#especially since they're all interconnected

[bearflinn]

Writing Advice: Worldbuilding as Tension

One of the most common pieces of advice/points of critique I see for writers of all skill levels, is avoiding exposition dumps, often accompanied by the age old 'show don't tell'.

When writing fiction in general, but especially sci-fi and fantasy, it's important that the reader understands how your world differs from our own. And worldbuilding is one of the few places where you're less likely to get hit by the proverbial SHOW hammer, since some things, like the rules of your magic system, are difficult to show. So telling becomes more permissible.

However, it can be incredibly tempting to just infodump at every opportunity. Especially for those of us who have a wiki with more words than the finished project will have. But as I'm sure you've heard before, doing this can break immersion and destroy the pacing of your narrative.

While there are multiple ways to make exposition engaging, I'm going to focus on the approach I use most commonly: The Drip Feed.

Filling an Ocean One Droplet at a Time

Before we get into the actual methodology, I want to take a moment to dissect how and why exposition dumps can be problematic.

The Problem: Context, Relevancy, and Retention

Context is both the thing we're trying to communicate, and the source of excessive exposition. It starts simple, like maybe the reader needs to know that the main character is poor. And I guess I should explain why they're poor. Next thing you know you've spent 4 pages describing the socioeconomics of your world.

That's what I call 'context chaining'. Since everything in fleshed out worlds is interconnected, it can be very easy to just keep on filling in the gaps. Preemptively answering any questions the reader might have. The problem?

Relevancy. When you introduce a ton of worldbuilding in one fell swoop, the vast majority of it won't be relevant to the current place in the narrative, even if it will eventually be relevant for the story overall. Which, you guessed it, hurts:

Retention. Without immediate relevant context for the worldbuilding you introduce. Readers won't have anything to anchor the information too. Calling back to the example I used earlier, readers will remember that the character is poor, and they will likely remember why. Anything beyond that is unlikely to be retained.

The solution?

Restraint and Trust

For many of us, the world we've built is a large draw of the narrative we're crafting. However, one of the best ways to draw people into your world is to talk about it as little as possible. But how will they know about x?? They won't, until it matters.

Now I'm not talking about soft worldbuilding. This will work for both hard and soft worldbuilding (honestly it's even better for hard worldbuilding).

Instead of straight up telling the reader about the world and all of its intricacies. Introduce the most complex aspects as questions that you answer bit by bit throughout the narrative. As an example, maybe our poor character is struggling to buy food because they went into debt casting spells.

Suddenly, the reader is wondering: Why do spells cost money? Who controls the supply of magic and/or components? Is spellcasting something everyone can do? What kinds of magic are more valuable than eating? and so many more.

But here's the key: don't answer them. At least, not until absolutely necessary or there's an organic place to do so. Wait until the perspective character is directly interacting with one of those questions. Maybe they walk past a trickling fountain, revealing that the mana wells are running dry. And later debt collectors come for the main character, revealing who controls the mana.

Unanswered questions are a huge source of tension, and worldbuilding can provide a subtle sustained undercurrent that you can leverage to propel the narrative in slow points and/or make your payoffs hit even harder. All you have to do is answer the right question at the right time.

The best part of this method is that by waiting until your perspective character is engaging with a part of your world. It allows you to convey exposition and character at the same time. But what about worldbuilding that the characters don't interact with directly? It doesn't matter.

Well it does, to you as the author. But in general, if something doesn't matter to at least one of your characters, it won't matter to your readers. If your character isn't a politician, they aren't going to care about the intricacies of your political system. So why would the reader?

In short, keep any worldbuilding closely tied to your characters' experience, and let the reader wonder. The end result is a smoother and more engaging learning curve that pulls the reader in. Giving them the satisfaction of putting the pieces together themselves.

If you have any questions or additional thoughts let me know!

[luciaintheskyainthi]

First off, just, you and your writing is amazing. Like chef's kiss 💋 amazing. Everytime a new chapter of ECM updates I read the chapter twice by itself, read the previous chapter and the new chapter, and then start the whole fic over from the beginning so I can absorb the words into my soul.

Now, I was curious. I have a few interconnected questions if its ok? (I have very limited knowledge of DC Universe so if I get this wrong I apologize) From what I understand there is a collar in DCU similar to the Marvel Universe that can turn off a metas power? And if so, through all the different dimensions and rewrites Peter's body went thru, would you say that if one was put on Peter he would be ok because in this universe his body never had Asthma or needed glasses or would it do nothing, or would he automatically be needing an inhaler, glasses, and feel kitten weak?

How likely would it be that Batman is the one to put the collar on him, either out of suspicion or because he thinks Peter dangerous (he comes into a situation out of context) and if this was the case would Peter would have a bad reaction?

If none of this makes sense I do apologize. But it was something that had been rocking around in my brain for a bit.

thank-you so much! I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far!!!

While I can't remember if I've come across the collars in the comics (they might have been featured in the Rebirth RHATO?), I've seen them in both the animated suicide squad and Young Justice. And I actually think they'd have a greater success on Peter than the collars in the Marvel comics (not sure if they've been used on Peter before????) since he's a mutate not a mutant (therefore no x-gene).

In regards to how they'd effect Peter, I don't think he'd revert to pre-bite Peter with the asthma etc (even before the Gotham re-write) because the bite itself led to a full physiological re-write of Peter's body. Meaning he'd be de-powered but be effectively a non-powered human. He'd certainly feel weak as a baby though, since he's so used to that strength, but otherwise no.

In regards to Batman putting a collar on Peter, the odds of that are pretty much non-existent. I know in the story hasn't been especially sympathetic towards Bruce/Batman, but I'd like to note that each of these instances have been told from Jason's perspective. Like Peter, he is far from an objective narrator and his past experiences with Bruce/Batman have shaped the way he views Batman/Bruce. Jason's POV represents reality as much as Peter's POV represents reality (which is to say, not faithfully - but they're not deliberately unreliable, either).

I've said before, in both notes and my interim chapter, that Batman is not anti-meta. He's also not anti-Jason. Unfortunately, Jason's both unwilling and unable to realise this (because! Past Actions! Have Consequences Bruce!). Likewise, most instances of Jason fearing Bruce will chase Peter away come not from an expectation that Bruce will deliberately chase Peter away, but that Peter will run if Bruce sticks his nose into things that are currently in a very delicate balance (flight risk princess anyone??).

But just because we haven't seen much from Bruce doesn't mean he's not been working behind the scenes. He's wary of Spider-Man because he's affiliated with the Red Hood (and because he's such a fresh face on the scene), but that doesn't mean he's about to discount the stories he's heard from actual people who've actually interacted with him (Cass's judgement of Spider-Man for instance went a long way). If Batman was anti-Spider-Man, he would have chased right after them after Pyg.

Despite the negative portrayal of Bruce so far, I've no interest in engaging in any kind of character bashing/assassination of Bruce/Batman. I think that like his children (Jason included), he's a flawed character whom the narrative (of the comics that is) has a tendency to portray as being the one to always be in the right because Batman=Good+Right sells.

*coughs* anyway, I'm going to sheepishly step back from the soapbox I was about to climb up on. Long and short of it is, the only reason Bruce (or anyone) would use the collar on Peter is if Peter went out of control. ✌️

Thank-you for your questions!!! I love seeing how people have been thinking about the world of ECM!

[lizzybeeee]

I live for your DAV opinions. It's so nice to know I'm not alone in being bitterly disappointed with the destruction of the lore, our previous choices and what could have been.

Thanks for being here! :)

I feel that the worst part about the whole destruction of southern thedas/previous choices/story is that it really adds nothing to DATV? Rook/new players have no connection to southern thedas, we don't even see southern thedas...the only people who will care about the southern half of the continent are the players who have played the past games.

If you're a newcomer to the series, you're not going to care about some far off nations that you've never seen. If you're a returning player? Of course, it's going to be devastating! Especially since they specifically mention all the places we went in the previous games - really hammering it in, thanks BioWare!

It's the equivalent of a DM clearing the board, tearing up character sheets, and telling you to 'shut up, move on. we're over this character/place! stop asking about them - they're dead now!'

Like, I'm sorry you made me care for the world/characters/story you crafted? It just feels oddly spiteful, especially since they made a point to deliberately single out places like Kirkwall and Denerim. By all means, have the south face their own troubles - but going scorched earth? Telling us this in some missives and a few lines of dialogue? For a series that differentiated itself from other games by selling us a continuous/interconnected story narrative...nuking it all was a wild choice.

[theloveliestfawn]

The tables will turn when it turns out to be Elriel as the unconvential ship and they're the true crack ship. Sarah won't write them because they won't sell. It will be boring

A Mate Rejection wouldn't work out in standalone books (even if they're interconnected since each standalone promises the couple a HEA and each get one book as confirmed by Sarah in her interviews)

How are you expecting the author to write a compelling rejection story for something that wasn't even explored much? Just ask Elain to say the word "No" and that's it? It's a waste of a storyline. It's not interesting. There are no stakes.

Again, the book won't sell. Sarah won't write it Elain and Lucien however offer an "arranged marriage" kind of dynamic since we never had a mated pair who knew they were mates before they were in love

They will have tension and the clash of desires and reluctance between them. Reluctant love can be so good. So what if they're at odds now, it's not like Sarah haven't wrote couples that didn't start on a great foot before (Rowaelin literally hated the sight of each other)

It seems that this anon is crashing out and venting to other elriels as well but I wanna share my thoughts too <3

TW: YAPPING🥀

How can I expect the author to write a compelling mate rejection story which isnt explored much ???? Idk, maybe we just expect the best from her? The author herself has said in an interview that the mate rejecting thing would be very interesting so I hope she's gonna do her best w it.

