#it seems like posting original poetry is a thing we do here

[reinedeslys-central]

Lilac buttercream and magic all kinds I want to see you with laughter lines Shadows on the curb and the daily grind I want to see you with laughter lines

-reinedeslys, "laughter lines"

[geopsych]

re: the tumblr ai stuff, please don’t wipe your blog!! your blog has been so important to me and many others as a place of authentic light and beauty and i would hate to lose it forever 💕

there is a way to download the contents of a tumblr blog (it’s in settings, i don’t remember rn, but i’ll find it if you need it) maybe you could upload to another site or a personal site?

i know this is very serious, and i hate how we are unwillingly contributing to synthetic art, but the world would be poorer for me without your pictures <3

Thank you. Your words mean a lot to me.

This is a dilemma for me. I have loved doing this blog and going out to look for pictures and interesting things to bring here has given me motivation and meaning through years of struggle with depression and several kinds of grief. Going out to look for pictures has put me in situations where I have seen incredible beauty, much of which I never really managed to capture. Also, the many warm and kind messages I've received from people all over the world have given me heart and made me feel less meaningless as a person and more connected. Sometimes I've been criticized for buying the checkmarks and giving money to Tumblr but I wanted to do what I could because Tumblr has been my one happy and safe place online. But now this. To me AI in relation to creativity is just a way for well-to-do but untalented people, the proverbial tech bros, to profit from other people's hard work and creativity. It has no redeeming value in relation to creativity and is actively harmful to artists of all kinds. <trying to figure out how to put a read more link here> I don't even count myself among the real creatives, artists and writers and others who have worked hard and put years into honing their crafts, into learning to translate their hearts and unique spirits into their creative expression. I just see beautiful things and take pictures of them. But it would still make me sick to see AI works based on my pictures, on these times and places that have meant so much to me. Recently I saw a set of cat 'photos' on here that everyone was reblogging and exclaiming over but that to me seemed to just be AI art that was more convincing than most. As time goes on more and more output of AI is going to be almost indistinguishable from real works and unscrupulous people will pass them off as real, getting credit for what was actually created by others. Whether they profit from them becomes almost irrelevant at that point because what's worse is that we will have less and less sense of what is real. And as some have pointed out AI will now also be scraping from AI, muddying the waters further from here on in. This is an apocalypse of sorts, an apocalypse of creativity, ultimately likely to kill the joy of artistic endeavor for many who would otherwise produced brilliant, beautiful, funny, and/or shockingly original things. I'm still parsing and dissecting my thoughts and feelings about what Tumblr has done and how to react. Staying and leaving my blog up feels like consent. I am not confident in the integrity of anyone connected with scraping sites for AI. I'm not convinced that a little toggle in settings is going to make much of a difference in the long run. On the other hand I like posting here and I have received enough messages over the years to know that my blog is a positive influence on some lives. I was looking forward to May and June and posting pictures of the incredible beauty of eastern Pennsylvania in those months. And I was planning on making a side blog for posting some poetry I've been working on. It will break my heart to leave.

I haven't decided yet. Believe it or not this whole thing has given me awful physical symptoms. I'll let you know when I decide. Thank you again for your kind and lovely note!

[writing-for-life]

2024 Roundup

Thank you all for being here!

It’s that time of year again—the recaps are flooding in. Ruuuuuun! 🤣

First of all: Thank you everyone who connected this year—you are all so appreciated, no matter if we are mutuals or not 🖤

I’ll give you a little selection of the posts that people loved most in 2024, plus a few related thoughts about what happened during the fandom year (I always do, so if that’s not your thing, you know what to do 😉)

And what a year it’s been for the Sandman fandom—lots of complicated feelings. For me, they start straight off the bat with this (I’ll get to why later)…

So let’s have a little look at:

Art

Here are the art posts you enjoyed most in 2024:

1. Dream by Vince Locke

2. Dream by Frank Quitely

3. Dream and Death by Mindy Lee

March Mania

My partner in crime @tickldpnk8 and I ran our first fandom event: March Mania. In a Tumblr fandom mostly interested in the show and shipping, it was so much fun to reconnect with the source material and feature the amazing original artists, and I still want to send the biggest “Thank You” to everyone who took part—you know who you are! 🖤

If that’s still not enough art for you:

You can find all my art curation posts via the #sandman art (all art, including my own somewhere) and #sandman x art (official artists only) tags on my blog.

[Speaking of art: I post art for all Sandman characters. However, if you look at the top posts squares on my blog, you’d think it’s only Dream. It’s both funny and a bit sad. You can use my character library to get started, but please, please support all the amazing artists and writers on here who create for more characters than just “the two” by checking character tags on main. You’ll only find the underappreciated characters if you go into the weeds yourself].

Fics & Poetry

I’m a professional writer. However, I’d never written fanfic before 2022. But I had a Sandman idea that wouldn’t leave me alone, and I clobbered it all together during NaNo ‘22 and published on a weekly schedule in 2023. It was a slow start (people on Tumblr are apparently a bit weird about OCs), but it’s really picked up since. I’m grateful for the little community I built around The Light of Stars, and writing its sequel “The Pillars of Creation” also kept me busy in 2024. It still has me in a tight grip right now (if all goes well, I’ll finally start publishing in January/February, yay!). But my writing in 2024 mostly belonged to canon characters, and these fics/poems were what you liked most:

1. Lupē (short vignette, Calliope x Morpheus)

2. Requiem (poem, Death & Dream)

3. Ode to Death (poem, Death)

Honorary mention: Dream’s Therapist [a fun little project I started just because I honestly think he needs one. Many of you seemed to agree, because you liked it more than all the other fics and poems of ‘24. This is the episode you liked most, but I personally don’t think it’s the best one—it’s just the first 🙈]

And again, if you’d like to read more, you can find all my fics and poetry here.

[Another annoying side note 🤣: The work of fic-writers gets shared so much less than that of artists and meta-writers. Even less if you don’t write reader fics, smut or for one of the big ships. I had this conversation with many other writers, and it’s the same for most of us, to the degree that people will ask us for the next chapter and tell us how much they like our fics, but never, ever share them. So maybe that’s something we can all improve on in 2025: If we like something, we’ll share it?]

Meta-Analysis

The Sandman is one of the few stories that hasn’t left me alone since my teenage years, despite having books and bookshelves clogging up literally every available space of my house. I find something new in this work all the time, and I just love taking the fine tooth comb to it.

And the next one is tricky for me, because in 2024, three of my metas took off a bit for certain reasons:

1. The Endless are not their Opposite—they only define it

2. The Truth of Mankind is also Dream’s

3. Only Hope calls you out like that

And at the time, the creator reading and acknowledging my thoughts meant something, simply because the story always meant so much to me—I’m not particularly susceptible to parasocial relationships or putting people on pedestals. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel a sense of anger and disgust on…

July 3rd

The Tumblr Sandman fandom has been limping for some time now because it’s mostly a show fandom. After such a long time with hardly any news, many people simply move on and get their shipping needs met somewhere else. As someone who is mostly interested in the source material/comics and literary/meta-analysis, it never worked like that for me because neither characters nor stories are replaceable for me. But NG turning out to be a piece of shit was definitely the death knell for an already dying fandom—I could actually show you stats to make a point, but I won’t because I want to keep the demarcation lines clean here: None of this should ever be mostly about fans being disappointed or “losing their comfort show”, or whatever. We didn’t lose anything. Those women did. And I personally think every new fan should know about what he did so it doesn’t happen again. Plus, the structures that enable the abuse of power and, more importantly, keep people like this in power, will never be brought down if we pretend they don’t exist. But whether someone can separate the art from the artist is entirely up to them, and no one owes anyone an explanation. Emotional processing is hard, not every personal thought needs to be aired publicly, and our actions matter far more than our words. That’s all I’m going to say about it—my first post on the matter still stands.

Community: The Sandman Book Club

The news awkwardly coincided with having just founded the meanwhile biggest Sandman community on here. And despite everything: I love what my co-admin @tickldpnk8 and I have put together to reconnect people with the source material. We’re always happy if new people join and participate (it’s a community, not a blog 😉).

Fandom Thoughts

There was a lot of stuff in between (we got a S2 sneak peak!)—the same old fandom discourse is one of them. But if I have one goal for 2025, it’s that I want to maintain creating the space I’d like to see.

