#let me add a few more theories in case I forget

[tankgamingidk]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon - 100 player theory

So this is a crack theory I’ve thought of for a little bit (wanted to try and word it better but flash is tomorrow so I wanted to get it in writing).

So, according to Hussie, the troll universe was made via a 48 squiddles session. Under loop theory, Rose’s species are going to be squiddles/horroterrors whose session make ms the troll universe. Plus, evidence points to 6 total players (GavageCunctation is tied to the purple flower in the panel with the big house, referred to as a GorgeousColor by Haven, and there are 6 flowers). So the session is likely gonna be 3 squiddles, 3 satyrs, and 4 humans.

Now obviously there can’t be 48 squiddles in the session, that’d be ridiculous. Even if only 3 are truly important, that’s still 45 more than the number of Satyrs. The only way that would make any sense is if there were also 48 Satyrs.

And wait, with 4 human players, that results in a grand total of 100 total players. The perfect number for a battle royal. Now, we know that there’s going to be some kind of war between the species. What if this war were to happen inside of sburb? If this were the case, it’d make sense for a large number of players to enter the session at once. It would also allow for the 48 squiddles specifically to create the universe, despite sharing the session with another species.

One last detail. If we also add the number of human players from the alpha/beta sessions to the number of players in the session, we get…

108. Homestuck’s new arc number.

That’s it that’s the theory. There’s gonna be 48 squiddles, 48 satyrs, and 4 omega kids, all participating in a big war inside of sburb.

[carigm]

SPOILERS FOR ST5 FILMING THIS WEEK+ A THEORY

Okay, I’m going to try and break down all the filming leaks we got this week and put them together into a theory.

In case you don’t know yet, ST’s production has moved back to Stone Mountain, GA this week. This is a woodsy area that’s been used before in the show to film all the UD forest scenes as well as just the regular forest scenes in the show.

On Monday of this week, someone who lives close to the area came upon a set. And it was the Castle Byers pictures we got. I’ll add them here too.

Some observations. To me this version of castle Byers doesn’t look like the original one we first saw. That one was much fuller and looked more stable. It also doesn’t look like the version Will left behind after destroying it in S3. We know the UD is stuck on the time Will was there, so imo the version of castle Byers we are seeing here is the one that was damaged by the demogorgon when it grabbed Will, back in S1.

Based on this pic and a little video of the set, we all speculated they could be filming something related to Will, perhaps even a flashback. Here’s where it gets interesting.

I was looking at the castingtaylormade insta page (they post all the casting for extras and photo doubles needed for the show) and I came across this.

Production was looking for a minor photo double and “adult” one to work on the 20th (aka Tuesday of this week) as well as some other dates in February and March.

Now, we know they were filming at the castle Byers set the same day that this minor photo double was needed. I don’t think I need to spell it out here. They were looking for a child, so younger Will scenes are basically a guarantee to have been filmed this week. As for the adult photo double filming the same date, well there’s quite a few options. If it’s a little Will flashback/vision we’re gonna see, perhaps the adult photo double is gonna be older Will himself. Maybe we’ll get current Will having visions of his younger self and his time in the UD, and we’ll see both versions of him. Let’s not forget he was able to shift to the UD in S2 without physically being there.

Another option for the adult photo double could be Vecna. Will and Vecna are bound to share scenes this season, so perhaps we’ll see whether Vecna was involved from the get go in Will’s disappearance.

Now it gets even more interesting, because today we got new pics of the “UD” set from this week. There’s a lot of fog, and a very poignant blue and red lighting mix.

We know the UD usually has a blue tint, but there’s been instances where it has looked red, especially in S4. However, the most red we’ve ever seen in the UD was when Will was having his S2 visions of the MF, remember how he would appear in a cloud of hellish red and lights would flash? Yeah. Another big use of red in this show has been for visions, like Will’s UD ones but also El in Billy’s mind in S3. And ofc more notably Max’s Vecna vision in S4.

I want to specifically focus on one picture.

As you can see, there appears to be a figure walking along the tree path, with perhaps a taller figure on the left but that is hard to tell because it could just be part of the tree. Stranger Things Spoilers was the account that got these set photos and look at the comment they just liked on Insta.

I think it’s safe to say they’re hinting that the figure walking is Will.

Which basically ties this whole week of filming together and seems to be pointing at the fact that Will is gonna be exploring his UD connection and that’s a major component of this season (duh).

I personally think we’re gonna see Will have visions of his time there as a child, but also he will be able to go there mentally like he did in S2, perhaps this time being taunted and brainwashed by Vecna. “He spies back”.

So there you go folks, it seems like our beloved Will Byers is gonna be greatly suffering from supernatural horrors beyond our comprehension, once again.

I wonder what will be able to pull him back from all this mental deterioration he’s surely gonna face again.

Could it be the power of family love and perhaps…gay love?

The Duffers did say to rewatch S2 🤷‍♀️

[thewertsearch]

Let's kick things off with a mega-giga ask compilation!

I've spent the last couple of days working through the backlog, and I've been able to answer some quite old asks that were spoilers at the time they were sent.

@kintatsu asked: So, I was rereading your blog, and got to the post where you determine that John's 13th birthday was a Monday, and complain on his behalf that he couldn't really relax due to having the whole schoolweek ahead of him. Well, I checked, and the previous day was the first Sunday after the first full moon after the equinox, i.e. Easter Sunday. So it might have been a holiday week.

John entered the Medium shortly after Easter Sunday, and he did so by biting into an apple. Forget about the god tiers – his most powerful transformation is clearly Catholic Beast Mode.

Anonymous asked: The thing about knowing your Aspect, I think, is that it's the Aspect you most GET. I GET Space and Light, I understand them completely, they are suffused in my bones and my blood, they are writ large upon my brain and every base in my DNA. What aspect do you just GET?

To be honest, I don’t think I know enough about any Aspect to ‘get’ it.

If I had to choose, then I'd probably feel the most natural affinity for Life and/or Doom – and if was forced to pick one, I’d say I'm very slightly more drawn to Life, just based on vibes.

@mhafanlol2000 asked: I think the horrorterror’s plan (or the closest thing we can comprehend) is CHAOS-by which I mean LIFE. Skaia is order. If it can want, then it wants its players to follow the script it has written-the Alpha. It wants propagation, the snake to eat it’s own tail, blah blah blah. That is order. That is perfect servitude. That is NOT life. The gods, meanwhile, want chaos. It wants its servants to live. It does not tell people to do anything. It simply gives them the facts, and says “here is what you should do. You can not, you can do whatever the hell.” It wants romance, conflict, CHAOS. that is life.

And if this theory is accurate to the canon Life aspect, then I feel justified in my affinity for it. It falls fairly closely in line with my own philosophy.

@necrowyrm asked: When searching your blog I always type "thew" before Tumblr autocompletes your URL. That has become who you are to me.. Thew, Glorious Liveblogger, navigating the treacherous seas of Homestuck

Sally ‘Thew’ Ertsearch, reporting in. 🫡

Anonymous asked: there's actually another arthurian joke to do with dave's land/quest. have another look at the disc platform that bro stabbed. how would you describe the shape of that turntable?

Ayy, Dave's a Knight of the Round Turntable! Honestly, that'd be a pretty great name for his theme song.

@caliquill asked: kanaya vs rose would be absolutely hilarious but. kanaya IS the original "I Can Fix Her" girl for a reason.

Anonymous asked: the only real requirement for a name suggestion to be picked was that the firstname was 4 letters. but by really cool coincidence strider and lalonde are 7 letters, and egbert and harley are 6, and if you add those together its 4/13! similarly, both the trolls names were required to be 6 letters (i think hussie mixed and matched them actually, some of the firstnames were suggested as surnames and vice versa) so theres a similar case to be made for 6/12. but just doubling the same number i think holds less water than adding together two different numbers

Number symbolism is just very flexible in general. All Hussie really had to do was introduce a few 'important' numbers, and the fandom could start finding them everywhere!

Anonymous asked: This may be the wrong place to ask, but have you deleted your post of analyzing the Let the Squiddles Sleep song? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Here it is. Hopefully you're able to see it now!

Anonymous asked: Will the Mega-Ask-Compilation and Liveblog Recap also happen? ~LOSS (19/2/23)

The former is currently taking place. The latter was planned, but after skimming my blog for a bit, I realized I didn't have as much to say about it as I thought I did. Plus, it's been ages, so I'm really excited to look at some new pages. We can leave the old ones for later - I'll probably do some sort of blog retrospective eventually.

Anonymous asked: i figure the trolls' battlefield went through a full set of dnd dice/platonic solids, plus maybe some other notable johnson solids like a truncated icosahedron (aka a soccer ball or buckminsterfullerene), before becoming a sphere. maybe the outer ring went through stages like simple torus, mobius strip, borromean rings or other fun knots, before becoming a mobius net. (not really sure what a mobius net is, mathematically, but that's apparently what the thing around the final form of the kid's battlefield is called.) or maybe something weird happens with that many prototypings, and the battlefield turns into a tesseract or a klein bottle or a menger sponge or a mandelbulb.

If you so much as look at the Battlefield created by the Gigasession, your brain will leak out of your ears.

@manorinthewoods asked: <3Dave, >3>John, >3oJade, <>Rose (by process of elimination) ~LOSS (5/6/23)

I don’t think either of the girls have worn a playing card symbol. The leaf on Jade’s Wardrobifier does kind of look like a spade, but John’s already got that quadrant on lockdown.

Anonymous asked: Reading stuff about skaia on this blog reminded me of madoka, and made me consider that skaia might be like kyube and the other incubators and sburb is skaias way of keeping the unerverse from decaying

Reading this ask makes me realize that Rose is a near-perfect mark for Kyubey.

There’s only one way to save your session, Seer. Form a contract with me, and become a magical girl.

Anonymous asked: man. i dont know what i expected to happen when you found it. but for The Baby Is You to be liveblogged in less than 20 words during a post was not the way i expected it to go

I know it’s not technically part of Homestuck canon, but it really feels like Homestuck canon to me - at least to the same degree as Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, and I liveblogged that.

Anonymous asked: begging (lightheartedly) for you to add posts like LOLCAT and "this guy's an orb" to one of the liveblog tags. they're pretty funny, and it's nice to see off-the-cuff reactions like that, haha. imo it'd be a shame for new readers to miss those kind of posts

Done! I sometimes forget to tag posts like that, because I usually just fire them off and forget about ‘em.

@captorations asked: “Give me a set of rules, and I'll analyze the hell out them, every time.” hello fellow doom player. hope you like the color green

Based on ~ATH’s association with curses, as well as Sollux’s programming hobby, I think there’s a decent chance that Doom relates to coding in some way.

Coding is all about rules, so perhaps Doom, is, in fact, the aspect of rules and logic. I'm not sure why such an aspect would be named 'doom', but it's been obvious for a while that these aspect names aren't always literal.

Anonymous asked: I’d just like to clarify some terminology because it seems relevant, but Aradia isn’t a red blood, she’s a rust blood

[The blood colors all have canon names: Aradia = rust blood Tavros = bronze blood Sollux = gold blood Nepeta = olive blood Kanaya = jade blood Terezi = teal blood Vriska = blue blood (I like cerulean better tho) Equius = indigo blood Gamzee = purple blood Eridan = violet blood Feferi = fuchsia blood and Karkat has no official blood name, but people usually call him mutant blood or candy-red blood - C ]

Oh, there are official names for each color? That’s going to be helpful to disambiguate each blood caste, especially when we really start digging into troll culture and biology.

Anonymous asked: I do believe the top-left ship on the wall - no, Karkat doesn't have red eyes. […] It's probably Vrisrezi, yes, but it could also be Vriskat.

Yeah, I’m still not sure who this ship is supposed to represent.

They have Terezi’s eyes, but the hair and symbol look like Karkat’s. Plus, Nepeta hates this ship, which would make sense if it’s between her crush and someone other than her.

Honestly, my best guess is that it was meant to be Karkat, and the red eyes were just a mistake on Hussie’s part.

Anonymous asked: something I never thought about… is the blue blood sourced from equius or did he get a stock.

Aradia has real blue indigo blood in her veins, and it almost certainly belongs to Equius himself. He could have got it from a donor, but I personally doubt there was anyone else he could ask. Equius feels like he'd be an outsider, even to other indigo-bloods.

Anonymous asked: vriska would be a good strider

Vriska Serket raised by Bro Strider would be the most terrifying character imaginable. I don't even want to contemplate what that upbringing would do to her.

Anonymous asked: Any piece of lore hussie writes needs to contend with the fact that hussie is resolutely committed to the bit. Hence all the words on how different trolls are being entirely blasted aside by 'and then they're just grey humans anyway lmao'

That's the price of admission into Homestuck, for better or for worse. Hussie quite clearly enjoys screwing with us, and we have to take everything we see in the comic with a huge pinch of salt.

Anonymous asked: I'll disagree a bit on the phrasing that Eridan forces Feferi to <> him because firstly she doesn't even seem convinced that he would commit genocide and secondly she dropped him super easily once the lusus-feeding is no longer necessary. While understandable, that doesn't suggest to me someone who is obliged by Eridan's aggression to pacify him. I think she has much more agency in this relationship (or lack thereof I suppose) than that.

Feferi definitely had her doubts – but she must have believed that Eridan was dangerous to a certain degree, because that’s the basis of a moirallegiance.

Forced might not be the right word, but she certainly felt some amount of obligation to pacify him. She sure wasn’t in that relationship for the good of her health.

Anonymous asked: So, Vriska has a conversation with Karkat, where he says she seems to have blackrom feelings for Tavros, but that he doesn't think Tavros can even feel blackrom properly. Then she has another conversation with Tavros in which she antagonizes him, and he notices, but just kind of ignores it and doesn't respond emotionally. Then we see her make a huge dramatic redrom gesture and kiss him. She vacillated because he wasn't into her… incel behavior.

Yup. I’ve always held that Tavros never wanted anything to do with Vriska. He doesn't want to love or hate her - what he really wants is to live in a world where she doesn't exist.

Vriska’s refusal to accept this basic fact is one of the main reasons she’s decided to make his life a living hell.

Anonymous asked: I headcanon that troll blood is analog, but the empire culls non-digital colors because they make the troll race seem like a joke or something. Lol

If there were minor variations in blood color, the Empire probably wouldn’t want to acknowledge it, since the stratification of blood classes forms the basis of their society.

We haven’t seen any trolls besides our twelve (apart from Troll Will Smith) so we can’t compare the blood of two members of the same caste - but we can speculate. Human blood color is known to vary depending on its oxygenation level, and I imagine troll blood would reflect its current chemical composition in the same way.

Anonymous asked: Vriska must be seething while Karkat introduces the concept of quadrants to the reader. Imagine this basic and important facet of troll life, and you're just getting schoolfed it. (This message was sent on 20/10/22.)

This was a fun bit of weirdness from early Hivebent, wasn’t it? In retrospect, it's kind of hilarious that Karkat decided to infodump to Vriska about the obscure, niche topic of… dating.

@sanctferum asked: According to his formspring, Hussie's self-insert's classpect is Waste of Space. He also briefly considers Huss of Lips. This is obviously not meant to be taken seriously but. since you asked @absinthe-and-alabaster asked: i believe hussie said somewhere that FedoraFreak's classpect was "Gent of Piss" Anonymous asked: (not sure if this is technically a spoiler but) hussie has jokingly said that fedorafreak's class is a gent.

