#i hope you can read roman numerals

[violetsrxse]

Meet Cute of a Lifetime | Vi x Reader

Summary - When sleeping in leads to you visiting your regular coffee shop later than usual and forgetting your wallet at home, your day proves to be more interesting than expected when a generous stranger offers to pay for your coffee.

Word Count - 1,040

CW - Just fluff, no use of Y/N, fem!reader, Vi is taller and she's a sweetheart as per usual, Modern AU, coffee shop meet cute

A/N - This fic is set roughly 3 years before my 'Just Tell Me When' fic but it's not necessary to read them in order or together at this point!

A/N #2 - I hope everyone enjoys this! Also never feel shy to send me asks with different concepts for this AU or any other you can think of, I'd love to hear them!

Modern Chef!Vi Masterlist

-

The first thing you hear when shaking off the haze of sleep is a soft but consistent knocking on your door accompanied by the voice of your mother telling you to wake up. Glancing over at the clock on your nightstand causes you to shoot out of bed, nearly tumbling to the floor in your haste.

You’ve somehow managed to sleep through all of your alarms. Most likely because of how late you'd been up the night before studying for the upcoming end of term exam.

Truth be told, college had been beating your ass lately. You suppose this is just one of the effects.

"I'm up!" You call to your mother, cursing under your breath as you rub your eyes in an attempt to shake off your sleepiness. Opening your closet, you quickly settle for a fuzzy blue sweater, some lined leggings for warmth and an easy hairstyle that keeps it out of the way.

You hardly have the chance to say good morning to your parents before you’re rushing out the door into the cold, dry December air, shoving your headset over your ears and beginning a swift walk to the coffee shop a few blocks away.

Shaking off the chill, you admire the Christmas decorations on the houses on your way, the blown up Santa Claus in your neighbors yard, the Christmas lights, beautiful even unlit, and finally the wreaths adorning nearly every door.

You only stop once to pet the fluffy brown cat with a white nose and paws that you see nearly everyday. She doesn’t have a collar, nor have you seen her going in or out of any of the houses on your street. So you’re pretty sure she’s a stray, but you haven’t managed to convince your parents to let you take her home no matter how much you beg and plead.

As you reluctantly part from your fluffy friend, you shiver at the biting cold and can't help but worry that she's also feeling the effects of the weather. But you push forward, nearing a street lined with a variety of different shops and of course, your favorite coffee shop.

It's not five minutes later when you come up to the entrance of the coffee shop, groaning at the long line you can see from the outside of the window.  

Shaking your head in annoyance and pulling the door open, you're hit with a comforting wave of warmth that melts some of your frustration away. As you glance around, you figure if you're already late you might as well just wait and get your morning coffee.

Who needs art history class anyway?

A slow ten minutes later when you finally reach the counter, you order your usual drink and reach for your wallet only to find your pockets empty.

Cursing softly, you're about to tell the barista to just cancel your order and go to class without your caffeine fix when you hear a voice from behind you.

"I've got it."

Whipping around, you lock eyes with what's got to be the most attractive woman you've ever seen. She smiles kindly, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Are you sure? You really don't have to." Against your own judgement, you begin taking in her features, eyes darting around her face. Her powder blue eyes, plump heart-shaped lips, the scars on her lip and eyebrow and finally, her roman numeral tattoo.

Your cheeks heat when she catches you staring.

"I don't mind," Her smile softens and she's already getting her wallet out, zipping it open and pulling out a ten dollar bill. "This should cover it." You watch as she passes the bill to the barista.

"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it." You sigh heavily, beginning to ramble as she orders her own drink, a classic hot chocolate. "Can't believe I forgot my damn wallet- I was in such a rush to get here I must've left it on my nightstand- but I guess things like that happen when you sleep in. I really appreciate the generosity though! Thank you..." You mentally kick yourself, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I'm totally talking your ear off."

"No, no. It's alright, seriously." She stuffs her hands in her jacket pockets. "And you're welcome, you looked a bit stressed when you came in and I thought maybe I could cheer you up."

The barista calls your name and you eagerly take the cup in your hands, the warmth seeping into your skin. You pop open the lid, inhaling the scent.

"You watched me come in?" Your cheeks heat once more and you reach to unzip your coat a bit.

You hadn't noticed her, but you wish you would've.

"I did... shit, I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable-" The woman's cheeks flush a color similar to her hair and sways on the balls of her feet, boots clunking softly on the tile flooring. "I just thought- think you're really pretty."

"Really?" You blink in surprise, 'cause there's no way this is happening to you right now. "Thank you, and likewise!" You reply awkwardly, kicking yourself again, you're totally blowing this.

The woman chuckles. "Thanks, I'm Vi by the way."

You tell her your name and she nods with a soft smile, taking her coffee from the barista with a soft 'thank you'.

As the both of you step away from the counter, Vi asks: "Would you like to join me? I usually like to hangout here for a bit while I drink my hot cocoa."

You almost shed a tear, because you can't.

"I'd really love to, but I'm actually super late for my first class." You say apologetically. "But, I would definitely be down to another time? Maybe this weekend?" The words are hopeful and they make Vi smile.

"Yeah, I'd like that too." She pulls out her phone. "Wanna exchange numbers?"

You nod enthusiastically, taking the phone and handing her yours simultaneously. Quickly entering your number into her phone, you hand it back.

"Was nice to meet you, Vi."

"You too, pretty girl."

You leave the shop with a wide smile on your face, no longer worried about being late for class. Perhaps sleeping in was a good thing.

You really, really hope so.

-

No one can convince me that Vi would like coffee, maybe tea though? But she's definitely a big fan of hot chocolate.

[sideysvault]

⋆˚࿔ Bedroom Lust with Roman Roy 𝜗𝜚˚⋆

Pairing: Roman Roy x wife!reader

Wc: 615

Warnings: [nsfw]. minors dni, head cannons, established relationship, married life.

────────

— Marrying Roman Roy involved being his plus one to numerous events. Evening galas, fundraisers, openings, and birthday parties of people you didn't even remember meeting. He hated all of it. But seeing the wind biting the skin exposed by your countless party dresses almost made up for it. He still got goosebumps when he saw you.

— He was extremely aware of how his wife looked. Too bright, too beautiful for a room full of snakes parading as business people. He was proud of you. Proud of your cleverness, and your looks, and your morals. He enjoyed parading you around at parties with his hand on your lower back. A lot of heads turned, and eyes that trailed downward, but you were his. Only his.

— She was always complaining about his beard. And, as much as he liked it, the conversation ended when you said “I hate it Romes, it tickles when you go down on me” That was all he needed to hear. The very next day, he showed up with a clean, freshly shaven face. You made sure to make it up to him and sat on his face all night.

— You are always using pet names for him. Especially in the bedroom. You want to make him feel as much love as he deserves. At the beginning of your relationship, he wasn’t very sexual. It took a long time, trust, and patience to get to where you were right now. But you didn't mind. All you wanted was for him to enjoy himself while feeling safe and secure. And so it began. Love, Remy, Romey, Babe, Sweetie…

— Stamina wasn’t a problem anymore. Roman particularly enjoyed eating you out. He just wanted to shower you with affection, and thank you for being such a good wife. The man loves eating your pussy. If the cooks are not at home, he'll do it on the kitchen counter over breakfast. He makes time and takes a shower together just so he can have you standing up while he's on his knees licking all of you. He loves when you come all over his face. No matter how dirty and wet he gets afterward.

— Having power over you is also a turn on. He’d tie you up so you can’t move, not letting you come, edging you until you beg and cry. He has even dwelled in some consensual somnophilia with you.

— But he can be romantic too. Roman will buy you the most expensive lingerie and leave it all around the house for you to find. He would kiss every inch of you. Your face, your stomach, your legs, everything. As lovingly as he can.

— As much as Roman Roy knows he would be an awful father, it is hard to remember it when he is pounding into his wife’s wet pussy. He adores watching his come fill you up, and you adore the sensation of it overflowing out of your pussy. (He definitely licks you clean after it).

— He loved how easily you teared up. You were so sensitive. When he is done with you, the makeup that adorned your pretty face always looks smudged.

— Sometimes, in another one of your fancy dinners, you make sure to wear one of his favorite dresses with nothing underneath. Opening your legs under the table for him to enjoy. From time to time, you wore a vibrator in public events. Roman loves seeing you try to compose yourself in front of everyone. How red your face gets. How raspy are the words that come out of your mumbling mouth. If you behave well enough, he goes on his knees yet again and rewards you at the venue’s bathroom. 

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Notes: Hello Anon! I really tried with this one! It’s my first time writing any type of smut. Hope you enjoyed it. It ended up being something a bit different from what you asked. But thank you so much for taking time to read my Roman posts. I’ve been missing the succession fandom so much. Take care! - Sidey xoox

Based on this request.

[spacelazarwolf]

hey avi! i’m a conversion student who was raised italian-american. my heritage is really important to me, so i’m really interested in learning more about all types of judaism practiced in italy, and was wondering if you had any resources on learning more about italki judaism! of course i’m going to ask my rabbi, but i also wanted to ask you and any followers of yours who may know where to look. i’m particularly interested in things like recipes, minhagim, and daily life throughout history.

(no bad faith is meant at all and i hope this is taken as respectful: specifying so much because i know you get a lot of utterly insane anons about being italki/sephardi)

OH BOY DO I.

torah.it is an absolutely phenomenal resource with a ton of recordings, pdfs, and videos about primarily the roman rite in italy but also the sephardi and ashkenazi rites as well.

there's also a website dedicated to recordings of italian jewish music from numerous rites called thesaurus of jewish-italian liturgical music.

the national library of israel also has a lot of resources, like recordings of piyutim. it's a bit difficult to navigate if you don't speak hebrew, they do have an english option but it can be a little finicky.

the jews in italy

complete works of primo levi, an italian jewish auschwitz survivor and chemist. there is even an institute named after him dedicated to preserving italian jewish minhagim. italian jews lost nearly 20% of their population (not proportionally as much as many of the german occupied countries, but the italian jewish community numbered only around 44,000 before the war) and a lot of italian jewish life (particularly italki minhag) was nearly lost. but...

leo levi, an italian jewish ethnomusicologist nearly single-handedly preserved many italian jewish musical traditions when he travelled across the country to record elders and community leaders singing their traditional melodies.

ensemble nuria (formerly ensemble bet hagat) has recorded two amazing albums of revived italian jewish music.

in terms of cookbooks, edda servi machlin is a name you should know. her classic italian jewish cookbook is considered to be the standard.

there is also cooking alla giudia, portico, jewish flavors of italy (which includes some libyan recipes from the libyan jews of rome), la cucina romana e ebraico-romanesca (i just got this one on kindle so i haven't read it yet), and cucina ebraica.

francesco spagnolo is another name you should know, he is a scholar of italian jewish culture.

