#theres going to be more added as chapters go on but those are the ones they start with

[1am-s0-veryt1red]

with the leaks to the 2nd to last chapter out can I just ask that we hold off on criticism of whoever until the last chapter is officially out? I know it's asking a lot

[caramellody]

OOPS! IT’S A TURTLES DANGANRONPA AU

This is a bit of a long one, and is. more rambly about rules n stuff??? so I'm sorry in advance it's PROBABLY going to be a very boring post. I caved after talking about the au sometime before like. VERY briefly so here I am now with a slightly more detailed explanation of the au…before ACTUALLY talking about the au

1- Names

writing [year][turtle] for everyone in the AU itself isn’t something that would naturally happen, so as expected, there are nicknames!

1987 Turtles:

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo

2003 Turtles:

Leo, Don, Raph, Mike

2012 Turtles:

Lee, Dee, Ralph, Mikey

Rise Turtles:

Leon, Donnie, Michael, Raphie

Other things to note: these are the names in order to identify them, especially if there are multiple of them. if there's only one of them left, then any nickname is fair game. narration will still refer to them as the assigned names above

For this post and any post talking about them OUTSIDE of the narrative, however, I will just be referring to them by year to make it easier to understand, just remember that in-universe that’s not how they’re referring to each other.

2- Memories

This gets mentioned later but I’ll put it here for easy reference, for the most part, in general, the turtles forgot everything surrounding their capture

1987 Turtles' memories are post 2012 Crossover episodes. They know of the 03 and 12 turtles, and due to Donatello’s portal ray, they can travel between dimensions. Being post-crossover episodes also means they are post-red sky seasons. (GRANTED Im still going through the 87 show rn since it's like. the last of the animated ones i have to go through, so this might change over time, but overall, i dont think so?)

The 2003 Turtle's memories are post Turtles Forever and are aware of the 87 turtles.

The 2012 turtles' memories are post-season 5. They are also aware of the 87 turtles.

The Rise Turtles' memories are post-Season 2. Due to a lack of knowledge in multiversal iterations, they know nothing about it at this point. 

3-Collar Mechanism

Every turtle in the Killing game has a collar on their neck. These all have numerous functions:

They emit a faint noise that suppresses any superhuman powers (Most notably the Rise turtle's Mystic powers, but this also applies to slightly nerfing EVERYONE’s superhuman strength. They’re all still very much capable and superhuman fighters, but they’ve all been severely downgraded as a result)

There’s a fuse that will set off an explosion destroying the collar and the user as well.

There's a shock collar function that will emit a shock of varying degrees, from a faint shock to a massive surge that can knock them out but never outright kill the user

It also serves as an inhibitor for the turtle's memories, at least in the simulation. When the collar gets removed, their memories begin to return at a slow, but sudden and unexpected pace.

A pulse detector for Monokuma, as he can be aware of everyone's status and whether they’re alive or not throughout the game, the pulse detector isn't tied to code, it’s tied to the collar of the user

Collar removal is typically foolproof, as there is an automatic trigger that will explode if removed without careful thought

4- T-Handbook Rules

These are the set rules when the turtles first get their Turtle Handbooks (T-Handbooks) at the start of the game

Rule #1: Subjects must live in the bunker for the foreseeable future.

Rule #2: Once a murder takes place, all surviving subjects must participate in a class trial.

Rule #3: If the blackened is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule #4: If the blackened is not exposed, all remaining subjects will be executed.

Rule #5: If the blackened survives the class trial, they will graduate and re-enter the outside world.

Rule #6:The killing game and class trials will continue until only two surviving subjects remain’

Rule #7: "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. The dining hall and auditorium are off-limits at night.

Rule #8: Violence toward Monokuma, the headmaster, is strictly prohibited.

Rule #9: Monokuma will never directly commit a murder.

Rule #10: Your T-Handbooks are very important items. Please do not damage them.

Rule #11: The "Body Discovery Announcement" will play when three or more subjects discover a body.

Rule #12: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the campus at your discretion.

Rule #13: Subjects who violate these rules will be immediately executed through the mono-collars

Rule #14: If two different murders by different murderers occur at the same time, only the one whose victim was found first will be the blackened.

Rule #15: Further, there may be new additions to the rules according to the convenience of the headmaster.

[yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere]

new favorite video, yes!!❤️🤍💙 #RWRB #RWRBMovie #RedWhiteAndRoyalBlue thank you Aneesh!!

!! more VERY IMPORTANT RWRB content in this post: https://yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere.tumblr.com/post/739408729011781632/rwrb-this

Henry Fox & Arthur Fox-post here: https://yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere.tumblr.com/post/738761008290627584/when-alex-texted-henry-yo-theres-a-bond

----from: https://instagram.com/p/C1POyPot_ZC/

+ CMQ spotify (characters' playlists!!) https://open.spotify.com/user/p873j0jdmqn5hye7cakdnub7e/playlists

my RWRB instagram highlight here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18198132073262637/

BTW for everyone interested: Red, White & Royal Blue: Collector's Edition Henry PoV bonus chapter by Casey Mcquiston : https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/752528941905018880?source=share

+ also queer history/facts from RWRB(Alex engaging with queer history)(thank you SO. MUCH. CASEY MCQUISTON!!)-GREAT POST here on tumblr!!-many links here, lots of information! (Waterloo Vase, Stonewall, SCOTUS decision 2015, Walt Whitman, Laws of Illinois 1961, The White Nights Riots, Paris Is Burning, THAT David Wojnarowicz photo 'If I Die Of AIDS-Forget Burial-Just Drop My Body On The Steps Of The F.D.A' https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/757305651356729344?source=share (I encourage you to research more about David!!) , Thisbe & Pyramus, The V & A, James I & George Villiers and MORE!!) https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/757308307835895808?source=share (Learning about things referenced in Red, White & Royal Blue, thank you @ elipheleh)

THIS SONG IS SO FIRSTPRINCE!! thank you Nick & Taylor, i'm adding it to my RWRB playlist!!

♥. and now some RWRB links here:

Matthew talking about Alex's bisexuality ahead of the movie:

Alex, our ACD, our bisexual king post:

our FIRSTPRINCE post/mostly beautiful pictures/:

FIRSTPRINCE EDITS(post with edits/links♥):

coming out-important post/A's speech(both movie+book versions):

RWRB DELETED SCENES post:

RWRB BLOOPERS/BTS post:

THAT SCENE-Alex and Prince Henry Flirt Over Text:

KARAOKE SCENE:

Them reading RWRB:

!! https://nicostiel.tumblr.com/post/725473496174575616/red-white-and-royal-blue-2023-text-posts

for more bonus content post, nick's other queer roles posts, more taylor etc visit my tumblr account and use the hashtags in the search!♥

+ https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/729333681897046016/the-delicate-art-of-the-grab-and-kiss?source=share

x x

[imustbenuts]

nuts reading trigun in japanese 7 - filial piety, and meryl

my alternate readings/translation/interpretation of jp lines are for triangulation purposes and nothing else.

ch 10-12. a more general scattershot of a post than over analyzing the japanese texts this time round. i think meryl in these 3 chapters is the most interesting character for me. but mainly bc she seems to be carrying a baggage: her struggle with filial piety.

^OH's version

ソレが普通ですわよ That'd be the most common sense thing to do. それにもともと家訓からして『自立せよ』ですからね But our house's motto is to first be independent above all. ドライといえばドライなのかも Mine would just be dry beyond dry...

me: hm. an office lady in the context of being written in 1990s by a japanese guy. i understand.

