#i created such an elaborate story in my head too

[takethistoyourstardust]

i hate to admit it but colors by halsey is the perfect song to power walk across a beach after smoking some weed to. songs that make you pretend you’re in a music video and the camera is filming you singing “EVERYTHING IS BLUE. HIS PILLS, HIS HANDS, HIS JEANS, AND NOW I’M COVERED IN THE COLORS PULLED APART AT THE SEAMS, AND IT’S BLUEEEEE” as you walk across the beach.

[maxiwaxipads]

Manufactured SEEDs

Basically, the concept is that SEEDs once served as a “positive” force meant to permanently remove or separate negative emotions that were deemed unnecessary.

(I wish I could elaborate but I don’t really know how) (I wanted the idea that “SEEDs” have always existed or something unique to Fragaria Memories without being inspired to anything if that makes sense?)

Assuming that SEEDs existed during the time of Legendary Red, what if “Legendary Red” made the SEEDs but backfired and twisted the story that they saved the world of Fragaria from the SEEDs.

Maybe the SEEDs couldn’t be completely destroyed for whatever arbitrary reason, and the Strawberry King took responsibility to guard the last remnant of existing SEEDs left from this world of Fragaria?

Eldritt’s purpose is to keep the origin of SEEDs and the truth of Legendary Red a secret. 

<- But at the same time, what good is keeping the truth hidden(?)) “To keep the world idyllic”(?) (How would revealing the truth about Legendary Red and the SEEDs affect the world? 

(Maybe we can connect this to time loop theory(?)) (Do you think Halritt wants to keep the world happy by all means necessary) (and time loop is his only answer)

Do you think their existence evolved during their entrapment by the Strawberry King? They’re indiscriminately trying to feed from negative emotions because of this insatiable hunger they had for who knows how long?

How did they escape? Why did the Strawberry King disappear?

Lovers to the same lies— Protectors to sanctity, memories to sanity Red-splattered puddles dye into black I, the shadow to which you belong … strangers to the flesh. Fumbled darkness, the pitch-black mold. A stiff neck … Unable to turn. (Clocks unfortunately twist … A head rolls down.)

Edlritt - “What only needs to be known is that…” Eldritt - “We both want the SEEDs eliminated.” “So, Merold, as long as the motivation exists—we will both be quiet.” Eldritt - “Is this clear enough for you?"

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

The Telling Truth: When 'Show, Don't Tell' Doesn't Apply (You Don't Always Have To Show, Don't Tell.)

Hey there, fellow writers and beloved members of the writeblr community! 📝✨

Today, I want to talk about something that's been on my mind lately, and I have a feeling it might resonate with many of you too. It's about that age-old writing advice we've all heard a million times: "Show, don't tell." Now, don't get me wrong – it's great advice, and it has its place in our writing toolbox. But here's the thing: it's not the be-all and end-all of good writing. In fact, I'd argue that sometimes, it's perfectly okay – even necessary – to tell rather than show.

First things first, let's address the elephant in the room. The "show, don't tell" rule has been drilled into our heads since we first picked up a pen (or opened a Word document) with the intention of writing creatively. It's been repeated in writing workshops, creative writing classes, and countless craft books. And for good reason! Showing can create vivid, immersive experiences for readers, allowing them to feel like they're right there in the story.

But here's where things get a bit tricky: like any rule in writing (or in life, for that matter), it's not absolute. There are times when telling is not just acceptable, but actually preferable. And that's what you all will explore today in this hopefully understandable blog post.

Let's start by breaking down why "show, don't tell" is so popular. When we show instead of tell, we're engaging the reader's senses and emotions. We're painting a picture with words, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions based on the details we provide. It's a powerful technique that can make our writing more engaging and memorable.

For example, instead of saying "Sarah was angry," we might write, "Sarah's fists clenched at her sides, her jaw tight as she glared at the broken vase." This gives the reader a clearer image and allows them to infer Sarah's emotional state.

But here's the thing: sometimes, we don't need or want that level of detail. Sometimes, efficiency in storytelling is more important than painting an elaborate picture. And that's where telling comes in handy.

Imagine if every single emotion, action, or piece of information in your story was shown rather than told. Your novel would probably be thousands of pages long, and your readers might get lost in the sea of details, losing sight of the main plot or character arcs.

So, when might telling be more appropriate? Let's explore some scenarios:

Summarizing less important events: If you're writing a story that spans a long period, you don't need to show every single day or event. Telling can help you summarize periods of time or less crucial events quickly, allowing you to focus on the more important parts of your story.

For instance: "The next few weeks passed in a blur of exams and late-night study sessions." This sentence tells us what happened without going into unnecessary detail about each day.

Providing necessary background information: Sometimes, you need to give your readers some context or backstory. While you can certainly weave this information into scenes, there are times when a straightforward telling of facts is more efficient.

Example: "The war had been raging for three years before Sarah's village was attacked." This quickly gives us important context without needing to show the entire history of the war.

Establishing pace and rhythm: Alternating between showing and telling can help you control the pace of your story. Showing tends to slow things down, allowing readers to immerse themselves in a moment. Telling can speed things up, moving the story along more quickly when needed.

Clarifying complex ideas or emotions: Some concepts or feelings are abstract or complex enough that showing alone might not suffice. In these cases, a bit of telling can help ensure your readers understand what's happening.

For example: "The quantum entanglement theory had always fascinated John, but explaining it to others often left him feeling frustrated and misunderstood." Here, we're telling the reader about John's relationship with this complex scientific concept, which might be difficult to show effectively.

Maintaining your narrative voice: Sometimes, telling is simply more in line with your narrative voice or the tone of your story. This is especially true if you're writing in a more direct or conversational style.

Now, I can almost hear some of you saying, "But wait! I've always been told that showing is always better!" And I completely get it. I'm a writer myself and prioritize "Show, Don't tell." in my writing all the time. We've been conditioned to believe that showing is superior in all cases. But we can take a moment to challenge that notion.

Think about some of your favorite books. Chances are, they use a mix of showing and telling. Even the most critically acclaimed authors don't adhere strictly to "show, don't tell" all the time. They understand that good writing is about balance and knowing when to use each technique effectively.

Take, for instance, the opening line of George Orwell's "1984": "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." This is a perfect blend of showing and telling. Orwell shows us it's a bright, cold day (we can imagine the crisp air and clear sky), but he tells us about the clocks striking thirteen. This immediate telling gives us crucial information about the world we're entering – it's not quite like our own.

Or consider this passage from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice": "Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character." Here, Austen is clearly telling us about Mr. Bennet's character rather than showing it through his actions. And yet, it works beautifully, giving us a quick, clear insight into both Mr. Bennet and his wife.

The key is to use both techniques strategically. So, how can you decide when to show and when to tell? Here are some tips:

Consider the importance of the information: Is this a crucial moment in your story, a pivotal emotion, or a key piece of character development? If so, it might be worth showing. If it's more of a transitional moment or background information, telling might be more appropriate.

Think about pacing: If you want to slow down and really immerse your reader in a moment, show it. If you need to move things along more quickly, tell it.

Evaluate the complexity: If you're dealing with a complex emotion or concept, consider whether showing alone will be enough to convey it clearly. Sometimes, a combination of showing and telling works best for complex ideas.

Consider your word count: If you're working with strict word count limitations (like in short stories or flash fiction), telling can help you convey necessary information more concisely.

Trust your instincts (Important): As you write more, you'll develop a feel for when showing or telling works better. Trust your gut, and don't be afraid to experiment.

Now, let's talk about how to tell effectively when you do choose to use it. Because here's the thing: telling doesn't have to be boring or flat. It can be just as engaging and stylish as showing when done well. Here are some tips for effective telling:

Use strong, specific language: Instead of using vague or generic words, opt for more specific, evocative language. For example, instead of "She was sad," you might write, "A profound melancholy settled over her."

Incorporate sensory details: Even when telling, you can include sensory information to make it more vivid. "The room was cold" becomes more engaging as "A bone-chilling cold permeated the room."

Use metaphors and similes: These can help make your telling more colorful and memorable. "His anger was like a volcano ready to erupt" paints a vivid picture without showing the anger in action.

Keep it concise: One of the advantages of telling is its efficiency. Don't negate that by being overly wordy. Get to the point, but do it with style.

Vary your sentence structure: Mix short, punchy sentences with longer, more flowing ones to create rhythm and maintain interest.

Remember, the goal is to create a seamless narrative that engages your reader. Sometimes that means showing, sometimes it means telling, and often it means a artful blend of both.

It's also worth noting that different genres and styles of writing may lean more heavily on one technique or the other. Literary fiction often employs more showing, delving deep into characters' psyches and painting elaborate scenes. Genre fiction, on the other hand, might use more telling to keep the plot moving at a brisker pace. Neither approach is inherently better – it all depends on what works best for your story and your style.

Now, I want to address something that I think many of us struggle with: the guilt or anxiety we might feel when we catch ourselves telling instead of showing. It's easy to fall into the trap of second-guessing every sentence, wondering if we should be showing more. But here's the truth: that kind of constant self-doubt can be paralyzing and ultimately detrimental to your writing process.

So, I want you to understand and think: It's okay to tell sometimes. You're not a bad writer for using telling in your work. In fact, knowing when and how to use telling effectively is a sign of a skilled writer.

Here's some practical ways to incorporate this mindset into your writing process:

First Draft Freedom: When you're writing your first draft, give yourself permission to write however it comes out. If that means more telling than showing, that's absolutely fine. The important thing is to get the story down. You can always revise and add more "showing" elements later if needed.

Revision with Purpose: When you're revising, don't automatically change every instance of telling to showing. Instead, ask yourself: Does this serve the story better as telling or showing? Consider the pacing, the importance of the information, and how it fits into the overall narrative.

Beta Readers and Feedback: When you're getting feedback on your work, pay attention to how readers respond to different sections. If they're engaged and understanding the story, then your balance of showing and telling is probably working well, regardless of which technique you're using more.

Study Your Favorite Authors: Take some time to analyze how your favorite writers use showing and telling. You might be surprised to find more instances of effective telling than you expected.

Practice Both Techniques (Important): Set aside some time to practice both showing and telling. Write the same scene twice, once focusing on showing and once on telling. This can help you develop a feel for when each technique is most effective.

Now, let's address another important point: the evolution of writing styles and reader preferences. The "show, don't tell" rule gained popularity in the early 20th century with the rise of modernist literature. But writing styles and reader tastes have continued to evolve since then.

In our current fast-paced world, where people are often reading on devices and in shorter bursts, there's sometimes a preference for more direct, efficient storytelling. This doesn't mean that showing is out of style, but it does mean that there's often room for more telling than strict adherence to "show, don't tell" would allow.

Moreover, diverse voices in literature are challenging traditional Western writing norms, including the emphasis on showing over telling. Some cultures have strong storytelling traditions that lean more heavily on telling, and as the literary world becomes more inclusive, we're seeing a beautiful variety of styles that blend showing and telling in new and exciting ways.

This brings me to an important point: your voice matters. Your unique way of telling stories is valuable. Don't let rigid adherence to any writing rule, including "show, don't tell," stifle your natural voice or the story you want to tell.

Remember, rules in writing are more like guidelines. They're tools to help us improve our craft, not unbreakable laws. The most important rule is to engage your reader and tell your story effectively. If that means more telling than the conventional wisdom suggests, then so be it.

As I wrap up this discussion, I want to leave you with a challenge: In your next writing session, consciously use both showing and telling. Pay attention to how each technique feels, how it serves your story, and how it affects the rhythm of your writing. You might discover new ways to blend these techniques that work perfectly for your unique style.

Writing is an art, not a science. There's no perfect formula, no one-size-fits-all approach. It's about finding what works for you, your story, and your readers. So embrace both showing and telling. Use them as the powerful tools they are, and don't be afraid to break the "rules" when your instincts tell you to.

Remember, every great writer started where you are now, learning the rules and then figuring out when and how to break them effectively. You're part of a long, proud tradition of storytellers, each finding their own path through the winding forest of words.

Keep writing, keep growing, and keep believing in yourself. You've got this!

Happy writing! 💖✍️ - Rin T.

Before you go, why not join us at The Write Right Society? We're a supportive Tumblr community where writers lift each other up. Whether you're a newbie or a pro, we'd love to have you! Share your work, get feedback, and connect with fellow wordsmiths, writers and aspiring authors. 

