#idk why its the brain worm right now!!!

[pxper-riings]

oh no i think im in my fic writing era,,

[rubberbandballqueen]

since i just rb'd a poll abt high school grades now's probably a good time to drop one of my many million-dollar ideas for how to run a high school classroom, which is that i think that at the start of a quarter/semester kids should be asked if they want hw to count towards their grades or not bc i was So Fucking Bad at submitting hw in high school, but my test scores were really good, so i'd rather have not had hw count towards my grades. but obviously there are a good number of kids who are either bad at taking tests or anxious abt their grades dropping and are diligent abt turning in hw, so letting hw count towards their grades would give them some padding in that situation.

[barleyo]

BARELYYYYY write another daddy Leon fic, AND MY LIFE WILL BE YOURSSS

867-5309.

Real Dad! Leon Kennedy X F! Reader (smut)

A/N: this fic is shitty and short, sorry ^_^ i literally have no drive or desire to write anymore, idk what's going on with me. probably some type of brain worm! but i thought i should at least try to get something written :3 (ily whoever knows what song the title is referencing)

Tags: incest (daddy-daughter), phone sex, age gap (21 and 50-ish), mutual masturbation, no actual sex, idk dude i'm not sure what i was going for with this

Wordcount: 719

!!! DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT/DARK CONTENT !!!

"Little note wasn't lying," Leon said into his phone, sitting in his car near the back of the bar's mostly empty parking lot. "What's this about a good time, doll?"

It was too late for him to be out like this. Too late for him to be this far from sober. Too late for him to be calling some random number that was stuck to the urinal partition. And, of course, it was much too late for him to be this horny.

"Depends," a voice, your voice, spoke on the line. "What kinda night is it, mister?"

Thank god he was drunk, or else he would've heard right through your overly sensual, fake tone. Thank god you were stupid, or else you would've known it was him right from the sleazy nicknames he used.

"Tonight?" 

Dirty fucking man. His hands were practically already in his pants. Roughly palming at himself over his tented jeans to the sound of some mystery broad's voice. 

"It's a real good night, babydoll. I think you could make it better though." He pulled his zipper down, cock pulsating desperately. 

You giggled on the other line, absolutely drowning in the sudden flush of attention. That's why you slipped the damn sticky note with your burner's number into the men's room all those nights ago, hoping some horned up man old enough to be your dad would ring your line and validate you. Little did you know, that man would truly be your dad. 

"Sounds like you could use it. I don't mind 'chatting' for a bit," you said, hand finding its way all over your body. "Tell me, y'touching yourself already?"

"To a voice like yours? Of course I am."

Leon freed himself from the confines of his pants, eyes shifting anxiously as he looked around the sparse parking lot. He was a grown man, he'd jerked off to hotlines and voices on the phone all the time. In public, though? New territory completely. 

He squeezed his shaft, feeling it pulse in his hand. Thing had a heartbeat of its own at that point as it practically begging to catch some friction and relief. 

"Glad you called," you said, sliding your panties off while you spoke. You tossed them in the corner of your room mindlessly. "I've been waiting for someone to find that little note."

Leon opened his mouth to respond when he heard a soft moan escape your mouth. That was enough for him to start. He wanted to take it slow, to enjoy himself, but who was he kidding? He was a needy fucker and he wanted to cum ASAP. 

"What'cha doing right now?" he was finally able to ask, swallowing thickly as he pumped his length. "Using those cute fingers, doll?"

You hummed through an over exaggerated moan, dramatizing and putting on a show for your 'mystery man.' 

"Sure am," you said, finger curled, reaching your g-spot the best you could with the limited length it had. "But it's not as good as the real thing."

He could practically hear the pout in your voice, and it drove him crazy. You sounded like a bratty little baby, just his type. 

"Awh, aren't you a poor thing? Bet some older cock would do you good, huh?" 

He heard the squelch of your cunt through the phone speaker. It picked up the sound of your palm hitting your clit, and the little gasps of air you let out each time you slammed your fingers in.

"Guess so." You bit your bottom lip, holding back an excited squeal at his words. "You offering?" 

Leon chuckled dryly, watching the tip of his cock weep with pre as he stroked himself. "Oh, someone's eager. Sure," he said, amused smirk on his face as he started to near his climax, hand still working furiously over his cock. "I'm offering. I could use a cute thing like you, anyway. It'll be much better than just hearing ya through the phone."

"We'll see about that," you teased, phone clicking off of the line just as he started to cum. 

(XXX)-867-5309: *sent location* 

(XXX)-867-5309: pull up ;)

Wait, that address? That was his house...

"Fuck."

Leon's head fell back on the car seat headrest, brain going a mile a minute. Hand still covered in stray spurts of cum.

"Fuck!"

[vizishereig]

For the Sleepy Prompts

4 and/or 17 Leon being sleepy, try Serennedy but no pressure!

okay, okay. kerf, idk why, but i went insane with this prompt. its horrible (its amazing)

it started off as serrenedy, but then I mentioned Chris ONCE and he decided he could worm his way into the relationship. so, uhm, sorry? but its primarily serrenedy :3

4. "You fell asleep right on my lap. No, no, no, don't feel bad. I actually thought it was pretty cute."

17. "You're so cute when you're tired and speaking in half-sentences."

from this prompt list

Leon shifts a bit, groaning. There’s a soft shushing sound that he ignores, blinking his eyes open. White light invades his gaze, too bright, and he makes a noise of discontent, pushing his face back to where it was prior.

There’s a little laugh and press of lips to the top of his head, one that he makes a sleepy sound of content to. Then his brain catches up. Where…

His head lifts again, opening his eyes slower this time, looking around when they adjust. He’s in Luis’s study and, looking down at the man, on his lap as well. Hm.

“Buenos dias, principe. Have a good nap?” Luis asks, a teasing grin that is immediately offset by a hand coming up to cup his face. He leans into it, still a little soft with sleep, exhausted.

He had come back from a mission earlier, wanting nothing more than to take a shower and fall asleep. He’s succeeded with the first one but couldn’t fall asleep without Luis there next to him. Karma, he thinks, for all the times he leaves Luis alone while he’s on missions.

So, he got out of the bed, wandered over to the study Luis has, the one he’s usually in on the days when he works from home (which, coincidentally, are only days that Leon comes back from missions. Luis and Hunnigan were good friends, and Leon is pretty sure she would give Luis ETAs on when Leon would be back from a mission). The man couldn’t be dragged away from his work, not when he got into the flow of it, not that Leon minded usually.

But, right now, when he wanted nothing more than sleep and to hold and be held, it felt like a niggling hinderance. He knows that Luis is working on an important report, but he can at least wait in the room until the man is done. Hopefully.

The knock on the door was quiet, Luis calling him in. The door opens quietly, Leon yawning a little as he enters, rubbing at his eyes as bright lights invade his vision. Luis makes a small sound, arms open so the blonde can get the hint.

“Thought you were busy?” Leon asks, a hand motioning to the computer in a half-aborted move, hand falling back to his side.

“Si, pero estare bien. I can still work while you sit on me,” Luis says, then huffs out a laugh when Leon raises an eyebrow at the phrasing. “Naughty, Sancho. Ven aca.”

Leon sighs, as if Luis is the one being insufferable, as if he isn’t secretly pleased by the easy affection. “Fine, I guess.”

Luis makes a happy noise and then Leon is, rather awkwardly, shuffling onto the chair. There are a few times where the chair almost tips back, and Leon almost wants to say fuck it, he’ll just lounge on the armchair, but they get it. He’s almost straddling Luis, arms wrapped around his midsection and nose buried in the crook of the man’s neck.

“Comfy?” he asks, and Leon huffs out a laugh, warm air fanning out on the tan expanse of Luis’s neck.

