#this is technically a spoiler but it’s a small one and from early chapters so eeeh

[felix-krain]

I am very sane and normal :D

[felonytaxevasion]

Arc 1 - Bonds

My assorted commentary on the first chapter of Pact for my mutuals who were interested in my thoughts. Testing out formatting this might be mess thank you for your patience.

As always no spoilers please thank you <333

This is technically my second time reading this but I wasn't paying attention the first time so I wanted to start over

1.1

“My children are useless,” she said. She was so dismissive and casual about it.

First of all. Icon. I absolutely love wretched old women and I love having the foresight of knowing practitioners cant lie meaning that this is presumably an objective evaluation of her children's capabilities. I'm also gonna watch out for Blake's mom and Aunt Stephanie though. They aren't included in that statement so maybe we can have an evil magic milf era. Like in Umineko. I love Umineko.

If anything I’d said had an impact, it was that. I could see the faint amusement drop away from her. “Are you accusing me of being a liar, Master Blake?”

aHA BECAUSE PRACTITIONER RULES

It was well after dark when someone stepped outside to talk to me. I closed out of the puzzle game I was playing on my phone. The brightness of the screen made for a dark patch that lingered in my vision as I looked up. Eleven-fifty at night.

This is an interesting writing choice because it's clear that a lot of time has passed but not exactly how much. Which adds mystery to the question of "was Rose planned all along or did Rose Sr. make an impulse choice after talking with Blake.

Also I really wanna know. When Rose met Ivy did her parents bring her in and talk or did they just set the baby on the bed and leave.

“Molly! Don’t be rash!” Aunt Irene admonished her. “I don’t want it,” Molly said, again. She grabbed the footboard of the bed. “No.“ “Molly, don’t be silly.”

Molly is one of the biggest reasons I don't want spoilers. Everything about her is so interesting. She was the first choice but she died very quickly. But not THAT quickly. Was Rose 2 always the plan and Molly was the sacrificial lamb to pave the way or was Molly just genuinely the best choice to become heiress. She survived for four months which is, if Pact is paced similarly to Worm, long enough to survive Leviathan, The Slaughterhouse Nine, Coil, and Echidna or whatever their equivalent in Pact land is. And that is no small feat. Like obviously I'm assuming here but I can't imagine the combined forces of Jacobs Bell were just letting her chill. I have so many questions about her and I want answers to none of them.

The blonde woman opposite him folded her hands in front of her. “That was… noteworthy in scale. Kind of her to point the way, but she was never crude. We’ll need to know what she did before we move on.”

THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE. Noteworthy in scale. Rose is not a small feat. Why are she and Blake positioned as the backup plan. Thinking so hard

“Funny thing, Maggie,” Padraic said, and when he smiled, the expression extended further than it should have. The smile too wide, the eyes too long and narrow. “When something momentous occurs, it can be the equivalent of lighting up the night sky, scattering fog and clouds to the horizons. You can see more clearly… but when you look, they can look back, too.”

Maggie and Padraic are some of my favorite characters based on vibes alone. I just know they're going to die so horribly so early on. At least Maggie.

“Mm,” the man in the throne said. “‘Lo, stranger. Listen, I don’t think you should believe what any of them say about me. If you need help, I can offer it.” “For a price,” the dog added.

Now see Johannes I would love to give you the benefit of the doubt however I know for a fact (a pact fact!) I have not seen any fanart of you making out sloppy style with Blake Thorburn and as such I find it hard to believe you are his ally. The wildbow ecosystem is too yaoi deprived to not jump on that pairing unless you're some type of fucked up.

“Run,” she said. “Get to the house, now.” “Which house? Who-” “Molly’s dead,” she said. “You’re next.”

HAI ROSE

1.2

I actually don't have much commentary on this chapter other than RIP to BlakeRose but I would happily take the deal to become a creepy bird monster. That's the ideal living situation actually.

1.3

The first sheet had only a simple message, penned in a curling script I almost envied. ‘Birth date’. I tried the year I’d been born. It didn’t work. Day, month? One-eight-oh-one.

...

“Molly!” I hollered, loud enough I should have been audible throughout the house. “Anyone!?” No response. Somewhere, in my general confusion and the mess of stuff I didn’t know or understand, I’d hoped that Molly being alive would be one of those things that caught me off guard.

Not to needle at his grieving process but I'm pretty sure the fact that it was His Birthday Not Molly's that opened the door was a pretty clear sign

I shook my head. “No clue. Something to keep in mind. After stipulations, there’s a section on stipend, with a regular allowance, notes on how often the lawyers can be called without incurring a debt. Oh, right here. A mention of the bird-skull monsters.” “What?” I could see Rose move, standing from her seat. “I’m joking,” I said, with zero humor in my voice.

I think Wildbow should do what visual novels franchises do and make a non canon crossover beach themed spinoff episode with all his characters. I want to see Blake and Lisa be cunty together

My friends were artists and artistic types. I had the unfortunate distinction of being a less than stellar artist. But I’d owed them for the help and support they’d given me, and in helping them with their jobs, I’d stumbled onto a bit of work. Setting up their work, installations, as well as all the other grunt jobs. Sure, they could go to a carpenter to get something put together in the way of a display stand, but that carpenter wouldn’t necessarily know what was at play with the art. Along the way, I’d settled into being a go-to handyman and delivery guy in the local art community. I knew the gallery owners, I knew who was who, and if I couldn’t do a job myself, I knew who to call. Not so glamorous or fancy, not exactly stellar pay, but I had stupid little skills that I could use here. In a pinch, I could use my stride or my arm length to help me figure out measurements, thirty three and a half and thirty-two and a half inches, respectively.

So fun fact I was a gallery tech assistant for about three or four years in high school and I would just like the record to state. A. Wildbow you captured the gallery tech mentality exactly. Tired, sassy, and overall filled with peculiar useful skills. 100% accuracy rate.

Also Blake please call your friends sooner rather than later. The blond gallery tech who works for cheap going suddenly missing is going to DEVASTATE that community. Blake you are a protected species under the wildlife conservation act and the human equivalent of catnip for bisexuals with an art history degree you are the foundation of that community and they are going to be CONCERNED

1.4

She looked a little agitated, nervous. “I think we can go this route. Avoid getting into the ugliest stuff, the books on demons and whatever else. If witch hunters and inquisitors can survive this sort of thing, maybe we can too.” “Borrowing power instead of using it?”

I'm trying to figure out if Rose II is in on it. Because like. She should be right? But then she says things like this that make it sound like she really is just as lost as Blake

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of attached to you, metaphysically. You die, I’m going to be a goner too.” “You think. Either way, I’m the one who got injured,” I said. “I’m the one who has stitches in my hand and a cut on my face.” “At least you’re alive,” she retorted.

They've so immediately become siblings.

Which by the way. If Blake and Rose are fucked up twins of a sort. I have questions about Paige and Peter. Especially seeing as Paige is considered a non starter for Rose Senior

“In this scenario, we’ve got a situation involving a number of countries. If you will, there’s America. I’m rather interested in America for the purpose of this discussion, but that’s just me. Powerful, perhaps overly proud, large, keepers of the peace.” I glanced at his uniform. “Sure.”

Close enough. Welcome Back Victoria Dallon!!

1.5

“It smells like a rose,” a man announced, “It’s as beautiful as a rose. I dare say it’s as fragile as a rose, once you get past the thorns. But is it really our Rose?” I turned. Three twenty-somethings, if I went by appearances, were approaching me from behind. I might have been off. Each had alcohol in brown bags.

I want to be one of them so bad. I want to join the fucked up Fairie gang.

“No,” I said. I grabbed one of the books from the coffee table. “Anger is good.” “Good?” “It keeps us moving. You read the book on implements, I’ll read up on familiars when I’m done Essentials.”

True gallery tech mindset <3

1.6

“Blake!” Rose’s voice, from the living room. “You have to help him!”

This is one of those passages that makes me think Rosie is in on it. You've read more than Blake how has this being an other trap not occurred to you

1.7

Should another practitioner need to bait him again, know that this author used: a pile of festering boar carcasses, six feet high, each carved with his name when well into their state of decay, the decay timed using refrigeration to be roughly parallel; seven jars of burning hair, resupplied keep the flames perpetually alight

Yea who hasn't been here at one point

“To everyone and everything that’s listening,” I said. I heard Rose start speaking behind me, but my words drowned hers out. “To me, and to nobody in particular, I’ve gotta say, I didn’t choose this. I’m doing this for family, to respect them as they were in the past, when my cousins were also my friends, so the others don’t face what Molly did. I’m doing it to respect stuff in the present, because even if I dislike my cousins, I don’t want them to have to face this situation and get killed off. I’m doing this for the family that comes in the future, so my kids and all our descendants don’t have this debt hanging over our heads. Above all, I think I’m doing this for my real family. For the friends I made who gave me support when I needed it most, so I can demonstrate what they taught me. Past, present, future, and… more abstract.”

Guy who can only hate his family this much because of how much he loves them Augh Augh

I could hear Rose behind me, still talking, as if she were very distant. “-than a vestige.”

SUSPICIOUS

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, quiet, “because it’s not blood. I’m not offering anything worth taking, and there aren’t any spirits here to listen and obey, are there?” “There are other options, maybe?” “It doesn’t matter,” she said, again. “I don’t care anymore.”

But then this is the opposite of suspicious because she can't lie but she's saying it didn't work and she wants to give up hhhhhhh Rose you are so slippery to understand

Gathered Pages

I didn't highlight any particular passages but Rose Senior I love youuuuuuuu

[loveroftoomanyfandoms]

Every Little Thing *He* Does is Magic, Chapter 2

Pairing: Platonic Steven Grant x Reader (for now)

Rating: T

Word count: ~800

Story Summary: The events of Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, retold from Reader's perspective after the fact to her best friend.

Tags/Warnings: Companion fic, canon Divergent since Steven still works for the British Museum post-canon, No Jake Lockley, developing friendship, spoilers for ELTSDiM

A/N: Double update since this one is so short! Proceed to chapter 3. 😉

“...So how did the rest of your first week go?”

Y/N smiled as she FaceTimed with Amy while making herself dinner the following Friday night. “It went well! Most of it was reading paperwork and meeting various benefactors and trustees, but my meeting with the Curatorial staff today was really productive. The Egyptian exhibit should only be closed for a few days at most to install the new artifacts.”

She paused to take a sip of water. “Steven made a great suggestion to bring some vases up from storage to spruce up the Ancient Greek collection, which can literally be done overnight, so we'll be updating that area as well.”

