#talk about overly verbose

[narmora]

🌟 Shooting Stars - Master List 🌟

Overview of my silly little BG3 Gale x OC fic 💖 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Five days have passed since Nori crashed into the most backwater part of the Sword Coast, head pounding with the hangover of the century and now for some reason dubbed leader of a ragtag gaggle of misfits, all of them at least twice her size. Just when she thinks the situation couldn’t possibly get any weirder, the sky decides to open yet again, throwing one more lost soul into her lap.

After what feels like an eternity of frantic dimension-hopping, Ley escapes the monster in her back by a hair’s breadth - only to find herself plunging through the stratosphere of a world she’s never heard of, inhabited by people whose language she doesn’t speak. Beaten and battered, she hauls herself from the wrecked remains of her ship and stumbles upon a colourful bunch of adventurers. All of them for some reason infected with wriggling, alien parasites. Among them, a man in purple robes, charming and eager to teach her the ways of his world - and host to a beast craving to sink its claws into her. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1. Chapter: Prelude 2. Chapter: Falling 3. Chapter: Stalker 4. Chapter: Gifts 5. Chapter: Caged 6. Chapter: Words 7. Chapter: Flowers 8. Chapter: Hunger 9. Chapter: Surge (Part I) 10. Chapter: Surge (Part II) 11. Chapter: Farewells 12. Chapter: Weave 13. Chapter: Revivify 14. Chapter: Confessions 15. Chapter: Reading 16. Chapter: Forward 17. Chapter: Hunt 18. Chapter: Respite 19. Chapter: Ignis 20. Chapter: Hearthlight 21. Chapter: Exile 22. Chapter: Revenant 23. Chapter: Solace 24. Chapter: Rosymorn 25. Chapter: Zaith'isk 26. Chapter: Hshar’lak

[brynn-lear]

a/n: I won't be writing a oneshot about this since I already have a yan!capitano fic series I'm committing to, but I might randomly post about this idea more every now and then lol. tagging this AU as #the captain and his duchess

Yandere noble!Capitano who couldn't stop asking Fem Tutor!Darling to spar with him. With the weight of his inheritance, █████ must strive to be as great— if not greater— of a Captain like his father, the Duke.

But before he gained his infamous strength, you were his beloved mentor. You were a prodigy in swordsmanship with high confidence to boot. Hence, you gleefully accepted the Duke's request to tutor his eldest son. Coming from a minor noble household with only a title to uphold and not much else to boast, it's only natural to grasp unto that opportunity. It just so happened you've been clearing off competitions, and the duke has a good eye. Your parents, bless their souls, wouldn't dissuade you from your decision. Pride meant nothing when there's not even food scraps on the table. With a heart that still bleeds for the misfortune of those around you, you set off on horseback alone.

Whoever it was you were expecting to teach, it certainly wasn't a terrified noble hiding behind a helmet. Young █████ was not to blame. He carries the same dignified moral compass as his house, but he was ill-prepared to talk to people other than his family and servants. In fact, you couldn't get a word out of him as soon as you're done assessing his skill level with a first match.

Much to be desired, but the foundation is there.

... Perhaps you were too harsh with your phrasing.

"Young master," you shook your head, knocking on his door. "I couldn't teach you if you scamper about- hiding like meek prey in the closest room you'd burrow yourself in."

█████ didn't made a sound. You sighed. Truthfully, you wondered if you had done something to offend. It couldn't possibly be due to fear of authority. You're 21 and he's 19, not to mention that he is to be future sovereign Duke of Snezhnaya while you're not even reserved a seat in the council.

"F-Forgive him, Lady (Y/n)!" Elena squeaked. "He's not usually like this. I believe this is because..."

You raised an eyebrow. "Because...?"

The maid hurriedly shook her head, heat crawling up her neck. "N-No, I mustn't say. As a servant, I would step out of line."

"I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, you know?" You grinned. Skillfully, you placed a hand on the wall, leaning closer as if cornering her. You tucked the few stray strands of her hair behind her ear. "I'm not from this House, I wouldn't scold you for a little bit of sin."

She looked extremely offended. Suppose you should've expected that much from the most honorable Harbinger House's staff.

"I'm inclined to believe that this young maid's hypothesis requires no detective to solve."

You both looked to the direction of the voice. It was Prince Zandik, cousin to █████ and heir to the throne. Though to both of you, you are his most favorite gladiator and he is your best sponsor.

"Greetings, Zandik. You appear just about anywhere, huh? Are you sure you're not pulling my leg about the secret twin rumors?"

"Not one for tact, as always. But that's just how I like you, Lady (Y/n)."

Elena looked at you incredulously, wondering just where on earth did you find the audacity to refer to the Prince without proper decorum. Zandik doesn't seem sensitive to your lack of sensibility. You and Zandik have been friends since childhood was never a secret, but those who would recently find this resurfacing fact never fail to act surprised.

"I'd ask you why you're here, but the answer would be dull and overly verbose." You feigned a yawn, which made Zandik chuckle. "So, instead, why don't you tell me what you know about this █████ situation? Does he fear women?"

Zandik schooled his expression, but you can almost just about hear him say that's your best guess?

"█████ has never been one for sublime subtlety." Zandik rolled his eyes. "He admires you greatly, couldn't you tell?"

"Me? And greatly?" You scoffed. "Please, he'd outpace me with just a few lessons.

Zandik laughed. You both knew that to be true, but the future isn't quite as close to that prediction.

"Since the day I discreetly snatched him from his quarters to observe one of your sparring sessions, he has maintained a keen interest in tracking your career." The Prince remarked. "Do you recall the first bouquet of roses you've received?"

"I wasn't meant to be the recipient, do not reopen old wounds." You cringed. It was an unfortunate mistake from the messenger.

"Forgive me, I meant the second bouquet you received." He crossed his arms. "One from a secret admirer who curtly explained how he couldn't bear to see the sadness from your face and made it his honorable responsibility to buy you a larger bouquet."

You blinked.

"N-No way. I'm pretty sure that's from, um, my father."

"Buy you the most expensive bouquet in Snezhnaya? With what money?"

... A cruel but fair point.

"He even dons the same headwear as you do— the helmet he would rarely take off, did you not find it identical to your own?"

You paused.

... Wait a second.

"Well, I shall remove myself from this conversation. I have dull and overly verbose matters to attend to."

"Zandik, halt!"

[weenwrites]

*Crawls out of the sewers to make a request*

Yoo! Hope you're having a good day, make sure to drink lots of water!

As for the request, would do you mind doing a romance pining headcanons Transformers Prime Bumbleee and Optimus Prime (separately, of course) for a human charge? The bots would develop a crush on the reader, and how would they're pining be-? Most of their time pining, he human charge would be oblivious to their advances (if there are any) and would just brush it off as them being friendly? Despote the human charge having mutual feelings for the bot as well.

Apologies for my bad english, and I'm not really good at describing stuff, so pardon if it seemed weird or something-

Anyways, thank you for your time!

A/N: Your english is great! I think you were able to communicate your idea just fine.

[ Please do not repost, plagiarize, or use my writing for AI! Translating my work with proper credit is acceptable, but please ask first! ]

Optimus

It's not that he's afraid of expressing his true feelings to you, it's that he's hesitant on whether he should. You already have such a massive target painted on your back just by being under his watch, to start dating you would raise the stakes higher than you'd ever know. Of course that isn't to mention whether he'd have the time and energy to be your partner.

Yes, he sees you every day because you're his charge, but if you were to make your relationship romantic, he would need to be present and available in your life outside of decepticon-related issues. He is uncertain whether he has the time to, though he understands that he has a capable team who are well willing to break their own backs just to give him some time off, he doesn't want them to go to such lengths.

So while there's no verbal confession right away, or for any time soon, he's much more talkative with you and attentive to your every need—not overly so, but enough that it's noticeable. And however you spend patrols with him—whether it be listening to music as you drive, or just sitting in silence—words are what fill the silence as you meander down the road.

At times he'd dream about life with you, and in those dreams the war is the least of his concerns. In those dreams he thinks about how he could make his schedule align with yours, he thinks about how you might enjoy this one activity, or this one place on Cybertron. And at times he finds bits of his dreams even seeping into his waking thoughts as he finds himself wondering about your well-being on a day you're elsewhere.

Bumblebee

Surprisingly it's rather difficult to tell that he likes you because he's already so friendly towards you, but it's not inherently impossible if you can read the signs. Firstly, he's a lot more expressive around you—and while that may be surprising to hear given the fact he's already a very expressive person, I mean "more expressive" as in he seems even more enthusiastic and happy around you (even more than either of you knew was possible).

You can see it in the way he tries to keep you around, and the way that he admires stares at you for a bit longer than is considered acceptable by your societal norms. Especially whenever you go out on patrol with him, it almost feels like the seat belt around you is hugging you in a way, but you could also pass that off as he's just trying to make sure you're nice and secure.

His confession is very shy, yet there's something so endearing when it comes to seeing him offer you a hand-made Valentine's day card. The cover of the card is simple, yet the inside is what really stands out to you the most. The inside details his feelings for you—not in any showy or verbose way, but in a few straightforward and simple sentences. Yet each word is teeming with his unexpressed adoration for you, and his hesitance barely conceals the fear of your rejection, and yet he's still brave enough to look at you as if to ask "well, what do you say?"