Its not wrong for you to prefer Elucien over Elriel. We are all entitled to our preferences. But it doesn't mean that our preference is canon.

I don't want to argue about canon w you rn. I want to talk abt why I prefer Elriel over Elucien. In my opinion, Elucien's story will just be the same as the other SJM couples. Arranged marriage vibes or whatever you name it, it still follows the same formula, same route. "at odds now", "not starting on a great foot"... that sounds a lot like Nessian 😃 And lots of other SJM couples 😃

Btw, talking abt arranged marriage, have u read HOFAS, anon? Cus Sathia Flynn and Tharion Ketos seemed arranged marriage enough for me. If you like that trope, Im sure that the author will write their love story based on that trope especially since we will have CC4 "House of many waters" and Tharion being a freaking mermaid would absolutely get his POV and love story with sathia.

Now for the "reluctant love"...well Idk abt that. Elain is just indifferent towards Lucien. Lemme ask you, have u ever had a guy crushing on you, your classmates ship you two, but you arent comfortable with it cus you just dont like that guy, instead you love another guy from the class? yeah, thats Elain's case. She wants nothing to do with Lucien. She wants Azriel.

Look, its no use to fight over this. I would ship Elain n Lucien if she was neutral or show even slight emotions towards Lucien, like hate. But no, she js dgaf abt him lmao.

As elriels, we swoon over thoughtful gestures both Azriel and Elain had done for each other throughout the books and their freaking buildup man...

In ACOMAF, both are neutral with each other. They started on good terms. They talked to each other very well and Elain was comfortable w Azriel. no feelings for each other yet, just civil.

In ACOWAR, theres so much significant scenes that shows how Azriel cared for Elain, how protective he is towards her, how he sees her ( im getting her back scene, truth teller scene, the cauldron made you a seer scene ) And ofc theres thoughtful gestures like Azriel escorting Elain to see the garden. no feelings for each other yet, but Az feels protective and is caring towards Elain.

In ACOFAS, they grow closer. Az literally listens to Elain talking abt her garden plans till 3 am. And yes, more thoughtful gestures like the potato scene and making everyone wait for Elain taking her seat before eating.

In ACOFAS, Azriel doesn't have feelings for Elain yet. IMO he was still pining for Mor. It was stated that he blushes looking at Mor after she gifted him a towel as solstice present.

Then when did Azriel developed true feelings for Elain and slowly move on from Mor?

After Elain gifted him the headache powder.

And thats why in ACOSF, he felt very intensely abt Elain. He spent a whole year post ACOFAS developing feelings for her, thinking abt her, and it was too much that he avoided being bear Elain. Was it ever too much for Azriel when he pined for Mor? No, he could still be near her, be friends with her. But with Elain? No. He had to stay away bcus Elain is too much for him. But even when he stayed away, he would be the first one to act whenever Elain is in potential danger or in any slightly inconvenient situation. He is very protective towards Elain... shadows gathered around the corner of the room like snakes preparing to strike...."What happened to Elain?" ...Elain shouldnt be exposed to the cauldron's darkness n more.

As for Elain, she was never shy towards Azriel pre ACOSF. But in ACOSF, she was shy when she gestured towards Azriel. Why is she suddenly shy towards Azriel? Because she now has feelings for Azriel as well. Az did so many sweet things for Elain and he's hot, ofc she wants him now duh.

And then the grand finale scene for elriel in ACOSF was the charged glance. THERE IS TENSION BETWEEN THEM.

As for the bonus chapter, the "It was a mistake" and "You are to stay away from her" happened. Elain misunderstanding why Az pulled away from the kiss and rhys ordering Az to stay away from Elain RAISED THE TENSION BETWEEN THEM.

Theres too much foundation for Elriel. Can you see how beautiful their relationship progressed? THE TENSION BETWEEN THEM? The author cannot make this buildup just for them to go to waste which she admits that she hates when it happens.

[pomgore]

yiga clan magic system headcanons

there are two paths to enjoying a media with an unexplained/hand-wavey magic system: you can just vibe with it and accept whatever abilities and stipulations the media offers at face value (which is valid) or you can overexplain the magic system through many headcanons defining a series of rules able to be referenced for creative projects later.

clearly i have chosen the second path. i need to know how yiga magic works. i need to know if calling it sorcery is apt and i need to know where they draw on their magic from and i need to know what the hell the earthwake technique is. so now i'm going to figure it out and you're going to come along for the ride! :3

includes details related to my headcanons for kohga and sooga and a lot of interconnected sheikah magic headcanons

origin + conventions

it's borderline canon that the yiga clan's magic techniques have their origin with the sheikah, given that the first yiga came from the sheikah tribe and brought sheikah knowledge of things like combat and stealth with them. i have a hard time believing the yiga invented their magic from scratch LOL

i do think that they developed new magic techniques over time, since the sheikah don't seem to know how to deal with their teleporting and disguises

i think sheikah and yiga magic alike is essentially symbology--aka the use of representative symbols, like talismans and hand gestures, to produce a magical effect--as opposed to, for example, verbal or material spell components like you see more often in fantasy media and dnd and stuff. for the sheikah the most common use of symbology is in their wooden talismans they have hanging around the gates at the threshold of the village and parchment talismans on things like doors and passageways, both purposed to ward off harm and evil. yiga have essentially co-opted talismans to do a LOT more stuff, like explode or teleport or lock doors, and are able to do this because a) the progression of their own magic techniques over 100 years diverging from sheikah techniques and b) they draw on a different source of power (ganon) than the sheikah (hylia)

re: that last point, the power of the talismanic symbols comes from the being in the name of whom the symbols are drawn/made. the sheikah opinion on making talismans in hylia's name essentially goes; "since hylia is good and holy and benevolent, her power should only be drawn upon in service of good/holy/benevolent acts," hence why sheikah talismans are most often used for protection/warding. the yiga opinion on making talisman's in ganon's name is more like; "well ganon would want us to do whatever we have to in order to destroy hyrule," so there's not really a limit on what they're "allowed" to do with talismans as far as good form is concerned. a bit disrespectful but hey the yiga are all about being disrespectful so

the yiga and sheikah eyes are essential to making a talisman, "opening" the talisman to be imbued with magic (more precisely, hylia and ganon's familiarity with the sheikah and yiga symbols allow the talisman-maker to access their power--if it were just a series of symbols on an unmarked talisman, no deity would know or care what to do with it). a talisman can be made inert if the yiga or sheikah eye symbol is destroyed, but the symbol must be completely removed from the talisman in order to do so. with especially powerful talismans this can have immediate and drastic consequences, as the released magic will have to go somewhere

when talismans are not being placed somewhere to effect their magic but instead "used," most often by yiga doing some magic in action, the easiest way to get a talisman to "do" its magic is to rip it/break it in half. sometimes they can also be effectuated by throwing them on the ground/at a target but generally the active use of a talisman is unpredictable, especially for people who don't know what they're doing

anyone can create a powerful talisman, but very few people can use them with any degree of skill or effect. if a weak magic user attempts to use a strong talisman, anything varying from absolutely nothing to skin burns to an explosion can occur.

while talismans are the most common form of yiga/sheikah magic, hand symbols are used in cases where a talisman cannot be made/carried. ordinarily hand symbology is less effectual and a lot more dependent on the skill of the caster since instead of the yiga or sheikah eye working as a conduit it's the caster's actual body (hence why, for example, kohga and sooga are shown to strain with effort to cast particularly powerful spells) but for the most part hand symbols suit quick-and-dirty spells like teleporting in combat, which is sort of a glorified smoke bomb.

how hand symbology works: hand positions replace the characters on a talisman, like sign language, and when done in the correct order with enough accuracy they produce a less powerful spell effect. the sheikah knew hylian sign language before the hand symbology technique was developed, so their technique is based on hylian sign language, but the yiga sign language is maybe half-borrowed from hylian sign and half invented, as well as more common to use for magic than for actual communication.

above bullet point is a setup for a funny idea i had where the yiga think link (in keeping with the popular fanon that link communicates with sign language) is casting spells at them if/when he attempts to communicate with them. they figure it out eventually but not before assuming link is an incredibly shitty spellcaster since none of his hand symbols ever do anything

the development of skill as a hand-caster is like a different dimension of working out to become stronger. instead of developing a physical strength, hand-casters develop magical strength, through various methods like meditation and experimenting and good old fashioned practice. the majority of sheikah and yiga have a very utilitarian understanding of magic, able to do about three things off the cuff, but dedicated hand-casters among the sheikah and yiga devote a LOT of time to learning how to use their magic, how to stretch and surpass their own limits, and developing new techniques. the process of becoming an advanced hand-caster from novicehood takes anywhere from 7 to 10 years.

an unfortunate consequence of hand-cast magic, especially among the yiga, is that magic users who become overconfident in their abilities--either thinking themselves stronger than they really are or thinking the spell they cast less powerful than it is--can and do die from using way too much magic all at once. in cases where the caster immediately dies, their body, acting as the conduit for all that magic, is destroyed or completely shuts down. overuse of magic can also result in a prolonged death if the damage to their body is fatal but not enough so to immediately kill them. the progression of a magic-use-related death is similar to death by a fatal dose of radiation.

