#i have no idea what to write in the description and transcribing it will take me years so for now i'll leave it like this 👍

[unmotivated-student]

"nice cock man, wtf?"

[bucchiboo]

I'm crying because I love the idea of correspondence between the students leaving next year and I'd love to see more of it. The white day cards are so cute that I just want to elaborate (hc) on handwriting and maybe even writing quirks. Just Malleus (for now...)

Malleus would be really interested in how his partner writes, it's all so fascinating to him and he's a pattern noticer. The noticerrrr. And he sees so much that he even finds himself compiling all the repetitive actions you take when writing -not just what you're writing, and brings them to you to discuss further. The way you slant letters, when your pen lets up, if you type then the frequency of paragraph breaking, how you insert images, etc. I think it'd be something like "Did you know you tend to smudge the paper when you reach the furthest margin, are you perhaps left-handed? Oya, you are? I knew that to be the case." He says with a slight smile and downturned gaze because he knows he ate that. Sherlock Horns.

He would get overzealous about the fact that you're only a word away and would immediately call you with his archaic phone and pester you until you receive it. His Correspondence wouldn't actually be a surprise because you are usually visited by a heavy knock on your door and fae appropriate fanfare when it arrives, that's just etiquette when writing royalty. But, he always calls you the day he receives it so that you know he shall be returning post haste and he intends to dazzle you. In fact, you'll spend so long speaking to each other about what was written to him, that when you finally get his response, it's more or less just recapping what you spoke of two days prior. He can't hide his giddyness, even if he keeps a cool baritone while on the phone. Because you're a kind person, you pretend that his tail happily thumping against the ground is inaudible, because you know he can't help it.

He is going to surprise you by the emojis he uses because WHO taught you that!?!? He learned these from Cater and Lilia, but he doesn't change the way he speaks. It's "Good evening, How have you've been? The summer season of Briar Valley is particularly exhausting and hot💧, I am very bothered by the heat of it all.🥵🥵" and when Lilia intercepts it, he's like "that's a perfect sentence, go ahead and send it. Actually, one note, send more sweating emojis, it's really hot this summer, right?"

Your messages go through a diverse array of moderators and middle men. Those people being his Grandmother, who reminds him that he's a prince, Lilia and Silver (the two who initially opened the letter, and finally his transcriber and narrator, Sebek who scoffs at the quality of the smut you're peddling his young master, who shouldn't even be hearing this, but he'll read on against his better judgement. (It's literally benign, the furthest thing from smut, Malleus argues). His letters would look a little like this:

21.09.19XX Child, It's been nice knowing you.😌 Why do I say that? Since we've met, it seems as if Briar Valley has taken a lead in comedy and our collective temperament could not be more jovial. Your humorous description of your familiar, Grim child, was very well received by my Grandmother, as I was awoken early enough to the sounds of insects humming and birds chirping well into the night to read it aloud to me, guffawing as she spoke. (I apologize, I cannot stop her from opening my mail, but we're working on her problematic behavior, that's a fact.😉) She in particular has asked if she may keep it, you know how older individuals are with their chucklesome cat stories. 🙄 There's this understanding of the world that I just don't possess when it comes to what grabs the attention of the people's comedy, it continues to evade me. For instance, what is the humor of "surprise hot dog 🌭" and why must it be a surprise to be enjoyed? The children of Briar Valley seemingly shout this and end their sentences with it, and I am surprised and annoyed every time. It seems like you have an understanding in the matters of humor, so you are welcome to explain it to me. But I digress, If I sat down and listed to you all the things that escaped me, well, you might find yourself as old as I am by the time we've finished! 🤣The trees and wind must sense the happiness in our friendly union, and have planned accordingly to block out bad weather🌧️ and unforgiving spirits. The weather is nice enough that (forgive me I've overstretched my hand) planned your visit for sooner rather than later. Next time we meet in person, this shall be us ->🕺💃, as I've already made arrangements for a night in a cabaret club in the Capitol for us to partake in. It's a culture so far from the realm of possibility of establishing itself in our quiet little country, that I was astounded when I stumbled across its zoning request permits one day and I rushed to see it in person, paperwork be damned. The smaller fae who perform insist it to be a "cheeky, yet inoffensive showcase of the arts", and after witnessing it for myself, I knew it would be the type of entertainment you'd enjoy.🤫 Even now, it doesn't feel natural to write, like an odd mouth feel that doesn't change as I turn it over and over. A cabaret in Briar Valley, a music club in a quiet kingdom... it's as I've mentioned earlier, Briar Valley has surprisingly given itself wholly to the Joviality of life. Sincerely yours; Malleus Draconia, Heir to Briar Valley p.s Surprise hot dog 🌭

On the other hand, as confident as he is in your responses, he's always a little embarrassed to send something back. It's not fear of his ability, but rather, if you'll care to hear about the day to day of a crown prince who's routine is very boring and full of nothingburger drama. He doesn't understand that his 18 page assessment of his life is literally replacing the cable you can't afford, and when he describes the way the lion prince attacked him during a diplomatic meeting, the colorful language of his response makes you laugh, and then cry, and even gag because "how did he get close enough to gash you!?" You can see the face he's making as he writes this, pouty and angry and even chuckling when he describes the punishment that followed. Just like in his real life, Malleus has a hard time concealing his emotions. He's not shy about who he is as a person, and his writing is not either. The way it flows is a little different from traditional correspondence, if anything, he's sending you disjointed journal entries and prose while also clipping what you send him to respond directly. Your 2 page crapped out response filled with emojis and memes and inside jokes is returned in full by 20 pages of thoughtful dialogue, assessments of politics and fondness of your life, and even sketches of the things around him (okay... just gargoyles and Sebek, but those are things in all fairness.) He has a real zest that he doesn't try to contain, and even his handwriting gives it away. When he's in a good mood, it's very pristine, heavily slanted cursive that his heavy hand oppresses by not dotting his i's or crossing his t's. It's just understood between you two what he means. Likewise, when he's angry or melancholic it's surprisingly very light, almost inelligeble as if he was speaking through gritted teeth. He must be getting up and pacing, because of course he is. When upset or recounting something terrible, his handwriting is unusually neat, funnily enough the sentences are much shorter, as if he's hiding something or thinking long about what should be said next. He's a very wistful person, after all.

Malleus enjoys fine art that seeks to appease the senses and refine beauty, so attached to his letters will often be trinkets like necklaces, earrings, watches, and pocket squares that he found in shops in Briar Valley, or a ticket to a play or music shows that dazzled him. The heavier packages (these tend to come at random) are filled with small desserts, books on the anthropological history of different fae species, woven pieces from more aesthetically competent fae and their fashion, and of course, fragmented pieces of ancient gargoyles he found hiding in deserted rooms of the castle. <- He'll know if you've thrown it away, so hold on to the heavy, weird rock fragment, please.

[tu-sugar-mami]

Hi! I'm wondering if you can write how Alcina would react if she found her dobbelgänger? Someone who looks Identical to her and it would probably be one of her maidens. People probably gossip about it too. I want to see Y/N's reaction to it too so like maybe they are together and they see a maiden pass by who looks exactly like Alcina. Lipstick and everything.

(I didn't see any other requests like this so I said why not request this one cause the idea is so interesting)

-Milkie

Hii!! Thank you so much for sending this 🥰 This sounds interesting, yes! I don't think I've read anything like it before and it's an honour you thought of me for this  ✨✨✨ sorry it took me so long, I got carried away and then didn't know how to finish it 😅 although, I don't really know of this is what you had in mind but I went a bit angsty there. Hope you like it! 💖💖

Words: 1800

Tags: angst, a bit of humour, implied feelings, sad stuff, kinds good ending?

_________________________________________

Being Lady Dimitrescu's personal maid is no easy job, especially since the responsibility of bringing her every wish and/or demand could become slightly complicated. There's only so much you can do with your short legs scurrying around in such a grand castle. 

Despite being almost always busy, you do find some time to enjoy a cup or two of that sweet tea you love so much, and love it even more when you share it with your Lady. 

Climbing up the stairs you somehow manage to balance a tray with the needed assortment of ceramics with a teapot full of very hot water on one hand and a quite heavy stack of important documents on the other. Your focus is split between not dropping the platter and reading the stack of papers in your hands trying to find the listing error in the first page (a job usually reserved for one of the daughters) and you find yourself so enthralled by the task that it's only when you reach the hallway that your focus is interrupted by an approaching figure.

Without raising your gaze from the documents, the corner of your eye catches a glimpse of a familiar face. A smile blossoms in your lips at the passing woman, but confusion settles in you. You're sure the Lady is in her study at this time of the day, but you pay it no mind, surely she has a reason to leave her sacred workspace. 

Turning to the left, you ask for a miracle to help you open the door while your hands are occupied. Luckily, being crafty and resourceful was a requirement in the job description, and with a push of your elbow onto the doorknob you enter the Lady's office.

"Oh, there you are. I need those papers transcribed here."

The voice brings you to a halt as your brain catches on. Wait, didn't the Lady just pass by you at the hall? No, surely you're mistaken… 

Quickly turning towards the hall, half of your body peeking out of the still open door, your eyes inspect the now empty hallway in search of an explanation. 

Now that you recall it, the woman in the hallway was strangely at eye level, unlike your Lady, so perhaps she was only a maid you just didn't see correctly.

Well, it's been some stressful days lately, and you suppose your mind is tired. 

Deciding to think nothing of it, you pour the Lady some tea and prepare yourself for the upcoming ache in your hands (the typewriter makes the job easier, but doesn't mean it's less tedious).

It's around late afternoon when you and The Lady find yourselves strolling through the halls in an attempt to dissipate the headache that the stress has caused on the Matriarch. It's also around that late afternoon that you stumble upon her…

A few moments pass by before you do a double take and your hand shoots towards your Lady's skirt in order to stop her from walking away. 

Alcina isn't thrilled, and if it was any other maid she would have already have them paid for their transgression, but as it's almost a custom now, she only rolls her eyes and turns to see what has you so busy that you can't even speak to properly ask her to sto–

As soon as Alcina turns she sees the reason. She sees her.

An exact copy of the great Lady Dimitrescu is busy dusting one of the giant flower pots in the hall.

She is identical, in every way but the height and skin. How did you not notice her before? You're pretty sure you would have seen the close resemblance right away, unless… The daughters are always the ones in charge of 'welcoming' the new batches of maids that come in every month or so, and knowing them, they don't dwell in appearances unless they find one of the morsels to be especially interesting. Perhaps that's why such a sight slipped right by you. 

You wouldn't believe it if the maid wasn't standing right in front of you. 

She had the same high cheekbones and soft jaw as your Lady, that much is evident, but what catches your attention the most is her eyes. That unique and familiar gaze that brings you comfort and reassurance is present in the maid. She looks younger than the Lady for quite a few years, although you wouldn't be able to pinpoint exactly how many apart. Still, the resemblance is unique, more like a copy rather than an offspring. It seems impossible and yet…

You look to your left in a quick movement, ready to go back and forward only wanting to compare and see for yourself that your mind isn't playing tricks on you, but you stop as soon as you notice your Lady's face.

Alcina's expression is a shocked one, more than you've ever seen her bear before, but you notice something else within that stare. Her eyes become slightly teary, but despite your efforts you can't decipher what the meaning of the unshed tears is. 

And of course, you can't possibly know the turmoil that brews inside her. 

Right in front of Alcina stands the woman she once was, or more like the one she could have been. A version of her without her humanity stripped away, without the marks of betrayal and hurt, without the lines of experimentations and pain. In front of Alcina stands the woman she once saw in the mirror, like a cruel joke, in all her human fragility and ignorance. Almost as if the universe had one last way to mess with her and mock her.

Within Alcina aches the desire to touch, to feel, to have a close glimpse of what she was before, and yet the unspoken fear of the mirage before her disappearing keeps her hand grounded, and with it her body stays unmoving.

