#pretty significantly canon-divergent

[tunatoge]

like the branch of a tree – s. geto x reader

contents: canon divergence (suguru lives and is a teacher at jj tech), fluff, ooc, reader is also a teacher at jj tech, not mentioned but insinuated satosugu, insinuated nsfw, brief mentions of third years and possible manga spoilers, title is based off of 'would that i' by hozier, NOT PROOFREAD

a/n: this is my first time posting on tumblr, i'm nervous LMAO sorry for any grammatical errors

shoko is quiet as she sits next to you at a slight angle, her knees bumping into yours as the two of you look at her phone together. the two of you look at the silly selfie satoru had sent her and you frown a little. the picture he’d sent depicted him sitting on a bench in a weirdly rundown part of town, megumi pouting next to him. in the background there’s a copper haired girl peering outside of an old, beat down building with yuuji next to her. you know there’s a curse somewhere on the scene from satoru’s crudely drawn red circle in the air, an equally poorly drawn angry face in the center of it. 

you’re a little envious that satoru gets to hang out with his students. if kinji hakari hadn’t been suspended you’d be with both him and kirara. of course you didn’t have to supervise their missions anymore but you did admittedly miss your students. you were the only teacher on campus that wasn’t teaching–which was debatable seeing as suguru and satoru weren’t really teaching anything either. still, helping your students through some of the basic required educational courses would have been significantly better than the stacks of paperwork on your desk. 

shoko knocks her knee into yours, drawing your attention to her tired (but very pretty) face. she nods her head towards the door of the morgue and you instantly brighten at suguru’s appearance. his hair is completely down and his uniform jacket is draped over his arm. 

“morning,” he greets as he moves to sit next to you and shoko. “‘m guessing you two saw satoru’s selfie.” he nods towards shoko’s still unlocked phone as she hums in agreement and pockets her phone. 

“your hair’s down,” you say in response instead, not having heard his previous statement. 

suguru cocks his head to the side in confusion at your words before letting out a soft ‘ah’ as he laughs bashfully in a somewhat boyish way. “i woke up late,” he admits, “i slept through my alarm and got to the school a little after the morning class.” he smiles somewhat awkwardly (pointedly ignoring shoko’s knowing look, her raised brow seemingly yelling, “i know what you and satoru were doing last night!”) before offering his wrist, “i was gonna put it up when I got here.” his smile turns from awkward to somewhat confident when he finds you blinking up at him, captivated by his long hair.

you look towards his still outstretched hand and eye the black hair tie before shyly looking back up at suguru. when your eyes meet, an unreadable look crosses through his eyes as he swallows. he looks towards shoko behind you as she smoothly pulls her phone out again, an unlit cigarette in between her lips.

“may i?” you ask, drawing his attention back towards you as you gesture towards his hair and he almost immediately agrees. when he offers you his hair tie again you softly shake your head and pull a bright blue one off of your wrist. he pretends to be blind to the tiny little bow on it as he shifts so his back is towards you. 

as you’re doing suguru’s hair, shoko texts satoru an image of you with the tip of your tongue out and your hands threaded through suguru’s long hair. she gets a jealous angry frowny face in response. 

that’s MY hair tie!! >:(

notes: satoru is the first years' teacher, suguru is the second years', and you're the third years'. satoru made you play with his hair after he got back on campus. he said it was only fair because you'd given suguru the hair tie he'd given you. maki made a face when she saw suguru's hair later in the day. she asked if the twins had done it for him.

[yukidragon]

Sunshine in Hell Height Headcanons

It's June 15, which as many of you know from this official profile, that it's Sunny Day Jack's birthday today!

You might also know that it's [Redacted]'s birthday thanks to this ominous picture Sauce shared last year on this day. Funny how these two totally distinct characters share a birthday isn't it? 🤔

Anyway, I was hoping to have written something for this year to celebrate, but like last year my spoons are way too few and far between. I was also hoping to do something self-indulgent for my own birthday, but same lack of spoons halted me there too.

So, until I can stock up on more metaphorical utensils to help me do the stuff I feel like doing, I'm going to celebrate by rambling a little bit about some headcanon details.

Sunshine in Hell differs from the game demos in a number of ways, and one of them is Jack's height. As you might've seen from the profile link, Jack is canonically 6'2", but in my personal headcanon continuity, I decided to make the gentle giant quite a bit taller than that. Because it amuses me, and I struggle with imagining Jack as shorter than Cove Holden.

When deciding how tall to make Jack in my stories, I also decided to do a height chart for him and a few other characters as well. It helps to better imagine characters interacting when you can see how tall they are compared to others.

Yes, I threw in a few extra love interests to the mix, as well as a couple other MCs. I was curious to see how tall Alice would be compared to her sisters, and I had to throw in their love interests as well.

As an aside, it tickles me that even after I made Jack significantly taller, he's shorter than Bo's horny "Feed Me" form.

For those of you that need the conversion from centimeters to feet and inches, or have trouble reading the image, I'll write them down for easy reference.

Alice: 162 cm / 5'4"

Jack: 198 cm / 6'6"

Shaun: 178 cm / 5'10"

Nick: 173 cm / 5'8"

Ian: 170 cm / 5'7"

Bo: 180 cm / 5'11"

Barbie: 184 cm / 6'0"

Bo "Feed Me" form: 216 cm / 7'1"

Elias: 185 cm / 6'1"

Coraline: 172 cm / 5'8"

As you can see, Shaun, Nick, and Ian stuck with the canon heights in their profiles. It's just Jack who got a height increase because it's what I imagined his height to be from the start, and Sunshine in Hell is basically my headcanons that diverge from the game's canon, so I do what I want. It's also fun to imagine scary yandere Jack towering over every single one of the love interests. It adds to the intimidation factor too despite his gentle giant persona.

Bo and Elias don't have canon heights like the SDJ love interests, so I mostly just did whatever felt right to me for them. Bo's regular height was influenced by the mafia AU picture Sauce drew. It served as a very good height comparison chart all on its own. As you can see, Bo is just tall enough to reach Jack's smile if you don't count the ears and poofy hair.

All credit to the awesome Sauce for their lovely art of course and for feeding my headcanons. As always, I want to link to the SnaccPop Patreon as gratitude for being cool with me using their art in my posts. If you're a a free or paying member, consider checking out an important survey that went up to help guide the team in their future endeavors.

Bo looks so short compared to Jack, doesn't he? In my headcanon land, it's just a matter of perspective, and next to other people Bo is pretty darn tall. Though he's just one teeny tiny inch shorter than his puppy.

You bet your sweet bippy Barbie takes smug satisfaction in that one inch height superiority. Bo talks so big as a big bad alpha dog, but the puppy he's trying to dominate is just a bit bigger and badder than he ever expected.

Of course, Bo gets to turn it right back around on Barbie with his monster sized "Feed Me" form. Like werewolves that become huge compared to their human selves, when Bo's inner beast comes out to play, he adds on quite a lot of height and muscle. He towers over even Jack! Still, even when super sized, he's no match for Barbie.

As you can see, despite being the eldest child, Alice is shorter than her two younger sisters, especially Barbie! They got more of their dad's height genes, while Alice took more after their mom in that department. Barbie and Coraline are quite a bit taller than average, a fact that Barbie revels in, and Coraline can find a little awkward sometimes, especially during moments of weakness. It can be hard to help someone stand back up and walk when they're much taller than you are after all. It leads to some embarrassing moments for poor Coraline.