“Yeah,” Leon replies, warm, warm, warm. He’s sated now, that itch of needing to touch, to feel, quelled. A hand smooths down his back, making him relax impossibly more, sleep scratching at the edges of his mind, insistent.

“Y’know, you’re cute when you’re tired and speaking in half-sentences, amor,” Luis says, as he goes to turn back to his work, the keys clicking quietly. Leon huffs, shakes his head a little.

“Nuh-uh. Chris hates it,” Leon mumbles, the tug of exhaustion more insistent, now. Luis answers, probably something about how Chris is just as bad (because he is, if not worse), but Leon was out before that sentence can even register.

Which leads to now.

“You feel asleep right on my lap,” Luis says, and his voice is so fond. Leon huffs, tucking his head back to rest at the crook of the scientist’s neck.

“Sorry. Probably wasn’t the most comfortable way to work,” Leon mumbles out. He’s a little sore from the position, so he must have been asleep for an hour or so. And he’s still tired, exhaustion tugging at him again.

“No, no, no, don’t feel bad. I actually thought it was pretty cute,” he says, clicking a few times with his mouse, one hand moving to rest at the small of Leon’s back, thumb rubbing at the skin that was exposed.

Leon huffs, making a surprised sound when Luis pats his thigh, a silent request for him to get up. He acquiesces, making a small noise of discomfort as his bones pop from being in that position for so long. Ugh. He’s getting old.

Luis has also gotten up, computer powered down. Leon quirks an eyebrow at him, doubting that the report is done. Luis sends him a small smile, shrugging his shoulders, which proves his hunch correct.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll have time to finish tomorrow, it’s due at 3,” Luis promises, slipping past Leon and to the door, entering the hallway. Leon sighs, not completely satisfied, but guessing Luis wants a break as much as Leon wants to sleep.

So, of course, he follows.

Arms wrapped around each other, tangled under sheets. That’s how Chris finds the two of them, dozing in the sun, the curtains having been left open sometime last night. He sighs fondly, moving to close it and exiting the room quietly after. God knows they could use the rest.

[emmaswanned]

I started watching Lost in 2007, so I’ve only been here 17 years, not 20 (ha, only). But I would not be here without it.

I don’t mean that to say Lost saved my life or anything that dramatic, I just think my life would’ve gone in an entirely different direction if I hadn’t watched it. I literally don’t know if I’d have gone to the same college and ended up in the career I’m in right now. Or even if my journey through online fandom would’ve looked the same. I guess maybe I’d have found my way to Tumblr, given as it’s uniquely designed for people with my particular kind of brain worms, but who knows when or how.

Anyway, the community around Lost in the late 00’s when it was airing was a delight and it was a joy and a privilege to watch each episode weekly on that forum (iykyk). I’m very grateful I’m still friends with so many of those people years later. 🥲 (please check out our Lost tribute vid, im so proud of how it turned out!)

Lost is often imitated, never replicated, and I literally think about it every day. The way it approached storytelling was like it was designed for me and idk if I’d encountered that before. I’ve rarely encountered it since. It’s a mystery. It’s a character study. It’s a parable of good and evil. It’s a metaphor. It’s entirely literal. It had dialogue that no human being in reality would ever say but I’m still thinking about two decades later.

Is this your destiny? All roads lead here?

Why do you find it so hard to believe?

It just had that intangible thing that’s impossible to put your finger on, but every piece of media I’ve really loved since then has had it. It’s not hard to connect the dots between Lost and uhhh that video game I’m currently obsessed with

This is far more sentimental, I fear, than I ever like to be, but Lost is too important to me not to say something on its anniversary. 🥲 I love you forever Lost.

[imaginarylungfish]

AUDHD 👏 GOJO 👏

I’m right there with you so, in true AuDHD style, I’m zooming into your inbox to infodump because I’m ALWAYS desperate to scream about this (shout out to @ellionwrites for patiently and compassionately listening to my unpolished rambles about a lot of this stuff in private)!

I actually have a LOT of thoughts about 236 and how it’s Gojo’s “unmasking”. That chapter is really emotional for me because of how well it articulates my personal experience of navigating the world as an autistic person. This post (and especially its tags) from right after it came out says it in a much more concise way, but Gojo’s upset pout breaks my heart because, to me, that's evidence of “no matter how much you try, people will misunderstand you” and damn… that hits a little close to home 🥲

It’s why his death had such a strong impact on me, especially when it felt like half the internet was ignoring the actual words Gojo said to claim “he never cared about that stuff, he was arrogant from the start and you just misread him". In combination with “it was the best ending for a character like Gojo" — right after we find out how deeply lonely he’s been, never able to truly connect with anyone after Geto left? Well, it was mindblowingly meta and, therefore, pretty painful to read.

I wrote an analysis of Gojo’s character in 236 and, even though I wasn’t viewing him through an autistic lens for that particular post, I think my words under the cut still read that way — that’s how baked into his character I think this stuff is! I genuinely think the two pairs of sorcerers sitting with their backs to each other is a visual representation of the double empathy problem. I'm not sure autistic and allistic people can ever arrive at a place where we fully understand each other, but that doesn’t mean autistic people have to carry all the burden and remain isolated. That’s why it’s meaningful that Gege makes it clear that all the characters care about each other, even if they don’t see eye-to-eye.

Glad to see you shouting about this reading of his character, because I haven’t seen many people talking about it. Some people are very hostile to ND headcanons, especially for characters as popular as Gojo, which is why I haven’t really talked about it much myself. However, I feel like any fellow AuDHDers who read my fic must be side-eying me constantly because I don’t think I’m subtle about how I write Gojo’s character at ALL 🤪

Maybe it’s time to be brave and publicly share my 236 AuDHD!Gojo manifesto for the five of us who are standing in a circle screaming about this! Cheering you on and sending lots of love ♥️

Ahhhhh thank you so much for this infodump!!!! I was on a AuDHD!Gojo rampage last night as my brain worm hit right as I should have been going to sleep. But such are things....

Like idk why it didn't truly hit me until now, but I can't unseen Gojo as AuDHD. (It was probably because I re-watched "Everything's Gonna be Okay" with some AuDHD representation and then I started thinking of other AuDHD characters and immediately thought of Gojo.) I did play with the idea a few months back, but it hit me with full force yesterday.

Idk like I get a little annoyed with people who think I or others like Gojo just because "he's hot" because like okay fine yes (but also I think I just have gender envy but that's a whole other can of worms). But also, no no no that's not it! My love for Gojo is more than that! He speaks to me as a character. He's misunderstood. He's seen as something he isn't. In my eyes, he's neurodivergent (and queer). And Geto was the only other person who ever saw him for who he really was.

Gojo's death was really hard on me. I remember exactly where I was when I read that chapter. And then the airport. Fuck. EmOtIOns. At first, I tried understanding Nanami's words. I really did. But really, I just didn't if I'm honest. Those words were a shock to me. Like yeah okay he's selfish (but like aren't all humans?). He also helps though! Isn't that obvious? And at the end? He wanted to have an equal to go all out with in a fight. Again, why was that bad? He was also helping! What's the issue? He's a fallible human. Like you said in your analysis, he contains multitudes. What's wrong with that?

So, like many others, I thought maybe I misread Gojo. But no. Now I think the missing piece was that Gojo is AuDHD and Nanami didn't quite get that. He didn't understand Gojo's actions. (And ahh god that lil pout. Gojo was just living his life and people saw him but they never ~saw~ him.)

I think the visual of the sorcerers back-to-back is a great metaphor for the double empathy problem. I never saw it that way, but I see it now and like it! And I think you're so right with the fact that the characters still respect and support each other even if they don't understand each other fully. I think that's a theme woven throughout the story.

