#like seriously i dont expect anyone to actually read this

[ven0moir]

Clearing the air on the “Bychance vs Byler Civil War”

Bylers vs Bychancers? More like Bylers & Bychancers vs The Miscommunication Trope ( something like that ).

Why this is what i think is actually going on:  

This is NOT Mileven vs Byler 2.0 at all because bychance has not ONCE been proposed as a replacement for Byler, at least not from myself or @cypherheartnokey which are ( as far as im aware ) the main people theorizing about it right now. I personally don’t even see it as a real ship, but that’s just me. 

HOW THIS WHOLE THING STARTED ( as far as i know )

So a few days ago, i made this post:

I used the Byler tag and have continued to do so bc skeptic ( and even full on anti-bychance ) Bylers were my intended TARGET AUDIENCE for this. I knew there was a risk I would get some hate for taking it seriously since Bychance was never supposed to be more than just a silly and fun crackship that the fandom made up. (😭im not even gonna pretend I don't go into laughing fits over how absolutely bonkers I sound to myself most days. cypherheartnokey and others --you pookies know who you are <3-- who See The Things Im Seeing keep me sane istg my ride or die fr ) 

It was just supposed to be a fun writing exercise to see if my current ideas held up under scrutiny from bylers. To test myself, basically. 

MY INITIAL ASSUMPTION 

Before I posted, I thought the risk of getting dogpiled on & getting called 'delusional' & whatever else was worth it bc, to my surprise, my earlier Bychance analyses had been well received–even though some of the Bylers engaging with them don’t really think Bychance will happen, they still think the theories about it are entertaining and fun to read and offer input on. This has led to some interesting conversations about Mike and Will’s arcs, and it’s been nice through this content drought. 

However, what i did NOT anticipate was to cause a ‘ship war’--I really didn’t think this would cause harm and that anyone would stoop so low as to send death threats over differing opinions on hypothetical ships that may or may not even happen in the show & even if they do, nothing guarantees they’ll happen in a way we’re perfectly happy with, let’s please be real about our expectations here since we have 0 control over the creative direction the duffers will actually take. 

All we can hope for is that us Bylers truly are amongst their intended target audience and that the show delivers a satisfying closure.  

MY INTENTIONS & WHY I WILL CONTINUE TO USE THE BYLER TAG ( with discretion )

Using the Byler tag allows like-minded Bylers to find my theories–without the tag, it'd be harder for them to find them. 

However, I WILL be extra thoughtful with my use of the tag going forward, and make sure I'm using it when the conversation centers Byler/Mike/Will and other themes pertaining to Byler.

MY CURRENT STANCE

for anyone receiving death threats or insults on behalf of “bychance shippers”, you DO NOT deserve that. Please report and block, if possible. these people are saboteurs, and just want to stir drama without caring about the harm they cause to the community. In fact, they probably enjoy it tbh. 

i do also have to say that i am no authority here and cannot be tone policing other bychancers. i also can’t pretend i am entirely neutral in this scenario since from what I've observed, my bychance mutuals and anons are REACTING to hate we’re getting from bylers. And whereas I'm aware that type of hate is only coming from a handful of people in the community, not all of us will be patient and graceful at all times, we’re human after all.

I dont care if a mileven calls me delusional, i laugh. But when bylers i have admired and learned from for years call one of us stupid for thinking/suspecting X theory might be hinted at and getting stomped on for trying to bring the conversation to the table, yeah I can't guarantee that's not gonna trigger a defense mechanism over time.

Do you personally have to like Bychance or agree? Absolutely not, nobody is saying that. And good faith critiques of the theory are always welcomed and I actually encourage it in my space as long as we keep it civil and follow fandom etiquette, since it keeps fandom alive.  

FINAL THOUGHTS 

The very message of the show we’re discussing is to choose love in the face of fear, and to not let it drive our choices and unawarely continue to feed the cycle of abuse and trauma. Let's do our best to not keep repeating, amongst each other, what we have already been subjected to by the most hateful parts of the ST fandom. 

i'm here to learn and have fun, not to cause wars, discourse or division--bychance as a theory is just the jumpstart and can change over time and maybe even become sometime else entirely. the goal is just to open the door for those curious enough to investigate, share and discuss any findings. Whether or not you go in, it's up to you. Just don't be mean to the ones that do.

[misayani]

HONEY (R U COMING?) — SE-MI (PLAYER 380)

◜ pairing ... se-mi / player 380 x  fem reader

◜arrogant and bratty reader (044) recruiting se-mi (380) for the second game

𔗨 author's note — wasn't seeing enough fanfics for my baby so ... [lowercase intended]

"i dont see anyone else that's good enough for us" you hear gyeong-su comment with a huff. 

you're currently standing with three idiots—thanos, gyeong-su, and nam-gyu, slightly distanced from the three with your arms crossed against your chest and while your twirl your hair. 

"yo thanos, what are we going to do?" nam-gyu's irritating voice cut through all the noise of other people communicating.

thanos turned to him, his head bopping, motherfucker's high again. "i don't fucking care man, let them come to us. i mean, who wouldn't want to be with the great thanos!" 

both men chuckled as nam-gyu speaks up once again, "what about you 044? make yourself useful, can't just sit pretty doing nothing eh?".

"and you call yourself useful?" you scoff as you turned around to face the three, eyebrows raised. thanos smirked at you as you sighed, "fine, i'll make myself useful. no one would probably even care to join you, even if you begged." 

"you bitc—" nam-gyu would've reached you already if it weren't for thanos holding him back while cackling at the both of you.

with one last huff, you strutted your way to the crowd, scanning around the room for someone who met your personal standards—hot, unbothered, and most specially, a woman. 

your eyes landed on a person wearing a jacket with the number '380'. with a confident smirk, you walked towards the woman whose back is facing you and talking to someone.

"leave." your voice broke their conversation as they both looked at you. you eyes were darted to the boy specifically, him being the one you told to leave.

"w-what?" the boy stuttered, looking at you bewildered.

you furrow your eyesbrows, taking a step closer to the boy, "do i seriously need to get you hearing aids? i said leave." 

the boy scrambled away before you can even take your second step to him. with a pleased smile, you turned to the utterly attractive woman who looked at you with an amused expression.

"join me." short and straight to the point. you were confidently sure that she would just say yes and come with you— surely, who in their right minds would turn down a pretty girl's offe-

"why should i?" she voices out. oh. my. fucking. god is her voice so alluring. her looks already made your legs feel like jelly and then comes her voice?— yes lord.

snapping out of your fantasies, you furrowed your eyebrows as you looked at her with an expression that read 'how dare you?' 

"a-are you serious? why shouldn't you?" you looked at her up and down in attempt to intimidate her, but really just an excuse to check her out.

"can't just expect me to join you after rudely making the boy i was talking to leave, sweetheart." she crosses her arms as she made her way closer.

sweetheart. heat rushed to your cheeks and you scoff, rolling your eyes. 

"what do you want me to do then? he doesn't look like someone who's good enough to join forces with in a death game like this anyways." you rebut. 

"and you think you're good enough?" she smirks at you. before you could even utter another word, she straights up and looks down at you—caused by height difference, making you feel small— and chuckles.

"what's your name and give me one good reason why i should join you."

you told her your name, which made you sound too eager for your liking, before you straightened yourself up and flicked you hair to the back.

 "i'll make sure you win. team up with someone who actually looks like they're capable of winning instead of someone who looks like a lost puppy." your eyes darted to the boy she was talking to earlier who was now talking to other people before returning your gaze to her.

she crosses her arms and brings a finger to her mouth to bite down on and stares at you, which made you scream internally. what the fuck. how can someone be this hot?

after some silence between you two, she spoke up "fine. but if i lose, i'll come for you."

huh. 'come for me?' won't be such a bad idea, right? the thoughts made you smirk as you boldy traveled your eyes over her figure. 

"oh, i think you have me mistaken. i won't mind at all if you came for me" your voice sounded innocent, but your words were laced with an obvious innuendo.

"oh?" she smirks. before you could even let her finish her sentence, you speak up once again to avert the topic.

