#so i am actually fine i guess unlike those two lol

[jadecantcreate]

i just realized both of my ocs (lilypad and hugh) left their home behind in their backstories and appear to be okay with it but, deep down, are lowkey miserable

im sure this says nothing about me, an immigrant

[katyahina]

Dark Souls 1 faces references Part 6: Darkmoon Knightess, Lautrec, Two Lautrec's Helpers

Darkmoon Knightess

Everyone noticed already I know, but yes, she doesn't look hideous at all, unlike her lore suggests:

I've assumed she is supposed to have traces of Hollowing, but on the second look, her armor might actually hide some creepy body mutations that are exclusive for those who become Firekeepers:

Japanese description of her armor (yet again, this ( x ) document) says:

すなわち��月の剣として罪人を狩る助けとし また、火防のおぞましい姿を隠すために

It kinda says 'as the Darkmoon Blade, it helps her to hunt the guilty/criminals, as well as hides hideous appearance of fire hindering/defending'! 火防 says approximately this, to 'hold/defend/protect/hinder fire', and 'firekeeper' is written as 火防女, with 女 (woman/female) symbol added as Firekeepers are all women! Though all of her armor descriptions, including helmet, say that they 'hide hideous appearance' when for example Anastacia's face looks fine and we see it! Maybe, either: the "mutation" in question doesn't effect everyone the same way, or helmet refers to it simply in bundle to armor set overall and real "horror" is closer to her chest area!

Also, unfortunately, she IS identical to Pharis, in all but eye color:

I'd say that Pharis should hold the 'priority' for this face data, as someone who we actually can observe in the game even withoit datamining headwear away even though in transparent Fog Ring filter! Darkmoon Knightess I think would be better off with at least an altered hairstyle and, again, traces of the strange Firekeepers mutation in question!

....and I am thinking about it so hard, when the real answer to why Darkmoon Knightess doesn't look 'hideous' at all is because they copied appearance of Pharis, nor DS1 character creator allows much creativity lol. But, well, this post is primarily a reference if anyone wants to draw the characters, so I still need to bring potentially useful details!

Lautrec

Already mentioned, but he has the most beautiful shade of green eyes ever!

And also someone stole his eyebrows I guess. Keep pale, almost green skin in mind because Oswald has the same, and both him and Lautrec are from Carim! So yeah, lore? 🤔

Also DO YOU GUYS WANT MORE LORE, I know you do! Something interesting was found out while Rayan was checking NPCs data! At some point Rayan found this data:

However, this screenshot is not perfect but unfortunately the only thing that got documented! The data of this character is not fully loaded and according to Rayan loading it fully required restarting it completely! And when it was restarted, the face loaded into.....

Not only it loaded Lautrec's face, but also the one with slightly different features! Eyes more open and nose less crooked! Chin seems to be slightly less long. I'd say, perhaps, a bit "younger" Lautrec? So... yeah, seems like now we know what Lautrec was wearing before encountering Fina, since his current golden armor just imitates her aesthetic!

Lautrec's Helper (Sealer)

This is one of the guys that help Lautrec fight you when you invade him for vengeance! This one wears the red sealer set, same as Ingward and Yulva!

There were only three Sealers in total; one is Ingward who stayed in New Londo, another is this guy who helps Lautrec! That leaves only Yulva's design to be up to interpretation, but her sorcery and set are found in Blighttown and corpse appears to be regular human one, so nothing out of ordinary I guess!

Yulva IS a she, too:

彼女は、病み村で治癒術をふるうために 封印の任を捨てたのだろうか

('Did she abandon her duty as a Sealer to bring healing in 'sick village'?) You can see the 女 again! 彼女は is 'woman (talked about in the sentense)'! A he would be just 彼は, without the symbol (used for Ceaseless Discharge in his ring, for example).

Lautrec's Helper (Warrior)

And this is the one that has the spear (Pike) and shield!

____________________________________

Part 1: Oscar, Ricard, Solaire, Anastacia

Part 2: Reah, Petrus, Vince, Nico, Leeroy

Part 3: Pharis/Evlana, Americus, Forest Hunter (Cleric), Beatrice, Dusk

Part 4: Shiva, Shiva's Bodyguard, Forest Hunter (Sorcerer), Forest Hunter (Thief), Forest Hunter (Bandit)

Part 5: Quelana, Jeremiah, Grana, Cut Content Character, Domhnall

Part 6: Darkmoon Knightess, Lautrec, Lautrec's Helper (Sealer), Lautrec's Helper (Warrior) (you are here)

Part 7: Ingward, Kirk, Oswald, Havel, Tarkus

Part 8: Griggs, Logan, Rickert, Crystal Knight, Laurentius

Part 9: Patches, Siegmeyer, Sieglinde, Mildred, Crestfallen Knight, Crestfallen Merchant

* Shots of characters' faces datamined and provided by RayanTheMad on Twitter + rayanwasalsotaken on Discord!

* Twitter thread with the faces here: ( x )

* Data for characters Ciaran, Darkmoon Soldier (Balder) and Darkmoon Soldier (Berenike) doesn't exist and they simply copy the last face loaded, when there wasn't any loaded they use default placeholder data

[klausinamarink]

writers 20 questions

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

45 at the moment! I have a few more wips to post on the way so the number is going to go higher

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

130,657

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things. I’m looking to branch to other fandoms though like The Locked Tomb in the future

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Standup, You’re Never Too Much, Recapturing the Sunset, Just Another Flesh Wound, One Kid Gone, Another Up and Vanished

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes!! But not always as sometimes I immediately forget to reply and when I do, it’s a few weeks or a month later skkshdk forgive me

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Biting Back in Anger. It’s Eddie having a bad day and blowing up at Steve, who leaves trying not to cry :)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uhhh most of my fics have happy endings but I think I can nominate The Tinsel Tradition. It has Steve, Eddie, and Robin building a home together in NYC, healed and happy in every queer way!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

nope, thank god

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I’ve been writing more smut recently and exploring some areas. I’m honestly gotten more comfortable though it’s still a challenge to get the right words without coming off as awkward lmao. but that’s Phil’s (@theheadlessphilosopher) job 🫶💜

10. Do you write crossovers?

I’m more of a fusion au writer who borrows the setting and elements and places my blorbos in there than a straight-up crossover. Unless that counts as a crossover? Those two terms are kinds confusing sometimes..

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

There are a couple folks who played around this idea with me but nothing concrete. Though I guess Phil’s beta work can count because he writes better lines and scenarios than me

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

You’re asking me, a Steddie blog—

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

oof. I have a TLOU steddie wip based on resande’s sketches, but it’s looking unlikely to be done because the person looking it as my beta reader over got busy with other things and I’ve lost the writing juice 😔

16. What are your writing strengths?

Many people tell me that I am very visceral with my descriptions, esp with horror, and setting the tension is top-notch 🥰 (I am a freak who loves gore and blood tehehehehe)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have too many ideas and a problem to actually write what I want that it comes off as juvenile to me. I also have a tendency to gloss over the editing of my fic which I’m trying to break out of.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I honestly don’t mind it at all. However, I do get taken right out of the story if the language is written literally (like kanji for Japanese, Cyrillic for Russian, etc.) and not romanized when the character is speaking because that’s not how it works

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Warrior Cats. We all started our writing careers from that series at some point in middle school lol

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Noooo, I can’t pick favourites- I love them all equally. But FINE, I’ll say it would be When Life Gives You Pickles, Make It Into Soup. I wrote this as mostly self-indulgent because I LOVE pickle soup and is the best comfort food of all time. I think anyone making soup in general for their significant other if PEAK relationship goals because who doesn’t love soup?? Of course I had to Steddie-ify it

thanks to Devon for tagging me! Tagging others with no pressure: @thefreakandthehair @pearynice @3minsover @penny00dreadful @chaosgremlinmunson

@cranberrymoons @dies-somniator

[zmediaoutlet]

Oh Z go OFF why don't you ship Sam/John?

ahaha, anon starting off the friday night wine party by choosing violence <3

how don't I ship Sam/John? Let me count the ways --

first of all have you seen the sam/john content out there? I'm negatively interested in shitbird lolita sam with his crystal heart-shaped buttplug and the overemphasis on his pink lips and his mewling or whatever. like the puss becomes the sahara. I need a Great Wall of No between whatever's going on with that particular kink and the actual character. As always, a division: 'this is so hawttt omg' is good and fine, but please can we have a little moat between that and character-based canon-feeling stuff.

so all that stuff aside, on a plot level, John's Quest is based around protecting Sam, and like... way to not do it, bud. That is if you believe that John is ultimately flawed but kinda trying, which I do because 'pure monster' and 'hero daddy' takes are equally boring. Sam is left behind, is overprotected, is taught some hunting stuff but comparatively coddled -- in the wee!era, I see absolutely no way that John would go there on any kind of purpose, especially given the fact that Dean's also always there and it would be very embarrassing for your devoted older sonwife to stab you in the brain. (Caveat: I guess there are those times when John would "send Dean away" for disobeying, so that opens a window. But honestly, Sam was probably just abandoned in a motel room alone while John got on with work. I don't think it was a secret fuck-cation.)

on a sadness level: John wants something better for Sam. Dean's a lost cause, although John does super vaguely gesture at like 'eh he could have a house maybe' -- despite the college fight, Sam's untouchable in a way because John has this mad idea that maybe they'll actually win somehow, and Sam can have a future. That doesn't jive with bouncing him on the Dad D. And, again, if John's not purely insane, then--?

on just a vibes level: once Sam gets older, he and John are just way too much alike, and that's why they piss each other off so much. They're the thing of two magnets of the same polarity bouncing apart. Now there are ships where that can be fun, in the kind of slap-slap-kiss model, but in the specific (characterful) case of these two... no. I can see Sam losing his shit and throwing a punch; I aaaaabsolutely don't see him following it up with like, passion. Though I am literally loling here at my computer thinking about it. I'm doing my absolute best here not to compare to other ship options, but like -- this is not the son who'd fold and be like, aw daddy let me take care of you, you know what I'm saying?

on a taste level: like... can you see Sam actually wanting to? Any emotional/physical weirdness he has I feel like would get automatically turned to a different member of the three-part family unit. Non-con is blah, sex pollen is too easy (although with that said, I imagine a no-romance sex pollen f-o-d would be a good way to crack open those dynamics and see how they operated). Part of the massive issue here is that Sam has an oedipus complex, not an elektra complex -- he wants to fight his dad, not fuck him. He has daddy issues but they're of the tough masc black sheep son who goes off and has to get heroes' journeyed back into the fold; it's not 'oh daddy please say you're proud of me please let me be a good son,' unlike Some People We Could Name. It just doesn't have any entré into the kind of tangled up fuckery that makes vertical incest interesting for me. So...

That's probably enough, lol. That said, again: if you love to jill to babby Sammy slurping on daddy John's big meaty dadcock, go on with your bad self. Especially if Sam's inexplicably femme. But like. I'm good.

[littlebrotherteam]

Good morning! Guess who’s writing a mini kyokao ship manifesto first thing in the morning as soon as she is free from her temporary job. its me. its ya gurl. happy pride everyone!

Soo my last post on this matter made me think a LOT about that one mamedanuki exchange/scene, and my lifelong thoughts on it all became more clear the more I reflected upon it. What I am trying to say here is: I never thought he referred to Haruhi in this scene unlike a majority of readers for many reasons (to the dismay of my preteen self who liked this ship to bits too) and before realizing it could as well be about Kaoru I thought “Tamaki then?” but it still made very little sense.

Because Kyouya is THE TamaHaru #1 shipper from the get-go. From the anime-only “maybe it’s the beginning of a love story” and episode 25 shenanigans, to the manga-only crazy efforts he makes to help Tamaki (he was SO tired doing the France trip it’s not even funny . . ) and Haruhi realize and tell their feelings to each other, and even the small “tip” he gives Haruhi at the end so their relationship will progress. He is just their official best man.

And I just don’t think he would ever ACTUALLY think of getting in the way of their love. Even if he did have a crush on any of them (or both) at some point. He supports them too much. He had a lot of opportunities to get in their way, yet he never did. And sure, the point of that exchange might be just that. Leave it open-ended enough so any shippers will be happy about it all.

But as much as I did like KyoHaru I think it was never meant to happen. The iconic bed scene is the most obvious display of that: Haruhi who always ~ sees what’s in everyone’s hearts ~ is like “lol pfft you wouldn’t do a thing” and Kyouya is all “haha what a genius :) you’re something else” and Tamaki comes and sees the scene and goes GRRRR but Kyouya throws a bottle of whatever at him and walks away as if saying “on the other hand this guy right here.. :/ opposite of genius” .

There’s two things about this: first, Kyouya DID say it is fine if only those who care enough get to know who we really are, and at that point he was fully unconcerned with what Haruhi was going to think - he did the evaluation and she just happened to pass it. Secondly, it seems like Tamaki is too dumb to ever get past the evaluation, but it was the same with every other host - he just knocks down the barriers like a dumb wild golden retriever and everyone moves on with their lives. It’s Tamaki’s thing. He ‘d never play the damn game.

For better or for worse. And I think that’s why TamaKyo shippers have a point - people who want a “star-crossed lovers” kind of dynamic will find themselves more at home with TamaKyo because Tamaki mindlessly and effortlessly avoids the game and just knows people intuitively (again, dumb golden retriever lol)  

When Kyouya and Haruhi go on a “date” he is already more honest with her, but even then, their date lacks romance most of all. Then again, that is what people use to explain why Kyouya was also a candidate for Haruhi’s affections (unlike, say, Honey and Mori) which is fair. It makes sense. But the entire point of the date was for Haruhi to go “ohh I get you now” which seems to be in line with Kyouya’s motto of “those who you care about should know you” and shows that he did start caring for her - romantically or ? Up to readers’ interpretations.

In other words, Tamaki is everyone’s favorite dumb golden retriever and Haruhi is everyone’s favorite MPDG (for lack of a better term - the charming girl who appears out of nowhere to change everyone’s lives, but a subversion of the stereotype at least) and that’s not an exclusive Kyouya thing or feeling. It’s just how they are, and this is why the entire club supports them so much.    

But Tamaki will never (be able to) play the damn game for better or for worse, and Haruhi will never be Kyouya’s MPDG for better or for worse (because she simply doesn’t possess traits Kyouya dreams of for a partner ie. pedigree shit) .

____________________________________________________________  

But Honey’s statement (you know, Honey - the see-all, the mature one) implies that Kyouya should have done something about ... something else. Which we are likely to imply that 1) he should’ve told Haruhi his feelings of love for her, or at most 2) he should’ve told Tamaki his feelings of love for him ?? .

Kyouya’s stereotype leads us to believe he is blind to everyone’s feelings but 1) he has Intel (first to know Haruhi’s sex and all that) 2) he really isn’t (the “did you expect he ‘d fall in love?” exchange with Kaoru comes to mind) . Honey implies that he is blind to his own feelings only. But with everything that was going on, he would hardly have been able to remain blind to his own feelings if they involved Haruhi in my opinion - and Tamaki, guess he would but Kyouya doesn’t strike me as the kind whod tell Honey the actual reason why he didn’t go forward with it is that he “doesn’t want to ruin what he found” when what he found is being friendzoned without a fight. That’s not very Kyouya-like. If he thought of himself as the better partner, he would hardly go without a fight. Not being favored not once kept him from trying .. anything really. So we’re meant to believe he found something else. The club’s unity? Or he just thinks TamaHaru is the better couple? Both?    

It’s undeniable that Kyouya loves the club so really, let’s look at it again. He is staring at the four of them going “I’m happy with what I ‘ve found” . Indeed he found the club still together in spite of every instance of kiss kiss fall in hug love that happened in the process and boy, some were messy and that’s what we are supposed to extract from the scene regardless of shipping preferences. Club mommy is happy that the club lives on period.  