[joelalorian]

Petals of Affection - Part III

A floral mystery in three parts, featuring Jackson!Joel x f!reader

Summary: A secret admirer gifts you a different flower and a riddle ten times before you put the clues together and discover that he's been right in front of your face the whole time.

Written for @morallyinept's Flora & Fauna challenge. Please check out all the wonderful works created in Jett's honor!

Word count: 3,049

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, fluff, kissing, f!oral, unprotected p in v (it's 20 years into the fucking apocalypse), it's not stated, but I envision Joel having been snipped pre-outbreak, terms of endearment. POV flops around like petals in the wind. Reader has no established age or physical description aside from having hair that gets frizzy with humidity and often dirt-covered hands, because greenhouses, ya know? No use of y/n, none whatsoever.

Dividers courtesy of the wonderful @saradika-graphics. Gif chosen because of the wonderful floral wallpaper ;)

And this sweet little love story has come to an end. Thank you all for coming along for the ride! Your comments, likes, and reblogs are appreciated more than I could ever say.

Part I | Part II | Masterlist

Jasmine Orchid Eustoma Lavender Magnolia Iris Lily Lilac Eucalyptus Rose

JOEL MILLER

Joyful moments shared; the answer lies in the air.

Overwhelmed by your grace, the answer hides in this place.

Endless thoughts of you, the answer is in the view.

Lost in your scent, the answer is present.

Moments with you, the answer rings true.

In your eyes, the answer lies.

Lost in your beauty, the answer is a duty.

Longing for your touch, the answer means so much.

Evergreen thoughts of you, the answer is in the dew.

Remember my love for you, the answer is in you.

JOEL MILLER!

Maria’s eyes roved over your scribbled notes, a broad smile slowly spreading across her face at the underline beneath Joel’s name. “Took you long enough. I was beginning to question your intelligence, girl!”

Heat warmed your cheeks as you laughed, though you weren’t sure if it was due to embarrassment or the wine. “The answer was right in front of my face this whole time, I just couldn’t see it.”

Flopping back on the couch, you felt a bit overwhelmed. Ducking your head between your knees as you leant forward, you sucked in a few deep breaths before baring your soul to your best friend. “I wanted it to be him. I longed for it to be him. But I didn’t dare to hope that it would be him. Do you know what I mean?”

“I do.” Maria’s voice held nothing but understanding. “Hope could lead to despair if not met.”

“Exactly!” you exclaimed, poking your head up to meet her dark eyes. “I couldn’t handle the despair, so I couldn’t dare to hope.”

Maria settled onto the soft cushion next to you, one arm reaching out to rub your back soothingly. “You have nothing to fear now. Joel did all this, for you.” Her free hand gestured at the flowers and notes scattered across the table. “His feelings for you are so deep, so true, that he came up with this elaborate plan to show you instead of just telling you, like any normal person would.”

Pausing, Maria waited until you met her gaze again with a watery smile, wanting to make sure you understood the point she was making. Her eyes earnest and smile broad, she added, “He was afraid to hope, too. But he did and look what has come of it.”

Tears built up, threatening to spill over as you absorbed everything. Joel loved you, just as you loved him, his grand gesture proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt. He dared to hope when you didn’t and thank goodness he did. You two would still be dancing around each other for who the fuck knows how long otherwise.

You stood suddenly, feeling revived and eager to see Joel at once. “I need to see Joel. I need to tell him I feel the same way.”

“Well let’s go then! He’s probably at my house with Tommy.” Maria led the way out of your house after you both scrambled to put shoes on, marching with purpose down the quiet road under the cover of a clear, starry sky.

Despite the late hour, you needed to see Joel, to return his declaration of love now that he bared his heart and soul to you in such a clever, romantic way. Crisp air filling your lungs as you walked, you felt the effects of the wine wear off. You never felt so clear-headed, so full of promise, so full of love.

“Do you know what you’re going to say to him?” Maria asked as you neared her house. Bright lights shining through the curtains showcased the shadowy movements inside of the two men inside.

“Not a clue,” you admitted, suddenly nervous. “My brain hasn’t gotten that far yet. Fuck! What am I gonna say?”

“Well, you could always just walk in and kiss him. Just lay a big wet one right on his lips,” Maria suggested, the nearly full moon reflecting mischievously in her dark brown eyes. As your mouth dropped open, she added, “Yes! That’s exactly what you should do!”

“Well, in the absence of anything better…”

Laughter still bubbled from your bellies as you followed Maria up the front steps and into her home. Nearing sensory overload, every cell of your body vibrated with the burning need to lay eyes, hands, lips on Joel.

“Is that you, honey?” Tommy called from the living room. The two of you turned the corner into the room, and Maria made a beeline right to her husband.

Ignoring the married couple, your attention focused on the other occupant of the room. Joel sat on the couch, leant back in a relaxed pose, one arm slung across the back cushions. His thick thighs spread wide, just begging for you to step between them.

Wide and unblinking, his burnt umber eyes watched as you stepped further into the room. Head tilting quizzically, he licked his lips as you approached with an impossible slowness. Neither of you could look anywhere else, gazes locked, bodies pulling together like magnets.

Joel’s pouty lips parted in surprise when you didn’t seat yourself next to him, electing instead to climb onto his lap. He blinked owlishly at you as your face moved closer, centimeter by centimeter, until your lips met his in a delicate first kiss. However brief, that initial press of your lips against his ignited an inferno within you both. You mouths came together urgently the second time, as lips, teeth, and tongues clashed. Your fingers carded through his silky soft, thick curls, nails tenderly scratching itches on his scalp he didn’t even know he had. He preened under your touch.

So absorbed in each other after months and months of longing and pining, dancing around feelings you hid for each other, the rest of the room blurred to nonexistence. Your ears picked up soft murmuring from Maria and Tommy, but you ignored it. Your world revolved around Joel, and Joel only, at that moment. You shifted, trying in vain to bury beneath every layer of his skin, until you straddled his lap.

At long last, you pulled back as the need for oxygen became unbearable. You and Joel had been pressed so close together, noses smushed as you kissed, that neither of you could even breathe.

“I take it you figured it out.” Joel’s eyes searched your face, voice rumbling from deep in his chest, the sound like velvety chocolate to your ears.

You nodded, lost for words at first and his lips slowly tilted upwards at the corners until his smile reached its limit and the precious dimple in his cheek poked through. “The flowers and notes were so beautiful, Joel. I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out sooner, your riddles were just too good,” you grinned. Tears pricked at the back of your eyes at the look of complete adoration on his handsome face. Sincere happiness welled within you. “The notes, each one more beautiful than the last, I read them over and over. I feel all of that, too.”

Joel’s eyes took on a different shine at your confession, the fire from the hearth glinted in the sudden wetness glazing over them.

“Can I take you home?” he asked gruffly, the need evident in his glossy gaze.

“Fuck yes,” you breathed, giggling as he shifted you both to your feet and practically dragged you from his brother’s house. Neither of you had the wherewithal to say goodbye to Tommy and Maria. They watched the two of you leave with matching satisfied grins before locking up behind you.

“Yours or mine?” Joel questioned urgently as his large hand grasped yours.

“I don’t care,” you replied breathlessly, “whichever is closer.”

“Yours then.” His long legs led you down the deserted street, boots crunching on the hard ground, stopping only once you reached your front porch. He stared into your wide eyes, taking in the vision of your blown pupils and pursed lips. “Are you sure about this?”

“Joel,” you drew his name out in a long sigh, one hand caressing the scruff on his cheek. “I have never been surer of anything in my entire life. Take me inside and make love to me. Please.”

The pitch of your plea shot straight to his cock as he once again nearly dragged you behind him. Grateful that you forgot to lock the front door, there were no impediments to your journey into the house and straight up the stairs to your bedroom.

The urgency slowed once the both of you reached the center of your bedroom. Facing each other as you stood next to the large bed, Joel’s gaze tangibly seared your skin with the absolute heat of it.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, one thick fingertip tracing the ridge of your brow and down the slope of your nose. His bedroom eyes captivating as he pulled at your plump bottom lip with his thumb, lips twitching when your tongue darted out to taste the salt on his skin. “I think I fell in love with you the day we met.”

“Me, too.” Mesmerized by Joel’s touch and thoughtful words, you leant forward, slanting your mouth against his. The kiss tender yet scalding hot as your hands began to slowly undress one another. Part of you could not believe this was happening, while another part of you kept repeating fucking finally.

Once you were both fully stripped of clothing, Joel eased you back onto the bed. The broadness of him hovered over you, legs entangled, and he caressed your skin with one large hand. There was no piece of you he left untouched. Your own hands were drawn to his luscious curls, fingers threading through the locks and massaging his scalp.

Joel soon replaced his hands with his mouth, placing soft, open-mouthed kisses down your body. He paid special attention to your breasts, pausing to lave and nip at the hardened peaks of your nipples. A surprised gasp flew from your mouth when he settled his face between your legs, darting his tongue out to taste your sweetness.

He feasted on you like a starving man, tongue laving at your clit before dipping inside to slurp at your juices. You were so wet for him. Only him. His mouth a form of heaven you didn’t know existed, you mewled and squirmed, muscles twitching as he drew you closer and closer to the cliff’s edge.

“Fuck, you are so good at this, Joel.” The half-moaned words fell from your lips when he slipped a thick finger inside you, quickly followed by another. His mouth continued to work at your clit, licking and sucking as you writhed beneath his ministrations.

A man possessed; Joel drew two orgasms from you before letting up. Easing back, he grinned at you, his facial hair glossy with your juices. “You taste fucking delicious. I could stay down here all night.”

A dewy sheen of sweat covered your entire body from being worked over so well. “Any other time, I wouldn’t stop you. But I want your cock inside me, right now.”

“Is that so?” Joel smirked at you, climbing up your body to settle his hips between your legs. Of their own accord, your hands soothed over the warm skin of his back and down to his ass, where you grabbed handfuls of the meaty flesh.

“Fuck, yes. Please, I need you.”

His eyes sparkled at your plea, but he didn’t move an inch. Your right hand reached between the two of you, grasping hold of his cock and gasping at the sheer size of him. Long and thick in your hand, your mouth watered at the thought of tasting him sometime. Joel grinned again, his expression quickly going slack as you tugged once, twice at his hardened length, running the head between your folds before lining him up with your entrance.

Dark eyes hooded with lust; Joel met your gaze. “You want this?” he questioned one last time, needing confirmation of your consent. The last thing he’d ever want to do is push you too far, too fast. He wanted this to last forever.

“Joel, I promise. I have never wanted someone more than I want you, and only you, right now.” You poured every emotion, every feeling for Joel through your eyes as you pulled him impossibly closer. Angling your hips up, he finally started feeding you his cock, inch by delectable inch. Your mouth dropped open at the stretch when he bottomed out.

“You’re taking me so well, pretty girl.” Joel began to move his hips in a slow, steady rhythm, his arms bracketing your head.

“Ahhh, I’ve never felt so full before. Please don’t stop.”

Soon enough, the only sounds in the room were the gentle slap of skin against skin, your breathy moans, and Joel’s rumbling grunts. Joel kissed you passionately as he fucked into you with deep thrusts, his eyes remaining locked on yours.

Your orgasm built as his cock grazed that perfect spot inside you with each thrust, and the words you’d been too afraid to admit to finally fell from your lips. “I love you, Joel. I love every single piece of the puzzle that you are.”

“And I love you, my angel,” Joel replied, voice gravelly. His hips snapped harder, throwing you both over the cliff. His deep moans were music to your ears as you pulsed around him, drawing every drop of cum from him until he settled heavily half atop you, breathless and sated.

“I can’t wait to do that again,” you blurted, chest heaving, drawing a chuckle from Joel.

“Imma need some time before I can do that again, angel. I’m not a young stud anymore.”

For the first time in many months, you fell asleep in your bed, the vastness of it decreased by Joel’s warm body cuddled up against you.

“You have everything you need, brother?” Tommy asked, helping Joel load up the saddlebags. “Maria tucked a bottle of wine and some glasses in here for you.”

Doublechecking the supplies, Joel nodded. “I think that’s all of it. Thank your wife for me. None of this would be happening right now without you, Maria, and Ellie.”

Tommy patted his older brother on the shoulder. “Being in love has really softened your edges. I actually like this version of you.”

Joel scowled back at Tommy’s teasing for a moment before his face transformed into a glowing, warm smile at the sight of you. Backpack slung over one shoulder, you wore fitted jeans, a tee shirt, and boots with Joel’s green flannel tied around your waist. To Joel, you’d never looked sexier.