Amy grinned. “ Steven did, huh?”

Y/N nodded, ignoring Amy’s suggestive tone. “He also had a lot of really great, out-of-the-box ideas on how to improve the tours and said he could have a sample tour based on those ideas to show me by Monday morning.” 

“Oh that's great! I know you were hoping to have the tours redone before those new artifacts are in place.”

Y/N nodded. “Yeah, but I felt bad because I probably shouldn't have had Steven do any VES-related tasks until he officially started on Monday even though he signed the paperwork today. After he and I wrapped up our solo meeting he mentioned needing to get back down to the gift shop since he was technically still employed as a clerk until Sunday.”

Amy winced. “Oh oof, yeah, I'm sure that's an entirely different pay grade, although from what you’ve said it seemed like he didn’t actually mind doing tasks for his new position early.”

Y/N shook her head. “That’s what I thought too, but then he clarified that it was only because he knew I was busy and he didn't want to bother me by… how did he put it? Oh yeah, ‘hovering’.”

“Oh, okay, good. That was really considerate of him.”

Y/N nodded, a small smile forming on her face at the memory. “Yeah, he definitely seems like he's a really caring person. I told him he wasn't bothering me and that after staring at a mountain of paperwork and meeting a bunch of people with tangential connection to the museum it was nice to be able to actually talk to someone on staff.”

Amy winked. “Specifically him though, right?”

Y/N huffed out a laugh. “I have to admit, it definitely didn't hurt that it was him. Anyway, he asked me how I was settling in and I said that the staff had all been really welcoming for the most part and that I wasn't sure how I was going to be received since I'm not British, and then he said that it didn't matter where I was from, that my qualifications spoke for themselves.”

Amy raised an eyebrow, her lips turning up in a smile. “So basically everything I said when you were freaking out about everyone hating you.”

Y/N huffed out a breath, a smile on her own face. “Yeah, yeah, you were right. He really did have to get back downstairs after that though because I had a phone call I had to take.”

“So do you think everything is going to work out?”

Y/N nodded. “Everyone seems on board with the changes I'm making so far, and I really do think Steven’ll make a great Visitor Engagement Specialist -- he’s incredibly knowledgeable and observant.”

“And hot,” Amy added with a smirk. “And exactly your type.” 

Y/N’s face heated. As much as she’d tried over the past week, she couldn't completely ignore her attraction to Steven. “Maybe, but that has nothing to do with my belief in his ability to do his job or why I promoted him in the first place.” 

Amy let out a light laugh. “I know, I'm just teasing you.”

“Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing his ideas for the new tours in action.” Y/N paused. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, in addition to the Egyptian artifacts on loan from Cairo, we just had a donation of first editions of several classic British novels come in.”

Amy’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, now you're speaking my language.”

Y/N grinned. “I thought you'd be interested in that. I'll send you some pics once we get them authenticated and the display is set up.”

“Please do.”

Y/N nodded as she turned off her stove. “I should run, my dinner is ready. I'll talk to you later though, ‘kay?”

Amy nodded. “Okay, talk to you later.”

“‘Night, Ames.”

“‘Night!”

Y/N ended the call then plated her food.

As she sat down to eat, her mind drifted to Steven. His ideas for revamping the tours really were great and Y/N was excited to see them in practice.  I can't wait until Monday.

[theghostofashton]

Hi, I am really enjoying your Olympic AU. The thing is I always like to be clear about timeline and small details while reading to enjoy the story to the fullest. I just want to know how old are Carlos and TK in this AU? Has Carlos won Olympic medal before or that was his first Olympic when he got injured? How much time actually he took to come back after injury? There is a reference of TK being a three times Olympic medalist. Did he won all three in one Olympic? Do they compete opposite to each other or they compete in different events?

If answer to any of these is a spoiler, feel free not to answer. I can understand. Thank you.

thank you so much, this is so kind!!

i totally get that, and i'm sorry if anything's been unclear!

they're both around 21-22, a bit younger than canon. my hc for birthdays/ages is tk was born in december 1993, and carlos was born in june 1994. this story takes place in early 2016, so tk would be 22 and carlos would be 21

the reason for that has to do with gymnastics as a sport. because it's very difficult on the body, athletes tend to retire young. men will sometimes go to their mid-late twenties, and sometimes even their 30s, but that's not everyone. (for additional context, the recent men's team that competed in paris had an average age of 22).

carlos did not go to the olympics prior to the one they're currently training for – basically, he competed at olympic trials in 2012 to make the london team (he would have been 18), but fell on vault and tore his acl, taking him out of contention for the team. he had surgery, and the recovery timeline is usually around a year for an injury like that. carlos took a little more time off than that (more detail about this will come in future chapters). the thing about time off in gymnastics is that it is likely that you'll have to start from the basics when you're back, because you lose skills fairly quickly, so he would've needed time to build back up to a level where he could be competitive for the 2016 olympics, before starting to officially train (this is where he is when the fic starts)

yes, tk won 3 olympic medals in london! gold on floor, silver on vault, and bronze in the team competition. (as an aside, this fic does exist in kind of its own universe, because realistically, this probably wouldn't have happened in rio. in women's gymnastics, the US is incredibly dominant and has been for years, but they are nowhere close to that in men's. japan and china are huge, russia's also pretty dominant, etc. the US men's team was very much not in the position to win team bronze, and nowhere close to one of their members winning a gold on floor. the US men won bronze in paris and that was absolutely huge because it wasn't really expected)

in regards to competing, they'll both be doing pretty much the same thing. the way gymnastics works at the olympics, there is first a team qualification round where teams complete in six apparatuses (vault, floor, pommel horse, still rings, parallel bar, and high/horizontal bar) to both make team final and event finals. the top 8 gymnasts in each individual apparatus go on to compete in the event final for that particular apparatus, and the top 8 countries make the team final. the top 24 all around scores (adding up all the scores on each of the six apparatuses) go on to compete in the all-around final.

in this fic, tk's strengths are vault and floor, and carlos's are high bar and parallel bars. if on the olympic team, tk would likely make vault and floor finals, but possibly no others, while carlos would likely make both bar finals. they both do compete on all the events, however, to possibly make one of those 24 spots for the all-around final, and also to be able to help the team as much as possible in the team competition. so technically, if they both made the all around final, they'd be competing against each other, but otherwise, they're competing together for their team, and against all the other gymnasts that make any event final they qualify into.

i hope that makes sense!! gymnastics is a pretty confusing sport and took me a while to wrap my head around so feel free to ask any follow ups and i'd be happy to go into more detail :)

[chameleonspell]

HTDC commentary - 4: falling

[Looking back at HTDC after nearly ten years: comments on lore, character notes, influences, art, whatever. May contain spoilers for later chapters.]

chapter text: 4: falling

These early chapters tend to be short and jump forward in time lot, because I was just skipping to the next turning point, and Iriel isn't spending enough time with other people for there to be much interesting going on between. Especially now, because he's gonna be unconscious for a lot of it.

Much later, certain people would gravely refer to this period of Iriel’s life as one during which he “lost himself”

I had no idea who was supposed to have told Iriel this, later, and I still can't think who would be a plausible candidate. I said this purely for rhetorical effect. I feel like this makes me an unreliable narrator of my own story, though I'm not sure that's technically possible.

His conscious mind, cast adrift on an overwhelming ocean of sensation, became reduced to scattered thoughts and isolated impressions.

Seems like Ire was tripping on nature, before he was even tripping on sugar. I probably should have been less dreamily effusive, here, and saved it for the on-drugs bit, but I just really love the Bitter Cost! You don't need drugs to appreciate the Swamp! Despite the apparent similarities of the Pit being Iriel's shame and depression, Iriel being in the swamp was never at all the same metaphor, though it took until chapter 153 for me to really explicate this properly. Being in the swamp is mostly positive, if soggy. The swamp is comforting and accepting. The swamp doesn't judge.

The spongey texture of the luminous mushrooms he collected obsessively, and the ssschlucking sound they made when he yanked them out of the damp soil to lay them out in order of size and colour on the moss.

I got really into mushrooms (as organism, not drug!) after I wrote Iriel an obsession with them. Be very careful what interests you give fictional characters, because if you identify with them too hard, it's very easy to catch it off them.

All Ire knew was that he had found two small cloth bags of crystalline white powder underneath a crate on a small jetty, and that when he put a finger in and licked it, everything got better.

The story started with a concept and a shape, but no detail - that mostly came out of gameplay, at the start. The moon sugar was a happy accident, finding the bags in a random smuggler loot sack, and realising...  why wouldn't he?

Moon sugar is described as a numbing and euphoria-inducing drug, similar to an opiate. It's also the soft option, compared to its more refined form, skooma, so Iriel's still in the narcotics kiddie-pool, really. That said, we also know these drugs affect TES races differently, with men and mer being affected far more strongly than Khajiit. And we know that Altmer specifically are more sensitive to magic (for better and worse) than other races. Thus, Iriel is having quite an extreme reaction.

he found himself falling: into the glowing colours, into the soft, yielding swamp, and not caring, because when he spat mud and rolled over onto his back, he found himself falling into the sky.

The whole "sad elves falling in swamps" thing is, I admit, a private joke. Because someone once (somehow, unaccountably) found my website by googling for the string "sexy women falling in swamps", and when I saw it in the search referrals, I laughed about it for days.

The night skies of Morrowind are stunningly beautiful, viewed sober. Moon sugar rendered them a religious experience.

Morrowind skies being best skies is just facts. @valtheimm illustrated this scene beautifully:

If I say that he spent long hours lying in the mud, staring at the fractal patterns at the end of fern fronds, I’m sure you can fill in the rest for yourselves. Let’s skip to the end.

I guess I wasn't too consistent with the first person narration, but the narrator was there from the start! It just fell into the background, when other things were happening, or the scene didn't want that sort of external comment, only to re-emerge later, and make people question me about where it came from.

Who is the narrator? Me, just me, the author. Nothing complicated. I was used to books where that kind of thing is common, as a random interjection. I was reading a George Eliot book at the time, and she's always interrupting the action to discuss her characters in first person. It creates a sense of ironic distance, so you don't want to have it all the time, usually you want to be right there in the characters emotions. Other times, you want to add that distance, and deliberately get out of the character's head.

Here, we are watching Iriel flopping about the swamp from a distance, because he's out of his mind, so we are, too. We can go back closer when he returns to himself, try and feel the shock of that with him as much as we can.

Where he came from, the gods were not thought to actively involve themselves in the lives of their worshippers. This was part of what made them so admirable.

