#fireflies i love you <3 <3 <3

[mysterypigeon]

going to cry over all the names for fireflies. we have "lightning bugs" and "glow bugs", but i'm also looking through a thread where people are giving rough translations of their words in other languages and there's

little glow worms (glühwürmchen, germany)

little lights (lucciole, italy)

twinkle-twinkle (kunang-kunang, indonesia)

twinkling fire (반딧불이, korea)

fire fly (ホタル, japan)

twinkling star (หิ่งห้อย, thailand)

light (světlušky, czechia)

(also sankthansorm in norway which means Saint Hans' worm, and szentjánosbogár in hungary which means Saint John's beetle/bug. Saint Hans is another name for John the Baptist)

those were all the rough translations by speakers i could find in that thread. and ough. we all know they're tiny stars

[deerspherestudios]

HIII!!!

Don't feel any pressure to get to this question fast! I love your game so much! I feel like you gave Mycheal some really good characteristics! I find him being kind yet also smug really funny and endearing, and you did a great job balancing the two out in a way that makes sense for mycheal. He (except the yandere part) seems like some one I would enjoy being around.

But my question is, how long is his tail? And how long is his tail compared to him?? I love him but I want to as cannon as possible when I draw him.

NOW GO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! Drink water! And go to bed at a reasonable time!!!

Waa tysm!! I really didn't wanna flatten him to just one personality trait. I've always intended him to be a bit of a rascal - so his playful attitude comes out as you get to know him and he gets comfortable with you.

I suppose some people didn't expect it since he came off as shy and reserved in Day 1 but that's just how it is when you get to know someone better. I hope as the game expands you guys like seeing more sides of him!

Also I think I've answered before, his tail is pretty long! It reaches his feet with a bit of a curl at the end.

[baeshijima]

if anyone asks

tell them ive ascended to heaven

[anxiety-pickle]

The firefly analysis I promised I'd do

In honor of me getting E1 Firefly in a single ten pull, I’ve decided to give her a real character analysis. And to defend her from the people saying she only exists to be fanservice/TB’s romantic interest/or just general misunderstandings that I’ve seen circulating around. I’m her lawyer now welcome to court

Let’s start with her backstory (contains spoilers for The Embers of Glamoth animation):

Firefly comes from the planet Glamoth, which existed during the worst of the Swarm Disaster, as part of their Iron Cavalry, which was synthesized for the sole purpose of defending the planet from the swarm

Firefly did not have a name but a serial code, as did every member of the Iron Cavalry.

Every member of the Iron Cavalry was genetically engineered for the purpose of piloting the Sam suits

Part of this genetic engineering was purposefully inflicting each of their soldiers with Entropy Loss Disorder, a condition wherein the person affected gradually begins to lose control of their body. For this reason they need to stay in their suits

In the 2.3 quest, Firefly states that the reason that they were engineered in this way was to prevent the soldiers from falling into the wrong hands, which might mean 1) they were designed with a physical disability such that it would be difficult for them to leave their battlesuits and thus discourage escape/dissent/being anything other than a weapon for the purpose of fighting the Swarm, 2) there were other factions on Glamoth (or otherwise) that coveted the technology of the Iron Cavalry and the Entropy Loss Disorder was supposed to be a safeguard against the possession of their technology, 3) Entropy Loss Disorder would in some way damage the technology needed to pilot after time (and threaten the pilot’s life), but the presence of a cure may suggest that this was a tactic military personnel used to manipulate the soldiers (ie if you do xyz after the war ends we’ll cure you so you should keep fighting until we defeat the swarm)

Firefly must have served in the cavalry for quite some time, because in “Presently, Beneath a Shared Sky of Stars”, her friend remarks that her hair being so long is proof that she has survived for a long time

She was also likely growing her hair out as a form of self expression

All of the Iron Cavalry are clones (or something similar), which is why they all look so similar. It’s unclear right now if the rest of Glamoth’s native inhabitants shared those traits or if they were a byproduct of the genetic engineering, but I’m leaning towards the latter

During the final battle between Glamoth’s Iron Cavalry and the Swarm, an explosive device was detonated, destroying the swarm mother and the Swarm members across the planet, but also left Firefly as the only survivor

She spent roughly 120,000 years suspended in space unconscious before the Stellaron Hunters found her, and she joined them in hopes of finding a cure for her Entropy Loss Disorder so she could live a life separately from the one she was born into

   Firefly’s character is so central to the themes of Penacony and seeing people dismiss her as just ‘waifu bait’ is soooo annoying. She embodies the message that Penacony is intending to instill us with, the idea that life is worth living regardless of how difficult it is; the dream of Penacony is a hollow illusion, and true “happiness” can only be achieved by living yourself. A dream only exists to precede the waking world. A dream is a reprieve, a preparation, a rehearsal, but not the performance itself. 

