#they have nothing in common on the surface but they're SO much more similar than they realize at first

[relicsongmel]

Over 2 years later and I still can't believe Gamefreak forced bisexuals all over the world to do the impossible and make a choice between THESE TWO

[tinydefector]

I was just interested if you were a suckered for the clothing and fabric and perfume trope as I am. In the sense where fabrics and a abundance of organic flora was considered more common for higher class cybertronains but that even then it was pretty scarce. Imagine a bot or con after getting over their fears or mild disgust of the squishness of humans so to speak the next few things they notice is how many types of hair there are. How many styles and how many different ways to dye said hair. It drives them nuts the feel such softer fibers all together to make a more denser form. Curled,staight,wavy it all catches their optics. Painted nails almost similar to paint for their frames. Tattoos so intriguing. A human willingly damaging their surface that is more fragile than their metallic frames. It's a living scar. And they can't help but slowly come to love it to when they see how much their human complain does. But fabric? God they almost get drunk off of it. When they get a hug they shiver at the smooth article that brushes on their frame. The variety. So many styles and colors. So many meaning behind patterns and techniques. They can't help but almost grow jealous hearing how far back a simple stich can come from in human history. Humanity dressing itself in plush silks and flimsy polyester but it's all gold compared to what the cybertronains have come to crave. Imagine them having made themselves smaller so they could be inside your living space and they can't help but notice all the fabrics. All the plush surfaces. Their in heaven fully convinced they're going to meet the great primes. And if you had a scented burning candle? Sweet or citrus they can't help but want to inhale deeply to capture the scent. Perfumes? God their drunk whenever a human walks into a enclosed space because all mechs and femmes are fighting themselves to not snatch you up and keep you. If you use scented body wash or scented lotion then can practically taste it on your skin if you are near or hug them. They crave it when it's late at night and they've got you sobbing and thighs shaking as they kiss and lap at your scented thighs. And if theirs multiple humans in a space? That almost has a bot slurring their words as iff they just had the best energon. Just some thoughts haha I'm very sorry it's so long. I'm just a suckered for all these headcanons and just how while they may be disgusted and have hatred for humanity some fo them can't help but swoon for so many qualitys of their human companions that are nothing like their skin. So soft and complaint and so very warm at heart.

So I do have some fics on this stuff one is

Ratchet x reader. Involving perfumes effecting cybertronians like a sex potion or sex pollen.

Then I have

Starscream x reader. Involving the infamous dress and him testing out different outfits on his partner.

This small collection of bots reacting to nipple piercings (was like my first fic I ever wrote here)

_________________

I am quite a sucker for the clothing and fabric and perfume trope. I really enjoy writing cybertronians who adore seeing their partner drapped in shimmering fabrics. Becuase to the human its could just be a satin sheet, but to the cybertronian it is luxury, it showcases so much about you and every chance they get they love getting to just feel or touch the fabrics.

Imagine: your cybertronian is sat on theirs berth which is a mix of almost foam matting(yoga mat/ expanding foam) They don't lay on just metal but it's not particularly comfortable for their human. So one day, they introduced them to memory foam, and its like the bots world has opened up. It becomes a soft, comfortable recharge. But as you start bringing sheets, blankets, and your pillows, it makes the bots feel as if they are falling in love. They love it when you drape the soft fabric over them and make yourself almost a next on their chassis with the soft bedding. To they it feels like a luxury that you are pampering them even if it's just to make yourself more comfortable. It's the fact you leave them in their suite on their berth take makes their spark clench in delight knowing you'll be coming back.

I also tend to write cybertronains have alot more nasal sensors and detectors to the point they can break down the partials to annalise them. The smell of fresh lining is something that effects them almost like catnip with a cat. They will roll around in the fabric optics wide. Engines roaring in delight. As their joints squeak and clank against the walls.

I also love writing that Fabric was something that only the Highest of society had on cybertron, but mainly due to have small the fibers are it is extremely hard for cybertronains to replicate the material, so it fetched for high prices when Imported from organic planets. If you were of the lower classes, you would be lucky if you had a tarp or some sort of soft plastic as it was also still very sort after. So you can imagine how the cybertronains reacted once on earth, even while undercover. Fabric is such a huge part of human culture that cybertronians, when they find even just a pretty scrap of Fabric, keep it as a token. As if to say "frag you" to the universe.

But I can also see a human finding the stash of Fabric cut off's and offering to sew them all together in an almost patchwork like blanket for their bot and you can bet your ass you will have that cybertronian on thier knees worshipping you for it.

______

"Hey, we have hail forecasted," their voice calls out to the vehicle parked in the driveway. The cybertronian is rather quiet as they register what was said to them. "It isn't acid rain, so it won't be anything too bad." they try to argue only to have a large old blanket thrown over them. "Hey, what are you doing?" It sends shock throught their system having something so soft drapped over their frame.

"I'm covering you up so you don't get hail damage, I sadly can't get you into the garage at the moment so the next best thing I can do is cover you up with some blankets and a tarp so you don't get damaged by ice falling out of the sky" they explain as they throw another over the vehicle. Making sure to fully cover the bot before throwing a waterproof tarp over them, too. "Sorry, I don't have anything better than this, but it will keep you dry and our of harm's way." Those words hit their spark in a way they never would have thought it would. They are left almost speechless, cosy, and somewhat warm as the hailstorm rolls in.

________________

When it comes to hair colour, skin colour, and tattoos. It fascinates them so much to see such diversity and colour on a species they originally believed to be quite dull. It gets to the point when making their holoform avatars they love exploring and expressing themselves as if making a sims character. Even going as far as some get custom paint jobs of the tattoos, they get on their avatars because, for them, it's the closest thing they can have to tattoos. But think about you getting a tattoo in a shop right across from where your cybertronian partner is getting their paint job because it was a cute couples day out.

And don't get me started on how much cybertronians love human's hair. The fibers are so different to them and they love the feeling of it, they just have to be very careful when running a digit theought thier lovers hair as to not get it jammed in the joints causing you pain.

Another thing that cybertronians are fascinated by is humans' willingness to injure themselves in the name of beauty. From tattoos, piercings, injections, and surgery. In honesty, it's not that different from frame ulteration, but they don't know how a human can do it. The bots can turn their pain sensors off while humans are just soldier on through it.

I love the idea that the bots also horde car freshners that their humans get them. It becomes a full-on pokemon card situation of them trading double ups, begging their partner to get them others so they can rub it in their friends' faces. But air freshners weren't a thing until Earth, and the bots love how it makes their frame smell different from the oil, grease, and car smell.

But perfumes gods I love the idea that perfumes have a certain chemical reaction to Cybertronian systems to the point to turns them into a raging horny bot who can't get enough of how your skin taste and how desperately they try to literally lick the perfume off your skin as if it were the riches and most expensive high grade energex on the market. It also leads to a lot of personal working with the bots not being allowed to wear perfume/cologne. Deodorants don't affect them the same way, but they also enjoy how they smell quite a bit.

But yes I love the idea of perfumes pretty much working like a pheromone spray and don't get me started on actual pheromones spray, your not leaving that bots berth for atleast 3 days, they will bring you food, water and anything you want but it literally overrides their system protocol and makes them desperate to breed you.

In conclusion, DO NOT wear perfume or Pheromone spray near the bots unless you don't intend to be leaving the berth for at least 3 days if not more becyase they can and will keep you their.

________________

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[sand-through-glass]

Rambling a Commander theory again...

One thing I consistently noticed throughout the story is that whenever we're put into a "worst fear" situation with the dragons or demons, while Dragon's Watch tend to be manipulated on the topic people they've hurt/lost (Jormag messing with Braham about his guildmates, or in Mordremoth's mind when we confront his mother for example.)

But the Commander always faces themselves. This happens repeatedly in the story. Now I imagine that it's a writer's technique that they don't want to tell the player what THEIR commander is traumatized/troubled about so using a "fight your worst self" is a pretty safe bet from a writer's viewpoint to remain neutral enough that it can be built on in RP but strong enough that it makes sense for the story.

But I like to think it runs deeper than that, that this genuinely is their worst fear. That they fear what they're becoming, what they're growing into. It's brought up a few times in attempts to manipulate the Commander that they don't care about their friends. Which of course isn't true, but as a fear? I could absolutely see the Commander being afraid of losing themselves in their attempts at saving the world, that they forget how to be close to people and feel like they can no longer relate to anyone because they've just been through so. damn. much.

Eir in Gyala Delve, as well as Almorra, back this up to me. They could have gone the angle of "you were too late" or "there was more they could have done" to hurt the Commander but they BOTH said similar things to them; "I was nothing to you/You don't care that these people love you."

So it keeps coming back as a manifest, there's no one event that haunts the Commander in particular, it's what these events threaten to turn them into that they're so scared of. So whenever an enemy wants to manipulate them, the best go-to is to fight the worst version of themselves because that's what they truly fear.

Because maybe on some levels, it's true. Maybe buried deep down, the Commander is struggling to relate to the common man because after the dragons and a god, how can you go back to small talk? Maybe the Commander is suffering from compassion fatigue deep down and finding it hard to care about the smaller things now. Maybe they are as chaotic as people say, and they just don't see it anymore because the traumas of war have just all blended it together.

What if the worst version of them DOES exist, just under the surface?

[muffinsandstardust]

Roier and Foolish: Father and son, one in the same.

so! roier and foolish, family that have a lot in common. let's start with what everyone can see on the surface: they're both silly, comedy reilf characters who act goofy without seeming to take things seriously. this is an act they both put on, a mask. the mask does a lot:

1. it keeps others happy. foolish and roier both are notable for valuing other's happiness above their own. by acting silly, they relieve the mood and lift other's spirits which is very needed on an island where so much trauma is happening continuously.

2. it distracts from their own feelings of loss and dispair. roier and foolish are arguably the people who have lost the most on the island over the longest period of time. they both lost Vegetta and Leo, Roier also lost Spreen, Quackity, Bobby, and Tilín. That pain weighs on them constantly but pain is scary, vulnerability is scary. Especially when that pain and vulnerability has been used against you. (Mike targeting leo, the federation dangling the possibility of bobby being alive) no one enjoys hurting, and feeling numb isn't much better, so it's easier to run from the pain (literally in foolish's case). saying a joke or being the joke offers a distraction, keeps their minds away from the pain. cheering someone up allows their joy to become your joy, temporarily. also it's not just pain they're masking, it's anger. burning anger at the justice of it. because how is it fair they're left waiting with no end in sight. how is it fair they're to go on goose chases with no reward. they're hurting and they want others to hurt but right now they have no outlet to lash out at so better to feel nothing than to burn themselves on their anger.

3. the third reason they wear the mask is to hide their skills. if they (seemingly) take nothing seriously, no one will take them seriously. if they act happy all the time, people will think they ARE happy all the time and won't bring up their more risky emotions. no one can take advantage of vulnerability if they don't see any, don't think to look. if no one look closer, no one will see how capable and how dangerous they are. for instance, they're both very good at PvP but they hide it. no one knew they were skilled fighters. etoiles and cellbit were the only ones who knew about roier, and until yesterday no one knew about foolish. he's not up to etoiles level, but he is still a skilled pvper. they both know how to kill people but they are very careful about showing it. they also use this mask to hide their intelligence. by acting foolish, people underestimate how smart they are. for foolish, it's typical intelligence. foolish is an incredibly smart character/person, he is constantly thinking through the possibilities of everything to the point he's overthinking. he is able to spot and create codes to the point everything he says is a carefully crafted code. "I never lie, but I try not to tell full truths." if you've ever heard the foolhalo fish code conversation, you know how much he thinks about his moves ahead. he thinks so far ahead his fans call him psychic because of how many of his predictions come true. something about foolish I'll expand on later is foolish doesn't like how much he thinks so will go out of his way to not think or use his inteligence. roier uses his mask to hide his emotional intelligence. people forget roier was the therapist of the server before niki arrived. he is incredibly good at reading people and understanding them. and he's used that against people. i won't talk on the spreen situation, I know very little about that, but I will talk on the quackity situation. quackity told his therapist that he had a plan to kill the eggs but changed his mind. roier used that information to manipulate not only quackity, but the rest of the server to turn against quackity for revenge.

now i want to point out the father son dynamic and how much it comes across as not only roier and foolish being similar, but roier taking after foolish. foolish considers roier his son and roier calls foolish his dad, and they care about each other a lot. Foolish is roier with the mask refined, roier is foolish with less restraint. Roier is foolish without restraint. not to say roier has no restraint, but foolish restrains himself to an absurd degree. foolish is almost too paitent in how he acts and holds off on retaliating. roier in contrast, didn't hold back from ruining the lives of the people who hurt him. he spent literal months plotting how to torture someone he previously considered a friend. i fully believe hfoolish is capable of the same acts if not worse, and we saw a glimpse of that with mike's prank.

"Not just you. everyone. hell will rain down."

but foolish won't act on it yet. foolish needs a reason to act, roier needs a reason to hold back. the reason I say foolish has refined the mask, is because while roier is good, people have been able to catch on. etoiles being the main one. foolish has perfected his mask so well, it's a detriment to him. he will try to allow people behind the mask and is ignored or rejected.