If Dad Egbert was a Player, then the Gent class would be forced into canonical existence, as the only class that could possibly define him.

Anonymous asked: If Vriska's control does require the victim to on some level want to do the thing, then Sollux's insistence that you do not under any circumstance eat the mind honey could be something he developed in response to that incident. So that if she ever controls him again, she won't be able to make him eat it.

Wow, I never considered that. That’s a very good (and tragic) take, and I think I'm at least locking it in as a headcanon.

Anonymous asked: the official extended zodiac actually has… 288 signs, if im doing my math right? and also probably hadn't yet been conceptualized when that page was posted (the earliest known evidence comes from 2015). i don't know if any thought was put into the number or if it was just pulled from their ass, but there was a running gag in hussie's q&as where he repeatedly threatened us with a 10,000 page intermission focused on 48 squiddles, each representing a sign from the alternian zodiac Anonymous asked: I believe the troll zodiac is one of the few things in HS lore that was truly retconned, there’s actually 288 signs.

Move over, 48 Squiddles. I want to hear about the 288-player clusterfuck that actually gave rise to Alternia!

@manorinthewoods asked: wheee, you got to the first god tiering! this probably opens up a load of new things to say, so, first off: do you think you need to have a full echeladder to god tier? vriska implied so.

She never outright stated that it was required, but I still think it probably is. You generally need to max out your class levels before you can prestige.

@morganwick asked: Believe it or not, you're still in the "Homestuck could have updated RIGHT NOW" phase of the comic's release schedule. The break after the Equius-Aradia kiss aside, the hiati you've heard horror stories about didn't start becoming a thing until the end of Act 5.

[this was around page 3000. still true at this page though - C]

Hussie’s sheer productivity at this stage continues to astound. Could you imagine having that much creative energy?

Maybe Hussie just drinks twenty coffees a day.

Anonymous asked: as someone who is Normal about aradia it's an absolute delight to see someone dig into her character. she's so fascinating to me. (also, fun fact, a while ago tumblr voted her the coolest character in all of homestuck. so there's that)

Aradia’s awesome, and I still don’t think her death is going to stick.

Her ghost was perfectly capable of existing without a body, so there's no reason she can’t survive her new body's destruction.

Anonymous asked: feferi hasn't just woken up, she won't be stuck asleep until 3 hours and 14 minutes into the future! timestamps, yo

Consider this the first mark on my otherwise impeccable record.

Anonymous asked: does cat have a troll/kidsona? itd be interesting to see a full 4 player session in art

[No kidsona, yes trollsona, but even a picture of her would spoil stuff from Act 6 😆 - C]

What she said. It’ll be a while until we can meet KATYAA SCRENR.

@mhafanlol2000 asked: Hey! You can just call me Fan. In all honesty I’m just some guy who likes your liveblog. He/him. I’m gonna list some fan aspects, and I want to see what you think they’d represent, and what abilities they’d give Law Dreams Might Shape Flow

Ooh, more fan aspects! These were a lot of fun to puzzle out the last time.

Law would be the aspect of command, instruction and agreement. An example power would be giving someone a simple rule they're compelled to follow, such as 'don't turn around'.

Dreams would be the aspect of ideas, motivation and symbolism. An example power would be the ability to detect people's idle thoughts - the things they're not even aware they're thinking about.

Might would be the aspect of growth, conflict and evolution. An example power would be the ability to temporarily enhance someone's Aspect abilities, at the cost of making those abilities harder to control.

Shape would be the aspect of form, encapsulation and topology. Shapeshifting is the most obvious application of this aspect, but it's appropriate.

Flow would be the aspect of persistence, momentum and continuity. An example power would be the ability to 'continue' something that has recently stopped. For example, if your PC ran out of power, they'd be able to keep it running for a while. The longer it had been previously running, the longer they could keep it running.

@martinkhall asked: I think Bro might have been raised entirely by shonen anime and My Little Pony Friendship is Magical (the version that existed only in the heads of the worst examples of Bronys). And puppets. Puppets were definitely involved in raising Bro. Anonymous asked: "He has no known relationship with any of the other parents, but was definitely getting foreknowledge of Sburb from somewhere. I’m not even sure I want to know what sort of childhood produces Bro Strider." well. i mean. he grew up with Lil Cal didn't he? the clearly haunted puppet from the sburban dreamscape of derse? it was what he dropped to earth with. i feel like that might explain at least a small part of, like, whatever he had going on.

That’s true. I don’t trust that puppet one bit, and we don’t know what it was up to before the start of the session.

I still suspect that the thing’s still just as alive as it was on Derse, and is just choosing to play dead.

Anonymous asked: I imagine you might've already been told this, but when checking out your FAQ I noticed you described PS/PQ/FS as "not exactly canon" and that you're less interested in liveblogging them because one of your favorite parts is watching all the story come together -- without spoiling anything, I find it pertinent to mention that Pesterquest & Friendsim definitely contribute to the wider "canon" even though dubiously canon themselves. Definitely "part of the story" so to speak.

Yeah, we’ll have to see what comes of this. The problem is that I’m still fuzzy on what ‘dubiously canon’ actually means.

Hopefully that will become more clear as I’m actually liveblogging these tie-in materials – which I am planning on doing. Only time will tell how in-depth the liveblog will actually be, though.

@manorinthewoods asked: In my Sundered opinion, Bec Noir is the best character design in Homestuck. I can't think of any other interesting designs at the moment, other than some which don't beat him and are spoilers anyway (like LE's). Which design do you find most interesting, out of the ones you have? ~LOSS (22/9/23)

I definitely agree that BecJack has one of the best designs in the comic. Plus, Scratch is so weirdly intimidating for a cueball-head.

Anonymous asked: My favorite part of PKWU is just how pointy Gamzee's chin is. It's so… Defined.

iT’s ToO lAtE, ErIdAn! I’vE AlReAdY DePicTeD MySeLf As ThE ChAd, AnD yOu As ThE SoYjAk >:o)

Anonymous asked: i need you to know ag canonically ripped off the sleeves on all of her shirts just to show off the robot arm

I believe it. I don't even need a source; this is just so true to Vriska's character that it's obviously correct.

@bladekindeyewear asked: If you and your ask screener decide that literary/external-media hero title examples without any details or explanation are alright to pass on unless they're too obviously revealing -- and those in and of themselves are usually in heavy dispute by classpect theorists -- I've long been of the opinion that Monkey D. Luffy and Peter Pan are the best possible literary examples of a Page of Breath.

All Pages of Breath must be associated with pirates. No exceptions.

Anonymous asked: unfun fact: the reason rose and jade dont have a lot of pesterlogs with eachother is just because their text colours were kinda eyestrainy together. thats it thats literally the whole reason!! god damn

Hussie: "I don't write Rose/Jade conversations because they’re hard to read."

Also Hussie:

Anonymous asked: you have officially passed my second favourite flash in literally all of homestuck. it's all so well hinted at beforehand but it still comes to punch you in the gut nonetheless Anonymous asked: My favourite thing in this flash is how the name of the flash isn't John: Rise Up, it's JOHN. RISE UP. it's WV sending a plead to John to not die. My second favourite thing is the way the music remixes Doctor (The theme for LoWaS). Anonymous asked: [S] JOHN. RISE UP. is one of my favorite flashes in all of Homestuck. Savior of the Waking World is some of Toby's best work What are your thoughts on our first taste of god tier? @violetsquare111 asked: So glad you liked Savior of the Waking World! One of my favorites in the comic for sure. It takes a lot of ideas from another of Toby's songs, Penumbra Phantasm, a song that… never actually got finished or officially released. There's still various renditions of it though, and the HS collection links a couple of em. (Some people have speculated that Penumbra Phantasm itself was never supposed to be a Homestuck song, and might end up being used in Deltarune, which would be cool as hell) Anonymous asked: It's crazy to think that just about 12 hours ago John was wearing silly disguises to fool his dad and now he's dying to become a god.

God time!

I do think it was the most emotional flash we’ve had, on the strength of the music alone. Savior of the Waking World goes hard as all hell.

Honestly, when WV started calling John a hero, and telling him to rise, it did start to give me some mild chills. Like, yeah – we know John’s a hero, but it feels extra special when it’s coming from someone who’s normally so irreverent.

@elkian asked: Welcome back, hope you're feeling better! I am losing it a bit over you IMMEDIATELY understanding how this coin flip sitch works, something about the narrative and reasoning doesn't match my brain so I've reread it multiple times with total understanding out of grasp and watching you dissect it halfway into the page is truly wild (delighted). Also feel like I understand it a lil better with your analysis.

Thank you! This message was actually sent the last time I returned from a pause, so apologies that I’m one hiatus late in answering it.

@royalvorpal asked: I just reread your entire blog in anticipation. Anonymous asked: This is such a good liveblog, I'm rereading it again and you are really letting me relive the pleasant parts of my middle school years. Reading this blog makes me feel like I'm back on the school bus talking to my friend about the newest update. Thank you for doing this 💛 Anonymous asked: That return page didn't have any sound, so misleading! (I jest, nice to see you're back.) ~DJ @manorinthewoods asked: Hahahah, we are BACK! Lovely, I've missed this liveblog. Most in-depth Homestuck liveblog I'm aware of, looking forward to the restart! ~LOSS (29/3/24) @popcornsalty asked: So excited to see you back!!! :D @chaosorchestrator asked: welcome back! It's good to hear that you're planning on getting back into it! I hope things have been going ok for you in the meantime! @necrowyrm asked: HAPPY 4/13 (OR AS THE ENLIGHTENED KNOW IT: 13/4) AND WELCOME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your votes of confidence, and happy 13/4 to you all!

@rippledphysique asked: Just found this blog and devoured it in a few days. I am selfishly wishing you the best in health and life so that it may return one day… @elkian asked: Hey Sally! Just wanted to wish you well on the recovery, the plague is no joke and I hope you've been able to enjoy some kind improvement. And that 2024 will be kinder, as well. Anonymous asked: wishing you the best in your interim, hopefully you can get a better position where you're not prone to burning out! Anonymous asked: Hope you're doing ok!! I miss seeing your cool liveblog on my dash @kittycatttmattt asked: Poor girl… Got killed by the schedule

Thanks for all the well-wishes, as well. Really, it wasn’t the schedule that was the issue – I just had a lot going on in the background last year. That’s all over now, though!

Anonymous asked: yeah, Homestuck's back babeyyyyy - the site was crashing because of traffic and everything @calamitascalliope asked: You coming back from your break resurrected Homestuck's corpse hggfffdd Anonymous asked: i think this actually is the first time homestuck has updated since you started liveblogging lol - homestuck 2 has been inactive assumed abandoned since december 25th 2020. also happy slightly belated blogiversary btw - you've been delighting us with your journey for two years now! @heliotropopause asked: New Homestuck upd8 just dropped. Apparently. Anonymous asked: what are the odds that you start liveblogging again the same exact day that postcanon comes back from the dead? Anonymous asked: crazy news. so literally just today, october 8th 2023, hussie has officially given complete free license to the newly formed "homestuck independent creative union" (HICU) to create content and monetize it with the homestuck brand however they see fit, with zero creative or financial control from any corporations or even hussie themself, though hussie has said they're available for consultation whenever the HICU wants their input. the HICU seems to be made up of people the community largely has respect for, and the person heading all of this up is James Roach, who is one of the most widely respected individual who has been inolved in homestuck "post canon" (ie. after homestuck itself ended). nobody was expecting any of this, it's completely bonkers. hopes are looking pretty high for homestuck compared to where they were merely a day ago.

Throwback to the day I personally resurrected Homestuck.

Has anything come of this since, actually? I haven’t heard anything about this new comic – although I do scroll in the opposite direction any time I see a reference to Homestuck, so I guess it makes sense that I wouldn’t.

@corporalotherbear asked: What’s your favorite Pokémon?

Contrarian, that I am, I’ll instinctively gravitate to Missingno., if only for the nostalgia factor. Gen 1 glitches were my first real experience with pulling back the curtain of a game’s code, and taking a look at what lies beneath.

My favourite official Pokémon are Porygon-Z, Shedinja, Reuniclus and Metagross!

@heliotropopause asked: Breath/Light is an interesting one, because the ‘Mixolydian’ implies a musical theme, and I thought Time was the musical Aspect. Maybe it’s not that simple. They've all got a musical reference in the name- they are called fraymotifs, after all. Anonymous asked: The Fraymotifs are all musical references actually. E.g. Breath/Time is "Ivories in the Fire", the ivories in question being John's piano keys. A fraymotif is a battle theme. Anonymous asked: ivories in the fire is a musical theme, especifically a Rap term used by Snoop Dogg. So yeah it's connected to Dave Anonymous asked: re: fraymotifs: you pointed out "mixolydian", but that's not the only musical term there. feather "cadence", pneumatic "progression", even fray "motif" itself! hell, the building where you buy these things has an emblem with a crossed sword and music note! so i think this might be less a situation of "need to rethink time aspects association with music" and more "fraymotifs have a musical association also" Anonymous asked: if you look a bit closer at those names, (including the one "fraymotif",) you may realize that "mixolydian" isn't the only musical term referenced…. @galaxa-13 asked: You say the breath/Light Fraymotif implies a musical theme, but they all do! Fraymotif is a portmanteau of "fray" (to fight) and "leitmotif" (repeated musical phrase). Each Fraymotif name implies a musical theme.

Dang it. Yup, they’re all pretty obvious references to music.

I wrote that post the day I was trying to wrangle our family PC into running the Homestuck Collection without lag, so I was a little distracted at the time. Please direct all complaints to Windows XP.

[veilder]

Yoooooo! It's been a hot minute since I posted a new prompt, but here's something I've been thinking about for a few days now? Consider:

AU where Cole was born much earlier, back before Hank's career really kicked off. He follows his ol' dad into the police force, joining the DPD the summer of 2035. However, that same year, a freak ice storm takes the city. Hank had been planning to visit Cole in his first apartment, promising him that "the roads aren't that bad, don't worry about it." The next call Cole receives is from Detroit Regional Hospital, asking for a next of kin. Cole rushes there himself, heedless of the horrible state of the roads, to find his father in surgery, a medical android operating. Anxiously, he waits through the night, fidgeting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs outside the operating theater.

He receives the news the next morning. Hank had suffered some serious injuries including multiple concussions, and had fallen into a coma during the surgeries. He's told there's no way to know when or if he might wake. The sight of the medical android leaving the theater with the same placid expression on its face as off of the things haunts him long after that night.

For three long years, he's consoled with platitudes of "it might be any day now." For three long years, he visits his father regularly, hoping to spark some change in the man. For three long years, he throws himself into his work, hoping to forget that this was all his fault. That Hank had been out because of him. That he was laid up in a sterile room for years because of him.

And almost three years later, his hard work pays off. His promotion to detective coincides with a surge in deviancy cases. And Cole Anderson, professional workaholic, newly-instated rookie, who's father's big shoes he will fill or die trying, has a proposition for the captain:

"Assign me this case," he demands.

"This is high profile, rookie. The sergeant will handle it," Fowler replies.

