense. Said his scrawny ass would have to worry about people just as much as monsters. Forced him to carry stuff with him. Noah did start noticing a difference, however small. Chef was gruff about it, but he did acknowledge it. All in all, Chef was pretty decent. He wasn't completely unreasonable. Not like Chris. Maybe-

No. Noah can't afford to go down that line of thinking. Chef loved Chris. He'd do anything for that man. Maybe Chef did know the true plan, and was still helping Chris. Even if he didn't, he never would have rested if he was allowed to live. Noah couldn't risk revenge killing. Chef had his uses, and now it'll make this job a bit easier.

He needs to kill someone on land. It has to be someone who deserves it. The closer, the better. Thanks to recent events, there's one person who comes to mind. The loan shark who has been hassling his family for years. He's back in town now, and Noah doubts anyone will miss him. He could use his hacking abilities to try to narrow down his exact location. Still, can't walk into a lion's den. He'll be really lucky to take the loan shark down. More than that? Absolutely not. Noah needs to isolate the loan shark, and have him come to Noah. That's going to require tact Noah doesn't have.

But he knows the perfect teacher.

Alejandro is incredibly pleased when Noah tells him that he wants to learn more about hunting. It seems that any concern about what he had been doing with Chef and Chris get quashed when Noah leans into murder. He has to lie about how it felt to kill Chris. Not as much as he thought he would. Chris had it coming. Noah just has to pretend the anger comes less from how he would have sacrificed the town and more from how he would have brainwashed Alejandro.

It's not like he's really lying about it per se. He would have felt bad to completely steal someone's autonomy away. Even if it had been Alejandro. Still, that doesn't dispel the worm of guilt as he swears he recognizes appreciation and fondness in Alejandro's eyes.

There's a part of him that wants to reciprocate. There is. It's the part of him that remembers that Alejandro is the first person he ever got close to and vulnerable with. That recognizes that their relationship has to be more than that of convenience. Why else would Alejandro insist on learning everything about Noah and hanging out even when not hunting? He gushes over romance novels and is jealous of Noah's dog, for fuck's sake. Neither of those things would obviously make him more endearing to Noah if that was Alejandro's goal. It's why they are so endearing.

Yet here Alejandro is. Gushing over his newfound appreciation for the craft of killing. How the yacht incident is forgiven. Forgiven? Like Noah was the one in the wrong for saying no to Alejandro one time? For having a nice night out with people that weren't Alejandro? My god, it wasn't even about the no, was it? It was that Noah could have a positive interaction with anyone except Alejandro. Enough to prioritize himself over pleasing Alejandro. The eel is possessive, and he got jealous, and innocent people had to die for that.

Noah is an object to Alejandro. A pet, if he's feeling generous. He's made that very clear. Alejandro will accept nothing less. So Noah can't give him that choice. He'll shrink Alejandro, and make him the pet instead.

It's the only way he anyone feel be safe.

So he plays up the monstrous version of himself that Alejandro wants. It's easier than it should be. Good. That makes it more believable. He uses the fact that his relationship with the loan shark is personal to excuse wanting to do the kill and take care of the body himself. He never outright says it, but he implies Alejandro as an inspiration for his change in tune.

He takes solace in the fact that all of this is still a lie. It has to be.

He gets in touch with the loan shark through nicking his mother's phone. Not one of his prouder moments, but that ship has sailed, sunk, and rotted away long ago. With the added guile he's learned from Alejandro, he's able to trick the loan shark into coming to a place near Chris's beach house. He's going to pay off the rest of the debt in person to make sure they don't have to do this ever again.

Noah is going to bring a suitcase full of cash that he's saved up from selling off his stolen goods. He needs a reason for the man to get close enough so Noah can stab him with his ritual knife.

Noah would love it if he could just put a bullet in the man's brain without having to get close to him. There are multiple problems with this. One, Noah would need a gun. Two, knowing how finnicky magic is, Noah would have to make a gun. Three, Noah would have to learn how to use the gun. Four, Noah might be searched for weapons. It's a lot of time and effort that Noah's not willing to spend.

The nice thing about magic ritual knives is that, once attuned, they can be summoned at will. So no worry about being caught with a weapon. So, time for the actual stabbing. It's not too hard to find the motivation. He remembers the time he called his oldest sister 'mom'. He was only about four or five at the time. He only knew his mother existed in theory. She just used home as a place to sleep in between jobs. The eldest siblings had been forced to pick up the slack of parenting by necessity. He didn't understand why his sister had sobbed and run to their mother. He could hear the words they shared. But he wouldn't process a child mourning the loss of their childhood until years later.

He knew their father was the one truly to blame for leaving them all to this situation. Noah would twist the knife into his father's back if he could. He'll settle for doing the same to the leech that took advantage of their situation and was still attempting to suck them dry.

***

He's more present for this murder than he was for Chris's. It feels like he's watching someone else in his body, but he's aware enough that he is controlling his own body and remembers this. He wants to remember this one.

Once the loan shark gets close enough, it's a knee to the groin. Noah's fighting to win. A summoned knife to slash him across the neck. Noah misses. The shark didn't fall as fast as he thought he would. The shark uses two hands to grabs him by the wrist and attempts to pull the knife away. Not good, Noah can already feel himself losing that battle.

With a flick of his wrist, the knife glows. It switches from his right hand to his left. He goes for a stab into the side. With luck, he can puncture a lung. He's not used to using his off hand. He doesn't hit a lung, but he does get him in the side. He pulls the knife out quick. Blood pours out from the wound Noah just made. The shark is bleeding now. Not enough for Noah's liking. Noah notices his knife glow, and sees that the blood is being sucked into the runes. That's concerning. But Noah doesn't have time to process that.

Not when the shark takes advantage of his self-made distraction to tackle Noah. Noah goes down quick. He drops the knife in the tackle. The shark is strangling him while he still has the strength to do so. Made even worse by the fact that the shark's fingers are digging into Noah's gills, too. He's gagging, and choking, and he needs to end this now.

He tries to wrestle the shark's hands away from his throat. It does nothing. His strength was never going to be a match for the shark's. He can feel the shark's nails dig into his gills. Now he's choking both on air and his own blood. Spots are dancing in his vision. They're broken by a soft glow. The knife. The knife!

Noah stops trying to stop the choking. Instead, he summons his knife to his hand once more. This wasn't how Noah wanted the bastard to get close, but it'll do. He's right on top of him. The shark is so focused on Noah's throat that he left Noah's arms free. He uses both his hands to make the knife pierces the shark right through his neck. The shark slumps over Noah. Shock? Death? Noah's not sure. He isn't taking chances.