On that same note of surprisingly tall people with chronic illnesses, I thought it would be interesting if Elias would have been a very tall man if not for his illness. There's no canon height for him and he's floating with Jack and Bo in the Christmas picture, so it's hard to go with a comparative height. So, I went with what felt narratively interesting to me. With his legs being twisted, and him being hunched over with a cane, he probably appeared shorter than he actually was. It's hard to see his exact height with his lower half ghostly and indistinct as well. It's only when he actually bothers to give himself legs and stand with both feet planted firmly on the ground that he can show off just how tall he really is.

While I'm on the topic of height, I wonder if one of Ian's insecurities was his height. Some men have issues if they're shorter than their peers, and Ian is the shortest of the love interests. I can imagine it certainly didn't help if he was bullied for being short along with his general "nerdy" appearance back in school.

Still, Ian has nothing to complain about at the height he's at as a fully grown adult. Even if the other love interests are taller than he is, Ian is still above average for men in the US. He's just got the misfortune of being the shortest guy in a group of very tall people. At least he doesn't have to worry about taking the bottom spot in the height chart like Alice.

Yes, Alice is a bit self-conscious about being so short compared to her peers, even if technically she's also above average height for a woman in the US. She feels especially tiny when standing next to Jack.

Though, admittedly, Alice does find it very nice to feel tiny and delicate when Jack sweeps her up into his arms. It makes her feel less self-conscious about how chubby she is when her big strong giant of a boyfriend can carry her around so easily. Once she gets over the initial fear that he might drop her, she'll soon look forward to being whisked away by her silly clown.

Oh, and if you're wondering about Mary's height... I'm still debating if I want her to be around Alice's height or a little taller. She had the same eye color in both lives due to the eyes being windows to the soul, but there were other physical differences due to different parents introducing different genetics. I need to ruminate on that fine of detail more and see what feels more interesting to me narratively.

Though even if Mary was as tall as Barbie, she'll still be short enough for Joseph to sweep into her arms since he's just as much of a giant now as he was then. Not that it would stop him from trying even if his sunshine was bigger than him. Nothing will stop Joseph/Jack from showing his love for his sunshine!

I think I'll wrap things up on that fluffy note. I hope y'all enjoyed me going off on a headcanon ramble after such a long time. With any luck, I'll be able to get to answering some asks soon. Thanks for reading!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

[slotumn]

One thing that personally bugs me about certain fan interpretations wrt Almyra and 3H world beyond Fódlan: I think some fall into the trap of making Fódlan way more important than it actually needs to be/is implied by the game to be.

Such as, by connecting a bunch of other things in the world, including negative things, all back to Fódlan. Or for more specific examples, claiming Almyra/Almyrans as a whole (not just Almyrans in Fódlan or Almyrans who live near the border) are oppressed or victimized by Fódlan, in an overcompensating inversion of the "Almyrans are barbarians victimizing Fódlan" thing Fódlanis espouse in-game.

But the thing is, Claude already alludes to stuff in Fódlan being kinda insignificant relative to rest of the world in his support with Leonie:

and Almyra appears to be based off of Persian Empire and/or various other West and Central Asian empires; those empires were, historically, pretty damn strong, and the superpowers of their time.

Meanwhile, not only is Fódlan based on Europe in an era before their global dominance, it appears to be very long ways from being able to even attempt that in-universe due to factors like the isolationism/technological stagnancy. So I'd argue that it really doesn't make sense for canon-era Fódlan to have caused the types of problems colonialist Europe does/did in real life, or for the power dynamics between Fódlan and Almyra(/other lands) to be anything like their approximate real-life equivalents in recent history. And yeah Fódlan does bully Brigid/Duscur/Sreng, but this is the kind of bullying and subjugation you can see anywhere in the world at any point in time, not just in a world during and after European colonialism.

Plus nothing says that the historical development of 3H world post-canon has to resemble ours in any way— and I'd argue that things have already diverged significantly in the 3H world. Dagda, which appears to be the approximate equivalent of Americas, apparently knew of Fódlan much earlier than the irl equivalent (probably due to Elites fleeing there, Brigid, etc) and even invaded them a few times. Fódlanis did try a counter invasion on Dagda in the 700s, but again, this pretty explicitly failed, and as far as we can tell, they haven't tried it again since. (They just settled for beating up the nearby Brigid because it's the easy target rip)

But anyway, back to Almyra. While the Almyran playable characters we see in the game are affected by the Fódlan-Almyra border issues, they're probably the exceptions, not the norm. Whole reason Cyril got caught up is because he was originally from a border village, aka the periphery/fringe. Claude is a mixed kid. That's why it affects them, but for the vast majority of Almyrans who probably aren't in such circumstances… why would they care? Even if they're aware of it, there's a good chance there are many other problems that have nothing to do with Fódlan that they consider to be of equal or higher priority.

As for Almyran NPCs: Nader probably only cares about Fódlan due to his relationship with the king and queen and Claude, and Shahid appears to see Fódlan as a cheap punching bag for fast military/political valor (plus some personal shit related to Claude) which is literally the opposite of considering them a significant player in any way. Granted Shahid is arrogant and dumb but still, if Fódlan was considered a serious concern/threat on a general nationwide level, I'd think others in Almyra would have stepped up before this stupid prince dragged an army over. Like man the Almyran government really does not care what goes on at the Fódlan-Almyra border lol. If they did Cyril wouldn't be in the situation he's in (as he points out himself).

We do read about the invasion at Fódlan's Throat in the 900s, but because we only get records from the Fódlani POV, there's no way to tell how serious the Almyrans were about it, how significant their losses were by their own standards, how the failure of that specific invasion affected their assessment of Fódlan, etc. But considering the Almyrans still go raiding at the border at the time of canon for shits and giggles... I'm guessing they still do not see Fódlan as a significant threat. (And I'd say they're right to, if you look at wtf is going on in Fódlan during canon)

Combine this with, again, their real-life motifs and other tidbits in-game (apparently Almyra has the budget to just send over fleets to Leicester at the drop of hat), I think it's pretty likely that: 1. Almyra far overpowers Fódlan in most measures of national/regional power and it's not even close 2. Almyra might be pretty important to Fódlan (as a threat) but Fódlan is not that important to Almyra, and 3. in Almyra Claude (+maybe his dad?) is probably the odd one out for caring that much about Fódlan-Almyra relations.

In conclusion: Fódlan is clearly rife with problems and assholes, the game itself makes that clear. But what I think is a massive stretch is canon-era Fódlan being the most important place in the 3H world, including in negative ways, where they're responsible for problems in places we canonically have no evidence of them having significant influence in. Imo that's both contrary to what the game wants to say and makes the 3H world/setting less compelling; I think the sense that other lands have their own problems and agendas independent of the place that's the main focus is part of what makes this world feel grounded and rife for exploration, and it's a disservice to discard all that in favor of making everything revolve around Fódlan.

[voxofthevoid]

Commencing Mundane Unclekuna Wednesday #1—yes, these names get more ridiculous by the day. The actual fic title is bloodstains on the collar means just don't ask, which is significantly cooler on account of not being mine.

This is my first non-canon JJK AU—as opposed to the canon divergence, minor or major, that I favor—and despite the name, this isn't just sukuita; there's also goyuu. Quick, act shocked.

A lot of the AU development/exposition so far has focused on adapting canon details about the Itadori family for a no-powers, all-human context—like this post shows. On the character end, sorting out a version of Sukuna who's not a cannibalistic mass murderer but is sure as hell not nice, kind, or even sane has been a fun challenge, especially when depicting him from Yuuji's perspective. Gojou and the goyuu bits also needed some work, since taking them out of the canon context while keeping their age gap and teacher–student dynamic changes the flavor of fuckery. The most fun has been Yuuji though—you can see why here.