Still Honey thinks Kyouya should’ve said something. Whatever it is, it’s a thing that could’ve given them another ending or scene - but does Honey really think Kyouya should’ve been able to get in the way of TamaHaru somehow, which Hikaru didn’t despite all of his desperate attempts? In other words, does he think the part of the scene that would change would be ... the main couple? Or is he actually saying “it wouldn’t change a thing but you should’ve told them” (to the strategist Kyouya of all people) ? Or something else?  

Honey starts the exchange saying “what happened to Kao-chan was unexpected” . And then Kyouya “me, that mamedanuki?” actually kinda surprised - almost offended even, as if Honey had been outrageous! ACTUALLY caught by surprise! - until he gives it a thought and concludes. And then Kyouya explains the reasons he didn’t consider the mamedanuki whoever that is 1) he is looking for a partner with merit for Ootori family 2) he’s happier with this end.      

Merit for family in this context should imply marriage, huh .. when one says marriage in a Japanese setting we are meant to imply a man/woman arrangement so people jumped to the conclusion of “oh yeah, Haruhi” . But broadly speaking it would rule out all four of them - yes it could mean not Haruhi because of her finances but it could mean any man if we’re talking marrying in Japan meaning he could be talking about any of them. Or none of them since Kyouya never explicitly ruled out poor people for relationships (the friendly ones) and the rule shouldn’t be as strict for the half French heirs and he did move to the US (that’s just manga coding for crazy rich asian gay I don’t make the rules) . So moot point. (But of all I guess the twins would bring the least merit anyways .. )

Point two being he is happier with this end, because he acknowledges the mamedanuki as a person but it’s not his thing (heavily implied: kissing kissing falling in love) which takes us back to asking then what is the alt ending .. ?

____________________________________________________________

My opinion is that the part of the scene that’s Tamaki and Haruhi together wouldn’t have changed in any situation. Kyouya gave TamaHaru a much needed push, but it’s not like he sparked the fire - Hikaru did, actually. And Hikaru only did cuz Kaoru did - hence “did you expect him to fall in love?” . Yet Honey is referring to romantic prospects for Kyouya because Kyouya starts talking about partner and marriage and stuff. Again: did Honey seriously think Kyouya could have changed anything about TamaHaru . . ?

With the way Kyouya replies it’s like (he is actually caught by surprise and) it’s someone that wasn’t considered before hardly the girl his best friend caught him on bed with and hardly said best friend “the daddy” and whoever his aim should be is up for grabs because he is “ehh .. could be but yaddayadda” . Yet he is happier with what he got.

Who does Kyouya acknowledge as a person? Judging by the teams he makes whenever there’s a job to get done, well Kaoru. Who would bring the least merit were him to marry anyone there? Still Kaoru (the twins, actually) . And I did explain why mamedanuki could mean Kaoru before. Who was Honey talking about at the beginning of this exchange?  . . .  guess it.

And what did he get, then? Well, if you think about it, at some point things were a mess because Tamaki and Haruhi were oblivious to each other’s feelings and there was some strain in the twins’ relationships to them and to each other. So the four of them couldn’t be together like this. At that point, the twins could’ve been set apart, particularly if Haruhi chose Hikaru, and even though she didn’t Kaoru was lonelier - and if you think about it this was partly Kaoru’s fault too because he realized first “what happens if the both of us like the same thing?” and all so he ended up rushing things. He was selfless, but ultimately quite doomed. The club could’ve ended. During the crisis Kaoru was often left out. During those times Kyouya would pick him (hence Honey’s “so Kao-chan picked Kyo-chan lol?!” )

Soo a lot of bad things could have happened but in the end Tamaki and Haruhi were marrying because both had mutual feelings that couldn’t be set apart by anyone, the twins were still together - albeit having grown up and found out their individuality - and friends with them best of all. So the four of them were happily together. If things had happened any other way, Kaoru would probably feel the guiltiest and loneliest of all. And pretty sure it wasn’t Kyouya’s intention to remove him from that circle either. In other words - if Kyouya and Kaoru were to grow closer Kaoru would be removed from the scene even if all else had gone right so to speak. But Kyouya didn’t actually hold on to Kaoru even though it’s damn obvious he can easily tell the twins apart and thought it was a good thing for them to allow themselves to be different people. But he stepped back as soon as Hikaru found himself annoyed by the lack of Kaoru as if saying “okay you go back now, mission complete” . Treat them as a pack if they want it but only enough so they know they are not.

____________________________________________________________  

And this sir is my compelling argument on why of all people the mamedanuki should mean Kaoru :) if only these little siblings were a little more possessive dammit                                                                                                        

[mzannthropy]

I saw a Daisybilly tweet on Pinterest, and there was a comment saying they were finnick and Annie in another universe, and idk why but I just had to share that bc what? Daisybilly could never be Odesta.

Let me guess, one of Reese Witherspoon book club alumni? 🤣🤣🤣

Okay, I know it's mega deranged--my first reaction was: oh Christ Almighty *headdesk*--but when you look at it from the POV of Realm of Bad Takes on Sam Claflin, it's actually pretty standard. Your ask isn't about Sam, but I hope it's okay that I'm going to make it about Sam, bc he's the reason that person even made the comparison in the first place (as you no doubt deduced yourself, bc he plays both male halves of the ships) and why you had to see it. The biggest downside of being a Sam Claflin fan is other people's comments and opinions and their ignorance of Sam's filmography. This person probably only knows Sam for being Finnick in Hunger Games and now they saw them in DJATS (which would otherwise be fine, not everyone has to watch everything, I've not seen many actors' films either) and unfortunately has no imagination and/or very narrowminded view and so has to look for a connection between those two characters, instead of thinking of them as two different roles that happen to be played by the same actor. (Look, I know I might sound presumptuous, but what the hell am I supposed to think of someone who says a thing like that?) They also sound like someone who only looks at fiction through the lens of shipping only. It's a disservice to Sam and all four of the named characters (and quite an insult to Annie comparing her with Daisy).

I find a lot of parallels in unlikely places, I like parallels. I have a #parallels tag. I understand someone might see patterns where I can't see any, bc I see patterns in things no one else sees. But come on...

Yet there are comparisons you can make between Billy and Daisy and another pairing from Sam's filmography--not one, in fact, but two, Book of Love and Their Finest. In both we have Sam working with a woman in a creative field (novel writing and screenwriting respectively) and them falling in love. I don't lump DJATS in this bc it's a slightly different type of story and, most of all, I fucking hate the d/b ship, as you know, and I like the other two. Also, in neither of these is Sam married or in a relationship with another woman. It's the female half that has a douchy ex-partner/partner; in fact, if in DJATS Billy was unattached and Daisy was involved with guys like Nicky or those creeps from music industry, that would make it a strong parallel. But that was not the DJATS story.

So yeah, that's just what it is like with people and their takes on Sam online. Welcome to Samlandia! *pulls out a chair... actually, are you sure you want to stay, lol?

[stvlti]

Fic writer tag

@silenthillmutual tagged me in this challenge. Cheers! Here are my answers:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Not counting orphaned / anonymous works, I have 48 fics across both accounts

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

168,810 (sum total of both accounts)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

DC comics & related media; Death Note; Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (way way back); Noragami (also way way back).

I used to write RPF too (I was a teenager, of course I did) but I've scrubbed all that from my ao3 profiles.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

top 5 fics not including anonymous ones:

Old aches become new again (DCU | Jason & Dick shenanigans, background Jay/Roy/Kori)

Imposter Syndrome (DCU | JayRoy)

Growing Pains (DCU × The Lego Batman Movie | Dick & Batdad gen fic)

if you can't summon your own tentacles, store-bought is fine (DCU | JayRoy)

the hands that worship you (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch | Colin/Stefan)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always! It might take days weeks or months depending on what I have going on in my life but yeah :) unless it's a hate comment or bad faith criticisms. Oh and comments asking questions that I've already answered in the author's notes or in other comments or in the text itself (which yes, has happened before. I guess it was good for ""engagement "" but it's not stuff I want to explain again and again like a broken record. I'm not paid to do that - unlike at my day job.......)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

🤡 I've written my fair share of dark fics so it's definitely one of those ones. You can DM me if you wanna know but I am not telling on myself here

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Growing Pains, no contest, because it ends with trans acceptance 💚

But I also think happy endings at the end of a high stakes fic are even more rewarding? In which case it would have to be This Mirror Ain't Big Enough For the Two of Us

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have, once, on a genderbend fic. Some guy was outraged I made Jason a girl lol. But hate comments are few and far between for me because I'm not a bnf by any means

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

Yeah. I write a lot of pwps because they're easy. From there I either go into pwp with feelings territory, crack territory or, well, if it's a dark fic...........one of my longest nsfw fics is a Jason Todd/Scarecrow fic. You get the picture. (That one isn't without plot though.)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

Man. I actually once wrote a YouTube RPF x Death Note crossover. iykyk. But out of my surviving fics the only crossover that I still have posted online is a Death Note x DC fic.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've translated other people's fics, but I don't think I've had mine translated by others

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes but that's from before my ao3 days

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Rem x Misa (Death Note). I go through phases of shipping different pairings but Rem x Misa is the one that I can always come back to and write stuff for / look at art about.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My Teen Titans Dark Academia au. And on that note: I don't even know if I'll have the time to come back to writing long fics period. It's been 8 months since I last worked on my Jaime (Blue Beetle)/Eddie (Kid Devil)/Rose Wilson/Traci 13 road trip & interdimensional travel fic...........

16. What are your writing strengths?

My prose when I'm in the mood to write well. Poetry is my main medium these days so I'm very good at throwing in lots of one liners into my prose too.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Trying to pace my story beats and juggle multiple subplots once my projects get into 10K+ / long fic territory.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

As long as the author actually knows what they're doing. The language has to be authentic and not Google Translate gibberish. And then for accessibility's sake they should include the translation either in-text or in the end notes.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

YouTube RPF 😑

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

It's a tie between:

And the encore lasts forever (DCU x Titans TV | trans!Jason/Rose)

Exit Strategy (DCU | Rose Wilson character study)

Tagging @kiseiakhun @thenaphorism @shhhenanigans @smagata @reaperlight @mihaelkeehl or any mutuals who post fics!

[castle-dominion]

c1x9 little girl lost

sdkjfasjkld second last episode, this season was kind of short. Oh so THAT'S what a bear claw it. My family was arguing about bear paws, white claws, monster energy, funnel cakes, elephant ears, beavertails, crepes, croissants, donuts, deep fried croissants that ARE donuts, pate a choux donuts which I think are called cruellers, danishes, & we just didn't know what a bear claw was.

*shoves it in his mouth* Castle is right "only because it's about me"

She's not naked. She's holding a gun... strategically.

Yeah she is in homicide... RM: 'Cause I like pissing off the FBI. And because you think outside the box. That's something the Feebs rarely do. Oh an ex? RC: Actually, I'm not. Who's Sorenson?

Square jaw on this man. Castle just there RC: Writer of wrongs.

Ah yes, kids raised on TV. I mean you might need a few minutes & the TV is a fine babysitter but babe u should have your earbuds OUT.

I just noticed, there was no intro. ig bc there was no murder. I like how this is a child abduction case not just a murder.

True, most abductions are from someone u know or someone related.

KB: Yeah, I know. You were not asking very loudly. I remember the mirror scene in s2.

Ryan with his castle book lol. & she pats him on the shoulder & he's on the phone.

KR: *just talking abt the case* *they all turn to face each other at the desks* RC, physically taken aback: Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!! *espt looks at him sharply, beckett simply watches* RC: Sorry. Sorry about that. That tie took me a little by surprise. *esposito & beckett laugh* KR: Okay. Get it all out. This is a gift from my girlfriend. JE: "Girlfriend"? KB: Already giving gifts, huh? KR: Today's our two-week anniversary. All three: Ooooooooh JE: Two weeks! Is that the paper or the silk? RC: I believe it's the whipped. JE: Good one. KR: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.  Ok uh spoilers for s4 but gyrating jenny? I said two weeks is like maybe one or two dates worth of knowing each other. Mum said no it could be that they went on a date every night & if you only dated once a week it would be comparatively three months of dating. Which ok a quarter year can be a celebration. BUT here's the thing, right now they were I think dating several people each. "I went on a date with her, I went on a date with her, I went on a date with Jenny, I went on a date with him, I went on another date with Jenny, hmm I've given this gal two casual dates maybe it's time we start an actual item." But then why would u get a fortnightversary tie? Maybe bc after casually dating for two weeks u decided to get together properly & that was the gift? But I thought mike/jake was a month into their relationship... Ah well whatever, if they had a non-exclusive relationship (so ig an open relationship) for the first bit then good for them, it brings poly vibes to the relationship & boom fanfic fuel. Anyway ha here we go continuing on. Maybe this is what gets ryan to start wearing ties more often. Btw I saw a fic recently where ryan said his gf got him the tie & esposito was mad bc "I don't mind being called ur gf but I am not taking the blame for that tie" actually it was a vignette per episode for the first season, 100 words each. P good. "If you were having an affair, would your best friend know about it?" ok so espt didn't know ryan had a gal & it's been Two Weeks?

They afford a cleaning lady??? rly??? I hope the bio mom gets to stay in contact with the kid. native kids are disproportionately represented in the system & at least the parents seem to be native too. (Unless they're just (euro)spanish bc spanish ppl can get p dark, unlike my celtic & (not-too-far-east) slavic friends who are white af; & fake tans are in right now. Have you ever seen those quizzes where they cover a fellow's face & u have to guess whether she is black or has an aggressive tan? Yeah I thought the kardashians were black for ages before someone told me they were white. Like one time at a lake in the summer one of my neighbours had a tan but throughout the day at the beach he darkened up; I saw a black man out of the corner of my eye but when i did a double take it was my white neighbour. I was like woah u look more black than some of my black friends. anyways i'm kind of hoping that the adopted parents are native bc, well, icwa & all that)

Good voice change ig But you need proof of life. She has a very wide mouth WS: It's not about what you say. It's about controlling the situation. Controlling the emotions. He is not wrong RC: Must be fate.

Weird breakroom shots here. Where are they...? Good for him, painting during stress is a good way to cope. Guy lost his kids? Yeah I can see this

At least rick settles the argument for them, going to observe instead XD castle

KB: Mr. Ellers, Detective Kate Beckett. NYPD. WS: Special Agent Sorenson, FBI. JE: *looks meaningfully at ryan but my social skills aren't as good as maybe they should be so idk what it means* The spinny spin is not too much but... it is a bit nauseating... just a bit

Castle they need to check either way. WS: A couple dozen best-sellers doesn't make you a criminologist. RC: I also don't need a weatherman to tell me that the sky is blue. (we watched this when the sky was orange from smoke & now I'm watching it right after the sky was green from smoke & refraction) KB: Oh, for godsakes, why don't you both just drop your pants and get it over with? RC: I'm ga...me. Point for the castle queer headcanons (Makes me wonder why beckett didn't say that to rysposito during the dirty dozen names for suspects battle. I read a fanfic abt that the other day. Actually I think it was the same vignette-per-episode fic I mentioned earlier.)

Well that was nice, I wasn't able to start my castle binge watch very early bc mum had an online interview, then she left for an ultrasound, (I started my castle watch) & then she came back home for lunch & we started a puzzle together. It was very nice. Now she's off to work & I already did some chores while she was home so I'm free to finish castle s1, possibly plus commentary versions!

Castle being good for once. He KNOWS she needs him to go home & he wants to argue but he checks first & then finds out he needs to give her space, but then he still tells her to call him if she needs.