So in that vein, I’ll be honest and tell you what I lament most: It’s the transition of fandom into a consumer space. As someone who is more of a creator and sharer, I want to keep doing my bit because I love doing it. But I’d lie if I didn’t admit that my well felt fairly empty at times, and that my energy is a bit drained at this point. Investing energy into a limping fandom while others openly stated they would “only come back when S2 starts because there’ll be more engagement” felt strange, and I freely admit it annoyed me at times. It’s just a way of thinking I don’t get—are we primarily fans, or are we primarily chasing clout?

And speaking of engagement:

I often see beautiful art and wonderful poetry that has under 10, or even 0, notes. And it breaks my heart a little that so many people don’t share/reblog anymore. Because every time I reblog someone’s underappreciated art, I see the notes of those posts go up because my blog is connected enough to kick off a chain of engagement, even if it’s not always earth-shattering. You can do that, too. But it won’t happen if you only like. Reblogging is not for social clout—I personally believe that’s a fundamental misunderstanding when it comes to fandom. I see it more as saying Thank You for a gift someone gave us, and to make sure that more people also receive that gift.

Because artists/writers give their gift to fandom. Making others happy and connecting over it is the whole point!

And I’d love to see fandom turning into more of a gifting culture again. These pockets exist, so I’m not saying it’s not a thing anymore. But I also see a growing culture in which people only consume and at best engage in a TikTok/Insta-type manner by giving a like that holds no real thought. I get not everyone is a creator. But if you’re not, your gift could be to share and engage more thoughtfully. It doesn’t have to be with everything—it already makes a difference if it’s only the stuff you’d like to see more of. That’s my fandom wish for 2025…

I’ll see you all on the other side—much love to you, and may only the best come your way 🖤

[transformersconfessions]

This franchise is in need of new concepts, original ideas, bigger reinventions.

When will this entire concept become boring?

,,Autobots and Decepticons land on Earth and of course they are in the USA and diversity is just about skin colors, we don't know what other continents are, are they real? Also, the story affects stuff only in a short radius, why would humans care about cool or stupidly dangerous giant alien robots if they knew they had landed on their planet? Autobots were in a yellow ship called The Arc and Decepticons had a purple ,,The Nemesis"...... Red-blue-(a bit)white Optimus PRIME who carries the matrix fighting his nemesis grey Megatron, whom he knew since youngest days, was close to him, it's joked that they divorced..... yellow car BRAVE AUTOBOT SCOUT Bumblebee, who is FOR SOME REASON FASTER THAN JETS (just like many other Autobots), dino grey-yellow Grimlock sometimes aand pick whoever else from geewuun..... radio-like blue Soundwave, purple scientist Shockwave, traitorous, treacherous Starscream (with no actual character depth because Hasbro pulls out the middle finger towards his fans, lol) who is a het and has a slim, non-bulky figure"

Aaand it's not just regarding Hasbro, but also quite many fans... one does not need to be a geewuuner to hold the desire to stick to the old form, lol

To me it now seems like many transformers fans (among the loud ones) are simple-minded, their minds just can't resist the urge to spill one continuity into another, make them be closer, even if the concept contradicts the target continuity, doesn't fit nor make much sense there.

(And oh no I just got reminded of B-127 in TFA........)

TFA Starscream and Skyfire? ???

Does Starscream, in general, really need a Skyfire/Jetfire? Does he need a scientific past? Should his trauma always derive from the same exact events? ....... and now sudden tone change becayse I shall mention the design, lol: does bro always need to be ""twinkified"" so much? I mean, by the fans. Well, tfp Dreadwing and Skyquake were able to be buff while being jets, lol. Of course, I don't mean to trash on his tfp design, since I really like it, nor how he is written by some people, as I merely mean that bigger reinventions would be more interesting... but well, who would want to see that, lol? Additionally, ofc not everything about his character depth and trauma should be changed, since in the official stuff it (or just its certain elements) haven't been explored too often. Context to this could be: thinking about a new potential version of Starscream...

By the way, what if the seekers didn't need to be identical to Starscream? Aka: more jet and shape variety. Additionally, (rather purely with regards to the fandom) more Skyfire stuff without Starscream, maybe?

Another example could be the stories of factions' leaders. Megatron who wasn't a miner/gladiator (and eventually did poetry as a side job or something /silly) and didn't know Orion Pax / Optimus. This is one of the things I love Transformers Animated for, Optimus isn't a leader of an entire faction, Megatron did know him and learnt his name only by the end of the series. Aaand yet... people try applying the Orion and Megatronus friendos spiel here........ So... considering who 'cons were in TFA universe (typing about this topic would take many, many words- it could even be something for another post, lol) Megatron could easily get an interesting backstory [had we known anything about the Destron military(-social?) structure, especially], HOWEVER, I do have to admit that being a gladiator would nicely fit at some point of his life :o abandoning this topic now......

I apologize for mentioning this again, but I just want to say that I merely think about originality rather than want to bash and hate on just some random innocent people who merely do what they really like, lol, no matter how my tone may sound like / how my message could be perceived. No limiting. Yes, this text won't be too well-connected thanks to my brain...

Anyways, I wish OP and Megs could get different designs and characterizations, but it's obvious that if Hasbro had done that (and of course there is no chance they would), many people would be severely unpleased (and they probably know that in many cases, hahah), especially G1 fans. Just look at some reactions to Earthspark Megatron that many mainly-G1/tfp fans had. He wasn't the "true/real Megatron" to some, hahah

Ok I will conclude this, so repeat the main point, in order to not spend too much time on this, lol

It seems like quite many transformers fans of various types are unable to grasp the idea of deviations from the most common form. Sometimes even the canon is twisted, or just frequently occuring things are added to it where there is a hole, and it can make some show's universe look a bit like a mere fan-made AU. There are cases where the reason for that is just a lack of knowledge and I am actually glad that people aren't attacked here, [but as someone who is *really* interested in one of the continuities' lore I get the urge to explain something (without being an a##hole, obv) when I know that the given person is not talking about a fan-AU during an analysis].

Hasbro cannot be forgotten here, too, as stagnation is also one of their most significant traits. They have been *severely* limiting the shows' writers *for years*. Just try to imagine what many shows could have been like... and some of the changes were imposed because of the movies, either because "if the movie has it then this show should too" or "the movie already has it and we don't want this show to bring another, different, version of that", funny. Oh and hasbro really doesn't want to treat the Decepticons well.

And, yeah... they obviously also add coal to the repetitive machine.

(Not going to proof read this because of my limited time.....)

.

[dl-drama-cd]

Laito compares Yui's struggling with Cordelia

A reminder that I do not answer for your comments, reblogs and tagging-me-posts. I even don't read it. I express my view on what's happening in Laito's route, based on obvious facts. I translate from japanese myself and attach the original text to confirm my words. Since only 30 images are allowed in a post I could not attach all the screenshots.

In the first game Cordelia also showed herself in Yui in episodes 07-10 when we choose S-answers. But not only there.

Most often after saying something Yui notices that her mouth seemed to move on its own (or she did something unexpected for herself). Or before something we hear her heartbeat. It's Cordelia's influence.

In Laito's route the highest pick of Cordelia's influnce on Yui is S-answer in Ecstasy 10. Laito starts to harass Yui, and she shouts to stop it. Laito answers:

｢そういう口を利くと、ますますあの人に似てる気がするね。 ｣ Laito: Nfu. When you say that, it feels like you're becoming more and more like 'that person'.

And here by ｢あの人｣ he clearly means Cordelia. He litarelly says that Yui is struggling with him like Cordelia. This happens in DL Laito Ecstasy 10, the last episode with making a choice. Unfortunately if you pass to the bad endings and don't get enough points, this episode may not open to you. And then the player won't know what the chain of S-answers and Laito's reactions in his route were leading to.

Just think about it. When Yui pushes him away and tells him to 'stop it' she looks like Cordelia. So Cordelia pushed away like that too. Just the fact that rebuffing is a resemblance to Cordelia.

As I already wrote this episode is the end of all S-answers. Therefore we can make certain conclusions about Yui's other S-answers that they are also connected with Cordelia's behavior. In this episode Laito started touching Yui after she drank the aphrodisiac. Now let's go back to the beginning of the route and follow all the S-answers.