The Lady hears, among other drowning sounds, the judging whispers surrounding you three in the hall. Words from the maids that have huddled up at the corner, watching with harpy eyes the scene unfolding in their unwelcome presence. 

For the first time in years, perhaps decades, Alcina Dimitrescu is at a loss of words. She would have never thought that an image of herself would make her feel so vulnerable, so threatened. And perhaps also for the first time, the powerful Matriarch feels…powerless.

Until your touch on her gloved hand brings her back from her stupor, that is, effectively stopping her from spiraling any further. Your hand, tiny in comparison to hers, is the anchor she needs right now. 

Alcina turns to you, and what she finds in your eyes as you look up at her is nothing but pure adoration, as if you have already decided that she is perfect just as she is right now. Almost as if you've just chosen her out of the other more humane and better versions of herself in front of you and the ones to ever exist. The love and affection that had been so obvious to her before but you always put effort in keeping hidden is now shining through, unstopped and undimmed, and Alcina's unbeating heart for a moment feels full of life again.

 

With your hand now in her gentle grasp, she feels like she can breathe again, and with the newfound strength she dares to invite the maid for a chat over tea.

When the moon is already starting to show her presence above in the skies, after some surprisingly nice talk, something across the coffee table catches Alcina's attention.

Alcina only needs to see the mischievous grin on your lips once to feel another incoming headache. You've been her maid for five years already for goodness' sake, she already knows exactly what you're thinking…

…

…..

The Lady doesn't know how you managed to convince her to do this, but she's waiting with you hidden behind a stone pillar just after summoning her daughters 'urgently'. 

It's not long before three buzzing swarms approach, but instead of her mother waiting they find a woman facing away from them sitting on their mother's usual chair. 

Daniela confusedly sniffs the air, and she finds that her mom's perfume comes from the same direction as the woman, but she can also smell the blood pumping and a heart beating. 

"Who are you?" The youngest asks with her hand already reaching for her sickle. 

"Ah, my daughters! I didn't see you there, lovelies." The maid greets with a higher pitch voice, before turning to the girls. You have to give her some credit, it would be impossible for you to not laugh if you were in her place. "Come here my girls, mama has missed you." 

"Mother!?" Bela and Cassandra ask in unison. Her eyes are wide and they're switching their gaze from the woman to each other. 

Behind the pillar you watch the scene unfold, and your Lady's hand soon covers your mouth to prevent you from letting out a chuckle, although when you look up you can see an amused smile on her lips. 

"What happened?" Daniela asks, gesturing wildly at the woman's body. "You look, good? Less tired maybe, a little tiny bit uh…less um… like this?" She raises her hand above her head and shakes her hand slightly.

"Holy Mother Miranda, is that really you Mama?" Cassandra asks, slowly approaching the maid. 

Alcina lets out a silent chuckle and with a stealth you didn't know her capable of, sneaks behind Daniela, the closest daughter.

"She is most certainly not, darling." 

Not unlike a cat, Daniela screams and jumps almost two meters before dissipating in a cloud of flies, before reforming next to Cassandra, her hand pleases over her chest, and if her heart could still beat it would be frantically hammering against her ribcage.

"Holy sh-"

"Daniela, language!" Bela nudges her sister with her shoulder. 

Your laugh resonates in the room, and Alcina briefly looks at you, her eyes as soft as her smile, before returning to the girls. 

"I can't believe they really fell for it." You walk towards the maid and put a relaxed hand on her shoulder. "Sorry we made you do this, let's go get some lemonade girl, you look a bit pale."

After you leave with the maid in tow, Alcina takes her rightful seat and pours herself a cup of wine.

"How come no one bothered to let me know of this guest? I should hope next time you do take time to greet every new maid properly, girls."  

"We will, Mother." Bela says, taking a step forward from her sisters. 

"I know you will." Alcina says gesturing away with her hand, and after her beloved daughters leave, she's left again to ponder about how just much she fucked up by accepting Miranda's gift…

_________________________________________

You can find the rest of my stories in AO3 as Lenchisus

You're welcome to leave your request!! 💖✨

If you love my work you can support me on Kofi

https://ko-fi.com/lenchisus

[black-rabbit-razumikhin]

Raz Reads Les Mis (XXIV)

Marius - The Noxious Poor

From the title alone, I think I need to re-look at my thoughts on the previous chapter

Marius is lovesick and misses Lanoire/Ursula/(Cosette?) and not even partying with his friends will help him

On a walk, he bumps into two girls, sending the letters they were carrying tumbling

He takes them and reads them, because they weren't sealed so obviously he can

Marius that's not how that works

All the letters are begging letters, signed with different names, but the same handwriting, paper and cadence

Which could just mean they're all transcribed by one person helping the illiterate

But the addresses of the benefactors aren’t on the letters either, so he doesn’t understand how to return them

Enter evening, enter eldest daughter of his neighbor, the Jondrettes

She is - honestly a bit of a force of nature, I like her more on paper than I would in real life

She proves that she can read and write and wants food - going so far as to eat moldy bread

She’s also the author of the letters

So there goes that scribe idea

She tells Marius how her family is always hungry (she’s also dressed in rags and is not looking the greatest) and the letters are for people that her family knows are rich in order to beg for help

She calls Marius a very pretty boy

From descriptions I can agree, but I need to warn her that his logic leaves much to be desired

Especially in chases of people he’s infatuated with

I know Marius gives her five francs and I know somehow Leblanc and Lanoire end up visiting the Jondrette family as one of their benefactors, but how we got from point a to point b I cannot remember

This was a long chapter, I should have made notes while I was reading

But we move on, Marius is peering through a gap in the upper part of the dividing wall that he didn’t know existed

And has also never heard anything through the paper-thin walls until it was imperative to the plot that he did

Not your best work, Hugo. But I’m invested so I’ll let it slide

Marius, upon knowing that Lanoire/Ursula/(Cosette) is right there!! right on the other side of the wall!! he can’t help but try follow her to her address

But he’s not dressed in his best clothes at the moment and the cab driver refuses him a lift unless he pays in advance

Marius has given most of his money away to the Jondrette daughter, he can’t pay, he can’t follow

Curse his charitable heart!

Why have Leblanc and Lanoire gone? Leblanc is getting Jondrette more money to pay his rent

But what’s this? A plot on the other side of the wall? A plot that Marius would have missed had he been able to follow the infatuation of his heart?

Jondrette wants to employ the bandits of Patron Minette to set up an ambush for Leblanc

And if Marius had followed them he would never have known, never have been able to take measures to protect his precious Ursula

Bless his charitable heart!

Immediately off to the police station we follow Marius, who wants to speak to the chief inspector, but he’s out so his associate will have to do

They devise a plan wherein Marius will pretend he’s gone out, but instead be very quietly hiding in his apartment, listening to the goings-on of the Jondrettes and their hired hands and the goings on of the ambush

Once these are set and an agreement culminates (which, as a lawyer, surely Marius will recognize) he will shoot a pistol shot into the roof of the apartment

That will be the sign for the police raid

So as long as Marius does exactly what is required of him, the Jondrettes and bandits will be apprehended and his precious Ursula will be safe

Obviously events don’t go like that because (1) this is Paris and (2) someone entrusted Marius with something important

The hour comes, everything is in place (it's only Leblanc, the girl has not come with this time) and a reveal is made

Jondrette recognizes Leblanc

And, what's more, Jondrette's real name is Thernadier

Leblanc, who has to be Valjean, is completely unphased

Marius, on the other hand, is shocked. So much so that he forgets his one job

Thernardier? The brave, bold Waterloo fighter who his father has told him to defend with his life? This is the Thernardier who has put the wellbeing of his crush in jeopardy? Has called an ambush on this man? The Thernardier upon whom Marius himself has set the police?

Marius is torn between his heart and the responsibility he is meant to uphold on his father's grave

Never a dull moment with this man, is there?

Thernardier says that Leblanc can keep his daughter, the Lark, but he wants 200 000 francs

A small sum for a pseudo-bourgeois such as Leblanc/Valjean, surely

I know this has to be Valjean, but I don't think Hugo has said so explicitly in this chapter

Overcoming his shock, Marius comes up with a plan in order to release his conscience from two bad decisions

The eldest daughter who visited him, Eponine (an amazing name, really, my favorite name so far), she left a writing sample

A writing sample that looks like code for a means of quick escape in this situation

He bundles up the sample and chucks it through the hole in the wall, everyone thinking it must have come from the window

There is a commotion

A lot happens in the commotion, and the whole scene is more suspenseful than the action I've seen in most blockbuster movies

The lack of coordination, the fact that everyone is trying to save their own skin but also nobody knows whose side anybody is on anymore

They end up deciding to draw lots to see what order they all get to leave

(Anyone remember where Valjean is in all this?)

And then

The best intro of this whole book

Who could it be but Javert (!!) who swaggers in to the door, takes his hat off his head and offers it out with a smile to let them draw lots from his hat

It shows how much I dislike Thernardier if seeing Javert made me happy

Or that was just an incredible entrance

Genuinely well done, man knows presentation

The Thernardiess tries to throw a whole paving stone at Javert, but she misses

Needless to say, Javert and the rest of the police are successful in capturing everyone save one man

And the rope ladder Valjean used to escape hasn't even had time to stop swinging yet

The chapter closes with a little boy looking for Thernardier

And only now as I've typed that have I realised that he's their neglected son from way back when

This was a long, long chapter to work through, but it all felt worth it. It was so exciting! I've condensed a lot of it or we'd be here all day, but that's Marius's book over? That was too short. I feel like there's so much more to be learned about his character that hasn't been covered yet. Also I won't be getting over that Javert reveal any time soon. That was exquisite.

[thana-topsy]

I’m infinitely fascinated by the falmer in Halfway to the Sky, I really want to know more about your ideas for their culture etc

Thank you so much anon! I kind of had to sit with this one, since I don't really have a lot of my Falmer headcanons written out or in one place as it stands. Before writing their introduction in Halfway to the Sky, I began by researching modern isolated tribes and what first contact with those tribes looked like and, surprise surprise, humans are pretty universal in a lot of ways. I try to apply the same to the Falmer. In true form, I started writing my thoughts down and it got a little long, so I went ahead and turned it into a scholarly pamphlet written (with the help of a sighted-person) by none other than the budding expert on the subject of Falmeri cultural exchange: Sarel of Winterhold. (No real spoilers for HttS, just hints and nods). Sorry, again, this got LONG.

[PAMPHLET ONE] An Introduction to the Modern Falmer: Social Structure, Family, and Trade By Sarel of Winterhold, transcribed by co-researcher and Dwemer scholar Aicantar

Quite possibly the most misunderstood nation of our modern era is that of the Falmer, living quietly beneath the surface of Skyrim and no doubt beneath the other provinces of Tamriel. The Falmeri diaspora after the disappearance of the Dwemer is still very much a mystery with little written documentation following the dubiously researched and far-too-often quoted ‘War of the Crag’. (My thoughts on that to come). However, through my years of close contact with several of the Skyrim tribes, and with the aid of my research partner (who is currently assisting in my transcription of this document), we have managed to construct a rough timeline of events based on the Falmer’s oral history provided to us, as well as a basic understanding of their culture and practice.   

SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND FAMILY

As it stands, I would classify Skyrim Falmer as a nation of loosely associated tribes. There is no centralized ruling body, but there is a clear social structure found repeated among the independent tribes. The structure is as follows:

There is a Matriarch, usually the eldest member of the tribe, almost always female (with some exceptions), whose duties are similar to that of a Jarl, though she acts as more of a spiritual/religious leader as well. She is a magic user first and foremost, and has received the “Gifts of the Old Masters” (see: Tonal Architecture; pamphlet 3) as part of her necessary requirements for the role. 

Beneath the Matriarch, there are the Time-Keepers. Time-Keepers are strictly biologically female and count the passing of the months based on their menstruation cycles. There is usually one assigned Time-Keeper with several young females under her tutelage, who are prepared to take over her role when she enters menopause. Time-Keepers may take lovers, but they do not bear children, and to bear a child as a Time-Keeper is seen as breaking a very serious vow. Typically, the Time-Keeper and her charges live together and operate as a small familial unit. The Time-Keeper may have duties outside of this role, often falling again into the realm of magic-users (alchemy, healing, enchanting, etc.). 