He wriggles out from underneath and stabs him in the throat again. He swore he saw a twitch. Again. The breath of life attempting to work its way through the hole in his throat. Again. Glassy eyes reflect a face Noah can't recognize as his own. Again. Noah's throat feels raw. Was it the choking or is it his screaming? Again. Laughing, or crying? Again. It doesn't matter. Again. It must be done. Again.

His arms tire. The deed is done.

Clean up feels like it takes forever. Still, for all this work he's put into this, he can't afford to be sloppy now. He drags the corpse back. It was a risk hunting his prey so close to his beach house. But the farther he has to take it, the more he'd risk being spotted. So close it is.

Some tension leaves his shoulders once he's inside. But it's not over yet. He drags the corpse all the way to his cove. He dumps the sack of flesh into the water. He dives in after it.

The cool water soothes his aching gills. Right, he'd forgotten about that. He takes a moment to run his hands gently across his gills. At least his scarf will hide the bruises. He cleans the blood off. He hopes that'll be enough because that's the extent to his knowledge on how magic gills work.

Now for the ritual proper. The water is salted, the circle set, incantations spoken. Now, for the body. It's in the center of the circle, but that's not enough. He has to commit one more vile act to see this through.

No time for holding back. He's doing this so no one else has to. At least the earlier cut makes it easier to cut through and reach the heart. He cuts it out and holds it in his trembling hand. There's no going back after this. Then again, there never was.

He closes his eyes and bites into the heart. It feels softer than he expected. Leftover blood bursts onto his tongue. The iron taste makes him gag. He rips away the bite. He chews. He goes for another. His teeth are sore. This one feels easier. His teeth are sharper. The iron loses its sour tang and becomes sweeter. He'd be lying if he said he was never curious about why Alejandro always insisted on eating Noah's kind. He thinks he gets it now.

Oh god. He thinks he gets it now.

He consumes it as quickly as he can manage, before the rest of his thoughts catch up with him. Everything glows, and his body is racked with pain. He passes out in shock.

***

When he comes to, the circle is empty. His body feels heavier. He kicks his feet to try to get back to the surface to gather himself...but he can't. He looks down to see eight tentacles, amber with rings of blue and black, where his legs should be.

On instinct he tries to swim away, but he's not used to wielding eight lower limbs rather than two. Most of them smack at each other in an attempt to replicate legs to swim. Noah's fucked up. He's fucked up so bad. 'Won't be permanent' was a lie that he fell for and now he's given up the humanity he was struggling so hard to keep and why can't he just have his own fucking legs back-

And suddenly he's looking at his legs again. He blinks as he processes the new yet familiar sight. Okay? Okay. This is, maybe that was some kind of stress and magic induced hallucination? They had looked so real though-

And the tentacles are back. Of course he wouldn't be so lucky. At least the 'won't be permanent' thing wasn't a complete lie. He just has to learn how to control the changes. And control the tentacles. Just like the gills. And just settle into his new life as a half-octopus. Cecaelia? Merfolk.

Like Alejandro.

Oh. A body to defend himself.

Well.

He can work with this.

[Noah fights against the loan shark. He wins, and drags what remains back to the beach house he 'inherited' from Chris. He performs the ritual successfully and passes out due to shock.]

[tyrantisterror]

Wizard School Mysteries: Character Inspiration Boards

A while back one of my friends suggested I do a Character Inspiration Chart for my Wizard School Mysteries characters, which sounded like fun but also like a lot of work, so I put it off. But since the new book is on track to come out pretty soon, I really should start advertising it, and unfortunately one of the best tactics to sell your original content on the internet is to point out how much it's like other things (despite this also being one of the most popular tactics to "critique" an original work as well). And it gives me a chance to gush about media I love AND a story I've made, and you know I like to do both of those things! So, using this template by deviantart user-with-a-deactivated account SlackerArtist, let's dive into what inspired some of the characters from Wizard School Mysteries!

There will be spoilers for both WSM and the media that inspired it, by the way, so read on at your own risk.

Now, when I say "character inspiration" here, I'm talking about two things: inspiration for a character design, and inspiration for characterization/personality. Some of the examples listed will be here purely because they designed the look/aesthetic vibe of the character in question, others because they inspired the character's personality, and some who did both.

I'm also not going to cover EVERY character in WSM because hoo boy there's a LOT of them even with only two books so far, and a good number of them would not have enough separate sources of inspiration to fill out this meme. So we're just going to have the 8 Meddlesome Youths here, and maybe later I'll tackle some of the other members of the supporting cast.

Which means we should obviously begin with:

James Chaucer

I'm going to talk about the three anime boys on the left hand side first, both because they're probably the most important influences on good ol' James here, and because they share a unique status as being Video Game Player Characters. From top to bottom, they're Yuu Narukami (i.e. the player character of Persona 4, who was named Yuu Narukami in the first anime adaptation of that game, and who I'll be calling Yuu from here on out), Joker (i.e. the player character from Persona 5), and Byleth (i.e. the player character from Fire Emblem 3 Houses).

Now, I'm sure some might be raising an eyebrow at me citing the player characters from some RPGs as influences, given that RPG players characters are, well, "cipher characters" - i.e. designed to not have one single characterization, but rather a variety of options the player can choose so they can feel like they're in the story. A cipher character is supposedly meant to be lacking in substance on their own, or so a lot of RPG writers seem to assume, as any display of personality could clash with what the player might be thinking in their own head. I think the ultimate example of what people think of when they think of cipher characters is the player character from Fallout 4, who, no matter what situation you are in, refuses to show even a shred of personality in any of their interactions, always talking with a tone of dull surprise and never having any unique turn of phrases or inflections when speaking. That kind of character is PRETTY BLAND, and definitely not going to inspire characterization in others because, well, they have no character.

(the Silver Shroud quest in Fallout 4 is a must because it's literally the only way to get any dialogue options that show even a smidge of personality, even if that personality is just "a really bad Christian Bale Batman impression")

Not to get on a soapbox, but while I'd definitely agree that a lot of RPG player characters are written like this, I don't think they should be, and in fact I think the best RPGs do not do it this way. The best RPGs, in my opinion, write their player characters in a way where you naturally have a reason to inhabit their head and share their feelings. I'll take an example that's not listed here, Hawke from Dragon Age 2. To get into Hawke's head, they show you the opening scene where Hawke and their family are running from a disaster overtaking their home, and arrive in the new to them (and to you, the player) city of Kirkwall. They don't have money (just as you don't have in-game currency), they don't have great lodgings, they're desperate. A character approaches them with an offer of jobs to improve their circumstances, and you, being int he same boat as your player character, get to take it and live their life from there. The dialogue you can have is filled with choices that allow you to color who exactly Hawke is, but despite the choices being different in many ways, they're all written with a voice that is authentically Hawke's, rather than Generic Player Character, but you don't mind because, well, you sympathize with Hawke, because the game makes sure you feel what they're feeling.