DL Laito Dark 07. Under a full moon Laito tastes Yui's blood and recognizes this taste. However there is no direct influence of Cordelia here. We are given a choice when Laito is just about to bite us. We can say 'drink my blood' (M) or we can say 'I allow you to drink blood, are you satisfied?' (S). On S-answer Laito notes that it is strange for Yui to behave so arrogantly but he also liked her self-confidence. Yui realizes that this answer only inflamed Laito. Because Yui also reminds Cordelia to Laito there.

（やられっぱなしなのもイライラするから、たまには…… 逆襲しないと！） Yui: (It’s always only me who gets it all, it’s already infuriating, even though sometimes I have to… attack myself!) し、しょうがないから吸わせてあげる！これでいいでしょ？ Yui: S-since there’s nothing to be done, I’ll let you drink! Are you satisfied? くすくすくす。ビッチちゃんのくせに、偉そうにしちゃってやだなあ。 Laito: He-he-he. Even though Bitch-chan is trying to be arrogant, it doesn’t suit you. でも、たまに高圧的っていうのも結構ときめいたよ。んふ。 Laito: But sometimes such aggression makes me tremble. Nfu. （逆に、からかわれた……！） Yui: (Just teased!..)

DL Laito Dark 08. Laito forced Yui to read Richter's bloody-erotic poetry. Before Laito offers her to do it and Yui opens the page. S-answer is to refuse. Laito thinks such courage of Bitch-chan provoked him and as if she did it specifically for this purpose.

嫌よ。どうせロクでもないことに 違いないし。 Yui: No. I have no doubt that there is something dirty there. んふ。いいねえ。ビッチちゃん。 そういう毅然としたところも、 少し興奮しちゃうよ。 Laito: Nfu. Good, Bitch-chan. Such courage is even a bit exciting. こ、興奮しないで！ Yui: D-Don’t get excited! んふ。興奮させるために言ったクセに……あぁ、ビッチちゃん。もっと罵ってもいいんだよ？ Laito: Nfu. The manner you say this only inflames… Oh, Bitch-chan, shout at me more, okay? （だ、だめだ！ やっぱり喜ばれちゃった……！） Yui: (T-that's bad! He was just happy!..)

DL Laito Dark 09. In church Laito remarks he sees desires in Yui's heart. We can agree with this (M-answer) or shut him up (S-answer). If we choose S, Yui says that maybe it's Laito, not her who wants something cruel to be done to him. Then Laito only gets excited and admit that he has a weakness for such things.

――黙りなさい！ Yui: …Shut up! っ……!? Laito: ?!… さっきから、おとなしくしていればペラペラと…… Yui: As long as I endure, you won’t stop talking… 反対に非道いことされたいのは、貴方なんじゃないの!? Yui: But in reality the one who wants to be done cruel things is you, right?! っふ……あはははは、ビッチちゃん いいね、そういうプレイ……ボクは嫌いじゃないよ。 Laito: Ha… A-ha-ha-ha-ha, okay, Bitch-chan, what a plaing!... I won’t say I don’t like it. 確かにその通りかも知れない。 ボクは昔からね……そういうのには ……弱くて…… Laito: Perhaps so. For a long time now… I have been… greedy for this kind of thing. (かえって興奮させちゃったかも......?) Yui: (Did I tease him?..)

Look at Laito's face. He is amazed. Because Yui says like Cordelia did. But Yui (Cordelia) shut him up and protected herself when Laito was saying about cruel actions towards MC.

DL Laito Dark 10. In the dungeon Laito talked Yui about jealousy thinking it as something normal. He scares Yui that nothing can stop him. We can say 'I'll punish you' (S-answer). He again only liked her reaction.

――お仕置きするよ？ Yui: …I'll punish you. （って！ 私ってば何言ってるの?! そもそも嫉妬なんて……まったく意味不明じゃない！） Yui: (What am I talking about?! At first it’s not at all clear… what he means by jealousy!) んふ。いいよ。 むしろ望むところだよ。 Laito: Ugh. Fine. This is what I wanted. っ……?! Yui: ?!… その代わり、堕ちる時は一緒。 ビッチちゃんも連れて行くから。 覚悟してね。 Laito: But if we 'fall' we will do it together. I'll take Bitch-chan with me. Get ready. （冗談じゃないよ……！） Yui: (He's not joking…!)

DL Laito Maniac 07. After short conversation with Richter Laito starts to anger on Yui forcing her to confess everything and hurting her. S-answer is 'fight back'. Yui says that she doesn't know anything. This surprised even herlsefl. And Laito too. Cordelia begins to show herself more and more.

いい加減にして！ 私は知らないって言ってるでしょ？ Yui: Enough! Didn't I say I don't know anything? ……っ…… Laito: … （っ……!? 自分でも思った以上に乱暴になっちゃった……） Yui: (?!… It turned out more reckless than I thought…) ボク、そういうビッチちゃんの ことも、嫌いじゃないなあ。んふ。 Laito: I don't hate this Bitch-chan. Nfu. え!? Yui: Eh?! んふふ、まあいいや。 夜は始まったばかりだし…… Laito: Nfu-fu. Well. The night has just begun. じっくり、聞いてやるよ。 ボクの部屋で。 Laito: I'll listen to you carefully. In my bedroom.

DL Laito Maniac 08. Laito mockingly asks Yui at school how she feels after what happened. Was it more pleasant than the 'usual doing'. Yes, Laito seems to rape Yui after Richter's visit and conversation with reminding Cordelia. S-answer is to shut Laito's down. MC slapped Laito. This shocks them both. Yui admits that she only wanted to shut him verbally. But Laito is glad, he likes it. It is Cordelia slapped Laito for his dirty words about what he has done. (And after that someone could say it was Cordelia who harassed Laito? Really?? Are you joking???)

――いい加減にして！ Yui: …Enough already! *slap* っ……!? Laito: ?!… （っ……!! く、口で言うだけのつもりが、思わず手が出ちゃった） Yui: (?!… I was just thinking about saying it but my hand raised itself) 男性教師:おい、どうした？ Teacher: Hey, what's that? す、すみません。なんでも ありません。ただちょっと彼の頬に 蚊が止まってて…… Yui: S-sorry. Nothing. A mosquito just landed on his cheek… ……驚いたあ。ビッチちゃんにひっぱたかれるなんて…… Laito: …Wow. To get slapped by Bitch-chan… んふ、でも少し、快感。 Laito: Nfu. But it feels a little bit pleasurable.

DL Laito Maniac 09. Laito starts a conversation about his guesses about why Yui was chosen as a sacrificial bride teasing her and feeling pleasure of the way she beg to know. S-answer: 'tell' with threaten him of punishment. Laito likes her reaction again, and Yui notices it seems like she's talking some kind of nonsense. Laito also wants Yui to scold him more. Why? It's obvious Cordelia did it when Laito behavioured like this.

――教えなさいよ！今すぐ言わないと......お仕置きよ? Yui: …Speak up! If you won't say it now… I'll punish! っ……！ Laito: !.. （って！私、なんてこと言ってるの!?） Yui: (What am I talking about?!) ん～……いいね……んふ。 もっと言ってよ。罵って欲しいよ、 ビッチちゃん。ほら！ もっと……！ Laito: Mmm～… Okay… Nfu. Say it more. I want you to scold me, Bitch-chan. Come on! More!.. （怒られるかと思ったら喜ばれた） Yui: (I thought he'd be angry but he's happy)

DL Laito Maniac 10. Laito is putting a 'chastity belt' on Yui teasing her. S-answer: 'stop it, pervert!' Laito really likes this. Yui is again surprised by saying such a thing. This was Cordelia blurting it out for her again. Cordelia thought Laito's actions as hentai's. She was against such things.

やめなさい、このヘンタイ！ Yui: Stop it, you pervert! （っ……!? 私、なんてこと 言ってるの!?） Yui: (?!.. What am I saying?!) ヘンタイか……ンフフフフ、実にいい響きだね。結構な称号をどうも。 Laito: Pervert… Nfu-fu-fu-fu, it really sounds good. What a wonderful title. なんならずっとボクのことを ヘンタイって呼んでもいいんだよ？ Laito: You can always call me a pervert, huh? 遠慮します…… Yui: I'll refrain...

