#since this first part is just focusing on the background story - world building - and how we met

[kaidabakugou]

my brain needs a break from working on three different collab pieces so i decided to pick back up my hellhounds kiribaku fic but i’m horrible with titles so help me decide

a little context on the fic - it is set in a world where chthonic creatures roam freely on earth and your job is to rescue the ones used in illegal activities which is how you meet two hellhounds but first you must earn their trust before you can save them after years of mistreatment

[teabutmakeitazure]

Dissimulation Continued

>Yan! Mafia! Childe x Fem! Student! Reader (modern au)

>Word count: 4.9k

>a/n: childe "leave your degree and be my wife" tartaglia. i dont think anything in this classifies as yan since its just a continuation of the original story but still tagging that since the original is yan. also, i wrote the beginning during my flight lol

Being housemates with a mafioso isn't a very ideal situation.

First Part | reasons why Childe is #1 husband | Continued Again

Airports are holes in the fabric of time. Minutes and hours are blurred, the signature beeping sound before the limitless number of announcements causing an odd fogginess in your mind. They're surreal but comforting. You are forever a traveller there, only at the mercy of your own mistakes and mishaps.

A familiar hair colour stands out in the distance, rising above the lake of heads. Your luggage trolley is pushed closer and closer to that lake, but instead of relief, only a subtle feeling of dread settles in. It is true that in airports you are at the mercy of your own mistakes, but it is the same for the outside world. The only difference is that simply existing and being alive is not considered a mistake in the former.

The voice you've been hearing through your phone for the past weeks finally greets you directly from the source. Everything is a blur, your eyes focusing on the person who makes way through the busy crowd to get closer as the sounds become exceedingly loud. Slowly, you stop in your tracks, mind still under the haze of indistinguishable time. 

The first to go is your backpack, the item promptly removed from your shoulders. The next is the trolley. Your grip on it is gently loosened, and fingers snap in front of your face to dispel the haze from your mind.

"Earth to [Name]? Hey. You alright? The flight couldn't have been that bad, come on."

Your eyes blink a few times, the background chatter becoming more prominent and the face in front of you being focused on by your vision. Words refuse to form on your tongue, so you have to rely on your actions as a last resort. After closing your mouth with mild embarrassment, your eyes settle on his oversized t-shirt. Bare arms greet you when you look for a sleeve, so you settle with grabbing the side of his shirt instead. 

It’s still summer. Of course he’s wearing cap sleeves. The display of what one could easily pass off as clinginess causes him to take a step closer, his arm reaching to wrap around your shoulders. You refuse to directly look him in the eye, but allow the arm to slither around you. ‘I am with this person,’ the arm announces. ‘And we are more than what a first glance can reveal.’

“Are you feeling alright?” The arm pulls you inside a half-hug, the warmth of his body comforting with the smell of familiar cologne. “Did something happen?”

A shake of your head is all you can manage, but it is not accepted.

“Hey,” voice low, the arm around you travels upwards to gently run up and down your head. “Tell me. We’ve talked about this. Don’t hide anything from me. I only want to help.”

To yield and share your feelings with someone such as him is not easy, but you do so anyway, surprised at how easily you were able to speak. “It’s something silly,” you say, eyes glued to the floor. “I just miss home.”

The arm strokes your back comfortingly. There is more than just comfort in his voice. There is sympathy. “I understand.” Commiseration drips from his tone, a hint of melancholy behind the way he holds you closer. “We’ll get through it. Don’t worry.”

The hand grabbing the shirt is now wrapped with another, the warmth from both palms and the touch more noticeable than you would have preferred. Calluses are barely felt, but you know they are there. You saw them in detail right before you left for home. How could you ever forget?

With the other free hand, the trolley is pushed along as both of you walk to the exit. You say goodbye to the building and the odd feeling of time passing inside it. A familiar routine and life is welcomed in its stead, but the welcome is short lived.

You both have stopped walking.

“[Name]?”

You raise your head but do not meet his eyes.

“You haven’t looked at me since you got here.”

Pointing out your actions is cruel, but so is your treatment. Thus, you capitulate like you always do. The sight of the familiar dull blues is something you did not want to welcome but you do.

“Sorry.” You try your best to give a smile even if it’s shaky and uncertain. “I’m just… shaken up. I’ll be alright in a few hours.”

Unfortunately for you, the devil has another demand. “Say my name. You haven’t even said my name yet.”

“Childe?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “My name.”

A light bulb shines above your head, and you immediately respond. “Ajax.”

He smiles. “Again.”

“Ajax.”

You’re near the car before you know it. 

The sun is setting which paints the sky in a beautiful gradient of red and yellow, hints of magenta red peeking through the clouds. The car’s trunk opens and your luggage is promptly placed inside. Your company for the evening comes to stand in front of you, and your eyes instead go to the constellations of freckles dusting across his cheeks. Diverting your attention to him seems to please him because he’s smiling at you.

“It’ll be night by the time we’re there.”

Your statement makes Childe turn around and face the sunset as well. Somehow the mahogany coloured t-shirt is a perfect compliment to the sky’s colours, his hair glowing a fiery red with the sunset behind him.

“If it’ll be night,” he says, hand reaching for the phone inside his pocket, “you can go home and sleep. You need the rest.”

“No.” Childe turns to look at you, phone in hand, but you continue speaking. “I need to call my mom. She said to call when I reach the airport.”

The questioning look on his face turns into a smile. “What do you think I’m doing right now?”

You raise a brow. “Taking me home?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “With my phone. What do you think I’m doing with my phone?”

Your eyes widen when he clarifies, mouth agape before you compose yourself. “Oi. I’m supposed to talk to her, not you.”

Childe’s thumb presses something on his phone, cheeky grin infuriating you further. “Too late. I sent her a text. I told her I picked you up and that we’re on our way home.”

Mouth having fallen open again, you stomp towards him. Aiming for his phone doesn’t help, for he simply raises it above his head and takes a step back. Thus, you grab onto his shirt’s neckline and pull. The smile falls from his face only to return when he’s barely an inch away from your face, noses almost brushing.

“[Name],” he breathes, eyes staring into yours, “I’m sure this counts as public indecency. Let’s go home first.”

Unbothered, you simply sigh. “I told you. I’m supposed to talk to her. Not you.”

Childe pulls away, his hand gently undoing your grip on his shirt. “And why’s that? Maintaining a good relationship with your family is important.”

“If my mother finds out I’m with you so often, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

He blinks, obviously not having understood. “Isn’t that good?”

“No!”

Childe tilts his head, hair no longer glowing in the sunset. It’s starting to get dark now. “Explain.”

With a groan, you humour him, albeit begrudgingly. “She’ll scold me for being too carefree. I don’t want her on my case all the time.”

“Alright,” he whines. “Come on. Let’s go home. You need some dinner and rest.”

The car park’s street lights illuminate the area, and following Childe you get into the passenger seat. With a huff, you look at his smile - that upturn of his lips seemingly always present in front of you - and plop down onto the seat only to feel… ‘something’ under you. Childe raises a questioning brow as you halfway stand up, trying to grab whatever hard object was under you.

It would be a lie to say you weren’t daunted when a heavy, cold metal object sat in your palm.

Like throwing away a scalding hot piece of iron, you fling the gun to the back seat, eyes boring holes into the item as it lays in the back. Almost as on cue, memories of what had occurred pre-departure flood back in mockingly. It was foolish to be even slightly comfortable around him. Have you forgotten your differences?

“Woah! Careful there!” Childe glances at the firearm sitting on the back seat, but quickly turns back to you. Seeing how your chest is heaving as you look ahead, he breathes a sigh of relief. At least he used the safety lever so that it accidentally doesn’t fire. That would have ended badly.

He watches as you pay him no mind, eyes focused on what you can see through the dashboard’s glass. “Hey,” he whispers gently, “I left it there by mistake. My bad.”

You put a hand over your throat, fingers pressed to your right carotid artery. The continuously pumping blood grounds you. It grounds you, but it provides no comfort. Whatever strength remains in you after a long trip is what helps you compose yourself again.

“Let’s just go home.”

Your words are taken as a command, and Chide nods, immediately reversing the car out of the parking space. It’s completely dark now, the sky only illuminated by the moon and whatever stars are visible with the light pollution. As you exit the airport premises, you allow yourself to immerse in the silence.

Head resting against the window, you close your eyes. It’s a shame your family doesn’t know about your new living arrangements.

-

The first thing to greet you at your new accommodation is silence. The next is the sound of your phone ringing. The bag on your shoulders is eased off as you press the device to your ear, Childe leaving the thing on the sofa. Silver chalice coloured polished tiles stare back at you as you greet your mother while your new mafioso ‘housemate’ drags your luggage to your room.

After reassuring your mother that you have reached home safely, you excuse yourself with wanting to rest, something she respects and immediately cuts the call for. Now, your greatest conundrum faces you with crossed arms, dull blue eyes observing you instead of simply looking. It’s a test. You know it.

Thus, being the good student that you are, you play along. It is absolutely crucial that you do so because there is only one thing that may land you in hot water: your refusal to cooperate. Despite all that, there are boundaries you will not allow to be crossed, no matter how much he insists.

“Are you sure about the guest room?” Childe patiently eyes you as you mull over an answer. Eyes still taking in every minute detail of your body, he doesn’t miss you biting your lip for a moment.

With a meek voice that you know is his weakness, you mutter a yes. “I’m sorry,” you excuse yourself. “I don’t think I’ll be comfortable sharing a room just yet.”

“Well,” Childe tries again, grabbing the backrest of the sofa behind him for support, “maybe we could live in the same room, but uh, I’ll go to the guest room to sleep. Then we can slowly get comfortable with each other-”

“Childe.”

He blinks. “Yes?”

“Please.” You make it a point to slightly frown, just to garner his sympathy. “I promise I’m not being distant. I’m just… not comfortable yet.”

He sighs, the sound bouncing off the newly painted walls. “Fine. I don’t want to overwhelm you.” His commiseration, although begrudging, is welcomed on your end. Thus, to show your gratitude, you walk up to him and pat his cheek twice. The action makes his eyes widen as he looks at you, and you’re again reminded of how simple-minded he is at times. It’s almost cute… if you ignore the other stuff.

“Do you… want me to be next to you while you sleep?” Childe asks. “It’s a new environment for you. M-maybe my presence will help you fall asleep.”

You smile at him, thankful that he’s caring about your comfort. Nevertheless, you’ll be fine, so you decline. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be fine. I’m sure I’ll pass out as soon as I hit the pillow.”

He’s still looking at you like a sad puppy in hope you’ll change your mind. You do not. “Fine,” Childe yields. “Just call me if you need anything. I’ll… wake you up for dinner. You can nap until then.”

Just the thought of bed makes you sleepy, so you nod and head for your new living quarters. Unfortunately, you do not turn to look at your new housemate’s empty gaze.

-

It takes great strength to open your eyes, even if for just a moment, but you do not bother with waking up. Turning to the other side instead, you snuggle deeper into the cover with the contentment that your mother will come and wake you up whenever appropriate. And she does. The warm hand that rests on your cheek caresses the skin gently, a voice hesitantly calling your name.

The realisation that the hand and voice do not belong to your mother is cruel, but it suffices to instantly wake you up with a startle.

Blue. That is what you first see.

The mattress underneath you feels too hard for a moment, and you feel as though you are somewhere unfamiliar, somewhere you mustn't be. The feeling seems to be a mockery created by your mind, but you allow yourself to breathe before listening to the culprit of your disturbed sleep.

“Sorry.” You give no reaction to Childe’s apology. He continues, “It’s starting to get late, and I didn’t want to wake you up for dinner but decided against that because you probably haven’t eaten in a while.”

You continue to stare at him, giving him a look that says, ‘so?’ but he doesn’t seem bothered. Instead, he has the gall to grab your hand from underneath the cover.

“Let’s eat together.”

Childe ends up receiving a very tired raised eyebrow from you before you actually make a move to get up. However, before he could comment on your tired state and ask you to stay in bed, you have thrown the cover off your body and are already on your way to the living room. It makes him sigh, but he doesn’t complain.

Dinner is late and quiet. It’s around half past ten, but Childe doesn’t mind since you don’t have class in the morning. He took a day off as well, just to make up for lost time. The last time he saw you was weeks ago. Of course he wants to spend time with you.

You, on the other hand, down the home cooked meal without any second thought, brain still on autopilot. It makes you feel bad since you don’t have the energy to compliment his cooking, but hey. He woke you up from a deep sleep. He should feel bad. Nevertheless, the cook shamelessly asks about his cooking.

“Did you like it?”

You blink up at him, responding with a sigh. “I’m too tired to taste it.”

Hands folded over his chest, his portion of food is also gone. “I see. Want to go to bed again? I’ll lay down with you till you fall asleep.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Childe gives you a look again, one that reminds you just how easily his dull eyes make you acquiesce. Despite fighting it, you fail and give in like you always do. “Okay okay,” you grumble. His celebratory smile falls when you elaborate. “But no getting into bed with me. You can uh… just sit there.”

“Why not?” The tilt of his head is accentuated by his slightly furrowed brows. It honestly reminds you of a kid trying to negotiate a later bedtime with his mother. “I promised you I won’t try anything you don’t want me to.”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is?”

Sensing an argument coming up, you decide to steer the conversation elsewhere. There is too much at stake to anger him just because you’re tired, and you would rather not act like a whining child simply to get what you want. No. You are better than his tactics. Better, but not necessarily perfect.

“I’m sorry,” you say, voice low and dejected, “I just want to be alone. I just got back from home and everything feels so weird.” You sigh, simply to make a point. “If I was living in the dorms, I would’ve still been in bed. I really appreciate you, truly, but I just want to be alone. Living alone isn’t easy.”

He counters almost instantly. “You aren’t alone.”

“I meant family,” you clarify. “Being away from family isn’t fun.”

A pensive expression takes over his face. Childe actually looks like he’s thinking, the gears in his head moving as he tries to make sense of your words. Though they were only to get him to back off and subtly establish your boundaries, not everything was a lie. Well, some of it at least.

“Alright,” he surrenders. “I’ll sit next to you.”

Funnily enough, sleep comes easy with his presence. The fact had baffled you when you woke up in the morning, but the plentiful rest ceased any thinking on your part.

-

Like a sponge slowly soaking up water as it’s left over a water stain, Childe has entered almost every part of your life. He has consumed it entirely, trapping you within his confines as every single activity remains scrutinised. You had first thought you were the sponge, but you were mistaken. Childe is the sponge. You are the water he has soaked up and gotten hold of.

The power is in his hands. Though it’s not unpleasant most of the time, his proprietorial behaviour never fails to remind you of the numerous differences in both your personalities and mentalities. At first, you were able to subtly manipulate him like you did when you first got back. Unfortunately, he has either realised your tactic or grown immune to your tired expressions with displeased frowns and sweet pleadings.

You have no idea what to do.

It absolutely does not help that you are under the added stress of your studies and with no means of clearing your mind because you aren’t sure how to go out with your friends. It also doesn’t help that you simply don’t have the time to go out with your friends. 

Rubbing your eyes, you cross out the name of a particular course before clicking on the submit button. The word ‘submitted’ appears in front of ‘assignment 3’, and you instantly put your head down on the table. As usual, your laptop’s screen turns off after its three minute timer is up, prompting your mind to start thinking over your next assignment.

There’s around five days to the deadline and it’s an essay. Perhaps having it drip with affectation might impress the tutor. She is one for grandiose after all. All you’ll need is to find synonyms of every other word and make them sound pretentious. Yes, that’ll do. Just make a rough draft and then edit it with the synonyms so that it’s easier to write and organise your ideas.

Wait… you haven’t even done the reading yet. How are you supposed to write it without doing the required reading? 