MR, leaning back in rick's office chair: I mean the source of your power. *raises hands* The source of your power, Todd, is you. *She points to him with both hands* At least rick is somewhat playing along lol

Oh i see the weird little dog thing I love her 'isms. RC: How is it that you don't know who my father is, you don't know how your ex-husband stole all your money, yet you are giving life-coaching advice? Freud was not the father of psychology he was the senile grandfather Rick goes to hug alexis not martha lmao *spins her around all full of fatherly love*

Poached eggs are not my fave to make diner style XP Over-easy XD Oh fun fact technically there is a difference between over-easy & over soft. Over easy is: sunny side up; flip, one two, off. Over soft is when you flip the egg & wait for it to get to the soft stage; over medium is when the yolk is somewhat set, & over hard is when the yolk is completely set. Most people don't actually distinguish it tho.

btw beckett outfit update: weird jackett. it's nice it just has some stuff going on. typical detective coat.

He's kind of sweet here. I feel bad for beckett, she liked him but he had to keep moving & this seems like it happens her her, well, more than rarely. Will had to leave, Tom she broke up with, Josh had to leave but then returned then she broke up with him... RC: Oh! I thought cops and Feds hated each other. RC: They say justice never sleeps. I think I know why. KB: We were just, uh... RC: Being consenting adults. I'm not judging.

RC: I did go home, but then my mother told me something that couldn't wait. WS, thinking he lives with his mom, not that his mom lives with him: You live with your mother? RC: Yeah. Apparently, we're peas in a pod. But the important point is, Angela's adopted.

Yeah! Most abductions are from someone the kid knows. RC: Is that supposed to be an insult? Because Nancy Drew solved every case. 

Hm, Gomez is a spanish sounding last name, the kid looks latine, but lucia looks way less native than I thought. Love how she proves it by pulling out her driver's license Oh juan is def a spanish name.

Love how ryspocastle just drives up out of nowhere. Yep boy could be native, but again, could also be tanned & spanish. Their kid tho, angela looks way more native than either of them

The most real guy on the show: Look, in my neighborhood, when you see a cop - that's what you do. KR: ach Can you believe this? He details cars for a living. He could have a little more pride in his ride. *envelopes fall from the visor when he wipes it; he holds his arms up slightly* Wow it IS a pissing match.

he was 18? she said she was a junior? idk what USA stuff is. k she would have been 16 turning 17. that fits with half plus seven we good. Tho the legal ability does create a power differential. Then again, my first relationship was technically outside the half plus seven rule until my birthday Poor kid. He's so young. Support our troop: Bring Them Home.

Oof kid was already dead...

I've seen this episode before but in my head it is TWO different episodes Was the canvas strong enough to break the vase?

I am so glad for captions civillian, not parent Why is the kid's voice not distorted?

Hire mercs? Castle <3 cop privilege, non-cop privilege. Halfsies. Castle nonebiney moments.

*pats herself with the rabbit* lol cold hands. Beckett: it's for nikki heat you're a homicide detective, you KNOW that ppl get coined for murder if they make death threats.

KB: We don't have to read you, we can see you. Now shut up and focus. Lol castle & his spy jargon Fan as in book fan or as in u see her crush? Ah book fan Oh he's such a flirt. LMAO CASTLE I like their cell phones rn, & soon they end up with touchscreen phones & it's so modern instead of being nostalgic. I'm too dumb for that. Cross the street which way? "correct"

Me: knowing how it works The ppl walking around: none have the "art instillation" yet & then there was ONE guy & now there are A Hundred. Why don't they look into buying records of the backpacks? Who bought two dozen backpacks for an art thing?

Me: knowing what happens The mom: looks upset

Love rain. & that's a cool boat. Rick castle maximalist moments. AC: What did Beckett tell you about taking phone photos at the crime scene? RC: I don't know, I wasn't listening. you can get repairs done on stuffies yk...

Or maybe angela took the bunny with her just cuz

See? it IS mostly from ppl who know them. baby so chill getting picked up by a stranger Beckett <3

I speak enough french to know that he said mi coeurason (idk how to spell) & it means "my heart" I think. Is it that hard to write it into the captions?

Mom could be in shock (except I know) Mom could at least fake it to pretend she's happy the kid is back.

Does the husband want to be here for this?

I understand where she is coming from ig... Yeah he should not have had the music loud, I really can understand where she is coming from... & tbh that was a good idea if it worked...

like bro this is so sad

Beckett's hair is slowly getting longer, I don't mind it, it's nice. RC: Yeah, he's like the male you. Ying needs Yang, not another Ying. Ying-Yang is harmony, but Ying-Ying is... a name for a panda.

KB: That's why it's called "private life." Because it's private. Unlike you, I don't live my life on Page Six.

k so beckett has a desk & then there is another desk on the other side of hers & it has a computer so obv it's SOMEONE's desk, but whose?

[engagedtobefree]

Chris

I guess it’s time to talk about my dental hygienist.

Back last year my old dentist, who I wanted to get rid of a for awhile, called to cancel my appointment because they were short-staffed and it would be a year and a half wait for my cleaning. That prompted me to finally look for a new place. I wanted to go somewhere with an oral surgeon because I needed something looked at, and I narrowed it down to two places. Sat on it for awhile before finally picking the one that just gave me an overall better feeling about it.

My first appointment I had x-rays, an evaluation, and talked with the oral surgeon. My second appointment was only a few weeks later, toward the end of October. I show up in a sweater and skinny jeans, with my glasses on and my hair up in a big bun. I think I’m just here to get a cleaning and go home, with nothing really significant at all happening in between those two things. Boy, was I wrong. I get called back and walk up to the hygienist, who is holding the door for me. I don’t remember looking right at him because I saw him do a double-take when I get closer, and my first instinct is to just pretend I don’t notice whenever a guy appears interested in me. I’d much rather just be left alone and not have to deal with anything, unless of course I also happen to have an interest in the other person, which is rare.

So we go back to the room and my hygienist introduces himself as Chris. He offers to take my bag and hang it up for me, but I already put it on the floor and I tell him the floor is fine. He makes a comment, something like, “My grandma would roll in her grave if she saw you do that.” It seems he’s a little shocked by my complete lack of concern lol. Chris is really friendly and immediately just starts talking with me. He has on Corpse Bride on his little tv, and he makes me laugh twice in probably the first 2 minutes of me being in the chair. He asks me all sorts of questions and actually pulls out of my mouth so I can answer him, which is unlike any other cleaning I’ve ever been to. We have a bunch of shared interests, like Halloween, comics, and he also does some yoga, and I find talking to him is really easy and calming. I notice he has a sort of glow about him, like the energy around him is pure and light. At one point I actually see a light coming from him, one that’s so bright that it obscures some of the room. This intrigues me. I’ve never met a man with this type of energy before. I’ve never met anyone with this type of energy before. Then Chris asks me how old I am. I get the impression that this isn’t something he asks everyone. I tell him I’m 30 and he’s absolutely shocked, “You’re thirty?!?”. I look over at him and see his brown eyes go wide. I turn back and he leans forward to work on my mouth again, but then I burst out with excitement, “Oh no, wait! I’m 31! I forgot. I just had my birthday.” I wonder how old he is, but I don’t ask. He seems to be around my age, but he has had a mask on the whole time, so it’s really hard for me to tell. He asks me where I live and I think he also asks if I live with anyone (or maybe I just voluntarily give him that info). He doesn’t ask in a creepy way, but I also get the impression that again, he’s asking for a reason. I tell him where I live and that it’s just me and my cat. When Chris is done, he goes over to a cabinet to give me stuff to take home, but I decline since I use eco-friendly products at home. He says he feels bad to let me leave without anything, and then I get the urge to flirtily ask if I could leave with his number. I’m not sure I even say anything back to him because I’m just so surprised at what is going on inside of me at the moment. He walks me out to the check-out desk, and I start to feel really disappointed that I can’t keep talking with him. When I get out to my car, I send a Snapchat video to my two best friends telling them how great my dental hygienist was. I have this strange feeling that I’ve never felt before, as if we are the same, like he’s me and I’m him, but that we are still separate individuals. I don’t know what to make of that. When my friend Stacy responds, she says he was into me and that I should date him. I insist it was just friend vibes. I know that I’m lying, but I feel super conflicted. At this point in time, I am still waiting around for Scott, but I barely hear from him anymore and I have been feeling very dissatisfied with our dynamic for a long time now. 

As soon as I get home, I try to look Chris up. I don’t have any luck finding him on any social media sites and I feel bummed about it. I look up reviews about the dental office and find a handful of ones mentioning Chris and how great he was, which actually makes my heart sink. Was I just imagining things? Was I picking up on the wrong vibes? I’ve never been wrong about someone being into me before, but there’s still a chance I could be wrong. For the time being, I push him out of my mind. He trickles back in here and there, but I just keep pushing him back down.

Some time in December, he keeps persistently crossing my mind, so I decide to try to look him up again. This time, I do some serious hardcore digging. I am determined to find this man. I keep telling myself I would find him so I could see what he looks like, lose interest, and then get on with my life. Welp, my life had other plans for me because when I do finally find him, I find that I am very attracted to him. This isn’t something that normally happens for me. Objectively, I can acknowledge someone is attractive and not really care beyond that. I’ll just get on with my day. But there is the super, incredibly rare, almost non-existent phenomenon where I am actually attracted to another person, and Chris happens to cause that to happen for me. He’s also very conventionally attractive, which makes it even more rare that I am so attracted to him, because I don’t usually find myself going for people like that. So the odds of me being physically attracted to this man were like a 0.01%, but it happened. It fucking happened. So now I have this dilemma where not only am I completely attracted to his personality and energy, but I’m also physically attracted to him. 

I find he’s in a band, so I watch a few of their videos. There’s some where Chris and bandmates are talking, and I can tell by his voice that I have the right person. This is not a drill. He’s even more mesmerizing seeing him talking and laughing in the videos. 

I remember that the dental office sent me a feedback questionnaire after my appointment, and I didn’t bother filling it out. I think about submitting it, but again, I’m conflicted. At this point, Scott and I are just no longer happening, but I’m still holding onto hope. But then, it doesn’t feel right to not pursue this. After a few days of sitting on it, I decide to submit the questionnaire. I have no idea if Chris will see it, but I decide it can’t hurt to try. I answer the multiple choice questions and then when I get to the last part, where you can write in anything, I mention Chris. I only write two sentences, and I don’t remember the second one, though I think it’s just a general comment about the office. My first sentence was along the lines of, “Chris was really sweet and left a great impression :)”. It’s basic enough where if someone else reads it, they won’t think much of it, but if Chris reads it, he might. 

I spend the next few months just going about my life, and working on moving forward from Scott. When it gets closer to April, I start to get nervous. What if I read things wrong? What if Chris doesn’t have an interest in me? I start to look at all his stuff online again, and I keep thinking about just our brief interactions and how much I got out of them. I decide that I will just read the vibes when I see him next and then go from there. I assume since he’s working I will need to make the first move and ask for his number if I get the impression again that he may also be into me. 

Just like before, I have x-rays and a follow-up with the oral surgeon a few weeks before my next appointment with Chris. That was this past Tuesday. They had called me a few hours before to tell me Chris had an opening that day before my scheduled appointment if I wanted to come in for my cleaning sooner, but I have stuff to do beforehand and I don’t feel quite ready yet, so I decline. When I get there, I go up to the front desk and Chris isn’t at the other computer like he was for my previous two appointments (both times he said how our last names were similar lol). I sit in the waiting room and after about half an hour, Chris comes out to get someone. I nearly jump out of my seat when I hear his voice. I keep looking at him, then away, then back at him, and away again. He has on his mask again, but the rest of him is very nice to look at. He doesn’t appear to see me. My heart sinks. Okay, maybe he just doesn’t know I’m here. He might’ve even forgotten about me, but I didn’t actually expect him to remember me anyway, just for me to hopefully refresh his memory when he sees me again. I remind myself to just trust myself, and that I’ll make all the right choices here. It’s another half hour before I’m called back. As I head through the door with the woman who called me, Chris rounds the corner up ahead, bringing his patient back out front. I stop to untwist my bag, and when I turn forward and start walking again, Chris is pretty close. I can’t help but closed-lip smile, and I can feel it reach my eyes. I look over at him and he’s already looking at me, and we lock eyes as we pass each other. His eyes show me that he’s smiling at me too. My insides go ”!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. Any shred of doubt I had completely dissipates. Chris remembers me. He knew I would be here today and he is definitely interested in me. This is better than I even imagined.

I get into the little x-ray room and talk with the woman who brought me back. It’s a tiny room, really the size of maybe two or three closets. About two minutes later, Chris comes up behind me and hangs in the doorway. He asks if the machine is working okay now and says he’s the one who fixed it. Him and the other women talk back and forth briefly, and I look back and forth between them as they talk. My eyes finally stop to rest of Chris, taking him in and waiting to see what he does when he walks back out. When he does turn to leave, he turns towards me and we lock eyes again. I wish I could know what he’s thinking. I don’t see him again before I leave, but the brief encounters really shift everything for me. I also got the impression that I may not even need to be the one to ask for his number. I thought because he was working that he might not take that chance so I’d have to be the one to, but when we locked eyes in the hallway I got a really strong vibe from him that he will actually go for it when the time comes. 

And so now, I am literally counting the days until my next appointment (as of right now: just under 16!) so that all this can get set into motion. I know that I don’t really have much to go off of, but I can tell Chris is a really great guy, and I just have such a good feeling about him. I have never had that feeling before about a man. Just being confident in knowing he is a great person is such a new thing for me to experience. I am working hard in my own life to be the best I can be, and to be completely open to something new, and in a short amount of time, I feel like I’ve made huge progress in both those areas. I feel so aligned with everything that is happening right now, and I have the absolute best feeling about this man. I hope my next update about him is even better than this one.

[mar-the-magician]

Studying For Entry Exams With A Sweet Fae Friend

I’m alive, I swear I’m alive!!!!! It has been… like, two months since I posted a chapter of Layered Realms. Apologies for that— life decided to kick my ass in every possible way around mid July and things are only just recently settling into place more. But!!!!!!! Now I can actually guarantee at least somewhat regular uploads, because I have a chapter’s worth of buffer! And yes, heheheheh, that does mean I am sitting on an entire chapter that none of you have seen yet 😏

Also, I’m aware that I gained about thirty-odd followers during the period of time that I didn’t post anything about LR, so if you’re reading this thinking “What the fuck is Layered Realms?” Then here’s your explanation! It’s an original story of mine, and here’s where you can get more info about it!

Cw/Tw: Character is depicted kind of spiraling, not really having a panic attack but something along those lines. Other than that, I think we’re good!

Now that all of that is out of the way, I’ll stop talking your ear off and let you get reading! Chapter six, part six of Layered Realms, part five of A Traveler’s Tale.

Studying For Entry Exams With A Sweet Fae Friend 

I shoved the books, pamphlets, and articles farther away from me on the table and collapsed my head into my arms. None of this was sticking in my head, and it didn’t make any sense. I was exhausted, my brain was foggy, and I’d been working at this for hours now. These materials all seemed custom-made for people who had grown up knowing about magic, and all they really needed was a light refresher on the basics and to then delve deeper into the more obscure things that would be on the entry exams. I needed much more than a refresher on the basics, I needed an entire mastercourse. There was no way I was going to pass those tests. And then what would happen? I might not get to see Eris or Amir or Hedera ever again, and I would just have this knowledge and these books and materials that I spent way too much money on and time on, and it would all be—

I heard clomping nearby. It sounded like it was right outside my kitchen door. 

“What the…” I approached the door and peeked out.

“Eris?!” I swung open the door immediately. Unlike when I’d last seen him in the forest, he had that illusion spell or whatever it was over his legs. Granted, not as bad as a kid with goat or deer or whatever legs standing right out in broad daylight, but they still looked wonky. 

“Eris, what are you doing here?” I hissed, dragging him inside. He flashed a silly grin at me.

“I heard Amir and Hedera talking and Hedera was asking him to send you something, but he said you’d probably be stressed with studying so he’d wait. I didn’t want you to be stressed! So I came to find you!”