(i actually prefer OH's version bc the implications of what shes saying is the exact same, but more importantly leads into this page)

いきついて見れば When I realized all that 何か大切なものを忘れてるのかも… Realized that perhaps I've forgotten something (filial piety) so important... 私… I...

(you can see how this raw translation fucking sucks. I'd reword it in a way that's along the lines of 'feeling so ashamed as to forget getting angry', but OH's version is a downright banger. 11/10 the implications of what she feels is still the exact same. love it a lot!)

right so.

filial piety.

filial piety for a lot of asians is... kind of hard to break down. but perhaps can be explained as "abandoning ones' parents is the worst sin one can do".

not being filial is an invitation to the most extreme judgement from relatives and outsiders in a society which upholds it as the absolute virtue. at least, for the most part. (late stage capitalism fucked it all up yayy)

abandonment can be in the form of presence and/or financial. if a child doesnt make bank to pay back for their parents raising them up, they're not filial. if a child is absent and not there to take care of their parent, thats not filial.

and not being grateful, not being filial, equals shame and warrants divine punishment. (check out folklores like momotaro and kaguyahime that touches on these themes)

meryl i think struggles with that bc shes likely an only child who is expected to work an office job after studying super hard for it, and is now living independently away from her parents. meaning, she is technically not present to take care of them, which in this context makes her feel immensely guilty.

to make matters worse, it sounds like shes one of those types where her parents possibly had to work a lot to pay for this and that, resulting in a severe lack of communication. so this compounds, and she can only write dry stuff in her mind.

milly, by the way, does not have this problem as much:

she has a lot of siblings who can shoulder the weight of it all together, so in terms of that filial piety stress shes not doing so bad.

Badwick, the focus of this arc, by the way, faces the same struggles with meryl:

i mentioned the financial part bc from how chill the parents are with him, i think its possible he was trying to sell the land for large sums of money for his parents to retire. theres an added level of resentment going on that complicates their dynamic, with a dead brother and a land that means too much to sell for any sum of money.

and also his parents are... too nice and understanding, jeez.

i dont think meryl has the resentment. i think her case was similar in that her parents worked hard to provide and kinda neglected her in the connection part.

ofc this might then bring up the question of, 'isnt filial piety kinda transactional?', and, yeah. it... frankly can be. some parents have weaponized it, knowing that a society which forces unconditional love and financial support from a child is a good retirement plan. and it sucks. nightow must have realized this and sidestepped it.

whether bc it will not be well received by the then jp audience or if he just doesnt want to tell a story about this, i dont know. there could also be the fact that the 90s was a bad time to be talking about securing retirement for parents when the economy was circling the drain.

trigun gets dark later. we are getting love and peace above all else, at least for now.

...hm something seems to be rising over the horizon. but we can deal with that later. domestic violence

also i think vash is the kind who would also be a filial son to rem. this aspect of him is just lurking silently in the background in hindsight. in a barrel.

(incidentally i think this is also why luida and brad got promoted to surrogate parents position in stampede. much to ponder ponder...)

[asteroidzzzn]

more than just a dream - 005, 6am

pairing: college!ellie x reader

synopsis: you transfer to a new school where you only know one person; your childhood best friend. he invited you to a beginning of the year party to meet some new people, but one person, in particular, catches your eye... his other best friend.

a/n: HALLOWEENNNNNN

genre: social media au, fluff

series masterlist -- previous chapter -- next chapter

bria 🧚

HI WHAT COSTUMES R U ALL WEARING TO THE HALLOWEEN PARTY

jesseee ����😙

hot dog with mustard

y/n

hot dog with ketchup

jesseee 😙😙

hehehehehe

y/n

hehehehe

bria 🧚

😭 anyone else besides those 2 answer pls....

dina

im gonna be ghostface !!

bria 🧚 ❤️ a message

bria 🧚

i love that omg

what ab u ellie?

ellie

eh idk i dont feel like dressing up

bria 🧚

BOOO boring tomatoes tomatoes

dina ❤️ a message

jesseee 😙😙 ❤️ a message

y/n ❤️ a message

ellie

HELP EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU GANGING UP ON ME/??!

y/n

come on u literally have to wear SOMETHING

its HALLOWEEN

jesseee 😙😙

yk who u kinda look like

pennywise

y/n ❤️ a message

ellie

YOU ARE A SICK MAN

ellie left the groupchat

jesseee 😙😙 added ellie to the groupchat

jesseee 😙😙

ellie

??!?!?!

dina

HELP MEE

ellie if u dress up as pennywise ill actually pay u

ellie

how much r we talking ab......

dina

$20

bria 🧚 ❤️ a message

bria 🧚

PLEASE YOU HAVE TO

ellie

oh i will

$20 is $20

dina 💋

hi do u know where y/n is? she spammed me a few minutes ago but i was talking to bria but now i cant find her anywhere

ellie

shes ob the table

singing and dacnging

ik shes wearung a hot dog costuke but she looks hotrn

so hot omh

dina 💋

oh ok so ur very drunk rn

ik shes wearung a hot dog costuke but she looks hotrn ur GONNEEE LMFAO i wont let u forget u said this

focus focus we'll talk later thank you ill go find her

ellie

mmkkhkkk cya

jesseee 😙😙

do ygs know where y/n is

i havent seen her since the party last night and its 6 am already

bria 🧚

im with her rn i had to take her to the hospital

she fell off a table and broke her wrist

jesseee 😙😙

oh my god

ellie

holy shit is she ok?

dina

aw poor girl :(

bria 🧚

holy shit is she ok? yeah she will be

shes honestly more upset she didnt get to see u in ur pennywise costume...

ellie

oh thank GOD she didn't

i looked ridiculous

dina

ok miss 'idc what she thinks ab me'

ellie

dina this isnt the gc with just us and jesse

bria 🧚

uh is there something i dont know

ellie

oml no theres nothing just forget it

dina

oh shit

im sorry

dina deleted 6 messages

a/n; this is my version of a cliffhanger.. also i just realized this is the halfway point in this series and they havent even realized they like each other...... LMFAOOO

i enjoy slowburns a lot actually if u couldnt tell

it will get more interesting soon tho pROMISE

taglist: @ximtiredx @gold-dustwomxn @elliesinterlude @fireflyels @trulygnomed @deluluwh-0-re @elliewilliamsmissingfingerss @emluvselandabs @ariianelle @jokerpokimoon @lonelyfooryouonly @lil-elliesgf @yuaaa05 @ourautumn86 @ucannotcompare

[endclover]

Loyalty - Chapter 1

Doublelife!Xisuma x Reader

1,525 words, 8,115 characters

《Loading world》

You spawn into a fresh world, free from sin of mankind.

In the world that you awoke in, it was almost unbelievable that it was soon to be filled with blood and cruelty.

This death game was worse than used to be. Death is even more inevitable now that every player is paired up with someone.

Soulmates shared a life.

Pain and agony, life and happiness. You had to endure whichever of those they go through.

The hardest part of it all was that you have no say in whoever becomes your soulmate.

Your 3 life, all depends on fate.

~

The first thing you did when you spawn in was to get tools and adventure to find the perfect place to settle and to potentially find your partner.

You arrive at the mountains to find easy to get ores and resources on the surface, there you find a group of people; Grian, Scott, and BigB.

"Oh [reader]'s here" Scott announces.

"Hey everyone! Watcha'll up to?" You wave.

You smile at Scott who gives you a few melons to regenerate your lost hearts, which admittedly was not the doing of your soulmate but rather your own clumsiness.

Behind an amused BigB was Grian, taunting a goat, which made you chuckle a bit.

"Hey Grian! Having fun?" You greet him.