Taking a peek at the clock on the wall, you make a mental note of reading and writing down main points and ideas before bed. That’s the only thing you have the energy left to do. Maybe you’ll watch a movie tonight, forget any academic obligations and let the mistakes take over.

“Sulking? Or tired?”

Your beloved housemate’s voice calls out from somewhere behind. That gives you a very clear idea that he’s invited himself inside the room. The door was closed. You didn’t hear anything.

Without raising your head, you mumble out your reply. “Both.”

A chuckle, and you hear him sitting down on the bed. “Wow. You sound like you need a twelve hour sleep.”

“Maybe I need twenty.”

“Yeah,” he chuckles again, “you’re going to need drugs for that.”

With a sigh, you raise your head, eyes staring at Childe’s blurry reflection on your laptop’s screen. “Maybe a drug cartel-ish business would’ve been easier. How much do you make again?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “I don’t really need to keep track. It’s more than enough.”

“Show-off.”

“To be fair there are no drugs involved.”

You raise a brow at his reflection. “Then what is?”

“Hm.” Childe crosses his arms, faking deep thought. “You would have to be assassinated if I told you. Which is obviously unpreferable.”

“Yeah. I’m good then. Keep your secrets.”

He laughs again, louder this time. “Technically, spouses are immune to that rule. You’re gonna have to marry me if you want to know.”

A click of your tongue and you turn to look at him. Your expression is anything but playful. “Keep your secrets.” Now that you see the burnt maroon shirt and black pants, you figure that he just came back home. He’s even wearing his gloves.

“Oh, come on [Name]. I’m not that bad.”

You don’t reply.

“I am…?”

“No comment,” you deadpan. With that, you turn back to your laptop and turn it back on. Quietly, you close the pdf files of your submitted assignment and open the ones relating to the essay you need to turn in. By your estimate, you need to do lots of brainstorming, so if you start right now, you can get it done in around three days.

A hand flat on the table next to yours and warm breath over your ear startle you as you attempt to start reading. “Week six,” Childe reads, “the emotional mind: emotion, reason, and consciousness. Discuss the argument the author of this document has laid out and present your own views on the topic he is discussing. There is no right or wrong answer. You will be graded over your coherency in your writing and skills in identifying any possible discrepancies or invalidity of arguments. Please feel free to contact me or your tutor if you need help. The format is the same as what we discussed in class. Good luck.”

You open the document that is your required reading for the assignment and hear a grumble from Childe. He moves closer to you and instinctively, you lean forward to maintain what little distance there was. Gently, he coaxes your hand off the touchpad and asks if there’s any unsaved progress in the tabs you’ve opened. Once you say no, he closes everything.

After shutting down the laptop, he picks it up and places it on a side table. “Take a break,” he says. “You don’t need to work so hard.”

Tired, you’re almost tempted into listening to him but snap out of it when you hear what he says next.

“I’m going to take care of you, so even if something happens and you can’t complete the degree, you don’t have to worry.”

The statement makes you frown and you clearly show your displeasure with your expression and words. "That's not very nice."

He simply shrugs. "All I'm saying is that there's no pressure on you. Take it easy."

"The kind of pressure you're talking about is irrelevant."

Childe shifts his weight from one foot to the other, hand on a hip. "Is it? In what way," he challenges. "You left home to come to a different country to study. Of course there's pressure to succeed. I'm just trying to ease that."

"No. You're not." You finally find the courage to look straight into his challenging stare, unyielding despite feeling your heart start to beat faster. "You might be trying on your end, but it just makes me feel worse."

Your chest rises with every beat of your heart, the lub dub clearly audible in your ears. Again, Childe shifts his weight onto the other foot. He’s still looking at you that way, and it’s freaking you out. How can his stare be so… overwhelming? 

“If you really think,” he says, “that what I say makes it worse, then I’m sorry.”

Out of surprise, you look over his expression but the furrowed brows fail to show any sign of insincerity despite his flat tone. The discrepancy makes you frown again, but you don’t bother explaining the expression to him. “Alright,” you say. With that, you go back to your table only to stare at the empty space in front of you.

There’s eraser dust around the table, your stationery haphazardly lying around and a single notebook open. There’s also your phone and a little packet of salted peanuts to munch on while studying. You hear a deep inhale from somewhere behind you but don’t bother pausing your aimless staring. It’s the sudden physical presence behind you that demands your attention back.

“[Name].”

Be mature about this, you tell yourself. There’s no need to be petty and say something neither of you will like.

At your silence, he continues. “[Name], are you… mad at me?”

Of course not! I love it when you say that you’ve cemented the idea of the both of us together. You start, “Childe-”

“Ajax.”

“Ajax,” you correct yourself, “gosh I’m still not used to that name. Anyway, I’m not mad at you.”

There’s a sound of disbelief that comes from behind you. “You’re not even looking at me!”

“I’m processing not having to use my brain. Give me a moment.”

He scoffs this time. “I don’t believe you. You’re doing the same thing. You’re being distant again.”

“I’m not,” you defend.

“Yes. Yes, you are. I know how this will inevitably go down. You’re going to grow more distant and talk less until there’s a confrontation that leaves you crying.” Childe continues despite your silence. “I don’t want that.”

It forces you to think he’s selfish, that he only thinks for himself when he says that he doesn’t want that, but despite wanting to think so, you know that he says that for you. His countenance gives away what his words cannot, and you still remember the face he made when it had happened.

That pure horror and regret is one of the reasons why despite his actions you still respect this man. Maybe it’s the only reason you don’t scream at him everyday, be acrimonious and cry yourself to sleep over your predicament. He may have taken over your life, but he also undoubtedly and unequivocally loves and cares for you. Even if he sometimes looks at you like you’re hiding something.

You will ignore the occasional watchful eyes in favour of the care he is capable of. Perhaps, or even most likely, it is the only reason why you think twice before speaking when you’re in a bad mood.

“So,” Childe says, a hand now next to yours on the table as he leans closer behind you, “let’s talk it over, okay?"

A question pops up in your mind, and you voice it after pulling your hand under the table. “Talk over what? I was just about to say that I’ll try my best not to do that again. And as for right now, I’m really just processing things. I’m tired.”

“Hm,” he hums. “The offer is still on the table. I can make your life easy. All you need to do is give me one chance.”

You scoff. “Easy? I think my life is easy enough. I don’t have to work, only study. Heck, you even do the groceries and cook more than half of the time.”

“I suppose you have a point.” In one swift movement, your chair is grabbed by the backrest and dragged to the edge of the bed. There, Childe seats himself, satisfied at the eye contact. “But I could make it easier.”

Arms now crossed, you respond to his offer with a question. “What, so you’re a magician now? I didn’t know you had a side gig.”

He laughs, boyish and charming. “Of course not. I’m just telling you what I can do for you. Nothing more.” 

The smile on his face unsettles you. It’s one of the scheming ones. The one he has when he’s cooking up something that definitely is not food. Nevertheless, his little ‘clarification’ is met with nothing more than nonchalance on your end.

“Alright,” you shrug. “Thanks for making me take a break. I really needed it.”

He’s still smiling, albeit differently this time. It’s morphed into something more sincere, something more warm and welcoming. The look in his eyes is no way the same. “Absolutely. There’s no way I wouldn’t help you.”

The conversation seems almost over, and you are about to get up to lie on your bed when a demand pauses your movements. “Say my name,” he says. “I love hearing my name from you.”

You know why he asks that of you sometimes. It grounds him, reminds him of who he is behind the red mask that lays next to the vase on the side table. Gloves are peeled off, and hypnotised by the reveal of the long fingers underneath them, you mindlessly give your reply.

“Ajax.”

“[Name],” he breathes.

You are just as breathless. “Ajax.”

Face now resting in his palm, his smile is small but affectionate. “[Name].” Eyes follow as well, turning into something more soft. You finally see the image of someone adoring and can’t help the almost desperate call that slips from your mouth.

“Ajax.”

You do not know who you were calling to.

[maboroshi-if]

SNote: Maboroshi is intended for 16+ audiences. Strong Violence and Swearing/Cursing will be in the IF. The warning list will be updated as we continue. Intro Post is still being pulled together, so if there are any questions, let me know!

Maboroshi is an Interactive Fiction Game based in the world of Naruto, however, all events within the story span during the end of the First Shinobi War and the beginning of the Second Shinobi War.

Long ago, many years before you were born, the countries of the world were entrenched in warfare for land. Mighty warlords and noblemen wished to expand their territory; however, blood would need to be given in exchange; Unfortunately, for the people of the land, the blood given as payment was not theirs. Instead, shinobi across the lands sacrificed their lives to fulfill the greedy lord’s wishes. Villages would soon be pillaged, children and women would perish from famine, and demonic creatures would rise from the darkest parts of the world to roam the earth. This would later be known as the Warring States Era. 

Twenty years later, all the infighting, battles, and wars would just...cease to exist. No one knows what caused the wars to stop; many believe that an inner deal was made between Daimyo across the land, while others believe something much more sinister is at play. Regardless, the ninja world seems to have finally settled into peace and harmony.

It has been some years since the Warring States Era ended. Villages across the land have been ushered into peace, and the village of Kirigakure is one of them. 

Having just graduated from Ninja Academy, you're now a Genin placed into your forever squad. Focused on growing stronger and building a name for yourself. You set your sights on becoming the strongest nin in your village, and who knows? Maybe you'll even become Mizukage someday. Before that happens, you'll need to pass the Chunin exam, a test that is said to have painted the very soil underneath your feet red.

Exam preparations are put on hold when rumors of war begin spilling across the peninsula. 

Tonari Yuma, a missing-nin from your village once accused of kidnapping and killing five children from all across the Land of Water, has resurfaced as a chieftain in the small village of Kirostache. 

Proclaiming himself to be the rightful Mizukage of the Land of Water. He wages war against Kirigakure and denounces your village as a town full of traitors united in dethroning the Daimyo by the usage of dark means. Your father calls it foolish. There is no way that the Water Daimyo would believe such a basis. 

Or so he hopes.

A conspiracy is brewing in the Land of Water, and you will soon learn that life is not as idealistic as you believed.

Fully customize your character!

I MEAN IT; fully customize them! Choose your 

Hairstyle and type

Hair color is locked to red, but you have the option to pick different shades of red, 

Skin color, 

How you appear to others, 

Eye color, 

Ninja outfit + civilian outfit

Name + Nickname

Gender, 

Genital choice + Body Shape will come in Part 2

Pronouns

Height

Weapon (you can’t use your chakra ALL the time)

Birth Season

Backgrounds are locked based on your chosen clan

More to come soon...

Choose one of three clans to be your paternal lineage

Tsuchigumo: Become Spidewo-(man)! or not. 

Yuki: Possess the Ice Release Kekkai Genkai

Shirogane: Puppet Masters who originate from the land of Wind

Become a master of either Taijutsu, Genjutsu, or Ninjutsu

Or master a combination of all three!

Romance 8 ROs

Three are available for Part 1

Four ROs will be introduced in Part II. The last is a secret RO

Pass the chunin exam!

Failing means your death, so make sure you are ready when you take it.

Complete a bunch of D-rank and C-rank missions; you're only a genin, after all.

Learn forbidden jutsu or stick to a path of purity (aka, do nothing fun!)

Meet some fan favorites as they were when they were alive!

Determine your fighting style: are you more brutal, or do you have finesse?

Or maybe you don't want to fight at all!

Become a Jinchuurki? It could happen 

Choose to become a medic-nin if it suits your fancy!

Izuna Uchiha (M): The Rival A boy shrouded in mystery, he is a constant reminder of your first C-rank mission and what went so terribly wrong. You’ve tried your hardest to make peace with him. But it feels impossible. He's a stranger in your tight-knit village and has found himself to be treated like an outsider. You would feel bad for him; if he weren’t so smug. Replacing one of your squadmates, he has shown an aptitude for warfare and finesse that makes you weary. How can a child who has grown up in a world of peace be so ruthless? Get to know him and you’ll unfortunately find out. 

 Izuna possesses an aptitude for Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu, making himself a triforce. And it makes no sense to you, considering that you hardly see the boy practice! It will be interesting to see how he grows. If he makes it.

Chihiro Inoue (F): The Dreamer

One of your squadmates, she is a loud and outspoken girl with large dreams and big ambitions. Working to become the first female Mizukage, Chihiro often displays headstrongness and an overzealousness that can often get her into trouble. Luckily for her, fortune always seems to work in her favor.

Chihiro possess an extremely high aptitude for Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, calling herself a self-proclaimed weapons master. She gives as good as she gets, and has no problem getting a little dirty.

Tanui Hozuki (M or F): The Jokester

A jokester, they seem to have no desire to become a ninja; but with all that chakra they possess, they are given no choice. Apart of Squad Six, it makes no sense why you seem to run into them all the time, but you find their presence comforting.

You know nothing about their fighting style; only hearing whispers of the ‘wicked’ things that they have summoned from the adults in your village. 

Shinichi Hoshigaki (M): The Lost One/Secret RO

The second member of your original squad. Shinichi is the complete opposite of what you would expect from the Hoshigaki clan. Known for being fierce and aggressive, Shinichi is the exact opposite of the savage reputation that precedes them. Soft and friendly, Shinichi is a gentle soul and abhors the act of violence. But when push comes to shove, he will protect himself and his friends with the vengeance of Asura. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to save him. Or was it?

Shinichi possesses a high aptitude for the sword. Almost on par, if not matching Chihiro in strength and brutality. He favors the Water Release Jutsu; typical for someone coming from his clan. 

Akane Uzumaki: your mother is revered as the five-tailed beast's holy priestess/vessel. Once labeled as one of the strongest Kunoichi in your village, she has settled into domestic life and has left behind a life of adventure. She seems content; however, you catch the sorrowful expression on her face whenever she looks at you.

[[Chooseable Name]]: Your father is a distant cousin of the Water Daimyo, considered a war hero for his actions in a rebellion that lasted almost ten years. He has been given the highest spot in the village as "supporting Kage," only second to the Mizukage himself. 

Hanabi Sugawara: Your sensei; is not what you had expected in a teacher. Seeming to coddle your small team of three more than teaching you. You feel that she is hiding something, something that could put everyone in danger.

DEMO (Coming soon) || RO Appearances || Discord (Maybe)

[call-me-copycat]

Hiii Copycat! ^-^ I was hoping I could make a request? I was hoping for angst to fluff? With Aizawa who takes in/adopts a vigilante reader with an illusion quirk? And maybe she starts to develop a crush on Shinso too?? Thank you!! <3

Hello there! First of all, I saw your ask as soon as you sent it, but the reason I didn't respond was because my phone was (and still is) broken, but it's getting repaired, so I can respond now. Also I only have a phone, no computer or anything, so it's a bit hard, but I'm working on it! (o´Д`)=з

I'm very sorry for the wait, and I apologize again because there will still be more waiting until I finish the story, but I promise you it'll be worth the wait! I'm already nearing 14k words, and it's still going. I can't thank you enough for your patience, along with the fact that you're the first one to ever give me a request, so thank you very much! And feel free to request whenever you'd like, I really enjoy getting to write stories for people, and it makes my day, so you don't need to hesitate! (*´∇｀*)

Anyways, since I'm still working on the story, I originally wanted to post it all once it was done, but then I decided that since it might take awhile I'll post the first part and see what you think. I actually really like this idea because I was thinking something very similar to it around the time of your request. I hope you enjoy this bit, and please remember, I haven't forgotten, I'm just trying to work with a broken phone so it's a bit difficult, but it's advancing greatly and shouldn't be too long of a wait anymore. Thank you for your patience! ୧꒰*´꒳`*꒱૭✧

Escaping The Night (Part 1)

Welcome! - Introduction and Request rules (Important if you want me to write for you or if you want to know who I am)

▶ Characters: Shinso x Fem reader (although I used "they" in some areas) + Father/Mentor Aizawa

▶ Genre: Angst to Fluff

▶ Summary: Teenager Reader is a Vigilante that roams the streets with their friends, always on the lookout for crime and injustice. However, something disrupts Reader's world when they get themselves captured by the police. What will happen to them next?