TES sets up a whole lot of metaphysical binaries, but the key one is Anu and Padomay, which for our purposes means stasis and change. This comes in a lot more later, but that bog body metaphor is already looking a bit prescient, innit? Here, we can just note that Iriel's home gods are the Aedra, which are Anuic, and therefore both unchanging and incapable of intervening or causing change themselves. Iriel thinks that in Morrowind, where other gods apply, things might be different.

Lying back down and dying was tempting, but Ire hadn’t survived this long by letting that part of his brain have its way.

Iriel is physically unimposing, cries easily and doesn't exactly tick many boxes on the socially-mandated "ideal masculinity" chart. He's scared of everything, because many things have hurt him, and life hasn't equipped him with many tools to defend himself. Does that make him "a weak person", as he himself believes? Or is he strong, for surviving, despite the odds stacked against him, for persisting regardless? What does it mean to be weak or strong, and is weakness even a bad thing? Questions I kept on coming back to, throughout the story.

Iriel is far from morally perfect, and sometimes does selfish things, especially while he's addicted to drugs. There wouldn't be much of a story, if he didn't make a total mess of his life, and have to try and clean it up. But he is strong, in lots of ways, and he will manage to be a hero, in lots of ways. Making him "an effeminate gay stereotype" was very deliberate. Because sure, that's a stereotype, but not for the hero. It's for villains and cheap-laugh side characters, where it gets laced with a lot of other homophobic tropes. Queer heroes, where they exist, tend to be indistinguishable from straight characters, beyond their sexuality - and that's nothing like the real people I know, it's nothing like me or my friends! Femme gay men exist, and are wonderful and diverse and incredibly powerful, actually.

Real-life queer people can't be stereotypes by definition, instead they have to constantly live with how their personal expression is interpreted and policed and refracted into cheap stereotypes by the dominant culture, stereotypes which are then used against them. I wanted to write a character going through that experience, that negotation of an imposed stereotype that has some truth to it, albeit in ways that the people using it against you don't understand. To be up-front about this: I'm queer, but I'm not a gay man, so I was always aware of the danger that I might misjudge something, and screw up. I tried to keep Iriel's specifically gay aspects as grounded as I could in non-fictional people I knew, or had read things by. In the case of real-life friends, I pray I changed enough details on any embarrassing anecdotes I stole that they can't recognise themselves here, and get mad at me.

Iriel set out in search of structure.

The moon sugar was extremely useful, narratively speaking. See, the wonderful thing about an addiction to hard drugs -- this sounds like I'm being facetious, but I've heard heroin addicts say exactly this -- is that it gives you something to do, when your life has no meaning. It forces action. You can't just lie face-down in the swamp forever. You have to go out, and get money, and get drugs. Which forces you, especially if the money part is challenging, into situations.

Playlist pick: Sparklehorse - Spirit Ditch. This is a song to lie in a swamp and get high to. By Mark Linkous, another junkie. Died by suicide in 2010. You always hope when someone writes songs that sad, that it means they have some kind of… answer. A different one, I mean.

next: 5: slide & 6: trap previous: 3: breathe

[canonical-transformation]

Genshin ships: stock market update (Fontaine Act 3–4)

(Warning: May contain spoilers for character appearances and dynamics in [Chapter 4 Act 3–4] To the Stars Shining in the Depths and Cataclysm's Quickening. Previously: Act 1)

The Fontainian market is gaining liquidity as of early v4.1. Volatility has settled for Fontainian blue-chips Neuvechi and Clorivia(*), with the expectation of steady returns. Our recommendation: BUY/HOLD

Wriothesley/Neuvillette is expected to join the blue-chips, though the market is yet to come to a consensus here. BUY

Wriothesley/Traveller is, like most Traveller ships, a safe bet. HOLD

Unexpected reports of shy Lyney moments have caused modest gains in Lyney/Traveller. BUY OR HOLD

Likewise, Lynette/Traveller is having a very delayed boom thanks to additional solo interaction. ("Almost half a minute's worth," claimed one report.) HOLD OR BUY

Arlecchino/Furina is in the prototype phase. The extremely imbalanced power dynamic makes this somewhat contentious. Our analysts' conclusions include: "The Knave totally would" and "The Knave totally wouldn't" and "You're both wrong". Analysts all agree that Furina's opinion is irrelevant here. BUY OR SELL OR HOLD we have no idea, consult your financial advisor.

Rarepairs

The small-cap market, aka "rarepairs", is hard to predict as always.

Marette/Madeleine — SELL OR HOLD. Our analysts want it to be a thing but note that Marette really is 100% idgaf about everything.

Cuistot/Laverune — BUY OR HOLD duh.

Jurieu/Lourvine — unconvincing. If anything, they're exes, with a full lovers-to-enemies offscreen. SELL. Well, unless you specifically mean smut, in which case BUY.

Wriothesley/Clorinde has good camaraderie but market testing warns it lacks sufficient chemistry. HOLD.

(If going long anyway, make sure to hedge with some platonic content involving "dorky colleagues" and "tea parties". Include Siegwinne where applicable.)

Wriothesley/Ningguang — a weak BUY, appropriately diversified.

This one has legs. Two pairs, even. Our analysts note that "nobody, repeat, nobody, is going to write an epistolary macroeconomics treatise + romance fic for those two. Yes, it's technically possible, but no way." Our analysts are cowards.

(Also, I'm calling it, those two are bait for the Glowfic community, don't @ me)

Furina/Lynette — oh, because they both find stray cats heartwarming? Sure, why not. HOLD

simultaneous Lyney/Traveller + Traveller/Lynette — SELL, good fundamentals but overvalued at current prices.

Returns contingent on suspending disbelief of the twins risking their relationship over a shared crush. Not to mention Traveller spent most of Act 3 half-expecting those two to stab them in the back :(

Charlotte/truth — abstract concept ships are inherently crackships, and rarely meet revenue projections. Still, this one is absolutely true, and continually supported every time she appears on screen, so HOLD

Arlelumi — Latest reports suggest something major is in the works, but what exactly remains to be seen. HOLD OR BUY

Siegwinne/gun — !??!?!??!??!? BUY BUY BUY but in moderation BUY BUY BUY

no but seriously I'd give even odds she beats Clorinde in a pistol duel

-----

And, unrelated to the AQ:

Chevreuse — Who?

Jakob/Alain and Jakob/Rene — BUY. May take years to find a target audience but the essentials are there.

Lyris/Egeria — YOU DO YOU. wait was that a pun

(*) Clorivia paid out a small but unexpected dividend. Our analysts remind readers not to expect any serious focus on the pairing in Act 5.

Future returns may differ from past returns. This column is not financial advice. Consult a financial shipping advisor about what ships are appropriate for your situation.

[miztrixx]

KIMI GA SHINE - THE MASTER ANALYSIS - Chapter 1-1: Prologue (SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME)

So, after some deliberation, I’ve decided to do a daily blog thing where I play through the entirety of YTTD, go through every route and scene and also watch through the minisodes before then doing an analysis of everything within it…

What better place to start than the beginning, eh?

We begin the game off with an ominous silhouette asking us one simple question. “Do you know what a majority vote is?”. At the beginning of the game when there is barely any context, this scene serves as a helpful way to introduce the core concept of majority votes to us. Our friend, Shadow the Beaniehog over here gives us a simple demo of a majority vote with two options that are, ironically, positions regarding majority votes. There is not much to say about the dichotomy between Mr. Blue and Ms. Red in this scene other that they represent compliance and defiance to majority votes. Whoever we choose, the other one dies which foreshadows the concept of the Main Game very early on. A majority vote to choose who is killed. Compliance and defiance to majority votes are things we will discuss in other scenes, because they are themes that become important.

Beyond the apparent stuff we can glean from this scene, we can also analyse it from our present point of view in hindsight. This scene at the very beginning is meant to make you distrust the character we come to know as “Sou Hiyori” (the name taken on by the body of Shin Tsukimi) it makes you suspicious and wary of him from the get go and makes you primed for his betrayal and “nice persona” to fall. When in reality, this scene is being conveyed to Shin himself. Beyond this scene being just an introduction, we are literally seeing how the fear of death was being injected into Shin like poison, forcing him to take the “Sou Hiyori” persona and becoming the catalyst for 2/3 of the game’s conflict. This is also, technically, the first time we get to see Midori (or atleast a warped yet accurate perception of him, I’ll elaborate more when we actually get to Shin reflecting on this in 2-2). The shadow teasing and mocking the player is also such a good use of subverting expectations. It makes us think that Shin/Sou is going to be a prick (which he is, don’t get me wrong) but also, the reality is that Shin is the one that the shadow is mocking in a malicious tone, cornering him into a situation he can’t get out of.

It’s interesting how the first scene of the game we see ends up being about Shin when he’s not even protagonist. I’d say that our actual protagonist, Sara and Shin are both equally important and crucial to the story. But speaking of Sara…

Our next scene (or less of a scene, more of a 10 second moment) features the main girl, Sara Chidouin! This scene is another one meant to sow suspicion and distrust within us (even though it’s not aimed at anyone in particular) as two long arms reach out seemingly about to grab Sara. You can make various assumptions from this, that these arms belong to the kidnappers and this is the scene where Sara is being kidnapped to the Death Game, but it’s be wrong. With the benefit of hindsight, we know that this is Keiji reuniting with Sara during the Banquet after Ranmaru locked him in the lockers. It’s a small sliver of content that hints at the dynamic between Sara and Keiji, one of the most important dynamics in the game coming just before Sara and Joe’s dynamic and Sara and Shin/Sou’s dynamic. Again, a scene that comes off as frightening ends up being a moment of reunion and confidence.

These two scenes do help illustrate one of (what I see as) the themes of the game. Of trusting those who are in the same situation as you, as trying to connect with your fellow human beings. These scenes try to sow distrust but end up being subvertations from the truth (Shin’s real persona being masked by a defence of malice, Keiji being a supportive person to Sara despite what he does at the beginning of the game)

Let me know if you have any criticisms, or disagree with what I’m saying!

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Cuties on scooties can only mean one thing. I’ve finally finished Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. Like it matters but I feel like it’s relevant because I started it at the suggestion of a fellow Kiku fan who rightly identified it as something that fits well within that Tsuru’s Teahouse/Bagdad Cafe vibe. Let me set the stage though, and people familiar will get right away why this resonates so much.

