#whereas. and again it may be because i haven't actually read very much of the iliad. i feel like achilles just starts off Like That

[a-passing-storm]

Hm... I do not have a good perspective on this, because I've only read an itty bitty bit of The Iliad and I am now about halfway through The Odyssey, but I think that Odysseus is a much more sympathetic character than Achilles.

[orionsangel86]

Lucienne/Lucien - How the Librarian Became the Chief.

In The Sandman Netflix adaptation Lucienne is a stand out character and second only to Morpheus in importance, screen time, and centrality to the story. Lucienne is Morpheus's loyal Librarian, second in command, ruler of the Dreaming in his absence, and often times a voice of reason and advice for our dutiful King of Dreams. She is so well respected in her position that the other castle residents consider her their boss and would rather go to her for guidance and command than Morpheus himself. She takes care of Dream's ravens and even appears to have the power to create new ravens from newly deceased mortals like she did with Matthew. She is clearly extremely close to Morpheus, and is one of very few people he seems to actually listen to and trust. Lucienne's role in this story can not be underestimated.

So it may come as a surprise to any fans of the show who haven't read the comics to learn that Lucien (as he is called in the comics) is afforded very few of the above traits. In fact Lucien is no where near as close to Morpheus even by the very end of the story, as Lucienne is at the beginning. It is this difference that has fascinated me since I first started diving into the comics after falling in love with the show, and its something I view as extremely important when considering how the story is being adapted into a kinder, more sympathetic universe surrounding our central protagonist.

Lucienne's role is expanded greatly from her comic counterpart, and her relationship with Morpheus is shown to be much deeper. This is evident practically right away at the end of episode one when Lucienne comes to greet Morpheus upon his return to the Dreaming following his escape.

The way she runs over to him as soon as she realises he is back, and lovingly takes his hand and is so pleased to see him is a far cry from the comic where the first thing Lucien does is bow.

So right at the start we see a very different form of relationship here. Where Lucienne is already displaying a level of care and devotion beyond the expectations of a servant, Lucien however, is exactly that.

The servant thing has caused a bit of contention among fandom in the past. I think the confusion could come from whether or not you see Lucien or Lucienne first. Lucien IS a servant of Dream. Lucienne is more like a vice president and royal advisor. Those are two very different things after all and that difference only becomes more obvious the further you go into the story.

Lucienne accompanies Morpheus throughout his return to his crumbling kingdom, helps him as he attempt to repair the damage, follows him to Cain and Abel, and watches over his meeting with the Fates. She is by his side from the moment he returns until the moment he leaves again for the waking world to begin his quest to recover his tools, and she is responsible for Matthew's reincarnation as the new Raven and instructs Matthew to stay with him because of her concern for Morpheus's wellbeing on his quest.

I cannot stress enough how much none of this is in the comics. Lucienne shows a level of care towards Morpheus that just isn't present in Lucien in the comics. After the first meeting with Lucien at the gates of the Dreaming, Lucien doesn't appear again until he is instructed by Morpheus to conduct the census of the Dreaming. He only appears again in the Doll's House very briefly and has no involvement in Morpheus's decisions during that arc, which takes place very rarely in the Dreaming.

That's not to say that Lucien isn't a very trusted servant of Morpheus. He is the closest to Morpheus of all the residents of the Dreaming except only Matthew. But I think a lot of what we see in the show of Morpheus and Lucienne's dynamic is inspired by much later in the comics. I also think that it speaks loudly to the change in Morpheus as a character. Show!Morpheus has people almost right away who care about him and want to help him, whereas comic!Morpheus is extremely isolated. It is clear in the early comic stories that comic!Morpheus keeps himself at arms length from basically everyone. He does not have a bond with Lucien, he did not have Jessamy, and at that early stage, he didn't even have Matthew. All of this of course was primarily to make show!Morpheus a more sympathetic and likeable character - you gotta give your protagonist people who care about them, it helps raise the stakes after all.

Taking Charge - Lucienne is the real boss

One of my favourite parts of the Dolls House episodes in the Netflix show is the conflict between Morpheus and Lucienne due to the other residence and Dreaming servants going to her for advice and instruction first rather than Morpheus. Bearing in mind this only takes place less than a year after Morpheus's return from imprisonment, it speaks volumes as to how Lucienne has taken the role of leader of the Dreaming in her stride.