▶ Warnings:

- Panic attack

- Reader got hit with a tranquilizer

- And an extra warning because I had to make a few characters just for this story (not necessarily OC's, just background characters. I know some people greatly dislike this so this is a warning, even though they're not that important).

- Also since this is part 1, you won't see Aizawa mainly until part 2, and Shinso is a bit further ahead. Another warning for those that don't like to get into a story and then have to wait

▶ Word Count: 3,201

➤ {This is Part 1}

➜ [Part 2]

➜ [Part 3]

➜ [Part 4]

➜ [Part 5]

➜ [Part 6]

➜ [Part 7]

➜ [Part 8] Coming Soon!

Tik...

Tik....

Tik...

The hands of your watch sounded endlessly as if it was mocking you, in a way, how it had infinite time while yours was limited.

You gritted your teeth and focused the best you could on the situation at hand. You and your partner were situated atop one of the city's numerous buildings, keeping an eye out for a particular sly little villain.

There were repeated reports of a variety of break-ins, ranging from small restaurants to higher bank robberies. At first, the people waited for the heroes to find this villain. But it seemed that they always had bigger fish to fry, always having excuses.

"The paperwork!"

"There's bigger issues at hand then some late night thief"

"We looked but didn't find anyone, sorry"

"Have you tried getting a better security system? I think that's the problem here"

It drove you mad. You didn't hate all heroes, not wanting to be like those anti-hero people who got upset everytime a hero wasn't there immediately whenever they ran into the smallest issue. But you did have a grudge.

You just didn't understand how the very heros that society put on a pedestal didn't do the simplest things that were expected of them sometimes. Too busy getting caught up in the paperwork and red tape.

Being a Hero once was something that was only ever dreamed of, something that one couldn't ever get close to. When quirks were introduced, this changed many mindsets, and completely flipped the many laws of reality that so many had believed. It was groundbreaking, revolutionary. Society advanced at faster speeds, and new technologies were pouring out.

But, unfortunately, what goes up, must come down.

On the beginning, the definition and laws of a hero were choppy, they didn't really have any boundaries due to the fact that no one had anything to go off of. But, as time progressed, more laws were put into place. A hero simply couldn't go and fight a villain and be done with. Now, they had to fill out reports, and sometimes the villains successfully won court cases over this.

The foundation of what it meant to be a hero was put into place. Or had it? It was still a very controversial topic, but the main idea was set, and that's all that mattered.

Now in current days, heroes still look like the same cape-wearing muscular doer's of justice, but many times, they're either doing it for the gold or the glory. Or they don't do anything at all, restricted and bound by paperwork and invisible strings. They know what's right, and they have the gift to help and save. But if they're told "no" then they follow.

That's why you preferred being a vigilante. You got to battle villains and help people, all the while avoiding the specificities. Yeah, you did have to run from the cops every now and then, sometimes a hero or two, but that just made it all the more interesting.

Plus, you got to be a part of a sort of underground society, one that was shielded from public eye and hidden away in the depths of existence.

So, here you were doing the heroes' jobs, again.

You looked to your partner, who was watching the entrance of a significant jewelry shop that hadn't been touched by any villains yet. You were currently using your illusion quirk to cover both of yourselves in a sheet of invisibility so you could better the possibility of your expected outcome.

Your quirk was powerful, and full of possibility. Though you were never fully nor formally trained, you still understood the limits of your quirk enough to use it exceptionally well. Long, intense training sessions over a span of time allowed you to gain a deeper insight into the inner depths of your quirk, to which you've come to the realization wasn't just any ordinary quirk, even going as far to call it overpowered at some points.

Your thinking was cut short when your partner signaled to you with a silent fist up from where you two were laying. You looked down and finally spotted the villain you were looking for. He didn't look too strong, nor did his face ring any bells, so that meant he was just some lowly villain who lucked out with a shifty quirk.

From the rooftop where you laid, you and your partner watched together to see what the man was going to do next. You noticed he looked like any other person walking around the town, short black hair with a black hoodie on over a pair of black jeans, and you realized that it was surely no accident he was dressed so camouflaged since it was late in the night.

Your eyes followed the man, curious as to how he was able to get in and out of robberies so quickly. The man walked up to the back door of the bank, and your eyes widened when you saw his body begin to shift and distort, slowly closing in until he was perfectly 2-dimensional, and looking at him made you think about all the cartoon characters that you watched when you were younger.

Upon this discovery, the plan was set in motion as you and your partner both hopped down the fire escape of the building and went in for a silent chase across the street, as the man had already slinked underneath the door. He had unlocked it for an easy exit, you thought possibly because he couldn't turn other objects flat like him.

Your partner, Omonifukai Hanawadashii (whom you called Fukai for short) whispered for you both to split up so this villain would think that it was only him, since you were better at stealth rather then combat like he was.

Fukai's quirk was one that seemed simple, but had proven to be incredibly strong when used right. He was able to control the density of different objects, including people or even specific parts of people. His specialty was increasing the density of his hand to the point to where it was easily able to crush anything under it, to which he normally used to knock villains out. A positive side of his quirk was he could still lift anything he used it on, but his drawbacks caused him to feel more pain than normal if hit or attacked.

Your agreed, and uncovered him from the blanket of your quirk, revealing him to reality just as he had once been before you put it on him.

Fukai ran in the direction of the villain as you ran in the opposite direction, going for a higher point so you could see the action and use your quirk properly.

Unfortunately the building wasn't as tall as it was wide, so you had to stick with crouching behind one of the jewelry counters, trying to stick as close to the wall as possible in order to remain unseen.

As luck would have it the villain seemed to have been thinking in a similar manner, as you watched Fukai chase after him as he slithered across the wall, a cheeky grin resting on his face as Fukai grew frustrated at his devious tricks of escape. The alarm started to blare as Fukai tripped one of the wires, cursing low to himself as the villain chuckled at the misfortune.

You studied the villain, watching as he glided across the walls and the floor at times, and you realized that he was able to move at an increased pace when aligned to a flat surface, in contrast to standing straight up as he did earlier. You came to the conclusion that he was a villain of cowardice, preferring to get in and out without a fight, and opting to use sly skills instead of risking a fight with a person of stronger status.

With this new information secured into place by your observations, you devised a plan in order to catch the villain and leave him be for the police.

You used your quirk and dug into his subconscious, a grin of your own growing on your face as you located your target, an almost cruel idea forming in your head at the expense of the villain. You had found his fear.

The villain dodged each of Fukai's attempts at landing a blow to him with such an ease it seemed as if he had all the time in the world. He was cocky in his own skills, having had been in worse scenarios and still escaped.

The villain looked directly at Fukai from where he was seated on one of the walls, almost laughing at the sight of some random teenage boy thinking he could play hero and catch the big bad villain.

Fukai noticed you signal to him with your hand up, closing and opening from the corner of his eye and understood that you were going to set off your quirk. Without this context, most people wouldn't understand that some of your illusions work directly in your opponents mind, meaning that your opponents would react to something surrounding people couldn't see. Fukai understood, and he backed off a bit in order to not disrupt the illusion.

The villain was about to mock Fukai a bit more before departing, but his smirk quickly fell at he noticed a large, hulking figure appear behind the kid.

His eyes widened and breathing became still as he made eye contact with the one and only symbol of peace, All Might himself.

Shocked to the point of motion becoming forgotten, the villain's thoughts suddenly started bouncing all around, before erratically trying to think of different plans, anything he could do to get away. He ran into a dead end with every single trick up his sleeve as he recalled seeing the massive hero defeat some of these biggest, baddest villains known to Japan into a pile of defeat. No, there was no solution to this problem.

Just as you both were about to take out the villain in his moment of vulnerability, everyone in the room jumped as a man wearing all black with a large scarf resting around his shoulders dropped from one of the pipes near the roof of the building. His absolute silence despite his sudden movements made you wonder how long he was there for.

Your illusion was ruined as the intruding man walked through it, unable to see it. The villain's frustration grew as he realized that he had been duped, but before he could do anything the man's scarf that had once been still suddenly jumped to life as it floated all around the dark-haired man's head for a second, before violently snapping around the villain, and your eyes grew as you saw the man's hair rise in the air in a very similar manner. Surreal. Before you knew it the villain was back to normal, and you quickly realized that this man was most likely a hero of sorts.

You saw Fukai looking over at you as he shuffled to the walls while the man was busy, but narrowly avoided being caught in the man's scarf as it aimed to close around him just as it has done to the villain moments ago.

You signaled for him to run, and he hesitated for a second, worry filling his eyes, but ultimately decided to listen and trust you as the scarf slithered around his ankle, to which he just barely managed to shake off.

You heard the man in the scarf curse as he watched your friend go, not wanting to risk letting the villain go in trade.

You toiled a bit, trying to tackle the problem that presented itself to you without introduction. A hero showing up so early wasn't part of the plan, nor was it expected considering most of the heroes' patrol routes were situated a slight distance away.

So, you wondered, who was this guy?

Your thinking was interrupted by the interrupter himself.

"I know you're there. Don't try to fool me into believing you're not."

You gasped a bit, not considering how he was able to know you were there when you were under your quirk. That is, until you held up your hand and realized that it was visible again, and right behind it was the man in the scarf, hair afloat and glowing red eyes situated directly on you.

He had the villain unconscious on the ground, tied in that scarf of his, which he held two parts of in his hands in order to keep it secure. But there was plenty of the scarf to go around. You realized this as you came face to face with the snake-like entrails of the scarf flickering and snapping at you, seeking to seize and bind you along the villain.

You were lucky your face was covered, because this man didn't seem to be as ignorant as some of the other heroes (especially sidekicks). You didn't speak as you dodged and ran, not wanting to reveal who you might be.

To your devastation, as soon as you opened the back doors from where you came you were met with police offers running in your direction from the front of the building. Panic built up in your chest as you didn't have much energy from continuously covering yourself in your quirk, along with having it disrupted twice.

You still pushed yourself to at least run, deciding that you could easily lose them in the plentiful twists and turns that filled the little seaside town.

You understood that if you ran in the direction of your place that you and your things were were currently at, then you would most likely give it away to the police and you'd have to deal with them being on your back as you looked for a new place to stay. But you didn't want to outright run in the opposite direction in case they thought of your plan, so you settled on running in a sort of zig zag, not wanting them to be able to predict your path of travel.

You turned randomly at each turn you ran into, landing in alleyways, on top of dumpsters, underneath large trees heavy with leaves, and eventually up and over fences of backyards as you found yourself in some sort of comfortable little neighborhood nestled in the small town.

Your panic shrunk a bit as you realized that you had thrown off most of the police officers that were chasing you, having been diminished to a small few stragglers that refused to let up.

Sweat poured down your face and blotted your underarms and neck, making you grimace in discomfort as you also had to deal with the sharp pangs that made their way up your legs and back.

You awkwardly sprinted as a little dog chased you across a small yard, and hopped another fence, looking to find somewhere to turn or hide, just anything to get them off your back.

You used your quirk with scarcity as you looked over your back to the best of your ability and hit 3 of the remaining 5 officers with an illusion of yourself tripping over the fence to which they turned to. The other two tried yelling at them that it was a trick, but decided their attempts would be pointless as they kept up the chase, not faltering.

You frowned, squinting as you felt an impending migraine starting to make its way into your head. You knew that you were overexerting yourself, and that the migraine would only serve as a distraction if it grew, but you were so very close, you didn't have any choice but to keep going.

You hopped the next fence without as much strength as you originally did, knowing that it only drained your energy faster having to constantly boost yourself up and down rather than running and turning. You wouldn't be able to keep it up for long.

You remembered that there was a cluster of empty houses that weren't sold yet somewhere nearby, so you ran in turn, changing your course of action by jumping out into the street from one of the backyards you were in, missing the pair of curious violet eyes watching you from a window in one of the houses.

You ran down the street into a more disheveled neighborhood that connected to the newer one you were just in, looking over to see only one officer remained. You didn't remember when the other one disappeared, but you excused it because you couldn't constantly look over your back when running.

You sharply turned a corner to get out of the sight of the remaining officer, heading to the end of the neighborhood where the empty houses were before throwing yourself through the open window of the first one you saw without thought, you just needed a place of hiding.

You breathed a heavy sigh as you propped yourself down for a second, having been through way too much action than you signed up for. You knew the police would probably think you ran out back towards the desolate fields that laid behind the houses.

To them, the houses were legally listed as private property*, so they wouldn't think about you bursting into someone's home without warning. You knew they were empty though from your days of scavenging for goods to survive, in fact you learned a lot about your surroundings because of that, and that's how you were able to evade the police for such a long time.

You held your breath as you heard him pass by, but once again fate seemed to be voting for your downfall, as you heard crunching of footsteps walk around the house instead of right past, and you started to grasp at what they were doing.

As soon as the backdoor flew open was the exact moment you recognized just where you were, and what house you had chosen.

You started to hyperventilate, air whooshing in and out of your lungs as the room around you started to spin.

Home...

You were home...

But this wasn't home...

It was a house once filled with horrors, pain and agony, which now reeked of death. A familiar smell you knew all too well.

Your legs moved indistinctly, as though they had minds of their own and yet still understood your internal logic.

Heart racing, eyes watering, you refused to let yourself get caught, especially in the very place you gained your new life after the death of your old one.

Mind numb, and filled with only thoughts of 'escape', you ran to the doors, but remembered they were glued shut, along with the windows. You had done that once so very long ago.

The remaining open window was shut and blocked by the police officer that was chasing you earlier, who was now the one cornering you right by it. You could see a look of compassion and understanding in his eyes, but you saw it as a look of pity instead in your moment of frustration.

You could hear not one, not two, but three voices surrounding you, and anyone that was surrounding you blurred into one giant mass as your fear started to overwhelm you, overtaking your very mind and filling every crevice it could find.

In a moment of desperation you tried using your quirk, trying to create the worst, cruelest entity that you could create, but nothing came out instead.

Your eyes started to warm as you felt tears of frustration and fear building up, but you didn't cry, you refused to. Your emotions started to slow down as you saw one of the police officer aiming what looked like a gun at you, finger on trigger. At that moment you gained slight control of your thoughts, your mind painfully screaming at you to get out of there, to protect your pride and dignity.

In your panicked state you turned and tried slamming the window to escape, but all you attempts were futile as it wasn't going to budge. You heard the trigger being pulled and braced yourself, but all you felt was a little stab on your arm. You looked down and realized that it was a tranquilizer dart that had lodged itself into your upper arm.

Your mind started to fill with fog and the edges of your vision started to slowly fill in as you banged your hand on the window in one last attempt of escape.

And then your world went dark.

A/N:

Alright, so that was part 1! I do hope that it was good enough for you, I'm trying to learn from past mistakes when writing, and I feel as though I'm in improving little by little everyday.

Don't worry, if writing the story takes too long then I'll post the parts one by one instead of waiting until it's all finished. This is my first time writing something so long, but I enjoy it!ദി ᷇ᵕ ᷆ )♡

Any feedback or constructive criticism is completely allowed, and if you see any mistakes then please notify me so I can fix them.

If you wish to send in a request as well, once again, please don't hesitate!

I'll be working on this as much as I can, but my progress is slowed until my phone gets completely fixed (which it will soon-hopefully anyways). I appreciate your patience! (๑´ㅂ`๑)

For the first *, that basically means that I have a note about whatever is near it. The note for that was I have absolutely no clue how buying or selling houses and property works, I just made that up on the spot. I know there's a 99% chance it's wrong, so just please go with it, I'm sorry for any annoyance.