Around 2004, I was 14 growing up in a rural town in the States. A rocky adolescence, a town that was growing in the aftermath of a big natural disaster five years prior, and a legitimately rapidly changing world. Really big time for me, and it was the first time I was seeking out anime to help me cope with issues it was hard to talk about. Because of local law, I was also now legally able to operate a small scooter with a new learner’s permit. Being a trustworthy, charming young lady people knew because of my dad...I spent a lot of time either watching obscure anime or cruising around country highways and parts of town I never knew of. All while an old world quietly gave it’s last bow. If you play a classic song like Dream a Little Dream of Me or Girl from Ipanema this is actually the time period I think back to. Because there was a little mini-renaissance of that era as it’s names finally faded away.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou bottled those complex emotions into 140 chapters and reflected them back to me in one of the most compelling and unique stories I’ve ever consumed. I cried as much as I have at anything but walked away from an apocalyptic series oddly hopeful for the future. Living “after the fall” doesn’t have to be all bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an artist better understand the idea less is more. Spoilers ahead, not that they really matter for a story like this.

This is from the finale, and I love that we never really say what it’s about before then. You get the idea roughly and that’s a big point. We never really explain a lot of elements. This is deliberate. Humanity faced some kind of disaster and is slowly fading out as the climate shifts. It doesn’t have the heavy-handed or grim outlook on this a lot of 90s Japanese works reflecting growing environmental consciousness have. It’s...melancholic. There’s this motif of changes in plant life to mirror remnants of humanity. Love it. 

Story focuses on robot girls built to be the observers, the memory of that “festival” winding down. A lot of time passes in this story. About 20-25 years. But it hits you just like it does in reality. The old man at the gas station looks a little older. Then well, he’s gone. My favorite is how we focus on two children we meet at the start. This might be one of the most impactful manga character arcs I’ve encountered and it barely has any substance. It’s just the weird effect YKK has. It’s spellbinding.

The dark-haired girls are mother & daughter early and late series to give you an idea of the scope. The nude lady is the Misago. Technically an earlier-model robot than MC Alpha and her girlfriend Kokone. Functionally a cryptid that only appears to kids. The boy always hoping he could see the Misago one last time resonates so much. Bummed out she didn’t trust him anymore. Never been one to idolize being young, but it makes me think of like...the unfinished project with a childhood friend. That feeling is all around but past a certain point we just can’t interact with it the same way. “You can never go back.” 

I’m going to have to re-read this one in about a year. But I already know it’s a top 10. I’ve never seen anything like it, and the art is just gorgeous. Stuff like Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is exactly why I trawl around for obscure anime & manga.

[endless-sketching]

Another Painoko rambling. (Spoilers)

So as I'm rereading this manga, I'm at the part where Ryuji and Makoto are dating now. What I didn't realize that they don't explore the facet of what a gay dude and a pre transition trans girl.

Like they just don't do any of that kind of questioning at all!

The main reason why they broke up was a misunderstanding and a lot of unspoken grudges and implications.

I guess that's why I still chew on this manga's way of telling but at the same time it's kind of infuriating from a trans perspective.

They legitimately have the perfect set up to ask these kinds of questions.

The point I'm at in the story is the Christmas arc, before Ryuji buys a gift for Makoto.

And I remember that Saki (Aoi btw, I found out that Aoi is her last name) got really sad that her dad had to cancel plans and leave early only to find someone resembling her mom as she wanders the street and chases after only to trip and unable to fully process everything, just to find Makoto and cry in her arms. And Ryuji saw.

Which is what I remember is why Ryuji broke up with Makoto later on, but wow what a bullshit way to break them up!

He knows a small semblance of Saki's current situation and he's considered an emotionally intelligent dude, hell he calls out Saki multiple times. Even if she's not a hard case to crack he sees through her facade.

Granted I guess all she did tell him was about a love life where they both fall out of love with Makoto and asks if he's willing to go out with her, as a hypothetical. Which is the only insight he has on Saki's headspace.

So I guesss this kind of assumption isn't too far fetched to see your SO hugging someone that confessed to them and be heartbroken.

And there is Makoto being rather desperate on wanting things to go back, with how her life has been wanting to revert problems that were never there if she had kept a better secret.

And this does significantly matter in a relationship, since it's not really dating if one of you just wants to make amends after accidentally rejecting the other.

So I guess them making up later and the other two actually going out at the end does technically work out.

Though they very well could've made Ryuji a Bi icon by saying he likes both versions of Makoto -3-

But it's just a weird technicality that it doesn't feel satisfying does it?

A panel taken from Senpai wa Otokonoko chapter 43 by Pomu

So yeah it's getting late, I'll come back to report more on Painoko if I got more to talk about :p

[abookclubofonesown]

the cloisters | katy hays | 2022

ann stilwell arrives in NYC for her summer associate internship at the Met only to find out that her supervisor has been whisked away and she is transferred to the Cloisters - an extension of the Met filled with Medieval and Early Renaissance works along with the eponymous gardens full of poisonous herbs. there she works with patrick and rachel on their research in Early Renaissance divination practices and the origins of tarot, ostensibly for a future exhibit, but we find out that the interest borders on obsession. 

---------------------------*spoilers ahead*--------------------------------

this one was tough. i didn’t technically finish it. i got to the halfway point and was like alright lets get this show on the road. there were a multitude of reasons why i didn’t finish this book: 

1) the characters were not at all likable or sympathetic. and the ones that were were treated with scorn basically. like i get it - not every character needs to be likable or like a Good Person ™. but i do need to feel for them in a way that keeps me engaged in the book, and these ones did not. 

2) a lot of the characters reminded me of the people i dreaded interacting with in college. i have bachelor’s in classics and a masters in art history so i’ve been around this cast of characters in many different iterations. i actually have applied to the summer associate internship that ann is in (i was not offered a spot lol). i’ve been the ann from some rinky dink small private school in the middle of nowhere who’s in the big city just trying to get their foot in the door. i was put in the worst mood after reading like fourteen pages of this because i’ve been there and i didn’t like it. but i really did want to give it a chance and see if it got any better (narrator: it did not). 

i did like the bits where they were actually at the cloisters and like being employees there - particularly one scene where ann is being shown around the gardens by leo the gardener and they were being a little flirty. but then it gets ruined by this rachel character who i really didn’t like. i know this girl and if i were in ann’s shoes, i would have smiled and nodded just to placate her. i probably would have been as thrown off by her as ann was, but i wouldn’t think it Hot or whatever ann thought. apparently rachel and leo were a thing of some kind and there’s this weird tangled web of relationships between everybody in this book - which i think can work, like in most books, but it added weird tension when the book and ann were already just so tense all the time. 

3) the mystery. i made it halfway through this book and we hadn’t made it past like the preliminary clues of the whole shebang. everything just felt like it was dragged out for so long. people would always been keeping pieces of info from one another without like earning the secrecy. idk. 

i stopped actively reading this half way through and i had been skimming pretty heavily starting about a third of the way through. it was a lot of rehashing the same points of trauma or just saying the same things again and again or giving more descriptions of idle actions than i really cared for. then i skipped to the last three chapters which revealed all i had wanted to know. the book starts of with ann talking about a dead body so i wanted to know who died and that was really it. my three guesses were leo, patrick, or rachel. two out of three are dead by the end (patrick and rachel) and only one explicitly by murder (patrick). and then you’re thrown the curveball that rachel knew and arranged the guy that ann was originally supposed to work with’s excursion to bergamo, leaving ann to be transferred to the cloisters, and i just rolled my eyes because like of course. of course it wasn’t really a chance meeting and of course it was the woman that had told ann throughout that she didn’t really believe or want divination to be real. 

there were multiple scenes of people getting their cards read and i think it would have been way cooler if they put illustrations of the card spread in the prose. there’s the index in the back that lists the cards and all that, but i think that visual component would have served the book well, especially since it’s such an art history heavy plot. 

i wanted to like this book because i loved my visit to the cloisters and i do like tarot, but the characters and the pacing killed my enthusiasm real quick. 

tl;dr: murder at the museum was foretold in the cards

[toukatan]

You read every gojohime fic???? That's amazing!!! What are your favourites?

hello anonie! i guess i can say i’ve read at least a good 80% of all the fics, at least. probably. most likely because the fic tag at the start of the year was tiny and now the community’s grown so much there’s almost 600 of them. that’s insane to me. like hello?

i have a lotta fics that come to mind, that i should honestly make a master post on because i love them all. so here are a few many that came to mind immediately as i typed this up.

gojohime fic recommendations!

multichapter

limitations by ohmytheon 

“Parenthood chooses you," her mother used to tell her, but Utahime never understood that saying more than the moment she realized she was pregnant with Gojo Satoru's child. They were never meant to be something serious - never meant to be more than they were - and yet they both suddenly find themselves in a world that doesn't care about their desires - and that brings them closer in a way that no one else can understand. It won't be easy and it won't be kind to either of them, but it appears as if the universe has other plans for them

no one is what they were before by ohmytheon 

The world broke when Gojo Satoru turned on jujutsu society. It's not the hopeful place it was before, but Utahime has never been one to give up. Until she's placed in a dangerous position directly in his path, and she finds herself trapped in a web that doesn't seem intent on ever letting her go.

and touch me like you never by ohmytheon 

In public, Gojo is a special grade bastard, especially to Utahime, and has been all their lives. He knows exactly what insults to throw and what buttons to push to drive her up a wall. In private, however, he's got quite a few other things to tell and show her, which only makes things more confusing. It would be easier if she could avoid him entirely, but for some reason, he won't let her go entirely.

gravity by aerfei

This is Utahime, fierce and indomitable, and this is Satoru, who despite holding the world’s regard, still craves something that Utahime has had all her life. Coming together is sometimes an act of desperation, and sometimes a deliberate choice. Or: An Iori Utahime character study, through the lens of her relationship with Gojo Satoru, starting from the beginning and ending at the Goodwill Event arc. Manga spoilers and (at least 95%) canon-compliant through (at least) chapter 135.

count every single leaf in autumn by florieneofthesea

“I told my family we’re dating.” Utahime’s hand hovers over the door. “What?!” (or: Gojo tells his family that he's dating Utahime to get them off his back, so of course they invite her to the dreaded family dinner™)

favourite colour by otherthingsonhold

At 28, Satoru Gojo's responsibilities only start to multiply. With his clan looking to him to lead the family, and the balance of the universe in his hands, Gojo isn't thinking of much else. But when his mother brings something to his attention, the only thing Gojo can do is follow through. But how is Utahime Iori part of all of this?

gojo catoru by ashittywriter

Utahime is tasked to catsit a suspiciously large Persian dollface cat with pristine white hair, the most boop-able nose, and to top it off the cutest cerulean eyes. Too bad the cat also happens to be her idiotic colleague Gojo Satoru.

