#mayhaps i shall delete this

[djarinova]

me when everyone i know seems to have closer friendships than i do

[happypeachsludgeflower]

@ihavedonenothingright about Into The Shen Verse!! which, incidentally, also has the potential to be named “Shen-anigans: Into the Shenverse”

Who do you think would be the oldest? I’m making a family tree to start the fic planning, but I’m running into a wall and cannot figure out who has the most “Eldest Brother Energy”.

Shen Qiao is the obvious second brother. Thousand Autumns makes a point to always place him second. It basically writes itself there.

Shen Yuan was the third son in his family as stated in SVSSS which also slots in well here. And Shen Yuhua from Daughter of a Thousand Faces was the youngest child which also fits in nicely here, with the fact that Shen Yuan had a younger sister.

I’d add Shen Jiu (also from SVSSS) to the sibling set, but for the plot I have in mind, he fits either as a cousin or not at all. Also, with his childhood relationship with Yue Qi, he often gives off second brother/youngest sibling energy.

I do not have enough context on the other Shen’s just yet to slot them in. I’ve done a cursory search on each of them, but am still uncertain.

Shen Wei seems to have the most Big Brother Energy going for him, but he has a twin bother Ye Zun and would be difficult to slot into the eldest brother unless I just.. deleted his brother from the story entirely.

Shen Zechuan is the eight common born son and even in his adopted family is the younger brother. He is like, the babiest of all the Shen boys. And probably best as a cousin to the aforementioned lineup.

I can’t find a wiki on The Silent Concubine but I AM VERY ENTHUSIASIC ABOUT THE PLOT SUMMARY AND SHALL BE BINGING IT TONIGHT!! And from the summary, he is also fighting Shen Zechuan for the Babiest Shen Award.

As for Gu Yan, he is being adopted into the family. I cannot think of a reason he’d be born into it and given the name Gu Yan only to change it to Shen Shiliu later. He does however seem to have some semblance of elder brother potential. At least in comparison to the other candidates. He was a military commander. Which doesn’t necessarily make him elder brother material (I genuinely don’t know since I haven’t read more than the wiki) but most of our other contenders so far are canonically youngest siblings. Maybe he can be adopted before Shen Qiao is born??

Shen Li (and her mentor Shen Muyue) from Legend of Shen Li is absolutely a good addition to the family, but she unfortunately is not a contender for the oldest brother.

I considered switching Shen Li out with Shen Yuhua for the youngest sister since Shen Yuhua has extensive family in canon, but decided to keep Shen Yuhua as an adopted child. The Shen’s mayhaps kidnapped her from her family (who can be another branch of the Shen family and therefore she’s biologically a cousin) that didn’t care for her anyway after her mother’s demise.. she deserves a nice family besides her bestie Swallowtail. And from what I can tell from the brief Wikipedia article I found on Shen Li, she seems to have bamf older sister energy. I’ll have to watch it to know for sure though.

Anywho, our main contenders seem to be Gu Yan (who would be adopted), Shen Wei (but idk where I’d put his twin Ye Zun), or Shen Jiu (who we could explain away the younger sibling energy by him having a childhood friend that babied him).

Feel free to add other contenders in the comments.

[lady-rosceline-hurst]

[ECHO.EXE RUNNING]

...<SECURITY FOOTAGE STREAMING>

[Rosceline walks past a well dressed woman in a hall of the estate. The woman - who appears to be of some status, though her dress is not so fine as Rosceline's - appears nervous. She is carrying something in one hand. Rosceline stops, turning her head to the lesser noble.]

Rosceline: LeMay? LeMay, is that thee?

[The woman timidly turns to Rosceline.]

LeMay: L-lady Rosceline... Forsooth, tis me.

Rosceline: I do not believe I have seen thee in some time. Since the banquet with House Elnora, I believe? Or... no... perhaps... it has not been so long...

LeMay: Oh, I b-believe thou art right, mine Lady.

[The woman takes a step further from Rosceline.]

Rosceline: Nay, I know I have seen thee move recently, mine dear. Though, perhaps not in person?

LeMay: Is... that so..? Curious... P-perhaps we shall have lunch some time soon, mine Lady! But at present I am late fo-

Rosceline: For a meeting with Lady Violet?

[The woman begins to shake.]

LeMay: W-whatever givest thee that idea mine Lady?

Rosceline: Well, it suddenly occurred to me where I have seen thee recently. Twas on the security cameras. Speaking with mine mother.

LeMay: Oh, my Lady, twas only a meeting to discu-

Rosceline: To discuss her desire to use thee as a spy upon me and mine people?

[Rosceline slowly turns to properly face the other woman. She wears a small smile, but her eyes are those of a cat which has spotted a mouse.]

LeMay: I- I know not what thou meanest, mine Lady Ros-

[Rosceline takes a step toward LeMay. Her voice is cold, icy, filled with a calm hatred.]

Rosceline: What art thou carrying, LeMay?

[The lesser noble shakily holds out a small data repository.]

Rosceline: Curious. Dearest LeMay, I do trust that there is nothing... untoward... upon that data drive.

LeMay: W-why would that be the case, mine Lady?

Rosceline: I am unsure, to be frank. Mayhap mine mother would have offered thee something. Status? Assets? Something thou might deem worth the risk to, say, incriminate mine servants over? Something ludicrous, of course, such as forged evidence of their participation in some form of... unrest?

[Rosceline takes another step forward, leaning in so that her face is uncomfortably close to the woman.]

LeMay: Of... Of course, Lady Rosceline... Such a thing would be... unthinkable...

[Rosceline's smile widens.]

Rosceline: That is good to hear. Because if I were to find any of mine poor servants had been... falsely imprisoned, by the time I do wake in the morn...

[Rosceline leans in even closer, her lips but an inch from the woman's ear. Her words are inaudible to the device capturing the footage, but her lips can be read.]

Rosceline: Thou would choke upon thine own blood before the sun would fall.

[Rosceline leans back, turns around, and begins walking away with an elegant sway to her steps.]

[LeMay stands paralyzed, the color drained from her face.]

...<DELETING DATA>

...<DATA DELETED>

[roseofithaca]

Outcast ("Stolen" Alternate Ending)

Sooo...I might have started writing this shortly after @idiotwithanipad 's posted chapter 12 thinking it was the final part, but then came the Epilogue so I deleted it.

But I really need to write angst, as torturing comfort character is best therapy, so consider this a non-canon What If where Gore Mary did wipe Silver and Amy's memories.

Tw: extreme angst, discussions of lobotomy.

-

"Dreams about something nice, Ally."

Despite being heavily scarred and burnt, his brain obeys his Mistress.

When he eventually wakes, there's the hint of a blissful smile on his face for the first time in...Well. Enough time for a hundred great empires to rise and fall. The morning sun gently caresses his eyelids as he comes to. It seems almost a shame to wake up and yet he's also left with such a sense of peace and joy that he can't even be disappointed for it to end. No ringing in his ears. No screams echoing from the past.

Shifting slightly on a patch of soft, long grass, he stretches out his paws and gives a yawn.

"Morrow."

He opens his eyes, the familiar forest around them. Looking rather brighter and greener than it's usual dim and misty setting.

Lifting his head, he sees Mistress sat upon her curved tree that usually served as her 'throne' of sorts. Before her, on the bed of blue flowers, Mistress' cub slept peacefully on her side, hands folded beneath her head, looking content in her own dreamworld.

"Dids thee have a pleasant slumber?" Asked Mistress, rather blandly.

Grunting, he nodded.

Yes. Oh yes, he...He...

The dreams slip through his fingers like sand, whatever faces or places that had filled him with such rare peace and delight, quickly fading away before he could grab them. Damn it. All he was left with was the feeling that his dreams had been Good. And he supposed he should be grateful for that.

Mistress nodded, turning back to gaze at her child.

"I is glad."

The creature rose, scratching at his ear with his paw and shaking his mane before padding over to her. Had Mistress given him the sweet dreams? Usually she simply soothed his pain and made it quiet for a brief respite but to give him dreams as well?

Had it been part of her apology to him? For everything that happened at the Strange Wall with the other versions of themselves? Silly Mistress. He's already forgiven her for that. She's already done more than enough for him. One betrayal would not be enough for him to want to leave her. Never.

He made a huffing noise to call her attention back.

"Yes?" She looked to him...her tone strangely sharp.

The creature sat and signed.

'Mistress want break? Me watch Cub?'

That was usually how it worked. Mistress had a lot of work to do, many patrols, overseeing the outside land that belonged to Her. Once he was awake, it was usually his duty to protect the girl.

Which was a job he much preferred when she was asleep.

And yet, Mistress' smoke rose a little at the suggestion.

"That shall nots be necessary...thanking you." She seemed to shuffle a bit closer to the girl, fingers clutching her apron; "If thou wishes to be of service than it woulds be of great favour to me if ye scouted the western area, please."

All the way on the other side of the land? At the other border?

'There danger?'

"Mayhaps. Mayhaps not. But I cannot survey it myself when I must also watch over my darling girl." She explains.

The creature frowns. There must be a reason why Mistress feels so compelled to watch her herself right now.

'...Cub okay?' He asks, concern biting at the walls of his chest.

She looked okay. Same inane grin stretched across her face. Cheeks a little paler than when she was awake but that was normal.

"She be well. I simply wish to be close to her." She raised her eyes to him, ember irises glowing; "Needs I remind thee of the turmoil I has gone through while she be gone?! When...when she were trapped in that there mirror world?!"

He flinches. No, no, of course not. Mistress' agony once she realised the girl who she had brought back was not Noisy Cub had been painful to watch. True that she seemed to have distracted herself for a time, focusing on desiring to keep Noisy Cub's quiet and seeing twin as her own as well, but that didn't lessen the longing she felt to have her own Cub back.

And, while it might pain him to admit it, he'd missed that mind numbingly annoying laugh too.

He retreats. Of course Mistress will want to be with her daughter. Will take time to feel safe to leave her side again. He remembers feeling from...

Well. Long, long ago.

"Ally." She calls.

He turns back.

Mistress stares at him, her lipless mouth tightly shut, looking as though she's about to say something.

Then she shakes her head and looks back at her daughter.

"There be no rush for thee to return. Spend as much time scouting the border over yonder as long as thee can. Best makes it thorough." She orders.

He nods. If that is what Mistress desires, so it shall be.

-

It doesn't take long for the euphoria from his blissful sleep to wear off, seemingly the farther he gets from his 'home' - which, more recently, has been the grove in the woods containing the bed of cornflowers where Mistress' cub slept.

Pain returns in crackles and sharp bursts around mid day. Not just inside his head, but his entire body seems to be feeling the effects of some...fight? There are no bruises that remain and yet the last time his muscles ached this badly had been when he'd had to wrestle a bear twice his size to prove himself Lord of the forest.

Was it all delayed from his battle with his other self? The one who could summon Sky Fire? Or from Mistress throwing that giant fireball at him? Maybe but...this felt...more recent. More...physical, rather than some elemental attack.

After pacing back and forth across the western side for a few hours, he's certain there's no danger about. The hotel has been abandoned long enough and the building dilapidated, no one dares to venture here much except teenagers trying to scare each other by daring their friends to go inside the Haunted House.

On his way back, he gazes up at the window of the east wing bedroom. No sign of Cub's silent friend. Might still be too early for her to rise.

In fact...shouldn't Cub be awake soon? Hadn't Moonah been almost full when he went to sleep?

But when he raises his eyes upward, She's just about visible in the clear midday sky. She looks to have just started to wane.

Had his sleep been so deep and restful that he'd slept through the entire three nights that Cub was awake?!

Huh. Good.

A double month of sweet silence for him to enjoy, he tells himself with a grunt. Though he's surprised anyone could sleep through Noisy Cub's giggles and chattering and way too tight hugs. How could such a skinny thing squeeze the wind out of him so easily with those arms?