Beneath the Time-Keeper is the Lead Warrior (Aicantar note: the title of this role is pending, but we really can’t come up with a better description). He is almost always male (with some exceptions) and rules the warrior class. This domain includes tribal protection, boundary claims, territorial acquisition, and conflict resolution.    

The Matriarch, the Time-Keeper, and the Lead Warrior are the typical ruling tribunal of the Falmeri tribe. They often hold council with one another, though the Time-Keeper and Lead Warrior act as advisors to the Matriarch, who will usually have the final say in any decision.

The other tribal roles include those who raise and farm the chaurus; craftsmen who construct the weapons, tools, and armor from the harvested chaurus; those who roam in order to gather resources; those who raise children; and those who attend to the infrastructure of the settlement. The Falmer tend not to designate these roles based on sex or gender, though there is a noticeable skew that tends to occur in terms of female members rearing children with male members preferring to roam or hunt, but there is no discernable taboo if a male member wishes to raise a child or a female prefers the life of a warrior. (Gender and sexuality among the Falmer is a topic for another time).

The Falmer do not have traditional family structures, but tend towards communal child-rearing. There is an unfortunately high infant mortality rate due to the hostile environment and the increased chance of infection due to chaurus farming, and because of this fact most Falmer children are not given a name until after their first birthday has passed. Mothers keep their children bound to their chests, and many will often cycle newborns between one another to prevent breastfeeding fatigue. Once children have safely passed the stages of infancy, they are reared in groups, taught basic social and crafting skills, and generally kept safely in the confines of the settlement until they are of age to begin contributing to the function of the tribe. 

TRADE

Most Dwemer scholars know well that nearly all Dwarven settlements are connected via long tunnels, running like arteries to the “heart” of Skyrim: Blackreach. Blackreach is the closest approximation to a cultural hub for the Falmer tribes, acting as a centralized marketplace for trade and commerce. Goods from the overworld make their way down to Blackreach usually through scavenging bandit camps or any scholars brave enough to make their way deeper into the Dwarven ruins. I will not deny that many have met their untimely demise at the hands of the Falmer. They are fiercely protective of their tribes, and scouts will not hesitate to kill intruders without a second thought. I hope to work with some of the tribes to change this deeply ingrained instinct of isolation and mistrust, but the denizens of the overworld must also play their own part in seeking peace over violence. A “two-way street”, as my father used to say.  

The Falmer of Blackreach have been known to deal in the slave trade, both of other Falmer and any poor outsiders who do not manage to properly defend themselves. This has presented a unique circumstance in which overworld culture and language have been adapted into the Falmer’s culture. It is not as unlikely as many might think to find a Falmer with a rudimentary grasp of the Cyrodilic or Norse languages. I’ve even met one who spoke with the most peculiar Daggerfall accent after taking a former slave as his wife.

I understand that it is not my place to interfere with the nature of the Blackreach slave trade, (Aicantar note: I have had to remind Sarel on multiple occasions that I would prefer not to die over the matter), though I do not condone it and feel very uncomfortable with its continued practice. Abolitionist movements exist within individual settlements, and there are certain Matriarchs who disavow the practice altogether. So I’m relegated to the position of scholar and observer, though I do what I can to preach the philosophy of self-governance. But, as with the cultures of the surface, opinions vary and wars rage between tribes over such debates. Thus is the nature of man and mer, I suppose, as much as it pains me.

In the next pamphlet, we will cover the etymology of the modern Falmer language, the various dialects used between tribes, and the “trade language” of Blackreach. Future pamphlets will include religious practices, funerary rites, the re-appropriation of Tonal Architecture, and the unique properties of Falmeri alchemy.

[suzie-guru]

Heyyy! How r u doing good today?

Do you have tips for someone who wants to write smth? Like I have this idea, but I'm not even sure where to start 😭

It's an idea for horror, and I wanna call it "Mama's House"

The best advice I can give to someone who wants to write but has no idea where to start is to capture what is capturing your mind right now.

Is it something a character says? A dialogue between two characters? Write it down. Don’t worry about describing the characters, just write the sentences they speak like you’re a court transcriber.

Is it a description of a certain place or a person? Write that down. It doesn’t have to be in a paragraph, it can just be a list of the features they/it possess.

Is it the plot of the story? The pacing of a certain scene? Write it down. Again, it doesn’t have to be a paragraph, it can be in a list of how the scene/plot goes (1. Arraina reached for the dagger, 2. But it’s made of iron, toxic to faeries!, 3. She drops it, hand burned, 4. Radish grabs it away from her, et cetera…)

Whatever is circling around in your mind like a hawk in the sky, get it onto a piece of paper. Let it be rough, let your handwriting be ugly. Just get it out of you so it’s something you can see, read.

Then build upon around it. You have a dialogue between two characters? Write where they’re having it, what the mood is. You’re describing a person or place? Have another character be the one making those observations, make them interact with that person or place. You’re setting up the plot of a scene? Tell us what the characters are saying throughout this, what do they look like, how they’re reacting, and how that leads to the next number on the list.

Take what’s in your head and get it onto paper (actual paper or a screen or what have you) so you can read it, and then build around it. Eventually, the story gods will take over and you will be but a humble vessel that they use to channel themselves through.

….okay, yeah, that last bit doesn’t always happen, but it is an incredible moment when you hit a stride in building your story. I hope you get to experience it.

[quicktimeeventfull]

Yes, for sure! Okay so I took this down initially to gather up some resources but I’ve come to realize I don’t actually have that many specific ones on hand. I always want to caveat that this is just the way I learned/write and it won't work for everyone -- I was/am a slow learner who needed a lot of guidance and so this is all targeted towards that.

My suggestions are: 

Strunk & White: The Elements of Style for grammar. There are other grammar books out there but I like this one because it’s really stuffy and strict and I trust the reader to figure out what is/isn’t worth taking into account. 

Steering the Craft by Ursula K Le. Guin: I’m going to be so honest, I have not actually read this but I’ve paged through it and it seems really good

How Not To Write a Novel by Sandra Newman & Howard Mittelmark

The Masterclass writers series is incredibly expensive but some of the courses are available through libraries or other methods

Also this is for children but Gonna Bake me a Rainbow Poem was foundational for me at ten & I don’t see why it couldn’t help someone older. 

More broadly, I listen to writers when they talk and try to pick and choose what’s useful to me. I prefer the advice of genre writers because I feel most of them really understand their craft as a craft; imo a lot of literary writers are so good at what they do they have no idea how they’re doing it. YMMV on this. I would highly recommend reading the forwards and afterwards of novels. I also like the director's commentaries of movies.

I also find instructional art resources extremely useful! Visual artists know how to describe things and imo they’re better at it than most writers. Like, here, I’ve just googled ‘How to draw light’ and this is a better description of how light affects an object than you’ll find in 99% of writer’s resources. I would also check your local community. If there are writer’s events, take advantage of them. Libraries and bookstores are good places to look. Head down to some book launches and listen to the authors talk.

Also ok this tends to be a bit of a sensitive topic online, but: if you want to improve it’s generally a good idea to seek out critique and negative feedback. A critique circle is a good way to do this. You can find them organized by communities (ex. a library, a university) or you can make one with your friends. If you’ve got people you trust, you can ask them directly to tell you what they didn’t like. I don’t know how far along you are in your writing journey — 'I did not like this' or 'I found this boring' etc might not be useful information at first but eventually it will be because you’ll learn how to identify points of friction in your own work; if you're earlier on you might need to seek out more guided critique and that is 100% fine. You will eventually get to the point where you can diagnose your own writing. (On this note: if you are posting your writing online I would highly recommend differentiating comments from critique -- I'm talking about directly solicited feedback from people who personally know you and want the best for you.)

One of my main pieces of advice is that it takes time to improve your writing skills. There are ways to improve more or less efficiently but at the end of the day time and practise is the key. It is normal to go through up and downs and it is normal to sometimes feel stuck but if you keep working at it you WILL get better. I am not a quick learner and it took me upwards of ten years before I was writing anything people consistently wanted to read BUT I see people improve exponentially faster than that all the time. Probably you will improve faster than I did. But maybe we will improve at the same speed and that is OK too. 

Other random tips: 

Do exercises that target specific skills which you are weak at 

Carry around a notebook and write down things you see as accurately as you can & transcribe conversations. In regards to the latter, would recommend developing really bad handwriting to prevent people from reading over your shoulder. 

Write things, including completed stories, that are above your current skill level. Get them as good as you can then let them go. They are unlikely to meet your standards. Figure out what didn’t work and try them again later. You do not need to publish these

[justagalwhowrites]

Please, take as much time as you need to write/polish the chapter <3 I'd like to ask you a question if that's okay :-) Do you always see each scene in your mind before writing it or sometimes you create the scenes as you are typing out? I love the way you convey emotions. Every description, every thought and line of dialogue show how the character is feeling. I love that :-)

AHHH Hi Bestie!

Thank you so much for being patient, I really do appreciate it because I HATE to keep y'all waiting for a chapter. Truly, it just nags at me all day if I feel like I should have updated something but haven't.

You can ask me anything you'd like! For this, it really depends on the scene? Some things I see really clearly really far ahead. For example, in Yearling, the scene where Bambi finds out about Joel's history has been playing in my head on loop for months, since the fic started. It was always building to that point so I saw/heard Bambi say what she said probably hundreds of times before I wrote it out. Other things I have a loose picture of but it will change as I write it/think on it as I get to that point in the story. Though I do visualize everything I write and I'm literally always visualizing some part of the story, it's usually what's about to happen. Further flung things, while I know the major plot points, I usually don't have a clear idea of exactly how it's going to play out until I get there. I feel a lot like I just watch these things take place and then transcribe them more than make them if that makes sense? But yeah! Lots of visualizing!

I hope that answers your question! I'm so glad you like my work! Thank you for reading and reaching out ❤️

Love you!!!

[velvetwastaken]

I spot another ask meme so you know what that means lol! 3, 4, 10, 16/17 (they're pretty similar so just choose what fits u more ig?) and 50 if you'd like!

well, I appreciate it! these ask games are my ego boosters lol

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

Ough, this is a tough question. I'm bad at seeing these kinds of patterns in my own stuff. BUT I think all my fics are some form of friends to lovers or enemies to lovers (or they are intended to be eventually if the fic is pre-relationship).

I'm also pretty sure I use way too many idioms. Like excessively, problematically so. It’s also kinda how I talk though so that’s my excuse 😅

And I really hope that all my fics, even the angsty ones, have moments of humour in them. I know there's almost always something that’s made me laugh out loud while writing, and so I hope anyone reading it also finds it at least mildly amusing.

There's probably more, but I’ll leave it there for now.

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

Am I supposed to specify the fic? Let me know if you had a one in particular in mind for me to think about. I’ll just pick a couple off the top of my head for now.

I like the description in my levihan fic where Levi and his horse wipe out because I had a wreck almost exactly like that when I was working on a ranch. Actually that whole fic is just full of horsey details that please my inner horse girl to no end 😂

Specifically for ganqing, I’m actually really pleased with sneaking in the blueberry cookie detail in Must Love Cats 😂 It’s super minor, I know, but I had already written that part before I was educated about Keqing’s favourite cookie, so then obviously I had to intentionally go back and change it. It makes me feel like I know Keqing a little better now lol.

10. How do you decide what to write?

hmm. I feel like this is a deceptively tricky question, lol. Is it how do I decide what ideas to develop into a full story, or is it how I decide how that story goes? I think the answers to either will be less than satisfying since I barely know myself tbh 😬

For the former, usually there is a scene or image that sparks the initial idea. It might be from a legit prompt, but more often it's just a passing thought, probably inspired from something I saw or experienced at some point. Sometimes the process for writing the story is just getting to that scene, other times it's just starting at point A and seeing how far the idea takes me.