yiga magic

unfortunately i have concluded that yiga cannot aptly be called sorcerers and are instead closer to wizards. i'm gonna call them sorcerers anyway but cowabummer

the culture of magic use among yiga is a little interesting, given that they're more liberal with its use than a lot of hyrule's cultures. less experienced yiga will tell you it's a handy-dandy little tool so long as you've got good handwriting for talismans, and more experienced yiga will tell you the same thing, but add on the terrible stories they've seen and heard of what reckless spellcasting does to people. generally it's expected of a yiga to be able to do a little magic, but if someone is somehow unable to do magic (most often this is the case for yiga who can't do hand-symbology) then for the most part, peers will help them. one could go on examining the place of disabled yiga within their clan and if/how they're obliged to compensate for what they can't do, but that's not the focus of these headcanons so i'll leave it to your imagination

the overwhelming majority of yiga-devised magic (and the skills necessary to use it) is based on forgery and imitation--which in practice means that a lot of yiga magic doesn't exactly do things, but makes it appear as if something was done. the sheikah magic practices that were borrowed by the yiga are much more effectual, as in they are doing what they appear to do (protect places, summon objects, cause explosions, etc) but magic of yiga invention has its foundation in making things appear different than they really are.

example one: teleportation. yiga clan members are not actually teleporting when they vanish in their puffs of smoke and talismans, BUT turning briefly invisible, using their silly acrobatics to get to the position they're trying to get to without being seen, and then reappearing once the spell effect wears off. to me teleportation is an instantaneous transition from one place to another--because yiga are able to change position, weapons, and poise themselves to attack between disappearing and reappearing, it makes more sense to me that they wouldn't be actually teleporting at all. the utility of becoming invisible in order to change places and do their nasty little tricks is that their next move can't be predicted. as for "rules" of this particular spell, i think that teleportation talismans are notoriously finicky and their duration depends on how well the talisman has been made, and so to "teleport" a greater distance actually requires a lot of talismans to be used all at once. hence why yiga vanish in a fluttering cloud of talismans when they retreat! as for hand-casting teleportation, the motions are probably as finicky as the characters on the talismans, so generally hand-cast teleportation is good for moving maybe a couple yards unseen, and is used most often to make an escape.

example two: disguises. this i think a lot of yiga would credit as one of the greatest yiga spells ever devised because of how seamless a good disguise can be. there's obviously the old-fashioned disguise technique of just Not Wearing Your Mask, but where yiga mask culture, already-compromised identities and the particular case of gerudo town present obstacles, magic disguises are superior. disguise talismans are difficult to get right and all but impossible to pull off hand-cast, but when done right they are incredibly rewarding and pretty much last until disturbed or removed. the idea behind making a disguise talisman is to write each character as if you are not yourself, but rather the person you want to appear to be. this makes it a lot easier to disguise yourself as a person who doesn't exist, without a family or a name, since not only would the disguise be less descript and no one would notice flaws in the disguise that don't match up with the existing person--hence why yiga largely choose to disguise themselves as "traveler" or "fashionable person" lol. however when disguising oneself as someone who actually exists (like kohga and urbosa in aoc) it helps to have a familiarity with the person you're imitating, as well as many many examples of their handwriting. kohga has had enough encounters with urbosa (and stolen enough letters and manuscripts from her) that he can convincingly imitate her appearance and voice.

yiga who can forge handwriting are very highly valued in the clan and will often be commissioned to draw up talismans for other yiga when a mission necessitates that they imitate specific people.

what the hell is the earthwake technique

all of the above being said i cannot help but wonder just wtf the blademasters are doing when they cast that earthwake bullshit. visually it's very alarming and does a lot of damage but it's so incongruous with the other types of magic yiga do! why are they doing that!!!

so here's my hypothesis: the earthwake technique is a spell with sheikah origins, cast with a primitive sort of hand-casting, that was adopted by the yiga and forbidden then forgotten by the sheikah once it came to light that the yiga were using it. it's a restricted technique because if it isn't done right it can absolutely kill the caster.

re "primitive sort of hand-casting": it seems like the only gesture necessary to perform the technique is to place your fist on the ground and lift it again once the spell has reached the place you've directed it. i think that the hand not making the fist is the one making the gesture, just a single symbol since it was one of the first spells to be only cast through hand symbology, and the magic that originates from the gesture travels through the caster's body to the other hand, closed in a fist on the ground, and through that is set into the earth. the reason why this is dangerous is because, if the caster's other hand isn't touching the ground the magic will have nowhere to exit their body and basically explode them, and if the caster's hand is touching something other than stable earth, like a tree or a person, the thing they are touching will get exploded.

"why don't yiga use the earthwake technique to destroy stone garrisons/walls/etc?" imagine if you were trying to use a stick of dynamite to blow a wall open but in order for the dynamite to explode you have to be holding it in your hand. generally it is a bad idea to do the earthwake technique without having somewhere to send the magic that is sufficiently far away from the caster

kohga and sooga

ohhh how did these two get here oh nooo how did i make these magic headcanons about wingus and dingus the yiga clan pookies

kohga is obviously an incredibly proficient magic caster, but i think it isn't clear to people who don't understand yiga and sheikah magic just how proficient he really is. he does the majority of his spellwork with his hands! he can create forcefields and summon massive dangerous objects, AND manipulate them in space! bro can FLOAT like he's doing all kinds of insane shit no wonder the yiga glorify him

how did this happen? i think two reasons: a) having been born a sheikah and into a family of magic casters, he knows a looooot of sheikah magic. b) being ~150 years old, he's had a loooooot of time to practice, and has developed his capacity for magic further than any hyrulean (aka anyone of hyrule's sapient races) has developed it in the 100 years since the calamity. before she died that title probably belonged to mipha, who despite specializing in healing magic also had hundreds of years to hone her craft. urbosa was also incredibly magically adept, but by the time of botw kohga has probably surpassed her in capacity for spellcasting. gerudo and zora magics are also fundamentally different from sheikah and yiga magics so the comparison is a little inelegant.

despite kohga's interaction with ganon altering him quite fundamentally, ganon didn't really imbue kohga with new powers or the capacity for power--essentially their deal was that kohga would become functionally immortal (on ganon's terms) so as to serve ganon on an indefinite basis, and kohga could figure out the rest himself. therefore the overwhelming basis of kohga's magic is sheikah magic, as well as techniques he developed himself, and ganon's intercession doesn't actually do much for him except possibly extend his upper limit.

a lot of the magical techniques kohga has invented, while powerful, are the product of a lot of improvise. as such he can't really teach them to anyone else, but he explains this to other yiga as the technique being so incredibly advanced that he's the only one capable of doing it and so to teach it to anyone else might kill them because of its sheer awesome power. typical kohga braggadocio stuff

kohga is exceedingly dependent on his magic for fighting. it's such a wild and powerful collection of abilities that usually he gets away with it, but as a result his purely martial prowess is lacking to the point of vulnerability. sooga often demands kohga train his non-magical fighting skills, kohga often says no, sooga often ropes him into sparring and if kohga didn't cheat so much sooga would absolutely lay him out, but as it stands sooga has never won a spar between kohga and himself

sooga's capability with magic is very good, he has mastery over a lot of techniques and demonstrates a prowess with hand casting in aoc. i think that sooga would be better with hand casting than making talismans because he's too impatient to sit down and write every character as neatly as talismanic magic necessitates, but when it's necessary to make talismans and he applies himself his talismans are really good. he hides this from kohga because if kohga finds out he'll make sooga write talismans for him

there has definitely been at least one instance of sooga overdoing his magic and kohga having to scrape him off the floor and get him back to the hideout to scold him about it. sooga has never seen kohga overdo his magic, and kohga doesn't think it's possible for him to overdo it, but i imagine if it was possible or if it ever happened throughout the course of their plotline the consequences would be very dire

last but not least: kohga uses his ability to summon objects for incredibly frivolous things, like getting a snack or grabbing something from across the room, solely and only to piss sooga off, who thinks magic is serious business and ought to be treated as such.

[cindersnows]

short essay thing i wrote in avf about plural tsc that i feel like people should see bc its so interesting to me

just to preface i highly highly doubt this is all intentional on alan+teams part due to the fact that plurality is just ,, not that well known. also im not too knowledgable on non traumagenic systems and all the stuff surrounding that so i will just be speaking from what i know from my own experience + research

so anyways. from the start of sec's life she has been kind of in a high stress situation. from the getgo she had to hide her existence from alan due to likely knowing the fate of the other living sticks he has made + the fact that she very much isnt supposed to be alive. she lets her guard down, makes friends, and then almost instantly theyre all deleted. although did and osdd1 form from long-term trauma (often accompanied by cptsd) and all of this only happened in a few minutes, at the very least this provides the basis for some sort of dissociation

theres a moment where she glitches and changes to black for a second. obviously back then this was intended to be an allusion to the fact that she's the chosen one's return, since alan+team hadn't planned ava s2 yet and tco was just regular dead atp, but its interesting to consider the sudden change in her personality. shes not even shown to be overly angry like she usually is, just a. Calm?? specifically the same calm that preceeds her beating up tdl in ava s2.

notably that moment in s2 where she unlocks her powers is like. sudden change in personality and demeanor, suddenly gaining the powers, and memory loss afterwards. even though she only really switches between two "modes" it's reminiscent of switching between two alters (while its uncommon for a system to have only two alters it's not unheard of, especially in cases of osdd-1a where theres not much distinction between personality states).