   Firefly’s goal in Penacony (and in joining the Stellaron Hunters) is finding the means to live. Congrats for being one of like two Penacony characters that aren’t suicidal queen. She wants to live. She wants her life so bad. She wants it enough to risk the 3 deaths the Script has detailed for her. She wants to live, not as a weapon, trapped inside the suit which has defined her identity, but as a person! Firefly was raised as a tool with the specific goal of learning how to be human. This can be seen in both the 2.3 trailer and her character trailer. She wants to form an identity separate of the one she was created for. She wants to be something more than the destruction she can cause. She wants to be more than Sam (this is also makes for a fun transfem interpretation but that’s for another post). And being a normal person includes… being normal. She strives for normalcy: trying out the foods in Penacony, making friends (even potentially romantic partners), experiencing everything that life has to offer. 

   She’s such a powerful character to me because she represents the denial of Nihility; she has hope. She embodies the hope that underpins the Penacony plotline. We have Aventurine, finding the hope it takes to keep living, Gallagher, putting his trust in Mikhail and the Nameless, the Trailblazers who founded Penacony having hope in their successors, Acheron believing that one day they will triumph against the Nihility. Firefly has already had her moment of uncertainty - asking “why do we live? Why do we die?” She isn’t sure of the answer, but she wants to keep living. 

   Firefly also seems to be a person who struggles with her own sense of individuality. In her character story II, she says “Are there any of them who have spoken to her? It was a realization that struck her for the first time. So… each person is unique?” The SAM suits are deliberately ubiquitously designed; there are no variations in design between fighters, no way to visually distinguish anyone; and the Cavalry even lack names, instead being assigned a certain serial number. Firefly is initially a product, a commodity, a tool, and an extension of her people to be used as a weapon against the Swarm. Every aspect of the Iron Cavalry is designed to be dehumanizing. Their lives and livelihoods are predetermined, never to survive outside of the battlefield. It makes perfect sense that she would put so much effort into deviating from the Script - she’s trying to reclaim autonomy over her life, to defy even the hands of fate which may try to steer her course. In becoming a follower of the Finality, she is also its most ardent denier. 

   Now onto the main criticism I see of Firefly: that she is entirely fanservice bait.

   I won’t deny that a lot of her marketing pairs her with the trailblazer, but that’s… not a bad thing, and I’m not sure why people think it is? Their characters compliment each other, from the story to the gameplay. They are quite literally intertwined together. 

   To be “waifu-bait”, her character would have to revolve entirely around the Trailblazer, all components of her personality, narrative purpose, thematics, etc being flattened to revolve around a romantic interest. You would have to ignore her backstory, her personality, AND the story itself to try and claim that Firefly has no character. I’m not saying you have to like her / you can not want to engage with the themes of her character, but trying to justify disinterest by lying on the internet is soooo annoying. 

   It also seems that the basis of this criticism comes from the pacing of 2.0, and I would like to remind everyone that Trailblazer is their own character, not a self-insert. That won’t stop a lot of people from viewing them that way, but multiple times they speak during the story, have canonical character traits (such as “social anxiety” circa the 2.3 Trailblazer’s Stern world quest), and the game frequently takes efforts to give them a specific and unique nature, as opposed to the Traveler from Genshin. The Trailblazer canonically is obsessed with trash. Like, trying to deny that they have their own well-defined character is… wrong. I’ve also seen it said that “because you have choice in dialogue options” they’re a self-insert, but I would argue that this is also a weak argument because those dialogue options don’t actually change what the Trailblazer does AT ALL. Not to mention, there’s rarely much actual diversity in the dialogue options. The game is always leading the Trailblazer to reply in a certain way, and they have particular opinions towards different people. 

   Also, the idea that the Trailblazer is nothing but a self-insert feels like justification for the whole “Firefly is my (the trailblazer’s) waifu”. Which is, like. If you want to say that, go off I guess? I’m not here to analyze your personal relationship to pixels or whatever, but this is relevant to the argument that Firefly only exists as fanservice. Trailblazer likes Firefly regardless of what the player thinks. This is entirely incompatible with the idea of Trailblazer as a true self-insert. That’s not going to stop people from thinking Trailblazer is a self-insert, but I think it would be a lot more accurate to say that we’re playing the events of Honkai Star Rail from Trailblazer’s perspective. 