If he asks Mistress nicely, will she let him sleep just before the next full moonah too?

Only joking, he assures to himself. Cub would be jumping all over him, pulling his mane and beard and yapping in his ear, no matter how deep his sleep, demanding him to play. She is Mistress' Cub, and thus part-Mistress. Not like he can refuse her summons anymore than he can from her mother.

When he arrives back in the grove, Mistress has barely moved. Instead of sitting atop the low branch, she kneels beside Noisy Cub and waves a hand over her head, commanding those smoky tendrils of hers to slither into her daughter's mind. Perhaps helping her to dream well too.

Leaves rustle as he steps closer and she looks up at him. She glares, her focus broken, black limbs dispersing.

"I tolds thee to remain on the West side!"

He flinches at her tone. Had she? He thought she'd simply told him to make sure he'd done a thorough patrol before turning. And he'd been there nearly six hours.

'It all clear' he reports, bowing his head slightly.

"For now, maybes! The sun shall be lowering into the stomach of the Earth forthwit, and all the thugs and vagabonds shall be upon us!" She tells him, fearfully; "Can ye not oblige me this request?!"

He let's out a slight, confused grunt.

'Mistress sense bad folk come? How know?'

"Does thou question a mother's intuition?!"

He shakes his head.

She stands tall over her sleeping daughter, several long, snaky arms of smoke writhing beside her, flames flickering in her eyes.

"I feel it doth not make sense for the two of us to remain in this spot when the land be so spread out. Perhaps it be more practicals if thou remains in the western woods."

He blinks.

'Mistress....send away? Did...me do wrong?'

The wraith seems to take a deep breath, exposed ribs expanding and held tight for a moment. She shut her eyes.

"What coulds thee possibly have done wrong?" She mutters through gritted teeth. It's not an answer. Just a question repeated. One he's just as confused over. "And thou is not being sent away, do nots be silly....T'is merely a better way to ensure our land be well guarded."

Mistress floats a little closer and fixes her eyes on his.

"Thou doth wants to ensure the little'ens be safe, does thou not?" She asks, her raspy voice lower than normal.

He nods. Of course. Cubs most important thing. Even Noisy Annoying Cub.

But why does Mistress seem so off with him? As he skulks away, he can't help the feeling he did something to make her this cross.

Was she still cross with him for defying her? For not blindly following her orders to retrieve all the cubs at any cost?

But...no. Mistress had realised she wrong. Mistress had wept in his arms. She promised to show him what had made her lose her mind so...

Wait. Had she shown him? That was what she had been going to do but...

"Rragh!" He groans, gripping his head as a sudden surge of pain shoots through.

A pulsing agony tears across his frontal lobe. The more he tries to remember, the hotter it burns. So he stops.

-

Days and weeks pass with far more monotonous boredom and loneliness than he's felt in centuries. There is nothing worse than a few pesky squirrels to make this side of the land interesting to guard. Sure, he gets plenty of time to lay down and nap, but even those lack the relief he used to feel.

When he does return to Mistress' woods, she usually comes to meet him just outside the treeline, so he can give her his report. Nothing. As usual.

"Thank you, ally." She says, every time, curt and abrupt, before turning back to float into the trees.

Raising his paw to his chest, he rubs the skin above where his heart aches.

Why doesn't she talk to him anymore? He knows he's never been much to converse with but that never used to bother her. For over four hundred years, he's been happy to be her confidante. Happy to rest his head in her lap as she voiced her thoughts and feelings, just as the dark haired one with the bread in her mouth had encouraged her to do.

Now he's lucky if she grants him more than a few words. And whenever he tries to follow her into the grove, just to get a peek on Noisy Cub, just to check she's all right, Mistress turns on him with a fierce glare as if to question why he isn't getting back to his new post?!

So he goes back. Back to being Alone.

On the way past the house, he keeps trying to see Cub's quiet friend in the windows. Nothing. Should he check on her as well? Make sure the headless one is treating her right? She was getting good at signing, doesn't she want to come practice more?

One night, he dares to try to creep in and make his way slowly down the hallway.

Her father's head is asleep outside the door. As the creature moves past, his eyes snap open.

"I...You! Again! How dare you show your ugly face again after what you did?!" Lordy Head sneers with revulsion.

He blinks, stopping in his tracks.

What did he-? Oh. Lordy Head still hasn't forgiven him for taking Quiet Cub last time. But that had been so long ago now? Hadn't they cleared the air by then?

The head can't understand his 'language' so he simply gives a confused grunt.

"Oh. Right, you don't...Never mind. What do you want?!"

Head bit's tone was so similar to Mistress when addressing him. Like he was some disgusting stray dog constantly begging for scraps.

He raised a paw to the door. Just wanted to visit Quiet Cub.

"Ha, you're 'avin' a laugh, you...My Amy is fast asleep so she's not taking visitors. Least of all from the likes of you, now get lost!"

He grizzles, shuffling back. Were it not for the truce that now existed between the Inside and Outside groups, thanks to the cubs friendship, he'd have swiped the head off the table or carried it by gripping his hair in his teeth to some dark corner of the woods.

But then he hears a hum through the wall. Curious and confused.

Clapping of hands and stomping of feet.

"It's nothing, Poppet! Go back to sleep! Dad is dealing with it." Head bit calls. He shoots the creature a glare and mutters; "Leave now or I'll set HIM on you, ya hear? Go!"

He grunts and turns to leave.

Understandable that they wouldn't ever be besties, given what he foolishly did under Mistress' orders. But he hasn't been that hostile in so long.

And anyway, it's the middle of the night. This usually when Quiet Cub is wide awake and eager to 'chat'.

When he gets outside, he turns and sees...a face with two bulging eyes looking out the window.

He raises his paws. Just to say hello.

Before she can respond, her expression one of bewilderment and fear, the Lord's body wraps his cloak around her and bundles her away from the window.

-

"T'is natural for the cloaked one to be protective. There be no needs to take it personal." Mistress rather lazily replies when he explains to her what happened.

She is still hovering around Noisy Cub, working her magic to guide her dreams. This is the closest he's been allowed near her in days.

The creature continues, just feeling the need to explain in case Lordy man is keeping Quiet Cub inside against her will or being cruel to her.

"Tush to that, he worships that child. He merely be a worry wort and doth not wish for his little'en to leave the house excepts when we agreed the girls can meet for their play dates." Mistress turns to him, her sockets darkened; "Thou wilt see the child when Silver wakes and she visits here. Can ye not be patient?"

The creature shrugs. Sure he can, it's just...He didn't seem to have too much issue with her sneaking out now and then before. She's not an obedient Cub like Noisy. She's rebellious.

Think she big cub. Like to wander.

'Pi.....get hurt....wander....No...Listen to Fa-.'

He rubs at his head. The pain is getting worse. He tries not to remember but the inconsistencies and pushing him to try to think hard on what he might be missing.

It's like a butchered telephone line in his head constantly screeching, searching for a signal only to find static and piercing white noise.

"What's wrong?"

Mistress asks the question with that same irritated bite. No tender concerns. No familial care.

She hasn't asked how he is or offered to soothe his head since he woke up from that good sleep. He knows he could ask...wants to ask...but she's in such a tense mood and her focus seems to be fully on her cub. Makes sense. Mother should put cub first.

So he just shakes it off. He's fine. He's fine.

-

At the middle of the month, he spots Mistress journeying into the house, rising up to the second floor on a cloud of smoke and fading through the wall to the East Wing. Lordy and Quiet Cub's room.

Pushing his questions for what the two of them have to talk about aside, he takes the opportunity to creep into the grove.

It's New Moonah tonight. Time that she disappears, to briefly die and be reborn, leaving Her children in darkness for one night.

As he expects, Noisy Cub is tossing and twitching on her bed. Never good for her on New Moonah. Moonah light guides her dreams with good light, as much as Mistress' power.

This has been part of his duties for every month since she was found. He pads close to her and lays beside her head.

Gently, he tugs her close with his paw, letting her roll into him.

Whimpering in her sleep, she clutches at his furs. Except not in the annoying way as when she's awake. Fingers grip tufts like very small frightened cub. Brings her comfort as her mind lost in shadow. The anchor to remind her she not alone.

His other paw combs through her hair, carefully grooming her, picking out those leaves that litter her ebony locks.

'Fa...made crown...it spec-....help heal....'

Cringing, he ignores his own headaches, strange as they are. The tiniest flash of Cub offering something to him...except she's smaller. Hair different shade. Same bright blue eyes. Same smile, only not cursed.

Happy Cub. Annoying and noisy but happy...must keep happy....

"Get away from her!"

The shriek at first makes him tighten his arms around the girl, following his first instinct to protect cub above all else.

Bad move. A burst of flame shoots towards his head and he rolls away just in time before it can hit his head, moving past to scorch a tree instead.

Mistress floats towards him, her wraith from enlarged, smoke writhing in furious limbs out at her side, embers crackling.

"WHO GIVETH THEE PERMISSION TO LAY A PAW ON MY DARLING GIRL?"

He quivers, lowering himself as much as he can to the ground.

Mistress did....Didn't she?

She's never once taken issue with him comforting her before, or giving her a ride on his back when she's tired, or when they 'play' Noisy Cub's stupid games together if Quiet can't come out.

He points up at the moonless sky.

'It New Moonah...Cub have bad dre-.'

"Does thou think I be unaware of the time? That I cannots care for my own little'en?!"

No, he never meant to imply that. Just Mistress had other things to do and be stepped in, like he always has.

Mistress' tendrils coil around the restless cub and lift her off the ground. Mary takes her into her bony arms and cradles her close.

"Mummy's here, darling girl. Mummy will soothe those naughty dreams." She promises, lovingly, kissing her forehead.

She shoots another glare at him.

"Thou art not to enter this grove 'less I be present and give thee permission. Be that clear?!" Her tone turns from maternal and soft to spine-chilling regal and strict in a single beat.

He rubs at his chest. Why doesn't she...?

He nods. Because her word is law and he shouldn't question it.

"She is my child. Not thous. T'were thee who rescinded all rights of claiming her to me and those can't be taken back, not ever! Does thee understand?!"

Taken back? Does she think that he would ever dream of trying to claim Noisy Cub?

He would never...Why would....

For starters, it's enough stress simply being her co-guardian, being her full time parent would make his head explode. But most important, he knows she belongs to Mistress. He would never take child from her, what does she think he is?!

"Tell me thou understands! She is not thy child! SAY IT!"

Trembling, he ducks his head and raises his paws.

'Not...mine...'

Has no cubs. Cubs all dead. Cubs....gone up to stars.

Lucky to be allowed to be near Mistress' cub and Lordy's cub. But even that seems to be a privilege that hangs on a knife edge.

He watches Noisy Cub continue to whimper in her mother's arms. Her fingers flex, searching for the comforting fur that she's grown familiar with, that always helps her feel safe.

'Fa....Co...back...?'

Scars in his head flaring once more, he forces himself to turn away.

Sorry, Noisy Cub. Have to obey your mum. She know best.

-

If only he had some answers...if only someone would explain to him what's changed...

He has too much time to wrack his warped brain to ponder it. Try to pinpoint the moment. Lordy head never liked him, never trusted him, fine, maybe he gave him good reason and he can never forgive that. Honestly, the creature probably wouldn't either if it was his own cub who got taken, no matter the excuse.

But Mistress? Why?

Did it all come back to what happened with the other cub? Because he'd chosen, for once, not to obey her, not to force unwilling children to her side who were clearly terrified of her in her maddened and reckless state? Had she lost all faith in his loyalty because of that moment?

Well...he won't apologise. Never.

Mistress would have done the same if the roles were swapped. Damn, Mistress would never have let it get that far and he was a fool for blindly following her orders when Noisy Cub's twin was clearly in distress and wanted to go home. His own Sky Fire welding double had been right; he'd been nothing but a dumb animal following her orders religiously.