Blahhh I feel like there is so much textual support for AuDHD Gojo. Like him being blindsided by Geto's defection because he didn't see Geto's decline (and don't get me started about Autistic!Geto with his strict black-and-white thinking), him just blabbing about sweets when he meets up with Megumi before fighting one-finger Sukuna at the beginning, the fact he thought revealing Yuuji to his classmates at the exchange event would be funny (cause hey, I thought it would too until it happened and I saw oh hey, it wasn't), etc. Plus, his blindfold. His overall personality. Like, it's such a heavy mask. Now I see that.

I feel like people either love Gojo or they hate him. (I immediately gobbled up your analysis and 100% agree. And I think people's reactions to his death are pretty telling.)

So, thank you for the yummy AuDHD!Gojo content. Please feel free to send me more/link me to things. I feel like I have a million more things to say but my brain is jumping all over the place and I've already spent 40 minutes this morning on this when I should have been getting ready for work. Hehe, whoops.

Gojo is AuDHD. I will die on this hill. Let's keep staring and screaming at each other about this. Sending you good vibes and love as well 🤍

[emerson-grimes-apologist]

Fandom's dry right now so why don't you tell the audience some Joe short-legs headcanons ? 😉

Yes, my poor pathetic son Joseph. He needs a hug. And therapy. And drug rehabilitation. And a soothing bath. And--

Joe and the worm have a sort of symbiotic relationship. The worm eats Joe's flesh and acts like a parasite, but also, Joe can't get rid of it, for some reason (because if he could, he definitely would have by now). I think it keeps him alive somehow?

His worm came to live in his head either as part of a deal or a punishment.

This was inspired by @alhexiyansfist's art, but the worm is actually rather big and causes Joe's head to distend disgustingly when it's in there. You can see it moving under his skin. Like the crew is repelled by it.

Also, it comes out of his empty eye socket sometimes instead of his ear.

His whole body looks a bit sickly and decayed, not just half of his face. Like he looks like he's struggling to live.

He might just be short or have dwarfism instead of having artificially shortened legs. Idk, i think it would make his character design too busy for him to have decaying skin plus the worm sticking out of his ear plus shortened legs. Especially considering he's a background character. But I'm not sure yet.

Joe can let the worm take control of his brain, which he's sometimes forced to do if its screaming in his head gets to be too much. When the worm controls Joe, he (or the worm acting as him, I should say) becomes cruel and brutish and not like Joe's normal timid self at all. This is also one of the only ways Joe can experience peace and solace (because he's essentially unconscious during these times).

[rivalmelty]

one (1) person asked (@saltasaurus-loricatus) so i’m gonna ramble about my ranpo and fyodor narrative foils brainworms

possible spoiler warning under the cut

you’ll have to forgive the jumbled nature of my thoughts and if i forget anything bc i don’t have the manga/light novels/anime pulled up right this second to double check specifics these are more broad thoughts that ive been reiterating to friends over the years

okay so it’s not a detail in ln3 that’s explicitly stated but in the anime adaptation of untold origins, V is something to do with one fyodor dostoevsky and the way its place timeline wise the story of the play is a hell of a lot more in line with fyodor’s whole methodology even going as far as to “kidnap” (in quotations bc ranpo planned for it) ranpo simply because he was loudly parading around his own ability

now asagiri probably set this up as a way to show how the agency and fyodor have been both intertwined and diametrically opposed to each other since the beginning but To Me with the nature of the agency hinging on ranpo almost exclusively (you need a detective to have a detective agency) i took the first sentence of this paragraph and swapped out ‘the agency’ for ‘ranpo’

there’s also these four seconds in the s5 anime opening and when i tell you the psychological damage i took seeing fyodor and ranpo in the rainstorm while dazai was in the light i have a whole powerpoint presentation of the symbolisms and understanding of just these four seconds istg it has to mean something or anything especially when we know asagiri is at least somewhat involved in the anime scripts but i digress ill just say that fyodor facing the storm with his back to the audience vs ranpo facing the audience with his back to the storm is once again showing just how similar they are as characters even as opposing figureheads of their own organizations (fighting back the worms in my brain that want me to only talk about the significance of four seconds)

we know fyodor main motivation in bsd that being to eliminate ability users as they are a sin on mankind or whatever this is my main talking point with these two bc there’s only been two instances (i think) where fyodor and ranpo are within the same vicinity: the end of untold origins and right before the creation of amenogozen godman (which there is also a whole tangent for my. hm. como se dice frustration around that which might or might not end up in here idk) only two despite how ranpo aligns perfectly in fyodor’s motivations let me elaborate

in untold origins we know that V has a thing against ability users it falls in line with fyodor’s ideals still he watches ranpo (now idk if fyodor is aware this early on that ranpo doesn’t have an ability but we know dazai mentions it in prison that ranpo surpasses even ability users implying his lack of one) bc at this point we as an audience know ranpo isn’t gifted and if fyodor is successful, he would be the only main member of the ada to survive the wiping out of all ability users and even then ranpo could continue natsume’s wishes in retrieving the book and fixing everything single-handedly since we know ranpo would go to any lengths for his family (this would be where i would tangent again and yap about demon ranpo to my friends)

last year i said to my friend “if asagiri reveals that fyodor’s motives all stem from ranpo because if he wants a world without abilities and ranpo is like some all perfect man without an ability as god intended or something like that then like ranpo is proof that the world would be better without abilities thus resulting in the beginning of v into the doa i will explode” now i no longer think that his whole way of thinking stems from ranpo since now we know his ability however i would not be surprised if the creation of the doa was because of ranpo and fukuzawa since i dont think we ever got a why as to their origins and bc of fukuchi’s involvement a sort of tether to the agency and by extension ranpo

here’s another quote i’ve said to my friend about ranpo fyodor “the other man (ranpo) who is greatness personified and without an ability as [fyodor] so desires, surrounds himself with ability users and would risk anything for their safety ‘ranpo is everything the world could be’” and yet ranpo runs head first into a tripolar singularity to save the one man who he trusts wholeheartedly even if that man has placed his trust in the wrong hands leaving ranpo to have to pick up the pieces. ranpo still runs towards fukuzawa as a man without an ability as a kid with only one person to look out for him ranpo still runs even if he won’t survive to see an after and that’s where we are today

ranpo and fyodor being narrative foils yet ranpo has all but disappeared from the airport from fyodor’s line of sight from the narrative and i don’t understand but for the sake of holding myself off from yet another tangent i’ll leave it at that

sorry if that’s all over the place and incoherent i’m just not normal about them and the possibilities and everything that there is and that there is not i just find them so interesting and unexpected as foils considering their irl works but also i can’t really read irl dostoevsky i just didn’t click with it but im gonna be done with this if yall want to talk more about this please i would love to i love talking bsd theory sm

[sergeantsporks]

can I request an angsty alternative to the day of unity with raeda? idk brain loves the idea of them not getting swapped + eda's curse getting cancelled by the sigil . . . . mmmmmm lovely lovely angst >:3

It’s not working.

Why isn’t it working?!

Eda glanced over at Darius, but his eyes were just as panicked as she felt. Eber growled uneasily, but stayed in place.

“Come on,” Eda murmured, “Owl beast, where are you?!”

She heard a faint screech from within, but… muffled. Like something was holding it down. Pinning it. It didn’t have the same feel as the elixirs, which had always just pushed it back, given her relief. Now, she could feel it close, within her, but trapped.

Eber sniffed, then his eyes glowed, and flesh eating beetles swarmed out of the ground, heading for the construction head. Several of the coven heads ran forward to help him, but Terra and Adrian weren’t any of them.

Darius slowly swept bugs away, and Eda blinked.

Oh!