"Sir, the sergeant hates androids. I can work with it. Perhaps even mediate."

"Seem to recall you not being a fan either, Anderson."

And Cole grits his teeth, flashbacks of an android in bloody scrubs running through his mind. But he says, "I'm not, sir. But I need…" And here he hesitates, looking away from Fowler's piercing gaze. "… I need something… substantial… at this time of year…"

And the office is quiet for a few seconds more before he hears Fowler sigh. And Cole knows he's won this. "Alright, Anderson. Alright. I'll add you to the case. But Reed takes lead, you hear me? No going off on your own, kid."

Smartly, Cole salutes, knowing when to let sleeping dogs lie. "Thank you, Captain. You won't regret it."

"But Reed might," he hears the man mutter as he closes the door behind him.

Cole smirks, returning to his desk and the case files he'd been finishing up. Deviancy, he thinks. Perhaps this is the missing link. The key to proving androids can't be trusted in sensitive situations. That his father's condition was a result of malpractice, not routine. That they, too, shoulder some of the blame.

Two days later, Cole meets Connor. And that is when he knows his theory is right.

Or! The one where Hank is out of commission and an adult Cole Anderson is assigned to the deviancy case alongside Connor and Gavin. Through peril and hardship, the three must learn to work together to solve the greatest mystery Detroit has ever known, or risk letting the menace known as deviancy roam free. And meanwhile, tempers flare, worldviews shift, and all three learn there's perhaps more to life than just being human.

[thebadjoe]

Something we mustn't forget about chapter 2 (DRDT)

As usual, this is a spoilers warning for DRDT chapter 2, so beware.

So, I'm sure some of you have seen me have a reasoning battle against a few people, most especially @1moreff-creator. We've had some really interesting back and forth happening.

This post is meant to be a response to 1moreff's latest post regarding their theory. So think of it as a reblog.

Why don't you just simply reblog then?

Well, that's the thing. I... messed up. For any reblogs I've made on their original theory post, they were all long posts that didn't have a cut section, a "read more" button.

So everytime you look at a reblog, you'd have to scroll through all of that to reach the latest reblog. Even though I eventually edited them all later on, the original versions are still there on the previous reblogs because the edit doesn't go through previous reblogs and the reblogger cannot edit others' posts eitheir.

So yeah... sorry about that.

But trust me however, this is a very interesting read. Especially if you've seen my version of the theory. 1moreff's uses the same whodunnit and whydunnit in their theory, but they used a totally different path as for the howdunnit. I'd recommend you all to read it if you haven't already.

With that out of the way, let's get to business. It won't take too long, I promise.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

(I'm now adressing to @1moreff-creator)

So uhm... I don't really have much to add in regards to your reblog. You've made your point in regards to anything I tackled on and we're pretty much at a stance where I can't really prove that x thing happening while you can't prove that y thing happened. Eitheir of those could work. And because they both work, they're both technicly valid.

Besides, you've already pointed out what could be your issues in regards to your theory.

the glove; the BDA having a lacking explanation; how hard and risky it would be to convince Levi of being an accomplice (though narratively consistent because of the good person thing); and how risky it is to use such a time-sensitive method.

Your biggest issue is definitly the glove, no doubt about that. Even though you do have some kind of explanation for it, it's not something you're quite convinced yourself eitheir.

In any case, I'm not gonna dwelve on it much unless you can eventually think of more solutions to these problems.

So what's the point of this "reblog" if you're not gonna refute against any of these points?

Well, upon doing my own detective work to fix my own holes in my deduction, I discovered something really interesting. Something that I can't believe I didn't realise sooner.

It has something to do with Ace's testimony. There's something off about it. There's a glaring issue with it which will become quite an issue for you.

What do you mean?

Let's start with a very quick recap. According to you, everything that Ace saw according to the flashback really happened. Meaning that in your theory, Ace was working out in the gym during the evening of DAY 3, then he heard Arei and David talking. So he decided to spy on them. So everything he heard and saw must be the truth.

According to my own theory however, Ace was not working out in the gym during the evening of DAY 3. Instead, he was working out in the evening of DAY 2, spied on them that evening and then got knocked unconscious for the attempted murder later on, which would explain why the weight rack was moved in the fitness room. So ace was eitheir lying or confused about the day he witnessed the conversation.

Anyways, if people were to believe that your version of that theory is indeed what truly happened, then we'd have to deal with a very glaring issue that I can't believe I didn't notice until yesterday. I'm convinced more than ever that Ace is wrong about the day he witnessed the conversation. It's based on simple common sense.

Common sense? It can't be that simple!

Oh, it sure can!

So according to Ace, he heard Arei talk to David in the relax room during the evening, the day after he nearly died, right? According to him, at the time, he was working out before he heard them.

So tell me... would he really dare spend time ALONE working out in the gym, literally the place where he nearly died, A DAY after he's been attacked?!

I don't think so. Especially Ace, of all people. He's a coward. That makes no sense.

But Teruk-

Teruko's different from Ace. She's no coward and she's been through a lot of bad crap her whole life based on what we learned so far. Teruko's unlucky.

Anyways, If you cannot find a proper explanation for this, then I'm afraid that your theory could potentially crumble.

I could go out of my way to explain how it would crumble, but essentially, it would come down to me explaining that the more issues you would be able to explain if you were to admit that Ace was indeed lying about the day he witnessed that conversation, the more it would look like my theory.

But before I do that, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to solve this issue I've mentioned about Ace's testimony. I think I have an idea of what you'll claim, but let's see how this plays out.

(Sorry for not reblogging this time around and sorry again for the mess I've created in those reblogs)

[blorbingqls]

Despite my lack of sleep and completely boisterous way of not responding well with mess and completely almost forgetting to write my thoughts on the episode, here you go.

only friends ep 2 stray thoughts relay an eventually peek into many of the history of these characters - this time was ray and top

i love the confessionals bit - that adds a lot to the story, personally for me - reminds me of barbie: life in the dreamhouse damn - i want the confessionals to continue

NAMCHEUM AND APRIL - so so cute babies - but i want more bits pls - let this web not be just within sandray, mewtop and bostonnick.

sand being the tired gay gives so so much - also, the pansexual notes - *chef's kiss* - the long glare at the last scene - DAMN - the pot is cooking

ray being more than the troubled rich kid with a dead mom - yes thats a well known trope but can we not kill more mothers pls

i need few more episodes to analyse mew - because he give me the reader trying to apply the theories in real life without a full-proof backup plan vibes - he is strategising the perfect love - with top

boston is an interesting character - not believing in permanence or drama but being the drama - the love for photography - damn thats so good

top - you didn't have to jump from that low point into the water - it will hurt your ribs pls - the fact that he didn't like how boston was heading and how he wanted to establish a boundary but wasn't able to clearly indicates so much more of him as a character - adds a layer to being more than the asshole character

nick - my poor babygirl whore with low self esteem issues - bub you are loved - a person like 'ton confusing you is completely understandable - i relate to you on this

with reference to @ranchthoughts @lurkingshan and @waitmyturtles 's post here and here I COMPLETELY agree that the show hints a lot towards impermanence of life and the fact every moment is fleeting each time, with decisions taken by each character towards their life indicates how they don't think twice while taking a decision.

i would like to link ephemerality with control - because that also, i feel, will become a running subtheme in the series - because as these characters will have the wish being in the moment and having the control respectively.

Sand wants to have boundaries within the friends with benefits bracket as that establishes some sort of control for him - where money, job security and materialism are things out of his control

Ray is wiling to buy off Sand in order to get some control in his life because the love he desires, the abandonment of people and loneliness in his life are left out and he has only money that can buys him the control the loneliness somehow.

Mew and Top want to have a control of the way they approach the relationship because they want to play with each other in terms of control. they believe individually they are at the higher end but that isn't the case.

Nick and Boston is the most interesting pair so far; Nick wants to have control on how he feels by asking Boston to label this relationship in order to fall less and Boston doesn't want any drama in his life as he sticks to one night stands but wants to have control on Top since that stand has imprinted in his memory and somehow bring Mew down. But since he can't have what he wants, he sends pretty mixed signals to Boston which according to him are clear but confuse Nick.

When shit hits the fan, all control will be lost, it will be too late and it will glorify as burning into a thousand suns.

[nicomrade]

I already wrote a lot about souichi but theres a thing I purposefully kept myself from bringing up cuz it wouldve just derailed my point and I wanna talk about it naow if you will let me… this is much much shorter n pretty straightforward I prommy

so we are told in the manga that souichis memory issues come from the deep sense of responsibility and pressure he feels. i agree with this, but i would add another reading on top of itt: that he also suffered from a traumatic event in childhood that triggered the memory loss to start with. in short, he forgot a traumatic event once (a very common trauma response) and then re-used this same coping mechanism to systematically erase every other uncomfortable memories over and over. this is where he learned it from.

This is headcanon- I have no case to say souichi suffering from CPTSD is subtext or anything, but the text does not contradict it either! more importantly, i think this idea is in parts supported by the text, and it also, in my opinion, makes souichis character more meaningful by grounding some of his pain in something a lot more common than “being the heir to an underworld, all-powerful gambling organization” (and the recovery he makes from that pain can then also be hopeful to CPTSD survivors a lot more directly). what follows is a couple things i want to revisit with this theory in mind

precedent

this theory does not come out of nowhere, souichi was not an entirely sheltered kid- he went to school, he hung with other kids. kakerous protection was not all encompassing, it is not impossible for something like that to slip through the net. There are also other usogui characters who were canonically traumatized by their childhood. souichi has a lot of parallels with yukiide kaoru specifically (as mentioned- i went into detail on this here). There's also Marco who was abused by Kokonoe Tarou and splintered his identity to protect himself, as well as Kaji whose character arc is about dealing with the ramifications of his parents neglecting and abusing him. usogui as a manga is very aware that childhood trauma exists and has a deep impact on how your brain works well into adulthood. I will also mention Suteguma as a victim of CSA (and with the later introduction of Robert K his story is given an optimistic spin) this is not a grimdark theory of an otherwise trauma-less work, childhood trauma is deeply intertwined into usoguis story. I don’t feel like it is a reach to see an implication for souichi there, too.

the memory hole

we know that Souichi (during most of the story) has so thoroughly accepted to live with the holes in his memory that he:

a. keeps written reminders for things he might forget (see Gakuhitos phone contact that also tells souichi what nickname to call him)

b. has fail-saves ingrained on an instinctual level to keep people from noticing his amnesia in the form of dodging questions, asking leading questions, implying he knows more than he really does, etc (see the scene with Gakuhito for this too- making Gakuhito call him on his phone so he can learn his name or immediately re-using Nanpou’s name he’s just learned to dissipate Touya’s suspicions in chapter 270)

c. jokes about his amnesia openly! (“forgive me since I’m extremely forgetful”) and also rationalizes it as some sort of “good” (the rest of the golf convo- “forgetting is blissful”, “the past is nothing but a cheap book, throw it away after reading it”- all chapter 100)

Souichi would not question a memory gap in his childhood even taking his photographic memory into account. he would just accept it and move on and never try to know because it would just be ONE hole in so many. Why would he care where the amnesia might've started? Why would he think twice about it?

3. memory and trauma

souichis big memory lapse in the story, the one that starts the lost bee arc, is triggered a few minutes before the ranking battle that takes his father’s life but in the pacing of the story we only learn of souichi’s amnesia after the battle’s finished. The two events happen almost concurrently. narratively, we are first presented tatsukis death and then we get into souichis episode. this is NOT to say that in-story souichi "felt" his dad was about to die and it triggered the episode, but the pacing does tie the two events together symbolically. his dad dies, and souichi reverts to a time before he was 21st leader, back when his dad was 10 years younger, before even eba's passing. because this- his fathers gruesome death in a ranking battle that souichi himself had reverted back to its old, murderous way- is too much to cope with. the memory loss IS (symbolically) linked to trauma. This idea is clearer in souichis 2nd meeting with Fukurou.

“His mind does not remember but his body is resisting the match” – souichi’s amnesia is here directly reflects a trauma response. This is an emotional flashback triggered by Fukurou and Poker linked together, his body is brought back to ‘98 despite his mind not actually remembering these events. This is trauma. The way Souichi’s amnesia is used in the story is already very similar to that caused by childhood trauma

4. the tragedy

Generally, this tragedy at the core of Souichi’s character- that there are huge swaths of his life that has totally escaped him despite their impact on him- speaks very strongly to a CPTSD perspective. Childhood trauma is very often forgotten and buried and only surfaces in odd responses to things without ever knowing the cause, along with the sense that you are missing more of your childhood than other people- while questioning if it really is so abnormal. His conversation with Fukurou at the start of Air Poker (in chapter 449) is especially hard for me to see as anything else.

Notice the intensity in the “In...deed…” panel, with the darkness closing in, his hidden eyes. Souichi is closing onto himself here, after having been confronted with how abnormal it is for him to not remember this and he has to pay along like he didn’t forget it. with CPTSD in mind: isn’t this familiar? Something from his childhood that he’s forgotten? Someone he’s supposed to have been close to that he doesn’t even remember knowing? “You’ve been by his side for so long, you should know him well.” Well, he doesn’t. Because he doesn’t know anyone well at all. Because he forgot half of his own childhood entirely. Because he was changed forever. Because he became socially withdrawn- because he was taught not to get too close to anyone and this is what happens when you break the rules, you get punished.

If Souichi was traumatized as a child, he might’ve internalized it as the result of his failure to keep his distance, of him straying too far away from Kakerou, of trying to be like the other kids. This would, in turn, inform a lot of his self-inflicted dehumanization, of his loyalty to Kakerou that necessitates him harming himself, his aversion to breaking that one rule. He is Souichi Kiruma, Kakerou’s 21st leader, and he cannot ever be anyone else. When he strayed away from it as a child he got so deeply hurt he had to wipe it from his own memory so he could keep on going- and this opened the door to systematically erasing all of his “failures” and “flaws” this way. He can stay “perfect” forever- unchanged, un-traumatized, healthy. He can feel safe again.

i purposefully do not speculate on WHAT might've traumatized him here because I don’t have much to base it on and it is not the point i want to make. i just wanted to talk about this aspect that really jumps out to me with souichis character, just how EASY it is to relate to him as a trauma survivor. In turn, I find his arc’s themes of breaking unhealthy cycles and the focus on his family and friends’ support in his recovery become a lot more important and uplifting when it is grounded this way.

[tyran-the-tyranical]

A Raphael and Hope Theory

So, I have a kinda an off the walls theory, but I think hope wasn’t actually physically tortured, LEMME EXPLAIN-

Now, maybe it’s just me missing a bit of dialogue but when we speak to Hope she thoroughly believes she looks horrid and disfigured from all the decades of torture she’s been through, but to us she’s fine, she looks healthy and unharmed and the only thing you could rlly say is her tattoos, but we don’t know if they were there before or not.

Even when we say she looks fine, she doesn’t believe us, which I find strange because if she’s been flayed and everything else he’s done to her he obviously had to heal her or something to keep her alive and explain why she looks so normal to us, but she doesn’t remember? An answer to this could possibly be that he’s been wiping her memory of being healed, to make her torture even worse, that she can’t even recall being healed, BUT, there could be a totally different answer that I think could work possibly better.

