#the other characters in this book largely aren't. they're aware of how they feel. or they're aware of the politics. or they're aware of los

[july-19th-club]

the easiest part of this plot is figuring out what happens to charlotte. her life's not any easier but it is significantly more influential. then three generations later i destroy everything she and her family have been attempting to do for over the course of five or six hundred years while simultaneously cementing its permanence

[nutmeggery]

I need Neil Gaiman to know that Good Omens 2 made me feel emotions I haven't felt in nearly a decade.

When I heard there was going to be a Good Omens 2 I was looking forward to it, of course. I just wasn't expecting it do anything super special to my emotions. I was sure I'd enjoy it, though. I really enjoyed s1.

But, for the last few years, I watched shows and afterwards basically thought well, that was fun, and I quickly moved on and didn't think much about them. There was only about 3 shows in the last 5 years that had made me feel truly emotional and stayed on my mind to the point where I felt like I needed to engage in fandom for a while. (Good Omens 1 was one of them.)

I wasn't spoiled by the leak. I never even knew there was a leak. So I had no idea what was coming in s2. And oh boy...

See, I'd watched Our Flag Means Death, a show where you don't expect the lead characters to kiss, because, well, that never happens in these types of shows, right? And this is important because when they did kiss, it felt like a door that had been locked with just about all the high security locks in the world had suddenly, inexplicably, been opened. Something switched inside me. It took me months to understand what it was, but when I thought about Good Omens before s2 came out, I realized what it was.

I would never truly enjoy a bromance they're-only-queer/in love-by-your-own-interpreation story ever again. Stories where nothing is confirmed, just subtext that anyone who doesn't want to see it can easily deny and mock those who wish it was more.

While it was clear that Crowley and Aziraphale cared a lot about each other in s1, and were probably in love, it was still just a fun ship for fans to play with in fanfiction and fanart. Do they love each other? Oh sure. In what way? Well, that's up to interpretation. Ok, cool. But it's not quite Our Flag Means Death, is it?

Then I watched Good Omens 2. And from episode 1 I saw my favourite Angel and Demon duo love each other. And I was having the best time. I hadn't had such a good time watching a show in a long while. It was not only right up my alley, it was an alley I wasn't even aware was my alley until I saw it. I enjoyed seeing the old characters, the new characters. Oh, I was wonderful.

It was clear to me that, of course Crowley and Aziraphale love each other, are IN love with each other, showing it in their own way. And I wasn't expecting it to be THIS obvious.

And then when the kiss happened, I couldn't believe it. I covered my mouth with both hands and gasped and sat up straight in my seat. I had never expected it--the heartbreak it added to the already heartbreaking scene--it rewired something inside me.

It was like my emotions had been locked up in a stall like a horse for so, so long, and now the gate had been opened, the stable door kicked down, and the horse was running out onto the large pasture into the daylight, bucking and kicking up grass. Oh my god, I have to take a few minutes to process that entire 6 hour marathon of emotions.

And by a few minutes I meant a few days.

More than a few, actually.

I didn't need a kiss to understand how much they loved each other, but I did need the kiss to understand how intense and heartbreaking their separation is for them after everything.

But more than that, the kiss broke a barrier. They really did it, I thought. They really dared.

Aziraphale and Crowley aren't human males, no, but they're played by male actors. And that is significant. That makes the kiss significant. In the world we currently live in.

Weeks later, I'm still obsessed with the show, re-watching s1 and 2, reading the book again, listening to the audio drama. And I'm on tumblr, seeing people's posts and art to somehow sate my hunger for a s3 that doesn't exist (yet).

And I'm having a wonderful time.

[thesunshinenotebook]

Ok, so! Besides the usual, “Of course Newt made it to the safe haven, what are you talking about?? What's page 250???” jokes, I've also seen a couple of posts recently by people who were annoyed that we literally refuse to accept this man's death. And so I throw my opinion into the void. Yes, I love fix-it fics and AUs where Newt lives. In fact, they're all canon to me. But! From an analytical standpoint, I bring this controversial (??) opinion:

Newt had to catch the Flare. He had to die.

In this slightly long and largely unedited essay, I will explain why…

Newt not being immune, besides adding emotional turmoil and intense pain to the story, also added humanity to the Flare, the disease that robs people of their humanity. The Cranks could be perceived as soulless monsters, obstacles, plot development and nothing more. We know that they theoretically used to be humans, and we feel pity for them on some level, but it’s not the focus of our attention. Newt changes that, because Newt is a Crank, and Newt is a human, and we love Newt. I’m aware that other characters were infected before Newt was (in the book all of the Gladers thought that they were infected and in the movie Winston and Brenda actually were), but I feel like Newt being such an important character and getting the virus really brought this point home.

The entire series revolves around the choice between two evils: let the world fall to disease, or torture children for a theoretical cure. Newt experienced both sides of the issues (fell to the disease AND was also tortured for research before that, the poor guy). He understood the need for a cure better than anyone, but he also knew exactly what WICKED would do to get it. And guess what? Torturing children is never ethical!

Newt couldn't live, because then it would just be Thomas and friends vs. the inferior losers with the Flare. Newt didn’t deserve to die, but his friends didn’t exactly deserve for him to live (though they didn’t deserve to lose him, either). The world is unfair, and they couldn’t win everything. This, again, shows the complexity of the issue, challenging Thomas's decision to leave the city and give up on the idea of a cure.