But Mistress not just goddess. She friend. Family. Sometimes have to protect family from other family...and from themselves.

He can't regret what he did, even if it now means Mistress hates him, even if he never gets to be allowed near Noisy Cub again...

The thought of which makes his chest ache in a way he never expected it to at such an idea.

No constant giggling. No tugging at his beard. No jumping on his back and daring him to toss her off if he can. No braiding his mane and then him grooming her. No playful swipes and pretend scraps, no piggy back rides, no curling up close to make sure she knows he's close as she sleeps....

If someone had told him a month ago how badly he would miss all of that once it was taken away from him...

-

Answers come when he decides to follow Mistress the next time he sees her entering the house again.

Can't get too close. But he manges to find a spot to crouch close enough to listen in as she talks with Lordy man, hearing snippets of their conversation.

All to confirm his worst fears.

"I tried, cloaked one. I dids sorely try." Mistress is sighing, sounding ever so tired and stressed.

"You be a braver soul than most to do so, Mary." Lordy responds, gently.

"Brave? Or foolish? I knows the two often skip hand in hand." She scoffs; "I thoughts I could erase it all. Start a fresh, go back to the norm...But I cannots. Every time I do lay eyes on him...I sees it. Where once I dids think I glimpsed the man beneath the beast, now Is do only see a beast."

"Can't say I ever saw what you did. Or the girls for that matter. But I did my best to trust him because you did. I can't anymore. The thought of losing my little girl again..."

"Yes. T'is the same fear that plagues me. I has not slept in weeks."

"Same. I think my Other Bit has slept more than me, ha, mostly 'cause he keeps her in his arms when she rests. Most of the time I'm out here, having to keep guard."

"I do apologise, cloaked one."

"C'mon, it's not your fault."

"I dids take responsibility of him. I thought I had resolved the issue but...T'is true. Our girls are not safe. Not when he be so unpredictable and could turn traitor at any time."

Traitor? The word felt like a spear to his chest. Is that what she thought of him now?

"As for what to do when my little'en wakes, I knows not. She will be eager to play with her fluffy friend and I wills have to supervise thems at all hours."

"I meant what I said. I can't allow my Amy to go back to those woods, even if you're there. Silver will have to come here for them to play, those are my terms."

Mistress sighs; "They will have so many questions and I is not sure how to answer them. I fear if we tell them the truths of what he did, they will think us tellin' tales."

"My Amy is already restless enough when I explained to her why I can't let her leave and that the creature isn't to be trusted. It's been quite a challenge to keep her inside this long. Be thankful your girl sleeps most of the time, huh."

"Piffles, cloaked one, ye be bereft if thy girl was not constantly awake to stomp her booties and glare ever so!"

A light chuckle from Mistress that he hasn't heard in many moonahs.

Sometimes...she used to joke with him, even if he couldn't do more than a light huff of laughter. They used to talk. He was once her confidante, not an Insider. Not a Lordy man.

"Haha, you are right. Just wish there was a way to resolve this. I know you still hold some fondness for the creature, Mary, but forgive me for wishing he could just...move on. Be out of our hair. Our daughters hairs. It would be for everyone's good."

"Hmm. I woulds only be able to see him go knowing he be at peace, in spite ofs all my misgivings and resentments."

Resentments. She...resents him...

Why?! What did he do?!

"Perhaps I dids make a mistake. Perhaps I merely formed a second box of Pandora, as from my girl's myths."

"Or...perhaps you didn't go far enough?"

A beat.

"What does thou mean?" Mistress asks.

"Well I'm no quack, but I've heard bits and pieces on how fiddling with the brain of demented folk can alter their states, make them more...docile, shall we say." He suggests; "Maybe manipulating memories wasn't enough. Maybe there is a way to go deeper to ensure the beast is 'safe'?"

He freezes. What are they....?

"Cloaked one. What thou is suggesting be a form of murder...To kill a 'soul' in a sense by changing their being beyond re-."

"On a human, sure, I'd never suggest such a thing, it sounds barbaric." Lordy man responded; "But c'mon, Mary, you worked on a farm. You domesticated animals however you could to keep them under control. That's all it is...and you know it. It would be no different than neutering a violent hound, or declawing a cat, or filing down their teeth. Parents make these sorts of decisions all the time to compromise allowing pets around their kids."

Pets. Violent. Domesticate. Every word made him want to wretch.

"He's not...I've never wanted...."

"I know, I know. But think about what he did. What he's capable of. What he could do again if you allow him to roam freely. Just...do whatever you can to make him come to heel. A simple furry companion who just does what he's told and wouldn't get such thoughts in his troubled head that would endanger the girls."

How is he a danger? When has he...

Okay, yes, he kidnapped Quiet Cub once. And maybe he hasn't always been the nicest to Noisy Cub but it was always under a layer of hidden affection. He'd never dream of...Never...

"...I 'spose it be an option. He might even think it a blessing to be completely free of all those memories, all they do is cause him pain...If his mind be as blank as a little'ens, he might be happier for it..."

Mistress is considering it.

He has to leave now. Can't listen to another word.

She doesn't even see him as human anymore...

Maybe he isn't. Maybe they're right. Maybe it would be better to take the pill to end it all. Let this broken spirit finally shatter and be replaced by someone new, someone innocent and harmless, free of all these scars and deep set wounds.

Mistress would want him again. Noisy Cub would be happy with her new empty headed puppy that doesn't bite or growl, only plays and wants affection, doesn't think or question or argue. Lordy man would have no issue letting Quiet Cub be around such a simple, toothless creature.

Everyone would be happy...with the real Rogh destroyed...

He pads back to the grove, confident that the two of them will still be talking for a time.

Color is returning to Noisy Cub's cheeks. She'll be waking in a few hours.

He nuzzles her ear.

Can't do it, Cub. He just can't. For as much as his brain torments him, as much as he's haunted by all that he's gone through, he can't choose to let Mistress destroy his brain completely. Take away all that makes him Rogh, whatever that still means.

What if, when he finally gets taken the stars, he doesn't recognise his own cubs when they come to greet him? What if all this suffering has been for nothing?

Whimpering softly, he gives her one last 'kiss' with his knuckles against her brow.

Mr. Fluff has to go now. Before you wake.

Will be so much harder to leave when she's awake, or if other cub here, they would try to stop him. Can't explain it to them. He doesn't fully understand it himself.

Lordy man wants him gone. Mistress doesn't want to worry about him. So be it. Mistress will be fine, she has a new Confidante now. A fellow parent. Human. Someone she can relate to, rather than having to converse with a beast. He can give them both what they want without offering his brain up on a plate.

On the way, he gives one last glance to the East Wing bedroom window. He wishes she had been stood looking out. Just so he got one last look.

Goodbye, Quiet Cub. Take care of Noisy.

Look after Sis...

No one knows about this cave, hidden deep in the woods near the boarder. Not been here since...

Since...

-I is not the one stealing babies from their beds!-

Hello, Lyssie Cub.

He settles deep in the back of the cave, nestling in shadow. He can hide away here for the rest of time. Lyssie Cub will keep him inside, make him stay put with that constant unforgiving glare.

Sniffling, he lays on his paws and curls up. He should never have left this place after the last time he failed a cub. Failed Her.

He'd been a fool, Lyssie. He'd stupidly believed he could have something close to a family agsin. That he could be allowed near cubs who he could take care of once more. That he had a...friend who saw him as more than a beast. As a man, even.

It hadn't lasted. He should have known. They all see him for what he truly is in the end.

He knows his place now, Lyssie Cub. He's back where he belongs. Caged and alone, his only company being her hatred of him that she no doubt carried until her final moments on this plane of existence.

As he tries to sleep, ready to begin his endless self imprisonment, his burned mind flares with the agonised image of two pairs of eyes looking up at him, little hands clutching at air.

Fada...Fada....Fada....Fa....

Sorry, Cubs. Fada not come back this time.

[rusty-gloinks]

mysterious sillie anonnie is sillie eheee :3. mayhaps we shall start a mystery where you see me as a commonly veiled citizen seemingly hiding something at all times, grasping at everything to remain anonymous while you try to uncover my identity and the secrets behind it, only to one day realize that I've gone missing, fled into the night while I weep loud tears, I'll run away and you'll miss me, I'll miss you too because your investigation never went unnoticed to me, thats why it was nearly so easy afterall.

One day many years later, somebody who looks just that vague bit familiar will approach you, you may not remember her face, maybe not even her full name, but you will remember that voice and you will see her old veil peeking from her bag, offering you answers, but with several more questions

that or u already know who i am. uh. bepis. i have a cold and I'm slightly fucked from weed in my system still sorry dontmind me :3

thfis is wonderful I creid. Crie . Cried*(too lazy to delete lalalalal

bepis!!!! bap.bepis the bepper. beppis

[moonythejedi394]

i could not post that A+ winning essay to ao3 even if i wanted to *sad face looking down emoji* my old google account for the school i was attending when i wrote that paper is now deleted bc i don't go there anymore.

mayhaps one day i shall email the prof for that class and request he send a copy of said essay back to me, but i doubt he has it even after a year.

me: *wants to post that 30+ page rhetorical analysis of disney queerbaiting stucky*

me: *also wants to keep my fandom and academic career separate and absolutely the fuck could not do that if i start posting my real essays to ao3*

[stillness-in-green]

MVA In Memoriam (Coda)

The Comprehensive Account of the Butchering of My Villain Academia

(Introduction and Part One, Episode 108: My Villain Academia) (Part Two, Episode 109: Revival Party) (Part Three, Episode 110: Sad Man’s Parade) (Part Four, Episode 111: Origin: Shimura Tenko) (Fart Five, Episode 112: Origin: Shigaraki Tomura)

Welcome to the Coda, containing all my miscellaneous final gripes about the PLF scenes we should have gotten and didn’t, the MVA experience we should have gotten and didn’t, and one final complaint about artistic decisions for the road.

First up, I’ll run through the PLF scenes in between MVA and the start of the War Arc, with abbreviated versions of the notes I gave on MVA proper—just quick notes on what was deleted or changed in the order I encounter it, rather than sectioned off into cuts/shifts/additions. This is easy to do, since the anime brought us right to the brink of the War Arc before the season ended. Note, however, that most of this material fell during the Endeavor Agency Arc, which was bloated to hell with flashbacks and an entire filler episode. Clearly, then, the edits below weren’t made because of time constraints, but rather out of some misguided notion that the anime needed to “hide” the PLF because the audience hadn’t gotten their proper introduction yet.

So how did that go?

The Paranormal Liberation Front: Chapters 243 to 255

Well, obviously, the anime didn’t go anywhere near far enough to actually disguise the gist of what happened in Deika, especially thanks to the addition of that new bit of animation with white-haired Shigaraki treading on a flower that dramatically but inexplicably survived his destruction. Pretty much as soon as Re-Destro swore to take down the League, you knew how that was going to end, and you even knew most of the survivors, if you’d been paying attention to e.g. who was in the opening and who was sitting at the round table. The anime was, at once, not respectful enough of the source material when there was Movie Money on the table and family hour broadcast standards breathing down its neck, while also being too scared to really stretch the material to make it work in the new format.

For example, they could have really kept up the mystery by dropping the PLF scenes entirely and giving the audience only as much from Hawks as Endeavor himself was figuring out. Then Re-Destro could have gotten his proper introduction by reframing the news story about Detnerat moving into the Hero Support goods market as being a story about how Detnerat’s CEO was caught up in the attack on Deika. Then run the commercial, and enter MVA as the manga did, leaving the audience to wonder at least for a few minutes if Deika was some kind of attack on the Hero industry. (Credit to @robotlesbianjavert for this idea.)

Then, after MVA was over, they could have given us the council and the surgery scenes (the two I would consider absolutely necessary) to catch us up on what Hawks had been doing. Mayhaps they could have left the Kurogiri material where it damn well should have been and spliced the surgery scene in after “hospital” came up. As long as they were going to mix things up, why not go all-in?