[twst-drabbles]

Soulmates AU: Idia

Summary: You were born with a run-on sentence for a soulmate mark on your arm, from wrist to shoulder. Now you finally met the man that utters these words by a trashcan.

(I was requested and wrote this long number. Over 4000 words all written within the span of four days. I wrote this for @twst-charity. Not gonna lie, pretty proud that I wrote this much in that span of time. Been a while since I could do that, though I did end up pulling a muscle in my neck. I hope this is a fun read. It's also on ao3 as well. Right here.)

The writings you were born with were practically illegible at birth. The font was rather fancy, overly so, and the words circled around from your wrist to your shoulder so tightly that your family was convinced it was a giant birth mark and not the words of your soulmate.

But you grew and so did the spaces in those words. It was a pretty spiral, but as age continued to feed you wisdom, you felt that this position was deliberate. Because, as far as you knew, this first sentence could very well be the ramblings of someone going mad or already is. But first words are hardly something to build assumptions on, especially when it comes to the subject of your soulmate.

These words covering your arm are about a fictional character named Alexius von Tuveria en Ris. Well, at least you hope it’s fictional. It’s kind of a silly name to give to a kid. And also you’re not exactly up for having a soulmate that’s this, uh, verbose and opinionated about an actual person. You’ve been exposed to the deeper parts of the celebrity fan culture and you’re good with staying far away from it.

…Alexius von Tuveria en Ris doesn’t deserve any of this, though not as if he’d do anything about it if he saw since that prince is just too kind-hearted and honestly kind of cheesy, though cheesy doesn’t mean cringe and cringe is something normies are so immune to it almost makes me sick…

That was only part of the sentence on your arm. Your soulmate, where ever they are, they sure do talk a lot. Like, a whole lot. You tried repeating the sentence on your arm in just one breath and you had to practice a few years just to get it right. Strong lungs on that one, probably.

And a whole lot of unique factors to help narrow down the pool of who is and who isn’t your soulmate. Alexius von Tuveria en Ris is a pretty unique name by itself. But, the uniqueness of it did return disappointment, since searching online for a character with such a name yielded no results. You made it a habit to search at least once a week or so, just in case it was a series that has yet to exist.

You were also sort of relieved to find out that there was no royal family with a similar name. Though, that still didn’t rule out the possibility. For all you know, this could be a fake name someone chose for themselves.

Either way, this name will come to exist at some point, someone or something will be Alexius von Tuveria en Ris, and you’d have to make sure to be on top of that.

But, then you couldn’t, because suddenly you found yourself in a place called Night Raven College. One minute you were living your regular life, and the next you found duty after duty from your “oh so kind” headmage with a cat that doesn’t learn to listen when he should.

It was… an adjustment certainly. The grating egos of everyone here, the casual and not so casual use of magic that can and will kill you if it hits you in just the right way, and large restrictions on your finances rarely left you with more than a few complaints, but all you could do was grit your teeth and trudge on.

At least, despite all of these annoyances and difficulties, there are some silver linings to the found here. Magic itself was something of a marvel to witness, you won’t lie to yourself about that. You will never say it out loud for anyone to head though, because you know the minute you do, people like Grim will gloat and unintentionally belittle you with a, “Well, something as simple as that would look amazing to you, huh?”

And out of a need to never hear those words uttered by anyone, you decided to use one of your privileges to lock yourself in the computer lab. It’s after curfew, so most of the students not in remedial classes are at their dorms by now.

Next to you were a couple of spiral notebooks, the blue one opened and already filled to the brim with notes about basic magic mechanics. Sure, you can’t do a single lick of magic as far as you can tell, but you don’t want to make the blunder of relying on your preconceived notions of it.

Though, as with all studying, even on a subject as interesting as this, your brain starts to fuzz up and suddenly you can’t even retain the current paragraph. Your eyes kept skimming over the same words over and over. Finally, you huffed and slumped back in your chair, setting your pencil aside.

Though, before you decide to call it quits and rest for the night, you felt one more search would be interesting. You pushed up your sleeve until you found the name of Alexius von Tuveria en Ris on your forearm, and typed that into the blinking bar.

Hehe, the name looked a little funny in this cutesy font this search engine uses. You weren’t expecting anything honestly. You’ve already cut your losses with meeting your soulmate young. You’ve had cousins and other distant relatives that haven’t met their soulmates until they were in their seventies. Knowing how that bird-brained Crowley works, you’ll probably return back home when you’re at least in your forties. Or fifties.

He’s really taking his sweet-ass time, huh?

Either way, you pressed enter and stretched. Nothing to come of it and nothing to lose with this simple search, right? You’ve already been through the phase of obsessively searching every day back when you were younger and had too much time. At this point, it does no harm to search at least once. You mean, why not?

But, it was a hit. Several pages of hits. At the top of the pastel blue search engine was Alexius von Tuveria en Ris in all bold. In fact, from the title of the website, you’d say it was an entire site dedicated to this character.

Here it was. The very thing you’ve searching for, waiting for, was right in front of your eyes.

You didn’t say anything, you just clicked. Paragraphs and paragraphs of detailed information about this person–a fictional character–laid before you. You nearly ripped your sleeve up your arm as you scrolled down the page, looking between the screen and your skin as you confirmed that what you’re reading is correct and not just a huge coincidence that’s made to make fun of you for having hope.

The name matches, the background of isolating himself in his castle matches, the huge blow out after attempting to revive his Kingdom of Paradise matches. All of it matches your arm.

You let go of the mouse, eyes burning from staring at a white screen with black text for too long, and just sat. You stared up at the ceiling…

…and quietly seethed.

For months you’ve been wanting to go back home, and often in the middle of the night, you’d find yourself wishing you never got transported here in the first place. Some part of you buried deep was starting to believe that you would never go home, and if you knew that the option of exploring a magical place came with the consequence of never going home, you never would have taken it.

But now your arm and this screen was telling you that you had no choice but to come here. That it was destined, preordained. No matter how hard you fought, you were going to be whisked away.

It… it sucked, you will admit that.

But you sighed out all the doubts and breathed in realistic optimism. You came here one way, there has to be a way out. It happened once, so it’s logical that it would happen again.

And so, with a light stretching of your sore fingers and wrists, you clicked and read as much information you can. Absorbing the series that’s apparently been running for a good twenty years with a handful of remakes and one live action that flopped on its face.

Before you know it, it was way past the dead of night and encroaching on morning. You took a minute to stretched and rub at your strained eyes before packing everything up. You’re going to regret doing all this in the morning, when classes start, but what can you say? You like living in the moment.

You walked out, locked everything up with the keys Crowley entrusted you with, and started down the path towards your dorm. Sure, you do have permission to use the mirrors on campus, but you’re pretty sure you need someone with magic to be able to use the thing. Or you probably don’t, for all you know, but you’re not in the mood to test the theory.

You found yourself on a cross section at the road that served as a nice resting spot before heading to Sam’s shop. It had a couple of fancy black benches with gaudy gold legs, a fountain so large you’re glad you don’t have to clean it, and a lot of foliage for that beautiful view and clean air.

With all these sights nicely lit by the evenly spaced lamps to take in, instead your eyes settled on someone that chose to huddle by a trashcan. You heard crinkling and, at first, you thought this person was riffling through the trash. You got closer, and while you can’t say you were wrong, the only thing in this man’s hands was a poster.

Then, finally, you were within earshot.

“And just when I found the perfect poster, I find it in a trash can of all things, wrinkled up and thrown away because some ignorant idiot thought this was only worth as much as a piece of paper,”

Kind a rambler huh? Sounds like he’s having a bad day. Or night. Should probably just leave him alone.

…

Hold on a moment.

You pulled up your sleeve.

“Couldn’t have the decency to give this limited edition poster back for people like me, who truly appreciate the series, to own, but no of course not, it would be inconvenient, horrible that they would wrinkle the main character’s Kingdom of Paradise that he’s always dreamed of, Alexius von Tuveria en Ris doesn’t deserve any of this, though not as if he’d do anything about it if he saw since that prince is just too kind-hearted and honestly kind of cheesy, though cheesy doesn’t mean cringe and cringe is something normies are so immune to it almost makes me sick–AH there’s a tear because of course,”

You were twisting your arm this way and that, making very sure that this random man’s rant actually matched your words. You almost pulled a muscle as he continued, eyes and neck straining to read the words on your shoulders.

You lost your balance and caught yourself just as the man before you stopped his rant with a huff.

Before he could possibly start again, you walked right behind him and said, “So you’re the dude that inked up my arm.”

Ah, you didn’t really have any special words in mind, like a lot of your classmates back in your younger days. Yes, you’re buzzing a little with excitement, but you’re so tired and drained from another emotional high that you’re in a fog. Besides, you already confirmed that this person’s your soulmate, whatever pops out of your mouth will be just as unique.

“Eep!” A high little squeak of a yelp. The student–his jacket held Ignihyde designs on it–retreated his arms to his chest, like he’s ready to either lash out or curl into a ball.