at the tail-end of spring by florieneofthesea

Utahime doesn't expect to remember her ex's number off by heart but it comes in handy when she's a little less than sober outside a club in a city she's not familiar with and her battery on three percent. She just wishes things turned out differently for them. (Or, post-break up exploration where outer forces refuse to let them have their happy ending.)

a second chance by onewordmore

In another world, it wasn't Geto who sneered down at humanity, regarding them to be worthless monkeys that deserved to die. In another world, it wasn't Geto who openly defied the Jujutsu Council and brought down terror and fear to all. In another world, it wasn't just Amanai Riko who died that day, amidst the cheers and delighted cries of the insane. And Utahime was going to learn, first hand, the consequences of her own death.

from you to me by onewordmore

A drabble series regarding Gojo and Utahime. From fluff to smut to angst to love. This is going to have it all.

oneshots

oceansize by aerfei

The marriage is arranged by their families, small clans both, with all their hopes and traditions laid gently upon the shoulders of their only heirs -- and yet, this distance is impassable.

under the cover of darkness by ohmytheon

It takes a little alcohol, early morning hours, and a game of truth or dare for Gojo and Utahime to admit some difficult truths to each other.

risk/reward by ohmytheon 

No punishment had ever been more effective in making Gojo do his actual job than receiving praise from his secretary - or more grueling than when Utahime withheld it.

like a good roommate by ohmytheon

Utahime has a problem: her bed wasn't delivered to the new apartment. Her ridiculous roommate, Gojo, has a solution - but he's kind of panicking on the inside.

aware of us by halspur 

“We did alright, didn’t we?” Gojo put his phone down after taking several dozen photos of Tsumiki walking across the stage, his eyes soft. “I mean, we were just kids, too.”

love song by halspur

“Because you’re weak.” Gojo said, muffled into the thin skin of her throat. “I can’t leave you alone.”

tear you apart by halspur

“I don’t want to be mean to you,” Utahime’s cheek was pressed into his spine, her voice muffled. “I like you.”

cuddles are for clean boyfriends by just_trying_my_best_everyday

Utahime finds Gojo Satoru sitting right behind the door, blindfold hanging on his neck, completely soaked in blood and petting her cat with both hands. And he stinks.

honey by florieneofthesea

Gojo Satoru experiences love a decade before he fully realises it.

roots by florieneofthesea 

At the start of winter, Utahime starts to cough up blood. She thinks maybe its just the lingering damage from her last mission, but the coughing persists and it starts to scratch her throat, and itch at her lungs and when she finally makes the trip to Tokyo to ask Shoko for her help, she doesn't even get the first word out. Shoko welcomes her at the entrance to Tokyo Metropolitan Technical School and Utahime hacks up a single, pale blue petal, smattered with blood. She stares down at the flora on the ground and wonders if she's been cursed. Utahime looks up, and Shoko's eyes are wide.

to have and to hold by ashittywriter

“M’sorry," Gojo said his voice slurring at the end. "But please go away, I have a girlfriend." Utahime blinked in confusion. What the fuck? 

souvenir by PrettyKittyLuvsU

“Aha!” Gojo tugged something out of his pocket, his long fingers curled around it as he held his hand behind his back. His other hand waved before him, a cheeky grin splitting his lips. “Ora, ora! Hold out your hand.” Utahime stared flatly. “Ora, ora!” Gojo persisted, continuing to wave his hand as he grinned. “Hold out your hand already!” Utahime scowled at the hand swaying infront of her face. She had half a mind to slap the man instead, but her students were closely watching. Even Gojo’s students, the second years mainly—for Sukuna’s vessel was apologizing profusely as the brown haired girl continued kicking him while the quiet one made no effort to stop her— looked in fascination at whatever ridiculous souvenir Gojo wanted to hand her. Utahime slowly lifted her arm, already planning on throwing the thing back in Gojo’s annoying face. Gojo gets Utahime a very special kind of souvenir. Set during the start of the Goodwill arc.

dayum this exposes me huh? i do be reading a lot but what can i say i love to see it. all these fics are amazing, to the writers y’all are doing fantastically like my goodness you be really putting ya girl in a loop with some of these fics with your plot-lines and doing it flawlessly. can’t thank them enough for them, their hard work and time!

be sure to show the writers some love and support with comments, bookmarks and fight that dayum kudos button when it smiles at you because lemme leave more—

i think they’d really really appreciate it when they hear the bing and be sure to check out all of their stories including the ones in the pairing tag! happy readings 😙✨

[heliopauseentertainments]

3, 4, and 9 for Reforged!

Reblog if you are a fanfiction author and would like your readers to put one of your fic titles in your ask + questions about it

Gave me a hard one to answer right away, lol. I'm going to go with favorite bits, etc. from what is already posted to avoid spoilers. I'm also going to go with bits from relatively recent chapters because it's a massive fic and I haven't reread some of the earlier chapters in a bit.

Fic Context: Reforged

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

This includes a tiny piece of the attached dialogue for clarity.

“Smoochies,” Rodimus announced, with all the grace of a thrown brick, before pursing his lips expectantly.

Excerpted from chapter 90.

Why is this my favorite? Because it's so damn ridiculous, especially in the broader context in which it occurs.

Looming sense of impending, inescapable pain and/or death

A bright moment of happiness in the midst of that

Not only already wanting affection from Megatron, but also expecting that this absurd demand is the best way to ask for it and the complete and utter expectation that this will have the desired result of a "smoochie."

Unexpected word choices for the comedic value

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

“If you’re about to tell me that the gas ball outside is broken, I am not fixing it.”

Excerpted from chapter 92.

It's hard to pick favorite dialogue when one of your major speaking role characters is Rodimus. His dialogue is some of my favorite to write.

He is talking about a gas giant that Caminus orbits. His general refusal to refer to things in a technically specific ways leads to hilarious, irreverent turns of phrase.

He is 100% certain he might be asked to "fix" a "broken" planet.

He is also talking to a generally well-regarded, high-ranking priestess. The absolute disregard for authority in his word choice is fantastic.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Well, there were other versions of trials/trial solutions that I ultimately didn't use, but not necessarily entirely alternate versions.

Unless you count that that when I started writing this, I thought I would be done in 20 chapters tops. You know, like a liar unaware that I was lying.

Spoilers (for earlier trials) below the cut.

The original solution to the third trial was going to be Star Saber appearing just in time to eat all off the scraplets. Hints of that plan are still pretty evident in that arc. The ultimate solution I went with seemed to fit better, but it was definitely a last minute switch.

One of the trials was going to be sending Rodimus out into the wilderness alone on a pilgrimage, something that adherents to the Way of Flame generally do as a rite of passage, to self-reflect and build something (a small, crude lantern) with materials he finds out there. This was scrapped pretty early on, but I kept a few aspects of it.

Originally, Rodimus was going to actually manage something fairly sword-shaped in the second trial and be the one who pulled Star Saber out (and got bitten). But I ultimately decided that wouldn't be failing hard enough and I wanted to better integrate Prowl into the narrative, so I had Prowl do it.

Also, originally, Prowl wasn't going to be in the fic. Neither were the flashback interrupt chapters of Solus, Megatronus, and the others from that time period.

I didn't intend to touch as much on those historical aspects because it was the modern reinterpretation of what the myths meant that mattered more than any factual basis. However, including them ended up being a great help narratively and provided additional clarification for the reader.

As far as Prowl, I... was realizing pretty early on that I needed an additional seemingly antagonistic force and he seemed an excellent person to cast in that role. He was perfectly poised for it. He was also a great window in Autobot weirdness that I couldn't necessarily get in the same way with other cast members (Minimus/Ultra Magnus).

It also gave me an opportunity to spend a lot of time developing a satisfying character arc for Prowl. 100% unintended but I'm glad for it. Also the reader shift in comments from disdain for Prowl as an antagonist to "oh no, is Prowl okay??? Prowl needs to sleep" has been delightful.

[shadowed-dancer]

MHA: Todoroki ages, Touya’s “death” date, and more

With the release of Chapter 302, we have been given some very interesting information that has allowed me to calculate...

Touya and Fuyumi’s age gap

The month Touya's incident occurred

A general time range for that flashback with the ball

Dabi’s current age

Time range for Shoto getting his scar and Rei being taken away

There will be spoilers under the cut.

UPDATE: A recent twitter post revealed an error in this chapter, so I’ve adjusted my theory accordingly.

So before we start, we have to look at the age gaps we knew from before. In order to have a constant understanding, we need to calculate the age gaps between siblings after they have all celebrated their birthdays for the year. Fuyumi’s birthday is last, falling on December 6. We will use the ages they would have been during the time our story takes place

Touya - ? Age Gap ? Fuyumi - 23 Age Gap 4 Natsuo - 19 Age Gap 4 Shoto - 15

Now, using the ages revealed in chapter 302, we can figure out when the ball flashback is taking place (approximately).

Touya - 13 Age Gap 1 Fuyumi - 12 Age Gap 4 Natsuo - 8 Age Gap 3 Shoto - 5

The age gap between Shoto and Natsuo is lower, meaning Shoto’s birthday has already passed, but Natsuo's hasn’t. If it had, the gap between Natsuo and Shoto would have been 4, and the Natsuo-Fuyumi gap would have been 3. This means this flashback is taking place somewhere between January and June (Natsuo’s birthday is July 1)

Judging by the clothes the kids are wearing, it seems safe to guess that this is probably Spring or Summer. Sure, they all have bodies that are accustom to the cold, but adult Natsuo and Fuyumi still wear coats, meaning they have some sense of seasonal fashion.

Ok so question 1 answered: This flashback takes place in the Spring or Summer, any time before July!

Since we now know that this is taking place before Natsuo’s birthday, it also means it is taking place before Fuyumi’s. This mean that Fuyumi would turn 13 this year, and shortly afterward Touya would turn 14.

This means that Fuyumi and Touya would be born in the same year, and there would be the slightest overlap in December and early January when they are technically the same age.

Another way of looking at this is that Fuyumi will turn whatever age Touya already was.

Question 2 answered: Fuyumi and Touya were born in the same year, with an age gap of about 11 months

Now, using this information, it allows us to know Dabi’s age. Fuyumi was 22 when we met her in the series, and then turned 23. This means Touya was already 23 when we met him, and has now turned 24

Question 3 answered: Dabi is 24, and was 23 when we met him

Finally, let’s look at Touya’s incident. Chapter 302 gives us a little time jump with this transitional text...