i said ava/e specifically because the aveducation videos in particular provide a very interesting insight into tsc's psyche. while alan said in his avg avma video that the series isn't canon, a few things about the series have already been retconned. avphys was originally supposed to be the last entry in the series, but with avma+avphys+avgeo's massive success and the lead animator's interest in these sort of topics i wouldn't be surprised if they continued to make more, especially considering that they're now interconnected via avgeo. phi, who appeared at the end of avma, is the protagonist of avgeo, and there's that scene at the end that teases avphys that i'll also get into in a sec because it's very interesting.

about why i think it represents tsc's psyche specifically and not just some math dimensions that tsc happens to stumble upon: in the avg avma video dj proposes the dream theory, that this is all happening in a dream during ava s3. noncanon of course but considering alan himself knows about it and ave seems to be gaining some kind of overarching arc, as well as the fact that its releasing between ava s3 episodes (which is going to focus on tsc's powers) i wouldn't be surprised if the episodes slowly grow more and more representative of her mental state as she works towards properly unlocking her powers

anyways speculation aside. avphys introduces a second second (haha). this is explained through the mechanics of time loops and whatnot, but at the same time, the hat tsc seems to know a lot more than regular tsc, having.. basically created the universe. even if our tsc can then explain this to the next tsc, hat tsc is shown to literally create the entire universe avphys takes place in (again tying back to her powers of creation) and also act much calmer and composed compared to our tsc. it seems like hat tsc is somewhat representative of the state tsc gets into when she unlocks her powers, shown both times in ava s1 and 2. shes cool and mysterious and all knowing i want her so bad

the scene at the end of avgeo is the most compelling thing for this idea (and the push that made me go "ohhhh my god multiplies her). hat tsc appears once more, this time seemingly wanting to communicate more with our tsc, but being cut short by tsc getting surprised and falling. the most interesting part to me is the imagery in this part— there's tons and tons of tsc's, all reflected, and being reflections makes them slightly different from what we see (of course light refraction will always make things appear slightly different; discolored, blurred, flipped etc). hat tsc is framed as Also a reflection despite being shown as different person/personality state.

i just got back from dinner and lost my train of thought. im not sure if this is enough for other people to consider her plural but at the very least i feel like interpreting her as such does enhance one's reading and understanding of her, as well as how you write her (for those who do).

[monstersflashlight]

So you've mentioned a lot about lore stuff with orcs and humans, but what about minotaurs and humans? Haritz from Helping Neighbors comes to mind since that's the first one we can safely assume is in the same universe with the family tree on Patreon.

Are orcs and minotaurs generally the same height?

Do monsters who find human mates develop anxiety about how they'll fit inside of their human mates, especially if they have a more fragile or maybe smaller human as their mate?

Were there any instances of those concerns within any of your stories from their universe, and how did they quell those worries?

Did they talk to someone or do research or is there like a doctor they can see to ask questions if a particularly large type of monster discovers they have a human mate?

I'd like to ask for more minotaur lore!

Do minotaurs and orcs have adjustments that can be made to their larger houses if they find a human mate, so that their mate can live more comfortably in such a big house?

Are minotaurs and bigger monsters scared to hurt humans since they're so much bigger and stronger or do they subconsciously know how to adjust their strength to others since it's a mixed society they live in?

For larger monsters that crossbred with humans, are their children smaller than the rest of their species and come out more human or do they come out purely monster? For example, if a minotaur had a kid with a human, would that kid be a smaller more humanesque minotaur or would it be a regular minotaur maybe with the humans hair color or eye color, or does it depend on the monster that bred with the human for the results of that child to be able to be either purely that monster parentage type or mixed?

Maybe something like an orc and human would mix for a half orc child, but a minotaur and a human would produce a minotaur child, basically.

Hi anon! First of all... wow. That's a lot to unpack. For everyone not on on Patreon, this answer is going to contain lots of comments on exclusive content, so be aware of that. I like to remind y'all that you can access pretty much all the lore exclusive of Patreon for only 2$/month!

Okay, now the answers, little by little:

(The family tree they mention is this one) I mentioned a lot about orcs and humans bc that's what I've been working on further developing bc I'm preparing GymSlut to become a full book in the next months (hopefully). As per minotaurs, I do have a ton of lore relating mintoaurs, too bc my brain never stops moving. Helping Neighbors, Gym Slut, Set up by the baby orc, Out of jealousy, Don't go baking my heart and pretty much all my longer stories (minus Alien Inspector) happen in the same world. They are all interconnected, that's why the female character in Set up by a baby orc talks to the female character in Helping neighbors (they are best friends, highly encourage ppl to suscribe to Patreon to read that one).

About height, they are the same height more or less if you don't count the horns. I imagine most orcs and minotaurs to be around 1.9m to 2.2m, so bigger than a general human but still possible, yk? If you add the horns, count about 20cm more for minotaurs. (I will try to add some kind of height graph at some point on Patreon, I think that'll be fun).

They DEF get anxious about it, and there's special toys to further stretch the humans before the act. If they are mates they are always a perfect fit at the end, but some humans need a bit of help to get there.

There weren't any instances of it YET. I think I will probably have those concers in my Dragon Fire Station story because I feel dragon x human would be the biggest size difference. But maybe further down the line of the world, we'll see some problems with that. I'd like to add some character with vaginismus bc I think that's not talked enough in books.

In the world I created I think there's been enough interaction between species to have some anatomy courses aviable for interspecies couples, and probably there's specialized areas in family planning, too. Especially because not all species can mix to have sex or babies.

I'm working on the minotaur lore for sure, the family tree is halfway there but I haven't had time yet, but it will come!

I mean, as somebody who is not that big, I think humans can adapt to bigger houses using stuff like stools to reach higher places, but also, I think monster partners would be more than happy to help them in any way they can.

The worry to hurt humans or other "weaker" species is always there, but I think that (again), they've been living among each other for so long that they just learn it as they go. There's always accidents, but not too frequent.

I think monster genetics is a very interesting topic, and I think for minotaurs in specific, kids would be born pretty much human, maybe with a few characteristics such as a tiny tail and hooves, and probably some super tiny horns. But size wise, I think minotaru-human babies would be the same as a big human baby (around 4-5kg), and once they are out, there would be differences in the way they grow, being hybrids bigger than normal humans. But there would be def variations depending on the species and genetics in general. (Wouldn't it be fun to do a monster's genetic guide? Having thoughts...)

[evilwickedme]

This wasn't asked for because nobody in their right mind would ask for this but this is a fic rec list of fics I cannot stop rereading

Just started yet another reread of Inimitable Verse by deniigiq and I fully plan on rereading their into the multiverse series which occasionally crosses over also - this is a Spider-Man/team red focused series, think comics canon infused early mcu-spidey since only homecoming had come out for a non substantial amount of time they were working on the series and the daredevil stuff is explicitly tv show AND comics. Also the multiverse series is how I got into Murderdock and therefore how I got into Spider Gwen

Unpretty's Sorrowful And Immaculate Hearts series which is just a loosely interconnected series of DC fics. My personal favorites are Empty Graves, in which Martha Kent keeps killing time travelers trying to kill baby! Clark; any of their clois fics but especially Third Wheel; and Anti-Social, which is a social media fic mostly about Tim and Bruce that made me cry laughing. Catch Bruce trying to get Walmart's employees to unionize. Also shout out to unpretty's only fic with Jason in it, it looks awesome but is tragically incomplete

This particular Reverse Robin AU which put in the work to reverse every single younger generation and is chef's kiss I LOVE this version of Tim he's wild

Both of Shoalsea's fics are in constant rotation for me I talk about Into The Brighter Night all the time in the tags of reblogs and stuff it truly lives in my head rent free. Anyway Tim gets kidnapped by aliens and the batfam have to watch as yj98 saves him and it's angsty and funny and such a good take on what could have been if the new 52 hadn't happened. And Compassion Builds No House is about Tim and Pru from Red Robin. Ugh they're both so good

Speaking of Clois (I did you've just forgotten this by now) brilliant (like a confession) by kathkin (penny-anna on the hellsite) is so fucking good I'm. Okay. Anyway it'll be listed as inspiration if/when I finally post my two person love triangle fic for them

I'm too anxious to catch up on this before it's done but jumble sale chic is hands down the best spideydevil fic series despite and because of the omegaverse

Make A Little Birdhouse In Your Soul is my favorite take on Jason, period, and has a lot of fantastic Damian stuff going on too. It's updating every few weeks still! Sometimes more often! I love you bacondoughnut it's me JustGail the person who will not stop commenting on your fic you're stuck with me forever

I lied above Rumspringa Murderdock is what got me into Murderdock but that series is second place. I found this one while scrolling through the tv show's mattfoggy tag, thinking I was safe

Speaking of Murderdock mattfoggy, The Lawyer All the Wickedness was written early on in spider-gwen's history and so diverges from canon really early in ways that I think are super interesting and creative

Oh also straight on 'til morning by merils (Tumblr url mamawasatesttube) does SUCH a great job unpacking Kon's trauma and building up healthy relationships around him including a budding timkon romance and yeah it makes me sad and happy at the same time

We're getting into poisonivory territory so just trust if you like the pairing and poisonivory is writing it you'll like it. Ok rapidfire

Like A Handprint On My Heart mattfoggy soulmate au with a twist

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Damijon future fic/au. Jon came back from the future when both of them were 19. Demisexual!Damian at its best. Damian's terrified of being abandoned by Jon again and it made my heart hurt