Now, when I say this, I’m not trying to make Raphael seem idk less evil, but what I’m going to say could lend some more plausibility to Korilla and why she’s basically ok with Hope’s situation. So, here it is: In one of the entries when Korilla writes about Hope, she’s being tortured with nightmares, and my theory is perhaps that’s all that’s been actually done her. Honestly it kinda helps with Korilla’s case for not helping her sister (especially since she did care for her when they were younger) and perhaps only seeing psychological torture done to her rather than physical would help her justify not saving her sister . Then again, I could’ve just missed some dialogue and this can all be explained away, but one more thing I want to mention-

I also just think this adds a lot to Korilla, like I could totally see her just not belong her sister too, like she cared for her when they were young and she made her own decisions and she doesn’t need hope to come save her, and perhaps she feels she’s done this to herself and so refuses to help her anymore, but also at the same time it find it hard to believe she just doesn’t care, like in her notes about hope she cares to some degree but to watch her get tortured for decades? It’s hard to stomach, but if it were dream theory and all she had to see was her sister “imagining” all that torture, yea it wouldn’t be a walk in the park to witness but I think that’d be easier to stomach than actual torture, idk. I just don’t think Korilla would be ok with that? Like she works for Raphael at that point but still, even after you save her Korilla stands with Raphael rather than join her sister.

I love Hope as a character, even with the short amount of time we have with her in game, and I forget where this information is from but there’s supposedly a piece of information in game that Raphael says he’ll fucking disembowel some kid if she still doesn’t relent, now it is extremely hard to find information online about these two since if you google anything about Raphael or hope you’ll get a few sparing Reddit posts but mainly guides on how to kill Raphael, so please take this specific information with a LARGE grain of salt, but if this is an actual thing in game, I find it very hard to believe Hope would’ve “let” this happen, perhaps he intended to do this to Gortash but then he escaped and Raphael just never bothered to go through with it then.

I understand Hope will basically never accept him but also I just can’t imagine Hope being able to stand watching anything happen to another innocent person, and not to victim blame her, but I’m sure she would feel some blame from it, idk, but also the DREAM THEORY, I think that’s what I’m going to call it.

It would help explain this as well, I just can’t imagine Hope “doing” that and in some way being ok with it, like personal strength to never give in and all, but not giving in to save another? Idk, and personally I think it can makes her character even more tragic but less compelling (perfect victim and all ☠️) , her withstanding all that torture done to her is admirable but idk, look like I said this sounds like victim blaming, I just think her character could be a martyr, I think she is the type of character would sacrifice herself, especially if it’s a child like, I just find it hard to believe with her being a cleric and wanting to help people as well, anyway this is starting to sound rlly bad.

Like I said, I can’t find this information from a straight search so, it’s likely from a post on tumblr anyway, and who can say if that can be trusted, but I’m willing to believe it and put it here but with a huge DISCLAIMER , anyway, dream theory could help explain some characters more, like Korilla and even hope herself, but at the same time it kinda makes Raphael less yknow, evil, like it’s still torture but it isn’t physical ect and some ppl might not like that as it softens his villain persona a smidge, but also dream theory is very flimsy and can crumble in an instant, but it’s just a thought, or perhaps, it’s a theory- A Game Theory, thanks for reading.

[jullbnt]

I'm sorry, I don't really understand what you meant about EoW? What does it change if the Golden Goddesses die first and only create Hyrule after being reincarnated? Sorry if it's obvious haha, maybe I'm missing something ^^

I have no problem with the Three creating the entire world, that's what I understand from the "creation myth" told by the Deku Tree in OoT. The thing I have some issues with is that EoW implies that rifts have always opened throughout Hyrule even though that's never been mentioned before. But I understand that Nintendo wants to create new villains/lore and it also doesn't contradict everything that was established before, so I can live with it (and I'm really pleased that the Triforce and all are back). I guess we just need to imagine that it all happened off-screen and that the Tris always managed to close the rifts on their own before EoW. Another thing is that I thought Demise already represented primordial chaos, but maybe I was only mislead by his French name (Avatar du Néant = Avatar of the Void).

(Btw did you see that Nintendo added EoW to the official timeline a few days ago? It's no big surprise that it's on the DT between Triforce Heroes and LoZ, but it's still great to see it confirmed!)

Yes I've thought of having the dragons from SS die at some point and get replaced by the new ones from BotW (because as you said the thunder dragon demonstrated that they can die). That's one possibility I have in mind and it's probably the easiest way to do this, but I'd still prefer for them to be the same dragons from SS. I still need to think about it (as well as many other things) ^^

Since I'm not a fan of the Zonai I won't advocate for the dragons to keep the third eye haha! But it could have looked cool. I'm not sure they already had the Zonai in mind when they designed the dragons though, that's probably the explanation for the third eye's disappearance. Yes the thicker part at the end of their bodies and the big spike look a bit weird! That leonin tail would have looked good, especially on the Light Dragon since she also has a golden mane. I'm glad they didn't keep the giant horns though, they were a bit much.

I actually like the singing in SS (and Link's reactions), especially when they all gather to perform the Song of the Hero! It's mostly Faron's voice during dialogues that doesn't sit right with me. And the faces definitely look uncanny!

It's fine if you don't like this theory about the dragons! I'm not 100 % sold myself, just trying to make things work because I think having two separate sets of dragons with names inspired by the Goddesses is a bit confusing (especially if we add the Light Spirits on top of that). Water and ice are kind of the same element to me, but maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see 😆

Oh these dragon redesigns are so cool!! Let me just add a link to the original post to credit the artist (charcoaldustonmyfingers) in case anyone is still reading this.

Yes the dragons looked more unique in SS but they were actual characters so it makes sense that they would be more detailed. The names sound cool but maybe they would require an explanation as to why the Goddesses' names were mixed ^^

Oh you're right about the symbols on their foreheads in SS, I completely forgot about that. Guess I can't really act like it's not there haha! But I'll never be able to associate Farore with water and Nayru with thunder, it's really frustrating.

Yes Rauru could have mentioned that to Link, or maybe to Zelda when he explains he's the first king. And you're right they should have included something about Sonia and Rauru's descendance and the disparition of the Zonai, otherwise it just looks like a gigantic plot hole.

I know about Rhoam's diary of course ^^ It's just that I was never fully convinced by the idea that Zelda simply lacked a teacher so I tend to forget that the game provided this explanation (and I'm so used to my own headcanons that sometimes I forget they're just that). Mipha tried to help Zelda by explaining how her own magic worked, and (even though it's the cheesiest thing ever) it's rather obvious that she meant to say she accessed her healing powers by thinking about someone she loved, aka Link. Since Zelda's power awakes when she's trying to save Link, it seems Mipha was right. If so, Zelda's mother wasn't the only one who could have taught her, and maybe Rhoam should have sought the help of other magic wielders to train his daughter (kind of weird that he didn't). I really don't like the idea that Zelda's power works the same way as healing magic and that all she needed was love, but that's what the game implies (unless I'm completely wrong).

Also we don't know whether the queen and her ancestors actually possessed the same sealing power as Zelda. Being able to hear the voices of spirits is nowhere near being able to seal Ganon, but maybe the real sealing power only manifests when the Calamity appears (who knows). The thing is, that would make every woman born in the royal family a potential "Zelda". And I know it's not clear whether all Zeldas are the same person like Link is or if they only share the blood of the Goddess, but I like to think she gets reincarnated the same way Link does so that they can reunite (OoT Zelda mentions that Link is familiar to her). It just sounds weird that Hylia would make sure her Hero gets reborn over and over again but not her (and it might just be that everyone in Hyrule gets reincarnated anyway, just look at characters like Impa, Dampé or Beedle). And if all of Hyrule's princesses potentially inherit Hylia's power and just need a teacher, it sounds a lot less special. What about this "legend of Zelda", you know?

(It's also kind of dumb that no queen ever thought something like this could happen and took the time to write some sort of user manual, especially when it seems pretty common for queens to die quite young in Hyrule. I mean we've seen plenty of kings but never Zelda's mother)

Let's also remember that no other Zelda before had this sealing power, except maybe for Sky Zelda/Sun. So now if other random queens and princesses can inherit it, that would make them more powerful than all the Zeldas we know. That's another reason why I believe the Wild Era doesn't fit at the end of any of the three timelines, unless the Goddesses also changed the rules for Zelda's power when/if they merged the timelines.

My headcanon is that Zelda is the only one who can wield Hylia's power, so her mother being alive might not have made a difference. I like to believe that any Zelda needs to do the whole Skyward Sword pilgrimage with the Goddess Harp in hand in order to awake her divine nature, but of course this knowledge would get lost to time and no princess ever does it (though BotW Zelda was only missing the harp and specific rituals). In the end Zelda's desire to save Link and the bond between them as Hero and Princess would be enough of a trigger for her to bypass the rituals and access her power anyway (but not Hylia's memory as she does in SS). That's how I try to make what happens in BotW work with previous lore, but that's only my take.

Anyway I also like to believe the Queen was assassinated by the Yiga clan! I've seen this theory quite often in fanfic and it's pretty credible. I also like the idea that the "blood of the Goddess" part of Demise's curse would apply to the entire Hylian population.

I'm doing my best to find TotK's lore and story interesting, but it just doesn't do it for me. I listened to QuestWithAaron's videos (I actually think I already did so last year) and though the references to Japanese culture are evident and interesting, I just don't think it's enough to make a good story. Maybe I'm a bit too harsh, I don't know, or it's just not for me. I think Ganondorf is most interesting when he is his own character with his own motive (like Wind Waker Ganondorf), I don't want him to be nothing more than the incarnation of Demise's hatred once he gets his Secret Stone. I like the idea of Calamity Ganon being his lingering resentment or something like that, but when it comes to Ganondorf the man I expect something more. I would have loved a deeper exploration of his character with some nuance and maybe bits of his past. It had been 17 years since TP, we missed him! Now I'm not even sure we'll ever see him again and all we got was "I want to conquer" and then "I want to destroy", just because he's evil. And his little speeches about peace-loving cowards and how the world should be shrouded in darkness really didn't impress me. Sorry if this sounds harsh, I'm just so disappointed.

I agree about some of the tech, I actually really like the wings and the flame/laser throwers. I found the Mesoamerican influence interesting for the Zonai, but I think it doesn't fit the Hylians ^^

I would have disliked the Zonai a lot less if everything wasn't about them, sure. I think I would have been really happy with them being a new race populating the Depths for example, and that's kind of what I'm doing in my rewrite where I think they'll just be evolved Mogma. TotK would be a very different game without the Zonai/Rauru playing a major role though.

The thing with the "Zonai" from BotW is that this all gets very confusing. According to BotW/Creating a Champion they were a civilization mainly based in Faron Woods that worshiped a water dragon (which either means Naydra, Faron from SS or simply the river Dracos). Their statues also heavily imply that they worshiped the three aspects of the Triforce, represented by an owl (wisdom), a boar (power) and a dragon (courage). To me that sounds more like the ancestors of the Hylian themselves. And interestingly Faron in SS is associated with both water and courage (even though I don't like it haha), so the "water dragon" might really be a reference to SS. Many fans also assumed that the barbarian armor set was linked to the Zonai because its description mentioned "a warlike tribe from Faron".

Then according to TotK, the Zonai are from the sky (though they also mined the Depths), they are not a barbarian tribe but a technologically advanced race close to the gods, and one of them even was the first king of Hyrule. Also they are not shown to live in Faron Woods, and their clothing/armor looks nothing like the barbarian set. So either the Zonai had a weird barbarian phase at some point (I wouldn't expect that from sky beings but alright), either people at Nintendo simply changed their mind and retconned the Zonai from BotW.

I also don't really like the idea of Hylian-Zonai hybrids, I don't want to imagine how that works 😆 (sorry). But even if the Zonai from BotW were hybrids, the barbarian/savage/warlike part doesn't really make sense. I also can't imagine the Hero being anything but a Hylian and anyone but Link (same for Zelda), and at least if Nintendo was going to drop this Ancient Hero thing I think we were owed some sort of explanation ^^

Oh yes the gotcha machines and disposable technology were terrible, 100 % agree!

Your explanation about the Triforce vs. the Secret Stone wasn't confusing, I understand what you meant! Though I think the nature of Demon King Ganondorf is similar to that of Demise in TotK, so I still find it hard to believe that a Secret Stone would allow him to do something Demise could not (aka easily break the Master Sword). But maybe there's also a possibility that the Sword lost some of its power along the way, who knows. I also think Ganondorf has been able to corrupt the Triforce of Power before, to me that's what happens when he transforms into Ganon (he gets so drunk on power and resentment that he turns into a mindless beast that looks a lot like Calamity Ganon, and that's why Link needs the Master Sword). But I don't know, that's definitely interesting to think about!

I love Minish Cap too, it was one of my first Zelda games as well! In fact I was just replaying it last month. BotW's map definitely references locations from MC, but there are also places like Koholit Rock or Brynna Plain so it might just be more easter eggs. I'll try to see how it can work with my version of Hyrule ^^ Though my main problem with MC is more it's story. I can see perfectly how OoT follows SS, but when I try to fit MC between the two things start getting a bit clunky.

You know I don't get to discuss Zelda lore and timeline stuff in depth IRL, so this is really entertaining for me. I don't mind when you go on tangents, quite the contrary! I just hope this isn't too much scrolling 😆

Hi, sorry if this is a bit rude. 😅 I guess that I was just wondering. How would Jabul Waters, Zora Cove, & Crossflows Plaza be named in French?

I'm trying to give Jabul Waters an interesting name that works to go with my hc & I came up with "Jabuleaux." And Google Translate tells me that Crossflows Plaza would be Place des Flux Croisés. And, I'm seeing that Anse is the term to refer to a cove &, if that's true, then would Zora Cove be Zoranse? At the same time, somewhere else, it said that Anse actually means beach.

And, I believe that a town by a swamp would have cher, quier, bren, brin, or Hor- in it?

I'm sorry if this is weird... 😅

Hi! Don't worry it's not rude or weird at all! I offered to help and I'm happy to do so :D

Did you check the official French translations? I had a surprisingly hard time finding the French version of the map online so here's a screenshot I took myself:

Jabul Waters = Eaux de Jabule (this one only appears when I zoom out)

Zora Cove = Baie Zora

Crossflows Plaza = Place de l'Estuaire

In case you didn't know the Zelda Wiki often lists names for places or characters in various languages in the "Nomenclature" section of its pages. It's very helpful especially if you're searching for the original Japanese names. If we look at at the different names for Crossflows Plaza we can see that a literal translation from Japanese would be something like "Exchanging Place". I checked the Jisho dictionary and it seems to be an accurate translation, though "Place for Cultural Exchanges" would be more meaningful.

It's not exactly a good name in English so it makes sense that the localization team would come up with something like Crossflows Plaza instead, which in my opinion does a very good job of stating that this is both the place where the river meets the sea and where the two Zora tribes traditionally meet each other.

Other European languages all settled for variations of "Estuary Plaza" ("Place de l'Estuaire" in French), which is fine but looses the "cultural exchanges" aspect of both the original name and the English translation.