The fic is currently 3 chapters and 14k. I have a total of 7 chapters planned, though that may increase by one or two depending on how the sex scenes come along. For this week, instead of a single scene, I've picked a goyuu section from Chapter 2 and a sukuita one from Chapter 3.

Goyuu

Satoru plucks the manga that’s been resting on the table, balancing it on a finger while watching Itadori struggle to watch Satoru’s hand, chest, and face all at the same time. “School’s a boring place to wait. You can meet up at some café, can’t you?”

“I…guess?” Itadori shrugs. “It’s fine. I mean, I don’t mind. It’s more fun to go with people.”

“Shy?” Satoru asks, setting the manga down. “Or are you afraid people will think you’re some delinquent?”

Itadori looks both bewildered and entrained. He has a very expressive face. The eyes, especially.

“Nothing like that, sensei,” he says, and Satoru leans in a little at his tone—the same amused patience Satoru’s heard in people who can tolerate him best, except they generally take months, if not years, to get to that level of resigned acceptance. Itadori leans in too, matching Satoru consciously or unconsciously. “You ask a lot of questions.”

“I’m a curious guy,” Satoru drawls. It’s not even a lie. “And you’re interesting.”

Itadori blushes again. “Oh. Um, thanks?”

Satoru smiles. This time, Itadori’s eyes drop to his mouth, and Satoru can’t help smiling a little wider.

Itadori swallows.

“Back to the question then.” Satoru links his hands and props his chin on it. Itadori’s gaze doesn’t leave his mouth. “Why’d your uncle come pick you up?”

Itadori’s well within his rights to tell Satoru to fuck off—diplomatically, maybe, since they’re teacher and student, but the sentiment would be the same. Even Satoru’s closest friends aren’t shy about firmly and often physically steering his nose out of their business.

But Itadori answers: “My parents left town pretty suddenly, and I’d forgotten my phone at home. They couldn’t tell me to go to Sukuna’s place instead. So he came here.”

Satoru hums. “I’d say you’re old enough to stay home alone. Don’t tell me you’re the sort to cause trouble with a bit of freedom.”

“No?” Itadori looks genuinely confused. “I mean, I don’t think so. I don’t mind staying alone either, but my dad worries, so…”

“So you’re being a considerate son,” Satoru finishes in his own words. “What a good boy.”

Itadori’s breath catches audibly. His eyes are darker now, giving an animal edge to his face. It’s an interesting expression, and it makes him look a bit more like his uncle.

Satoru gives him a moment.

Then— “He seems like an interesting man to live with, your uncle.”

Itadori blinks. A frown takes over his face, even though his eyes stay tellingly dark. “You could say that. Gojou-sensei, you aren’t…?”

Satoru waits, but Itadori doesn’t complete the question, just stares at Satoru like he’s trying to telepathically pour the rest of the words into his head. Unfortunately, Satoru isn’t fluent in awkward teenager.

“Go on,” Satoru prods.

Itadori grimaces, and it shows in his voice when he asks, “You’re not, like, into Sukuna, are you?”

Satoru’s dumbfounded for a moment. Then he’s stifling laughter, not all that successfully. Itadori’s expression shifts from disgusted discomfort to just plain embarrassment, but even through that, he stares at Satoru—his mouth and his eyes.

Brave boy.

“Sorry,” Satoru says, not meaning it one whit. He’s loving this. “Reasonable assumption on your part, really. But don’t worry, your uncle’s safe from me.”

Itadori seems to relax a little. “It’s more the other way around.”

“Oh?” Satoru asks, intrigued. “Is he trouble?”

Itadori squints at him. “Sensei, you sound way too excited about that.”

“I did say I’m curious! I can promise not to hit on him, if that’ll put you at ease.” Satoru holds out his hand invitingly. “Gentleman’s agreement.”

Itadori stares at the hand for a full second.

Then he slowly, warily takes it.

It’s not a small hand; Itadori’s not a small boy. Satoru is bigger though, and his hand envelops Itadori’s, the tips of his index and middle fingers coming to a gentle rest against Itadori’s pulse. His hand is shockingly rough, with hard calluses brushing Satoru’s skin.

He squeezes gently.

Itadori’s blush hasn’t faded fully since Satoru called him a good boy, but now, it flares, splattering gracelessly across his face. It goes shockingly well with his hair.

Lines are being crossed. Satoru feels it keenly, the change in the air.

He drags his hand out of Itadori’s, slower and more delicate than he needs to. His fingers trail from Itadori’s racing pulse to the trembling tips of his fingers, and even after Satoru’s leaned back again, folding his hands demurely in his lap, Itadori’s hand hovers in the air over the table for a good few seconds before dropping limply to the surface.

Satoru winks at him. “Now spill.”

Itadori blinks slowly. Satoru can practically see his brain rebooting.

“What was the question again?” Itadori asks.

Sukuita

Movement wakes him, eons before the touch.

A hand settles on his hip, searing even through the cloth. It’s limp, flopping there in a decent mimicry of a sleep-heavy limb. Sukuna knows better.

Wasn’t always like this. The kid was a kid once. More of a kid. Small, helpless, useless. A piece of shit from the start though. The first time Jin handed him to Sukuna, practically forcing his little bundle of snotty joy into his hands, the little fucker had thrown up on his face.

Jin laughed, the bastard. He didn’t mean to, that much was clear from the stifled snorts and painfully red face. Kenjaku had no such compunctions, chortling like the same brat hadn’t damn near killed them on his way out of their cunt.

Kaori had the sense to take the baby away before Sukuna could toss him out a window. The most sensible of the lot, and of course she’s the one who went and died. Sukuna’s been seeing a lot more of the kid since then. Even more since Wasuke followed suit.

Shit luck to be born into a family like this. He used to think the brat didn’t fit in, with his big baby eyes and bleeding heart. Worse than his father. Turns out he’s weirder too, but Sukuna blames Kenjaku for that.

Blood will always out.

That’s no excuse for this—the hand sliding down to his stomach, the body pressing against his back. The kid’s warm.

He’s not, usually. That body runs cold. Sukuna noticed it the first time when the kid was tiny, barely the length of his forearm. A frail mass of fabric and fluff nestled against his chest, leeching off his body heat. Not that it took much to warm that tiny thing.

’Course, then the kid woke up and promptly latched on to a nipple because he was even dumber then, and when Sukuna pried him off while yelling for Kenjaku, he’d been treated to a deranged shriek that damn near ruptured his ear drums.

Nothing much has changed over the years. The brat went from screaming at him to biting him to scowling at him to punching him to trying to fucking kill him. Wildcat, through and through. The only part of him Sukuna’s ever bothered to nurture.

It’s different when he’s asleep. The baby soaking in his warmth. The toddler sprawled on his chest. The boy curled up in his lap.

Small and weak and utterly unbothered about it.

How the fuck do you live like that, trust like that?

At least this is better. It’s not trust breathing into his nape and groping his stomach. It’s just human filth.

They’re testing touches, slow enough and idle enough that the brat probably thinks they’d pass as sleepy ministrations.

Idiot.

Nobody would miss the intent behind this. It’s scorching.

If someone held him at gunpoint and forced him to admit the one thing he has in common with his brother’s spawn, it wouldn’t be the hair or the blood or the killing rage—it’d be this, the hunger.

Sukuna can tell the exact moment the brat decides he’s actually asleep. His palm presses flat against Sukuna’s stomach, skin to skin. That’s on him for sleeping shirtless despite his impromptu bedmate, but like hell is he changing his habits just because this little creep wants to molest him in his sleep. Not like clothes would stop him anyway.