“Hi boys,” you greeted, eyes lingering on the older Miller brother as he winked at you. Turning to Tommy, you batted your eye lashes. “Any chance you’ll tell me where he’s taking me?”

Tommy guffawed. “Not a chance in hell, doll. I don’t wanna get my ass kicked by this lug.”

Oh well, you had to try. Shrugging your shoulders, you climbed up into the saddle of a light brown colored horse. “Fine then. You better make sure my greenhouses are still in one piece when we get back.”

“Yeah, yeah. Off you go lovebirds.” Tommy patted your horse’s hind quarter once Joel mounted his horse and led the way through the town gate.

The horses settled into a canter, covering the landscape at a good clip. “It’s a couple hours ride, but I promise you’ll love it, angel.”

“I trust you, Joel,” you replied, lips pressed into a small smile. “I’m just happy to spend time with you.”

The pair of you chatted about anything and everything as you rode, sharing stories about your pre-outbreak past and the struggles faced since. You already knew about Sarah and how hard Joel took the loss of his beloved baby girl, but Joel felt comfortable sharing more stories of her with you. The conversations were interspersed with occasional comfortable silences as you took in the landscape and kept an eye out for trouble. The hours and miles passed in no time and Joel led you to a stop in front of a rusted-over fence. Dismounting the horse, you swiped a hand over a warped sign which indicated the property was a botanical garden in its former life.

“Joel,” you breathed, touched that he thought of taking you to such a place for your first official date. You had no idea it even existed.

“It’s rundown, obviously, but nature has completely taken over in a way that I think you’ll love. There were flowers everywhere when I first discovered the place. This is where I found some of the ones I gave you,” he explained. Pulling a section of fence open, he led you and the horses onto the property before closing it behind you.

“Tommy and I cleared the placed a while ago, but there may still be some cordyceps lingering around. Keep an eye out.” Joel handed you a pistol, checking first to make sure it was locked and loaded, and swung the rifle from his shoulder.

The grounds were quiet except for birdsong and the rustle of leaves in the breeze. Plentiful flora grew in every direction you turned, overtaking dilapidated benches and buildings alike. The grounds were a vibrant sea of colorful flowers and plants, and a mix of floral fragrances nearly overwhelmed your senses. Joel led the horses into a small area cordoned off on three sides, leaving them to graze while the two of you explored.

Joel reached for your hand, entwining your fingers as you walked the grounds. Even overgrown and unkempt as it was, the garden left you in awe. You strolled, recounting information about every flower you recognized. Joel listened, enraptured, as you spoke about their meanings, falling in love with you even more with every brilliant word that came out of your mouth.

He surprised you with a late lunch in a field of wildflowers on the way back to Jackson, gathering a small bouquet in his hands while you ate. Joel tucked a bright yellow flower with long, thin petals into your hair before handing over the bouquet.

“When you’re ready, I’m going to ask you to marry me, my beautiful wildflower.”

fin

[shirefantasies]

hello :) im new on your page so im not extremely familiar with what you're going through but I'd still like to wish you a smooth recovery before saying anything else.

considering your condition you can absolutely take as long as you need on this request or just not do it at all but i just NEEDED to get this idea off my chest

so last night i read your LOTR characters and how many children they would have hcs and now i absolutely cannot get the idea of frodo with a little girl out of my head :(

just imagine a hobbit toddler with frodos curls like running around and being silly ☹️☹️☹️

anyways if you could elaborate on that or just some hcs of frodo as a dad in general would be so greatly appreciated :)

i wish you a smooth recovery and i hooe that you're alright

Thank you so much! I'm sorry this is an OLLLLLDDDD request and I can't remember when this was originally put in but it would be so funny if it was pre-emergency room trip 😂 but no matter what all healthy here finally 🥰 I hope it's ok that I decided to expand on this a little for everyone!

The Hobbits as Dads (Wife!Reader)

Frodo

✧ As I've mentioned, Frodo wants a smaller family, so you end up with two children, a daughter first, then a son. Both of whom just love their sweet father to pieces!

✧ Frodo and your daughter especially are just joined at the hip. She’ll sit on his desk swinging her legs while he writes or illustrates, asking him what he’s doing until he’s basically reading to her and working all at once!

✧ She chases him around the meadows, giggling as he lets himself almost be caught only to turn around and swoop her up into the air with a wide smile of his own!

✧ Frodo gets so soft whenever he holds your son, who looks just like you! Your daughter has his eyes, but your son is the spitting image of you and he just loves it. He could watch you just sitting there with your little boy in his arms watching forever, but in the end his feet carry him right to your sofa to snuggle in, your little girl on his heels!

✧ Dances with your daughter at every party, even when she is little and has to stand atop his feet as they twirl.

✧ Every morning Frodo wakes your children up with a kiss to the forehead and it almost brings tears to his eyes sometimes at the way your little boy absolutely leaps into his arms to be carried out to breakfast, the biggest smile on his little face, so reminiscent of his beloved wife's.

Sam

✧ The absolute king of making all his children feel heard despite having so many! He's invested in so many hobbies, but the children make him the dearest things, so it's ever so worth it.

✧ For example, Elanor pens the most amazing tales and Sam is always talking about her way with words. Saying how she certainly didn't get it from him! It must be from her brilliant mother. Having heard stories of Gandalf's fireworks, Hamfast works tirelessly to unlock their secret, creating his first little sparklers just in time for his father's birthday party! Sam tears up a little at this.

✧ The father who carries as many kids at a time as he physically can. One hanging around his neck, one on his back, and he strains to lift the ones dangling from his arms, too.

✧ So sweet whenever his children cry that they go to him just as often as you! Takes them in his arms and always has the kindest, most uplifting words ready.

✧ Has a tree, bush, or patch of flowers named for and aided in tending by each child as they chose their favorite.

✧ All the ladies of the Shire giggle at the sight of Sam wrangling three little ones at the market, trying so hard to keep his words gentle as he's holding another of their siblings and they want to put their hands on everything. "But that's simply not polite, now is it?"

Merry

✧ He’s always wanted at least one son and one daughter, and let me tell you: his daughter will have him wrapped around her finger.

✧ Even if she looks just like you, your daughter has Merry’s smile and as a baby, she mirrors his expressions exactly. You catch him playing peekaboo with her all the time and making faces just to see them spreading across her soft cheeks.

✧ Making toys for his kids becomes a passion of Merry’s. He spends hours carving a little wooden sword for your son that looks as close to the one gifted to him from his fellow soldiers of Rohan.

✧ The dad who takes his kids on outings so mama can have a break! After making you breakfast, Merry runs off with the little ones to go beery picking and brings them back a complete mess of dirt and juice splatters, but also grinning excitedly and holding up brimming baskets of their harvest.

✧ Congratulates your daughter the first time an angry mother complains to him about her slapping her son, who had pushed her down. “That’s right. Don’t let anyone treat you like that.” Turning to you, Merry grins, eyes all aglow with admiration. “Hear that? She’s a fighter!”

✧ Bedtime is a whole production. Bath time, a story, time laying with each child to talk about anything they want, tucking them in…and you can pry it all from Merry’s cold dead hands.

Pippin

✧ The dad who thinks all of his children are so neat, no ifs, ands, or buts, and is best friends with them all. Also the proudest father who cannot stop talking about them all into any remotely available set of ears.

✧ Your firstborn son is Pippin’s best friend, running as soon as he can walk and toddling after his father anywhere he can go, and Pippin always welcomes his company!

✧ Lifts his young ones up onto the Green Dragon tables too and lets them show off their moves or simply holds them while he jumps a little more gently! Your older son is jigging at his side, your second son leaping, and your little girl is on his hip all while Merry and his son dance next door and you watch with the baby in your arms!

✧ Encourages his children’s off-the-wall imaginations with all sorts of questions about their little worlds and creatures and of course taking on some of their roles when they need him for a game.

✧ Chaotic apple picking trips with the whole family, which comes to total you, Pippin, and all six of the kids running around like beheaded chickens between the trees and trying to show you the best apple! The oldest boys start tossing them back and forth like a ball, but they also help you bake pies by corralling the little ones and making the process fun for them. Pippin brings the baby in and holds him, teasingly pretending like he’s going to let his little hands steal your apple pieces.

✧ The father who learns every goofy magic trick to make the kids laugh. Always pulling something from behind their ears.

Bilbo

✧ Had you asked him only a handful of years prior, he would have said no children in the house, thank you, but here he is now having tea parties and making boats to float in the stream with your daughter.

✧ The most devoted dad, if a little overprotective. Always hovering behind her, hands raising over her curly little head the moment any possible danger could strike.

✧ Teaches his daughter all the proper tea etiquette after he buys her the perfect little set, fretting a bit when she spills but grinning so proudly as she pours him his little cuppa! They have tea parties all the time and Bilbo addresses all her dolls by name. She insists, after all.

✧ He also takes her on a lot of “adventures” that mostly consist of walking through the woods on the edges of the Shire and picnicking on bread and cold meat and cheese from your larder alongside the fruits they pick.

✧ Is very disconcerted when your daughter insists that not only is she going to visit the Lonely Mountain with her papa someday, she is also going to marry a dwarf. Guess she really enjoyed his stories!

✧ Your daughter knows how to do everything. Mend handkerchiefs? Definitely. Finally take that crack at the plumbing? She's right there with her father. Botany? But of course, for how else will they know what all the books they read are describing! Fighting? You both are teaching her that. Your daughter will never be afraid to take on anything with you two for her parents!

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[oneofstarkskids]

so high school (part 3)

part 1, part 2

genre: fluff

summary: high school au!! how is bucky supposed to break it to you that everything that's happened started with a lie?

bucky didn't know how long he could keep it up. the whole facade. he actually had to scramble to hide his report card from you.

you weren't his dad. he shouldn't be afraid of you seeing his grades.

but he was finally spending time with you. could he have made things simple and just asked you out like a normal person? no. this was more fun.

plus it's not like anyone was getting hurt. he was passing all his classes as usual. the only down side seemed to be the lying. he would have to tell you eventually...right? or maybe he could just...

he started to envision it. the two of you sitting on a deck with james junior in your lap. "and that's how mommy met daddy. because he's dumb as a rock."

or in the later years. "do you need me to organize your pills, honey?" bucky would probably roll his eyes, "i can count, doll."

okay so maybe he was overthinking, but that didn't mean that all of this couldn't turn into a problem. besides, he wanted to be honest with you.

relationships shouldn't be built on lies. so bucky decided to tell you the truth.

he met you in the library, like he'd done almost every day this week. he noticed the sullen expression on your face immediately.

"what's wrong?" he asked. you didn't have any problem telling him. the two of you had become sort of, close.

"it's my friend sam. he said he was working yesterday, but i saw someone post him on their story at some hangout," you sighed. "it doesn't matter. he can hang out with whoever he wants. i just can't believe he lied to me."

bucky froze. oh. shit.

"we're best friends. i don't understand why he felt like he couldn't tell me the truth. it hurts, you know," you said. and because bucky did know, he looked down at the table.

"i have to tell you something."

you study his expression. not that it was difficult, bucky was usually an expressive person. he seemed a bit nervous.

"i was never going to fail," he said quietly.

you frowned. "what?"

bucky tried to explain, "i was never getting kicked off the team. i've never failed a class. math and science are actually my strongest subjects."

bucky couldn't stop imagining the look of betrayal that was probably on your face. it took a lot for him to look up to meet your eyes.

but when he did, you were...smiling?

you suddenly laughed like it was all ridiculous. bucky didn't know how to react. and he had sisters, so he knew that your laughter could turn into a lecture at any moment.

"why?" you managed between wheezes.

bucky thought back to the beginning of it all, "well, i liked you for a really long time. all my friends were saying i should ask you out, but i guess i was too scared."

"you were scared?" you couldn't understand how someone like bucky barnes could be insecure for even a moment.

yet, he nodded.

"so you decided to create an elaborate plan to spend all this time with me instead of just asking me on a date?" you asked.

bucky chuckled with embarrassment, "maybe i am stupid after all."

you shook your head, "i don't think it's stupid. i think it's cute."

he turned a bright shade of pink that had you feeling confident.

you smirked, "but don't think that means you're getting out of that date."