“How did you even—“ I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Never mind. Does anyone even know where you are??” His face fell.

“Ooh… I should have thought of that, shouldn’t I…” ‘Oh no you made the child sad, you made the child sad you idiot—‘

“I hope I didn’t worry anybody, I don’t want them to be scared for me—“

“It’s okay, buddy, I can text Amir, remember? And he can tell Hedera and anyone else who needs to know. It’s gonna be fine.” I reassured him, ruffling his curls. I walked back into my main living room, motioning him to follow. His eyes widened at the pile of printed materials on my table and I laughed a little.

“Amir was right about that, I am stressed.” I snatched my phone from on top of a book about how commanders influenced history without being found out as magic users (one of the only ones that had made some semblance of sense), went to messages, and scrolled.

‘Just in case no one knows, Eris is with me. he came to cheer me up lol’

‘Ah, excellent. Thank you for telling me Traveler— I had a pretty good guess, but it’s good to know for sure. Now Hedera won’t bite my head off. 😂’

‘😂

does he need to be back by a certain time?’

‘Just don’t keep him too long. I’ll let you know if Hedera says otherwise, though. I can come pick him up and just teleport home with him when you’re done.’

‘sounds like a plan!’

I turned back to Eris.

“Amir knows where you are now, and he says you can stay for a little bit!”

“Yay!” He scrunched up his cheeks till they nearly closed his eyes, and pulled his shoulders right up next to his ears. 

“Amir’ll come get you when it’s time to go. Until then, what do you want to do? I can put off studying for a few hours to destress, I suppose…”

Eris widened his eyes almost comically.

“Oh no Traveler! You still gotta study! You have exams in a couple days! I was just hoping I could make the studying itself less stressful…” I sighed.

“Okay then, buddy. How do you plan on doing that?” I sat back down and patted the seat next to me. He scrambled over to be next to me and had a quick look over the books. 

“The way Hedera always tells it to me is like this: when you have an overwhelming project or problem, the first thing you gotta do is break it down to ‘manageable chunks.’ Then you just take the chunks one at a time, and you’re done before you know it! It’s like cutting up your food before you eat it!”

“I guess that makes sense…” I sighed. Eris smiled at me.

“And… this is my wisdom, so don’t take it quite as seriously, but if I can make it pretty and fun, I think it makes it feel better even when you’re doing hard things.”

“How would you suggest we do that?”

“First off, Traveler, you should drink water and get yourself a lil’ snack.” He commanded firmly. “Amir always says he can’t focus with an empty stomach.” I rolled my eyes and barely contained a sigh. ‘Does Eris even know what Amir eats?’

“Okay, little man.” He followed me around the kitchen as I assembled a bowl of fruit and yoghurt, ate it, and filled a canteen with ice and water.

“Yay!” He said as we settled back in at the table.

“Now. Do you have cute stickers and writing pads?” He asked with big, shiny eyes.

“Mm— somewhere…” I remembered one of my friends had given me a bunch of cute office and study supplies back when we thought I was actually going to have enough money to go college right away.

“Hang on.” I got up and began rummaging in one of my drawers. Somewhere in here, maybe at the very bottom—

“Here we go!”  I tossed the pack of notecards and stickers onto the table in front of us.

“Yay!” Eris clapped his hands and and eagerly attacked the plastic shrink-wrap. 

“These are cute! Okay, now try breaking this problem into chunks?” He looked over the whole stack of materials and singled out the example problems sheets.

“This seems like it’d be important. Is it actually the way that the tests are gonna be?”

“As far as I can tell.” I shrugged. He nodded.

“Okay. Maybe make a list of what’s asked in these questions?” My eyes widened.

“Oh my word, how did I not think of that?” He giggled.

“Sometimes a fresh mind and a fresh pair of eyes are all you need!”

“I’ll say!” I grabbed a gel pen and a lined notepad with rainbow bubbles on it to start making that list. Eris laid a gentle hand on my arm.

“I… I think you should read through all the problems first, then go back to the beginning and start writing things down.” I gave him a grateful smile.

“You’re a lifesaver, in more ways than one.”

“It’s no problem, really! I like to help!” He smiled so big that his eyes closed.

The problems were just as confusing before, but I carefully read through every word, taking note of repeated concepts. I made it to about problem seven before I started breathing heavier, thinking once again of just how out of my depth I was, and how hard it would be to pass those exams, and there might be intimidating people there, and I only had a few days left to prepare and—

Eris gently head-butted me, nuzzling into my shoulder.

“Take a drink of water?” His words were muffled in my sleeve. I stared down at him.

“Why?”

“You’re getting all caught up in your fears. Amir says water distracts you from your thoughts and makes you focus on the action of drinking. Maybe it’ll pull you out of your head. Take a drink of water. For me?” My hand shook a little as I reached for the canteen and brought it up to my mouth. I focused on the cold water moving across my tongue, then into my throat, and how the muscles in my neck and throat felt while I swallowed. It was so cold that I could feel as it went down my esophagus and into my stomach. I slowly set the canteen back down. As soon as I did, Eris locked his arms around my opposite shoulder, going under one arm and over the other. 

“You can do it,” he whispered. I felt my heart squeeze.

“Thank you, kiddo.”

I managed to make it to problem nineteen before Eris butted me again and motioned toward the canteen. I huffed at my own sensitivity. 

“Don’t feel bad about it! I don’t even understand half of these words! It’s definitely hard, and that makes sense. I’m just tryna help with that.”

“I know, but I wish could just— deal with my problems like a normal person.” Eris turned his head up to me with upturned eyebrows and wide eyes. They were hazel at this angle. 

“I don’t think there’s any… normal people. Hedera always tells me there’s no wrong way to deal with your problems as long as you’re not hurting anyone.” I made a helpless face.

“I guess— ugh, I guess you’re right.” He just held me tighter.

“You got this.” 

Every so many problems, Eris had to remind me to drink or take some breaths. By the fifth correction, I was getting used to it, and the next time I felt overwhelmed, I did it without him asking me. He smiled and nuzzled further into my shoulder. 

“How many are there?”

“Forty-five.” I said, a miserable undertone in my voice.

“Hey, you’re gonna be good! Don’t worry! I’m here to be your friend, and you can start on the list as soon you get there. You just wanna read it twice so that you makes sure you don’t miss anything important.”

“I know, little guy. Thank you.” It took us a while, but we finally, finally made it to question forty-five. I already had about five themes and concepts that had stuck out to me because of how often they were repeated, so I put those first at the top of the list.

“1. All human magic users are classified as one race, “commanders”, regardless of  affiliation.

2. Humans without natural command who practice manufactured command are called “practitioners” (and that’s what I am)

3. Since I’m gunning for the practitioners’ classes, I’ll mainly need to know about their methods. The main methods are; specific, complex hand movements; drawing diagrams, sigils, transmutation circles, glyphs, and runes; combining reagents as components, sort of like a potion; and the spoken word.

4. All the other types of visual magic are made up of runes, which originate from the demon and fae written languages, as well as drawing from draconic, aquatic (which is apparently mermaid language), and the ‘evocative languages’ of other magical races. The spoken word magic also draws on these resources.

5. Commanders, fae, demons, and other beings with a natural command over a magical force, all draw magic from their own realm. No matter where they currently are, their energy is intertwined with the magic of their own realm, and they channel it through themselves by directing their energy. Practitioners use outside methods of channeling the energy around them. That means whatever realm they’re in, that is what they are drawing magic from.”

I looked down at my handiwork with at least some measure of satisfaction.

“I’d say that covers the most important bits. Now I can try to work on some nuances…” Eris shook his head vigorously.

“You should find where these facts are talked about in your books and articles and stuff and go back over those parts. Highlight them with something pretty! Copy them off onto your notes! Make sure you know all those parts really well! Then you can try to work on some— smaller thingies.” I sighed.

“I guess so…”

“Take a drink of water now— in fact, maybe you should have some sweet drink to celebrate!” I smiled.

“That sounds nice.” He grinned big and pretty at me. 

“Hang on, I can make you some tea! Meantimes, maybe work on your five facts. You could give yourself a sticker you like for each one you feel like you really learn!”

“Will do, captain!” I flashed him a grin. The hopeless, emotionally dead feeling in my chest and the pit of my stomach was conspicuously lacking. 

“Just don’t burn the kitchen down,” I remembered to caution as I turned back to the books.

“I’m not gonna!” He protested. 

“I know how to make tea, Hedera and I pretty much live off it.”

“But do you know how to work a stove?” He fumbled for a second.

“We-ell, no, n-not exactly… but Amir has told me how they work before!”

“I do not trust you not to hurt yourself, my friend—“ I got up and dragged the book I was working on with me to the kitchen, supervising Eris as he very exaggeratedly and slowly, to prove that he knew exactly what he was doing, set my little heat-proof glass kettle on the stove, filled it with water, and started it. Then he pulled from his brown leather satchel at his waist, which I hadn’t even noticed he still had on him, a little pouch of dried leaves.

“Hedera and I grow these as magic practice, so some of them are a little funny sometimes, but these are the nice ones.” He informed me as he got down two mugs for us. He swiveled his head around the kitchen and then asked

“Do you have any cloths that you don’t mind getting a lil’ bit stained?”

“Sure,” I motioned to the cupboard where I kept my rags. “Just pick the most beat-up looking ones.”

He lined the mugs with two raggedy cloths and crushed the leaves into the bottoms of them. 

“There we go! Now we can drain the tea leaves out when they’re done steeping.”

“Mmm.” I smiled at him.

“Thank you.” He grinned, silly and sideways. 

“You don’t have to thank me, Traveler! I wanted to do it!”

“I know but—“ the water for the tea started boiling. Eris placed a finger over my lips, effectively shutting me up.

“Shhh! Okay, now I gotta take care of this.”

Careful not to touch the hot parts, he took the kettle by the handle and poured the hot water into the mugs. 

Once the tea leaf fragments were drained, Eris had somehow managed to turn the bitter leaf water into something delectable with sweetener and cream, and we sat at the table sipping our little “health potions” as I began thinking of them. (Though to be honest, I thought it might actually be a health potion at first— it made me feel that much better.) After he finished his warm drink, Eris got even more cuddly than before, squishing his cheek against me and closing his eyes. Soon enough, I heard his breathing grow more and more slow and even until he was almost snoring softly. He’d fallen asleep with his arms locked around me. I looked down at his calm, peaceful face and smiled, pressing a small kiss to the top of his head. It helped to have him close, breathing a slow, calming rhythm against my side, his warmth almost like a constant reminder to slow down and take it a little easier. Take a breath and a step back if need be. For the first time that day, I actually got into the zone. Time didn’t seem real as I lost myself in the materials, taking pages after pages of notes, marking down and tabling for later the things that didn’t make sense at first so as not to lose my rhythm. 

It was quite the shock when I finally set down my pen and looked at the time. And looking out the window I saw that it was already getting dark. Careful not to wake Eris, I reached over half the table with my ink-covered dominant hand and grabbed my phone. 

‘Eris is asleep— think it’s about time to come get him?’ 

It took a few minutes to get a response. As I waited I gently stroked Eris’ hair and stared pensively out the window, and then a notification with Amir’s nickname popped up on my locked screen again.

‘I think so

Hedera would probably prefer him back before the sun goes down completely’ 

‘Seems reasonable’

‘I’ll just teleport to you, if that’s alright— address?’

I sent him my address.

I gently shook Eris’ shoulder to wake him.

“Amir’s gonna be here soon to take you home, buddy…” he blinked hazily and continued clinging to my arm as I stood up.

“Mm, okay…” I grabbed my phone and half-led, half-dragged Eris through my kitchen.  Whipping out the phone, I texted

‘I’ll just come out to the front with him’ to Amir and opened the door to find him standing there. Despite the recent less-than-autumnal weather, he was wearing a pair of black leggings and a warm maroon sweater that had glittery strands woven into the rest of the fabric, a heart cutout, and sleeves that billowed out before being sharply cut off by a wrist cuff of fabric. He tapped his ankle-length boot.

“Well, aren’t you going to come out to the front?” I rolled my eyes.

“Front, I’m gay.” I said in a monotone. He golf-clapped at me. Smug bastard.

“Very good, very good.” He held out his arms for the still half-asleep Eris, and his whole snarky demeanor changed. He leaned down and cocked his head.

“Hey buddy… you ready to go home? Did you have a nice time with our Traveler?” Eris nodded drowsily.

“They did so good… I think I helped a lil’ bit…”

“You helped bunches, kiddo.” I reassured him, awkwardly snaking my arm out from his grip and allowing Amir to wrap his arms around him and hold him close. He looked so peaceful, cheek squished and hands nestled against Amir’s side. 

“You’re a lifesaver.” I whispered to him.

“Get much done?” Amir smiled at us both. I laughed softly.

“I think I absorbed more actual knowledge in the time he was here than I did in the whole day and half I tried to study before.” 

“He took a looooong nap, huh?” He said, looking at how out-of-it Eris was. I nodded, smiling at him.

“Almost three hours.”

“He’s really taken a liking to you,” he slid an arm under Eris’ legs, which looked significantly less human than they had when he arrived. I waved.

“Bye, little friend!” 

“Eris, oh Eris… your glamour could use some work,” he clicked his tongue. 

“So that’s what his illusion spell is called!” 

“Mhm,” Amir nodded, seeming distracted. He drew a circle in the ground with his toe, like he was planning something out— then he nodded and a low, nasal hum emanated from him. It felt like a solid something passed through me, and I cocked my head at Amir.

“What was that?” Amir winked at me.

“Demons are oft purported to be uncannily good at warding. I just warded this whole area— after all, if you’re going to be learning magic, you may have a mishap or two, and it would be awful if a neighbor were to hear of it or see it.”

“I haven’t even gotten in yet…” I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Oh, but you will~!” He and Eris disappeared, the dim light revealing a small spark left in their wake. I watched as it dissipated with the last of the day’s sun. The sunsets were coming earlier and earlier these days. Finally, I went back inside and closed my door. I still had work to do.

…Apologies for the lore dump… anyway…

I’m not gonna lie, I had some trouble with this one! Big shoutout to BFF for helping me figure out what felt so wrong about the writing at first and thus leading me to fix it! Also she wants me to remind all of you that she has laid a claim on all of the LR characters and they are all hers! 😂

Thank you very much for reading! Next upload will be exactly one week from now! And I can actually guarantee that this time! 😅

[the-realms-master]

Studying For Entry Exams With A Sweet Fae Friend

I’m alive, I swear I’m alive!!!!! It has been… like, two months since I posted a chapter of Layered Realms. Apologies for that— life decided to kick my ass in every possible way around mid July and things are only just recently settling into place more. But!!!!!!! Now I can actually guarantee at least somewhat regular uploads, because I have a chapter’s worth of buffer! And yes, heheheheh, that does mean I am sitting on an entire chapter that none of you have seen yet 😏

Also, I’m aware that I gained about thirty-odd followers during the period of time that I didn’t post anything about LR, so if you’re reading this thinking “What the fuck is Layered Realms?” Then here’s your explanation! It’s an original story of mine, and here’s where you can get more info about it!

My Original Story— What’s Going On?!

Hi, I’m Mar! Nice to meet you all! If you’re reading this, it’s probably because of my recent Layered Realms post. You’re here for an explan

TUMBLR

Cw/Tw: Character is depicted kind of spiraling, not really having a panic attack but something along those lines. Other than that, I think we’re good!

Now that all of that is out of the way, I’ll stop talking your ear off and let you get reading! Chapter six, part six of Layered Realms, part five of A Traveler’s Tale.