"that's 3 out of 3 people who think you're not smart enough to pull this off." "he doesn't care about his kid! he's having too much fun arresting people!" "I think if you like the people you work for and agree with them then you're not influtrating you're just apart of them." "I don't think you know what you're doing." in trying to convince himself and ignore his feelings, he's convinced those around him to the point very few people actually understand him or try to see behind the mask. so even when he tries to trust, and rely on others, he is very limited on who will believe him if he turns to them.

so because of foolish's paitence, it comes across that foolish's mask is older (and more worn) than roier's. with the father son dynamic ontop, it comes across that roier's mask is less experienced and like he's learning/mimicking foolish. i don't think that's what's happened as roier was like this before he was adopted, but it's interesting how much the masks mimic each other.

except the masks have been cracking. the eggs have been gone for over 50 days and people are starting to notice. people are noticing the mask isn't holding up. people are noticing roier becoming more and more tired, he's sleeping more and his eyes bags are worse. people are noticing when foolish's voice cracks, when he goes quiet or suddenly gets angry.

the thing about foolish and roier is that they can read people very well, and they're family. i think it'd be wrong to assume they don't notice the way the other is deteriorating. so we come to the three reasons why they were fighting before purgatory. 1. foolish words, lashing out when the wound was still raw and he was still in shock was the catalyst and that shouldn't be brushed aside. that's a truth he should have kept to himself. (and what hurts is it is the truth, one they both agree with but hurts all the same.) the second reason is they're different methods of coping. because roier has lost everything and had his hope dashed so many times, he believes the eggs are dead. because foolish has lost so much, but seen so many twists and surprises, he believes the eggs are alive until a dead body is before him. for roier, to have hope would crush him. for foolish, to lose hope would crush him. the 3rd reason I would like to circle back to how easy they can read and understand people. now imagine your family, who you know is hurting so badly (and so are you.) daring to smile and act like they're happy. they want the other person to break and admit they're unhappy (maybe so they have permission to break). it's infuriating to see someone (you) acting like it's fine when you know it's not, that they (you) are not.

but all this was before purgatory. the egg wars event has forced them to show how capable they are. how deadly they are. people know now how good at fighting they are. they may try deny it (they both did and are) but people know now. the mask has slipped and there's no putting it back. it excites me thinking what that could mean for both of them. what does it mean when people take them just a bit more seriously?

[horse-girl-anthy]

Mikage: Boy of the Black Rose

I've long struggled to write about Mikage, who I find to be an intriguing yet elusive character. or rather, his character is understandable--his motives and feelings are communicated clearly enough--but his narrative is one of the most inexplicable in RGU. thinking it over tonight, I put my finger on one aspect of the Black Rose arc which I previously didn't know how to approach: specifically, Mikage's relationship with the Boys of the Black Rose.

the boys act as a kind of collective character, a mass of faceless people who whisper in dark corners. since RGU is about social reality, it often uses extras to deliver exposition or set the mood. the Shadow Girls are meta characters, existing somewhat outside the narrative, but regular schoolgirls at Ohtori can serve a similar purpose. they might demonstrate that Touga and Saionji are considered the hottest boys in school, or gossip about Ruka and Shiori's recent breakup.

the Boys of the Black Rose are slightly different, maybe a little closer to the Shadow Girls. rather than acting as bit characters in the larger world of Ohtori campus, I believe their existence is contigent on Mikage. while this could be put in various ways, in the most straightforward terms, the writers created them to help reflect on Mikage's character.

only one Black Rose Boy is given a face: the first one Mikage (Nemuro) talks to. when Mikage asks not to be called "professor," since they are the same age, the boy replies:

obviously, RGU relies on making its main characters visually distinct from "normal people." Wakaba calls them "special" and resents them. Utena is popular for her specialness, well-liked; in contrast, Mikage is an outcast for his. for a person to be special or a genius, there must be others for them to stand in opposition to. Mikage is set apart from his peers by his pink hair, by his unique uniform, and by being a professor.

after Mikage is introduced to his new work, the boys begin to gossip about him, saying he knows nothing about what's really going on at Ohtori. towards the end of this conversation, there's a shot of Mikage, and then he actually replies from the future to the gossip they were spreading about him.

this is Mikage's eternal reality: his recollection of the past. even during the "present" of Utena's narrative, he is still walking through Nemuro Memorial Hall, which is why it's still standing, unburned. the Boys of the Black Rose that the audience sees are filtered through Mikage's memory; whether or not the boys really said these things about him is ambiguous. it's possible, but the important fact is that Mikage believes they did.

this transpersonal mirroring keeps Mikage trapped, unchanging. he feels himself defined as unable to connect with others, so he keeps away from them. this becomes a self-perpetuating cycle, leaving Mikage a total outcast.

even outcasts, however, are members of society. the Boys of the Black Rose actually have more in common with Mikage than the average Ohtori student. they're all scientists working on the same project. they have much of his coldness, sense of superiority, and intellectualism. the main difference is that they're the in-group.

while Mikage believes himself to be emotionless, it's made clear that his social isolation hurts him. he doesn't want to be set apart, but he doesn't know how to break through the barrier between him and others. it's very easy to do a queer reading of the character, given the way this is conveyed to the audience.

Mikage's fixation on Tokiko and Mamiya is easier to undestand with all this in mind. the world he was living in, occupied by the Boys of the Black Rose, was a cold and alienated one. in contrast, Tokiko has genuine passion, caring for her brother deeply. Tokiko's tears move Mikage, allowing his own buried emotions to break through the surface. but she also reinforces his social isolation; he is equally as hurt by her as he is drawn to her.

this is part of why Mikage is so determined to "defeat" Tokiko; she offered him hope of connection, but he was never able to "win" her, as men so often try to do with women.

Mamiya is something else altogether; a boy, like Mikage and the Black Rose Boys, but altogether different. warm, friendly to Mikage, not intimidated by his intelligence or reputation, and insightful. in a show full of characters obsessed with holding on (to the past, to a person, to their self-image), Mamiya is the only one who can see the wisdom in letting go.

Mikage at first is open to Mamiya's words, preparing to call off their quest for eternal life. but like every character who threatens the system in RGU, he is faced with Akio. in a prototype of the later "End of the World" sequences, Mikage comes across the kissing Tokiko and Akio. this proves to be too much for him; there are some things he can't afford to lose.

the scene has significance to Mikage far beyond disappointment in love. he wanted to create a family with Tokiko and Mamiya; marriage to Tokiko would tie them together "forever." if he could be by Tokiko's side as they lost Mamiya, then at least he wouldn't be alone after his death. but if he's only Tokiko's coworker, when their work is done, he's back to being a computer.

in desperation, Mikage plays into Akio's hands. under contract, he sacrifices the Boys of the Black Rose and burns down the hall that bears his name. when justifying himself to Tokiko, he claims that this act will allow them to attain eternity. in the events of the series, he's still at it: installing Mamiya as the Rose Bride will, after all, make him eternal, even though it's the very kind of eternity Mamiya wanted nothing to do with.

Mikage retreats into delusions on feeling the sting of Tokiko's rejection. though he is the one who betrayed her, he turns it around and feels betrayed himself. going even further, he casts Mamiya as the one who set the fire.

the Boys of the Black Rose are also used to emphasize his inability to face his own actions. throughout the arc, the boys are seen pushing coffins around. however, in episode 23, Mikage takes their place right before he is forced to face the truth about himself.

at the end of the arc, Miki claims that no one was hurt in the the fire, contradicting the previous story of Nemuro Memorial Hall. this possibly indicates that the murders are a figment of Mikage's imagination--the older Tokiko doesn't seem to react to him as if he's a murderer. more than anything, he seems guilty of self-denial and retreat from reality. Tokiko went on to accept Mamiya's death and even mourned for Mikage, while he ignored her in favor of his memories. the fact that he does not recognize her feelings is another aspect of his tragedy.

Mikage, through his fruitless revolution, loses the very things he always wanted. he attempts to throw away his past self, the cocoon of Nemuro hatching into the butterfly that is Mikage. with it, he burns away the boys who rejected him, who embodied the cold world he used to live in. he uses their sacrifice to enshrine Mamiya, idealizing him as the perfect companion. but as Ikuhara said, he was doomed to fail from the start:

Those who reject that place are, conversely, rejected by it as well. This is the nature of systems: the moment you reject them, you are forced to realize that they’re the very ground you’re standing on. Mikage noticed the trick behind the system, and he hurriedly attempted revisions. But the adult who’d created the system just said “Let’s not,” and unilaterally brought the curtain down.

the "trick within the system," is, I think, the fact that it's socially constructed. Mikage believed that on realizing this, he could simply remake the world as he wanted. he was allowed to do so for a time, when it was useful. when he ceased to be useful, he was dispatched with, because while he had operated within the system, he was not in control of it. and beneath his delusions, there was still a reality.

Mikage is the true Boy of the Black Rose: the true ghost, the true sacrifice, living in the desiccated world of a preserved flower. throughout the arc, he takes possession of Ohtori students who suffer from the same afflictions as him, and every time Utena defeats one of his duelists, another part of him is exorcised--another Black Rose Boy burned away. in the end, the only thing left of him is the ruin of Nemuro Memorial Hall, shown briefly in the final episode. he graduates at Ohtori, but only after losing absolutely everything. that seems to be the only way to step into adulthood: naked and shivering, like the day we are born.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Anonymous asked:

[ask edited for length and content]

Egodeath/Jealous Anon. Thank you. I feel better after your response. I wanted to clarify two things, just if you want more context: With the similarities, I think I'm afraid that if I do get published, my books will be instantly rejected because people think it's just another copycat. I've seen people instantly reject a book just because it was similar to one that's already popular. I put so much effort into making sure my ideas are my own, it would really hurt if readers thought the work was copied and not my own.

You are deeply overthinking things here.

If you want to be a published writer, you need to reconcile yourself with the fact that everyone isn't going to love your books. And that's fine, because no one has EVER written a book that was universally loved 100% across the board. No one. Ever. In history. Every single book ever written has its critics. Every single author whose ever put pen to paper has people who don't like them. This is just a reality.

If some people don't like your books because they're similar to another book they read, that has nothing to do with you. That's their prerogative. Other people might dislike your books because they're not similar enough to another book they read. It's pointless to worry about it because you will never please everyone. Why people don't like your book is none of your concern.

I guess with ACOTAR it was just too many specific things. The character design and role of Rhysand. The telepathy between the love interests. There was a whole lot more but I put it down so long ago I've forgotten most now - but at some point it just felt like reading my own notes when I opened one of those books. The worst was when a fictional name I made up was used in that book - and given it's popularity I 'd probably have copyright issues if I tried to keep it in my work anyway. I think that was just the last straw to make me quit the series.

It happens, and it's honestly not as big a deal as it feels like it is now. Again, ideas don't come from nowhere. As much as you strive to make sure your ideas are your own, our "creative wells" are all filled from the same places, and human experience is only so varied, so the odds of multiple people coming up with the same things over and over are actually pretty likely. You're holding yourself up to impossible standards by expecting yourself to create stories that are wholly original and share no similarities with any other story.

Let me share a few times when this has happened to me in hopes it will help you see it's not that big a deal...

A few years after I wrote my first novella (which was not yet published at that time), I saw a commercial for a new TV show. The background concept, setting, and many surface details were pretty identical to my novella, but what KILLED me is one of the main characters had the same name and nickname as my protagonist... and they weren't even that common a name/nickname for that time period. I was sick... absolutely sick. It completely derailed my plans to flesh the story out into a full novel and publish it. Now, YEARS later, I just laugh when I think about it because the things that felt like glaring similarities now are nothing. The plot and conflict of the TV show are completely different from my novella. In the intervening years, I've come across countless other stories with the same background concept, same setting, same surface details, similar characters... and all of those shows, movies, stories, books, video games, comics, graphic novels, plays--whatever--have people who adore them and DGAF about any similarities to some random TV show.

Less than two years after my debut novel was published, I was reading a newly released book and was absolutely floored by the number of similarities. Two less common names, two unusual titles used in a similar way, and three unusual descriptive words used in the same way. Plus, 24 bigger similarities like setting similarities, plot point similarities, situational similarities... Were it not highly unlikely that the author had read my book, and had it not been for the short amount of time between my book and their book, it would have been tempting to think they'd intentionally copied me, because the similarities were just that glaring. But the reality is, we're just two writers who think alike, and in the years since, I've found a few other writers with whom I constantly have these kinds of similarities. They happen, and they feel world-ending at the time, but I promise you they're not as big a deal as your brain is making them into.