But it also indicates how Morpheus' change in the show is coming at lightening fast speed compared to the comic. In the comic, Mervyn doesn't make these observations until the Brief Lives arc, and this is indicated at that point to be a very new thing - triggered by several years post fish bowl of having to face his past decisions and mistakes (and a string of scorned ex lovers one after the other ending in a horribly matched rebound relationship with a murderous witch that subsequently rejected him and triggered him literally seeking out destruction). Lucien was only put in charge of the Dreaming when Morpheus left to go on his trip with Delirium. It is during that trip that Morpheus realises how competent Lucien is and capable of running things without problem in his absence.

Mervyn's insights are made clear here:

This is the only time in the comic that anyone dares mention that someone other than Morpheus might be the boss - and it is in no way as directly spelled out as it is in the show. "You're practically running the place" and "you secretly run this place" are quite different statements. The first only makes an observation about Morpheus's current lack of interest (in Brief Lives) in actually running his realm. It implies that Lucien is doing Morpheus' job for him, but does not go as far as to outright call Lucien the boss. Whereas in the show, that's exactly what Mervyn does.

In the comic, Morpheus overhears Mervyn's speech and immediately points out his reasoning for leaving Lucien in charge, for promoting him and giving him more authority.

Because no one ever technically undermines Morpheus in the comic, there is no conflict here. Morpheus trusts Lucien as his loyal servant and gives him the power to rule in his stead (but only when he is absent) and there is no "secretly report to Lucien first" attitude among Matthew and Mervyn. We can perhaps interpret that this might be happening behind the scenes by this point in Brief Lives, or even just before the BL arc when Morpheus was distracted by his rebound murderess, but it is never actually directly stated that this is going on.

The tension between Morpheus and Lucienne in the show is born out of the conflict over Lucienne's position and Morpheus feeling undermined by his subjects, and its storytelling gold. But the only reason such a story works in the show is because Lucienne is so important to Morpheus in the show, because their relationship goes so much deeper than the relationship in the comic. Lucienne is not a servant, she's his god damn vice president and she knows it, and he knows it too. Throughout episodes 7 and 8 specifically he reaches out to her for her opinion and advice on the Vortex situation. He talks things through with her and seeks out her guidance. It is clear that he relies on her and it is only at the end of episode 8 when Lucienne disagrees with his punishment of Gault, that in his anger, he dismisses her.

Lucien/ne the Royal Advisor

Where Morpheus in the show seeks out Lucienne's advice and opinion frequently especially during the Doll's House arc, I have to stress that this never happens in the comic. Comic!Morpheus just does not have that kind of relationship with Lucien and does not seek his counsel at all, even though Lucien does try to give it on occassion, usually when Morpheus is about to do something extremely stupid and probably damaging to himself and the Dreaming. To name a couple times:

Season of Mists - before Morpheus returns to Hell:

Brief Lives - before seeking Destruction:

You'll note that in both these times Lucien's words of caution are completely ignored.

You'll also notice that in both times Lucien is taking a path of polite caution. Lucien very rarely speaks his mind to Morpheus, because he knows it won't get him very far to do so. The only time Lucien truly loses his cool and speaks freely is in The Kindly Ones (spoiler alert)

At this point in the comic story Morpheus has basically all but given up and accepted his fate and its fucking depressing AF. Lucien is well within his right to shake the bastard HARD and snap him TF out of it. I STILL think he was too restrained here tbh!

My point here is that Lucienne already speaks her mind quite freely around Morpheus in the show. She expresses her opinions and thoughts and gives him her advice. This is such a well established dynamic by the point of the argument that it is clear that Lucienne is offended by Morpheus's dismissal of her.

Take this exchange from episode 9:

Lucienne: "Rose is weakening the walls between realms" Matthew: "You gonna tell the Boss?" Lucienne: "No." Matthew: "No?" Lucienne: "It's none of my business." Matthew: "Er, since WHEN?" Lucienne: "Since Lord Morpheus reminded me that I'm merely a librarian and should concern myself with my books from now on." Matthew: "He said that?! What's wrong with him!" Lucienne: "Nothing is wrong with him. He's always been this way. He's just been away so long I'd forgotten. He's determined to deal with the vortex and the missing Arcana by himself. Without anyones help. So any news must be reported directly and exclusively to him."

It's worth pointing out here that whilst this is framed as Morpheus being a stubborn idiot, in the comic, he does in fact deal with the vortex and the missing Arcana by himself mostly and is not so much helped but saved at the last moment by Unity Kinkaid who realises what is happening in a dream and goes to save Rose, which also saves Morpheus from Desire's trap.