"No, I keep on getting bad horns, I have like 3 of 'em already" he answered, eyes still focused on the goat that's about to charge at him.

Soon enough, the goat ran to attack but banged his head against the wall instead.

"Finally! Let's see if this is want good" the bird said. He picked up the horn and blew it, a loud call resonated across the land.

"Honestly Grian we should spend our time on something more meaningful" sighed Scott.

"This is meaningful!" He argued.

While the two exchanged a few more words, you start crafting up some tools.

"So, found your someone yet?" Scott started.

"Not quite, I am kinda glad with whoever i have though they havent been talking as much damage."

"Safe to say it's not Jim then." you both giggle

"right! Wanna see if we're paired up?" You ask him

With sparkles in your eyes you give him a light hit, and to no surprise you dont receive damage.

"Ah what a bummer." You mumble.

His wish was granted.

A few blocks away from you, a bird was waching. While having your moment with Scott, he was pleading whoever so hard for you to not be with Scott, but rather him.

This was it, he was about to find his soulmate, his other half.

"By any chance [reader], have you been taking alot of damage?" He asked.

"I'd say I've took plenty."

It was hard to hide the smile on his face, and your words only proved his prediction.

"Let's try!" Grian beamed.

He had his hopes up, surely it was him you're meant to be with!

You give Grian a light tap and

...

Nothing.

"Ah." His disappointment reached his voice.

"Well, that's tragic"

You sighed and instead of adding to the upsetting scenario, you opted to comfort him seeing as his wings drooped down.

"Hm, you should cheer up! Not having me as your soulmate probably means you'll get to live a little longer."

"This was heartbreaking."

You chuckle at his joke.

~❁

After a while of adventuring and checking out the surroundings you settle by the jungle near the plains. You set up camp but didnt make it too permanent as theres a huge chance you'd have to move... choosing a very flammable area wasnt the brightest idea.

You make a small hut (better not be a dirt one) and put all your belongings in the chest but keeping all your valuables with you.

It was a cozy little house, a bed, furnace, crafting table and a chest monster was enough for you to call it a home.

~❁

It's been a moment since you last saw sunlight.

Well below the ground you were, in a cramped cave that was crawling with monsters.

But it was well worth it, you thought, as you mine your first vein of diamonds.

You were getting ready to head back up to the surface as you were getting tired of the darkness and constant jumpscares from the countless amounts of mobs you encountered.

You've had a few too many close calls with creepers, hah I wonder how your soulmate is dealing with the constant loss of hearts.

with your goodies ready to be crafted, you start heading back up. However, as annoying as it may be it was dusk when you reached the grassy plains.

It wouldve been the better and more wise decision to let the night go before going back to your house but you were getting impatient and very tired so you decided to make a run for it.

With your nearly broken sword and crappy armour you swiftly dash across the trees in hopes of not encountering any deadly hitches along the way.

But my oh my the world must hate you alot, to your right behind foliage was a skeleton who started shooting at you while behind you was an ever growing hoard of zombies. And of course will be forget that enderman who you swear you never even looked at yet it still after your precious life.

You had no choice but to keep running, despite the weariness of your body you still managed to carry all the resources from your mining trip.

Thankfully your soulmate was better at keeping your heart up, so despite taking constant damage, you keep on regenerating hearts.

As you were praying your partner wouldnt absolutely despise you for losing so much hearts you hear something, or rather someone but it was a bit inaudible.

Dawn was quickly approaching you realized, you grasp your sword and slashed in all and any directions, you really should've crafted up a better sword while you were down there.

You found yourself in quite a predicament, you were in the jungle and every direction you head there seem to be more and more mobs your way.

You regret thinking you can take on zombies, creepers, and a few skeletons with an iron sword.

You clutched your sword that was about to shatter any moment as you walked backwards 'til you could barely move anymore.

Hearts werent regenerating anymore and you were starting to lose hope when you heard a voice.

"Need a hand?" He said.

"Very much." You hastily replied.

"Attack on 3. 1...2-"

"This is a bad idea."

"..3"

Everything right after felt like a blur. It was purely an adrenaline rush, only when a creeper behind you hissed you regained your senses.

You observe as Xisuma swung his sword at the last 2 zombies as they disintegrated into thin air.

He and you both didnt fail to notice the way you simultaneously took damage when the creeper behind you exploded, leaving you on 3 hearts.

After the initial panic you two had over the low hearts, you both started to calm down and feel fatigue after the adrenaline wore off.

He handed you some food and chuckled.

"So it's you huh"

"Yep, its me who you'll be stuck with" you giggled.

"I'll be more than glad to be stuck with you." He teased.

~❁

"So, [reader] where shall we build our home?" Xisuma asked.

You and Xisuma were walking across the map to return to both of your camps to retrive anything of value, and while doing so you conversed with him quite a bit

Seems like you'll get along just fine.

He was your type of guy, kind but still had that bit of sass on him... You'll have to admit he's also kinda cute.

Through your chitchats you explained the reasons you kept on taking damage, including that one time you tried getting a horn of your own but ended up getting hit by the goat and when Pearl tried showing you her new moves with an axe. She's very unhinged.

You had a good laugh about it and he also shared some stories.

Even gossiping about how bdubs and impulse act like a married couple on a honeymoon.

"I'm not sure, maybe somewhere on the north, havent seen any bases there."you replied while struggling to climb the hills.

Xisuma reached his hand out to you and you gladly took it "By the world border, in the corner of the map might be a good idea."

Soon enough, you reach the place you're planning to settle in. It was a quiet area but some people's bases can still be seen from a distance.

Xisuma built a tent out of wool and planks to settle in for the night while you gathered up a few seeds to make a farm.

"I wouldn't say this is a good build but I did just fine." He commented on his own build.

"Looks better than what I can put together on most days."

A/n: well folks this is where this chapter ends. this was a pretty drawn out process, finals is approaching so I dont know when chapter 2 is going to be posted.

After finishing up the temporary tents, X decided it was best if you both interacted with others, to find allies.

~

On the bright side, I'm about to have lots of free time with school nearing end.

[danmei-confessions]

I truly think SVSSS deserves a revision more than any of MXTX's other novels.

I love the novel, yes, but it is poorly written. MXTX rushed the chapters after Bbingqiu's reunion due to using VIP lock for the first time and it makes the writing distinctly worse. I understand that she was young while writing it, which is the whole reason why it deserves a revision. The novel could have so much more potential than it currently does and it's no wonder that it's her least popular when even fans of her other novels choose to not read it due to being uninterested.

So much more story could be added, or just minor details. For example, we barely know anything about the 12 peaks all together, and unless you make up facts, there's practically nothing on their peak lords too. I see complaints about the SVSSS wiki being empty regarding the peak lords and I hate to say it, but that's NOT due to the moderators but rather pure lack of content. Hell, most of the facts that do existed were only in the light novel and not in the web novel at all. There's such little information it's really not shocking that the fandom runs on head-canons. In all 100 chapters of her novel, half of it in slightly plot, while the other is SQQ being... SQQ.

I have so many thoughts on the potential SVSSS has:

Despite it being mentioned that there are 'plenty of minor sects' we only hear the name of one.

Despite sects like Tian Yi or Zhao Hua being a part of the main 4, we know almost nothing about them, how they run, or their disciples/sect lead (literally the only named Tian Yi disciples are the 3 nuns). We also don't know their locations, what locations they control, or their history

The past events of SVSSS (before SY transmigrated) are so messy. Theres only 2 timelines I've found here on tumblr and even those are so different from each other. Theres no clear years compared to TGCF or MDZS and its so frustrating. This also leaves characters practically age-less (other than like. Binghe) unlike her other characters.