She dashed forward to help. “What’s going on?” Darius hissed, so quietly Eda could barely hear him over the sound of Mason’s shouting.

“I don’t know! Something’s wrong with the owl beast—it’s pinned down.”

“How do you fix it?”

“I don’t even know what’s wrong with it! I’d need to… get in… contact… Darius, you have to knock me out.”

“What?! We need you awake!”

“No. No, you need my curse awake. And that’s only going to happen if I’m asleep.”

“Titan. Fine. Fine. But if this doesn’t work, we have to go to plan B.”

“What’s plan B?”

“Same as Raine’s original plan. Take out a coven head. Hold the sigil hostage. Hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Darius drew a circle, and Eda’s legs buckled. As everything went dark, she could hear Darius yelling, “One of them bit Raine’s nerve, they’re out!”

She woke up on the beach where she’d first connected with the owl beast, waves gently lapping at the shore.

Awwwwwwwwk…

The owl beast lay a few feet from her, huge, but flattened to the ground, pinned by glowing red chains. A muzzle kept its beak snapped shut, digging into its feathers. The owl beast squawked again, barely able to get its mouth open enough to make the noise.

Eda stumbled towards the creature, yanking at the chains. “Who did this to you?! What happened?!”

You.

Eda didn’t know where the words came from, she never did. The owl beast never opened its mouth when it spoke, and it never used real words, but Eda could always glean what it felt and what it meant at the moment.

“What?!” Eda examined the chains, looking for a lock, or a weakness. She ran her hand down the length, to where the chains connected to the sandy beach.

The joining place glowed an angry red, in the shape of a bard coven sigil.

“Oh. Oh!” Eda sighed, plopping down on the sand next to the owl beast. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. You were supposed to nullify the sigil, not the other way around. I thought… I thought… I thought maybe the two of us could do some good together. I know we’ve… we’ve had our differences. But we’ve worked together, haven’t we? And I was hoping that we… that you could save the world.” Eda squeezed her eyes shut. “We can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. The world needs you right now.”

Eda put a hand on the bard sigil pinning the beast down. “Just… don’t eat anyone I care about, alright? If you see that slimy emperor, though, feel free to treat him like a worm. I hope he doesn’t give you indigestion.”

The beast tilted its head at her.

Free?

“Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s about time.”

Eda ripped the sigil out of the dirt, and the owl beast reared up, snapping the chains as it flared its wings.

And then Eda was alone on the beach.

Xxx

“What’s happening up there?” Raine whispered, pacing beneath the stairs. “Do we go up?”

“Don’t blow our cover!” Derwin hissed.

“Edalyn will be fine,” Lilith assured them, “She always is.” Feathers sprouted on her face at the sound of yelling from above, and she quickly brushed them away, chugging an elixir. “Eda will be fine,” she repeated aggressively, “She has to be.”

Raine looked down at their coven signet, which was starting to flicker out. They heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s working. It’s—”

An unearthly shriek echoed from the head, and Raine bolted for the stairs, Lilith hot on their heels. “Was that—”

“The owl beast!” Lilith confirmed.  Feathers were sprouting all over her face and on her hands, but she just plucked them off and continued up the stairs.

Destruction met them at the top, coven heads strewn all over the sigil. Only a few were conscious, and only one was still standing. Darius had been backed over to the edge, a massive abomination grappling with the owl beast.

“Something’s wrong,” Lilith whispered. She clutched her chest. “It’s in pain. It…” She scratched at her wrist, where Raine knew her coven sigil lay. “The draining spell, the owl beast curse—it’s like they’re from opposing sources!”

“Excellent, now get it to back down!” Darius yelped, his boots scuffing the edge of the dais.

Raine summoned their viola, playing a short tune pizzicato. A fog rolled out, and the owl beast swayed, allowing the abomination to overpower it, grappling it to the ground.

Lilith grabbed the front of Darius’ collar, more feathers sprouting across her face, and her pupils expanding to take over her iris. “WHAT HAPPENED?!” she half shrieked.

Darius put his hands on her arms, holding her firmly, but gently. “Drink an elixir. Calm yourself. The last thing you need is for your curse to go off, too.” He glanced at the owl beast. The curse wasn’t working. Eda asked me to knock her out so that she could communicate with the owl beast, and then…” he gestured to the creature, which was struggling sluggishly against the abomination. “That happened. It worked, the spell stopped, it corrupted, but…”

Raine knelt next to the owl beast, lifting its face gently in their hands. It made a weak crying noise, squawking softly. “It’s dying,” they murmured. Ashy grey was spreading over its body from its forearm, a color they recognized from their assassination attempt on Darius and Eber. Raine looked up at Lilith. “What happens to Eda when it does?”

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Darius started pacing. “I don’t know what happens if we remove her from the circle. We might have done enough damage that the spell will stop, or…” he gestured helplessly. “It might just start up again once the owl beast’s corruptive effect is gone. We may have to wait until the eclipse is over.”

“Eda might be dead by then!” Lilith shout-shrieked.

“Elixir, Lilith. Please.”

Lilith glared at him, but chugged one down, brushing at the feathers on her face. “Deep breaths, Lilith. Deep breaths. Fine. This is… it’s fine. I’ll just do the pain sharing spell again, and that will split the damage, and Eda will be fine! Move over, Raine, I’m going to save my sister. Again. This time, it’s not my fault, though! Sort of.”

Darius caught her arm. “We don’t know what splitting this will do. What if it weakens the owl beast’s effect on the draining spell?!”

Lilith tugged. “And what if it doubles it? Let me go!”

“We can’t risk it!”

“She’s my sister!”

“AND WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE BOILING ISLES!” Darius shouted. He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to lose her, either. Probably less so than you, but still. If I thought we could safely remove Eda without jeopardizing the plan, then I would. But we have to think about the greater good, here.”

Lilith gave him a withering glare. “You sound just like Belos,” she snapped, wrenching her arm out of his grip.

Raine saw a muscle in Darius’ jaw twitch, but he heroically refrained from slinging an insult back. “Lilith.”

Lilith heaved a sigh, settling down next to the owl beast and burying herself in its feathers. “I’m sorry, Edalyn. If I’d known all those years ago, if I’d somehow been able to see where this road would lead… I’d have given up the emperor’s coven in a heartbeat.” Her shoulders shook, and she wrapped her arms around the creature. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

Raine touched their forehead to the owl beast’s, staring into its blank eyes. “You always manage to surprise me,” they said shakily, “You always show up where I least expect you. Please, Eda. Surprise me one last time.”

Awrk? Awk?

The owl beast shook its head free and snaked its neck around Raine, as if it were hugging them. They wrapped their arms around its neck, tears starting to bloom in their eyes.

“I promised a special kid that I’d keep you safe,” they whispered, voice cracking, “Don’t make me break that promise, Eda. Please don’t make me break that promise.”

Please.

[marcusdoodlesalot]

Really sorry I keep bothering you with asks about Good Enough and the au surrounding that (the positive brainworms are persistent and I read that fic for comfort)

But in one of the final chapters of the fic, when the gays visit Ordon, Ilia mentions that she plans on moving to Castle Town and hints at bisexuality. Do you plan on her joining the main group? Is she gonna be shipped with anyone in the group? Because a pairing of her and maybe Ashei might be funny, like they're both fairly assertive and blunt people so even just talking it'd be interesting to see how they interact.

And also, she'd be seeing Twi open up and probably be more comfortable and open than he'd been in Ordon, and maybe she'd feel guilty and feel like she should've been able to provide that safe space? And also, there's the question of how she'd act in a place where she doesn't have the reputation of 'Major's daughter', whether she'd take pride in that or feel freed.