For the latter, I'm pretty bad for not outlining anything and just winging it, so I don't know that I 'decide' anything. It sounds hokey, but I do think I sometimes get to a place where I'm in the character's head enough that they are telling their own story and I'm just transcribing it (this was very much the case for Reversal). I am experimenting with outlining though, and it's been helpful to a point, but having decided what should happen next and actually writing the prose for it are two very different things and I am suffering 🫠

All that aside, there is a part of me that thinks nothing is really decided when it comes to writing, nothing is set in stone. Once I write something I can change it a hundred times after that. I consider everything to be a draft of sorts, even after it's up on ao3 or whatever. And in a way that's very comforting. Writing is flexible in a way that my life is not and I like that very much.

16. What's an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?

I love AUs. There are so many good ones! But for a current top three, let's go with University AU, Office AU, and Scifi/fantasy AU. I would read any of these AUs all day long 😂

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

Okay! I’m going to pick #40 and answer that one for this freebie lol

Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

And the answer is a resounding YES! I reread fics all the time. I have some on rotation because they are just that good they demand to be reread regularly. I honestly love rereading and even rewatching anything that’s made me happy before. Just because I know what’s going to happen doesn’t mean I can relive those feelings again.

[furballfaggot]

hi and welcome to Giovanni's Bookshelf (formerly just the concept of a book club aptly named Champ's Book Club). because i do not learn my lesson about my more fleeting ideas. todays book, in the looser sense where the book is just a creepypasta, is

Has anyone heard of a pill called Ichor? - A.K. Kullerden

"EXCEL THINE SENSES"

a man named Dale becomes intrigued by a televangelist with strange mannerisms, orders mysterious pills, and he and his roommate Al end up in a deep rabbithole he's not sure if they can get out of. heres what i thought of it. spoilers under the cut!

BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE THIS BOOK CLUB: entirely blind to the overarching plot. read the pasta yourself and then come back here. this book club is pretty disjointed and i do not apologize. the pasta is also written really well and uniquely so i highly recommend. feel free to discuss the story in the notes! its a bit of a long read especially compared to most creepypastas but its absolutely worth it. and it doesnt even have any unnecessary slurs in it! (unlike SOME pastas *glares at glitchy red*)

READ ON?: at the very least creepypasta.com, not sure about anything else. i read it on my ipod touch. yknow how it is! tws for forced drugging, vomit, mind control, bugs under skin, and death. [🔗]

WELL WRITTEN?: yes

EASY READ?: depends on attention span -- takes at least an hour according to creepypasta.com

RECOMMEND?: absolutely. its wonderfully crafted and it had me hooked the whole time

a pill called ichor is told first-person through journal entries, transcribed conversations, and audio logs. right off the bat the descriptions of the strange mannerisms of the preacher on tv had me just as intrigued as dale. what was up with the scratching? what was the new box? why did he freeze like that? so many questions already. the way the whole bee and honey things unraveled were absolutely stellar. the imagery is so strong that i could vividly picture most parts of it each time they came up. the entirety of siphos is so wonderfully foreshadowed throughout and all ties up neatly in the end. carrie is admittedly kind of a nothing character but tbh i dont mind all too much? it helps with the worldbuilding and works as a nice foil to als feigned ignorance. the bit with the mention of the vacuum packing trash in als room is also brilliant -- i didnt think too much of it as i started my post-read skim to write this, but it clicked when i remembered that the ichor that kicked the whole thing into motion were also vacuum-packed. i love how even when al was on the fast track to Literally Dying in one of the most gruesome ways possible because of something so nightmarish dale still wanted to save his friend. and he did! wonderful. truly wonderful. the descriptions of the worms/siphos under the duos skin were also horrendous, but like in a good way. in an effective way. thinking on it now the mentions of the ancient hole-punched corpses could either have been that byron guy just Completely losing it or maybe like. the siphos breaking through the other explorers??? idk. my brain works sometimes. the realization where dale figured out the weird yellow shit in the ichor capsules was honey was also super well crafted, it felt so natural. and also shoutout to how dale surfs wikipedia and then infodumps about peru it was both a really effective and simple way to get exposition across and also very funny to me on like an inherent level. hes like "hey i might end up dying but uhhh heres some shit about mountains" and honestly thats awesome. autism slay. i know this sounds entirely incoherent but i am just Like This about things. AND THE PART WHERE AL FORCES A PILL DOWN DALES THROAT IN HIS SLEEP that kind of shit usually doesnt really do anything to me but ill be damned if it didnt here the stakes raising like that are insane. the words in the back of the brain are also super effective and i love the comment on how theyre like a waltz. fuckign awesome. the "first get outta my journal" bit was a much-needed bit of humor in the midst of the suspense and terror. beautiful all around. etc etc im tired suorry. very good. i cant put the whole plot in here bc the way its told makes my brain refuse to put it any other format bc i like the original too much and also im hoping anyone whos still reading might decide to pick it up and somehow immediately forget everything ive said here so they can still go in somewhat blind. bonus points for the plot starting a day before my birthday bc im biased like that. tee hee

[doublegoblin]

aries, gemini, and pisces for the zodiac asks? (from @catchingbigfish)

Thanks for the ask mysterious sunglass person~ @catchingbigfish (idk how anons work for the sender so I just tagged you again just in case)

aries: when have you felt the most confident in your writing? when have you felt the least confident?

So something that was surprising for me was how comfortable I felt describing scenery or at least trying to get the vibe of it. In a sense I felt like an artist with their brush or pen and as I ran it along the canvas the image just kind of spills out and engulfs the white. When I was first getting started I hated the idea of talking about the setting and making notes of where the POV is meant to be. The more I did it though, and stepped out from my own internal voice, it's my jam honestly.

Least confident would have to be character descriptions and/or pacing. I just dislike the idea of personally setting a characters appearance in stone (no idea just vibes). Pacing because I have the ADHD and want to get to the new part NOW (something I am working on while editing lol)

gemini: how often will your plot change throughout the course of writing?

One-offs, not a lot.

My WIPs, it really depends. Rituals and Red Tape has gone through about 4-5 changes as I've written it. It all comes down to if I've had a bolt of inspiration or as I'm writing the core concept has became more forward.

Interacting with others in a text base medium? All the time!

pisces: how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

Ooooooh man I was hoping for this one, idk why, always assume vibes.

So it's a little of both and a third thing! It also depends on what exactly I'm writing and if it is a scene I know I want to write or if it's something that is emergent. How it usually goes though is I have a scene in mind, just like the thin vapours of one. An example of this would be in Rituals and Red Tape when Alex (POV char for those who I haven't beaten over the head talking about) is going to meet with their boss Dave for an employee review.

So boom, I have an idea of an idea. Then it often comes down to a song or some other media making that initial spark. I then enter what I am going to call the storyboard phase. Key moments and stills pop into my brain as the song plays (often I will keep starting it over to keep the juices going). Once I know the rough trajectory I open up the word doc and this is where the fun begins.

It is a full mishmash of movie playing in my brain and words flowing out all at once, they are indistinguishable for me at this time. I am no longer writing I am opening the portal and letting the contents become realized through me. I just kind of enter a flow state where (I am going to smell my own farts for a sec) I am no longer the author but the transcriber. I let the creative part of my mind take complete control, with no regard for grammar or diction. If it fits the vibe for the sentence to end. It does. I wouldn't call it a trance per say, but my internal dialogue is no longer my own voice, it takes on the cadance and tone of another (i.e Sir David Attenborough or Jacob Geller etc...).

Sometimes I even find myself typing to the beat of a silent score for the scene lol.

This kind of thing is also true for the smaller and more intimate moments.

Which this is all great and stuff, except when I get going while at work and then my lunch break is over lol.

so yeah...for lack of a better term, I kinda go full imploring of the muses. And I love it, honestly the most fun part of writing for me.

um tl;dr, I kinda go through the motions of animating, but with words.

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE ASK!

[glimmeringtwilight]

hello i love your fics a lot! do you have any writing tips for beginners?

Oh sure!

So. First and foremost, reading helps a ton. I know everyone says this, but it does! You don't even have to read super critically like you have to for literature classes, just read. Find what books you like.

Then, once you've found what books you like, try to think about what it is about that author's style of writing you like. Do they use flowery words? Do they write dialogue in a way that feels real? Is their writing style serious, or do they pepper in jokes and personality into the narration? What kind of POV- first person, second, third? Do they write in past or present tense? Do they switch between the two?

I personally like to do this to get an idea of what I like to read, and then I try to emulate that. Sometimes I just skim a few pages of a book I once read to get myself into the headspace and get a feel for that particular author's style when I feel like emulating their specific style in a piece.

Fanfiction also counts! I don't think you have to read the classics like Dracula or Frankenstein just to get a grasp on a style you like. If you like fanfic authors' styles of writing, try to discern what it is about it you like and emulate it in your own writing. Ex: @bye-bye-sunbird has SUCH lovely prose, and I sometimes read their works when I need to get in a... idk, gothic mood. I think that's the best description of it KGJDJFMD

Another thing I try to do (and this is something I still struggle with) is banishing perfectionism, I guess? I try to just write. I doesn't matter if I'm using a semicolon improperly; I'm writing and people enjoy it even with the copious amounts of grammatical errors I don't edit out (lmao). I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to edit your work, but I've held the mindset for a while now that so long as it's legible, it's enough. Who cares if it has run-on sentences? Unless you're looking to publish something, it doesn't hurt to overlook the imperfections when writing is just a hobby (as it is for me).

I also have some writing tips for dialogue that I actually learned on accident but they turned out to be SUPER helpful in the long run!

So... If you're looking for realistic, natural dialogue that reads like someone actually said it? Transcribe videos. Seriously! Just find videos of multiple people chatting idly and transcribe it- be it for the fun of it, or you can try doing it for closed captions to generally help hard-of-hearing/deaf folks. The more natural the conversation, the better. Try picking small streamers or small youtubers who don't have an internet persona or who don't heavily edit their videos (raw footage and first takes work best!), or transcribe podcasts(so long as they're not reading off a script). If they're a little awkward or stumble over their words, that's GOOD. That's what REAL dialogue is like! People use filler words, and repeat themselves, and stutter, and slur their words, etc, all the time!

If you don't know where to add a filler word, or a pause, or anything like that to make the dialogue feel more natural, try transcribing real conversations for a while and it will genuinely help a ton with dialogue.

Source: I transcribed videos for a wiki for almost a year (maybe over a year, actually) and while I don't try to make my dialogue that natural it definitely made it read less stiff and... rehearsed? I guess. Banter also comes a bit more easily to me now, given I have a grasp on the character.

I hope this helps! <3

[rumblelibrary]

Now that you are writing requests, I think it's only fair I send you a few after some of the ones you have sent me 😌 as you've said you were the original anon who requested Laszlo x Sapiosexual partner headcanons from me, I'm curious to see how you would write it. Take it in any direction you want to 😘

Thinking Alike [Dr Laszlo Kreizler x Reader]

Word count: 3k

Warnings: Mention of physical violence, mild stalking, smut (yup, there it is!)

Author’s note: My first smut, something easy breezy to begin with. Laszlo is an awkward mess and I love him.

It was embarrassing for Laszlo at first, to admit a weakness, so bluntly. Such a vile thing to do for a man like him.He tried reasoning through it more and more, lonely men went often to prostitutes, John himself did and with the extraordinary result not be devoured by syphilis or other diseases.He didn’t hurt himself nor others in the process.

The first time he met you it was by accident, he was invited by one of his former patients to visit her at her university, nothing unusual, he remembered her well: Julia, shy, small, bent down and backwards by a family that abused her very being, that abused her mind, development and growth.But to see her now a young woman, studying literature at university, thriving in her life and taking her own choices, she even started an internship with Sara, that was something that made a man like Laszlo proud of his job.