This story is ok for reposts or other uses such as those YouTube channels that read out fanfics and things like that. My only ask is that you tell me beforehand for everything but the reposts. I just like to see other people interact with things I make, it makes me happy (⁠^⁠^⁠).

Thank you so much for reading this complete mess, I know I wrote a lot of things that aren't the story, and once again I'm sorry about that.

I hope you have a lovely day!

ヾ(>᎑<`๑)ﾖｼﾖｼｨ

年2022/月12/日01

[somecallmejohn]

would you prefer a wish 2 or a wish series?

Honestly, I’d love a Wish series that focuses on Asha helping the people of Rosas make their wishes come true. Like… just a simple episodic show where Asha has to figure out how to help with an overly complicated and specific wish or she grants a wish and it goes wrong or sumn and she and the teens have to solve the issue somehow. A pretty basic show about the wacky adventures of Rosa’s very own fairy godmother.

Idk if anyone remembers or has even seen it, but there was this show on Disney XD called 7D, that focused on the 7 dwarves before or after the Snow White story (it’s never clarified when I think) and each episode was about the 7D helping the Queen with some wacky situation she’s in, usually because of the show’s villainous couple (a witch and a wizard whose names I don’t remember cuz it’s been like 5+ years since I last watched it). So my ideal Wish series would be pretty much like 7D, but maybe with a little more.

Other stuff I’d add would be more focus on the Seven teens, like maybe each one could have one or two episodes focused on them, definitely some world building, some more info on Asha’s backstory(Rosas is relatively new so maybe she and her family moved there when her father first got sick in hopes of the sickness getting cured at the kingdom where wishes come true), some Amaya lore as well, I’d also personally add a romance subplot focused on Asha and Simon and maybe a subplot on Simon making his wish, becoming a noble knight, come true the right way and maybe him dealing with the guilt and trauma that he might have from betraying his friends and also being possessed/brainwashed, but honestly that’s just me being biased.

Despite the show being episodic for the most part, I wouldn’t mind if it evolved the characters more and even had like a continuous storyline in the background about Magnifico trying to escape the mirror which could either end up in his complete demise or even redemption, maybe they could flesh him out more and show more of his backstory. In the novelization it’s implied that he’s bitter towards Star because it showed up for Asha when she needed it about Saba’s wish, but not for him probably when he lost his family, I think it’d be interesting if they explored that too.

For the animation style I would have liked either something similar to the classic 2D Disney style or something like the Tangled the Series style(although not as stylized). Actually I would want this style for the show (Art by Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay)

And if they are to keep the movie’s musical aspect they better ditch whoever did the movie’s soundtrack(even if I liked it) and bring those who worked on the Tangled the Series soundtrack.

[bodyalive]

Sarah Neville: Stepping into Rita Charon’s studio, in a Jazz Age-era building in Greenwich Village, I get a quick impression of a white-walled space bathed in the sunshine from two large windows that offer a sweeping view over the Lower Manhattan skyline. Everything in the room seems considered, from the Bach playing in the background to the paintings on the walls. One of them, “The Doctor”, is an idealised Victorian depiction of a devoted medic ministering to a child while anxious parents look on. It used to hang in Charon’s father’s office.

My meeting with Charon, founder of the “narrative medicine” movement that trains health professionals to use the power of storytelling in their work, is one I’ve been contemplating for 20 years. How, I’ve wondered, can such a humane approach fit into the time- and cash-constrained world of 21st-century healthcare? And who is this woman who, sometimes unsung, has done so much to change the way we think about the doctor-patient relationship?

Then, just as we sit down, I realise I’m setting out to tell the story of a practised assimilator of other people’s stories. At the core of her work, she says, is “what happens in the actual [moment of] two humans sitting, contacting one another with language, with the embodied self”. So we begin. Charon graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1978 and began practising general medicine. In the late 1980s, she started doctoral studies at Columbia University, focusing on Henry James and the role of literature in medicine. The work of the second half of her life has been to bring these two superficially oppositional realms together. She believes the emotional and imaginative insights contained in literature, art and music can transform the way healthcare workers treat patients and each other. Around 1990, she began teaching narrative medicine at Columbia and in 2009 launched a masters degree in the subject, the first of its kind. Since then, her approach has been deployed by healthcare practitioners across the US and abroad, from Greece to China. Formal evaluations have shown it improves participants’ capacity for reflection, in one study even reducing racial bias.

Charon tells me that for decades doctors were taught to conform to a model of ‘detached concern’ Her father, a doctor in Providence, Rhode Island, was an important influence. At one point, she goes to a filing cabinet containing all his medical records, which she acquired after he died. This part of his life had always been shut off to her; the close community in which they lived meant confidentiality was especially vital. But it turned out that his files combined the usual medical notations with far more personal references. It seemed to reflect a recognition that ailments could not be divorced from the wider context of their sufferers’ lives. Inspired, Charon began making more fulsome and impressionistic notes about her own patients.

The practised narratologist, she says, can pick up a lot in a short period, even at a time when there is pressure on doctors to keep appointments as brief as possible. “As you develop your skills of attention, you will notice things about your patients. You will be listening at a much higher pitch.” As doctors, the human body is, she says, “our material . . . I’m sitting here looking at you, noticing how you sit in the chair.” Emboldened, I ask what else she has picked up about me. She has spotted that my purple outer coat tones with the pink lining of my jacket: “You have taste because you’re not just helter-skelter putting the aqua with the olive green.” She has noticed my eyes: “Mostly the expression is filled with curiosity.” My sense of her, which deepens over the next three-and-a-half hours, is of a woman with a vast well of compassion, lit by a righteous fury about the inequities of US healthcare. “In Yiddish, we call it the Shanda, which is ‘the shame’. The shame of the system,” she says. “More and more clinicians . . . feel they’re being used by their employers. They know they’re doing shoddy work . . . They get tired of saying, ‘I’m sorry, I can only listen to one complaint per session. Bring that up the next time.’”

Truly listening to patients can be transformative, she says. “Patients on the whole really know what they need.” She recalls a young woman with poorly managed diabetes who arrived in her consulting room angry and frustrated. “I did my routine, which is get away from the computer, put my hands in my lap. Don’t write. Just say, ‘I’m going to be your doctor. Tell me what you think I should know.’” The woman looked as if she was going to cry but pulled herself together and glared. “You really want to know what I need? I need a new set of teeth.”

It was only then Charon noticed she’d had her hand covering her mouth as she talked. She had no upper teeth. Instead of fussing with the woman’s insulin levels, Charon arranged for her to be seen in the university’s dental clinic. “She shows up in a couple of months, and she is dazzling. She started a [catering] business in her house. Her [blood] sugars were better than they had been in a while. And she was much more active — she’s going to parties, she’s dancing! It was such a lesson to me. Why on earth would you start anywhere else but ‘Tell me where we should start’?”

I’m intrigued by the extent to which this approach requires an inversion of the traditional power relationship between doctor and patient. She tells me that for decades doctors were taught to conform to a model of “detached concern”. In fact, “engaged concern is going to get you farther than detached concern. Detachment looks an awful lot like coldness.” Instead, Charon believes in making space for the imagination. “The more you exert your own creativity, the better your medicine will be. It’s making leaps . . . I don’t like the word intuition because it sounds like magic. But the ability to see the known from the unknown — that’s what poetry does.”

In the early 2000s, Charon tried something new. After finishing a consultation and making notes like any doctor would, “I would turn the keyboard and the monitor around and say, ‘I know what I saw. But please finish the note.’ I would leave them alone for five minutes, and they wrote the damnedest things!” A college professor wrote “that she knew that she was a good teacher and that this really gave her pride.” The sentiment astonished Charon because it had not surfaced during their conversations, which had been dominated by the woman’s health woes and difficult relationship with her daughter. An idea occurs. As I am drawing our conversation to a close, I ask her to finish this interview. Is there anything else I should know? She confides that after she quit her practice in 2015 to concentrate on running her programme at Columbia, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief that she could hand over responsibility for her patients. (“Somebody else is going to worry about Lucy.”)

It was several weeks before she identified the gap that had opened up in her life: “I was terribly missing the chance to do random acts of kindness.” As a physician, the scope for moments of generosity is “drastic”, she says, whether ringing a patient’s sister to update her, helping put someone’s socks on after an examination or rubbing the feet of a terminally ill patient. There is something heartbreaking about the disproportionate gratitude these interventions elicit, she says. “I think their expectations for us are so low.”

Narrative medicine can, she suggests, endow clinicians with the ability to see an issue from multiple perspectives, a power she likens to “the compound eye of the fly”. It can help them to understand and value those they care for in all their uniqueness and complexity. “We ought to treat every patient as the deepest mystery,” she says.

Sarah Neville is the FT’s global health editor

[reneesbooks]

Damn I really feel you on that one Stephanie Meyer book with the parasitic aliens, like that premise was so interesting, why did she have to focus on the stupid love triangle?!

ok here’s the thing. i could fix her

edit: i'm putting this post under a cut bc it got SO LONG lmao. read at your own risk it's messy and obsessive and a bit unhinged

the movie got so close in some ways and fucking missed in so many others. on the one hand, ian in the movie was imo a lot more likeable than he was in the book. I’m attributing this to less dialogue written directly by stephanie meyer and the actor's face. on the other hand. jared was awful. movie did not fix him even a bit. only thing they fixed was the age gap but not even that was explicitly addressed in the movie. it was just assumed bc the actors looked similarly aged

I should mention at this point that I haven’t actually read the book in a few years but I read it so many times at age 13-14 that it was an intensely formative experience despite being a generally terrible book. I could still probably quote entire passages from memory. I’ve seen the movie definitely more than 50 times, including in theaters w my mom the week it came out. I watched it last week just for something to play in the background while I crocheted. I can and will 1000% quote along with the movie. fucking brain parasite book got me I guess

the book delves so deeply into the genuinely fascinating world building that tbh has influenced me to this day in terms of depth and creativity. that’s where the movie set itself up to fail bc the ONLY redeeming quality of the book was the world building. its perfect for a tv show so that there is time to explore what it’s like for Melanie to live among the souls instead of focusing exclusively on wanderers time among the humans.

ok the love triangle. here's the thing. it didn't have to be Like That. BUT. i remember my edition when i was younger (that has since disappeared but i have a new one on the way bc i miss my stupid parasite book) had a bonus chapter or smth from melanie's perspective after she wakes up without wanderer in her head for the first time and runs into ian and they both have this moment where they reach for each other and there is that moment of horror on ian's part when he realizes that she is not wanda and melanie being so used to wanda reaching for him that she doesn't realize that her body is doing it automatically. and it was just so interesting to think about how that duality affected them and i think the movie kind of tried to do that with the conversation that ian and wanda have on the cliffs but it just didn't make it happen in the right way. so like. having the love stories there are important for why wanda is even willing to learn to be human but the focus on them in the movie and its general failure to properly execute the most interesting parts of them are what kneecapped it imo.

anyway getting back to why despite that the love triangle is literally the least interesting part of this book. starting with the thing that drives me the most up the wall. the fact that the movie didn't include walt at all and glossed over wes's death makes me chew drywall bc that plotline made me SOB. wanda's time sitting at walt's bedside and comforting him through his illness is one of the things that really teaches her about the gentleness of humanity despite their perceived cruelty, and what makes much of the humans actually start to trust her. they see how she treats walt and realize that she has a huge heart and capacity for kindness. so when jared gets mad bc the seeker looking for her has caused problems, and she has the whole compound backing her up anyway, it actually has some weight to it. the movie flattened wanda and her relationships to the others so much it's so disappointing!! she feels grief in a way that's different from how she's ever experienced it before, despite knowing and understanding grief from her previous lives. she is devastated and forever changed by walt's death, and similarly by wes's. i don't remember exactly if he had a partner in the book but i think he did so wanda also had that experience of seeing his death devastate someone else so completely (and for her to be able to connect that to how jared feels about her being in melanie's body). so when she asks doc to let her die at the end, it's go so much more significance because she specifically asks to be buried WITH walt and wes!! she finds peace with death and understands it and wants to be with the people who taught her about grief and love and that just. i'm so unhinged about it. and it wasn't in the movie. chewing drywall.

this isn't like. a big thing. but it's forever a little disappointing to me that it wasn't in the movie either. bc the movie went a more "ethereal being made of light" direction for what the souls' actual bodies look like instead of the book's "segmented body with thin tendrils that attach to the brain of the host" description. this matters to me for a sad reason and a funny one. the sad reason is because when wanda sees the souls that the humans tried to cut out, she notes based on the vestigial feelers of one of the dead souls that it was a baby. horrible and sad detail that makes that scene 100 times worse. the funny reason is because since the humans know what the souls look like for the above sad reason, they refer to them as worms. which essentially leads to them calling ian a worm fucker and that's hilarious on a lot of levels the least of which being that it's true. like while melanie and jared and jamie go looking for a new body for wanda he literally doesn't care what it looks like and just sits holding her containment tank the entire time. worm fucker and proud of it good for him

i could write a whole other essay on the worldbuilding but i don't have my copy yet (and all the library copies are checked out who ARE y'all who else has read this book???) and i can't remember enough of it to really get into it. but wanderer's job was to be a teacher because she'd been to almost all the different planets (hence her name) so there were some glimpses of the fascinating universe of this world. the stories that she tells about the other planets?? unparalleled. wanderer tells this story about an ethical dilemma (among parasitic aliens lmao) because their host species on one planet burns another alive for its food source BUT they had recently discovered that the food source species was also sapient and intelligent so they were trying to figure out a way to handle the situation. that entire thing could be more interesting than the love triangle but instead it was like. a maximum of two pages about that planet and a one-off appearance from another soul that used to live there at the very end of the book. wanda tells the people at the compound about the underwater planet, and the one with the giant blind flying creatures that they call the Bats, and she mourns using the ritual from that species after the whole seeing the corpses incident. all of this gone completely to waste and for what!! for what stephanie!!!

another funny thing that i think might be better left in the book--when they take the seeker out in the book the human that was in there in the first place is so nasty and awful that everyone is lowkey mad at wanda for not just letting them kill her. top tier comedy ngl

ugh i also remember a scene where wanda is going on the long supply trips and sees a couple of souls with a human child who isn't occupied and is like. huh. that could be really indicative of a beautiful direction for humanity to go. could souls and humans live in peace in a real way? and then it's never really addressed again bc sexy feelings about two men oohhhh

so. is she fixable?

yes. i could fix her. a tv adaptation is what she needs. bc then there's actually time to delve into the thoughts and feelings of melanie and wanderer (and you could do that really well if you made a visualization of their shared mindspace--the book talks about how they put up walls against each other, and how they can block each other out or grab at control) as well as the worldbuilding and ethical questions. i have a whole three-season plan for fixing her so buckle up.

season one starts with wanderer waking up in melanie's body and the first half explores their time as a uni professor and the seeker's insistence on trying to find the human resistance through melanie's memories. this is where we really get a chance to see wanda's perspective--not because she's right, but because it's interesting. she is a huge pacifist and is horrified by violence, whereas melanie is used to using violence to get what she needs and tends to jump directly to it as a solution. so before they run off to the desert, when the seeker is still constantly checking up on her, as wanda gets more annoyed, melanie keeps suggesting that they kill her, and wanda has a harder and harder time holding her back. finally at the midpoint, wanda snaps and attacks the seeker, not because melanie made her do it, but because she's finally reaching that point in her journey towards humanity. and of course everybody blames it on melanie and they have to run because they're going to be separated.