[nebulaofbangtan]

here's a lil Hualian fic I wrote- credits to @scrapimmortal for the idea!! Basically Xie Lian goes to get a tattoo, Hua Cheng is the tattooist, Xie Lian has a minor freak out, snacks and nice weather. I hope you enjoy 𓂃 ִֶָ𐀔 genre: fluffy fluffiness tw's: tad bit of swearing, mentions of death, angst if you squint and tilt your head from a distance, self harm, sh scars, mentions of suicide word count:

Summer had bloomed bright and hot, but that day there was a thankful breeze that cooled Xie Lian's nerves. He'd gotten tattoos before, so it wasn't that he was scared of; more just the 'talking to the tattoo artist' bit. It's an intimate thing, you know? Especially when the content of the tattoo is quite personal; a total stranger is injecting ink into your skin and hoping that it portrays what you wanted. Xie Lian swiped his clammy palms on his jeans and pushed open the door of the tattoo parlour. It was quiet, cool, soft music playing from an unseen speaker. Fidgeting for a moment, he tugged at his hair anxiously. He knew it would all go smoothly- tattoo inspiration saved on his phone, ID and wallet in his pocket- it was just his bloody brain getting the better of him.

A door opened at the other end of the room, and a tall young guy with punky black hair, a multitude of piercings, and a black eyepatch walked in. He caught sight of Xie Lian and smiled, coming over to the counter. "Hey, sorry to keep you waiting," the guy said. "What can I do for you?" Xie Lian swallowed- damnfuckshit the tattooist was HOT. "I- uh, I made a booking a few days ago, for an appointment?" The guy nods, looking at the computer. "Sweet, what name was the booking under?" Oh gods, this guy was so hot. "Xie Lian... um, X-I-E-" "-L-I-A-N? Got it," the guy finished, typing into the computer. Xie Lian only just noticed his name badge, decorated with butterfly stickers- Hua Cheng. "Tattoo appointment for 2pm... jeez, you're early." He chuckled, which sent butterflies crashing into Xie Lian's stomach. "Ha.... yeah, I guess I got worried that I'd be late..." Oh dear, why did he have to sound this lame and awkward??? "Fair enough.." Hua Cheng turned his gaze back to Xie Lian. He had a spiky piercing on the bridge of his nose and a scar running down his right cheek from under the eyepatch. "Now, I will have to see some ID just to make sure you're of legal age, blah blah blah... and there's a form you need to sign as well. Do you have your ID on you?" "Uh, yeah.." Xie Lian dug out his license and placed it on the counter. Hua Cheng took the license, glanced at it then up at Xie Lian's face, chuckled, then handed it back. "You know, you're the only person I've met whose license photo actually looks good," Hua Cheng said. With his tone, it was hard to tell whether he was being genuine or not. The tattooist got out a form and a pen and slid it over to Xie Lian. As he filled it out, Hua Cheng went over to one of the tattooing chairs and started to set up.

Form filled out and space set up, the art process began. By this point, Xie Lian's previous nerves had gone away- until he had to show the tattoo design itself. It looked simple at first- a safety pin with some Roman numerals reading 'MMXIV' underneath- but the mere act of showing it to the stranger that was Hua Cheng made his hands tremble. Hua Cheng didn't show any emotion in his sharp features as he took in the tattoo design. God knows what he thought of Xie Lian.

"I can do that," he said. "Is there any meaning behind it? Sorry for prying, but.." "It's okay, I don't mind," Xie Lian replied. "My parents, they passed away in 2014, and safety pins.... I used to, um, self harm with them..." He took a shuddering breath, not able to meet Hua Cheng's eye.

The process went on. The two talked, not much, but still decent conversation. Xie Lian was slightly unsure of where to get the tattoo, but the two settled on nestling the tattoo between two of the faded scars on Xie Lian's inner forearm. "We do have numbing gel, if you want," Hua Cheng informed him. Xie Lian considered this for a moment. "I'm alright, but thank you." "If you're sure. Also, let me know if you need any breaks, okay?" Xie Lian replied with a simple nod, and so it begun.

The familiar gentle pulse and sting of the needle worked its way slowly, Hua Cheng's slender hands firm and steady. But only twenty minutes in, Xie Lian could feel his lungs compress and his heart race uncomfortably. "Are you okay?" Hua Cheng asked softly. "Y-yeah.. I'm all good, thanks." This was not the time for Xie Lian to admit he was having some sort of minor anxiety attack due to a fricking tattoo. (dumb dumb)

They continued, but Xie Lian only felt worse with every throb of the gun. It was almost done when he started shaking. "Hey, are you sure you're alright? We can take a break." Hua Cheng stopped the needle, his voice reassuring. Xie Lian only nodded, then swung himself so he sat on the side of the tattooing chair/table thingy. He took deep breaths, shutting his eyes as he pressed the heels of his palms against them.

Reflected in his inner eyelids was the sight of his parents hanging, dead, from the rafters of the barn those ten years ago, blood dripping from their glassy eyes and slack mouths, necks broken. How he, too, tried to hang himself- thank Gods he couldn't reach high enough to hang the noose.

He truly must've been out of it if he didn't even register that Hua Cheng was sitting beside him with a hand on his shoulder asking him if he was okay. What was he meant to say? 'Yeah, just reminiscing about my parents committing double suicide' like-??

"I- it's just-" Xie Lian sighed, uncovering his face but staring blankly at the floor "it's hard. The tattoo itself is fine, but..... what I think about when I see it..... I'm so sorry..." "Hey, hey, it's alright. I get it- some tattoos bring up memories we wish we didn't have." Hua Cheng twined his hand over Xie Lian's gently. "Do you want some water or a snack? We have some." "Oh, I don't want to be a bother, really..." Damn the introvertedness. "You're not a bother at all," replied HUa Cheng, standing up from the seat. "We have Lay's." Okay. That was a selling point. "Are you having some?" Xie Lian asked. "Yeah. So I'm guessing that's a 'yes'...?" Xie Lian nodded. Hua Cheng got up and left, coming back shortly later with two snack-sized bags of chips. He passed one of them to Xie Lian- and coincidentally, it was his favourite flavour.

The two sat in the quiet for a little while, nomming on the chips and talking through some of what Xie Lian was going through. After about half an incense time, they decided to finish off the tattoo. And with that final swipe of the cool cloth, it was done; the gentle curvature of the safety pin contrasted against the rigidness of the Roman numerals, the details delicate and.... perfect.

Was is professional that they exchanged phone numbers? Probably not. Was is professional that they started going out with each other after a couple of weeks? Nope. But all that mattered was that they both found hope in each other they shared a liking for the same flavour of chips.

[fated-mates]

Elda Minger was the first romance novelist to put condom use on the page. When we spoke to her about the choice she made, she told us about the realities of the world before Roe, when abortion was neither safe nor legal. This remains one of the most powerful conversations we’ve had on Fated Mates, and we are so lucky that Elda came to talk to us.

As we watch women die throughout the country in the wake of draconian abortion bans, we hope you’ll listen to Elda, and make a plan to vote for this Tuesday.

-

Transcription:

I remember the reason I put in the condom, and this is funny 'cause I hadn't thought about this in years, this will sound like the Stone Age to you guys because you're much younger. I grew up in a town, I went to high school in a town of 1200 people. It was still very much a, I would call it a boy's town, like lots of hunting, fishing, ice fishing, skiing, sledding. Women were, you know, married young, had their kids and kind of disappeared is the only way I can put it. They disappeared. And marriage, I remember Jessie Bernard once said, a sociologist, she said, "Marriage is a great deal for men and children, but not so great for women." And I remember reading that and thinking, "Yep." When women did not have access to birth control, and biologically, the sex drive is strong. I had numerous friends who got pregnant, and back in the day, there was no abortion. If you could find a doctor you could go, you could get someone to do the job, and then if you started bleeding out, you went to the emergency room. And I had two friends, older sisters, they told me later on, it was like the most terrifying experience of their lives, which is why abortion must always be safe and legal. But you had two choices. And I had two girlfriends in high school who, their beginning of their senior year or summer of their junior year, whatever, they went to visit their aunt, and they came back and they looked gutted. And I never forgot the look in their eyes, like dead eyes, because they had had their baby and given it up for adoption, because that was the option or you cornered the guy and married him, and if he thought he was trapped, it was not a good marriage, and it usually ended up in divorce. So birth control back then, I worked at a drugstore and the condoms were in a glass case behind the pharmaceutical counter. You could only buy them if you were married. This is how bad things were. You know, when I look back, it's like God, it was like the Stone Age. But the thing was, I couldn't in good faith, and all the romances, the historicals of course, they would have sex and then she'd be pregnant and there'd be a big brouhaha, but in the end he would love the baby. But with a contemporary I thought, "I can't do this. I can't do this." And I had interesting parents because my mother is from Puerto Rico, staunch Roman Catholic, could not have the sex talk with me. So my dad was like, "This is very embarrassing, but we're going to have the sex talk, and I don't think I can look at you while we do this, but you need to be protected." And I remember he told me, "Teenage boys will do anything. They would do a knothole in a plank. You have to understand this about male nature. And he said, "They will tell you, "I love you." They will promise you the moon and you are a very romantic girl, and you will have sex with him. And Monday morning he will be telling all his friends at school and you will be brokenhearted." And that did happen to one of my girlfriends, where she gave it up to a guy, and she was the town pump for the last two years of high school, and she never had a boyfriend because she didn't dare. And I remember thinking, "God, that's awful!" But you know, my dad taught college and he said, "Many a woman's college career was derailed because some guy said, "I love you. I'll be with you forever." And she ended up raising the baby with her and her mom and dropping out of school. And he said, "I don't want that for you. I don't know how more plainly to put it." And I was like, "Got it, Dad. Got it." Because he was pretty, I mean he said, "I don't expect you to be a virgin when you're married. It's different times, but pick a man who likes women." And I was at 16, so stupid, 14, "Daddy, all men like women." And he's like, "No, they don't. Pick a man who really does like and treasure women." So when I approached Untamed Heart, I thought, "Okay, I've got to somehow put birth control into it." And I said to Vivian, "Can I do that?" And she said, "If you can figure out a way to make it work, I'm all for it."