DL Laito Ecstasy 07. After telling about the other brides Laito emphasizes that only Yui has reached the awakening level. Laito does it again teasing her but Yui doesn't feel any joy. S-answer: to step on his foot by admitting that she does not like it. Yui is surprised that she did such a thing. Pleased with the pain Laito compares her to a problematic princess.

――嬉しくないです。 Yui: …That's hardly funny. っ……!? な、なんてこと……！ 足を、踏んだ？ Laito: ?!… What's wrong!.. Did you step on my foot? っ…… Yui: … （自分が思った以上のことを思わずやっちゃった……） Yui: (Somehow it accidentally came out beyond what I wanted…) …………フッ。 でも……この痛みも…… そう悪くないかも。 Laito: …Heh. But… this pain… is not bad. っ……!? Yui: ?!... んふっ…… Laito: Nfu… （この人って、やっぱり実はドＭなんじゃないのかな……） Yui: (Is that person really a complete masochist…) ふぅ、やれやれ困ったお姫様だ。 逆ギレじゃないか。ボクのほうが今は被害者だって言うのに。 Laito: Ha, what a troublesome princess. Are you aggressive? Now the victim is me.

DL Laito Ecstasy 08. AT least Cordelia finally wakes up. S-answer: Yui asks 'pierce my heart' but it's not Cordelia's influence (cause she wants to live).

DL Laito Ecstasy 09. In the torture room Laito made a show watching Ayato drinks Yui. S-answer: 'stop it!' Cordelia did not control the answer now but Laito likes arrogant from her. Why? Cause Yui again reminds him Cordelia. With that 'stop!'

DL Laito Ecstasy 10. The final of S-answering chain dictated by Cordelia's will or resembled of her.

やめなさい！ そんなこと。 Yui: Stop! Such a thing. んふ。そういう口を利くと、 ますますあの人に似てる気がするね。 Laito: Nfu. When you say that, it feels like you're becoming more and more like 'that person'. もっと、罵られたいキブンだよ。 ボクをこんな気持ちにさせるなんてキミは本当にイケナイ子だな。 Laito: Feeling wanting to be scold by you more. You really are a naughty girl if you rise this out in me.

It's really strange that fans still don't see how Laito noticed the similarity between Yui and his mother in such situations. He directly tells us that fighting back is Cordelia's behavior. Slapping, telling stop, calling a pervert, threatening by punishment — all this excites Laito because this resembles Cordelia.

And I have a question for the fans who always distorts the facts and tries to make Cordelia harassing to Laito. Why have you been a blind eye to the obvious fact all these years? You're even calling me 'rape apologists' but maybe it's more suitable to you? Cause you blame a real victim. Laito arouses by Yui's fighting back because Cordelia has similarly resisted him in the past. If that weren't the case, he wouldn't compare Yui's struggling to Cordelia's. If that weren't the case, he wouldn't be so aroused. Laito desires making Yui his only because he wanted to possessing Cordelia. And Laito is NOT to blame for this. It's an instinct, and he can't do anything about it. He's a vampire and Cordelia has the blood that drives vampires crazy. So how should Cordelia act with her son who is much stronger than her and can kill her in the blink of an eye? He could kill her and eat her heart. How do you manage him in her place? With kind words and 'mother's love'? It doesn't work with him. He doesn't hear anything, he doesn't want to stop. And you blame Cordelia? Why I don't blame Laito the same way you blame Cordelia for all the imagined sins?

Cordelia's example shows there are things that can't be solved by conversations. And if fighting back and struggling and threats to punish only excited Laito more, it was logical to start controlling him even with blood. What else could she do? To die?

This is an insoluble conflict between them.

[secretmellowblog]

Hi! From your posts and comments, you know a lot abput the different translations of Les Mis. The one that I have is Wilbour, which I like the most of the ones I’ve encountered, in terms of wording and writing style; are there any issues with it I should be aware of? As people following Les Mis Letters comment on the original French, I’ve noticed a couple things missing, or bits where the translation seems less clear than in some others versions. What are your thoughts on this translation?

Wilbour is a great translation! It's the first English translation of Les Mis, but has many errors because it was published very quickly after the publication of the original novel. The most common criticism I've heard of Wilbour is that it's extremely stodgy and old-fashioned, even compared to Hugo's language; Wilbour often adapts the sentence structure of French very literally in ways that can read awkwardly or not completely correctly in English. But! I've heard he also captures the poetry and feeling of the language better than Hapgood, though, when it comes to 19th century translations. I believe Wilbour was the first translation I read, and if Hapgood weren't the most easily accessible on the Gutenberg it might be my translation of choice! He and Hapgood also cut sentences here and there but don't rise to the level of massive deliberate censorship, the way other 19th century translators like Wraxall do. The only serious error i remember Wilbour making is in Combeferre's speech at the barricade, where he discusses how women are left behind by society. Combeferre says "Women, we are not much given to thinking about them." But Wilbour mistranslates this as "women are not much given to thought" which is the EXACT opposite sentiment to the one Combeferre expresses XD. If you want a "more accurate" version of Wilbour that fixes the errors he made while translating at an unhealthy pace in a time before the internet existed-- the Fahnestock McAfee translation is meant as an updated version of Wilbour that corrects his errors! However, they occasionally "correct" things he didn't get wrong. For example, there's a moment where Javert boasts "I have claws like a woman" but FMA mistranslates it as "you have claws like a woman." Like, FMA is wrong and Wilbour is right there- Javert is just a strange little guy. For a translation comparison: here's a comparison of how various Les Mis translators handle Les Amis's introductory chapter, "A Group Which Barely Missed Becoming Historic!" You can contrast Wilbour with other translators here to see the general way he approaches things in comparison to other translators ^_^.

[16mistypaw]

Since I'm now a suspect, I may as well stop lurking and contribute to finding dirt anon.

Cross posting so everyone can see it (Community is apparently broken for some)

Has been accused thus far:

@16mistypaw (me)- Denied. Received anon ask, before it was made known that we could send asks to ourselves. I am also not awake during the day, when it seems the asks likely get sent

@gryphonlover - Has not confirmed nor denied, responded to suspect accusation with "In my defense-" and deflected

@sprite-and-the-bunnydragons - Recieved original dirt anon ask. Has been accused of sending themselves the ask, but I find this unlikely. There would be no reason to do so, because who would have thought it would grow into what it has?

@nerdzanddadz - Denied. Was originally a strong candidate, but am taking their word for it that they are not

@manyfandomfanatic - Has been suggested, but I don't think outright accused. Has not responded to any posts suggesting they are dirt anon. Strong possibility.

@blupeeblep - Denied. I don't have a lot to go on with them, but they have denied being anon, and also stated they don't like writing poetry.

Now for the rest:

@magiowlio - Was suspicious, because they are one of two who have not made any posts in the community. However I did see a post on their profile claiming community does not work on their mobile browser, so. Suspicious, but not at the top of my list, as anon has seen things happening within the community.

@the-sage-of-aura-and-shadows - Unlikely, they supposedly joined the community after dirt anon.

@loz-chainsofcorruption - Is very active in the community. Not a major red flag in itself, HOWEVER, they seem overly invested in finding the anon, and comment on almost every accusation. Could be genuinely trying to help, OR, could be trying to deflect attention away from themselves

@blarefordaglare - Also seems overly interested in finding anon, though not as much as loz-chains. Seems like they really are just trying to help find anon.

@a-dime-a-day - Was the first to post in the community. Was quiet for a bit until manyfandomfanatic was implied, and then their next post said they thought it was them.

@siletrea - Not a lot to go on here, it doesn't seem like they've posted or commented on much. I really can't say either way.

@luna-loveboop2 - First, HOW COULD YOU?! Second, you seem like a prime candidate to be sending anon asks, as you cannot receive them yourself. You also just give off similar vibes, though vibes alone are not enough to make an accusation.

And finally:

@esthelle-wanders My top suspect. Have not seen any posts from them, but they have commented and responded to other's posts. Did state on one they "Can say with certainty that NaD isn't dirt anon". This means they either ARE dirt anon, or know who it is and are not telling us.

With that, I conclude my analysis and say @esthelle-wanders or @luna-loveboop2 are my top suspects.