He would’ve fell backwards if your legs didn’t stop his fall.

“Whoops,” you pushed him to his feet with a hand to his shoulder, “sorry about that. You okay?”

Only then did he finally turn. His hood fell from his face and unleashed an absolute bonfire of hair. A luminous bright blue that almost blinded you.

And suddenly, his hair turned an almost violent mix of pink and purple.

He blinked, then his eyes flickered from your face to his wrist, where your words are. The man opened his mouth but his voice didn’t scream so much as it whistled before dashed to the left. He sped crawled on all fours for a moment before finding his footing.

This man, whom you would eventually find out to be called Idia, ran away upon first meeting you, his soulmate.

You weren’t offended in the least. You can understand that being seen mumbling like a maniac by a trashcan isn’t the best way to be seen by your fated soulmate. So, with that in mind, you didn’t search out for him for about three days.

By day four, you got impatient and decided to hunt down for Idia since he has not even left a hint hint about wanting to meet you. A week would’ve been the original waiting time, but this college really takes a toll on you and you just want this done before you get dragged into another magical situation.

The first day, you waited by a classroom you knew Idia attended. Well, Idia’s tablet. Being a housewarden and not a regular student, it’s rather easy to stumble upon information about him. Egocentric students love to gossip when it’s framed to either make their dorm or themselves look better.

You saw a peek of a magical tablet and grabbed without hesitation.

“Ha?” You heard clicking and felt the tablet attempt to leave your hands. You turned it around and faced the built in camera.

“Hey,” you greeted as causally as you could, “Idia, right? Met you a few nights before–”

Another click, and suddenly your entire vision went white with a flash of light. You dropped the tablet.

By the time your eyes went back to normal, the tablet was gone and you were alone again.

“So, that’s how it going to be, huh?” You’ve had your fair share of runaways. In fact, your little group was mostly made of them, running away for one reason or another, like not wanting to go to class, or avoiding cleaning duties for a mess they’ve made. This was not a new situation for you.

If Idia thinks he can run away from you forever, he has another thing coming.

The next day, you found the tablet floating in the library. You got a ladder to grab it from the bottom, but you weren’t quiet enough when you climbed it. The tablet floated right past your fingertips and dashed out the door with a “Sorry!”

Well, at least he apologized. But you still want to talk!

Another day passes and you found the man physically just as you were about to walk out the classroom. He had a stack of papers in his hands, late assignments he had to turn in physically if he wanted a chance at passing apparently. He didn’t see you, so you retreated behind the door.

When you saw Idia’s figure pass by the door, you popped out and grabbed his shoulder.

“Idia,” you firmly said with a tightening grip on his frozen shoulder, “we need to talk.”

And you were meet with a tower of papers to the face and he was gone before you dug through the pile.

By that point, you were ready and willing to start dragging your other friends into the mix. You let this skittish soulmate of yours to run off the first few times because you didn’t want to stress him out too much. But, by this point in time, it would be better to throw caution to the wind if only so you two can actually sit down and have a talk.

But, by the next morning, before you could meet up with everyone, a robot kid you recognize as Ortho shot out of the sky and landed with surprising grace. At the price of leaves and dirt flooding your mouth.

“There you are!” His voice was loud but it wasn’t grating. It was a cute kind of loud, like he was happy to see you.

You spat on the ground and leaned against a tree, still groggy from waking up. “Ortho, right? Hello. You need something? I’m kind of in a hurry.”

“To make a plan to catch my big brother right?”

His accuracy left you stunned.

“Uh.”

“Then, please come with me!” Ortho grabbed your arm and enthusiastically, “I keep telling my brother to suck it up and meet you, but he just won’t!”

“I know that,” you gritted your teeth, feeling like your shoulder will pop out of its socket, “Mind telling me where you’re taking me though.”

“I’m taking you to–” Ortho paused, floated behind you and grabbed your shoulder, “Hold on, this will be faster. We’re going to Ignihyde!”

“Wha–?” But you were forced to eat your words, just when it was finally free of all dirt and leaves.

And before you know it, you were gently placed on your feet in front of the Ignihyde dorm.

“Huh.” If you delete the last few minutes from your mind, you’d say it was a pretty enjoyable ride. Quick, at least.

“So, future soulmate of my big brother,” You’re pretty sure he knows who you are, you’re not exactly a quiet presence with that monster fire cat always around, “I have to do other things, so you just have to go down these paths and you’ll be in front of his room! Just make sure he doesn’t run away, okay?”

Ortho even gave you a little note that straight up looked printed. A clear map of where Idia’s room is.

“Well, thanks,” you turned around to properly face him but Ortho was already blasting off into the sky with a wave.

You huffed out a laugh, just because the whole interaction was ridiculous, and went on your way. You don’t really have early morning classes to be late to, anyway. You just came early to prepare for chasing after Idia.

As much as you would like to take the time to admire the hallways of the Ignihyde dorm, you’re too eager to get this meeting over with.

And then you’re finally in front of Idia’s room. You reach out to knock but the door pulls open, as though avoiding your knuckles. Idia was there, hood over his head like he was going to sneak around again like the first time you’ve met him. He spotted you in a second and slammed the door right in your face.

You waited a few minutes just to see if some miracle would happen and Idia opens the door on his own.

He didn’t.

“I’m not moving from here, if you’re wondering.”

You heard a sharp gasp and then a heavy, shaky, defeated sigh.

“…of course you’re not…” And then heard the slide of fabric against the door before a soft thud at the bottom.

He sat down, and so you got yourself comfortable as well.

“So,” you leaned back on your hands, “you’ve been running away from me.”

“I have…” and then under his breath like he thought you wouldn’t hear, “…any normal person would give up but of course my soulmate would be more stubborn than that…”

You whistled and that caught his attention with a gasp.

“Hey, focus on me,” you knocked on the door for good measure, “Why were you running? That first meeting could not have been that embarrassing.”

“Says you,” his next words came out muffled, like he’s shrinking into his hoodie, “Of all the days to meet you, you just had to see me right next to a trash can like I was some kind of degenerate rat. Anyone would think I was a loser of a freak, stroking that wrinkled poster like that. Well, I’m not! Only true fans would love this series as much as I do. So if anything, you were probably seeing me at my best moment!”

“Huh.”

You can practically hear Idia deflate from behind the door. “’Huh?’ You say… Yeah yeah, think what you want, I can’t even begin to change it.”

You… have a doozy of a soulmate huh?

“Certainly didn’t help that you were flash banged me, almost made me fall down a ladder and threw papers in my face.”

Idia shrank further. “…sorry…”

“Hmm? What’s that?”

“Sorry!” It was a burst of a yell and you had to back up a bit, “I was terrified alright?! I mean, I played all sorts of scenarios and even made a game to prepare for this moment. I had all these scripts in my head and I thought I was ready to trigger the romance flag alright?! But instead, I was stuck in my own head and completely missed it! I messed up and I panicked! You have any idea how scary that is?! You weren’t supposed to see me like that! I was supposed to be at max level by the time I met you but instead, I’m just this unevolved mess!”

You opened your mouth but Idia cut in.

“Fate is inevitable, just as death is… I was going to met you regardless and I guess, I thought, that maybe I had more time. But I didn’t. So I just, wanted you to stay away until I thought I was going to be ready… Ha, either way, it’s my fault…”

…alright, how are you going to handle this? You’re not exactly the best when it comes to emotional comfort.

Well, may as well just use what you already have on hand. Or on arm.

“Didn’t Alexius von Tuveria en Ris think he was ready to rule his kingdom when he brought it back from the ashes?”

You heard a sputter. You continued.

“I mean, the dude was kind of young wasn’t he? Well, not like it matters, he brought it back and someone had to rule it whether he liked it or not.”

Then, you heard Idia actually honk. “No, that’s not what happened! Alexius von Tuveria en Ris wanted to bring back the Kingdom of Paradise not because he thought he was fit to rule it but because he thought it didn’t deserve that fate. It’s not his fault that he was put in that position when he brought it to life!”

Ah, there we go. Switching the subject, your best skill!

You egged him on. “But shouldn’t he have been prepared for that, then? The series did say that he likes to prepare for every thing imaginable because it was a kingdom he was reviving.”

“What the–that’s stupid! He can’t see the future! No matter how much he reads or writes, there’s no way he could’ve predicted that! And even if he did, it wouldn’t have mattered! He couldn’t have stopped the tragedy anyway!”

“Oh that’s right!” you clapped your hands, “Thanks for reminding me. Totally slipped my mind.”

“As long as you know. I hate it when people don’t pay attention.”

Huh, he sounds huffy. That’s cute.

“Sorry, it’s kind of hard to remember with all the stuff that happens in the latest Red Sky Arc, where Alexius just–”

You heard a hard slam against the door. “No spoilers! I haven’t gotten to that arc yet!”

You closed your mouth, almost biting your tongue in the process.

A few seconds, then a minute, and then you burst out laughing.

Idia, meanwhile, was stunned. “W-what? What did I do?”

“No no,” you relaxed, “that’s just the loudest you’ve been.”