So, seriously, stop worrying about it. Similarities are going to happen, and they're going to be glaring sometimes, and there's nothing you can do about it. There's absolutely no way you can write a book that has not a single similarity with an existing story, and even if you could, that's not going to mean you'll write a book that will be universally loved 100% by everyone. People are going to dislike your book no matter what you do, and some of those people may see similarities between apples and oranges. There's nothing you can do about it. You're not writing for them anyway. You're writing for the people who are going to LOVE your book, and that will be the majority, similarities or not. ♥

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[vasito-de-leche]

crawling back from a hole to GEEK about suitcase gang members that would get along the best 💁‍♀️

- x, medicine pocket, and sotheby: lethal IRB nightmares

- med poc and sotheby: explosive concoctions

- centurion and tennant: harbingers of serial bankruptcy

- mesmer jr. and 6: orderliness

- dikke and 6: law and order (dun dun)

- melania and bkornblume: the thief and her gal in the chair (they're a ship too)

- eagle and shamane: shamane is MAD impressed at this girl's wilderness skills + will also be willing to teach her stuff

- horropedia, an an lee, and blonney: it's always horro and blonney / horro and an an but never these three together. you can bet that blon and horro surrounds an an to ask about her ghost vacuum

- blonney and desert flannel: she's in patch 1.5 but her design tells me that she's rocking her closet which is a bonding topic with blonney

- lilya and jiu niangzi: girl is in patch 1.6 but all that is known for now for global players is that she makes killer alcohol. cue lilya as her willing taste-tester

- sputnik 1 and 37: just 37 marvelling this perfect sphere

- alien T and 37: this girl again eyeing the ufo's circumference

- kaala bauna and voyager: kaala has a question or two about the heavenly bodies

- dikke and knight: s w o r d

ohhh fun! here's a few dynamics and characters I think would get along since you've shared your own!

Baby Blue and every character younger than her--especially Balloon Party

Baby Blue is just 17 but I do like to think that, bc of her connection with Wonderland and innocence, she would act as a big sister for many of the younger arcanists. especially Balloon Party since the two reject adults or the idea of growing up!

Blonney and Bunny Bunny

both characters have a focus on movie or hollywood as a concept, both are also girls around the same age range who know what it's like to be put into very restrictive stereotypes (the blonde bimbo, the southerner). I think they'd get along, and it's very funny to think about Blonney go straight to Bunny Bunny for help if Jessica ever needs help, since Bunny Bunny's family had a farm lmfao

but I also just rlly love girls who are total opposites on a surface level being close friends bc of the small little things they do have in common

Sweetheart and Bette, following the same reasoning as the Blonney and Bunny Bunny

THE MOST FAMOUS ACTRESS AND A STRUGGLING ACTRESS...BEING FRIENDS... SEEING EACH OTHERS PERSPECTIVES....

sorry I'm very passionate abt Sweetheart being so jaded and tired of the way hollywood treated her and warped her image to be nothing but a product for the audience's consumption. and very passionate abt Bette near-delusional hope of making it into the industry

Sonetto and Zima, both being poets

I could've added Charlie or The Fool since the idea is similar, but I feel like Zima would work best?

all three of these characters cherish the power of the written word and have used it against injust systems, but I think that Charlie's insecurities would hold her back a lot from truly bonding with Sonetto thru poetry, and The Fool is too much of a revolutionary--his very open and vocal "down with the monarchy, every person in authority is a fucking fool" vibe would clash with Sonetto's obedient dog aspects. Zima, however, feels perfect to act as another poet for Sonetto to befriend and a mentor to slowly introduce her to more open ideologies

SURE hes a recluse and socially inept bc of the years of isolation in exile, BUT HES NOT SHY WHEN IT COMES TO SHARING HIS VIEWS AND THOUGHTS OR WORK. hes the perfect idea of subdued and quiet strength, I rlly think Sonetto could really benefit from having him as a mentor or responsible adult figure

Pavia and Centurion

YES, I KNOW TENNANT IS VERY OBVIOUS FOR CENTURION BC SHE SCAMS PPL AND CENTURION IS VERY LUCKY SO SHE WINS AT EVERYTHING AND PUT MANY PLACES INTO BANKRUPCY

but I'm NEVER letting go of casino dealer Pavia from the artificial somnambulism stages. these two? theyre ABSOLUTE MENACES together, the luckiest girl in the world addicted to adrenaline and thrills? with the most deranged "who gives a shit" mafia guy who does whatever he wants?

they'd be playing an extreme version of buckshot roulette together, they'd ruin the economy together just bc its funny. they dont know each other's full names. they hang out and bitch about life together. they dont care abt their respective life stories. they're the first person they call when they're bored. they've been in many many life threatening situations. they dont know each others favorite colors

do you see my vision!!!

[always-amity]

Blubberwing

(Book Series)

Headcanons/Design Details below cut

Blubberwings are deep ocean dragons found far from shore. They used to be somewhat common, but have become an increasingly rare sight, especially around inhabited islands due to excessive hunting.

Unlike many other Sea Dragons, Bluberwings have not adapted gills or other methods to extract oxygen from the water, and so still need to come to the surface to breathe. Though they can hold their breathe for quite a while, often only needing to surface every 4 hours or so, though they can go up to double that without a breath if they're not exerting themselves too much.

Blubberwings were once incredibly friendly, curious dragons, not too dissimilar from Golphins, but due to the extreme hunting they faced from humans for their meat, bones and blubber, most have become incredibly timid.

Various Blubberwing products have become incredibly expensive and in high demand thanks to their newfound scarcity and the fact that most individuals who are hunted are juveniles, not much bigger than a slightly bigger than average riding dragon, who have not yet learned to fear humans and their ships, rather than adults, who can grow to be even larger than viking longships.

---

Blubberwings are one of the many, many species who don't get any art pieces or much of a description, just a handful of mentions of their fat being used to keep swimmers warm in cold water, so this was another case where I had pretty much nothing to go off!

I took inspiration from Northern Bottlenose Whales for these guys for a few reasons. One is that I just think Beaked Whales in general are super cool animals that very few people even know about the existence of, so I'll take any opportunity to introduce even a single person to those amazing creatures.

The other, and more specific reason why I chose Bottlenose Whales specifically rather than any other Beaked Whale is the fact that they were heavily hunted in real life! Populations in the North Atlantic were targeted extensively for more than a centaury thanks to the fact that they were particularly friendly and produced a lot more oil than other whales of similar size.

[bogleech]

please share a refresher of some of your food flavor and texture opinions. I'm having a discussion with my wife about our various Autistic Food Rules and she didn't believe me when I said y'all had similar palettes.

I have a really strong sense of taste (the same exact thing but two different brands may as well be night and day to me; pepsi and coke are as different as apple juice and orange juice) and yet I STILL find that texture is more important, and soft textures are almost always better. French fries are best soft, moist and limp the way they make them at East Coast barbeque pits and board walks. All meat is best as tender and juicy as possible and if a meat is safe to eat raw it is always best raw. The fat is also the best part, but I mean the buttery fat that melts away, not the hard chewy gristly fat which is horrible.

Cookies are never good completely crunchy. Raw dough is good but the very best cookies are half-baked extra chewy ones, especially if they have soft doughy centers and only lightly crispy edges, with chips still melted from the oven. Chocolate in general is better warm than cold especially when it's softened up as much as fudge, and fudge is also good. Eggplant is the best vegetable particularly stir fried until it's all buttery smooth. The only food that's good crisp and crunchy is fruit, any fruit that can be crisp such as apples or pears should be as crisp as possible. Crispy grapes are the very best but they're also the hardest to come by. I end up pinching grapes at the store hoping to find some that have absolutely no give. The best pizza topping is in fact anchovies as long as they're properly cooked into it. Anchovies are also delicious when baked into spaghetti sauce or lasagna. Pineapple however is also good when cooked on pizza, even if it doesn't go super great with anchovy.

In fact, all fruit is actually pretty good when cooked and paired with something savory. Sweet + savory is great in MOST contexts, there's no food in the world that honey can't go on.

Peanut butter, and I mean the sweetened kind from a jar, is also great in savory dishes like curries.

I know this is a very hard sell but peanut butter + pickle chips in a sandwich or on crackers are an actual snack some people enjoy and once I tried it I thought it was awesome. I don't care for the flakiness of most cooked fish but I love canned tuna for whatever reason, tuna salad is like the most reliably palatable food in the world to me? The much reviled Spam and its imitations are in fact delicious pan fried, all the authentic Hawaiian recipes are amazing and Spam musubi is amazing.

I don't mind waffles but I think they're inferior to good pancakes, maybe because waffles have that drier and more rigid surface? Love when pancakes are a bit stretchy. Stretchy white bread like a super fresh French baguette is one of the most good things in the world with nothing at all added to it.

The only common food I find totally revolting is corn. Peas and beans also gross me out a little, all the plants that come in little round nodules. Not fond of most pot pies and stuff with a bunch of different little chopped up veggies in them, don't know why, maybe because all of those veggies would be so much better a little pan-seared on their own? I also find it genuinely kind of annoying and sad when people even “jokingly” comment on these posts about how gross some of these are, none of them are really that uncommon in my experience except maybe the peanut butter pickle thing but I still don’t get why people feel so strongly about some of it. Almost all food is good and I don’t hate the alternatives I can stomach rigid crispy SOULLESS french fries just fine when I really have to

[olasketches]

Hey, I am asking you because I think as an artist you can answer this better.. So I have seen people saying yuuji , wasuke, jin and sukuna look the same. But isn't it just artsyle of gege except for their hair.. Because I have seen most manga characters look the same face wise except minor differences. For example, these people were calling hazenoki the guy who fought kenjaku before takaba and kashimo similar to gojo... By their logic they should be related too.

hey anon! Thanks for stopping by, I’ll try my best to answer your ask.

yuuji, jin and wasuke don’t look the same but they definitely look similar in some ways due to them being related. sukuna also share some similarities with them and yes, the hair seems the most obvious and common charectaristic that ppl tend to notice first but then inumaki had the same hairstyle in volume 0 and he looks nothing like yuuji, sukuna, jin and wasuke. in case of hazenoki, kashimo and gojo, there are some similiraties in their design but to be honest hazenoki’s face reminds me of that one guy from demon slayer who I don’t even know the name of lol and kashimo KINDAAAA reminds me of pre unsealed gojo (he has such a baby face imo), which is probably why gege modified gojo’s design later on and gave him more sharper features. the thing is that when you want to have characters who are closely related to each other to share some similarities you would focus on their facial features the most. I would say that what makes yuuji, jin and wasuke look so similar to one another other are their eyes.

yuuji could change the colour and length of his hair and he would still probably look similar to his grandpa and father. In sukuna’s case I would say that he shares the most characteristics with wasuke.. but the thing is that the facial features don’t have to look exactly the same. the trick is to get their likeness right to have the viewer associate these characters with each other. hazenoki, kashimo and gojo don’t really have that cause they all have at least one distinctive facial feature that separates them from the other two. like hazenoki and his thick eyebrows, kashimo and his sharper eyes (similar to yuuji actually and YET they look nothing alike cause the don’t have a likeness to each other the way yuuji, jin and wasuke do) and gojo’s white eyelashes. 

so when you want family members to look related BUT NOT THE SAME (unless their indentical twins) you would focus on their facial features the most (hair colour and hairstyle can help but that’s not what determines their likenesses), but then again it's really not about drawing the exact same features in the exact same way but drawing them in a way that makes them look very alike. I think you can think about it like when you draw a pair of eyes on a small piece of paper and then you stick it to different surfaces that have similar shapes like a balloon and a ball

and then there characters who have similar designs but don't look like they're related to one another cause of this one or two very distinctive facial feature that separates them from the other.

the thing is that, gege is not only a writer but he's also an artist and I feel like the majority of the fandom mostly associates that with his art style alone. art is so much more than just art style tho. it's also what the artist wants to convey through their work. as an artist myself, I believe that he's very much INTENTIONAL about the way he draws and portray his characters. he wants his readers to make certain connections just by the way he designs them (or makes them act or draws their facial expressions). for example the majority of the fandom knew that there must be some relation between sukuna and yuuji's family, not only because of kenjaku but also because they look like they could be related. and this was deliberate on gege’s part.

[cinnamonest]

Hiiiiii !! I hope you're doing okay!

Not quite your usual ask as this will concern Genshin women (I hope that's alright), but I've been thinking about your Male Majority AU A LOT. It became a big fav of mine and I'd really like to write some OS (or even a multi-chap fic) about it sometimes.

I was wondering, what do you think the playable girls are/have become in this AU ? I imagine most of them end up the same fate as Reader, but what about those originally in high power such as Jean, Ningguang, Ganyu, Kokomi, etc,,.

Please know your MMAU and Hybrids posts are some of my favourites, though all of your writings are great. Have a nice day!!

AHHHH thank you <3333 I'm so glad bc I love it to and omg I loved making this so much. Words cannot express how much I love the girls and making fictional girls I love suffer is my lifeblood so this was a blessing to receive ( ´ ω ` ) I would love to write another one of these soon too, I didn't get around to Ningguang  this time but I'd like to eventually (and also Lisa love of my life, and Shenhe too) but I did get several gorls here.

In case that isn't clear enough for everyone: this is bad things happening to the girl cast. Past experience tells me a lot of people are much more sensitive to this sort of thing as opposed to reader-inserts (which is totally fine, I understand why) but basically, if you do not like the thought of female characters going through similar things I write reader-inserts going through, you will want to skip this.