(Pulling this off takes more writing skill than just writing a bland character, though, which is why a lot of companies don't go this route.)

So, like, there's an art to writing a good RPG protagonist, right, and understanding of that art can be applied to writing protagonists in less interactive forms of fiction, which is where the influence comes in here. Yuu, Joker, and Byleth are all similar in a few key respects, and one of them is that they're all designed to let you into their heads with ease. They're contemplative characters, deep thinkers and feelers, people who observe others closely and have a deep desire to understand and help the world around them, and all of that was something I wanted James Chaucer to be as well.

The writers of Persona 4 talked about how they modeled Yuu Narukami off of the Blue Rangers in Super Sentai (i.e. the Japanese show that was recut to become Power Rangers) rather than the Red Rangers, giving him a personality that was quiet, thoughtful, and reserved for the other, more bombastic characters in Persona 4 to easily bounce off of. Fans have joked about how Yuu's catchphrase is "calm down," and to be fair, he not only gets it as a dialogue option a lot in the game (including in a couple of VERY important scenes), but it sort of succinctly shows why he's the right person to be leading things in his story - when people's unbalanced emotions literally turn into monsters, having a person who specializes in getting people to properly manage their feelings is crucial. The secret sauce of Yuu, though, is that he isn't really less eccentric than the characters around him, his eccentricity is just a lot quieter than theirs. He might not have big wild takes and freak outs like the rest of the cast, but sometimes the lack of a big reaction to weird shit is a lot more strange, and in many ways Yuu's unflappable nature comes off as more weird than anything else around him. He is, simply put, quietly deranged.

Joker from Persona 5 was meant to contrast Yuu in key respects - namely, his weirdness is a lot more up front, with a more extensive list of out-there responses in dialogue at his disposal. He's quiet, but less in a "cool and collected" way and more in the "I'm pretty sure that guy staring off into space is hearing circus music in his head right now" sort of way. True to his codename, Joker is a bit of a clown, albeit one that knows when to get serious and how to be dangerously effective not in spite of, but because of his slightly off kilter view of the world. He's a "that's crazy enough to work" kind of schemer, which, given the horrible situations his game throws at him (and, by extension, you the player), is a big relief. To deal with impossible odds, you need someone who thinks outside the box.

Byleth from Fire Emblem is a character who's had a huge part of his identity stolen from him since birth - namely, his ability to express emotions. He's viewed by many as stoic and unfeeling, and even his own father fears that he might be lacking in humanity. But then the game thrusts him into a nurturing role, making him a teacher at an academy whose students are all more or less his age, and forcing him to not only lead others, but to open up to them in the process of doing so. It culminates in one of the most emotionally powerful moments I've ever experienced in a video game, where - SPOILERS! - Byleth's father dies. Byleth, for the first time in the game, begins to cry, and his dying father says, "To think, the first time I saw you cry, your tears would be for me. It's sad, and yet I'm happy for it." You, the player, who begin the game with no attachment to any character in this world, have developed that attachment by this point, and have it recognized by one of the characters as they make their exit - you have, through playing the game, come to know what Byleth is feeling, share his grief, and are likely sharing his tears at that moment, and the game acknowledges this as an achievement on your part and his. You are the identity that was stolen from Byleth, and by joining him you've completed him, even up to and including his grief. It's just a beautiful moment, and a way this character is written to naturally draw you, the player/reader, into the story.

I wanted James to have that same element to him, that way to draw you in and make you share his investment in the tale by making you share his feelings as you go through this story. I gave him the quiet unflappability of Yuu, the off-kilter worldview and tendency to look for "crazy enough to work" solutions of Joker, and the crisis of identity of Byleth, while also giving him the deep contemplative nature and desire to understand and help others that defines all three. The aim was that James would not only be someone you can sympathize with, but that his status at the start of the book would provide an easy jumping in point for you when you read it, and that you'd feel comfortable when the story focuses on him (which it does often, but not exclusively).

Ok, enough about video game people. Let's talk about cartoons and comics.

Wizards in mythology and folkore are defined by thinking their way out of problems rather than just using brute force, and so I wanted all of my Meddlesome Youths to show different ways people can do that. In James's case, I wanted him to have guile, and ultimate my model for showing that was Bugs Bunny. Bugs is never the strongest character in the room, and sometimes he isn't even the smartest in terms of booksmarts - both Marvin the Martian and Wile E Coyote were introduced as villains who could technically outthink Bugs on a sheer scientific level. Bugs's advantage was his ability to hone in on what makes his enemies act foolishly, and exploit it as viciously and thoroughly as possible. I tried to emulate that with James's approach to problem solving, and to that end I also tried to stick to Bugs's rules of conduct - namely, James doesn't pick fights, but once someone has picked one with him, he will do everything he can to make them regret it, and often just by turning the situation into one where his antagonists torture themselves without knowing it.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man was also an influence on James's character, as he is on 90% of sci-fi/fantasy/horror fiction that doubles as a coming of age story and was written after the 1960's. In James's specific case, he was most inspired by the Ultimate Spider-Man version of Peter, in part because that's the version I read during my own teen coming-of-age years. Like that Peter, he's sweet, compassionate, driven to protect and help people even when it comes at his own expense, and maybe a tad too snarky for his own good.

John Eggbert from Homestuck doesn't have a whole lot in common with James personality-wise, but was part of the big collage of images I made when figuring out the archetypes for the Mystery Solving Teens genre, and I think James's affinity for blue clothing, cowlick stricken black hair, and glasses all might have come directly from John.