[nights-at-crystarium]

i just wanted to pop by and gush about how incredibly well written vivi is because GOD. his story unfolding has made me reconsider several story beats about my wol and thats an amazing thing

theres two things that i think uve done especially well with his storytelling, being that vivi feels like an almost complete enigma to the reader, despite how intimate this story is, and the fact that vivi feels incredibly human - almost TOO human to be comfortable with

so to elaborate on the first point - i think a lot of us (and certainly i can) echo thancreds sentiment that he doesn't know vivian rell, because as intimate as this story can get with his pov, in the end, much like someone you'd meet in real life, we don't know much about him before the point we meet him, and any glimpses we get just signal that theres so much more to him than we get to see. and as much as we DO know about him, i find that every time he does one of his blank, furrowed stares that signal he's thinking something, my brain practically lights on fire trying to figure out what he's considering. to that end i really like how enigmatic uve made him from a storytelling perspective, because it makes him feel so much more real!!! i honestly look forward a lot to learning more fragments (heh) of him and slowly piecing together a puzzle of him as the story goes on. i just want to rotate him in my head lol

but also, this does segue into my other point really well, which is the fact that vivis position as wol really seems to wear on him, and he seems for lack of a better word, completely exhausted! i know (myself included) write their wols with a trait of an almost unbreakable, iron will, which is very much still true in vivis case (again, anyone who gets to the point of shadowbringers without flat out giving up is incredibly strong by default) but showing him at his wits end, exhausted with the burdens of a hero, someone just so throughly *done* with what is, realistically, a pretty shit job is well... yeah! of course he is! he's only human, and he's what, saved the world 3 times now? seen countless die before him, powerless to save them, of course he's numb. the fact that the most defining experiences of the first for him are filled with mostly such... benign experiences, and that the major, climatic moments of shadowbringers get as much fanfare as a forlong gaze, or a like. him hanging out with his fairy bestie is such a cool storytelling decision. (also before i ramble about this the decision to not even show tesleen is such an excellent decision bc like. it makes sense for him for this to not be such a significant moment. shes just another death, another tally to the thousands hes already seen. or maybe im reading WAYYY too hard into a decision to not highjack this love story with plot) basically, what i've been gushing about is the fact that vivi feels very much like a whole person, and is probably one of the most well realised wols ive ever read about. and his relationships with the world leaders, and this impossible burden hes forced to shoulder has gotten me to reconsider how i write my wol, because yeah! any hero might be strong-willed and resilient, but theyre still human, and the burden of a warrior of light is maybe, a little too much for anyone to bear.

i hope u could at least make something out of my rambles, but honestly to sum it all up i am incredibly captivated by vivi. i originally read fragments because i like ANY wolgraha content but now, i come back almost exclusively to see how vivi's story unfolds, and how graha eventually comes into the fold too. hes such a fascinating character, and i think youve done an incredible job of creating a well rounded hero, full of humanity!!! (also, if you want, feel free to post this on ur blog!!)

I think I shat myself like 5 times while reading this (positive)

Vivi being an enigma wasn't really part of the plan. We have a pool that's his lore, things I wanna tell, and a bottleneck through which it has to go. The comic format forces me to consider what bits of info to deliver when, there's only so much I can tell at a time. One deliberate choice I made is completely burn the bridge between ARR and ShB, skip, leave it empty. That already sparks questions when we see a different Vivi at the beginning of ShB (and gives me leeway, time to write with more nuance, I didn't Think about HW-SB in such scrupulous detail as ShB).

I wanted to tell a primarily ShB story from the start, but had less ambition, and planned to condense the angsty bits that you're reading nowadays into an infodump told by Vivi to no one (to the reader). Changing the receiving party to a tangible character who's eager to learn (Exarch) made the info easier to digest and anchored it in the world. This change, fwiw, happened in like 2022 while I drew the ARR arc, saw the warm reception, and got more excited about my thing. I constantly learn and try to improve, writing's a new toy that brings me tons of fun.

So, when I learned the new trick - telling things through other characters - I thought, why not make everyone slightly wrong, or rather, with a specific snapshot of Vivi in their head. Same happens irl, people only know the version of you that they're exposed to, the only person who knows the full and real you is you.

That brings me to the next point, why Vivi feels so human: I made him not as a wol/hero, but a guy I wanna ship with Exarch, his foil. Obligatory note it was dumb of me to ignore Emet's existence in that case, but that's already changed. Exarch denies himself the simple human joys, he plots his own fucking death, so I thought I'd give him a guy that teaches him how to enjoy being alive again. That was THE foundation of Vivi, his core. He's a manic pixie dream boy.

Then I started asking how and why: why he falls for Exarch specifically instead of ARRRaha? He's confident, selfish, casual (these traits are what Exarch lacks), emotionally intelligent, where did that come from? He must've had an utterly normal life and loving family before he became a hero. He grew up being appreciated and happy. OH, then his ass must LOATHE the current situation because he can't go back to that normal life! So on, so forth.

i find that every time he does one of his blank, furrowed stares that signal he's thinking something, my brain practically lights on fire trying to figure out what he's considering.

This's me carefully dropping the breadcrumbs and hoping that you notice them, and you go HOLY SHIT BREADCRUMBS, this's so validating ;w; <3 This's overtly called a story hook, though I prefer "door". So far this story's only opened doors, as in hinted at more stuff without immediately showing it. I love it when questions get delayed answers, when you get time to stew on it and build up anticipation, then, when the door finally closes, it's much more satisfying. I keep in mind all the doors I've opened, if something provokes a question, it's by design.

(also before i ramble about this the decision to not even show tesleen is such an excellent decision bc like. it makes sense for him for this to not be such a significant moment. shes just another death, another tally to the thousands hes already seen. or maybe im reading WAYYY too hard into a decision to not highjack this love story with plot)

You're 100% correct!! I'm not retelling the canon ShB story from a default wol pov, this's a custom thing focused on ships, therefore anything that doesn't contribute to said ships gets cut. You may read what's NOT shown as what Vivi doesn't pay attention to.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, this gave me so much motivation like you wouldn't know ;//////;

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

Hello! I absolutely love your teen reader stories! I was wondering if I could request a teen! reader who is a really good baker. They come up with new recipes every week and have the bsd cast try them. It would be really cute if they made cakes for the casts birthdays which matched them. Maybe they bake for ranpo a lot considering he is an absolute sweet lover and reader is just an sweetheart who is often misunderstood. Thank you and take care!

Baked goods

Self-Aware! Platonic! Ranpo Edogawa x GN! Teen! Reader x Self-Aware! Platonic! Sigma

Description: You always liked to bake. And BSD Cast want to try your food.

Warning: OOC, English is my second language.

You always like to bake.

Biscuits, breads, muffins, cakes, brownies, cookies, pastries, pies and so much more.

You always heard, how people were calling you a 'perfect future spouse' and 'someone will be lucky, having you looking after the house'. They called you a 'good kid, preparing to make their future spouse's life sweet'.

You didn't get these people. You like baking just because. You are not doing it to hypothetical someone. You are doing it for yourself.

Still, no matter, how often you told people otherwise, this people just laugh and proclaimed that 'they knew better why you are interested in cooking training'.

At the end, you stop trying to make other people see your point of view. They can believe whatever they want. You will just continue baking treats, no matter what others say. You will create new recipes and let others try them.

At least, that was your plan.

__________

Life has its ups and downs.

Because of some life circumstances, you had to live with your uncle and aunt.

Your uncle and aunt owned a bakery.

You thought, that it will be your chance to share your treats with other people.

Unfortunately, your uncle and aunt weren't very fond of this idea of yours.

First, as they explained, they can't let an underage person work for them on a full day.

When you said you were fine with simple helping, with no payment, your aunt told you.

"[Y/N], dear, I don't think that your recipes will be popular. You are a creative baker, I am not questioning it, it's just..."

Your uncle continue.

"It's just, our clients, and people in general, are want to eat familiar treats. Not something new. Bedside, personalized treats sounds too much of a hassle to make. And I assure you, clients will find any reason to start complaining about their order been wrong."

At the end, you manage to convince your uncle and aunt let you bake something with the leftover ingredients every Friday.

They still refuse to let their clients taste it, even for free. But, at least, you have something sweet every weekend.

It was nice to lay on your bed, eating cookies and watching or reading BSD.

___________

Today was your lucky day. There were many leftover ingredients, and your uncle and aunt allow you to hake as much as you want. So, you were baking cookies. You were absorbed in the process and were mumbling under your breath.

"Some cinnamon... Some vanilla... Fruits, sugar, milk... Jam... Chocolate chips..."

You decide to bake as many cookies as you can, while you have a chance.

You were so absorbed in baking, that you didn't notice, that your phone start glowing.

You were waiting for the last bunch of cookies to be ready, when the room was filled with white light.

You gasp and cover your face with both hands.

When the light faded, you saw a few dozens' people in the kitchen. Very familiar people.

You looked at BSD Characters, who were standing in the kitchen. BSD Characters looked back at you.

You thought, that, maybe, someone was pranking you. But, you admitted, that none of your friends or relatives would prepare such an elaborate prank.

And then a golden light shines above your head. A gloved hand appears right above your head and pat your head. Gogol chuckled.

"In real world, you are even more adorable, [Y/N]."

Okay, this is not a drill! BSD Characters are real and they knew your name. You feel nervous. How this possible? What if they are angry at you? What if they want to hurt you?

It seems, that Fukuzawa took notice at your nervousness. Silver-haired man take a step forward. His voice was soft and warm.

"[Y/N], please, don't be afraid. I assure you, we are not here to hurt you or your family. The only thing we want is to pay for your kindness. You treated us and our pain with respect, as we were real, despite the fact, that for you, we were fictional characters."

The room was silent. You still were confused. Until you heard the beeps from the oven. The cookies were ready.

You quickly grabbed the pair of oven-gloves and took the baking sheet from the oven.

You asked.

"Um... Can we discuss this over a cup of tea and cookies?"

______________

At the end of the talk, you were sure in a number of things. First, BSD Cast really wasn't mad at you. They seem to like you. Second, now, after they ate your cookies, Ranpo and Sigma were adoring you.

You wonder if it will lead to something interesting.

_______________

Life has its ups and downs.

Because of some life circumstances, you are now living with BSD cast.

Jounou and Fitzgerald managed to convince your uncle and aunt to give the custody over you to them.

And now you can bake as much as they want.

Your new family likes to sample treats you have made. No matter what or how strange the recipe, they at least try it, before tell you their opinions.

And each birthday you made them cakes. Personalized cakes.

_______

⭐⭕ Cake with marzipan dolls for Q.

🌂 Rose themed cake for Kouyou.

👘🗡️ Cake with cream cats and chocolate cat paws for Fukuzawa.

🦝 Book shaped cake for Poe.

🛏️ Cake with marzipan computer and futon for Katai.

🔪 Simple black chocolate and fruit cake for Gin.

🐈‍⬛ Cat shaped cake for Natsume.

🍋 Lemon flavored cake for Kajii.

💉 Pie with sweet red bean chazuke for Mori

🍇 Grape cake for Steinbeck.

👥 Latte flavored cake for Mizuki.

🧥 Tea and figs flavor led cake for Akutagawa.

👻 Pie with cinnamon and apples for Oguri.

🌸 Cake with chili and grapefruit flavor for Tetchou. Somehow, it turns out good.

👩🏻 Strawberry pie for Naomi.

🤡 Pie with pears and pear jam for Gogol.

👶🧒🧓 Blueberry cake for Teruko.

🍷 Caribbean rum cake for Chuuya. You were making it under a supervision of Sigma.

🔫 Peach cake for Higuichi.

🐯 Green tea cake for Atsushi.

🍎 Candy Apples cake for Shibusawa.

⚔️ Gin and tonic tray bake squares for Fukuchi. You were making it under a supervision of Sigma.

🫖 Cake with rock candy for Goncharov.

🪢🦀 Cake with marzipan crabs for Dazai.

✝️ Red velvet cake for Hawthorne.

🚬 Plum pie for Hirotsu.

🌨️ White cake for Junchirou.

🧲🩹 Cake with marzipan hyacinths for Tachihara.

🐋 Sea themed cake for Melville.

🐙 Chocolate cake for Lovecraft.

🐄 Apple and grape pie for Kenji.

📒 Notebook shaped cake for Doppo.

👧 Mango pie for Aya.

💰 Cake with chocolate coins for Fitzgerald.

💧 Orange pie for Jounou.

💻 Brownies for Ango.

🎧 Hot chocolate cake for Rimbaud.

🕵🏻 Cake with any candy you manage to find to Ranpo.

🍛 Some simple fruit cake for Oda.

🐰 Crêpes for Kyouka.

👒 Tea biscuits for Mitchell.