“I… I guess that was a bit too loud.” The tone in his voice made him seem bashful. “But I’m seriously not at that part yet. I don’t want to get a head start just yet.”

“Alright, I’ll keep my mouth shut then.” You pushed yourself up and dusted your pants. “I think I’ll be taking my leave here. Don’t want to bother you too much. I just needed to hear an apology and an excuse.”

“Wait, what?”

You turned around, stuffing the map Ortho gave you into your pocket. “See you later, Idia.”

“Wait!” The door slammed open. You turned around.

Idia’s hair was pink at the tips, but at least he didn’t look like he was going to explode. He did look like he was going to collapse though. Poor man looked out of breath.

“I-I,” the pink began to climb upwards the longer he looked at you, “I, uh, I happen to have that season downloaded… on my PC… so if you want to, you know, update your out of date stuff then, maybe you could, you know… watch it with me?”

His head practically disappeared in his hoodie and hair, but you heard him clear enough.

You could tease him, but you don’t know each other well enough so…

You nodded, “Sure, I have time. A lot of time actually.”

That one is a bit of a lie, but you just want to spend time with Idia. You have a number of excuses on hand anyway. You’ll send one off right before settling down.

“Huh? Oh, uh” Idia moved to the side, holding the door like it’ll protect him from his feelings, “C-come in then.”

You stepped inside.

[crazybth]

JJK Fic Idea

SI OC - King of Curses Itadori Jin

Even after he realizes who he is reincarnated to, it’s never too late. Itadori Jin regained his past life memories and knowledge of this world in one of the famous manga he used to read. He is already married and has a child. He shuddered by his wife who had a stitch mark on her forehead. He managed to survive the car accident and escape from Kenny. Jin thought that was all and took his heart and soul to watch over his precious son along with his dad. He now commits to being a secret overprotective helicopter dad just to make sure his Yuuji never gets near the dish soap fingers and the white paintbrush head man. It all seems fine until it’s not.

Like Gege didn’t want happiness or faith to need the same outcome despite taking a different part. To the king of curse to live on and walk on earth once again.

He almost forgot who Itadori Jin truly is.

It is him swallowing Sukuna’s finger instead.

When two were a half once split. One became two and now two becomes one once again.

But once a father, always a father. He will protect his child, even from himself.

—————————

SUMMARY:

SI OC is reborn as Itadori Jin. He survived until the canon and successfully raised Yuuji without dying himself. Deemed to protect him from the cruel cursed world, instead, he takes Yuuji’s place by being the one to eat Sukuna’s finger. His soul merged with Sukuna and gained his powers, and unfortunately, his memories. He followed Yuuji into the world of sorcerers. While others believe he exorcised the king of curses by eating his fingers and Sukuna never awake in the modern world, he also tried to fool himself and deny what was left of the calamity imprinted on his soul. And of course, the title of the king.

P.S. I wonder why there are not many talking about him that much. I mean, he is Sukuna's twin reincarnate and technically his other half. So I came up with what if Jin is alive, being the one who eats fingers instead and they merged. And with SI Oc shenanigans with canon knowledge. Chaos insured. Twin becomes one once again and The Dad king would not let anyone touch his kid.

Just my concept story for now and might add more in the future

Thanks @overly-verbose I got major inspiration from you 😆

[itsclydebitches]

A new stupid Ted Lasso drabble? Oh worm? 👀

“Would you still love me if I was a worm?”

It was too early for this shit.

Roy turned to find Ted staring intently at his computer screen, with Twitter—no fucking wonder he was losing his mind at 7:00am— encroaching on the Richmond desktop. Across from him Beard licked his thumb and deftly flipped a page of The Secret Garden. Had they planned this?

“Yes,” Beard said, not bothering to look up. Ted let out an explosive breath and smiled, like Beard’s promise of worm devotion meant fuck all when they had actual shit to do. Keeley was still waiting on a statement. Rebecca had a small library for them to sign. Higgins— Roy shuddered—wanted to talk finances in half an hour.

Which meant that instead of prepping for any of that in any way, Ted’s gaze crept towards him.

“Fuck no,” Roy barked.

Ted pouted. No, no, if Phoebe couldn’t sway him with doe-eyes at the tender age of six then Ted Bloody Lasso wasn’t going to do it around a fucking mustache. Roy set his teeth against the sliver of an apology trying to force its way out. “You’re a worm,” he said, as if that explained it all. Because dammit, it did.

“What kind of worm?”

Head jerking, Roy schooled his look of betrayal at Trent taking this seriously. He had his glasses off and everything, tap-tap-taping against his mouth as he stared contemplatively up at the ceiling.

“Uhhh...” Ted consulted the digital hellfire, but apparently no answers were offered up. Figures. “I don’t know. Just a worm? Are there a lot of ‘em?”

“Oh yes. Well over twenty-thousand last I checked.”

Roy twitted involuntarily. Twenty-fucking-thousand? And how the hell did Trent know that? Was he the goddamn worm whisperer? Made sense, given what a spineless pest he was.

Not anymore a voice whispered, sounding suspiciously like Ted. Yeah. Fine. He’d changed or what-fucking-ever. Roy growled and resigned himself to a worm lecture as penance.

“Worms are as varied as any species,” Trent was saying, curdling Roy’s stomach with every word. He took his pen out, mindlessly twirling it as he gathered his thoughts. “Silkworms, tapeworms, the humble earthworm. They seem quite simple on the surface and yet they’re a vital part of our ecosystem. Forget the bees; remove the worm and you risk a near total collapse of our agriculture. Ah, and did you know that the leech is a worm? Certainly they’ve been invaluable to the medical community as a natural anticoagulant. Science will always advance, but sometimes all you need is a good old-fashioned blood sucker—”

“Stop,” Roy groaned, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt. Trent glanced over, one eyebrow raised.

“The point—sorry, my editor is always on my case for ‘overly verbose prose.’ As if she’s one to talk with those emails—the point is that if you were a worm, Ted, you would remain just as valuable a member of society as you are now. Of course we'd still love you. And why shouldn't you remain a part of our lives? I would determine your species and then set about finding a suitable environment for you. One that, hopefully, we would all be able to visit with frequency. However, if you’re a tube-worm I’m afraid you’re, well, shit out of luck, if I’m allowed to be crass. None of us are going anywhere near a hydrothermal vent and that’s even if I knew how to swim. Most land-living species would be doable though.” Trent bit his lower lip, considering. “If you were a worm I’d research everything I could about your nutrition, enrichment, life cycle. Given the magical nature of these events—I assume in this hypothetical you weren’t always a worm, yes?—I would take steps to ensure you were well looked after, should your life extend past mine. Luckily, Amelia already had a fondness for all things creepy and crawly, so I’m sure she’d be thrilled to receive you in the will. In the same vein, I’d use whatever contacts I still possess to connect with the leading researchers in Nematology and Helminthology, see if we couldn't find some way to communicate with you. I have no qualms about you being a worm, Ted, but I would miss our chats.” Trent smiled, a little wistfully, and then shook himself like a man coming out of a dream. “Why do you ask?”

“Jesus Fucking Christ,” Roy said, thunking his head down on the keyboard. Whatever these two nerds had going on he needed to bottle it and sell the shit. He'd make a fortune.

Ted let out a strangled noise. “No reason,” he said, clearing his throat. “That’s a mighty kind offer of yours, Trent, and I do appreciate it. Yes, ma'am, I do. I suppose you could say I—”

“Don’t,” Roy growled.

“—wormed my way into your heart?”

And he was done. Nearly tripping himself in his haste to leave the office, Roy unfortunately still saw the high-five Beard gave Ted—complete with a “Booya!”—and the heart eyes Trent was sending his way, fierce as fucking laser beams. Honestly, they were disgusting, the lot of them.

Still, that question was going to haunt him now...

“Wonder if Keeley and Jamie would love me if I was a worm,” Roy muttered, ignoring the look Higgins cast him and the question of where he was off to with their meeting on the horizon. Fuck finances. Worms didn't care about finances.

Roy took a right towards the exit, towards KJPR, and hopefully an answer half as romantic as the dork's.

[iam93percentstardust]

i hate having to defend booktok as much as the next person on this site. and to be fair, i think that there's some valid criticism of that tiktok going around about the woman who hates long paragraphs. but, like. guys. it's not just that she hates long paragraphs. it's that she hates paragraphs that take up the entire page.

and maybe i'm swinging a bat at a hornet's nest here, but as someone who does read, and reads a lot, and reads, in particular, a lot of older works... i also will put down a book with singular paragraphs that take up the entire page.

because when i see one single paragraph that goes on for one full page (or, god forbid, multiple pages), i really only see a couple of possibilities.

possibility 1: the author is just someone who's very long-winded and can take a full page (or multiple pages) to cover one singular topic that would, in a less verbose author, be covered in a much shorter paragraph (i.e. talking for a full page about someone's dress as opposed to a few short sentences). and while that's a stylistic choice and the author is more than welcome to do that, i think it's also in a reader's prerogative to go "someone that wordy is not for me."

possibility 2: the author is not someone who's very long-winded and instead just kept adding more and more topics into one single paragraph when, instead, they should have been broken up into multiple paragraphs, each one covering a separate topic. now, maybe, this is another stylistic choice, but more likely, in my mind, one paragraph covering many topics is the result of poor editing. and, to be honest, i don't really want to read a poorly edited book because, odds are, overly long paragraphs are only the tip of the iceberg.

and given the sheer number of posts that go around this site on a monthly basis complaining about fic writers who post everything as a big wall of text instead of breaking it up into manageable paragraphs--i think you all know perfectly well that the majority of people don't want to read overly long paragraphs.

you just want to be mean to booktok.