Finally, while he wasn't consciously on my mind when I planned out and began writing Wizard School Mysteries, in retrospect I see a lot of Arnold from Hey Arnold in James. Hey Arnold was a show I watched a LOT as a kid and was very formative on my tastes in stories ever since in a lot of ways (I think I can at least partially blame my obsession with angry, troubled female characters on Helga Patacki, for example), and the titular protagonist is defined by he compulsion to understand and help other people with their problems. Like, a lot of what drew me to characters like Yuu, Joker, and Byleth was planted in my mind by Arnold, that deep drive to know why others are hurting and to try and help them sort out their lives even when you could easily walk away and leave them to suffer. It's not a common trait for male protagonists to have, either - that kind of nurturing personality is far more commonly given to women, and even then only so stoic male characters can have a surrogate mom to hug them when they're sad. So it's very compelling to me when a male character exhibits it, and it was something I wanted to be a defining trait for James as well.

Jesus crumbs, that was a lot. Let's get to the next kid.

Ivan's archetype in mystery solving teens-dom is "the goofy guy," i.e. the member of the team who's more there for moral support than anything else. His archetype for wizardom is, well, let's call it "the failure wizard" - i.e. a wizard who, due to self esteem issues, really has trouble performing magic with any consistency.

And I decided the perfect intersection of those two archetypes was Schmendrick from The Last Unicorn, a wizard whose mastery of spellcraft leaves a lot to be desired, but whose loyalty and resourcefulness more than make up for it. Schmendrick was such a big influence, in fact, that Ivan's starting outfit is like 90% his by volume. He's player 2 Schmendrick. Schmendrick: the Teen Years.

Continuing the Persona 4 influence (I've said it before and will say it again: WSM is more of a riff on Persona than anything else), Yosuke from P4 fills the same mystery solving teens role as Ivan, and is also tied to the same Tarot arcana of The Magician, which showed how the Magician can manifest as a character in a story instead of just, like, a card with vague meanings attached to it - namely the idea of it being a character who's loyal and helpful to the Protagonist, but also tends to overreach. Yosuke is a kid with a lot of worries about his own usefulness that manifest in him trying to pull off big schemes with the group to prove his worth - something that Ivan does too in a slightly more lowkey, neurotic way.

Shaggy is, like, the Prime example of The Goofy Guy in these kinds of stories, so it was inevitable his influence would be here too, though it mostly ended up as aesthetics - Ivan doesn't have the gluttony or cowardice that define Shaggy's characterization, but does have the anxiety as well as the, well, shaggy/sloppy appearance.

Rincewind from Discworld, meanwhile, is another great example of a Failure Wizard, and especially one who keeps being thrust into perilous and world-saving scenarios despite his apparent incompetence. Literally being Fate's plaything, Rincewind has both the worst and best luck imaginable, which is something I've tried to dole out on Ivan in equal measure.

Ivan is also inspired by a lot of folk/fairy tale "fool" heroes, i.e. characters who are thought of as dumb or stupid by others in the stories they star in, but who show a remarkable creativity and guile when facing magical bullshit that others would never think of, which allows them to win the day against all odds. I've represented this folklore archetype with Jack from the original Broadway cast of Into the Woods, because why not?

Finally, because anime is such a big influence on this series, I'd be remiss not to mention the Shonen take on the concept of the Goofy Guy, because while Dragon Ball and Yu Gi Oh may not be mystery solving teens stories, they do nonetheless sport Goofy Guys in addition to their main heroes, and those guys function just as their mystery solving teen counterparts do. For Ivan in particulalr, Joey Wheeler and Krillin are the most direct influence, as they're both characters who never outright win the day on their own, but always play a vital part in making sure the hero can come in and finish the job.

With Gretchen, I started with Velma from Scooby Doo as a baseline and tried to figure out how many extremes I could push her into, which resulted in her going from "the smart guy in the group" to "the mad scientist in the group." She picked up some acerbic qualities from the Mystery Inc. incarnation of Velma specifically, which ultimately drew in other influences as a result.

If Ivan is Teenage Schmendrick, then Gretchen is teenage Molly Grue, the sharp-tongued cynic with a secret idealistic streak she tries to hide. And because I'm a kid of the 90's, that also drew in some Daria qualities as well - Gretchen's the snarker on the sidelines a lot because of these two, and also cares more than she lets on because of them too.

Her more Faustian ambitions and tendency to take her genius to "mad" levels, however, comes from two other characters: Futaba from Persona 5, who is initially shy and withdrawn but reveals herself to be an eccentric and somewhat terrifyingly powerful hacker once befriended, and Rose Lalonde, who begins the story of Homestuck seeming like the most intelligent and rational member of our mystery solving teens, only to go very much into mad scientist/dark wizard territory as the plot progresses. Together they take the potential for unhinged behavior you can see in Gretchen's other influences and let it off the leash.

The black mage and Wizardmon here, on the other hand, are purely visual influences - I wanted Gretchen to have an air of mystery about her, to seem just a bit ominous, while also still being oddly charismatic and likable in her own unique way, so I gave her the look of some of my favorite mysterious wizard character designs of all time.

So our first inspiration for Margot is a bit of an oddball, as it's less an influence on design or personalty and more, like, a situation that both characters are in. I watched... way too much of Inuyasha as a teen, and it left me with a lot of frustration about the great setups it had for its characters and story and the very bad delayed payoffs that ensured those setups died slow, agonizing deaths over the course of way too many episodes. Miroku's in particular stuck with me: here's a guy who has a literal black hole in his hand, one that can solve a LOT of problems very easily, but will kill him (supposedly) if he uses it too much. Because Inuyasha was allergic to ever making its setups pay off, it quickly became clear that Miroku's fears of dying to his black hole hand were weightless, because if the narrative ever cashed that check it'd have to, like, advance the plot to some small degree, and Inuyasha can't do that! No advancement in any meaningful direction ever, that's the Inuyasha motto! So Miroku inspired Margot in the sense that I wanted to do that plot element right - give a character a shitload of offensive power that comes with some nasty drawbacks, and then, like, actually show those drawbacks.

(You know how Inuyasha dealt with the fact that it could never actually pay off the drama of Miroku's hand but also didn't want him to solve every problem with his black hole hand? Bees. Demon bees. If he used his black hole hand, he'd swallow some demon bees and oh boy, they'd sting him good! So he never used it again.)