🧛 Halloween themed cake for Bram.

🐀 Cheesecake for Fyodor.

⌚ Sweet rolls for Gide.

🪶 Coffee flavored cake for Alcott.

♊ Tarts for Twain.

☕ Cherry flavored cake for Lucy.

⛩️ Sweet bread with nuts for Taneda.

🩺 Cake with Japanese sweets for Yosano.

🕶️ Cake with marzipan mahjong pieces or Ayatsuji.

🍵 Cat paw shaped cake for Kirako.

🃏 Oreo cake for Sigma.

🍰 Strawberry shortcake for Elise.

🇫🇷 Baba Au rum for Paul. You were making it under a supervision of Sigma.

__________

As for Ranpo and Sigma...

Ranpo proclaim you The World's Greatest Baker, assistant of The World's Greatest Detective. You baked him buns, muffins, cookies and so much more. Ranpo is always so happy to taste your treats.

Sigma enjoys your cookies. He is the first one to try new cookies you have made. He and Junchirou also like to help you with baking.

Life is full of baking goods and friends and family who like your hobby and support you.

[obae-me]

hiii i saw ur lucifer post and u talked about the brothers having a role in their family, can u elaborate??

Of course! I'd be all too happy to explain! Note: I'm not an expert on this topic obviously, but I do a lot of research on personalities and character archetypes to help build my stories, so it's something I always have on my mind! I highly recommend doing research into this on your own (if you're into this type of thing). Warning: This response might get kind of lengthy, I apologize. I've got a lot of thoughts, but I'll try to break it down as best as I can. Also warning for potential Shall We Date and Nightbringer spoilers.

So, in writing and storytelling, it's commonly told that there are 12 different character archetypes. Those being:

The Lover: Led by the heart/emotions.

The Hero: Overcomes a challenge to save the day.

The Magician: Masters the ways of the universe to use for good/evil.

The Outlaw: Fights against society/control.

The Explorer: The curious one that seeks beyond what they know.

The Sage: The wise one to guide or advise.

The Innocent: Morally pure, naïve.

The Creator: Someone with ambitious goals for their creations.

The Ruler: One with power/influence over others.

The Caregiver: Protects and sacrifices for others.

The Everyman: The most relatable to the common man.

The Jester: The comic relief, but also known to drop heavy truths when it matters.

So, we have 12 characters in Obey Me (not counting the three new additions) and 12 archetypes. And even just glancing over them all, it seems to fit everyone almost perfectly. Of course, most of them are mixes of several different personalities, but all-in-all, from a writing perspective, they all fit into their assigned slots. Also, everyone might have their own differing opinion on where they fit, but these are my personal evaluations of each character.

Starting from the most obvious, we have:

Mammon: The Jester. Clearly written as comic relief in the games. Clearly the jokester of the family. Tougher moments in the game are often diluted by making a jab in Mammon's direction. However, like in many old plays, the Jesters are often the ones that come in and tell the characters or the audience the hardest truths. Mammon has been one of- if not the most- honest characters in the game. And despite being comic relief, it's clear he's got a firm head on his shoulders when it really counts. He is needed to help his family get through tougher times, and he knows how to have fun and make his brothers smile, even if most of it is written at his own expense.

Luke: The Innocent. Most characters in this archetype tend to be children, so he naturally fits that role. He's young, unaware of what the world is really like. Sticking to what he's been taught, afraid of the unknown, and in need of constant guidance.

Satan: The Explorer. Even from the moment he was first created, he knew he wanted to know more about the world around him. He felt there was more to him than his Wrath, more to the world than just what he can recall from Lucifer's memories. His entire character is based around his pursuit for knowledge, his drive for getting out there and exploring and learning about anything he can. He doesn't want to be confined to the label he was made out to be. He's always seeking something else.

Barbatos: The Magician. Even from the very beginning of Shall We Date, we all knew there was more to the butler than it seemed. He's extremely powerful, extremely intelligent, and if he's not quite all-knowing, he's surely as close to it as it gets. Without a doubt, he has mastered his powers, only turning them 'off' or restricting their use at the behest of Diavolo. When everything else fails, Barbatos is usually the one to save the day.

Belphegor: The Outlaw. This type fits him more so in Shall We Date rather than Nightbringer, but I still think he's the best fit for this role. The rebellious youngest, doing everything he can to fight against Lucifer and to get his own way. Plus, of course, the whole bit about quite literally wanting to fight his family and Diavolo for his opinions on the human realm in the first game. He's also Sloth, so no matter what situation he might be in, even if he agrees to do it, he's not going to do it 100% willingly. Or, at least, get some compensation out of it.

Solomon: The Sage. Even though MC being Solomon's apprentice is on the newer side of things, even in season 1 of Shall We Date, Solomon was always giving us little tidbits of advice. He's human, MC is human, he was always guiding us in the proper direction, even if interactions were minimal at the very beginning of Shall We Date. Now, in Nightbringer, the Sage role has come in full force. He's our guide, teacher, human companion, time-traveling confidant, he's it all. Plus he's chock full of the vague mysticism that Sages seem to have in fiction.

Asmodeus: The Lover. I know, it seems cliché, but I had to do some hard thinking before I put Asmo here. If you take away the word "Love" and focus on the aspect of being controlled by emotions, it makes sense. Now, I'm glad Nightbringer has given us a little bit more depth into his character rather than the peppy dramatic demon everyone knows him to be. Asmo is impulsive, almost as much as Mammon. He's caught up in the winds of trends and excitement, but more than that, he's not afraid to outwardly gush over his siblings. He craves love and acceptance, which we see more in Nightbringer, when he's worried he's only loved for his beauty. He's more compassionate than people give him credit for, and he craves that affection back.

Now, for the rest of them, the roles get a little more complex. They seem like they should be obvious, but I think they're a little more switched up than they seem (which is why I started talking about Lucifer's character in the first place).

Again, this is my personal opinion, but I believe that:

Diavolo: The Creator. Yes, he's a prince in title, and yes he's literally 'a ruler' but the trope doesn't quite fit him. When do we really see him demanding something? When do we see him utilizing his power to get exactly what he wants? Hardly ever. What has his entire goal been since the FIRST lesson of Shall We Date? To create a change. To cultivate a better world for all three realms. All of his actions, all of his power is going towards that goal, towards that ambition. This is the most important thing to him.

Lucifer: The Ruler. I almost put Lucifer in the caretaker role, but the ruler as an archetype is defined as a character with the biggest influence over others. Some sort of control or leadership that hinges on their actions an choices. Lucifer is the one who always has to lead the others and tell them what to do, even Diavolo, making sure the prince is keeping up on his own tasks. Even if he is not responsible for an entire kingdom, he is responsible for nearly everyone around him. For better or for worse, his character focuses around control, and all the pros and cons that come with it. He's the one with structure, the one with plans, the one that isn't afraid to say no or turn down ideas.

Levi: The Everyman. This might be completely subjective, but I believe out of every other character in Obey Me, Levi might be the most relatable. Video games, anime, tv, idols, figures, collecting, comics, manga, etc. He covers a wide demographic of things modern people enjoy. That's not even mentioning connecting to people on a mental level. Social anxiety, jealousy, low self esteem, stage fright, hyperfixations, panic attacks, stuttering, general neurodivergence, I know a TON of people in this fandom connect to Levi. Most of the time, he seems more human than even Solomon. A lot of the struggles he goes through are similar to what a ton of other people go through, and thus makes him one of the more popular characters.

Beel/Simeon: The Caregiver. I struggled with both of these two for a very long time. But eventually I came to the conclusion that they both exhibit the same character role. In Shall We Date, it was more obvious when they were in separate dorms, but in Nightbringer, I feel as if we haven't seen Simeon much at all. Both Beel and Simeon exist as characters to help others, and both have lost much because of it. They're both very giving and kind, and while they do of course have their own interests and selfish moments, most of their actions are for the better interests of others.

MC: The Hero. I originally wasn't going to put MC as an option, but it's true. We as the main character fill a role that would be empty otherwise. We are the ones constantly overcoming trials and challenges and overall doing basic protagonist stuff, so it's only natural that the best suited for the role is MC, whether it be yourself inserted or an OC that's been made. But seeing as it is an otome game, everything does revolve around our actions (even if most of those actions have been made for us).

NOW, a second thing I wanted to mention specifically about the brothers and their family dynamic. There is a second list I know of that focuses on a functioning group rather than individual character tropes. Which is what I was discussing in the post you are referring to. They exist better as a group, they are stronger as a group, and the reason why I think they fit together so perfectly as a family is because they all have their "roles" that keep them functioning.

The Driver/The Fun/The Energy: Mammon is always striving for something, always passionate about something. Even going so far as stealing things. He's the energy, the passion, the fire lit under his brother's feet. There's nothing that will stop him from getting what he wants, and I think that in turn encourages his brothers to do the same. Also, Mammon is the second oldest, he works in tandem with Lucifer to make sure his brothers are happy and safe.

The Organizer/The Structure/The Realist: This one is Lucifer. He's the one who keeps the others on task and in line so that the things that everyone is striving for can actually get accomplished. He's the straight and narrow that everyone must walk across, which can come off as rude or controlling, but most of the time he's the foundation that everyone is settled upon. He might be pompous, but he's reliable. Everybody knows that they're safe with him around. Which is essential to keeping everything together.

The Dreamer/The Visionary/The Design: Asmo definitely loves to come up with ideas. He's always trying to come up with something new for his family to do, something exciting, something fun. He works well with Mammon this way, which is why an extra firm hand is required on Lucifer's part to keep the whole thing from getting out of hand. He has an end goal in mind and knows exactly what he wants it to look like, even if he's not quite sure how to get there. He's sharing his dreams and hopes and projects with the others all the time, and a lot of them join in with dreams of their own.

The Pessimist/The Worrier/The Naysayer: While poor Levi might be an anxious mess and a self-proclaimed bummer, sometimes this can be a good thing. Of course, not when it's gone to dangerous extremes, but it's good in some circumstances to think about possible failures. Working on the other hand of Lucifer, they can both see the weaknesses in ideas or functions and come up with backup plans to ensure everything runs smoothly. Because he lacks the confidence to rush into things, he's able to more tactfully plan something out.

The Optimist/The Mediator/The Diplomat: Beel is often the one trying to quell fights between his brothers. Everyone has a special place in their heart for him and it works the same the other way. He knows how to use empathy to relate to all his brothers, and more often than not, he can work them into some sort of compromise. He fulfills a SUPER crucial role in this group/family dynamic and unfortunately he's one of the more underappreciated characters in the fandom.

The Brain/The Expert/The Researcher: Satan always brings his knowledge to the table. Even if Lucifer is implied to be more knowledgeable, the eldest's efforts are more focused on structure and order rather than education. Satan is more than happy to keep his brothers informed, and a lot of his brothers tend to turn to him for answers. And even if they come to a dead end, out of everyone, Satan is the most eager to do the research about the query they're facing.

The Unexpected/The Wild Card/The Outside Look: Belphie is a rather jack of all trades. Depending on what is needed in the moment, he is capable of fulfilling any of these slots. But more than that, he's the clever one that usually blurts out that out-of-pocket response that is the final key to the puzzle. He does things on a whim, when the mood suits him, but even so usually ends up being successful anyway. With him sleeping and (like in the first game) not being around his brothers too much, he can usually bring in a more outside perspective and catch things that the others miss.

(This was so long, I'm very sorry, but this is my full elaboration ^^)

[orange-orchard-system]

It's so wild to me sometimes that people cling so hard to the idea of having specific relationships automatically meaning that you are "healthy" in some undefined way. Maybe it's just because I grew up with a lot of "the popular kids are actually unhappy" stories as a child, but it's not actually the amount of relationships, kinds of relationships, or desire for relationships that indicates "health" – it's whether someone's social needs are being met.

The problem is that no one actually talks about social needs; when you get into the specifics, you find so, so much stigma. And so what happens in the end is that we end up with a lot of people equating their needs being met with the main method(s) they've been taught to meet them.

Attention – so stigmatized it feels like a crime. Socialization – poorly understood and mistaken for socializing. Support networks – wrapped up in so many expectations and rules that accessing it as a resource can be ridiculously difficult. Community resources – look, if I took a shot every time I saw this phrase thrown around with no elaboration or examples, I'd be dead by now. Interpersonal connection – now we're getting somewhere, but I bet most still confuse this for having specific flavors of relationships, don't they?