[aniamra]

Traits that make people terrible moderators

These are just some observations I've made being a moderator in multiple settings, in wonderful teams and bad teams, as well as being in communities that have absolutely festered due to poor moderation. Many of these traits are things you can identify before the person is even appointed a moderator in the first place. (Most of this applies to large-scale servers and/or communities, and isn't always applicable to small and/or personal servers. I am not writing some sort rule book absolutely everyone has to follow, these are just traits that would not make the mod-team cut, to me, you don't have to agree with me.)

Having any hesitation with confrontation. (being a moderator requires confrontation, this is not negotiable. if the idea of confronting difficult people gives you anxiety or panic attacks, don't apply to be a moderator)

Being too eager to confront and/or unable to use tact/kindness when confronting. (those that seek confrontation should not be moderators)

Gets personally offended easily. (any mod that is constantly getting into fights with other users because of perceived slights, will make the whole community feel unable to talk to the mod team)

Is incapable of repairative reading. (moderators need to be capable of reading the best out of someone and not jumping to negative conclusions)

Lacking in compassion. (using tact and kindness leads to faster, more permanent, diffusion of conflicts)

Views any confrontation as a personal attack. (being a moderator means getting a lot of questions, suggestions, and well-meaning 'confrontation' and needs to be met without hostility. ps: tact and firmness are not the same as hostility)

Cares more about their own wants than the server. This can manifest in the form of, in the case of a server/community created for a single individual, ignoring comforts/needs of the individual; in the case of a collective community, being unwilling to negotiate or compromise with the rest or the community/team. Just any abuse of power in general.

Likes to control others. (moderation is about cohesive harmony for a shared goal, not control)

Incapable of being objective and applying the same rules appropriately to all users. (those that expect exceptions for their friends or people they want to impress, or express any other bias of application of the rules, should not be moderators)

Incapable of following the rules, themselves. (if someone wasn't following the rules before they became a mod, it won't change when they do become a mod)

Wants to be a mod for the social collateral, not because they want the community to run smoothly. (those that are constantly vying for attention and validation, that then apply for being a mod, should not be made mods)

Lacks humility. (knowing when to admit you're wrong or have overstepped, is important to being a good moderator)

Lacks the self-awareness of knowing when to put something down and walk away. (as a moderator, self-moderation is a vital skill that must be learned to be able to moderate others)

Refuses to communicate directly and clearly in any given circumstance. (vague communication is bad moderation, any user being approached by a mod should know exactly what they did wrong, and what is expected for future change)

Is prone to soap-boxing/lecturing instead of being concise. (this goes back to communicating clearly and directly; being overly verbose and preachy can make it difficult to understand. You need to give room to allow the member you are confronting to talk and ask questions.)

Incapable of deferring to others with grace where appropriate. (knowing when you're not the best mod for the job, when you're lacking in information, when your ideas just won't work, or when you're compromised is important. and knowing how to properly delicate tasks is a Must for an admin)

[chloecherrysip]

As much as I mourn all the lines that appeared in mario movie trailers but for some reason, didn't make it to the finished product (RIP "I'm not afraid! I'd do anything for my brother!" YOU LIVE ON IN MY HEART ALWAYS AND FOREVER), I've been thinking about "I hope you told your brother how much you love him, because you're probably never gonna see him again" and the rest of that whole dialogue exchange in particular from this specific trailer and how much I wish we'd gotten that moment because I think it would have helped spotlight a vital aspect of Mario's character that the movie already does a REALLY good job with getting across in the first place: the way he communicates how he feels through action and acts of service instead of words!

(more under the cut because this got too long, haha)

Mario is usually a very quiet protagonist so this tracks with the games too, obviously, but even movie!Mario seems like someone who isn't overly verbose or who's especially eager to enter into heavy, feelings-based conversations (at least not without a struggle). Talking about his feelings might not come easy to him, and he maybe even forgets to say things outloud that to him, seem obvious. (Meanwhile, I think Luigi is always up for gushing about his favorite people (see the interrogation scene lol) and probably ends every phone call/text message exchange ever with "love you!" to Mario and his parents, to the point that he might accidentally say it to acquaintances and customers too on occasion, LOL).

So thinking about this exchange with Toad and how, even if the movie didn't acknowledge it past that point, this idea would be hanging over Mario throughout his journey hits harder because you can imagine him thinking: hey, when WAS the last time he told Luigi outright that he loved him that wasn't a distracted "yeah, me too" response to Luigi saying it first? Maybe it's been a long time. Too long. So long it's genuinely upsetting for him to realize! What if his brother doesn't actually know how much Mario loves him, because he does, he does so much, and he's been an idiot for going so long without saying the actual words and now he can't, he CAN'T and he would give anything in the world to go back and do things differently!

And of course, all this panic is totally unwarranted and even silly because I think Luigi knows like his own name how much Mario loves him. Because the audience watching this movie knows how much Mario loves his brother by that point! Mario never says the actual words - in fact, he never says anything particularly positive about Luigi, other than "you were great!" regarding the commercial in the very beginning - and yet it couldn't be any clearer!!! I think it's pretty impossible to come out of this movie (if you were paying attention in the least) not seeing that love plain as day in everything Mario does, down to the littlest things, because he is a man of action and that's how he expresses himself best!

You see it in how he shifts from mildly embarrassed to immediately Intense and Ready To Throw Down on a dime when Spike insults Luigi, you see it in how he pauses to open doors and create paths for Luigi to safely follow him through the construction site as he's parkouring, you see it when the dog becomes aggressive and Mario is just entirely focused on keeping Luigi behind him, pushing him out of harm's way, getting the dog's attention so it will attack him instead, etc. You see it in the warp pipe when his entire demeanor changes the second he realizes Luigi is in trouble, how he desperately paddles to reach him and grab his hand and comfort him about the situation. You see it in how his brother is front of mind for him at every point in his adventure and that's why he fights so hard to talk to Peach, why he agrees to the fight with DK, why he keeps trying even when things seem hopeless and no one believes he can do it. You see it written all over Mario's face during the reunion, every single little way he touches Luigi and brings him closer and checks in on him with crystal-clear relief and joy and gentleness!!! The "show, don't tell" aspect is just OFF THE CHARTS IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE because that's how Mario is. He's not so good at words and remembering to say them. When he loves someone, he wears that feeling, he lives that feeling in so much of what he chooses to do and how he interacts with the world, and while it's always good to say these things outloud now and then just to be clear everyone's on the same page (and I'm sure he does after the movie, haha), it doesn't make it any less meaningful. :)

[maowives]

I want to talk about my gender trinary framework i want to tell you guys about the only real genders which exist which are P, NP, and F-SA, which are collectively divided into S and F. But I cannot. Because it is hard and because I am overly verbose and because you people would crucify me for this.

[sad-boys-book-club]

"&" Ampersand - A Literary Companion: Intros & Narrators

Hey everyone!

I'm excited to dive deeper into the literary companion I created for Bastille's upcoming project “&”. As you might realize from my previous post, each song has been paired with two books that complement its themes, so I’ll be breaking down why I chose each one of those books for each song.

Let's start with our first gorgeous, chef's-kiss of a track Intros & Narrators.

David Foster Wallace - "Oblivion: Stories"

This one might be a more obvious choice, as Dan’s lyrics explicitly refer to Wallace in the pre-chorus with “David talked about the daily trenches of adult life.” For anyone who might not be familiar with David Foster Wallace, I think most of his work can be a bit intimidating—who wouldn’t feel discouraged when facing the 1,079 pages of Infinite Jest? It gives me tendinitis just to consider the endeavor! But he’s a really talented (although controversial) author and a certified name you’ll see on multiple ‘1001 books to read before you die’ kind of lists.

I first came across his writing when I was still in university (Journalism grad here), when an overly excited J02 professor claimed that Consider the Lobster had changed his outlook on post-modernist literature. At the time, I was a bit skeptical—all I’d heard were jokes about hipsters carrying copies of Infinite Jest without ever reading it—so I did some digging into who this highly regarded author was. Not to take up much of your time, dear reader, so if you’re interested in learning more about him, I recommend checking out the movie The End of the Tour, which follows David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg), a reporter with Rolling Stone magazine, as he interviews DFW (brilliantly played by Jason Segel) during his book tour. It’s a bit of a depressing watch though, as Wallace struggled with depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicidal tendencies, which eventually ended in him ending his own life.

Anyhow, back to Bastille and some less depressing topics.

The reference in "Intro & Narrators" is a direct reference to David Foster Wallace‘s 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College. The speech is long, definitely worth reading in its entirety, but if I could pick one single bit that feels the most relevant it is as follows:

“Probably the most dangerous thing about an academic education—at least in my own case—is that it enables my tendency to over-intellectualize stuff, to get lost in abstract argument inside my head, instead of simply paying attention to what is going on right in front of me, paying attention to what is going on inside me. As I’m sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now).”