   All this is to say, in 2.0 it’s actually less important for the player to like Firefly than it is for the Trailblazer to like her. Because… (drumroll please)... they already know each other! 

   It’s common knowledge that Trailblazer traveled with the Stellaron Hunters prior to being with the Astral Express, but those memories were wiped. Upon meeting Firefly for the first time, she reacts with familiarity which would be inappropriate if she was really a stranger, but she isn’t! Even though Trailblazer doesn’t exactly remember her, she can remember them. With this added context, it makes SO much sense that Trailblazer gets attached to her so quickly. Even if they don’t remember her consciously, they do remember her subconsciously. 

   The Trailblazer cares so much about her that they have a panic attack just remembering her being “killed” by Death - and honestly, even if they weren’t already familiar with her, that’s just a traumatic and horrible thing to see and that reaction would be perfectly normal. I don’t like how many people were like ‘we don’t even know her’ a (presumed) innocent person just got IMPALED in front of them ofc they’re upset??? Anyways. I think that Firefly’s character also helps define Trailblazer’s character - they bounce off each other! It’s always a good thing when a character gets more canon interactions with other characters. 

   Now, I do think Trailblazer and Firefly are supposed to be implied romantic, but there’s nothing saying you HAVE to ship them. This is probably the closest we’ll ever be to getting a canon ship with the trailblazer tbh. Even if it WAS canon you don’t have to ship them, not sure if you’ve heard but you have this awesome thing called free will and you can use it to mash your barbie dolls together however you want. However I think it does a disservice to both Trailblazer and Firefly to act like the only reason they act like that towards each other is because of fanservice appealing to a….certain part of the fanbase which will not be named. 

   This honestly doesn’t hold up for me because hyv doesn’t NEED to apply ‘fanservice’ for fans to sexualize/”simp for”/project onto/whatever. They’re going to do that anyways. Look what they did to my girls Acheron and Robin. You could also make the argument that all of these characters appeal to fanservice - after all, they’re characters in a gacha game. They’re meant to sell and make money. Doesn’t mean you have to like it, but it is something to consider. There’s always going to be people who ship themselves with characters / treat the Trailblazer like a self-insert through which they can roleplay a relationship with those characters. It wouldn’t matter if Trailblazer was a self-insert or not, and it wouldn’t matter if Firefly was fanservice or not. It would happen anyways. It already happens. It’s kind of the selling point for a lot of people. But I’m concerned with the relationship between characters, and I’m not interested in pretending Firefly is some one-dimensional character who exists only for the purpose of fanservice, and I won’t be entertaining discourse on that praxis. 

   Firefly’s personality is most likely doubly meant to appeal to (insert strange part of fandom) but I think that’s okay because it’s also very consistent with her character. She wants to be normal. She wants to experience normal relationships. And she’s always been rather lighthearted - the members of the Iron Cavalry are supposed to be “grateful to be born”, after all. I’m not sure Firefly even knows she has the option to be like. Actually upset. Her personality doesn’t change around Trailblazer, nor is it at any point dependent on them. 

   I don’t think it’s wrong at all for Trailblazer to have a romantic interest (again, it’s still not canon and you don’t have to ship them, it’s just what makes most sense as an implication). It isn’t cheapening either of their characters. God forbid Firefly… enjoy Trailblazer’s company? 

   And now onto one of my favorite stickers in the whole game: 

 “Once we dreamed of being strangers. Upon waking up, we realized we had always loved each other.” I WIN AGAIN. Between the bridal carry, the hand holding to the backdrop of fireworks (which I also think is interesting considering the romantic connotations of fireworks), it’s clear to me that their relationship isn’t shoehorned in, it’s the “I forgot you but I’d know you anywhere” trope!!!! Not even memory loss can stop them good for them good for them.

   Anyways if you hate Firefly you’re allergic to fun and whimsy and your hatred of her is WEIRD /hj 

[toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp]

I just finished Act 1 of the Penacony Story in Honkai Star Rail and all I have to say is....

I AM IN SHAMBLES!!

😭😭😭

Also fuck you and your "To Be Continued" Hoyoverse! You can't do this to my brain rn!

Btw, here have a new meme:

@yokomisaki ain't lying! This felt just like Vegas.