Almost none of the side-characters grow development with anyone other than Shen Qingqiu. I say 'almost' but I can not name any off the top of my head. There are characters that have/had such interesting relationships that were completely thrown out the window For The Plot. This is so.... disappointing, considering other character's relationships make up the plot! It's not only the MC!

Everything being rushed is heartbreaking, and with a re-write I think arcs such as the Holy Mausoleum, Jin Lan, Borderlands, etc could become SO much more interesting. Alongside that, the Mai Gu Ridge situation was blown off so fast?? Like, it was mentioned that the Endless Abyss was breaking through CCM, then just never mentioned again...

Power Scaling. Fights. Actual fights between people who aren't LGQ or LBH. We only really got NYY/LPM, MBJ/his uncle, and TLJ/LBH. Most of those were ALSO rushed.

The System's appearance was reduced LARGELY in the later chapters-almost like MXTX forgot about them. The whole first 2 volumes include The System so much, and its unique! functions! all for it to be disregarded and those functions to never be used other than the jade necklace.

Actually going into the wonderous world of PIDW that is claimed to have interesting weapons (only Xin Mo was shown), locations, plants (only Qingsi and that one thats too long for me to feel like typing shown), and creatures (only rly ZZL and Madam Meiyin shown).

That's all I really have right now. I'm not trying to be an anti of MXTX's other novels. I just think that SVSSS has so much potential that she could have brought out if she had chosen to revise it. I love TGCF and MDZS very much, they have great scaling, brought-out potential, and relationships that SVSSS so could have.

I do want to exclaim that out of all her 3 novels SVSSS has been my favorite for years. I genuinely feel upset that it was not the one picked despite how obvious it is that it has barely any NEW content. Or at the least, confirmed facts. In her QNA's most of the questions are purely MDZS/TGCF while there's maybe 2 SVSSS ones. Those few questions answered by her are literally lifelines for some fans. (Such as heights and Moshang) The novel could become popular just if the criticisms/potential of it were actually addressed. I'm not saying that casually but I am very sure of it as MXTX is a freakishly great writer and she COULD take the novel to the same heights as TGCF/MDZS if she truly wanted to.

.

[isleofdarkness]

excuse if this is a weird question or if youve answered this before, but . you have so much worldbuilding in your au. theres TONS of characters it feels like and im just so curious.. how do you keep track of all of it??? it looks so overwhelming but so freaking cool at the same time

ive tried personally to build off of the descendants world in my mind but its so hard even if i write any ideas down XD

To put it simply, there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that you don't see.

I am also insane.

Well, this actually isn't the biggest project I've ever done. My very first fanfic, which was a mashup of Disney, Marvel, Monster High, Ever After High, Dreamworks, and paranormal lore, was way more complicated and had a cast of over three hundred named characters, and those were just the original characters. That was when I was ten. You could say I know my way around complicated lore and massive casts. I don't think I can write without having those things, really. I wouldn't know what to do with a small cast or simple worldbuilding.

My worldbuilding comes from being a massive nerd. Disney and Marvel are massive properties, they have so much for me to work with and Disney did the work for me in giving me an excuse to combine everything. I looked into the world of Disney properties, DC properties, Dreamworks properties, and the properties of other media I enjoy that I decided to include, and then I just combined them in a way I thought made sense. I also took inspiration from Earth 27, a really great fanwork that also combines a bunch of different fandoms and has a massive cast of characters, in some things I've done.

As for how I keep track of it, that's complicated. The politics of the world are common sense to me, since the politics in my work reflect my perception of the real world and how I think things should be improves. And then I know the changes I would make to the properties I've included, I know the things I think need fixed and that I chose to fix them. And then I have my lists. Gods, my lists. I have so many lists of fandoms, of characters, of crews, of kingdoms, of gods, of powers, of worldbuilding. You can see some of them in Isle of Darkness AU info, but those aren't even close to all of them. And then there's my tagging system. I do my best to character tag extensively, both for your guys' benefit and for me to make finding things on my blog easier.

Keep in mind that I'm not perfect at keeping track of things. There are things I've messed up that you guys probably haven't noticed or if you have, haven't pointed out to me. Continuity errors. That's to be expected with something as massive as what I'm doing. I do try to fix things when I notice them and do try to keep everything in order, but I mess up. A lot.

Also, this isn't my first Descendants AU. My original Descendants AU, written when I was like, fifteen, was me watching the movies and adding in one character, Riah, changing some events in minor ways, and that was it. I started simple. But by the time I got to the third book in that series, I realized that I wanted to worldbuild more. That third book veers massively into original work area because I wanted to add more of the supernatural, which led to the shedim plot. I realized that I had fun with that plot, so I started rewriting the series to include more fun stuff. That didn't last, because I wanted to include so much new stuff that the rewrite would be unrecognizable. Thus, Isle of Darkness was born. There was a long planning period, and then there's been a massive amount of things added because I'm doing an esoteric work. The Endless plot? Added that maybe halfway through chapter four. Maverick didn't exist at all until chapter two, and I didn't make the decision to make her a major character until chapter two of Isle of Darkness. The rebellion? Originally wasn't a plotline, I was going to go for something closer to what the movies did. Jasmine helping? Wasn't on the drawing board at all until recently. The supernatural properties? You have no idea how majorly those have changed as I've written this because I originally wasn't going to include angels, most demon and djinn stuff, Roman deities, Norse gods, Aztec gods, or Lovecraftian horror at all. Heck, Jay wasn't even originally a djinn! I wrote the first chapter and then read this excellent fic where Jay was a djinn, realized it made sense, and added it to chapter two. My worldbuilding looks complex but man, most of it is because my work is esoteric. I add stuff in as I go along and come up with a way to make it work. Most of this wasn't planned when I wrote chapter 1.

If you want advice or to talk through ideas I'm always up to answering more asks or private messaging. I'm sure you have wonderful ideas. Also, I don't know if you're comparing what you're doing to what I am, but if you are, don't. I am insane. My grandfather, a New York Times bestselling author, looks at my stuff and goes "Good lord." I have been creating stories for nearly twenty years- I started when I was three, that was when I created my first story about a team of superhero misfit animals. I have a lot of writing and storytelling experience, and I have a lot of experience in things so insane that most professional writers would fear me. These things are what make my particular story as it is told by me, a unique person as all people are, work. These things are not going to work for most people, just like small casts and simple worldbuilding aren't going to work for me. Every writer has their own individual strengths and their own individual weaknesses. Play to your strengths, not mine.

And just have a blast. God may judge you but his sins outnumber your own.

[cerealandchoccymilk]

Trigun Bookclub: Vash's Speech (FLOP EDITION...)

all bookclub posts

so i wrote this entire thing over a span of a day and a half. and found out just as i was finishing it that the ultradeep™ vash lore analysis point i wanted to make is actually NOT in the og trigun. [here's my mental breakdown post lol]

but i spent so much time and energy on this that i cant just say whelp! and delete it... so i'm posting it anyways. the straight-up incorrect parts are crossed out and some post-realization notes are in red. theres also a few paragraphs of postscript commentary/rambling in purple at the end of the post.

read it if youre bored i guess. but take it all with a grain of salt.

in the future (once we get to trimax vash+knives interaction) i will write the version of this that my memory intended, with an actual conclusion that makes sense lol

Mini-entry this time because I got consumed by linguistics brain worms :P But I wanted to make sure I talked about Vash's speech and his usage of pronouns!