I feel like I've already recommended every JayRoy fic by poisonivory and genuinely I do reread them all, sometimes in order of publication if I'm in a particular mood. Maybe the one I've read most though is I've Got the Feeling You're the Right Thing After All which is about Roy and Jason starting a fwb thing while Roy still harbors old feelings for Dick. Can't see anything going wrong here lmao

Mmm this post is long enough so I'll leave it at just superhero fic for now but I do in fact have the ability to do a whole post just for the Witcher or Leverage so I might do that. Anyway thanks for following me on yet another burst of insanity it will happen again

[elainsgirl]

This is actually crazy.. so, Maas has two full spinoff novels and a novella. They have been in the works since acowar, maybe even acomaf days. They're directly set up through acofas and serve to tell the stories of the side characters of the OG trilogy- the Archeron sisters and the IC. New side characters are inevitably introduced to help tell these stories. On top of that, we actually already know that Nesta and Elain would get their books, and that Elain's book has to be the next one. But people genuinely drop all common sense and think one of these books will go to a new side character that just showed up, has no ties to the overarching narrative and has never interacted with most of the main cast? No, I'm sorry but such ridiculous ideas are not even worth attention. I'd be so baffled if I was Maas. How did people get it this wrong? Like I feel like someone dropped me in an alternate universe where common sense is flipped on its head. And for FOUR YEARS. I can't wait for this to be over.

after acosf, there are two spinoffs left. Out of all the remaining characters, only Elain has a confirmed book. From what Mass had said about the spinoffs, she knew the protagonists of 4 and 5 but the last novel was left open. Now, if elucien and gwynriel is endgame then Mass would have known exactly what each spinoff would be about, yet for the last one she didnt. That itself disproves Elucien & Gwynriel. If gwynriel is acotar 5, then obviously elucien would have to be acotar 6. Or even vice versa, ofc Mass is going to tell Azriel’s story so even then she would have known Azriels book is the last acotar book. But she didn’t. Acotar 6 was left unplanned with Mass unsure. We have some mythologies Mass wanted to explore like swan lake, snow queen and fire bird retelling. The only couple that suits swan lake & fire bird is Vassien. Even then, we can’t forget that Mass has shown interest in a prequel that takes place long before the events of acotar. Acotar 6 has every single possibility of being a prequel especially with how HOFAS went, I feel like Mass is into her lore thats connecting each world - a prequel would allow her to expand on that as well as allowing her to set up a potential new series. If this is the case then Mor can have a novella. Correct me if im wrong, I dont think Mass has ever spoken about wanting to have a story for Lucien.

acofas is said to be the bridge between the spinoffs and og series. Don’t you think if Gwyn was to become a protagonist, Mass would have introduced her here? Ofc she would have. Acowar and Acofas sets up the spinoffs yet there is no Gwyn/Gwynriel. Why? Bcs they were never intended to become a thing.

I think what people forget is the spinoffs are interconnected STANDALONES. Meaning, you do not have to read acosf to understand acotar 5. Standalones can be read independently, yet a gwynriel book doesn’t fit the requirements for a standalone bcs Gwyn is only acosf. You’d have to read that book to obviously understand a gwynriel book, which isnt how these spinoffs are meant to be.

Lmfao, I don’t think Mass expected to trick so many people. I can’t wait for her interviews post-acotar 5, to know what she was thinking throughout the shipwar. Hopefully the war is over soon, all Mass has to do is announce whose book is next.

[prythianpages]

Answer and then tag three or more creators to keep the game going!

@acoazlove tysm for the tag! <3

1. How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024?

Technically, 9,679. I did make an AO3 account but I got intimidated by all the tagging so I only transferred over one fic.

2. How many fics did you complete this year?

I wrote 49 fics this year, which is crazy to me. I didn't know how many I had written! But don't ask me how many series I've completed bc it's 0 lol

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year?

I currently have 7 ongoing fics but 3 are my witch aus so they're just interconnected one-shots.

4. What was your favourite thing you wrote?

I did answer my favorite fic to have written in 2024 here. If I had to pick a second one, it'd be my Cas fic, Lay All Your Love on Me.

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style?

I'd say it's my Eris fic, I Can't Pretend. It's part of my Like An Angel series. I had written smut before this one but it was my first time writing Eris smut & I wanted it to be a heat of the moment thing but also soft. For this series, there had also been a lot of pining & longing, so I didn't want that moment to feel rushed.

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or reception?

It was my fic, Be Patient. This one was part two to my one-shot or what was originally only a one-shot lol, Be Safe. I didn't expect there to be so much demand for part two and I aimed to please here but I was also really stressed & worried that part two would not live up to expectations. Though I wrote it, I felt disconnected to it so I thought it was going to flop but part two did better than part one. It honestly shocked me!

7. Do you have a fic you wrote and loved and went under the radar? (This is your sign to reblog/repost it!)

A Thousand Feelings. This one is an Az x Rhys's sister OC. I haven't written many OCs but I have noticed that they get significantly less love than x reader. I love this one though since it was inspired by my fav holiday, Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead.)

8. Who is an artist that inspired you?

ABBA. Literally all my fics from the beginning of 2024 were inspired by an ABBA song. If you read the titles of most of my fics, you might also recognize some other artists/songs like Hozier, No Doubt, The Smiths (just a few of many. I listen to anything except for country.)

9. Who is an author that inspired you?

Honestly, all my mutuals <3 There's too many to list but I love reading their stuff. I can't remember who was the first fanfic writer I followed on here (I was a silent reader for a bit until I finally made an acotar blog.)

10. Who is a new author you discovered?

@kymawrites! She's not new to tumblr, I just happened to stumble upon her fic, Pure Love late. Absolutely loved it and am excited to read more from her masterlist! <3

11. Did you start any collaborations? How did you start it?

I haven't. I get too intimidated by other writers. They're writing is just so good that my anxiety gets the best of me & tells me that I'd ruin any collab.

12. What accomplishments are you proudest of?

I'd say writing part two to Be Safe lol. It took me 3 months to finish but I was determined to come through with that part two 🫡

13.what did you learn about writing or creating this year?

To not care so much about notes/comments. Obviously, I love getting feedback on my fics (especially comments) but getting too caught up in that can be draining & take the fun out of writing. Now, I just write what I want to keep it fun.

14. What is your advice?

My advice for writing is to just keep writing but don't burn yourself out. Way easier said than done, though. Because right now, I'm dealing with a bit of writer's block so I tell myself it's okay if I only get like one new sentence in. It's better than nothing.

15. What are your creative goals for 2025?

To start & finish a fic with consistent updates and to participate more in ACOTAR weeks. This past year, I only participated in Cas's & Eris's week & it was all last minute. I'd like to be better prepared this year.

Tagging: @ninthcircleofprythian, @sarawritestories, @kymawrites (no pressure though!)

[skimmingmilk]

I just wanted to say that I LOOOVE your Sonic fics, I think I’ve read them all at least twice xD „When the World Breaks(…)” and „Relative Dissonance” I’ve read more times 👀👀 Do you mind if I made a short animatic about one of your fics? I don’t know how, but you made me fall in love in Sonic-Tails-siblling-duo, I think I’ve become addicted xDDD The way you write, not only them, but also others is such a treat to read, please never stop writing ❤ What I really like about your stories is that there are connections between them. Like we can see different sides of the same scene, or some small continuities (Like in „A Blue Christmas(…)”, where Sonic and Tails left Amy at the ice rink, and then in „Can’t Cloud(…)” we could read that Amy returned to an empty house, my poor girl 🥺 please give her hugs T-T). I’m so happy to have found such an amazing author, I wish for you to never lose your inspiration, because as someone who’s also in the creative field I know it can be hard <3 Sorry if my english is not great xD

Ahhh, thank you!! :D I get so excited whenever "Relative Dissonance" is one of someone's favorites! <3 Also "When the World Breaks" but since Relative Dissonance is it's own thing and such a departure from the picket fence timeline, it's awesome whenever it manages to find its audience <3

And omg, I would cry the happiest tears if you made an animatic based on anything I wrote!! I would love to see whatever you came up with, and would be happy to offer any insight if you had questions or anything in messages if you felt comfortable doing that, anon :) I'm in awe of people who can create animatics, they require so much time and discipline and skill, but are such a treat to see in motion at the end of it all. Please do link me to whatever you create if you have the drive and inspiration to make something <3 I'd really love it!

And welcome to the Sonic and Tails brotherhood spiral xD Happy to have you here! Sonic and Tails have always been the relationship I'm most interested in, I can't explain why. Just something about these two drew me to them since childhood. All I want is to see more stuff with them together, so that's what I'm doing xD I never intended to have such an interconnected world for them, but it's definitely something I've done with past stories, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, lol.

It's a treat to get to plant little references or seeing a different perspective of a scene that gives it more depth or meaning. Especially when it's little one-off moments. One of my faves is from "Birth Certificate" and "even big brothers have bad dreams." Sonic assumes Tails's blanket is ripped and torn because he drags it on the ground all the time, but it's mostly because Tails will use it to try and comfort Sonic if he's having a bad dream. It snags on his quills because they're so sharp when he's stressed out from a nightmare :')

But Sonic doesn't know that, and Tails doesn't tell him xD

Anyway, yes, Amy will get all the hugs <3 And she did get to spend Christmas Day with Sonic and Tails. They had candy cane pancakes together and she got to see them open the presents she got for them! She already opened the present they got her xD She couldn't wait.