I've been trying to come up with a French translation of "Crossflows Plaza" but it's not that easy. To me "Place des Flots Croisés" or "Place Flots-Croisés" would sound better than "Place des Flux Croisés", but I still find it a bit weird ("flot" meaning flow, tide or stream). "La Croisée des Flots" is another option if you agree to get rid of Plaza/Place (it means "the intersection/junction of streams"), but I don't think it works very well as a name.

You could also mix words to create a name the same way it was done in English, something like "Place Croiseaux" (croiser/cross + eau/waters). If any of my French speaking followers is feeling inspired, please share your ideas! :)

(I just thought of "Place Cruciflot" and found it too funny not to mention 😆 maybe it sounds too much like crucifix)

In French we also have the word "confluence" that has the exact same meaning as it does in English: either the meeting of two rivers or a gathering of some kind. So to me the most obvious translation would be something like "Place des Confluences" or maybe "Place Confluence", as it would preserve the dual meaning, but it's not very fancy or creative. Maybe we could simply change the spelling to something like Place Konfluans, the same way "Village Côtier" (Seaside Village) is spelled "Village Kothié" (Seesyde Village). But it doesn't look like a French word anymore so I'm not sure that's something you'd like.

As for Jabuleaux, it can work but I prefer the official translation "Eaux de Jabule". Same thing for Zoranse, we would say "Anse Zora" or "Anse des Zora". The official French translation is "Baie Zora" (Zora Bay), which I think is more appropriate given the size of the sea inlet (in my understanding an anse/cove is a small baie/bay and isn't very deep). I think maybe it should have been bay in English as well instead of cove, but I might be wrong! Also I believe "anse" isn't used as often as "baie" and might be confusing for most people, so I would go with "Baie Zora".

I'm not sure where you found this information about swamps and town names? I didn't find anything to confirm it but I might not have looked in the right places.

French towns are often ancient and their names can derive from other languages such as Celtic, Occitan, Flemish, or regional dialects, so that's a very difficult question and I'm not sure I can give you a satisfying answer ^^

I still did a little search and found an Old French word for swamp, "palud" or "palu", that still appears in some town names such as La Palud-sur-Verdon, Saint-Pierre-la-Palud, Lapalud, etc. (today we say "marais" or "marécage"). You might be right about "bren", it could be something like muddy in Gallic.

There's also "vign" or "mign" (from Celtic), as in Mignéville or Lévignac, or l'Île de Migneaux on the Seine river (this one's in my city!).

Near where I grew up is a town named Hazebrouck, it literally means "hare swamp" (brouck/broek = swamp in Flemish). For a bit more French flavor you could maybe use -broucq or -breucq instead of -brouck.

I think the vast majority of French people have no clue about all of that (I didn't except for the last one and it's more Flemish than French), so I'd say don't oversweat it ;)

And that's all! I hope you'll find this helpful ^^

[silkjade]

hii!! just coming over from reading your genshin men as wedding dates pt 1&2 and OHMYGOD THAT WAS AMAZING😍i haven’t been this hooked on a fanfic in years🤩🤩🤩🤩please keep writing more amazing things like these🥰

oh and if you’re taking requests - genshin men (as many or as few as you want, i leave the character limit upto you) + pov: you like to leave little sticky note messages on the fridge for bae when he wakes up bc you need to leave super early for work, but one day you forget and….

💜much love to you and def hit the follow button so i can see more of your work!! if you have a tagslist please include me!💜

Aw thank you so much! I don’t have a taglist atm but I’ll be sure to add you if I ever make one in the future! And ty for sending in a request, this is such a cute, wholesome prompt 🫶

genshin men when you forget to leave a daily message

Featuring— diluc, childe, zhongli

gn!reader, modern au, established relationships

DILUC

as a big ceo, your boyfriend diluc travels a lot. it’s just unfortunate that the one morning he gets to sleep in, you had to go into work extra early

he might not always be home for your sticky note messages, but he sure loves reading them when he is. so needless to say he’s a little disappointed since your fun little messages always leave a small smile on his face

so he decides to do the same for you as a little surprise when you get home

except he leaves little notes everywhere

just to name a few…. on the tray where you leave your keys: ‘welcome home! i’ve missed you’ ; on your vanity mirror: ‘you are so beautiful’ ; on the refrigerator: ‘let’s go out for dinner tonight?’

his messages aren’t as fun or witty as yours but it’s the thought that counts and wait… on the shoe rack: ‘you’ve been running through my mind all day’

ok fine he asked kaeya for help on that last one; he swore it’d make you laugh (it did!)

CHILDE

he loves loves loves the little messages you write to him each morning; they're like his little daily motivators from you! and since you always stick it on the fridge, he just ends up taking it with him for the day as a good luck charm

so…he’s got a theory now because the one day you forget to leave a note for him…boom. worst day ever

nothing is going right. his luck could not get any worse today. like did scaramouche seriously just quit? and now he has to finish both their work by the end of the day? ugh that’s just as frustrating as the embarrassingly huge coffee stain on his shirt

at least in this case, causation does equal correlation

he’s super pouty and whiny and clingy when he gets home. basically tackles you, hugging you from behind while he’s soaking wet because of course it started randomly raining on his way home

“you’re my good luck charm y/n” and then proceeds to explain to you all of ajax’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

now you owe him lots of kisses and cuddles and two sticky note messages tomorrow (his terms)

ZHONGLI

he’s emotionally mature, he totally understands

but what he DOES worry about is whether in your rush to get to work, did you eat breakfast? did you forget anything? did you bring lunch?

luckily for you his only consultation appointment today isn’t until the afternoon so he is definitely preparing you lunch. and when he’s got the time…boy can this man cook (it’s canon hoyoverse told me themselves)

he knows your schedule like the back of his hand. the front desk calls right before your break to let you know someone’s here for you and surprise it’s zhongli dropping off homemade lunch

give him a big kiss on the cheek and he’ll be all ☺️

you open the pack and on top of your lunchbox is a sticky note: ‘Hope you’re egg-cited for lunch today, I made your favorite. See you at home, darling : )’

[anjels001]

Secrets of Devildom: Demons of Gluttony (part 1)

Anyone who has read the 7 Og theory and the life cycle (thanks @sparkbeast20 for the cooperation) knows that there are many holes in the annon and that many of the facts that occurred in the annon are not explained and/or left implicit without any context.

For those who are following these moments of theory, you can see that I have been talking a lot about the demonic classes, their "history" and culture before, during, and after the fall of the brothers focusing most of these moments on philosophical/mythological debates pointing out plot points that few would see and they would understand.

Well, we already talked about 3 of the seven classes of sins, namely Greed, Lust, and Sloth.

At this moment we will talk about the most deadly sin of existence, the sin whose principles are based on primordial laws, on the instinct of every living being, the sin that, however, underestimated for its strength, is still united (merged) with one of the greatest fatal causes in the world.

….(insert supernatural intro)…

...Let's talk about Gluttony now….

But before starting this moment of theory, I ask that you, dear reader, keep an open mind for this moment, and if you want to point out any flaws, or if I am forgetting something, remember that this is just a theoretical post. and I won't be upset if you want to add something to this conversation, I just ask that you reblog and tag me so we can exchange theories on the subject.

Like all theories about the demonic classes, I will start with the following question: what do we know about gluttony?

We know that, according to many religious texts,

"Gluttony is one of the cardinal sins, It is an exacerbated desire to consume without, beyond needs, it has to do with the loss of control over one's own body"-unknown.

Gluttony is the excessive consumption of food and drink, to which physical and spiritual ills are attributed, since it can lead to other sins, such as laziness.

It is also a manifestation of the pursuit of happiness in material things, as it is one of the many means people use to suppress psychological effects.

In short, the sin of gluttony, like almost all sins, is compounded by the lack of moderation of the basic instinct, which also presents itself as a symptom of a psychosomatic illness.

In this case, we can see that like many other sins presented by the brothers, Beel's sin, in addition to being an effect of being an avatar, is a result of his depression due to past events since he suffers from the need to fill a space through consumption. excessive, causing uncontrollable hunger.

With all the explanation about gluttony done let's turn our attention to the fandom and what we know about gluttony avatar.

As previously stated and noted on Fandom Beel, the brothers, grieve for the loss of their sister and the choices they made at that time.

The said character presents a classic case of survivor's guilt leading him to "drown" in his sin, in the cannon we can observe a difference in the behavior of the said character where it can be seen by the "memories" of the past of the brothers that bell was someone much more open and affectionate to strangers whereas in the "present" he only acts that way to those in his social-personal circle, aka his siblings.

My question is what would be the reason for such a change? with all this, in mind, I have developed some theories about what if this occurred during the fall.

Let's say that the layer of gluttony demons is an inhospitable and deserted place, whose law of survival is the only one applied in the place, where the strong devours the weak, a place where the rule is that the stronger the demon, the more hungry this one became...

imagine that this layer in hell before the coming of Beel was desertic, a lifeless plain that sustained nothing, a place full of danger with constant changes in temperature with a higher rate of infant mortality, compared to other demonic castes, where demons Gluttony had high fertility, but consumed their defective and weak offspring.

While the social cycle of the weakest (medium) demons consisted of a grouping together, where the "strongest" of them led, or that they joined the most powerful demon of their "region" offering food, defective puppies, or their own relative's weaker ones, in exchange for protection.

Now imagine that to assume the position of the avatar of gluttony Beel, he would have to devour his way, throwing away all his ethics and morals that he was taught in the celestial kingdom in search of satisfying the hunger and despair for the guilt of not having saved his family.

I can imagine the challenges of letting go of his instinct to help those who are hurt and to care for the weak, I can imagine how many times he tried to help the injured so that they would turn against him and brand him as weak...

With that in mind I think it's amazing how quickly MC managed to get close to him, although she had to prove herself by risking her own life against her "older" and more powerful brother, so I believe that the poor guy, bell, may have to feel a little dizzy because somehow this tiny living being faced off against one of the strongest avatars and lived to tell the tale!

Then again Lilith/Diavolo aka plot armor would not let the human die on his turn.

[mrs-gauche]

So, I had planned to write a comment on the three published synopses of the upcoming comic series "The Missing" (first volume to release on January 25th btw!), but since @felassan​​ kinda beat me to it and already wrote amazingly detailed posts summing up everything and elaborating further on what I fail to put into words lol, I'm just gonna add my pointless ramblings poor two cents to it now, I guess. 😶

(Beware also of spoilers for Tevinter Nights, Absolution and the comics under the cut!)

(Thanks Dark Horse btw, for already giving away half the plot with these, jeez 😂)

First off, when I first read the second synopsis, not gonna lie, I was genuinely surprised that Solas turned out to be the "former friend" in question. 😂 I know, it was kinda the obvious answer, but maybe that's why I wasn't really expecting it? I think the title also lead me a little astray here? Assuming that the title is actually referring to Solas.. Given the circumstances, referring to Solas as "missing" would be.. pretty funny and also more than a litte strange to me, actually? lol It would definitely raise a few questions here...

So, let us assume that the theory about the eight year timeskip since Trespasser turns out to be true. Have they (the Inquisition) been searching for Solas this entire time? And if that's the case, why is that so funny to me? 😂 (Especially considering the whole ending of Tevinter Nights, even though we can't really tell when exactly that last chaper took place.. Imagine they've been searching for him for the better part of a decade, and then he just pops up with a silly wig and a fake french accent at some tea house one day. lmaoo)

Furthermore, why is it *only* Varric and Harding that seem to be conducting this search? You would think that for something as crucial as finding the person that announced to destroy the world, there would be a few more people on this search than that? lol So, what's the rest of the remains of the Inquisition doing then? Are there several teams searching in different places maybe? To expand this search as far as possible? Maybe they're trying to keep a low profile by searching in teams of two, since it would reduce the risk of Solas finding out about what they're up to? I mean, wasn't that the whole reason for why they even said they needed to "find someone Solas doesn't know"/never sees coming at the end of Trespasser, to try and keep him in the dark about any efforts against him?

Also, speaking of Varric. Assuming that this story takes place after Absolution now, the ending of the series could explain why Varric left Kirkwall and his position as Viscount? Maybe, aside from trying to stop the obvious threat/end of the world, they are now desperate to seek help/information/any answers from Solas on what to do against the corruption of the Blight and the red lyrium spread? (Because if there's *anyone* who would know something, it's him right?) What does the state of the world look like in regards to the Blight and red lyrium in general after a potential eight year timeskip?

Okay, so why would they be searching for Solas in the Deep Roads beneath Marnas Pell then? Honestly, when I read this the first time, my mind (as always lol) immediately went back to the red lyrium idol again. And no, I still don't believe that a single thing about the Bard's tale in Tevinter Nights actually happened (but that's just me). lol So, assuming this happens after the end of TN (and Solas isn’t already in possession of the idol like he claimed), he would still be searching for that flippin thing now, wherever it may be. (How could the idol end up in the Deep Roads beneath Tevinter you ask? No idea. 😂) But I also can't forget about the ominous "Hunt of the Fell Wolf" poem from the Jaws of Hakkon DLC that talks of a demon wolf (Solas?) in a "labyrinth of winding cave" (Deep Roads?) where there's an "idol that could prove the monster’s doom"(!! Coincidence?? I think NOT! lmao).

Btw, wouldn’t it be kinda funny though if Solas was searching for the idol now, while Varric who found the idol with Hawke in the first place, is now searching for Solas? lol

So, what's the plan here exactly? Assuming they would be successful, in which case Varric and Harding find Solas and then.... what? You're telling me Varric and Harding are gonna tie him up and talk him out of his endeavors? 😂 Single-handedly kill him? Torture him with tea? Spy on him? Reminisce about the Inquisition days? lol I honestly think it's more likely that they would try to talk to him, being former friends and all, unless they have some type of super secret weapon against him that we don't know about yet.

So what *would* Solas be doing in the Deep Roads beneath Marnas Pell? (Besides, you know, painting yet another teaser trailer thumbnail for YouTube. lol)

(Our man has been procrastinating hard for the past eight years, painting as many Deep Roads cave walls as possible to avoid going through with his plans. lmao)

It's also worth to remember that a lot of Tevinter was actually build on the ruins of old Elvhenan, which could explain why there are still places with names like "Solas" to be found on the map. (And btw, what is it about this place that lead to it getting this name, anyway? I mean, that name practically guarantees for this place to become relevant in some form down the line in DA4, right? Especially since Solas' line about how he supposedly came from a "small village to the north" won't ever leave my mind and we all know that this man is always telling at least half the truth, so.. could he have been referring to the place literally called Solas, if that's his place of origin or would that be too much on the nose? 😂) Anyway, it definitely raises the question on how old some of these Deep Roads beneath Tevinter actually are and if there could be structures found beneath it that even precede them (like what we saw in The Descent)? And maybe that's part of the reason why Solas would go there..?

Anyway, since none of this actually seems to matter now, because as it turns out in synopsis two, apparently Solas wasn't there after all. 😂 Next stop is Vyrantium and an encounter with "deadly Antivan Crow assassins", which is interesting, since the last we heard of Vyrantium and crows, it was in the "The Wigmaker Job" in TN. Additionally, the cover of volume two features two characters that kinda look like the crows Teia and Viago!

I'll be honest, I had completely forgotten that Teia and Viago even made an appearance in Deception. lol But the look does kinda match? So the question is, what lead Varric and Harding to go from the Deep Roads to Vyrantium and then to the Arlathan Forest?