Sukuna continues to feign sleep, his breathing steady and just a little uneven—a rhythm he memorized and learned to mimic for situations a lot more dire than the badly planned porno playing out right now.

The kid’s patient. Or just a fucking virgin. Sukuna can’t imagine why else he’d spent minutes just touching his stomach, that warm palm rubbing lazy circles over his abs. Sometimes, it presses down, denting the soft layer of fat on his belly to dig into the muscle underneath. It’s a struggle not to flex then. A few muscles jump, entirely involuntary, but the brat just breathes heavier and wetter, squirming closer to Sukuna.

There’s another hand between their bodies—an entire arm, the line of it doing nothing to hide what it’s touching. It’s not moving, yet, and Sukuna still hasn’t figured out whether it’s there just for the pressure or if the stupid shit actually thinks that not digging his boner into Sukuna’s back means something.

Some line to not cross. Some precious moral to cling to.

Sukuna wouldn’t put it past him, but the brazen bullshit the other day told a different story. It sure wasn’t guilt or even shame that darkened the brat’s eyes when Sukuna tore him off his back and pinned him by the throat.

[gallusrostromegalus]

AEIWAM question, how much of the plot is this fic gonna cover? I know this is a rewrite, so the arcs could have changed a lot to the point a direct comparison might not be the best way to describe it. Also are all the snippets you posted gonna be in the fic or some of them are like Tumblr exclusive?

Uuhh... Hm. Ok so my canon knowledge of Bleach is like 37% of the manga and the info dumping of my beloved friends who finished the series. I saw *some* of the anime but not a lot, and pretty much none of the filler so the timeline ATM covers:

Part 1: prehistory of the soul society

Part 2: founding of the gotei-13 era

Part 3: Turn Back The Pendulum and the surrounding events

Part 4: the century leading up to ichigo's birth

Part 5 the time between ichigo's birth of Rukia's reacue

Part 6: soul society arc

Part 7: Arrancar arc

Part 8: battle with Aizen

**significantly more canon divergence from this point onward in terms of timeline**

Part 9: the immediate aftermath of that battle

Part 10: peacetime 1/ 1st royal realm arc

Part 11: peacetime 2/soul society reformation period

Part 12: TYBW 1: attacks on Las Noches and Karakura

Part 13: the rallying of the alliance/payoff from the reformation

Part 14: TYBW 2: attack on seireitei

Part 15: second post-battle rally/tactics shift in both parties / the hunt

Part 16: the big slorps/creation of War World (I know that's not what the name means but I call it that)

Part 17: assault on War World

Part 18: the killing of Yhwach/the godhead event

Part 19: postcanon adventure leads/god's ass/ Kubo is still writing this so I'll see what, if anything I want from the jaws of hell arc when I get here.

Notably not appearing (except maybe as side references) but at least some of the implied world building from these arcs is used:

The Bount

Fullbringers

Forest of Menos

The zanpaktou arc

other anime-only filler.

If there's something from the filler that you really liked or you think is relevant world-building, feel free to tell me all about it in the notes and I'll see if it fits or not.

[duchessdepolignaca03]

Comments on fics in A03.

My multi-chapter WIP, Rule Britannia, reached 700 comments today, with 537 kudos. While 350 of those comments are probably my responses back, I think it’s pretty amazing that there are more comments than kudos. This seems pretty rare!

It made me realize that while I have fewer readers compared to the more popular writers in the fandom (though, to them I bow), those that I do have always leave the most thoughtful, incisive comments. They give paragraphs of in-depth analysis of each chapter, really engaging with my work, and the plot and the characters and dare I say, even the politics! It’s so thrilling to be perceived, to have written something that even just a handful of people have enjoyed enough that they take time out of their day to write me several paragraphs to share with me what they enjoyed, how they felt about the chapter (mostly anxious), their questions and their theories about what’s to come.

The 700th comment was in Spanish, which made it even more mind-blowing to me that the reader read the story in a language foreign to them, and yet still understood the story so completely. The guest (Carlos) wrote (according to GoogleTranslate) that the story diverged from canon so significantly, and yet retained the essence of the original. And, the story stands on its own, even without the use of the original characters’ names.

I’ve always looked at fanfiction as a balancing act between capturing the essence of the canon while still telling your own, unique story. It’s also a way to write the stories we want to write and have a built-in audience in a way that original fiction does not. So to have some assurance (through readers’ comments) that I have done that is so valuable and encouraging to me.

So…yeah. This is what I’m gonna tell myself when I feel down that I don’t get as many kudos or whatever as others. Because who cares? If even one person enjoyed the fic enough to write an essay back to me about it, then that’s enough!

[paragonrobits]

thinking about Dak'kon in Planescape Torment (initially because Lae'zel's popularity in Baldur's Gate 3 has me thinking about how the contrast between her and Dak'kon is a pretty good description of how thier respective peoples have diverged and also why they hate each other so much) and specifically his statline in how that nicely corrosponds to his own personal conflicts

Dak'kon is a zerth, a sort of warrior monk that practices martial skill and magical ability and serve as guardians of the githzerai cities, and due to a partially manufactured crisis of faith, he no longer truly has certainty in anything; not in the teachings of his faith, and not in himself. This is reflected in him being the only multi-class character in the game in a traditional sense; he is a fighter/mage, leveling up one after the other.

Dak'kon's stat layout is, after he is fully upgraded: Strength 18, Dexterity 18, Constituion 18, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 13, and Charisma 13. On the one hand he has high stats across the board; mechanically, he's both a capable spell-slinger that can act in support or as a combat caster, and he's a frontline tank. In what is most likely intended to be the canon-ish playthrough, he is the ONLY front-line damage dealer in a traditional sense. He can hit like a truck, once you add him to your party he is likely to be your main damage dealer, and he's just very strong across the board. This is an excellent stat line... for a fighter.

But he is also a mage, and for this, his intelligence isn't AWFUL (in fact, he's significantly more intelligent than an ordinary person would be, which is also reflected in interactions) but its not as high as would be ideal for a more specialized mage. His intelligence is significantly lower than it should be for anyone that is taking any kind of levels in wizard (and Torment's mage class is very much a wizard); his spell slots are notably less numerous, and he's most likely to be a fighter with some casting capability.

This reflects his in-game story. Dak'kon's crisis of faith was exacerbated by a holy writ of sorts that takes the form of a complex puzzle, and one of the accounts is of how Zerthimon, the prophet revered by Dak'kon's people, deceived his illithid masters by pretending to submit to them. Dak'kon has his doubts because another such teaching concerns a traitor, and then what he assumes to be the final teaching is of Zerthimon's conflict with Gith, founder-queen of the githyanki, when their peoples split. Dak'kon has come to fear that Zerthimon gave in and became a slave to their illithid captors, which was why he divided their people at the eve of victory, and if you ask him about this, he gives one of the VERY FEW impassioned and furious speeches he makes in the game, when normally he is very calm and detached.

If you have a high intelligence and wisdom scores (significantly higher than Dak'kon's, in fact) you can puzzle out more combinations to the teachings and unlock further ones Dak'kon had not found; these provide him an answer to his crisis of faith and ease his soul; Zerthimon did not give in to the illithids, but he recognized that should his people follow the path of war and conquer all that might threaten them, they would lose who they are. But the mechanical bit is that Dak'kons stats are too low to do so; he has no idea these teachings exist at all.

Furthermore, to recruit Dak'kon at all, you must speak to him on philosophy; its not difficult to have a fairly high Wisdom and Intelligent stat combination to pass this without much trouble, and this further indicates how his statline is a bit sub-par for someone in his line of work. He expresses some profound philosophical attitudes and says them well, but he's hard pressed to defend them when you poke holes in them, and he just gloomily concedes. Part of this is that, again, he IS having a crisis of faith and he has difficulty reconciling these problems to other people.