"how will you come for me if you die anyways?" you roll your eyes to try and hide your flustered state. "which, by the way, you won't. my group is decent, me being the best member of course." 

and as if on cue, thanos and the two made their way to the both of you, his annoying voice dominating the noise surrounding you. 

"there you are doll, been lookin for you." you scoff at his words as thanos turns to face 380, which you still don't know the name of, "and who is this señorita?"

you opened your mouth to say something but 380 beat you to it. "se-mi. she recruited me." she says, nodding to you. 

moanable name. you thought.

"really? another woman? you already make this team weak." nam-gyu yaps as he turns to face you, saliva escaping his mouth. filthy.

you scoff as you step away and point your finger at him, "fucking shut your mouth. you haven't done shit to this team. your ass can't fucking talk." 

before a fight between you two broke out, gyeong-su already restrained nam-gyu. thanos whistles, "well. there's that."

the purple-haired man throws his arm over your shoulders and faced nam-gyu. "let's not talk shit now eh? we're a fucking team!" he yells as he raised his free arm up, "try not to kill each other off, we still have games to play."

nam-gyu rolls his eyes and se-mi watches the scene unfold, snickering.

"now come on my folks, come on." thanos frees you from his hold as he walked through the crowd, arms spread as if bragging, with nam-gyu and gyeong-su following.

your lips unsubconsciously turn into a pout as you turned to face se-mi, who was already looking at you.

"cute." she eyes you up and down and starts walking towards thanos' direction. your mouth opens as if you let out a silent gasp at what she said and just stared.

she realized you weren't following so she stopped and turned her head to look at you.

"coming?" she smirks

oh i'm definitely coming.

@misayani

[elainsgirl]

I've seen many people saying that as casual readers they always thought Elriel was endgame and I'd like to add my own experience to this.

I read the books bc my best friend really liked them and we like the same things. I trusted her and went in blind, I just knew it was about a human girl being "kidnapped" by a fae and that my bsf's favorite character was a guy named Rhysand.

We were living together at the time, so we'd often talk about my thoughts while reading. I didn't interact with the fandom to avoid spoilers and I'd ask her if I wanted to see some fanarts of certain characters. But even while she was reading the books before I ever did, she would sometimes use metaphors to describe certain situation so that it wouldn't be a spoiler for me but she would still have someone to talk about it.

And one thing she said was that at a certain point there would be a sort of "love square" instead of a triangle and I was interested ngl. You don't see that every day. I kept that in mind as I read the series, but then I finished ACOSF (shipping elriel, read the BC) and I was really confused bc obviously three of the four people were Elain, Az, and Lucien but I couldn't figure out who was the fourth one. I asked her about it and she was like "oh it's Gwyn, some people ship her with Az, not sure why🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️" (but she doesn't particularly care about elriel or elain and az as characters bc we haven't seen enough of them yet and she's more of a casual reader)

Anyway, all this to say, even after being told about a "love square", I still didn't realize it was Gwyn because there wasn't enough to support it in the books (and this comes from someone who ships people easily). And I mean, there's nothing wrong with shipping Gwynriel, I'm not actually against it. I can see the potential there. But it's the claiming the ship is canon and endgame part that bothers me. Idk why they need it so badly. I ship everyone with everyone else, but it doesn't mean I expect it to be canon and to actually happen in the next book. And tbh? That's the fun part of it

Thanks for sharing your experience anon, ik a lot of people can relate with being confused by this “love square”. A love square can typically acts in 4 ways:

2 people love the same person yet that person loves someone else -> doesnt apply

you have two established couples & one person from each couple wants each other. Again doesnt apply

connection through unreciprocated love. Only applies very loosely to Lucien who wants Elain but she doesn’t want him back. If Gwyn canonically wanted Azriel but he ofc wants elain, it would have also applied to her but again, there is nothing in ACOSF to suggest Gwyn is crushing on Az and wants him romantically

3 people loving the same person - doesn’t apply.

the acotar love square doesn’t fit any of these dyanmics. Gwyn is forcefully being pushed into the established love triangle between Az/Lucien/Elain. Gwyn doesnt want anyone romantically and none of the characters want Gwyn. She’s just there. Her stans are trying to convince themselves gwynriel want each other or at least acosf showed some romantic interest from Gwyns side - but none of that is true. As you mentioned, there’s not a lot (literally nothing) to support it in the books. One thing about Mass, is before the couples’ book - she comfirms they are mutually attracted to each other.

I dont think many people have an issue with others shipping gwynriel: crack ships make up a lot of the fandom and its fun shipping two random characters together and exploring their dynamic/concept but you also have to understand that just bcs YOU like the idea of two characters together, it doesn’t mean they’re set up to be canon within the books. I think the annoying part is Gwynriels expecting everyone else to take their ship seriously and act as though its a ship thats in the same league as elucien/elriel, when its not. And to make their ship seem better, they have to disprove elriel and oftentimes it makes them look ridiculous bcs their arguements are flawed. They need gwynriel so badly as it solves two major “issues” for them. 1) Take Az away from Elain and she will have no choice but to eventually accept her mate and eluciens have convinced themselves this is the only way Lucien can be happy 2) They dont want Az to be with someone like elain, who they’ve deemed boring, useless, plain. They want him with a sassy, badass warrior-> which Gwyn is meant to be.

[frolicsomeratscallion]

definitive canon tlc ship ranking

my qualifications: im a goofy goober. im a silly guy. i know the secrets of the universe. im a pretty princess >_< :3

Jacinter - childhood best friends, starcrossed lovers, royal x loyal guard like dAKJLS:DJFH:L im sorry and you expect me NOT to love them?? ok I kinda get that compared to the other couples they spend quite little time together in their book but like. come on. I didnt reread tlc for a couple years but I thought about these two CONSTANTLY. I love them so much I cant even multiship like winlet is very appealing to me but lowkey I feel bad 😭 like theyve wanted each other for so long I cant bring myself to ship either of them with anyone else. But also I kinda wish jacin was a butch lesbian

Kaider - They're so adorable and silly lol. I feel like they were a very good couple to kick off the series with cause I was rooting for them so quickly. They're the funniest canon ship cause theyre both so sassy and done with everything. I wish we couldve gotten more scenes where they talked shit together

Wolflet - To be completely honest I like this ship a lot less than the previous two but thats not to say I dont like them. Like yes I could never take the alpha talk seriously but they were still very cute. Idk why but I like this ship a LOT better when I imagine Wolf as a woman and they were just two lesbians in love <3 If they were they'd probably be above kaider but in canon yea they're number 3 for me.

Cresswell - The age difference isn't really a factor for me, yes its weird but lowkey I forgot thorne was 20 and cress was 16 while I was reading cress. I like the headcanon that thorne had a fake id to sneak into bars and is actually 18 but forgot and just told everyone he was 20. Even so... they're odd for me. I don't know I guess I just dont like the naive inexperienced girl x experienced guy trope? I liked them a lot more in winter than I did in cress. I think its because the pining was more mutual then. I don't hate them, and I did enjoy some of their moments but out of all the canon ships theyre the weakest for me. I like them better when theyre interacting with other people, like wolf or jacin for cress and cinder or kai for thorne.

[anime-grimmy]

As is expected of me, now that I’ve spent some time getting into Persona 4, it is rambling time. (I’m also writing this at work on my PC cos no way I can type all that out on mobile)

Since Ive started documenting my P4 story in my insta stories, I’ve been told multiple times to look out for the fandom, bcs considering what you like or what hc you subscribe to, they can be vicious. Now, I’m not new to fandom spaces, I know how bad people can get, but thankfully, from what I’ve seen so far, the current fandom seems a lot more laid back and open to many different interpretations of the characters than what has been broadcasted to me.

Still, since I love discussing such things, I’ve wanted to add my own 2 cents. I will preface this whole thing with admitting I do not care what you headcanon for the characters. If you think Yu Nurakami eats onions raw, be my guest, as long as you’re having fun, pop off. However, now having experienced a good portion of the game and having delved into older discourse about the game, I do want to talk about why I personally will not subscribe to certain headcanons, mostly because I feel that they miss the point.