Do with this what you will.

[misc-obeyme]

Hard Lesson 20. I'm just. What the. Speechless.

Spoilers below!

WHAT WHAT WHAT.

Now, I know we never truly get to know who Raphael is talking to because their name remains "???" the entire time, but really we all know it's Michael, right?

And you are TELLING ME that Michael was the one in the Devildom DISGUISED as Raphael the WHOLE TIME?!?!?!

Also can we just appreciate Raphael for a minute, though?

Pfff. Poor guy. I'm getting pretty fond of him.

Anyway, here are the things I realized:

First - this could be the answer to my double Solomons theory. If Michael can disguise himself as anyone to the point where nobody can tell the difference, maybe it's him that's been pretending to be Solomon all this time? I was originally thinking it was past!Solomon, but maybe it's just been Michael in disguise? On the one hand, it makes sense because Michael knows MC is from the future. On the other hand, though, there's one part of this that doesn't quite make sense to me. While Michael is in the Devildom disguised as Raphael, we have the Solomon who is wearing his casual sorcerer outfit (and later the suit). I have always thought this was our Solomon, the one who came back in time to help us. Which would mean that if Michael has been masquerading as Solomon, he's been doing it in Solomon's human world outfit - the trench coat one. And if that's the case, then it would mean that he was the one who made a pact with Asmo. And that doesn't seem possible. Soooo I don't know. It's an interesting thought, but I'm not sure it actually works.

That being said, it could be an indication of the fact that this is a possibility, though! Like maybe Michael isn't the only one who can disguise himself as other characters. Maybe... if Michael is not Nightbringer... maybe Nightbringer can do that too and he's the one who's been pretending to be Solomon?

Second - speaking of Nightbringer... I had officially crossed Michael off the Might Be Nightbringer list but now I think he's back on it. Because if he can disguise himself like that... I mean, really all bets are off! I don't know if he can only disguise himself as other angels? But if he can disguise himself as anybody then that means he could be interfering in all kinds of different ways. I don't think that's been happening (aside from the Solomon possibility of course), but it does make me question things.

Third - my entire perception of Michael as a character has changed. Back in this post, an anon asked me what I thought his personality might be and obviously I was way off. Because if that truly is Michael behind those ???s, he sounds like way more of a troublemaker than a strict older brother type. He straight up left Raphael in charge of the Celestial Realm so that he could assume his identity and travel to the Devildom to give the brothers that he supposedly still loves and misses an ultimatum that would require them to leave behind one of their own or bring war to their new home. Like. Dude. What the fuck.

So, anon, if you're reading this, I think I was completely wrong lol. I think maybe Michael is more like... a guy who clearly has a lot of power, but never really takes anything too seriously. The way Raphael talked about him saying he runs away and that he's probably just going to fall asleep at the poetry reading... like, clearly he doesn't take anything too seriously at all. And yet he's willing to do some really crazy stuff just to see his old brothers again. We still have very little information, so it's hard to say.

In conclusion, when does the next season start?? Anybody know? I have no idea how much time they used to have in between seasons and I KNOW this one just ended but I need ANSWERS.

I think it might be a while, which is fine I'll just write some fanfics in the meantime, thanks.

[reinedeslys-central]

Help me The escapism is wearing off, I think it's not working anymore And I can't just Take a bigger dose I don't know how

And the only real way I know To put my anger to rest Is to put it in prose I know It means nothing It means nothing, I know. If that future dares to look down upon me and use all those names reserved To belittle pain and sadness Should they become bitter and jaded too much To respect empathy and self love I will smite them from the sky, from the resting place of souls I dare you to fight for me. I dare you to keep me whole. - reinedeslys, "of souls"

[annlillyjose]

Green Room – WIP Intro

hiii cuties!

have you ever been overcome by an irresistible urge to write a memoir at the age of twenty, or are you normal? i'm definitely not, so here's a new project (again)

green room is an experimental memoir that delves into my teenage years as a writer. i started writing seriously at the age of thirteen and self-published my first book at fourteen, which is something that haunts me to date. but here's the thing – i feel like i've learned a lot in the last six to seven years and wanted to explore it with another writing project.

i don't really know what this book is going to be yet. i'm going to start drafting during nanowrimo as a side project and hopefully finish it by the end of the year, but i'm not in a rush. i want to enjoy the process of writing this so i might take my sweet time.

now because this is an intro post, let's get to some specifics.

disclaimer: this is my original work. plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated.

genre: creative/literary non-fiction

pov: first person retrospective

structure: a combination of chapters, vignettes, and poetry maybe

projected word count: 50k

concept: literary memoir on a writer's journey through teenage as they navigate genre, form, tense, character, story, plot, theme, atmosphere, and setting.

aesthetics/vibes: abandoned art galleries, mountaintops, beaches at midnight, falling asleep on the terrace, coffee mugs, word documents, cute stationery that never gets used, rejection e-mails, daydreaming, moon phases, still rivers, birds flying in groups, rain, academic validation, morally gray people, the colour green

THE ORIGIN STORY

i had always wanted to write something in retrospect of my teenage and document my growth, but didn't want to be so didactic in doing so. the memoir seemed like a serious piece of writing so i didn't really know if i was qualified enough to start. but if i've learned anything about writing in the last few years, it is that you can write whatever you feel like writing. so here i am with a new wip.

a little bit about the title – i struggled with this the most. but the novel i wrote during my late teens (dairy whiskey) was an entirely green book and i found myself finding thousands of green things every single day. my life had turned a shade of green. i was very inspired by the books bluets by maggie nelson and the white book by kan hang. i decided to make the colour green an important aspect of the book.

i don't know how this is going to turn out or if i'm going to do updates for this one, but who knows, i just might. until then, i hope you enjoy my other writing and shitposting. until next time, goodbye.

– ann.

general taglist (ask to be added or removed)

@shaonsim @heartfullkings @vnsmiles @dallonwrites @wannabeauthorclive @sienna-writes @violetpeso @flip-phones @silassghost @ambidextrousarcher @zoe-louvre @writing-with-l @magic-is-something-we-create @femmeniism @frozenstillicide @wizardfromthesea @rose-bookblood @coffeeandcalligraphy @rodentwrites @saltwaterbells @snehithiye @at-thezenith

[esther-dot]

I feel really bad for the originator of the Ashford theory, reading those posts you screencapped. It's not a 'crack theory' (unless they're putting it down because Jonsas took a serious hold of it), since structural foreshadowing is a basic storytelling tool. Hiding poetry in history, which seems a past-time GRRM particularly enjoys--- it's not just there to be there, but to lesson us in reading the past and make us understand the current story more deeply.

We should be confident in our analyses, regardless of whether we share a ship in common (I am do believe in Jonsa, but this goes for everyone), because storytelling can generally be trusted to be intentional. Anybody who wants to act like being incurious is more intellectually justifiable because it's less emotionally fraught is not worth spending time on. It is actually disappointing when stories are not considered and thoughtful (which is not a testament to so-called 'complexity'; The Little Prince is considered and thoughtful)--- fault in reading too much into things usually lay in perspective, less in doubt of substance.

Then again, Originator of Ashord Theory being possessive as claimant probably points more to dismissing it as crack because other people have taken ahold of it in a way they didn't like. If I am perfectly honest, were it not them having noticed it, someone else would have later (and someone else on Reddit did).

It's exactly the sort of thing I look for when I am engaging in a story because it is a tool I see used often. It was what attracted me to Jonsa, not that I was looking for evidence.

(about this ask)

The issue definitely wasn’t a lack of confidence in their own reading, they’re a tumblr BNF! I think Jonsas have written so much about it and so convincingly, it’s become widely viewed as a Jonsa theory and eclipsed the original intent which is their problem with it. Sometime ago someone shared an AltShift video here (a YouTube BNF), and he had included the Ashford Tourney as evidence for Jonsa, so I do think the goal of the blogger now labeling it “crack” is to detract from the Jonsa of it/for shipping reasons, not because they don’t believe in their own work.