[mymarifae]

thinking about my stellefireflys

i just woke up from an unfortunate 8pm - 12 am nap i don't have words this image is th e best i can conjure up. to express my fucking feelings

[can-i-see-your-passport-please]

A Collection of my Creations in the HLVRAI so far

Heyyy thought I should do this as a new pinned postttt

My asks are, unless they are closed, always open, and I'm always down to hear your thoughts and ideas and shit! If I didn't answer an ask, it's most likely because I didn't have the energy to answer it and it's now just sitting there and I cannot answer it because it would be awkward. But I am cherishing it <3

CHECK OUT MY FRIEND DIMONDS'S STUCK TOGETHER AU WHERE BENREY AND GORDON GET FUSED INTO A SILLY GUY NAMED BERDEY

hehehe anyway

All my HLVRAI fanart and writing in general is here on my art blog!

Here's a vampire AU I made! Twist to this is that Gordon's a vampire, Benrey's human and just weird as fuck. There's no real plot to this (though at the time of writing this post I do plan to write a fic or two), but @/winkyfaceanon has made two really sweet fics for this AU, check em out!

Here's a compilation I made with my friend Dimonds for all my reasons Gordon's a lil bit gay for Benrey, please skip the first 38 seconds I'm begging you. Oh, and if you're gonna leave a comment about how I'm Wrong, or if the video pisses you off, you can do this very simple thing called Just Stop Watching The Video (can you tell i've gotten annoying comments on this video)

Here's an older animatic of the bridge for the song Horror Show! This is what my first designs looked like btw fjndksjnfjknds

Here's three small and silly animatics <3

Here's a Frenrey animatic of the song uwu by Chevy! I still think this one's REALLY cute <3

Here's stuff I've made in Gmod! A lotta Frenrey, as you may expect from me at this point.

MY FANFICTIONS

These are listed in order of when I wrote them, and they take place in different continuities for the most part. Pretty much all of them are Frenrey, so if you don't like Frenrey you mayy not want to read it. Majority of my fics are oneshots, since I have low motivation jnsdkjfnds. I don't write smut (I'm literally sex repulsed asexual and a minor /silly), and don't tend to write hurt no comfort except for once, but I do write pretty heavy angst. Please read the content warnings for a lot of these.

I explicitly forbid any of my creative work from being fed into an AI in any way.

IF YOU SEND ASKS ABOUT MY FICS I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER

unnamed. Takes place post-canon. Benrey at this point has been alone for months, isolating himself after Xen and spiraling really badly. Then he leaves the house once aaand runs into Gordon. Reunion ensues. I didn't name it because I couldn't think of a name and it was my first fic. Read the content warnings.

You're still here, and you're beautiful to me. Takes place post-canon. Benrey respawns after Xen, and none of his injuries are healed. He then finds Gordon, who helps to take care of his injuries. I personally consider this one of my best works. There's things I'd change now, of course, but I still love it a lot. Read the content warnings.

as long as your heart continues to beat. Takes place during canon. Benrey's listening to Gordon's heartbeat after the betrayal. And then it stops. This one isn't beta read and I wrote it in like, a few hours on the fly, so it's not my best, but I like it.

Cuddles are the best cure for depression actually. Takes place post-canon. This is exactly what it says on the tin. Benrey's got depression and can't get out of bed, Gordon cuddles him. Short but sweet.

If ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep. Takes place post-canon. Gordon and Benrey are kinda in a relationship, and Benrey gets a package at the door that he's not letting Gordon see. In the middle of the night, Gordon gets to see what it is. This one's REALLY cute, and I really love it. It's fluffy and it's sweet.

all for the love of you. Saying this straight-up, READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS. Takes place post-canon. Tommy finds a... note from Benrey that he wrote before Xen. I have more complicated feelings towards this fic, I don't personally like it as much in retrospect and think I could've done much better on it, but I'm putting it here since it is still one of my fics. Read the content warnings, for the love of god.

Benrey gets drunk fic. Takes place post-canon. This is just a fluff fic I wrote for the third HLVRAI anniversary where Benrey's drunk and flirting with a very sober and very gay Gordon, who does not know how to cope with this.

do your job and keep them safe. Takes place during canon. This is... well, let's just say it's a reframing of HLVRAI from Benrey's perspective (at least, in align with my headcanons). Only the first thousand or so words are on Ao3, the rest are in Google Docs, as I made... choices that could only be made in Google Docs. I always link my Ao3 because it has the EXTREMELY necessary content warnings, which I couldn't include on the Google Doc. I personally think this is one of my best works, and if you are in a space where you can read it, please do, this over anything. Read the content warnings.

you're alone. and it's all your fucking fault. Benrey has respawned from Xen, in an apartment, and realizes that he is all alone and cannot be near his friends again. This is one of the only hurt no comfort fics I've written, and can serve as a bit of a prequel to that unnamed fic (if you'd like to see it that way). Read the content warnings.