Idk, I'm just tired rambling, please don't feel forced to actually write all these ideas, I'm just in love with your fic and think too much-

Listen, I NEVER mind answering Good Enough questions, you think you have brain worms for that AU? I think about it all the time, so I will rant about it forever.

Also, yes! Ilia has some unrealized feelings about girls she doesn't realize is Not Straight. As for her and Ashei, that is, in fact, the plan! I love pairing those two up, especially in a relationship of like "Are they best friends? Enemies? Or in love with each other?" I plan on writing a short little fic of Ilia moving to Castle Town and realizing many things as she tries to not to get a crush on all the hot women that her gay best friend hangs out with.

Honestly, when it comes to Ilia not being the Mayor's daughter, its kinda weird. Like, shes a bit unsure of her place in the place she lives now and who she meets to be her friends, but that uncertainty is what makes her excited. She's nervous, yes, when she gets added into the group (what, you think Twi, much less SHAD will let her be isolated in the same city they live in? Fat chance.) but she also doesn't have the expectation of being "perfect".

And, yeah, she does feel kinda guilty but also a little salty. She's his supposed best friend (or at least, he's hers) and he didn't feel comfortable being himself around her? It hurts. She's salty but she also kinda gets it, so she doesn't mention it or let it control her emotions.

But, yeah! I have big plans or this AU, and im still having a lot of fun writing it! Right now I'm writing a fic where Shad tries to control two kittens and is, ultimently, failing. Have a little sneak peak:

“I am-” “MEOW!” “Just give me-” “MEOW!” “Would you calm down? I am-” “MEOW!” “-trying to get you-” “MEEEOOOOWWWW!!!” “-your food!” But Banjo listened not, circling around and around, screaming louder than Shad thought a cat could, getting up on her hind legs and trying to reach for them. Baby spade was not behaving much better, jumping up on the counter and getting a huge chomp of food before being dropped off of it over and over again, forcing Shad to hold the cat in one hand as he tried to portion out their food in the other. It didn’t help that Link insisted on only getting the best food with supplements and organs and toppers. Shad had agreed, after listening to the twenty three minute (he had timed it) lecture about house cat nutrition in the pet food aisle while shopping after Shad had asked why they couldn’t just do one big bowl of kibble that they would only have to refill every other day. Apparently, he was wrong and he did not know enough about cats to call the shots on this one.  But right now? Trying to rangle two hyper and wiggly cats as he tried to make their dinner? Shad was a little upset he didn’t try to push harder for the bowl and kibble. They could have just gotten high quality kibble but noooooooo, cats do better on wet food diets and don’t get enough hydration and all that.  “Ow, fuck!” He jerked his leg, glancing down to see the orange menace clawing her way up his leg. Clearly, her patience for his fumbling with both the food and her sister has run dry, now taking matters into her own hands to get her claws on some good chow.  He reached down, trying to gently extract her from his leg, hissing a bit to  himself as the claws dug deeper past the pant’s material and into his legs. He felt Baby Spade wiggle free onto the counter from his arm, getting in one, two, three big chomps before he picked her up. He picked them both up from their scruffs, cradling them in his arms with a sigh, trying hard to keep them from wiggling out, both now yelling in a chorus of meows.  He turned and headed to the bedroom, plopping them both down before hastily shutting the door, standing there for a moment to gather his thoughts and cool himself down. The sister protested, screaming and clawing at the door, little fluffy paws poking out from under it.  Right, okay, just keep them in there and finish getting the food ready. Goddesses, why didn’t he think of that before?  He walked back to the counter, finishing portioning and topping, even taking time to make them look nice as the two kitties screamed from under the door.  He set the bowls down and swifty walked down the hallway to release the problem children to their dinners.  Banjo hopped down the hallway as Baby Spade sprinted out, her paws sliding on the floor for a minute before she found her traction and shooting off to her dinner.  He blinked in shock for a moment before bursting out laughing.

Hell yeah, cats! Again, ask me about anything any time, I love answering questions about this and just talking in general, I'm quite the yapper, you see.

[loverofallthingssmart]

PLEASE UNLEASH your hadestown demons!!!!!

unleash my hadestown demons is right this is a BEAST thank you very much ive satisfied the brain worms by dumping all my thoughts under the cut

first off. the beauty of live theatre allows for so much nuance and beauty to demonstrated so i cant even begin to cover all the things that could make me insane its so wonderful i love live theatre everyone should watch at least one live theatre production i believe it will solve at least one problem they have

the tragedy of it all!! its a sad song but we sing it anyway, in hopes that we hope that orpheus doesn't turn. but he will. bc he loves eurydice so much so he went down to the underworld to save her.

guys. the repeated, cyclical nature of everything. its an old tale from way back when and its a sad song but they sing it anyway. the point of hadestown is the HOPE of it all wait theres an article (https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/anais-mitchell-hadestown-west-end-broadway-b1134613.html) regarding mitchell's thoughts on orpheus that make me insane im gonna paste a quote here:

"If Hadestown has a moral, she says, then it’s “you have to try, you have to have hope, not because success is a given – it’s not. Orpheus fails. We heroicise” – here she breaks off to apologise that jet lag has led to her making up words – “we heroicise Orpheus not because he succeeds but because he tries, and that endeavour alone is worthwhile. How to live, and not merely survive, is to believe things could change.” ARE U KIDDING ME OURGHH

which brings me to the topics of like. climate change and capitalism that the play discusses its so good. the fact that there's no spring or fall, only summers and winter because of persephone's absences, how "is it true" is just a song abt labor protests red carnations are a symbol of love and passion yes, but in germany theyre a symbol of the working class protest. its SO important hades has just created an industrial revolution, has built a wall, has workers work forever, "why we build the wall" is soooo incredible "hey little songbird" "chant" all the songs that take place IN hadestown itself are sooo gritty so despondent in a way its insane.

theres another article that discusses sm of it AND discusses like portrayals of persephone that i REALLY like. im gonna paste it here PLEASE read it it has so much good stuff from a classics person regarding it and OURGH too good

orpheus's "to the world we dream about" but then also "the one we live in now" like oh.okay. im NORMAL….

if u noted every single lalala in hadestown it would be 6 min long. the leitmotif oh i am so normal actually.

okay im not rlly a music person i call myself music adjacent bc my two closest friends r music ppl LMAOJDHJS but like. the first time u hear eurydice say "i do" i.e what you say to seal a marriage is after she tells orpheus she signed the papers. she does not say "i do" in the entireity of wedding song, where they talk abt their nuptials. she says "i do" in informing orpheus she cant come up with him. that she chose this life (or death i guess) of her own doing. isnt that vile….

in wedding song she goes "is he always like this" and hermes responds but then in "a gathering storm" she asks the same question to no response.. idk what's there but something is there.

hermes being the narrator thats involved in the play is SOOOO delicious for my brain, the way he switches between a character involved in orpheus and eurydice getting together, invested in their relationship to a all-knowing narrator who knows the end bc he sees this every time.

there's this sense that only orpheus and eurydice do not know they r in a repeated play. which heightens their love at first sight, the "i feel like i know u but ive just met you" OHHHHH my god.

the original nytw script having orpheus say "ur early. i missed u." directly paralleling hades and persephone but in a different context because OHHHHMYGOD and not even that but the fact that mitchell took it out bc she believed it engaged the brain when the moment should only directly engage the heart. so she had the lovers say each other's name. one last time. im soooo normal

also this is bc one time i was thinking abt hadestown and mitski's remember my name played so . just that song in the context of hadestown is SOOOO bc like. like. how eurydice couldn't rmbr herself when she became a worker but orpheus went down to save her and she remembered.

when he turns back and says.