Thank you again so much for this lovely message! Your English is amazing, and I'm very touched and happy to hear from you <3

[vindicated-truth]

I was going to reply to @efadefoks' comments on this post but I realize my rambling thoughts may be too long for the reply option so I just thought of expanding my thoughts here separately as another post 😅

The most amazing thing about Beyond Evil as a show is its rewatch quality, as @efadefoks has pointed out, in that: even though you've already finished the series or already know how the story goes, every time you rewatch it, it's like there's a whole new perception about it that you still discover each time.

In my case, I'm already on my 2nd rewatch (3rd time watching) of Beyond Evil and I've still managed to look at it in a different light in each time.

During my very first time watching, I was too engrossed in wanting to find out the outcome of the mystery—the detective genre is my favorite genre of all stories and it's primarily why I finally gave Beyond Evil a try—and what I really ended up appreciating was how cleverly the story was conceptualized, executed, and revealed. The writing was exquisite, and I couldn't stop singing praises about Kim Sujin's tight writing that there was little to no plot holes in a story that is complex and nuanced, but also so tightly interconnected.

Intellectually, Beyond Evil already stands on its own as a cerebral show that does not pander to a dumbed down audience; instead, it surges forward knowing that the audience is intelligent enough to keep up.

During my second time watching, I finally was able to pay less attention to the plot (since I already know how it goes) and concentrate more on the actors—and ended up praising Kim Sujin again for her nuanced characterizations, but more than that, I was enamored by the sheer talent of the actors, and how they gave so much depth and humanity to such complex characters.

Moreover, I was finally able to see Dongsik's and Joowon's relationship for what it is: the true heart and core of the show.

And more than anything, I was hit with what I couldn't really pay attention to before, as distracted as I was by the actual case: the emotional core of the story, and that it is, at its core, a story about love, and how love is a choice, and those people who love you will always reserve a seat at the table for you, because they will always reserve a space for you in their life.

This time, in my third time watching, my praises are now towards Shim Nayeon and her brilliant execution of such a loaded, weighted script, especially as I started rewatching the show this time after watching all the behind the scenes, and I saw how clear she was in her vision for each scene, from the camera angles, to the blocking of the characters, to the whole production of the set.

(Later on, Yeo Jingoo revealed that it was the first time he experienced that kind of directing style in that every single scene was actually rehearsed in detail even before the camera starts rolling. You'll realise this as you watch the behind-the-scenes; they rehearse each scene with Shim Nayeon closely monitoring every action, every cut, so that by the time the camera starts rolling, it's efficient enough that mistakes and retakes are minimized.

Jingoo had mentioned that it felt a lot more like a theater performance rather than a TV series because of the detailed rehearsals—like they're preparing for a live performance in which no mistakes can be afforded—and that perfectionism clearly showed with Beyond Evil's end product. Every flow of one scene to the next is so clearly thought out and seamless.)

What I've also come to appreciate this time too is just how amazing the musical scoring of the show is. Objectively the OSTs are already beautiful on their own, but I'm just in awe at how cleverly executed the choices are in which scenes to use each musical score, without being heavy-handed about it, because if there's one thing I'm also awed at the musical scoring is that they also know when to utilize silence, and let the acting (of such stellar actors) to speak for itself to maximize the actual impact to the audience.

There's always something new you discover every time you watch Beyond Evil, like an endless treasure trove that you just keep digging.

No wonder fans feel so insane about the show. There's always something more to know, something more to love.

(@efadefoks and please don't apologize for rambling, because clearly, I ramble even more 😂 I love rambling about the things I love, and what I love even more are fans rambling about it together 🫶🏻)

[pianokantzart]

Fun ask for you how would you compare the brothership of Mario and Luigi vs the TMNT bros Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey?

It’s a bit tricky since the turtles dynamic changes depending on what version/show they’re from but you can pick any version of them

I'll try to be as broad as possible, but I'm probably going to lean toward the 2k12 version of TMNT on account of that being a past hyperfixation of mine.

I'd say these are the two main similarities between the TMNT sibling dynamic and the Super Mario Brothers dynamic:

Unashamed to show each other affection

Will cut a b*tch if they hurt their sibling

But Leonado, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo undoubtably have a tendency to quarrel and rub each other the wrong way, especially compared to Mario and Luigi, but this makes sense for a lot of reasons. Firstly, Mario and Luigi are almost a decade older than the TMNT. They're more numb to disappointment, aware of the mistakes they make, and experienced in handling their own emotions and impulses.

But another big difference is the way their personalities mix.

Mario and Luigi exhibit a form of a commonly-seen dominant/submissive twin dynamic:

They're set up to get along from the start.

Luigi is nervous and shy, easily pushed around, and often desiring nothing more than to be helpful. In return, Mario takes the lead and keeps his brother guarded. They live to support each other, and are both rooting for each other entire way.

But the teenaged mutant ninja turtles? They're each equipped with strong opinions and personalities that are often in opposition: stern and rule-abiding, strong willed and reckless, cautious and analytical, lighthearted and compulsive... they're all comfortable in their own methods. While they're undoubtably better as a unit, coming together stronger than the sum of their parts, they first need to learn to work through their huge differences.

With Mario and Luigi it's far more interconnected... a sword and shield dynamic. The TMNT are capable of being happy and confident when working on their own, but Mario and Luigi will always feel something is missing when the other is gone.

[meimi-haneoka]

Clear Card Trivia 2 ~ Alice in Clockland and its meaning in Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card

"But in the end...what the heck was that 'Clockland' ?"

Raise your hand if you have thought so at least once! If you did, then welcome to one of the posts of my Clear Card trivia series, an unexpected one I have to say, because I had scheduled to write other posts before tackling this one, but today I suddenly realized, thanks to a conversation in a community, that probably this aspect of the series takes precedence over other things.

I've seen countless of people confused over this matter ever since the play started in the plot, and everybody knows that usually when things get unexpectedly complex, they are quick to be labeled as "useless" and "nonsense".

No, Alice in Clockland isn't just a flex on CLAMP's outstanding drawing skills, it isn't useless, it is very much connected to the plot and DOES have a meaning.

Now that the main story is over, I would like to tackle this issue. I don't presume to have the Big Truth in my pocket, especially cause Ohkawa-sensei was quite eloquent in her recent public speeches: a motto she's going by is "If you think so, then it's surely true....for you", but I feel like the way I understood and reconnected the whole play and the consequent events inside Momo's book do work out pretty well, so I'll just do what I usually do: I'll write my own interpretation out here, hoping that people reading it will find it useful, will find the right angle to look at all this part of the story, and have some of their frustrations with this arc sedated. And maybe share it around to help other people too.

I just want to get my voice out there so that no one can say "no one understood it".

Of course the text below is full of spoilers if you haven't read the chapters from 64-ish / volume 13, also I will talk assuming you know what is Kaito's plan and what feelings moved him to think such plan.

Then, if you're ready, let's proceed to see in details what this is all about, starting from the play.

The Alice In Clockland Play

Let's start from the fact that the play is based on Alice Through The Looking Glass, and that is because….well, Alice in Wonderland is Ohkawa's most beloved book, so she really feels connected to it (and as you might know, this isn't CLAMP's first title inspired in Alice in Wonderland). It's just a preference, but for example many other books are referenced in this arc (as you might know from my other post in the Clear Card Trivia series) particularly "Momo" by Michael Ende (yeah, Akiho chose Momo's name from that book!).

The play (first called "The Two Alice" and then at last minute "Alice in Clockland") is undoubtedly the focal point of the second half of Clear Card. It's during the play that Kaito starts the final stage of his plan (and succeeds). But not only that, the plot of the play itself offers a good foreshadowing to what's going to happen to a certain someone later on. CLAMP used the "parallels" structure a lot in this arc, because it enhances the feeling of interconnection between the characters. "I understand what you're going through because the same happened to me". Sakura is an extremely empathetic character so that fits her and her world perfectly.

So the plot of the play Naoko wrote is quite simple: there are these two twin sisters who get separated by supernatural reasons and one of them ends up lost in another world, becoming Queen of it and forgetting completely about her family of origin. In the play they're both called Alice because of the imagery that twins are initially one same being that gets divided in two… Even the family of origin forgets about the lost daughter, but somehow their feelings for her never get erased, and they keep a chair (which stays empty) at their table. It's like they're feeling that someone is missing and are waiting for her to return, even if they don't really know it. One day, a magical black cat gets to meet the Alice who stayed in her world and ends up guiding her to a magical land: his goal is to lead her to meet her lost sister and reunite them. After wandering for a while. Alice finds her sister/Queen of that land, and touching her hands she suddenly remembers who she is, and what she herself came here for, which is to bring her back home. The two go back home together and we reach the happy ending of the play (which we could only see in the rewritten world, but surely followed the scenario Naoko had written). The most important message of the play is that even if we forget about someone, feelings cannot be erased and those will lead us back to the person we forgot and to remember about them. (Does this ring a bell..?)

The Actual Clockland

It might be useful to remind you that we're currently dealing with two major magical tools shaped like books, at this point of the story: one is the Book of Time Momo is guarding (to which Akiho gave the title "Alice in Clockland" and which will inspire the title of the play), a magical book capable of recording someone's life and, activating the so-called "Forbidden Magic", rewrite it completely. Another one is the magical artifact, shaped like a book, that was engraved into Akiho's body by her Clan and the Association of Magicians, where any magical book that Akiho reads gets "written down" , to store its magical power for use and consumption of those criminals. There's just one "tiny" problem: the more magic gets written on it, the more the book consumes and suffocates Akiho's soul, till the point of no return where the soul will get destroyed. The Clan and Association prefer this outcome as it would be easier for them to manipulate Akiho as an artifact, devoid of any conscience.