Obviously, this is about Kanji’s sexuality and Naoto’s gender identity.

Again, you can interpret Kanji as purely homosexual and Naoto as transmasculine, that’s alright. The reason I do not subscribe to that is because I’ve seen people get up in arms about Atlus being cowards for not “pulling through”(while true in some aspects) while missing the point of what the shadows try to convey (imo).

Shadows are part of the repressed true self, yet, they also ARENT. To me it reads as them being the thing the characters DONT want their true self to be / what they are scared of as to what their true self is perceived as. The reason they so vehemently reject them is because the shadows are the bad endings they suspect if they DO show their true self, or rather to what ends they would have to go to be accepted in society.

Applying this to Kanji and Naoto, Kanji thinks his preference of men must mean he cannot fall in love with girls and that means ppl really see him as a “raging homosexual”. Naoto tries to literally alter her body, because ppl only see her as a “female child detective” and being a boy must be the only solution to be taken seriously. Those aren’t their true feelings, however, it’s the fears they harbour of what their true selves would lead to.

My fav and I think the most obvious example of this is Rise. Because yeah, she wants to be her real self and show people who she really is, but the distorted version of this is literally “baring it all” and there’s no way Rise would actually want this, no matter how flirty and flamboyant she is.

That is why, people interpreting Kanji to be gay (instead of bi) and Naoto to actually be trans misses the point for me. Especially for Naoto, imo being trans it’s like she actually gave up fighting for what she wants - being acknowledged for what she is, a female, child detective, but a full blown detective nonetheless.

Again, I do not mean to take away from anyone what their transmasc Naoto hc means to them, if you can gain something from that, more power to you. I myself am neither queer nor trans, so I won’t claim I can 100% empathize. But me being right in the midst of Naoto’s story and seeing how her shadow just tries its damn hardest to change itself cos “THAT’S THE ONLY WAY” makes me think her actually accepting herself as male misses the point.

Also as someone who also grew up liking more “masculine” things and often being mistaken for a boy, I can find myself in both characters a lot, even if I cannot 100% empathise.

Maybe this is also another thing why I personally dont enjoy the transmasc Naoto hc, bcs I’ve found myself in her shoes before and being told “you should have been a boy” quite often as a kid (even wanting to be one at some point), but being THAT young and just, giving up the fight for what you want to be just cos it’s “easier” to be man, I dunno, doesnt feel right to me, esp. in the narrative of the game.

Either way, I do love how the ambiguity on what the shadows actually are allow for many different interpretations. It’s awesome to see how many thoughts ppl have of this series (I havent even started on Adachi or Yousuke, or even the other games…), so I’d love to have discussions with fellow Persona (4) fans!

[7-starboi]

This is kinda long so I applaud you if you actually read all of it but this is what happens when you drink soju and take notes on all your commentary for a new bl episode...good luck🫡😂

Brooo such a cute way to start the ep, they make me sick 😅

They're so sweet it hurtsss, yotha I don't wanna be mad at you later ugh 😭

YOTHA HE JUST WOKE UP STOPPP😭

Faifa is such a little shit "good morning bro🤠"

"my brother is about to have friends"🤣

Oh shit here we go 🙄

Honestly she can be sad, but she did this to herself

YOTHA DO NOT TAKE YOUR ANGER AT YOUR MOM OUT ON GUN HOW DARE YOU, CALM DOWN

I want a hug from boom too🥺 but I know what you do sir and I don't like it!

I DID NOT EXPECT HIM TO SLAP HIM HOLY SHIT BUT LIKE KLAO YOU NEED TO CHILL

FUCK I DIDNT EXPECT HIM TO BREAK UP WITH HIM THAT FAST EITHER! HE MADE UP HIS MIND QUICK IG DAMN

YOU CAN CRY KLAO BUT HE LITERALLY TOLD YOU LAST EP HE CHOSE YOU BRO LIKE YOU GOTTA TRUST HIM, YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF, NOW GO REFLECT I NEED YOU GUYS TO BE ENDGAME(even if it's a little toxic cause I just love aouboom together so much😭)

Side note, pepper has been in everything lately and I'm all for it cause he's fine af like he honestly just has to sit there and I could stare at him all day(and yes, he's that pretty in person and he's just the sweetest🥹🖤)

Yothaaaa you can see he's upset you gotta apologize better come onn, you're lucky he's such a good friend 😭

I KNOW A LITTLE OF WHATS COMING BUT THAT WAS HONESTLY SO ADORABLE I WAS SQUEALING HE WAS LIKE "IDK HOW TO FIX THIS, DOES KISS AND MAKE UP WORK?" AHHH

I seriously didn't think I'd like perthsanta this much but here we are and I love it

The background actors for little scenes like this are always the best bro and their friends teasing them is sooo funny 😂

NOOOO DONT GO TO THE BATHROOM GUN IM NOT READY FOR THE ANGST YET

ITS SO WEIRD SEEING BOOM KISS SOMEONE THAT ISNT AOU BUT I FEEL SO BAD FOR GUN NOOO😭

IT WAS JUST A TEST OF HIS FEELINGS BUT I HATE THAT GUN HAD TO SEE THAT HES GONNA BE SO UPSET WITH HIM AGAIN, IF THEY DONT RESOLVE IT THIS EP IM GONNA SCREAM

another side note tho, boom is still so hot tho like he's one of mine like forever 😍

NOOO THE MATCHING TATTOOS WHY IS THE ANGST GETTING WORSE😭

OH HERE WE GO HERE COMES KLAO LOOKING PISSED AGAIN OH SHIT

3 AGAINST 1 WTF AND KLAO COMING TO HELP HIS 'FRIEND' HELL YEAH BUT ALSO WHY IS AOU ALWAYS GETTING INTO FIGHTS EVERY ROLE HE HAS LIKE IM HERE FOR IT BUT DAMN AND ALSO YOTHA LITERALLY BLEEDING FROM HIS HEAD BUT STILL ASKING IF GUN IS OKAY? MY FUCKING HEART😭 THEY BETTER CLEAR SHIT UP SOON I CANT TAKE IT

I get why yotha was doing what he did but he doesn't just have himself to think about now and he's gotta think about what he wants and what he wants is gun and he fucked up🥺

I know they don't have the best relationship in this series but i love them so much together I'll take any fluffy crumbs I can get 😭 GIVE THEM THEIR OWN SERIES PLSSS BUT ONE LIKE WE ARE I CANT TAKE ANYMORE ANGST FROM THEM RN😭

YOTHA BETTER THIS RN I CANT STAND SEEING GUN CRY HES MY SUNSHINE GMM BOY GIVE HIM BACK DAMNIT

Arm is such a good friend🥺

STOPPP IT IM GONNA CRY WITH HIM GET THIS ANGST AWAY FROM ME SOON PLSS I NEED GUN TO SMILE AGAIN😭

I can't wait til yothagun get to arcarms level

AND JUST LIKE THAT HE WENT TO CLIMB INTO BED WITH HIM WHY DO THEY GOTTA BE SO CUTE IM GONNA THROW UP RAINBOWS EVERYWHERE I SWEAR

"I want gun back." YEAH YOU DI BUDDY, BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS A BIT LETS GOO, ARM WILL HELP YOU AND ITLL BE RIDICULOUS PROBABLY BUT YOU GOT THIS

Gay people man...that's all I gotta say about arm in this scene 😂

That was one of the gayest set ups ever😅(also if we don't say Taylor again I'm gonna scream, I love him🫡)

Arm matches all of his friends freak and im sooo here for it like give me book and literally anyone and he'll nail it 😂

okay I lovee the kisses don't get me wrong like I feel like they've had more than arc and arm atp and they're not even dating yet but pls HAVE A CONVERSATION IT WILL FIX ALL OF THIS AHH GET IT TOGETHER(and yes i know from the outside it's easier to yell at them and they're young but they were doing alright with it before gun saw yotha kissing someone else but he's just shut down now☹️)

"DO YOU WANNA WALK WITH ME?" I SQUEALED LIKE WHAT BUT THEN THE PREVIEW FOR NEXT WEEK AND THE "WILL YOU WAIT FOR ME?" LIKE I KNOW THEY END UP TOGETHER AND HES GOT SOME TRAUMA STILL BUT FUCK BRO HES THE "SUNSHINE OF THIS WORLD" AND HE LOVES YOU, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR

ENDING NOTE: I CANT WAIT FOR FAIFA TO GET HIS HAPPY ENDING TOO BUT IM NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE TO YOTHAGUN YET, THEY BECAME MY FAVORITE SO QUICKLY AND I REALLY HOPE PERTHSANTA GET ANOTHER SERIES SOON CAUSE THEIR CHEMISTRY IS AMAZING

Side note to the end note: if Newton and po don't end up together I'm gonna be so sad like heart killers is starting something for them and I see it👀

[steelycunt]

hiiiii…. do you have any book recommendations? i think we have similar taste :)

hi! yeah! i definitely have some recs, although they’ll all be books i’ve talked about on here before so they probably won’t be very new for anyone who’s been following me for a while 😭 not sure what you’re after specifically but this is just everything i’ve enjoyed! anything with as asterisk is a special favourite : ^ )

books ive read this year:

(fiction)

boulder* - eva baltasar: very short read but baltasar’s prose is 2 die for! second in a trilogy but im pretty sure they can all be read as standalones. also nice to see fiction that treats lesbians as seriously as piles and piles of arty litfic treat gay men rather than the clipart cover of two women with a title like ‘Jemima Mulligan Is So Done 🤣’ that comes up when you search lesbian fiction now.

all quiet on the western front* (+ the way back/the road back) - erich maria remarque: only classic im going to mention (i could talk about james baldwin all day) but this is my favourite book i’ve read this year! and my only five star fiction read so far this year. absolutely heartbreaking!! and if you enjoy it i would say it’s worth reading the sequel, the way back.

hangman - maya binyam: read this recently and honestly think it’s quite a marmite book i think you’ll either enjoy the absurdity of it or find it deeply irritating almost straight away but. i thought it was wonderfully disorientating + not too long that the style started to grate on me + an great postcolonial work

we need to talk about kevin* - lionel shriver: such a terrifyingly good book omg. prose is a bit dense which at least i found a bit daunting at first but it’s soo intricate and absorbing and horrific.

penance* (+ boy parts) - eliza clark: was honestly a bit surprised to like this as much as i did my expectations were pretty low but i thought it was a genuinely excellent depiction of modern teenagers + the way they use social media (i have never seen it done so well) + the intricacies of the dynamics between young girls against the backdrop of ‘true’ crime. if you like it you’ll probably also enjoy boy parts so i recommend that too!

antarctica + walk the blue fields - claire keegan: keegan is imo one of the best storytellers writing today and these two short story collections by her were wonderful this year! my favourite of her work is foster but since there are multiple stories in these collections id say they’re the best place to start!

my work - olga ravn: quite experimental in terms of style there’s a lot of prose spliced with prose which i wasn’t sure would be for me (im an idiot) but i thought it was a really fascinating look at motherhood + creation + post-partum depression!

(non-fiction)

dont actually have a ton of non-fiction books 2 mention just adding this category in to recommend empire of pain* - patrick radden keefe as a book i finished recently and one of if not the best non-fiction book ive ever read. just so incredibly interesting i can’t stress enough

some quickfire books i read last year/year before!

duck feet - ely percy

juno loves legs - karl geary

archive of alternate endings* - lindsey drager

shuggie bain* + young mungo* - douglas stuart

my brilliant friend* - elena ferrante

the secret history + the goldfinch - donna tartt

mr loverman - bernadine evaristo (SAINT LUCIA MENTIONED 🇱🇨)

the marriage portrait - maggie o’farrell

the passion - jeanette winterson

[morownic]

got out on good behavior

i’m sorry, kid, but i can’t be your savior. i don’t know what you expected

masterlist ✧ ao3 link

characters: aomine daiki, momoi satsuki ✧ word count: 2,9k ✧ gender neutral reader, no physicalities specified (lmk if i missed sth)

warnings: mentions of smoking, violence (fighting + choking), and blood; implications of emotional manipulation

a/n: im sorry if i dont do momoi justice in this. this was written with n/a by bring me the horizon on repeat. and the rest of nex gen lmfao who am i kidding 😂 enjoy the fruits of my addiction

“You smell like shit.”

That earns him a smile that doesn’t quite reach your eyes, even though the corners crinkle and the lids turn into slits. “Thanks. Your English homework, milord.”

Aomine doesn’t comment on the reddening of your knuckles or how the back of your hand feels slightly rougher to the touch. “Stop doing that,” he says, but who knows if it’s meant as a jab at your sarcasm or the obvious signs of a fight on your hands.

You take it as the former. “I’m but your humble servant—” A bark of laughter escapes your throat when you catch sight of his expression. At least it’s genuine this time. “Seriously, how are you and Taiga even going to play for the NBA if you can’t even speak English?”

“I can speak English.” His frown is permanent, and your laughter returns. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t even say anything!”

There’s a moment of silence as he pretends to read your English homework and you pretend to find something interesting in the clear blue sky. It’s lunch break; more than half of the class has vacated the room, and the ones that remain know better than to disturb the two of you. Most of the time. They’re more afraid of him than you. You understand.

“You should stop smoking.”

“I forgot to wear my perfume.”

“That’s not what I—”

You shoot him a look, and he knows better than to argue. He always does. You’re the only one he listens to other than Momoi—sometimes the only one, if anyone can be honest. Nobody understands, but at least, with you around, he’s a more tolerable person.

“Thank you,” you drawl mockingly in English, still with the same sardonic smile he’s gotten used to and grown to resent.

Aomine doesn’t question the roughness of your hands, or the way your eye twitches every now and then. He doesn’t ask about how you keep touching one of your cheeks with the back of your hand as if it’s still a little too tender. He doesn’t ask about the drying blood on your lips, the poorly concealed bruises on your arms, the way you shift your weight even in your seat.

The same way you never asked why he’d stopped coming to practice in junior high, why he’d lost the light in his eyes, why he’d only went from one day to another as if he was going to die from boredom at any moment. You never asked why he never even bothered to step into Tōō Academy’s gymnasium after joining the basketball team, but always played alone at the court in his neighborhood when he thought nobody was looking for him.

“You’re annoying.” His scowl is back.

You nod, smiling. Satisfied with yourself, really. “I know. It’s one of my charms.”

“Who did you fight?”

That, admittedly, gives you pause. “Does it matter?”

He scoffs, then returns to pretend-reading. “Did you win?” Did you get hurt?

You’re almost offended, so you give him a scoff of your own. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“Yeah, just don’t go to practice today.” He sounds like he’s mocking you, but if Momoi was here, she’d tell you it was just his way of showing concern. You know. You understand.

“No, I won’t.”

For once, he’s surprised. Not scowling. Genuinely surprised. He stops flipping the pages of your notebook—like he actually cared in the first place—and looks you in the eye. Your smile doesn’t falter, doesn’t turn warmer or colder.

“I quit.”

It’s his turn to be offended. “What?”

Aomine has never pried. Never questioned you and your willingness to stick with him through his worst. You and Momoi still cared for him even if he was a grade-A asshole. That much he could tell, and can only now be grateful for. And that’s only because you have never questioned him—not when he was a happy-go-lucky twerp, when he spiraled and had one of the worst edgelord phases known to man, when he came back to his senses and decided that, well, he’d rather be a grade-B asshole or something. Even after all is said and done, you’d still fight for him. Literally. And he’d fight for you, too. Also literally.

You’re not a basketball god. Never were, never will be. But you played with him anyway. Each loss you took, you took it in stride. You never stopped pestering him even after he told you to fuck off, and he had to wrestle you—literally, and for the record, you almost choked him to death—before he relented and gave you a thousand more losses. Aomine thought you were either stupid, irreversibly so, or you were just stupidly determined, infuriatingly so.

Somehow, this seems to shatter everything he has ever known about you.

“I quit,” you say as if you haven’t just completely twisted his perception of you. “You’ve got Taiga now.”

The gears in his head begin to turn.

“You—” Aomine bristles. “Seriously? Seriously?”