The speech ended up becoming the posthumously published book This Is Water, however, I think Wallace's third and last short story collection, Oblivion: Stories (which I’m now wondering if it inspired the band’s Oblivion too), feels like a much better choice thematically and might be a better introduction to Wallace’s body of work. Just like the song, these short stories delve into the unreliable nature of our perceptions and the complex narratives we construct about our lives. Wallace's verbose, complex, convoluted style (including a bunch of words you might have to search online, at least, I did) works really well in those short stories, and is a sort of joke into the whole idea of an "unreliable narrator"—I think he’d argue that no one can be actually reliable when it comes to speaking about ourselves.

Aparna Nancherla - "Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome"

A lighter read, because life is all about finding a balance between existential musings and humor, Nancherla's book is a candid exploration of personal identity, mental health, and the ever-present impostor syndrome. Aparna Nancherla, a stand-up comedian and actress known for her roles in BoJack Horseman, Master of None and The Standups (also, for publishing a lot of essays on the New York Times), brings her unique voice to a collection of essays that tackle personal identity, mental health, and the ever-persistent specter of impostor syndrome.

Imagine a painfully timid person thrust into the limelight, grappling with a skyrocketing career and the gnawing fear that everyone will soon discover she’s a total fraud. That’s her reality, and she shares it with a raw vulnerability that is both touching and hilariously relatable. As a South Asian woman navigating the overwhelmingly white, male-centric world of comedy, Nancherla’s insights are as sharp as they are entertaining. Be warned, though, you'll laugh, yes, but you’ll mostly find yourself nodding along, recognizing some of the truths she unearths about self-doubt, mental health and the human experience.

With a background in Psychology, Nancherla doesn’t just present her experiences; she backs them up with research, adding depth to the whole thing. There’s a saying that comedy is the refuge of the chronically sad, and Nancherla embodies this paradox perfectly (as do, famously, a lot of stand-up comedians—Bo Burnham’s pandemic-inspired Netflix special Inside, immediately springs to mind). Stand-up comedy can often create the illusion that comedians are perpetually happy-go-lucky individuals, effortlessly tossing out jokes right and left in their day-to-day life. That is so far from the truth. You’ll find most of them are actually perfectionists with a capital P and little control freaks, obsessing over every word and timing to make sure their jokes land perfectly (this is not a dig at comedians, the same can be said for any other creative profession: writers picking out the perfect dialogue, actors who go method to embody a character, musicians who just can’t seem to stop tinkering with a melody…). 

Why does this book pair so well with this song, you ask? Well, both Nancherla and the song delve into the concept of being unreliable narrators of our own lives, often judging ourselves more harshly than anyone else ever could. The struggle of introverts in the public eye, the tug-of-war between creating art and performing a persona—these themes echo through Nancherla’s essays and Bastille’s lyrics. 

That's it for this one. Stay tuned as I continue to break down each song and its literary companions. I hope these pairings enhance your listening (and reading) experience.

Feel free to share your thoughts and any other book suggestions as well!

With love,

Cat

[narmora]

Embers

Chapter 27 of my ongoing longfic 🌟 Shooting Stars 🌟.

Karlach is having the best day ever. Gale gets a pep talk. Ley takes a bath. Withers tries souring the mood. And fails.

This is pure fluff. I regret nothing. * * * * * * * * * *

“Oh, that’s kind of you,” Ley cooed in a needlessly endearing tone. “Very considerate. Thank you, Gale.”

You know what? No.

“Yeah, thank you, Gale,” Karlach chirped and flashed the ever-illustrious Mr of Waterdeep a barrage of not-at-all-exaggerated blinks in his brazen, bearded face. “And thank you so much for agreeing to take care of the tents, that was so thoughtful of you, Gale.”

Gale responded with an oh-don’t-mention-it kind of gesture.

“You did?” Ley gasped. “Oh, that’s such a relief. I don’t think I’d -“

The rest distorted into a breathless huff when Karlach whirled around and hauled her off toward the river. Leaving the wizard standing where he was, likely either disappointed or still smiling that silly, smitten smile. She didn’t care.

This was her Ley now.

* * * * * * * * * *

[some-pers0n]

I really love House of Leaves but it's so hard to recommend it 'cause like. Dude. Dude you gotta read this book. It's a collection of notes and stories from this guy in his mid-twenties (who has a side plot about wanting to fuck a prostitute) and him spiraling as he organizes the inane and overly verbose ramblings from an old man as he talks about a film about a family moving into a scary house. Dude yeah it's super freaky and weird. Idk what it means. Nobody does. Nothing is real or maybe everything who knows ooohoohhh spooky. Dude it's so fun to read like halfway through reading this old fart talking about literally nothing and making up quotes and interviews you'll see a footnote of the twenty year old talking about how he gets scared that a minotaur is after him. Yeah he might be the minotaur all along who knows. Maybe he was dead all along or maybe that part was a metaphor (or both). Dude just trust me on this it's super weird and freaky trust me. It's only like 800 pages dude you gotta read it. Some pages you have to turn the book around and other pages are illegible. Dude you gotta read it you'll understand nothing by the end

[shoegazingmonad]

Was reading Hussie's commentary and he brought up how establishing the way a character speaks allows you to explore the way they differentiate it or allow themselves to be influenced whenever they talk to certain characters e.g. Jade's language becoming more profane thanks to Karkat or Rose's silly interjections during Kanaya's rambles and I've been thinking about when that kind of fluidity shows with Ult Dirk.

Dirk's a character who already has a defined personality and way of talking so the sudden attitude change in the Epilogues makes it feel like a totally different guy is speaking. Without a good understanding of his splinters speech patterns (and what the 'Ultimate Self' means) Ult Dirk doesn't come across as a character with an inconsistent personality in conversations besides the obvious difference between Dirk in Homestuck and Dirk in the Epilogues, but he tends to imitate whatever splinter is closest / most familiar with the person he's conversing / interacting with.

He's overly verbose and misleading with Kanaya as the only splinter of his who knows her well is Doc Scratch, and he does act doc-esque with Rose too but more in a mentor sort of way. He forces Jake to acknowledge things he's aware of but is uncomfortable with confronting like Brain Ghost Dirk, and taunts or challenges him bitterly like Hal does. With Dave he's pretty set on leading him down the path of the warrior without consideration for how Dave feels about that or how invasive some of his behaviour is and oversteps Dave's boundaries for the sake of what he thinks is the best way to get things done like his Bro. There's also a little bit of Arquius' concerns for him because of his appreciation for Davepeta.

He's horribly Caliborn adjacent (thanks to Lord English + Lil Cal) whenever Alt Calliope's around which Alt Callie absolutely picks up on and frequently tells him so. He also views and treats John in the same way Caliborn does; as a blank slate protagonist for the audience. There's the silly obsession with Davekat too which leads him to making a lot of unnecessary comments about them.

There's many subtle switch ups in his behaviour which seem to happen frequently and subconciously and it's pretty funny? Though it feels kinda weird contemplating how that process works for him. Just got a tug of war over his own psyche going on at all times

[vegaly-art]

Ortho Shroud is NOT a Child, a Comprehensive TWST Analysis

Heyo! I am just your average TWST fan with a very deep appreciation for characters and love of overly verbose essays. I have a few I’ve written out in the past on characters I like (and especially Ortho, as I find him generally interesting AND misunderstood) and I thought sharing my opinions with the fandom could do a bit of good. :) Also it helps set up for some secret-ish projects coming to this blog soon enough ;). Also spoilers for Book 6, and many of Ortho’s Vignettes under the cut 

 Ok so, to start of I think I should preface by explaining Ortho's fanon interpretation (or at least the most popular one that I have seen), just for context so I can compare and contrast it to my own analysis of his in game character. Ortho in fanon is, in his simplest form, a child. I assume that this stems from 3 main reasons. His appearance, voice, and mannerisms. Ortho Shroud is quite short, and though we cannot be certain of the timeline of his creation, his body is AT LEAST a few years younger in appearance than his technical age, due to the way that he was built by Idia. His voice is also rather high pitched, even compared to some of the other younger speaking characters such as Epel, and his mannerisms can be perceived as somewhat juvenile. He does have a slightly more simplified speech pattern unless talking about facts/statistics/robotic speech forms; he is very bouncy, moving around often, kicking his feet, etc; and his tone of voice also has a lot of emotion put behind it, leading to a more enthusiastic delivery. While all these things are true on the surface, I believe that they're a rather surface level interpretation of him, and applying the 'child' label to Ortho but not to other characters (Notably Kalim, Epel and Idia all for different reasons) is hypocritical. Mind you, I am NOT saying those 3 or any other characters are actually children, even mentally (though some of them are a touch childish), but simply that Ortho holds lots of similarity to them and, in my opinion, should be held to similar character standards.)