So, the Arlathan Forest. Again, please check out felassan’s post for more information, they’ve done a fantastic job to write down every important bit to know here. Much like Teia and Viago, it was also featured in both TN and one of the short stories “Ruins of Reality”. As were the characters Strife and Irelin! Could they be the mysterious “Veil Jumpers”? What even is a Veil Jumper, anyway (felassan gave some pretty cool speculations on this!)?

Former DA4 Creative Director Matthew Goldman made an interesting comment on a fanart once, that lead people to speculate that the group of people we've seen in a lot of concept art are called “Veilfire archer”?

..Which does sound to be in the same vein as Veil Jumper, so could they all be part of the same group of people/an entirely new faction even?

(Notice also the recurring background with the golden/autumn leaves. Reminds me of the leaves and branches seen on the (now removed) vinyl cover (showing the Black City *cough* Arlathan *cough*??).)

And lastly, what is this "crucious stone" and how does it relate to literally anything? lol While felassan did speculate about a potential link to Latin/Tevene, someone else pointed out that "crucious" is literally Greek for "crucial". So.. plot crucial stone? lol As in, literally another MacGuffin? (Red lyrium idol, you're getting competition lol) The fact that it's Greek is interesting to me, given that we've been speculating for a while now that BioWare seems to take a lot of inspiration from Greek mythology for anything regarding the ancient elves. 👀 And since we *are* in the *Arlathan* forest here after all, maybe that's where the connection lies..?

People have also pointed out that, based on the track Varric and Harding have been taking so far, first Marnas Pell, then Vyrantium and now the Arlathan Forest...

...assuming that, if they were to go further east, they would end up at the White Spire, which is why some people assume that this is where Solas has to be now. lol

I mean, anything is possible! We know next to nothing about the White Spire (not to be confused with the White Spire in Orlais btw lol), other than it's an Antivan mountain north of the city of Brynnlaw, so there is really nothing else to go on as to why Solas would even be there.. But considering how they are marketing this comic as a direct tie-in for DA4 and there’s still one volume to go (I think?).. Maybe we do end up knowing where Solas is at the end of this comic and this will segue directly into the beginning of DA4 somehow?

(I also want to mention that Rivain is also right next to the White Spire when going even further east. Rivain being also where the main base of a certain guild of treasure hunters is located. Lord of Fortune has been a very popular candidate for the potential next protagonist for a while now. Just saying... 👀)

[temporoom]

Analysis of VnC’s main characters clothes’ symbolic

Someone asked me some time ago to make an analysis of VnC’s clothes, and given such a vague task, I replied that I wouldn’t. Yet here I am, a few weeks, tons of documents checked one after another, and a few notes in my schoolbooks corners later, to give you the results of my analysis. Because there is indeed something to say about VnC’s outfits, and given that someone asked me to do it, I will be the one to talk about it with you all. Even if there are probably a good amount of people more capable than me who could have done it.

To start, I want to mention that I will deliberately ignore all historical aspects of the clothing to solely focus on their symbolic. The reason for that choice is due to the lack of historical accuracy in Mochizuki Jun’s work, so instead of trying to pull my hair searching for garments that could vaguely fit what is drawn in the manga, I will simply ignore it altogether. Also because I am not an historian, so I would probably make more mistake than raise points if I ever tried to show the differences. (I want to mention that I did try to search for historical accuracy... hence why I decided I wouldn’t anymore)

Secondly, this post will be about the main four characters (Vanitas, Noé, Dominique, and Jeanne) and their “main” outfit. Any variations, or alternate outfits won’t be analyzed here, but they can be mentioned if needed. 

Finally, this post will contain spoilers for the manga up to whapter 53, if you are not up to date, I would advise you to leave this post aside and take it back once you are. If you are, or if you don’t mind being spoiled, then go ahead.

Now, buckle up, because it’s going to be a long ride.

Before we start, here are a few things to note about how those analysis will be structured, as well as some things to remember when reading them:

Introduction: Just a few lines to remind you of some of the character’s traits which could influence this analysis, as well as give you a taste of what I will explain.

Base color: Forget about color theory here, the signification of colors varies wildly from cultures to peoples. Here, in MochiJun’s works, they symbolize an affiliation to a group.

Black and White: Given this story is drawn in black and white, those hues are important to effectively represent a character in this format. In The Case Study of Vanitas, we add another layer to it by adding a symbolic using the Yin and the Yang, a Chinese concept which literally translates to the “dark” and the “light” and serves to demonstrates how two contraries cannot exist without the other (as well as to explain various things about daily life). I will make a clear distinction between “opposing” and “completing” when it comes to those.

Outfit’s Cut: The length of this part will vary from a character to another, it can either reflects their personalities, or references another thing entirely.

Some Details: Optional and depending on characters, it’s usually about small accessories.

Conclusion: A few words to end the character’s clothes analysis and summarizes everything I explained during it.

Now that you have the basis to start this post, let’s get right into it.

Vanitas 

Vanitas is an interesting case since his outfit by itself, and amongst all other characters, puts into light his true character. For someone as mysterious and as secret as him, his look actually gives out a lot about who he truly is. Most of what Jun Mochizuki gave out is presented on a practical standpoint, but I assure you, there is plenty of symbolic behind it.

First, his color palette: blues and black. As expected, the blue is here to represent his affiliation to the Blue Moon Clan and his role as the heir of the Vampire of the Blue Moon’s name and powers. You can also note that he shares his base color with Luna and entire palette with Mikhail.

As for the black: Vanitas represents the Yin, which, funnily enough, is associated with concepts that… overall describes him very well (I will only write here the ones that are worth noting): moon, earth, winter, night, what retracts, the woman, the commoner, mourning, the student, silence, and receiving. I put in bold the obvious, and the rest is going to be explained through this analysis.

If you remember what I explained about what the Yin and Yang are, then you certainly understood why Noé’s color palette works so well with Vanitas: he is the direct completion of his hues (dark coat over white shirt, white coat over black shirt), which makes of Noé Vanitas’ Yang. But also with Jeanne, not as his completion but as his opposite this time (since she doesn’t have black in her outfit). Luna also served as a form of Yang to him by fitting the archetype of the teacher to his student, though they are most certainly more of the Yin type as well.

Now, onto the cut of his outfit, there are two main points about Vanitas’ outfit and one more minor one: the two main ones are about how it directs your eyes and how it protects him from the cold, and the minor one is about how weirdly feminine it is. Because yes, there is some kind of logic behind the outrageous shape of his coat, the gloves with integrated nails, the piercings and the many glorious bows, beyond being extra.

When you see Vanitas’ outfit, your eyes are immediately drawn to one part of his outfit or another: whether it is the kimono sleeves or the balloon shape of his coat, or his long dark gloves with what seems to be claws, or maybe the large bows on either his hips or his chest, or even the amazing jewelry to his ears… The fact is: you are not looking at him in the end, but at his accessories. That is of course on purpose, and since Vanitas is a contradictory being, he will of course make you look at him, so you don’t actually look at him. You will see his coat without seeing the weapons under it, you will see his gloves without noticing the Vampire of the Blue Moon’s mark, you will look at his jewelry without looking at his face… You think you are looking at him, you think you have him figured out, but you aren’t, you only have the façade he wants to show to you. Only by removing all those artifices should you be able to finally stare right back at him.

Since the coat will be our main subject of this analysis (there is a lot to say about this coat), don’t you think it seems rather warm? Vanitas often uses the sleeves to hide his hands in it after all, and it looks rather large and comfortable. We can’t also forget the fact that he always has spats over his legs. We already know, as there is an emphasis on it in the story, that Vanitas can’t stand the cold. He is constantly protecting himself from it by adding layers over layers but doesn’t actually seeks source of warmth in his environment. Remember what I said about Yin? The winter. Vanitas is by nature cold, and so, he naturally attracts and is attracted to people that represent the summer (Noé) and the spring (Jeanne), both aspects of the Yang. (It’s also worth noting that in all of the modern AUs MochiJun has made, Vanitas is always wearing warm clothes such as cardigans and scarfs).

And to finish with the coat, that minor point about Vanitas clothes: they are… weirdly feminine. I mean… We are talking about a coat which basically gives him a silhouette similar to the ideal feminine silhouette of the time and long kimono sleeves which were clearly only worn by women. Without forgetting his long hair, the belt with the bow on his hips (which is either a children garment’s accessory or a woman’s one), the pants which gives an impression of wider hips… I have my doubts about this one, hence why I added it as a “minor” detail… But It really does strike me. Though as I am lacking clear evidence of what it could mean, this remains as only a thing to remember in case it is ever brought up.

To finish this off, I’ll give a reminder about his hourglass earring. Symbol of time, imagery of inevitable end and/or death… It was only natural that someone with a name such as “Vanitas” would have this as an accessory. As for its importance, beyond what I said about its symbolic, it is hard to tell at this point in the story. So let’s simply remember this fact in case it ever needs to be brought up again.

In conclusion: Vanitas’ look is a reflection of himself. A contradictory being, wishing to be seen and yet not uncovered, fearing the cold but preferring to hide behind layers of fabric rather than going close to an actual source of warmth… Only when the artifices are taken away will he finally reveal who he truly is under all of those. Though just like the coat slipping off his shoulder, he already has revealed some of his light to those he gave his trust.

Noé Archiviste

Noé is a difficult case. You see, we learn under the cover of volume 3 that Noé doesn’t buy his clothes himself, instead, his teacher and Dominique do it for him... Because of that, it’s hard to tell who is the one in charge of his appearance: him, or the people who buys his clothes for him? In this analysis, I will mostly consider it as Noé choosing the way he dresses when it comes to the overall look. Though I want you to remember that the small details were most likely chosen by his Teacher and Dominique.

Noé’s color palette is made of purples and white. It demonstrates his affiliation to the Shapeless One as seen through Louis and Dominique’s color palettes which also leans towards some shades of purples for the most part. (And while we don’t have the Teacher’s exact color palette, it is still pretty clear that Louis, Dominique and Noé form their own group amongst vampires). It also serves to place Noé as a neutral figure between the Blue Moon Vampire and the Crimson Vampires, since if you remember, mixing red and blue gives purple.

For his white… As you know, Noé is Vanitas’ Yang’s counterpart. Again, it fits him on numerous points: sun, sky, summer, day, what expends, the man, the noble, marriage and birth, the teacher, the word, and giving. You probably noticed that I didn’t put in bold the words which serves as direct counterpart to Vanitas’. It’s simply because the use of the Yin and the Yang is mostly a loose basis for those character designs, while it can fit perfectly on some points, it can also not fit for others. Without forgetting that some of those symbolics can also be used by other characters.

When it comes to the cut of his outfit, Noé is the most historically accurate character in the entire story for now. Dressed elegantly, but also comfortably (to let him move as he pleases), in contrast to Vanitas, there is no mysteries in his look. Noé’s skin tone and hair color already make him stand out amongst other characters, and given his issues with being Archiviste, it is no wonder he dresses in order to fit in the crowd. While Vanitas direct the eyes towards him to hide himself, Noé makes sure the eyes don’t end up on him. We can also see this as him dressing like a blank canvas, something that has yet to be painted or written.

To end with a detail, I want to talk about Noé’s small mirror on his top hat. Similarly, to Vanitas’ hourglass, this mirror tells a lot about what his role and fate are in the story. We can also note that the Teacher also wears a similar mirror as a brooch but his is broken. As an Archiviste, Noé can see people’s memories by drinking their blood but also feel them as if those were his own. In a way, looking at Noé after he drank someone’s blood is like looking at the reflection of this person in Noé. He is the mirror of people’s feelings. There is most likely a second meaning behind this mirror, just like the hourglass, but at this point in the story, it is hard to tell. So let’s just remember it for future uses just in case.

In conclusion: Noé’s outfit serves to complete Vanitas’ one. By being the neutral and discreet one, he contrasts Vanitas to shine in his own way. There is not much to say about his look because Noé has yet to give out his own mysteries. But do not worry, even if we are merely looking at a reflection for now, soon enough, we shall find out what lies behind the mirror…

Dominique de Sade

If I talk about Noé, I have no other choices but to follow with Dominique. As mentioned above, Dominique is one the people who dresses Noé, so some parts of his outfit end up referencing her, whether it is on purpose or accidentally. She is also one of the most complex character when it comes to her outfit since it gives out many information whether it is about her role in the story or who she is as a person, even more than Vanitas.

Right off the bat, something is striking with Dominique: she has more than one base color. Her current color palette is made of purple, gold, and magenta, with a well-balanced mix of white and black. Why is that? Well, I could argue first that it seems to be a de Sade thing, since her older sister Veronica has a similar color palette (albeit she replaced the magenta with some dark reds), which makes me think it is used as a way to demonstrate how the de Sade are divided by their beliefs and morals yet united by blood and lineage. As such, Dominique wears the purple of her grandfather, the gold of her status as a noble (or it could the de Sade’s base color but for now I mostly think it’s to represent nobility) and finally… the magenta of the Crimson Vampires. (More about this color in Jeanne’s part) I could also suppose it could be used as a way to demonstrate Dominique’s mixed feelings towards herself, and how she feels dissociated with her own being.

Let’s further develop that feeling of dissociation by talking about the hues of her clothes. Dominique is one of the rare characters who mixes both the Yin and the Yang and isn’t catered to only one of the two. But this equal mix of both isn’t natural, since her base was indeed a Yin as you can see from her hair color and her dark clothes in the flashbacks. If you look at what the Yin symbolizes, you can easily link it back to who she is at her core: autumn, what retracts, the woman, the youngest sibling, mourning, and silence. While her association to the Yang is more about what she aspires to be, how she wants others to perceive her: what expends, the man, the noble, the elder sibling, marriage and birth, and the word. Then is her Yang merely a performance compared to her Yin? I don’t think so. I believe both of those parts are inherent parts of who she is, based on the balance of hues in her outfit, as well as what we have been able to witness in the latest chapters. This fusion of the two serves one purpose, one which aligns with what I have said up until now about her color palette: her duality.

After her brother’s death, Dominique acquired Yang traits in order to fill the void left by his absence. If, as twins, we consider that Louis was Dominique’s Yang, then it becomes clear that once he was gone, she ended up with part of herself left incomplete. But unlike Vanitas or Noé who ended up finding someone to complete their Yin and Yang respectively, Dominique overcame this by “acquiring his Yang”. To add to this: if you look at Dominique’s current clothes next to Louis’ clothes, then you’ll notice how they work to complete one another, just like how Vanitas’ and Noé’s garments do. The anime emphasizes this idea of “fusing” even more by giving to Dominique two hues of purple: a desaturated one which represents Louis, and a more saturated one which is supposed to represent herself (you can also notice it in the countdown arts MochiJun made for the anime).

Let’s switch to an entire new subject: the cut of her garments. Dominique’s entire look is a reference to a type of androgynous female characters, more precisely to the protagonist of Versailles no Bara: Oscar. Oscar is a young noble woman who was raised as a man by her father (but kept “the heart of a woman”) and became a royal guard at the Versailles’ court, during the events which would later lead to the French Revolution. MochiJun could have simply want to use this archetype for Dominique, but given the context of Versailles no Bara, I doubt it’s merely a coincidence that Dominique fits Oscar’s description so well. You can also note that Oscar wasn’t just any royal guard, but Marie-Antoinette’s personal bodyguard, the future queen. If you remember my mention of Dominique’s magenta and what it means… I think you won’t have any troubles putting two and two together.