Another issue brought up by Newt's catching the Flare and his subsequent death is this continuous motif of memory and identity, which obviously played a huge role in the rest of the series as well (everyone losing their memories before the maze, writing their names on the wall, remembering all of their friends that died). Newt has always been selfless and caring, and this continues even as he begins to lose his sanity and himself. Newt wants to hang on to who he is rather than turning into a monster, and, ultimately, he chooses death over losing himself. He lives on in memory, though, as well as through his journal. There are so many other complexities to Newt's story; questions of identity, depression, selflessness, bottled emotions, and love. All of this immensely complicates his death, and the fact that it was technically suicide. It's so important to have characters like Newt in fiction, if only to explore the depths of these issues. So many of us can see so much of ourselves in Newt. His story might not give us all the answers, but it does give us a reason to hope.

The truth is that life is unfair. Newt's situation emphasizes how true this is in the story, humanizing the Flare virus and drawing a direct comparison between wicked's goal and the goal of the kids who are running from them. Our world today is similarly unfair, though obviously in different ways. There are challenges and setbacks and hurt, just like in the story, but Newt proves that these troubles aren't all that there is. We can't escape every problem, but we can make the most of what we do have. We can love and joke and laugh with others, even if the world is falling apart. The ending might be sad, but the pages in the middle can still make us smile, and maybe help us inspire the next person to do the same. 

[approximateknowledge]

who is sister hindsight?

this is gonna be a long one

so there's this scifi book trilogy called "final architecture" which i *highly* recommend

it's full of weird novel concepts and cool future tech and aliens that feel properly alien, among many other things

but there's one character my mind has fixated on within this sprawling setting, who never actually existed

and to explain who they are ill need to spoil quite a lot of the main plot

so with that said: massive spoilers for all 3 final architecture books ahead

so first off:

SETTING

most species here aren't too relevant to explain what's going on, so ill be focusing on just the relevant ones (so no hivers sadly)

-humanity

-the architects

-the originators

-the hegemony

-the naeromathi

HUMANITY

humanity in the final architecture is a bit of a splintered mess. officially most of it is centralised under the "bureau of human interests" (usually just called "hugh") centered on berlenhof, one of the most populous colonies left after earth got "architected" (more on that later)

in practice hugh holds about as much influence as the HRE did, with quasi-noble corporate houses and independent systems abounding; it's a bureaucratic mess but it's still better than nothing

of course this isn't actually the whole story, because there's also

the parthenon

the parthenon (often derisively known as "pathos" by colonial humanity) is a female-only habitat-bound offshoot of humanity that fully committed to artificial reproduction

crucially they're *not* clones (although they tend to have a certain "look" that gives them away when trying to pass as a colonial), though they are without a doubt eugenicist as hell. their origins are... iffy to put it lightly, but historically they have been on the side of humanity at large, and their technological level has remained slighty above that of colonial humanity. it's complicated but handled well

what the parthenon doesn't have are intermediaries

what are intermediaries?

well, they're relevant for

THE ARCHITECTS

an architect is a moon-sized intelligent crystalline superobject that is capable of completeky reshaping a planet through gravitic torsion in a matter of hours

they can appear from unspace (ill get to it) at a moment's notice and completely obliterate everything in the system they find

crucially they are in fact sentient beings, if unfathomably vast

an intermediary is someone who's able to communicate directly with an architect. this is in fact how the first architect war ended. a group of intermediaries (1 natural, the rest surgically created) *made a single architect aware of their existence*

they didn't even notice anyone was there before

tangent:

unspace

unspace isn't a place but it is a shortcut, and within it you are always alone, except you aren't, because there's always a *presence* too. most of it is completely unnavigable, except for the throughways which act like currents between inhabited systems (they're inhabited because there's a throughway connection)

intermediaries as a side-effect of the architect-communicating were the only ones able to properly navigate unspace before the Eye was built(/scavenged and jury-rigged)

what's the eye?

well at its heart it's a piece of originator-tech

ORIGINATORS

the originators are the ones who "built the throughways" and left "ruins" on a number of planets at the connecting points. interestingly, any planet with an originator artefact on it is seemingly immune from architect-remodeling

all of the previous statements are technically false, but functionally they seem true. what the throughways really are is creases in the fabric of reality as it is change, and the "ruins" are the realspace reflections of the unspace anchors they built to bend said fabric

what the originators really are is the puppetmasters of the architects, rebuilding reality one thread at a time to be more similar to how the universe they came from was

they're terraforming the local laws of physics

now what's the Eye?

well it's a "lens" from unspace into realspace, but if you rig it right it also works the other way around. but crucially matter doesn't exist in unspace, so only the pattern of consciousness goes in to "look" (and the one looking will seem braindead until they come back) (this is relevant)

THE HEGEMONY

one of the 2 truly old alien cultures in the setting; the founding species of the hegemony are the essiel, 4m tall barnacle-looking sessile organisms with a psychological profile that borders on the incomprehensible, but is fundamentally benevolent. their main adaptation against the architect threat is the fact they figured out how to move originator artefacts through unspace without destroying it (normally impossible), which allows them to protect *all* of their colonies; a significant portion of humanity actually voluntarily became part of the hegemony!

THE NAEROMATHI

the other of the 2 ancient "conventionals", the naeromaths had a much rougher time in their early history, and have no planets to call their own; their entire culture consists of massive (half-moon) sized arks that periodically devour entire moons and rocky planets to build more arks (this gave them the nickname "locusts" among humans, even though they look more like if a plesiosaur evolved from a brittle star). the drone swarms used for this dismantling are also their main weaponry, on top of their massive gravitic engines that span the entire equator of their arks (multiple cooperating arks have been known to successfully tear architects apart)

the eye was discovered by a naeromath

SO

near the end of the story, 2 of the main characters dive into unspace via the eye

-idris: artificial intermediary, the surgeries made him unable to sleep or age. extremely frail, lost an arm, almost died like 6 times, his heart is kept going by cyborg roaches (it makes sense in context)