[anotherpapercut]

CORRECT THANK YOU FOR SHARING

[rylarts]

Happy Halloween! Ft. Silverfly <3

[acaciapines]

absolutely self-indulgent owl language breakdown from my owl house daemon au bc i was having fun with it today:

so we have 'wings-across-night' which is what the owl beast/firefly calls herself in her own language. the sounds of this name are spelled out as 'grr-click-growl', which, bc i have a sounds-to-general-meaning dictionary, is this idea of like...

the 'grr' and 'growl' are these lasting sounds, longer, and somewhat low and dangerous, which get across the 'wings' and 'night' idea that posit firefly as a hunter, who hunts best in the night. then we have the 'click' for across which is sort of a joining-together, and all-together it comes across as this long rumbling sound, ie of an owl in flight across the sky.

and then we get to FIREFLY, which, man it took me a WHILE to get to firefly as the translated witch-language/english version of wings-across-night. its this idea that...wings-across-night is a hunter of the night, she is someone who is found and associated with darkness, but it ALSO has an implication of being seen: she flies across the night, and is thus illuminated by it.

and so FIREFLY. as these creatures who glow in the dark, who live there and make it their own with something bright inside of them and its just so FUN.

and we get!! other names too! like 'king' being 'puffs out chest' because it comes from that sorta arrogance of his youth, being an itty-bitty baby who saw himself as the king of demons, but then later on its also this idea of like, how one might puff up as a sort of way of saying im HERE, not in an arrogant way but in a claiming this place as their own sort of way, which king does: he might be a titan but hes also a CLAWTHORNE.

'one that hoards' is what 'the collector' translates to in owl, but firefly doesnt call him this for long...bc the thing she notices about them is how SCARED they can get, how hesitant they are, bc theyve had so much taken from them and theyre protective of what they do have, yes in a way that can be harmful (look at their relationship w king lol) but also like...reaches out scared...and so we get this translating to 'sraf' in witch-language because that's what it is all about, in the end: the collector who has reached, terrified, for this thing he was told to avoid, and made it his own, and made himself sraf.

sea-and-light for luzmari is one of the first owl-names i came up with and one im still so fond of...they're called sea-and (mari) or and-light (luz) separately but no matter what we get the AND in there, tying them together as a pair despite all else. 'light' is straightforward for luz but 'sea' is a bit less for mari, but it connects for both of them similar things--light being the glyph luz finds first, ice being the one mari did, but mari not being so cold despite it all, but a thing ice melts into. (also when i was picking names i saw that 'maritza' means something relating to the sea, tho this was Years ago n i dont know how true that is lol since i dont have the source anymore). mari being first because she has chosen to be first, flipping the human-first script on its tail, bc firefly is an owl, and why would she follow convention?

im still poking around at my names for hunter and amity...last night i came up with something like berrysharp or berry-click or berry-(click) for amity and alma--i know they get a name together because they are almost always holding on to one another, and 'berry' for this sort of idea of both the purple but also like, berries can be bitter, sweet, something inbetween, and amityalma have been A Lot Of Things. and then the sharpness being the idea of like, throughout the fic amity is sort of the first character to just be HERSELF, especially when compared to luzmari who spend nearly the entire series really struggling with this...dunno this one im still turning over lol. the 'click' part of things is just bc 'click' tends to mean like, combining two things, which seems fitting for a name that is amity and alma together.

i have Nothing yet for hunter. some ideas. ive been toying with hunter and flapjack's name being something, and then somethings shadow--ie whatever name one of them gets, the other gets the same name with shadow tacked on, which fits their Vibes, plus when firefly meets them, which is post-hollow mind when things are Bad. prooooobably it would go flapjack and then hunter is flapjack's shadow, which i think is fun...but we'll see i still need a NAME. something to do with palistrom trees?

dunno. just...owl language <3

[macabremadnesss]

I wanna talk about how absolutely batshit crazy they made baby in 3 from hell. Like she was already insane in the previous 2 movies but you can just tell that being incarcerated fucked her up even more and I am so HERE FOR IT!!!! You can just tell that she's not the same

[defiant-firefly]

Hey guess who's been scribbling again

Been a while since I've done this and thought I'd share. We got Morgana and Koromaru from the Persona series, Hopeful from the @/ihopeso comic (which is amazing btw go look at that right now) and some random doggos and stuff for a fun project I might start soon.