Ok, back to more traditional influences. I knew I wanted Margot to be the muscle of my group of mystery solvers, but I wanted to avoid my usual tendency to paint the muscle as a boisterous bruiser. I love writing boisterous bruisers, don't get me wrong! No Sympathies has one in Alichino, and ATOM had, like, EVERY kaiju more or less as well as a good number of supporting cast members fill the role. They're fun to write! Easy to write, too, which is why I wanted to avoid it this time. I wanted to challenge myself to show a different shade of "token tough guy" in my cast. And, since WSM is a Persona pastiche more than anything else, I looked to a Persona character for inspiration - namely, Makoto Niijima from Persona 5. When we're introduced to Makoto, she's very prim, proper, and soft-spoken, someone who thinks very rationally and proves to be a good detective in her own right. When she's recruited to the party, though, we see another side of her - namely, Makoto has repressed anger and a desire to solve problems in a more visceral and bombastic way. She's never outright boisterous, but she can tell a fucker off when pushed, and is also the token RPG character who brings fists to a tank fight and wins. Those are always the best characters. So that informed a good deal of Margot's character - I wanted Margot to be calm, collected, maybe even a little elegant, but very clearly capable of and willing to put a motherfucker in the ground if the situation calls for it.

Yor Forger's inclusion on here is funny because I didn't start watching Spy x Family until after I'd started writing Wizard School Mysteries, but when I did I saw a lot of what I was gunning for in Margot reflected in her, and I think Yor's bled into Margot's characterization a bit. Some of Margot's goofier moments come from Yor, as do some of her more humorously cutthroat ones - the juxtaposition of a character who's very sweet but also will absolutely end a person without hesitation if they threaten someone she loves is just very satisfying.

Edelgard's influence on Margot continues the theme of "female characters who will not hesitate to use violence to protect what they love and to right injustices they've noticed" that we've got going here, but also adds an important aesthetic element: namely, both she and Margot are villain coded. Tragic backstories, powers that come with terrible side effects regarding their physical health, outfits that are scream I Am the Big Bad Evil Guy, they're meant to scream villain - hell, Margot even gets an evil looking left hand, something that's literally AND figuratively sinister. I love it when heroes have villain coding, it's something that always makes me giddy.

Susie from Deltarune is also villain-coded and also a character who's influence on Margot began after I started the series - while I knew of Deltarune before starting the series, I hadn't actually gotten off my ass to play it until well after writing the first draft of the first book. But I love Susie's whole arc, being this ominous, terrifyingly huge girl with a menacing aura about her who's slowly revealed to just be troubled in a very real, mundane way, and who has a good heart when you break down her walls.

Rogue from X-Men Evolution (yes specifically that incarnation, it's the only time an X-Men adaptation has managed to consistently hold my interest) was sort of a subconcious influence, but one that I can't help noticing in retrospect. Powers connected to deadly physical condition? Check. Seems moody and evil-ish at first glance but actually a sweetheart looking for emotional connections? Check. Goth? Check!

Devi D. from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and I Feel Sick fits a lot of those same inspiration points too, but I think her influence on Margot was primarily in terms of appearances - the reason why Margot has a big, aquiline nose and that big ol' pony tail in particular, as well as the goth trappings.

So... the seed of Rodrigo's character was planted in my brain upon my first replay of Persona 5, where I decided to spend more time with Yusuke in my party - in my first playthrough I left him out of the party after his introductory arc was over and just never really put him back in. Keeping him around more often meant I got to know his character better, and I found myself liking him a lot more than I did the first time around - this very serene guy who loves art to an eccentric degree, and perhaps a bit up his own ass about it but in a lovable way. I liked him enough that my brain finally said to me, "You know, it kind of sucks he's not a romantic option in this game." I mean, I wouldn't have picked him if he was, but still, in a better world, you could have dated Yusuke in Persona 5. I dunno, I just think Yusuke deserves to love and be loved.

Since The Muscle in mystery solving teens groups is usually a boy but is a girl in WSM, I thought it might be fun if The Beauty was a boy instead of the traditional girl. One way to do that would have been to make a very masculine man, I suppose, but I wanted Rodrigo to be a literally pretty boy. To that end, I kinda... basically made him a gender-swapped Esmeralda from Disney's Hunchback adaptation? The dark skin with the green eyes is a striking look!

Rodrigo's dynamic with James is something I discovered in the process of writing the first book. I knew I wanted there to be friction between them at first, born out of mutual misunderstanding rather than either one being a bad room-mate, but I wasn't sure how their friendship would develop until I got into it. I think in some ways Rodrigo is very much the Watson to James's (significantly less arrogant) Sherlock Holmes, which I've started to lean into now that I'm three books deep into this eight book series.

Rodrigo's wizard archetype - at least at the start of the series - is the evil chancellor/scheming vizier, the courtier who has magic powers and sinister hidden motivations. Obviously his actual personality subverts this, but visually I wanted that evil chancellor coding - which I think, in a roundabout sort of way, put Hubert from Fire Emblem Three Houses in my mind. Hubert's a great character - a 20 year old who dresses and acts like a Dracula and is constantly looming around the heir to the Adrestrian Empire like a devil on her shoulder. And he's even better when you learn that him looking and acting like a Dracula isn't an example of the character designers lacking subtlety, but a conscious and deliberate choice on his part. He's a guy who fully wants to be the scheming chancellor who's got his hands in many sinister pies - but he's also completely and fully devoted to his future empress, and only wishes to get his hands dirty so she doesn't. Like, I think my tendency to write Rodrigo as the friend who's willing to bring up flaws in the gang's plans and be a bit of a cynic for their safety, it's the influence of Hubert.

Visually I'm slowly moving Rodrigo towards the fashion trends of Red Mages from Final Fantasy, i.e. the sort of dashing, swashbuckling, princely kind of adventure wizards. That's why he got a bycocket hat in book 2 - baby steps!

I need to revisit Yu Yu Hakusho, but I remember watching just as much of it as I did Inuyasha while also being a lot less frustrated with it. And I specifically remember the main quartet of heroes in the show - Yusuke Urameshi, Kuwabara, the guy who was like Vegeta if he was in his twenties and shopped at Hot Topic, and finally Kurama, the pretty boy demon with the rose whip who was, like, just a solid dude with an intimidating amount of elegance to him, which I think was what I had in mind when making Rodrigo. So maybe the seed was planted even before I played Persona 5...

Finally, Myotismon is just here because I was playing Digimon Cyber Sleuth while trying to figure out where exactly I drew Rodrigo's fashion sense from initially, only for me to look at him and go, "Oh, yeah, Digimon informed 90% of what I find cool in character designs, obviously I was cribbing from them."

Obviously Serena Takeuchi was inspired by Sailor Moon. Obviously. Her first name is the same as Sailor Moon's in the English dub, her last name is the creator of Sailor Moon, she's a magical girl, we don't have to labor this point.