then the second half of the season starts with the wandering through the desert. btw. book jeb my beloved. unhinged grandpa didn't get to be nearly as unhinged in the movie. the second half of the season is wanda acclimating to the human environment. i am of the opinion that romance should not happen until the second season at LEAST. obv melanie is pining for jared and wanda is dealing w that but it's not a romance. she doesn't love jared she's just comforting her dramatic roommate. maybe ian is starting to show interest in wanda but she hasn't noticed yet because she's still getting used to being human. season one ends with walt's death, since that's one of wanda's biggest turning points.

so season two opens with wanda understanding humanity a little better. and now she notices that ian likes her. melanie rightfully puts up a fuss about this (because it's her fucking body, steph meyer why did you almost make a convincing bodily autonomy argument and then fall short you almost had it--) and we can have that drama still while setting it up against the backdrop of wanda's journey to understanding humanity and ultimately becoming human herself. this is the first half of the season, and then there is the turning point--discovering that they've been trying to cut out the souls even as she lives among them. this is her major fracture with ian and is when she realizes that she can actually push melanie out of her head entirely and has to scramble to get her back. season midpoint cliffhanger is melanie being gone. and that finally brings jared around about her when he sees how hard she works to get melanie back and help jamie. so the second half of the season starts with healing jamie and how jared being ok with her changes the dynamic. now she's going out on raids, seeing how humanity and souls can live together, starting to come around to being in love with ian maybe, and generally settling into a comfortable existence. and this is when the seeker comes back into the picture at the end of season two, killing wes and being captured by the humans.

and season three. where it all comes together. the seeker represents the biggest obstacle to humanity and souls living in harmony--she is a mirror and a foil to wanda and melanie, two people too stubborn to let the other take over, unable to coexist. when she's captured by the humans, they want to kill her and her host, forcing wanda to come face-to-face with what she hasn't wanted to admit--she has to tell the humans how to remove a soul from a body. and in doing so she has to admit that she's been selfish and cruel by not telling them before. because by now they've more than proven that they can accept her kind under the right circumstances. so she's able to lay that out with the seeker and the first half of the season shows them starting to do it--to take souls out of humans and send them to different planets. the book does so many interesting things with this, showing how some people come back right away, some come back very slowly, some don't come back at all. there's a lot of material to work with (looking at you jodi and kyle and sunny) but eventually we get to the midpoint which is wanda asking doc to remove her and bury her with wes and walt. and then he does.

so the second half of the third season begins with melanie alone. and for the first time ever we don't hear from wanda at all. because she's in a cryotank and unable to have thoughts. so now we have what didn't get a chance to be really explored by the book--the aftermath of wanda's removal and the ethical debate of violating her wishes to put her in another body as well as the fact that when they do put her in one, it's one of the people who never woke up. it starts to get fuzzy here bc there's less original material to work with (and what is there is...not great the body they find for wanda is a 17 year old and ian is like 27 throwing up) and because there are so many directions to go after the book ends-- they find other human groups like they do in the book that also have a soul like her living among them, they try to work with the soul government to reach an agreement for peace, etc etc etc--and they're all so interesting! but the book ends because the love triangle has been resolved and it just doesn't address any of that. shaking steph by the shoulders and screaming

anyway the point of all of this is that this book and movie have been living rent free in my head for over a decade and i would simply like to make the good version of it that lives in my head real.

tldr i could fix her. steph meyer wya.

[dutchdread]

Hello Dutch! Do you think the loss of mystery and less impact on certain scenes in the narrative was caused by long-term fanservice?

Yes and no. I certainly think it was a factor, but I don't think it was the biggest one. If I had to guess, and since I am not a mind reader a guess is the best I can do, I think the biggest reason is the necessary change of the pacing of the game. In remake the developers made the (in my opinion) mistake of constantly showing Sephiroth, almost from the start of the game even. The decision to do this was based on three main factors I think. 1: "In the OG the first time you see Sephiroth is in Kalm, however, that is only a few hours into the game. If we did the same with the Remake we wouldn't see Sephiroth until game 2 and we can't have an entire FFVII game without Sephiroth." 2: "People already know Sephiroth, so the mystery is gone anyway, so it doesn't make sense to treat his appearance as one when everyone already knows him". 3: "People love Sephiroth so lets give them a bunch of Sephiroth!!!".

I personally think all of these are flawed. For one people are capable of influencing their mind state to resemble someone who is watching something for the first time. It's not exactly the same, but close enough, there is a reason people can watch the same thing over and over again and get similar responses on repeat viewings. When people love a story they are willing to watch things as though it were the first time. They can feel mystery and suspense even though they know the answer. I also think that there is enough happening in FFVII that you can keep the player occupied while playing a long game when it comes to mystery. If anything I think that the extra time to let mystery build could be used to enhance the experience, rather than making it feel drawn out. Especially in remake I think Shinra was MORE than good enough to qualify as the main villain for the story segment, and I think Sephiroth being only "a shadow on the edge of memory" for 90% of the game would make his unseen appearance in shinra HQ all the more terrifying. And ofcourse the reason people love Sephiroth is how effective he is as a villain, and part of that is the mystique. If you give people more Sephiroth you are actually giving them LESS Sephiroth, because Sephiroth isn't just the man, it's the idea, the presentation, and that presentation requires restraint in implementation.

My suspicion is that the mystery surrounding Clouds condition was approached very similarly. They figured they had the new mystery surrounding the "parallel worlds" as an overarching mystery and since people already know whats going on with Cloud that mystery could essentially be spoken about more openly. But this suffers from the same problems I mentioned above. I can totally watch FFVII as though I do not know the mystery, and experiencing said mystery was what I was looking forward to most. To me it's the best part of FFVII, and without it I barely even consider it a remake. And yes, I think fan-service did play a part. One of the things you hear most often when discussing the LTD is the retort that FFVII is not a romance story and that we're too focused on something that FFVII just isn't about, and while I disagree with that assessment, since romance ABSOLUTELY is a massive and crucial element to the story, I do agree that the romance is, for the most part, something that is in the background, it is the underlying backdrop that is required to understand the characters and their actions. But the focus is still on the actions themselves, as well as feelings and events that the romantic backdrop have caused, namely Clouds alter ego and accompanying mental problems. However, in rebirth the romance is NOT the backdrop, it's the focus of a large part of the game. Hell, the main play loop of the game revolves around you getting the party members to like you. And while it is true that this also involves, for instance, Barret and Nanaki, I think it's pretty clear that this entire core aspect of the game was implemented mostly as a way to explore romance in the game and satisfy fan desires. The question is, did that impact the mystery? And yes, I think it did. For one, everything related to Aerith and Zack in chapter 14 is PURE fan-service bait. The entire "can we save Aerith" plotline was fan-service bait from the start. And both these things, on account of both not being well handled, and overshadowing the actual mystery of FFVII, have a negative impact on how well rebirth is able to tell the story of the OG. Not only that, but SE tried to avoid burning bridges by not being clear with their story in regards to Aerith. I've heard people say that SE was wishy washy when it comes to choosing between Tifa and Aerith, they weren't, this game is about as pro-Cloti as it could be, Cloud and Tifa are a thing, if that weren't already obvious it's even more obvious in rebirth. No, the thing SE is being wishy washy about, is between Aerith and Aerith. Between the interpretation of Aerith loving Zack and simply using Cloud as a stand in, or Aerith as having "genuine" feelings. And the problem is that by trying to keep that a mystery they've made themselves incapable of properly examining either idea. There could have been deep meaningful scenes and conversations about how Aerith is still searching for the guy she lost. But they can't be that explicit without alienating fans, so they instead are vague, which results in a whole host of issues. But the most important issue for this question is that this approach creates an unfocused story, one that lacks clear direction. And a story without clear focus and direction will never be able to tell its mysteries in the most engaging and enthralling way. They want to show Zack, they want to discuss Zack, so they can't have Zack be a twist, but they also can't properly discuss Zack since that would be too explicit and so they half-ass it. They want to imply that Aerith is looking for Zack in Cloud, but they don't want to burn bridges, so they also want to hold open the possibility that Aerith actually likes Cloud for Cloud, and by doing all this nonsense you're creating a teenage love drama where you could have had a meaningful story about two people helping each other where the scenes could be directed to maximize the effectiveness of the mystery of Zack, rather than playing into a "I love him, I love him not" soap opera that got boring 27 years ago.

[pentacentric]

Oooh, tell me about "pretty when you cry"....??? 😊

copying some of what i previously answered for the background, since this is from the same series that's already stsrted being published. Things That Can't Be Seen is canon-divergent (but not excessively) AU, wincest, powers/magic-adept sam, heavy on the world-building (there's a bit more backgound and 2 excerpts under the cut)

firstly, i have to say Pretty When You Cry is named after the VAST song not the lana del rey one which i didn't know about at the time (it's also good but a very different vibe). the story's actually about 2/3 done and already ridiculously long. it was also actually originally started to fill a kinkmeme request (ikr) and it got out of control and then i ended up fitting it into the series

it's set during sam's years at stanford. sam's experiences have made him a lot more comfortable with the more extreme side of his sexuality than in the show, and he's lacking a very good idea of what normal is as well. he continues to mourn his relationship with dean throughout, but he meets brady and they become cluelessly reciprocally-pining friends and eventually lovers. they're into kink pretty heavily (sam's subby and masochistic and bratty, brady is brash and has some lovely repressed aggression but is also very empathetic). but also he and brady genuinely love each other. i'll admit this story is somewhat self-indulgent since i discovered i really love sam/brady while writing this. it's like 50% kink, 50% sam/brady banter, 30% world-building, 20% sam being awkward while trying to figure out how to act like a person. it will get around to demon brady and also jess as well

series background: the major world difference is that the hunting community is slightly more structured (though no less dysfunctional or dangerous, maybe more so) and that it includes dedicated magic users within it (though on the fringes and generally with a lot of reticence and, for some, active resistance). the magic and its systems are also somewhat different and much more developed than in the show. as far as the winchester family goes, john never bothers to hide hunting or the paranormal from either of them. sam starts showing signs of powers (and not necessarily demonic) from a young age. there's also a family ritual that involves painting sigils on one's body that is central to the story

excerpts

this is prob more than you wanted, but you get 2 excerpts because i couldn't decide. 1st is some banter between sam and brady because there's a lot of that in the story. the second is one of my favorite parts that shows some of the magic in this world. they're both kinda long, sorry!

excerpt 1:

............

He shrugs. "And, to top it off...I really didn't know if you were into guys, even."

Brady stares at him. "How could you not know??"

"Well, I mean, I never really saw you flirt with men or anything."

"Yeah, ‘cause I was kinda focused on getting into your pants, you know? Um, had my hands all over you? Sleeping together in the same bed?"

Sam flushes. "C'mon, you're pretty affectionate with everyone, so how was I supposed to know?!"

"You really think I treat all my friends like I do you?" Brady shakes his head in disbelief. "Damn, I'm kinda proud that you think I'm that easy."

"Well, you kinda are. Once you get past the do-you-like-me-check-yes-or-no notes stage." Sam grins.

"Maybe I should have given you one of those in the first place." He looks at Sam. "You know what it finally took to get me to man up and do something?"

"Um, getting me desperate and naked and sobbing in your bed?"

"Well, now you're just giving me ideas for later..."

"It's Thursday tomorrow."

"...seriously, you can be such a buzzkill." He huffs. "Sure, that was the spark and all, but the fuse was already primed."

"...you don't prime fuses."

"Well, maybe you don't...you know what I meant, bitch. Anyways, it was Nathan."

"Nathan? What does he have to do with it?"

"Well, what he wants to do is you."

"What?"

"...well, I'm kind of reassured that at least it's not just me you're oblivious to. Anyways, he saw you at The Crucible."

Sam almost chokes. "What??"

"C'mon, Sam, you think you're the only kinky bastard in our group of friends? I mean, you might be the most extreme and all, but, really? Like, tell me you at least know that Tara does photography for the kink scene?"

"..." 

"Oh, c'mon! It's not like she hides it!"

"Well, she didn't show us her actual pictures! When she said sexy photos, I figured, like, standard boudoir stuff, maybe some pinup."

"Nope. I mean, I think she does a little of that on the side, but most of her stuff is pretty hardcore. Beautiful, though. Hot. You should ask her to see it sometime."

"Huh. Wow. But, um...yeah, Nathan saw me at the goddamn Crucible. And told you about it?"

Brady shrugs. "He worried you might be runnin' around behind my back. Said he wasn't sure it was his place to get involved, and maybe we had an open thing going on, maybe at least where scening was concerned, but that if it were him, he'd want to know. When I told him we weren't like that, he was genuinely surprised. Didn't believe me at first, said everyone would be cool with it, we didn't have to hide anything. Once I convinced him, he was all well, I gotta warn you, if you don't go for it, I will. Told me I had no idea what I was missing out on, by what he saw."

"Oh my god. I only went there once, and...fuck." Sam shakes his head, swallows. "I'm surprised he can still look me in the face and act like everything's normal."

"Well, it's not usually your face I catch him staring at.' Brady smirks.

Sam groans and buries his face in his hands. "I think I've hit my RDA of humiliation today."

"Pssshh, Nate definitely didn't think any less of you for what he saw, I can tell you that much. Anyways, he musta seen something on my face, cause he backed off a little on the goin' after you. Said he didn't really believe in the 'calling dibs' thing, but it was clear you and I had something goin' on, even if we were clueless, and that he wanted to give us a chance to get our shit together. Told me not to wait too long, though. That was about a week before you showed up all fucked up at my door that morning." Brady rubs at the back of his neck. "Was gonna say somethin' to you on the night I made you dinner. Chickened out."

"Declarations of love over spaghetti? Very Lady and the Tramp of you."

"Shut up, bitch. You love to suck my noodle."

Sam shakes his head with a grimace of disgust. "No...just no, dude."

"Eh, can't land 'em all...shoulda gone with 'you're the one that's both the lady and the tramp,' yeah? Anyways, it all worked out in the end, obviously. I got my Disney princess." He picks up his pencil and turns his attention back to the papers in front of him. "Still kinda kickin' myself that I missed that night at the Crucible. Sounded pretty fucking memorable. 'S not my usual club, though."

Sam's brain stalls, reboots a few times. "Wait...you have a 'usual' club? You go to kink clubs?? Which ones? When?"

Brady smirks, doesn't look up, though. "Hmm, yeah, but I think that's a talk for another night. Might get us a little worked up, you know, keep us from gettin' to sleep right away." He turns a page in his book. "And it is Thursday tomorrow, you know."

"...I hate you."

"Whatever you say, Sammy." He innocently bats his eyes at Sam, who hasn't moved and is still staring holes into Brady's head. "Don't you have an essay to finish, baby?"

...

The next morning, as Sam's getting ready to walk into class, he feels the buzz of his phone in his pocket. He smiles, pulls it out, sees a message notification. Flips it open, and his smile disappears as he freezes in front of the doors of the Keck Building. 

G (2 new messages)

Gideon.

His heart clenches. Misses a beat, maybe two. He barely even notices the annoyed girl with the curly pink hair that elbows him; absently stumbling out of the way of the flow of students without lifting his eyes from the phone.

He selects the notification, presses the green button.

-Sam. None of your dreams will come true.

He lets out a long, shuddering breath, the relief outweighing the resentment. Thumbs down to the second message, opens it.

-I won't have to hold your debt for long. I'll contact you soon for assistance.

That feeling at the bottom of his gut; that cold, that clenching. It's not fear. 

It's not.

It's just relief that Dean, his dad are ok. Will be ok, for now. Everything else, he can deal with. It's all worth it, for that.

Right?

___________________________

excerpt 2:

............

"So," Brady says, arms spread out, slowly spinning, inviting Sam to take in the whole of the small harbor as if he, himself, had made the sand, waves, and towering cliffs. "This is Gray Whale Cove."