[1moreff-creator]

Matching the DRDT Characters with their Roman Numeral Quote (LGI MV)

So, I immediately fell in love with newest Literature Girl Insane MV, and I have to drop everything I’m doing just so I can talk about it. Although there is so much to discuss I don’t even know where to begin, one thing which immediately caught my eye was the crosswords which flashes on the screen for a moment.

As many have figured out, it’s made up of the names of everyone in the cast, plus Mai Akasaki, minus David. As the footnote on “Now” says, it’s better to use full names instead of nicknames (such as Julia instead of J) and to exclude the protagonist of the MV.

Here’s the solution by raspbeyes, who I believe may have been the first person to upload it to Tumblr.

However, what’s really interesting is that, by the nature of a crosswords, it connects all characters with a Roman numeral. And these Roman numerals show up throughout the video, attached to different sentences. That way, you can connect the characters to these sentences. And so, you get some pretty interesting stuff. With that in mind, I went through and collected all the Roman numerals (it’s not very difficult, apart from one exception), and I wanted to share my thoughts on them.

Now, the numbers don’t actually show up chronologically for the most part, and the only real logic they seem to follow is “they show up after the crossword flashed on screen”. I’ve decided to list them in the order of the actual number instead of the chronological order, as I don’t find the latter to be very important (apart from one case).

That said, I will actually start by number two, since number one is a bit of a special case. You’ll see. For now:

II - Rose ~ Ego cogito ergo (turbatus) sum

We have some latin to kick things off! “Ego cogito ergo sum” is the ever famous “I think therefore I am” philosophy, but in latin! This phrase (from what I understand) claims that the only thing we can be truly and absolutely sure exists, is our own reasoning and consciousness. This fits Rose decently well, as she’s established her photographic memory causes her trouble separating what’s real, what’s a memory, what’s a dream, etc. Even more so, it sorta fits with the song “Cartoons” from the now vanished character playlist, which some theories placed as Rose’s.

However, there is also the addition of “turbatus” to the saying. Turbatus, from a quick Google search, means something like “disturbed”. Thus, the full meaning is something like “I think, therefore I am disturbed”. This fits Rose even better, considering her scene with Teruko and Nico in the dress-up room. Don’t think I have to go too far in explaining this one.

III - Charles ~ If you doubt brittle things are broken

So, is this about his dead brother he doesn’t remember? As in, “if you doubt your memories, as they’re brittle, they’ll break? Or is this talking about the relationships between the cast? “Distrust will lead to our collapse”, sorta fits the talk he had with Teruko early in chapter 2.

However, I actually lean more towards the brother thing, because of the blue, long quote which is flipped upside down on top of the image.

“And now here’s my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”

So, here’s where the Roman numerals become sorta weird. Does this count as part of Charles’ quote or not? I assume it’s at least related, especially seeing some of the other stuff we’ll see in the background.

Now, to the actual quote. I recognize it as a quote from the fox in “The Little Prince”, a book which if you have not read, you should honestly read. It’s a surprisingly sweet book to attach to Charles, but I can honestly see him blushing while talking about it, so it fits.

The quote itself is simple to understand; the material things in the world are not as important as our feelings, relationships, hopes, dreams, all that which can only be seen with the heart. This could be talking about the group’s relationships like I mentioned, but I lean more on thinking it’s referring to the memories of our loved ones, aka, Charles’ memories of his brother. Yes, the fact the quote starts by talking about secrets influences this interpretation.

IV - Arei ~ Right now, why do you cry?

Not much to talk about here. Arei’s the victim of this chapter, that’s why she cries. You can read into it a bit more and claim it has to do with Arei’s bullying of other people (“why are you crying, you wimp?” is something which could conceivably come out of her mouth), or more optimistically, it’s talking about how Arei used to only cry crocodile tears, but as she’s grown more empathetic, she now cries for her friends. Or some sappy shit like that.

Yeah, it’s still probably just about being the CH 2 victim.

V - Ace ~ Right now, why do you go insane? [flipped]

I’m not gonna lie, I kinda laughed a bit when I checked which character this one belonged to. Yeah, it’s pretty fitting, Ace is always going off for the most inane stuff.

More interesting is perhaps the background quote, “a cat has 9 additional lives”. Considering we’re talking about one of two people who’ve survived murder attempts so far, it makes sense, though I wonder if it’s going to come into play again later.

… Also, this just confirms in my mind the song from the playlist which belonged to Ace was “Yesman”. Undead, undead! and all that. I swear I’ll make a post about it eventually, I’m just more focused on this at the moment.

VI - Arturo ~ mind exercise 1 2 3 4

… Uh, well, as a surgeon, he do be exercising that mind though? Or something like that. Yeah, frankly I got nothing. This is just another moment where we Arturo enjoyers gotta take the L.

(Yes, I did just come out as an Arturo enjoyer-)

VII - J ~ Do it like that, let’s live together!

Another one I have no answer for. Like, what do you want me to say, this implies J’s the mastermind? Because it sort of does, seeing as she’s telling everyone to live together. But I really don’t see anything too interesting in the main quote.

However, the background quote may be more noteworthy. Anything in brackets is covered by something else but can be guessed with context.

“The Moral La[w] causes the people to be in com[plete accord] with their ruler, so that they wi[ll f]ollo[w] [him] regard[less of] their lives, undis[mayed] by any danger”

Had to look this one up. J’s quote is from Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” of all goddamn things. The Moral Law the quote is talking about is, from basic research in Google, some sort of unity of purpose; the idea that if the followers and the rules have the same interests, their side will have an advantage in war.

… What?

Yeah, this one’s a bit odd too. For now, my best answer is that it may have to do more with Mariabella than J herself. If you see Mariabella as a sort of leader, and her fans as the followers, it could be talking about how the combined pressure of Mariabella and the media overwhelm J, the “other side” of the “war”.

But if you’re really into the mastermind J idea, you can read it as “she’s the leader of the killing game, with the followers being the people at home that have the same purpose of wanting to see despair and keep the show running by watching”. But I really doubt we’d be getting this sort of mastermind allusions in an MV from chapter 2 of all things.

If anyone has better ideas on this quote or any other, I’d love to hear them.

VIII - Nico ~ even if i try to think, idk!

Another one I can’t talk too much about. My best guess as to what this means is “Nico tries to think about social cues, but doesn’t get it”. Relatable, but also nothing new. Maybe I’m missing something big, but it’s what I got for now.

IX - Levi ~ look, aside from the usual, give me that medicine

Disclaimer, the words don’t actually appear in that order in the MV, but this phrase makes a lot more sense than “look aside from that the usual medicine give me”.

I really don’t know what this means. I mean, I can guess Levi might take some medicine? Whit did say some people took prescriptions apparently. But I really don’t quite understand why this is the first time we’ve had his character associated with medicine.

EDIT: The last few paragraphs about Levi are dead wrong, I’m just leaving by them up so you can laugh at how stupid I was. Here’s a correction with a better analysis.

The background quote doesn’t make it much better. It’s just talking about the orbit of a thing, something something representative trajectory… something something Jupiter… something something 1930…

Oh shit, it’s about the discovery of Pluto! That’s what Google seems to think when I put those keywords in, anyways. Well, as fun an astronomy tale as that one is, I actually have no idea what it means for Levi’s character. I guess it’s something we’ll see in the future.

… Or maybe, crazy idea. You know how Pluto was first thought to be a “planet” but then got reclassified as”dwarf planet”? Maybe this means my theory is right: Levi will get “discovered” as the blackened of the second trial, but then “reclassified” as an accomplice when they find out Eden is actually-

Alright, I’ll stop. I’m joking, obviously… (unless?)

X - Min ~ Democratic-ly

Wait, hold on a second, you may say. That is an X, but it doesn’t really look like the rest of roman numerals font-wise. There are plenty of times X’s appear in the video aside from here, such as… well, the blank death portrait that’s always in the background.

And yes. To my joy, Min got given a bit of special treatment, since the roman numeral for ten, being an X and all, can be seen all throughout the video. However, there is one reason I believe this is absolutely Min’s X.

You see that tiny little 10 next to the X? That’s a footnote. And footnote number 10 is “The Roman numeral for 10 is X”. Of course, the reason we’re reminded of it here is because that X isn’t just a bunch of blood, it’s a Roman numeral.

Of course, Min gets the biggest numeral because she is just that much of a girlboss.

Anyways, numeral oddity aside, it’s pretty obvious why this is Min’s. The background text is just the description of the rules of a class trial, a trial where the outcome is decided democratically, and the reason Min died. This scene is directly followed by more references to class trials, which although they have some interesting implications for the MV as a whole, only help to solidify Min’s connection to her line.

As for other footnotes, footnote seventeen on the word “democratic-ly” is just an objective fact (“Not a real word. Can’t be found on any dictionary”), though the fact “democratically” is spelt wrong could be a reference to Min’s execution, where she was forced to get a lot of things wrong before dying.

Final note is footnote 12, on the class trial definition, which talks about majority rule and how, because it’s the fairest way to make decisions in a group, “murderers never complained when we voted for them to die”. There are implications here about the fact Teruko also received votes in the first trial, but for Min, there isn’t anything new here.

And yes, Min got three footnotes. As she should.

XI - Mai ~ God is dead

Honestly, I guessed who got this line before even checking the crossword. It just fits what we know of Mai too much. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s enough to know she would get a line as dramatic as this. If you want a proper interpretation, Mai is sometimes treated like a god by the others considering the secret quotes, but now she’s dead or gone or something.