In the show, Morpheus has people who care enough about him and his realm to want to get involved and help him, not out of a desire to undermine him, but simply because they care about him. That is a drastic change from the comic at this point. Morpheus in the comic is constantly shown to be struggling under the burden of his own responsibilities and this is highlighted by the fact that he doesn't really get any support or assistance, and is far too prideful to ask for it. Lucien gets the promotion and chance to rule in his absence, but it is never framed as a job he shares with Morpheus - at no point does Lucien take the burden of his responsibilities off of him. This is no Samwise Gamgee "I can carry you" moment unfortunately. Lucien does not have the power nor the bond with Morpheus to undertake such a task because Morpheus keeps him at arms length throughout the comics - but Lucienne? Well, time will tell how that may change.

An Apology from the King

In a shock horror twist that comic!Morpheus would sooner die than do himself (ha) the great emo King of the Netflix universe gives Lucienne an apology for his behaviour (sort of).

Episode 9 displays the tension between Morpheus and Lucienne following their "break up" perfectly. Morpheus is clearly in the wrong, and Lucienne is clearly hurt by his dismissal of her support. Yet even after the fight, he still seeks out her advice in determining the cause of the disturbances in the Dreaming. He goes to her first before investigating himself (something that comic!Morpheus wouldn't even consider doing) and is surprisingly capable in swallowing his pride here even though it is clearly a struggle for him.

Later in the episode, once he realises that Lucienne was right about the disturbances, he seeks her out to tell her so, and to confirm that she was right and he was wrong. This is again something that I can't fathom comic!Morpheus doing, even nearer the end of the story I don't believe he does so, certainly not to Lucien. Fiddlers Green drums this point home when he says this:

Fiddlers Green: "... still his time there appears to have changed him as it has changed me." Lucienne: "How so?" Fiddlers Green: "Lucienne, he came to you and told you he was wrong. It was very nearly an apology. The Morpheus I knew was incapable of that."

This further reinforces not just how much Morpheus has changed in a short time, but also how much he respects and cares about Lucienne and their continued relationship.

Platonic Life Partners? Co Ruler and Closest Confident of the Dream King

When I set out to write this meta, it was with the aim to highlight Lucienne's elevated role from her comic counterpart. To try to stress the importance of her character in the show and what this means for the future of the story in the show. By the end of the last episode, Lucienne is practically granted co-ruler status of the Dreaming while Morpheus works on his creations. He asks her if she can "take care of things while he works" which she agrees "with pleasure".

I just... I can NOT stress ENOUGH how much comic!Morpheus needed this person in his life. Even though Lucien looks after the Dreaming whilst Morpheus is away in Season of Mists and Brief Lives, it is always as a last resort with Morpheus continuing to check in on Lucien during Brief Lives as if he expects trouble, and he always seems a bit confused when Lucien tells him all is fine. As if he can't quite understand how the Dreaming could be okay without him there (and I mean, after the trauma of watching your realm which is also technically a part of you crumble to dust I suppose you would be a bit attached to it!).

Comic!Morpheus constantly struggles under the weight of his responsibility. His entire thing is that he is desperate to step away and not be who he is but he simply does not have it in him to do that. He is far too bound by his rules and responsibilities. For Morpheus in the show to be given someone to support him in his rule as King and assist him with the burden of his responsibilities is actually a hugely mindblowing change to the comic, and could honestly have huge repercussions on the story going forward. Not only that, but the Morpheus in the comics is painfully lonely. He desperately needs companionship but he keeps everyone at arms length. He never allows his subjects to get too close to him, even Lucien. Even Matthew isn't afforded the same level of closeness in the comics as he is in the show. In the comics, the ONLY character who Morpheus is close to is Death. Which says a lot by itself. The second character he gets closer to as time goes on is Delirium. Which also says a lot. Think of the characters in terms of their concepts. Morpheus has no close friends in the comics (even his relationship with Hob Gadling in the comic doesn't have half the impact it does in the show) and keeps all those he interacts with at arms length except for Delirium and Death.

But show!Morpheus? He has a Matthew who is already so very devoted to him, a Hob Gadling who waited an extra 33 years on hope alone that he would return to him, and a Lucienne who rules by his side, offers him support, guidance, counsel, companionship and probably a good helping of love. How can this Morpheus possibly carry the same deep loneliness as his comic counterpart? How can this Morpheus be buckling under the weight of his duties when he already has his Samwise Gamgee right there by his side? It poses an interesting question for how the show will handle future story arcs, though it could all prove to simply make for a much more painful story, where we happen to have many more characters to react and show the deeply painful grief that we all feel at his eventual passing - or maybe, just maybe, this is a universe where Hope never died...