I know it can be character-specific for some people's discomfort, so, while most of the girls are mentioned at least a little, these are the ones with more detailed entries: (Amber, Noelle, Xinyan, Fischl, Lumine, Mona, Ganyu, Kokomi, Sara, Beidou)

Warnings: the usual for the AU (misogyny, fairly dark overall, prostitution, sex slavery etc), mentions of classism, very brief mention of arranged marriages between distant relatives but nothing enough to warrant the actual incest tag, also intense pain/blood mention on Ganyu's (also forgive me but I was obligated to reference the horn-snapping thing lmao)

------

First some more general summary/worldbuilding:

The obvious glaring issue to be addressed here, is what happens regarding visions. It's rare to see a girl get one (they usually have the ambition and willpower broken out of them pretty early on), but sometimes they will get them when they're very young, before, you know, they have their spirits totally crushed by the brutal realities of the world and all that.

It's seen as sort of a red flag, a warning sign that the individual is going to be more rebellious and independently-minded than most. That being said, it can be put to good use. Dendro and hydro in particular have a lot of domestic uses. It's also something that could be a potential selling point, that often ends up getting them aligned with specific occupations. If you're a farmer, for example, having a girl that can quite literally make plants grow or water them in a few seconds' time is quite useful, so they'll often seek them out. If you're a common fisherman, you could really benefit from being able to electrocute water, and then just have to wait for all the dead fish to come floating to the surface and net them up. Vision-havers often make for good partners with such individuals in this way, and the girls are often very willing to comply and be partners, since it means getting to live with a singular person or a small handful of people, a much easier life than prostitution or the like.

Pyro, geo, and cryo, however, are seen as a lot more problematic, due to their high damage potential and relative lack of use for anything besides combative purposes. Sure, maybe the first can light the occasional fire at night, the other two can maybe make a path to cross a river or something, but outside of a handful of specific scenarios, they're not as immediately useful, and a lot more dangerous to whoever they decide to blast a burst of fire or ice or a huge chunk of rock at.

Firstly, they don't get weapons, which significantly limits the potential to cause harm. Their range is far smaller, and the output of energy far less. Still, they can harm those who come close, so more action is often necessary. Total destruction has unknown effects, and removing it far from their person leads to a sort of mental shutdown based on experimentation, so the best solution is to merely keep it close, but not in their possession. Usually it's just handed over to whoever happens to be the legal guardian or owner, who keeps it on their person, and gives it over when it can be useful. Some, of course, come to trust their property enough that they just let them have it at all times, but that's a rarer occurrence.

It's also seen as, or at least presented as, a benevolent thing. Oh, you can't have that. You're going to accidentally hurt yourself with it. Give it to me and I'll take good care of it. Such is one of many excuses given to them when they're first found holding one. Younger girls tend to obey out of naivete. Older ones who are a bit smarter might not fall for that, though, in which case, more forceful and less nice measures are needed to extract the thing.

Any girl can get a vision, though, and it's not really that big of a role in where you end up, aside from positively increasing the chances of not being locked into a brothel lifestyle. Instead, unfortunately, the class you're born into is more or less the primary determinant of your fate.

Yes, those born into elite families do have a significant advantage, as their families essentially bribe the authorities to look the other way for a lot of matters, or are often government/military officials themselves and get to keep their offspring safe as a perk of their power. Keqing, Eula, and Ayaka would probably have the best situations out of anyone. Keqing wouldn't exactly have any real power or significance, and likewise Eula wouldn't be allowed to be a knight, but they'd be safe, which is what really matters.

Elite, wealthy noble families usually just keep girls inside at all times, they essentially never leave the confines of their estates, and usually are well-guarded at all times. The way this is done often varies -- in Liyue and Inazuma they have sprouted the tradition of eunuchs, and it's common for families to have a few accompanying the girls at all times. Ayaka and Keqing would basically be confined to their families' respective estate grounds, and any desire to get up and go anywhere inherently necessitates being accompanied by two or three of said armed eunuchs, likely whose sole job is caring for them. Likewise, they can't get anything for themselves, so it's common for these guards to also function as servants, fetching even the most basic of things because it's preferable to having the girl get up or anything.

For Mondstadt, it's really just more common that as soon as the girl is old enough, she's married off to a distant relative, whom she stays by the side of at virtually all times. Any resentment of your family's ways or personal dislike for them doesn't matter -- a girl who has spite towards her family will be reprimanded and, if necessary, punished to the point where there is essentially no choice but to abide by the enforced mannerisms. Smile, stay by their side, act loving and subservient.

Which would be difficult for someone like Eula, but it's not as if there's any alternative. She's raised from early on to be this way, and her family consistently tries to reshape her more independent attitude. Even then, there's an easy fact to guilt her with: if her family wasn't caring for her, what would happen to her then? If you hate him so much, how would you like to be thrown out into the streets instead? Aren't you grateful we would never do that? So if one doesn't want that to happen, you should be very, very grateful that you have a loving family willing to arrange such a good match for you.

Some who are born to simply caring families also have somewhat of an advantage, even if they're not necessarily nobility or very wealthy types.

However, being in positions of power or authority, organizational/combative/local government-ordained occupations, or even highly respected occupations is... kind of unheard of. So anyone like Jean, Kokomi, Sara, and Yelan would be unable to fulfill the roles they otherwise had, at least in the leadership aspect. The very thought would be laughable. Likewise, you wouldn't see some girl being into the legal sphere like Yanfei, nor any sort of business operation like Hu Tao.

They still work in those areas, just have more of a backseat role. Jean still "works" for the knights -- got married to (read: bought by) a higher-rank, and now gets to perform little odd tasks as needed, gets to sit and listen during meetings and the like. Likewise, the Hu family funeral business was instead passed to the closest male descendent, not just the closest descendant. Hu Tao still gets to help out around the place -- they did pay for approval to marry her off to the guy after all. It's not that weird, they're quite distantly related, and very normal for the Liyue culture, much like the Mondstadt culture.

However, for some, being born middle-class highly increases your chances of being private property and not public property, but in a different way than just staying in the family. Unlike what you might initially think, black markets for human trafficking can actually be advantageous to the girls rather than the opposite, depending on the market.

See, the norm is that when one is born to lower or middle-class families, it's put into records so that once the girl is old enough (they're given an extra year or two of leeway if you ask for it at least) most regions have official agencies that are tasked with collecting them and taking them to be "officially" assigned to either be given to some high-rank government member, sold to someone, or, if none of those, just given to legal, taxed brothels. Since families strongly desire to avoid the last option, and yet, because they would have no control over the matter (even if she goes to a singular individual, they still have no say in who), they've developed a common underhanded strategy. Pay illegal traffickers to more or less take the girl before they're set to be collected, and pay exuberant amounts of money for her safety. In exchange, the standard is that these higher-status black markets essentially do background checks to ensure the girl is sold off to someone who isn't violent, abusive, or otherwise awful. Then they just tell authorities that she ran away, and that they can't do anything.

Similarly, under official standards, families not only have no control, but no knowledge -- most governments have decided it's more... conducive to social harmony that the families are cut off entirely, that they have no way of finding out what happened to the girl, where she is now, or ever communicating with her again. These paid black markets, thus, also establish a policy that in order to ensure the good treatment of the girl, the buyer has to allow her to have written communication with the family (if literate), or sometimes allowed visits. If the family reports that they haven't heard from her, the traffickers' role then is to essentially send the middle men whose job is to threaten and, if a repeated offense, beat the living daylights out of the uncooperative party. It works out for everyone involved.

Those who are common people, though, who can't afford to pay off illicit traders nor bribe officials into letting them keep them, are out of luck.

This is also where the bad kind of black markets come in, the cheaper, lower standards kind. Not that families pay them anything. But working families who can't afford guards often leave their wives, daughters, and so on inside, and especially the more naive sheltered ones will often times venture out, convinced that they'll be okay if they just stay close to home. Some very rural families believe they're safer because they're isolated, and may let their daughters or wives or sisters go roaming around their farm or pastures, telling them to just be careful and always stay close.

But that's not good enough, when you have people lurking and waiting for that kind of opportunity. There will always be some that prowl about, looking for the occasional girl that just went out on the porch to water the flowers or feed the animals, just for a split second, so it's no big deal... but a person can be grabbed and snatched up, gagged and tied within less than a minute, if you know what you're doing as they do. And you can have them sold off for a small profit by the end of the night, and it's not like the families can afford to hire investigative services (which are, here, insanely overpriced and only available to a select few deemed important enough to deserve them, otherwise everyone would constantly be utilizing them, and often primarily employed by the government as runaway hunters more than anything).

But onto individual girls and their misfortunes...

-----------

There are some girls used in various performing arts, and this can be a pathway out of a much worse alternative life for some. If you have a skill or talent, honing it to perfection is highly advised, as it's one way to go from potentially living a large majority of your life as a breeding machine or onahole and instead having some sense of individuality and time to yourself.

Generally, there is a prevailing cultural mentality that you have to be put to some sort of "use" every waking second. For this reason, communal girls generally don't get a whole lot of free time -- you have to spend every moment doing something, even if it's not necessarily actively having sex. Still have to be talking and entertaining the company of some boy, being a pretty eyecandy piece at some sort of meeting, and so on.

But if you have some extra skill that provides some sort of value (that is, a performative skill of some kind, as any academic or particularly intellectual talents will be smothered like an unwanted spark instead), you can, albeit still controlled by some sort of manager of some kind, have a lot more room to breathe and exist on your own. You get some semblance of time to yourself because practice is important and all that. It's more like idol culture -- the girls are revered by masses and elevated to goddess status, worshipped and adored... and kept far away from their fans.

Consequently, Barbara, Xinyan, Nilou, and Yun Jin have an advantage. Xinyan's situation is a bit unique, though, because of the mentality with which it's approached, as well as the garb with which it's performed.

Yun Jin is a bit better off than them because for starters, she's more or less fully covered, but also because people have a sense of reverence for a valued piece of long-standing culture, so they're less aggressive and pushy. Likewise, while Nilou might be dressed... like that, but again, the whole reverence of tradition comes in, and she's kept up on a wide stage far away from viewers, the whole practice is very well-known and has a lot of funding to hire guards. Barbara keeps up the whole "pure" appeal, which also makes her seem a little more "untouchable," in addition to the general taboo that nuns are entirely off-limits. Regardless, several regions' legislation more or less forbids "celebrity prostitution" -- the act of a manager or production company making a girl famous for some sort of talent, only to start making more of a profit off of her body (something that happened enough times that they felt it necessary to make laws against it, even, although it's more about preventing profit that can't be taxed, more than for the sake of the girl).

Liyue is not one of those nations. It allows for such things due to, predictably, far stricter taxation practices that ensure it won't go unnoticed. And the culture of rock music is quite different from the others, a much less reverent sort of thing.

It's more high-energy and blood-pumping, the performers are known to get rather physically close to their audiences, and it's viewed as more pop culture rather than a sacred, historical tradition. Thus, people have less reverence, and thereby see the performers as less... untouchable. And if they don't view her as untouchable, that spells some problems, and a tendency for entitlement rears its ugly head.

It's not a sacred tradition, so why shouldn't they get touching and groping and sex as part of the after-show?? One huge gangbang would be a perfect finale to a such a heated, high-energy experience.

And unfortunately, it's not really her call to make. The only condition under which she can perform in the first place is by having a manager, and in this case, said manager decides that essentially running a post-performance prostitution side show would be incredibly profitable.

Which is a very accurate prediction. While rock music may not be as popular in Liyue at first, she slowly accumulates a fanbase, and while it's still somewhat of a niche, said niche is a cult following of rabidly obsessive fans. Does a portion of the reason behind her following have to do with those nice exposed thighs? Perhaps. Of course, said fans are also genuinely into the music, but there's no reason to not obsess over the performer too.

So imagine if, for comparison, the average dude had the opportunity to sleep with an idol well-known in her niche, and that's basically what happens here. They're willing to pay insane amounts of money just to touch, and even more to go further. The fame means that she makes far more mora per customer than the average prostitute, too (the reason it's outlawed in some places, since it's difficult to trace the purchases from an individual and not a brothel, at least in other nations). And as with many sorts of celebrity-fan interactions, it's more than just sex -- you can pay to actually sit down and spend time with the girl (very closely monitored of course, so they don't take more than what they paid for), for however long you're willing to pay for. Still, for both her and the other performer-type girls, this setup is still infinitely better than being in an actual brothel or owned by someone -- a fact which all talent managers are very quick to remind their performers of, a sort of quiet looming threat that if the girls can't keep up the singing or dancing or acting or whatever they do, then that's where they'll end up.