  In terms of explaining  and why I PERSONALLY think this fanon interpretation is surface level, I've got to get my categories down first. :P So I'll go through: - Physical appearance and traits (voice, tone, etc)  - Expression - Emotional Maturity (And character comparisons) -And some Psychology because I'm a fuckin nERD  Hope that works out. (Mind you, each section here is bolded so if you’d like to read through a particular section, feel free. Also, I will reference some vignettes or character comparisons in this essay, and also have more sources at the very end for further reading about Ortho within the game itself. So no wiki articles or whatever :P) Physical Traits and Appearance

  So starting with appearance, Ortho is quite short with a larger drawn head and eyes, but beyond that his actual frame is relatively fair for a teenager in the TW style, and just... by the rules of biology. He definently reads as either a rather thin short guy, or one who's yet to go through puberty which kinda makes sense since he was recreated from a kid who likely had at best just started puberty and then fucking diED- He has the broader shoulders (not as much so as say Idia but similar to Epel, Riddle, Ruggie or Kalim). He's skinnier than most of them so it's not one to one but he is similar. Head size when compared to his body is again similar to Epel and Riddle (no surprises there) And he has relatively well sized arms and legs, that are much more similar to other NRC students than say... Cheeka, for instance, who if he had the body of a 10 year old he would look MUCH closer to. Also it should be mentioned that he is significantly different than silhoette Ortho (who is about 8-9 years old). He is taller, with longer hair, MUCH stronger shoulders and an overall more varied silhoette in terms of shoulder/waist/hip ratio. He was clearly modelled to look older than Ortho when he died, and matches well with the other 16 year old characters on that front. Also, short guys exist. Like... Ortho’s Height guys, who are adults, not even teens. I feel like this is sometimes forgotten... 

 When it comes to his voice, yes it is rather high pitched for a guy, not helped by how expressive he also is (which I'll cover in the Expression section), however he is still at the end of the day voiced by a Male VA, and while not a COMMON voice type, I know a few guys with similar voices. Also, mind you, short/young looking men already exist in the game and are generally not called that. The main example is Epel, obviously. However he is not treated like a kid, potentially because of his actual inclination towards traditional masculinity (wanting to be tall, and buff). Same with Riddle too. He wants to be taller, and sees his short height as a detriment, while Ortho does not. Epel also wants a deeper voice, while Ortho does not, etc. However, I think his physical appearance and traits are not the main reason he's called a kid. But rather, his expression, as well as his much more subtle forms of maturity. 

Expression

Ortho acts in a way many may consider 'childish', especially with his expressive voice, strong mannerisms in terms of hand movement, 'juvenile' interests, and his generally playful movements in his chibi animations. However, while yes these things are associated with kids, you know what they're ALSO associated with??? 

 DING DING DING! Correct! 

Neurodivergent people!! :D 

Who get infantilized often for doing things like... hopping from side to side on their feet, or having strongly expressive (or inexpressive) voices, holding very strong fixed interests in things like video games, etc. Well... isn't that a coincidence. Ortho has all those traits (and more, including things like literally having to RESEARCH social cues and norms from things like films,  extremely strong sense of justice and somewhat black and white thinking, masking behaviours for negative emotional states or social incongruence, etc). .3. While I do think that to some extent these traits were, in universe, meant to represent the childish side of Ortho, we must also remember: Ortho is an ever changing AI, that so closely approximates a person he may as well be judged as one. And when putting that into context, his traits moreso seem like his chosen form of self expression. Because he has moments of being serious, or quiet and mature, in vignettes and the main story. He just choses to not act like that all the time for one reason or another. :P 

 Also, just to put it a bit into perspective, Kalim actually has a very VERY similar in expression to Ortho. Arguably you could say he acts even MORE 'childish' than Ortho does. He's extremely expressive in voice and posture, he's very positive and passionate and sweet, he's not the best at taking care of himself or taking responsibility for things, etc.

I don't think Kalim is a kid though, nor does most anyway. He's got his dumb or uncareful moments but he is also a housewarden, and has a slightly more 'normal' voice and build for someone his age... but if his expression is not childish, why is Ortho's? 

Emotional Maturity

 Oh boy- Ortho's emotional maturity is like... honestly insane. And mind you most of this is just from in game, and to put it into perspective I'll be comparing him to none other than his own Big Brother IDIA SHROUD!! 

Wee :D. Ok so... 

Ortho is a helper around Ignihyde dorm, and it's kind of implied he does things for both Idia and the dorm in several vignettes, like cleaning, grocery shopping, and other chores (based on vignettes and his Guest Room dialogues). He's also smart, good with handling emergencies like injuries and other medical issues, high stress situations where he has to make hard decisions about what/who to sacrifice for one reason or another, etc. 

 Idia is the housewarden of Ignihyde dorm, and is shown to be much more challenged in most of these regards. He doesn't take care of himself and his space much, though this is moreso due to severe depression, anxiety or other mental illnesses, which is understandable. He has been shown on several occasions to just... shut down when important decisions need to be made. And he forks over many of his own responsibilities, housewarden duties, emotional labour and other things like that on Ortho all the time, while not considering Ortho’s own feelings very much. He does grow from this and get more involved and serious when STYX is involved, and post Book 6 generally, but he's still not as skilled at it as Ortho.

 Not to mention Ortho's emotional knowledge and maturity. This boy can read people's emotions almost unnaturally well due to his research and some sensors and context reading, and he has been shown on several occasions to put his own wants and needs aside for the sake of others, especially his brother. He comforts Idia whenever he needs it, and is always putting on a bright smile for everyone around him, even when he is implied to himself be at least somewhat upset. Because he knows that sometimes that's necessary.

Psychological Development

 Also if we talk about emotional maturity, I shall also bring Psychology into this and discuss a bit about Adolescent brain development. Generally this development starts around ages 10-14, and continues until the ages of about 23-25 in most children, though it tends to start a bit earlier for AFAB people than AMAB people on average. Here are some key things that develop during this time: 

 - Sense of identity (Generally begins to solidify around 16-19, and becomes rather fixed though obviously not concrete, around the ages of 23-25) 

- Understanding of in the moment cause and consequence, as well as reasoning. (Varies, but often solidifies around ages 16-25, but is very very variable). Teens and young adults are extremely impulsive because their frontal lobes are not fully developed, meaning they are at least partially incapable of having strong future based reasoning in the moment. Of course they have the ability to rationalize large consequences, or look back in hindsight, but in moment to moment action they're less likely to be rational, and more likely to do things that may jeopardize their education, reputation or even life. 

- Friend Group formation. This is an essential part of the early to mid teen experience, since teenhood is when most people start to see their strongest bonds shift from being within family to outside of it. 

 - Understanding and Empathy. Proper Empathy by definition is usually present by age 6, however teen years are often defined by a unique form of self-entitlement and self-focus (though unintentional) that may cause issues with empathy. This is mostly due to having to navigate extremely complex emotions and experiences all at once, and because they can be so variable it takes several years of experience to build up true empathy, ESPECIALLY for adults such as parents/teachers, children, or otherwise people outside the age group.  Mind you, all of these CAN be achieved at much earlier ages than the ones presented here. The numbers here are general averages based around how one is socialized as well as average rate of brain development, however it is still generally limited by age GROUP. So someone who is in the 10-13 group may not be able to develop the traits more associated with ages 17-19, but someone 14-16 could.

 Now... take a guess which of these milestones Ortho has passed?

I'll spare you the wait. 

It's basically all of them. (Not entirely of course, he still has much to develop, but the development of most of these has at least gone a decent ways.)

 Ortho's identity, while still fluid, is clearly extremely centred even when we first meet him in game, and in all his cards he's seen to be rather consistent regardless of who he's with. He's curious, playful, cheeky, extremely intelligent and also notably EXTREMELY empathetic to the point of being almost scary (even if that empathy is not always... accurately placed if that makes sense) . Also he identifies a lot with Freshmen even before becoming one showing he views himself in a similar age range. And not just in an emotional way. While yes, Ortho clearly has empathy for others in the base term, it goes deeper than that. He is able to understand when he should be more strict, and when to be more lax. When to try and push someone to be better and when to be emotional support. He has a very deep understanding of what makes up people's minds and intents (known as Theory of Mind, which usually solidifies between the ages of 17-21 on average, though starts development around age 13), and acts accordingly. This can be seen in many of his cards. He is able to assess why Trein's cat was upset easily, and handled him with care (until he blew up the tree :P). He was able to see that Idia needed time alone when he didn't go to the Entrance Ceremony, and put his own want (to go with Idia, or go at all) aside to be there for him, and when Idia was becoming too reliant on his lab coat, he took it away (knowing it would only inconvenience him a bit), and also after warning him that it could have potential consequences (which it did have. He started a rumour about being some crazed ghost which Ortho deciphered as being about him IMMEDIATELY) Also on that note, he's acutely aware of cause and consequence, and has extremely strong reasoning skills. Not only is he clearly very good at pattern recognition (by virtue of being a robot), but also he has been shown to often be one of the most consequence aware characters. He understand the importance of education, and of mental health, and of outfits and behaviours and so on. This is EXTREMELY uncommon until mid-late teens/early 20s.