But, you know, going all-in might have required losing some Hawks scenes, and god forbid we lose any scenes of the anime’s new favorite. So instead of doing anything, anything at all, to massage the story into a proper mystery, the anime made the extraordinarily lazy decision to merely drape the PLF in shadows and ominous atmosphere, cutting nearly everything that wasn’t immediately relevant to the ~mystery~. And thus we lost literally the only scenes openly showing the PLF acting as a cohesive unit, give or take Skeptic's computer wizardry for Dabi and whatever he's getting up to while trying to avoid eye contact with All For One.

Let's get into the damage report, shall we?

Chapter 243 – Off to Endeavor’s Agency!

• In Hawks and Slidin’ Go’s exchange, dropped both references to the organization Hawks infiltrated—Hawks calling it the Liberation Army, and Slidin’ calling it the Liberation Front, emphasizing the recent change and demonstrating that there’s effort being made (or possibly a cultish lack of pushback against RD’s decision) to really try and make the Front work. It shows Hawks being a bit needling about the ideology as well, feeling for cracks and faults.

• Skeptic’s line about how, if Slidin’ outranks Hawks, he must be influential enough to spread Liberation ideals throughout society. This shows that the PLF is still talking about Liberation ideology; it hasn’t been subsumed in the merger. Hell, Skeptic brings up Liberation ideology in this week’s chapter—it’s kind of important to him!

• Gave Skeptic a new line, “I was watching you the whole time,” before his quip about black coffee. There’s a pretty major discrepancy between the Viz translation of the coffee line (“After we went to the trouble of stocking up on black coffee.”) and the Funimation subs (“You almost brought black coffee and panicked a little, huh?”), but the Japanese is the same in both cases—and, to my best guess, the Funi sub is more accurate. Either way, the new line renders the whole exchange more creepy and invasive—and while, yeah, Skeptic absolutely is creepy and invasive, I don’t much care for the anime playing it up when, if you look at this scene in the manga, it is literally the only Skeptic scene in which he actually seems pretty chill and laid back.[1]           I never really came around on the anime/Sugita Tomokazu’s take on Skeptic, and this scene showed why in a nutshell: he was boring. He barely got to keep any of his neurotic tics—those tics were there in the dialogue Episode 102 brought over from the manga, but you’d never know it when Sugita’s delivery was so level and the anime refused to show Skeptic’s bloodshot eyes, clenched teeth, and NAG NAG sound effects.           Conversely, the one moment that reads in the manga as more relaxed and touched with camaraderie—Skeptic smiling wryly and commenting on Hawks panicking a bit about almost buying the wrong coffee on accident—got creepy music, viewers couldn’t see Skeptic’s smile, and the line was preceded with the aforementioned new line. Thus, instead of feeling sympathetic (you can easily imagine Skeptic also has strong opinions on coffee, after all), it just felt like a combination threat/warning: I can see everything you do, so watch your step.

Chapter 244 – Recommended Reading

• A missing camera. Kept a shot framing Hawks’ face through his spread wings but missed why it’s framed that way: to aim one of the micro-cameras in his wings at Endeavor and his interns in such a way that the audience can see it. The anime didn’t show the camera.

• Hawks, in pitching the Meta Liberation War book to Endeavor, ties it to Deika by noting that it was popular already, but said attack brought it even more attention. It’s easy to read that as a hint that the MLA was involved with Deika, If Endeavor were a bit swifter on the uptake. The anime dropped the phrase.

Chapter 245 – Rise to Action

• Removed Machia from the council scene. Straight away, we lost the knowledge that Machia is attending despite, for example, Geten not bothering to show up, despite Shigaraki not being there himself, and despite everyone assuming (and, tragically, his portrayal in the War Arc doing little to disprove) that Machia is basically a glorified Noumu, incapable of taking action when he hasn’t been explicitly ordered to do so. This is the last glimpse we’ve had in the manga to date of the Machia that sought out Shigaraki, apparently entirely unprompted, to test his fitness as Next Master, the Machia that has a will of his own, even if he only uses that will to mindfully strive to serve as best he can. The anime removed him from this strategy meeting for no reason but that he’s a huge, hulking spoiler, one they could easily remove without otherwise impacting the scene, and I dislike it immensely.

• Skeptic’s, “Ah! Like those three boys who’ve joined Endeavor.” This is the biggest indication that any of the erstwhile MLA are actually showing willing here other than Re-Destro. Skeptic is contributing at these meetings, weighing in with comments, not just sitting there in stony silence. This is a telling contrast with Trumpet, who we never see say a word, and Geten, who’s absent completely. It changed what the audience can gather about the health of the League/MLA partnership to delete Skeptic’s contribution here.[2] And like—Skeptic could have weighed in! The anime-only audience heard him in the prior episode, and his face had been clearly shown in the opening for as long as it had been running! It wouldn’t be a spoiler for him to just talk. But no, they had keep it all as Mysterious as possible, so Skeptic’s surprisingly upbeat grin and quip here are gone without a trace.

• Swapped out Hawks’ Liberation salute for an arm over the chest and a bow, since the audience hadn’t seen the Liberation salute yet (unless they were looking closely at his scene with Slidin’ Go, where he did, in fact, flash it, but far enough in the background that it would have been easy to mistake for a regular salute).

• Toga’s mention of Tomura’s “new power” that provides the timer on the plan to destroy everything. Since the anime didn’t give us the surgery scene that’s intended to immediately follow Toga’s line here until much later, nor did the audience have the faintest clue about Ujiko’s promised aid, they had no context for the line, so it just got dropped. The fact that Hawks knows he’s got a defined period of time until the PLF makes their move is kiiiinda important to explain why he’s willing to be patient and wait for better information, though!

• In keeping with not getting the surgery scene here, we didn’t get the chapter-ending cliffhanger page that leads into it. Which is a shame; it’s a good picture, that visual of Tomura standing alone amidst those bright lights, shoulders slumped, no shirt, no shoes, staring down at Father. It gives you the sense that he, too, is waiting for something, and wherever he is, the rest of the League isn’t with him. It’s a startlingly lonely, naked panel, for all that readers can’t see his face, and, for me at least, immediately makes me want to see him reunited with the people who care about him—painful in retrospect when you know that, at least as of this writing, he still hasn’t been.[3]

Chapter 246 – Message

• “But… I doubt this boost has made me unbeatable. Just ask CEO Baldy. He’s alive and kicking.” Given that Re-Destro cut his own legs to survive Shigaraki, and Aizawa will later follow suit to avoid losing his quirk, I’d say this constitutes pretty good foreshadowing. But what value is foreshadowing when there’re villains acknowledging the existence of other villains to delete?

• Added a bit where Ujiko leaned up close to leer at the camera and chuckle leanly. Loved it. I actually loved this whole scene, deleted mention of RD aside. Episode 113, this scene in particular, is why I don’t buy the idea that Season 5’s production in general and MVA specifically suffered because of the demands of making anime in a time of Covid.[4] It was obvious that, because the hero kids were back, suddenly the episode was getting a budget worth a damn and some actually great storyboarding, including extraneous movement expanding on Shigaraki and Ujiko just, like, moving around the room interacting with objects and each other. I’m so frustrated that all of MVA couldn’t look and move this good.

• The scene with Hawks and Re-Destro’s hallway encounter was relocated to the council scene, very much to its detriment.           Firstly, and yet again, we lost out on Re-Destro’s lighter beats—though in this case, those beats are both light and ominous because manga readers know that that exact smile, a broad curve with tight corners, eyes closed, is the one RD wore right before killing Miyashita. When this chapter was first published, loads of people were convinced that RD suspected Hawks based on how drawn-out the moment is, but in the anime, lacking the slightest bit of context, it was just Generically Foreboding, with no sense of the very immediate threat RD can make himself if he chooses to.           Secondly, we likewise lost the shot of Re-Destro’s prosthetic legs, an important little establishing detail to avoid having to devote precious panel time to drawing them to the audience’s attention right before they become his weak point during the War Arc. Hell, thanks to one of its “Memory” artworks, the Ultra Impact gacha game has officially given us more of a clue that RD gets prosthetics than the anime did.[5]

Chapter 255 – Hero Hopeful

• Had Hawks step out for a drink instead of carrying on with the tutoring, which is the kind of thing that would probably have gotten him into trouble right after taking a phone call if he’d been with anyone less trusting than Twice. Because it’s Twice, he could get away with it, but still, you’d think Super Spy Hawks would be more cautious.           Also instead of continuing on with the lesson plan, had Hawks comment on the way his Number 2 status means he gets a lot of help requests, and Twice indicate that he was impressed. Uh, anime? It was maybe not a great look to have Twice, a man who thinks heroes only save the right kinds of people, compliment Hawks for shrugging off help requests.

• The surgery scene that closed the chapter was transplanted to the beginning of MVA—the scene both closed Episode 107 (More of a Hero Than Anyone) and, in a slightly edited form, opened Episode 108 (My Villain Academia). Ujiko was generally fine there—the version of the scene at the end of 107 kept all of his dialogue, so I can’t complain too much that 108 deleted some in recap. No, the bigger problem was the matter of who in that scene was supposed to be laughing.           If you look carefully at the sequence in the manga, it’s very obvious that the sound of laughter is coming from Shigaraki, not Ujiko. The lettering is pointedly placed inside the room we saw Ujiko observing; note how the letters are overlaid in places by the dividers between the windowpanes when the viewpoint is outside the room, but unobstructed (and larger, suggesting an increased volume) when the “camera” moves inside.           I don’t know if the staff just missed the distinction with the lettering or if it’s another example of willfully stripping the villains of personality. After all, anyone can scream on an operating table when their guts are being ripped open by intrusive cables, but Shigarakiis laughing. It’s an immediately distinct note, suggesting a great deal about both his characterization and his pain tolerance. I suppose him screaming instead made him a little more viscerally sympathetic, but like… Given all the choices the anime made in the episodes to follow, it’s a bit rich to suggest it cared about making Shigaraki sympathetic, isn’t it? Unfortunately, due to both intentional changes and rushed art, that kind of off characterization was all over the place the whole arc.

Framing Shifts: Arc Swap Edition

So now that I’ve laid out all the cuts and changes individually, I want to hit on a few things of broader scope. Things that we lost, if you will, to the overall rearrangement, rather than the episode-to-episode minutiae.

• The League as Underdog Protagonists and the MLA as a real threat. A lot has been said about this one already, in my own posts and elsewhere, but it’s worth reiterating. The manga sets up the League to be the object of the audience’s sympathies by first showing them in poverty and then showing them beset by forces much beyond their apparent ability to handle. The audience is invited to share in their triumph because the manga stays almost entirely away from heroes until the very last minute, when it cuts back away to Hawks’ [Internal Screaming] face, which is maybe the funniest panel in the entire manga, but also a sharp return to the reality that these are the villains and they are now going to be a complete nightmare for the heroes to have to deal with.           Just as the League members are allowed to be underdogs, the MLA is allowed to be a serious threat. Re-Destro opens the arc by killing Miyashita; he gives it one of its tensest moments by casually maiming the series’ main villain in a way far more permanent and significant than the series’ main hero has ever suffered.[6] And you know, ultimately, Shigaraki was always going to be fine, same with Dabi and almost certainly Toga, but Twice, Mr. Compress and Spinner? Up to that point, they have no such guarantees. Spinner has his narration—present-tense, up until the end, when it so abruptly and significantly jumps to past-perfect—but that isn’t much reassurance in the moment; he could always die dramatically sometime towards the end, as long as it resolved his early claim, “The League of Villains is doomed!” Mr. Compress is even worse off, with nothing tying him to the plot but his long-time association with the League—little good association with the League had done, at the time of publication, Muscular, Moonfish or the still-unreturned-today Mustard.           Further, there’s precious little way to predict Re-Destro giving Shigaraki the keys to his army at the end of the arc. People hypothesized about what Shigaraki would gain from him, sure—because that was how Shigaraki had always worked, coming up against a villain and absorbing some defining aspect of theirs he could carry forward while his challengers were left to rot in prison. But a full-on alliance? And one where Re-Destro survived, free and loyal? Even the scattered people who I saw predict some kind of alliance as the explanation for Spinner’s doomsaying didn’t expect that.           Obviously, absolutely none of this lands the same way—or at all—when the audience comes into the arc with the foreknowledge that the League members will all survive and wind up in a working partnership with (most of) the MLA. And as I said above, some of it could have been salvageable if the anime had been willing to be braver in reworking the material, but that’s not what we got.