Of course, that’s the literal meaning of that phrase. When you look at it through the lens of Nietzsche (and Wikipedia to make sure I didn’t fuck up anything), the phrase “God is dead” refers to the idea that as christianity became increasingly non-universal, the ethical and sociocultural elements of society which had been built on it would be questioned and revised. So, “growing lack of faith causes shifts in the status quo”, or something like that. It’s something which, again, may fit Mai from what we know of her backstory. Someone everyone had unquestioned faith on, who did something which had consequences, so maybe that caused a breakdown of that original faith, or something? Anything involving this character is always extremely speculative, but I frankly think the more literal interpretation works better in this context.

In any case, this phrase is about as cryptic and dramatic as everything involving Mai, so it fits.

XII - Eden ~ ???: But you’re in my way, aren’t you?

… Alright, Eden, I know I believe you to be the CH 2 killer and all that, but you gotta at least try to defend yourself against the allegations! The hell is this?

In case anyone was wondering, I think she’s the killer who wants to get out to meet back up with the girl she kissed (who I’m starting to get convinced is Mai but I’m not ready for that conversation), so this line reads like something she’d say to Arei in that theory. However, it’d be kind of a weird thing to put in the MV before the chapter ends, and besides, there’s an interpretation I like more.

You see how there’s a triple question question mark there? There’s a chance someone is saying this to Eden. I’ll actually get back to this later, because I have to talk about XVI before I cover my theory on this. Apologies.

CW for XIII: Suicide

XIII - Teruko ~ or

… He. Alright, out of context, this is kinda funny. But if you let the MV play, it’s ���… or not to be?”, from “To be or not to be?” Shakespeare and all that. That said, the video does, in fact, only keep the number on screen while it says “or”, so I choose to notate Teruko’s quote as just that. Also, as raspbeyes noted in their original post, the number thirteen is considered unlucky, so Teruko.

With that, I have to talk about how insanely dark it is to cut that phrase off at the “…or not to be” section. For anyone who hasn’t read this speech from Hamlet (which I hadn’t either, btw, had to look it up), the phrase “to be or not to be” is actually about suicidal ideation, with the word ‘be’ serving as a synonym for ‘live’. Therefore, cutting the phrase off at just this section leaves behind only suicide as the option.

It had already been implied Teruko has attempted suicide before (see: her telling Arei that failed hangings hurt a lot), and that her luck is the only thing keeping her alive. This just seems to imply it’s a much more present issue than we believed.

Then there’s the background text. From my research, the one on the left is a quote from “Murder on the Orient Express” and the one across the bottom is from “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”.

“Murder on the Orient Express” is easy to tie in, as it’s literally a murder mystery novel. Uh, spoilers for the novel, I guess, but it ends with the main detective, Poirot, concluding that the murderer was either no one in the train or everyone there. That sort of ties into Teruko’s hidden quote of “It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust no one at all”, I guess? For the line itself, it seems to be about a character hatefully looking at the detective. You can take Poirot to be Teruko because she’s decent at class trials (as opposed to everyone else being horrible at them), and the person looking at her to be… any blackened, or anyone, or David, take a pick.

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” is a bit weirder. It’s a short story about Omelas, an utopia which is the perfect life for everyone there, except for a young child who is forced to live in mysery for the sake of the others. The quote in the video expresses this pretty succinctly. I guess it’s talking about class trials? How the happiness of everyone hinges on one person being very unhappy? Teruko’s the protag, so it makes sense she gets a line like this. There could be other interpretations, but I think that’s the most straightforward one.

XIV - Veronika ~ Things like substance of the arts

I mean, it fits. Veronika’s talent is artistic in nature. It seems a bit… non-dramatic for Veronika? But I guess there’s nothing wrong here.

… Well, there may be, but I’ll get there in a moment.

XV - Whit ~ Remaining ignorant, isn’t that “happiness”?

(Trust me, that’s the order the words show up on screen)

This one’s also easy. Whit’s secret is “Your mother is dead. You omit this truth”. This, combined with his behavior in the killing game, characterizes Whit as someone who prefers to ignore tragedy rather than process it, remaining “ignorant” in a way. The footnote attached, 15, just talks about the phrase “ignorance is bliss”, which is pretty much what the quote is.

…

The problem is the background text.

Thinking Time: “Subtract 4 due to tetraphobia”

That’s the phrase in the background, which appears as both Veronika’s and Whit’s lines are there. This is noteworthy because this is the only time in the MV that two different Roman numerals appear on screen at the same time. The phrase is also attached to footnote 4, which defines tetraphobia:

“The practice of avoiding the number four; it is most common in Eastern Asia. This superstition arises from the fact that the number 4 can be read similar to the word ‘death’ in several languages”

This connection is further implied because the character with the Roman numeral IV is Arei, who died this chapter. There is special attention brought over and over again to the number four, and this phrase asks us to “subtract” it.

And of course, this phrase chooses to appear when two “characters” are on screen, to make sure we can’t figure it out definitively.

Let’s start with Veronika: If you substract four from fourteen you get ten (astounding maths, I know). That connects her to Min and “democratic-ly”… which is the part of the MV most related to class trials and the killing game. Because if there’s a way to look like the mastermind, you bet Veronika’s hopping right on that train!

Other than being “Veronika playing mastermind footsies” for the fiftieth time, and the fact she sorta enjoys class trials, I don’t see any other connection between her and Min’s section, so.

I should address, too, you can remove 4 from 14 in a more literal way, and end up with 1 (doing it with Roman numerals just gets you ten again). This would connect her to Xander, whose line I’ve yet to cover, but trust me on this, I don’t think it connects to Veronika.

However, that’s for the line itself. Veronika might actually have a connection to Xander himself, because of their lines about Mai. Xander’s is “she couldn’t stand to do nothing” and Veronika’s is “a girl who didn’t foresee the consequences”. These are the only lines which allude to whatever big thing Mai may have done. If Xander and Veronika have a connection, it is likely through Mai.

And then there’s Whit, who is also on-screen at the time. Or, well, his Roman numeral is.

Alright, Whit. Veronika’s being super suspicious, so the tetraphobia line has a good chance of being about her. All you gotta do is be normal about this “subtract four” thing, alright? Good.

When you subtract 4 from Whit’s 15, you get 11, which is Mai’s “God is dead”-

For fuck’s sake.

He really just can’t dodge these mastermind allegations, can he? Anyways, if this is about him, he killed Mai, or something, and thus is likely the mastermind.

I’m joking- well, kinda. There are other interpretations, like maybe he… was the first to lose faith in her, in the Nietzsche interpretation of Mai’s line? I don’t know, but the murder is the more straightforward answer for this, if you ask me.

The problem, of course, is that there’s no way to tell which character the “subtract four” thing applies to. Well, the use of the word “tetraphobia” feels more Veronika leaning, what with phobias being related with horror and psychology, but to counterbalance, the line only appears when Whit’s numeral shows up, so it’s even again.

Anyways, back to the last numeral in sequence.

XVI: Hu ~ ???: Go and cry

Alright, you don’t have to be so mean-

In all seriousness, I believe this relates to Hu’s reaction to David’s reveal. And possibly her secret if it’s the one Veronika has.

However, what’s interesting about this line is that it seems to be a direct quote from a character, because of the triple question mark at the beginning. And this is where my theory comes in.

I believe triple question marks is David. This would fit perfectly with this line, as it’s totally something David would say post-magical girl transformation. And with him being the protagonist of the MV, it makes sense for him to be involved.

And that takes me back to XII. If you remember, I said I would talk about Eden’s line a bit more after talking about XVI.

Well, it’s pretty simple, really. Eden’s line comes right after Hu’s in the video, so it’s reasonable to assume ??? is the same person for both of them. In other words, I believe it’s David who tells Eden “but you’re in my way, aren’t you?” This still implies Eden’s the CH2 blackened, by the way. As in, “you’re getting in my way because now I need to figure out a murder”, or something like that. There really isn’t any other thing it could be referring to. Unless it’s like, “you’re getting in my way because you’re so nice you’re preventing murders from happening” or “you’re getting in my way of manipulating Arei by befriending her”, but the first one is too abstract and the second one doesn’t work since David didn’t know about their friendship until after Arei died. So don’t go thinking I’m giving up on that theory. It just changes the context a bit.

-

And with that, we’ve successfully gone through the sixteen numbers. Except, wait! Don’t think I forgot about the funny British boy!

Well, to be frank with you, there is a reason why I chose to save Xander for last. And that is… I didn’t want to start the list with disappointment.

I - Xander ~ Inconclusive

See, the problem is that Xander runs into much the same issue as Min, but without a footnote to help solve the problem. The Roman numeral for 1 is just “I”, so any time the word I appears, Xander’s Roman numeral appears.

Now, maybe you think this is stupid. Obviously any time “I” appears as an actual word, it’s not meant to be Xander’s numeral! We just need to look for the time it’s not a part of the lyrics or a phrase in the text!

This is obviously the most intuitive solution, and it does arrive at… an answer. So, I present, the First Possibility.

First Possibility

I - Xander ~ (the world of abnormal sentiment dances)

Now, at first glance, this works! You have the numeral next to a phrase, and there’s nothing else it could be!

Except, the problem is that that only extends to the screenshot. In this part of the video, the same phrase is on the screen for a good few seconds, but the “I” disappears and gets replaced by several numbers, then the “&” symbol, more numbers, and what seems to be a “=“ sign, maybe? But could be II sideways. Don’t know, looks like code, not my expertise.

The issue here is that this would be the only time a character’s phrase lingers longer than their numeral. This is pretty inconsistent with the other phrases we’ve seen, which is what gets me to hesitate and wonder if that “I” is actually made to be part of the code and not the crossword thing.

That, combined with the line itself. Because what does “the world of abnormal sentiment dances” have to do with Xander? I looked it up, but it’s not the name of a book or anything. Maybe I’m missing something, but I really don’t think this is related to Xander in any way.

So, I looked for other possibilities. The problem is that, like I said, all other possibilities are part of lyrics or phrases, not a standalone numeral.