Studying For Entry Exams With A Sweet Fae Friend 

I shoved the books, pamphlets, and articles farther away from me on the table and collapsed my head into my arms. None of this was sticking in my head, and it didn’t make any sense. I was exhausted, my brain was foggy, and I’d been working at this for hours now. These materials all seemed custom-made for people who had grown up knowing about magic, and all they really needed was a light refresher on the basics and to then delve deeper into the more obscure things that would be on the entry exams. I needed much more than a refresher on the basics, I needed an entire mastercourse. There was no way I was going to pass those tests. And then what would happen? I might not get to see Eris or Amir or Hedera ever again, and I would just have this knowledge and these books and materials that I spent way too much money on and time on, and it would all be—

I heard clomping nearby. It sounded like it was right outside my kitchen door. 

“What the…” I approached the door and peeked out.

“Eris?!” I swung open the door immediately. Unlike when I’d last seen him in the forest, he had that illusion spell or whatever it was over his legs. Granted, not as bad as a kid with goat or deer or whatever legs standing right out in broad daylight, but they still looked wonky. 

“Eris, what are you doing here?” I hissed, dragging him inside. He flashed a silly grin at me.

“I heard Amir and Hedera talking and Hedera was asking him to send you something, but he said you’d probably be stressed with studying so he’d wait. I didn’t want you to be stressed! So I came to find you!”

“How did you even—“ I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Never mind. Does anyone even know where you are??” His face fell.

“Ooh… I should have thought of that, shouldn’t I…” ‘Oh no you made the child sad, you made the child sad you idiot—‘

“I hope I didn’t worry anybody, I don’t want them to be scared for me—“

“It’s okay, buddy, I can text Amir, remember? And he can tell Hedera and anyone else who needs to know. It’s gonna be fine.” I reassured him, ruffling his curls. I walked back into my main living room, motioning him to follow. His eyes widened at the pile of printed materials on my table and I laughed a little.

“Amir was right about that, I am stressed.” I snatched my phone from on top of a book about how commanders influenced history without being found out as magic users (one of the only ones that had made some semblance of sense), went to messages, and scrolled.

‘Just in case no one knows, Eris is with me. he came to cheer me up lol’

‘Ah, excellent. Thank you for telling me Traveler— I had a pretty good guess, but it’s good to know for sure. Now Hedera won’t bite my head off. 😂’

‘😂

does he need to be back by a certain time?’

‘Just don’t keep him too long. I’ll let you know if Hedera says otherwise, though. I can come pick him up and just teleport home with him when you’re done.’

‘sounds like a plan!’

I turned back to Eris.

“Amir knows where you are now, and he says you can stay for a little bit!”

“Yay!” He scrunched up his cheeks till they nearly closed his eyes, and pulled his shoulders right up next to his ears. 

“Amir’ll come get you when it’s time to go. Until then, what do you want to do? I can put off studying for a few hours to destress, I suppose…”

Eris widened his eyes almost comically.

“Oh no Traveler! You still gotta study! You have exams in a couple days! I was just hoping I could make the studying itself less stressful…” I sighed.

“Okay then, buddy. How do you plan on doing that?” I sat back down and patted the seat next to me. He scrambled over to be next to me and had a quick look over the books. 

“The way Hedera always tells it to me is like this: when you have an overwhelming project or problem, the first thing you gotta do is break it down to ‘manageable chunks.’ Then you just take the chunks one at a time, and you’re done before you know it! It’s like cutting up your food before you eat it!”

“I guess that makes sense…” I sighed. Eris smiled at me.

“And… this is my wisdom, so don’t take it quite as seriously, but if I can make it pretty and fun, I think it makes it feel better even when you’re doing hard things.”

“How would you suggest we do that?”

“First off, Traveler, you should drink water and get yourself a lil’ snack.” He commanded firmly. “Amir always says he can’t focus with an empty stomach.” I rolled my eyes and barely contained a sigh. ‘Does Eris even know what Amir eats?’

“Okay, little man.” He followed me around the kitchen as I assembled a bowl of fruit and yoghurt, ate it, and filled a canteen with ice and water.

“Yay!” He said as we settled back in at the table.

“Now. Do you have cute stickers and writing pads?” He asked with big, shiny eyes.

“Mm— somewhere…” I remembered one of my friends had given me a bunch of cute office and study supplies back when we thought I was actually going to have enough money to go college right away.

“Hang on.” I got up and began rummaging in one of my drawers. Somewhere in here, maybe at the very bottom—

“Here we go!”  I tossed the pack of notecards and stickers onto the table in front of us.

“Yay!” Eris clapped his hands and and eagerly attacked the plastic shrink-wrap. 

“These are cute! Okay, now try breaking this problem into chunks?” He looked over the whole stack of materials and singled out the example problems sheets.

“This seems like it’d be important. Is it actually the way that the tests are gonna be?”

“As far as I can tell.” I shrugged. He nodded.

“Okay. Maybe make a list of what’s asked in these questions?” My eyes widened.

“Oh my word, how did I not think of that?” He giggled.

“Sometimes a fresh mind and a fresh pair of eyes are all you need!”

“I’ll say!” I grabbed a gel pen and a lined notepad with rainbow bubbles on it to start making that list. Eris laid a gentle hand on my arm.

“I… I think you should read through all the problems first, then go back to the beginning and start writing things down.” I gave him a grateful smile.

“You’re a lifesaver, in more ways than one.”

“It’s no problem, really! I like to help!” He smiled so big that his eyes closed.

The problems were just as confusing before, but I carefully read through every word, taking note of repeated concepts. I made it to about problem seven before I started breathing heavier, thinking once again of just how out of my depth I was, and how hard it would be to pass those exams, and there might be intimidating people there, and I only had a few days left to prepare and—

Eris gently head-butted me, nuzzling into my shoulder.

“Take a drink of water?” His words were muffled in my sleeve. I stared down at him.

“Why?”

“You’re getting all caught up in your fears. Amir says water distracts you from your thoughts and makes you focus on the action of drinking. Maybe it’ll pull you out of your head. Take a drink of water. For me?” My hand shook a little as I reached for the canteen and brought it up to my mouth. I focused on the cold water moving across my tongue, then into my throat, and how the muscles in my neck and throat felt while I swallowed. It was so cold that I could feel as it went down my esophagus and into my stomach. I slowly set the canteen back down. As soon as I did, Eris locked his arms around my opposite shoulder, going under one arm and over the other. 

“You can do it,” he whispered. I felt my heart squeeze.

“Thank you, kiddo.”

I managed to make it to problem nineteen before Eris butted me again and motioned toward the canteen. I huffed at my own sensitivity. 

“Don’t feel bad about it! I don’t even understand half of these words! It’s definitely hard, and that makes sense. I’m just tryna help with that.”

“I know, but I wish could just— deal with my problems like a normal person.” Eris turned his head up to me with upturned eyebrows and wide eyes. They were hazel at this angle. 

“I don’t think there’s any… normal people. Hedera always tells me there’s no wrong way to deal with your problems as long as you’re not hurting anyone.” I made a helpless face.

“I guess— ugh, I guess you’re right.” He just held me tighter.

“You got this.” 

Every so many problems, Eris had to remind me to drink or take some breaths. By the fifth correction, I was getting used to it, and the next time I felt overwhelmed, I did it without him asking me. He smiled and nuzzled further into my shoulder. 

“How many are there?”

“Forty-five.” I said, a miserable undertone in my voice.

“Hey, you’re gonna be good! Don’t worry! I’m here to be your friend, and you can start on the list as soon you get there. You just wanna read it twice so that you makes sure you don’t miss anything important.”

“I know, little guy. Thank you.” It took us a while, but we finally, finally made it to question forty-five. I already had about five themes and concepts that had stuck out to me because of how often they were repeated, so I put those first at the top of the list.

“1. All human magic users are classified as one race, “commanders”, regardless of  affiliation.

2. Humans without natural command who practice manufactured command are called “practitioners” (and that’s what I am)

3. Since I’m gunning for the practitioners’ classes, I’ll mainly need to know about their methods. The main methods are; specific, complex hand movements; drawing diagrams, sigils, transmutation circles, glyphs, and runes; combining reagents as components, sort of like a potion; and the spoken word.

4. All the other types of visual magic are made up of runes, which originate from the demon and fae written languages, as well as drawing from draconic, aquatic (which is apparently mermaid language), and the ‘evocative languages’ of other magical races. The spoken word magic also draws on these resources.

5. Commanders, fae, demons, and other beings with a natural command over a magical force, all draw magic from their own realm. No matter where they currently are, their energy is intertwined with the magic of their own realm, and they channel it through themselves by directing their energy. Practitioners use outside methods of channeling the energy around them. That means whatever realm they’re in, that is what they are drawing magic from.”

I looked down at my handiwork with at least some measure of satisfaction.

“I’d say that covers the most important bits. Now I can try to work on some nuances…” Eris shook his head vigorously.

“You should find where these facts are talked about in your books and articles and stuff and go back over those parts. Highlight them with something pretty! Copy them off onto your notes! Make sure you know all those parts really well! Then you can try to work on some— smaller thingies.” I sighed.

“I guess so…”

“Take a drink of water now— in fact, maybe you should have some sweet drink to celebrate!” I smiled.

“That sounds nice.” He grinned big and pretty at me. 

“Hang on, I can make you some tea! Meantimes, maybe work on your five facts. You could give yourself a sticker you like for each one you feel like you really learn!”

“Will do, captain!” I flashed him a grin. The hopeless, emotionally dead feeling in my chest and the pit of my stomach was conspicuously lacking. 

“Just don’t burn the kitchen down,” I remembered to caution as I turned back to the books.

“I’m not gonna!” He protested. 

“I know how to make tea, Hedera and I pretty much live off it.”

“But do you know how to work a stove?” He fumbled for a second.

“We-ell, no, n-not exactly… but Amir has told me how they work before!”

“I do not trust you not to hurt yourself, my friend—“ I got up and dragged the book I was working on with me to the kitchen, supervising Eris as he very exaggeratedly and slowly, to prove that he knew exactly what he was doing, set my little heat-proof glass kettle on the stove, filled it with water, and started it. Then he pulled from his brown leather satchel at his waist, which I hadn’t even noticed he still had on him, a little pouch of dried leaves.

“Hedera and I grow these as magic practice, so some of them are a little funny sometimes, but these are the nice ones.” He informed me as he got down two mugs for us. He swiveled his head around the kitchen and then asked

“Do you have any cloths that you don’t mind getting a lil’ bit stained?”

“Sure,” I motioned to the cupboard where I kept my rags. “Just pick the most beat-up looking ones.”

He lined the mugs with two raggedy cloths and crushed the leaves into the bottoms of them. 

“There we go! Now we can drain the tea leaves out when they’re done steeping.”

“Mmm.” I smiled at him.

“Thank you.” He grinned, silly and sideways. 

“You don’t have to thank me, Traveler! I wanted to do it!”

“I know but—“ the water for the tea started boiling. Eris placed a finger over my lips, effectively shutting me up.

“Shhh! Okay, now I gotta take care of this.”

Careful not to touch the hot parts, he took the kettle by the handle and poured the hot water into the mugs. 

Once the tea leaf fragments were drained, Eris had somehow managed to turn the bitter leaf water into something delectable with sweetener and cream, and we sat at the table sipping our little “health potions” as I began thinking of them. (Though to be honest, I thought it might actually be a health potion at first— it made me feel that much better.) After he finished his warm drink, Eris got even more cuddly than before, squishing his cheek against me and closing his eyes. Soon enough, I heard his breathing grow more and more slow and even until he was almost snoring softly. He’d fallen asleep with his arms locked around me. I looked down at his calm, peaceful face and smiled, pressing a small kiss to the top of his head. It helped to have him close, breathing a slow, calming rhythm against my side, his warmth almost like a constant reminder to slow down and take it a little easier. Take a breath and a step back if need be. For the first time that day, I actually got into the zone. Time didn’t seem real as I lost myself in the materials, taking pages after pages of notes, marking down and tabling for later the things that didn’t make sense at first so as not to lose my rhythm. 

It was quite the shock when I finally set down my pen and looked at the time. And looking out the window I saw that it was already getting dark. Careful not to wake Eris, I reached over half the table with my ink-covered dominant hand and grabbed my phone. 

‘Eris is asleep— think it’s about time to come get him?’ 

It took a few minutes to get a response. As I waited I gently stroked Eris’ hair and stared pensively out the window, and then a notification with Amir’s nickname popped up on my locked screen again.

‘I think so

Hedera would probably prefer him back before the sun goes down completely’ 

‘Seems reasonable’

‘I’ll just teleport to you, if that’s alright— address?’

I sent him my address.

I gently shook Eris’ shoulder to wake him.

“Amir’s gonna be here soon to take you home, buddy…” he blinked hazily and continued clinging to my arm as I stood up.

“Mm, okay…” I grabbed my phone and half-led, half-dragged Eris through my kitchen.  Whipping out the phone, I texted

‘I’ll just come out to the front with him’ to Amir and opened the door to find him standing there. Despite the recent less-than-autumnal weather, he was wearing a pair of black leggings and a warm maroon sweater that had glittery strands woven into the rest of the fabric, a heart cutout, and sleeves that billowed out before being sharply cut off by a wrist cuff of fabric. He tapped his ankle-length boot.

“Well, aren’t you going to come out to the front?” I rolled my eyes.

“Front, I’m gay.” I said in a monotone. He golf-clapped at me. Smug bastard.

“Very good, very good.” He held out his arms for the still half-asleep Eris, and his whole snarky demeanor changed. He leaned down and cocked his head.

“Hey buddy… you ready to go home? Did you have a nice time with our Traveler?” Eris nodded drowsily.

“They did so good… I think I helped a lil’ bit…”

“You helped bunches, kiddo.” I reassured him, awkwardly snaking my arm out from his grip and allowing Amir to wrap his arms around him and hold him close. He looked so peaceful, cheek squished and hands nestled against Amir’s side. 

“You’re a lifesaver.” I whispered to him.

“Get much done?” Amir smiled at us both. I laughed softly.

“I think I absorbed more actual knowledge in the time he was here than I did in the whole day and half I tried to study before.” 

“He took a looooong nap, huh?” He said, looking at how out-of-it Eris was. I nodded, smiling at him.

“Almost three hours.”

“He’s really taken a liking to you,” he slid an arm under Eris’ legs, which looked significantly less human than they had when he arrived. I waved.

“Bye, little friend!” 

“Eris, oh Eris… your glamour could use some work,” he clicked his tongue. 

“So that’s what his illusion spell is called!” 

“Mhm,” Amir nodded, seeming distracted. He drew a circle in the ground with his toe, like he was planning something out— then he nodded and a low, nasal hum emanated from him. It felt like a solid something passed through me, and I cocked my head at Amir.

“What was that?” Amir winked at me.

“Demons are oft purported to be uncannily good at warding. I just warded this whole area— after all, if you’re going to be learning magic, you may have a mishap or two, and it would be awful if a neighbor were to hear of it or see it.”

“I haven’t even gotten in yet…” I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Oh, but you will~!” He and Eris disappeared, the dim light revealing a small spark left in their wake. I watched as it dissipated with the last of the day’s sun. The sunsets were coming earlier and earlier these days. Finally, I went back inside and closed my door. I still had work to do.

…Apologies for the lore dump… anyway…

I’m not gonna lie, I had some trouble with this one! Big shoutout to BFF for helping me figure out what felt so wrong about the writing at first and thus leading me to fix it! Also she wants me to remind all of you that she has laid a claim on all of the LR characters and they are all hers! 😂

Thank you very much for reading! Next upload will be exactly one week from now! And I can actually guarantee that this time! 😅

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 315: I Didn’t Expect This to Blow Up

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “guess which plot that you thought was dead is actually not dead and is making a comeback!” and we were all “EVIL HPSC??” and he was all “girl you know it,” and that’s the story of how we got a sexy Lady Nagant flashback with lots of guns and murder. Flashback!Lady was all “gotta murder peeps to preserve the people’s trust,” but then a little while later she was like “actually wait that makes no sense,” and so she shot her evil boss and they sent her to jail. Back in the present, Deku was all “okay fair, the hero system might in fact be a little fucked up, but hear me out... have you considered not helping AFO take over the world so he can murder like a bazillion more innocent people??” The chapter ended with the not-all-there Overhaul finally revealing himself to Deku, and I honestly have no idea where this is gonna go.