Briefly: that day was a success for him: from the meeting to the lunch they shared, she showed in every given moment how she treasured everything she learned at the Institute and, even though hard times were not over, she felt like she was able to face them.Then Julia asked him to join her to listen to a lecture, assuring he would love it so he obliged as it wouldn’t be too bad to feel like a student again and maybe spark some new interest in him.So he did, he sat down and leaned his back on the seat, the soft scent of the woody desks and chairs taking over his nostrils. He remembered how he was at that age, hungry, unnecessary aggressive and lonely. He smiled to himself at the memory.Poor John, still there to look after him and trying to give him a minimum of social skills.

Then the room fell into silence as you walked inside, your choice of clothing a white shirt and a burgundy skirt, a pocket watch on your side. A simple style, you wish good morning to the class and don’t indulge too much into talk.And there is where the unexpected happened.You open up simply, a picture, a quote. The description of man as William Blake: poet, engraver, prophet.To transcribe your words would be similar to the conflict of any man that ever found himself in the duty of writing, or better, transcribing a sacred text.The way you spoke, the way you held everybody’s attention, the way you moved back and forth or wrote on the chalkboard. The passion surging by your words digging into his flesh and bones, every cell into his body surging into an agonising desire to hear more. The way your words balanced, how you managed to go from interesting facts to more detailed ones, from hard critical informations to conceptual ideas.That was the beginning of something new, his brain wasn’t able to move past the thought of you. Literature wasn’t his field, but he felt like you were the spring of all truths. So it begun. He brought the books, he came to the lessons. He thrived in every stolen moment he got with you, he sulked when somebody caught your attention, even more if it was to make some silly comment or question, he adored the way  your hands traced shapes into the air symmetrically, it triggered him to wonder if you ever studied dancing, the pose of your fingers always so balanced. He learned every micro habit you had: the way you always looked at your pocket watch when it was almost half time throughout the lesson, how you changed pin in your hair every day, the way you tucked your reading glasses in your shirt only to then look for those when in need to read. His favourite moments were the ones when everybody was leaving the class and he could see you relax on the chair, gift little smiles around as you collected our belongings. Your presence was by now his safe place, those two hours he spent a the university were the only moments he felt free, even if unseen.

Until the day he was getting into the class to find it empty and you alone there.“Regular students got a card saying the lesson today was cancelled” you said and his heart sunk into his chest “I would be mad to have someone sneaking in my classroom, but I had the feeling to have seen you before”

He gulped down as you were so close by now, he could guess your favourite perfume.You handed him a book, his book with his picture inside followed by his name in cursive letters.

“What does an alienist says about my course?”

“I say, your dialectic is what many of my patients would need in order to survive”You were surprised, eyebrows raising and a slight tilt of the head, you expected to find him guilty and ashamed, surely he was, but that answer was bold.

“And you? Do you find solace in my dialectics?” He took a moment before staring up at you, you didn’t realised how tall he was by seeing him always sat in the back, but you noticed him at every lesson. How couldn’t you?An handsome, elegant grown man hiding among those twenty something, the walking stick giving away always his calculated late entrance in class, his eyes always on you digging holes.

“Constantly”His answer surprised you, you expected to confront him and send him away and now you’re torn between the feeling of cradling him in your arms and, what? “I could forgive you for a lunch” He smiles, his eyes shining “I know the perfect place”

That lunch became one of many lunches.Every time you had lesson he would wait for you and you’d share a meal.To open up to him felt almost too easy, but he was an alienist, that was his job. He also opened up with you, you shared books, and interests and long chats. He wrote you cards and you wrote back to him, he sent you his articles and you sent him yours. He asked for books to introduce children to literature and you visited the Institute helping him in the task in exchange of some entry level books about psychology. Lunches became dinners, long walks became longer, soft smiles became him offering you his arm to walk together. You were starting to develop some tenderness for him, you always wondered what he was thinking and what he would opinion over this or that, you craved to confront your opinions and Laszlo wasn’t feeling any less drawn to it.It was beginning to become difficult when you started to visit him in his dreams, he would dream of you in ways he didn’t dare to speak up about. Only the way you talked when you grew passionate about something gave him a sense of tension, a deep desire going through him as he touched his thigh with his sweaty palm to ground himself. You felt like he was growing distant, unaware of how he was growing somehow closer. Closer to the point he couldn’t resist you anymore, hide behind simple touches of courtesy, to feel your hand only when gloved, stare at every little stand of hair move unruly on your neck while you spoke so highly of any topic. It was unexpected the time, while sharing some impressions on a recent article, he put his  hand flat over the page and leaned in capturing your lips in a sudden but awaited kiss. You kissed him back realising how such a simple gesture meant so much to you. Your hand followed up resting on top of his still hiding the page from you. His lips soft, his beard tickling you lightly as your eyes shone.When he pulled back, only because in need to breathe not else, he looked at you but you smiled at him brushing your nose lightly against his making him break into a smile.  The happiest smile.

“Do you even realise how foolish is that?”

“Are you calling me a fool?” He growled at you. Yes, he followed a potential murderer across the city, got himself beat up, but he was alive and now he got more informations.

“I dare to say I am, loud and clear Laszlo”He frowned deeply, you calling him a fool?

“Take it back”

“No” “I said” he grunted as he breathed heavily through his nostrils  “Take it back” You never saw him this mad but you didn’t oblige his request, he made you sick worry and hid all this madness of crime cases from you through all this time, not even once he mentioned this …what? A hobby? Desire for adrenaline? “A man that doesn’t stand up to his own truths is a fool to me” you said coldly “all this time spent to talk about nonsense and you’re working on solving crimes? Who is the man that I know then? Does he exists only when Dr Kreizler is without a case? There’s even a real interest in what you ever said to me? Or you just needed a distraction?”

“Don’t you dare to contradict me, I am no liar”You smirked, by now he was close, almost threatening even if you know well he wouldn’t ever hurt you. “Then what are you?” He froze, his eyebrows furrowed, what should he tell you? That he loved the way your brain worked? That every time you bounced ideas back and forth he felt aroused? That you provoked in him a thirst for more, more knowledge, more passion, more life. You let out a breathy chuckle as he didn’t answer now, you were sad and disappointed. You indeed believed you had found your match and not another double faced man.You picked your coat and left his office even if your heart was shattering on the inside and begging you not to leave like that.You spent two weeks apart, two weeks in which his spot in the classroom was empty, both of you ate alone, walked alone, lived alone. An emptiness that was so heavy it felt like the sky would break under the weight of it. But he couldn’t think of you, the case was on, the victims were falling one after the other, and yet he couldn’t think clearly. Before just thinking of how you’d think helped him, but what about now? He couldn’t reach for you. You were right, he hid part of himself to you and he couldn’t ask you to risk your life or spend nights and days exploring the dark sides of human nature, even though your sensibilities and introspection would have made you the most valuable asset in any research. He locked himself in his office getting high on tea and pacing the room back and forth talking out loud trying to gain back the process you two formed together, the chemistry, the balance of thoughts. Until your voice reached to him. “What if it is not anger the motif?”You leaned against the doorframe staring at him, you gave up your anger.  You were there for him. He stared at you like he wondered if you’re even real. “How did you come in?” “I said I was from Miss Howard” “So you can also lie” You chuckled “Only for a good purpose” You moved inside closing the door behind you as you took off your coat and hat, you moved closer to him offering him your hand, palm up.He stared at your eyes, there wasn’t much to add.He put the eraser in your hand as you cancelled the chalkboard from all his previous work. What happened next was pure magic, clarity spreading through the space, every fact double checked by the two of  you as now the facts spread in order, clear, in a linear way, nothing was left to causality.You two closing each other’s sentences, you handing him books and him handing others back to you, papers, scattered pencils.Even you wearing his glasses by accident and handing those back as you reached for your own.It was a frenzy, a dance, a song. “So if this is a scheme…” you begin “…the killer will strike again on Friday” he concludes. You stare at him, a big smile creeps over your lips wide, you can save a life, it is only Monday now.He leans in holding onto your hadn’t with his left hand, but you’re just mimicking him as your lips collide. “How can you be like this? How can you be so perfect?” He groans against your lips not able to part from yours but to praise you. “We are” you correct him “we are perfect, together” he nodded slowly as you were completely right. He let you pull him on the sofa where he slept so many nights when he was too tired to go back home, a very cold and empty home. He took his time, he stood in front of you undoing those clothes he so carefully studied during your lessons almost to the point to know each item of your wardrobe. As you undressed him you realised how you never minded his arm or to help him undo his shirt, you found it poetic, you always found beauty in him, you saw it like a punishment due to something more special given to him.The poet Homer had to be blind in order to sing the war of Troy, Laszlo had to lose an arm to be able to see through others. So there you were, completely deprived of your clothing as he still conserved his bottom half, staring at each other’s eyes before he leaned his forehead against yours, shifting angle then to meet your lips with his. “Don’t, I waited enough” you whispered to him as his left hand between your legs to caress your folds with his fingers triggering a shiver down your spine. “I am the doctor here” he murmured as his fingers moved so smoothly over your slit gathering some wetness and spreading it together before pushing a finger inside you.

“I also am” you whispered back, voice shaking, even if a doctorate in literature doesn’t give you much of a position in this moment while standing helpless with him fingering you so nicely. “I know, it makes you even more beautiful” he assures to you digging his head in the crook of your neck nipping and sucking over your skin slowly adding another finger.You whined not able to move away from his fingers teasing your insides, and yet not what you were looking for. You pared your lips in a silent moan as he shook your hips making you grind slowly following his touch “I don’t want to play Laszlo” you begged “we have all the time to fool around, I missed you too much” “You can’t always use your words to boss me around like this” He smirked as he pulled his fingers slowly out of you, too slowly for your taste, he did it like you had all the time in this word, his fingers brushing over you inside, slowly slipping out covered in your wetness only to trace your clit with their tips.

He pulled back sitting down on the couch like a king on his throne, parted legs and back slightly slouched, while staring at your naked form in front of him moving his left hand to undo his pants as you approached. “You’re a vision”His whisper slowly pulling you in when you straddled him once his erection sprung free slowly guiding him to brush against your entrance. You looked up at him gulping softly before lowering yourself onto him. You stared at him as his eyes fluttered closer and you shook your hips a little trying to reach for the most comfortable position, he was thick stretching you deliciously and that little hint of pain only making it feel more complete, more needed, meant to be. A moan leaving your lips as you gasped for air, his weak right hand moving to rest on your thigh.You observed him as the desire was clouding your usual reasonable and efficient brain, his left hand grasping your hips when you begun moving on top of him. The pace erratic at first before the instinct kicked in, no more witty remarks needed here, you couldn’t make up your mind now.He groaned, his soft gasps and growls being the best sounds along with your moans, two reasonable intellectuals now lost into the simplest and most natural of the acts.Your hips yanked and lost control for a moment as his hand moved to touch your clit “So sensitive” he cooed, you were a mess of feelings, his head bowing down over your chest grasping your nipple between his lips. He teased and sucked, making all his fantasies real, finally touching and feeling you, your shivers due to him, your pleasure and pain completely in his hands.You gasped as he sucked too hard, he seemed to know you more than he knew himself and maybe it was true. He spent so much time watching you, studying you, indulging in every little reaction you had. His eyes dropped down between your joined bodies, he was mesmerised by the shapes your hips were tracing, just enjoying the view of himself sinking inside you filling you up completely, your wetness so evident making the whole process terrifically easy.

“You’re close” he sentenced “you’re so close” If you weren’t close you’d be after he said you were, like he decided it.His left hand leaving your clit as he wrapped his arm around your waist pulling you down over him. Now it was up to him as your mobility was restricted, he begun moving his hips up holding you down, he kept going so hard slamming inside you as he held you still with just that arm, the pleasure that his ruthless moves caused to you doing the rest. You couldn’t hold back any more, your moans getting lost into throaty sounds as your orgasm washed over you. 