And yet, there is one which stands out to me as a good candidate. This has a high chance of being wrong, but I’ll bring it up anyways because I think it’s cool.

Second Possibility

I - Xander ~ I hate the things that I love, and I love the things that I hate

… Well, I know it’s hard to read it in that clusterfuck, but that is what the red text says.

This line has a bit more to do with Xander, or at least, David’s feelings towards Xander. We know he probably did like him based on some scenes from the MV, but he’s sad about his death. He hates him for leaving, but his heart loves him anyways. That could be read as romantic or platonic… hesitant on the platonic-

That said, the problem is explaining why I believe this is the Xander line. And that comes down to the background text.

… Yes, that background text.

You see, in the MV, it slowly fills out in a way which lets you read it somewhat. I’ll tell you what each part of the text means, but if you want visuals, I’ll ask you go to the video.

What first appears is white text on top and the right. The white text on top is Big Clue #1, as it’s a definition of electrocution. You know, that thing Xander died from.

The text on the right, meanwhile, seems to be an excerpt from “Alice in Wonderland”. The specific passage seems to feature Alice lamenting how much “pleasenter” [sic] things were “back home”. And well, for everyone but Teruko, their homes were likelier “pleasenter” than the killing game. However, in this context, it could be an analogy to David missing the past, when Xander was still alive.

Then, more white text appears on the bottom as yellow text appears under the white text on top. The bottom text is, again, more talk of electrocution, but the yellow text is a bit more complex. This is the line (from Google, exact wording may vary):

“To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world...”

Another “The Little Prince” quote, another straight banger (I love that book). Imma need the hornier of you to not focus too much on the “taming” wording and focus on the important part. This one speaks of the beautiful simplicity of relationships; everyone is “just some dude” until you meet them and establish a relationship, and then, they become unique.

This is an especially wonderful quote for Xander and David’s relationship. David truly wanted nothing more than to be “a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes” instead of the idol Xander saw him as. He wanted a genuine relationship with him, where they were not just each other’s idols, but something bigger; each other’s boyfriends :D

Alright, sappy stuff aside, this quote is related to Xander, that’s what you need to know.

Then there’s the big pink text. It says “note: can’t read”. Yeah, fair.

But before that note appears, some cyan text begins sprawling out. It’s not a quote from anything as far as I can tell, so here’s a transcript:

“…man crushed by reality puts on a s[how]…

…[of end]urance. If that’s beyond your

[com]prehension, dear reader, then you a[nd]…

[I’ll n]ever understand each other. Life’s…

[short?] so we might as well make it…

[count?] real life is a realm th…”

So, yeah, I’m sort of guessing half the words here, and I can’t even tell what the last line is, but I think we can get the gist from this. Reading this with the context that Xander’s probably connected, it’s easy to figure out. David was crushed by reality when Xander died, and he put on a show of endurance after that. The insult to the reader is a bit uncalled for, but I don’t particularly care, it fits David.

So, with the idea that this little breakdown is related to Xander, it’s safe to say the line “I hate the things that I love, and I love the things that I hate” (not a quote from anywhere I could find btw) is linked with Xander as well.

And, well. There are other references to Xander, but they’re never paired with an “I”. And there are other instances of the word “I”, but never in relation to Xander, at least not as much as this little breakdown.

This clusterfuck of text also forms directly after the crosswords shows up. And while most of these aren’t in chronological order, number II through V do. Wouldn’t it make sense for I to appear right after the crosswords and make I through V in chronological order?

In any case, I believe this is a decent alternative to the “world of abnormal sentiment dances”, whatever that means.

Conclusion

This was really fun! I am satiated for now, the content drop was awesome, I loved it a lot. There’s so much more I want to talk about in this MV, but this was priority number one in my mind.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! If you made it this far, you deserve your own Roman numeral, all for yourself! Take care!

[widebrimmedhatsblog]

Ao3 stopped working for me, but I have THOUGHTS I wanna share on the newest chapter (11) and I'm sending them here since my comment was stopped

“Of course it makes a difference!” There’s a pause, a moment of stillness in which Violet envisions Xaden, glaring at Liam, silently ordering him to reel in his temper. Liam must comply. Softer, he continues, “We can take her now. We have to take her now.”

My guess is Xaden and Liam were already on the island (with other people with magic), and checked on the crash to know if/who the magic was bringing. They are talking about bringing her to whatever place has the magic, and Xaden is stalling due to the Xaden^TM move of keeping life changing secrets from Violet when he likes how their life is going. I'm *really* worried about how putting off this magic stuff is going to affect Violet. (Also I'm like, 90% sure Xaden has mind reading magic in here of some sort)

"“You’re going to let him talk to me like this, Vi?” Dain says. It sounds like a challenge, like he still thinks he can incite her to action. “I’m your only friend, and–”

“You’re not.”

Violet had meant to deliver the retort herself, but she hadn’t gotten the chance. Liam had said it first."

I'm glad Liam shut down Dain, cause wtf was he trying to do with his "I'm your only friend" when Ridoc (and Rhiannon) announced to the whole camp she was their friend.

I'm losing my mind over this story, I love it so much

Oh thank you for sending this my way bestie!! This is so sweet.

SUPER interesting guesses. perhaps consider who those other magic-havers could be...

And interesting Xaden analysis! He is very Xaden^TM here, can't lie, but there's definitely some nuance to him, too. He has his reasons, always, but of course that never stops his actions from hurting Vi.

I LOOOOOVED Liam in this chapter. When I went into writing it, emphasizing Liam was a huge priority, and you pulled two of my favorite moments with him--perfect solider Liam Mairi, and just sweet Liam.

This means so much to me, I hope you know. I am always thrilled to talk about this story. (and don't worry about the chapter number!! no ones asked about the numbering system with ithoia, but it's there for a reason, although Roman numerals are tricky!! I totally thought I had posted chapter 11 too, LOL)

[relicsongmel]

hi im also a raymond shields lover [you know this its no surprise] and i am also SOOO autistic about music so i totally ripped apart his theme to analyze it and i wanna hear YOUR THOUGHTS PLEAAAASEEE I NEED SOMEONE TO BE INSANE WITH

HELL YEAH an excuse to geek out about Joking Motive? You better believe I'm taking it

Ok so right off the bat—THE FIRST FOUR NOTES. The first SEVEN notes, even—you can hear Miles’ Great Revival motif, plain as day. Close listeners will recognize that this iconic ascending minor third and whole step pattern can be heard all over the Investigations soundtrack, everywhere from the cross-examination and objection themes to the character themes—including but not limited to Kay, Lang, and in this case, Ray (there’s even an inverted version in Gregory’s theme that uses a descending half step and major third instead!). What’s really interesting is the use of this motif sort of contradicts Ray’s attitude toward Miles when we first hear the track—it’s played during his initial introduction when he still has that grudge towards him. It’s not NECESSARILY out of place considering even Quercus Alba’s theme uses the motif, but it’s a pretty strong musical foreshadowing that he could potentially be swayed over to Miles’ side, which is indeed followed through on later.

As for the main body of the track itself, it’s pretty distinctly blues-y, making gratuitous use of standard blues chord progressions (Am7 -> D7 and whatnot) and pentatonic melodies ornamented by that sweet sweet flat 5 that I have now dubbed “the Ray Note” because the man has melted my brain (what else is new). One thing worth noting that’s a bit atypical of the genre, however, is the Fmaj7 chord used a couple of times throughout (in Roman numeral notation it would be the VI chord); the first instance of it is about 44 seconds into the linked video for reference. This, in my opinion, is a really clever way of hiding emotional nuance underneath the otherwise upbeat instrumentation and playful melody—the VI chord sounds a bit more melancholic in comparison to everything surrounding it and hints that despite his jokester persona, Ray might not actually be as cheerful as he seems.

And now my favorite part—the synesthesia of it all. Idk if you’ve read my pinned post or not but basically the key of a song has certain colors, moods, scenery, etc. associated with it in my brain and it’s been a part of my life since even before I had any sort of musical training. Joking Motive is in A minor—which is represented by the color gray and its associated moods are those of emptiness and yearning (it’s a functional opposite to E flat minor which is pitch black and represents the crushing weight of despair). And I mean. Considering Ray’s whole character revolves around the void left in his life after Gregory’s death and how he desperately tries to fill it by doing everything he can to bring Miles back to his side? I’d say the key choice fits pretty well. If Capcom REALLY wanted to steal my heart away and make me even MORE smitten than I already am they could have put it just a half step higher in B flat minor (my favorite key of all time. Beautiful midnight blue queen I love her so much) but their key choice reflects him too perfectly so I’m willing to overlook it.

And that’s about it, really! I hope you enjoyed reading my insights—Joking Motive is one of my favorite tracks so I'm glad we can be autistic about it together <3

[nostalgebraist]

comments on almost nowhere for new readers

A few points that may be useful to people who didn't read Almost Nowhere before it was complete, but who are planning to read it now. (AKA "archival readers," as opposed to "serial readers.")

(1)

You'll want to read it fast enough that you don't lose track of the plot.

But, you probably shouldn't read it as quickly as you can. If you "binge-read" it over a very short span of time, some of the effect will be dulled or lost.

When planning out the story, I thought a lot about the reader's evolving state of knowledge. "What the reader knows" was almost like a character unto itself, and an important one.

For example:

I tried to create a enjoyable, continual "rotation" of mysteries, with new questions arising at the same time that old questions get answered, repeatedly across the course of the book.

In between the point when a question is raised and the point when it finally gets a definitive answer, I often tried to create a succession of interesting intermediate states. For example, the reader might first encounter something important in the form of an enigmatic, unexplained name or phrase, mentioned incidentally. Later, the same term starts appearing more often, and gets more coloration, and this coloration is different each time, so that the sum total of "what the reader knows" traces out a series of different "shapes" over time.

So you'll have the most fun if you stop regularly to savor your current state of knowledge. The questions that haven't been answered yet, the partial glimpses you've seen of things you don't fully get. Maybe even go back and re-read earlier bits, if you like.

(1b)

All that said, I also want to caution against viewing the book as a puzzle you're meant to be able to solve on your own, like a "fair-play whodunit."