• The PLF as a real threat, both to Hero Society at large and to Hawks personally. The anime carrying out the arc swap while doing the bare minimum to obscure the nature of the new villain status quo was disastrous to seeing the PLF as any kind of effective threat for the future. In putting all of Hawks and the Hero Commission’s maneuvering in before the audience even knew the danger, there was no time at all to savor the PLF, to worry about how the heroes could possibly overcome them—because we’d already seen Hawks successfully spying, getting out information to Endeavor and the Commission, Aizawa and Mic getting the tip-off about the hospital out of Kurogiri, and so on.           At every turn, the villains were being foiled, to the point where Hawks thought, triumphantly, “The pieces are all in place!” when the audience still didn’t know what the threat even was. I haven’t seen a work so mercilessly and insultingly kill its own dramatic tension in the cradle since the Happiness Charge Pretty Cure movie.[7]           Quite aside from neutering the threat the PLF represents for next season, the arc swap and the compression of MVA really impact how much danger Hawks feels like he’s in. Because the audience has no idea how much of a threat the new villains are, and is still operating under old parameters on the League’s abilities, there’s not much reason to feel very worried about Hawks as he scoots around some strange mostly empty mansion smiling brightly while cunningly getting the information he needs.           Likewise, the Jeanist scenes in the manga fall during MVA, leaving a real question as to just how far Hawks is willing to go when he has been told to stop at nothing to get in with the League. Hawks confronting Jeanist in the anime is instead positioned in with a bunch of scenes of him subtly trying to get the word out and ask for help, of the Commission moving to shore up their numbers and resources. Of course Hawks didn’t kill the Number 3 hero! Virtually no one that I’ve seen has even been discussing it as a possibility! And while it’s true that the attack(sic) on Jeanist would have been in the same place in the timeline—Hawks’ infiltration, not his information-gathering—the anime’s deeply muddled timeline, lack of context, and absence of Hawks’ creepy expressions, give the audience no real reason to harbor suspicion that Jeanist is to any degree distressed denim.

• The timely reminder circa the Endeavor Agency Arc that heroes don’t kill and the equally timely humanization of the Noumu. The no-kill precept is so strongly ingrained that even Endeavor killing Hood-chan was seen by some as example of a hero committing murder. Endeavor markedly not killing Ending the way Ending wants is a marked contrast to the possibility that Hawks murdered Jeanist, but more importantly, it provides extremely important context for Hawks’ definite murder of Twice. The audience is not supposed to be able to just casually brush Jin’s death aside as being for the greater good; it’s supposed to be so ghastly as to be almost unimaginable. The only precedents are All Might “killing” All For One in the backstory—which the public wouldn’t have known about because AFO was a secret and All Might’s long-running battle with him even more so—and Endeavor killing Hood-chan—a Noumu, a monster, a corpse, mindless, not at all the same thing as killing a human… Or is it?           Immediately after Ending raises the question, “Is killing a Noumu murder, actually?” the story jumps into the Rooftop Trio reveals, humanizing the Noumu even further. The anime kept those two stories together but separated them from the War Arc via putting MVA in the middle, with MVA not involving Noumu at all. But it’s important that the humanization of the Noumu be recent relative to the War Arc. The War Arc, remember, will give us yet more examples of the Noumu exhibiting coherent thought and self-identity, even as heroes mow them down without a second thought. The heroes characterizing the Noumu as unthinking, inhuman monsters despite evidence to the contrary both recent and concurrent will even spill over onto Shigaraki because of his surgery. There will even be a brief bookend with the note that Kurogiri and some other Noumu were moved to a hospital where attempts are being made to rouse their human awareness.           Now, it’s true that the anime will be taking the usual lengthy break between seasons, so it’s not like the Noumu thing is going to be fresh on an anime-only’s mind in any case. Still, I’m afraid I have to take points off for anything that detracts from the particularly elegant structuring the manga was enjoying during this period of its run.

• A reasonably paced Endeavor Agency Arc. This is an unpopular opinion in the villain fandom, I know, but guys? I like the Endeavor Agency Arc. Sure, none of its major characters are anywhere near the top tier of my personal billboard chart, but it’s tightly written, concise, and scatters in cutaways to the characters I actually like and care about while also giving me my favorite one-off villains in Star Servant and Ending, who afford us a look at street-level heroics that the franchise never gets close to replicating anywhere else this side of Vigilantes.           It then tops all of that off with a wonderfully nuanced look at different ways that people might respond to abuse without condemning any of those responses. I’ve often observed of Endeavor’s arc that every time it looks like he’s getting somewhere and the narrative is about to let him off the hook, some awful flashback will traipse up to remind us, Oh yeah, he was fucking awful, and there’s all of one place in the series[8] where the story’s got worse in store for its Enji Is A Shit reveals than “Natsuo thinks Endeavor is personally responsible for Touya’s death and privately Endeavor kind of agrees.”           I like the Endeavor Agency Arc. I was looking forward to the Endeavor Agency Arc. Yet I was so dispirited by the arc swap that I couldn’t drum up the wherewithal to even watch it, and having heard about the beach filler episode and the way Chapter 249, The Hellish Todoroki Family, was larded up with so many flashbacks it took up an entire episode all by itself,[9] I can’t imagine I'm ever likely to go back to it.           The Endeavor Agency Arc works because it’s short and sharp, a quick-moving story about the boys learning on their feet, Hawks keeping on his toes, and Endeavor taking things one step at a time. Distending the arc out to where it took the same number of episodes to cover a manga arc that was half the length of its seasonal bedfellow didn’t hurt it as much as the attendant compression hurt MVA, but it damn sure didn’t do it any favors.

Odds & Ends

A general survey of what villain fandom was expecting based on what had come before—both in terms of MVA in the manga and how the anime had handled the manga’s adaptation up to that point—and what we got instead. It’s important to keep in mind here that the anime had never made any changes as radical as the arc swap. Filler episodes here and there, sure, little trims or deletions, and little additions, too. The largest thing, to my knowledge, that had ever been dropped outright was the page zooming in on Stain in his cell in Tartarus as AFO was wheeled past. Half a year ago, everything below seemed like a pretty safe bet!

The Opening Sequence

We had such dreams about a villain-centric opening. Oh, sure, MVA would be sharing a cour with EA, but, after all, the School Festival shared a cour with the High End fight and the Remedial License Exam, and the only impact they had on Starmarker was a fleeting handful of ever-so-slightly lingering shots on the focus characters from those mini-arcs. The openings generally went out of their way to avoid spoilers for major events happening late in their respective cours, to the extent that Gentle Criminal and La Brava never even appeared out of silhouette in their own arc’s OP. EA would be late in the cour; on top of that, based on the rate of adaptation in the past and the length of the respective arcs, MVA stood to be double EA’s length. Why on earth wouldn’t we get a primarily villain-focused OP?

Movie bucks and cowardice are the only explanations we have, because no official source has ever gone on the record to say any different.

And it’s a crying shame! I actually think Merry Go Round could have been a pretty aces MVA opener. I know a lot of people disagreed because of that Whoa-oh, it’s alright, everything will be alright opening line, which, fair, would always have been darkly ironic. But the opening line aside, Merry Go Round was unusually well-written for a song for the League as villain protagonists.

It’s a song about fighting fate, about not standing aside, about being beaten down but getting back up anyway. It’s got great lines for Spinner about finding inspiration in someone else’s smile and not being a shell, great lines for Tomura about facing the world no longer in mourning, great lines for Toga and Twice about losing love or regretting everything, and a damn good line for the villains having temporarily become the main characters in that closing line, And now it’s our round. It’s also more minor-key in sound, a harder rock tone than the pop-rock that the anime had favored up to that point.

It’s not like it’s a bad fit for the heroes; you can match lines to them as easily as you can the villains. But it could have been so good for the villains, and I so wanted it to be—and instead we got that endless goddamn shot of the EA trio walking steadily toward the camera in sunset lighting, all looking heroic and resolute and not like the damn villains we were here to see.

I am no little bitter about what the focuses of Merry Go Round tell us about the production committee’s priorities, but you know what’s the icing on that terrible, terrible cake? I have quibbles about even what little villain material we did get.

• The shot of the League in the opening was obviously referencing the cover of Volume 24, but made some shifts to account for Spinner and Mr. Compress not futzing with the title. Mr. Compress was, I think, the only one who got “translated” reasonably to the anime shot—he was posing with his hand to his hat, while Toga lost her sucker, Twice his obvious peering out at the viewer, and Spinner… Good god, I know he’s got a design that’s hard to keep on-model, but they were working with opening animation budget. Surely they could have done better than the pinprick stare of someone on a bad heroin trip.

• It dropped a spoiler for one of the few things the arc swap hadn’t spoiled in the shot of Jin in front of all the other Twices. It was only a flash, and fairly obscure—easier to peg as a spoiler if you already know it—but it was a spoiler all the same.

• If whoever did the opening animation thought Skeptic is shorter than Trumpet, they should really have gone over the manga again. Skeptic is a gangly-ass beanpole; even accounting for his terrible posture, he’s still taller than Trumpet by no small margin.

The Closing Sequence

This section is short. It boils down to this:

WHY HAWKS, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS. WHERE WAS OUR LEAGUE SLICE OF LIFE/FANTASY AU/SCENES FROM THE CAMPOUT CLOSER.

Seriously, why would they take a song the singer wrote about Shigaraki and Midoriya and slather it with Hawks and Endeavor imagery? Why is Dabi, the second-least-relevant League character to this arc, given the most prominent placement of the villains? Would it have been so damn hard to give us even a series of stills for five episodes?

In fairness, if Sakiyama Soushi, Uso Janai’s writer and performer, had wanted to write a song about Shigaraki and Midoriya specifically inspired by the manga’s then-current events, he could have done better than to hand it in as the closer for a season in which Midoriya and Shigaraki never even cross one another’s minds, much less in the manner Midoriya will be thinking about later on. Maybe make it a B-Side for the release of a single that was a bit more appropriate for the season’s content or something.

No matter what the song was about, though, there’s no damn excuse for handing Hawks an entire closer. Is Hawks Eri? Is this arc entirely predicated on making him smile? Is he even into his crunchy character stuff yet? Does he ever get enough concentrated crunchy character stuff to justify signing off on him getting an entire cour’s ED? Am I ever going to forgive the anime for this flyby robbery? No, no, no, no, and fuck no.

And also screw them very much too for all those cutesy shots of Class 1-A at the dorms; they aren't even in this arc, you bastards.

The Scoring

The shuffling around of music tracks relative to the scenes their titles indicated they were meant for provoked some talk, but for the most part, I was pretty okay with it. Mine Woman might have been all right for the first half of Toga’s fight, when Curious was dominating, but that fight would have been awfully talky for the song’s pace once the beat dropped; conversely, the slinkiness of its first half did hilarious things for Trumpet’s level of implied grease, while the back half was a great match for the action-comedy that was the Twice clone stampede.

Likewise, I always disliked the prospect of the dirge-like, droning I Don’t Kill My Friends scoring the deliriously violent triumph of Sad Man’s Parade, but think it worked like gangbusters for the climax of the Shimura family massacre. So much better than the Doom Choirs I was terrified the anime would use there because neither the anime nor Yuki Hayashi understand subtlety where music choices are concerned.