A bit of background before we get into the analysis:

Japanese pronouns are very different from English. As the Wikipedia page puts it, "The use of pronouns, especially when referring to oneself and speaking in the first person, vary between gender, formality, dialect and region where Japanese is spoken."

The styles of spoken Japanese in general are another can of worms.... They're similar worms so I'll be touching on them a little, but it's not that relevant yet.

In real life, people have multiple pronouns (and speech styles) that they switch between depending on the situation, like with friends and family, at work, in front of kids, etc. For example, I primarily use 俺 online (along with joke/slang pronouns for funsies like 漏れ or おれっち), 自分 or 僕 in public depending on the person, and 私 in closeted situations. My cis male JP-school classmate uses 俺 with friends/family, used to use 私 in class at first, and then transitioned to 僕 as he got more familiar with the teachers.

Although this sort of code-switching happens all the time IRL, it's way less frequently illustrated in fiction, both for consistency's sake and because fictional characters just don't care as much about status. That's why I thought what's going on with Vash is particularly interesting!

Details continued below...

--original readmore position--

Here are the connotations for the two first-person pronouns that Vash uses (pulled from Wikipedia):

ore/おれ/俺 - informal - males - Frequently used by men. Establishes a sense of "masculinity". Can be seen as rude depending on the context. Emphasises one's own status when used with peers and with those who are younger or of lesser status. Among close friends or family, its use conveys familiarity rather than "masculinity" or superiority. It was used also by women until the late Edo period and still is in some dialects. Also oi in Kyushu dialect.

boku/ぼく/僕 - formal/informal - males - Used by males of all ages; very often used by boys; can be used by females but then carries tomboyish or feminist connotations. Perceived as humble, but can also carry an undertone of "feeling young" when used by males of older age. Also used when casually giving deference; "servant" uses the same kanji (僕 shimobe). Can also be used as a second-person pronoun toward male children (English equivalent – "kid" or "squirt").

(the usage of boku as a 2pp is actually part of a different phenomenon--if you're interested in that kotolabo's video explains it better than i ever could (eng captions available))

And these are the notes for every time Vash has used a first-person pronoun in the span that I've analyzed so far, which is until Chapter #06. I'll be adding onto this in the future as my annotations continue. no need anymore. i skimmed the rest and found out that, aside from a childhood flashback, vash uses exclusively ore after chapter #05.

The first instance is in Chapter #02, when he cries in French.

「なぜ僕がこんな目にあうのママン　何も悪いことしてないのにみんなが僕を狙うよママン」（独り言） "Why do things like this keep happening to me, maman? I don't do anything bad, but everyone's always after me, maman!" (to himself)

Here he uses boku, the softer pronoun. However, because he's putting on a "helpless French boy" persona, this one actually doesn't say much about Vash (other than that he's being silly).

The second time is later in the same chapter, when surrounded by the women of April City.

「奴に…会うまでは！！　俺は立ち止まる訳にはいかないんだ！！」（主婦たち） "Until I see him again... I cannot afford to stop moving!" (Housewives)

This time he uses ore, the rougher and more masculine pronoun. The situation is very tense; he has several guns pointed at him. This is also the first instance we see the trauma and hurt Vash holds inside. Overall he's very desperate here. We can see in a bit that ore is his "default." He drops his usual polite/kind tone to be as sincere as he can with the women. I think he can't afford to code-switch and be polite because this is a very personal and emotional moment for him. This doesn't mean his tone is necessarily rude (in-universe!!! probably better not to talk to strangers like this IRL); he still uses relatively soft language.

The next two are in Chapter #04, both when he refuses the sandsteamer guy's job offers.

「やだやだやだやだ　僕は争いごと嫌いなの！！」（砂蒸気の人） "No, no, no, no! I don't like trouble!" (Sandsteamer guy)

「僕は客なの！！この車の警備態勢にはチョーー期待してるから ヨロシクね！！」（砂蒸気の人） "I am a passenger! I have great faith in your security, so I entrust everything to you, okay?" (Sandsteamer guy)

He uses boku here. As we'll see in future instances, this is the pronoun he uses in front of other people and is the one he chooses most frequently. He constantly avoids trouble, so he always uses soft language and the humbler pronoun. nope it was just out of politeness towards a stranger and trying to sound less assertive/more harmless(?) to get out of the situation

In the next page, Vash talks to himself during his piss break.

「…まったくもう　保険屋の2人組といい…　俺(おら)ァもっとひっそりとやってきたいのに」（独り言） "...Jeez! As if those two insurance girls weren't already enough... I was hoping for a nice, quiet trip." (to himself)

Although the pronunciation here is oraa, it's a reduced form of ore wa (wa is a grammatical particle). His tone here is sort of laid-back (and tired, as you can tell). Again, this is his default 1st-person pronoun.

A few moments later, on the last page of the chapter, he says,

「よく分かった　ツラかった���う！！大丈夫だ 僕にまかせな　悪い様にはしねえぜ！！」（カイト） "I understand. It must have been so hard! It's okay... I'll take care of you. I won't let anything bad happen to you again!" (to Kaito)

Here he switches back to boku. He does this in front of almost everyone, but this is especially the case because he's speaking to a child he wants to protect. Using the boku pronoun gives a softer, more approachable vibe.

In Chapter #05, he goes back to ore when he talks to Kaito about No Man's Land.

「時々考えるよ　この惑星に…来た事が本当に俺達にとって幸せな事なのか　ってね」（カイト） "I sometimes wonder... Was our arrival on this planet actually something for us to be happy about? ...Y'know?"

From here on Vash is more familiar with Kaito, enough to open up a bit about his true feelings about humanity. It is also partially Vash talking to himself. irrelevant/coincidence

In Chapter #06, Vash talks to himself in front of Kaito.

「間違いない！！俺にゃー死神か貧乏神が２ケタ以上ついてるんだ」（独り言・カイト） Overhaul: "Why do death and destruction always follow right behind me?!" Literal: "I swear, I have at least 2 digits’ worth of death-gods or poverty-gods haunting me!!"

He uses ore here again. At this point, he's pretty much completely familiar with Kaito, and considers him a friend/teammate. The speech here is very casual. Skimming through the later chapters, I was able to confirm that from Chapter #05 on, Vash uses exclusively ore.

wait

AAAND CUT! this is where my dumb ass realizes that vashs speech is different between trigun and trimax, and that the conclusion i planned on making was trimax-exclusive :) now forget everything you just read in this post past the wikipedia table screenshot because itll be completely irrelevant in less than a week!!

trimax vash uses boku 99% of the time and ore exclusively in front of knives as far as i can remember. i wanted to say stuff about how he is always wearing the kind persona as a mask and shows his true emotions (aka his sheer trauma and rage) in front of knives and knives only

but like. he really doesnt in og trigun. thats just him being kind to strangers??? and barely has any deep meaning to it. it doesnt mean the individual analyses are wrong but theyre definitely not making the point i was going to make at the end of this post and it just aint that deep.

very frustrated with myself rn... but the 2 good things i got out of this are 1) i wont have to write the pronoun explanation again and 2) i skimmed through all of trigun so future annotations might be faster/cost less spoons since i already have some things to write down in mind.

This will definitely get a part 2+ in the future, especially once we get to see Knives. the redo will just be a new single-part post. this stuff will most likely only become relevant once we see knives+vash interaction in trimax The Meryl speech analysis we mentioned in a past post is currently in the works, and will also be part of this speech series!