As for her, well, she has a rambunctious spirit and all, but conversations with creepy guys aren't exactly the ideal way to spend one's time. There's a lot of o-oh, uh... thanks...? in response to some compliments she might get. Keep in mind, there's no culture of respect or politeness in which guys are informed that such comments are not really going to be perceived as compliments, that a girl might not be all that flattered by it. So because it's totally appropriate in their minds, the most vulgar, disgusting strings of words you can imagine are much more likely to be given out as compliments -- although it's with complete sincerity and coming from a good intention, so, she can't bring herself to be too upset... and besides, she's supposed to say thanks and smile and take it or the manager might get mad.

And it's exhausting. Day after day. As if performances weren't tiring enough. Some people start to notice -- she looks less energetic than usual. She seems tired. She's oddly quiet. It creates some concern. This ultimately leads to an incident in which she ends up passing out on stage out of sheer exhaustion, and that's pretty significant when you consider the amount of weariness it takes for that to happen to such a naturally high-energy person.

Which actually warrants a quick questioning from a medical worker that's called for her, the contents of said conversation end up reaching law enforcement, and turns out, it'll not legal to work her that much. There's labor laws in this nation, after all. Out with the old manager, in with a new one. After that, she gets a much more balanced schedule, is allowed to take days off even... before going right back to it. Phew. The music industry is tough.

------

A very, very, very few girls make a life by themselves.

Is it legal? No. Do they take the risk anyway? Of course, if you can you might as well. In any universe, you can get away with quite a lot by simply pretending you're allowed to. It's really astounding sometimes just how much you can do by just acting like you're exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. Sometimes you have to dress or look the part, though.

Which is fairly easy for Mona, having the ability to make yourself disappear into a faint trail of water. Steal a collar when no one is looking, put it on, and there you go, you look like you belong to someone. Forge papers yourself in case someone gets nosy, and no one will really suspect you did it, since the default assumption is that you can't read or write.

A lot of people think it's very careless for someone to let a girl go walking around on her own, but then again, if that's the case, then it's probably someone really powerful and rich, and no one would want to get on the bad side of someone like that. So, incredibly, people sort of leave her alone, keep a distance from her even. At first, of course, she was naturally terrified it wouldn't work, but it surprisingly goes over quite well. After a while of living off of scraped-together funds (stolen from her own teacher and former legal guardian right around the time of reaching the sell-off-able age, before running off and high-tailing it halfway across the continent), she has to make a living somehow, and decides to do so the same way she would otherwise.

The whole "something you don't see everyday" aspect adds a sort of mysterious and exciting appeal that actually draws in customers. The idea that something is rare and valuable, something that captivates so much attention, sort of subconsciously lends her credibility, people take her word as fact. If it was just any other guy, they'd be less likely to even pay attention, much less believe the predictions, but the whole rarity and uniqueness sort of aligns with the esoteric nature of astrology, it seems fitting and authentic and thereby real.

The stature and physique catches the eye due to standing out amongst crowds (and the garb she ends up wearing certainly helps), they do a double take before coming closer out of curiosity, and usually end up paying for the services. Of course, many ask for additional services, assuming it's available, but those collars sort of serve as an equivalent to how another universe would have wedding rings -- when you point to it, they realize you're off-limits, usually sulking away in disappointment, but not wanting to invoke the wrath of some other guy by pushing further.

She also manages to bribe a local into letting her perform the rental apartment process because he's busy and can't make it today, so he told me to do it, I can sign for it... and turns out they'll allow it if you push. Coming to Mondstadt was a good choice after all, there's no way this would go over so well anywhere else.

One can get around for quite some time like that. But even in the freest nation on the map, it's still bound to come apart at some point.

As with any sort of crime, law enforcement do not like discovering that they have been in some way deceived for an extended period of time. It's embarrassing for them even under normal circumstances, and infinitely more so to have let something like this go right under their noses for months. It feels like her heart stops, hearing a knock on the door and a gruff voice that is definitely not the landlord, saying to open up the door. But the excuses aren't going to work this time, and trying to run away by slipping into the illusory torrent only leads to getting exhausted and coming out of it in the middle of the square in the center of town, only to be immediately tackled by knights in front of an entire crowd (watching with some combination of amusement and entrancement -- hey, look, the tights ripped...)

Damned landlord has been suspicious for a while now, but hey, she was paying for that unit no one else would take. But when she's no longer able to make those payments and ends up running several days late on rent, he realizes he can probably get a lot more money for sending in a tip to the knights about suspicions of criminal activity. Which is true -- it's well-known that, in all nations, there's a standard monetary reward for finding any runaways or otherwise unaccounted for or hidden girls, and potentially even more money if it turns out they're missing from a wealthy owner.

No such case here, due to that timing -- run off right before being sold or given to someone, so they'll have to find someone new. First, though, in cases like this, there's a crucial reeducation and remedial treatment to undergo first...

---

Gangs and treasure hoarders and eremites and all that still exist of course.

And so do pirates. Joining these types of gangs can also be an ideal route to obtaining sex for an otherwise sexless young man. See, oftentimes they will scrape their funds together and buy a communal slave of sorts. Of course there's a lot of bickering whenever the time finally comes to make that purchase -- one guy says he wants a girl with big tits, but another guy wants small tits, this one wants a young one and this guy wants an older one... eventually, either a compromise is reached, one guy with the most authority makes the decision, or, in a rather comical display to an outside observer, they may even take a vote on the matter.

Which is exactly what the Crux fleet does. There were a lot of differing tastes among the men, the vote that ultimately wins (by a single vote, much to the chagrin of those who voted otherwise, but oh well) was a set of characteristics: not particularly young nor particularly older, big tits and big thighs. Or, in the eloquent words of the member who initially proposed this set of features, 'thick as fuck.' Quite the win for the enthusiasts of said traits.

That being said, no one really decided on a personality or anything, so the guy sent to actually go buy the new resident ship slave didn't think much of it.

This poor woman has been through a lot. She's old enough to have been out in the world for some years now, constantly thrown about from one lifestyle and environment to the next. And she has a bit of an... attitude. 'Fiery spirit' is how the vendor worded it. Never been privately owned, always got the short end of the stick and sent to brothels instead. After a while, that really starts to wear on a person's psyche, especially someone stubborn and prideful by nature. Constantly having that pride stamped out creates a lot of resentment. The last of said brothel owners had finally had enough of her tendencies to cause problems, and sent her off. But if anyone can handle that, pirates would be able to, right? So they essentially shove her off on them for a low price.

Some of the members are practically intimidated by the woman. She's not a particularly grouchy or mean person, and is actually good-natured, but she has a bold energy to her. And as it turns out, she doesn't do things just because you tell her to. Scary. Aren't they supposed to be really soft and gentle?? What gives?

Well, it's probably a matter of time, right? Kind of like when you get a dog, and it may be skittish before it adjusts. They just remain hopeful about the matter... it's not like they can hold back anyway.

See, the thing about brothels is that they're still regulated. Despite the whole "need to be put to use" mentality, for health concerns, the girls get breaks each day, they get to take days off per month. The people who run brothels are usually fairly well-educated enough to know that such things are necessary. A bunch of pirates, many of whom have never touched a girl in their lives? Much less so. Why can't she just keep going 24/7? If there's thirty or so of them, that's not enough to spread one hour each evenly!

Or, wait... she probably needs to sleep right? Do the females sleep less or more than normal people? Or is it the same? They end up just having to ask her. Interestingly, plenty of guys have a lot of misconceptions like that -- some tend to greatly overestimate the concept of dimorphic differences, and think of the other sex as a foreign species or the like whose bodies work entirely differently or something, and are surprised to learn that yes, they eat and sleep just the same, they have complex thoughts and wants, they can remember things that happened recently, and so on. Regardless, this unfortunately means they can't all get some every day, so they end up having to evenly divide time. And with time, they learn to be less intimidated, and more commanding. Surely with enough time (and enough mileage of cock), she'll start being less standoffish.

Of course, there's also the issue of keeping her sort of secretive -- if other rival groups were to find out about her, it would be motivation enough for others to raid their ship, possibly getting them all killed. So for the most part, they keep her below deck... turns out though, that has some negative consequences. How come she's all still and lethargic and unresponsive? Are they sensitive to lack of sunlight, like normal people are? Seems like evolution would have gotten rid of need for sun and fresh air by now.

Well, they can take her out during the day, as long as they keep close watch and all. They just hurriedly stuff her back down there if some other ship approaches. Likewise, she's contraband, technically. Obviously they didn't go to a legal market, so they have no papers or anything. This makes it... difficult when arriving in ports that have active law enforcement posted and checking around. Hope she's okay with being gagged and stuffed in a barrel for a couple of hours.

One could find the ways of the will of the universe quite humorous, if you stop to think about it -- in another universe, they'd be taking orders from the same girl they now have bent over every surface of the ship on a daily basis, would be relying on her to take down large enemies too. Fate works in interesting ways.

---

Some roles, in contrast, remain the same in title, but simply take on new meanings and responsibilities.

The divine priestess of Watatsumi, for example, has a very critical job! She is revered, an object of awe and adoration... and a sort of holy prostitute.

They take the whole idea of her being a healer to a maximum extent. It is believed that by having intercourse with the priestess, you will obtain divine blessing and good fortune. Consequently, she's trained specifically for the position. Kokomi gets stamina and endurance training, flexibility training, and so on. So that by the time she finally starts to officially begin fulfilling the role, she'll be perfect at performing the responsibilities that said role entails. Each and every day she can spend hours satiating the needs of her very loyal and adoring soldiers.

Sometimes this means one-on-one sessions with individual soldiers (the promise of getting to have the priestess to yourself for an entire hour is quite the way to motivate the troops to perform tasks, and a morale boost too!), and sometimes it means taking a long line of them, one after the other.

Of course, some might say it's merely a natural, hormonal thing, but if you were to ask them, they believe that the resulting increased motivation in the troops, their increased vigor and elevated mood, yet simultaneous tranquility and lack of stress or hostility with each other, is a divine act of providence, and evidence to the validity of the priestess's deified nature. After spending much of her day tending to healing physical wounds, she also heals the hearts and minds of the soldiers too, with her mere presence (and body).

It really goes beyond being a priestess. See, in the religious canon that has evolved over centuries of development of folk beliefs on the island, she's technically a vessel that carries and serves as a messenger for an elder fertility goddess. Due to this, she's also seen as a predictor of fortune in the social sense -- the divine priestess being impregnated is supposed to be a positive omen for the people of the island as a whole, indicating birthrate prosperousness for the near future. It's somewhat akin to how traditional folk beliefs would say this or that sign indicates an upcoming good harvest or the like.

It's all done with what is, to an outside observer, a bizarre and even comical sort of seriousness and reverence. They take the matter very seriously and stake great importance on it, exhibit religious-like austerity while essentially running a train on the poor girl.

Sometimes it is akin to a religious ceremony. Once a month, on full moon nights (when it is believed hydro is at it's maximum power, given the connection to tides and all that), they have essentially a huge, one-girl orgy, consuming the entire night, complete with lots of food and alcohol. If the priestess were to be impregnated at that time, it's said that would produce an incredibly powerful soldier one day. So they all give it their best to pump her all full as possible.

And if one soldier in particular is having a rough time of it, shows a lot of signs of stress or depression, they just send him on his way to go straight to her. Sometimes even if a guy is sick or something, they do the same, and if he gets better after some time (you know, like the body tends to naturally do on its own when you get a cold) then they claim it to be the medicinal properties of her body and fluids that can heal even illness! Incredible. Although sometimes this means the priestess herself gets sick in return. This, they believe, is basically her using her divine power to remove the illness from the man and taking it upon herself instead. Such a self-sacrificing, benevolent priestess she is, to do that for them. They're eternally grateful.

Oh, but of course, none of this means she has any sort of authority or anything. Other leaders are still appointed to take care of the actual decision-making and all that. After all, she's priceless, worshipped, the object of awe and devotion and adoration, but at the end of the day she's still... you know.

But the Resistance soldiers aren't the only ones that get a sharable group pet. Of course, having that resource (read: pussy) readily available is crucial to the success and morale of soldiers. So the shogunate forces get a toy as well, even if theirs is not quite as revered, nor as... compliant.

Likewise, though, the Kujou clan does traditionally take this responsibility on, so like Kokomi, Sara was more or less well-aware all her life this would one day be her fate, and was prepared accordingly. She's not particularly eager or accepting of it, though, in fact is quite resentful. Some girls are like that -- they just don't have the capacity to comprehend the bigger picture of the world, so they're resentful and rebellious and don't understand why the hierarchy and order of things is so important. They view the subservience as humiliating or something, but it's really not, it's an honor and a privilege and she should feel very proud of it... unless of course they want it to be an act of humiliation and degradation, in which case it is. But she's not supposed to feel that way unless they want her to at the moment, of course.

But propriety is of great importance to Inazuman culture, and really hammered into people's heads as something to be valued, so... if these are the duties that are in place, so be it. These guys are a bit rougher, they lack the same sense that what they're shoving their cock in is a divine being, so they can be more impatient and demanding. That doesn't mesh very well with her personality, as you might imagine. Narrowed eyes, a sternness to her voice telling them to be patient and wait their turns... but they can just ignore that. Alternate solutions exist, of course, she's got plenty of holes, and they can be stretched to accommodate more than one person at a time, too. She also can't argue against it if her mouth is full.