In the middle of the school play, Kaito brings Sakura and Akiho to Clockland, which is a "dimension" existing inside Momo's book, to prepare them for the rewriting of the world that he's going to perform afterwards. This world is built using Sakura, Akiho and Kaito's memories (you can see many elements that appeared in past chapters and that come from their memories, like the botanical garden where they had a double date, or the rose garden where Kaito met Akiho the first time). Another thing to be noted is that Hitsuzen (the force of inevitability that rules CLAMP's manga) facilitated Kaito enormously, so much that many things went exactly as he wished and how it was convenient for him (which isn't a good thing, since this led to a big big mess). So following the school play's roles, here Akiho is the Queen of this land, she's the most important character and it makes sense seeing who Kaito is doing all of this for. Sakura keeps being Alice, just like in the play.

In Clockland, Kaito removes Sakura and Akiho's memories and stores them in the botanical garden. He needs to do that for two reasons:

‐ just like the play, he hopes that Sakura and Akiho will follow along their roles and recognize eachother as sisters ‐ as such, this Clockland works as some kind of "primer" for their brain; ‐ he needs to change and rewrite those memories to make them become sisters later on, so he needs to have them collected in one place.

It is to be noted that Syaoran here is an intruder, Kaito didn't initially account for him to join in, and wanted to take on the role of the cat himself. In the play the cat is the one who leads one of the Alices to find the other one and make them recognize eachother as sisters, so this is the one thing Kaito wants to do and the role he wants to take on for himself. While it's true he takes Syaoran's appearance during the first part, his only goal the whole time was to take on the role of the Cat of the play. If the role had gone to, say, Yamazaki, he would've taken his appearance instead. This is clarified by Momo's "I wish I could've seen you interpret a funny character" line, instead of the cold and serious behavior of the Cat. And his reply, "I would've worked hard, as far as I could" is further confirmation that he would've played any type of personality as long as it was the Cat. This doesn't even affect Sakura, because while being under the effect of his spell, she doesn't recognize Syaoran in him (as she should, since it's not really him). So fundamentally it is to be excluded any intention to "manipulate her" or ease her in with Syaoran's appearance (as I had erroneusly written in a previous version of this post). Realizing the real Syaoran got in, and not wanting to be hindered in his plan, Kaito uses the Mirror Sakura Card as a red herring for the boy. Syaoran, in that regard, even as an intruder ends up achieving a result very in line with his "Cat role", which is to make someone remember (Sakura remembers her identity when he shouts her name). The Clear Cards are inside Clockland because Kaito soon will need to use them to power the forbidden spell. As we know from later events, not all of them are there, and some follow his orders (like Shade), some don't (like all the Cards with appearances of Sakura's loved ones, which are trying to give her hints along the way to wake her subconscious up ‐ this is exactly their role and it worked well because Sakura starts to free herself from the spell Kaito casted to keep her subconscious dormant and to keep her in her "in role", symbolized in the manga by a change of fonts used in the dialogues, a thing that those who have read it in English couldn't recognize because they didn't respect that aspect in the translation).

Another thing that Kaito hopes for, while the two girls interact in this "fairytale" (it is very much considered a fairytale by Kaito, since he calls all of them "characters"), is that Sakura will end up creating the Card he needs to operate the exchange of artifacts between him and Akiho (exchanging his pocket watch for the artifact book inside of her). As we said above, Hitsuzen shamelessly favors him and Sakura does end up creating Exchange at the last minute. Once that is done, Kaito doesn't need to keep them in this Clockland anymore, and by the contract they have, Momo starts to activate the forbidden spell on his request, rewriting everyone's memories to satisfy Kaito's wish to turn Akiho into Sakura's sister after he removed the artifact from her with Exchange.

Now, we know what happened after Kaito activated the forbidden spell. Everyone's memories were rewritten following his wish, and he was turned into a dragon and imprisoned by effect of the Seal of D., which was imposed on him by the Association like some sort of "trap", should he ever mess with Akiho's artifact.

But it's here that the play from above comes back in from the "backdoor", to bring the unexpected parallel: Kaito ends up being the character who's lost in another world and whose existence is totally forgotten by a loved one.

But that loved one got a "memento" of him (the pocket watch, which parallels the role of the chair in the play) and that object causes Akiho to feel strange, to feel like she has to fix it, she's extremely attracted to this pocket watch even if she doesn't know why. In the end, just like in the play, Akiho and Kaito reunite and despite not remembering anything about him, and not even having his true appearance in front of her (cause she meets him as a dragon first), Akiho knows perfectly well that that is the person she loves the most, because her feelings weren't erased (just like in the play).

Sakura's role in the finale ends up being similar to the one of the black cat, making everyone remember who they really are and their connections.

So this is roughly the "significance" of both the play and Clockland in this story. It is to be noted that what happens in Clockland is extremely abstract and full of riddles because Alice in Wonderland + Through The Looking Glass are exactly like that. Have you tried to read the originals by Lewis Carrol? It's quite difficult to follow along and nothing seems to make sense….when actually, with a different reading key, it does. I've had to pause my reading of Through The Looking Glass (that I had started in hope to understand the Clear Card story better) multiple times because it's quite difficult for me to stay focused and understand what's going on. I guess Ohkawa‐sensei wanted to go all out on the references to this story, and give the same narrative vibe. The references of course don't stop at the narrative structure, you can read the others in my post about the literary references that I had linked at the beginning of this post, in the section about Alice in Wonderland.

Kaito's True Feelings

Another thing to be noted about Clockland is that since it's playing a lot with the subconscious of the characters, Kaito's true feelings end up appearing here and there. The Queen's Castle, the most important place, is built on crystals, a reference to his true name (something that Sakura points out immediately and Kaito doesn't reply to, while showing a pensive face). Their memories together are protected and stored inside the botanical garden, once again made of crystals. Sakura hits the bull's eye particularly when she says that the rose garden (where Kaito met Akiho for the first time) feels extremely important to someone (that someone is Kaito, of course), and Kaito (disguised as Syaoran) looks away and urges her to move forward. The "someone" could be interpreted as Akiho too, of course, but the Cat/Kaito's reaction and the fact that the Cards told Sakura that this place is strictly interconnected with someone's "wish", makes me lean more toward Kaito. The garden pavillion appearing with the Repair card is another important place because it's where Lilie told him "you'll find something/someone you'll like, one day". It's quite telling that Sakura, despite not even remembering who she is, is guided by her infinite empathy and recognizes immediately those parts of this land that reveal Kaito's true heart and the core of this whole matter, through the continuous questions she keeps posing to everyone, in a desperate attempt to make sense of what's happening and subconsciously fight the spell that's keeping her in her "role" (she'll do that with Akiho too, later).

It's interesting to note also just how much Hitsuzen played on Kaito's side, guiding Tomoyo's instinct to re-do the outfits for the two Alices and ending up giving to Akiho a serious, dark outfit with a black veil. I remember how me and some friends commented that more than a queen, she looked like a mourning bride. Considering what happened afterwards, the imagery CLAMP chose was pretty spot on. Not only that, but the black veil also served as a metaphor for Kaito keeping Akiho's subconscious dormant, making her act like the role of the play required her to. Needless to say, Akiho was able to slip away from the grasp of that spell basically on her own, without even needing magic, only relying on her strong feelings for Kaito (she didn't even remember her name, but lifting the veil up - a very powerful imagery - she remembered that she had someone she loved, and also Sakura's name. This gets once again conveyed in the Japanese version by the change of fonts in the script). The rose headpiece is also another quite interesting part of the outfit, as Sakura asks to the Cat/Kaito why the roses in the garden are all white, despite being this the Red Queen's land... For sure, that place was referencing the real rose garden where Kaito and Akiho met the first time, where the roses were all white, but that also means that the only Red Rose in that land is....Akiho. I also remind you that the rose headpiece was featured in the color page of chapter 69, with Kaito cradling it in his arms with a sweet smile, as if he were holding something very precious....we could read the color illustration as "that's the only thing he got left of Akiho".

This is the reason why Momo, in a moment where the Alices are on their own, tells Kaito that no matter how much he tries to hide himself behind the Syaoran disguise, his true nature shows up anyway. The whole place is full of elements making reference to very important things in his heart, and his true wish. That is only normal because the whole place is made up of their memories. This is also why Momo says that Kaito gave "all of himself" for the activation of the spell.

Another very interesting part is when Sakura, before meeting the Cat/Kaito, meets her friends Rika, Chiharu, Yamazaki and Naoko in the shape of the corresponding Cards (Appear, Synchronize and True & False). The Cards tell her that what appears in this world depends on what Sakura wishes, but her reply is "This is the Red Queen's land. Shouldn't she be the one to decide what appears here in this world?" which works wonderfully on a metaphorical level to point at how Akiho should be the one deciding what happens from now on, since this place is hers and was built for her alone. Seeing how mad Akiho got at Kaito afterwards for deciding her happiness on her behalf, yes, Sakura's question was pretty legit.

In Clockland we have also lots of meaningful interactions between Sakura and Akiho and words said in conversation that will become absolutely essential to help Sakura reaching the truth in the rewritten world (especially the whole discussion about "memories" and "records"), since they stayed in her heart even with the activation of the forbidden spell.