We don't talk about needing attention in a destigmatized way. We don't talk about the difference between socialization and socializing. We don't talk about what it means to have a support network or how to build one, except maybe as far as people assume "You have family and friends you can ask for help, right?" We don't talk about what community resources are or how they can be created, shared, and accessed. We don't talk about interpersonal connection in general, especially without immediate attempts to categorize such connection into specific relationship flavors.

Instead, what we talk about is sex, romance, friendship, and family, and the categories these relationships are sorted into: sexual, romantic, platonic, and familial. Doing so in favor of specificity, however, muddles the actual problems people face with their social needs, and prevents proper solutions from being considered. The popular kids with lots of friends can still end up lonely; the adults in their "perfect" marriages can still feel unfulfilled. Despite checking all the boxes on socially acceptable relationships, people can end up without their social needs being met.

Am I going to explain all these individual concepts today? Am I going to speak about my first draft ideas on how we could potentially fix these problems referenced in this post? Not a chance; I'm too busy right now to write essays on these things. But I want to introduce this seed of a thought to people's heads; we need more discussion about social needs as something separate than the idea of "you must actively desire, pursue, and partake in these specific cultural categories of relationships with other people", because otherwise, we don't actually address the needs of the people, and can't help all the people out there who struggle to meet those needs on their own. We need to dig deeper to move forward.

[particular-one]

I noticed ur request are open I just have to request something aslo had this idea for awhile now I tried my best to explain it detailed hope this ok

May I request a crossover fic fan heng x Genshin impact reader where reader based of electro archon Raiden shogun and maybe reader gets transported to astral express /honkai star rail universe and Mets the team I Aslo wanted to elaborate on raiden past and how she is very closed off perosn due to her past experiences with people and is very hard to make Friends

Until she Mets dan heng and they grow close bond and maybe helps reader try return her homeland . You know how raiden has two forms maybe her body is unstable like in honkai universe (like how in story quest for Genshin Ei (Reader) body want able to be in control due to shogun and she had battle her puppet self in like the boss fight verison in game maybe she unlocks this form in Plane of Euthymia to keep herself from the effects of erosion. So Reader created the puppet Shogun to ensure immunity from the decay of her physical body.While in the Plane of Euthymia, maybe reader loses control of herself like in her new form shogun and Dan heng and the team have to reason with her I hope this makes sense I was trying add shogun past best I can plus I desperately wanted crossover idea like this Dan heng since I adore him I hope this request is ok fill free to ask questions and I hope this request idea makes sense 💕I just adore Dan heng sm and love ur work plus raiden shogun Ei is my fav so YEY

pairing. dan heng x raiden ei!reader author’s note. i had to revisit shogun’s story quests cz it’s been a while i’ve gotten invested in the storyline of genshin but i enjoyed writing this (i hit the word limit with the text block too😭). i took a little creative liberty around the story of hsr so i hope it’s to your liking. :]

◇ — before you were recruited by the astral express, you were a lone drifter with a mysterious past. this universe was very much different than your own, so it was only natural for you to close yourself off with anything foreign — which is, pretty much everything. ◇ — it had been welt that located you in a nearby planet, but sent both march and dan heng to investigate. you were classified as an anomaly, and truthfully, welt had his suspicions about you at first — it was clear you did not belong to this world (but neither did he, hence why his curiosity was stoked. ◇ — to say that dan heng was merely intrigued by you is an understatement. he was downright mesmerized, that march kept teasing him on the way back. still, you were waaaaay harder to crack than anyone they’ve had on the express. you only agreed to stay with them because himiko had sensed that you were looking for your home, and promised to find a way to help you safely return. ◇ — despite the fact you’ve been with the astral express for a month, you seemed to just pop up with your presence undetected around the express, sometimes even scaring pom pom. since you did not have a permanent room on the express, dan heng offered to let you sleep in the archives. yet, during one night, he found you sleeping on the couch of the express instead. whenever he found you like that, he grabbed the singular blanket he had in his room and draped it over you. ◇ — among all the members, dan heng was the first one you warmed up to. you were always grateful when he seemingly checked up on you to make sure you were alright at night (though you had pretended to be asleep, you could always see him checking). you ended up trying to cook for him… but despite the rock hard bread, dan heng felt touched at the gesture. though he had a hard time swallowing after that. ◇ — somehow, you slowly started participating around the express. you returned march’s very chirpy greetings, you sometimes made the occasional remark that always turned everybody’s heads towards you and you sometimes shared a serene smile with dan heng, which .. made march envious because she wanted a smile from you too! dan heng knew how much returning back to your home meant to you and had stayed up in the archives trying to look for a way to get you back home — though he sometimes underwent a slight cognitive dissonance on helping you to get home, since he didn’t want you to leave the express this sudden. ◇ — due to your powerful nature, welt and himeko assigned you to go trailblazing with march and dan heng. you could easily demolish your enemies which march always finds cool and remarks on it every time. dan heng finds it cool as well but he isn’t as expressive as march about it. however, as you engaged in more battles and rumours of your god-like powers spread across the universe, it was only a matter of time an enemy faction took notice and decided that they wanted to take you for themselves. ◇ — the astral express fought to keep you safe from them, but amidst the struggle, dan heng protected you from a fatal blow which resulted in him getting severely injured. seeing him injured because of you drove you to guilt and made you remember the grief of losing everyone you loved to erosion. you went berserk against the enemy faction and successfully wiped them out, but you suddenly disappeared from the astral express. ◇ — when dan heng recovered, he was worried sick when himeko mentioned how you suddenly distanced yourself from the express and disappeared without a moment’s notice. he took it to the archives yet again to figure out where you might be, and not long after, he and welt surmised where you might possibly be — the planet they first found you in. ◇ — you were different than how they remembered you; since the fight, you had withdrawn back into your plane of euthymia and allowed raiden shogun to take full control of yourself outside. the astral express fought against your puppet to not only try and crack your shell again, but also to get one of their beloved members back.

“she’s so strong—!” march yelled from the back, just as dan heng deflected another hit from the shogun’s spear. he had always admired your strength; it had always been a delight to fight side by side with you, but never against you — that was for sure.

he knew this … puppet was not you. in truth, dan heng had sensed for a very long time that you were grappling with some sort of internal conflict, but he didn’t expect to be validated like this.

nor did he really expect that he would be fighting you as another you, that is.

still, dan heng had been extra careful not to land a devastating attack on you — well, puppet you. he didn’t really know how these cases work, but in the event that that was still you, he didn’t want to hurt you by accident.

that would be the last thing he had wanted to do.

every inch of his body was aching, his muscles felt like they were burning with how much dan heng was pushing them. he still hadn’t fully recovered, but he jumped right into this mission with only you your safety in mind.

“dan heng! behind you!”

he had been too tired to notice that the shogun was right behind him, sword raised up and ready to inflict an attack. dan heng could feel his body freeze up as he tried to get himself away — though, to his surprise, the shogun moved past him to unleash a lightning strike on …. the shogun?

was he that tired that he was now seeing double of you?

you — the you with the sword — looked back at him with a confused expression, before going back to engage with the other you. but the fleeting look you gave him was a look he could always recognize a mile away. “that’s y/n!”

immediately, march was by his side as he stepped outside the area where you were fighting the shogun puppet. “they’re both y/n, dan heng— but they’re fighting each other???” he shook his head. “no— the one with the sword. that’s our y/n.”

march didn’t seem all that convinced until welt nodded. “right. we have to stay out of her zone so we don’t block her line of sight.” dan heng’s hand gripped cloud piercer tightly just as he watched you jump right back into fighting the puppet.

“but we can’t just leave her alone—” march started, but welt placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. “we won’t. we just have to find that opening.”

━━━━━━━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━━━━━━━

it was a constant back and forth. with the express supporting you at the back but never directly interfering, you were the one who directly battled the shogun. you withdrew back to your plane of euthymia in shame for endangering dan heng, so you were surprised to see him and the others here.

they care more about you than you had initially thought.

the shogun was relentless in battle — but you had instructed it to be like that. the shogun was meant to be flawless and firm; yet, here you were: battling against it for full control of yourself, and to be able to reunite with your friends.

with your newfound will, you pushed yourself to the limit to finally face your fears head on. it was time to put an end to this.

“dan heng, now!” the voice sounded like welt, but at his command, you watched as dan heng leapt in the air and into the battlefield. his cloud piercer raised just as he timed his attack on the puppet just as you unleashed another lightning strike. the impact had been enough to send you back, that dan heng immediately dropped back down to catch you in his arms.

you could see the shogun lower their spear, it’s form no longer in pristine condition as it once was. your own puppet was staring at you, its eyes glancing at dan heng, who still had you in his arms, and to the rest of the astral express. without another word, the shogun turned back and disappeared into the plane of euthymia, but not before giving you a nod.

“are you okay, y/n?! what was that? where are we?” you never thought march bombarding you with a million questions would comfort you as much as it did now, but you really did miss her, and the rest of the crew.

“you guys… came back? for me?”

dan heng helped you up, but his arm never left you. “of course we did.” he had a furrowed expression in his eyes, but they shone with the brightest concern. normally, you didn’t want anyone taking pity on you, but you simply relaxed in his arms.

they did care. he still cares.

the thought of home and eternity had always staved off the cold in your heart, but the feeling of being in dan heng’s arms had sent enveloped you in a warmth that you’ve frankly never experienced before.

you could hardly suppress your smile, and seeing dan heng return it to you made the warmth in your chest spread even further.

you could definitely get used to this.

written by carlyle (@particular-one) copyright: all content belongs to particular-one on tumblr (2023)

[faux-ee]

Fyodor’s Ability: Body Possession and The Possessed

Note: If you don’t want to read the looong premise just jump to the paragraph where I started with “the core idea,” I have it bolded and underlined.

Hi bsd fandom how are you…I don’t think anyone would remember me but I used to be one of the craziest fyolai enjoyers on this site. My irl life has honestly been a mess for the past years (and it still is ngl), but recently I went back to reading bsd and I’m so satisfied with Fyodor’s ability, I have to write something about it.

I’m not THAT obsessed with fyolai now; my current and perhaps forever obsession is the ship of Stavrogin x Pyotr (stavrovensky) from Dostoevsky’s novel, The Possessed (I have never been the same after this ship...I’ll elaborate on how incredible and messed up it is if anyone is curious about that), and with my tradition of studying fyolai alongside stavrovensky, even back when I was still mostly a bsd fan and understood very little about the latter, I was REALLY happy with how Fyodor’s ability has turned out, with all the implications of Possession.  

Let’s first establish that Asagiri totally has knowledge of The Possessed. He not only quoted it but also kinda borrowed the whole “group of five spreading evil and destroying the world” idea from it, and perhaps even modeled some scenes after the book’s 2014 TV adaptation. Goncharov, who pours tea for Fyodor and wants to feel “all is well,” can be seen as a parody of Kirillov and his speech in The Possessed, a character that happens to be an architect (remember Goncharov’s ability?).

Kirillov is also discussed in length by Camus — having adapted the book into a play — who wrote The Stranger and created Meursault. BSD became explicitly a metafiction after Gogol’s appearance, and The Possessed is a chronicle of events provided by an unreliable narrator, who seems weirdly omniscent, and the story also quickly tumbles into turmoil after certain characters’ sudden appearance. One scholar argues that the narrator is only making up a story and trying to make what happens seem logical, while it really is not. Gogol’s pretending to be a government official/one of the police, gunning Atsushi in a tunnel, and making the Agency take his blame for terrorism also echoes strongly the events in The Possessed. I won’t spoil you further though. 

The core idea of Dostoevsky’s The Possessed, or in some translations The Devils, or Demons, is that people who cannot think for themselves are often easily possessed by ideas planted into their heads — then driven to madness and self-destruction by what they think they have thought up themselves. Hell if that doesn’t sound familiar; that’s all Fyodor’s been doing to others, and it’s what he basically said in Chapter 42. 

("being led by the nose" also appears in the book, it's one of it's crackiest jokes, but i'm not sure if it's just a matter of translation in bsd.)

Asagiri said he got the idea of Crime and Punishment being doubles from Ivan Karamazov, who truly is just a less stable/powerful version of Stavrogin in terms of intellect, the incarnation of the Devil — of Lucifer, in some Dostoevsky scholars’ words — the mysterious, beautiful protagonist of The Possessed shrouded by too many secrets, none of which gives a clue about his true character and purpose. (irl Dostoy said he “tore him [Stavrogin] out of my heart”; you can say he’s the author's special blorbo LOL). 