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Mini & Moni Music was... interesting, kind of concerning? We really know so little about the members - especially if you're like me and don't watch all the lives and documentaries, and read every book or interview. Even if I did all that, though, I wouldn't know much. The more honest they are, the more obvious it is they're "hiding" so much from us and how little we know them. This honesty unintentionally increases the disconnect between us and them, throwing every memory of them in a different light. A lot of the intimacy we feel/felt isn't real because, sometimes, when they look happy they're actually struggling while we enjoy ourselves and their "happiness".

The thing about RM for me is I've struggled to understand him, even if I probably have more in common with him than other members. The way he expresses himself is very opaque to me. I lack the sensibility, or context, I guess, to understand his thought process.

This special content between Jimin and Namjoon was a bit sad. RM doesn't seem happy. Every year, I feel like he reveals that he wasn't happy in the previous year. Has there been any year where Namjoon didn't suddenly reveal he'd been struggling? Because last year he made it seem as if he'd been doing pretty well, and I guess he was better at some point, while working on RPWP, but he'd been having a really rough time. Hearing him say he had to distance himself from BTS in order to heal (I think in 2023, after Indigo, but also applies to chapter 2 in general?) and Jimin saying the members thought he liked them less now... was sad.

RM really had(s) been struggling with the group. I know Hobi really wanted a chance to do something solo, but Festa dinner still feels mostly like it was brought on by Namjoon. I'm pretty sure Jungkook, Jimin, Jin, Suga, and V would've been fine carrying on with group activities with little to no solo activities, and Hobi only wanted a chance to do something different, not necessarily a big break from the group (I think; I haven't watched a lot of chapter 2 solo content, maybe I'm wrong). But RM was truly "done", to the point where the members felt him pulling away from them... RM popping up during one of Jungkook's live and their whole interaction kind of takes on a new meaning. Jungkook had been really happy to talk to Namjoon, and Namjoon said he missed Jungkook and that they needed to hang out. At the time maybe RM had already created distance between himself and the members so they missed each other a lot and there was a kind of uncertainty in their relationship.

I believe in BTS, but this content has made RM, the leader, seem the least excited about BTS, which may be untrue - contradictory and conflicted feelings can coexist. I kind of became concerned about how they'll return as a group (and what that will sound like...) if RM just looks so burnt out and even regretful about many things in their past (like his seriousness before). I know that each member struggled a lot, and for every hard moment there is a good one RM remembers, but I hope that when he comes back he learns how to enjoy being in the group again (or maybe for the first time; maybe he never really knew how to love the group without feeling weighted down by it). Like he says, RM speaks for the group. Most of Festa seems like him speaking for the group while the group itself didn't share his feelings completely but wanted to support him. It's ironic because RM said he feared that the group only represented his thoughts and not the group's, but I really want to know what the other members think. Suga, for example, has always blamed their hiatus on the enlistment, whereas Namjoon has made it clear that wasn't the main reason.

I don't know, I know the group has been through a lot, including the time they almost disbanded (I say almost, but how close were they, truly? Thinking heavily about something and having the intention of doing it are quite different), but this made me lose confidence in the group a bit, at least in RM. In the eyes of the members he's equated to BTS, but it seems like he's drifted apart from them. That's life, but as a fan it was hard to hear. Maybe they all feel the same, and I'm putting it all on Namjoon... This conversation with Jimin was very negative, but that's not the whole truth, and I shouldn't forget that.

[the-fellow]

Jurassic Park:

The latest book I've knocked out is probably one you've heard of or seen. Jurrassic Park.

Overall, I give it a 7/10 maybe a 6.5 as I haven't done much else reading in the genre. Honestly, it was kind of a 180 slap in the face going from fantasy to scifi horror/thriller and it being so dumb smart.

What do I actually mean by that? Well, the man can write. And gets to in a way that I wish I could. Where he doesn't really write descriptive characters. He gives you the name. He gives you the age and maybe what they're wearing which sometimes are so simplistic, it makes me laugh.

"She was eight years old."

"He wore khaki shorts and a shirt."

Easy. Done. But then he goes on and on and scientific talk and speak that I assume is well researched because I'm taking it at base face value and I'm not going to go research it myself. And of course at this time the book is pretty outdated and even the movie probably has some of it's own issues. I've already noticed some differences between the two.