But he wasn’t done, he kept going as you rode down your orgasm until he tugged you down one last time filling your body, a little yelp of pleasure leaving your lips as you got so full of him and your eyes fluttered lightly because of such a raw basic feeling, that fullness that was proper of a basic instinct you felt rooted into you. If you were reasonable and aware you’d be worrying about things like consequences and having to talk about the future. But you weren’t any close to it.You rested against him gathering air back in your lungs as he moved his hand on your lower back  slowly moving it up and down, his right hand’s thumb brushing over that same thigh in the smaller and sweetest gesture of attention. You shifted slightly after few moments to look at him slowly touching over his cheek with your fingertips. “Truth for the wise, beauty for the heart” He said, paraphrasing Friedrich Von Schiller, an author you used a lot in your lectures. “Truth for the wise, beauty for the heart” you repeated. That little motto became your code, the way you reminded each other the duality you were blessed with: your bright minds and your unfiltered passion. And you’d use it from time to time. You’d write it to each other’s notes. It was your “I love you” before the love word was even pronounced.

Tagged @cazzyimagines @lieutenantn @handmaiden-of-mischief @thesunflowersutra Let me know if you want to get added <3

[shihalyfie]

Kizuna itself vs. the two versions of the novel

Written on request from a friend who wanted to remain anonymous. This is more of an editorial than a meta, and while I usually have a policy of “this is an analysis blog, not a review blog” it goes into more of my personal impressions and opinions than usual, but it’s something I write hoping to be helpful.

There are basically three “official” full versions of Kizuna: one being, of course, the movie itself, one being the Dash X Bunko version of the novel, and one being the Shueisha Mirai Bunko version of it. While it’s certainly not to say that any of the three is an “incomplete” version of the narrative, if you really want as full of a picture of the story as possible, somehow, each of all three versions of the story happens to have really important information that the other two do not. If I had to pick only one of these three versions to recommend to people, I would of course pick the movie itself; it’s obviously the base story everything else is based off of and was the one the production centered around as a priority, but the novelizations have a surprising amount of info that provide a lot of insight into the movie’s story and themes.

I get the impression that the creation of Kizuna involved making a lot more story and background details than could fit in a 95-minute movie, so these novelizations, which were based directly off the original movie script, ended up being an outlet for a lot of these details (and as much as I could be harsh on the movie itself for being a bit “reliant” on extra material, I have to admit that Adventure and 02 were both like this too -- a lot of our current understanding of the series comes from the Adventure novels and drama CDs -- so frankly I’m thankful we at least got this with a 95-minute movie instead of a yearlong series). On the flip side, while I'm not going to say that the novels are completely and utterly inaccurate representations of the movie, in a perhaps too-close approximation of Adventure and 02's writing style, this is a movie where even the nuances in a single line or split-second moment carry heavy implications, which become much blurrier or harder to identify when they’re presented differently (or not even presented at all) in the novel’s context, especially when they emphasize very different things from what the movie itself was emphasizing.

The short version of this is that I believe the Dash X version contains the greater amount of “plot and story” information but significantly misses out on the emotional themes and presentation, whereas the Shueisha Mirai version abridges and cuts chunks of content but is much better at conveying the intended message. More on this below the cut. (Note that the following post spoils Kizuna’s plot events.)

The movie itself

Since the following parts are more “in comparison to the movie”, I’m not going to go too much into this in this section, but one thing I will say is that the official English subtitle translation for the movie is really not great. Even if you take out nitpickiness about the fact it misses several significant nuances (the difference between “unchangeable fate” and “changeable destiny”, or the fact that Gennai refers to partnership dissolution as a “case” and not like it’s something that happens overall) at really plot-important moments, some lines (thankfully, usually not plot-important ones) are just straight-up incorrect. And worse, there’s evidence the official English dub was based on that translation! (I’m not faulting the people in charge of the dub for this, but whoever handed them that translation to work with.)

The dialogue in the Dash X Bunko version is transcribed effectively word-for-word from the dialogue in the movie (or perhaps vice versa, given that the novel is based on the original script), so I highly recommend checking that version as a reference for dialogue or if you want to do any intimate analysis on it. I don't want to go as far as to suggest not supporting the official version of the movie because of this, but at least please be aware that the translation used there is not entirely reliable.

Dash X Bunko

If you talk about “the Kizuna novel”, this is the one that people usually tend to be referring to, for two reasons. Firstly, it was translated shortly after the movie’s release, and due to the unfortunate circumstances of Kizuna being delayed in accessibility outside Japan for several months, this basically served as the only comprehensive source of info about the movie outside Japan for a very long time. Secondly, in Japan, this one was marketed as “the one for adults” in contrast to the Shueisha Mirai one being “for kids”, which meant that a lot of people assumed that the latter one was just an incredibly stripped down version that was otherwise disposable or replaceable. (This is very, very much not the case, and is extremely ironic when it comes to a movie that partially centers around the dangers of looking down too much on things associated with childhood.)

When it comes to “plot and story info”, this is the one that probably serves as the best reference (especially for fanfic writers or those who need a refresher on certain plot events or to look up something quickly), and probably has the most “comprehensive” listing of plot events surrounding the movie. The dialogue in it is a word-for-word recreation of the movie’s script, and actually includes more scenes than the movie itself does, including two that I suspect to be deleted scenes (a detailing of the specifics behind the initial plan to pursue Eosmon, and a conversation between Koushirou and Tentomon) and adaptations of the first and second memorial shorts within their context in the movie. It also contains some interesting background details and extra context for some things in the movie that you might think would normally be animation flair or something, but take a very interesting implication of story importance if they’re going out of their way to write this in the script. (There’s a scene where Agumon and Gabumon appear in front of their partners when they’d been behind them a minute before, and it’s easy to think this might be an animation error, but not only does the surrounding context make this unlikely, the novel itself actually directly states that their positions had changed.) Given that, I think it was very fortunate that this novel was available to us for those outside Japan waiting for the actual movie to come out, because this level of detail was very important to have on hand rather than fragmented spoilers on social media.

However, the part where I think the novel is significantly deficient in compared to the actual movie (and also to the other version of the novel) is that it describes the plot events in too blunt of a manner and doesn’t bring out its themes very well. (It’s kind of like having a long and very detailed Wikipedia article plot summary; it definitely got all the hard facts down, but the emotion is gone, which is still a pretty significant issue when media’s all about the feelings and message in the end.) While “considering the movie to be more cynical than it’s probably meant to be” happens regardless of which version someone’s working from, I’ve talked to perhaps an unnervingly high number of people who started with the novel and were absolutely convinced that the movie’s message was about adulthood sucking and needing to just accept it, until they saw how the actual movie pulled it off and the surrounding atmosphere and realized it definitely was not. (I think one really big factor here is that a lot of the visual imagery makes it extremely, extremely hard to miss that Menoa’s mentality is completely screwed up and her way of seeing things was dubious to begin with; prose descriptions really just don’t capture the way they slam this in your face with visual and musical cues during the climax of the movie.)

You can figure this out from the novel itself, but you have to really be looking closely at the way they word things, and on top of that it’s hard to figure out which parts you should be focusing on and which parts aren’t actually that important -- in other words, the “choice of priorities” gets a bit lost in there. Even the little things lose a lot of value; it’s theoretically possible to use the novel to put together that Daisuke is wearing his sunglasses indoors during his first scene, but you have to put together the context clues from completely different paragraphs to figure this out, none of which compares to the actual hilarity of visually seeing him wearing the thing in a very obviously dimly lit restaurant because he’s our beloved idiot. (For more details, please see my post with more elaboration on this and more examples of this kind of thing.)

I wouldn’t say that the movie itself isn’t guilty of (perhaps accidentally) having some degree of mixed messaging, but I would say this problem is rather exacerbated by the novel’s way of presenting it due to its dedication to dropping every single plot detail and event without much in the way of choosing what to contextualize and what to put emphasis on (as it turns out, treating practically everything in the movie as if it has equal weight might not be a great idea). So, again, for that reason I think the novel serves as a good reference in terms of remembering what happened in it and knowing the movie’s contents, but I also feel that it’s really not the greatest deliverer of the movie’s message or themes at all.

Shueisha Mirai Bunko

The second version of the novel was not translated until several months after the movie first released, and shortly before the Blu-ray and streaming versions of the movie itself came out anyway, so my impression is that on this end a lot of people don’t even know it was a thing. On top of that, even those who know about it often dismiss it as the “kid version” -- and to be fair, it did baffle quite a few people as to why this version even exists (Kizuna is technically not unacceptable for kid viewing and its plot is still understandable regardless of age, but since the movie is so heavily about the millennial existential crisis, it’s not something kids would really relate to). So a lot of people tended to just skip over it...which is really a shame, because it contains some interesting things that actually aren’t in the other two versions at all. For instance, did you know that, as of this writing, this is the only thing that plainly states the specific explanation for why Yamato decided to become an astronaut, for the first time in 20 real-life years?

While there are still some things that weren’t in the movie proper (mainly the Eosmon initial plan and the adaptation of the second memorial short), for the most part, the actual events are somewhat abridged compared to the movie and the Dash X version, and other than a few stray lines, there’s not a lot of extra information that would be as helpful for referencing the events of the plot. The version of the novel here is rather broadly interpretive of the scenes in the movie, so several things are condensed or taken out (and, amusingly, because it’s assuming that the kids reading this don’t actually know the original Adventure or 02, it has to describe what each character is like in a quick one-liner).

However, interestingly enough, it’s because it’s so heavily interpretive that it illuminates a lot of things that weren’t really easy to glean out of the Dash X version. For instance:

Some scenes are described with “other perspectives” that give you info on someone else’s point of view. (For instance, we see more of Yamato’s perspective and thoughts when he has his first phone call with Daisuke, or a bit more detail in the process of how Eosmon kidnappings work.)

We get a lot more information on what’s going through everyone’s heads during each scene, and what emotions they’re feeling at a given time. (This is something that you could at least get to some degree in the movie itself from facial expressions and framing, but would often be a lot blurrier in the Dash X version; here, it’s spelled out in words.)

When things are abridged, you get a clearer idea of what the intended point and theme of the scene was because it’s stripped down to include only that part. In one really interesting case, the scene with Agumon finding Taichi’s AVs has a “censored” equivalent where Taichi’s pushed to a corner because he can’t find anything non-alcoholic in his fridge -- so when you look at the two versions of the scene and what they have in common, you can figure out that the point isn’t that it was a lewd joke for the sake of it, but rather that Taichi’s forcing himself into boxes of “adulthood” that are actually meaningless and impractical.

Some of the descriptions of the characters, scenes, and background information make it a lot more obvious as to their purpose in the narrative (it outright confirms that Miyako being in Spain means that her personality is getting overly enabled there).

The scene where the circumstances behind Morphomon’s disappearance are revealed makes it significantly less subtle what the point is. In the actual movie, a lot of this involved visual framing with Menoa seeming to become more and more distant, but in this version of the novel they basically whack you over the head with the final confirmation that Menoa is guilty of neglecting her own partner, which contradicts her own assertions that “they were always together” (maybe not emotionally, it seems!) and helps clarify the commonality between her, Taichi, Yamato, and Sora in what exactly led to their partners disappearing.

Bonus: this version of the novel really wants you to know that the ending of the movie is about Taichi and Yamato fully having the determination to turn things around and lead up to the 02 epilogue. (The movie’s version of this involves the extended version of Taichi’s thesis and the credits photo with Yamato obviously next to a rocket, while this novel’s version involves more detailed fleshing out of how Taichi and Yamato decided to use their experiences to move onto their eventual career paths and what kind of hope they still have at the end. The Dash X version...didn’t really have a very strong equivalent here.)

In other words, while this version of the novel isn’t the greatest reference for plot or worldbuilding, it does a much more effective job being straightforward about the intended themes and message of the movie, and even if the scenes in it are much more loosely adapted, it’s much better at adapting the emotional nuances of the things that would normally be conveyed via visuals, expressions, and voice acting. (Although I would still say that the movie itself is the best reference for that kind of thing, of course.) If you just want lore or plot ideas, I don’t think it’ll help you very much, but since this series is so much about characters that had their ways of thinking fleshed out in such incredible detail, and about strong theme messaging, this is all still very valuable information in its own way.