As for the broader idea, I certainly agree that pre canon characters and events are written to add depth to the canon events. We can all expect that and look for parallels and contrasts with assurance that they are conversing with each other. It seems to me that every part of the fandom attempts that in some way, we simply come to different conclusions about what those things mean. I can look at something and accept a Jonsa interpretation but also understand, there’s another factor here too. And while I agree that many things are intentional in ASOIAF, I’m also aware that things can subconsciously influence and slip into a work. I recently watched this clip of Spielberg being told, he didn’t recognize this on his own, that he had included his parents love story in a film. Anyone might think, it had to be deliberate, but it wasn’t!

So, not saying anyone should be less confident, I just think it’s good to be aware that after a parallel is recognized, our interpretation of it is where we can all take off in different directions. For example, Jonnel and Sansa is perhaps the most beloved Jonsa foreshadowing (if it isn’t the Ashford Tourney 😅), and I absolutely think it’s groundwork for canon events. The question isn’t if it is, but how. Will it be a parallel, only, the point of the marriage this go around is to right a wrong? Give the girl her home back? (If say, Robb’s Will is recognized). I’ve questioned that simply because it seems like a big task to get everyone on board with Jon being legitimate and becoming their Lord and/or their King only to have them then immediately turn around and all accept he’s actually a Targ and will marry his “sister.” I wouldn’t be mad if that’s what Martin did, but when I think about how much agency he likes to give non POV characters, I’m a little skeptical he’d pull that turnaround off.

So then I think, well, maybe the idea is that unlike Jonnel, Jon will refuse Winterfell again and insist it is Sansa’s again only to ultimately be rewarded in the end by marrying her when she has the power to choose, and she chooses him? People have been very outspoken about how dumb they think the idea of Sansa being QitN is, and maybe that’s too much of a leap for the North because Martin does like his realism, but considering all the female heirs talk going on, Martin is certainly going to say something there, and Jon will have some complicating factors that might make Sansa more favorable to people.

Basically, Jon is a good person, he’ll do right by the Starks, is that the entire point? Look at the way the older generation of men treated women, this generation will be better? Or will Martin use the extraordinary circumstances to benefit Sansa / female heirs? Create an entirely new normal for the North? The story will talk to itself, but what exactly is it saying? That we can endlessly debate!

[pixel7777]

Terms & Conditions Apply: Chapter 3 - No Refunds

🔮🤯Astarion changes his approach to Rhonda's problems and calls in reinforcements in the form of Gale.🔮🤯

This fic is complete (5 chapters, ~14K words) and can be read in its entirety now on AO3. Chapters will be posted daily on Tumblr. Read this chapter here below the break!

Work Content Tags: Post-Canon, Astarion POV, Vampire Spawn Astarion, No Smut, Some Violence, Domestic Fluff, Buddy-Cop Energy, Light Angst, Happy Ending, Mention of Suicidal Ideation (Ch. 2 only)

Chapter 3: No Refunds

Astarion stirred from his trance as footsteps echoed from downstairs. His heart leapt—Tav?—before reality crashed back. No familiar dent marked Tav's pillow, the sheets still crisp and untouched on that side of the bed. Right. Their diplomatic mission would keep them away for at least another week.

The sounds from below must be Rhonda, probably organizing his kitchen into alphabetized sections while she finds something to eat. He groaned, already imagining the stack of forms she'd have ready for their inevitable conversation. There'd be clauses about information disclosure, probably an addendum about proper seating arrangements for serious discussions, and at least three separate documents requiring his signature just to ask a simple question.

He dressed with practiced efficiency, choosing a deep blue doublet and fitted trousers suitable for city wear. No need for armor today—he hoped.

The wooden chest at the foot of the bed creaked as he opened it. Inside lay a jumbled collection of treasures from past adventures: magical trinkets, rare coins, gems of questionable origin, and things that might have been cursed but were too interesting to throw away. He dug through layers of chaos until his fingers brushed cool metal.

The ring looked ordinary enough—plain silver with a small opal that caught the light oddly. Some hedge wizard had sworn it would help protect against mental interference. He'd never tested it properly, but insurance seemed prudent given last night's psychic assault.

He slipped it onto his finger, adjusting it until it sat comfortably. Time to go downstairs and wade through whatever bureaucratic nightmare Rhonda would inflict on him.

The kitchen smelled of tea and organizational fervor. Rhonda had stacked Tav's formerly chaotic collection of cookbooks by subject, then alphabetically within those categories. The measuring spoons hung in ascending order, and even the contents of the fruit bowl had been arranged by size and color.

"If you've touched my wine cellar, we're going to have words," Astarion said, heading straight for the stairs. A quick check confirmed his careful organization remained intact—vintages grouped by region, then arranged by year, with the truly special bottles tucked safely in their temperature-controlled corners.

When he returned, Rhonda had cleared the kitchen table except for her wooden box of Harrow cards and two steaming cups of tea. He sat across from her, watching as her lavender fingers drummed nervously on the card box.

"Before you start with the cards—" he began.

"I have the standard consultation forms here somewhere." She reached for her ever-present satchel.

"No." The word came out sharper than he'd intended. "No forms. No cards. Just... talk to me." He gestured at the organized chaos around them. "Though I see you've already made yourself quite at home with my kitchen."

"Organization promotes clarity of thought," she said, but her usual bureaucratic certainty wavered. Her hands still rested on the card box like a shield.

"We both know why you're avoiding the real conversation." Astarion leaned back, studying her face. "You have that same look I get when I'm about to do something unpleasant but necessary. Like attending one of Wyll's poetry readings."

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "I have forms for that specific scenario. Section 3, subsection B: 'Protocols for Enduring Amateur Creative Expressions.'"

"Of course you do." He couldn't help but smile back, but then sobered. "But we need to discuss what happened at the print shop. And that mindflayer. And..." He paused, centuries of deflection warring with the need for honesty. "And that reading you gave me five years ago."

"Now, regarding post-reading consultation procedures—" Rhonda reached for her satchel again.

"Stop." Astarion's hand shot out, catching her wrist. "My entire life—the parts worth keeping, at least—hinges on this conversation. No contracts. No forms. Just tell me about yesterday's reading.  What you predicted for the printer—what exactly was the future outcome the cards showed you."

Rhonda's shoulders tensed, but she settled back in her chair. "The final card showed complete destruction. My future held only devastation and loss."

"And yet here we are, printing plates secured, memories intact. Hardly seems like devastation to me."

"Section 7.3 of the standard consultation agreement clearly states that all readings reflect futures accurate at the time of the reading, and cannot account for actions taken by the client that may alter—"

"Wait." Astarion leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "So futures can be changed?"

"As explicitly outlined in Section 12, Subsection D, Paragraph 4: 'The Seer bears no responsibility for alterations to predicted outcomes resulting from client choices or actions taken in response to—'" She huffed in exasperation. "This is precisely why I insist on proper documentation. If you'd simply read the contract five years ago—"

But Astarion had stopped listening, his mind suddenly racing down paths he'd refused to consider for years.

Astarion stared at his hands splayed across the kitchen table, remembering countless moments that had shaped his current life. The choice to spare Tav that first night by the crash. The decision to trust them with his true nature. Every time he'd pushed past fear of his own monstrousness to reach for happiness instead of survival.

Rhonda hadn't made those choices. Her cards hadn't forced his hand when he'd stood against Cazador. They hadn't compelled him to build this home, to learn gardening, to host ridiculous dinner parties where he couldn't even eat the food.

This life—all of it—belonged to him. He'd earned every comfortable chair, every bottle of wine, every peaceful evening spent painting while Tav read beside him. Even the boring parts: arguing about curtains, dealing with nosy neighbors, planning chamber pot maintenance for a house with one living occupant and one undead one.

His fingers traced the wood grain of the table he'd picked out with Tav, remembering their lengthy debate about which one would best suit both informal breakfasts and impromptu weapon maintenance.

Rhonda's voice filtered back into focus. "—furthermore, as stipulated in Appendix C regarding temporal causality—"

"Hold on." He cut through her droning. "Why didn't you just explain this to Yr'thrix? That they could change their future, not you?"

She blinked at him, head tilted. "I did. It's clearly stated in Section 4.2 of the standard consultation agreement."

"You mean to tell me this entire mess—the memory erasure, the theft, the assault on my mind—is happening because a mindflayer didn't read the fine print?"

"Well, technically—"

"Wait." He leaned forward. "So if they changed their behavior now, their future could still change?"