We have now jumped to Winter, but Touya is still 13, which means we have not passed his birthday yet (January 18).

However, a quick google search tells me that Japan considered “Winter” to be December-February, which means Touya’s incident had to have happened either in December, or early January (before his birthday). Not an exact date, but still a pretty small range!

Question 4 answered: Touya’s accident happened in December or early January

Unfortunately for us, we don’t know how long after this it took before Rei’s incident, but this chapter confirms that she left after Touya.

EDIT: Twitter has revealed that this line was actually a mistake, and Fuyumi’s comment in Chapter 250 where Rei left before Touya is the actually true one. Check out this post for more details. I have adjusted my calculations accordingly.

We actually know a little about when she was put in the hospital. Just before the Billboard Charts, Deku mentions that this was happening “as November neared it’s end”. Then, Natsuo mentioned that “it’s been nearly 10 years since [Rei was hospitalized]”.

Assuming this was at the end of November, knowing that they have not reached the official 10-year-mark, and adding the fact that Touya died before his birthday in January, it means Rei was probably taken away in December or early January, and then Touya left for training shortly after that.

This “nearly 10 years” hint also matches up with the current timeline. Shoto would have still been 5 (since it’s before his and Touya’s birthdays), and 10 years later means he’s 15 (his current age at that point in the series).

Question 5 answered: Rei scarred Shoto when he was 5, just about to turn 6, and it was probably in late December or early January.

For my final point, I’d like to do a finalized list of ages at all these times, just incase some fic writer needs a reference.

Current Ages (as of March) Touya - 24 Fuyumi - 23 Natsuo - 19 Shoto - 16

Ages when Touya “died” Touya - 13 Fuyumi - 13 Natsuo - 9 Shoto - 5

Ages when Rei was taken away Touya - 13 Fuyumi - 13 Natsuo - 9 Shoto - 5

Voila! Hope that was educational.

[kiyoominous]

chapter two: the glacial heart

masterlist is here!

blurb: kaeya alberich is a man of charming confidence but nobody really knows about the loneliness that he hides each day. cupid himself, of course, is an exception to his. so he takes it upon himself to find someone to spark something in kaeya's heart. 

pairing: kaeya/reader 

content: fluff, slight angst, spoilers for kaeya’s lore, roman god au (sort of)

author’s note: wahoo, kaeya’s chapter is here! there wasn’t too much of him but i hope there’s enough to keep you kaeya lovers entertained. 

mondstadt, the city of freedom. it may as well be named the city of wine with the profit that dawn winery rakes in each year. angel's share was once the sole home of mondstadt's wine, a place where bards tarry and adventurers take their rest. 

some say that every blue moon, a young bard clad in teal will grace the tavern with songs that last until the early hours of morning. he's entrancing, they say. captivating, mesmerising, hypnotising. so much so that he's been dubbed 'most popular bard in mondstadt' venti takes this title in stride, proudly strolling through the streets with his lyre during his visits to the city. 

other gods may see mister cupid parading around mondstadt to be a show of idleness but he simply begs to differ. perhaps 'clocking off of work' might be a better perspective, he supposes. or even 'creating an immersive experience.' though venti revels in weaving poetry into music, he's also an opportunistic god. it isn't easy to make judgements on love a thousand miles above the ground he works with so why not mingle with the people instead? would it not be more reliable than lounging on fluffy white? and so he flutters down from the clouds once a week to journey through mondstadt city, one foot in front of the other until he reaches the tavern. 

each time he enters angel's share, he takes a moment to simply be. to sit amongst the crowd of drunkards and watch. tonight is no different. as he walks through the door, he spots charles working away at the bar. he sees the small group of adventurers slumped over the table they always sit at. and most importantly, he notices the blue-haired knight slowly drinking the day away. 

kaeya alberich. 

venti is quite familiar with mondstadt's cavalry captain. left with no horses to oversee, the knight of favonius is reduced to running errands for the acting grand master. he's a charismatic man but the loneliness that he masks over is easy to miss. but venti knows. 

he's seen the sleepless nights that haunt kaeya every year towards the end of april, tears streaming down his face silently. 

he's seen kaeya's quick snaps back to his perfect persona when it begins to slip on a bad day. 

he's seen the trips kaeya takes to the tavern when he's grasping for any human interaction, yearning for someone to keep him company. nothing unlike what he's doing with himself tonight. 

how saddening. 

of course this upset cupid himself, how could the son of venus enjoy seeing a human being in this state? so soggy with solitude, so hard-pressed by the truth of his solitary company. though he's technically not working right this moment, there would be no harm in pulling a few strings. venti carefully scans the floor, seeking any individual that would spark kaeya's interest. truth be told, anyone would catch kaeya's eye so that would be a task to complete. 

"when logical reasoning fails, equip your heart to prevail." he whispers in between swigs of apple cider. though venti relies on visible cues and evidence to determine how best to wield his bow, there are times that call for him to rely on a gut feeling.  he closes his eyes and awaits a flicker to arrive in his heart. 

one. 

two. 

three. 

four. 

five. 

five seconds pass and like a flash of lightning, he's found his target. you walk in, dragging your body with your feet and a tired smile adorning your face. mondstadt is a hike and a half from liyue and you were grappling for any establishment where you could deflate and relax. sure, there's nothing too outstanding about the way you dress or how your head rests on your shoulders but there's not much for the young god to do than to trust his gut. 

venti doesn't miss the way your eyes dart left to right to left again, scanning angel's share for a seat no doubt. your eyes point to jack, who is slumped on one of the tables, then to a couple of the knights and then, inevitably, to kaeya. there was no way anyone could miss the cavalry captain, not with his bold uniform and silky navy hair. you take a moment to glance at him, to drink him in and then he notices your stare. 

perfect. 

taking no chances to squander, cupid points two fingers at your figure and readies an invisible arrow with his free hand. being inconspicuous is more his style so he must make do without his bow. 

ready, aim, and fire. 

venti is ever the only witness to his match-making archery and so he watches his arrow whistle through the air before it suddenly strikes your heart. as his role is to guide as opposed to harm, he crafts his arrows to simply arouse a spark of emotion in your heart. though he can see it physically enter into the cavity of your chest, human beings can only feel their heart being stirred. 

returning to his victim in question, there's a sudden flicker in your chest. a gentle 'he's cute' rings in your mind. you feel guilty for almost being stuck in a trance in front of what looks like an established knight but he flashes a toothy grin your way and the embarrassment melts away. a couple of strides to the bar and you're standing in front of the blue-haired man. 

"hi, can i join you?" you ask as your hands ghost over the stool next to him. 

"of course, no need to ask." he answers smoothly. you settle on your seat and turn to face him, meeting an amethyst eye and an eyepatch. why an eye patch, could he perhaps be a pirate? a survivor of a brutal stabbing? questions to relay to him later, you suppose. the knight holds a hand out for you to shake with an expectant look. 

"kaeya, knight of favonius. and you are?" 

"(name)." a gentle hum escapes his lips and so does your name, as if he's testing how it sounds on his tongue. 

"what a lovely name." is his honeyed response. a smooth talker, you note, and you politely smile back. "you're not from around here, are you?" 

"nope, i'm visiting from liyue."

another hum and kaeya leans an inch closer to you. "what brings you to mondstadt of all places?"

"oh, i'm here on a commission! i'm meant to drop something off but i'm not too sure why." you carry on retelling the tale of your trek to mondstadt and one of kaeya's ears are in the conversation. he swears he's trying to listen but why remember the details of your trip when there's a captivating sparkle in your eyes each time you speak? there's also a good cheer in the way you ramble and it feels familiar, almost nostalgic. and don't forget to mention the melody of your voice, how it's chirpy tone could rival the songs performed at the angel's share each night. 

in short, you've more than caught kaeya's eye. you've made his day. and to venti, this was more than a success. 

though the scene in front of him was beautiful, enchanting and pleasing to the eye, he couldn't let the man behind the bar leave his mind. diluc, who he knows to be kaeya's adoptive brother, is watching his brother with an unreadable expression upon his features. one could muse that it was simply the face that he makes everyday but venti knows it's far too complex to label. 

he saw the clash of fire and ice that fateful night, the blood and tears that were shed on diluc's eighteenth birthday. ever since that fight four years ago, venti has had one question linger in his mind. 

why must his mother encompass love in all its forms but he is restricted to linking lovers? 

it wouldn't hurt the gods to let him reconnect broken families, sew the distance between old friends or even strengthen the existing love that blossoms in communities. that would leave him with more to do instead of lazing around on a cloud all day in wait of a potential romantic connection. 

but his purpose is sealed and his duty he must righteously follow. at least in solely creating couples, he can afford time to indulge in dandelion wine. 

[violettelueur]

FUSHIGURO MEGUMI || CHOOSE TO HELP PEOPLE UNEQUALLY

| featuring : fushiguro megumi ft. itadori yuji + kugisaki nobara from jujutsu kaisen

| warnings : grammar errors and spoilers from manga (chapter 55)

| form : imagine

| word count : 3203

| published : 01 january

| synopsis : After being sent back to your old middle school: Saitama Urami East Junior High for a mission, you unexpectedly run into someone who you are all too familiar with.

| barista’s notes : HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE ʕ♡˙ᴥ˙♡ʔ we are staring off 2021 with a fushiguro megumi imagine that i have written and not to proud of to be honest....what an amazing start to the year ʕ ㅇ ᴥ ㅇʔ but i just finished catching up with the kdrama called ‘The Penthouse: War in Life’ and must i say, i hate all the characters in the show...like my mind is collapsing with the many plot twists here and there ʕ – ᴥ – ʔ but other than that, i hope you enjoy this cup of classic black coffee that i have mean. don’t worry, it is on the house ʕ•ᴥ•ʔﾉ♡

Staring up at the view in front of you, you couldn’t help but admire the large building that you once was just nearly a year ago after you had graduated from middle school. To be honest, you couldn’t help but smile at the memories that started to recall themselves in your mind. Back when everything was just normal.

Moving your view from the top of the building to your right hand, you carefully took one more look at your illuminated phone screen to see the message that you received from your current teacher causing your mind to pull itself back into reality on the situation you were in right now.

Idiot Sensei: Make sure you are able to get enough information on what is going on with the cases, remember to go see your middle school first~ much love your favourite sensei ♡

Idiot Sensei: Also I just heard that a few jujutsu sorcerers from Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College have arrived, make sure to not blow your cover.