Sam tilts his head back, turning in place to take it all in. "It's amazing." He says, sincerely. "Beautiful."

So maybe he's looking at Brady when he says it.

"Yeah, not too shabby, right? I thought you'd like it here."

And Sam does. It really is spectacular; the slopes and peaks of the cliffs around them a mix of jagged grey stone and ground-hugging green brush, the half-moon of faded gold sand between the promontories jutting into the water on either side of them, the deep steel-blue of the Pacific churning itself through green into foamy white as it thrashes against the sand and crags. The air smells of salt and growing things, but with that base note of mineral you sometimes find in places surrounded by exposed rock. Everything's a little washed over and silvery with the sharp, pale winter sun. His skin prickles in the wind that whips through the cove.

But beyond even that there's a fierce power here that buoys and exhilarates Sam, sets his heart racing. Brady, while he's often so empathetic to the moods and needs of people around him that it still surprises Sam, doesn't have an ounce of sensitivity to the supernatural (and Sam has said a prayer of gratitude for that more than once). But even those without any gift sometimes feel the pull of places like this, without really knowing why. Sam can feel it thrumming through him, ramping up with each deep pulse through him, making his nerves twang like plucked chords, sparking tiny fires in his subtle body. It reminds him of the bass in the Impala vibrating through the seats when the sound's turned all the way up and they're pushing past a hundred on some straight-as-an-arrow, cornfield-choked, midwest backcountry road or a sandswept, broadly curving desert highway in the salt flats of the southwest.

Combined with his already nebulous state from the events of the nights before and today's blessing, he's soaring on it like a leaf in a whirlwind. He can't put away the grin that's cracking his face open. He'd worry about how his eyes must look to Brady (mad, crazy, dangerous) if he could bring himself to grab even a tiny thread of the concrete, the practical world right now. He closes his eyes for a second, trying to center himself a little. If he lets this build too much more he's gonna spin out. Do something dumb and hurt himself or Brady, or, at the very least, the surge is gonna burn through him too fast and he'll be left even more depleted and thinned-out after it's gone.

Regretfully, he pulls up a few of his barriers; not all of them, not all the way. Modulates the rush of energy tearing through him. Less firehose, more broad river to float in. He opens up his eyes slowly, nictitating their astral membranes at the same time, to get a look at the source of the energy swirling through the cove.

It's magnificent. A light-limned nest, a vast net of vital elemental magic and intrinsic etheric energy, woven, knit, exquisitely around them.

The major ley line that skims along the California coast, but only touches shore rarely, intersects here, running right up the length of the beach: a spitting, twisting, living rope of light, pulled taut between the bookend promontories, right over their heads, wide as a 6-lane interstate. But it also crosses no less than six smaller, less-deeply-sourced power lines. They spiral up and over and through the surrounding cliffs and hills; one even snakes up from the ocean floor, through the waves, its light refracting and breaking all green glowing through the turbulent water. But on top of that, there's also the confluence of three fundamental elements—the vast waters of the ocean, the earthy bare rock of the cliffs and hills, and the air of the blue sky high above and the wind funneled down into the cove. They're balanced well, the tension between where they push and pull and merge sending out fountains of branching, fractal luminescence at sudden and irregular intervals. 

Sam doesn't know all the power places in North America, of course, but he knows of the biggest, most important ones, and this place he's not heard of. It's much more modest than many of those famous ones in terms of sheer power. It's doesn't have the gut-wrenching sheer force of the convergence of two major ley lines that some spots have, nor does it have the fulgent potential of a place where all four elements meet in equal power, but the mix of the two types of earth energies makes for a delicious nexus of magics. It makes Sam want to strip his clothes off and bathe naked in it.

Which, considering the few other groups of visitors speckled across the beach, might not be the best idea.

Though he'd bet Brady would appreciate it.

With that thought pulling at the corners of his mouth, he turns and looks at his boyfriend standing on the sand behind him.

He's never looked at Brady before with the astral veil lifted, it's not something he wants to make a habit of in his new, normal life. But he can't resist, just this once, and he's not surprised to find the view just as magnificent as what surrounds him. In his own, entirely non-biased, opinion, of course. Brady's aura isn't simple, but Sam didn't expect it to be. It's tangled, knotted, bruised in some places, in others loops in on itself protectively. But it's bright, and threaded with colors that resonate and shift. And it's warm, so warm. It sends tendrils out in some place, seeking out the light of others; vulnerable, but full of a pure kind of desire to connect. Many of them keep drawing back to Sam, slipping along his edges, under the surface. Their borders melt together briefly when they touch, and Sam lets one of his barriers down, just a little, feels Brady penetrate him, warmth spreading out from where they touch. He shivers; it's so incredibly sensual, intimate; he can't help himself. He surges forward, drops his mouth to Brady's, slips his eyes closed; lets Brady's warm tongue and warm emanations push into him.

Breathless minutes later, he opens his eyes, the mundane world filling them now, all glimpses of the metaphysical tucked away again. Brady's smiling at him, bemused and fond.

"I guess you really needed this, huh?"

Sam smiles back. "I guess I did."

With his boundaries tamped down now, the thrumming energy of the place is muted now, in the background. And, while Sam’s still feeling some of the residual euphoria, it's more of a gentle invigoration instead of the inundation from before. He'll only leave here a little recharged compared to how he felt before, but he's also not at risk of spinning out on energy intoxication.

"C'mon," Brady gestures with his head towards the north end of the cove. "Let's walk a little."

[felixcloud6288]

Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 20

We finally meet the Elrics' teacher and we're getting the setup to the boys' background.

The brief flashback of Hohenheim has the Lab 5 mural on the wall.

Speaking of Hohenheim, Izumi mentioned meeting him when she and Sig last went to Central. They're in the background in the first page of chapter 14, so that means Ed and Al barely missed Hohenheim as well. I looked through that chapter and didn't find him in any crowd shots.

Sig rubbing Al's head was absolutely adorable.

Izumi has the flamel icon tattooed above her left breast so Ed and Al probably adopted the logo because of her tutelage.

This is the first time we get to see Ed's aesthetic taste. He likes horns and fangs and elaborate detail. We haven't gotten to see much of it yet since Ed hasn't used Alchemy for much other than turning his automail arm into a blade. We saw a light glimpse when he made a spear in chapter 1 and a door in chapter 2.

Despite being an Alchemist, Izumi insists one shouldn't rely on Alchemy for everything. She also understands that an Alchemist can't do everything. The chapter implies Izumi had also attempted human transmutation at some point as she knows why Ed can transmute by clapping his hands.

Back in chapter 6, Ed and Al talked about some of the things Izumi taught them about the flow of the world and here we get a bit more. When one dies, their body is used to nourish new life and their soul lives on in one's memories. In a sense, we are all part of a whole. There is an inevitability to all things and we should accept what cannot be stopped.

And we're finally going to get the full story of Ed and Al's background.

back

Spoiler Discussion

Izumi is an Alchemist who's truly learned from experience. She had a stillbirth leaving her unable to have kids. She blamed herself for her child's death when it was just something that happened.

So when her lessons include accepting the flow of the world and that death is part of that flow, she's speaking from experience. But beyond the surface idea, accepting one's death includes not blaming yourself for it. She blamed herself and thought she had to fix her mistake and so she tried to resurrect her child.

I'd argue the Truth always has some deeper intent when meting out punishment. Izumi is the least focused of the people who've seen the Truth so it's not easy to build any sort of theme about her, but I'd guess the Truth's intent with her was to demand she accept the inevitability of her own death so she can make the most of her life. That might be why she and Sig travel so much. They don't know when she'll just finally die because of her missing organs so they are making the most of their time together.

Interestingly, this also has had a positive effect on how she interacts with people. She wanted to be a mother, and she can't be a biological one, but she acts as a mother figure to others. She took Ed and Al in because they needed someone in their lives, and she is the person the children of Dublith come to for help.

So yeah, I think Izumi learned the lesson the Truth wanted her to learn.

[eumenidaes]

I posted 14,506 times in 2022

That's 2,162 more posts than 2021!

157 posts created (1%)

14,349 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most: (breaking the @ so I don't have to show up in people's notifications lol)

@ possum-tooth

@ gxldandpurple

@ aspiringwarriorlibrarian

@ pinkyshy101

@ caspercryptid

I tagged 2,857 of my posts in 2022

#video - 336 posts

#kitty - 282 posts

#tag game - 215 posts

#space - 158 posts

#my posts - 114 posts

#chae-yeong - 102 posts

#ask meme - 94 posts

#ironwood - 81 posts

#rohan - 75 posts

#about - 57 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#james watching his wife beat the hell out of a man for disagreeing with her war crimes: hmm. think this might have awakened something in me

My Top Posts in 2022:

Rest of this is under the cut because some of them get LONG

#5

gxldandpurple: Have you ever traveled to a different country? If you haven’t, which one would be the first you would go to?

eumenidaes: Technically I left the US once bcs I went on a cruise when I was like 5 and we stopped at one of the islands in the Caribbean, but I don’t remember any details of it or even where specifically we stopped. I’d like to go to South Korea one day tho, I’m part Korean but have always felt kinda disconnected to that aspect of my culture for a number of reasons (I’m a quarter Korean and white, American assimilation means I didn’t learn pretty much anything about my background growing up, etc). idk if going there would really help with that, but it would be cool to get to go there and like. Learn more about that part of my background, if that makes any sense

5 notes - Posted September 28, 2022

#4

22 for the Spotify ask meme!

It didn't take nearly as long as I expected it would, but the short story's finished! Thanks for exchanging requests for art with our number 22 songs with me lol, this song is Oh No! by MARINA (tho for some reason it looks like spotify moved around some of my songs and it's not there anymore??? idk, I'm not changing it to be another song when that other one was also requested lol)

I tried to incorporate themes from the song of things like neglecting personal relationships due to a desire to succeed and make a change in the world/life. This is focused on my RWBY OC, Chae-Yeong Vermeil, and you can also read it on ao3!

“Miss Vermeil! Chae-Yeong!”

Chae-Yeong turns at the sound of her name to see the familiar cheery face of Ashley Linden making her way through the first floor of the Vermeil Foundation building. 

The musician has become a familiar face at the charity’s headquarters over the past couple of months, and as much as Chae-Yeong’s inclined to believe people are good, she can’t help wondering if Ashley’s just here out of a desire to help people in Mantle. She’s well aware that Ashley insists on making her donations to the charity with Chae-Yeong personally, and that she’s been known to leave upon finding out that Chae-Yeong isn’t there today. It's clear that she doesn’t like staying in Mantle for long. That combined with how even now, Ashley casts a quick glance downwards towards Chae-Yeong’s chest makes her main intention for being here clear— she’s attracted to Chae-Yeong, and she wants to get close to her. 

If she were twenty years younger and not used to people who don’t even know her pining after her, Chae-Yeong might be flattered. But she is forty-six, and Ashley is twenty-eight, and Chae-Yeong has long since moved past enjoying people she barely speaks to wanting to date her. There are far more important things in the world, like running her company, working on developing space travel, and trying to improve Atlas and Mantle for everyone in it. 

But Chae-Yeong knows how to play nice. She has an image to upkeep, and whatever feelings she holds privately don’t need to be shared with anyone. 

“Hi, it's Ashley, right? How are you?” Chae-Yeong asks. She knows exactly who Ashley is, but pretending she’s bad with names is all part of the act. It also might deter her from continuing to pursue her. 

She hopes this won’t take long. She has work to do. Neither the Vermeil Foundation of Vermeil Industries run themselves, and even if her job as CEO isn’t meant to keep her involved with what’s happening in her company, she likes to be. Chae-Yeong would rather sit through mind numbingly boring meetings and seemingly endless emails than do nothing but play golf and only ever interact with people that are inordinately wealthy. Besides, her involvement in her company’s practices and its charitable offshoot means that she can make sure that everyone working for her is getting treated well. 

“I’m great, for sure,” Ashley says. She fiddles with the end of some of her long blonde hair. “Actually, I was just looking for you.”

“Yeah?” Chae-Yeong prompts. 

“Are you doing anything tonight?” 

And there’s the question Chae-Yeong had been waiting for. Honestly, she’s impressed. It usually takes even less interaction with her for someone to get bold enough to ask her out. 

The answer will, of course, be no. The question is how to phrase the rejection without upsetting Ashley too much or letting her get far enough to feel humiliated. 

“I’ve actually got a date later tonight. I don’t know how well it’ll go, but I might be, ah, unavailable for a long while after that,” Chae-Yeong says. It’s a complete lie, but those can make the best excuses. Plus, it helps her to maintain the playgirl reputation she’s cultivated over the years.  

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were in a relationship,” Ashley says, and she’s mastered the Atlesian art of burying your feelings deep inside. There's disappointment clear in her eyes, but her expression remains bright as if she hadn't been hoping that Chae-Yeong was single. 

Chae-Yeong is in a relationship, but that’s not something that anyone is supposed to know about. Everything between her and James is supposed to be private. If she were telling anyone about it, the last choice would be a pop star that would tell the tabloid’s that Atlas’ general and the CEO of Vermeil Industries are dating. 

“It’s nothing too long term, just our second date,” Chae-Yeong says. It’s best to keep these made up relationships short, that way it’s harder to fact check. 

“Yeah, that’s pretty early on,” Ashley agrees, and Chae-Yeong recognizes the way her eyes regain their light at the thought. With a short relationship, she sees opportunity. If they’re only in the getting to know you phase still, it could be brief. Maybe Ashley won’t try to ask Chae-Yeong out now, but she will again in the future, after this fictionalized relationship has fizzled out. 

Chae-Yeong knows that she’s only creating an endless cycle with this by lying and acting like if she was single, Ashley would have a chance with her. But outright rejecting Ashley would only upset her. At least this option gives her hope, even if it is a false one. 

“Sorry if you wanted to do something, though,” Chae-Yeong says. 

“It’s fine, don’t worry. I hope your date goes well!” Ashley says, even though she definitely doesn’t hope it goes well. 

“Maybe we can get a rain check?” Chae-Yeong suggests. “I should be free at… some point. I’d have to check my schedule, it’s hard to keep track of everything.”

It isn’t, and Chae-Yeong knows exactly when she’s free. But this is another part of her public persona, and it gives her a good way to postpone any future attempts by Ashley to ask her out. 

“Yeah, we can figure it out later,” Ashley says. She rocks back on her heels. “I guess I should let you go, huh?”

“If you don’t mind. I have a lot going on, well, pretty much all the time,” Chae-Yeong says with a laugh. That’s not a lie, but it’s also a good way to get out of this conversation. 

“No worries,” Ashley assures. 

“Thanks so much.” Hoping to avoid getting caught up in more conversation if Ashley thinks of anything else to say, she starts walking towards the elevator. “See you later!”

With a press of a button, the elevator is called to the first floor. It arrives with a ding as Ashley says her goodbyes, and Chae-Yeong steps in, waving one last time before the doors close. 

See the full post

5 notes - Posted December 2, 2022

#3

If anyone wants to know how unhinged about Ironwood I am, I did a sporcle where you were supposed to write out his entire ultimatum and I was stumped bcs I had literally one word of it that I couldn’t figure out bcs the word I thought was supposed to go there was said to be wrong. It turns out it’s bcs I knew the monologue better than the quiz did

5 notes - Posted November 3, 2022

#2

See the full post

5 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Love tumblr ads that clearly were not supposed to be published

29 notes - Posted February 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[fluffmonger]

So.... Here's the thing. While I agree with the spirit of this post it's factually, just wrong, on multiple levels, and this isn't something that's hard to check either.