On the other hand, I was considerably less taken with what was done with(/to) Toga’s Nature. While it did play in one of Toga’s scenes—for about two and a half minutes, starting when we see her drinking the blood of that first victim—it didn’t play straight through. The track itself is slightly less than two minutes and fifteen seconds: a tinkling piano melody that’s underscored first with twittering birds and then repeated with creepy distorted laughter and slightly more involved underpinnings; the melody is then reprised again, but this time keened out in roaring, throaty synth before the song returns to the piano and fades out.

I noticed in going through the scene for the Episode 109 write-up that the music was starting to feel much more repetitive than I recalled Toga’s Nature itself being, which is really saying something when you consider that it’s little more than three playthroughs of the same melody and then an outro. But it turns out that looping the lead-in piano portions,[10] hacking out that pulsing, raw climax, and then cutting straight to the outro leaves the piece feeling pretty samey! Especially when you also cut out the birds chirping and the manic laughter, leaving nothing but the piano noodling around through the same basic melodic line for over two minutes! It didn’t jump out at me just from watching the scene straight through the first time, but it was much more noticeable on a rewatch.

The other placement I’m really annoyed with is what was chosen for the crater. There’s a stretch of Second Coming I’d been really hoping to hear there,[11] but really, I’d have been happy with anything that wasn’t minor-keyed, slow-tempo Doom Choirs. Indeed, I did not get Doom Choirs, so at least there’s that. But what I got instead was strangely forgettable, a bland piece that, even after having watched the scene probably four times, I could not get to stick in my mind.

Why was such a key scene scored with such a blah theme? I watched the scene again, specifically in hopes of identifying the song, and realized the scene uses two different pieces. I haven’t been able to identify the second one (the one that scores RD’s inner monologue on up through Shigaraki asking about CEO Bucks), but I did finally place the first one, which plays through Shigaraki and RD’s moment alone up through Trumpet’s arrival and his Incite failing.

…It was the first song I deleted from my download of Yuki Hayashi’s score for My Villain Academia: The Mission of the Stealth Hawks. And guys, I just... Why. Why use the single most nothing minute and a half piece of the new music for such a key scene?? Why put anything with a hero’s name in it anywhere near that scene?? Why not use the obvious minor-keyed-but-triumphant stretch of Second Coming, which might as well have been written specifically for the way Gigantomachia looks at Shigaraki and sees All For One??? Before, I just thought the music choice was oddly characterless; now I’m actually annoyed about it.

The Marketing

Let’s talk for a bit about the merch and marketing for MVA, and what a sad fucking affair it’s been. Bless you all for sticking through me through this series of posts’ many, many blocks of text. For a change of pace as we wind down, I’ll show you some pictures.

So, coming into this season, I was really excited about merch. Like, I bypassed a dice Kickstarter[12] because I told myself, No, no, you can’t blow a bunch of money on this because, remember? Season 5 is starting soon! Updated Shigaraki merch! Spinner merch! MLA merch! Plushies, maybe, to complete a plushie collection of my OT3! It’s been a longstanding gripe of mine that the “villain trio” of Shigaraki, Dabi and Toga is far more a conceit of the anime’s marketing team than it is an accurate reflection of what’s going on in the manga, but I’d hoped that, with Twice and Spinner both having far more significant roles than Dabi in MVA, we’d finally get some proper merch for them.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on anime goods retailer amiami.com, and here’s a selection of what I’ve found:

…Well, at least Twice made it?

Here’s one that particularly offends me, a picture of two beach towels:

Note that the hero towel manages to fit in six characters, but the villain towel, in a group that only contains six characters, includes only four. What, were they afraid Spinner’s lizard face and Compress’s weird mask would turn people off??

The students, of course, were getting new merch all through the first cour; every week, more stuff, including for the more major Class B cast. Here’s an example:

Major Class B characters, like… Pony Tsunotori?

I have taken the liberty of highlighting the characters who got two acrylic stands. Note that there are six of them. Coincidentally, if you removed the doubles but kept the same number of slots, you could neatly fit in Spinner, Mr. Compress, Re-Destro, Skeptic, Trumpet, and your choice of Geten or Curious.

Needless to say, my dreams of plushies for Spinner and Re-Destro were entirely in vain.[13]

I just—guys, the last villains who were disrespected by the merch people this badly were Gentle Criminal and La Brava, and even they got a place in Season 4’s round of Graff Art goods! Which still puts them up on every member of the Shie Hassaikai not named Overhaul, I suppose, but Overhaul was in lots of merch, and still shows up in new releases of things sometimes even to this day. But I guess Re-Destro doesn’t get art privileges because Deku doesn’t have to fight him hahahagoddammit.

Of course, it’s not just the merch! Let me not neglect to talk about what was, in retrospect, the most glaring neon warning sign about the treatment Spinner was going to be getting in the anime: the home release box art.

Typically with multi-volume anime releases in Japan, there’s a variety of pre-order bonuses that differ depending on what retailer you make the purchase at—stickers, card prints, sometimes more elaborate things like CDs, towels, character stands, and so on. One of the more common ones, though, is a special box for when you order the entire series from that retailer. For BNHA’s fifth season, there were four options on these box designs: an Endeavor Agency-themed one for ordering from TOHO, one with the stoplight trio+Aizawa and Shinsou for ordering from Animate, a Joint Training slipcover from Tsutaya Online, and a League of Villains box from Amazon.

Here’s the “““League of Villains””” box art:

Notice any significant exclusions here? A certain someone who’d fit right into this overwhelmingly green color palette yet who seems to be mysteriously missing? For god’s sake, even Mr. Compress made it into this art. For real, what is the anime’s problem with Spinner?!

This gets even more preposterous, somehow. So like, there’s this upcoming event planned for November, right? A get-together of the voice actors of the League—all of the League in its MVA line-up—that no one quite knows what to make of. Obviously, it’s not for promoting the next season of the anime or a new movie; the last season and most recent movie only just came out. And it’s certainly clear that the production committee doesn’t care for the villains, based on how shabbily MVA was treated. So what are they even going to be talking about? Why is it for all of them (plus All For One’s Ohtsuka Akio, a recent addition)?

None of us know yet, though I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more information. That said, here are the two pieces of art that have been used to announce it/promote further details:

They actually include everyone for once! If you go to the website for the event, you’ll find it's offering merch based on that righthand image, so those goods will have the distinction of being the first to feature Shigaraki’s white hair.[14] Moreover, there’s merch for all six characters, making it the first merch Spinner and Compress have gotten outside of some random blind bag character goods from a limited time café collaboration three full years ago. All in all, pretty good, right?

Here’s the version of that picture that’s being used to promote the event on the anime website’s official front page:

Truly, what did Spinner ever do to deserve this?

To say the least, it means the schadenfreude I’m enjoying over heteromorphobia being set up to be an even more major element of the story going forward, with Spinner literally adorning posters about it, is profound. I genuinely hope that Iwasaki Ryo, Spinner’s voice actor—who took to Twitter shortly after Episode 108 aired to ask for the fandom’s support and lament, in as circumspect and non-blame-gamey a way as possible, that “circumstances” were such that he was unable to passionately yell at Shigaraki and reveal everything in Spinner’s heart—is feeling really fucking vindicated right now.

The Section where Stillness Complains about Art Decisions One Last Time for the Road, i.e. Why Are Re-Destro’s Burden Attacks Fucking Purple?

One last complaint before I wrap this up. I saved this for last because it’s far more a personal gripe than anything preceding this. But I’ve been sitting on it the whole time, so now I’m finally going to talk about how much I hate what the anime did to RD’s Stress powers.

I was always worried about this based on Destro Classic’s facial mask being a kind of dark cinnamon brown in the anime, and lo, it was exactly as unappealing as I feared it would be. I assume the anime went with brown because they were aiming for a natural color—since RD has those spots at his forehead that tend to be the early tell for his quirk, it makes sense that they’d be the normal brown of a skin mole or liver spot. But the clear inspiration for Destro’s mask and, by extension, RD’s stress markings is Rorschach test inkblots; popularly black, there are colored ones, but those tend to be red in addition to black or a series of bright watercolor hues, certainly not uniform reddish-brown. Further, RD’s spots clearly get far darker the more concentrated his Stress is, until by the time he’s in 80% Liberation form, his outermost edges look like they’re trailing black flames, a much more concentrated dark than e.g. Shigaraki’s tattered black coat.

Meanwhile, Burden is more concentrated still, circles and splashes of pure black ink dashed across the page. There was no justification, not according to the manga’s depiction nor even as a logical extension of the anime’s, to make Burden purple energy balls. By basic precepts of color theory, those black concentrations should have been the most visually potent thing on the screen, sucking up light and drawing viewers’ attention like a planetary alignment. Instead, Re-Destro’s most devastating attack just looked like slapdash CG effects rejected from a video game for being too primitive, offering no sense of weight or impact outside of what little the timing could impart, and that only in the pre-flashback part of his fight.

Also, while RD’s Stress markings can be a diffuse murky cloud moving under his skin, when he’s really manifesting it, it tends to be much more clearly delineated. Compare how clear and distinct the markings are in the manga right after he obliterates Twice’s clones vs. how blotchy they are in the same moment in the anime. It’s just a really unappealing visual, like someone used the Airbrush effect in Paint on top of an already-drawn still instead of incorporating the power properly.

BAH. BAH.

                                                          ---

So that’s the end of this series of posts at last, and if you read it all, including the much more generalized bitching and nitpicky whining in this post, thank you again so much. All lined up in my word processing program, this is over seventy pages of material, and I’m so glad that it found an appreciative audience. I may try to get this up on AO3 at some future date, and lord knows I've got fic and some asks in my Inbox to get to, but until then, I hope you’ll join me in my bitter pointing and laughing about how the anime is going to have to retcon in heteromorphobia for Season 7.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Well, after he gets done lambasting Slidin’ Go for his attempt to pull rank, anyway.

[2] We only ever see this one meeting, so it is, of course, possible that Geten and Trumpet come around more as the months pass.

[3] The next chapter repeats the image, but now with the surgery chair in the foreground as Ujiko talks about Shigaraki’s quirk blossoming; the anime did keep that visual. It doesn’t have quite the same effect when you already know he’s with Ujiko as when you just see him standing alone, though.

[4] But for further evidence, do go check out how fantastic The Case Study of Vanitas, also a Studio Bones production, looked week-in and week-out.

[5] The Ultra Impact gatcha game also gave players a Toga and Twice-focused event set during the fight with Machia that had brief appearances from other League characters, and at least enough of a mode playing Re-Destro to feature scenes with Geten, Curious and Skeptic. Ultra Impact is, apparently, where to go if you want the bonus material the anime couldn’t be bothered to come up with because bonus villain material might have taken us away from the heroes for three seconds longer than necessary.

[6] I am never going to forgive Horikoshi for backing down on the matter of Deku’s arms. Never.

[7] Apologies for the non sequitur. If you want an idea of how bad it was, imagine a movie about trying to get Eri to smile in which she herself claims to be too empty and emotionless to ever smile again, with Overhaul having appeared to grant her the power to achieve her resulting apocalyptic wishes. And then imagine that the movie’s opening scene is Overhaul magically cursing Eri without her knowledge to render her unable to smile. No actual trauma, no real injury, just a villain whose curse is going to come undone the instant the heroes cross an appropriate Villain Punching Threshold.

[8] Take a wild guess.

[9] Something done literally nowhere else in the series without some kind of caveat about e.g. anime-original content or Chapter 1 being over twice as long as the next-longest chapter.

[10] For a full breakdown, my best guess is that they looped the piano part from the first thirty seconds twice, played the piano portion that runs from 0.40 to 1.10 once, then cut directly to the outro, beginning around 1.45 and let that play to the end. What, was the climax too intense?