I intended it to be fun for the reader to wonder about how the questions will be answered, but there's no pretense of playing fair. And that "fun" is often more aesthetic and thematic than it is intellectual.

(2)

Almost Nowhere is divided into 3 parts.

You can see them if you look at the table of contents. In Part 1, the chapter titles are Roman numerals. In Part 2, chapters have verbal titles, together with Arabic numerals that start over from zero. In Part 3, the Roman numerals resume again.

The three parts tell a single continuous story, and share most of the same major characters. But each one is somewhat distinct in its style, tone, themes, and areas of focus, and each one extends the scope of the plot considerably.

Maybe the closest comparison-point is a trilogy of SF/F novels, where each of the sequels is clearly "its own book" that feels distinct from the other two books, while still continuing the story in a coherent way.

I mention this here in the hope that these transitions will be less jarring if you're prepared in advance for them.

(2b)

In another, more "spiritual" sense, Almost Nowhere really has just two parts.

The transition happens at Chapter 13, which could fairly be grouped either into the first or the second part, or both, or neither.

Why? Up through Chapter 12, my planning for future events had been fairly slapdash and vague. I was still in the "throw stuff at the wall so I can create the real story by looking for patterns in it later" stage of my unusual creative process.

After Chapter 12, I thought "okay, that's enough of that. Vague inklings of the future aren't sufficient anymore. It's time to get start being more serious about my planning. It's time to 'create the real story.'"

So I did a bunch of that, and it profoundly shaped everything from Chapter 13 onward. (I don't know how obvious this transition would be if you didn't know about it beforehand; to me it feels very obvious, but maybe deceptively so.)

It goes deeper than that. Chapter 13 is tonally different than any of the preceding ones -- darker, more personal, with a new focus on obsession, bittersweet reflection on the past, regret, resignation. And, semi-accidentally, that ended up setting the tone for the whole rest of the book.

It's not all like that afterwards, to the same extent. But that stuff is always there, at least in the background.

I don't know if this is actually useful to know or not, but I felt like mentioning it, so there it is.

(3)

Like Floornight and TNC before it, Almost Nowhere is a hybrid.

It combines elements from a number of different genres and story types that would not normally be seen alongside one another. At the same time, it doesn't really belong to any of the genres or story types that it draws from.

This aspect of my fiction tends to elicit bimodal responses. When I mix one type of story with another, it tends to come off either as the best-of-both-worlds or the worst-of-both-worlds, depending on the reader.

Some people see five individually good "normal" books, merged into one and singing in harmony. And people see five half-assed attempts to do five different things, without following through on the promises of any one of them.

For example, I noted above that I put a lot of care into setting up mysteries, and I expected the reader to be very aware of them. And I also noted that the story isn't very rewarding if treated like a puzzle that can be "solved" in advance.

But some people are going to see the mysteries, and the care put into them, and think, "ah, I know (and enjoy) this genre, this is a puzzle you're supposed to work out in advance." And these people aren't wrong; it does kind of look like that, especially at the beginning.

Likewise, Almost Nowhere has several chapters that explain math and physics concepts to the characters and to the reader -- either real ones, or fictitious ones that have some pretense of continuity with real math and physics. Sometimes these get very involved, in the manner of Stephenson or Egan.

A reader who sees this stuff, and thinks "ah, I know (and enjoy) this genre," is likely to be disappointed when they discover that the story is not really about math or physics in any deep way. Certainly not about real math or physics. The invented "physics" is closer to the core of it, but less so than some other things -- and anyway, there is more of pure fantasy to it than serious scientific extrapolation.

Like Floornight, AN is arguably "best" described as a fantasy story, and not the GoT kind of fantasy -- the highly aestheticized, thematic, emotional kind of fantasy, where "feels" and "vibes" are almost literally magic and drive everything from the inside out.

But if you read it for that genre, specifically, it may feel odd that it keeps lapsing into long descriptions of nuts-and-bolts plot mechanics, and into laborious explanations of made-up technobabble. Or into setting up "puzzles" that almost feel solvable-in-advance.

Or just, like, being written in this really weird, particular, often opaque style.

I can't just say "leave all your genre preconceptions at the door," as if it were that simple -- as though one could just do that by force of will. But be aware that the elements you recognize, from other fiction, may not be there for the usual reasons.

But they are there for a reason.

When I think about why I write, I often come back to an answer that Andrew Hussie gave on Formspring long ago:

Q: Do you enjoy your own work? I mean if Homestuck was made by someone else and not you, is it the kind of thing you would like reading [...]? A: I am making the kind of thing I would want to read. I am making the kind of thing I wish existed, but doesn't. Yet.

I am doing that, too. I'm taking elements from all over, and building something else out of them. It looks deceptively like the sources it draws from, but it's very different from any of them, underneath.

If it had already existed, it would not have been necessary for me to invent it.

(4)

As I mentioned in the last bullet point, Almost Nowhere is written in a very particular style.

This style gets better-defined over time, and more ossified, and possibly more extreme. (Chapter 13 played the same role in this process as it did in various others, for instance.)

At various times, I've said that Almost Nowhere is my favorite of my stories, or the most ambitious or accomplished one, or the one I like most on re-reading. And that is all true -- in certain senses, anyway.

But I don't want to convey the impression that I think the "Almost Nowhere house style" is like, the epitome of Good Writing or something. Or even that it's my best writing, necessarily. It simply is what it is, as much for consistency's sake as anything else.

(I confess there were times when I looked back on something I'd just wrote, and thought to myself: "I'm not actually sure this is, like, good. Maybe it isn't. But is is definitely Almost-Nowherey, that's for sure." And then I let it stand, for that reason.)

In the best-case scenario, you'll find that you greatly enjoy the "Almost Nowhere house style." If it's not to your taste, hopefully you will find it at least tolerable enough that you can access and enjoy other aspects of the book.

But if you find that really dislike the style, this book is probably not for you, sorry.

It's over 300,000 words, and they're all like that. I wouldn't want someone to force themselves through 300k words while hating every one of them, in the name of finding out what happens, or being a nostalgebraist completionist, or whatever.

[cinnamon-stheater]

Nightcord World Link Cards Overview!!☆

I’n kinda late! No, I’m really late. But I only saw one person that noticed a key visual in Mizuki’s card so I must overview.

Kanade!! She looks like a goddess! The big picture is beautiful but the thing about sekai cards is that they always have the tiny details - the buttons down her shirt are the phases of the moon, and on her chest, it might be a necklace or something, but there are roman numerals which I’m assuming is 25 (side note: they all have it!!) She (and the others) also have a lil clock necklace thing but Im stupid and dont know how to read time so someone else can tell me what time that is. I’m assuming it’s 25:00 or 1:00, but idk. Kanade is sitting in the middle of a clock, there’s sheet music flying around, and there’s light coming from the bubbles, which are rising up around her.. a high contrast to-

Mafuyu’s card! Instead of the bubbles rising, Mafuyu’s bubbles are in a flurry of panic, much like her inner self. I saw someone on Reddit say that there are so many bubbles because it represents Mafuyu’s inability to clearly view her inner self, so we can’t view her very well. She has a pained and desperate expression on her face like she’s diving for something - a detail which can relate to her untrained card, where she’s picking things up from the lake. She’s clutching her heart. And. That’s all. Onto Ena!!

Ena!! The calmest card in the set, which is why it’s also my least favorite (IM SRY ENA!!!) In terms of mental self she’s definitely the best-off Nightcord character, something definitely taken accounted for in her card. Behind her is darkness, with papers scattered across the floor. The papers show different drawings and sketches, which are all left behind in the darkness. I believe this is because she’s finally figured out what to do with herself, and now she’s leaving her years of pain and suffering behind in those drawings and reaching the light. She can draw something beautiful again- the flowers in the frame, the very frame she has her hand on - those same flowers were in her self-portrait On this Blank Canvas, I Paint card. The other two drawings are of the empty sekai, something she’s found that kept her going even through that dark hallway. Love you Enaaaa ♡ proud of you☆

Last but not least Mizuki, my favorite card in the game! The first thing I wanted to point out is WHY ARE THEY SINKING??? SEGA PLS LET THEM BACK UP PLS PLS PLS

That note aside, hehe! Surface facts: They’re sinking away from the light, and they’re reaching up for it, though not whole-heartedly, as their fingers are curled and their other arm is tucked beneath their legs. They almost seem really tired. Like the other three cards, they have bubbles! Unlike the other three cards, their past untrained cards are in the bubbles - namely their And Now, I Wear This Ribbon card, their Secret Distance card, and their We Escape to Survive card.

Another lil something that ties into their first unit card, Uncompromising Obsession, is that the Mizuki and the Mizuki in the reflection is different. Mizuki in UO is smiling while UO reflection Mizuki is sad, that sad expression almost perfectly mimicking world link Mizuki. Meanwhile world link reflection Mizuki’s eyes are closed, contrasting to actual world link Mizuki, whose eyes are open. I’m guessing this is because in UO, Mizuki is smiling while their reflection is sad. Now, the real Mizuki is underwater, the place of sadness, while above the water, the once-smiling part of them is sleeping.

Maybe I’m looking too much into things? Idk I don’t proofread a lot I’m too lazyy so sorry if I messed up Mizuki’s pronouns! I tried to use they/them but I use she/her a lot by accident when it comes to these types of situations. I’ll try to be more careful! Hope you liked my overview though hehe

[ballet-symphonie]

I’m pretty sure there’s nepotism and other shit going on at New York City Ballet, and I’ve stopped following them:

-there’s children and grandchildren of former dancers who got into the company. Roman Mejia is Paul Mejia’s son, Shelby Mann is the granddaughter of Jacques d’Amboise and the daughter of Charlotte d’Amboise and Terrence Mann (Broadway legends!) it makes me suspicious. I mean, Nilas Martins was in the company too, so I’m not surprised nepotism is still going on with the younger dancers.

-apparently there was/is body shaming? even at SAB I’ve heard rumors of kids having eating disorders. Also not surprising considering that the people who worked with Balanchine wanted a look and it was Balanchine himself who started the “skinny ballerina” trend that quickly spread worldwide. Ashley Bouder spoke up about how the higher ups body shamed her on Instagram live like a year ago, and none/few of the company members commented for support. They just posted it on their story. In general, Balanchine companies/schools tend to have a lot of body shaming, especially with how they treated Kathryn Morgan at Miami CB. CPYB (Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet) has a bunch of horror stories on Instagram account called @/cpybstories if anyone wants to read.