His name literally means “cross (stav)” + “horn (rog)”, showing the heaven-hell conflict within his character. Stavrogin sometimes sees a demon double of himself, too; like BSD Fyodor, he made peace with it (the paragraphs describing this is cut from some versions of the book). 

And like Fyodor, Stavrogin represents something “more evil than evil”: the void; but a void that could mess up people’s minds by “understanding” them, giving them answers for what they should be after, thus tricking them into abandoning their lives for this one pursuit, one impossible ideal. He used these ideas which he himself didn’t believe in to possess people, in every meaning of that word, and this possession comes with the process of enter into. People are no longer themselves, but — in many Dostoevsky scholars’ opinion — doubles of Stavrogin, shells of themselves that carry the pieces of this one nihilistic demon. 

Characters affected the most by Stavrogin in The Possessed let these toxic ideas enter their heads, because they are trying to get rid of unbelief and skepticism about god — kill their inner demons/defend themselves against Satan’s call. You could say they stepped right into Stavrogin’s twisted experiment just as they were trying to kill the heaven-hell ambivalence within themselves; kill “Stavrogin”. 

Tl;dr When people are trying to kill Fyodor, they are possessed by him and become doubles of him, but not complete replicas; they retain their personality in some way, but only through their own fixations that get integrated into Fyodor, the demon. It’s like black is the mixture of all colors, and chaos is a cacophony of all sounds. When they die, Fyodor exits the body with a darker, heavier, emptier soul, and enters into the next victim, who tried fruitlessly to defeat him. 

(In The Possessed, it is said that people who are possessed by ideas are basically consumed by them; their personal views on life are replaced by unreasonable fixations of the mind, which they devote their hearts wholly into. Nicolas Berdyaev connected this kind of fixation to the search for freedom and to attain godhood in his book Dostoevsky. This is a horrifying observation of the human psyche by irl Dostoy but it also reminds me of how Fyodor has described the singularity.) 

There are other startling similarities between Fyodor and Stavrogin that I didn't mention. Please go read the book, it is in no way a daunting classic - it is supposed to be dark comedy; and if you can't stand old people drama, start from Volume 2, you might just experience the DoA arc all over...

P.P.S, It has been pointed out how fyolai interactions and their mannerisms mirror scenes and characters in The Possessed (2014). these two ships of crazy russian terrorists differ significantly while being similar on the surface (grumpy x sunshine, the religious/philosophical discussion on evil, soulmates, kill your darling etc.) but this is not the point of this post so I’ll leave it for now.

[cerastes]

How do you rate the gacha booty shooter?

NIKKE sure is a game! It's the funnest mixed bag I've played lately. As a side game, it's been pretty good, because it's good at what it does good, and not terrible at its weak points, leaving you with a pretty "Ok :)" feeling overall.

So what's up with Nikke? Yeah, let's have a talk about that so I can explain a bit by what I mean with "fun mixed bag".

Nikke's setting is the same old tired, you've seen it a million times: Once day, humanity was almost decimated by a mysterious enemy that came out of nowhere... We call it... The Enemy! They were simply too strong, so humanity had to deploy its strongest weapons: Anime Girls. And you are the lucky Authority Figure that commands the Anime Girls to defeat The Enemy! But... The Enemy and Anime Girls have more in common than it seems...!?

Replace "The Enemy" with "Rapture", "Anime Girl" with "Nikke", Authority Figure with... Technically "Commander" but more on this in a bit, and you've got Nikke. In other words, the game's setting and premise are just a few word swaps away from being Punishing Gray Raven, Snowbreak, and a bunch of other properties. But here's the thing: Whereas Punishing Gray Raven tells you its story with all the charm and pizzazz of a Wikipedia article, and Snowbreak... Uh, stands there staring at a wall Blair Witch style because nothing ever fucking happens in Snowbreak, Nikke actually has good moment to moment flow. Allow me to elaborate.

Read More break here because I wrote a lot more than I intended:

Nikke has probably the dumbest premise to open with: The Nikkes are basically superpowered cyborg girls (war machines with human brains) that look like supermodels on purpose because they were created, in the game's own words, "with the ideal form in mind". That's all a wordy way of saying they are super hot girls with very powerful guns and superhuman physical capabilities. The dumb part is that Nikkes are treated like absolute shit in-universe by humans. You're telling me humanity is making cyborgs -- not even full on robots or AI, these are straight up people getting turned into weapons -- that are hot as fuck and have tits bigger than my head and asses that could crush cars under their sheer heft and then decided to hate them and treat them like shit, and also these cyborgs are the ones actually keeping humanity alive? Well yeah we need a reason for the Main Character (you!) to be Special and bond with them, so your thing is that You Don't Treat Nikkes Like Shit. In fact, you care for them.

Now, this is all absolutely fucking stupid, but then, the game sort of... Realizes how stupid it is? And some may say "this was always the plan" but to me personally it feels like they kinda realized how god damn stupid this all was as a premise, and they started veering the car mid-trip because for a while this all feels REALLY sincere, not in a foreshadowing way, but then you have some developments such as "no yeah, Commanders are a dime a dozen, are brainwashed into seeing Nikkes as walking garbage and that they'll be heroes, risk their lives for pennies and are extremely expendable", and there's also what I consider a really good and consistent thing the game has done: Nikkes were always a desperate last minute rushed product as a concept, so the safety measures in place so that they don't rebel against humans were never perfect.

This is what I mean by the moment to moment being good: The plot is absolutely whatever, the setting is something you've seen a million times, but the actual scene by scene, beat by beat, is fun. On the micro level, the game knows how to be entertaining and interesting, and when they expand these micro nuggets of gold to a macro level of writing, it's when they end up with their best bits of narrative and world building. I want to use two examples about the whole safety measures thing: Crow and Rose.

Crow is a Nikke that hates humans and is part of a squad of known dangerous elements that Missilis, the most irresponsible of the Big Three companies, is responsible for. This squad is Exotic, and Exotic works with you (your squad is named Counters) on this one mid-game chapter. The thing is, they never really intended to work with you, and Crow wanted you dead because Crow wants to spark a Human Vs Nikke conflict in the Ark (humanity's last big home), because you might quell the hostility between both sides. But, Nikkes can't intentionally kill humans (accidents happen and a Nikke may be ordered to subdue a human, but they are hardwired to not be able to shoot at them or kill them). So, how does Crow go about it when she betrays you? She has her squadmate Jackal plant a steel plate on the ground, and then shoots the plate in a way that the bullet ricochets and hits you. NIMPH, what's used to, among many other things, make sure Nikkes can't turn on humans, was so, so easily circumvented, and this is consistent with what we've been told about the Ark and Nikke in universe development in general: It's sloppy, it's lazy, it's not good. Rose, the other example, is a Nikke from a flashback story around a hundred of years before the start of the game. Rose was a prototype Nikke that was geared for melee combat instead of ranged combat, as all Nikkes are, and she was one of ten such units. Basically, Rose realized that their human Commander was intentionally trying to get them killed until one remained, which would be deemed the success of the line in Darwinian fashion. Rose got so immensely, justifiably angry at this that she plotted to kill the Commander. How can she do this, though, with the NIMPH that prevents her from doing so? Well, Rose was an actual swordmaster, and what she did was wear a blindfold, convince herself that what she was slicing was not a human, but a Rapture, and then she easily killed the shit out of him, unimpeded by her system. The NIMPH, end of the day, is sloppily made, highly dependent on the mental state of the Nikke, and easily circumvented. This is a very important plot point throughout the story, and the way they show this in multiple ways is really good.

Another thing I like is how the game goes about the player's title. It's technically "Commander" but the truth is, most every single Nikke calls you a different way relative to your relationship with them or their impression of you. Rapi and Anis some of the few that call you Commander, because they are in fact your subordinates, but Rapi says "Shikikan" while Anis says "Shikikan-sama" in a sarcastic way initially and after a while in an affectionately playful way, Neon calls you "Master" (Shishou) because she likes the way you use firepower, Liter calls you "Greenhorn" because you are, well, that in her eyes, Moran calls you "Partner" (Ototou, "little brother" in Japanese) because she's the head of a crime syndicate and she considers you as a cool person under her protection, the sports inclined ones call you "Coach", the school themed ones "Teacher", Viper, the flirty one, "Honey" or "Darling" depending on the scene, and so on, the old timey Scarlet calls you "My Lord", the religious Rapunzel uses "Believer", and the coarse, rough around the edges Snow White just uses "You" (Omae). It's a great touch that I like when it's done.

So, basically, you have a charming combination of a setting that's been overdone infinite times with plot beats that vary between legitimately good (the NIMPH and its logistics) and legitimately bad (Whatever the fuck Chapter 18 was, to name one case), and moment to moment that's really charming and entertaining.

The gameplay is honestly extremely unbalanced, and the sheer disparity in strength between units of the same rarity makes you wonder if they have anyone in the team that actually cares about balance, but honestly, putting the issues of balance aside? It's fun to point at stuff and shoot a million bullets and rockets, and they even get pretty creative with the fights sometimes in terms of enemy types and how they use them against you, so gameplay balance is awful, gameplay itself is suprisingly good for how simple it is.

I know people are going to be like "Dreamer, You Didn't Even Rate The Asses" so okay here:

First of all, the ergonomically perfect ass of the VIXEN that lured me into the game in a moment of weakness, Scarlet:

And next up, the Clothed But Massive Ass of Snow White

In fact, I appreciate the variety, because if it was just bare cheeks and panty shots, it'd be kinda whatever to me, but bodysuit ass and clothed but noticeably huge ass? Fresh, to be honest.

Also notable is that progress in entirely gated by passive production of resources and daily stuff because there's no stamina system. Bold!

But yeah feel free to ask more specific questions, but this is pretty much how I've felt about it.

[playertale-au]

UPDATE

Hello, dear watchers!

I'm here to give an update regarding the status of PLAYER!Tale AU.

Don't worry! The comic is still being made, but it may take a while. I plan to complete chapters 6-9 before posting and continuing with 10 and 11.

Below the cut is the reason why the comic is taking so long to be posted.

I have already drafted pages for 6-9 and started to lineart Chapter 6. It takes a while because of a few factors;

My test (Is finally finished! Hooray! I hope I pass (ㅅ´ ˘ `) )

My parents came over during the month of my exam, so I couldn't draw much.

Apparently, my college yeet me to work at a company a week after my exams, so I'm now working on a 2 years contract. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

The company requires me to work 6 days a week, with my days off being inconsistent. (it could be any day of the week.)

Health.... I'm not really gonna elaborate on that,

UNDYNE!!!!!! (HER ARMOR IS HARD TO DRAW (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ ) )

I may or may not have created 3 new AUs, ehehehe, pls don't bonk me

My stylus broke so I'm waiting for the shipment to arrive, for now, I'm actually drawing with my fingers aha-

I'll show a tiny progress for chapter 6. Just to show I'm not actually abandoning it (⊃ ˃̣̣̥ ᴖ ˂̣̣̥ ⊂)

About 130+ pages were drafted (I think...... I'm not sure....)

Also,

Here's Sans! Hello, Sans! ヾ(˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶)

I'm showing him because he will only appear twice in Chapter 6 and the whole of Chapter 7 before being gone for the rest of Act I. lmao

That's all for now! I wish to post more, but I don't want to spoil the story and I'm just posting just to give a heads-up of what's happening and not just let all of you think I just up and leave this series. (It's been two months, I'm sorry!)

I'm okay, just work giving me a difficult time. My only savior is milk tea, but the doctor said I can't drink too much now, so that's sad...

(｡•́︿•̀｡)

Also, meet Daleth, my personal pessimistic friend, lol. He's gonna appear with my persona, from now on. I'm still debating whether to make him an undertale character or not.