As I started developing her beyond "an anime style magical girl in a pretty bog standard vaguely medieval european fantasy setting" pitch, Serena started picking up some personality traits from Persona 4's Rise, namely having a perky yet mischievous personality, an affinity for the color pink, and a sort of pop star charisma. Design-wise, meanwhile, I wanted her to look like a character from a 90's anime that takes place in (Japan's idea of) a vaguely medieval european fantasy setting, like Record of Lodoss War or Slayers.

And that last one had a big effect, because the minute I gave Serena's outfit some elements of Lina Inverse, I think I accidentally poured some of Lina's personality into her as well. Serena went from "kinda quirky" in my mind to outright manic, a bubbly, joyful young woman who laughs in the face of danger because it means she gets to kick someone's ass with sparkles and glitter. That in turn pulled in some elements of Ann Takimaki from Persona 5 as well, since Ann is basically like Rise is Rise was more willing to throw hands.

One of my friends noted after reading the first book that Serena reminded him of Hilda from Fire Emblem Three Houses, and while that wasn't intentional I can definitely see it in retrospect - both bubbly, both extremely feminine yet very good at laying out a punkass when they need to, both a bit cheeky in their social interactions but in a lovable rascal way.

Finally, Utena... ok, so, to my deep regret, I did not watch Revolutionary Girl Utena before writing and publishing Book 2 of Wizard School Mysteries, which is a fucking shame because that was the book that had a tournament arc and would have been so ripe for an explicit Utena reference or two. Missed opportunities, man - this one felt almost as bad as not having seen Wizard People Dear Reader before writing the first WSM book, and thus making it the only one in the series that won't have a stealthy Wizard People Dear Reader reference in it (did you guys find the one in book 2? Keep an eye out for one in book 3!).

Where was I? Oh, right. So I didn't get to intentionally reference RGU in the book of this series where it would make the most sense to, and I didn't want to force a reference either, but upon writing book 3... well, I dunno, I think it may have leaked into aspects of Serena and Gretchen's relationship, just a tad. Maybe tell me if you see it too.

The biggest and most obvious influence for Charlotte is, well, Charlotte from Charlotte's Web. I mean, c'mon, they have the same name, they're both friendly spiders, we don't need to dig deeper than that do we?

Design-wise, she takes a lot from both the Transformers Animated take on Blackarachnia (namely those extra arms sticking out of her back instead of along the sides of her body like most many-armed characters in fiction) and Arukenimon's human form, i.e. a spider-themed witch lady.

Personality-wise, though, she's a bit more all over the map. The Little Mermaid was sort of the kernel of her character - i.e. a nonhuman who's obsessed with the human world, even if her attempt to know more about it proves hazardous to her health. I also drew influence from Elizabeth, the Velvet Room station attendant from Persona 3 and, like, the only character in that game that managed to pique my interest (all the others felt like rough drafts of the characters in Persona 4 and 5, sorry!). Elizabeth is... ambiguously inhuman, and at least is removed enough from humanity to be fascinated by things in the mortal world that we find mundane, like wishing fountains and jungle gyms. Her naievete about our world is balanced out by her high intelligence and in particular her much-better-than-the-player's knowledge of how Supernatural Bullshit works, which is something I wanted to put at play with Charlotte - she might be ignorant of certain realities in the mortal world, but makes up for it with knowledge about Fairyland.

Sally and Kiki come in with regards to Charlotte's attitude towards others vs. herself - like them, Charlotte is willing to try some truly daring and taxing shit to help her friends or even just, like, light acquaintances. At the same time, she asks for very little - and expects even less - for herself. There's a special sympathetic tragedy in how Sally thinks her dream of a better life with the person she loves is completely out of her reach, yet constantly does amazing things just to make his and other people's lives a little happier anyway. I view Charlotte as having a similar sort of tragic strength.

I started this writing project several years before the Terf Queen went full mask off, so yes, in the early stages - back when this was called "Untitled Mystery Solving Teens Project" instead of Wizard School Mysteries - the kids from Herby Porber were in the big collage I made of eight different character archetypes in this genre, with Draco Malfoy being in the eight archetype - the Rival. In the MANY years of gestating between then and when I finally started plotting out Wizard School Mysteries proper, pretty much all of the core eight meddlesome youths had moved very far away from the influence of their Harry Potter archetypal counterparts. Except one.

Polybeus.

But, even then, Polybeus isn't really based on the Draco Malfoy that the Terf Queen wrote, or even the one from the movies based on her books. No, he's based on the spoof version of Draco that appeared in A Very Potter Musical and its sequels, the one that finally helped me understand what on earth made all the goth girls I knew in high school think Draco was boyfriend material. A Draco who's a dick, yes, a real asshole with serious issues in fact, but genuinely has a good heart deep down and kind of gets the worst of it in all his evil schemes more than anyone else. A Draco Malfoy with Skeletor energy, basically. That Draco does not exist in the books as written by the Terf Queen, but it would be kind of cool, wouldn't it, to take that basic idea and give it a different story to live out in?

And since I'm a Spider-Man nerd, there was another character that immediately came to mind when thinking of "What if Draco Malfoy was actually sympathetic and three-dimensional?" - Flash Thompson. See, the secret sauce for Flash Thompson in the comics and, like, the rare adaptations that decided Spider-Man's non supervillain supporting cast should get decent screentime, is that he ISN'T a one note bully. He's actually a pretty decent guy, for the most part - he and Peter just really dislike each other because they're teenagers who, based on a few fleeting interactions, decided each other was a dick, and have treated each other as such ever since. A notable fact is that while Flash thinks Peter is an asshole, he fucking LOVES Spider-Man, because Flash is a good enough person to realize Spider-Man is a hero no matter what the newspapers say.

Oh, and hey, remember me saying I watched a lot of Yu Yu Hakusho, but it was long ago and I don't remember much of it? Well, one thing I for sure remember is the character growth of Kuwabara, who begins the series as a hated and vocally contentious rival of the hero, Yusuke Urameshi. However, when Yusuke gets killed by a truck in the beginning of the series, we see Kuwabara crash his funeral in tears, claiming to be furious that Yusuke died before they could settle their score, but clearly feeling a lot more than just anger at the death of the one kid who he had the most meaningful relationship with at school. As the show went on, Kuwabara becomes Yusuke's staunchest ally, never the most powerful person in the room but always willing to hold the line until Yusuke can save the day. It's a great damn arc and left a lasting impact on me - the power of introducing a character as kind of a one-note asshole foil to the hero, only for him to gradually turn into a loyal and inspiring ally.