-solace: partheni myrmidon from the first architect war, fully committed to dying on the job

and they reach the center

and they confront the *other*, the thing in unspace, the metaphysical guard dog of the originators at the center of nowhere

and idris needs to go elsewhere in unspace, to prevent a genocide on slaves

and so solace is told to "hold"

this is about 30 pages from the end

i went to bed at this point

and my mind created hindsight

so first:

what happens in canon

idris succeeds, comes back, becomes one with the *other*, his body dies, unspace is safe, the guarddog becomes the jailer, they've won. solace returns after holding long enough

what happened in my mind

idris succeeds, and *can't get back in*, so solace keeps holding, but idris' body still dies. so in the end, solace keeps holding, tames the *other*, unspace is safe, the guarddog guards the other way with a new master, who *holds*

solace *holds*

but remember what i said about consciousness and how it goes in alone? solace isn't coming back. but idris is. and there's still only one body

idris' mind comes back in solace's body. that's sister hindsight

idris comes back in the body of a parthenon soldier and at last falls asleep after over half a century. a mind that remembers being an intermediary but isn't anymore

sister hindsight

a colonial experiment who shouldve died long ago, now in the body of a parthenon vatborn woman, finally at peace.

solace holds, idris died, hindsight remembers.

and hindsight will sleep, and age, and die, at last, while solace holds

[parlerenfleurs]

About MDZS and who is its narrator

It just occurred to me why there might be a wide-spread confusion in the fandom about who narrates Mo Dao Zu Shi.

Astute readers have been banging pots and pans from the roofs telling everyone that it is told in a 3rd person omniscient POV, with many instances where we're being made aware of the thoughts and feelings of other characters, and happenings for which Wei WuXian was absent.

Yet, the confusion persists (in large part because this is how Internet works, the posts repeating that confusion and analysing the text from this postulate get more notes, are seen by more people) and I think I know why.

The thing is, a 3rd person omniscient POV might evoke a narrator whose voice is clearly felt, is firmly outside of the narrative, and should take us through multiple points of views most of the time, I guess? But MDZS's narrator is very discreet, understated. Hence people can more easily miss that they're being addressed by it and not hearing about some character's thoughts. Moreover, it might confuse people, I suppose, that a 3rd person omniscient narrator could still have a limited POV. Here, the narrator does choose to focus on Wei WuXian most of the time, and deliberately leaves out key POVs like Lan WangJi's, in order to draw the reader in, maintain suspense, unfold the story and events a certain way, and afford us the occasion of reading many things between the lines.

I reckon that's where the confusion stems from. It's not because it is omniscient that it won't be deliberately narrow. That's the only way to tell a compelling story, by following a key character most of the time, and only telling us what we need to know for maximum impact upon reveals. And since Wei WuXian is uniquely focused on Lan WangJi (me too, to be honest), and Lan WangJi's is the most guarded POV of the story because this is a romance, and he's the love interest, I guess this contributes to the overall impression that we are only in Wei WuXian's head.

But we aren't, and a lot of the times we are also left to infer Wei WuXian's feelings as well.

One of the lines that I find funniest in the book that illustrate this, is when we follow Jiang Cheng going up the Burial Mounds (and we do follow him, we're not with Wei WuXian waiting for him at the top), and A-Yuan clings to his leg and we're told the child is very loveable, but "unfortunately, Jiang Cheng had no love in him at all" (quoting the Exiled translation from memory). That's the narrator adressing us, not what Wei WuXian thinks, and certainly not how Jiang Cheng would frame himself in his own mind.

We do follow Lan WangJi sometimes, like during the Lotus pods extra and when he encounters Wei WuXian in Yunmeng and is being given flowers by his ghost girls. But if I'm not mistaken, even then we're not privy to his thoughts. This boy is too cute! He's so shy and reserved! I find it delightful that we can read him between the lines in this way.

[aribaran]

Hey, I was curious about the world building of your hockey series and why you decided to have women in the NHL and keep the enforcer role as something a lot more common than today's NHL?

the short answer is those are the stories i wanted to tell and the awesome thing about writing your own book is you can basically write whatever you want as long as a publisher is willing to buy it, haha.

the longer answer, at least for bee, is that i do think that there are women who are incredibly talented and that it could be a possibility one day and i enjoy thinking about what that would look like. when you look at players like marie philip-poulin or even nela lopušanová, both of whom are such smart and ridiculously talented women, you wonder how it would go for them in a men's league. relatively tiny guys have long careers all of the time, why not imagine a woman playing in the pro leagues? there aren't actually rules prohibiting them from playing.

i originally started writing the series with bee as the heroine of the first book, because i thought it was a really interesting story, like how would she deal with being one of the most talented people in a room at any given time, but still have to constantly bite her tongue because she was aware how precarious her position was and how the dream could be yanked away at any moment. a large part of her internal drama in her book was not wanting to be a distraction in the locker room/feeling like she couldn't have a relationship with sakari because it could jeopardize her spot on the team/etc but ultimately deciding she could have hockey AND someone who loved her too.

for various reasons, i wasn't able to finish that book (not the least of which an author friend of mine convinced me that as a debut author it would be easier to sell a series that wasn't mixed het and queer relationships and she was right :\) but i liked bee as a character too much to cut her out or rewrite her as a man. from what i can see with the reviews, she is somewhat polarizing. people seem to either really like her or completely hate her. 🤷🏻 i don't regret leaving her in though. i think she's a very fun character to write and i love her friendship with mike so much.

for bee's arc, too, the way she integrates into the team and is a huge reason for their success was also really satisfying for me to write. i like to envision a league that may still have its issues with racism and sexism and homophobia, but ultimately, has the possibility of being more inclusive and accepting. and that's something i'm ideally going to be able to explore in later books but idk how many i'll get, so!