-I don’t know if this is really BS, but they still cast roles based on height/size rather than talent. I was hoping for Tiler Peck to do Diamonds but she got Rubies. Same with Midsummer, she didn’t/doesn’t really get Titania because she’s on the shorter side and from what I’ve heard, NYCB likes their Titanias to be tall. (I’m guessing she probably will never get Titania, just because she lacks emotion in her dancing. Saw her in Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker and she barely acts.)

-the company is still predominantly white. Even PNB is more diverse than them. The BIPOC dancers like Nadon, Mejia, Furlan, Chan etc are only popular just because they fit Eurocentric views of POC (they have lighter skin and straighter hair) plus Nadon is only half South Asian, Mejia is half Peruvian, so they aren’t full blooded POC. The only POC in recent years that didn’t fit those ideals was Amar Ramasar. The kids who appear on stage for Nutcracker, Midsummer, Sleeping Beauty etc are more diverse than the actual company members.

-They didn’t handle Alexandra Waterbury’s case well. Ramasar should’ve been fired and in prison before the pandemic and from the West Side Story revival (that didn’t do well regardless). It also makes me mad that Alexa Malone (soloist) is still dating him and the fact that he’s now a stager too…like he might mess around with the underaged apprentices/corps and the cycle will start again

-Don’t get me started on people like John Clifford and how he wrote public, sexist comments on how he hates crotch shots because of platter tutus. He and a bunch of other older trust people still defend these beliefs to the death.

Hello, there's a lot in here!

Regarding nepotism, the company definitely has a history of hiring both siblings and relatives. I would extend this to ballet in general, many successful dancers today are from dance families, such as Chloe Misseldine, Daniil Simkin, Maia Makhatelli, Vadim Muntigirov, Dmitri Smilevsky, Issac Hernandez etc. But I don't think that inherently means that the dancers benefiting from that knowledge base (knowing what to do, where to train, how to structure their day, exta tips and coaching etc) are undeserving of there spots. I don't think you can watch Meija dance and think he doesn't deserve to be where he is.

On body shaming. Yes, none of this is positive and none of it is news either. There has been a history of toxic body shaming culture at nearly every major ballet school worldwide. Balanchine companies have had a nasty history but so have numerous Russian, European, and Asian schools. It's not a problem exclusive to SAB/NYCB.

Yes, NYCB typecasts. I'm honestly quite a fan of it because I don't think it's realistic or responsible to expect every dancer to do everything well and it results in dancers on stage in roles that they're confident in and suit their strengths- which generally leads to better performances. I don't think there's a single dancer at City Ballet who has done all three leading roles in Jewels, Peck is not an exception. I don't believe it's height/size over talent, but a complementary mix of both. Some roles have been designated by the choreographer for X skills and others have been historically dominated by dancers with X skills. And like you mention, there are lots of other factors affecting casting besides just height, acting, vulnerability, partnership, and logistics, which all play a role.

I'm not sure I agree with you that the dancers you mentioned get attention because they are POC who fit Eurocentric standards. Chan and Nadon rightfully got attention for breaking barriers and becoming the first Asian principals at the company. Both have spoken at length aobut how their cultural background and upbringing has both helped and hindered their path. I'd argue Meija gets far more attention from his father than he does from his race and Furlan (if we're considering him popular which I probably wouldn't) for his technical merit. I also think you aren't looking at NYCB's soloist rank fairly, they have Black, Asian, and Hispanic dancers at this rank. Of course, the company certainly could be more diverse but they have the self-imposed limitation of hiring nearly exclusively out of SAB. You yourself noted that the school is more diverse, this is a result of several of their scholarship and outreach programs that have been implemented in the past decade or so. Those programs are long-term investments, they are building a more diverse company now - but these dancers are still in the school. And for what it's worth, PNB is not a low bar, it is by far the most diverse major company in the US and has made hiring decisions accordingly. Approximately 50% of the company is POC which is awesome- but this realistically isn't possible at NYCB because they're not going to be hiring from outside as frequently.

Of course, if not following NYCB would make you happier, then by all means do it. But if these issues are what's causing you distress, I don't think the solution is to simply follow other companies- many of these problems exist across the industy.

Regarding the Waterbury Case, I don't disagree with you but the law is complicated. I remeber reading the case when it came out and I think the main problem is that the case wasn't able to get to discovery because she didn't have enough facutal evidence. If that had happened, I imagine things would have looked a lot different. While I absolutley believe her, she was trying to fight too many battles at once, some of which weren't directly hers, and she didn't have hard concrete proof for most of it. Everything got muddled and I don't think she had the best council either. I don't have any doubt that there's so much more here that exists only in the memories of the individuals involved. But that doesn't count in front of a court - it's about what you can prove not what happened. And NYCB's liability is limited because she was neither an employee nor a student at the time of firing.

However, while I have no comment about his personal life, I agree with you about Ramasar's line of work. It's unfortunate and incredibly disappointing how the dance world regularly absolves men like Ramasar (he's not alone) and basically gifts them back their careers. I could list a whole troupe of men who've been given second chances they don't deserve. Winning in court is an uphill battle, especially when the prosecution is often not coming from a place of strength. I just hope that the slow but steady changes happening in the industry now will prevent history from repeating itself.

And Clifford....I don't have the energy to start with. There's a reason NYCB hasn't hired him back , he's not consistently teaching or running a company, and he's just running his mouth on IG.

[starilicious]

mere haath mein (echo x gn!reader)

this is the series masterlist!

》 summary: reader and echo's love story from strangers to friends to lovers throughout the clone wars (a 4+1 type of story)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 4.5.1 | part 4.5.2 | part +1

click here to read on AO3

》 total word count of all parts: ~11.3k

》 warnings: none

》 spoilers: none (except for stuff in tcw if u count that as spoilers lol)

》 a/n: okay so i find it very annoying that echo doesn’t have a hand that works with his scomp probe link thing. like hello???? star wars is filled to the brim with amazing technology and yet no one can help echo out? THEY CAN MAKE ENHANCED CLONES BUT CAN’T GIVE HIM A HAND????? (both literally and figuratively) anyway, as an engineer and someone who is infuriated by the fact that he has to do so many things one-handed, i decided to take this matter into my own hands (haHA–okay sorry that was pretty bad). the build-up of this story REALLY got away from me and became a 4+1 kinda thing in which most of it is creating echo’s and the reader’s relationship, but i think it turned out pretty well. hope you enjoy my thinly-veiled disgust at disney for not treating his character well!

》 misc. notes:

• title of the fic is from the hindi song “mere haath mein” from the film fanaa. i’ve linked the song (in blue) with some pretty good english translations in case you would like to take a listen, but it isn’t necessary for the fic–i just thought it fit well!

• this fic ended up being much longer than i expected. as a result, i decided to break it down into parts for easier reading. i’ll update every friday/saturday!

• it’s kinda random, but i notice roman numerals are often used when designating parts. so to spice it up a bit, i decided to use devanagari numerals instead, but i put the regular numerals next to them in case you would like a translation, so to speak

[tryan-a-bex]

King of Night and Prince of Day

Based on the gorgeous art of @nathanwonderwolf. Please open the art (ao3 or tumblr) and look at the image for each Roman numeral before reading. (Note: in the tumblr post the last two images are reversed.) [ao3]

I

“Kill me now, King of Night, but my people will never stop fighting!”

“On the contrary, Prince Robert of Day, you have been a worthy opponent and I detest waste. I propose an alliance. Sealed by marriage.”

“I have no unmarried sisters.”

“I would marry you.”

Oh, shit, Hob thought, looking up at the gorgeous King of Night and Dreams.

“I accept.”

II

The boat was decked with flowers for victory, but the crowd was scarce and silent as they neared the dock. 

“I want you to know I have my eye on you,” the Nightmare General warned Hob. “You may have agreed to this, but the war is not over and I have no reason to trust you.”

Hob fixed his eyes on the King, who was standing majestically in the prow of the boat. “The real war is against the Morningstar, who stole Dawn from all of us when she Fell. I disagreed with my father when he refused to let you cross our land to take the war to her, and I will gladly fight by your side until she is finished.”

The General grunted sceptically in response.

”You can trust me,” Hob replied blithely, and the General saw that his heart already belonged to the King.

*

“I crown you, Robert Gadling of Day, Prince-Consort of the Realm of Night and Dreams.”

III

“I take you, Robert Gadling of Day, as my consort, and swear to remain true to you for the rest of my nights.”

“I swear to defend this Realm with my sword and my life, and to remain true to you, Dream Endless, King of Night and Dreams, for the rest of my days.”

IV

“Do not worry, Robert. I will not touch you unless you want me to,” Dream whispered in his ear that night as he left for his adjoining chamber.

Well, this is awkward, thought Hob. How do I tell him that I’m nervous because I’m attracted to him and he seems so unattainable, not because I’m only here for the politics of it all? 

V

“Lucifer Morningstar is moving again. Our new allies, the Kingdom of Day, are requesting our aid in repelling her advances,”  the Nightmare General briefed the council.

“I will go,” Dream pronounced.

“No,” chorused the General, Hob and several advisors. 

“In this case, your skills with magic are better put to use here, where you can weaken the Morningstar’s influence over her followers using all your arcane paraphernalia,” the General argued.

“I will go with the army,” Hob volunteered. “You can give me a talisman connecting us, to carry the magic to her.”

“I have an additional idea, then, if you must go,” Dream conceded.

The next morning, Hob departed under Night’s banner, the Nightmare General by his side, an iron circlet binding his forehead and an ancient sword at his side.

VI

“Dawn cedes to Day, Morningstar!”

Lucifer laughed mockingly at him. “I’ve broken your silly magical talisman. All you have left is your Day Sword. Surely you don’t think you can harm me with that!” She swiped at his side, her claws piercing his armor and scoring a deep wound.

Hob used the last of his strength to plunge his sword through her neck.