                                             ꕥ

“This is all the information you need”

Looking up at your teacher, you stretched out your hand to receive the file he was passing before you opened it to see what was inside, only to instantly be greeted with a few sheets informing you about a school called Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.

“Sensei what is this?” you asked curiously as you scanned through the documents, leading to him walking behind you to then to peek over your shoulder before saying in glee “I don’t know~ I haven’t read through it either Y/N, let’s read it together!” which caused you to roll your eyes in annoyance.

“How did the school get so much information about Jujutsu Tech? How did they get the teachers and professional sorcerers names? Sukuna? What is going on in that school? Wait, they couldn’t find the student’s names?” you began to frantically question as you continue reading the file while turning over the pages to see if there was anything else you could pick up before you stumbled upon a picture of your old middle school, leading you to then read the page that it was attached to.

“So….we suspect that one of Sukuna’s cursed fingers is the reason why there has been a rise in deaths near your old school~ and from what we could gather, a Jujutsu Tech student’s sister is also cursed due to her taking part with the bungee jump at the bridge near there,” your teacher explained, causing you to then look over at him in more annoyance since you knew then he lied to you about not knowing what the file contained.

‘So you have read it….’

“Your mission is to get that finger Y/N,” your teacher then stated, causing you to widen your eyes at him. However, before you could even object to the mission, your teacher began to explain what was lingering in your mind the second you heard what he said. “The reason why you were picked was not only because you have been to that school is also because you are a special grade mage Y/N, I have confidence that you’re going to be fine~” he then explained before following it up by saying “good luck out there favourite student~”

‘But isn’t it the sorcerer’s business to get cursed objects?’

                                          ꕥ

“Ahhh, then why make me go on this investigation on my own?” you rhetorically asked as you placed your phone back in your black blazer pocket before turning your head once again to look at the entrance of Saitama Urami East Junior High, only to suddenly see the sorcerers that your teacher was talking about. 

From what you could observe, there were at least four people from Jujutsu Tech that were in front of you with one being a supervisor while the other three seemed like students that were around the same age as you, leading you to become more irritated at the fact that you had to put in more effort in your acting than you had originally wanted. Taking in a deep breath, you slowly began to breathe out at a slower pace before quickly making your way towards the school building. 

“To be honest, I was expecting someone from a different school to come but- oh, I guess they’re here,” the person mentioned, causing you to look up to find that it was your old principle that was talking to the students leading them to turn to look at you.

“Sorry, Was I late for the meeting? It’s really nice to meet you again sensei,” you gently greeted before bowing in front of him as well as the students he was talking to, only to suddenly be greeted with a familiar pair of eyes that you never forget the second you graduated from the school.

“Fushiguro? Is that really you?” you asked in a surprised tone, before immediately straightening your back to stand upright to take a proper look at the boy in front of you, only for the sudden thought of your eyes tricking you to be false as the person you called out was truly right in front of you.

“L/N?” Fushiguro questioned, causing everyone to look at the both of you in confusion due to what seemed to be a sudden reunion happening right in front of their eyes. “How are you? It’s been a while ha?” you quickly asked with a smile, trying to deeply conceal the shock and worry that was slowly manifesting in your stomach.

‘Since when were you a Jujutsu Sorcerer Fushiguro? That just makes my job worst’

“Yeah, it’s nice to see you again,” Fushiguro mentioned with a smile, leading his other two classmates to look at the sight in extreme shock since they never really saw the sorcerer smile before. “Are you still getting into fights?” you then questioned, even though you sort of already knew the answer.

“Not really,” Fushiguro replied, leading you to nod at his answer since you knew it was a white lie but not a complete one but you couldn’t help but hear a few giggles from his classmates that were with him. At least he was being somewhat truthful to you even after this time apart. 

“I’m Itadori Yuji,” one the students behind Fushiguro mentioned as he introduced himself with his index finger pointing towards himself leading to the only female student to then follow by saying, “Kugisaki Nobara,”. Giving them a smile, you then quickly introduced yourself to the two energetic students before turning around back to the principle. You couldn’t help but smile back at the elderly man as you faced him causing small but fond memories to reappear in your head again leading you to the desire of wanting everything to go back to normal again.

                                              ꕥ

“Y/N! You were amazing at the practice match today, we would have never won if you didn’t set the ball like that!”

“What do you mean? All of us won because we worked together and that-oh!”

Suddenly, you felt a small impact on your shoulder, causing the interruption of your speech leading you to turn around to apologies before you were stopped by a pair of emerald eyes. You couldn’t lie to yourself at all, they were the most beautiful eyes you had ever seen and you could stare into them all day if you could. “Sorry,” you quickly apologised before you were caught gawking at the guy in front of you leading him to apologies back before he continued to make his way wherever he was planning to head off to.

“Who was that?” you quietly asked yourself, trying to hide the fact that you were intrigued by the person you suddenly bumped into.

“That’s Fushiguro Megumi, I wouldn’t associate with him if I was you Y/N,” one of your teammates as well as classmates suggested, causing you to look at the girl in confusion as you wondered what was so bad about him - to be honest, it was odd for you to not know the person since you were also part of the school’s student council.

“He’s a delinquent, he beats up people you know, remember when the principal was screaming yesterday? That was because of him. Aw, I feel bad for his sister,” your other classmate muttered, causing you to look back forward at the person’s back who you learnt was named Fushiguro Megumi.

“He doesn’t seem like a bad person”

                                               ꕥ

“So this is what you’re up to?”

Looking up from his hand, Fushiguro came eye to eye with a female standing at the bottom of the pile of bodies. From what he could see, the person was from the same school as him due to the uniform that she was wearing but what made him paid attention to her was that even though she was wearing the classic red armband to represent who she was, she wasn’t yelling at him nor putting him in his place, rather just smiling kindly up at him.

“L/N Y/N, it’s nice to meet Fushiguro”

Now he remembers who you were. You were the student he bumped into the other day, but you were also known for being the setter of the school’s volleyball club, and you were also the person that had an early acceptance at the prestigious Dawn West Wing College. You were someone that had a promising future.

“Do you wanna come down? You have a nasty cut on your cheek,” you shouted, leading him to break out of his daze to once again find you smiling at him. However, what he didn’t expect was for you to then suddenly climb up the tower of bodies to reach up to him causing him to look at you in surprise at your persistence. Finally reaching up to the top, you tried to steadily find a place to sit only for Fushiguro to unexpectantly tightly grab your wrist, trying to ensure that you didn’t fall down.

“Thank you,” you said to the dark-haired student before you continued with, “let’s get down, I sort of need to get you fixed up,”. Once again surprised at your actions towards him, he suddenly felt you pull him down behind the pile of beaten up bodies, before unexpectedly being suddenly pulled up to make a full-on run for it.

“Why are we running?” Fushiguro asked as you continued to pull him to wherever you were taking him. “I don’t know if you had a bad eye, but the Principle was coming so we sort of need to make a run for it,” you explained, before rapidly turning a corner to what seemed to be a building that was connected to the main building.

“This is the sports hall, where the volleyball club practices and there is also a first aid kit there, so you can come in,” you informed Fushiguro before sliding the door open to reveal the nicely kept hall as you then disappeared into the building to find the first aid kit that you had mentioned. Following your movement, Fushiguro slowly took a step into the hall before taking a seat on the floor near it, patiently waiting for you to come back with what you needed to do.

After a few minutes, you finally emerge from the storage room with the first aid box in hand before quickly making your way towards the boy as you then kneeled down in front him while opening the box to pull out a plaster, some bandages, cotton buds as well as a bottle of alcohol to disinfect the wound on his cheek as well as a few cuts that you found on his knuckles.

“What are you going to gain for helping me?” Fushiguro asked you all of a sudden, causing you to look up at him before quickly going back to pouring some of the alcohol on the cotton bud to which then you grabbed his hand to place the substance on his bloody knuckles leading him to hiss at the sudden sting.

“I’m not going to gain anything from this, I just choose to help people unequally you see,” you answered in a quiet but serious tone. “There are both good and bad people in this world Fushiguro, but I choose to help people that I know that are going to do no wrong in the future, that is the type of people I choose to help. Someone like you,” you then explained, as you then began to treat the cut on his cheek after you had bandaged his knuckles.

“Thank you Y/N”

“No problem Megumi”

                                                 ꕥ

“You did really good out there”

Looking up, you found Fushiguro staring down at you with a bottle of water in hand as he stretched out to pass it to you. “Thank you,” you kindly said before taking the bottle from his hand, “I’m surprised you came, you usually don’t come to these sorts of things,” you then mentioned before taking a large gulp of water that you really needed right now.

“I just wanted to come to support you, and I thought you might need some help with those lot,” Fushiguro explained as he tilted his head to the side causing you to look up to find some boys staring down at you from the gym balcony, before looking back at Fushiguro who started to make himself comfortable next to you on the floor.

“Thank you,” you said once again before gently placing your head upon his shoulder to which you felt him tense up slightly, only for him to immediately relax a second later.

 “I’m really glad that I got to know you Megumi.”

Shifting his eyes down at you, all his saw was adoration and truth in your eyes as you looked onto the volleyball court where the other team were preparing to leave for their school after the organised match. Shifting his eyes back onto the court, Fushiguro couldn’t help but remember everything you did during the match, from the way you ran to the way you jumped to set the ball to your other players. Fushiguro couldn’t lie but admit you had talent. That was enough to put a soft smile on his face.

“Yeah, I’m really glad that I got to know you too Y/N”

                                                ꕥ

‘But that’s in the past now, concentrate on the investigation’

“L/N, you wanted to gain information for your project right?” the Principle asked, causing you to snap out of your daze to then quickly put a smile on.

“Yes, my school wants me to do a project about paranormal activity and how it relates to electric waves since that’s now some ghost investigation to prove that ghosts and spirits exist,” you explained as you tried to seem convincing as you could since that was the best explanation you could come up with.

“That’s a really weird project,” Kugisaki and Itadori commented, causing you to laugh slightly since it is something weird for a ‘normal’ school to set their students to work on. “Yeah, but I really can’t complain, I did pick the science courses for my subjects and it sort of relates to physics since we do have to learn about electricity and that stuff. Hella boring in my opinion,” you continued to express, trying to make the lie more convincing.

‘Well….that’s what I get for going to a ‘school’ full of mages, just like how you three go to a ‘school’ full of jujutsu sorcerers’

“What do you need to know dear? it’s the least I can do after all you did for the school as the student council as well as for the volleyball team,” the elderly principle asked, leading you to smile brightly at him as you began to list everything you needed to know.