as for the enforcers, i don't think danny or mike are really old school enforcers in the sense that they're completely useless on the ice for anything except fighting. they have contemporary analogues: for example, i see danny as more of a ryan reaves or a nicolas deslauriers type of guy. he may not have the TOI of a top four d-man (yes i know the other two are forwards but it's the general principle), but he's not a total liability when he's out there. there's more fighting in the book than there is in real life, again for drama's sake, but i'll put it this way, des had 136 PIM last season, and a good amount of those were fights. it's not as uncommon as you'd really like to think (or maybe just me being forced to watch the flyers so much...it wasn't as uncommon, rip). and let's not kid ourselves about why guys like reaves and des are both constantly in demand, even if they may not be the most talented players.

if you're interested i have a longer post on my substack about both danny and mike's character arcs and why i wrote them the way i did, including the sources i used. basically my books are romances, but i am someone who is deeply interested in hockey culture and history, so the books are love stories, but they are also avenues for me to interrogate the kind of fucked up aspects of hockey culture. for danny and mike, that was the culture of fighting, playing through pain and ignoring your mental health, the intense and crushing toxic masculinity these men are subjected to from the time they are little kids to the time they are forced to retire. i am doing this too in delay of game, but the focus is on anxiety disorders and body dysmorphia (and the kind of fucked up way that hockey people have of talking about hockey players' bodies).

hopefully that helped answer your question!

[bookwyrminspiration]

Hi! Thank you so much for all the nice things you said about the poem I wrote you, it really made my day <3. I got a chance to listen to "I Say No", and it was very cathartic and amazing music. I remember you mentioned a while ago that you have an OC story you were going to rework that had roses in its title? Could you talk more about that? I'm really interested in hearing about your world and characters. Also, have a good day! ;) - Amethyst

Amethyst! Hello! Of course, thank you for the poem, I greatly enjoyed the surprise :)--and I'm glad you like the song! I haven't seen Heathers in person (i've seen a few other musicals in person, and we're scheduled to see a few more this year), but if I ever do I hope it's got that song in it.

And yes, you're remembering correctly! That OC story, like I said, is going to be very much reworked. I came up with it when I was like 12 or 13, but I've been working on other things and haven't truly touched it since then. I've worked on it for NaNoWriMo at least twice, but it's never truly clicked. There are two main things about the structure and kind of story it is that I know for certain and won't change, but I'm keeping those particular details secret :3

however! even though I don't know what the story is going to become outside of that, I can tell you what it originally was! These things all may be changed, some may stay, but it's what i have.

I titled it A Collection of Roses, which was in reference to the main characters. I don't remember exactly how it referenced them, but I know that's where the title came from. I think it may have had something to do with an elaborate rose garden surrounding where they lived in the first draft, or perhaps something to do with the beauty of roses hiding their thorns.

Probably the thorn thing, because the premise of these characters was that they were cursed under the guise of being granted gifts.

I'm explaining this all out of order, bear with me, we're backing up a little. acor takes place in a fantasy world, one where there's infinite universes and variations of the world. They're often depicted as like pages of a book that can be flipped through--but only by select people. Most people don't know about the overlapping infinite universes, in the sense that there are only 3 people aware of and able to access it in the story (and a few in their group know about it because they tell them).

acor follows a main character who's never had a name feel quite right, but she's been named Seli for a while now so I'm using that. I was using beauty and the beast as inspiration for this story, so Seli was essentially occupying the role of Belle, if Belle had a little sister named Bene (short for Beneatha). That was lose inspiration at the beginning, though you can still see it throughout the story (there is a Gaston character, but he doesn't serve the same role). Seli and her sister live as the village oddities, not quite scorned but not quite part of everything (their father often isn't around and has been distant since the loss of their mother. although that might be specific to one draft, I can't remember).

Through various means depending on what draft we're in, Seli finds herself in possession of an odd necklace, it's charm very fun to twiddle with, as it's composed of several rings that turn about within themselves. In one version I believe she finds it in an abandoned castle, Bene having gone missing in the woods near her house, finding the castle. It's a little hazy, but I know Bene goes missing there. This necklace is how Seli gains access to the large book of infinite universes, but she doesn't understand how it works and sends herself with abandon across the book's pages.

I'm skipping over the details because they aren't concrete, but via sending herself across universes, she stumbles into a particular universe and meets a particular group of people--these are the rest of the main characters, and they seem to know a little more about her than they should. There are...6? 7? Of them. it's not immediately obvious that these people are cursed, but they live in a universe much more magical than Seli's where powers and abilities aren't unheard of. They each have a power, which (Seli doesn't know this yet) was granted to them by someone. However, each one came with a cost--hence the roses title about the thorns in beauty.

When I first made this world, it was much more about the world than the plot, so I can't give you a concrete idea of what happens next, because I always got stuck around here in every draft (I'm a more experienced writer know and know why that happened, but haven't gone back to fix it yet). I always had some hazy idea about fighting and overthrowing the person who cursed said group (who become like a family to Seli, though there's also the problem of her having left her dependent sister behind), as that person is one of the three people who know of and can access the multiple universes and they are using that ability to take complete control of all universes ("if I have complete control, I can make all universes right under my vision of what that should be" kinda thinking, though I'm very likely going to tweak that going forward). However that hazy idea isn't really worth exploring any more in its current state.

I can, however, give you a little bit of an intro to the characters as they were (which are very very likely going to change. like I said this is all old and all going to be workshopped). They were each granted a gift that later revealed itself to have a significant drawback--however, I am answering this ask in class and also from memory and also it's been literally years so my memory is fuzzy. And! I came up with them when I was 12 there's some cliches here (like how they're all centuries old)

Lethe: She's the leader of the group, everyone else in the group was serving in her domain until her curse deposed her. Now I believe her power is...she has an animal form? wolf? and the beasts of the forest listen to her. Given her name, I believe her curse had something to do with forgetting who she was...? I can't remember very well, I don't have my notes with me

Kachina: They are the third person who has access to the infinite universes, able to see them all and traverse them at will. The catch is they are now severed from any universe and cannot fully exist or interact with them. They're never fully grounded, always drifting between them and losing themself. No one can touch them, they're never truly there, though they try to be. Heavily associated with the color red. Oh and also I believe they hold the past of some other person within themself, feeling a connection to someone they never were and can never be again, but they still mourn it.