Finally, if we have to talk about the cut of the outfit without talking about what it references, then we have a uniform which gives us an androgynous look. It’s both impersonal and extravagant, something to be expected of someone trying to fit in with the de Sade. I wouldn’t call Dominique’s appearance a façade however, as I do believe Louis’ death helped her to explore both her sexuality and gender through her attempts at imitating him.

In conclusion: Dominique’s outfit is a representation of her duality. She belongs to multiple groups without knowing where to lie her allegiance in yet, and fits both male and female traits through her imitations of her deceased brother, Louis. Dominique is by essence divided within herself and has yet to find out who she truly is or what she truly desires. I personally like to describe her as a “princess dressing as the prince she is waiting for”, since she tries to complete what she lacks by her own means and is still so indecisive. The question is then: Will she find the “prince” who will save her? Or will she leave the tower through her own strength?

Jeanne

We are finally to our last outfit analysis of this post: Jeanne. Who is, as you may already know, an entire reference to Joan of Arc. (Who I will call Jeanne d’Arc because I’m French) It’s kind of important for this analysis, so I’ll a make a quick summary of Jeanne d’Arc’s story in this introduction: during the 15th century, Jeanne d’Arc was a 13-year-old girl living with her family in a small village in France, one day, she heard voices from saints telling her to go the capital, to make the heir of the kingdom of France king, and free the country from the English invasion. She did exactly just that, winning a great battle in Orleans at 17, but was later captured by the English who burnt her alive at the age of 19, in Rouen. She changed the course of the Hundred Years’ War through her actions alone, was canonized in 1920 and became a Saint. Of course, our Jeanne in The Case Study of Vanitas is not the actual Jeanne d’Arc from that time, merely someone sharing her name. But given that she is known as a witch amongst the vampires, and her role as Luca’ chevalier (the heir of the throne), we can definitely see the similarities. But now that this reminder has been said, let’s go back to our clothes’ analysis!

Similarly, to Vanitas and Noé, Jeanne has a straightforward color palette made of magenta and white. As I mentioned in Dominique’s part of the analysis, the magenta is the symbol of the Crimson Vampires. The reason for this color to be the one affiliated to the crimson vampires instead of plain red is because magenta, like cyan and yellow, is one of the primary colors… and the VotBm’s blue is actually closer to a cyan than an actual blue. We are using the primary colors used when creating light here, and not the ones used in painting, hence why you must be slightly confused. Trust me, it makes sense. But in other words: if Vanitas represents the Blue Moon, Jeanne represents his opposite, the Crimson Moon.

As for her white, of course you can expect it to symbolize the Yang, but in Jeanne’s case, it seems slightly more complicated than that. If you look at her Bourreau outfit in her flashbacks, you can see it was entirely black. In that case, her white has nothing to do with Yang, but rather about how she is in a better place now, that she isn’t forced into darkness like she used to. Rather than give her some traits which could symbolize her, it rather shows her progress in life. Though I will still list some of the Yang traits that fits her: sun, spring, day, what expends, the sovereign, the eldest, marriage and birth, the word, and giving. (Some of the words I chose are based on speculations). We can also note that unlike our three other main characters, her outfit is entirely devoid of black, which serves for me to confirm to you that she is not Vanitas’ completion but his opposite.

Finally, for the cut of her outfit: MochiJun seemingly went for a mix between different coats and uniforms over the centuries for this one, the result is that the upper part of her outfit looks weirdly Russian with its closure on the side and the fur alongside the edges (I’ll suppose it was accidental). Though the lower part is clearly meant to serve as a reminder for who is her reference with the armor arts over her legs, as well as the round pattern around the edges of her socks with is reminiscent of edges found in some middle-age clothes.

It also, just like Vanitas’ clothes, looks pretty warm. As for the reasons for such a choice, I still don’t know them. Is it because she is supposed to bring warmth to Vanitas? But then why would she be needing it as well? Or maybe it simply means nothing. In any cases, we should know soon enough.

In conclusion: Jeanne outfit serves to represent her as Vanitas’ opposite. If Vanitas represents the Blue Moon, then Jeanne represents the Crimson Moon. If Vanitas represents the darkness, then she represents the light… But despite having such an opposition, they are not made to complete one another. Though it raises a question, if Jeanne is the Crimson Moon… then who is she really?

Final Thoughts :

This analysis is meant as a base for other analysis and/or theories, as such, most of my speculations were cut in order to allow you to form your own opinion on what I deduced. I could even go further and go on a full rent about the chromatic circle, primary colors (light) and what it could mean for the future of certain characters in VnC. Whether those details and peculiarities in their outfits were intentional or not, we can at least acknowledge how well they fit their character.

I hope you enjoyed your reading of this analysis as much as I suffered making it (4 draft of 7k words each), but the result paid off so well I can only feel pride. If you want to listen to my theories of VnC and colors, or what things I deduced from this analysis, don’t hesitate to go in my askbox, or my curiouscat to ask me anything. Though I warn you I doubt I could make such a complete analysis again before a long time.

Thank you for reading me, and I hope you have a nice day!

[mischiefandspirits]

Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

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

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

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

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

[baeddel]

is Caliban and the witch worth reading?

i've never read it. i've had the good fortune to have discussed it with three good friends who have, however. cc @canmom @epee-prisme @matador

i think it's worth reading. anything is worth reading. but is it a better use of your time than reading Lazarillo or Religio Medici or Tsurezuregusa? i apparently did not think so.

here is my best argument against reading Caliban and the Witch. Caliban and the Witch is Federici's big book where she proves her theories about primitive accumulation and reproductive labour by putting them to use in an analysis of the origins of capitalism. it is thus a test of a theory using history. but all of the history she uses is wrong. she inflates figures up to orders of ten, she neglects relevant facts and includes false ones. insofar as it is history it is bad history; so insofar as it attempts to prove its theory through history, it fails to prove it. now you are reading for the theory alone, which, while not proved by this book, might still be correct. but if you are reading for the theory alone, why read Caliban and the Witch when the theory has been laid out just as well elsewhere? you should instead read Fortunati's Arcane of Reproduction (1981) and Federici's Revolution at Point Zero (2012). between the 151 pages in Fortunati's book and the 148 pages in Federici's book you'll have to read 299 pages. since the first section of the Revolution... covers much of the same material as the Arcane... you could skip the first 65 pages and read only 234 pages all together. that commits you to between 15 and 80 more pages than you'd need to read to finish the Caliban... (all page numbers exclude covers, acknowledgements, etc.), all covering the theory in more detail and unburdened by factual inaccuracies.

you might want to read for other reasons, although those reasons still might not persuade us. you might read for Federici's wit, but the author of Lazarillo is more witty. you might read for Federici's clever rhetoric, but Thomas Browne's rhetoric is more clever. you might read for Federici's moving arguments, but Yoshida Kenkō's arguments are more moving. is there no reason to ever read Caliban and the Witch? lets not go too far.

here is my best argument for reading Caliban and the Witch. it is, first of all, better to read bad history than good history. when you feel comfortable in the hands of a scrupulous historian you will accept whatever they say. when you know the historian is unscrupulous and expect them to lie you will accept nothing they say. in the first case you will relax as you read and let yourself be impressed by the facts; in the second case you will investigate every claim and scrutinize every argument. we are lazy readers of good history and vigilant readers of bad history. even worse, after you have finished a good history you will set it aside and feel satisfied that you have learned something; yet soon you will forget it, and you have really learned nothing. while you read a bad history you will 'read around the subject', you will confront it with other sources, and you will feel proud and tell your friends whenever you defeat one of its false claims; after you finish you will seek out good criticisms and perhaps write your own. you will never forget this bad book and how you got the better of its scandals.

second of all, the task of reading the Caliban will be to extract the theory from the false facts. the task of reading the Arcane and the Revolution will be to scrutinize this theory which is naked in those texts. it is much easier to discover the underlying theoretical structure of a text than it is to scrutinize it. in the first case you need only the Caliban itself. but to scrutinize the Arcane and the Revolution you will have to be aware of Marx's theory of value and what he means by production, of the various conditions enjoyed by women in various societies, and of competing theories like Roswitha Sholz's value-dissociation. so while you may only need to read 15 more pages to finish the Arcane and the Revolution, in reality you may need to read a few thousand pages before you feel satisfied, whereas with the Caliban you will feel satisfied after only 219 pages.

we admit these are crummy arguments. instead of reading bad histories it would be better to become a vigilant reader of good histories; and you should of course not read only to understand one book but to understand the things it discusses. let me make my real best argument, then. what if we were to read the Caliban not as an academic history, and then find that it is a bad one, but as the same kind of "useful history for life" that Nietzsche liked to write? if you wanted to know something about the history of Chrsitian morality you would be very poorly served by reading the Genealogy of Morals. Christian morality was not first developed by slaves, so it couldn't really be a 'slave revolt' against the morality of slavemasters. but if you feel you have defeated the Genealogy with only this fact you will have fundamentally misunderstood that book and everyone will say so. in the same way that in Plato's dialogues there are not just arguments but characters and situations, and in the Zhuangzi there are not just ideas but "striking images" "the darkness of the Northern Ocean, the bird Peng, the cicada and the dove, the giant gourd and the useless tree" which, for Møllgaard (2005), adds up to a "speculative rhetoric" ("borrow[ing] the term coined by Pascal Quignard") which the arguments about language and understanding cannot be extricated from, in the Caliban we find witches burned at the stake, women in bridles, the trossfrau platoons of sex workers marching after soldiers, heretics living communally on the outskirts of society, and so forth, a speculative rhetoric made up of some things which happened often, some things which happened rarely, and some things which Federici made up. as academic history we find it to be false and dismiss it trivially. but it was ultimately not the inflated figures that made it so useful to communist trans women (we virtually all read and loved it even though it is expedient now to pretend otherwise). perhaps we have not yet begun to really read Caliban, or we have forgotten how to read it. so you should read it, not alongside serious histories about the witch trials and early capitalism, but alongside Nietzsche's On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life (1874) and books about hermeneutics. you must begin a new reading of Caliban and the Witch, the coordinates of which we do not already have on hand.

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Serenade (Daniela Dimitrescu/Reader) Pt. 9

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T for language + mentions of sensitive topics Warnings: Referenced past abuse. Does not go into detail. Notes: Longest Serenade chapter yet at 4k+ words! Bit of angst, majority is fluffy fluffer fluff though. Next chapter is maximum h*rny, with two versions depending on reader, uh, equipment. EDIT: Forgot to put title, like dumbass. Past Chapters: Pt. 1: Nocturne, Pt. 2: Overture, Pt. 3: Accelerando, Pt. 4: Toccata, Pt. 5: Poco a Poco, Pt. 6: Elegy, Pt. 7: Harmony, Pt. 8: Obbligato

Chapter 9: Berceuse

(Berceuse: A lullaby. Generally slow and undulating.)

One moment you’re playing the piano, lovingly demonstrating a song you’d like Daniela to learn, the next you’re blue screening as she places a teasing kiss to your neck. It takes all of your willpower to keep playing, improvising a way to end the song right then and there. Then you’re turning to Daniela, eyes wide, blushing hard. She’s giggling. When she regains her composure, you give her a confused expression.

“I’m pretty sure this is the first time you’ve made real eye contact with me all morning. What gives?” She asked, frowning slightly. Awkwardly rubbing the back of your neck, you avoid her gaze, doing little else than proving her point. This frustrates her, and she lets out an aggravated sigh. I should probably tell her what happened, you think, dreading the idea. Still, the two of you had been making an effort to communicate better. What kind of partner would you be if you didn’t tell her about her mother’s intervention?

“Okay, okay… I wasn’t sure how to bring this up, but if I’m being this obvious about it anyway…” You started, trailing off anxiously. In response, Daniela places one of her hands over yours, giving you a reassuring squeeze. Though your face somehow gets even redder, the action gives you the courage required to continue. “I had another progress update meeting with your mother yesterday. I was worried, since this was the first one where you weren’t present, but I didn’t- I mean, er… Fuck it, she knows you’re interested in me. Doesn’t think we’re already together, thank God, but she told me, and I quote, that my response should be ‘swift and uninterested’. What are-” before you can finish you’re cut off by a loud groan, followed by your girlfriend cradling her head in her hands. Yeah, you think, this is about what I expected.

“Of course she did! I can’t have anything nice,” Daniela snapped, having gone from ten to sixty real quick. You’re just glad that she wasn’t taking it out on the piano. “How would she even know about us? I only stare at you when she’s not looking!” Oh? Since when did she stare at you? Certainly if Lady Dimitrescu had noticed, you would have as well?... Then again, the few times where all three of you were in the same room usually involved you working while they chatted or ate together. Still, the idea of Daniela making heart eyes at you from across the room was enough to make you blush again. “Look, she’s probably making some assumptions. There’s no way she knows as much as she thinks she does, at least not about us. So let’s just be careful- ugh, I sound like Bela- and otherwise keep doing what we do. Alright, songbird?”

“If you’re sure, then so am I. Let’s try to focus on our lesson for now, though,” you replied, doing your best to sound confident. Hoping to add in a little reassurance, you give Daniela a quick peck on the cheek. Unsurprisingly she ‘dodges’, instead kissing you on the lips, but you hardly mind at all. When she pulls back she’s got a huge grin on her face.

“Lesson now, fun later, got it. Speaking of later… You and me, inside the library, right after lunch. I’ll tell mother we’re going over theory and key recognition, but really-” she leans in close, mouth barely an inch from your ear “it’s a date. Don’t worry about getting caught, I’ve already made sure that neither Bela nor Cassandra will interrupt.” Your heart skipped a few beats at her suggestion, and you had to admit… you were beyond excited for this. When was the last time you had gone on an actual date? Years ago, just a month before you left your hometown and moved to the village. That had been a date you’d spend the rest of your life regretting… then again, it was what made you leave in the first place. And if you hadn’t left, you’d have never met Daniela.

Maybe it hadn’t been that bad after all.

————————————

Four minutes past one in the morning, you shuffled nervously towards the library, with note cards in hand. Even if you weren’t really going to help Daniela study, you wanted to be prepared in case you bumped into anyone along the way. After all, this was the night shift, when most of the servants were up and about, accomplishing any tasks deemed ‘too noisy’ to be done while the manor occupants slept. Thankfully, the fact that lunch had just finished meant a fair amount of workers would be busy cleaning up the dining hall. In the end, you only passed one other servant, but it was the only one you hadn’t felt confident about running into: Daphne.

Despite your long-standing friendship (having known each other in the village, and being brought to the castle within the same week), you had yet to tell her about your relationship with Daniela. Which by itself wouldn’t have been too bad, if not for the fact that she could tell you were hiding something from her. This had, understandably, put a damper on your friendship. From her perspective, there was nothing you shouldn’t be able to tell her. Even you weren’t sure if you should be more honest, all things considered. There was no way she’d ever tell someone else about your situation. But if one day you got in trouble for lying to Lady Dimitrescu… and somehow someone figured out that Daphne knew too, well, she’d be just as fucked as you, if not more so. After all, there was a chance that Daniela’s affection for you would lead to a lighter punishment. Not that being exiled into the forest was much better than being flat out killed.