[11] The fifth individual passage, running from 4.08 to 5.32.

[12] My favorite kind of Kickstarter. Ask me about my collection of shiny math rocks, please.

[13] Overhaul got a plushie, I rail to uncaring skies. I know they can do beaky faces. Robbed, robbed!

[14] Character designs in the merch tend to run a season behind, presumably due to both the length of time involved in goods production and a desire to avoid spoilers. I had a whole section complaining about how hard it is to find Shigaraki merch of him in his longcoat that I deleted because technically his charagoods stuff this season has it and I managed to dig up two (2) tiny figures of him in the coat. The fact that neither of the figures looks very good is neither here nor there, but their existence has not made me any less annoyed that Shigaraki's Pop Up Parade figure, announced not even two weeks ago at Wonder Fest, so new it doesn’t even have a release date yet, uses his old design.

[cyanoscarlet]

another AO3 interview!

Thanks for the tag, @kurandoinugami!

How many works do you have on AO3? 92

What’s your total AO3 word count? 168,517. I write really short stuff in general.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?  24(?) I’ve written mostly one each per fandom only, though, and some are crossovers. The ones listed below have at least 2 fics written.

Bungou Stray Dogs (32)

Yuri!!! on Ice (21)

Final Fantasy VIII (10)

Ace Attorney (6)

Final Fantasy XV (4)

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (2)

Peacemaker Kurogane (2)

Bleach (2)

Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (2)

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (2)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

this is how you introduce a new fandom (Yuri!!! on Ice) - 500

on the other side is hope (Yuri!!! on Ice) - 403

it must be the caffeine (Yuri!!! on Ice) - 380

it's called a pedestrian lane for a reason, dammit (Yuri!!! on Ice)-  248

well, he has his moments (Yuri!!! on Ice) - 207

What are your top 5 fics by comment thread count?

on the other side is hope (Yuri!!! on Ice) - 31

it must be the caffeine (Yuri!!! on Ice) - 13

this is how you introduce a new fandom - 10

Time-Telling (Final Fantasy VIII) - 8

well, he has his moments (Yuri!!! on Ice) - 8

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?  Absolutely! I really love hearing from my readers, and enjoy discussing with them when I can. I do feel bad that I am not able to respond in a timely manner these days because of work, but please know that each comment (and email notification) I get for my fics really turns my day around because most of the time I’m having a terrible one for work reasons.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? on the other side is hope (Yuri!!! on Ice). Major character death. Wrote it in anticipation of clinical clerkship for catharsis reasons. Ironically it’s a constant on my top five most successful fics on AO3. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? My first published fanfiction is, in fact, a crossover. I was thirteen and I Knew Nothing. Orphaned for obvious reasons, but I do keep track of all my orphaned stuff.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? a well-placed remark (Final Fantasy VIII), on FFNet, because it was M/M. We just had a good laugh over it before I deleted the comment.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?   Not explicit stuff, no. I’ve recently gotten more comfortable with writing build-up scenes that fade to black, and are less physical / more emotional. I think this is the level I’m okay with already.

Have you ever had a fic translated? The fanfics I’ve written for Where I Belong in 2012 (FF8), to Italian. There’s also a Russian translation for express delivery for love (BSD).

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Two, for the YOI Collabs Project back in 2017. :) - To Kill a Pisces (with YuriPirozhki and SutcliffonFire) - Undercooked! (with jacobby)

What’s your all-time favorite ship? I don’t think I have one? I do have OTPs in a lot of fandoms and series I like, but not to the extent I’d actually fight to the death for them. (Not even Squinoa.) This is something I realized just lately- mayhap this be due to my age / cynicism?

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Would rather not tell. Let’s not manifest things, shall we? That said, though, this is why I prefer to write oneshots in general. What are your writing strengths? Brevity, and with it, word choices that render a story succinctly poignant. Not actually that sure. Aegis and Nina can probably explain my writing better than I can.

What are your writing weaknesses?   Longform stories (no time and spoons), slow burn (no spoons and patience), and smut (no experience / skill). I may finally be getting somewhere with the last one, though (see question on smut). What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?  Only if plot- or character-relevant. Otherwise it gets written in English. What was the first fandom you wrote for?  A really silly Sailor Moon / Cardcaptor Sakura script-fic on scratch paper that ended up being used as actual scratch paper by the parentals, thank God. First proper fic, Bleach (see question on crossover fic). What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? primum non nocere (Bungou Stray Dogs), a series of Yosano-centered fics featuring her life outside the ADA as a medical doctor.

-

Hello there, @niconiconina @joeys-piano @eternal-aegis @lawliette @muselover1901 @athina39 :)

[sunlightwoo]

hours and ancient 💕

oooooh these are interesting ones

ancient: the first fic you ever posted online?

i think my first ever fic that i’ve ever posted on this blog was this one joshua oneshot that i wrote for an ex-friend but i liked the idea of it because it was a soulmate au!! actual online though would be on wattpad, however i deleted it cause the plot was so messy and toxic i was like BLEHHH cause seventh grade me did not know what she was doing when she wrote about ross lynch LMAOAOAOAOAOAOAO

hours: longest wip or completed fic?

hmmm, i had to go into my google docs for this cause I did it in terms of word count LOLOL but i think it varies in a way since i write both fic series and like fic oneshots? for a fic oneshot: it was roughly about 4k from this summer when I collabed with my friends and surprisingly it was both Joshua’s and Wonwoo’s that were 4k. In terms of of a fic series, I think it was this one NCT Dream Thriller AU that I published way back in 2018 and it stands at 43.4k words? I thought about revamping it and publishing it once again but idk yet, mayhaps i shall post it.

SEND ME Q’s ABOUT FICS IN TERMS OF TIME

[em-dashes]

07.04.2020 - Mid-Year Recap

actually the middle of the year was July 2nd but we’re going to ignore that

Whoa, hello! It’s wild that half the year has gone by.

Anyhoo, I thought it’d be fun to talk about the progress on all my wips so far! And then at the end of the year, I can look back at this post and compare how much more I’ve progressed.

In general, I kept saying I would develop some of my other wips more, but honestly, it’s a little hard for me to put any real effort into other writing projects when my main project APHELION is still sitting here unfinished. I’m going to stop making myself feel bad for not making substantial progress on other wips and just focus my energy on finishing APHELION.

Speaking of APHELION, I posted its intro on January 1st, exactly at the start of this year! That wasn’t when I started writing it, but it’s when I really started participating in writeblr more. Before this year, I had just been mindlessly posting art and edits and snippets, and now, I’ve met so many new writeblrs and found so many cool wips.

Some stuff about the progress on APHELION so far!

> I started this draft on May 7th, 2019. I call it the second draft, but really, it’s probably the tenth draft.

> It’s currently at 46,552 words. It seems like I haven’t written much (a few months ago it was hovering around 44k) but the word count seems low because I’ve also been editing and deleting large chunks of text as I go.

> I’m still working on Part 1 (out of 3). Last year I had speculated I could finish Part 1 by the end of the year, but it’s been harder than I thought to patch the plot holes and figure out how to link the three perspectives together. Part 1 is by far the hardest of the 3, so hopefully after I finally knock it down, the rest will be smoother sailing.

> It’s looking like Part 1 will end up being between 50k and 60k words long, which means the entire book will be about 150k. That’s a LOT.

> My main goal still is to finish drafting and editing Part 1 by the end of this year.

Progress on other WIPs:

> The Treacherous Brights, Fainthearted, and Like The Sun are all unfortunately still pretty much at a standstill. Once in a while I’ll think of a cool plot element and type that into google docs, but otherwise, I’m not writing much for any of them.

> I came up with a new project called CRAQUELURE. Find the intro here!

I was really hoping to have gotten some character designs down or have finished writing the script, but work has been really ramping up for the past few weeks and I just find myself wanting to go back to the comfort of writing APHELION instead of working on a new WIP. But now that work is wrapping up, I should be able to put more energy into finishing up the script and starting to design / build the characters!

In other news:

I’ve kind of gotten into making videos. I’m currently writing an essay about my feelings on TLOU 2 and I’m also planning to make a tutorial about how to build a digital puppet in Toon Boom Harmony, which is also how I plan to make the characters from CRAQUELURE (and mayhaps...I shall be using said characters as the tutorial example ;) ) I’ll link to both of them on this here blog because I consider them writing-adjacent. In the meantime, feel free to check out my existing videos (self plug eyooooo)

And that’s it for now! (C’est tout pour le moment!) To finish off, here is a smol snippet I wrote recently:

Here’s to a productive second-half-of-the-year!

-Emily

[theadventuresofshuri]

📱📱📱📱📱📱📱📱📱 aaaaaaaa

YAS ONE OF MY TWO DARLINGS I SHALL CREATE SOMETHINGS

Shuri > Kiri

Aymeric was looking for you earlier. He was trying to be subtle, though he wasn’t doing very well at it. I see how he looks at you and I just wish he would only be frank about it…

–> Delete | Send

Shuri > Kiri

You’ve always been so strong, Kiri. Know that it is well to allow yourself to be taken care of, to enjoy things at your leisure. It is not a crime to do so every so often…

–> Delete | Send

Shuri > Kiri

Kiri...can you teach me how to be a proper dragoon? I want to show that I’m more than just a dancer. I...I don’t want to be seen as weak or defenseless. Maybe it’s a selfish thought, but...

--> Delete | Send

Shuri > Kiri

I am truly afraid to ask, but...do you and Estinien argue by way of camaraderie? I have never seen such bonding rituals afore, so I am quite curious...

--> Delete | Send

Shuri > Kiri

I think Alphinaud sees you as an older sister he’s never had afore, in spite of your occasional squabbling. He has his dear twin, true; but I think he finds comfort in not having to be so serious all of the time. I don’t think he’d ever admit to it aloud, however...

--> Delete | Send

Shuri > Kiri

Is there something you’d like for your nameday? I can bake you whatever you like. Mayhap apple pie? There was a set of armor I found in the market that would be quite of use to you, it’s quite durable! Please send word anon of what you would like, dear!

Delete | --> Send

[tiiiiiired]

Me writing research: I will throw this at the science journal with undying confidence. Critiques? No problem! I will graciously make changes and resubmit. In this moment I am the God of Research.

Me writing fic: maybe this is ok? No this doesn't sound natural. Why have I failed so blatantly, so severely? Mayhaps I shall send it to my friends? Here, brethren, comment not on its inferior quality. Just kidding; I must delete all knowledge of it at once. I am an insult to the English language, an insult to the profession of writing, and an insult to god herself.

[ren-allen]

I saw you were awake at 2 am are you okay?

False. I was awake until 5 am, but I deleted the posts so I shall pardon you. But to answer your question like idk my dude/dudette/themdette/thude I’m just tired, i got up like two hours ago and it’s almost noon. I think it’s like 6 hours of sleep so I’m okay mayhaps. Tbh it’s probably because my mental health has been declining, but I think I’ll get through it. Sorry to worry you!

[rfsak2]

Shotgun

This is based on some of the other prompts @xodirection had sent me. She sent me some really great ones and I didn’t want to let them go. Hope you enjoy!

Also, my dear lady-pearl (it won’t let me tag you!), I’ve got your request and I’ll be working on it soon. I already had this done so I thought I’d post it. I’ll have that up either tonight or tomorrow.

Prompt: “I just want them to like me” After fans identify her as jacks girlfriend she starts getting hate and it really affects her.

Shotgun Summary: With all the accuracy of a shotgun. Jack/Reader Warnings: Online harassment

It seemed at first that there was a sort of tentative truce. They mutually ignored each other.

She was rarely, if ever, mentioned online by fans, despite being clearly identified during Dunkirk press and the Edinburgh Film Festival that followed. If she was mentioned, it was incredibly positive.

What a pretty dress!

She seems so sweet!

Did you see that photo from Stewart and Christie? Hot! They have crazy chemistry.