Keen: I believe he's my darkness character. WAIT NOPE. Oh my god I'm so sorry Keen I just totally erased a lot of your horrors with that. Keen is actual my time travel character. he's just also associated with darkness because he's quiet and has seen things he can't forget. The catch with him is that he can only travel backwards in time. A big thing I was going to do with him is that, if things go wrong, he can continuously travel back in time and tell those around him so they can change their actions until they get it right. However, this results in many situation where he repeatedly witnesses the deaths of people closest to him, then has to travel back in time to said people before their deaths to prevent it, but retains those memories no one else has experienced. he's in a perpetual state of losing people.

Xion: strongman type character, they're married to Shavani. I. cannot for the life of me remember what they do. I think it granted them increased strength and deadliness, but at the cost of control? They risk raging and losing control with the people they care about? Very stoic no bullshit character

Shavani: She's the nature/plant one. Associated with fertility, nourishes the earth and allows it to flourish, caring but also unforgiving. The drawback with her was that it took her fertility in order to transform it into earthly fertility, and she lost a very wanted pregnancy as the result. I. don't remember much more about her abilities, my apologies Shavani. She was often the one who found Seli once she accidentally threw herself across universes.

Maimun: Maimun's all about luck. I didn't have the complete logistics of their power worked out because there were finicky things, but the premise is when intending to do something using their power, they have a 50/50 chance of success. Essentially, they can do anything with it but it's not a guarantee--so it's all about risk and chance with them. Which I was going to use in very dramatic scenes of life or death being up to a stroke of luck and so on.

Nedra: I focused on her the least so there's very little depth or nuance, but she's my shapeshifter character. Can take practically any form, but is trans and unable to take the form that expresses herself fully and as she wants to be seen. I was discovering the vast vast worlds of gender queerness when I made her, so I think she plays into some tropes or common writing that doesn't do her favors, which also doesn't treat her transness with the kindness I'd like it to, so she's most likely to have the most significant change.

I'll stop there, but that's kinda what was going on with A Collection of Roses. Those characters were the roses, and it doesn't actually have a concrete plot, but I came up with it when I was 12 so. Not that 12 yos can't make good things, but just that my skill level was much lower than it is now, and I still have more to learn.

This is not what the story will be going forward--i don't know what it will be, as I haven't created it yet--but that's what it was! All off the top of my head so I probably missed some very important things, but I hope that answers your question and was at least a little fun to read through :)

I hope you're also having a good day!

[yuikomorii]

hello admin I hope this is not a repeated question and I would be grateful if you could give your opinion on this matter. Who do you think is the smartest boy in DL? Of course, not with regard to academic success, because I don't consider it as a criterion for being smart. Rather, according to the behaviors that these boys have shown so far, in your opinion, which of the 13 boys is the most intelligent?

// L to the A to the I to the T to the O !

And nobody can change my mind because this man is literally scaringly smart and will forever be the most intelligent DL character in my eyes. I will talk about him soon, I just want to get some things straight here.

Grades don’t equal intelligence, therefore I would never judge it solely on someone’s academic success. It’s not that hard getting a good score if you pay attention during class or simply study, so it’s more about effort. I’m speaking from my own experience because I’m one of my university’s top students yet there are classmates who are undoubtedly smarter than me or than the teachers themselves.

To be honest, in my opinion, the "big brain" DL boys aren't nearly as intelligent as they’re described. Sure, they're knowledgeable, but I wouldn't call them geniuses. Writers will make a character appear intelligent by having everyone else act stupid or oblivious. For example, in LE and CL, it took them 1000 years to realize that Kino, the new, mysterious guy they know nothing about, was the one causing them problems, and they were surprised despite the fact that it was obvious. I should also point out that their plans and strategies aren't particularly good; it's just that the writers will make them appear to be successful. If they gave the same plan to a seemingly stupid Diaboy, they would make him fail and face consequences.

Furthermore, it irritates me that they are constantly attempting to humiliate Yui with things they are proficient in. They test her with cubes, puzzles, musical instruments, and books in foreign languages she doesn't speak, such as Latin and German. They are aware Yui isn't the brightest, and they can clearly see she lacks knowledge and any talents, so I'm not sure how you, a "genius," would find satisfaction in seeing a seemingly stupid character fail at things stereotypically smart people excel at. Why not, for example, challenge someone of your league? Or are you afraid of failing that way, and you only get that spark from someone weaker than you?

Okay, enough of that, let's get back to Laito. Laito's brain power outperforms everyone else's and he’s not just book smart but he's also extremely street smart.

He's very perceptive and has the best ability to read others. While the big brain boys rely on simple and sometimes obvious deductions, Laito memorizes information about you and will later know how to use it against you to cause you pain. He's a master of gaslighting and convincing; he manipulated Yui into saying and doing things she would never have done otherwise, and he's impossible to trick. Every time Yui tried to be bold in front of him, saying things like "perhaps you’re the one who likes the pain" or "you’re the masochist”, Laito twisted her words so as to make her feel like a bad person, which she believed.

I understand that being manipulative does not always imply being clever, because any human being can manipulate, but Laito is not your average manipulator. To manipulate someone, you must be able to hold a large amount of information in your mind at the same time. A larger brain capacity is required to be a skilled manipulator because you are creating several different scenarios and outcomes prior to and during a conversation with the person you are attempting to manipulate. Laito has a high level of metacognition, which most people do not have, and his brain is quick, creative, adaptable, and can unquestionably be called intelligent.