"it's you" "it's me"

^ are you fucking kidding me. the sort of disbelief the happiness the love the incoming grief im inconsolable.

when orpheus turns back, eurydice says his name w so much joy SO MUCH JOY she is not upset at him. "what was there to complain of, except that she'd been loved?" <- quote from metamorphoses

like yes we wish orpheus doesnt turn around but at the end of the day, orpheus is still the trusting guy he was in the beginning. EURYDICE on the other hand KNOWS how cruel the world is and chooses to trust orpheus anyway. but. "it's a tragedy" and doubt creeps in. part of the tragedy lies in the fact that eurydice, "all ive ever known is to hold my own" eurydice runs after him w open arms, chooses to trust him, chooses to follow the trial, and he still turns around. BECAUSE he loves her ohhhmygod im so normal

obligatory mention to the fact that orpheus could never finish the song he was working on because it was a duet. like okay lol. im fine im normal hahahahaha are u fucking kidding me.

hades and orpheus are mirrors, there r two relationships in the musical obviously and it is clear theyre mirrors of each other even w/o the original script line but like.

hades gives orpheus the test that he himself goes through every spring. hades is the villain of the story yes but he is not evil. he gives orpheus the same trial, sees that if orpheus can judge him for losing faith in his wife through the course of their relationship, let's put his romantic nature to the test. let's see if he can feel the absence of his love and keep going. and he cant. bc orpheus has never had to learn how to fend for himself. so when u take away his support system, when u take anyone's support system, how is he, how r we supposed to succeed?

just. the song "how long" encapsulates hades and persephone's relationship SO WELL. "the girl means nothing to me." "i know. but she means EVERYTHING to him" the fact that this is the first time we persephone REFUSE a drink bc shes had enough oh were SOMBER somber the way the whole song just parallels itself and every verse GOD.

the love was there. the hope was there. its a sad song. its a love song.

every single time before they leave. every time they're on stage, eurydice is in front of orpheus. he trusts that she is before him and she never doubts that he is there. it is when their positions change, him in front and her behind that he bends. it is then that doubt comes in.

those r just the like the thoughst of the music and themes itself we can talk abt the ppl and the live play now:

so first. can we talk abt this we need to talk abt for reeve carney's last show the original orpheus his last show he didnt turn back. he and eurydice lived they passed the trial. sorry that makes me so insane bc like. imagine u play orpheus. doomed to a lifetime of looking back at ur lover and your final show, u finally get to stay. oh im very normal i just love the nuances of live theatre!!! what a send off!!!!

THEN we can talk abt how eva and solea play PERFECT eurydices, full of grit and used to the cruel nature of the world. and how lola tung i feel is a DECENT singer but shes not a eurydice shes so light and soft but idk. who am i to say.

also the soundtrack is just SO incredible so is the set design there's not a single ounce of stage space that is wasted like there are so many nuances like i cant even talk abt all that there is my FAVORITE musical for SOOO many reasons ough.

yeah i think that's it. this took me MULTIPLE hours and i feel drained abt talking abt all this. WOW i love hadestown not normal amounts. i can't die before i see this live its one of my goals i just need to see it live on broadway.

[arundolyn]

Why do you think Blazblue made Celica both the Sister who raised the siblings, AND some weird time travel love interest for Ragna? Did they just shoehorn Ragna into phase shift and that dynamic just got so popular they shoved it into Chronophantasma? Did they think Ragna’s development needed to be with his family but they have their own plots so they make Celica into the Sister, but NEVER have the characters piece it together ON SCREEN in a way that changes their dynamic?

i kept meaning to answer this and forgetting bc my brain has been soup for the past like WEEK but oh my god its so weird. its very blatantly both trying to give him relevance in a side material and also tie the side material into the main story better and make it plot relevant in chronophantasma all at the same time and it just falls flat horribly and comes off severely contrived. that entire scene in cp would be so extremely improved if rather than sending ragna back in time via the cauldron he just like. idk the boundary can do a lot of shit we dont even know about. it'd be a hell of a lot better if bloodedge was a completely separate guy so that negates the weirdness of celica's attraction to him then vs now and solves the like... what. 5 separate goddamn paradoxes the existence of bloodedge as a character separate from ragna causes? the LEAST of which is where his jacket and sword come from. blazblue loves its recursive paradoxical time loops so much.

making celica the sister is such a weird can of worms that honestly would be fine IF they didnt make her also have a crush on him in her chronophantasma body. thats the fuckin odd part. sure she doesnt have the memories of the now-dead nun that raised ragna and his siblings BUT it still feels weird because don't he AND jin during the whole takemikazuchi disaster at the climax of chronophantasma look at her and recognize that it's the sister and then just like.. its left at that. ragna never acted particularly romantically toward her in the first place thank god but her lack of awareness of the situation is the weirdest part. hes his usual trying-to-be-aloof-on-purpose self about it and when kokonoe blackmails him into celica tagging along with him its literally just. "you cant fight dumbass stay behind me" thats it. yeah she doesnt know and all and remembers him-as-bloodedge from her time that she had a crush on but like. she doesnt.. have to be unaware. its a really weird plot contrivance that doesnt sit right to just have another love interest that comes off really weirdly not only for the story but for the fuckin guy writing it

[bullywug-n-mugwort]

.

idk why people just decide they get to invalidate someone else's identity when they are not the one with that identity and therefore don't know what they're talking about. just saw someone i otherwise respect reblog a post about how bisexual lesbian is an invalid term because each term has changed over time and claiming it's lesbophobic and biphobic to use the term [something something mutually exclusive experiences]. i usually call my orientation "queer" but i often use "bi lesbian" to make sense of my own experience. the tags of this post were full of people dunking on all imagined reasons someone may call themselves a bi lesbian, none of which reflect my own experiences and reasoning.

not that i should have to defend myself, but a lot of these comments were very fixated on the experiences of "liking only women" vs "liking both women and men." these categories obviously have social significance, but to me personally, romantically and sexually, these categories aren't super helpful. i cannot isolate traits of manhood or womanhood i find attractive. i'm into femme traits until i see a hot butch. i like certain chests, certain facial features, and any genitals. these traits don't map onto coherent binary genders very well. not to mention my attractions shift with my fluid gender. if i'm looking for a consistent pattern, i'm into gendernonconformity if anything. i guess i'm far more into women than i am men unless the man is a flamboyant twink but at the end of the day i'm not into either as much as i am a very specific weird collection of queer gender markers. (and pansexual had never seemed to fit the bill, because there are also many gender expressions and markers i am certainly unattracted to.)

does that really make me a biphobic bisexual? i wrestled with more shame at the idea that i was a lesbian, a stereotype threat for the bisexual community i love. the twink i married turned out not to be a man at all. i was struggling with worries about comphet for years because i loved them but our marriage didn't feel "right," and now that we're both practicing genderqueers it does. to me, that experience made bisexuality feel less like home than it had before. at the same time, finding like two men attractive excludes me from the lesbian community. is it such a sin to have found home in a term that made coherent my knot of comphet and dysphoria?

i realized, as many lesbians with comphet do, that i would probably never be happy in a relationship with a man, as in someone who self- identified as a man and embraced manhood. i also find astarion bg3 hot as fuck. i fail to see how these are mutually exclusive experiences.

can i guarantee that no biphobia or lesbophobia has wormed its way into my brain? of course not, but it is so strange that embracing both those terms brands you as someone who hates both. it's also strange to exclude people from terms on the basis of internalized shame. why care if some people call themselves bi lesbians? does it feel invalidating to you? that's your own work-- same as women who think afab nonbinary people are really just women who are ashamed of being a woman and therefore should continue living as "women". (ie it's not my job to choose an identity that you approve of or think is free of shame. you figure it out.) are you worried it invalidates us in the eyes of the heteros? i simply don't believe in policing our own terms to make cishets see us as more valid or understandable. it's disguised respectability politics, plain and simple.