[sharkselfies]

The Minds Behind The Terror Podcast Transcript - Episode 1

Since some folks requested it on Twitter, I’ve started transcribing The Minds Behind The Terror podcast episodes! Below the cut you’ll find episode 1, where showrunners Dave Kajganich and Soo Hugh talk to Dan Simmons, the author of the novel The Terror, about episodes 1-3 of the show. They discuss Simmons’s initial inspiration for writing the book, the decisions they made to adapt it into a television series, and the depictions of some of the characters such as the Tuunbaq, Hickey, and “Lady Silence.”

The Minds Behind The Terror Podcast - Episode 1 

[The Terror opening theme music plays]

Dave Kajganich: Hello! Welcome to Minds Behind The Terror podcast. I’m Dave Kajganich, I am a creator and one of the showrunners of the AMC show The Terror, and I’m here in the studio with executive producer and co-showrunner Soo Hugh.

Soo Hugh: Hello!

DK: And we welcome today the author of the sublime novel The Terror, on which our show is based, author Dan Simmons, calling in from Colorado. Welcome, Dan! Hi! 

Dan Simmons: Hi Dave, thank you. 

DK: So let’s start with the very beginning. This was a mystery from actual naval history that you decided to transform into a novel that was crossed with Gothic horror. Can you tell us a little bit about where you got the idea from this, how you went about preparing to write it, anything that can give us insight into how you blended all of these remarkable genres into this incredible book.

DS: I’ve known since I was a kid that I wanted to tell a story about either the North or South Pole. And the reason is in 1957, 58, when I was very young, actually I was just a fetus, they had the international geophysical year, and that really caught my imagination. Now the international geophysical year saw cooperation between American and Soviet scientists, it was the height of the Cold War, that’s the first time they submit(?) a permanent base at the South Pole, and I fell in love with Arctic stories. I had one book left on a book contract with a publisher I really liked, and we hadn’t decided what that book was, and I wanted to write a scary story about the Arctic, in this case the Northern Arctic, and that happened because I was doing a lot of research on Antarctica and just couldn’t figure out what the macabre, Gothic, scary part would be. I wanted to put it in, but I didn’t think they’d go for, you know, an eight foot tall vampire penguin. 

[laughter]

DK: You might be surprised! 

DS: There was a footnote on a book I was reading about the Franklin Expedition, which I had never heard of, and I decided that’s what I was gonna write about, and it had a tremendous amount of the unknown that I could fill in, that’s what novelists love. And so I told my editors excitedly that this was what I was gonna do, I would call it The Terror after the HMS Terror that went with the Erebus, got stuck in the ice, all the crew disappeared in history… And they said no. 

[laughter]

DS: ...it was the first time the publishers did that. I said, “Why not? I think it’s gonna be a pretty good novel.” And they said, “Look, nobody’s interested in a bunch of people that’ve been dead for 150 years.” 

SH: That sounds like some of our meetings.

[laughter]

DS: So I did what maybe you do, in such a meeting, I just thanked them, and I liked them all, and I had a good dinner(?) and I said goodbye, and bought back my last book on the contract and went out and wrote it on spec. 

SH: Well why don’t we take a step back, Dave, and why don’t you tell us about how you found Dan’s book and that experience?

DK: Sure! Dan, you might remember some of these steps from your side of it, which is that originally this was auctioned by Universal as a feature, and I sort of tried to get the rights and was a bit too late, and tracked them down to the producers at Universal who were running the project and got myself hired as the screenwriter for a feature adaptation. By the time I was ready to start actually committing an outline to the paper, Universal had let the rights go because there was a competing project. It was interesting to sort of rack up reasons why people wanted to make it but didn’t feel that they could pull the trigger, and we were so grateful when AMC finally called us back and said, “Look, we’ve figured out a model where we can do this as a limited series,” it really felt like ten episodes was a great length for this, because we could blend genres in a way that, you know, we could unpack sort of slowly, more slowly than a lot of shows would’ve done, and drive the plot as much as we could, like the novel, with character choices and decisions as opposed to just horror kind of entering the frame and taking over for one set piece after another. So it was a long journey, getting this to AMC, but at the end of the day I think we found the right home for it.

DS: I can no longer imagine a two hour version, feature film version of this story, and I can’t imagine a second season of this story, I think it was just right.

SH: It does feel like we did a ten hour cinematic novel. 

[audio from the show]

Crozier: Only four of us at this table are Arctic veterans. There’ll be no melodramas here--just live men, or dead men. 

SH: Dan, Dave and I talk about how addictive the research gets for this when you start going down the rabbit hole, how did you approach the research?

DS: I think most novelists run into that, but since I write a lot of quasi-historical novels, at least set in history, I get totally addicted to going down the rabbit hole. Readers say, “Well, Simmons’ book is too long, and the descriptions of things are too exhausting,” but I watch your characters go on deck and there are all the things and views and everything that I tried so hard to describe and then people tell me, y’know, “talky, verbose,” and in print I have to do it that way, but you just pan the camera a little bit. 

DK: You have words, we have images! For every thousand of yours, we get one!

DS: Yeah.

SH: But I remember this passage in your book where it talks about all the different ices, and you vest it with so much psychological import. We talk about that passage a lot in the writers room, it was one of our highlights, of this is how you do great descriptive writing.

DK: And you made so many parallels between things like the environments of the ships and characters, you built a kind of code book for the show without realizing you were doing it, which is making visual metaphors out of a lot of these things that would normally just be exposition or historical detail.

SH: Well especially between Crozier and the ship, I mean when you hear about Crozier’s relationship with Terror, and you have so many amazing passages about, you know, the groan of the ship and how it, y’know, and you cut to a scene with Crozier and how you feel that the bones of Crozier is embedded in the ship, and we really took a lot from that. 

DS: Well I noticed that on one of the episodes where Lord Franklin [sic] is trying to get back in touch with Crozier, you know, trying to be friends with him again, I think it’s a brilliant episode you guys wrote.

[show audio]

Franklin: You’ve succeeded in avoiding Erebus most of the winter.

Crozier: I’m a captain. I’m--I’m peevish off my own ship. I leave it and I hear disaster knocking at its door, before I’m ten steps away.

DS: And that was beautifully written, that. You got so much of Crozier right there.

DK: It was a pleasure to write these characters on the backs of your writing of these characters, because you really--I mean, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, as you know, from having written, you know, a whole long string of historical books, is to make these people’s psychologies feel as modern as they must have felt in their day, while still being able to articulate some of the blind spots of being from the eras they were from. 

I’m curious from sort of a history nerd point of view, if people watch the series and like the series, and read the book and like the book, and want to know more about this expedition, what’s the first book about the Franklin Expedition you would point people to? What was most helpful or most interesting in your research? 

DS: I apologize, I can’t think of the name of it, but it’s a collection of stories about both the South and North Pole, and so it’s a short section on the Franklin Expedition, but it didn’t make mistakes, and most of the other books that I read, uh, keyed, and videos for that matter, like PBS did a story about the Franklin Expedition, but they keyed off a 1987 attempt by several doctors to figure out what happened to the crew, and they exhumed three crewmen’s bodies from the first island where they stayed the first winter, and those crewmen had only been on the ship a couple of months, but they decided because of a high lead content that the lead had poisoned them and then made them stupid, and made them paranoid and everything, but they didn’t compare that test of lead with any background people in London at the time, and later they did, so I didn’t believe the lead thing.

DK: Well that’s the fascinating thing about a mystery with this many parts and pieces, kind of in flux, is, you know, you can create all kinds of competing narratives about it, and what’s fascinating about writing a fictional version is you can’t have that kind of ambiguity, you have to make a decision. I think people will enjoy very much ways that the show and the book have a similar point of view, and also ways that they diverge in their points of view, because there are so many ways to tell this story--

SH: Well you know how much we invest responsibility in the audience as well, right?

DK: Sure.

SH: In terms of your book and our show as well, we’re not against interpretation, that there’s a responsibility on the audience’s part to put together--we’re not gonna hand feed them. There’ll be some people who put more of an onus on Franklin, and others who would say, “You know, if I was in that position, I probably would’ve made the same decision,” “Oh no, this definitely killed the men,” “No, this killed them!” and that dialogue is exciting, you know, when you read fans talk about your show and your books and really smart, insightful ways. 

[show audio]

Franklin: Would it help if I said that I made a mistake? 

Crozier: You misunderstand me, Sir John, I--I only meant to describe why I brood, not that I judge.

DS: I don’t worry about who or what my reading audience is. People ask me about that and I don’t imagine a certain reader. But I’ve always tried to write for somebody who’s more intelligent than I am. My perfect reader would be just smart as hell, speak eight languages, you know, have fantastic world experiences, and I want to write something that will please that person, and I think your show does the same thing.

DK: Well we were--that was our motto! We wanted to be sort of the dumbest members of our collaboration and there’s a sort of horrifying moment when you realize that’s come true. 

[laughter]

[show background music]

DK: Tell us a little bit about why you made the decisions to tell the story in the order you told it, and whether you sort of felt like there was anything from the way you had told it that we were--or a missed opportunity. We’d love to know sort of what your experience of that was. 

DS: I don’t think there were any missed opportunities in terms of not adapting my way of telling it, and I can’t remember all the reasons for why I broke it down that way, some of them were just very localized to, you know, when I was writing that particular bit. But I do know that it gains a lot by being told chronologically the way you’re doing it, so for me that seems now the logical way to tell it again.

DK: Have you ever read the novel in chronological order? When we hired writers for the writers room, we gave them a list of what the chapters were like in chronological order, and I think we asked half the room to read it in your order and half the room to read it in chronological order so we could have a discussion, a meaningful discussion about whether there were things about telling it without being in chronological order that we wanted to embrace or not. It was a fantastic experience and I wonder if you’ve ever read your chapters in chronological order? ‘Cause it’s also a fantastic book!

[laughter]

DS: I haven’t read it that way, they were that way in my mind before I started getting fancy and breaking them up and moving them around in time and space, but I would love to have seen that experiment.

DK: The reason we can get away with it in the show is because there is a loved book out there that people trust, and you know, it is a classic in this genre, so I mean this is a perfect example of, you know, the amount of gratitude we owe the book, because we got away with a lot of things that maybe we wouldn’t have been able to get away with because you came before us. 

SH: And speaking of those rabid fans, Dan, it’s been really interesting reading audience reactions to the show from people who’ve loved the books and who just naturally will compare the two, and we’ve been heartened by just how supportive our fans have become--are of the show. There is this controversy, some people like our choice to give Lady Silence a voice and some people feel it was sacrilege to your book, where do you fall on that? DS: At first I was surprised. In fact when you were hunting for an actress for Lady Silence and I read about that, it said somebody who’s fluent in this Inuit language and this Inuit language, and I said, “What the hell?”

[show audio]

[Silna speaking Inuktitut to her dying father] 

DS: Having seen her with the tongue and heard her, and knowing the different reason they call her Lady Silence, it all works for me and I was also surprised when Captain Crozier could speak fairly fluent, you know, dialect, ‘cause I had him just not understanding a thing.

[show audio]

[Crozier speaking Inuktitut to Silna in the same scene as above]

DS: I love it when readers get rabid about not changing something from a book, and I have to talk to them sometimes, not ‘cause I have a lot of things adapted, this is the first one, but I love movies. They say “Aren’t you worried it will hurt your book?” and first I explain Richard Comden(?)’s idea that you can’t hurt a book anyway, except by not reading it, I mean the books are fine, no matter how bad some adaptation becomes. Books abide, and so I wasn’t concerned. With the changes that I see, I get sorta tickled, whereas some readers get upset, and they just have that set. So I think that the vast majority of viewers haven’t--well, I know the vast majority haven’t read the book, haven’t heard of the book, probably, they’re gonna keep watching because of the depth of the characters, and that’s based on the first two episodes, and I agree with them completely.