But you’re laughing, as if he can’t hear the hollowness of your voice and can’t see the lack of shine in your eyes. He’s surprised, horrified even, and you’re laughing. “Hey, I’ve got other things I want to do, y’know?”

“That’s not—” He inhales sharply, closing your notebook and looking away for a moment. His jaw clenches. “Are you fucking serious?”

“Daiki.”

“No.”

For a split second, you almost relent. He can see it. You know he can see it. He knows you know. But your smile still doesn’t falter, and you lean back in your seat like it’s just another Tuesday and the two of you aren’t having a conversation that’s making him question the basis of your friendship.

“You’re telling me I should keep playing?” you try again, still keeping your tone light, even though your chuckle does sound humorless. “Shouldn’t you consider what I want in this situation?”

“Why?”

Alas, you’re only human. And it’s weird, hearing him speak in such an uncharacteristically small voice. You decide you don’t like it.

Still, you smile. “You don’t need me anymore.”

To you, it’s a level of care that transcends your own understanding. You’d call it love, even, but this is your first love. There are no previous heartbreaks to compare it to. Maybe you will grow up and look back and think that, in the end, this is just some kind of misplaced devotion. But you’ll stick with him for as long as he wants you around, if only to see him smile. If only to see the boy you saw in seventh grade, who played basketball with you even though you didn’t know jack shit about it.

To him?

It’s something akin to obligation.

Or worse, pity.

“Except for homework, I guess,” you say, jokingly, in an attempt to prevent him from going down that rabbit hole, but you know it’s too late when he looks at you like he doesn’t know you. “Hey, it’s not like I could ever beat you or something. I don’t even know why you—”

Wrong fucking answer.

Aomine stands up abruptly, and the chair he’s just gotten up from scrapes the floor like nails on a chalkboard. If the other students in the classroom were purposely ignoring the two of you out of courtesy, they simply can’t look away now. Not when he’s looming over you, looking as if he’s about to punch you—and as if you’re ready to retaliate at any moment.

You hold up your notebook, every trace of false glee absent from your features. Aomine hates it even more, because it reminds him that you’ve only been nothing but a good actor. Not a good player, but you can always play at being one. Not a good friend, but you can always pretend to be one.

He’s already walking away when you tell him, “You can still take this.”

“I’ll just ask Momoi.” He doesn’t even bother to look over his shoulder. “Or I’ll do it myself.”

The door slams shut, and the clouds block the sun. You don’t smile. You understand.

Momoi comes to your class two days later during lunch break. One of your classmates wakes you up from your poor excuse of a nap and you shoot her a smile as you rub your eyes, yawning. She has this disapproving pout on her lips, one that she always has on her face whenever she’s about to chastise you or Aomine, but she gives you the lunchbox her mother had packed for you anyway. The girl puts her hands on her hips; she doesn’t bother to sit down. You try to charm her with a smile if only to discourage her from giving you an earful. It works. Her cheeks puff up a little and she finally drags an empty chair to your desk.

“Did you two fight again?” she asks, tilting her head.

“Huh?” You act dumb, glancing down at your raw knuckles as you open the lunchbox. “This wasn’t him.”

“Not that.” She shoots you a look as she sits down. “Dai-chan said he didn’t want to see you.”

A snort escapes you as you take out the chopsticks. “Thank you for the meal. When does he ever?”

“What happened?” Momoi whines.

You prolong the silence between the two of you by taking the first bite and chewing it slowly, making an obnoxious noise of satisfaction in the back of your throat. The act is over as quickly as it started when you see her crossing her arms and glaring at you.

“I told him I left the team,” you lie through your teeth. You’ve never claimed that you’re a good friend.

Momoi, too, bristles. “Why?”

“Are you asking why I told him that, or are you asking why I left the team?”

The look on her face would’ve made you laugh if it wasn’t for the fact that you have food in your mouth, someone recognizes her and decides to greet her, and she takes her eyes off you for a moment to greet them back. Her frown returns shortly after, albeit a bit softened. But she understands. You know she understands.

Still. “Both! Are you an idiot?”

This time, you pout. “I’d like to think that I’m not an idiot.”

“But you are.”

Momoi knows you’re not above making a scene like you’re still the same kid she’d met on the first day of junior high. She thinks you have your similarities with her other best friend, except you know when to play your cards right and she’s fallen victim way too many times. She thinks it’s her biggest regret, really. Being too lenient on you and Aomine when what the two of you needed was someone to dunk both of your heads into a bucket of cold water and maybe keep them there for a solid minute.

“Sacchan, if you’re only here to call me names, you might as well just do it right. Call me a bitch or something. Be creative!” There it goes.

She doesn’t question why all you do is deflect, speak with your fists, act like you’re above your own emotions, or all of the above. She doesn’t ask about how many faces you have, how she is even supposed to know you, to understand you—if she still has any hope of doing that—when all you do is change from one shell to another. She doesn’t ask if you’re still the same kid she’d met, who always reminded her that there would always be a world for her beyond you and Aomine.

The same way you never asked why she had never tried to pull Aomine out of the quicksand and instead hoped someone else would save him, yet acted as if his salvation was part of her responsibility and his condemnation was part of her punishment. You never asked why she even bothered to stick with someone who couldn’t express his gratitude properly, because you’d have the same answer if asked the same question: “Who’s going to look after him?”

Sometimes Momoi thinks her biggest regret is choosing him when both of you began to drown, because in the end, he had Kuroko to pull him out.

Who do you even have?

“I want to do other things,” you say after the silence stretches on for too long, keeping your tone light.

“You don’t like playing basketball?” At least Momoi has more tact to be somewhat more diplomatic, even if you do want to kiss that pout off her lips. Just to be an asshole.

“I do! I do.” Your grin still doesn’t quite reach your eyes, even though they crinkle and turn to slits. She’s as used to it as Aomine, but she doesn’t resent you. She can’t. “I just want to move on. I’ll probably play again. Someday.”

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Momoi wants to tell you it’s not unrequited. Maybe. Probably. The three of you have a dynamic that even she still doesn’t understand to this day. You like him, he cares for her, she ends up questioning herself most days. Worse, you know. Why else would you be looking at her as if she, too, is looking at you like she doesn’t know you?

“Hey.” The smile you give her still doesn’t reach your eyes, but it’s soft. Genuine. The most she can draw out of you for the week. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she answers a little too quickly, her voice barely above a murmur. “We’re still friends… right?”

You tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and she misunderstands. “I’ll always be your friend for as long as you’ll have me, Sacchan.”

It’s over as quickly as it started, and you begin to ask her about mundane things. The kind of small talk that makes her feel borderline sick. But your smile is warmer, your voice lighter, your hand tender. She pushes everything to the back of her mind when you try to feed her a piece of sausage, and she decides she’s way past overthinking and being embarrassed. You know. You understand. Even if she does end up choosing him again.

You get your answer quicker than you thought you would.

From the looks of it, the rain won’t let up anytime soon. Behind the gray clouds, the sun is probably already starting to kiss the horizon, if the darkening sky and the lack of the people in the building are anything to go by. You suspect the evening’s begun. You don’t have your umbrella with you. You could, technically, just walk home and drench yourself, but you have a test tomorrow and you don’t want to have to deal with a fever while you’re trying to fill out the answer sheet.

So you wait.

At this point, you’ve gone around the school’s covered walkways once and a half, smoked at your usual spot, and bought two drinks from the vending machine. You’ve avoided the gymnasium like the plague, but there’s nothing else you haven’t seen and your boredom outweighs your turmoil. It’s not until you’ve reached the walkway connecting the main building to the gymnasium that you finally realize that it’s a stupid idea, because the basketball team should be finished with practice by now.

Sakurai notices you first despite the distance, his face lighting up. He gives you a wave and you wave back, smiling. Wakamatsu comes out shortly after and you give him a quick bow, still smiling. He nods at you in acknowledgement. The rest of the team comes out and you’re already turning around to go back where you came from. You pretend you don’t notice Aomine even though he sticks out like a sore thumb. You pretend you don’t hear Momoi even though she soothes you with her voice alone.