[itssbriar]

Watched a few videos about the actual Journey to the West (been a long time since I read any of it and its also not my culture so im not an expert) but yea then it gets even better the more you know about the story

“Watch me rip it off, and break free” like bro Wukong has so much aura XD

Spoilers —>

He had the entire game as a plan to be able to break the circlet off him, and then with the power of buddahood he could fuck up the celestial court like he said he would at the start because the heavens are the bad guys here obviously. He said hed slaughter every mongrel of the court and he meant it

God i already loved the Journey to the West from what I had known of it, and knowing it inspired my favourite anime part of me Dragon Ball, but holy did this game make me appreciate it even more. It’s just so good, and to think 4 years ago I saw the teaser and thought wow I really wanna play and now I have, and it living up to that hype all this time.

ITS JUST SO FUCKING GOOD. Everything about this game is literally exactly what most companies don’t do anymore. They’re so money focused, profit focused, that the life and love is sucked away. They had some budget issues apparently with this game so some stuff of the story had to be cut ( which is coming in DLC because it was obviously so successful so im doubting theres budget issues now💀) , but you can tell that every person who worked on it believed in it the whole time and wanted it to be as close to perfect as possible. Music, storytelling, the animations at the end of chapters, VA’s, adding the really old TV adaptions song Celestial Symphony (modernised ofc but same song) from the 90s, graphics (that I cant run best at since pc isnt made for it but ive seen people who can), even gameplay being super fun and feeling like the powerful monkey king himself. Then theres extra stuff to do and newgame+ and eventually as I said DLC

I don’t usually go this hard about a game, but it really is Outer Wilds level. Its that random one off game that is just near perfect in every way and deserves its success for once, being totally unique and bringing something super valuable to the table. Its bringing a culture to an audience of not just people who have heard of it and are interested, but those youngies who dont read anymore who have no idea about culture stories like this 💀

[marauders-brain-rot]

Okay okay, I wanted to wait until the first several chapters were finalized because I wasn’t happy with them and went back and added 1-2k words to each chapter but I finally posted all of that and a whole brand new chapter today sooooo

Here’s my fic I’ve been working on! It’s still a WIP but it’s currently got jegulus, wolfstar, pandalily, and hinted at dorlene and rosekiller (there will be plenty of dorlene and rosekiller as time goes on but I just haven’t gotten much of a chance to do more than express that dorlene definitely has something going on and there’s definitely feelings when it comes to rosekiller). There’s going to be eventual jily because I adore Harry and Luna and I want them to exist BUT it will not have mcd and jily is not endgame

Theres also Taylor Swift lyrics at the start of each chapter, I have a whole plan for how I want it to go but so many of her songs are so marauders coded and obviously the title is inspired by one of her songs and I really just felt that it fit jegulus so well

But, if those sound like things you’d enjoy then give it a try!

[batbirdies]

I love The Penny Drops, Jason and those lemon drops makes my heart so mushy. I’m directing lots of good juju to your chapter 24 efforts. I really felt for Bruce in the last chapter. He’s trying so hard.

I’m curious if you had an outline for the story when you started, or if you’re more the make it up as you go type? As someone who definitely leans into the making it up as she goes camp at times, I get so anxious thinking I might run out of steam and abandon a story I’ve put so much work into. I’m super impressed that you’ve stuck with The Penny Drops over the course of years. Seriously, mad props.

Man thank you so much!!

Humorously enough with as bad as my ADHD is, I’m huge on planning fic. I’m incapable of writing without a plan. Generally speaking I have a super broad outline, then I write a fully fleshed out first draft that has 70% of the details but with sentences like “then Jason says something insulting back to him, make it touch on something sensitive.” then I fully rewrite it from scratch using the first draft as a model.

That being said stuff still spirals incredibly, penny drops was originally supposed to be a five plus 1 one shot. Then I decided I would do five plus one and it would be six chapters, one chapter per. And well, you see what it is today lol.

For long fics I always draft the entire thing before starting the rewrite because 100% of the time by the time I get to the end theres stuff about the beginning and middle I want to change and it allows me to do that before ive committed to showing it to anyone.

Having said that, also 100% of the time during the rewrite process I will inevitably get to points where the first draft doesn’t feel right and I have to make changes and add a bunch of extra content that I have to draft and then rewrite again lol. Honestly you wouldn’t believe the amount of words I write in order to produce a fic lol, its a lot more than the end word count.

the trouble I’ve had with Penny Drops is that like every other long fic I’ve written, the ending I originally drafted just looks like garbage to me now lmao and in trying to figure out a better way to wrap up the story that’s more climactic and more satisfying it always involves adding words. More chapters lol.

And honestly you’re not alone I have a loooot of fics that never see the light of AO3 because I do lose steam on them before I finish the first draft and never start the second, publishable draft. Sticking with penny drops at this point is out of sheer stubbornness because its is so nearly complete and I just want it to be SO BADLY.

[vypridae]

oook IDEAS!!!!!

i was looking the e handbook this morning and it’s all pretty straightforward, not a ton of room for interpretation except for looking at the wording of a few of them

throwing things at the wall rn pretty much so shoot down as needed as i’m not very attached to these ideas👍👍

we’re already utilizing 15 which is the two murders and two victims first one committed is punished also also side idea i had for chapter three, since we already have kiyo as the second culprit. what do you think about shoving miu or himiko or angie in there?

i’m leaning more toward himiko or angie now that i think about it rather than miu just bc of the angst potential especially combined with korekiyo being the one who’s gonna survive the trial and all. with himiko we’re already experimenting with a very upset tenko and i feel considering her whole thing with men in canon [did you wanna change up the characters a little btw? forgot to ask] that’s just gonna upset her 10x more than if it was just himiko as the sole blackened.

and then with angie i’m completely fine killing her off since we’re going with the simulation idea and implies the shinounaga siblings will still live after the whole thing stops, anyways anyways that’s a whole tangent. by that point it’s about the midpoint of the game, meaning we sacrifice some interactions but they still get a decent amount of time together meaning! ohhh the survivors guilt korekiyo will be left with man that’d be fun to experiment with [once we settle some major details i definitely plan on trying to write out some stuff for this <33]

anyways back to the rules, aside from the pool one there’s another one that i don’t really remember what was for? i think it was added from the ch1 trial since it was so close to the limit everybody was pointing at monokuma for artificially starting something. “#9. monokuma will never directly commit a murder.”

at the current moment i’m not entirely sure how we could utilize that? but if it helps at all it does imply that it’s possible he will assist like provide things/information but he will never land a blow on the victim

otherwise the rules are super straightforward and otherwise all encompassing and are just “hey go kill, go to bed at this time, don’t try to kill monokuma, body discover is 3 people” etc etc

man we’re two people and even with all the unsettled details we’re already building a better story than a whole team of writers wow

ooh ideas !!! sorry this is taking so long to answer btw i just now am actually getting around to using my brain properly BAHAJSDHKA

we’re already utilizing 15 which is the two murders and two victims first one committed is punished also also side idea i had for chapter three, since we already have kiyo as the second culprit. what do you think about shoving miu or himiko or angie in there?