[show audio]

[Silna speaking Inuktitut]

Crozier: She said that if we don’t leave now, we’re going to “huk-kah-hoi.”

Blanky: Disappear. 

SH: We get asked a lot of questions about the supernatural element of the show and the way a monster does or does not figure in the narrative, and seeing our episodes, did it feel surprising or did it feel faithful to the way you imagined it as well to your book? 

DS: It was surprising to me at how well it was done, because it’s hard, I know, to show restraint in a series like this, and certainly in a movie, but it’s hard to show restraint at showing and explaining the monster. 

[show audio]

[ominous music, Tuunbaq roaring, men screaming]

DS: The way you did it in the first few episodes to me were just lovely, just, you know, a hint of a glance at something and then you see the results of this creature, so that’s what I tried to do in the novel, one of the reasons I moved around through space and time, part of what I wanted to do was not cheapen the story and not cheapen the reality of these poor men dying by just throwing in a monster, and so I tried to do it in a way that would not disrespect the true tale, and I believe you’re doing it the same way I tried. 

DK: The way you incorporated the supernatural into the book, I mean, I was a fan of it when I first read it. It was jaw dropping the way that it fits so well on a level of plot, on a level of character, and on a level of theme. So when we got the green light to adapt it I was so confident that we were going to be able to do something with it that would be able to be nuanced because the bones of it are so organically terrific.

SH: It helped us know what we didn’t want to do. That formed so much of our conversation, of “this is what we do not want, this is what we do not want,” and slowly you whittled down to getting down to the essence of what this thing had to be.

[show audio]

[Tuunbaq growling]

DK: Another character from the book that really stands out for fans that they are wondering what in the world we’re doing with is Manson. [laughter] And I was curious what you made of the fact that he is pretty invisible in the first three episodes of the show, and that some of his plot beats have been given to a character called Gibson, who I don’t remember is--I don’t think he’s featured very much in the novel. And I wondered if that caught you off guard or if you sort of intuitively had a sense of what we were doing in making that change? 

DS: Any discussion of Manson to me leads to Hickey converting him to his future, his tribe, the tribe he wants to have, group of worshippers, that I think Hickey wants to have, but he does it by sex below decks. Hickey’s not gay at all, he’s a manipulator, to me, and he was manipulating Manson who was big and dumb, in my book, he’s manipulating him by this sexual encounter. But I was curious whether you were worried about showing that?

DK: Well, we weren’t worried about showing characters having same-sex affairs or relationships. We wanted to make room in Hickey’s character for actual affection, or if not affection then companionship, or some kind of connection.

[show audio]

Hickey: Lieutenant Irving! I was hoping we’d meet. 

Crewman: Mind the grease there, sir. 

Hickey: I wanted to... thank you… for your help. For your discretion, I mean. 

Irving: Call it anything but help, Mr. Hickey. Please. I exercised clemency for a man abused by a devious seducer.

DK: We wanted to make sure that Hickey had access to command in some way that a steward, an officer’s steward, would be able to provide him, that an able seaman wouldn’t be able to provide him, and that was really valuable to us in terms of charting out all of these character stories, was how does he know what he knows about how command is dissatisfied or where the fractures are if he can’t see them from where he’s sleeps in his cot in the forecastle. 

SH: I mean we know that there were relations between the same sex on ships, it just was part of this world. Not to belie that there was serious consequences for it, but you know, we have 129 characters, and we wanted them to feel fully fledged and rich, and, you know, passions do naturally develop and have no characters engaged in sexual relations would have felt just as odd and perhaps even more controversial, and when Irving discovers Gibson and Hickey, his shock is from such a subjective point of view of his moral center. It’s not the camera’s perspective, right? Our camera’s very neutral in that scene. It’s Irving, that character at that point in the show, that is infusing a sense of horror, that’s his horror moment.

DS: I’d like to add that it’s not the gay connection that would cause criticism, but I was flayed alive because the most openly quote “gay” unquote character, that is, Hickey, you know, maybe hunting for affection but definitely hunting for power, he’s the only one they said in reviews, and he’s a killer and a bad person, so I’m homophobic, but I was flayed alive for that. The word homophobic appeared in about 80 reviews. Nobody mentioned the purser, who uh--

DK: Right, Bridgens and Peglar.

DS: Yeah. I thought he was a fascinating character. I loved getting glimpses of him in the series because he’s super smart, he’s super wise, he’s probably wiser than any of the commanders, ahd he’s obviously in love with--who is it that he’s in love with in the show?

DK: Peglar. 

DS: Yes, that makes sense. And, uh, so Peglar says, you know, “Is this another Herodotus?” and, “No, I’m giving you Swift now,” he’s educating the man he cares for. 

[show audio]

Hickey: I understand you cleared up our “association” for Lieutenant Irving? Gibson: You spoke to him.

Hickey: Mhm.

Gibson: Directly?

(beat)

Christ, Cornelius, I’d reassured him.

Hickey: Cornelius Hickey is a “devious seducer.” That was your--that was your reassurance? You’ve got some face, you know that? 

DK: We wouldn’t have dramatized Hickey’s story if we weren’t also going to pull in Peglar and Bridgens’ story, because we knew that people, you know, are predisposed to sort of make that kind of quick assumption, and we just wanted to make sure that the show didn’t have that blind spot and reflected the book, which also doesn’t have that blind spot. 

SH: We had those same questions with Lady Silence, and I’m sure you did as well. When we meet her, she’s a frightened young woman who’s about to lose her father, and that’s a universal character moment that anyone can relate to, and the otherness is sort of--is secondary, but then once--in the end scene of 1.02, when she’s sitting there grieving her father and then you have that language barrier with everyone else, we worked with Nive on this because we wanted to make sure the language itself was as accurate as possible, so when you say disappear making sure that the disappear in our language means the same thing as disappear in her language. I think whenever you have characters that feel othered in most media and you’re bringing them into your show, Dave and I also just wanted to make sure we weren’t swaying on the pendulum on the other side and being almost too careful about touching them, and with Nive I think when you have an actor of that talent, she was strong, she was representing a voice that she felt very confident in, and that was very reassuring for us.

DS: And it works well, and when her father’s dying, she throws herself on his chest and says “I’m not ready, it’s too soon, I’m not ready,” and I love that in the show because if she’s gonna become a Shaman he’s dying you know it’s not reached that point of education yet where she feels secure and later on you know beyond what we’re discussing today she becomes to me in the show I see her as more and more majestic.

SH: I do love the word majestic ‘cause I think it describes pretty much all of our characters. I agree, I do think there is something very sublime about who they have become at the end because when you go through that much trials and tribulations, it’s this beautiful human spirit to endure. 

DS: I think that’s one of the central themes of the story that you’ve brought out so clearly. In most post-apocalypse, you know, terrible situation movies and shows, everybody turns nasty as hell, they start shooting each other, it’s just like WWIII when they should be helping each other survive, and I found even though there was controversy, even though there was opposition in this story, people opposing against each other, still that they rose to the occasion. And that is so rare I think in much media these days or even books where the characters are themselves and they do the best they can, and when things get bad they rise to the occasion.

DK: The first conversation you and I had about the book, you know, I was basically pitching you sort of what I thought thematically the book was about, and I talked a lot about, that in a disaster like this, a kind of moral emergency, that we would get a chance to unpack what is sort of best and worst in these characters’ souls.

DS: I confuse readers often when I was on book tour for this book, and it was a long time ago, I’ve written a few million words since then, but I confused people by saying that if you want a theme for the survival story of The Terror, it’s love. It’s love between the men. And just unstinting love. And this came out in a piece of dialogue, in the first two episodes.

[audio from the show]

Franklin: I’ll not have you speak of him uncharitably, James. He is my second. If something were to happen to me, you would be his second. You should cherish that man. 

Fitzjames: Sometimes I think you love your men more than even God loves them, Sir John. 

Franklin: For all your sakes, let’s hope you’re wrong. 

DS: That to me was right the theme I was working with, and with Crozier who shows it a different way, with Fitzjames who’s struggling to show leadership, and between the men despite their hierarchy and the British hierarchy, the rank and lieutenants and so forth, eventually they come down to loving the men they try to save. And I found that lovely. 

[The Terror opening theme music plays]

DK: Thank you so much for listening to The Minds Behind The Terror, join us in our next edition when we talk about episodes 4-6 with the additional guest Adam Nagaitis phoning in from London. We will see you soon!

[preview snippet from the next episode plays]

DS: I’ll confess something else to Adam, the first time I watched it, I thought your character was a good guy because he jumped down in that grave to put the lid back on.

[laughter]

[wither-rose-circus]

what are the helsmits? i've seen some cool art and writing abt them but i don't actually know who they are or when or where or they came from. are they part of canon that i missed? they kind of suddenly sprung up in the tag and i'm curious.

Okay I’m honestly fairly new to the concept myself, so I’ll give you a rundown of the source episode:

In Welsknight’s 7th episode of HC 7, he takes interest in VintageBeef’s cloning machine in order to catch up with the other Hermits after having taken a break due to burnout.

Vintage makes several comments about the machine not working previously, even stating that he had used it himself at one point, but that he has an idea to make it work. Previously, he had held an end rod in each hand to make it work. This time, he wants Wels to try using blaze rods.

Wels goes in, the machine is flipped on, and nothing seems to happen. Wels then leaves to go about his day, preparing to build his own nether portal. As he heads to the nether to properly sync it up, heavy rock music starts to swell and the scene cuts to a literal darker version of Wels timelapsing some kind of pitfall trap.

Wels falls for it upon returning and his darker counterpart introduces himself. I’ve transcribed some lines from the conversation so you can draw your own interpretation of Hels and Helsknight based on his descriptions.

“Who are you? You look a lot like me.”

“That’s because I am you. Or rather, part of you. Part of you is part of me.”

[. . .]

“Must I spell it out for you? You created me. Or rather, you created a vessel for me to come to your world.”

“Beef’s cloning machine...?”

“Now you’re getting it. I am your dark side. I am all of your hate and malice and scorn. I am your anger and your pride. I am all the evil parts of you normally locked away in another realm.”

“Another realm?”

“Did I stutter? You naive fool, you’ve never heard of Hels?”

“What’s Hels?”

“An alternate reality and a mirror to yours. It is a place covered in perpetual darkness, lit only by fire and lava. A place where all the worst parts of humanity are locked away. Normally we can only influence your realm very slightly, but your experiment has allowed me to actually take physical form in your world. My dominance will be complete! I will burn this world to the ground! I will-“

[. . .]

“I’m sorry, I really don’t wanna have to fight you, I’d much rather settle this without violence.”

“You are an utter disappointment. I’m going to put you in your place, take over your channel, and then destroy everything you hold dear.”

They then proceed to have a rap battle instead of a physical fight. Some more contextual lines from that:

“Soon it will be Helsknight looting fat diamond stacks, I’ma show you how a knight forged in the Nether acts.”

“So let me introduce me, I’m the Knight of Hels, a place where all the people live in fiery cells. Everyone there’s unyielding, and everyone rebels, and I’m their greatest champion, so ring your warning bells.”

“My destruction of all you love will be complete and methodical, for I’m your inner darkness, a knight diabolical.”

“You embody all my evil and I am not afraid, I’ll defeat my inner demon, for this is my crusade.”

Helsknight is then defeated, vowing to return before disappearing in the Nether portal. What exactly happened to him is slightly conflicting. In the video, Wels laments that Helsknight “escaped” into the Nether, but Wels recently told Pearl on a livestream that he was “banished” to it.

Helsknight is the only canonical Helsmit at the moment, though it seems to be implied that every player in existence, not just Hermits, have counterparts. Evil X is commonly headcanoned to be a Helsmit but they have not been confirmed to be canonically related. There are some popular fanmade Helsmits such as BadtimeswithScar or TrueSymmetry (both of these being inspired by the names of Hermits’ camera accounts). NPC Grian from Grian’s build swap series is also often lumped in with them though he has nothing to do with Hermitcraft in general.

Hope this helps!