Rhonda pulled out a thick stack of papers, flipping through them with practiced efficiency. "As explicitly stated in Form 27-B, Paragraph 3: 'All futures remain mutable until manifested through client action or inaction.' Really, if people would just read the documentation..."

Astarion drummed his fingers on the table while Rhonda continued citing subsections and clauses. Her voice faded to background noise as his mind raced with possibilities. This could work—had to work. The mindflayer's desperation at the print shop hadn't stemmed from malice, but from that raw, clawing need to change a future they couldn't accept. He knew that feeling intimately.

He missed Tav fiercely in that moment. They'd know exactly how to approach this—what gentle words might reach past centuries of isolation and hivemind conditioning. His own methods tended more toward seduction, sharp wit, and sharper daggers. None of that would help here. And Rhonda... well, she had all the diplomatic finesse of a drunken owlbear in a crystal shop.

Still, he'd done this before, hadn't he? That conversation with the Emperor in their strange astral realm. True, that particular chat had ended with violence and death, but he'd learned from that failure. Hadn't he?

His fingers ghosted over the ring on his hand, its opal catching the morning light. For a fleeting moment, he considered asking Rhonda to lay out her cards, to peek at what might come of his half-formed plan. But no—he'd had quite enough of prophecies. Some futures needed to be shaped by choice alone, without the weight of prediction hanging over them.

Rhonda was still talking, something about subclauses and liability waivers. He allowed himself a small smile. Let her drone on. He had work to do.

Astarion paced near the window, watching the sun's slow crawl across the sky as his mind raced. When the shadows stretched just right, he pulled the bell cord that connected to the neighboring house. Within minutes, quick footsteps pattered up the garden path.

"Young Master Wells," Astarion called through the door. "I have a rather specific shopping request. Discretion, as always, will be handsomely rewarded."

He passed a folded note and a small pouch of coins through the mail slot. The boy's "Yes, sir!" faded as he darted away.

Astarion reluctantly left Rhonda unsupervised long enough to retrieve a Sending scroll from his study and carefully unroll it. The magic crackled as he spoke: "Gale, if you're not too busy being important, I could use your expertise. Nothing world-ending, just... delicate. Tonight, if possible."

Astarion waited long enough to hear Gale's confirmation and returned to the kitchen. "Rhonda, do you still have that list of counselors you mentioned during our first reading? The ones who specialize in fortune-telling trauma?"

She brightened, already reaching for her satchel. "Of course. Section 12, Paragraph 4 outlines the complete—"

"Just the list, please."

Her fingers hesitated over the papers. "But the proper requisition forms—"

"Consider this an emergency deviation from standard procedures." He flashed a smile that was all fangs. "I'll sign whatever retroactive paperwork you require later."

She muttered something about 'chaos' and 'complete breakdown of organizational integrity' but produced a neat list of names and addresses.

Astarion tucked it into his doublet just as a flash of blue light filled the kitchen. Gale materialized with his usual theatrical flair, scattering a few of Rhonda's carefully arranged papers.

"Really?" Astarion drawled. "The door was right there."

"Ah, but where's the fun in that?" Gale's eyes sparkled with familiar mischief before landing on Rhonda. "And who might this be?"

"Rhonda Doomwhisper, Future Management Consultant," she said, already pulling out what looked suspiciously like an introduction form.

"No time for paperwork," Astarion cut in, belatedly realizing the potentially endless distraction that would ensue if he let the two of them converse without his direction. Instead, he gestured them both to the table. "We have a rather unusual situation that requires your particular expertise, Gale."

"Unusual how?" Gale settled into a chair, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "The amusing kind of unusual, or the 'world might end' variety?"

"Neither. More the 'helping a mindflayer with their emotional problems' sort."

Rhonda's quill scratched frantically across a fresh sheet of paper. "This definitely requires Form 89-C: 'Non-Standard Interventions Involving Hostile Entities.'"

"No forms." Astarion sat forward, placing his palms flat on the table. "But I do have a plan."

[smaller-comfort]

AHHHHHHHHH oh my god how is it over 6000 words what the hell.

This fought me so hard, but it more or less ended up where I wanted it. Resh'an gets to be a little bit weird sometimes, as a treat.

Notes below the cut.

Posting this story as a chaptered work instead of a one shot probably made the whole thing seem a lot cooler and more mysterious than it actually ended up being.

I hope the reveal is satisfying, but I honestly can't tell anymore! My google doc clocks in at nearly 10k words. It's an absolute mess.

Ultimately both Resh'an and Aephorul make stupid mistakes, frequently. We just see the aftermath of Aephorul's fuckups more often in the game. Sure, they're basically gods, but Resh'an can't even remember that he stuck a cork in his hat on a good day. Aephorul's first response to any minor inconvenience is to murder something. They are terrible at this.

I cut a whole lot of stuff about Aephorul wanting to be human again. There's an epilogue scene that I didn't write where he dismantles his lab- the world eater he was keeping dormant there primarily served as a power source. He drains off all the energy of those devoured souls and uses it to transform himself back into the body he remembers having when he was alive.

It only lasts for a few minutes, and every second is agonizing. The price of inmortality: he can never get back what he lost. He'll destroy the universe trying, though.

Originally Resh'an was a lot more of an asshole- or rather, Aephorul perceived him as being more of an asshole- and that's partly what I was struggling with in writing this chapter.

I considered leaning into the time loop shenanigans and including all of the stuff that I cut as one of the other 26 iterations that Resh'an experienced. That felt excessive, though.

Resh'an was definitely lying at least a little when he said he didn't remember much of the times when he wasn't lucid.

I keep making accidental locked tomb references. I swear I don't mean to.

"If we're awful together, I can't even imagine how much worse we'd be on our own." Still probably my favorite line, although the one about laboratory precautions in the third chapter makes me laugh a lot. Their bickering is a lot of fun.

Resh'an's ears aren't the only thing Aephorul pierced when they were younger. (It was his nipples. Aephorul absolutely pierced Resh'an's nipples.) (His were already pierced when they met.) (It's my sexy AU, okay, I can do what I want.)

Resh'an's terrible poetry:

Hang my heart in the sky

And see it outshine the sun

For love of you

Am I more embarrassed by this than any of these characters ever could be? 💯 That's where the series name comes from, anyway.

These guys have invented sex acts that are probably illegal in at least three separate worlds. Of course Resh'an thinks being dismembered is sexy, he's got the depression. I don't fucking know.

At some point I'm going to end up writing skullfucking and it's going to be like the assassin's creed stump fucking kinkmeme fill all over again.

I am so, so sorry I just wrote that sentence!

I will probably post some of those cut sections here tomorrow.

[catboy-jaebeom]

this shapeshifting vessel is a lie

it's been a year already since my last pinned, and I got shadowbanned exactly around that time back then because of course I did, so here's a new one 🩷

I'm Autumn, but you can call me Faon as well. my pronouns are they/ them. ticked all the boxes on the queer registration form, and I'm currently in a queerplatonic poly relationship. I was born in '95. central european & white. future linguistics student. proud plant parent. kpop fan. I really adore vampires and I write original and fan fiction, as well as poetry. I speak english and german, and I'm studying french, japanese, korean and finnish. lover of bats, snakes, horsies, deer and cats, as well as sharks. I sometimes make cat ear edits and vampire edits of idols and actors ( see: my icon ) so if you want me to make one for you, you can DM me.

my interests and hyperfixations change over time — yes, it was a phase, mum! name a constant state of being, mum! — and I change my username every two years, round about. currently I'm really into the quantum leap spin-off, live action one piece show, and I'm watching a couple of kdramas and such at the side. I play baldur's gate 3, vampyr and control, but also 2064: read only memories.