Of course, for Polybeus to pull off that arc, he has to establish himself as an obnoxious rival first, which is where I went to one of the best for inspiration: Gary Oak/Blue from Pokemon, a snide fucker who keeps popping up when you least expect it on your adventure to talk shit to your face, get his shit wrecked by your team of overleveled monsters, and then saunter away still acting like he's leagues better than you. Perfectly punchable, no notes.

And when you've got anime rivals on the brain, it's hard not to think of Vegeta too, arguably the most iconic of them all. An aspect of him that got absorbed into Polybeus was his obsession with a culture of conquerors and warriors that our hero cannot bring himself to give a single shit about, which I think is just a very funny dynamic. "YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT ME, FOR I COME FROM ROME, THE GREAT EMPIRE THAT SHALL RULE THE EARTH!" "Yeah cool buddy, can I deck you in the schnoze now?"

Kanji from Persona 4 was an influence less on Polybeus's personality (which is no slight on Kanji, Kanji fucking rules, easily one of the top 3 characters in Persona 4) and more on his dynamic with the rest of the group. Being a delinquent, Kanji speaks roughly and is prone to angry outbursts whenever he feels threatened, which is all the time basically where social situations are concerned, and so it takes a while for the other party members to be comfortable around him. Eventually, however, they realize his bark is much worse than his bite, and Kanji in turn finds he feels safe enough around them to let his walls down, and that's when he goes from "the loud angry guy" in the group to one of the best friends in your player character's social circle. Again, I love the turn around of that character arc - the way it makes you as an audience member suddenly have to reflect on and critique your own expectations and biases.

Finally, if James's approach to problem solving comes from Bugs Bunny, then Polybeus's approach to problem-causing has to be from Daffy Duck - all born from a volatile and contradictory cocktail of unearned pride and overwhelming self doubt and set aflame by arrogant over-reaching.

And that's it! For now... I may have made charts for some of the other characters, but I think we've all had our fill for the moment, don't you?

[nethhiri]

Siren Charms: Chapter 14

Zoro x Siren!Reader

Warnings: none

They Make An Ass Out Of U and Me

Franky lowered his shades and one of his eyebrows arched. Robin just smiled. Zoro stared at you with furrowed eyebrows, trying to figure out the other possibilities. 

"Then what the hell are you?!" He put down his beer and rested his hand on his sword hilt. "And why did you lie?"

"Zoro, relax. She didn't lie." Robin said. "We assumed the most likely explanation." 

"You like a vampire for real or somethin?" Franky asked.

"Nah they only drink blood." You paused. "I eat...I do more." You added. "I mean I can do more, but I... try really hard not to." You avoided looking anyone in the eye. You knew that was pretty frowned upon with humans. You took Robin's book and opened to the page you were looking at. "I'm this. I think so anyway. I can't read these letters." You looked pointedly at Zoro, who looked just a touch guilty. Then you looked at Robin so she could read it to you. 

"Siren." Robin grinned. 

Franky and Zoro both leaned to look at the page.

"But don't read the rest because it's probably full of lies," you scoffed. Humans loved to conflate you with mermaids.

"So where's your tail?" Franky pointed at the picture in the book.

"Damn. You can't just ask that." You made a disgusted face. "That's so rude."

"Oh shit. Sorry, little mama. My bad."

"No. I'm just kidding." You teased. "I switched forms a lot today though so I'd prefer not to do it again. It takes a lot of my stamina and that's also why I have to eat a lot." You finished the rest of the beer in your mug. 

"Wow you can almost keep up with Zoro," Robin nodded to your empty mug, and took it for a refill.

The three of you chilled on the deck for some time while the others were chowing down on octopus fritters. You got agitated when you heard the fish riders in the distance, though it turned out they only wanted to thank the blond one for some bizarre reason. You had ditched your wings with the intent of diving after them, but Luffy assured you there was no need. Soon after that, everyone came back on the deck of the Sunny, discussing the next steps in getting to Fish-Man Island. You really didn't care about that so you wandered around the ship, exploring parts that you hadn't gotten to before. You watched the fish swim in the aquarium for some time. It was fairly large. Maybe part of it could be converted into a room for you. Though you would hate to be stuck in your 'mermaid' form for an extended period of time. 

You found yourself in the crow's nest, probably attracted there by the strong scent of Zoro. He wasn't there now. You picked up the weights he normally used and were dumbfounded by how heavy they were. For a human, that was damn strong. Since you were up here already, and bored. You decided that maybe you should work out. You couldn't be flying or swimming all the time like you were used to and needed to keep those muscles strong. You grabbed the bar with weights on either end and sat on the floor. Rolling your body on your back and tucking your legs under the bar, you balanced it on your feet. It was like you were squatting the bar but on your back instead of on your feet, basically a vertical leg press. Your hands were behind your head and you yawned. You could do with a little more weight. 

"That's an interesting way to do that." 

You sat up quickly, catching the bar in your hands and setting it on the ground. "Sorry. I should have asked." You were annoyed with yourself that you hadn't heard him come in. 

"Nah it's for everyone." Zoro had a bottle in his hand. "I didn't come up here to workout anyway. Too noisy down there." 

"Are they still fawning over that silly mermaid?" 

"You sound jealous."

You scoffed. "I'm not! It's annoying that people are so enthralled by the world's most sub-par sea creature!" A growl rumbled in your throat. "They aren't strong. They aren't particularly smart. They're fast; I'll give them that. But not faster than sirens. And they can't even walk on two feet until they're older." 

"You can't really be mad about it since people think sirens are myths." 

He had a point. That didn't mean you had to accept it. You frowned and glanced at his bottle. "Gimme some that." He handed it over and you took a swig before handing it back. 

"Oi if you're gonna drink that much, get your own." 

"You're not very nice. I'm a lady. You should get it for me." You stretched out seductively.

"Tch. You're better off trying that on Sanji." Zoro rolled his eyes and tilted his head back with another drink. 

You disappeared down the hatch for longer than anticipated. When you returned, you had as many bottles as your arms could carry. You sat on the opposite side of the room and placed them next to you.

"How did you get that many!?"

"I tried it on Sanji." You smirked, grabbing one and popping the top off.

Zoro grumbled, "Of course."

"What's your problem with the blonde one? You don't seem to like each other much."

He sneered. "He thinks he's better than me and he's not. I'm way stronger than him and I'm the one that's going to make Luffy King of the Pirates."

"So Sanji is your mermaid." 

"Never put it like that again."

It wasn't much longer before Zoro ran dry. He was eyeing your stash. You leaned against the wall and took long, languid drinks from one of the bottles, waiting to see how long it would take him to ask you for some. You watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

He cleared his throat. "Do you think I could... have one of those?"