Maybe you’ll only catch a mild fever. Some shivering and sneezing. Nothing you can’t handle. The rain isn’t even pouring that hard. You can manage.

There’s no sickeningly familiar voice calling out your surname from the distance. No one calls out on the way you pick up your pace and shout, “Oi!” as if you’re an intruder from another school and not a fellow Tōō Academy student. You don’t hear footsteps thundering behind you, even though it’s almost criminally funny how you just start to fucking run.

Aomine hears you running before he sees you. You don’t stay to see how his teammates hold him back from chasing you. Sue him. Aomine hasn’t spoken to you in almost two weeks, and the longest he’d gone through one of these cold wars was a week at most. He didn’t mean to storm off and avoid you for the rest of the week like he’d catch a disease from just looking at you. Well, maybe he did, just a little, but the rest of it was your legwork. You’d purposefully left your classroom every time the lunch bell rang, smoked at your usual spot but at a different time, excused yourself from the conversations you were having with your former teammates right as he was about to turn the corner. At first, he let his pride win and decided the bridge between the two of you hadn’t caught fire. But it’s not burning—it’s crumbling, its piers collapsing in on themselves. One misplaced weight of the unspoken, and it’s done for.

The last time he stood in the pouring rain, Aomine had forsaken his friendship with Kuroko. But the bridge never burned and never crumbled, only abandoned, until the sun began to shine on it again. But this? This is you setting up a bunch of explosives on the damn piers when he’s not looking.

Momoi, on the other hand, is left alone in limbo again.

Maybe she should have chosen herself, after all.

[chernovlovesyou]

Okay so- I HATE IT when people randomly come at us for beef that we don’t even know that we have with them. Like- they will randomly tell us that they’re uncomfortable, or they find us weird, or they don’t like smtg about us or what we are doing, and get mad at us when we haven’t stopped whatever it is that’s bothering them. The issue is though, is that THEY DONT EVER FUCKING TELL US! How in the actual FUCK are we supposed to know that you’re uncomfy with us or smtg that we are doing if you don’t fucking tell us directly!? It’s like- they do that shit, but then get mad at us when we don’t stop doing or saying something, even though they didn’t tell me anything, and gave no prior sign that they wanted us to stop. Like- we can’t read peoples minds! Wtf do people expect us to do!? We’ve also learned fairly recently that this is a very common autistic experience; it’s nice to know that we are not crazy.

We hate having this happen so much to us in our lives and it’s getting tons point where we might just give up on making friends with anyone who isn’t neurodivergent, because why the hell do WE need to learn how to read mind just because YOU are dumb, and don’t know how to properly communicate!?

Like seriously- why the hell do neurotypical expect us to just *know* shit? And it’s even worse when they pull out the silent treatment card on you where it’s like- you go into school or smtg, all of your friends are avoiding you, you don’t know why. You try to ask what you did, but then they say some shit like- “You know what you did.” NO!? WE DO NOT!? If we knew what we did wrong and knew that it was wrong, we would’ve fucking apologized already for it. And then when you finally figured out what you did wrong, it’s the most stupidest shit that either an autistic behavior/symptom, or smtg that you did not know was wrong, and now you’re being eternally shamed for not knowing it was wrong, when again, NOBODY FUCKING TOLD YOU IT WAS WRONG, OR NOT SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE!!!

Anyways- I fucking hate being autistic. Have a good day comrades.

Tagging @bluecatfangz because I’m pretty sure you guys can relate in some way.

[bisexualfemalemess]

BRIDGERTON SEASON 3 PART TWO SPOILERS

I needed to make a part two 🫣 Anyway that hand kiss was so cute was it not? *threatening stare if you dare to say otherwise* HAHHA He really hates portia so bad. AWWWWW him saying that he wants to see Cressida watch penelope in her triumph, he’s truly such a wife guy. LADY DANBURY IS A SHIPPER AND PENELOPE SUPPORTER MUCH LIKE VIOLET. MY LORD THAT GIRL IS TRULY SO LOVED. Agatha seems to have clocked violet’s and marcus’ tea. ELOISE I GET YOU BABY GIRL BUT PLEASE THE ULTIMATUM WAS SO UNNECESSARY. At least wait till the morning, my god. Now she’s gonna panic at her own engagement ball, my poor baby pen ;(aww not killmartin being so nervous that poor man. Violet hates portia so bad, it’s so funny how not one of the bridgertons likes anyone from that family other than my babygirl pen. Ooh toast time. Aww that speech was so cute 🥹🥹🥹🥹 the callback to their first meeting. Poor baby pen already looks so guilty and then eloise decides to swoop in with her fucking shady speech like girl i really do love you and get where you’re coming from but once again i ask you to read the fucking room because there’s a time and place for that shit and it’s not at her engagement ball to your fucking brother. Violet’s a queen for forcing her to save that speech and once again portia needs to leave her ulterior motives at the fucking door. Penelope really is not used to love from her mother she looks so uncomfortable when portia says shes proud like “ha. Yeah. Totally.” Kate saving the engagement ball or pregnant queen truly is working overtime this season. I just now this charades scene is gonna be chaotic asf and i’m here for it because we all know how competitive this bunch is from last season. Kate and Penelope are gonna be the cutest sister-in-laws i just know they’re gonna form an alliance in support of the loser malewife husbands. Anthony’s so fucking competitive and i commend kate for keeping her cool because the way she closed her eyes truly showed how tired she was of that man lmao. Man i can’t handle pen and eloise’s awkwardness just give me my besties back jfc like they’re so in sync, continuously getting each other’s words. ELOISE GUESSING FRIENDSHIP IN THAT TONE LIKE BITCH DONT GIVE HER THAT ATTITUDE AND JUST MAKE UP???? THAT BITCH LOOK SHE GAVE PENELOPE??? seriously they’re dragging this storyline out i need them back so soon. Creloise fighting :( how sad, oh, well, maybe peneloise can come back now. Kate is so welcoming to john she’s so queen. AWWW JOHN AND FRANCESCA ARE SO FUCKING CUTE. Not colin mentioning lady whistledown and everyone laughing put some respect on the queen’s name jfc she’s right next you. “Certainly any hope of marriage” AND THEN PENELOPE TURNS TO HIM LIKE STOP IT RN My baby’s having a full blown panic attack ;( Aww kanthony wanting to tell people they’re expecting a cute little scene for my kanthony heart 🥺🥺🥺 Not penelope having an actual full blown panic attack in colin’s study while everyone’s talking about whistledown in the next room. And colin following her but deciding not to bother her ;( like baby ‘tis not you she’s just going through something rn. It’s so eating away at her. My babies, colin’s so worried she doesn’t want to marry him when in fact she’s worried that everything’s gonna come crashing down at midnight. Not penelope literally being unable to breathe yet everyone else is still happily wrapped up in the party??? Like that girl is full on crumbling in her fiancé’s arms and you’re telling me no one’s noticed? Like i wanna be happy about kanthony telling the moms about the grandchild (i am who are we kidding) but penelope’s currently fighting for her life trying to not crumble. CRESSIDA FUCK OFF NOT THE KANTHONY COCK-BLOCK AND PENELOPE FAINTING MY POOR BABY. Now everyone’s crowding her. Truly so loved that girl

[krowsindulgences]

Progress on my Recreyo AU - Recreyo Myths

Okay, so it feels like I haven't updated in a while, but I have. And I want to make an update post or two! I will have a list of what I will talk about here.

Something with the title

The reason why Im not writing another fic

Story Progress

Okay, so first lets talk about the-

1. Title

If you have noticed from my past works on ao3(Just one), you will have seen the title as 'Recreyo Mythology'. I have changed it to just Myths because even though it sounds cool, Mythology means to STUDY myths. I really feel like a said 'woopsie daisy' on that one. So... expect it to be renamed when I post my next fic.

Actually, when am I making my next fic?

Well... not soon. Yep. You want to know why?

Its because we'll be going on number 2 now. Which is-

2. Osha-Rkry Progress

WOO! Yep, Im taking this language stuff seriously. I have long finished the phonology(sounds) of the language, so here are the things I have written in my grammar document at the moment:

Articles

Grammatical Gender

Grammatical Cases

Time Tenses

Numbers

Let's now see the progress.