Today on BnHA: In what is unfortunately the single worst plan ever concocted by anyone in BnHA, Nagant is all “I’m going to try and get this Deku kid to panic and freeze up by putting someone in mortal danger.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t panic and freeze up at the sight of someone in mortal danger].” Nagant is all “omg no way.” Deku, who is now all of a sudden being so OP that even I have to acknowledge that it’s OP lol, is all “[smashes Nagant’s gun arm to bits]”, which sucks but is also really cool, and which also apparently makes Nagant decide that she actually likes this kid after all. Deku is all “NAGANT I REALLY LIKE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE GREAT SO PLEASE JOIN UP WITH ME AND STOP BEING EVIL.” Nagant is all “aw shucks (✿ •͈ᴗ•͈) well okay then” and everyone is all “( ･◡･) ✰ ( ˆᴗˆ ) ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)” and then Nagant FUCKING EXPLODES LIKE AN EGG IN THE MICROWAVE AND FALLS TO HER DEATH!!!! except not really because Hawks saves her??? In conclusion, (a) THE FUCK, and (b) AFO TURN ON YOUR LOCATION I JUST WANT TO TALK.

so I have to tell you guys something, which is that barely ten minutes after I made that “please don’t send me spoilers” post the other day, someone replied to the comments in a stunning fit of “tell me that you’re twelve without actually telling me you’re twelve” energy and posted what seemed to be the copy-pasted spoiler summary from reddit or twitter or whatever lol. so here is my good news/bad news rundown of all that

good news: I have very well-conditioned ABORT!! reflexes and have trained myself to immediately look away from the screen (usually in dramatic fashion) as soon as I realize that whatever I’m reading is a spoiler

bad news: unfortunately as I was subsequently deleting said comments, I accidentally read the very last one

good news??: said spoiler was so unbelievably, absurdly over-the-top that I’m almost positive this person was just trolling. like, there’s just no way lmao

bad news: but in the unlikely event that it is true I will absolutely lose my shit I swear to god

(ETA: “NAGANT DIES.” that was the spoiler I read lol. like, literally all I read from the person’s comments was “My Hero Academia Chapter 315 Title: “Beautiful Words.” Chapter starts with...” and then I noped out of there, and then of all the comments to read as I was deleting, it had to be that one lol. I seriously was just like “SURE, JAN.” all “just how gullible do you think I am” sob. but I was wrong. a troll, but an honest troll they remain.

but anyways like I’m pretty sure Nagant isn’t even actually dead lol, so in the end this whole little adventure doesn’t even have a point to it, but for me it was a journey!)

anyway, so there are apparently two versions of the chapter today?? no idea what the difference is, but I’m going to go with the Bean version, because it’s the one at the top and I don’t feel like making decisions today

huh, so Overhaul is actually more coherent than Horikoshi was letting on

look at him having a whole back and forth conversation with her. side note, how is he still this jacked when he’s been sitting in a cell doing absolutely nothing for the past six months

anyway so he says he’ll go with her on one condition. I wonder what that condition could possibly be. do you think it could be the thing he literally hasn’t shut up about ever since he reappeared lol

yep! and damn -- maybe this guy will surprise me after all

still would be nice if you also felt a bit sorry for the little girl you tortured and traumatized, but this is something at least. maybe Deku will yell at him for that other stuff lol

(ETA: also can’t help but wonder if he wants to make amends because he put him in a coma, or because his plan was a failure and ended up destroying the family. just hoping you’ve finally had that “hurting other people is bad” epiphany dude.)

anyways so now Nagant’s arm is transforming again, and this particular transformation happens to be the only truly unsexy thing that Nagant has done thus far so I’m just gonna skip right on ahead lol

aaaaand we’re back to the delirious ranting

buddy. just. read the fucking room, guy

wow she really is aiming at Overhaul, then. those theories were spot-on

damn she’s really out here all “it really fucks with kids’ heads when you kill people right in front of them and make them blame themselves” like yo

I’m picturing her saying all this in a very loud stage-whispery tone while making very significant eye contact with Deku lol

uh oh but wait

um. okay. who’s gonna tell her. Nagant I might have some bad news for you about the kid you’re trying to capture here. specifically about the way he tends to do the opposite of what you’re thinking that he’s about to do

holy shit

so it’s basically just “tap x repeatedly to charge up your attack” lol

and okay, so that’s cool and all, but is anyone else wincing at the thought of what that must be like on his knees. oh to be young

anyway, but so to the surprise of basically no one, Deku did not, in fact, freeze. I am very sorry, Nagant. he’s just like this

LMAO

someone wanna tell me how getting yoloed in the fucking ribs by this fucking slingshot kid moving at literal sniper bullet speed is in any way even remotely better than getting hit by the bullet itself lol

(ETA: this is 10x funnier now that we know the bullet wasn’t even gonna hit him lmao.)

anyway so now Nagant is having an extended “!?!?!?” reaction about how Deku just moved with no hesitation, and I’m starting to get an inkling of fear that the rest of this fight isn’t going to go very well for her and maybe that’s what all the “hoo boy” is about

oh my god Deku are you about to Gomu Gomu no Rocket yourself at her you insane little man

now Three is popping up again and he’s all “I see you’ve learned your lesson and are now only using three quirks at once instead of five” like with all this effusive praise about how great and badass Deku is and sob, okay, yeah. this chapter is basically one of those machines that shoots tennis balls at people, except instead of tennis balls it shoots hot piping discourse

OH MY GOD

YOOOOOOOOOO but also, NOOOOOOOOOOO

lol oh my god it’s literally two opposing reactions at once wtf. do I love this or hate this. like just for once can Horikoshi actually let a badass lady character win their fucking fight without getting their arm ripped off, BUT ALSO fucking look at that absurdly cool “SMASH” onomatopoeia though. it looks like it’s about to float right off the page holy shit that’s some seriously good art

anyway so is this really the end?? do I need to break out my ಠ_ಠ faces

lmao okay yeah I can definitely see how this would piss a lot of people off

he basically one-shotted her and she’s all “damn this kid is so amazing that I’m about to do a complete 180 turn on all of my previous angst” lmao. Horikoshi is really shounening it up today

on the plus side though, maybe this means there’s still a chance for her to join up with him after all? unless that spoiler was true lmao, then all hell is gonna break loose

YESSSSSSS

OH MY GOD AND HE SAYS THE BULLET WOULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE THAN GRAZE OVERHAUL ANYWAY, wow, I’m actually more relieved by that than I would have expected. I mean I would have forgiven her either way, but it means that there was still more hero in her than she was letting on

YES!!! FUCKING YES, THANK YOU

lol but I mean, it’s also like, “oh so today they get to have brain cells”, thank you so much lol. sometimes it’s really hard to tell which times we’re supposed to question these character decisions that seem dumb, and which times we’re just supposed to full on embrace them and switch off our critical thinking

but okay, so in this case it really was Nagant going easy on him on purpose, and not just her fucking up for no good reason even though she used to do this for a living and was the best in the game. and I know in this case it’s probably just Horikoshi giving us some consolation headpats to soften the blow of her losing so abruptly, but you know what, shit. I’ll take it

also you guys the light is coming back into Deku’s eyes again for just a moment here and I’m having feels about it?? the way it still comes back when he’s reaching out to save someone, and following his own hero path instead of the much darker and lonelier Christopher Nolan path that’s been laid out for him instead that he never wanted?? it’s both reassuring and also very sad

YESSSSSSSSSSS

DO IT LADY OMG PLEASE?? PLEASE COME BE HIS NEW IRRESPONSIBLE ADULT SUPERVISION YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

AHHHHHHH SHE’S GONNA DO IT AHHHH

p.s. I am now absolutely scared shitless that that spoiler was actually true sob. swear to god, I will throw this manga into a fucking volcano. but we’re almost at the end of the chapter and this seems just WAY TOO GOOD to be true fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck f

UCK

NOPE NAH SEND IT BACK, NOPE, NUH UH, DIDN’T ORDER THIS. “GULLIBLE” OKAY FUCK YOU?? “COUNTERMEASURES” NOPE, DON’T NEED ‘EM, WE’RE ALL FINE HERE. WE’RE ACTUALLY GOOD SO YOU CAN JUST GO, OKAY. PLEASE

fuck, lol, I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna scroll down what have I ever done to deserve this oh my god

WHAT THE HONEY-ROASTED FUCK

WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT FUCKING VOLCANO IN ICELAND THAT I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE PICTURES OF. WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT. LET’S GO

ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

can someone please give AFO a really good, sharpish kick in the balls. just really let him have it. I’m so tired, what the fuck

-- ARE YOU KIDDING ME LOL WHAT

bro. I was literally going through my Excel folders to find the spreadsheet about female characters in BnHA that I made back when Midnight died. was gearing myself up for a wholeass rant. and honestly I might just let all of that continue simmering on low to keep it warm just in case lol, because to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now

my girl straight up does not have a face. she used to have a face. people usually need those, idk. like, even if she’s alive, her gorgeous eyebrows are definitely not making it out of this and I’m gonna throw a funeral just for them

how the fuck did AFO just blow her up?? how did he know what was going on?? and if he had a quirk that could explode people at will, why is this the first we’re hearing of it?? you’d think that might have come in handy at Kamino or Jakku, like what

(ETA: present!me, who’s had more than three hours of sleep and can now actually remember facts about the series, would like to remind past!me that AFO gave Nagant a quirk, and so this is probably just more Vestige shenanigans now on his part. that’s also probably why Air Walk suddenly stopped working out of nowhere. still doesn’t explain why he doesn’t go around blowing people up more often though but maybe he thinks it’s gauche.)

Hawks just straight up out of nowhere. just Mirioed his way straight into the chapter just in time to be too late sob. here I was looking forward to seeing your face when Deku showed up with his new best friend. can’t believe Horikoshi deprived us of that moment

on the plus side, WELCOME BACK, HAWKS’S FEATHERS. I have no doubt that in this chapter of Deku being an almighty threequirk-mastering god, and Nagant losing anticlimactically only to be immediately blown up because girl characters in BnHA can only be cool for one fight and one fight only, there are still some people who are focusing solely on the “how dare Hawks get his wings back when he is a MURDERER this is an outrage what about CONSEQUENCES” discourse, and to hell with all the other discourses lmao

anyway, so yeah. wow. and now it’s just occurring to me that maybe the real reason why Overhaul is there is so he can get a head start on that amend-making by actually doing a good thing for once in his life, and using his quirk to heal Nagant. assuming he can still do that

and so now Horikoshi has got me out here actually rooting for Overhaul. you know what, on that note I think I’m just gonna go ahead and call it a day sob

[ootahime]

what is utahime’s role in the future? — a prediction (manga spoilers)

part 1 (unedited)

I WAS ABOUT TO POST IT BUT I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED IT AND I WAS SO HURT FR!!!!! I HAD REWRITE THIS ENTIRE THING </33

part 2 is here!

in this post, i will be analyzing the information we’ve been given about utahime so far to form a prediction about her future role in the jujutsu kaisen series. if you’re as interested in utahime’s character as i am, please feel free to keep reading :3 (i’ll also be talking about her relationship with gojo a bit too)

soukatsu_ on twt!

kaikaikitan on twt!

utahime iori is a semi-grade 1 sorcerer working as a student supervisor/teacher at kyoto jujutsu high school. she loves drinking beer and going to karaoke. she’s also close friends with shoko and she’s not particularly fond of gojo most of the time. what else do we know about her?

hates sweets (funny she’s the complete opposite of gojo)

she’s great at singing and it’s a huge part of her technique

squabbling with gojo became a reflex :3

everyone absolutely adores utahime

loves watching soccer and baseball

a terrible drunk (worse than naobito zenin)

gojo is her main source of stress

let’s dive into her personality and abilities!

chapter 65

before i get into it, i think it’d be best if i were to explain the timeline because a lot of people seem to be confused about this one particular thing. utahime is born on february 18th, 1987. contrary to popular belief, she is not 3 years older than gojo. it is november 2018 in the story because gojo was sealed on halloween. if gojo was born on december 7th, 1989, that would mean that right now, he is only 28 years old. he has yet to turn 29.

the year is 2007. gojo satoru is a second year at tokyo jujutsu high school. the japanese school year begins in april which suggests that gojo is only 17 at the time (even if it’s not april, it doesn’t look like winter yet so it’s unlikely that he’s already 18). utahime is 20 because it is past february. she is a 2nd grade sorcerer at the age of 20. that’s not bad at all!

chapter 65 introduces young utahime and mei on a mission together within a cursed site. in real time, they’ve been gone for two days which is a cause of concern for gojo, shoko, and geto because the two haven’t contacted anyone since the beginning of their mission.  the two begin to suspect something is wrong because the hallway markers they’ve set in place disappeared, and no matter how far they travel within the halls, the end is nowhere in sight.  mei theorizes that the cursed spirit is overlapping the space as they travel forward.  utahime agrees with this speculation and proposes a plan to escape the cursed spirit’s grasp by moving erratically.  notice how she says that if one of them should escape, they can try to attack from the outside or call for help.  if utahime was not capable of inflicting damage on anything then she would have told mei to escape and attack if she can while she waited to be rescued.  however, she didn’t.  she included herself in the sentence which leads me to believe that she is capable of going on the offense if needed.  

keep in mind that at this point in time, mei is a grade 1 sorcerer.  she is knowledgeable about all things involving jujutsu because she is experienced and skillful.  we can see this aspect of her character illustrated when she theorizes that the cursed spirit is messing with the space they’re in.  she chooses to go with utahime’s plan because she agrees that it’s the best action moving forward.  this verifies that utahime is an intelligent girl that’s able to get along with pretty much anyone.  

her intellect is demonstrated once again in chapter 79.  she was able to deduce the possibility of there being more than one traitor and the fact that one is probably a higher up.  she also narrowed down the mechamaru as the mole of kyoto not because he was acting suspicious but by process of elimination.  she thought thoroughly of his technique and how easy it would be for him to manipulate devices small enough to be undetectable.  

sure you can argue that she should already know all her students’ abilities and whatnot but you have to admit that it’s hard trying to sniff out the traitor when no one is acting suspicious.  in addition to that, how did she know that there was a traitor in the top brass?  i would have never guessed that tbh LOL (maybe bc im an idiot).

okay, now that we have established that she’s intelligent, let’s answer a more important question.  is utahime weak?

chapter 33

if gojo calls utahime weak, does that mean there is some truth to it?  well it is true that she is weaker than him because he’s the strongest and all.  in my opinion, he’s just teasing her.  he probably found that calling her weak is what really riles her up.  maybe i’ll talk about why he loves teasing her so much in a later post.  but anyway, gojo calls everybody and their mom weak.  he even said jogo was weak and we know how powerful that guy is.  gojo’s words alone do not indicate much about utahime’s power.  in fact, i don’t even think he has seen her use her technique yet.  he’s probably only ever heard of how it works.  this is what i think their conversation about her technique was like:

gojo: hm?  ur cursed technique is singing?  can u show me?

utahime: what!  no way!  

gojo: why not?