Anyways! Thank you for following this series, I really appreciate all of you for being interested in this silly AU. We've reached 400+ followers now! Yay!!! ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ

[ancientgreekyuri]

Today marks three years of Dianthus existing! I made my first concept sketches for her on 11/20/23 💖 this also means it's been three years of Diathesterius! I sometimes use the date I uploaded Dia to toyhouse, the 21st, as the anniversary date just in case I'm late... but I managed to finish colouring this <3 I had actually wanted to do something for this earlier in the month, I even made some very elaborate plans for it... but it ended up not happening! Which is okay 💞 but I still wanted to draw a little wedding piece... so I did! I'll make something fancier when I have more time later on... 💝 I used my own handwriting here for authenticity, but at some point... I'd like to be able to rewrite in Greek for More authenticity <3 Uncropped version (and long rambling post) under the cut 💕 I get a little Vulnerable so don't read it if you're gonna be mean or else I'll like Get You or something

I've made posts in the past talking about why Theseus and Asterius mean so much to me, but I don't think I've made one on why Dianthus herself means so much to me.. so for her own third year anniversary, I'll do that here! before I begin...! the fruit in dia's hair here are from the strawberry tree, arbutus unedo. I associate the tree and its fruit with Theseus but... it's honestly been so long, I don't remember exactly why! Just that, for some reason, I imagine thathis childhood home had a tree of these fruit blossoming just outside his mother's room, and thus he has fond memories of it. Lady Dianthus... she who loves all things pink, actively hates celery, and still has a job at the library despite being so fogetful and clumsy... she who met Theseus and immediately became obsessed because it was the first interesting thing to happen to her- not a parent or someone she's close to, but herself! her first time feeling as if she had a true purpose. She who didn't understand Theseus' obsession with Asterius until meeting he Minotaur, and promptly decided "he's not scary? he's not scary at all! he's just a cow!" I've made sona and the likes before Dia of course, but she was the first in a long time who was truly meant to resemble me in all ways (except for the setting, of course...). I made her design simple so I would easily be able to redraw her, and gave her one of my favourite palettes pink and green and cream and gold. At first I really didn't expect to get that attached to her... I went months without drawing her after her initial creation. but the more I drew her the more I realized how much fun I was having with her...! It's funny looking back on it... originally I had a much more comedic idea for her story, and di not intend to ship her with Theseus in any serious way. It was going to be a completely one-sided love (with Dianthus taking the role of "crazed fangirl" - which she still is, in a way). I'm sure it isn't a surprise but it didn't take me long at all to start drawing ship art of them, creating artworks and writing of Theseus and Asterius was a self indulgent joy for me, so why not selfship art too? I ended up invested, of course. Using Dia I put a lot of my own feelings into a story; a sense of otherness, her loneliness, feeling lost and out of place. I had removed it later on because I felt uneasy with how vulnerable it was, but at one put I had placed one of the most traumatic events of my life into Dia's story- sometimes I think about adding it back, because I know giving her an oppurtunity to open up about it with her beloveds would be something beneficial to Me irl(!). But that's besides the point here... she's a stubborn girl, sweet but arrogant is my usual go-to descriptor for her; that's how I think of myself too, just based on what I've been told (I have a hard time thinking of myself as nice, though others always say so to me...). That may be part of why I tend to look for those features in (fictional!) lovers... something feels good to me about being able to butt heads due to this shared traits, but still coming together and making amends despite it. I do think it's a little funny that the sonas I've gotten the most attached to so far- Dianthus, and now Nerine- have some sort of theme of death with them. Dianthus is literally a ghost, and Nerine is metaphorically one (and maybe liteally, if I ever make up my mind...). Maybe that's just fitting for me, though... hmm... I'm not sure what else I want to say here... I think of Dianthus as "Me but in Hades Game / Ancient Greek context." Of course some events that happen in her life didn't happen to me, or, sometimes, I dramatize it (Dia's mother leaving her and her father to become the wife of a god was inspired by the fact that for the first few yers of my life, my parents were separated... but they always had a positive relationship with one another! Unlike Dia's parents), but she's become a big par

t of me all the same. Just as I am happy and hoping to spend many more years with Theseus and Asterius, I hope to spend many more years with her as well. i think that's all I'll write for now <3 if you read this thank you for being curious enough about me to be interested in all this 😭

btw, here's the first ever post of her... (yes thats my priv </3 i briefly unlocked it to search for this... don't try and follow me over there though it's crazy over there)

[hawkogurl]

Hi! 😊 I saw you post something saying it was clear to you that raimi harry Osborn was schizophrenic do you think you could please explain that a bit? (If you've already made a post about it and I've just missed it I apologise) Have a nice day!

Probably won’t be the best worded so I’ll be happy to elaborate further. Also feel compelled to state that I probably view that constitutes canon pretty differently than most people. What I mean by the idea that Harry having some sort of psychotic disorder in the raimiverse is at least semi-canon is generally pretty complicated so bear with me.

A lot of what has brought me to this conclusion is pretty doylist. It’s not a plot hole that Harry’s hallucinating in the second movie, the way the first two movies are written in this regard before Sony decided to fuck with things in the third is too deliberate. Raimi’s history as a horror directors shows in a lot of areas, but it never really feels like he’s throwing elements in for the hell of it, whenever something feels horrorish, it’s pretty deliberate. All this to say that Harry’s not hallucinating for the hell of it.

When it comes to specifically raimiverse based interpretation, there’s generally four things I see a lot. The first and in my opinion weakest being the idea that it’s happening as a result of the serum in the nearby hidden room leaking. I understand how this is seen as appealing or interesting, especially in any case where someone might think it doesn’t make sense for Harry not to have developed a goblin persona like Norman had. In the past I’ve gone into how I believe that’s also a pretty deliberate narrative choice, so putting all that aside, I don’t think it makes sense for this to be intended by the creators. From a writing standpoint, if that’s what we were supposed to think, you’d be shown shots to indicate things like that. Additionally, the serum itself is always shown to be stored in a liquid form, only gas when it’s applied to a person, a process that consistently requires quite a bit of machinery. I understand the appeal of the theory, but if I’m looking at what I think is most likely to be the thought in the creators heads, I don’t think this is likely.

I also see it generally get dismissed as ghosts a lot, which also feels strange to me. The only other instance of something happening that could be seen as similarly supernatural would also be in this movie, being the scene where Peter, conflicted about how being Spider-Man effects his life, has a conversation with Ben, who is also dead, in the car from the first movie in the middle of a white void. This scene occurs in an ambiguous white background using imagery from the last conversation Peter had with Ben before he died and also draws on how that conversation has affected Peter’s worldview. This scene ends by cutting to Peter, who’s sitting in bed with his eyes open as he comes to the conclusion he can’t keep being Spider-Man. Because of the framing of it in a space that isn’t recognizable as the normal physical world and the fact we’re shown Peter in the physical world after it, we’re not meant to be taking this scene literally. This scene is a metaphorical expression of Peter’s internal conflict, not a literal event that’s physically happening in any sort of meaningful capacity. It’s a visual expression of a non physical story element. This isn’t all that important for my point, but I find it important to state for later comparison.

This leaves Harry’s interactions with Norman after he’s died as the only remaining event that can be simply explained with the supernatural. That being said, it doesn’t really make internal sense for this to be the case. Though fantastical, every superhuman element of this story has been at least connected to some sort of scientific idea that grounds it in reality, never something more fantastical. The Green Goblin is the result of a performance enhancing drug created for the military. Doc Ock is the result of malfunctioning AI and his most dangerous goals rely on using nuclear fusion to create energy. Sandman was created by the writer’s rather incorrect idea of what a particle accelerator is. Venom is an alien, but still connected pretty blatantly to real life biology ideas of real word symbiotes. It’s all rather fantastical and implausible, but it’s all still connected to real world familiar scientific ideas. To randomly bring the supernatural into it for scenes it could be easily replaced with something else to accomplish the same end results and never elaborating on the idea that apparently ghosts are real would be a really bizarre world building choice.

But going back to the scene with Peter, unlike that this scene is not framed to be metaphorical. It’s happening in the real world right before and after real physical events with Harry and has physical results on the world and the characters. In some capacity, what’s happening here is literal—but I don’t think that means some piece of Norman is physically there. The audience is viewing this alongside Harry and from his perspective, there’s never any other character who’s present for scenes where Harry experiences things like this. The events are literal and intended to be something physically happening, but only from Harry’s perspective. There’s no other set of eyes to establish the reality of this from beyond Harry’s sole perspective.

Among the common theories I see, I probably like the idea that it’s alcohol induced the second most. I don’t really like to demean it because I think it’s very likely that this idea is important to people in the same way it being psychological is important to me. That being said, I don’t know how much I think it holds up to scrutiny. Yes, Harry’s shown to be drinking pretty heavily around this period, but in the moment he first experiences his hallucinations, he’s not shown to be drinking. He at least appears to be somewhat sober. In the second instance, he is shown to drink, but only in the literal seconds before he hallucinates. If this is intended to be the actual cause, the creators would more likely put more emphasis on him drinking in relation to the hallucinations or similar. That being said, I have reasons I think it was kept more vague that I’ll get into.

If I’m looking at what was likely intended, the most likely doylist explanation for why these scenes exist, the idea it’s psychological for him is the only thing that’s going to consistently check out. For one thing, in the comics, Harry is schizophrenic! That’s outright the word used to describe what he has going on, he is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Additionally, in a lot of comics with Harry at the time, he’s hallucinating Norman as an expression of a lot of his internal conflicts, similarly to what we see here. In the comics that Raimi Harry most closely follows the broader beats of, he has persecutory hallucinations of his father as an expression of his internal conflict, hallucinations that target the things that he feels make him weak and drive him towards his worst behaviors while also being specifically schizophrenic. In the raimi trilogy, Harry develops persecutory hallucinations of his father that particularly target the idea that he feels weak and drive him towards his worst behaviors. From that alone, it’s not irrational to conclude that it’s at least something of a reference towards his schizophrenia in the comics.

What’s more, in the novelizations it appears to be rather explicit. While interviews and Reddit AMAs have made it somewhat clear that Peter David, their author, did have quite a bit of freedom, they also made it clear he was still obligated to follow the scripts he was given rather closely and his writing still had to be approved. The novels were primarily only allowed elaboration, not outright reimagining. In the novelizations, Harry is written to hallucinate much more frequently. He’s often paranoid of the world. His behavior is more erratic. He experiences moments of Cotard’s delusion. His behavior through the third movie goes from likely being inspired by or intended to reference and imply Harry’s comic-canon schizophrenia to, in the novels, being outright written to resemble and follow the symptoms of schizophrenia far more closely. While they very much aren’t the movies, the fact that they were being written from the scripts at the time of the movies release and a lot of the information we have on how they were written does point me towards the idea that while you can’t exactly treat them as above the movies in terms of what’s canon, you can treat them very fairly as auxiliary information in terms of interpreting the intended story.

Additionally, I think they provide a pretty interesting piece of information that also sort of solidifies the idea for me that what Harry’s experiencing is some form of psychosis. Harry only develops these issues after learning Peter is Spider-Man. Not after taking the serum, specifically immediately after learning Peter is Spider-Man. At this point in the story, Peter is Harry’s closest friend and arguably the most important person in Harry’s life. I don’t need to explain that Spider-Man is the exact opposite. It’s likely rather shattering to how Harry perceives reality to realize the most important person in his life is the person he hates the most, and that he’s been lying to him after in Harry’s perception killing his father for multiple years. Psychosis is specifically a break in someone’s grasp on reality. I don’t think it’s that hard for me to believe that a revelation that shattered how Harry perceived reality that severely might risk causing a psychotic episode of some form.

Additionally, it’s the most consistent with how the world and writing of these movies work internally. It’s never really about the fantastical elements narratively—these movies are about people. The internal, human elements of these characters lives are the most emphasized, the supernatural elements are almost always allegorically connected to some aspect of humanity or very human flaws. That’s always what’s emphasized. Narratively, the goblin is representative of Norman’s greed and ego, his conviction that he is superior to others and entitled to power and control. Otto isn’t about the arms, not really, it’s about selfishly motivated ambition even with the best of intentions and turning those motivations into selfless ones. Flint being Sandman is secondary to how poverty has fucked him over, how he’s been forced into crime in his desperation to help his ill daughter. Eddie wasn’t really corrupted by Venom, he was a selfish and self centered man with a massive sense of entitlement to what he wanted who was given the power to do what he wanted. By extension, it makes the most sense that Harry, who’s already defined by trauma, cycles of abuse and identity would be far more connected to the very human idea of mental illness than something far less poignant like inexplicable supernatural elements.

All this to say that when I, guy who’s always going to feel compelled to take doylism and authorial intent into account when doing my analysis, look at all the information that I have, I think it’s very likely that Harry’s comics schizophrenia or hallucinations were on the writer’s minds when they were planning out or writing the scenes I am referring to. I don’t think that was ever likely to end up explicit—it’s not practical for a movie with its demographic, with a studio prone to intervention, especially with how messy SM3’s development was. It’s not practical for it to be super explicit in a movie of its demographic in 2007, but I think it’s very likely to be on the writers minds when it was written.