[bi-widower-dads]

bi-widower-dads' February Fic Recs: Canon

Thank you to everyone who submitted recs for us! We've done some sorting and collating, and we've got two posts for you: AUs and Canon-'verse - and a whole load of excellent fic for you to get stuck into while we wait for Barduil Month in April! Without further ado, here are the canon fic recs, featuring tags, links, summaries, and all the reasons why the recommenders think you should give these fics a try!

Header image by mod @piyo-13!

(a note about tags and trigger warnings: tags are selected from those on AO3 as being those that best describe the story for the purposes of this event; trigger warnings are supplied by the recommenders and may not be comprehensive - your mileage may vary. We've tried our best to include Tumblr handles wherever we can, but if we've missed yours out and you want it included, just let us know!)

One-shots

Scenes From a Not-So-Clandestine Romance by MasterofAllImagination / @cutlerbeckettt | G | 3258 words | tags: 5+1 things, so much fluff it's sickening, seriously don't even read this

Summary: As the relationship between Bard and Thranduil grows beyond merely that of two allies, they become proportionately blind to how obvious their displays of affection are to their people. Pretty soon their feelings are an open secret shared among everyone in Mirkwood and Dale-- except the kings themselves. (or, five times someone caught Bard and Thranduil secretly kissing, and the one time they did it in public) What do you love about this fic? The author's completely correct that this is just So Much Fluff. It's great, it's cozy, it's a palate cleanser that makes you go "aww" and giggle a little at how oblivious they are.

We'll lay here for years or for hours by bispecimen | M | 5000 words | tags: canon divergence, different first meeting, animal death, hunting, could be considered canon compliant since it still works w future events, dilf vs dilf parenting techniques, canon-typical violence

Summary: "The leaves were rolling, green and healthy. Swirling around the legs of the Bowman as if they were about to bring some magical creature in his presence. But Bard didn’t feel like anything good was about to be brought in front of his eyes. The stillness of the air was suffused with something nocive. This part was forbidden for a reason. The deeper he went, the longer he stayed. He knew, he knew that." What do you love about this fic? Am possibly biased because I did the art for this, but lovely and lyrical!

but the sun is eclipsed by the moon by RC_McLachlan | G | 5288 words | tags: none

Summary: The Battle of the Five Armies threatened to unmake the world, but The Negotiations of the Three Kings might actually succeed. Or, a short lesson on the lifecycle of dandelions. What do you love about this fic? Great writer I've followed for a long time!

more than words can wield the matter by BiSquared / @scary-grace | M | 5422 words | tags: cultural differences, love letters, miscommunication, accidental marriage, getting together, laws and customs of the eldar are somewhat followed, POV Bard the Bowman, post-BotFA, as canon-compliant as barduil gets

Summary: It might be uncommon, but Bard knows it’s not unheard of for humans to share a single night of passion and part ways in the morning – or if not to part ways, then at least never to meet as lovers again. Apparently it’s unheard of among elves, because the first letter that arrives from Mirkwood, two weeks after the elves’ departure for their forest, is significantly less businesslike than expected. What do you love about this fic? The premise is funny enough that it could have come across as crack, but it creates actual narrative tension and a satisfactorily cathartic ending.

The Well-Worn Path of Words by Ias | T | 10,725 words | tags: letters, slow burn, pining, miscommunication, love confessions, epistolary

Summary: It wasn't so strange that Thranduil would call him a friend. And yet the word seemed to draw them closer like a length of string, binding them together, yet still so fragile. [In which Thranduil and Bard begin writing each other letters over the long winter after the battle.] What do you love about this fic? Fantastic epistolary fic from a great Barduil author!

Multi-chapter (in progress)

Language of the Forest by BaccaratBlack | T | 1,095 words | tags: victorian flower language, sort of unrequited feelings, cultural differences, cultural misunderstandings, courtship, secret admirer

Summary: Bard is perplexed by elven courtship rituals. Thranduil is very determined and unaccustomed to not having his way. What do you love about this fic? Who doesn't like a fic with the themes of courtship, flowers and a "secret" admirer?

Multi-chapter (complete)

A Tale of Love and Longing (as told by Galion) by jotunblood | T | 39,288 words | tags: courtship, secret relationship, developing relationship, sexual tension, light angst, post-BotFA, slow burn, Galion POV, Galion is a good friend

Summary: Galion knew all the almost imperceptible ways joy, anguish, and hate could change his King’s face. He also knew-- Thranduil’s denial be damned-- exactly how he looked when he was pining. What do you love about this fic? We see Thranduil's and Bard's relationship develop through Galion's POV and he's the best BFF/Wing Man a King could ask for.

Blossoming Spring by SlytherinImpala | T | 56,210 words | tags: fluff, post-BotFA, snark, slow burn, healing, friends to lovers, scars, movie canon, first kiss, getting together

Summary: Bard and Thranduil meet again as winter gives way to spring following of the Battle of Five Armies. What do you love about this fic? I love the gentle snarkiness between the 2 characters and how they slowly learn to open up to one another. They feel very in character and when they fall in love it doesn't feel abrupt. Definitely worth a read if you love a gentle Barduil slowburn.

Series

The Kings of the North by Evandar | T | 14,240 words | tags: partial fix-it, interspecies romance, fluff, blind thranduil, self-esteem issues, communication

Summary: There is unease in the north, as old alliances must be rebuilt and leadership learned. Bard is confused, mostly by King Thranduil, and King Fili is determined to be the best king he can be. Sigrid, meanwhile, wishes things could go back to the way they were. What do you love about this fic? This was one of the first series I ever read for barduil and definitely played a huge role in getting me into the ship in the first place!

Boundaries 'Verse by Sir_Nemo | T | 30,967 words | tags: fluff, getting to know each other, getting together, family bonding

Summary: Bard has been working for the elves for years, never actually meeting one, until one day he notices an elf watching him work. The elf becomes a constant in his life, and the two of them slowly start warming up to each other. What do you love about this fic? Bard and Thranduil's personalities really shine through in their conversations, which I feel is a core component of the plot, and makes for a very stable relationship that the story can lean on.

[lightaflametoburnmethrough]

The rollcake scene from ep 17 aired today, May 6th.

The anime follows the manga pretty closely with some nice little additions. Like this exchange:

Where we actually get to see Kaito accept the gift with his own hands.

Before that, look at his expression. How even when he’s caught by surprise, his eyes are always so soft and unguarded when they’re looking at Akiho.

And that gentleness carries over into how he handles her gift as well.

He’s likely thinking ‘Akiho-san made this (for me), I must be careful with it’ on top of how he’s already being careful to not even let his fingers touch hers. Because he respects her and that would be unprofessional. That would cross the line he knows not to cross <- this is a crucial point to keep in mind.

Then the way Akiho goes from nervous to overjoyed once he takes the box because this is the first thing she’s ever made for anyone.

And not just anyone but a special someone. Her special someone.

So of course, she’d be anxious over whether he would accept it. Of course, she’d be so thrilled when he did.

They didn’t even start eating yet but she’s already so happy that she was able to take one step closer in conveying her feelings to him and that he didn’t reject her.

Then the part where the scene diverges for a moment from canon. Unlike in the manga, where Akiho quickly runs away out of shyness, here she doesn’t have an excuse to hide behind.

Instead, she starts criticizing herself again. Apologizing for “saying something weird” when she did nothing of the sort.