The original Baldur's Gate released in 1998, long after the height of the Satanic Panic, and before the Columbine Massacre, which shot off a new wave of Video Games are Evil moral panics. Mortal Kombat had released 6 years before, and Doom 5 years before. Demons, devils and dark themes in games weren't new or as shocking by then.

Adding to this, the game wasn't expected to sell well at all. BioWare was a tiny studio at that point, they'd only opened in 1995, which is when development began on Baldur's Gate. The team basically was learning how to develop and release games from scratch, while building an insanely complicated engine that could account for the sheer level of player choice inherently to DND. This was something that was *not* common in 1998, most games had one strict path through, or a handful of paths to choose from. Because of this, they deliberately chose to use more vanilla backgrounds and art to ease the process.

Additionally, 2e was a *very* different beast to 5e. Every option in BG is something that's permitted RAW in 2e, which was a very straightforward heroic fantasy focused story engine. Concepts of what was a hero were very clear cut, morally unambiguous. At the time, tieflings had only existed for ~4 years (and only one before development started). Other stuff just... Wasn't in the public consciousness. There wasn't any romance at all in the original, bc why would you play a fantasy hero game to simulate dating? Why would you go out of your way to diversify the world in text and such when it doesn't matter to the story, and the graphics are still rudimentary enough to allow imagination?

Which.... Of course that points to a lot of societal blind spots of the era and all of that. But at the end of the day, they also weren't expecting it to make any impact. So, there was nothing to stop them from making the game as wild as their imaginations allowed, and heck, they even got player feedback during the course of the relatively short development, which really endeared them to their player base. When it launched, it was *huge* overnight. If it hadn't been such a big hit, we'd never have gotten bg3. Part of the reason for the initial success *was* the DND license.

A year later, a different studio using the same engine released Planescape Torment, a crpg that has options for companions that include a tiefling, a succubus, a pyromaniac, a githerazi, an animated skull, a living suit of armor, and a little modron robot. Which is far far from the conservative naysaying and gloom...

Meanwhile, in the 25 years since that initial release, DND has had two edition updates that completely changed how the physical game is played, with more options and races and styles of play being included from the base game. Video games too, have been developing and changing, and culturally, socially a *lot* of shit has happened globally, so that the idea of a straightforward heroes good story seems... Trite at best. Video games have more and more expanded stories regularly, more choices, more options. Consoles have more power. The things that made the original Baldur's Gate so stunning back in the day, just aren't all that impressive on their own today. So, instead, the studio took the development time, and really dug in, and looked at how to make the game shine *story wise* instead of mechanically. Heck, even in Baldur's Gate 2, released 2 years after the first, the story gets more rich and complex, bc the studio wasn't also building an engine.

Times have changed. The culture is changing, people are changing, and getting better, more open and accepting all the time. DND lives, and thrives, and is being played in incredible new ways that reflect the new world, and will just keep getting better despite the.... Issues. Of the past that still haunt it.

But at the end of the day? Baldur's Gate 3 isn't some radical new take on how people play DND that's more true than Baldur's Gate 1... It's just an example of how the culture surrounding ttrpgs, and the way we engage them has changed in the last 25 years.

Jack Chick and the others wanted us to die... But Baldur's Gate as a franchise has always proved that we're here to stay, that progress and change can't be fought forever. People have always stood up for what's right, have always told interesting stories, and always fought against oppression and tyranny. Our present isn't magically just better than the past, all things have context

You know what, considering that DnD was bashed and rallied against for supposed promotion of demonology, homosexuality, violence, sex, witchcraft, etc. and this led to Baldur’s Gate 1 being pretty tame as far as story and characters go. I think it’s very fitting and poetic that Baldur’s Gate 3 is literally everything that the religious right in America fearmongered about in the 80s and 90s, and it’s absolutely great and compelling. If you showed an evangelical Christian from the 80s any character from Baldur’s Gate 3, they would combust into flames. To me, that’s why the game goes so hard in the thematic and stylistic directions it did because historically, all of these things got DnD bashed and censored. But now, nobody cares and people love it. Oh do times change.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is an victory lap for the DnD franchise because the culture war has moved so far past it that nobody has to walk on eggshells anymore to appease those types.

Jack Chick would implode at the mere existence of this game if he was alive today. And to me, that’s the beauty of Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s DnD saying “yeah we are everything you fearmongered about about and we gon sell a million plus copies while doing it” because in the end, DnD won the culture war against the people who wanted them gone.

[daffelreign]

Macbeth commentary. Because I’m bored. And judgemental. (Pt. 1)

Background information: Personally, the most I had heard about Macbeth prior to actually having to read it was a lot of students complaining about how hard it was to read and debating over Macbeth and his wife’s relationship. So the bar was pretty low to start.

Just like my thoughts, this has no structure. I hope it is comprehensible enough to be funny.

Anyways, (Act I: Welcome to the show)

Act I (scene 1):

I don’t know how I expected this to start, but witches were not it. Initial shock aside though, the only thing that stuck out to me was the familiars. I understand that people are supposed to watch the play performed on stage (so some things are meant to be implied), but I have no idea how or why the familiars were included. We’re never going to hear about them again, are we? Le sigh.

Act I (scene 2):

A lot of this scene is just background context and character introductions--- nothing very exciting. However, I have lost all faith in the modern text translation. The captain explaining Macbeth’s prowess on the battlefield is supposed to be important--- to showcase what kind of brutality Macbeth is capable of, and build onto his aforementioned status. But instead of that, my brain was entirely focused on the phrase “unseamed him from the nave to th’ chop”. I got the general premise--- big cut= big ouch--- but I was convinced that the navel was part of the forehead?? And I was trying really hard to wrap my head around why on EARTH Macbeth would cut someone from forehead to chin and then cut their head off to put on a steak.

By the time I figured out what the navel actually was, my attention was entirely spent for the scene. So all I can say is that the modern translation should’ve said ‘belly button’ for those of us less cultured in anatomy.

Act I (scene 3):

The witches gossiping is so not important to the plot, but so entertaining to me. They’re actively plotting revenge while idly waiting for Macbeth, and I love that for them. Anyways, enter: Macbeth! And Banquo too, I guess. The besties are not-so-silently judging the witches just before the witches’ rock their world. I think the witches got some satisfaction from that--- just a little. It’s the feminine urge for spite.

Speaking of spite, Macbeth is going to be king but Banquo will be happier? Banquo’s descendants will be king? Doesn’t that mean that either 1. Macbeth doesn’t have children, or 2. Macbeth doesn’t remain king (which in terms of literature, usually means killy killy- stabby stabby). That thought doesn’t seem to hit him, apparently. I’m sure that’ll have consequences.

More boys enter the chat! Here for plot convenience to tell Macbeth that the witches were right. Who would’ve guessed? It’s not like they disappeared into thin air like some abra cadabra witchy-woo. We should just brush them off--- totally. Except now, with Macbeth’s new title, the besties start reconsidering their disbelief. Not quite looking at the big picture yet, but don’t worry--- I’m starting the murder board for them.

Murder board (who I think is going to die): Banquo is the first on the board as an eventual victim once Macbeth realizes that Banquo’s kids are gonna be a problem (so better to snuff out the source, right?). He’s gonna destroy their friendship bracelets :(

Act I, (scene 4):

This is where things start to get interesting (from a plot standpoint, anyways. I didn’t find it all that interesting, but it is important to move the story along). Macbeth gets his second title from the king, and is very surprised that the prophecy the magical-non-human-witch-ladies told him is now coming true. Shocker. Macbeth has also started to think about how he could become king, and what stands in his way (cough cough, the newly appointed prince).

Which is why we have a murder board update!

Duncan, Malcom, Banquo

Duncan is an obvious kill, since Macbeth needs to get rid of him to be king. Malcolm is on the murder board for the same reason, as he is now set up to be the next king, and that’s kinda what Macbeth is supposed to be. Both would need to come before Banquo’s death since Banquo’s only leg up on Macbeth is a problem he can deal with at a later time. (Aka, the murder board is in chronological order for who would need to go first).

Act I, (scene 5):

The girlboss has arrived. Right off the bat I already love and hate Lady Macbeth (I hate what she’s up to, but love the way she’s characterized). She comes off as very elegant and kind, but very quickly turns out to be one of our main antagonists. I am very interested in how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s dynamic will play out, since the typical role of the wife is a supportive person who loves the main character and has a generally positive effect on them (and that is not what is happening here). I can’t see those two getting along for much longer, especially after her instant reaction to being told her husband might be king is ‘murder is a valid option’.

Which is why I return with the murder board.

Duncan, Malcom, Lady Macbeth, Banquo

I think Banquo will outlast her simply because he’s not attempting to manipulate Macbeth in any way, and I can’t see him trying to do that in the future. I think he’ll turn on Macbeth at some point because of his conflicting personality, but I think Macbeth will get sick of his wife before he does his best friend. Hopes and prayers for the girl boss.

Act I, (scene 6):

I love that this scene opens with Duncan and Banquo admiring the scenery, and then it instantly turns into “Oh hey, we’re invading your house. Aren’t you lucky?” as soon as Lady Macbeth shows up. I think that didn’t help Duncan’s cause any. It probably snuffed out what little sympathy she might’ve had for him.

Macbeth seems to be having an existential crisis, and has decided that murder isn’t a good idea (you know, like any rational person would). Unfortunately, this does not comply with what Lady Macbeth wants, and she badgers him with insults and strangely graphic imagery until he agrees to it.

He says that Lady Macbeth should only have male children, but by the way she described killing her own baby, I don’t think she should be allowed to have children at all. I wouldn’t even let her hold someone else's baby, just in case. Her homicidal tendencies seem to have no limits as long as she can justify it to herself.

Also, Macbeth is starting to acknowledge the murder board, hello???

[hillbillyhippiemusicreview]

WHERE IN THE HECK IS NORTH SPRINGS MUSIC FESTIVAL?

That’s a REALLY good question—and if you’re an avid music fan, it’s an even better question. From some of the biggest names in music to the up and comers you must know, North Springs Music Festival has it all. Trust us, you’ll want to know the answer by this October!

Situated in picturesque Whitleyville, Tennessee, the farm of Dustin Kennedy changes from pastures galore to a music haven for music fans far and wide when autumn rolls around. Amid cooling temps and falling leaves, the stage is set on (proverbial) fire as those who flock to “the little music festival that could” deep in the mountains fall deeply in love with the music and mission of NSMF. Held October 11th and 12th of this year, NSMF is THE destination for a family friendly festival that is focused on two things: quality tunes and FUN! Come along as we chat with the festival organizer about this upcoming event that is quickly becoming a coveted favorite among music festivals in the South—both by bands and fans alike. Interview begins below:

L: Hey there Dustin! Thanks for joining us today to discuss what you've got cookin’ down in Tennessee. We're beyond stoked to join you to take in the stellar lineup you've curated this October in Whitleyville—for newcomers like us, can you give us a little background on how NSMF began?

D: Thank you for having me--and I sure can! NSMF got kicked off in 2020 right during all the madness of the pandemic, but we were outside and tired of the madness. It [attendees] consisted of almost all local folks outside of our original out of state ticket buyer, Kristen Heflin. The county donated a wooden stage used at various county functions. It was the only time that one was used. The initial show was headlined by Rye Davis and Branden Martin. It rained like hell, but like Deana Carter would say, "we danced anyway." *laughs*

L: Love it! Looking back, I recall a lot of new festivals popping up in 2020 because it seemed like people were so ready to live again...I know we were! We kept the roads hot between Indiana and Alabama going to as many shows as we could. I'm a little sad to know we missed the inagural festival and the ones the past few years, but so excited to get to witness the magic this fall. What was your inspiration for the festival, aside from giving the proverbial finger to the craziness of 2020? Has running a successful music festival always been a dream of yours?

D: I went to a small living room show in Lexington in 2017 hosted by Jeff Cox. Fifty people sitting in one small room listening to Justin Wells & Jason Eady. That kinda got my wheels spinning. So in 2019, I rented our county fairgrounds event building and hosted four acoustic songwriter shows, one of which being Jason Eady & Courtney Patton. After the show, I just sorta blurted out to Jason that I wanted to one day host a music festival on my family's farm and if I ever did, I'd love for him to be a part of it. That was in March of 2019, and by October 2020, as small as that first NSMF was, it had become a reality.

L: Ol’ Jeff Cox—he's one of the good ones! Isn't it crazy how small this music world really is and how quickly an idea can grow? I love a good grassroots story...and it's amazing to see what you've accomplished in the seven years since speaking that dream into the universe and bringing it to life. Tell us, what is your mission/motto for NSMF; what do you hope to achieve with this festival in the present and future derivatives of it?

D: One of my best friends, Clint Fraley, recently said it best. He said " You've caused old friends to come together to have a good time. What better achievement in life than causing others to have fun and forget about their troubles?" I've said in other interviews that we don't all agree on religion, politics or sports, but music brings people together, and it's a beautiful thing. But also, country music has lost its way from where it was when we all grew up. Some people only see country music as the pop stuff they hear on their radio that we all spend way too much time hating on, myself included. Or they still listen to only the legends, which is fine, but I want to do my part to help people discover all these awesome independent acts who may be under their radar. Music is easier to find now more than ever. You just have to dig to find the stuff you won't ever see on CMT or your local country radio station. Listen to the cats over on WSKY, and you'll discover all the independent acts you want!

L: Preach, my friend! That is one of the reasons HHMR's founder Nathan began this review back in 2019, to bring focus to all the amazing indie artists in the Kentucky region. When I came aboard in 2020, I made it my mission to expand that coverage beyond Appalachia, because there is just so much good music out there and insanely talented artists that may never get the recognition they deserve without the efforts of independent journalism and venues/festivals! Speaking of all those good tunes, I’m curious—when you go to a show or a festival, are you more pumped to see the bands you're familiar with or catch the "no one knows who they are" up-and-comers?

D: If he lives to be 100 years old, I will never get tired of seeing Hank Williams Jr. live. He's the greatest of all time to me. I never got to see Waylon live which really disappoints me, so I always make it a point to cross the legends off the bucket list. But as far as new music, I work a pretty demanding full time job. I'm married with 3 kids and have some other hobbies, so it is hard to find time to discover new music. I depend heavily on others to suggest new stuff to me. They're out here doing God's work for us music lovers! I'm definitely not a "skip the opener" guy because those guys have been known to steal the show once or twice. The coolest act I ever got to see early on was in June 2012 when Shooter Jennings, who has done so much for independent music over the years, hosted a Waylon tribute show, and he introduced a cat named Sturgill Simpson to the crowd, one full year before High Top Mountain came out. I know others knew him already, but I certainly did not. Even better, that was my first time seeing Whitey Morgan and Justin Wells (one of my favorite people both professionally and personally now) that night as well. Also seeing Tyler Childers at Grimey's record store for under 100 people probably and later that night at The Basement East for $12. Little cheaper than his current arena tour! Always go to the show.

L: Yes! Always go to the show! Some of the acts on NSMF's lineup this year I have known for quite sometime whether personally or professionally, and I have thoroughly enjoyed both watching and experiencing their trajectories first hand over the past several years. I will never forget driving to Montgomery one night to see Taylor Hunnicutt open for Rod Gator at a little trailer bar/driving range in the middle of nowhere. It was a rainy evening which likely killed attendance, but man…it was magical. I was one of the only ones there for the show and when it was Rod's time to perform Taylor and I just danced to his whole set in the rain. Now look at her go! Playing NSMF and tons of festivals across the country this year. It's so fun to see these bands we love succeed! So, I purposely haven't mentioned the lineup yet because I want people to take in the whole poster at the end of this interview and be as amazed at the level of talent as we are, but I'd like to hear your music recommendations before we get into festival info. Who are you listening to these days, whether they're on the lineup or not, that you think people need to hear? And why?