And honestly that wasn't something I was intending to do because in the other mediums if I'm reading the comic, I'm not going to watch the show. Whereas, if I'm reading the book, I'm probably not going to watch the show or movie. This was one of the first exceptions where I heard it was very different and very much darker especially when you get into it.

After Movie Rewatch:

This section is an in-depth comparison to the movie and may contain various spoilers for either the book or the movie itself somewhat drawing on differences and things I like exclusively done to one or the other.

The book shows a lot of different perspectives in the beginning to build up this world before they get into the park and the film seems to do the same thing only showing different parts of the same story which if you've read the book kind of adds to it to an extent. In the book you're only told that the attack happens and you're left with tons of mystery trying to solve what's going on by a whole bunch of people whereas in the film they just show you the attack. And I believe that's just a big rise and fall to get you prepared for what's to come as it all mellows back out for awhile.

The first obvious big thing is the mass info dumping and throwing it all at you at once whereas the book slowly tells you all this information while doing the World building telling you the political side of everything and the business side of everything whilst also providing scientific viewpoints, evidence, and explanations that are further extended upon much more than in the movie where it just goes really fast. For each medium, I think both handle it well. the movie is still a sizable length for its time and to include every little thing obviously is going to be a challenge.

Ultimately, you get the same result between the movie and the book. Sure different people live and die and how some of them live or die differs. But really what you're seeing is the influence of Hollywood in the movie, which even though was screen written with Crichton, the novel felt like it's stood for a lot more. the nature of humanity doing unnatural things and the way progress is viewed for corporate gain rather than for the benefit of mankind.

Missing Pieces: Again I understand the restraint for time but some cool instances if they would have made their way in, the brief showdown in the aviary, the T-Rex and the waterfall, and of course Alan fighting the raptors and tracking those left. Some of these moments do get call backs or even used in future films in certain ways which is kind of cool and I acknowledge that, but the old riding into the sunset film ending feels, off, in my opinion anyways.

Added Pieces: Some of these changes I assume were made for the benefit of Hollywood and partially so you would get a different experience if you had read the book. most dominantly they changed Alan's character, to wear him and Adler are in a relationship and apparently discussing a future with kids, but movie him doesn't care for that idea or seem to like them, but of course supposedly comes around on that their ride in the sunset. In the book, Adler is his former student, now work partner and even has a fiance. Alan loves kids and loves teaching them but loves even more when they can teach him even if he already knows it because he likes that kids want to learn, and of course in the movie, he's just annoyed by Tim's knowledge because he already has it. The kid change while different, feels better because I'd rather not have a young girl whining the whole time, (see Tom Cruise's War of the Worlds), so them swapping ages between Tim and Alexis and making her the computer 'nerd' instead felt like and okay choice for me.

This will be the final thing I say about the movie because I just want to point out that if the movie did anything different that was good, I felt like it was the raptors in the kitchen encounter. I mean it had those couple of iconic moments from the jello shaking to the camera angle with the reflection, and there being more than one to deal with. To me, the whole sequence was much better than how it was in the book.

For more points of view and other topics touched or re-examined you can find my video review here as well:

My Goodreads:

[one-vivid-judgment]

Hello! I just wanted to kind of throw in my two cents on L&L. Did I find it in my specific TanFang fic search? Yes. Are their chapters my favorite so far? Also yes. Are they the only couple I like in this fic? NO!! I am loving ChainPun and MickMatt. I desperately want to know what they were doing with the dice. I would read the fuck out of a story of just them, or just ChainPun. I really want to see what all ChainPun can get up to. I love BeerKluen. Kluen drove me a little batty in the show, but he wasn't awful, and I love their dynamic here. (Also, Title gave me whiplash this year, between Kluen, Drake's BF (wandee goodday), and Phi James (kidnap).) I hadn't thought to ship them before, but now I love it, so thank you. (If you did want to give them the spotlight, I'm here for it, but I adore QToey, too.)

I just want to let you know that I love this story and all the pieces, and no matter what you decide to do, even if you take it down, I'll still have enjoyed this thing you made, with all the couples and story lines and new ships. And pet play PhumPeem.

So, because I don't always come across the way I mean to, this is meant as supportive and encouraging, even if you don't continue the story, or make some drastic change.

P.S. I love Fai in this. And the fact that Vegas and Porsche run the club.

Thank you for making this. Have a great week! 💕

I'm actually gonna cry, this is so sweet 😭😭 Thank you so much for your support, this means the world to me!