“Strange rumours, dark rumours, anybody with relationships with bad adults or maybe even karma getting what they had coming?” you began to say, causing the principle to look at you in complete shock to which you then looked at him in confusion, “is there anything wrong sir?”

“Fushiguro said the exact same thing as you, no wonder why you two were best friends back then,” the principle mentioned with a soft laughing leading you to turn to look at the sorcerer, only to come to the view of him looking to the side with a light blush with his two friends looking at you with the same expression that the principle did a few seconds ago.

“There were students that were back like the ones that suddenly past away but they weren’t as bad as Fushiguro,” the principle stated, causing you to scoff slightly at the fact since he wasn’t wrong before the principle then suggested, “you should investigate Yasohachi Bridge, it is well known for this paranormal activities there dear,”.

‘The whole bungee jump mettle test or whatever it was ha?’

“Ah, those people are so stupid,” you muttered to yourself, knowing the reason why the Principle told you about the bridge and due to the fact that the sorcerers were here, they were probably told the same thing as well.

‘This is you sorcerer's fault for letting a special grade object let into the hands of some teenager, now Sukuna’s finger bearers are everywhere’

“Thank you so much for your time principal, It was nice to see you again,” you said with gratitude as you bowed down to your old teacher as you told him ‘goodbye’ before you began to turn around to immediately go to the bridge that was informed to you.

“Please come visit again soon!” the principal exclaimed, leading you to look over your shoulder with a smile on your face as you waved at him before turning to the Jujutsu Tech’s students to give them the same gesture to which then you started to walk away to head off to your next destination.

‘So I got more information than I needed but that’s okay, that means we got more inside information on Jujutsu Tech’

However, before you could even take one more step away from the institutional building, you felt someone suddenly grab your wrist leading you to turn around to look at the hand that held your wrist before quickly looking up to find the green eyes that were so dear to you.

“Is there anything you need Fushiguro?” you asked, as you gave him a smile leading to the noticeable light blush to appear on his face before he then questioned you by asking, “are you planning to go to Yasohachi Bridge?”

“Yeah, I just need to get some results for the project, I won’t be there too long if you are worried,” you answered, trying to end the conversation so you could go investigate the bridge so you could end the mission as quickly as possible. 

“It’s dangerous, you shouldn’t go,” Fushiguro stated, causing you to internally groan in annoyance since you already knew the dangers the second you got the file. “Like I said I won’t be that long,” you mentioned before quickly adding, “ghost ain’t real, I’ll be fine”.

‘I choose the help people unequally, and I’m choosing to help you Fushiguro’

[dimonds456]

Gem Steven’s gem is flipped upside-down. (Theory/Speculation time!)

SPOILERS FOR @spudinacup’s SU AU “Gone Wrong”!

Also WARNING: long post!

So recently, someone pointed out that Steven has a scar on his torso going across his gem’s location, which I found interesting in and of itself. Makes sense, since he wasn’t able to heal it since he DIED and his gem was shoved out of his body before it got the chance to heal him. That slash mark is there now. Wow, neat! Nice detai-

Wait.

Hold on a sec.

Is his gem... flipped upside-down? Well, it’s been like this for a while, maybe it’s just a creative choi-

...oh.

This is VERY intentional.

So I did some digging, and found much more symbolism and possible foreshadowing, and now I want to throw out my theory about Gem Steven here, including his potential arc and character development. I’ll try to keep everything brief while still blowing your minds, and I’ll try to get across what my jumbled mind has come up with.

Spud please notice me.

I will not be uploading photos to go with everything I say (go reread the comic after this and verify for yourself what all I’ve said), but I’ll show visuals when they’re necessary. I do not claim ANY of this art as mine (I wish my art was this good ;u; ), all of it belongs to Spudinacup and their SU AU, which has all kinds of hidden symbolism, foreshadowing, and visual cues we haven’t picked up on yet, as I’ve just learned while researching this theory. This ain’t your run-of-the-mill AU, everything in here is intentional. Scott Spud doesn’t do coincidences. So I’ll point out that stuff in screenshots.

Okay let’s go.

SO! To begin with, let’s talk about why his gem may have flipped, and to realize that, we have to know when. We don’t see the gem much, but we do see it constantly through Chapter 1, where it is normal. The pentagon is pointed upward. However, in Chapter 2, this is where we see it flipped upside down. When did that happen? We didn’t see it. I believe it happened in that first scene in the bathroom, right after we left. The butterflies were swarming angrily, and Steven was very lost in thought.

Notice whenever those butterflies appear. They seem to show up every time he thinks about who he is. Is he still Steven, or is he someone else now? Steven is dead. Everyone is mourning him, trying to heal him, but Gem is still here. So if Steven is dead, but Gem is still alive, that must mean he isn’t Steven then, right? But then that undoes everything we learned in “Change Your Mind.” He IS Steven. He’s always been Steven. But that’s when they were together...

...And so the butterflies swarm.

Notice how the first one shows up when he looks at himself in the mirror. When you look in a mirror, you should see yourself, right? But who IS he? In the show, butterflies represent thoughts and ideas, mostly dark ones, disturbing ones, or ones you don’t want to think about. Well, he already spent WAY too long proving who he was, so now to do it again sucks.

But he isn’t Steven anymore. He’s on the couch being mourned. But he’s already proved he IS Steven before, and it’s this uncertainty that is making his mind swirl. I believe this is why he flipped his gem. Just upside-down, so it’s a small thing no one will notice, while he tries to figure it out. In doing so, he’s separated himself from “Steven”, as they’re not one and the same anymore, and the flipped gem shows this. He’s someone else right now. Maybe. He’s not sure.

So what do we call you for right now? Steven. He already proved he was Steven, so until he’s proved otherwise, Steven it is. Now he just has to figure out what exactly that name means and wether or not he still fits that quota.

Flipped gem/Pink Diamond imagery is EVERYWHERE, mostly hidden in drastic shadows or in panels. It’s things you don’t notice at first, until they’re staring you in the face. See if you can spot them from the 3 screenshots below.

There’s probably more hidden throughout the comic, these are just the ones I’ve found that I feel confident enough to show as hard evidence.

So, what does it all mean? We’ll talk about the screenshots in order, left to right.

First, the Diamond is hidden as the panel in the center. In it, Human Steven lies upside down while the gem-panel is technically upside right. This can be interpreted in a few ways, but what that means to me is that something isn’t right here. If you flip Steven back around so he’s upside right, the gem is now upside down. Notice Gem Steven looking towards his human half on the bottom panel there, clutching his shirt over his gem. It’s a motion we’ve seen Steven do a TON throughout the show, anytime he’s thinking about Rose/Pink, who he is, or complicated gem stuff as a whole. Because early on, his identity was always shrouded in shadow. THAT is Steven, on the couch, without his gem. So for Gem Steven to call himself Steven is inaccurate, but also not at the same time. It’s all swarming in his head, and thus, the gem is flipped.

Next, he’s just broken the rejuvenator. This was probably the hardest to spot of the three, but if you look at the panel where Bismuth asks “feel better?” you will see, in the background, a white line cut through the soft pink hues. Look closer. It’s the outline of the gem, but it’s flipped correctly this time. This is because Bismuth seems to be the only person NOT saying Steven is dead, and treating his gem half one and the same. Is she unnerved? Yeah, but who WOULDN’T be? This is still Steven we’re talking about, as emotionally blocked as he is. He’s aware of why everyone is being weird around him, so to see Bismuth trying her best to treat him with familiarity instead of a completely different, new, dangerous stranger is really calming and helps to calm the storm a bit.

Notice the gem is flipped correctly. This is because he feels like Steven right now. Bismuth has been constant confirmation that he is still Steven, no matter the circumstances. Notice how his eyes dialate back to a larger size. They do that a lot in the comic, articulating his emotions without changing the rest of his face. It’s a clever detail to keep track of. His eyes grow more relaxed, dialating bigger when she pats his shoulder, asking if he feels better after destroying the weapon that killed him. It’s a huge relief for him to hear. So, the gem is correct.

Finally, we see Bismuth telling Greg that his son is dead, which is very contradictory to what Bis was saying earlier (in Steven’s eyes). Where is the gem on that frame? Look at Steven’s shadow. There it is, facets and all. To us, the gem is correct, but think about it this way: if Steven were actually replaced with the gem in that frame, what would it look like, Pink’s or White’s? That’s right. The point is coming from his feet, meaning it would look more like White’s, meaning it is back to being flipped upside down. Again, Bismuth just said Steven is dead, meaning he’s back to questioning his whole entire identity. So it’s back to being flipped upside-down.

It seems that the orientation of the symbolic gems hidden throughout panels show quite clearly where his head is at in terms of who he is. If it’s upside down, he’s separating himself from the cold meatball on the couch, whereas when it’s normal/upside right, he is associating himself WITH the cold meatball on the couch.

Notice he’s been grabbing at his gem a lot recently, too, all things he does while in turmoil over who- or WHAT- he is. He cannot heal right now. He can’t use his powers. Some powers are new and unfamiliar (see the more recent pages where Lapis struck out with water and he blocked with those hexagonal shields/walls). “Steven HEALS people.” He can’t, so who is he?

This is something he’ll need to have an answer to by the time the comic is done, and this is a mission for Gem Steven and Gem Steven alone. If his human half were alive (and content without his gem), he’d probably call himself “Steven” no questions asked, since he GOT his answer already, two years ago. But Gem can’t do that, not when everyone keeps drawing all these lines between the two. He needs to learn what being “Steven” means, and know that he is a part of a greater whole, but on his own, he is STILL Steven. Everyone else needs to realize this, too, and stop separating the two. It’s gonna be rough, since it may feel like replacing what they lost, but is it really? It’s going to be a tough road to trek, and I don’t know what anyone’s answer is gonna be (that’s the big mystery here, after all), but I’m here for it.

Remember, all of this has been speculation on what may happen based on facts and clues Spud has presented us with. I’m not claiming to know how Gem Steven’s arc will end, but I am throwing my hat into the ring on where I THINK it will go. Either way, the foreshadowing, symbolism, and unspoken characterizations here have been excellent, and I’m looking forward to seeing everything play out. Spud, your mind is incredible, and whatever you’ve got planned over there, I’m confident the answer will be satisfactory.

I’ll shut up now. Thank you for reading this huge meta post, and go read Spud’s comic. You can find it at @suaugonewrong or on Spud’s Tumblr, which was linked above. If you think I’m wrong or have a counter argument, bring it. Let’s talk, cause this is genuinely interesting and fun to dissect. I wanna talk about it OwO

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