all these terms for our identities are best fits and best guesses, grasping for connections under this big lovely queer umbrella. the person who reblogged that post is a nonbinary lesbian. why do the same people who accept the concept of a nonbinary lesbian-- a thing that should be impossible if the term "lesbian" has actually calcified as the post claims-- insist that "bisexual" and "lesbian" are concrete, immovable, and mutually exclusive identities? to be extremely clear, i support nonbinary lesbianism. it's valid. and it's a weird fucking line to draw, saying that the gender spectrum can support loosely-gendered lesbianism on the side of the beholder but not the recipients.

there was also a historical argument claiming that people are misinterpreting contexts in which bisexual lesbian was used circa early 20th century. and like... okay??? i found the term in a pdf zine from the 90's which interviewed self-identified bisexual lesbians, gleaning a bunch of different reasons for the label. some fell into the assumptions of the aforementioned post, eg bisexuals who were basically political lesbians. (i don't claim to support this stance, though i do still insist people can call themselves whatever they want.) many more summarized complicated stories like mine, people who did not fall neatly into either "mutually exclusive" category because, it turns out, gender is a fluid weird spectrum. bi lesbians whose attractions are bi and gender is lesbian. bi lesbians who were literally only into women except for one "man". bi lesbians who were trying to untangle comphet and so weren't sure which label, if either, fit. bi lesbians who liked to fuck any gender but only fell in love with "women". so anyway, fuck outta here with "history doesn't work like that" narrow target practice.

and even if that's true... again, words are evolving all the time. we've made words like sapphic and achillean to make some sense of gender. "lesbian" has on-off been used as a gender term for decades. we've invited nonbinary people into lesbianism and many understandings of gender into bisexuality. bi lesbian is another evolution of our language, and people have been shitty about it since at least the early days of DTWOF-- bechdel's characters struggled with all of the above since the 80's.

and what's the point of terms? to find community, self- identity, and sometimes practical utility, eg in the dating world. were i to date again (yikes), "bisexual" would not be a helpful self-descriptor for finding a romantic partner. lesbian would. if i wanted to hook up, bisexual would be more helpful than lesbian, and i'd have to root through lots of gender expressions anyway. so in terms of my self identity and finding communities of similar folk, "bi lesbian" is a super helpful term. if you are a bisexual or a lesbian and feel frustrated or confused by my term, that's because it doesn't apply to you. maybe just realize this isn't your thing and leave our community to explore our experiences. love you, see you later in the sapphic tags where we have things in common.

so anyway, i think it's pretty silly to see a term, imagine reasons you dislike for why someone may use it, and pitch a fit. my identity's legitimacy has no bearing on yours. leave us alone.

[jovenshires]

Idk if you make a playlist for fics you write but I was wondering if you listened to any specific songs while writing RMYLM and the Spider-Man AU? (other than the obvious RMYLM and Sunflower lol)

oh LOVE this question!! so - i didn't make playlists for either of these specific fics (though i might make one retroactively for rwylm bc brain worms real) BUT i do have answers for this.

for rwylm, i listened to a combo of the iwks playlist (for the silly goofy upbeat parts), the domo playlist (for the super angsty playlist), and guts (for everything in between). iwks mostly consists of upbeat pop songs, and that really drove me for like the bar scene and the shayne trying to fix everything montage and stuff like that. specific songs highlighted are 'stupid for you' by the waterparks and 'everybody talks' by neon trees. now the domo of it all was more important here bc its mostly pining, and although not quite the vibes, 'sweet tooth' by cavetown and 'pancakes for dinner' by lizzy mcalpine were both on repeat in here - and of course 'right where you left me' by miss taylor swift herself for all of your angsty shaymien friend breakup purposes. and guts was just my catch-all for when i was trying to focus but still wanted to jam. yk. alexa play 'lacy' by olivia rodrigo.

sunflower!! so sunflower i listened to a couple of things - i tried spiderman playlists for a while but i couldn't find one i loved. but i will say some songs i did vibe with were 'karma' by taylor swift, 'not going back' by donald glover, 'fallin (adrenaline)' by why don't we, and '8teen' by khalid. BUT i was on a time crunch so i really needed to focus and it was halloween. so i mostly ended up listening to my 'just clown vibes' playlist which has songs like. 'coconut mall theme' and 'killer klowns' by the dickies JDNFNLFFNLN

[leatherbookmark]

couldn’t help myself.

as usual, absolutely don’t quote me as a Specialist™ (or at all), because i am not one. there’s just something wrong with me and i like to dig around.

anyway, the “perfect” wgxn quote:

WiFi和汪叽都是非常理想的人格，人品上不会有太大争议，做主角最适合不过。我当然非常喜欢WiFi，但是如果要找男朋友，对不起我��要汪叽（。

and exr (i’m copying from a post that quotes it because i’m too lazy to look for the chapter directly myself):

Both WWX and LWJ are highly ideal characters, so there wouldn't be too much dispute on their moral standing. They're perfect as the protagonists. Of course, I do like WWX a lot, but if I'm looking for a boyfriend, sorry, I'll only have LWJ please.

okay. having all that, let’s go.

1. “highly ideal characters”

chinese: WiFi和汪叽都是非常理想的人格

now, disclaimer: i have japanese brain poisoning, and when i know a term in japanese and it occurs in chinese text, i’m probably going to understand it in its japanese meaning, and then go “...but just to make sure” and look it up in chinese.

THAT BEING SAID.

indeed there exists a 理想人格, and as baike baidu defines it and google translate translates, it’s “Ideal personality generally refers to the morally perfect model advocated by a certain society or class, and it is the image of perfect personality that people generally believe. It is the highest embodiment of the moral requirements and moral ideals of a certain society.“

HOWEVER i can’t help but notice that it’s not actually 理想人格, but rather 理想的人格. again, idk etc, but the former looks like a set Term, and the latter like an “adjectivey noun”. in this case, 理想 is the adjective and 人格 is the noun.

now, 理想 means “ideal, dream” (ideal both as in “the ideals of (some group)” and “ideal date/girlfriend”), and 人格 means personality/character; integrity; human dignity.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THEN: i don’t know. you’d have to ask an actual chinese speaker, not me. i don’t know chinese, but i suspect that a lot can depend on context, just like in japanese; so i exr might be right, or perhaps i am right. i’m not arguing. maybe it really is about Moral Ideals and Integrity! or maybe it’s about characters having personalities that just Work, are fun, engaging and make fans post insane shit on tumblr dot com fall in love with them.

next,

2. “moral standing“

chinese: 人品.

now 人品, according to wiktionary (i’m using wiktionary for all definitions unless i say otherwise, btw), is: one’s character, especially the quality of it; one’s appearance, looks; and in modern internet slang: one’s luck.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THEN: see above.

3. “perfect as the protagonists“

chinese: 做主角最适合不过.

“适合“ means to suit; to fit; to agree with. wiktionary’s examples include a color suiting someone (assuming: clothes) or spring in beijing being good for cycling.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THEN: perhaps not as much “as protagonists, they’re perfect in every inch” but rather “they fit their protagonist roles greatly”.

if you put this whole quote into gtrans, you get “Both WiFi and Wang Ji are very ideal personalities. There will not be too much controversy about their personalities, and they are the most suitable protagonists“. of course, gtrans is definitely not the ultimate translator, but i’d just like to point out that there Can be a translation, even though it’s done by a machine, that doesn’t feature even one (1) instance of the word “moral”.