I was very active in the shadowhunters and the dragon age as well as the james bond / 00q fandoms, and I will reblog every single gif of spirit - stallion of the cimarron, it's my childhood movie. also, Jin Oshiro from STRAY (2019) deserved better, thank you. you may know me as leafmiilk, taehdenveri, fliederfuchs or thetevinterelf.

this blog of mine was created in 2012, I was on here already when you could still count on the superwholock people to throw gifs at posts although I was never one of them, which, trust me, was a hilarious feeling in hindsight asjfjahajft. I have one sideblog worthy of note @splittergheist which is my writing blog, and I have a secret sideblog for my omegaverse / miscecanis stuff ( much more the lifestyle, world building and concept than the smut and stuff, I'll be honest, but no hate at all!! ) that I might give out if someone asks nicely and privately.

that said, I tag my posts extensively, and if you ask politely, I will try and tag specific things for you too! please be nice in my inbox or I'll simply delete your ask and block you. 🦈 oftentimes I will message you privately when you've sent me an ask that doesn't seem to be an ask game or such! and while I do post stuff for tag games I'm not a fan of tagging others unless we're, like, really close, sorry ><

relevant kpop stuff can be found under the tag. I also put some "reviews" written by mutuals about my blog there, thank you everyone, you're lovely 💚🌼

and thank you everyone else for reading this, may your days be bright I think we all could need that at the moment. I would super love new people to talk to ( please have your age / some approximate of it in your bio; I'm totally fine with talking to minors but I would like to know I am before I do, thank u ) so message me or reply to this!

kpop stuff

ult group: GOT7

other groups I like: NCT 127, WayV, Red Velvet, ITZY, Seventeen, SHINee, ONEUS; ...

soloists I like: XIA / Kim Junsu, Taemin

biases: Lim Jaebeom & Choi Youngjae; Nakamoto Yuta; Xiaojun; Kang Seulgi; Hwang Yeji; Joshua Hong & Lee Seokmin; Choi Minho & Taemin; Kim Leedo & Lee Seoho; Park Seonghwa & Jeong Yunho; Kanemoto Yoshi; ...

wreckers: Mark Tuan & Kim Yugyeom; Ten Lee; Kim Mingyu & Lee Woozi; Kang Yeosang & Song Mingi; ...

for as long as xitter still lives, you can find my kpop account under: jaebueomgi

blog reviews

@meant-to-be-a-hero wrote on 22nd November:

Shall I compare Autumn's blog to a summer's day? I shall not, because I am not a hack. Equal parts language jokes, kpop boys (and girls, but I don't look at those) and #bitter millennial blogging, there's something for everyone here at Autumn's blog. They are also one of the few people who still write funky things in the tags, a true dying breed on Tumblr. I feel like I'm reviewing a restaurant or something. Either way, click follow, thank me later, because you will. It's a good blog, Bront.

— ★★★★★(★★) [ 7 out of 5 ]

@klutenpetter wrote on 22nd November:

It seems I have misplaced the URL of the blog in question that I was supposed to review.

— ★★★★★ [ 5 out of 5 ]

[castlebyersafterdark]

lpsg anon here. so generalising massively, i can only assume the forum is mainly men considering the way the language was so direct compared to tumblr, mainly women (sorry vinny). it was objective but almost not objectifying, because it came from this place of self acceptance? i sort of understood how men dont consider their objectifying of women to be such, because it comes so naturally as a factual thought process. 'he is hot - fact' etc. whereas women, ya know, have more to protect and uphold reputation wise sadly.

i kind of liked their freedom, but it certainly made for more boring reading compared to the horny poetry we have here haha. re: noah, as you asked, it was just one mention, they were talking about a recent pic of finn (lots of the same ones as shared here!) and saying he's got long arms and they wonder what else is long (really, men? really? such a cliche lol), and then one person asked if he's been in any romantic links lately, another said he's been single for ages and some trash about elsie (at this point i could no longer believe it was all men cos this is the exact style of tumblr girl gossip lol), and then one of them said something about him being linked to noah cos of shipping. the idea of shipping being mentioned on a forum like this really throws me, is that ignorant of me? but honestly the whole thing was like the gossipthings blog but less anxious hahaha

like they said something, others were like 'oh ok' and then they moved on and continued thirsting. so much more chill than here hahaha

You were the original anon that sparked the nonsense and madness last night and you got buried under my inbox avalanche!!

I do think the demographic is mostly men, though it seems there are some women there, and even certain sections catered to them as well - there's a whole subcategory section called "Ask A" and fill in the blank with gender/sexuality. But otherwise - yeah. Which is often the stereotyped case when the site in questions leans heavily into sex and prn. Even if formatted primarily to a forum threads set-up.

No offense taken, I've spoken about my love of fandom culture and comfort I've always found on this side of fandom compared to the other options out there (although - I recently looked through some articles on tumblr stats/demographics and it seems like the gender divide is split pretty evenly? Interesting). I like tumblr/creative based fandom more. With the posts and fic and art. It seems as a young boy, I had two paths in front of me as a nerd / fanboy: Youtube video essay vlogging or tumblr for fanart and gifsets and fic writing 🤣 Doesn't it feel so silly that way sometimes? (Though, I was also a Reddit bro for a long while as well). But I recognize that there is a female-heavy side to certain spaces in fandom and it's amiss to not acknowledge it. I've loved it. Not really ever phased but who's chilling around me only. Off topic!

I see your points, interesting observations. I'll admit, it's fun getting swept up in the off the cuff statements on a site like that. Reeeeking of cliches, so very heavily. The repetitive and obvious questions like men, men!! Men, are you kidding me? Don't you have anything else to say other than "I wonder how big he is? Cut or uncut? What type of underwear does he wear?" Gentlemen. Put those horny minds to work!! I get that there's likely a lack of blood-flow happening to your brain but get it together! Be more interesting!

I tend to find myself... well, wanting to think at least I'm more of a champion for the poetic side. I think that's probably true. I prefer my horny posting with a twist of romanticism to be honest and if that makes me sound pretentious I'm not mad about it!

It was really interesting to read at least in a comparison sake to the spicy blogs around here. Very different vibes. I absolutely love our analytical thirsting to be quite honest.

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 5 of Harrow the Ninth

Another broken memory, with the broken skull, in the third person, of a scene from Gideon the Ninth but involving Ortus instead. I went back to this scene in Gideon briefly so that I could compare

So here is where the "necro suitcase" comment is clarified, I see

In the original scene, she didn't do this (the sitting on dirt thing). Gideon mentioned that it's something that necromancers in the stories she read did, but Harrow didn't do it for whatever reason

Gideon originally just mentioned that the planet had a lot of water, and was mainly interested in the fact that it wasn't frozen or boiled away, but Harrow here is saying that all she can see is water, and Canaan House. I guess it's possible that Canaan House is somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but what if this is something like what happened in Homestuck where future Earth became a waterworld that was entirely ocean? I guess it might explain why there aren't people living there, and why no one has wood or paper anymore, but like, there are people in this universe living on Pluto and Mercury, I'm sure they could figure out how to support a decent population on a planet that is 100% ocean, too

In the original scene, Harrow said the planet was a tomb, but there's nothing in the narrative here to explain why she thought that, and she doesn't say that this time around

I honestly don't know what Ortus did mean by "bone frenzy" here, unless it just meant blood lust or something, and how he thinks it related to Harrow's schizophrenia, and how Harrow thinks it could be misinterpreted, but interpreting poetry has never been something I've been good at. Is Mattias Nonius, and Ortus's epic poem about him, going to become more relevant in these Ortus-related memories?

Ok, this is funny, because I was 35 myself four years ago, and definitely did not feel this way about it, and actually still don't, living forever still seems pretty cool to me, modulo situations like Cytherea's and the whole thing where the Lyctors are being eternally pursued by Resurrection Beasts. Given that neither of them know about those things in context of this broken memory, I think this might just be Ortus, personally

She did talk to the pilot at this point in the original scene. But here we get a cryptic note that only Harrow can see:

I have no idea what this means, but I'm reminded of Cytherea's "you lied to us" message at the end of Gideon the Ninth. This therefore seems like the person who said, or wrote this was probably a Lyctor, and someone else's thoughts or memories or whatever are getting mixed up with these broken memories. I'm curious now if these broken memories were just a side effect of Harrow's Work, or if they were specifically intentionally rewritten as a separate step, or if they are just Harrow's imagination trying to fill in the gaps of memories or pieces of memories that are just gone now. If they were specifically rewritten, I'm guessing something about how that was done injected this message in here, but if it's just post-Work Harrow's imagination, this might be something that she heard someone say at some other time and then forgot about

In the original scene, Harrow offers Gideon a veil to shield her eyes and Gideon puts on sunglasses instead. Here this scene ends without Ortus covering his eyes at all, or Harrow worrying about him, which is sort of interesting