As pointed out in the previous episode (and in chapter 60), it’s obvious that Kaito doesn’t like it when Akiho puts herself down.

Even though she really stunned him speechless this time with her request for him to laugh more, he’s already thinking of what to say to refute these negative thoughts about herself.

But unlike how he usually tries to reassure her (gently and subtly), this time he’s significantly more forward with his approach.

He puts a halt to her downward spiral by placing his hand over hers, crossing the line he has been so careful not to all this time.

He outright says to her there’s no need for her to apologize, that she didn’t do anything wrong.

And for the first time, he dares to be honest with his feelings for her, crossing that line again.

It’s just one line. But with that one line, Kaito lays himself bare before Akiho. He’s not playing the part of her servant, polite and considerate but always at an arm’s length.

He’s being himself for once, his true personal self.

And his true self wants Akiho to know how happy she’s made him.

Just with her simple gesture and her words to see him smile more, he knows how much she appreciates him. How much she cares about him.

Which is the biggest deal for Kaito because nobody has ever cared about him before. He had always been treated as a thing to be ordered around and used by others.

So to hear something so kind from the person he loves most…it makes him want to respond to that.

It seems anime!Kaito wants to reciprocate in what little way he will allow himself to (he’s staring so deeply and intently into her eyes, letting them say what he can’t) before the inevitable where he would have to separate himself from Akiho in order to save her.

There’s not enough time left for him to enjoy being with her, to show her how grateful he is for her presence in his life. He knows there are only a few chances to do that and this moment is one of them. It has to be now because if not now, then it’s never.

Even though he puts her to sleep shortly after to bar her off from inquiring further. Even though he thinks she will won’t remember him after he rewrites everyone’s memories and erases himself so telling her these feelings might’ve been pointless…he still wanted to let Akiho know at least once before she forgets.

That she made him feel loved and taught him how to love someone in return.

And that’s the greatest gift anyone can receive.

[naranjapetrificada]

Okay I've gotta come into your askbox to scream about From the Firmament!! I am just so continuously impressed by the obvious care you put into every single sentence. Anyway (and this totally isn't just me fishing for more about the next chapter): what's the latest on the Izzy POV section? He's so frustrating for me to write personally (lack of joy and whimsy gets to me 🙃) so I can't wait to see how you handle him!

You are always, always welcome to scream into my ask box, my dear! And it's funny you should ask about the Izzy POV section, because I actually have a draft WIP Wednesday post from this week that was gonna include a snippet of that. In the way that I needed to get the first chapter posted in order to get certain worldbuilding facts established or I was never going to move on, it kind of feels like I need to get eyes on Izzy as he appears in the world of FtF.

It's not even his character that I feel like I'm struggling with anymore, it's mainly a) creating a believable voice and even moreso b) deciding what information to reveal/examine through him vs other characters. His voice is tricky for a lot of reasons but at the end of the day I can wave my AU magic wand and attribute things to the circumstances being different. The other thing though? God.

It feels so fundamental that his perspective should be heavily skewed and extremely divergent from Ed's in particular, and that's felt so hard to pull off. It matters what elements of their shared backstory get revealed through Izzy and what gets revealed through Ed, because things that seemed important to one of them are almost guaranteed to be incidental to the other.

Like a good example is how Izzy has this awe about him (even if he's in awe of an imagined version of Ed) that means that in any universe, he probably places greater weight on the first time he met Ed than Ed does. If you ask either of them what they remember about something they experienced together, Ed's recollection will zoom in on details that Izzy missed but ignore other things. But because it's a shared history, you could look the eyes of either one to explore it.

Because the options feel so endless, the parts of the Izzy POV that have remained fairly static are the ones where he's not directly thinking about Ed or the [redacted], [redacted], or [significantly longer redaction] in their past that would inform how he sees the scene he's narrating. His intro paragraph, initial reaction to Stede, and discomfort with the sense of freedom that always lingers in Stede's wake were super easy to pull together because it's all right there in canon. But in order to figure out anything else I've had to keep writing and rewriting certain things from his perspective or Ed's, bouncing back and forth until it feels right. Which makes the act of writing chapter 3 literally take longer of course, but also makes it harder to approach because it feels like a much bigger task.

Not to turn this into a general chapter 3 update but basically:

Stede's section (yes, only one!) is pretty much done beyond line edits.

See all of the above paragraphs for the Izzy of it all.

Ed takes me a long time, but most of another Ed section has been done since before I even posted the first chapter. A lot of the initial worldbuilding came out of that part, even! Ed also opens the chapter, and I've mostly got that part squared away too.

So basically all that remains is The Izzy Question and the final section, which I know the shape of and shouldn't have anything like the Izzy issues with. It feels like not a lot at all, but also like so, so much. Maybe you asking will give me the courage to share a couple paragraphs from his section though? I was actually poking at it this morning. Maybe getting something out there will settle some of these open questions for me and I can move on?

Thank you sooooo much, I could talk about this forever. If anyone else wants to, you are always welcome to send an ask about my fic if the mood strikes.

[artbyfinnbrown]

So, in most of the IFs, Vollachia is definitely screwed, right?

It’s less clear if this is the case for Pride, Wrath, and Sloth, because those diverge pretty early in canon, so it’s hard to say how much the butterfly effect modifies what happens.  But in both Greed and Gluttony, things roughly follow the main events of canon, until the point where Subaru would be teleported to Vollachia. (Greed because Echidna tells Subaru that he won’t find what he needs at the Sages tower, and Gluttony, because Subaru get’s distracted trying to rebuild [Natsuki Subaru]). And this is bad news for everyone in Vollachia.

It technically isn’t an instant loss. Vincent’s a smart guy, and he wasn’t exactly planning for Subaru’s assistance in the first place, so it’s not like he’s ruined by him not showing up. (Provided he isn’t shot by Taritta for being the only dark-haired stranger in the jungle. Though if Subaru isn’t there, the prophecy might be different, or not even exist.) He still manages to gain the loyalty of the Shudrak, and takes the city of Guaral, although without the “bloodless siege”, the conflict is understandably much more bloody, meaning the number of both Shudrakians and Vollachian soldiers who eventually take Vincent’s side are reduced. Priscilla, Al, and Heinkel show up to help and repel Arakiya (and depending on whether or not Todd is still around, they might even succeed in capturing her), and without Subaru’s prescene, Chaosflame isn’t destroyed, and they are probably still able to get Yorna on their side. 

But that’s where the positives stop.

Without Subaru, there is also no Rem, and Flop and Medium are likely not recruited either. And without them, there isn’t anything to prevent Madelyn and her dragons from destroying Guaral. 

Without Subaru, the Pleiades battalion is never formed, so that gladiators are fewer in number and less organized when they (and more importantly, Cecilus) join the conflict, if they even manage that. 

Most notably, without Subaru disappearing to Vollachia, the Emillia and Anastasia camps never go looking for him. Which means with no Subaru there is no Emillia, no Roswaal, no Garfiel, and no Halibel. Even Julius and Otto provided some level of assistance, which is now missing during the IFs. Losing one of these characters wouldn’t change much, but the lack of all of them significantly changes the course of most fights in the later half of the war.

The war likely lasts longer, and has more causalities, which in turn means than then the Great Disaster arrives, Sphinx has more zombies to use.  Also without Louis/Spica, the Yang Sword is the only surefire way to permently get rid of the Zombies, meaning that Vincent (if he’s even still alive at this point) has to pull out his trump card much sooner.

All of this to say that Vollachia isn’t nessecarily doomed, but with so many key players missing, at best it is still ends up a much worse position than it does in canon. 