IN GENERAL, THOUGH: the exr translation is... sigh. sometimes i prefer it to teh official one (well, most of the times, because the official one is another can of worms and it’s 3am) because it’s concise and often opts for clarity and less words rather than keeping everything as it was and making things confusing in result. sometimes i notice mistakes or not really correct translations, but understand why those decisions were made. and sometimes there are mistakes that are simply baffling.

it’s not a perfect translation! it was done by a very young person, for fun and no profit, in their free time, and it seems they were in a hurry and didn’t really have a beta. so i really, really advise against using this translation for this like, close reading, focusing on every word and the placement of it in the text kinda interpretation -- the translation simply isn’t the one you can do that with. even if there was a professional translation, i still would be careful because chinese and english are Different languages; if you want it to be as similar to the original text as possible, you’re not going to get a nice, clean, pleasant read, and if you want a nice, clean, pleasant read that sucks you into the world and makes character sparkle with personality, you’re probably not going to get the most faithful translation in the world. it HAPPENS.

that one would use hastily translated a/n to preach to other fans is simply fucking hilarious. but anyway

4. boyfriend???

WHAT DOES IT-- listen, i don’t know. perhaps “moral standing” is important in terms of choosing a boyfriend, even amongst young people. okay, he’s hot, but what about his moooorals? (an euphemism is born.) i don’t know! i find it a bit weird for one to jump from something as heavy as being a morally perfect person to something as silly as “welllllll but if i had to pick a boyfriend between my two characters that i wrote... ;p”, but then i’m not chinese, i don’t know mxtx personally, etc, etc.

BUT i’m thinking that maybe she meant it less like “they’re role models for people to follow”, and more like... yknow, something a writer might say about their characters. that they’re fun to write and read about, to think about; that they’re well written. so for example, for me, a character that’s fun and well-written is one whose good traits are also their bad traits -- they’re smart, but too smart for their own good; they’re loyal, but that means they’re willing to support someone when they’re wrong/hurting others/hurting themself. this way, the characters’ problems aren’t easily solved, because they’d have to change a fundamental part of themself. it’s neat! it’s interesting! emotionally engaging! perhaps that’s what mxtx meant. and perhaps she also wanted to say that wgxn do have the ideals they want to follow, and in general they want to help people who need their help; probably their decisions don’t make the readers seriously hate them.

maybe! or maybe not, again, these are just my theories. i might be wrong, because maybe she actually Did mean their moral qualities! but, etc etc.

[gontagokuhara]

I just read the most recent chapter... PERFECTION. I'll talk more about it when I leave a comment, but it was so worth the wait. I'm so interested in the lore of this story, it's definetly transcended both source materials and become its own unique thing! I have so many questions, but I just want to ask the ones that probably won't be revealed from the story itself to try and prevent me from bombarding you with them all😭

For now I'm gonna guess that Kaede knows Peko from a camp visit or something! I think it was also alluded that she/Tenko knows Chihiro/Chiaki as well. What's it like when the other Gods visit (or when the triplets visit)?

Also, I'm not sure how to phrase this, but how were the demigods born to established couples like Naegami/Sakuraoi? [Bc like, gay supremacy, obvi, but like, idk how😭] And also also, why did all the gods decide to reproduce like rabbits all at once 😭 I know that in Greek mythology they were all just freakin but like I'm wondering what caused it in pointy objects, did the y2k craze also get to them

(I wanna save most of it for my comment on ao3, but I really liked how we got an update on so many outside characters, as well as new characters! What happened right after everyone at the camp realized they were gone? I feel so bad for the other half of the kids💔)

hello hello!!! i very eagerly await your comment, but that's for later — for now, there's a few other things!

first: your interest and passion for my writing is so incredibly appreciated and enjoyed and inspiring and just !!! it means more than you know, and since *im* crazy insane about this fic too, i am more than happy to answer questions because my god the brain worms are so bad and they've been there for YEARS.

second: the answers to your current questions! for anyone who may not want to see (for spoiler or length reasons) the rest shall be under the cut <3

i love offering little insights on things that i just don't physically have space to put into the main fic, so that's where i'll start with your first question! godly parent-birth child interaction is a big no-no under junko, so the gods have had to get creative in how they make contact with their children. in the case of peko, kaede is familiar with her because tenko lives with her (with their relation being aunt-niece) except during the summers. as an aside, tenko and himiko also attend the same boarding school during the year, and so when it's summertime, it's often been peko that's dropped the both of them off at camp. however, kaede is also privy to maki's family situation in a way that no one else at camp really is, so she's aware of fuyuhiko being maki's 'godfather' and that he and peko are very close, and work together.

in mentioning chiaki and chihiro as examples, there's a few reasons for the other campers to be aware of them enough to like them. lots of phone conversations, first off — junko can do a lot of things, but monitoring every possible means of communication for every demigod is unfeasible — and boring (at least when not considering certain gods she has specific vendettas against). chiaki and chihiro are all around "better" parents than some of the others, and that naturally lends itself to them coming by camp on very rare occasions to visit their children. other gods also will (very occasionally) visit to speak with hajime and nagito, but the barrier and its ability to keep them from interfering is most of the time enough that they'd rather call a meeting. so, tldr: gods come around camp sometimes, but in very limited circumstances. it's mostly phone conversations, texts, and facetimes that are used between the demigods and their parents (though not everyone has that privilege. i'll leave it at that <3)

and VERY good questions, about the logistics of all these damn kids LOL. there are a lot of reasons for this, so i'll use a few specific examples to expand upon.

makoto and byakuya are first-time parents with rantarou. in godly terms, they've been together for a long time (though not nearly as long as others like hajime/nagito or sakura/aoi, whose relationships are actually ancient). however, for various reasons — hesitance on byakuya's end that he may be a poor father, hesitance on makoto's end to not only have a child as a Big Five god, but also to have a mortal child that he will outlive — they put off having children until relatively recently. sometimes it's as simple as they're just waiting for the right time, and that's what they did. in rantarou's case, he is byakuya's biological child, and his conception was the result of a very rigorous process of finding a surrogate both byakuya and makoto were comfortable with. and it worked out; they were given the child of their dreams, the center of their whole universe, and the very well taken care of surrogate is paid for all of the work she does and more, and she retires richer than god.

aoi (as angie's godly parent) had her in a very similar way — sperm donor, from someone she trusts on her home island where she lives with sakura and a few hundred mortal islanders that know of their status as goddesses and worship them accordingly.

and finally the VERY good question of Why The Fuck Are There So Many Demigods. there's a few reasons for this! a lot of the kids we see are the first children that a god has had — this is true in the case of gundham's child, rantarou, tenko, and a few others that will become important to the fic itself later. there were also several couples between the gods that developed relatively 'recently', which plays a role as well. others, who have had children before, grieve the ones they've lost and decide if/when to have another child in very different ways. this is a non-exhaustive list, but sonia, chihiro, leon, komaru, aoi, hiyoko, mahiru, and nekomaru are all examples of gods who have had children more than once. some — like sonia, chihiro, and aoi — make the choice to have more children despite the issues that arise regarding their immortality. and in the case of those three, all of them just happened to feel ready enough to have kids again at the same time a few spring chicken couples were popping out their firsts, and a few others were making questionable parenting decisions, and some had kids...without knowing they did.

BOY this sure got fun! but it was so fun to write. if this hasnt made it clear, i'm more than happy to talk about this fic for literally ever and ever — so long as i'm ducking around spoiler territory. your last question, about what happens immediately following the gang being discovered as missing, will come up to at least some degree in pointy objects. however, for years i've maintained a list of possible one-shot ideas that don't fit within the main pointy objects narrative, and that has been on there for ages. so if it's not expanded upon enough in-verse for my liking, i'll definitely either write something supplementary (WAY in the future tho LOL) on ao3 or lore drop here. we're a ways off from that, though!

but thank you again, and i hope you enjoyed this little offering! i certainly did <3