D: The legends like Hank Jr, Waylon, Keith Whitley, George Jones…they'll always be in rotation. Same for Shooter, Ragweed, Jamey Johnson, Justin Wells and Chris Knight. My 3 favorite independent acts are Cody Jinks, Jason Eady and Cole Chaney, who is a badass that everybody needs to learning if they're sleeping [on him]. Them Dirty Roses have one of the best live shows going! Huge fan of Charles Wesley Godwin and 49 Winchester. Should not even have to mention Stapleton, Childers and Sturgill. I'm digging that new Zach Top album! As far as the festival goes, I'm excited to see Low Water Bridge Band, Ritch Henderson, Hunter Flynn, Sam Lowe, Waylon Hanel, The Comancheros, Parker Barrow and Bill Taylor and the Appalachian Heatherns all for the first time live. Then, I never do an interview where I won't mention the names of Addison Johnson, Rye Davis, Tony Logue, Tim Goodin and Wes Shipp. If you're not listening to any of those guys, stop reading this right now and change that! I'm really liking that new Taylor Hunnicutt album. Beyond fired up to have her and the boys at the festival this year. Being a long time fan of the Jennings Family, I’m very excited to have Whey headlining Friday night! Lastly, I think Ward Davis is a genius. He's one I've been wanting for the festival for quite some time so to have him as the 2024 headliner is very cool for me.

L: Well there you have it readers, a little sneak peak to the absolutely mindblowing lineup Dustin and his team have put together this year—but don't worry, there's even MORE fantastic artists to see down at the farm. I have a feeling it's going to be hard to top 2024's lineup, but at the same time I have a feeling you have more tricks up your sleeve, Dustin! Who do you hope to book for future NSMFs?

D: I'm a huge Courtney Patton fan. For whatever reason, we can never make NSMF work out. Same for Taylor Austin Dye and Mae Estes. They're in Nashville so I should've already done that. Some others will be retreads that maybe have only played once that I'd love to bring back. There are young acts like Jake Kohn and Blaine Bailey. I want to do some acoustic shows with songwriting geniuses like Billy Don Burns, Kendell Marvel and Josh Morningstar. I don't have huge corporate sponsors. I don't have tourism dollars. I'm funded strictly by local businesses who band together for me to ensure this show goes on and ticket buyers who keep coming back so I don't have the luxury to go get some of the names people ask for because musicians aren't cheap nor should they be! So I have to go into each year being very strategic. My eyes can get a little big, but you have to be realistic. I have to say that I have a great working relationship with Josh Green, who works for WME. I've had the pleasure of hosting some really cool acts that probably don't get done if Josh did not trust the passion and vision I laid on him each time we talk. He's one of the coolest dudes out there, and I'm very appreciative of him being willing to work with me each year!

L: Man, those would all be fantastic shows. I have no doubt you'll accomplish your end goal with NSMF because from the looks of it people are steadily flocking to your little slice of paradise each year! I imagine it will only get bigger as time goes by, but will still retain that small festival, everyone is family kind of feel. Now—onto the attendees, you mentioned your first out-of-town ticket buyer back in 2020 a bit ago. So far, what is the furthest state/location you've had someone travel from for the show? What is your guess for this year as far as ticket sales to this point?

D: We had a couple from Norway last year, which was very cool! This year we have folks coming from Canada and Germany. As far as inside the United States, I think the record is being set by Mary Suminski, coming all the way from Alaska! I'd be remised, however, if I did not mention the large groups of folks coming from Alabama, Indiana and the LARGE group known simply as "The Florida Tribe!" Then there is my man, Bruce Twyman, who I have been told needs to calm the F down! But everyone knows Bruce, so yeah...it's going to be one big family reunion out in the hayfield.

L: *Laughs* I've been there a time or two. It sounds like you've certainly created a safe haven for music lovers both near and far—and what a testament to the work you've done, as well as the passion for this underground, indie music scene! Before we dive into important festival deets, can you share with me your favorite festival memory from years past?

D: I'm a huge Cross Canadian Ragweed fan so Cody Canada & The Departed headlining last year was huge for me. Jason Eady headlining in 2022 was pretty special since he was the first person I ever mentioned the idea of this thing to. Cole Chaney has played twice, acoustic and full band so it was cool to see that progression. Lastly, Julie Roberts stole the show in 2021 when all the ladies in the crowd got to take their turns singing the classic "Break Down Here." Those all definitely stand out! But for me with each year, it's shaking the hands of the people who travel so far to come be a part of this festival. Taking a chance on it. But, like I always tell the musicians, if you ever come here, you're going to be playing to some of the most loyal fans you will ever have. They're gonna come to more shows, buy the merch. You won't regret it and some come back every year! Same to be said for ticket buyers. They had never heard of North Springs, but man, there is something special about this place. Us locals, it's "God's Country" to us. People who have been will agree. And on a selfish note, this farm has been in my family since the late 1800's so to bring something so cool to a farm and be fortunate enough to still have my dad, aunt and grandpa still living and being present at the festival on the farm they've grown up on, worked and hunted on, is pretty damn cool to me. Also having my wife and children being here making those memories, it's a great feeling!

L: We love our music family and a festival that supports that kinship is our kind of place. I know that's got to be mighty special to be adding to the NSMF family with each ticket sold while also honoring your ancestors on sacred ground. From listening to you describe it, it certainly sounds like the festival prides itself on having a good time while building true connections. So, what is the overall vibe of the festival? Party crowd, listening room, a mix of both—that sort of thing…basically what can newcomers expect to see and how should they plan to behave?

D: So every year, early in the day it tends to be a little more laid back, people lounging in their chairs. Usually, as the sun goes down and people get a little more liquid courage, they make their way to the front of the stage. But no, this is no listening room. I host acoustic shows throughout the year for that. I want this to be a party in the hay field. If anything, I wish everyone would get to the front of the stage earlier to show the same love to the acts all day long. People dancing and singing at that stage is what we are all about.

L: Funny you should say that, we at HHMR are definitely a front of the stage bunch! Our friends over at Raised Rowdy live and preach the phrase "front row or don't go" and it's one we try to honor every show—we feel it's the best way to experience the high of the music. Any pertinent details interested attendees should know prior to making their way North Springs to claim their front row spot?

D: Ticket prices are $50 each day or $90 for both days. Non-electric camping is $10 per person daily or $25 for the whole weekend if you come in Thursday night to set up. Generators are allowed. I do not sell alcohol, BUT you can bring your own coolers in for $5 or $10 depending on the cooler size. Just act like you've been in public before! There will be food and shopping vendors on site. Internet is spotty at best so bring as much cash as you can to help move all lines quicker. If you're driving in keep the GPS on the whole time until you pull in (Just ask Them Dirty Roses last year laughs. Dogs are allowed as long as they're on leashes. No showers on site, but Porta Potties will be on site. No fires directly on the grounds, but fire pits allowed if needed. People can begin setting up to camp on Thursday morning to be ready for the kick-off party in Gainesboro that night. Friday show will kick off tentatively at 3PM but subject to change. Saturday will likely will be a 1PM start time!

L: Oh, Them Dirty Roses. That seems to be a habit of theirs *laughs*. I'm giggling because one night when they played a show at Laurel Cove they were coming in late and if you've ever been to Pineville or Pine Mountain Resort State Park, you know just how mountainous it is and how easy it is to get lost in the curves. Service is spotty, I got there for the weekend first and my pal Andrew (TDR's guitarist) was frantically texting me trying to figure out where they were supposed to be—they took that big red van and trailer all over that big curvy road in a circle because they missed the turn! So readers, trust that GPS with your life going to Pineville AND North Springs! Okay, switching gears from funny stories and we could be here all day because I've got a ton of them—tell me a little about the kick-off show you mentioned. Sounds like a helluva good time!

D: Last year was only one day on the farm, and the kickoff party was At Roaring River Distillery in Gainesboro, 15 minutes away. Being such a small rural county, a lot of the local businesses did well with so many from out of state coming into the county. This year with us extending to 2 days on the farm, I was afraid a lot of the businesses might not get as much traffic so it was important to me to have a kickoff party so the square in Gainesboro is full once again. Chris Edwards from Mountain View Talent reached out and wanted to partner up. We discussed the options and quickly agreed on a lineup, headlined by Dallas Moore and Clint Park. Next was getting The Bull & Thistle Pub on board to host. The bar side sold out in one weekend while very few $10 dining side seats remain. This will be a little bit more of the listening room experience. Hopefully all the other businesses in town will see a spike like last year from the kickoff party!

L: Good grief, what a lineup! If potential attendees think the kickoff party is to die for, I wonder what they'll think when they see the full spectrum of talent for the festival. Minds will certainly be boggled! It's a work of heart and art between the hard work you put in to curate it and the fantastic poster Jimbo Valentine created to promote it. Well, that's all the time we have today, Dustin, thank you so much for joining us to give us an inside look at North Springs Music Festival! We can't wait to meet ya at the farm!

D: I appreciate your time and asking these questions to promote NSMF. Sorry for the long winded answers. *Laughs* I could talk music all day!

L: As could we! See you soon!

For more information on North Springs Music Festival, visit their website. Follow along for updates on their Facebook!

*All photos used with permission from NSMF website and Facebook.

[talenlee]

The How To Be Covers of 2022

New Post has been published on PRESS.exe: The How To Be Covers of 2022

Once more we make our way to an end of a year, and I take an opportunity to reflect on my monthly How To Be articles. Or really, I show you all the covers again because I’m really proud of them, in part because they’re funny and in part because I worked hard on little details and you will appreciate them.

In January, I looked at the sprawling leviathan of media culture known as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and how to create a character who had the vibe of a Jojo character, rather than trying to replicate single, specific characters in that space. What I think, the most, about this kind of article is that I’m not trying to replicate a character as much as I’m trying to replicate, like, the vibe of the advertising and promotional material.

In February, I looked at another Ranma 1/2 character and I am already thinking about the next time I visit that universe. It was Akane Tendo, the second most important character in a story full of big dumb idiots who fight things rather than talk to them. She’s a really cool character – I know, I know, it’s amazing to hear that, right? – but her whole vibe is just being the most normal thing in a world of weirdoes.

In March I looked at Zelgadis, a character made for a D&D game in a different generation and edition and cultural background. I had to look at how you could take a character like Zelgadis and reconstruct him in a different (also old) game system.

Uh, this was just a joke, like last year’s Sonic The Hedgehog cover.

Then in April, when I outed myself as a person who’s been playing Final Fantasy XIV, I did a special article to focus on a character that Kate loves a lot. Since Kate loves Minfilia, I thought I’d do a special article focusing on Minfilia, as a character, and that got to be a fun exercise in creating a character build to reflect a negative space. There’s nothing about Minfilia that exists, really – there’s almost no positive ‘Minfilia does this’ or ‘Minfilia does that’ but you can tell there’s some stuff Minfilia doesn’t do, and can’t do – so you have to create a character build that doesn’t violate that experience. Interesting article!

Then there was May, where I continued my quest to find a How To Be Article about a melee fire character who could actually use the fire support in the game. Weird. But this is another fight game character and opened the conversation around ways to do something that mixed fire and not magic melee combat. It was about Kyo Kusanagi!

Each June I ask Fox what she’d like to see, because I pick characters she likes in the month with her birthday. I also got to see some truly beautiful fanart of Sheik here, and that made it a perfect opportunity to do a piece on that character.

Huh, this was a fun chain of characters with heavily queer themes or from queer-media darling shows. I don’t think there was any reason to pick up Scorpia, but she was a fun, interesting character to build.

Oh man, remember how absolutely ridiculous things were around August? When Bridget Guiltygear was on everyone’s mind and there were all these high resolution pictures of her for the first time in years and also I was doing a theme of tricks and she did this whole thing with a like, yoyo and stuff.

Man.

Man.

August, man.

That was a time.

But okay, at this point the How To Be articles are all building around kind of a consistent core of a single, specific idea space. And like, 4th ed D&D is already pretty much an anime game, what with the way that people with swords can actually do things and the way healers can shout your arms back on, it’s great, I love it. Using it to represent anime characters and fight game characters is kind of just what the engine can do.

I had to branch out, I wanted to pick something that would leave people going ‘huh?’ or at least maybe trick Kilo into clicking the link. And that’s why I did one on Lalo Salamanca.

Much like the Jojo article, I made a Meguca article because I wanted something for looking at a larger variety of things in a more shallow way. There are a bunch of characters in this space who we see more in terms of their trauma than their problem solving, so this was more about ‘how do I make a character who can wear this vibe?’

Then finally, I did a piece examining pets, and ways to have a lot or a few of them. This one stuck with me as something I kind of thing I’d want to do going forward – like maybe a character could benefit from picking up a Cool Monster Pet.

Oh hey, what’s that? Of course I made a spreadsheet to examine this kind of thing! I was curious if there was a bias in the types of characters I was drawing inspiration from, and it seems that since its inception, roughly half the articles have been women, and the rest haven’t been. This is useless data that means nothing but I like charts.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#HowToBe

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

I think what OP was saying was more about having fun with writing and putting in inconsequential details, not trying to detract from the plot itself.

I used the background characters as an example because they don't do anything but serve as props for my characters' world. A school is not just seven friends - I sprinkled in acquaintances so I could have my characters talk to someone in a school setting that wasn't a main character if that wasn't needed. If a main character wasn't needed for a scene but there's no reason for them to be there, I can just say "oh I was going to Julian's party!" Julian may have only been mentioned once, but I already established him as a part of the world.

So I get what you're saying - yeah obviously stuff needs to go sometimes but that's mainly if it actively gets in the way of the story you're trying to tell. Be ready to sacrifice stuff, sure. I used to have chapters where I was like "and this is how these two characters met!!" but realized "wow that doesn't matter at all!" and I cut the scenes. But the thing is, most of the fun details I was referring to were not in the first draft because I don't think of those details in the first draft! I think of them after, since they help fill out the world. On the first draft I'm just focused on getting it out. Details? What details?

The aforementioned Julian is a background character that I use to establish my character Lexi as a very personable person, an extravert with a lot of acquaintances. I shout out a few random names who do nothing but help establish Lexi's character. I even used him to have fun like OP said and included a joke where Lexi had his schedule memorized. Who is this kid? Who knows and who cares - Lexi has his schedule memorized because that's who she is. Contrast that to Maddie's first chapter where only one extra person is mentioned and Maddie barely likes talking to her.

The background characters in the school don't add anything to the plot, but they help establish the world the characters live in.

To loop back to OP saying just have fun - I have a scene where a bunch of characters have a debate about grilled cheese. It's fun - I love it. But it's too long. Like you said, I have to be ready to cut it. I know it's going to have to be cut.

However...I'm only going to cut it down. I'm not eliminating it entirely. The scene establishes a lot of characters' personalities, which I definitely need. But I don't need to do them all at once like I was trying to do.

I've decided to cut a handful of characters from the scene. But those little inconsequential details I've added about the characters - their acquaintances, hobbies, normal world, etc now all come into play. I can write several characters out of the scene with ease because I know what's going on in their lives.

I only haven't done this yet cause I'm focusing on other things (world building).

Even Lexi's acquaintances sprinkled in the school ended up becoming important for her arc of the second book. I never would have come up with that if it hadn't been for "LOL Lexi has this random guy's schedule memorized"

It's a tricky balance. You're right, some things will inevitably detract from the plot and have to be cut. But I don't think having fun with details is only reserved for the first draft.

A piece of writing advice I've always fucking hated is "only add things that further the plot." Because no. Add stuff for fun. Give your mom a cameo. Have these characters be in love because. And yes, have characters die because. There doesn't have to be a reason for everything. The universe doesn't give a reason for everything. Why should you? And if you never add stuff for fun, you're never going to have fun.