[fourgods-nobrakes]

2023 in review

Or, one fic from each month that I feel pretty good about. Most of these are smut, pls read the tags in each case, etc.

January: for my own gain i pray, Erebus seducing Lorgar and accidentally really getting into it. I will never stop using 16 Horsepower lyrics for Word Bearer fic.

February: First (Do No Harm), the one where Talos acquires Elver when Curze discards him. A story about how after that much torture, just plain impersonal use feels like a huge relief.

March: Burn the House Right Down, Sevatar/Rushal missionfic and Sev heartmarking at his violent Raven. There were a lot of things I liked in March, this one was hard to pick.

April: To Carry What We Hold, Perturabo/Fulgrim slight canon divergence during Angel Exterminatus, with oviposition. This ship is such fertile (heh) ground and every time I write them I get to explore something different.

May: the only hope for me, actually not smut, Khârn prevents Argel Tal's death (and I threw in another canon divergence just for fun). May was a slow month but good stuff I think.

June: Rationally, Cautiously, and with Restraint, combo breaker, Marek Grimaldus and Andrej Valatok versus daemon sex pollen. Andrej's voice was so much fun.

July: Commit and Advance, Fulgrim/Perturabo again only this time significantly pre-Heresy, a sweet getting-together AU. Connecting regarding art and the pursuit of perfection <3

August: Trinkets for the Tallyman, Nurgling adventure gen set on the Solace, the Lords of Silence ship. I love nurglings.

September: Every Fire and Every Thrill, Fulgrim/Horus in the early chapters of Vengeful Spirit, me having a lot of feelings about them having a lot of feelings, and also snake porn.

October: burn like a healing hand, Abaddon/Amurael for launchtheship on DW. I wanted there to be about 200% more story to this but here we are. That's the story of so many fics. At least this got to be about Cthonia and savage warband honor and how dreamy Abaddon is.

November: lay my hands on heaven, Burias-Drak'shal/Daemonette, absolutely self-indulgent PWP, the most completely self-indulgent thing I wrote all year: getting one of my favorite murderpuppies laid by a cute little monster.

December: From Faith Cometh Honor, the incident mentioned in Gate of Bones where Kar-Gatharr pulled a gravely wounded Torvann Lokk from a ruined tank on Isstvan V. The stoic and determined character getting help from someone who loves them is such catnip for me.

You know? Overall, not a bad year, when I look it over now. Expect more things I personally find iddy in 2024.

[serpentinegraphite]

This is a Zukka series, in which Sokka attempts to get rid of the gaang's Zuko problem (re: seduce and then assassinate) in the middle of book one and failed spectacularly (okay, he fails at the assassination, but succeeds very hard at the seduction) and then it's canon divergence from there (and it does diverge pretty significantly aside from their feelings).

The author's tags and summary are pretty comprehensive, but I really want to emphasize the way they focus on canon expansion esp with Southern Water Tribe culture and heteronormativity, esp in conjunction with Sokka being a) bisexual and b) on some kind of gender journey (from early on, the journey seems to be Sokka is transfem, but you know what, it's a WiP, and there's a lot of wiggle room for idk demigirl or nb feelings, so I'm not going to commit to a label here, since one hasn't yet been given in the story).

The writing is fucking impeccable, from Zuko's accelerated but still kind of messy redemption arc ("messy" here refers to the fact that Zuko is a mess, like, as a person; the writer's craftsmanship is unimpeachable) to the ensemble interactions (I would never dream of rec'ing anything that didn't prominently feature Sokka + Katara sibling bonding).

A lot of the romantic theming is based around equating Sokka to the ocean. Zuko refers to him as "Umi," like Japanese for ocean/sea; there's a fantastic metaphor about love and the ocean in a flashback; obviously the titles for the prologue, "Secrets for the Sea," the main fic, "A Sailor in Search of Drowning," and the series as a whole, "she/her like sailors refer to the sea."

Updates are regular (roughly weekly, late on Saturdays/early Sunday depending on your time zone) and of a decent length.

Please read this and scream about it with me, it's so fucking good.

[lepertamar]

what exactly do you make of the kinda odd title of the šehhinah series, actually? like obviously it’s based on the term shekhinah but does that choice…..reverberate? in your view? (obviously i’m not asking/interested primarily in the Doylism author commentary lol, or i’d just ask the author directly, also there may be a reason why it’s never made explicit or obvious why the name was picked)

yeah obv I don't know what's intent vs legit interpretation vs me making insane person connections but anyway the resonances I've personally noticed might be easier to just kind of list in bullet point form bc it's not like I have any unified thesis of interpretation just various red string connections and overlaps:

jewish stuff at least regarding the shekhinah is about manifestation/presence of g-d as smth that Is G-d but also is sort of a paradox, like Solomon wondering in 1 Kings during the dedication of temple on the paradox of g-d being able to dwell inside the ark but also in the heavens and also like Wherever. afaict theurgy (of any soul) in sehhinah is, idk if 'based on this' or just 'happens to work on this same logic' but either way parallels the framework very closely, and the presumptiveness of applying a logic about g-d's self to other people's selves is probably the Main Feature of the series.

the fact the world is named 'šehhinah' and is the aggregate souls of everyone who has ever manifested, in particular angels, who are entwined with g-d in an embodied way, is a weird sorta backwards gesture at this too I think, but I'm not sure I have an 'answer' about 'how' the connection tracks, just that it's clearly There in some way. I've speculated before (unrelated to the naming) that there's a possibility that g-d has a (affectionate) contaminating, radioactive mutation causing, polluting effect (various minor inconclusive hints throughout the series).

regarding this applied specifically to sehhinah!g-d too, the fact g-d 'is nowhere' (has no body or location) but also 'can be Seen' and 'g-d's soul manifests physically as flame/burning/burnt-ness in that interface/reaction when this happens' parallels this even more than regular theurgy, kjorel even at one point has a thought almost the same as Solomon's;

but even more significantly, another aspect of the shekhinah is that it's conceived of as the aspect of g-d that went into exile with the exiled jews, though the ark and temple 'where' g-d was said to dwell are lost/destroyed, the shekhinah still dwells/is There whenever jews do [various actions]. there's a sort of chronological chiasmus reversal in sehhinah where g-d's exilic state (in prices, angel bodies, discarded dismembered body parts, stars, etc) is the preexisting standard condition and They are cataclysmically spatially condensed in a specific location in an abrupt event during Lives. (reversals or sometimes chiasmuses of chronology and meaning-of-terms between irl and sehhinah is a pretty constantly recurring theme in the series).

I always 'recognized' sehhinah!g-d 'as' mythical jewish g-d (hence the dash) but also with the caveat that not only are there specific differences, Their overall scope is narrower: there's more things sehhinah!g-d is definitely Not, or definitely Not Capable Of, or not in charge of/has not decided to ask for. a lot of the difference here seems to be a sort of, I can imagine sehhinah!g-d resulting from a canon-divergent-AU of antediluvian genesis where g-d was nonverbal and also certain foundational events shook out differently; but also the result, regardless of the causes, is that the more-limited sehhinah!g-d bears significant resemblance to the shekhinah 'aspect' of irl jewish interpretation.

for elaboration on the previous bulletpoint on a very deep and meaningwise/characterwise/selfhood/behavior level I'd point to this paper; but on a more superficial level the fact that in sehhinah g-d seems to 'speak' using an elaborate nonverbal telepathy that seem to use a sort of 'cantillation-marks' type of anchoring via features usually attributed to either the shekhinah specifically, or to angels -- wings in particular, feathers, eyes, wheels -- is. well actually I forgot where I was going with this actually but I won't bother backspacing it. I was going to say something about torah. shekhinah as a liminal phenomenon that dwells in the interface of action.

g-d is tesena's whore? subversioned bride. connects dots. sabbath bride. [schizo voice]. uh.