The ones that are completed are Articles, Grammatical Gender and Cases. Yes, that's not a lot, but I am not including the more basic things about the language which are completed.

For now, I can give a sneak peek of what I have. I dont really know why, but I just dont want to show off everything.

First to show: Grammatical Gender + Pronouns

This is the whole thing, actually. I just dont think people would be able to really read this all at a first glance/dont take their time into it.

I actually do have a list on how some of the characters would refer to themselves.

Ai and Ao / Sasha /sə.ʃə/ - "Nrdw Ghrknyhry" (LIT: Like 1(S.God))

Chilly - "Nrdw Rknyhry" (LIT: Like 1(J.God))

Curt - "Kazhodo nrdw" (LIT: It like (1(?)))

Please remember the context of the structure being Object Verb Subject. 1 in this context refers to a first person pronoun, for example I and Me.

Second to show: Articles

The words are whited out on purpose.

Third to show: Time Tenses System

I think this can also be considered as 'Immortal Time / Mortal Time' too...

Well, thats all I want to show of Osha-Rkry right now! Hopefully you'll see more soon. Now, onto the next!

3. Story Progress

I think this is what most you all are for. Actually, with some help of @turkeyinnovember (Maybe a bit more with a reblog lol) I have done...

The backstories/backgrounds of EVERYONE! Along with a basic story concept.

You can expect 2/3 seperate stories/perspectives in this au. I will be listing the concepts of these plotlines, not the title.

Main Story 1: A girl gets spirited away to a new path in life, which changes her world a lot. The Gods she knows are not what is in front of her. Is she just forced to live a life in a different world? Is it even a different world?

Main Story 2: Did she find him? Or did he find her? No matter, because the Goddess of Knowledge has found a issue she had never faced before: She doesn't know a smidge about him.

Side Story 1: 'To meet a God is a Glory,' they said. One way or another, he finds himself in that exact situation. Is this what he wanted?

Also, the designs are REALLY unfinished. I only have Chillys concept going along, but I appear to be stuck.

Hint: I need ideas for tattoos. Please help me, anyone.

Well, I think thats it! I hope you all will like the AU Im preparing. This is Krow, saying goodbye! Have a wonderful time, folks!

Kra Rkry, its past 10 pm...

[elainsgirl]

this has been said all around but I seriously do think the acotar fandom would've been different if sjm engaged with us. I know plenty of authors who engage with their fandom even if some are still toxic like boys of tommen. But I still believe more people would've stuck around and didn't have to deal with ongoing problems due to an author that neglects her fandom.

People are calling Elriels weird and delusional for thinking of a rejecting mating bond which the author literally talked about! how is that delusional for thinking the next book could be that? Elriels aren't stupid. Elain is literally uncomfortable around lucien. "Did elain tell you that?" that really pisses me off. she's clearly uncomfortable around lucien, anyone can see that from a mile away. And the thing with gwyn, I believe its due to the hatred everyone has with elain so they create this image of gwyn to replace elain. its so odd.

The only way the fandom would have been less toxic, is if Mass gave us insight on how SHE wanted the books to be read and the narrative she was trying to spin instead of everyone going wild and having random interpretations that don’t make sense and are clearly not what Mass was going for. That and if she had been giving some teasers from the next book here and there as well as telling us what we should expect from Acotar 5. If think this would hVe definitely calmed the shipwars down and actually create excitement for the next book. If you look at how chloe handled the fandom after T7, she left completely and now has a social media manager running her account whose been engaging w the fandom by posting snippets from previous books. Ofc BOT had its own shipwars and arguements as well as characterwars but how was that taken care off? The spotify playlists which confirmed couples, plots and whose getting which and how many books. Was there backlash? Sure, but chloe was far from it and eventually it died down and people began getting excited for the upcoming books and what was about to play out. Now when you look at her recent announcement, as far as I’ve seen there hasn’t been any negativity. Even those that don’t like the next couple haven’t created a fuss because they knew it was going to happen so could brace themselves. So if only Sjm had used the same technique but then you can’t really compare the two authors and their fandom considering one is significantly less popular then the other. The Mass fandom is so huge and despite the fact it seems like everyone is online - the truth is there are millions of readers across the world who aren’t online. They dont care about the ship wars or characters wars. They just want the next book. So I think it doesn’t register to BB or sarah that there’s so many polarising discussions taking place bcs its only a small part of this massive fandom taking part and creating these arguements. They’re going looking at the fandom as a whole - and many just dont care. So their silence & neglect make sense especially considering that I dont think Mass had any acotar content to share as she hadn’t written the book, Since acosf, CC was her focus. Not acotar.

Elriels being called delusional? What else is new. For an author that is suppose to be strictly “fated” mates - there wS no need for her to talk about bond rejection and what if two mates aren’t right for each other. “What if the forces be, put you with the wrong person?” 🤝 “what if the cauldron was wrong? What if that (Azriel) is what she needs?” Antis are quite confident when Sjm wrote “why not make them (elriel) mates?” Like, you cannot get more obvious then that. Elain has told us she doesn’t want her mate. Are antis respecting that? No. See, most people are able to clock on that when a woman is losing her boldness around a man she is uncomfortable and not interested. As for Gwyn - she’s a self insert for elain antis and someone better they can replace Elain with. Its a mess.

[hell-raven]

absurdly long tangent/analysis

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: this isn't to dissuade anyone from interpreting the canon as they want i just wanted to share my personal opinions based on the preexisting canon that may or may not be very passionate, please just have fun do whatever you want none of this is fact

i really hate how utsuho is flanderized to death and constantly boiled down to "the dumb bird girl" because if you actually sit down and Read her dialogue instead of relying on secondhand information you learn quite a few things about her (when i say this is absurdly long i mean it so keep reading at your own risk)

extrapolating from her own dialogue:

she actually wanted to blow everything up in th11 for real and it wasnt just a "hehe whoops" kind of thing. she was bestowed an extremely powerful ability and deliberately wanted to use it to cause destruction/take over gensokyo

she is extremely knowledgeable about her ability and job (anything related to nuclear power and regulating the flames of blazing hell, or just things about former hell itself)

she takes her job very seriously and supposedly does it very well

but there are a few things that get people: she has poor memory, other characters refer to her as "birdbrained" or "empty-headed, and there are a select few instances of dialogue from hisouten/gouyoku ibun that catch peoples attention. its one of those things where because other characters (and people) say shes stupid, it influences everyone else! in my opinion, i think her own actions straight from the source are much more indicative of who she is rather than the quick judgements of other characters.

=======================

the first major point before i get into the specific dialogue in the fighting games: "kanako needed an empty-headed hell raven, and utsuho fit the bill"

what exactly is meant by "empty-headed"? this is going to be more of an abstraction, so definitely take it with a grain of salt. we dont know much about utsuho before she gained her powers, just that she worked as a lowly hell raven that helped around the palace of the earth spirits/hell. to me, it sounds like an incredibly mind-numbing job that really doesnt require much thinking to begin with, so of course you wouldn't expect some kind of supergenius from it. im also going to go out on a limb and say that utsuho was a candidate for kanako's plan because she's also considered a pet. many unfortunately conclude that pets can't be intelligent, and even the title of "pet" carries the connotation of inferiority. even if she was truly empty-headed as previously suggested, this doesn't mean that she stayed as such with no change at all. when i first played th11, i would have never guessed that she would be "the stupid one".

small note: ZUN's comment on her theme ("even a fool that possesses great power can't cause too much harm")

the problem i have with this is that she really would have caused a lot of harm if the protagonists hadn't stopped her. you could say shes a fool for letting the power get to her head, but objectively i cant exactly point to anything in th11's dialogue/scenarios that suggests she's foolish unless you really want to count bad memory-retention as such. not gonna argue this too hard, but it seems like "fool" is a word thrown around very freely with little thought to how you can actually apply it to a situation.