They're still respectful, to an extent, and they appreciate her a lot! But she's also scary to some... she walks a fine line wherein she's liked for her contributions, especially a lot of the younger or newer boys are very fond of her, approach her smiling... but the smile wavers due to her intimidating aura. That being said, as she's frequently subjected to rather degrading treatment, being able to bend her over at any given time is an experience that helps a lot of new recruits shake off that intimidation. They still love her though! Even if she's not particularly nice or affectionate.

For a lot of them, it's quite literally the only female interaction they have ever had, so they take even the slightest kind words or praise or willing touch as a sign of affection, and cling to it like their lives depend on it. They become desperate for more, hungry for more little droplets of affection, or even favor, if they could manage to be so lucky. Plenty of guys have received a polite gesture or her slumping over on them out of exhaustion post-coitus, and gone on to inform their entire squad that he is now her favorite, based on this clear evidence. All of said positive interactions with her are considered great bragging rights amongst them.

And much like with the opposing forces, they also tend to have large-scale, orgy-like events at regular intervals with a sort of ceremonial flair to it. Kujous produce very strong and intelligent soldiers, so the hope is that with the sperm of so many men inside her all at once, surely only the strongest will manage to impregnate, producing the best offspring possible. In one form of service or another, she's just as vital to their success either way.

-----

And much like Inazuma, Mondstadt also values the health and well-being of their knights. But Mondstadt has less of an orderly culture focused on propriety and all that, so the knights are a bit less patient and more aggressive in their pursuits -- leading to conflict and sometimes subsequent injury when fighting over a girl. Consequently, they add some more funding to the communal sex budget, and get more than one.

Now, as mentioned previously, girls born into noble families like Eula are essentially protected from this sort of thing, so they usually obtain ones born to normal households, who didn't quite make the cut to be protected by becoming nuns either.

Which is a possibility -- joining a nunnery is one of the very few ways in Teyvat to completely escape being some sort of pet or slave. However, given the... exceptionally large number of applicants, while also having very limited space, they can't just take in everyone, so it's usually on a first-come first-serve basis if a space is open, or if you have some sort of benefit to them. Barbara, for example, much like Xinyan previously, is marketed as an idol and draws in revenue, all while remaining off-limits to the crowds of fans. Rosaria has her own set of skills, and, well, she was one of those "right place right time" individuals who just so happened to come along when a slot was available.

Amber and Noelle would have likely not been as lucky, but they didn't really consider it anyway, both are pretty happy in their roles. That being said, applying for the knights is also a much better outcome than public brothels, so they're fairly content where they are. Both are very spirited and dedicated girls who give it their all! They're very committed to being helpful and properly performing the job description. Genuinely, both are fairly content -- being in a world where it's all so normal, this is considered a pretty good life to be living, and they're both rather happy to be useful and do their best. Jean was lucky enough to actually marry someone, so she's off-limits to most of the knights, but these two are instead at the beck and call of anyone who needs them.

Of course, higher-ranked knights get their needs prioritized, but even after they're done, the lower-ranks can have some too. They're also very well-protected; in general, even brothels try to take care of the girls' well-being as much as they can, but that's harder when you're working with large numbers and need to make a profit, so sometimes those girls are just told to tolerate things they'd rather not. But in this case, with just the two of them, if someone mistreats them in any way, it's grounds for immediate reprimand and punishment. After all, the harmony of the whole atmosphere is largely dependent on the two of them -- when they're happy and all bright and bubbly, it lifts everyone else's spirits as well, keeps up the morale.

It's all very normalized to go through the meetings with one of them crawling around under the table, moving her mouth from one to the next as it drones on. Even afterwards, when some individuals come up to ask questions after the meeting, there's always some guy fucking one girl over the long meeting table on the other side of the room. Sometimes they have to tell them to quiet down. Sex is generally freely given, just depends on who is busy at a time, and they're patient enough to form lines most of the time. Sleeping is a much more involved process though -- with so many knights, they have to coordinate a sleeping schedule so that each one gets to have a nice warm body to hold at night once a month or so.

Oh, and of course, they take care of some small tasks too. Noelle tends to prefer cleaning up and staying in headquarters, while Amber tends to go out with exploration patrols and the like (they have to have at least one, what are they supposed to do if they get horny in the middle of patrol if they don't have an immediately available hole??), and she can do little things like set fires, light lamps, make food, all of which are more or less the only use her vision ever gets.

------

But unlike them, everything is so much infinitely worse when you're someone coming from somewhere... normal. Poor Lumine.

Most girls are just born into the system -- to a family, from which their fate is determined by class and by the whims of auctioneers who determine if they get sold or go to public use, and a few by special circumstances.

So when some girl just sort of appears out of nowhere, there's a bit of confusion on to what should even be done.

She's smart and observant and all, so she would know something is wrong. Walking into the city gates and being met with wide-eyed stares, the sort of surprise where people freeze up in the middle of some task and go completely still, fixated on her, slack-jawed and eyebrows raised.

There are plenty of reasons, though, to imagine why this might be. She does stand out, clothing and all, or maybe there's some feature she has that doesn't exist in people here that she hasn't noticed yet. With such a crowd as the bustling city, it's easy to not immediately notice the singular glaring difference between oneself and everyone else.

That doesn't last long, though. Sure, she might have been doing something against cultural norms, but being apprehended? That's a little too far! What could the problem possibly be, that this is necessary? Or that's her train of thought, suddenly feeling a sense of dread as a group of three or so knights surround her, tell her to come with them, refuse to answer why.

Rather bold, though, they think. Rather stupid, too. The runaways usually move at night, and try to stay hidden. But walking around in broad daylight, right in the middle of the street, showing off so much skin? What did she expect to happen? If anything, dressed like that, she's lucky she didn't get jumped by a crowd. Granted, everyone knows they're not particularly intelligent, but come on.

Of course, they don't seem very convinced by her story. They just sort of chortle and smirk, amused at first, quickly annoyed when it persists. From another world, she says. Uh-huh. Sure. Listen, don't make this harder than it has to be, just tell us where you're supposed to go.

But she's relentless in her wild fantasies she keeps spouting, and thus, they're forced to dig through databases, contact locals and see if anyone knows where this girl is supposed to be. The efforts prove futile. No one knows. There's not even a record of her birth or existence across the different nations. Maybe she really is telling the truth.

Not that it matters anyway.

No, a quick examination -- just in case, since if she really is some kind of alien, her body could be different -- proves that she has all the right parts. They had to get multiple people to hold her down so someone could do the stripping and examining, which is quite the shocking experience, as most of these guys are only used to seeing very demure and passive females, so seeing one put up a fight like this is quite unusual. But she proves to be very normal, physically at least. Tits for squeezing and milking. All the right holes and a womb, and hips that looks very childbirth-suitable. A little bit on the strong side, especially for her size, but of course not so much that it could ever be comparable to the average man. Besides, a few months of no physical activity should take care of that anyway.

They can just put her with the others. So they just haul her off to sell like any normal girl, kicking and screaming the entire time. She really started freaking out when she overheard a few choice words and finally put two and two together to understand the position she's in, they had to pretty quickly take that weapon away, and tie her up too much to use this newfound elemental power... and that... fairy thing gets put in a cage too. Maybe they'll sell it or something. Still, the girl fights to the bitter end, dragging her heels and thrashing like a wild animal. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing either, no, quite marketable actually. Some guys even pay extra for the fighters.

-----

Some girls are really sheltered, though. One would have to be, to remain in a little fantasy and never having grown out of it. "Prinzessin." Hah, give him a break.

That's the observation of one particular young man, jobless and just barely scraping by, who has decided to try his hand at kidnapping and selling to traffickers as a means to make a little extra cash. A nobody, just a face like any other, nothing special about him, and self-aware of it. People should acknowledge when they're just an average person, he thinks, and this girl could stand to take that advice to heart too. Sure, you can pretend to be a princess or whatever, but that doesn't change that you're just a regular person.

Gods. Shut up. Shut up! Please.

How did he even end up here? The poor man has been listening to this girl go on for ten minutes. What did he ever do to deserve this? He thought it was a lucky coincidence, and took advantage of it -- some dumb girl roaming around in her yard unattended, so he decided to grab her and drag her off thinking he could sell her to actual traffickers, and now has to listen to... that.

...that you shall unbind me this very instant, lest it be your wish to suffer the unbridled and maximal--

I'm going to gag you if you don't stop talking.

He's heard more words previously unfamiliar to him in the past hour than the rest of his life combined. He's silently sitting there, weighing back and forth in his head if the usual reward price is worth this psychological torture. Maybe he can just drop her off back at her home. Agh, but there might already be authorities there if she's been noticed missing, and he'll get arrested.

Now he's stuck with the consequences of his actions, at least for the next 24 hours or so until he finally makes his way by moonlight to a known hangout for traders (traffickers typically have a lot of overlap with Treasure Hoarders and Eremites and other such groups), and then he can shove her off on them and collect a reward. It's bearable... barely. She even has the nerve to electrocute him, didn't even see that pesky gem-looking thing attached to her until he got a shock to the face from a damn bird. Pretty sure these things don't have a lot of value when sold on their own, so he'll just give it to the traders too... but confiscates it for now, and the bird disappears with it, seemingly much to the girl's distress, but he can ignore that if he concentrates on tuning her voice out. It's somewhat hard to resist temptations too, but the traders find it distasteful if it's evident you had your way with the goods prior to drop-off, so he can refrain for now, maybe visit a brothel later.

He's glad to finally be rid of her the next day, after carrying the girl all the way to the next town over and dropping her off with a trafficker in the woods before the sun rises. Could barely discuss price negotiations over her babbling on and on with very eloquent threats to curse him or something like that. Nonetheless, he spends the day gleefully drinking away. He's already spent a small sum on booze by the time night comes around, and has just left the local pub when a familiar face comes seeking him out of the crowd. One of the traders from earlier. Says it's urgent. Draws him outside into the woods.

He has the same girl from earlier with him. Ankles and wrists bound, a very thick layer of tape over her mouth. The trader picks her up and extends his arms out, holding her out for him to take.

Take her back.

He pauses.

...Huh?

The trader huffs in frustration.

They can't handle her.

...HUH??

Told me to give her back to you. Keep her. Don't need the money back.

In one swift motion, the trader shoves her forward into his arms, turns, and bolts off.

And now, he is left with the girl in his possession. Can't take her home without running the risk of present law enforcement arresting him on the spot. He doesn't like the thought of just letting her go, either, could get taken by some really bad people -- hey, he's a trafficker, not a heartless monster.

There has to be some sort of alternative. Which he might be able to think of one, if--

I was nice enough to take that gag off, shut up long enough for me to hear myself think.

Ugh. But even then, there seems to be no real option that works out well. He'll have to keep her with him until he can find a trader willing to take her off his hands.

Which proves difficult, as it turns out, stories traveled quickly, and all the local traders have been told about him and the girl he has with him, and to avoid them. Keep her, they all say, some chuckling. It's not just a matter of the... obvious, but also, girls who are, ah, unique in some way, present a bit of a problem to illegal traffickers, as they can be recognized by those who might have previously known them and reported to the law, whether it's for visual traits or ones related to personality. She's too much of a risk.

And thus, he's just sort of... stuck with her. Ends up in a sort of limbo state wherein he's dragging her along with him, keeps saying he'll drop her off with the next person, but eventually stops trying. Yet, he's also made no promises to do anything else. And again, despite being a bit of a grouch and having participated in morally loathsome activities, he's not heartless, of course he gives her food (Oh my god, stop complaining! I went out of my way to make it for you, I didn't have to do that) and a sleeping space (--because I can't *afford* another sleeping bag, okay? I spend all my money taking care of you, you ungrateful little... ugh, come on, just share this one...) and puts up with some rather frustrating tendencies (I am NOT going to call you that, for the millionth time.). She can be... difficult.

Of course, it's not long before he breaks and ends up taking those frustrations out on the girl anyway... she words it something along the lines of 'defiling her with his repulsive plebian seed' or something like that, he's stopped paying much attention. Even if she squirms and pushes and spits insults at him, it's still a warm, wet hole. And besides, said insults decrease in frequency over time. So do the threats to annihilate him after regaining her supposed "full power," whatever that means. He's pretty strict about keeping the vision tucked away from her anyway... at first. After a while, he realizes that if she has her bird, she'll be in a much better mood and much less likely to ramble on and on, so it's allowed for short periods of time. Said bird is not too fond of him, though, tried to attack him more than once. She freaked out -- even broke character -- when he threatened to turn it into a roast, so the compromise is that if she tells it not to attack him, he can tolerate it.

...Eventually, he starts to think that this is okay, perhaps. He can just... keep her himself. Avoid law enforcement, take on a few odd jobs to get money for extra food. Scrape together the funds for fake documents. He'll just have to be vigilant so no one steals her. Not that he's getting emotionally attached or anything, no... so he thinks to himself whenever he's laying there at night.

--that if not for your misdeeds alone should ill fortune befall you, it would be upon me to--

Please let me sleep.