*one of the classmates tells him that she can only use her CT once in a while because it consumes a lot of energy*

gojo: hahaha!  u have to conserve cursed energy to use ur CT?  why are u so weak, utahime?

utahime: i!  am!  your!  senpai!  respect!  me!

what i’m trying to say is that gojo loves poking fun of people.  we should not believe him when he calls someone weak because compared to him, everyone is weak.  

this is a little off topic but let’s examine him telling her, “and you don’t have the nerves, utahime.”  i think he’s trying to say that there’s no way she’ll ever do something like that because she’s not the type to put her students in danger.  remember the soft expression and relieved smile on her lips when she said that she was glad the students were safe after the kyoto incident?  gojo was directly in front of her so not only did he hear her say that, but he could have seen the look on her face too.  even if he told her that she didn’t have the guts to betray the school to get on her nerves, he knew that utahime simply cared too much about the students so he ruled her out as a suspect right away.  this is why he ultimately decided to confide in her and ask her to help him.  

i’m a person who loves over-analyzing things.  i really enjoy the dynamic between gojo and utahime.  they’ve known each other for more than 11 years and although they always bicker, there is an unspoken feeling of trust between the two.  gojo can do anything and everything by himself because he is truly the strongest person alive, but he still knows when to rely on others.  him deciding to entrust utahime with such a job implies that he believes in utahime’s abilities.

chapter 52

she’s not using any cursed energy here--not to our knowledge at least.  this is just pure skill.  she was able to swiftly evade the swing from haruta.  he was surprised himself considering the fact that he was right behind her.  how do we know her CT isn’t speed?  after haruta swung at her, we can see that some of her hair got cut off.  if she was using her CT then speed should be her specialty.  she should have been able to completely avoid the attack altogether but she didn’t.  of course this isn’t a wow moment because jujutsu sorcerers should know how to dodge attacks, however, i’m just trying to get the point across that she’s not a defenseless person without her technique or others.  let’s not forget that semi-grade 1 isn’t a weak rank either.  you can’t simply be recommended to be a grade 1 sorcerer if you only can support others.  

chapter 48

i want to bring up this panel. it suggests that utahime and takuma are sorcerers who have not experienced black flash and therefore, do not understand the essence of cursed energy as well as those who have like gojo and nanami.  i find it strange how takuma and utahime were used to represent sorcerers who haven’t experienced it yet.  is the purpose to demonstrate that there is a clear difference in skill between adult sorcerers like utahime and takuma compared to gojo and nanami?  i could be nitpicking but the order of todo’s statement doesn’t line up with the sorcerers being shown.  let me explain in depth.  todo starts off by saying, “for those who have experienced black flash as compared to those who have not...” wouldn’t it make more sense to show gojo and nanami on the right side to represent sorcerers who have experienced black flash?  that was mentioned first, after all.  gojo and nanami should appear when todo says “for those who have experience black flash” while utahime and takuma should be shown right after to personify the second part, “as compared to those who have not.”  i’m just making it more complicated than it actually is LOLOL i’m sure it really just means they haven’t experienced black flash yet, which is completely fine.  i also find it fascinating how they used utahime to contrast gojo.  with nanami and takuma it makes sense.  nanami is someone takuma looks up to, he wants to gain nanami’s approval before he deems himself worthy of a promotion. what about utahime and gojo?  what’s the purpose of comparing those two together when it’s obvious that gojo knows more about the essence of cursed energy more than anyone else?  i might be delusional whoops

----

let me know what you guys think?  this is only a part 1 so i haven’t gotten around to answering the question.  i’m pretty much done with the second part, i just need to revise it a little.  i think after i post part 2, i’ll try to interpret all the gojo and utahime moments in the manga >.<

[bookofmirth]

ok so this might come off as a bit rambly so please bear with me lol

i've noticed that the acotar fandom has this incessant need to be right when it comes to canon and it really sucks out the funness of fandom. shipping is supposed to be fun but when it comes to this fandom, it's almost like a competition to see who will be more right when the books come out. engaging with theories/predictions about characters and the plot is supposed to be exciting but when it comes to this fandom, some of the theories/predictions are problematic at worst and nonsensical at best. like how can you say with your full chest that you're so confident about where the series is heading in the future because of this or that theory when you're stuck in the past and refuse to see what all of the text is telling you in the present. it doesn't make sense. the selective reading is so strong that it has me looking sideways sometimes lol

i guess my question is why do you think the fandom is so divided when it comes to ships right now? i've seen people say this wasn't the case for feysand and nessian, so what's the difference here?

Oh boy Brielle, I have some thoughts on this. It's complex.

To be clear, I am not saying that this applies to literally every single person who ships a certain way. This is a commentary on the fandom as a whole, and there are always exceptions.

This got really, really long, so I'm putting it under the cut.

I think that one of the main draws of this series, and of sjm's writing in general, is her ships. I think that people get very, very attached to their ships.

I also think that sjm does NOT fully think through some of the choices that she makes when writing. See: the way that she takes from all these different cultures and mashes them together, which could be seen as disrespectful of their origin. She has retconned things, like Mor being queer and Lucien being Helion's son. I think that she thoroughly thinks about some of the aspects of her books, like Rhys's reaction to sleeping with Feyre for the first time, but then really half-asses other aspects of her books, like Mor coming out.

Then, we have your good old misogyny and homophobia - people in the fandom don't like Mor because she hurt the poor bat boy's feelings when she didn't sleep with him, and they don't have a mating bond, but she's never really told Azriel "no", and so every single moment of pain that Azriel has felt in 500 years is Morrigan's fault. And Mor's experience as a closeted queer woman who feels unsafe around the people she should trust the most is completely disregarded by the fandom.

Finally, I think that a combination of these factors has created the monster we know as e*riel, and that the fandom is perpetuating its own mythology.

What all of this comes down to, and the real reason I think that the fandom is behaving this way right now, is that e*riel is dead. It's never happened, it's not going to happen, but because we don't have the clear closure we got with moriel (where people would be accused of homophobia for continuing to ship it), people are still trying to figure out any possible way for e*riel to become canon, though every single sign points to it being a non-issue.

This weird thing where people have to be "right" all the time, and the way that "right" = "canon" is a relatively new development. It's as if everyone in this fandom forgot that they are in fact in a fandom, which inherently diverges from canon.

However, I think that the need to cling to canon is because the alternative would be to admit defeat and say "well, even if it doesn't happen I will still ship e*riel, it's fine, I will live with that." But they don't want to do that. In response, they look at canon so hard that they are reading the white space between the letters to create their theories, which as you noted as largely nonsensical and often fail to take into account who the characters are as individuals, how they are connected to other characters, and why it would or wouldn't be appropriate for them to be involved in various plots.

People could say, as eluciens having been saying since day one, "I really ship this thing but I can see that it might not become canon". But they don't say that. They literally refuse to see any other possibility than e*riel becoming canon.

You pointed out that people are stuck in the past - absolutely. The number of reimaginings I have seen of scenes where either Azriel or Elain has literally zero to do with the scene, but people try to shove one or both of them in there. And this from books ago. People are stuck on the Truthteller scene, and refuse to acknowledge that neither of them have acted on their feelings, whatever those might be, for years. And they ignore the fact that once Elain and Az do act, it goes horribly wrong.

Here are the facts as of right now:

ACOSF is the most recent book. In that book, sans extra chapter, those two had no interaction other than looking at one another.

If we include his POV, then he said it was wrong, we got confirmation that nothing has ever happened between them, she returned his necklace. Elain was aroused, but that does not mean she was ready to even have sex. "Yes" to a kiss is not "yes" to every single sexual act Az can think of. They parted on awkward, bad terms after a scene in which it seemed like they were about to start something. Yikes. Unlike Wings and Embers, they did not end that chapter still thinking of one another. After they part ways, the omniscient narrator does not mention Elain, or Az thinking about Elain, again.

His POV occurs months before the end of the book. They do not interact after that.

Elain has a mate she has not rejected, nor accepted.

So anyway, your question was why are people like this. lol. I think the fandom created a monster, and that monster is clinging to life. It can't accept the idea of morphing into a non-canon ship, though it never was canon in the first place. It had just convinced itself that it was.

There are other aspects to this, that have to do with gwynriel and elucien.

Gwynriel is a new ship, it's almost guaranteed to happen, people are super excited to ship it and give Gwyn all their love. I'm sure they would rather create content for that ship than argue about whether or not it's going to be canon, but they are in constant defense mode. Some people honestly didn't like e*riel before because they don't like Elain, or because they don't like Azriel, and those are valid reasons for not liking it. Why people ship gwynriel doesn't matter. The tone of the discussion is, unfortunately, being shaped elsewhere, which I will mention below.

Elucien is an old ship, older than e*riel. I can speak from this perspective - personally, I have been holding my tongue for 4.5 years. I have been letting people live, and just talking about the things I like. Then when acosf came out, it was like I could finally say all the things I had been thinking about Azriel, because I now had proof that the things I thought about his character (and because of that, about e*riel) now had solid canon foundation. This is 4.5 years of me holding in a lot of shit and finally being able to say it. Sometimes yes, I might take joy in having been right.

I think that a few people are clinging to canon, and that sets the tone for the discourse in the fandom. Someone says "according to page whatever, blah blah blah" and people feel the need to respond, and then it turns into and "I'm right" contest instead of... a fandom... A lot of us like debating. To me, it's fun. But when Person A starts a conversation that's about canon and it actually ignores canon, it's hard to let that conversation go by and just keep creating whatever we want to create. Instead, we respond, and so the tone of the conversation is shaped by what Person A decided to say.

I also think that there is a lack of distinction between theories (what will happen in the future) and meta (analysis of what we have now).

There is also a lack of "I" statements. Opinions are being stated as fact.

idk if there is a way to make it better, other than to just go back to ignoring one another. This whole situation makes me want to throw out every single canon ship I like and create exclusively non-canon content, just for spite. Except I really like doing meta, and so I don't want to. I guess for my point, I'll just keep doing meta, keep creating different content, and keep reminding people that they aren't here to continue perpetuating canon, but to play with it.

[supercantaloupe]

okay yeah actually, i’ll bite. i’ve got some of my own thoughts about the unsleeping city and cultural representation and i’m gonna make a post about them now, i guess. i’ll put it under a cut though because this post is gonna be long.

i wanna start by saying i love dimension 20 and i really really enjoy the unsleeping city. i look forward to watching new episodes every week, and getting hooked on d20 as a whole last summer really helped pull me out of a pandemic depression, and i’m grateful to have this cool show to be excited about and interested in and to have met so many cool people to talk about it with.

that being said, however, i think there is a risk run in representing any group of people/their culture when you have the kind of setting that tuc has. by which i mean, tuc is set in a real world with real people and real human cultures in it. unlike fantasy high or a crown of candy where everything is made up (even if rooted in real-world cultures), tuc is explicitly rooted in reality, and all of its diversity -- both the ups and downs that go with it. and especially set in new york of all places, one of the most densely, diversely populated cities on earth. the cast is 7 people; it’s great that those 7 people come from a variety of backgrounds and identities and all bring their own unique perspectives to the table, and it’s great that those people and the entire crew are generally conscious of themselves and desire to tell stories/represent perspectives ethically. but you simply cannot authentically represent every culture or every perspective in the world (or even just in a city) when your cast is 7 people. it’s an impossible task. this is inherent to the setting, and acknowledged by the cast, and by brennan especially, who has been on record saying how one of the exciting aspects of doing a campaign set in nyc is its diversity, the fact that no two new yorkers have the same perspective of new york. i think that’s a good thing -- but it does have its challenges too, clearly.

i’m not going to go into detail on the question of whether or not tuc’s presentation of asian and asian american culture is appropriative/offensive or not. first of all, i don’t feel like it’s 100% fair to judge the show completely yet, since it’s a prerecorded season and currently airing midseason, so i don’t yet know how things wrap up. secondly, i’m not asian or asian american. i can have my own opinions on that content in the show, but i think it’s worth more to hear actual asian and asian american voices on this specific aspect of the show. having an asian american cast member doesn’t automatically absolve the show of any criticisms with regard to asian american cultural representation/appropriation, whether those criticisms are made by dozens of viewers or only a handful of them. regardless, i don’t think it’s my place as someone who is not asian to speak with any authority on that issue, and i know for a fact that there are asian american viewers sharing their own opinions. their thoughts in this instance hold more water than mine, i think.

what i will comment on in more depth, though, is a personal frustration with tuc. i’m jewish; i’ve never really been shy about that fact on my page here. i’m not from new york, but i visit a few times a year (or i did before covid anyway, lol), and i have some family from nyc. nyc, to me, is a jewish city. and for good reason, since it’s home to one of the largest jewish populations of the country, and even the world, and aspects of jewish culture (including culinary, like bagels and pastrami, and linguistic, like the common use of yiddish words and phrases in english colloquial speech) are prevalent and celebrated among jews and goyim alike. when i think of nyc, i think of a jewish city; that’s not everybody’s new york, but that’s my new york, and thats plenty of other people’s new york too. so i do find myself slightly disappointed or frustrated in tuc for its, in my opinion, rather stark lack of jewish representation.

now, i’m not saying that one of the PCs should have been jewish, full stop. i love to headcanon iga as jewish even though canon does not support that interpretation, and i’m fine with that. she’s not my character. it’s possible that simply no one thought of playing a jewish character, i dunno. but also, and i can’t be sure about this, i’m willing to bet that none of the players really wanted to play a jewish character because they didn’t want to play a character of a marginalized culture they dont belong to in the interest of avoiding stereotyping or offensive representation/cultural appropriation. (i don’t know if any of the cast members are jewish, but i’m assuming not.) and the concern there is certainly appreciated; there’s not a ton of mainstream jewish rep out there, and often what we get is either “unlikeable overly conservative hassidic jew” or “jokes about their bar mitzvah/one-off joke about hanukkah and then their jewishness is never mentioned ever again,” which sucks. it would be really cool to see some more good casual jewish rep in a well-rounded, three-dimensional character in the main cast of a show! even if there are a couple of stumbles along the way -- nobody is perfect and no two jews have the same level of knowledge, dedication, and adherence to their culture.

but at the same time, i look at characters like iga and i really do long for a jewish character to be there. siobhan isn’t polish, yet she’s playing a characters whose identity as a polish immigrant to new york is very central to her story and arc. and part of me wonders why we can’t have the same for a jewish character. if not a PC, then why not an NPC? again, i’m jewish, and i am not native, but in my opinion i think the inclusion of jj is wonderful -- i think there are even fewer native main characters in mainstream media than there are jewish ones, and it’s great to see a native character who is both in touch with their culture as well as not being defined solely by their native-ness. to what extent does it count as ‘appropriative’ because brennan is a white dude? i dunno, but i’m like 99% sure they talked to sensitivity consultants to make sure the representation was as ethical as they could get it, and anyway, i can’t personally see and glaring missteps so far. but again, i’m not native, and if there are native viewers with their own opinions on jj, i’d be really interested in hearing them.

but getting back to the relative lack of jewish representation. it just...disappoints me that jewishness in new york is hardly ever even really mentioned? again, i know we’re only just over halfway through season 2, but also, we had a whole first season too. and it’s definitely not all bad. for example: willy! gd, i love willy so much. him being a golem of williamsburg makes me really really happy -- a jewish mythological creature animated from clay/mud (in this case bricks) to protect a jewish community (like that of williamsburg, a center for many of nyc’s jews) from threat. golem have so often been taken out of their original context and turned into evil monsters in fantasy settings, especially including dnd. (even within other seasons of d20! crush in fh being referred to as a “pavement golem” always rubbed me the wrong way, and i had hoped they’d learned better after tuc but in acoc they refer to another monster as a “corn golem” which just disappointed me all over again.) so the fact that tuc gets golems right makes my jewish heart very happy.

and yet...he doesn’t show up that much? sure, in s1, he’s very helpful when he does, but in s2 so far he shows up once and really does not say or do much of anything. he speaks with a lot more yiddish-influenced language than other characters, but if you didn’t know those words were specifically yiddish/jewish, you might not be able to otherwise clock the fact that willy is jewish. and while willy is a jewish mythological creature who is jewish in canon, he isn’t human. there are no other direct references to judaism, jewish characters, or jewish culture in the unsleeping city beyond him.