There was more but I forgot. um. (?) anyway

[bedlamsbard]

Hi there!

I just finished reading Queen’s Gambit, for the first time, and first off, I wanna extend my personal compliments. It’s probably some of the best Star Wars anything I’ve ever read, let alone one of the best fics I’ve ever read. Excellent job.

My actual question is this: was the plotline with “our” Anakin/Obi-Wan/Padmé (aka the versions from the Wake the Storm-verse) ever officially continued anywhere? I found the posts outlining what the sequels to Queen’s Gambit would have been, but I can’t seem to find anything for the other versions if the characters. I’m not necessarily asking for fic or demanding anything, I’m just genuinely curious if there’s anything out there about potential plans.

Thank you so much and I hope you have a lovely day/evening/whatever time of day!

Thank you for reading, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the story!

To the best of my memory, I don't have any posts up about what would have happened in All Along the Watchtower, the third Ouroboros story -- there's some concept writing posted well far back in my cut scenes and concept writing tag that dates from when Gambit was in progress, I believe. At a later point in time I planned to use the Watchtower 'verse, the 'verse that the Wake trio ends up in at the end of Gambit, as the same universe that Ezra ends up in during The Starry Crown, though I left the fandom and stopped working on that story before that was revealed; there's some concept writing that shows a later incarnation of that universe from Ezra's POV.

The three alternate universes in the Ouroboros trilogy -- the OT canon universe (as of 2013) in Wake, the Gambitverse in Gambit, and the Watchtower 'verse in Watchtower -- were designed to be mirrorverses for each of the three trio members, so the outcome of each character's worst case scenario. Canon for Anakin (he was responsible for the death and destruction of everything he loved), Gambitverse for Padme (she was the tyrant responsible for corrupting a Jedi and launching the galaxy into civil war), and Watchtower for Obi-Wan (he lost control, fell to the Dark Side, and was unable to help when the Jedi were slaughtered because of circumstances outside his control). I don't remember exactly the precipitating factors now, but Obi-Wan had ended up on Dooku's side here (I think he was captured by Maul? and tortured and later rescued by Dooku? it's been a long time now), and Dooku was able to manipulate him into turning on Palpatine, killing him early and allowing Dooku to become emperor. There was an Order 66, but it wasn't as successful as the canon one; a large portion of the Jedi Order was able to escape and regroup under the grandmastership of Mace Windu. (Yoda having been killed.) Anakin was one of them. Padme and a number of other Jedi allies remained in the now-Imperial Senate; Padme specifically was spying for the Jedi. She had had Luke and Leia, but gave them both up (Luke to Anakin and the Jedi, Leia to the Organas) so that they wouldn't be vulnerable to Dooku. Dooku started -- I can't remember what I was going to call it, an Order of Sith Knights, maybe, sort of like the One Sith from the comics, which Obi-Wan headed up. He and Padme were having a sexual relationship, which Anakin was aware of; uncertain if he and Anakin were also involved but they might have been. The galaxy had fragmented pretty significantly; Maul was still running around, Dooku didn't have as good a grip on recalcitrant systems as Palpatine had, so there were various independence movements.

The Wake trio had all gotten dropped into different locations in the galaxy about, uh, ten years or so onwards from the divergence point? Padme we see at the end of Gambit; Anakin ended up on Coruscant and goes to contact that universe's Padme, who is understandably a little freaked out but does help him. I can't remember where exactly Obi-Wan was, but ultimately he ends up on Tatooine with that universe's Ahsoka, who is at this point a Jedi Knight representing the Order during an auction facilitated by the Hutts for major weaponry, at which a bunch of other political groups in the galaxy are also present, so we meet various Mandalorian groups (Sabine is a junior Protector), rebels/terrorists (Hera is there representing Free Ryloth), and Maul's apprentice (Kanan/Caleb, who had gotten kidnapped from the Order years earlier and has been believed dead for years). This is also where the Ezra of The Starry Crown ends up (as seen in the concept writing linked up above); when I was writing Crown I was still leaving it up in the air if I would use that to crabwalk sideways into actually using the Wake trio there too.

As early as 2016 or 2017 (Gambit wrapped in 2015, I immediately started working on Backbone that summer with the intention to go back to Ouroboros after I finished, I thought it would be a quick project ha ha ha Backbone didn't wrap until 2018), I had been planning to integrate Rebels plot points into Watchtower; I don't remember all the details now, but it involved a plan to use the Malachor temple/superweapon (which I have postulated elsewhere was actually a massive starship) and a counterpart on Coruscant to do Bad Things. The Malachor end got shut down by Hera, Kanan, Crown!Ezra, and that universe's Ezra (masterless Jedi padawan nicknamed Rat, the Jedi had to change up some of their Process because so many of them had died in Order 66); this is also where the Malachor holocron is destroyed and absorbed by Crown!Ezra, which is seen in Crown. That universe's Anakin went to deal with the Coruscant end, fought and killed that universe's Obi-Wan, and was fatally injured destroying the Coruscant superweapon, dying there.

This obviously doesn't leave a lot of room for the Wake trio to do anything but observe, which isn't that different from what they do in Gambit (and which gets a lot of criticism). But that is, as I remember it, the plot. Because it never got written and finalized, it's changed a lot over the years, but many of the fundamental details of the universe remained the same; like I said, I at one point planned to use it for Crown after I'd decided not to write Watchtower itself, but it was always the same plot, just with a larger cast of characters.

I say this pretty regularly because Wake/Gambit are always picking up new readers, but there aren't any current plans to pick up Ouroboros again -- I have gotten a regular amount of vitriolic comments on both fics for the better part of a decade now and it's completely killed any desire of mine to work on them. Also left some permanent scars and fundamentally changed the way I write, plot, and interact with fandom, which I complain about regularly in my talking about feedback in public tag. (Wake went up in 2013, so we really are coming up on the ten year anniversary. Watchtower got hate mail EVEN BEFORE it ever went up.)

[dickpuncher420]

3, 14, 21 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (also get well soonnn!!)

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

omg can i slightly diverge from the question bc this isn't so much a take as something funny that happened to me years ago and i still have the screenshot bc it still makes me laugh

anyways. years ago before the renaissance when the zukka fandom was very teeny, there were very few zukka blogs and we were basically all mutuals because, well. teeny fandom. and there was this one blogger that i'm pretty sure didn't like me but we still followed each other, and one day i was looking at their blog and came across this post

which was without a doubt about me because i'd reblogged a makorra gifset like the day before with those tags alfkjdkfhjk. safe to say they probably blocked me after that

anyways. that's the time someone called me a sapphobic maggot because i reblogged a makorra gifset to my own blog. ah, good times

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

i'm definitely not the first person to say this but there is a uhhhh definite trend in zukka fics to focus solely on zuko's trauma while sokka is just there to act as his emotional support/caretaker/punching bag. and like yes i am aware that zuko is the atla fandom's golden boy but like c'mon. can we Maybe examine why we keep writing the brown character as the caretaker in the relationship whose only job is to kiss all of zuko's hurts better and doesn't get anything in return??

also. fics that write sokka as significantly bigger/more muscular than slender waify zuko make me want to die. sorry

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

ok maybe not overhyped per se but i'll say that the whole "leaves from the vine" scene with iroh never really emotionally gutpunched me the way it seems to with other people? like yes it's terribly sad that a father is mourning his dead son but like. lu ten Did die as a warmonger who was trying to invade ba sing se. lest we forget

choose violence ask game