OOOOOH DO YOU MEAN LIKE FOR THE FIRST CULPRIT? IM NGL I KINDA REALLY LIKE THE IDEA OF THAT BEING HIMIKO ACTUALLY, then again i think that would be lowk obvious because wasn't that how the og game went? i mean. well kind of, kork was trying to frame himiko for killing tenko so ig its different still. i love that idea i think we need to use that :3 we can keep angie alive for at Least one more chapter for u

also we can change the characters up a little!! i feel like with rewrites thats kinda a necessary thing to do in part because i feel like theres always SOMETHING you get rid of when you do rewrites yk? idr all of tenkos like, lore? but i think we should at least lower her Hate For Men (i personally have a hc that she has Four (4) men she likes from the get go or at least she hates them less and those are shuichi, rantaro, gonta and kiibo so we can do something with that maybe? idk i dont remember a lot about tenkos backstory so herkgsajkdfg)

OOOHOHOHO we could have something thats like monokuma is like the uuuuuuh . accomplice? no. yeah thats the word . we coudl ahve something like that maybe?? like he isnt caoable of directly laying a hand on the students but he sure as hell can help them come up with ideas and maybe thats something that happens WEHRFGAJKDHGF

i didnt think thered be too many rules we could utilize based on phrasing and stuff so this is about all i expected EBGJKDSHFJKG not in a bad way just like . i am not good at thinking outside the box

BAHAJSHJKASH we're just so good at this actually thast what it is

[woodswolf]

🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats 🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that? 🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately? (Hope you have fun with these! And you don't have to answer all of them if you don't want to !:D)

writer's truth or dare ask game

🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats

a lot of my old ninjago stuff has tons of hits and kudos n shit even though i do not care about it anymore lol. some of it's good some of it Is Not. but i digress. anyway i added the word count graph bc i think it's really funny that DLD is lapping the second longest item twice over (and it's going to be more than 3x over after i finish chapter 5 🥴 <- DERANGED)

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

kinda a long story actually. starts with reading a TIME magazine article about HP fanfiction back around the time the last movie was coming out. (i read it in print though, can't figure out where to find it online. it had a lot of like fic recs n shit in it, honestly kinda funny looking back on it.) from there i found out that the HP news fansite my dad visited a lot (mugglenet) had a fanfiction subarea and went through a lot of shit on there. eventually i tried posting my own bad shit but it got rejected by the moderators (deserved lmao) and from there i moved over to FFN somehow and started doing shit there. at which point i was still in the middle of my Coraline Special Interest phase and thought "hm. coraline seems very Killable". and the rest is history lmao

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

N/A because i actually don't really do much editing. my mom was a newspaper editor for her career before she had me and the general rules of grammar got knocked into me very quickly from the combination of Her and just like. looking shit up sometimes, or mimicking how things were written in books maybe. fuck if i know honestly, i've been writing as a hobby since i was like 9-10 or some shit and over time it's just gradually become part of my process that i don't fuck up formatting and if i do it's only genuinely by accident.

as for shit like rewording sentences and shit like that, i also generally do that as i go but i'll also do that on rereads (because i reread my stuff all the time). ill just see something that's like "oh that's awkwardly worded or there's a word missing or whatever" and i'll make the edit as necessary. that kind of stuff is 9/10 and only because i have to find where the edit is needed again in whichever area im editing it

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

no paragraph breaks or far too few paragraph breaks. everything else im flexible on but that's my hard rule. from there it's shit like if the spelling/grammar/punctuation is especially bad - it's like if you didn't care to Write this well then i probably won't care to Read it well. theres other things (e.g. it often bothers me when people leave blank paragraphs between every paragraph even if i won't stop reading it over that) but those are the ones that'll make me click off INSTANTLY.

thanks for the ask!!

[imustbenuts]

nuts reading trigun 4 - i sniffed out the spirit of leiji matsumoto and his galaxy express 999

so this is. a bit of a doozy and a little detour i took...

first off, i thought it was really interesting that chapter 4 is titled Bang!Bang! in EN but ポポ popo in jp. popo is basically pop pop, but also if pitched down, would sound more like 'poooh poooh'. very similar to what sound a steam locomotive makes,

but not quite. the 'correct' one would be ボbo, not ポ po.

like the sound effect here:

sfx: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

there's no good way to translate this, to be clear. nightow seems to really like pulling off these weird little japanese wordplay here and there. theres one instance with the escorts trying to sleep with vash, but thats a lot of effort to explain a pun and its not very interesting so. uh. sorry. (these posts take very long to write bc im poopoo)

so. its CH 4: PoPo. 4 =Death? this feels deliberate.

the next chapter is CH 5: 強襲 / Assault. EN title is very accurate here so yippee. but wait.

that. dark contrast and a presence of a vaguely steam locomotive. the framing of the train itself being this romantic machine that was built to send people on their journeys to parts unknown. the presence of 4 = Death.

theres something about the following panel. and i know exactly what it is despite having never read or watched it bc of just how influential this particular work is.

so i went sniffing.

Galaxy Express 999.

and. uhm. i found a thread and a rabbit hole that links back to TriStamp again.

Galaxy Express 999 first ran as a manga in 1977- 1981. Made by the late Leiji Matsumoto (25th Jan 1938 - 2023) who passed away last year.

the gist of this story. we follow a boy named Tetsuro in the super far off future, who wants to obtain a mechanical body so he never again feels the inconvenience of a flesh one. and to also fulfill his promise to his mother who was hunted down in front of him and turned into a trophy by mechanized hunters. he meets a mysterious blonde woman named Maetel who gives him a pass to ride on the Galaxy Express 999, promising him one at the end of the journey, but there seems to be a catch.

the same themes of a train in the darkness, its window the main lightsource, but in GE999 theres the added planets and stars. GE999 is full of promotional material and artwork like this, its iconic

the story is very philosophical and full of questions about death, living, and the worth of a human life. theres a constant theming of the train bringing its passengers to a place unknown, and how its a departure from the base in which they start the further they go. like a wanderer. (something something blank ticket wink wink.)

but anyway. Chapter 2: The Red Wind Of Mars is the interesting one.

i strongly recommend reading this chapter at least, but ill summarize the interesting bits.

the cast arrives on Mars, a Red Planet thats constantly being buffeted by a Sandstorm. its said that the planet is pretty much in a state of poverty and is barren due to people turning themselves into machine bodies and having no need to care for the environment and nurture it.

also an american saloon on this red desert planet wowee--

testurou later gets jumped by a couple who basically wants to steal his pass to the GE999, but once they realize the boy has not been mechanized at all, the couple lets tetsurou kill them. they are then left in the desert to be eventually covered up by the red sand. and then, the final page has this fucking thing:

"They say that the sound of Mars' red wind comes from the wailing of people resting under its sand. This vermilion wind will continue to lament for the fate of those who couldn't make their dreams come true... That's why they say this planet will stay red forever..."

....studio orange. listen.

STUDIO ORANGE. PLEASE

ON WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU GUYS EVEN COOKING. stop sending me on these rabbit hole runs i swear to god ill never finish trigunbookclub at this rate GGGGGGGGGAAAAAH

anyway the sandsteamer arc in the original trigun seems to be a homage to Galaxy Express 999 in a way, and Studio Orange understood the assignment.

[hopeswriting]

HI HELLO, I FELT BAD CONTINUING THE CONVO IN THE POST BUT OOOOOHHOO YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE FEELING UNWELL ABOUT TSUNA HOPE. I AM INSANE ABOUT HIM.