You can also notice that he says some really meaningful things that Yui and his two brothers can’t understand. His poetic way of speaking isn’t a reason to mislead others or make them feel stupid, but rather he’s merely expressing his thoughts that way. I love those moments when he’s unpredictable and pulls a spontaneous psychological mind game, because I know this man would be able to twist everyone around his little finger if he wanted to, even the big brain boys (no wonder even Carla acknowledged him as intelligent).

However, one of Laito’s flaws is that he got poor emotional control and his trauma makes him perceive some things differently. He’s still dangerously intelligent and the fact his intelligence is so underrated feels unbelievable.

[rindemption]

Werewolves in Cyberpunk

Disclaimer: I'm taking some liberties and not really following the guide books for this. I like the idea of lycanthropy being genetic as well as passable in more traditional methods, and I've seen this as how Nathan gained his lycanthropy since the start. The nomad lore is similarly my own personal headcanons and don't quite fit in the provided text, but it makes my werewolf headcanons make more sense to me. I did have a post on this nearly a year and a half ago, but it's vanished into the void so I'm remaking it. These are just my personal thoughts and ramblings, no one is beholden to agree or follow them.

Addendum: Please do feel free to use these headcanons, expand on them or adjust them to your liking, or take the pieces you want! My only concern is that I don't want people accusing me of trying to push my personal character lore onto their characters, so if you like it and want to use it I have no issues.

Werewolf Genetics

To have lycanthropy passed on from parent to child without the population getting too big to fit in the setting, it has to be a recessive gene. This allows for two full blooded weres to always have full blooded children, and for the existence of half-weres -- humans who may or may not be aware that they carry the gene for lycanthropy.

In the same way certain genetic diseases can still cause an effect when present on a single mutated recessive allele, lycanthropy can still appear in mild forms in these half-weres. They gain some physical benefits and changes in line with their full blooded brethren, but nowhere near to the same extent, and none are capable of fully shifting.

Which physical and psychological changes appear varies from person to person, determined by other existing genes and abilities. One individual may gain more strength and endurance, while another develops lean muscle and agility. For all with the genes, traits don't being to appear until puberty. Full werewolves start showing sooner, and are able to fully shift near the end of puberty, while half-weres may take some more time to develop their traits.

A little bit of lore:

My headcanon has always been that werewolves formed the original Nomad clans. To keep themselves safe, most had always stuck together, kept to the outskirts of the cities. When things began to go downhill they did what instinct told them to: they banded together, got away from it all, and took care of their own. Slowly more and more people with similar mindsets joined them, until they became the roaming nations they are today.

Nomad clans, where most werewolves have made their homes, are largely more human than were as a result of simple genetics. Half-weres outnumber them nearly 5 to 1 as a result, but the clans highly benefit from the existence of both. There are enough full blooded werewolves to cause rumors and folk tales to spread, but many are able to pass under the radar as being preternatural. They're well equipped to fend for and protect themselves, and their tendency for pack bonding has made them highly loyal of their clans. A dissolution like with the Bakkers can be extremely stressful for former members, and the merging of clans can be tense for all parties.

City dwelling werewolves aren't common, but they do exist. They tend to be fighters, solos, guns for hire, doing work that keeps them moving and giving them some sense of belonging and fulfillment. Many half-weres that exist within cities aren't even aware of their status, born of parents who never told them, or who weren't aware themselves. They develop abilities above the human average, and tend to brush it off as purely skill or good genes, not realizing the former is true in ways they can't imagine. In time their descendants lose the recessive gene, and they're nothing more than human again.

[yandere-romanticaa]

question: you're a big blog and everything so im a bit curious. Is the yandere side of tumblr comparably friendlier than other sides? like I'm always seeing discourse on other blogs and they tend to get into fights, while the yan side is just chilling. But I'm also aware that I don't have that large of a following and I don't really follow many blogs, so I'm kind of sheltered in away? Idk, what's your thoughts on the yandere tumblr community? At least, the genshin one

I noticed this too and now that you put it in words I'd say you're right!!

Something I noticed about dark content creators is how most are incredibly open about everything they do and are always willing to discuss anything and everything, I'm not even sure I can name someone who wouldn't welcome you with open arms. It also needs to be said that we're aware that what we are writing for wouldn't fly irl under any circumstance but that's what makes this so fun, it's literally just pure fantasy and everyone is here to indulge. If yandere or anything similar to that just isn't your thing you just walk away!

The Genshin community heavily depends on the platform. I'm strictly speaking from my PERSONAL experience but the worst one I'd say is on Twitter (come on guys...), Instagram is just chilling, drawing fan art although I've seen some dumb comments that shouldn't even be there despite the creator tagging everything accordingly 🙃 As for Tumblr it gets weird, hear me out on this one and you're more than welcome to tell me if I'm wrong BUT I feel like the Genshin fandom here (at least some people) have these weird unfulfilled desires and they themselves aren't sure what they are. They take comfort in the characters but whenever something goes wrong by THEIR book then it's time to witch hunt and whatnot. Tumblr is also a beehive of assholes who think they're better than you simply because they think they're on the moral high ground thus making them qualified to judge others. I once wrote something for Kaeya who falls for an older woman and in the end it's implied that he assaults her. I tagged it accordingly and most people really liked it but I got an ask calling me an ableist and that I should "grow up" for using the "r word". Considering that this hellsite really IS a hellsite I'm honestly shocked with how positive my experience on here was. I think I received maybe one (1) death threat, that ask I mentioned before and probably some weird stuff I can't be bothered to remember but other than that my entire Tumblr experience has been nothing other than heavenly. People here were so kind and good to me, not to mention friendly and welcoming, just very amazing people in general whom I all wish nothing but the best in their lives, and I mean it. I hope they're healthy, happy, eating good food and drinking well, I want all of their dreams to come true and everything in between. I can't begin to describe just how good people can be and that goodness really does trump all of the nonsense in between. Everything I've said has been highly subjective and just my own personal thoughts, so take it with a grain of salt because it's always different for everyone.