-----

Finally, there is one way to live a relatively free life: being a non-human, even if humanoid. Of course, the adepti fit this descriptor perfectly, so Ganyu has an easier time than most.

Working among humans is, of course, off limits. They wouldn't allow it anyway, and it would just lead to trouble. Thus, she lives a much more isolated life than she would otherwise, remaining instead in the wilderness, far away from people and consequential danger.

...But, of course, as they always do, human guys find ways.

There is an urban legend of sorts about the qilin adeptus. She's very special, because she's very free, and lives all by herself, up in the mountains, so it's said. That's a very foreign concept to most guys.

And isn't it a shame? Free pussy walking about in the wilderness, going unutilized. Imagine the most perfect, amazing food one could eat, and it's just left to sit there and rot, uneaten -- what's even the point, if the thing isn't going to be used for the purpose for which it exists? It makes no sense. One of the many enigmas of the non-human world.

Someone should fix that. Or so is the general consensus on the matter.

There's no need to make up some tall tale about her having magical or medicinal properties that will heal disease or grant immortality or anything like that, no. Some do say it brings good fortune to see her with your own eyes, but that's not really in the forefront of anyone's mind. What's more important is the very concept of conquest itself.

That's why so many people come trying to take her down. No real benefit to themselves, and it's actually taking quite a risk... but can you imagine being the guy that gets to say he's the one that captured and tamed a mythical beast? To come out of the wilderness with that creature in tow for everyone to see? It's quite the power-trip, egotistical fantasy, the sort of perverse fantasy that gets a lot of young guys' blood pumping (usually towards a specific bodily region). And it motivates plenty to try their hand at finding the creature.

Thing is, most young men are an unfortunate combination of impatient, loud, and quite dumb. So time and time again, they always fail. She's alerted to their presence and flees, and they're forced to come back empty-handed.

The problem is that this only makes the whole thing worse. After so many people fail, her notoriety increases, more and more people have heard of her, and only increases the sense of elusiveness and challenge -- that is, for every person that fails, it will be that much more satisfying of a victory, all the more of a source of pride, to whoever finally doesn't fail. Not to mention, somehow, a myth was born that if you break her horns off, she'll go limp and be unable to move, and now the boys bring up hacksaws and chisels and hammers with them. It's scary. Even if she uses an inhuman qilin form, they still recognize her too.

Of course, part of it is her own doing... see, she's still so good-hearted, so empathetic, that she's saved the lives of those trying to capture her more than once. Some poor guy knocked himself out cold on a rock... he'll freeze to death if left here. So she takes him back, puts him down close to the edge of civilization. Or, a few times, some guy has slid down onto a ledge, no way to climb up or down, and she extends a hand to help pull them up -- and run off as soon as they're on their feet. This only increases the number of survivors to go home, tell the tale, and spark further interest in others, and it likewise increases the chance they'll try again, but... she just can't let them be harmed.

But still, due to the aforementioned traits they tend to have, most fail, over and over. Yet, there's a subtle awareness in the back of her mind that, one day, someone is bound to finally succeed.

But as long as a human is peaceful... she won't do anything to discourage them.

There's a boy that's come into the wilderness these days to hunt. The other adepti would be a bit stricter, would tell him he has to leave, but... he wouldn't be this far away from the nearest village by choice. There must be a food shortage or something. And he's hunting actual game, leaves with a few pheasants or rabbits at the end of each day, and then he goes back to a small tent on the edge of the territory, having made a full camp for himself, fire and tools and all. A few little makeshift stations, one for tanning hides. Just a hunter, nothing more.

In fact, she becomes a bit worried sometimes, and goes to check on the boy, ensure he's fine, which he always is.

She gets a bit too close, though, and ends up stepping on a stick, snapping it in half. He looks up, having been crouched down and prodding the fire. Eyes go wide.

...But then he smiles. Waves. Doesn't get up and come charging at her, doesn't fixate on her with that crazed expression some have. The lack of surprise at the sight of her seems to indicate that he knows of her, knows who she is, but he makes no move to cause any harm.

He doesn't pose any problems. He never goes far up into the mountains, usually stays at the base of it, hunting small animals, only venturing up to get the occasional ram or deer. He has a routine -- hunts most days, every Friday uses leftover guts to go fishing, then on weekends, he hauls all those tanned animal pelts over his shoulder, leaves overnight, and comes back the next day with all the little tools and non-perishable footstuffs and books presumably bought with the money from selling the hides. Such a simple life, some humans do lead. It sounds pleasant, really.

And he still sees her sometimes. They happen to cross paths at a distance. He always smiles and waves, but never does anything to harm her. He's a safe one. She's happy he's prosperous, and goes to check on him often from high vantage points during her daily routine, the same walk each day. Oh, now he's cutting down trees... Building a cabin. Must intend to stay long-term. No matter.

He's not even around, one fateful day. She's only going about her path as usual. The same little walk she takes, each and every day. The autumn leaves pile up all over the ground. The area is so beautiful around this time, so the walks are even more relaxing, she likes to take her time, slowly making her way down the beaten path where the grass has been worn away by all the animals and the occasional traveler passing over it, and although it's covered in leaves now, she still knows where it is by heart. Each and every--

Step.

There's a sort of pain that doesn't get an immediate sound. Intense, overwhelming pain, that hits the nervous system with such a harsh, brutal shock, it leaves one speechless. Gasping for breath, chest and stomach muscles spasming, body going rigid.

Only after a few seconds does she hit the ground and scream. Falling down makes it pull further at the flesh, and she wails. A wail so deafening it could be heard for a mile or more.

And when she props herself up on an elbow, body lying on the ground, and looks down at her leg with watery eyes and blurred vision, she can still see the jagged metal spikes, the blood oozing out where the metal pierces the flesh. A jaw-like contraption, triggered by weight pressing down on the flat part in the center. The same kind of trap used by...

...used by... hunters...

A familiar face pokes out from behind a tree. Comes rushing over to help.

But it's anything but comforting. The soft smile and pleased expression makes it clear that it has all gone as was intended.

Sorry I had to hurt you.

He's still smiling. But so sweet. So soft and comforting, it isn't right, doesn't line up with someone who would do this.

It's okay. You'll be alright.

Pulls the weighted piece out of the ground. Can't pull it out here, or she could bleed too much, have to wait until getting back to the camp. Wait, is that even a problem for them? Can they bleed to death? Well, better safe than sorry. He asks, but she can't answer any questions. She's sobbing and wailing, chest heaving with rapid, shuddering breaths, body trembling. To see a revered creature in this pathetic of a state is probably very rare. He feels special. And very guilty, keeps mumbling apologies... But special.

She doesn't fight it when he rolls her to her side, gently ties her hands behind her back. She squirms a bit and jerks against the retraints when he takes the vision off her hip, but she's too restrained and in too much pain to do much. And she merely whimpers and trembles when she's picked up. Her leg is bent at an odd angle. Must have broken it when she collapsed, twisting it against the metal.

But he was considerate. Made sure to set the traps very close to the camp, so it will only be a short distance. He's memorized where each one is -- he saved up a lot of money, bought enough raw ore to make a ton of them -- and expertly maneuvers around each one until out of the area, cooing comforting words and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

He did also get a saw with that money, though. Heard the whole horn thing, and you can never be too careful... but that can wait until tomorrow.

[themuskrater]

The Lizard and Killer Croc

Everyone knows Marvel and DC steal ideas from each other. Getting mad about it at this point is lame, we just have to accept it. But it's still fun to compare characters that were clearly taken from the other company. And two I see get compared a lot are Marvel's The Lizard and DC's Killer Croc. This is lazy, I'm gonna tell you why, and then I'm gonna provide a much better example to match with The Lizard.

First let's compare the similarities between Croc and Lizard...They're lizards. That's it.

Doctor Curt Connors is a scientist who lost his arm while he was serving in the military, so he dedicated his life to creating a formula that would allow humans to regrow limbs. Using reptilian DNA, Doctor Connors tested the treatment on himself, and while it did regrow his arm, it also turned him into the villainous Lizard.

Waylon Jones is a normal man who, depending on the continuity, either just has a severe skin condition that results in him forming scale-like calluses, or a degenerative mutation that causes him to progressively form more reptilian features. Waylon was raised in the circus as a freak show act. He was treated like a monster, and thus, he became a monster: building his strength, learning to hold his breath for long periods of time, and developing a taste for human flesh.

These two have almost nothing in common. If only there was another scientist who uses the genetic makeup of an animal known for their enhanced abilities to cure his own disability, but tragically results in him becoming a monsterous creature and losing all control...oh wait.

Doctor Kirk Langstrom is a scientist and, again depending on the continuity, either is deaf himself or is seeking to end deafness in others. Thus, Doctor Langstrom uses the DNA of a vampire bat to create a drug that would repair the hearing in whoever took it, but instead when testing it on himself, Kirk Langstrom was transformed into the terrifying Man-Bat.

Kirk Langstrom and Curt Connors are the same characters. They have nearly identical stories, near identical villain identities, only one got turned into a bat and the other a lizard. What's even funnier is we didn't have to search very hard to find a better comparison than Killer Croc since they're BOTH Batman villains.

I think people compare Lizard and Killer Croc because they're not really familiar with these characters or their stories. They see surface level similarities and assume they're copies of each other. Similar to how people compare Batman and Moon Knight. They're right to assume DC and Marvel copy each other's characters, but just matched up the wrong characters

The Lizard and Man-Bat

[elisgeorge]

Did you know there are services that offer free university-level modules, for free?

I am one of those people that are obsessed with learning, but structured courses are expensive. Not these. Here are some links if you, too, are obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge and want to learn something (for FREE!)

EdX is my personal favourite. It offers loads of subjects that are usually taken from university courses, and the ones that I have done are pretty good. These can all be taken for free, or you can pay £40 to take the assignments and recieve a graded certificate. Now, the catch here is that most of the courses are archived, which means that, occasionally, some of the links won't work and you have to be creative with the readings. I have found this to be a pretty minimal issue though, and it is worth it.

I recently took this EdX course about 19th Century literature and it was excellent. Some of the links were broken so I took some creative liberties with the readings, but I read all of the books discussed and used the course materials to critically analyse them as I did so. I didn't follow the course exactly, but it was still an enriching experience and something I wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.

Another good one is OpenLearn, which is a branch of the Open University. The OpenLearn courses are usually pretty good, although some can feel a bit lackluster and basic. Don't expect super in-depth courses, but they're good for an introduction to a subject, or to top up your skills in somethign you haven't done in a while. These offer free certificates of participation, so they're great if, say, you want a career change but you haven't studied data science since college. I enjoyed the classes I took, but I wouldn't say they were as challenging as EdX.

I recently took this OpenLearn course about Hadrian's Rome. Classical history is something I'm interested in and this was a great way to guide my study of an aspect of it.

Coursera is a very popular one. Similar to OpenLearn, these courses can sometimes be a little surface-level. These also have a much larger focus on building transferrable skills than developing cultural knowledge and learning for your own enrichment. Even so, there are some wonderful gems on there if you're willing to scroll through and find them. Coursera is also great because it has project-centred courses, where you work towards a finished product under the (virtual, recorded) guidance of an expert. Think of it like a corporate skillshare.

Last summer I took this Coursera course about screenwriting. It was project based, and I came out of it with a fully realised first draft of a pilot episode of a TV show. I realised through this process that maybe screenwriting wasn't for me, but it allowed me to get out of my comfort zone with writing and explore that avenue that I would have probably always wodered about.

OpenCulture is a good database of free courses that then redirects you to other websites, but you have to be willing to sift through the sludge with this one, as some are more worth your time than others.

Another good way to find free courses is to search for them on university websites. I have found that most US universities (and loads of UK ones too, though it is less common) offer free online courses. You have to be careful here, because sometimes they will say they are free but actually the 'free' part is viewing the syllabus.

You might be thinking 'what is the point of a course that doesn't get me a qualification?' and I'd say 'I get you, because I felt the same way,' but if you're anything like me and love learning, they're a godsend. Of course, there is nothing stopping you from finding all of the course content online, and I'd actually encourage you to do that alongside the courses, but knowing where to start is the difficult part. There is so much information to learn about any given topic that it can be overwhelming. These courses provide you with a structure that you can then use within your own wider research to learn about subjects you maybe don't want to commit to in a formal setting.

I'm not paid by any of these websites, I just think the monetisation of knowledge is wrong and awful and disgusting and anyway to beat that should be celebrated and shared and used as widely as possible.

Happy learning! :)

[stranger-rants]

Hey 👋

I've seen some recent anti posts where they're like "Dacre did SUCH a good job making us hate Billy" which is... just so wrong lmao.

They act like Dacre didn't put his heart, body, and mind into making Billy a sympathetic character (in contrast to the Duffers wanting another Henry Bowers).

Also... saying Billy is like Bowers is laughable tbh.

Henry targeted each and every kid in the losers club. He didn't have a sister that his father made him watch, like Billy did.

If anything, Bowers is closer to Jason Carver than any other character.