“This is the Sword of Evening, my true love’s gift!”

Fear entered her eyes as Evening, bane of Dawn, drank down her immortality.

I sure hope that’s done it, Hob thought as he collapsed on top of her.

VII

What am I going to do without him? Dream wondered as the Day Sword shattered in the magical glass he’d suspended it in. Robert’s blood dripped from the glass, and the horns and candles bound to his circlet smoked red.

How will I go on, even if the Morningstar is defeated, without my love? When…when did I start to love him, and why did I not realize this sooner? There are so many things I wish I had said to him.

VIII

“Robert! Robert, don’t leave me…I love you,” Dream sobbed over his consort’s wounded form.

“Ooooohhhh,” groaned Hob, briefly regaining consciousness. “Hob, it’s Hob. I love you too, you know.” His head fell back on the pillow again and Dream clutched desperately at him. 

“Let it happen,” Hob whispered. ”I’ll come back to you anyway. Kiss me, my lord.”

“I love you, Hob,” Dream moaned, and took his hand, and bent his head, and pressed their lips together at long last. 

IX

Dream sat vigil beside Hob’s body as it lay beneath the sheet. 

“We won, you know. My magic weakened the Morningstar enough that your blow with the Sword of Evening was enough to destroy not only her current body but her immortality as well. Haha. It just occurred to me that that Sword is significantly more powerful when gifted in the service of true love. I guess we didn’t even know we were doing that. But anyway. You killed her.” Dream worried the bloodied bandage still in his hand, then took Hob’s pale hand in his own.

“I hope you are correct that this is not an immortally fatal wound. I hope it heals overnight, now that I’ve neutralized Morningstar’s magic. Oh, Hob, I hope we have many more nights and days together, so that I can tell you how much I love you.”

X

“Aaarrrrgggghhh!” Hob screamed and arched from the bed. Dream pulled the sheet from him and cradled him in his arms.

“Hob…Hob, are you okay?”

“Argh, Dream! Oh … Ah! … Yes… yes. Yes, I think I’m going to be okay now. Phew, that last bit was rough!”

Dream clasped him in his arms. “I’m never going to let you go again.”

XI

Hob rejoiced as Dawn began to break over the now-joined Kingdoms. “Last Night was the first dark Night the people of Day have had in some time.”

“It has been months since the people of Night have seen a clear Day.” Dream lifted Hob’s hand and bowed his head to kiss it.

XII

The people of Night and Day cheered wildly as Day broke more fully in the sky. Dream, King of Night and Dreams, and Robert, Prince of Day and Prince-Consort of Night and Dreams, smiled out at them.

“This is your doing, my love,” Dream whispered into Hob’s ear as he leaned against him.

“No, my heart, we did it together.”

***

Many thanks to my beta reader @dreamerinsilico for helping me polish this one!

[lostcauses-noregrets]

hi!!! sorry for bothering but recently all of my google tabs just closed with no reason so i've lost one eruri fanfic i started reading months ago (before 2024 started) and its one u reccommended here so i was wondering if u could help me? i've been trying to find it in ao3 for hours but i just can't so maybe u can tell

HUH SORRY IM THE ONE LOOKING FOR A LOST ERURI FIC. I SENT AN UNFINISHED ASK IT WAS AN ACCIDENT SORRY😭😭 i'll continue here.. maybe u could tell me if smth you've rec'ed before sounds similar to this: its a long fanfic with A LOT of chapters, the names of the chapters were written in roman((?) sorry english is not my first language, i mean like this 2 = II, 4 = IV, etc), its been months since i last read it (i've readers block) so i don't remember the plot that well but it was canon setting and it had smut im sorry its not a very specific description but if u could try to help me i would be so thankful😭😭 i was loving it.. have a good day!!🤧

I'm so sorry Anon, your ask has been languishing in my inbox for months. I hope you've found the fic you were looking for by now. Unfortunately I haven't been able to identify this fic. I thought it might have been When in doubt, use violence by no_tengo_porque, because it's LONG, but it's not canonverse and it doesn't use Roman numerals.

I wanted to answer this ask though to say that there are a few of things you can do if this disaster befalls you, or indeed anyone else, again. If you close a Chrome tab by accident, the simplest thing to do is to go to the Re-Open Closed Tab option in the File menu. If your browser crashes or you quit by accident, you should be able to return to any page by looking through your browser history. However the best way to return to a fic you've been reading, regardless of which browser or device you're on, is to use AO3's History, which records every page you've visited*, as long as you're logged in with your user account. This is just one of the many reasons why it's a good idea to always be logged in when reading fics on AO3. Logging in will also allow you to bookmark fics, mark fics for later, and read and comment on locked fics. It's worth noting that, thanks to the sad troll who's been plaguing the fandom for months, most recent Eruri fics are locked so that only logged in users can comment.

* Don't worry, no one else can see your AO3 history. That's between you and the gods...

[butchkaramazov]

Hey, I hope you're doing well, I see your TUMBLR posts and your page filled so beautifully with greek mythologies, poetry and art. I have always had a keen interest in Greek mythology but couldn't ever pick it up, I was wondering if you could help me to start from the very basics? I can totally understand if you don't want to.

hi, of course i'd love to help you! the basics of every civilization starts with its mythology (in my opinion), so here's an overview of the gods and what came before them.

according to hesiod, the golden age was the mythical first period of man. the people of the golden age were created by/for the titan kronos/cronus/saturn (for romans). humans lived "like gods", i.e. never engaging in too much physical labour, when they died, it was a peaceful death. spring never ended. it is even described as a period in which people aged backward. when they died, they became daimones (a greek word only later converted to "demons") who roamed the earth.

kronos, screwing up here, castrated his own parents (ouranos and gaia - the sky and the earth, respectively) and they foretold that one of his own children is destined to overthrow him as he usurped his father. rhea, his wife, hearing this, was distraught and went to seek help from ouranos and gaia upon becoming pregnant with her sixth child. by now, kronos had developed a habit of swallowing his children so as to prevent the prophecy from materialising. fast forward to the present and rhea gives kronos a stone to eat instead of his sixth child. the child whose life was spared was called zeus, and he later took his place as lord of the sky and king of the olympians (gods).

zeus killed kronos and freed his siblings from his father's stomach, thereby signifying the beginning of a new age (silver age). now, we move on to the gods.

the big three: zeus (god of the sky), poseidon (god of the sea), hades (god of the underworld).

a list of all greek deities.

one thing you absolutely need to know about all the gods (except for athena (goddess of war, handicraft and practical reasoning), artemis (goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, childbirth, care of children and chastity), dionysus (god of wine and pleasure), hades, hestia (goddess of the hearth and warmth) and a few others) is that none of them can keep it in their pants. none of them. and their accusing fingers always point to the woman they lust after. (also they're all bisexual, except for artemis, who is a full-on lesbian.)

myths you can check out for further insight:

hyakinthos (hyacinthus)

minotauros (minotaur)

ariadne

arakhne

orpheus and eurydice

i find this website particularly helpful when it comes to surface-level (but reliable) research.

also remember that the same myth has numerous versions, some of them not even recorded, perhaps. there is no moral way to view the gods. they were simply created to explain the cruelty and the absurdism of nature. plays and artworks based on myths differ from place to place, and these differing versions simply offer us greater insight into the minds of the people rather than the "moral goodness" of the gods.

differentiating between reliable and unreliable sources is a must, and i would recommend logging onto internet archive if you want to read classical texts and immerse yourself in in-depth research.

hope this helps! <3

[tempest-toss]

Freedom

As the beeping from the transporter grew in volume, Matthias knew he needed to go fast. He picked up Martin and successfully dropped him on the transporter, and in a bright flash he was sent away. Opting for a strategic route he grabbed the shoulders of the plague doctor man and began lugging him over slowly. Thankfully Usagi appeared back and helped lift the legs, and soon they were able to make it to the transporter.

As they set him down and he warped away, the large man came back, carrying a goth-looking teen. He set him down and watched him warp away. The man turned and gave a sharp whistle, and Tim-Tam came running up and jumped on the pad. He then turned to address Matthias.

"If you want to be saved, I expect you to follow." And with that he stepped on and disappeared. Matthias went to grab Usagi's arm, but he dodged.

"I can't leave." Usagi mumbled, his ears wilting in sadness. "This is my home, and I can't abandon everybody. I hope you understand, and that you will promise to come back?" He gave a hug as Regina began to awake.

"You...You FUCKING TRAITOR!" She screamed as she prepared to fire from her staff. Usagi shoved Matthias onto the transporter and vanished, just as the machine overloaded and exploded. Matthias had escaped. "You." Regina spoke coldly, as everyone finally regained consciousness. "I will enjoy breaking every bone in your body." She grinned cruelly as Usagi tried to not show his fear, as he knew that she was going to publically torture him in front of everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Matthias appeared outside of the Troupe he initially cheered, before realizing that he was in an unfamiliar area. In fact he was i an unfamiliar area surrounded by fourteen figures all in black; they were practically silhouettes, only having the whites of outlines, eyes, and large roman numerals on their chests. It felt otherworldly.

"Ah, Matthias, I'm glad you survived," The voice of the large could be man be heard as he approached the empty seat. "Now, my colleagues and I have some questions for you," He spoke as he pushed a button on his tie, his body slowly becoming cloaked as he began to resemble that of colleagues, with a large roman numeral IV on his chest. "Let us begin," he spoke in a modulated voice. Matthias had a feeling that he was in for a long interrogation

Meanwhile all the saved individuals reappeared at Site-230, where they were rushed to the infirmary for any injuries. Perhaps after a speedy recovery, they will be more apt to talk? But you can ask them yourself...won't you?

(Heya Mun Ozzie here, and thank you for enjoying (or enduring) this event! I had a lot of fun with it, being able to explore one of my GOIs and a slice of the characters and worldbuilding associated with it! I hope to do more things like this in the future! If you have any suggestions for tweaks I'm all ears! Once again, thank you for reading!)

FINAL RESULTS (for consistency)

Threat Level: Nonexistant Remaining Survivors: 1/16 Injuries: Light scratches, crushed rib Mental state: Confused and worried Key Items: Notebook with partial map sketch