[anthrat]

The Akatsuki members as high-school students

Has this been done before? Probably! Do I care? No, because these are my terrible headcanons and nobody can take them from me.

A/N: This has been in my drafts for a long time, probably since early February. I’ve been lacking motivation to do anything at all for months and lo and behold, I find this basically finished piece bar one character. I really, really want to start writing again but I’m struggling to think of ideas, so if you have any requests for future headcanons/one shots/etc feel free to slide me a message or something :)

He's definitely the generic super intelligent kid who gets straight A's in pretty much every subject. All of his notes are really well organised, he keeps bullet journals and everything is colour coded - mans notes are literal art. His handwriting is definitely beautiful, we're talking professional calligrapher here.

All of his equipment is immaculate, he cries if one of his books gets a crease or something on it somehow. If you accidentally nudge him or ruin his notes he will silently hold a grudge against you forever - he probably won't act on his grudge though, he just wants to blend in and he dislikes conflict in general.

Despite being fully aware of his intelligence he hardly ever speaks up in classes. He only really speaks when spoken to and so is renown as the token quiet kid. I also envision him as being super pretentious, although he doesn't show it he definitely thinks he's better than everyone else.

His favourite subject would be English because he enjoys analysing anything and everything. If you're friends with him he will make comments on how random pieces of media etc. are a representation of -insert important world issue or theory.- He'd also like art despite it being the only subject he's not very good at. All his art is abstract, he will draw a pink square and claim it represents a patriarchal society.

Doesn't have many friends because he isn't very talkative, spends most of his time at school alone doing schoolwork. Sees school purely as an educational setting and so doesn't see the point in making an attempt to be social.

All of his school equipment looks like it's been mauled by 300 dogs because its all second/third/fourth+ hand. Man would never pay full price for a textbook. He definitely steals all the faculty equipment too. You could fill an entire room with the amount of stationary this man has but he will NEVER lend it to anyone else. If he does lend you something it's because its either A) broken B) barely functional (so like pens which can write 2 letters before running out) or C) you're giving him something better in return/paying for it (even then he'll probably take whatever he lent you back without you realising)

He also definitely runs mini-shops in school where he'll sell stolen equipment and things like sweets/chewing gum/trendy items (he made bank when fidget spinners were a thing) for like triple what they're actually worth.

His favourite subject is definitely history (He's a crusty dusty old man so of course) but he will never admit this. He takes business and economics but hates them, he's already done all of his own research into the subjects and is only doing them to get the qualification. Definitely complains about how he already knows it all already and it's a waste of time for him to learn it again. His only conversation topic is him talking about how he's going to set up his own business as soon as he leaves school.

Is very intelligent but only gets average grades in most subjects because he refuses to try if he dislikes the subject or sees it as a waste of time.

Watched DeathNote once and now thinks he's an actual real life version of Light Yagame. Carries around his own DeathNote and threatens to write people's name in it.

Convinced that he's been bestowed with supernatural powers, whenever he speaks he does lots of flashy hand gestures, - think generic cool-dude protagonist poses - these change depending on what piece of media he's currently obsessed with. His personality also changes alongside the poses.

Basically what I'm trying to say is he's the over-saturated 'weird anime kid' with a touch of superiority complex. Although, he's super confident and has absolutely 0 shame in this fact.

Bless his little heart, he loves writing but is the definition of 'uses complicated words without knowing what they mean'. He's still decently smart though. His grades would probably be pretty average because he struggles to apply himself properly. His favourite subject would definitely be something like sociology where he can freely express his profound ideas, even if some of them are completely god awful. He'd also enjoy any subject which gives him creative freedom such as art or English.

Cannot see this lad as anything but a jock. He loves sports, lives and breathes them. He's probably a member of practically every single sports team and is surviving on the basis he has a sports scholarship of some kind.

Despite him being a jock he'd be the most approachable out of all the Akatsuki members. He's the kind of guy who no matter who you are he'd always be happy to crack jokes and talk with you. He definitely brings in way too much food, he's that dude who brings a whole mini banquet to school every day for no discernible reason. He's always happy to share though, he's definitely the kind of guy who if he saw someone sat by themselves at lunch he'd sit with them and offer them food.

His grades would be a little on the lower side because most of his free time is taken up with all his sports, however, he'd still work hard at his academics regardless. If anything this man is probably the most dedicated, he would hate the fact that he's falling behind all his classmates but at the same time would rather die than give up any of his extracurricular activities.

He'd be fairly popular because of his naturally easygoing and humorous nature, but people would rarely ever invite him to events as they'd just assume he was busy.

Konan is an absolute babe, the kindest and most caring person in the whole school. Forgotten your lunch? She'll buy you some or give you her own. Didn't do your homework? Bitch will give you hers to copy, if it's an essay or something she'll sit with you and help you write it. Looking a little upset? Konan's right there to try and cheer you up even if you aren't friends.

Despite how wonderful and 100/10 a person she is she probably won't have many close friends. She'll get used a lot by others who take advantage of her good nature. She's smart enough to know what they're doing but she doesn't care, she's happy to be of help to anyone even if they don't appreciate it.

She's a bit of a teachers pet though, she's on super good terms with every teacher in the school even if she doesn't take the subjects they teach. Most of her breaks/lunches would be taken up by her helping with display boards or whatever.

Her favourite subject would be geography, she'd really enjoy learning about different cultures and societies. I can see her just really enjoying learning about how rivers are formed and stuff like that as well. Her least favourite would be something like math which is only fact based, she enjoys being able to look at things from different perspectives.