"So the guy that wanted to cut my head off earlier and wouldn't share his booze wants a something from me now?" 

"I shared!" 

"One sip."

"You eat people! How am I supposed to know you won't turn on us at any second?! It's my job to protect the crew!"

"Because I promised Luffy I wouldn't."

"And that's supposed to be good enough? Only your word?"

"It's good enough for Luffy." You knew he was making a sound argument. But you were still irritated by his questioning and distrustful nature. Everyone else accepted you immediately. You angrily rolled a bottle over to him. "Drink up, asshole. Maybe you won't feel anything when I eat your ass." You excused yourself from his presence, snatching a few of the bottles to take with you.

Zoro couldn't stop himself from yelling after you as you climbed down, "You're not eating anyone's ass and especially not mine!"

Of course that phrase was lost on you and Luffy, but everyone else that happened to be on deck burst out laughing. 

Nami could barely peak she was laughing so hard, "Wow what you guys doing up there?"

"Speak for yourself!" Sanji yelled back to him.

Usopp and Chopper covered each other's ears.

Zoro slammed the hatch shut and laid flat on the floor, red faced. That damn woman. He wasn't about to live that down any time soon. At least you left him a few bottles. Why did he feel guilty about making you mad? He was right. He was just doing his job. He could sense the predatory nature in you. It wasn't unfamiliar to him. He had a similar energy about him when he fought. He had noticed that you tried to suppress that part of yourself when you were around everyone, he assumed for their sake, but maybe you were really trying to fit in better. 

He had been watching you carefully since you first showed up. On laundry day, he watched as you tried to wear clothes Nami let you borrow. He had warned you that she would have your head if you ruined them. He watched you stand perfectly still until your own clothes were clean again, not realizing that she wasn't actually going to rip your head off. You didn't know better. Nami seemed very scary when she yelled. He watched during meal times, when you and Luffy stole off each other's plates when the other wasn't looking. He watched you fall out of the tree you had been sleeping in, and then look around to see if anyone saw. He watched you scramble out of the interior and take a defensive position when Usopp was vacuuming. Then he watched Usopp chase you with it, happy to have found something to defend himself if you ever decided to 'have an Usopp sandwich'. He watched you practice with your sword after everyone else was asleep. He had to stop watching that, however. The urge to correct everything you did was too strong.

He had even watched you when he had come to the crow's nest earlier, fascinated by your strength. You could easily lift as much as he could. Your thighs were deceptively muscular. They were big, but not big enough to warrant that much strength. He had avoided talking to you any more than he had to. When he did finally have a conversation, he enjoyed the banter before he ruined it by insulting you. And of course he could see that you were pretty. Anyone with eyes could see that. It didn't matter at all to him since he had no time for trivial things like hooking up, though he hadn't put much thought into it before. Nami and Robin were also very pretty, but Nami was basically a sister and Robin was more of a weird aunt. 

Zoro sighed to himself. He didn't want to, but an apology was probably warranted. If he didn't do it of his own accord, Nami would yell at him, and like you, he thought she was scary when she yelled. He would do it tomorrow though. He was too tired now. To punctuate that, he yawned. 

Next

Tag list: @bbnbhm

[tennessoui]

Hey Kit!! This past year when the Acolyte came out, my heart broke and I decided to step away from Star Wars. It’s fine that others liked it but personally I didn’t; actually to be frank, I REALLY didn’t like it. Star Wars and Anakin got me through a lot, so watching Disney take an actual shit on his origin and then his redemption ark by half-assing the lore, felt like a punch to the gut, and I had to step away. (This is my personal opinion, if you or others liked it that’s great! I just didn’t). However, when I saw that u published the body politics au, I decided to sit down and catch up on all your fics (btw I love the Hanahaki one!), and it got me back into the fandom. I’m glad one shitty (imo) show didn’t push me away permanently and I have you to thank for that. I’ve met so many great people thru Star Wars and made a lot friends so it had really been kind of hard to turn away from it. I just really wanted to say thank you. your writing is, as always, too beautiful and inspiring to ignore. Star Wars means so much, and I’m so thankful that your work was able to help me look past all the stuff that made me unhappy with it. I hope you have a wonderful day!!

this is very kind to send to me and a very nice morning read! i admit, i actually have not watched the acolyte, though not for any particular reason. i've definitely heard mixed reviews about the show and its take on the jedi order and the sith, which have been sorta sad to read cause i do like the jedi (though i guess i never label myself as pro-jedi cause like? they're the good guys? you're not like. pro-percy jackson or something right? pro-katniss everdeen? you just sorta read the book and you're like oh yeah these are the good guys. might find aspects of a character annoying but i'm definitely not supposed to be rooting for the Capitol or smething right)

but i've also heard from other people that as a pew-pew show, it delivers on that front! lightsaber fights are cool and everyone has a funky haircut that they pull off somehow which does feel quintessentially star wars

my general view of the disney plus star wars shows is that i'll watch the ones that strike my fancy, and if one of them doesn't then i won't. the star wars disney execs produce a lot of content (and i truly mean content, i.e. material to be consumed - not necessarily art) and a lot of it i'm probably never going to watch. it wasn't made for me, and i definitely get the lurch and disappointment you may feel if you look forward to something for ages and then it's not what you wanted in a thousand small ways or a handful of big ways. i think that's especially hard to guard against nowadays when trailers for tv shows rely more on aesthetic and punchy one-liners and brief second cameos than they do explaining the actual story of the show

but you can be a fan without loving the direction some shows go in or the choices directors make!! if that looks like only watching shows that have been peer-reviewed, or if that looks like ignoring everything but a small corner/subset of a massive fandom, or if that looks like turning from the media itself and diving further into fanart and fanfiction and interacting with people online then that's what it looks like! especially now that the world of canon star wars media isn't just 6-9 movies + 2(?) non trilogy movies, you should absolutely go about watching star wars content with a you-first mindset 100%

you know how many people were disappointed in the obi-wan kenobi series?? soooo many because he was a sad little pathetic and broken man with greasy hair. but that's exactly how i like my obi-wan kenobis, so i was thrilled every episode lol but i'm sure other people hated it and boycotted and whatever. but i found my corner of the fandom who also enjoyed that and it's been wonderful <3

so anyway thankyou so much for your very kind words i hope none of that sounded too preachy i was mostly trying to agree with you that it's really great that one (shitty) show did not keep you away from the fandom forever and that you're back!!

welcome back :)