And I believe this is everything regarding these two parts of the Clear Card plot, a way for CLAMP to undoubtedly experiment with a different kind of storytelling, and to ask their readers to dedicate a little bit more of attention to the story, trying to get out of the logical approach to things, and thinking on a more abstract and metaphorical level.

[collecting-stories]

King of my Heart - Jay Halstead

Request: Hi! Can i request King Of My Heart with Jay Halstead?❤️ 

A/N: I just really like the idea of Jay with like a firefighter s/o. I think I've written like two other fics with him and a firefighter s/o, pretend they're all interconnected lol.

TS Anthology Series | One Chicago Masterlist

...is this the end of all the endings?...

Dating with your schedule was not easy. Finding time to actually connect with people outside of work was next to impossible, especially since you’d taken on some paramedicine shifts for Sylvie on your days off from the Firehouse.

While you were trying not to rush into things or make any assumptions about whether dating was the correct term, you’d been spending a lot of time with Jay in recent weeks. You’d volunteered to help at a city garden that Trudy helped organize and he’d been there too and you’d both sort of clicked (at least that’s how you described it to Stella later on because you were too hesitant to admit that Jay had pretty much stuck to your side that whole day and asked you for drinks immediately after).  

“I just don’t wanna like...move too fast.” You explained, pulling your shirt over your head and fixing your hair, “like, okay...what if it’s just supposed to be like a casual thing and I make it this big thing in my head that it isn’t? Then I feel stupid and I can never show my face when he’s around.” 

“Listen, if it’s casual, he’s the one who should feel stupid. You’re a total catch,” Stella replied, always ready to be your cheerleader when you were feeling insecure about something. “You are a total badass, you’re on Squad. You don’t need some guy and he’s lucky you’re giving him the time of day.” 

“I wouldn’t go that far.” 

“I would!” Stella insisted, “you don’t need him, don’t feel like you need validation or something.” 

“I don’t. I’ll admit I’m okay single but, it is kinda nice having someone...I don’t know, want to put in the effort after a long shift. I mean, it’s not like we have easy jobs.” You replied, grabbing your duffel from the bench and slinging it over your shoulder. “I guess I just want some clarification. Are we dating? Is he thinking this could be something more serious? Is he even looking for something more serious?” 

“Are you?” She deadpanned as you both made your way out of the locker room. Most of the other third shift had left already but Stella had hung back with you while you showered, mostly to listen to you have a mini-crisis over your budding relationship with Jay.  

“I feel like I could be.” You shrugged, “that sounds stupid but like, sometimes I just look at him and think like, yeah I could do this every day of my life. That’s really fucking scary Stella...like...” 

You trailed off as you made it out onto the driveway and saw Jay’s pickup parked out front. He was standing there on the passenger side, leaning against the truck and when he saw you he smiled. Stella nudged your ribs playfully before giving you a silent wave goodbye and heading to her car.  

“Hey,” you called out as you got closer, “don’t you have work?”  

“Caught a double yesterday, just got off like an hour ago.” Jay replied, “Figured if you don’t have plans this morning you might wanna get breakfast?”  

“Oh my god yes, I’m starving,” you said, letting Jay take the bag off your shoulder and toss it in the back of his truck. “Herrmann has a new candidate and he offered to make dinner last night-” you shuddered and Jay laughed. 

“That bad?” 

“Terrible! And we ended up getting a call anyway so basically...no dinner.” 

Jay shot you a sympathetic look over middle console, “Shit baby, I’m sorry.” 

You felt yourself warm up at the sound of him calling you baby. You weren’t much for pet names but somehow hearing the word out of Jay’s mouth squashed all the worries you’d been keeping close to your chest.  

- 

“Jay!” You whispered, trying not to laugh and draw anyone’s attention, though most everyone in the house was asleep at this hour. Aside from Herrmann who had gotten stuck on night shift and was currently trying to keep his eyes open to reruns of Lets Make a Deal in the common room. He had ears like a hawk though and you knew he’d come snooping if he heard commotion. “We’re gonna get in trouble.” 

Jay smiled against your neck, placing another kiss there before responding, “I don’t work here so technically...” 

“Well don’t get me in trouble then!” You replied, unable to stop a laugh from escaping this time as you bumped into the washing machine.  

It was nearly one in the morning when Jay had shown up at the firehouse, texting you and telling you to let him in the back door. He’d just gotten off work and you still had six more hours on shift but it was officially your six month anniversary and he was surprisingly sentimental. Although you weren’t sure that making out in the laundry room like two horny teenagers was exactly sentimental.  

You didn’t get much time to consider anything at all because the siren went off, the overhead voice alerting the firehouse, “Truck 81, Engine 51, Squad 3, Ambulance 61.” 

“I have to go,” you insisted, pulling away, “Jay, I have to go.”  

“I know, I know.” He let go of you, stepping away so you could head out to the apparatus. He followed behind you, careful to stay out of the way, stopping at the Squad table. 

“I knew I heard something!” Herrmann laughed, walking through the double doors with Ritter, “Sneaking around the firehouse like a couple a kids!”  

You did your best to ignore Herrmann as you geared up, stealing one more kiss from Jay, “I’ll see you after shift?” 

“Yeah, I’ll pick you up.” 

“Get in the rig lovebird!” Tony called out the window and you rolled your eyes before climbing up into the back with him and Capp.  

You couldn’t resist a last glance out the window as you pulled out into the street, Jay standing there with his hands in his pockets, watching you and grinning. By the time you got to the fire, you’d be clear headed and ready to work but until then, you’d let yourself be a little lovestruck.  

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

Bestie! Do you have any media recommendations? (Pref books or podcasts)

you’ve got different taste then all my other mutuals and I wanna expand my horizons

Podcast wise I'm not sure I could recommend anything you haven't listened to. I've just started Camp Here and There thanks to osmosis from you and Soup and also Glabella got me into The Silt Verses. I've also listened to Hello from the Hallowoods, which I would recommend. It's calmer than Malevolent or TSV. I used to listen to it to get to sleep, but started having trouble, and then couldn't listen to it in other times of day as I pavloved myself into getting calm and tired when I listened to it. It's been long enough now that I'm contemplating starting it up again, but am unsure where to start my listening. I've heard Old Gods of Appalachia is great but I haven't listened to it.

In Hello from the Hallowoods (here's the website if you want more info), an eldritch narrator follows the increasingly connected residents of the forest at the end of the world. Nikignik does a sort of radio show, with about 3 stories from around the Hallowoods,- what someone is doing, who is running from what- each night, broadcasting into dreams. You start to hear more and more from the same group of people and realize just how interconnected these people are. Each story has a similar theme or something connecting them.

Book wise- I just spent this past year reading all of the Cosmere, a sort of collected universe by Brandon Sanderson. If you've seen me reblogging things tagged Stormlight Archive, that's a big series in there that I love very very much. I would definitely recommend Stormlight, or Mistborn if you want a series but one that's not as long. Warbreaker, the Sunlit man, and Tress of the Emerald Sea are my favorite standalones done by Brandon Sanderson, but Sunlit and Tress kind of require some basic knowledge of the Cosmere to have the best time with them. Stormlight's a big epic fantasy and is kind of hard to describe. Mistborn is easier to describe. A group of gentleman thieves decide to overthrow an evil emperor. Also magic is powered by metal. It's more complicated than that, but that's what my brain's giving right now. I would just look up a summary/ back of the book for these, especially Warbreaker. Another thing I like about Brandon Sanderson's works, especially Mistborn, Stormlight, and Warbreaker, is that you don't just get a 19 year old protagonist and that's it. So many fantasy books I've read either have the main characters all as young adults (19) or like 500. and I got tired of reading that. Whereas here, there are protagonists of different generations. So for example, in Mistborn the protagonists are like 35, 16-17, and basically all secondary characters are in their mid 30s. Stormlight- there's a 20 year old, a 25 year old, a 17 year old, and a 55 year old. There's a variety other than Older Teen/Young Adult and 500 year old someone who looks 25! There are people who are in their 30s! So if that's something that appeals to you, tada.

Non cosmere books- ummmmmm (wracking my brain trying to think of what I enjoyed before the cosmere)

Dracula the book is fantastic. It's amazing. It's epistolary (journal entries) and very different than what pop culture has possibly led you to believe. Johnathan Harker and Arthur Lester would be friends. There's at least one podcast reading out the days of this in chronological order (re:dracula) and an email version of that (dracula daily) but I'd recommend reading the book first in the order things are given there, as certain things are out of order date wise on purpose, or will have a collection of a certain character's journals for a month before you see that month from another character. The first entry is May 3rd, so you have time if you want to read the book and then listen to the podcast/ get the emails as it happens.

Six of Crows Duology is also great. It's been a while since I read that. Thieves (they're all like between 15 and 20) doing a supposedly impossible heist and becoming friends.

The Underland Chronicles- Do not let the middle grade designation fool you. There is strife in these books. This is the first series Suzanne Collins wrote. Gregor, age 11, falls down a laundry shoot after his sister Boots, who's like a toddler?, and ends up in a world below ours filled with talking rats, cockroaches, bats, and more! He unfortunately fits a prophecy they have.

The Thief (and the Queen's Thief series, although I've only read books 1-3). Gen's been in prison for a year after boasting he could steal anything and break out of any cell. The kingdom's magus has found an ancient treasure, needs the aid of a thief to get it, and picks Gen. The first book is from Gen's perspective and the rest in third person. Stories of old gods and goddesses from the land are throughout the book and it's neat. (as an aside, Gen falls into the "gods' blorbo" character type I'm beginning to realize I love)

That's all I can think of right now.