there are, in fact, two other canon jewish characters in tuc. but...here’s where i feel the most frustration, i think. the two canon jewish humans in tuc are stephen sondheim and robert moses. both of whom are real actual people, so it’s not like we can just pick and choose what their cultural backgrounds are. as much as i love stephen sondheim, i think there are inherent issues with including real world people as characters in a fictional setting, especially if they are from living/recent memory (sondheim is literally still alive), but anyway, sondheim and moses are both actual jewish people. from watching tuc alone you probably would not be able to guess that sondheim is jewish -- nothing from his character except name suggests it, and i wouldn’t even fault you for not thinking ‘sondheim’ is a jewish-sounding surname (and i dislike the idea/attitude/belief that you can tell who is or isn’t jewish by the sound of their name). and yeah, i’m not going to sit here and be like “brennan should have made sondheim more visibly jewish in canon!” because, like, he’s a real human being and it’s fucking weird to portray him in a way that isn’t as close to how he publicly presents himself, which is not in fact very identifiably jewish? i don’t know, this is what i mean by it’s inherently weird and arguably problematic to portray real living people as characters in a fictional setting, but i digress. sondheim’s jewish, even if you wouldn’t know it; not exactly a representation win.

and then there’s bob moses. you might be able to guess that he’s jewish from canon, actually. there’s the name, of course. but more insidious to me are the specifics of his villainy. greedy and powerhungry, a moneyman, a lich whose power is stored in a phylactery...it does kind of all add up to a Yikes from me. (in the stock market fight there’s a one-off line asking if he has green skin; it’s never really directly acknowledged or answered, but it made me really uncomfortable to hear at first and it’s stuck with me since viewing for the first time.) the issue for me here is that the most obviously jewish human character is the season’s bbeg, and his villainy is rooted in very antisemitic tropes and stereotypes.

i know this isn’t all brennan’s fault -- robert moses was a real ass person and he was in fact jewish, a powerhungry and greedy moneyman, a big giant racist asshole, etc. i’m not saying that jewish characters can’t be evil, and i’m not saying brennan should have tried to be like “this is my NPC robert christian he’s just like bob moses but instead he’s a goy so it’s okay” because...that would be fuckin weird bro. and bob moses was a real person who was jewish and really did do some heinous shit with his municipal power. i’m not necessarily saying brennan should have picked/created a different character to be the villain. i’m not even saying that he shouldn’t have made bob moses a lich (although, again, it doesn’t 100% sit right with me). but my point here is that bob moses is one of a grand total of three canon jewish characters in tuc, of which only two humans, of whom he is the one you’d most easily guess would be jewish and is the most influenced by antisemitic stereotypes/tropes. had there been more jewish representation in the show at all, even just some neutral jewish NPCs, this would not be as much of a problem as it is to me. but halfway through season 2, so far, this is literally all we get. and that bums me out.

listen, i really like tuc. i love d20. but the fact that it is set in a real world place with real world people does inherently raise challenges when it comes to ethical cultural representation. especially when the medium of the show is a game whose creatures, lore, and mechanics have been historically rooted in some questionable racial/cultural views. and dnd is making progress to correct some of those misguided views of older sourcebooks by updating them to more equitably reflect real world racial/cultural sensitivities; that’s a good thing! but these seasons, of course, were recorded before that. the game itself has some questionable cultural stuff baked into it, and that is (almost necessarily) going to be brought to the table in a campaign set in a real-world place filled with real-world people of diverse real-world cultures. the cast can have sensitivity consultants and empathy and the best intentions in the world, and they’ll still fuck up from time to time, that’s okay. your mileage may vary on whether or not it’s still worth sticking around with the show (or the fandom) through that. for me, it does not yet outweigh all the things i like about the show, and i’m gonna continue watching it. but it’s still very worth acknowledging that the cast is 7 people who cannot possibly hope to authentically or gracefully represent every culture in nyc. it’s an unfortunate limitation of the medium. yet it’s also still worthwhile to acknowledge and discuss the cultural representation as it is in the show -- both the goods and the bads, the ethically solid and the questionably appropriative -- and even to hold the creators accountable. (decently, though. i’m definitely not advocating anybody cyberbully brennan on twitter or whatever.) the show and its representation is far from perfect, but i also don’t think it ever could be. still, though, it could always be better, and there’s a worthwhile discussion to be had in the wheres, hows, and whys of that.

[meltingheartsandcores]

I’m tired, I should be studying, instead I wrote this little ficlet that should probably be the prologue to an actual fic that I might get around to writing (fingers crossed).

We have Immortals, modern sects, and porn. Not entirely sure how else to explain it except none of those are explicit, lol.

Hope you enjoy the product of my mildly sleep deprieved brain!

Being invited to have tea with Zewu-Jun was a high honor, despite the immortal seemingly trying to downplay it as much as he possibly could. However, Nie Mingjue isn’t entirely sure what he’s done to earn the honor. It’s been a long time since either Twin Jade was the Sect Leader, Nie Mingjue has spoken with the current Sect Leader Lan Tengfei infrequently over the years when their sect business intermingled or there was a conference, but he wasn’t particularly close to the Lan Sect. And the Twin Jades enjoy their privacy. Enough so that there’s not a single photograph of either of them out there.

So it was very startingly to get the invitation.

Zewu-Jun treating him like an equal and friend is equally startling.

Somehow, not the most startling thing to happen on the trip. No, that would be the portrait of Wei Wuxian. Nie Huaisang’s husband. He thinks. Nie Mingjue isn’t actually sure if they’re married or just act like it. Although, knowing them, that’s how they want everyone to think.

Still, the clearly very old portrait of Wei Wuxian was a little disturbing. Especially with the name below being Wei Wuxian’s, correct characters and all. Even more so after Zewu-Jun noticed him staring at it and decides to give him some utterly terrible information.

“My brother’s husband, from his first life.” Oh. It was that Wei Wuxian. Yiling Lazou Wei Wuxian.

How is this getting worse?

“Oh?” Because screaming was undignified and not something to be done in front of immortals. Later. In his car. And then he’s calling Nie Huaisang to yell at him because of course his brother just had to shake up with the immortals husband. Maybe. Maybe it’s just a massive coincidence. (Nie Mingjue’s luck is never good enough for coincidences.)

“Yes, after the resurrection his core was never strong enough to cultivate immortality. When Wangji realized it, he tried to stop his own cultivation, but it was too late. Wuxian lasted nearly two hundred years, and not a day goes by that Wangji doesn’t miss him.” Oh, Zewu-Jun was sad. Nothing Nie Mingjue can say will make him not sad. In fact, he’s pretty sure anything close to the truth of what Wei Wuxian is doing now will just upset him. “The juniors find it, romantic, that he’s decided to wait for Wuxian to be reincarnated.”

Well. It does sound romantic.

But Zewu-Jun’s face, he’s irritated and upset, so clearly he doesn’t agree with the juniors. It sounds romantic, but the reality, “He must be very lonely.” Nie Mingjue guesses.

Zewu-Jun nods, “We have each other, but we were the only ones from our generation to cultivate immortality. There are many people we miss, and as time seperates us further from the present, it’s harder to connect with the new disciples.” Zewu-Jun admits. Nie Mingjue nods, he’s never considered that. How isolating it must be to have lived so long. The Nie clan, doesn’t really get immortals. Honestly, they’re lucky if they hit a hundred. Most top out at eighty due to their cultivation style.

“How would he know, that he’s been reincarnated? I mean, I think Huaisang’s said some things about faces getting reused due to limited genetics and the growing population.” Actually Wei Wuxian said that. Something to that effect at least. Nie Huaisang was better with people and manipulating situations. He does really well running the business side of the Nie Sect. Even if he refuses to accept any credit.

Zewu-Jun smiles a little sadly, “Well, I suppose we’ll know when we see him. Pictures work well enough, as we’re learning. We’ve found a few people who we knew in our first lives reincarnated.”

Nie Mingjue nods, he should tell Zewu-Jun. He really should. Maybe it’s just a look alike. Unlikely. Nie Mingjue’s never that lucky. Nie Mingjue’s started to pull his phone out of his pocket before remembering his manners and asking while holding it in front of himself, “Uh, do you mind if I?” Zewu-Jun furrows his brow but gestures for him to continue. Nie Mingjue nods and opens his phone, scrolling through the pictures Nie Huaisang had sent him. Not for the first time, he really wished Nie Huaisang wouldn’t send so many half-naked or fully-naked pictures of Wei Wuxian to him. Thankfully, it was not all Nie Huaisang sent to him, so he did come across a picture of a fully dressed Wei Wuxian. Nie Huaisang was also there, but they weren’t doing anything. Nie Huaisang had snapped it while they were out walking and Nie Mingjue had wanted to know where the fuck Nie Huaisang had gone at one am. “Just, uh, he seemed familiar.” Nie Mingjue explains, turning the phone around to show Zewu-Jun.

Zewu-Jun blinks then reaches out, hesitating a moment before taking Nie Mingjue’s phone. “That. Is definitely Wei Wuxian.” Zewu-Jun states, and then he starts touching the screen, which makes Nie Mingjue very nervous and uncomfortable. Because Nie Huaisang sends him very questionable pictures. Nie Mingjue is happy his brother is comfortable with his body, he just wishes he wouldn’t text him explicit pictures of his maybe-boyfriend that sometimes also have him naked in them. Nie Huaisang has always like pushing Nie Mingjue’s boundaries, and honestly, Nie Mingjue would rather he be pushing this one than certain other ones. Still. It makes him nervous when Zewu-Jun taps his phone and his eyes blow wide.

Yeah. That’s not good.

Zewu-Jun blinks and regains his composure, handing the phone back, “May I ask how you know him?”

“...How honest do you want me to be?” Nie Mingjue asks, shutting off his phone and pocketing it without looking at whatever Zewu-Jun saw. He’d like to be able to keep looking Zewu-Jun in the eye for this conversation.

Zewu-Jun raises an eyebrow, almost admonishingly, “As honest as possible. You don’t seem to type to beat around the bush.”

He wasn’t. He just really didn’t want to tell Zewu-Jun what Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian get up to.

“He works with my brother.” Nie Mingjue states vaguely, earning another raised eyebrow from Zewu-Jun.

“Is he a cultivator?”

“Used to be. He had a big falling out with the Jiang a few years back and kind of stopped.” Nie Mingjue shrugs, “He doesn’t talk about it.” All he knew about it was rumour. And the Lans don’t do rumours.

“Ah. So what work does he do with Huaisang?”

...Did he tell Zewu-Jun his brothers name? Nie Huaisang is almost as unknown to the world as the Twin Jades. Purposefully so. The Nie have always been rather private with their members, but when Nie Huaisang was old enough to have an opinion on a public presence and vehemently deny having one, nothing about him was released to the public. Not even other cultivation sects as Nie Huaisang wasn’t a practicing cultivator. He trained. As he was supposed to. But he didn’t do any night hunts. He had no connection to Nie Mingjue on the business end of the Sect either.

So, what?

“How do you know his name?” Nie Mingjue asks, making Zewu-Jun blink in plain confusion. “Huaisang’s name isn’t known to anyone outside the Nie sect. Not in connection to me.” Nie Mingjue states, now a little angry. Did someone tell Zewu-Jun? Who? How? Why would he even care about Huaisang?

“He’s in your phone.” Zewu-Jun states simply.

And that’d be a fine answer.

If Nie Huaisang was ‘Huaisang’ in his phone.

But he wasn’t.

He was Reuben. Courtesy of Wei Wuxian. (Wei Wuxian was ‘Stitch’, no Nie Mingjue didn’t understand the names and he didn’t really want to. He’s mostly worried it’s a weird sex thing and he prefers to be as ignorant as possible in that aspect.)

“I thought Lan’s don’t lie.” Although, Zewu-Jun wasn’t, technically, lying.

But he doesn’t deny it. “Could we sit?” Zewu-Jun suggests, gesturing to the table that had been set up for them. Nie Mingjue nods and sits opposite to Zewu-Jun, pouring them some tea. “I apologize for the deception, however I’ve never actually done this before.” He better not be suggesting what Nie Mingjue thinks he’s suggesting. “In the recent past, when we’ve discovered our reincarnated friends, we’ve more or less left them alone.” Oh. Good. He’s not being propositioned.

Wait.

What?

Nie Mingjue blinks, now thoroughly caught off guard, “Um. What.”

Zewu-Jun smiles gently, understandingly, “Due to certain aspects of your previous life, I felt the need to check in on you, make sure you were doing well. I, well, I assumed your family was the same. Hence, why I know Huaisang’s name despite you keeping him rather off the grid.”

“He’s not off the grid. He just has no public connection to me.” Nie Huaisang was almost constantly online. Especially with his ‘job’.

“Ah. So, what work does he and Wei Wuxian do?” Zewu-Jun asks before taking a drink of his tea.

Nie Mingjue considers what he knows about the Lan, and then realizes he really doesn’t want to have this conversation. Luckily for him (or unluckily most of the time), he can just show Zewu-Jun on his phone. “Um, you might want to put that down.” Nie Mingjue suggests, pulling out his phone and turning it on, quickly going to the app Nie Huaisang downloaded on his phone that he never goes on, and opens it up to Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian’s account. Sliding it across the table as Zewu-Jun dubiously puts down his teacup.

Zewu-Jun blinks, then sighs, “I can’t say, I’m particularly surprised with Wei Wuxian’s career choice.”

“...Seriously.”

“You did not hear them. I’m aware of the publics perception of us, particularly Wangji, but trust me. He’s not nearly as prudish as people seem to think.” Zewu-Jun states, sliding the phone back with a rueful smile and a familiar look.

Nie Mingjue exits out of the app before shutting off and pocketing his phone. He knew that look. The look of an elder brother who really didn’t need to know so much about their younger brother’s sex life. He knew that look well. “Right. Speaking of Hanguang-Jun, how would he react?”

Zewu-Jun purses his lips. “I can’t say he’ll be particularly favourable. Wangji’s always been quite, possessive.”

“Wei Wuxian is persuasive. I’m kind of curious as to who would falter first.” Nie Mingjue snorts, picking up his own cup of tea. It was good tea.

Zewu-Jun’s eyebrows were furrowed, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Wuxian’s not going give up his livelyhood. He enjoys it. Even if he falls back in love with Hanguang-Jun, I’m not sure he’ll quit it.” Nie Mingjue states, shaking his head. It was an understatement. Wei Wuxian loves his job. As he so often gushes. Nie Mingjue’s honestly just happy Wei Wuxian doesn’t give him details.

Zewu-Jun slowly nods, understanding dawning, “You think Wei-gongzi will convince Wangji to do porn.” Zewu-Jun winces, “I, hate that I cannot say it’s out of the realm of possibilities.”

Nie Mingjue snorts and then smirks, “Ah, Zewu-Jun, how about a friendly bet?”

Zewu-Jun’s brows pinch slightly, eye narrowing, before he smirks, “Only if you call me Lan Xichen.”

Ohhhkay. Zewu-Jun had said to at the beginning of their meeting, but Nie Mingjue had honestly kind of ignored it. Immortals are a big deal. But then again. He was about to gamble with one. “Ok, Lan Xichen, why don’t we make a bet in favour of our, brothers.” Nie Mingjue isn’t entirely sure what else to refer to them as. If Nie Huaisang was married, then technically Wei Wuxian would be his brother. If they’re not, he might as well be at this point either way.

“Are Huaisang and Wuxian married?” Lan Xichen cuts in, confused.

“I’m not entirely sure. Maybe. Not important.” Nie Mingjue shakes his head, “If Hanguang-Jun manages to convince Wei Wuxian to quit his work, you win, and if Wei Wuxian manages to convince Hanguang-Jun to do porn, I win.”

Lan Xichen nods, smiling with interest, “And what are we betting?”

Nie Mingjue smirks, this was going to be fun.