Final Thoughts

Now, I am not saying he has the same mental maturity as someone in their early 20s (he’s no Leona), nor that he does NOT have his immature moments. Of course he does, he's 16, but the point I am making is that there is simply SO MUCH about him that is NOT childish, and also so much that IS. Because he's a teenager and that is 100% expected, normal, etc. Ortho is extremely knowledgable academically, personally and socially (not that he is always entirely accurate but he IS knowledgable, so once he knows what he’s dealing with he’s good at doing so) but also he’s pretty mature compared to many other characters. Not as much so as Leona, Vil, Lilia or Malleus, but he’s up there. Even though his understanding of social cues is AT TIMES lacking, he’s impulsive, he does not fully grasp human ideals, and he’s easy to manipulate because of his singlemindedness, he’s got a lot going for him in the maturity angle.

 I'd argue that his exact presentation, however is most similar in concept to Jamil. Both of them are smart, and careful, and extremely EXTREMELY perceptive, but keep that hidden under a mask of averageness or youthfulness. However what Ortho is MAGINALLY better at than Jamil is his self-prompted Self Reflection and ideological change. He can put aside his own feelings for the good of others, and compartmentalize and deal with his negative emotions. Not always in healthy ways... but in ways that were not SUPER destructive most of the time. Jamil can, and does as well, but his world view makes reflecting on himself a bit more diffucult because he’s so focused on external circumstances for most of the game (Besides Book 4, a bit of Book 5, and a LOT of Book 6). 

But back to Ortho: Ortho was able to forgive and still care for Idia even after his overblot. He was able to accept for a long time that he was not Idia's brother, but had to play the part anyway for his sake. He accepted that he would not get a lot of things he wanted, though admittedly not in the healthiest way all the time. Ortho don’t call yourself selfish for wanting things pls-... And, after all was said and done, he was able to get enrolled as a First Year at NRC... clearly showing that he is of similar maturity compared to the other 16 year old students. 

Ortho is a 16 year old. And all this and more is why I think this.

Further Reading/Sources in Game that support my points:  - Ortho’s Dorm Uniform Vignette: He directly states he thinks of himself as a freshmen, and it also shows his careful planning, knowledge of (and how to subvert) concequences, and extreme knowledge of emotions of others and how to use them against them. - Ortho’s Archetype Gear Vignette: Shows his empathy and knowledge of Animals and people - Idia’s Labcoat Vignette: Shows his knowledge of cause and concequence, as well as basically directly compares it to Idia.  - Ortho’s Burst Gear Vignette: Shows his ability to put his emotions aside for others, shows empathy and selflessness, understanding of boundaries, and overall a very mature and healthy and selfless outlook on life.  - Book 6: Shows basically everything I talked about in this Essay. From his being 16 from offhand comments and being admitted as a Student at the end of the Book, to his knowledge of cause and concequence and ability to reason well and think through that stuff fast, emotional maturity in how he comforted students as well as his own brother, as well as his immaturities like his selfishness, closedoff-ness from other students and extreme sheltering, etc, and neutral things I may or may not have mentioned like his near obsession with Idia that he was programmed to have that makes him biased in his brother’s favour, his hyperfixations and general excitability, a taste of his existencial nightmare of a life (OH I WILL MAKE A POST ABOUT THIS), etc.  - Ortho’s Stargazing Gear Vignette: Ortho’s selflessness and genuine care for Idia, emotional maturity and so on. - Ortho’s College Gear Vignette: He has an extremely good understanding of his general intellect and skill, is very self aware and sure in his identity, and shows a love for learning and changing and friend group formation, both eccencial to the teen experience.  Ortho’s Role in the Fairy Gala Remix Event/Fairy Gear Vignette: Shows his drive and passion, his understanding of concequences and clear both interest in the gala and understanding of it’s improtance, creativity, ability to act on others’ pity and other emotions, very good spacial reasoning and more.  Ortho’s Halloween Gear Vignette: Him being similar to Kalim <3 Book 5: Ortho has some appearances in Book 5 and it shows both his playful teendome, as well as his emotional intellect, care for his brother, support for him even if he doesn’t find a situation ideal (since he knows he’s doing his best), etc. :) I will not be mentioning Book 7 as I have not read it yet, nor his cerberus gear. Mind you these sources are not extensive, just a quick list I made to prove a lot of my points but not all. :P I will expand upon them in future posts.  That is all!! Have a great day everyone and hope this made you think more about the amount of effort subtly put into Ortho Shroud and his characte

[gale-gaze]

4, 28, and 61 for the Tav ask game? I'm especially interested in her reaction to Auntie Ethel considering her background with hags

[ weeps into the void - thank you for these ones, I loved fleshing these thoughts out; overly verbose answers below the cut 💜 ]

4. Is there a reason why your Tav starts out at level 1?

Straight up fear, my dude; Mavis is so scared that [REDACTED] is potentially in danger after seeing them in her scrying mirror with a mindflayer, and then the additional stress of the Nautiloid experience with seeing that made her live with one of her worst fears - becoming useless and forgetting everything she worked to avoid.

She is nervous and skittish on the Nautiloid - she's trying not to have a panic attack until she runs into Lae'zel, whose straightforward attitude in the face of danger eases her fears some; but like an artist putting too much pressure on themselves experiencing skill regression, she has to ease back into everything and spends a lot of time rereading old journals to calm her mind and reassure herself that she is still competent and just needs to keep going.

28. What does your Tav think of Auntie Ethel? What do they tell Mayrina?

Immediate gut feeling that something is off, but tries to keep it to herself in hopes that she is overthinking things due to stress and plays nice initially to be cautious given what she has experienced - especially after speaking with Pandirna and removing the curse on her.

Attempting to save face with Ethel when meeting Mayrina's brothers, Mavis takes her side in the argument and knocks the brothers out - she knows the distraught drive to save a loved one too well. But when the illusion finally falls and she meets Ethel again, Mavis is... defensive, to say the least, and overly protective of Mayrina despite her pleas. But she also knows that she can't outsmart Ethel and is extremely hesitant to go after her when she takes Mayrina, only proceeding after she thinks about her brothers trying to do it themselves once they recover.

Mavis wants to kill Ethel, almost desperately; she wants to take out all of her frustration and grief on her, but knows that it's never that easy to get rid of someone like her, and she doesn't want the fear of a vengeful hag looming over her - not right now.

She begrudgingly spares the hag for the sake of Mayrina, and firmly tells Mayrina to be careful before giving her the wand for Connor; when encountered again in the city, Mavis knocks Ethel out and cuts Vanra from her stomach to save her - despite the Hag's Bane remaining in her bag, unused - before finally finishing Ethel for good.

She is tired, cranky, and wants a nap real bad, but also feels a weight lifted off her - she sleeps like the dead that night.

61. How does your Tav feel about Baldur's Gate? Is it their home? Is it their first time in the city?

Mavis did not grow up in Baldur's Gate, but had heard plenty from listening to her mother talk about it in stories and song while living in Silverymoon in her youth. Mavis had been making her way towards Baldur's Gate (albeit not very efficiently, since she continuously went off course to follow any wild leads and rumors of forgotten or weird magic incidents or to find a new book) because she believed that surely, eventually, [REDACTED] would end up Halfway to Everywhere, just like they said in their childhood.

Mavis does bump into [REDACTED] at the Circus of the Last Days shortly after they had just completed the Test of Love with Zethino, both them and their companion adorned with face paint; Mavis and [REDACTED] are both too invested in their conversations with their companions to see each other before they colide together, causing Mavis to lose her footing and tumble down - when [REDACTED] offers a hand down to help her up, they apologize saying "I hope I didn't break anything of yours" and Mavis is quick to shake it off and take their hand without thought.

[REDACTED] makes a comment about really liking her keyhole ring and jokes that "it better not be cursed - I hate curses" as they pull her up - when Mavis hears that and finally sees that it's [REDACTED] as she meets their eye, she nervously mumbles that "sometimes curses aren't so bad" and apologizes for not paying attention before letting them carry on their way. Gale makes a comment that they sure seem colorful and fun, but he would never be caught dead in face paint like that; Mavis laughs, looks back to them and says "yeah, they seem happy" before taking Gale's hand and continuing with "and that sounds like a challenge to me" as they walk on to do their own Test of Love.

Once she makes it into the city, she is... Homesick, perhaps is the best way to put it. She enjoys parts of the city, and parts of the people, but seeing it in the state it was in with what she had learned on her journey overall tarnished it a bit; Mavis does appreciate their resilience nevertheless, and later seeing [REDACTED] and their companion laughing over drinks at a tavern after the city is safe again makes her appreciate the city in a different way - it's not perfect and it's not what she imagined as a kid, but it certainly does bring people together in remarkable and unexpected ways and truly is Halfway to Everywhere.

Mavis does not talk to [REDACTED] in the tavern, but does finally tell Gale who they are as she shares some Silverymoon Blue that she had been keeping safe for a special occasion with him while they celebrate; Gale laughs and says that Mavis may have a type, and she feigns taking offense as she tells him that "all the best breakthroughs start with a rough blueprint" before kissing him and leaving the tavern together, leaving her scrying mirror necklace on the table at the tavern.

BONUS: enjoy a lil personal favorite track to enjoy with question 61's answer 💜