Well, Troy from s1 (and his pal, I think his name was James), too.

But I guess they were forgotten as well *sigh*

I saw someone say that Billy saying "it'll all be over soon" felt r*pish. He was possessed, and that same person also said that he'd told this to Max.

Seems to be a common theme in which some antis haven't actually watched the show.

Some die hard Steve fans who are antis, have even told me they either haven't watched s1, or they just straight up ignore s1 Steve.

As a survivor myself, I really wish antis would stop throwing around words like r*pe and abuse.

When they mention abuse, all they ever mention is Billy being the abuser. They don't talk about Neil, they don't talk about Lonnie, and they don't talk about Brenner (or Vecna).

Another thing I've noticed is that outside of our corner, the only other time this fandom mentions abuse is really just to further prove that a certain ship is canon.

Hey 👋🏻

It is funny, because Dacre has been very vocal about Billy having “flaws” but not being inherently bad or evil. He advocates so hard for imperfect victims, which is what I love about him. Billy would be nothing without Dacre, and I wish more actors had the guts to fight for better writing lol. The Duffers keep making shallow references to Stephen King’s work, and it makes me really wonder if they understood any of the major themes in his books. Granted, King was doing a lot of drugs when he wrote IT, but the story is still solidly inspired by real homophobic and racist violence in a small town as well as the general disregard for children and their safety. Stranger Things is based on conspiracy theories and government experimentation on people. Why they act like these two medias are comparable or need the same kinds of antagonists is just weird to me.

Henry Bowers was abused, too. Like, his father was a racist cop who antagonized Mike’s family for years and he was also violent towards his own son. Obviously, that had an impact on Henry who developed antisocial behavior. On the very surface, that seems similar to Billy. However, there is a big difference between them in terms of agency and the degree of harm. Billy’s violence was mostly reactive. There was a clear trigger (usually his dad). Henry sought out his victims to antagonize and he was very much addicted to the violence. IT was able to weaponize Henry because Henry wanted that power. He ended up killing his father without remorse. In order for the Mindflayer to weaponize Billy, it had to take over his mind and his body completely leaving Billy with little to no agency. Billy was consumed by guilt over what the Mindflayer made him do. His personality and reaction to trauma is nothing like Henry Bowers.

Henry is representative of the fear and hate prevalent in his small town, which is similar to Jason’s role last season in that regard. Their respective roles expose the prejudices of their communities. Billy’s role didn’t really do that. I don’t think the Duffers really thought about his purpose beyond being a “human antagonist” and a source of conflict for Max and Lucas (which…why was this necessary if they were never going to address it again?). There are obviously bigger bads whose entire shtick is Remorseless Abuser, and I’ve said before that this show *could* be about systematic abuse and fighting against it (including government/institutional abuse) but the Duffers hate survivors too much to explore that with any authenticity. So, we end up having to do that for them. This show and its fandom at large really are so shallow. All spectacle and trauma as decoration without critical thought.

[evelhak]

hi, hope you’re doing well. different person this time around, but you’ve talked abt kuroko & haizaki interactions and how they perceive things, so i’d like to ask abt midorima & akashi in that same context if u don’t mind

Thank you anon, I hope you're doing well too. ☆

You definitely asked a useful question for me, because I'm going to start writing an Akashi centric fic pretty soon, and I haven't explored the relationship between Akashi and Midorima much, which I obviously will have to do when I start writing. So, it wouldn't hurt to think about it already.

There are definitely some things about Akashi's and Midorima's personalities that would make them gravitate towards each other, because no other person in their middle school friend group can really share these things with them to that level. First of all, they're both perfectionists on their own level. For Akashi it's broader and driven by a debilitating fear of mistakes and failure and for Midorima it's more detailed and focused on a particular thing and driven by more of a strictness and inflexibility of thinking, but they both certainly are always going towards some holy idea of perfection. If they do things Right everything's gonna be okay.

However, I think this is where it gets interesting. Midorima seems more arrogant and high and mighty on the surface (at least compared to Oreshi) but he's actually more humble inside, because he places the ultimate control outside of himself, he sees himself in the end as only a human who will always do his absolute best, but it's never a guarantee of anything. Akashi (at least Oreshi) seems a lot more amiable and humble on the surface, but inside he's completely alone, he sees himself as the centre of the universe in the sense that no one will save him, there's nothing bigger than him, therefore him letting go of control would mean total chaos. It's kind of like Midorima sees himself as superior because he knows he is insignificant in the grand scheme of things, unlike the fools who don't know this. While Akashi sees himself as forsaken, and he's compensating for it by trying to be a god, like if he's perfect and in control then maybe he can have some resemblance of a real place in the world. I think these qualities also draw them towards each other, because control is a very big thing for both of them, and they have in some ways similar and in some ways the opposite ways of dealing with it, so they would have a fascination for the way they overlap and differ. It's a lot easier to dismiss someone's way as wrong when you have nothing in common, but when you already have a lot in common and then differ in a major way, it can have a way of encouraging you to find out more about the things that seem so foreign to you, so I think there's something like that going on with these two.

Their differences of course affect the way their relationship works. For Midorima, Akashi seems a bit more like a puzzle to solve, and for Akashi, Midorima seems more like a sounding board to reflect upon, if you simplify it.

They are also the only true "numbers" people in the group, the ones who live and breathe efficiency and have a plan for brushing their teeth. (Sorry for mocking, it's only because I'm completely useless in that department, and my own strategies are completely opposite that I can't pass by a chance to make fun of it. :D I swear I also make fun of my own ways.) I can just picture them as adults, discussing economy and infrastructure and shit like that in a way that my brain just immediately checks out of. Good for them. But again, Midorima has a more detailed and concrete approach to this numbers and plans game, while Akashi has a more abstract, broad one.

I think because they are like this, having both significant overlap and differences, their several common or compatible interests not only bring them together but will make them stay as friends, because their differences will keep their relationship interesting. Because it's one thing to have a friend who likes what you like and approaches those things in pretty much the same ways as you (that's a comforting relationship that doesn't challenge you to grow) and it's another thing to have a friend who likes what you like and approaches those things about half same and half opposite ways from you (that makes a relationship comforting and also challenges you to grow).

So... this only scratches the surface of Midorima and Akashi together, because I haven't really gone there too much.

If you want to read some crack, I have a story about these rich boys going to McDonald's. It's complete trolling. (And it's the type of story where someone adds random adjectives in to make it funnier. It's probably confusing, there are some references to other crack fics I've written too. It might be a "you had to be there" kind of funny, but. In case you're curious.)

[kyogre-blue]

Okkkk, done with the 12th month (aka goodbye Jeralt)

The fantasy action/adventure stuff continues apace. The Tomas/Solon thing was pretty smoothly set up, though I would say Monica/Kronya was much less so. She's mentioned like once, then gets one quick textbox of nothing on the stage immediately before the stabbening, so it really comes out of nowhere. It doesn't help that the cutscene is quite rough and doesn't really convey things too well.

Aside from that, we progress from Miklan turning into a monster while holding a Relic, to the Crest Stones being related to shapeshifting, to a mystery group who experiment on humans all the way to turning students into monsters with crest shards... and who also happen to be able to change their appearance. (Minor FE lore tidbit: in the old Archanaea games, there was a dragonkin who could shapeshift into other people. So this is all potentially part of the same experimentation.)

We also get into the mystery of Byleth's birth, but while Jeralt's diary makes it clear that he freaked out, Rhea herself doesn't come off as particularly ominous or suspicious. If anything, her reactions and the details that surface make her look burdened but not particularly culpable for anything. Actually, I am getting very attached to her. She's so pretty and so sad. Why can't I do her A rank? Why can't I S rank her on this route? :(((

The other major player is Claude, but... tbh I agree that the relationship with him feels weirdly floaty. If anything, I feel like it would at least be better if he said he had thought his dream might not even be possible, but seeing Byleth makes him feel like it might be achievable after all. At least it would add weight to it that way. As it is, the lack of anything concrete from him, along with his brown-nosing makes him come off as trying to manipulate Byleth more than forming a genuine connection.

The Golden Deer on the whole have a similar problem. They are nice kids, and the combination of their supports + paralogues does create a certain sense of community and group connection. I went around and listened to all their little dialogues about trying to comfort Byleth after Jeralt's passing... (Getting Leonie B rank immediately after tho... lol)

But it feels like there's a lack of some major anchoring event or cause to serve as the focal point, presumably because no one in the class can really interact with the plot and they're too disparate to share a similar broad motivation. Like, I don't instinctively reject their promise to meet in five years, at the Millennium Festival, but I can't say I'm all that invested in it either.

It also really doesn't help that the writers didn't bother fleshing out some of them. A lot of them cross the line from having traits that strongly influence them to having 2 jokes that they repeat in every support. Disappointing but unsurprising, it happens especially prominently with the commoner characters.

And again, liveblogging notes:

Rhea is so unsubtle about Flayn, "your... sister is like family to me," if we ever thought Flayn was really Seteth's sister lmao

And then Lysithea is like "she looks my age but seems so much older!" when she herself gets accused of acting too mature several times. lmao they were not subtle At All

Immediately after Tomas jumpscare, we get a required chain of dialogue highlight how he's so sus, he's been asking about Flayn before he knew she was missing, he was asking about Byleth and Jeralt too, he directly calls you out for finding him suspicious and tries to handwave it with "oh, I was just curious" aka the weakest excuse ever

I keep killing the other enemies before getting to Death Knight. Twice now! It's so rude because I didn't know he'd teleport out if I killed some other dude? Lysithea could one shot his ass, damn I'm not redoing that stage tho

At least I finally managed to grind out enough Armor to recruit Ferdinand. His C support is really funny because he wants to talk about what you think of Edelgard, but like... I've seen her like twice. I don't care, dude.

They mention that Byleth has started smiling twice in a row. This writing is not subtle lol

eeeeey got a paralogue AND a relic

Several mentions of Almyra, and these proper nouns are finally starting to sound a little more familiar. I have almost all C ranks and it's getting into the B ranks now.

Claude brings up wanting to use the Sword again. He's really hung up on that.

When Byleth suddenly falls over in the Remire month, Sothis mentions that she's felt dizzy before, but I can't remember what this might be referring to. She later says the feeling is very familiar, so it seems to be related to her? Mysterious.

Lysithea casually drops that she has multiple crests in conversation. We haven't discussed this before....

Claude points out that the Crest Stones on the Relics have the images of the associated Crests. He doesn't seem to know what Crest Stones are, though he knows the name.

He finds a picture of the Immaculate One and notices it might have a Crest Stone on it, linking it to the ability to transform. Which is... not incorrect.

Claude directly confronts Seteth about his censorship. Claude is so fond of the bludgeoning approach to conversation.

Monsters attack merchants all the time (at least in Alliance). Generally, monsters don't just occur naturally in FE settings, but I guess it's just a thing in Fodlan? These do seem to be mutated animals (holding "Dark Stone") rather former people, I suppose.

I actually kind of like Raphael. I wish his writing wasn't so much 2 jokes though.

Raphael and Ignatz paralogue suggests that Lorenz's dad got the "previous Duke Reigan" killed but like... the current Duke is Claude's grandfather. It seems like this is referring to Claude's uncle, but he's other times referred to as the previous heir, so...

Incidentally, two merchants were killed along with this previous Duke, who were Raphael's parents and went instead of Ignatz's parents by chance.

Claude describes his father as "extravagant" and his mother is apparently like a warrior goddess. She seems to be able to back it up, including getting into a fistfight with a famous warrior.

He's not very subtle about hiding his background. Like, bro, if you talk about having a combat instructor who has won a hundred battles, that's... not normal....

That reminds me of Claude expecting Cyril to recognize him. They don't have TV, so how would a regular commoner kid recognize the crown prince on sight? Does Claude's portrait get passed around? Is he Almyra's top bachelor of the younger generation? Or is he just that out of touch?

Solon was at the monastery specifically to get Flayn's blood. The Agarthans need it for their plans.

Flame Emperor jumpscare lol

Edelgard says she would have totally stopped Solon's experiments if she knew, promise. And smoothly goes into pointing out what a threat the Agarthans are.

Jeralt suggests running away from Rhea was a mistake. Claude suggests that maybe exposing the church's secrets might not be for the best.

Apparently Jeralt had told Byleth they were born after he left the monastery.

Tomas joined the monastery 40 years ago, then left 8 years ago, and returned 1 year ago. He was recommended by House Ordelia. Jeritza was recommended by the Imperial nobility.

Seteth and Flayn's paralogue is kinda... weird if it happens before the war.

Flayn B theorizes that maybe she and Byleth are related, it's possible given "everything Rhea has done." But Seteth doesn't know what could possibly be up with Byleth, so...

Getting both Claude B and Leonie B right after Jeralt's death is... sure a ride.

tbh the cutscene for Jeralt dying was kind of unimpressive.

Fun fact: it seems like you have to choose the Dancer on the very first weekend of the month, and it no longer works on subsequent weekends. Guess who overwrote their only save of that by accident. No dancer in this run, I guess.