FIRST OF ALL, I checked the link you sent and oh my god SAME "The Truth Revealed" is an INSANE CHAPTER TO ME. Tbh Future arc is one of my favorite arcs in KHR all together. I don't think I ever recovered from Tsuna waking up in a fucking coffin. Like I think that irreversibly altered my brain chemistry I havent been the same. My brains been spinning since i saw that. To find out that TYL Tsuna planned it in the Truth Revealed??? Like WHO is TYL TSUNA. WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM. Like you pointed out that Lal yelled out at Tsuna wasnt like that, but to find out he was?? oh my GOD. Like it makes me wonder how much stress TYL Tsuna was under or how he came to the point that he felt like this was the only solution they could pull off. I think there's an addition that Irie did say that Byakuran would've found a way to bring the younger gang to the future anyway must have absolutely added to TYL Tsuna's stress and desire to get his younger self ready before Byakuran decided it was time before he was. Like I need to know IS HE HAPPY LIKE YOU SAID. I HOPE THIS MAN FINDS PEACE GOD KNOWS HE DESERVES IT. This is more of a headcanon than any solidified proof, just a GUT feeling. But I have to feel as if TYL Tsuna's actions being so... like that had to do with TYL Reborn's death. We know that they're close and Rainbow arc shows us that Tsuna would lift the entire world on his back if it saved Reborn. I can't help but theorize the mental state TYL Tsuna was in, after losing Reborn. Seeing how..hotheaded Tsuna can get about Reborn in Rainbow Arc and how he willingly goes to the Inheritance Ceremony for Yamamoto.. I can see him conjuring a plan like this to fuck the shit out of Byakuran post Reborn death, or even just for the possibility of getting Reborn back. But this is just a headcanon again. Either way?? Im FOAMING at the mouth with you.

As for the rest of our discussion, first of all I lost my shit when you sent the manga panel of Reborn looking shocked but holy shit i didnt connect those dots that Reborn was ?? shocked?? that Tsuna was going along with it. And that its coming from a place of anger and vengeance from Tsuna, which isn't usual for him but fuck they attacked his family. As you mentioned, they crossed that firm line drawn in the sand and Tsuna was going for their throat this time bc how dare they? When, in Tsuna's eyes, Yamamoto was done NOTHING wrong to his attacker. As for Tsuna becoming Vongola Decimo and how he would've been shackled, this is actually something we discussed in our server as well. The conclusion I ended up coming with is that in the end it didn't matter to Tsuna. He was seeing red. He was furious. He was willing to sacrifice everything, even his own freedom from the Mafia to avenge Yamamoto. It's either that he was so blinded by rage that he didn't consider the consequences of his actions, or even worse he was willing to take up the mantle of Vongola Decimo if it meant catching the person who did this to Yamamoto. For Yamamoto's sake, he would be Vongola Decimo. AND THAT IDEA??? OOOHHHH. UGHHHH. THERES SO MUCH TO TSUNAS CHARACTER AND IT DRIVES ME MAD BC HE SEEMS SO SIMPLE AT FIRST LOOK. AND IM??? IM AAAAH YKNOW??

[follow up to this post]

the future arc isn't personally my favorite, but i totally get the people for whom it is. the writing for it is really solid and really steps up from what we had so far, and i DO love so much that first part of the arc up to the end of the merone base raid.

you know, at times like this i wish i'd remember what my reaction was to it the first time i read it too, but my memory is shit lol. but i don't need to to agree it was so iconic and insane of amano to make tsuna appear in the future in a coffin. like not only it's the first thing we learn about the future, but also the first thing we learn about his future. that ten years later he's dead. absolute fucking power move from amano, like hello??

but also, while we're on the subject... this literally just came to me so idk if i'm going to be articulate about this lol, but i think there's something to be said about how the first thing we learn about tyl tsuna is that he's dead. and then he stays dead throughout the arc, mentioned and talked about, judged and defended, praised and blamed, but it all happens through other people. everything we learn about him, every choice (or lack thereof) and decision attributed to him, every glimpse into his personality and what kind of man he was, we learn all of it it through someone else's words. through someone else's eyes, and tho we're given no reason to doubt they're saying the truth, they can only be biased as they say it. like, amano could have made him appear through flashbacks, but she didn't. she gave him no physical appearance, no face, no voice. and then when she does do that (tho even then she still gives him no face), he only talks about his present self. has only words for him. and idk what is there to say about all that, but i know it's relevant to the themes of the future arc.

I think there's an addition that Irie did say that Byakuran would've found a way to bring the younger gang to the future anyway must have absolutely added to TYL Tsuna's stress and desire to get his younger self ready before Byakuran decided it was time before he was.

you're right! i tend to overlook that bit of information, but it is canon that either way, the present 10th gen would have found themselves in the future. so for tsuna to decide he'll be the one to make it happen and have control over it instead of byakuran, was of course the right choice to make. the safest one, both for them and their present selves. as well as the kindest one, because of course, tsuna didn't just bring them to the future to leave them to die in it, the way byakuran would have done. he came up with a plan to make sure they were ready to face the future like you said, and would be strong enough to see it through. and the plan was still harsh and painful and arguably cruel on them, but it still was kindness from tsuna at the same time. consideration for the situation he had no choice but to get them involved in. it was him taking responsibility for it and sparing them the worse of it as much as he could and as much as realistically possible. and maybe it made little difference, but it's still more than byakuran would have allowed them for sure, and it did play a non-negligible part in them not only surviving the future, but coming out on top of it.

you know... for some reason i've always thought tsuna was level-headed when he agreed to go along with the plan. like of course his hands were being forced as he was backed against a corner, facing a hopeless and desperate situation, but in my head he still had himself together somehow. sat and considered the pros and cons of the plan with a cool head, before deciding it was worth the gamble.

but like. knowing tsuna, it's much more likely he hadn't, you're right. that he was standing on the brink, and maybe had already fallen from it. i mean, yamamoto's dad got killed, his parents were unaccounted for, vongola's hq fell and vongola was hunted, namimori was invaded and every people there connected to him hunted too, forcing kyoko and haru to be on the run, with lambo and i-pin after them to keep them safe when they were just fifteen but still forced to take part in a literal war. tsuna had already lost so much by that point, while still being at risk of losing much more. and at the same time, he had already lost the worst thing he could lose, because of course, there's also reborn. reborn who also died, who also got killed when he's the one person who's always been by his side, who's always been his rock and anchor, who's always known how to give him strength again when his own failed him. and MY gut feeling headcanon is that reborn died not too long before tsuna put the plan in motion. maybe even died only just a couple of days before that, and that was the last straw, the deciding factor that made tsuna go along with the plan.

so like. maybe tsuna was heartbroken and crestfallen when he made that decision. maybe it was an entirely emotional one, one he made out of spite and vindictive feelings for byakuran like you said. out of fear he'll end up with nothing more left to lose, and out of his guilt for letting things come to that point and not being in a position--not having the power to make things right again. a decision he made out of his grief and the desperate hope he could get back everything he lost. the hope he could get reborn back. and okay, consider this, but independently of whether it was the right thing to do or of the chances of the plan to be successful, maybe he simply agreed to it too out of the certainty it's what present tsuna would have done too. that it's what he'd have wanted too, that he would have taken any chance that might bring reborn back to him. because it's reborn. oh i'm soo normal about this and their bond.

For Yamamoto's sake, he would be Vongola Decimo.

YOU CANT JUST SAY THAT TO ME LIKE I HAVENT THE SOFTEST SPOT FOR YAMS AND TSUNA. oh my god. oh my god??? for yamamoto's sake... for yamamoto. and i mean, i know tsuna would have done the exact same thing for any of his other guardians, but that amano chose to go along with yams instead of any other guardian... like again, i do very much believe tsuna would have reacted the same way were it anyone else, but at the same time i really do very much believe the fact it was yamamoto played a part in his anger and resolve to avenge him. i really can't explain it, but like. it's yamamoto, you know?

NO I KNOW!!!! tsuna is... he's so easy to overlook and deem unworthy of a second glance, but if you DO look back at him, and then really look at him, you can't stop and can't look away. and the longer you look, the more there is to look at. which is even more insane because at his core tsuna still is truly, really just some guy. he's just a complex character in very simple ways i guess??

anyway yeah, i need to LIE DOWN now, thanks.