=======================

IN HISOUTEN: sanae beats her up and afterwards says "youre trying to help me, actually" to which utsuho is like "Oh Ok". you could argue this is probably her dumbest moment, but would you really not follow or listen to the person who defeated you in battle? its not the most defensible point, but she didnt even seem completely oblivious either when she was asking sanae about the incident. my personal interpretation is that she has a bit of a short temper related to how important her job is. there are plenty of other 2hus who are generally sillier than this, it doesnt make much sense why utsuho is the only one who gets this treatment.

IN GOUYOKU IBUN: utsuho doesnt notice reimu before she starts blasting her to bits, which to be fair reimu wears all red in Hell (her fault honestly) + correct me if im wrong but is the power of nuclear fusion not extremely blinding? supporting this, in the events of GI its also implied that shes being overworked due to the oil incident, and we already established that she takes her job very seriously, so to me it makes sense that her first thought is to "remove the contaminant" and to use a lot of her energy in the process. a lot of people in general sometimes get wrapped up in their own work to the point of hyperfocusing, i say the bird can do it too

i also havent brought up the fact that we dont exactly know wtf eating a god does to your brain, whos to say it didnt fuck with you a little bit?

past all of this though i still think utsuho is funny as hell with her particularly bold and uncaring personality, its just that people seem to think that a couple of goofy moments make up her whole character and its just mildly annoying to me.. subterranean animism will probably be my favorite portrayal of utsuho because of how seriously they all treat her (mostly) but overall i wish more touhou fans would actually indulge in the source material and think a bit deeper about this neat little piece of fiction that i am WAY too passionate about (also its just way more fun to look at characters from a complex perspective)

[therese777]

Tie yourself down to whatever chair you're sitting in because this is going to be a rough fucking ride.

If you have had your head under a rock, which was the majority of this semester, you have been FUCKING UP in terms of academics and social interactions. If you're reading this and you're thinking “OMG but i have been having so much fun interacting with my friends and going on social media this week!”. Then punch yourself in the face.right now. Before I go and find you on campus to fucking do it myself. You have 360 days out of the stupid year to crash out and go crazy with wasting your time, but THIS week is NOT, i FUCKING repeat, is NOT one of them.

This week is about studying and making sure you're ready for your exams. And thats not possible if you're going to stand around like a FAT PIG doing NOTHING and expecting good results. NEWSFLASH YOU STUPID FUCKING COCKS, these exams don't hold place for lazy pigs. OH DOUBLE NEWSFLASH, you aren't going to be happy with your results if you suck at locking in. and in which case if you're an idiot and haven't gathered the point and need it spelled out for you, YOU REALLY SUCK SO FAR. this also applies to you little shits who think they can just cram the entire material the night before the exam.

ARE YOU PEOPLE FUCKING RETARDED? That's NOT a rhetorical question i am genuinely asking if you are mentally slow, so i can go and book you a surgery to remove your ovaries so you can spare the human race exposure to your handicapped DNA.

First of all, i dont care if you think you’ll be able to study the material the night before. YOU DONT DO THAT. 

YOU.   DONT.    DO .   THAT. 

I WILL ACTUALLY FUCKING CUNT PUNT ANYONE IF I HEAR THAT THEYRE DOING THIS AGAIN. AND I DONT CARE IF YOU SOR ME, I WILL FUCKING ASSAULT YOU.

If this email applies to you in anyway, meaning if youre a useless piece of shit who wastes their time doing literally anything except study for their exams, DO NOT. AND I MEAN DO NOT. GIVE YOURESELF ANY HOPE THAT YOU’LL GET GOOD GRADES. IM NOT FUCKING KIDDING.

If youre one of those people that has been like:” boohoo i have adhd i cant focus for more than 15 minutes” then i pity you. Because i seriously dont know how you got this far in life. 

Seriously, i swear to GOD if i find ANYONE being a godforsaken useless pig during these trying times of examination i will beat you to a pulp.

And if this offended you, i would apologize but frankly i dont give a fuck. Go kill yourself. Or study. Whichever suits you.

[rah-nee-yah]

i literally planned to post this like two weeks ago but i was scared people would think im delusional (i am, actually)

BUT im on a high rn after that vi clip and im just bouncing off the walls and im actually so excited and after linkin park was finally announced to be part of the ost i really wanted to post this…

but what if chappell roan is the mystery artist on the ost…

I KNOW WHAT UR PROBABLY THINKING BUT JUST HEAR ME OUT DUDE (this is a joke pls dont take this seriously 🙏🙏)

HERE IS MY EVIDENCE:

i made a post of how chappell and jinx have a joan of arc inspired getup

this one is obviously a very big stretch because anyone can reference joan of arc, so i would like to turn your attention to her vma performance.

first off, the obvious reference is she has two braids for jinx. but lets observe the prop she has in her hands. a crossbow headed for a castle…almost a parallel to an ultra mega death rocket hitting a certain council building…

when she shoots the crossbow, spark effects form an X and the lighting turns BLUE, not an expected red or orange, again another reference to jinx.

i think what really made me start developing this theory is this pose chappell does. she does it twice during the performance. i think it might be a reference to jinx’s obsession with guns and this little moment. also why tf would she go out of her way to make this pose?? when she’s singing in this part, she isn’t saying the lyric “shoot another shot” (which is when u would expect her to make this pose).

this may also explain why track ten has been hidden. around a year ago, when someone from arcane said they were in contact with a big artist, which im assuming is linkin park (theyre ranked like 34 on spotify), chappell wasnt a huge celebrity yet. it wasnt until around april that she really started to gain popularity, and i mean A LOT of popularity, probably to almost the same degree as linkin park. at this point, the team prolly just decided to hide her song for shits and giggles like they did with the linkin park song.

anyways this is the part where my theory is based off pure no evidence speculation and personal indulgence, but if this ends up coming true, i hope her song ‘subway’ is the one for arcane cuz it fits caitvi so well and i need that banger released NEOW. not to mention, if it is track ten, it would be played in the middle of the season, which is during the speculated caitvi divorce arc. (also, im pretty sure chappell started performing the song in early june and yk what else came out early june?? THE ARCANE S2 TEASER)

either way, it probably isnt chappell roan (EVEN THOUGH I WOULD LOVE IF IT WAS). im dying to know who the track ten song belongs to. why is it still hidden?? is it somehow an artist bigger than linkin park?? someone mentioned rihanna since fenty worked with riot on mel’s design, and i really like that idea (although it is DEF not happening rihanna is too big of an artist). now that i think about it, i would love a song about mel…

anyways this is a complete shitpost (that i spent WAY too much time on) if ur reading this and somehow put up with me yapping about my delusions, thank you ur a real one 🫡🫡

[simpjaes]

omg hiii ^-^ ik we dont know each other but ive read your hypersexual jake smut like 3x and it was sooo good, it rlly humbled me girl, i thought i was good.😭you really deserve the love ur getting. i restarted my page, and ive been working on smth for so long but im scared to drop it. i just want my moment like u, but i fear im not good enough yk😿did u expect to go viral like that? do you have any tips? idk whats a good time to drop, im also scared of getting the community label lmaoo bc every one of my fics used to get them, hence why i stopped writing in the first place

but yeah it was so good, im gonna follow you now, ur the bomb.com😘

"alsooo do u put the smut tags under the cut for a reason?"

you're a blank blog so usually i wouldn't respond but im gonna anyway!

thank you very much for the compliments! I was a lil shocked that you considered hyper-sexual a fic that went viral but i'm flattered you think that!! I'm super proud of the feedback that fic has gotten and no, i never have expected any of my works to be as well loved as some of them are! I'm actually quite insecure when I post a fic simply because the embarrassment of it never truly leaves.

As for tips, all i can give you are the asks i've answered here: tips, tips, tips, tips, tips. i'm pretty casual when i write though I work hard and do my best at it. Previously i always considered it a hobby and never took myself too seriously, however, now I will be minoring in creative writing so i have been a bit harder on myself regarding my works as of late.

as for the smut tags. I tend to put anything nsfw under the cut solely because sometimes minors will be scrolling and their mutual may have reblogged my work onto their dash. I don't want to force anyone to read something they don't want to read, or something i don't want them to read.

Thank you for the follow and I hope you pick back up on your writing soon!