In return for being largely left alone by fans, she made a point to not go anywhere near Tumblr and to avoid the less comfortable fan-twitters and instagram pages.

A ceasefire of sorts.

But after their first public appearance following their wedding, about two months ago, everything had shifted suddenly.

To be fair, it was only two or three individuals and even then it may only be one individual using multiple accounts.

She finally convinced him to marry her… desperate bitch. she wore that engagement ring for long enough. He probably just did it to shut her up.

Why would he want her? He’s an Adonis and she looks like someone hit her in the face with a brick. Come to think of it… I’d like to volunteer.

She sighed and tossed her phone into her purse, before rubbing her rapidly growing baby bump. She was starting to show in earnest now, no longer easily hidden.

Not that she wanted to hide the baby. She was having a child with the man she loved, her husband, she wasn’t ashamed and she wouldn’t be forced to hide anything that she wasn’t ashamed of.

However she could only imagine the outcry when they all found out that she was pregnant.

“What d’ye think, hennie?”

She smiled and walked over. Touching the fine navy wool of the sleeve, she nodded. “I always like you in navy, baby. It’s a good color for you.”

Jack smiled and leaned over to kiss her. “Thank ye, m’darlin’.” He straightened and she reached up to smooth the lapel. “What color tie d’ye reckon?”

The tailor stepped forward. “What color is your dress, ma’am?”

“It’s buttercream with pewter and rose floral beading.” She shrugged. “That’s what they told me anyway.”

The man smiled and whisked away to return with a pale yellow tie. “This color, ma’am?”

She nodded. “Almost exactly.”

He smiled, laid the tie over Jack’s shoulder and nodded. “Buttercream and navy look very well together. Don’t you think, ma���am?”

She shrugged. “I like the colors together. Just feels…”

“Like you’re dressing for a wedding?”

She nodded. “Or a prom.” She smiled sheepishly, rubbing her stomach. “I think we may be a bit beyond that.”

Jack laughed and reached out to cup her baby bump. “Aye, mayhap… Still I’d like te look like we like each other.”

She giggled. “Why lie?”

He stuck his tongue out at her and the tailor, who had disappeared while they flirted, returned with a small cadre of ties which he laid out on a nearby chair.

“What color pewter would you say, madame?”

She moved to his side. “I would say it was darker.” She surveyed the selection. “This color.”

The man carried the tie over and laid it on Jack’s shoulder. “Yes I think that will do quite nicely. Wouldn’t you say so, sir?”

Jack nodded. “Aye. That will do well.”

As they covered the last details, like cufflinks (“Hennie, th’cufflinks ye gave me, they’re pewter, right?”) and shoes, Y/N went to sit by her bag.

Against her better judgment, she checked her phone. Someone had commented on a picture Jack had posted of them a couple of days ago.

You notice that he never calls her by her name? She’s always tagge-

Jack nabbed her phone and read the comment, his face coloring as he deleted the comment from his phone. “Of all th’ridiculous horse-shite ah’ve eva read. This minger must be pure stupid t’think tha’ tha’ load of rubbish means anythin’. They’re jis’ talkin’ pish te say they can.”

She chuckled and stood, smoothing her hands up his chest and shushed him. “It’s fine.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s no’. They called ye a whoor, lovie. Tha’ is no’ ‘fine’. How long has this been goin’ on, hennie?”

She shrugged. “A couple months-”

“A couple months?” He cupped her face. “Why didn’t ye say anythin’, love?”

She kissed his sternum. “Because it’s not that big of a deal.” Jack made to protest. “It isn’t. They're probably just kids and the internet makes them feel brave. There’s relatively little that can be done in any case.”

“We could go te th’police, hennie.”

She nodded. “And they'd tell you that there was nothing that they could do. I'm not going to let them bother me. I'm probably ten years older than some of them, baby, and a mum to boot! I'm not going to sink to their level. It's best to let it go.”

Jack took a deep breath and kissed her forehead. “If’n ye say so, hen. If it gets werst, ye’ll tell me, aye?”

She shrugged. “If you want.”

He nodded, decision made. “I do wan’. Yer m’wife and I promised to love, honor and protect ye. I aim t’do jus’ tha’.”

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him and heard his phone click. She pulled away and frowned at him. “What’re doing?”

He grinned. “Takin’ a selfie, lovie.”

Y/N Y/L/N Lowden. My glorious wife. #myhennie #theloveofmylife #mybetterhalf #themissus

**

Jack slung an arm over her shoulder and let the door to the salon close behind him. “Tha’s everything, aye?”

She checked the list on her phone. “Should be. We just need to pick up more dog food.

He nodded. “Let's get people food ferst, yeah?”

She nodded fervently. “I'm starving.”

He grinned. “What d’ye wan’?”

Simultaneously they answered, “Gherkins.”

She blushed. “I hate gherkins.”

“No’ when yer preggers, love. Ye love gherkins.” He chuckled. “It's almost comical though, don’ye think?”

She shook her head. “No I don't. I'm forced to eat the one thing I hate. Why couldn't I crave chocolate or- now I'm craving chocolate and gherkins.”

Jack made a face. “Tha’s bloody disgustin’, lovie.” He kissed her forehead while she pouted against his shoulder. “Honest Burger, then, m’love? We can get gelato or somethin’ after, aye?”

She nodded. “Aye. That's fine.”

He grinned. “I'm gonna turn ye into a proper Scotswoman yet, hennie.”

She smiled. “I already wear inordinate amount of tweed and I've agreed to raise your giant babies is Edinburgh. What more d’ye wan’?”

He laughed and leaned down to kiss her full on the mouth. “Everythin’.”

“It's yours and you know it.” She pecked him in the lips once more. “Now, feed me, Mr. Lowden, or I fear I shall get cross.”

“Right-o, Mrs. Lowden.”

The Honest Burger was right around the corner and within the space of ten minutes they were comfortably ensconced in a booth, sipping on water and an ale respectively.

“I miss beer.” She huffed and glared at her water like it was personally trying to offend her.

Jack chuckled. “Should I give up beer with you, m’love? I would for you.”

She smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. “No it's fine. I'm just being whiny. I love you though.”

“I love-”

“Excuse me.” The girl looked like she felt incredibly uncomfortable bothering them, two other girls behind her.

“Hullo.” Jack smiled, encouragingly.

“You are Jack Lowden, right?”

Jack nodded and smiled at Y/N. “And this is my wife, Y/N.”

The girl jumped, blushing. “Of course! It's so nice to meet you. The wedding pictures you posted on instagram were gorgeous!!”

She smiled. “Thanks!”

She turned back to Jack and the other two girls joined her, crowding their booth. “Can you sign this-”

They, very politely, shoved some printed photos under his nose. Jack nodded patiently and started signing this and that, trying to keep Y/N included by showing her just about everything.

By the time the food showed, Y/N had just about enough of the whole ordeal. The girls were sweet enough, they weren't trying to exclude her but she was pregnant and moody and most of all bloody hungry.

Jack, being an astute and considerate husband, noticed and gently shooed the girls away. “It’s been a pleasure, lasses, but the missus is starved. I think we best get to our food.”

They blushed and nodded and spent the next five minutes thanking him. He nodded patiently and smiled when they went back to their table. “Sorry aboot tha’, hennie.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay.”

He reached for her hand. “Are ye sure?”

She smiled and took a bite of the first gherkin from her extra order. “I hate gherkins.”

**

“I heard she was rude to them.”

“They didn’t say rude, they said quiet.” The girl shrugged. “She probably didn’t want to interrupt. She was being sweet, that’s all.”

“Someone’s naive.”

“Hush. They’re here.”

“Jack! Jack!”

Jack smiled, one arm still around her waist, and walked over to his group of fans. “Hullo, lassies!! How’s you’s doin’?”

“Good!” One of the girls offered a photo forward.

Jack took it and smiled. Turning, he called back to his waiting wife. “Hennie, look!” She walked over and glanced down at the picture with a smile. “It’s both of us, from th’Mary Queen of Scots Premiere.”

She nodded. “It’s a good picture. I liked that suit on you.” She smiled at the girls. “I like all suits on him.”

The girls giggled and Jack rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing like a man in a good suit.”

“I couldn-”

“You’re pregnant.”

There was a slightly awkward pause, owing mostly to the odd, flat inflection of the non-question the blonde girl had asked.

Regardless, Jack smiled at the girl. “Aye! Our ferst bairn.” He leaned over and kissed Y/N.

The defacto-leader of their little corps of fans smiled. “Congratulations! How far along are you?”

Y/N rubbed her hand over her stomach. “Just about five months.”

The blonde girl smiled slyly. “So it was a shotgun wedding, then?”

If Jack’s sudden stillness wasn’t clue enough, he immediately flushed. He tried for friendly but it just came across as agitated. “Och.. no. We were engaged fer… a year, isnae tha’ right, lovie?”

Y/N nodded, hands protectively over her abdomen. “Just about, yeah.”

“Then why didn’t you get married before then?” The rest of the girls had gotten really quiet, openly staring at the blonde girl.

Jack’s jaw flexed and he all but grunted. “Cause we’re busy.”

Y/N looped her arm through Jack’s. “It was really difficult to plan a wedding around our schedules but we wanted to start a family so we did.”

Jack nodded. “When m’girl finally got pregnant after months of trying, it no longer made sense t’wait. We jus’ booked flights fer her family an’ went up inte th’Highlands an’ go’ married. Simple. We didn’t need or really wan’ all th’extre shite. Jus’ us, our families and a couple a’close friends.” Jack grinned. “I jus’ wanted te marry m’gorgeous girl. The res’ was jus’ window dressin’.”

Y/N smiled and kissed his cheek.

The girl shrugged and moved to speak again. “I-”

Y/N looked past Jack’s shoulder. “Baby, I think they want you to do interviews!”

Jack nodded. “Shite. I’m late.” He took a last couple photos, studiously ignoring the blonde girl, signed the last few autographs and then started to lead Y/N away. He paused and turned back. “I love this woman. I probably jus’ came across as rude an’ I don’ necessarily mean t’be but I love this woman. She is m’wife an’ th’mother of m’child. We did things th’way we wanted te do them and I hope ye can respect tha’ but honestly if ye don’, I don’ care. Thanks, girls.”

They walked away, Jack’s hand in the small of her back. Y/N smiled. “I love you, baby.”

Jack smiled and leaned down to kiss her. “I love ye too, hen. So much.” He shrugged. “Hopefully, tha’ solved th’problem.”

She sighed. “I doubt it. I just want them to like me.”

He kissed her head. “I think most of them do, lovie. It’s jus’ tha’ one girl.”

Later, after they had gotten home, Y/N checked her phone. One of the other girls, the sweet one who had been the only one to ask for a picture with the couple rather than just Jack, had posted a picture of the three of them from the premiere.

Met the Lowdens. What a cute couple!! #classacts #congrats

Maybe Up Next: Fun

[vyvesvi]

i'm feeling retail therapy in this chili's tonight

[doge-w-a-bloge]

#No but seriously I have been wondering about the Azzy merch for a bit myself #But mayhaps that will be this year #or maybe Toby is good and done and moving on #Which I mean #yeah #3 years now or so #Maybe it is time for the next project #But I shall ever remain hopefully naive for that better ending

Well...for one thing, “the next project“ is supposed to be related to “Undertale’s world and characters,” some way or another. So ‘the next [videogame] project’ and ‘moving on [from Undertale]’ aren’t necessarily the same thing at all.

For another thing...when Toby was asked about “triple pacifist,“ 3 days after the game released, this is how he responded. The tweet’s deleted now, but... still.

That doesn’t guarantee a better ending ever being released, of course. Not by a long shot. But it does mean that Toby’s not “good and done and moving on.“ And that’s interesting in and of itself, is it not? Even if we have to wait years.

When are we getting the Tragic Boy merch, Toby?

(The original tweet is deleted now.)