So when you saw Daphne heading towards you, you tried to get by with a simple smile and a brief wave.

“Aren’t you even going to say hi?” Daphne asked, tone stiff but filled with disappointment. It catches you off guard, to the point where you drop your note cards. Immediately you’re squatting down, gathering them up, taking the excuse not to look at your friend. She doesn’t move to assist, instead pausing in the hallway to watch you. “We were supposed to stick together, you know? But it’s like becoming Lady Daniela’s little plaything made you think you’re better than the rest of us. Better than me.” That last part was barely more than a whisper, and you freeze in place, hand still hovering over one of the cards. “I shouldn’t have said anything, it doesn’t matter. Just try not to get yourself killed, alright? I don’t want to be the one to clean up your corpse.”

“Daphne, wait, please!” You said, finally moving to your feet, blocking your friend’s path. When she looks at you, you can just barely make out tears in the corners of her soft blue eyes. “I’m sorry, really. I… I can’t tell you what’s going on because I can’t risk getting you in trouble. You’re my best friend, Daph, and I don’t want anything happening to you just because I was doing something reckless.”

“Do you really think I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you?” Daphne questioned, with a bitter laugh. She’s shaking her head in disbelief, even as you stare at her, shell shocked. “Maybe the others haven’t caught on yet, but I’ve seen the way she looks at you, and I’m not oblivious to the way you talk about her. I figured you’d tell me eventually… It’s been weeks, though. More than that, I mean seriously, don’t you think I’d go down for you in a heartbeat? There was a time where I was sure the two of us would do anything for each other, ride or die when the dying part was a guaranteed end to all of this. Something tells me that’s not the case anymore.” Now she refuses to meet your gaze, instead staring down at what few note cards still lay on the floor.

“That’s still the case, I promise. It’s hard enough to look past what our employers do to strangers. If they hurt you? I’d never dream of forgetting, let alone forgiving them,” you explained. It’s enough to make her look back up, but she’s far from smiling.

“If that’s the case, maybe I’m looking at the wrong signals. But I’ve got to go, and I assume you do too. Take care,” she said, before slipping past you as quickly as she can. Then you’re left to gather the last of your note cards, mind whirling. Cruel as the thought may be, you hoped that this wouldn’t ruin the mood for your date. The best your mind could do to cope was focus on one thing at a time…

————————————

“Are you sure this is safe? I can’t even remember how many times I’ve been told to keep this door shut, under the threat of, you know, losing my life,” you called out, hanging out in the doorway. Beyond you by a few meters was Daniela, who twirled about with laughter, reaching out to catch a few falling leaves. This was the entrance to the garden, as far as you could tell. Not to be confused with the vineyard, which was larger, as well as on a completely different side of the estate. You had never been to either, seeing as only a select few servants were allowed to leave the manor. If Daniela hadn’t made it seem like you’d be staying in the library, well, you probably would have protested a little, regardless of how badly you wanted to go on a real date. Even when you had met up with her, she hadn’t told you any details, just laughing and asking you to follow her.

“Don’t be a baby! We’re still a few weeks away from autumn, and besides, you’re here with me! What could possibly go wrong?” Daniela asked, sending you a cheeky grin before dashing off into the garden proper. For a moment you’re left on the threshold, a picnic basket in your arms, wondering what the season had to do with your safety. Then you sigh, figuring that it couldn’t be that bad. Hadn’t your girlfriend mentioned this to Bela, anyway? Certainly the responsible older sister would have stepped in if something genuinely dangerous had been suggested? Well, you hoped as much, at least. With that in mind you close the door behind you, then dashed towards where Daniela had gone. Even as you round the corner, you don’t see her, and suddenly you’re nervous as hell. Before you can call out to her, the sound of rustling leaves catches your attention. Suddenly something jumps out at you! “Rah! Gotcha, babe!”

Ah, of course it was your girlfriend, clearly pulling a leaf from Cassandra’s book. You playfully smack her arm in response, trying to ignore the way your heart pounded. Humorous intentions aside, she had legitimately scared you, and you had nearly dropped your basket in response. Before you can say as much, Daniela’s hooking her arm in yours so she can pull you further into the gardens.

“You’re lucky you’re so fucking cute, firefly,” you muttered, a tad grumpy now. Most of your irritation was false, however, intended to tease your girlfriend. For a moment she doesn’t seem to realize that, and she stops in place. Once her eyes meet yours she understands what’s going on. Then she’s grinning, sticking her tongue out at you, and continuing down the path. Soon enough you’re approaching a paved brick circle. All around it, minus where it meets the walkway, are various flowers in bloom. Past the flowers are bushes, and past those are trees, whose branches provide a canopy for the circle. “Wow… and I thought you were pretty,” you teased, admiring the view.

As soon as the words leave your mouth, Daniela lets out an offended scoff, before taking the basket from you. Wordlessly she opens it up to grab the blankets within, spreading them without sparing you a glance. Now it’s your turn to wonder whether or not her anger is just a joke. Hoping so, you help her smooth out the blankets, making sure the two of you have ample space to spread out. At one point both of you reach for the basket at the same time, and she just grabs your hand instead, squeezing it. Next thing you know she’s pulling you down onto the blankets, rolling on top of you.

“Come here often?” She asked. Then, unsurprisingly, the two of you kiss. Both of your arms wrap around her waist, holding her as close as you can. One of her hands cups your cheek, the other resting on the ground to support herself, for ‘optimal makeout angles’. It’s a minute of bliss before she has to pull back for air. Instead of pulling away entirely, she shifts down a notch, resting her head against your chest. “Mmm… so comfortable. I could just… fall… asleep…” Daniela murmured, pretending to be sleepy. You can’t help but laugh, chest obviously shaking in as you do. “No! Pillows aren’t supposed to vibrate.”

“Are you sure about that?” You asked, only laughing harder.

“They don’t talk, either,” Daniela replied, huffing as she does. When you keep laughing, she rises to a sitting position, much to your disappointment. “So you have chosen death? So be it. I’ll just eat these candies myself, then.” With that said, she digs into the picnic basket, retrieving a bag of chocolates. Pouting, you reach out to try and yoink one away from her. Rather deftly, she pulls them away, sticking her tongue out at you before tossing a couple in her mouth. Determined, you surge forward, trying to catch her off guard, only to (somehow) end up face down in her lap. “Exactly like I planned, songbird. Now get comfy, alright?”

One of her hands trails fingers through your hair as you semi-awkwardly roll over. Now you’re facing up, watching your girlfriend practically inhale a few pieces of chocolate. But now she seems more inclined to share. She plucks one more from the bag, offering it to you by holding it in front of your mouth. Gladly you open up, and she drops the chocolate, before giving you a small ‘boop’ on the nose. Both of you laugh, then, a sound that sparks warmth in your chest. This was… nice. Relaxing. Not only were the two of you allowed to be as open with your affection as you wanted, it was the first time in ages that you had actually been outside, able to enjoy the sunlight.

Several minutes pass by like this, with Daniela feeding you (and herself) candies, both of you taking time to appreciate the scenery. Eventually the bag of chocolates becomes close to empty, and you see your girlfriend have an ‘oh crap’ moment.

“I was going to save some of these for you to smuggle into your quarters, damn it… guess you’ll just have to refuse to share, babe,” she said, shrugging a little. Then she sets the bag aside, now devoting both of her hands to playing with your hair. “Guess I’ll just have to find something else to keep my tongue occupied. Know any volunteers?”

“Hmm… I would, but it’s reeeaaaaaallllllly comfortable down here,” you teased in reply. Suddenly her hands are taken out of your hair, and you can just barely see that they’re positioned on her hips. She’s pouting at you, very similar to how you’ve seen her mother do, yellow eyes betraying her mischief. What exactly did she have planned?

“Really, songbird? I take you out, give you a wonderful place to rest, hand feed you chocolates… and you won’t even kiss me? When was the last time you even got to do something like this?” She asked, perking an eyebrow. The question is innocent enough. The answer, however, is not. Even with your head in her lap, you cannot fight off the brief sense of panic as your mind flashes into the past. It takes a deep breath, a few blinks, and a reassuring touch from Daniela for you to calm back down. “Songbird?... Hey, hey, it’s okay, I didn’t- I don’t know what happened. But we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, we can just…” She trails off, sounding unsure of herself, and you feel a pang of guilt. Was it finally time to come clean?... Yeah, yeah it was.

“It’s fine, I promise. I just… I need to sit up for this,” you explained, begrudgingly rising out of her lap. But she doesn’t let you pull away entirely, a hand guiding you to sit right up against her. Then she gently wraps an arm around you. Leaning into her touch, you rest your head on her shoulder, closing your eyes for a few seconds. “It’s kind of a long story, firefly… But this has happened often enough that I need to tell you. At least part of it. So, well… When I was younger, I, uh, I read a lot of romance novels, watched a lot of movies. Not even the good ones, really. And I didn’t- I couldn’t think through them. Couldn’t analyze it the way I needed to. So I didn’t get a good grasp of what a healthy relationship looked like. My, uh, my folks weren’t keen on demonstrating one for me, either…

“Before I came to the village, I was, well, uh, the thing is you might not like this part? And you’re not gonna like the next part, either. Just… listen to the end, please,” you pleaded, waiting for an acknowledgment before continuing. “I was engaged, as in to be married, to a woman I had known for most of my life. We were neighbors, and had gone to school together, and everyone thought we were the cutest couple. Hell, for the longest time I thought that. We weren’t, though. She was-” Daniela tenses a bit, though remains silent- “manipulative, sometimes aggressive. Anytime there was an argument, she made herself into the victim, told me that I was crazy. She wanted to make all the decisions about our relationship for me, and I just… I didn’t question it. Not even after she proposed, when my only reason for saying yes was because we were in public, with friends, and she clearly assumed that I’d agree. I tried to tell her that I wasn’t ready, that maybe we were going too fast, but she tuned me out.

“I didn’t even think about running until our final date. That was the first, and the only, time that she ever… that she ever-” a few tears spill from the corners of your eyes- “got physical with me. She’d broken things before, for sure, but I never thought she’d hurt me.” Daniela rubs your back gently, her breathing a little shaky. Evidently she hated hearing about this as much as you hated talking about it. Somehow that made it a little easier to talk through. “The next day she had to work early, so I just packed up my things, went over to my parents’ house and told them what happened. For once they actually agreed, if you can believe it. Told me to get the hell out of town, said that they’d deal with my fiance, and our relatives, so that I didn’t have to worry about anything when I came back. It was less than a full day before I drove away from everything I had ever known, promising my folks that someday I’d be back. Didn’t settle down until half the continent was behind me, not ‘til I was here at the village.”

There were a couple moments of silence as Daniela waited to make sure you had finished talking. Then she’s kissing the top of your head, shaking a little more noticeably now, murmuring reassurances that you can’t quite understand. Again you lean into her touch, indescribably thankful for her comforting presence. Fuck, you think, I probably ruined the date… so much for spending quality time with my lil firefly. When the silence breaks, it does so softly, slowly, a careful opening rather than a forceful push.

“Why would you give me a second chance? After what I did to you?” Daniela asked, voice barely audible, her head still resting atop yours. It’s not the response you expected. Not in the slightest. You pull away slightly, to look her in her eyes, heart aching at the tear stains on her cheeks. Even though you want to give her an answer that will bring her peace, your mind draws little more than a blank. Why had you given her a chance? You had wanted to be with her, without doubt, even before Cassandra and Bela intervened. Even after every time that she reminded you of your past…

“I-I don’t know. Maybe I haven’t learned anything from what’s happened,” you started, uncertainty clear in your tone. “Or maybe it’s because you looked… regretful. You didn’t enjoy what you did, and I saw it in your eyes. And… and then you did something about it. If you hadn’t shown remorse, or if I genuinely believed that you might do something like that again, we wouldn’t be here right now. I mean, in that case your sisters probably would have killed me for turning you down, but that’s not entirely relevant right now, is it?” You’re rambling a little, stuttering over your own words. Still, somehow it makes Daniela laugh, and relief floods your chest. Soon enough you’re curled up against her once more.

“Hey,” she said, after a minute of comfortable silence. “Thank you for showing me what romance is supposed to be.” Then she’s leaning in for a kiss, and you’re responding eagerly, unable to stop yourself from smiling. This time it’s your hand that runs through her hair as you pull her in as close as you can. To your surprise, she does pull away a tad earlier than usual. But there’s a grin on her lips, and she looks satisfied as hell. “Definitely more of that, soon. There’s just one more thing we have to do, to make this date perfect, you know? I may or may not have, kind of, written you something? You’re not allowed to laugh, though!”

“When have I ever laughed at you?” You asked, teasing, literally laughing as you speak. In response, Daniela scowls, making a point to look away in feign protest. “Joking, joking… I’ve just, you know, never had someone write me something before. Kinda don’t know how to react, really. Other than blushing real hard-” which you were doing- “and trying to play off my excitement with humor. But I promise I won’t laugh, even if you start with something like ‘roses are red, violets are blue’ or end with something like ‘just us in bed, doing the do’. Please tell me that’s not what you wrote, though?”

“Now that you mention it, maybe that should be what I recite. Sounds exactly like the sort of thing that would get me laid,” Daniela joked, rolling her eyes at you. Then she’s tugging a loose piece of paper out of the picnic basket, unfolding it to reveal a well-worn surface and hand-written text. She hesitates for a moment, glancing up at you, before taking a deep breath. When she speaks it’s clear just how nervous she is. But with every line she gains a measure of confidence, by the end acting her usual confident self.

Step from the shadows, weary corners of my mind Encased in old thoughts, brought into new life Like ashes rising from tombs housing the divine

Spinning webs as I descend, from the cradle of heaven From the dead I have risen, blessed be the gift I’m given Only from your haunting call do I embrace living

Catching the corners of my lips turning up All my years I’ve felt, but never this much Quietly writhing, begging for your softest touch

The pursuit of unintentional romance left abandoned Whispering love-locked tales to be consumed Sweeter than every facade I have ever imagined

Come closer now, into my arms, heart embraced Trailing fingers over scars, sewing lines traced Tell me love, “we shall last until the end of days”

At first, all you can do in response is stare at her, expression filled with affection. Inside your chest your heart was racing, and you couldn’t remember the last time you felt this warm. Reaching out, you take one of Daniela’s hands in your own, grinning as soon as her gaze meets yours. Both of you are blushing rather hard. Then she sets the poem down, eyes never leaving yours for even a second. You try to stutter out a few words, but find your tongue tied, and so you settle for placing your forehead against hers. The two of you stay like that for a few loving moments. When you part, it is only to come back together, this time in a tight hug.

“One helluva date, yeah?” Daniela asked, looking incredibly proud of herself. You can’t help but nod enthusiastically in response, honestly happier than you had felt in years. “Well, I will have to let you get back to work soon, unfortunately… but we have a few minutes, at least. Besides, having to part will only make tonight all the more sweeter.” At that you pause, confused, tilting your head to the side. Realizing that she must have gotten ahead of herself, Daniela blushes before elaborating. “You, me, my room. Tonight, right after your shift ends.”

You could hardly wait.