Also bitch would bake all the time, literally every lesson she'd whip out a box of cakes/cookies/anything else she'd baked the night before to share with the whole class.

Carries knives around with him because he thinks they make him look cool. He can and will whip one out at any given opportunity so he can flex a knife trick on you. His knife tricks suck though, he always drops them or cuts himself, if you try and walk away he'll beg you to stay claiming that fortieth time's the charm or something.

He never shows up to lessons, he doesn't even know what one is. If you ever ask him what subjects he takes he'll look at you blankly and ask what you mean. If he ever is in a lesson it's because he was dragged there by a member of staff. Honestly, the few lessons he's actually present for are so chaotic teachers find themselves praying he doesn't show up. Being as he never willingly shows up he'll never know what subject it is, and he'll ask insanely bizarre questions un-ironically because he gives no fucks and has no idea what is happening. For example, you'll be learning about arteries in biology and he'll ask something like "What ingredients do we need?" because he'll have confused arteries with artichoke and think he's in a home economics lesson.

Despite being the weird knife kid he's pretty popular, he's so completely brain dead and unaware of his surroundings that its impossible not to get along with him. He doesn't have the critical thought to bully anyone and so even if he tries to be horrible it always comes off as though he's just trying to be funny.

Oh dear oh lord what can I say about Zetsu? Zetsu is an absolute shit show of a student. Black Zetsu I can see as being very academic focussed, with their favourite subjects being religion, politics and some form of economics. I imagine they’d be very active within school politics/religious scenes, probably the head of some sort of group for both.

Black Zetsu would also be interested in applying for positions such as Head of Year, Class Representative and anything similar. They’re a big control freak and as a result have basically 0 friends. People would find them overbearing and awful to be around. They’re the incredibly opinionated kid who dismisses anything which they don’t personally agree with.

White Zetsu on the over hand, hoo boy. Class clown obviously. The living bane of Black Zetsu. If Black Zetsu wants class representative then you know people will vote for white Zetsu instead because he’s infinitely more popular. He’s incredibly weird but in such an innocent and goofy way they’d have a large group of friends. They wouldn’t be popular per say, but they’d be friends with practically everyone.

Their favourite subject would probably be biology because sex jokes, but I also think they’d enjoy English because uhh… Sex jokes. I just can’t see White Zetsu taking school even slightly seriously.

He basically lives in the art department. If you walk near him he will tag along and start talking to you about art, it doesn’t matter who you are you will be forced to listen to his speech.

Incredibly confident and has no issue starting a conversation with anyone. He's definitely the type of person who every time you see him he'd be with a completely different group of people, whether they want him there or not.

Despite his weird constant art rants he'd be the life and soul of the party. He's always fun to be around purely because of how much energy he has. He'd be the kid who makes everyone laugh completely on accident, although people would probably be laughing more at him than with him.

He'd probably get invited to lots of places by other kids just so he could be the butt of every joke. He wouldn't mind though, he'd brush it off and probably enjoy the attention he gets from it.

Most of his friends would end up being people who know nothing about art though, all the students who participated in any artistic subjects would stay far away in fear of him starting another argument about art.

If the art class ever does clay his has to be put in the kiln separately because it always blows up. He also has a habit of 'accidentally' damaging other people's art if he dislikes it. Eventually he would mellow out and start appreciating other forms.

Nobody knows who he is, people will have sat next to him for years and won't even know his name. The amount of times his name is called in the register and people will pipe up with "who's that?" or "didn't he move to another school?" is genuinely concerning. He doesn't care though, he'd rather go through school completely unnoticed.

Excels at all subjects (besides sports, he's never showed up to a PE lesson because of 'health reasons') despite putting very little effort into academics. His favourite subjects would be biology and math. He'd absolutely hate art as a subject, preferring to do art in his free time rather than make it into a chore at school. He'd have been put in Deidara's class at least once and it would have completely ruined all enjoyment of art as a subject for him. He'd also hate any subjects which prompt discussion such as English or sociology, he doesn't have any opinions on them and he doesn't care to listen to anyone else's.

Honestly, dude is the definition of a background character at school. He just simply does not exist, and I have mad respect for him. On the off chance anyone even tried to speak to him he'd probably completely ignore them, the only communication he has at school is through emails with teachers. He has 0 interest in making friends when they have nothing in common with him.

Another character sort of hard to pinpoint. He’d probably be somewhat similar to White Zetsu, but not quite as popular. He’d be a right teachers pet, with few friends his own age. He’d probably spend spend all his breaks and lunches with teachers in their classrooms, offering to help them with display boards etc.

Despite being a teachers pet he wouldn’t be academic whatsoever. He’d always try his best but bless him, he’s terrible at every subject and ends up constantly making a fool of himself. He’s definitely the sort to raise his hand to make a really great point, but his really great point is basically repeating the lesson objective. When studying of mice of men he definitely asked “what’s the name of Curly’s wife’s husband?”

His favourite subject, regardless of his ineptitude would be drama. He’d always be the most melodramatic and over the top in every character he played, not really caring what other people thought of him. In fact, that’s probably his best feature. Despite his lack of popularity he’d always unapologetically be himself, his goofy and over the top self.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

If we’re thinking more about Obito, I’d like to imagine for the sake of this headcanon Tobi is what he’s like during lower school years and then suddenly one summer he comes back and he’s completely matured into this foreign character unrecognisable to nobody.

He’d become incredibly serious, forgoing the role of energetic teachers pet to a much more muted one. He’d still be just as terrible at all his lessons, and still spend most of his time around teachers rather than others his age but he’d no longer have that fun spark. He’d probably start caring greatly about what people thought of him so his latter years would be trying to stay under the radar completely.