[fireflywitch]

hi firefly!! i love your work!! ive been showing a lot of love to california show your teeth lately (and its absolutely 1000% deserved!!!) but i also wanted to make sure you knew that i also love "i think there is someone (you love)" bc i was going back thru my bookmarks recently and discovered that it was You who wrote it and i was like :0 that fic is so crazy feel good and soso lovely and i still think abt the final scene w them all at the madonna concert having a blast ALL THE TIME. makes me wanna cry from joy every time 😭😭😭

I also had a question about CSYT: ao3 shows that there are gonna be 19 total chapters... will this be the complete story or will you be writing a sequel? I promise I'm not trying to get ahead of myself lol just curious!!!!

i hope you have a great day!!!! 🩷🩷🩷 thank you for gifting us even a fraction of your work to read!!! i feel blessed so thank you!!!

awwwww skrjghkxjhdfg ur literally out here making my day and yes! i think there is someone (you love) was my first time really playing with will & el's dynamic and i definitely think you can see it as a theme in everything that's followed hahahahaha

yes! so cali show ur teeth is 19 chaps (18 regular + an epilogue) and i am planning to continue it as a sequel if ppl are interested :) it's been a lot of fun playing in this little alternate universe, and i have a lot of extremely rough drafts for how my own version of s3 and potentially s4 would play out - but CSYT will be its own, completed story on its own as well

thank you so much again! glad you're enjoying it <3

[baeshijima]

robin i will carry u in any game u dont even have to ask

[falderaletcetera]

something sweet for tumblr in general and @tamlin-the-ninth and @trivalentlinks especially, if either of you want it:

we don't get fireflies where I live. except that we kind of do.

when I was a kid, my dad had the occasional slightly unusual idea for family fun. he's a wine-maker, so one time he took us all out to the downs to pick gorse, which is a lot like picking blackberries (complete with pricks) except that you don't get to eat them along the way (which I don't anyway, so I appreciated the novelty.) I don't know how it was for my siblings, but he successfully tricked me into thinking it was the best fun ever, and collected the several gallons of tiny gorse flowers he needed.

(it's still one of my favourite places in the world - the cliff just ends right by the sea, which stretches on forever, so it feels like the edge of the world.)

then there were the times, always at a certain time of year, always at night - making it exciting already - where we'd be driven out somewhere special for a walk. we didn't use torches, and sometimes we'd have to pick our way around the quiet looming shapes of cows, which anyone who's seen one cow get curious and start a stampede can tell you is a slightly tense affair. and we went there to spot glowworms.

with the species here, it's the males that fly and the females that glow. some years the grass hadn't been cut in a while, so the tiny lights of them were much harder to spot; other years it was easier. always there would be bits of chalk standing out brightly in the grass that you'd squint at and think might be a glowworm until you get closer. always the first time you really see one, you'll know it for sure.

so we'd walk, and we'd call them out as we spotted them for the others to see too, and sometimes we'd catch a glimpse that would be immediately hidden behind shifting grass and we'd end up craning our necks on the spot in an effort to find it again; and sometimes the more sure-footed of us would walk out from the path - careful of both glowworms and cowpats - to spot them closer up. we didn't take anything, didn't do anything, just called them out excitedly to each other and kept count.

and it was magic.

(in the first year of the pandemic, as one of my healthier coping strategies, I started going for night-time walks along a route I wasn't familiar with. it turned out to lead to the sea if I kept on long enough, and there was a cat along one road who was friendlier than any cat should be at three in the morning. the route also ran right past a few farmer's fields.

until then I'd only seen glowworms in the place my father took us, and the streetlight glinted off the grass at the edge of this field in a way that made it easy to second-guess myself the first few times, but after a week or so there were more. they were real and they there and they were glorious. it was an unexpected and welcome gift from the world.)

they don't tend to photograph well, or at least my dad hasn't managed it with his much fancier camera. here's my best attempt so far.

I looked it up, and their family is Lampyridae, which wikipedia does call fireflies. colloquially, I tend to say that we have glowworms instead of fireflies, and that seems accurate too. but we do have these, and we hunted down and plotted out the constellations in the grass with the love and the wonder they warranted.

[relic-seeker]

back when my oc yuri was wholesome & cute (i imagine this as a pre-relationship encounter, just before they met duke)

also yes maybe i am using hk ocs to project being mixed race & passing only for one. maybe i am. xP