So, after very long consideration and discussing possibilities with a few people here and on my TWT DMs, I'm absolutely NOT deleting L&L. I'll try to wrap up the TanFang storyline as nicely as possible, and if I happen to come up with an interesting possible plot line I could give them after they make up, then I'll keep them there. If not, they'll stay in the fic, but as background characters. I haven't forgotten about the one comment that mentioned the possibility of Matt and Fang becoming therapy buddies in the future, or Fang just making more friends in the community (which, considering he's literally the most detached from the main friend group, is not out of the question at all 😭), so that could be nice to explore!

At the end of the day, AouBoom and TanFang are not at fault. Twitter people just be Twitter people-ing. Then again, there's nowhere for them to go if there's no storyline for them. So far, in the notes I have on my phone about the fic, all I have for them are ideas for BDSM scenes, whereas with ChainPun and MickMatt I have plot points and a story/theme I want to explore with them 😭😭 So yeah, I'll see if I come up with something for them as I write their final chapter(s), but if not, they'll take the backseat!

If that happens, I still don't know whether I'd focus on BeerKluen or QToey 🤔 Cause both have something about them that makes me wanna touch on them: BeerKluen bc Kluen and Matt are gonna trauma bond and become buddies and I may have given Kluen a more complicated backstory than I anticipated (I'm so sorry y'all JSJSJS); and QToey cause they are already established, but not in the BDSM scene, so they would face different issues aside from the 'getting together' side of things! Maybe I'll explore the one I don't pick on a different fic, since this BDSM AU is gonna become a series and extend to more fandoms I'm afraid 😭😭 Blaming my Only Boo mutuals for talking me into having KangMoo and TaeYos here.

Again, thank you so much for you support! I can't express how glad I am that my readers are so kind and understanding 💙💙

[alovelyburn]

Hi! Do you know any media - either western or eastern - with a character like Griffith in it? Thanks

That's a tough one. There are tons of characters who evoke similar tropes or are directly inspired by Griffith, but it depends on which parts of Griffith you're looking for. So... I'll give names and then just kind of expand on how they are Griffith-esque.

Giorno Giovanna from JoJo's always struck me as a bit of a Griffith Lite. He's idealistic but ruthless, a strategic thinker, has big dreams and does a lot of sus things in pursuit of more positive goals. He's also given to poetic proclamations.

The classic is Ryo Asuka from Devilman, who is a direct inspiration for Griffith and has a very similar role/dynamic with Akira (the protagonist... you probably know this already but you know) to Griffith's and Guts'... emotionally, but not behaviorally. Like Ryo and Griffith don't act anything alike but they have similar functions. Yeah.

Laurent from the Captive Prince is partially inspired by Griffith - I haven't gotten very far in that book, but Griffith is a stated inspiration.

Chrollo Lucilfer from Hunter x Hunter is kind of a hybrid Griffith/Femto type figure to me. He hits a lot of the same buttons as Griffith but is much more overtly malevolent. Still, the intelligence, strategic thinking, his way of going from adorable to terrifying, and something about the way he... talks... Always reminds me of Griffith. And like Griffith he's quite difficult to read and can instill existential dread in orders without doing very much. Also, books.

Blade of the Phantom Master (Shin Angyo Onshi) has a ... lot of things in it that remind me of Berserk, but when it comes to Griffith, they have two different characters that kind of ring the bells. For Griffith the human, the main one is Hae Mo Su, who is the main character's deceased best friend who appears only in flashbacks once you're past the middle of the series. The other oen is Aji Tae, the main villain - a lot of people compare him to Griffith, but he's more of a Femto, although he sometimes pretends to be a Griffith. Also because of plot things, it's... an interesting comparison.

Artorius from Tales of Berseria has a lot in common with him - mind you I've never actually played the game so take it with a grain of salt. But he's a silver haired idealist who becomes unemotional due to a severe loss and then proceeds to do awful things in the name of benefiting humanity so, there you are.

If you want something MUCH MUCH MORE LIGHTHEARTED than anything else on this list, I'm Stanning the Prince is a romance manhwa webcomic that simultaneously strongly evokes Berserk and turns it into like... a lighthearted romance comic. The younger/crown prince is physically identical to Griffith and has a Griffithy vibe... also his sigil is a blue and white wolf whereas his brother's sigil is a red and black bird, so like.... anyway but again this is romance comic so don't expect it to go too heavy.

Le'Garde from Fear & Hunger (dark RPG) is perhaps the most 1-for-1 comparison I've seen in terms of role and story, though he has some non-Griffith twists to him. He is directly based on Griffith, though. I saw a review call this game "Undertale, but it's Berserk."

All that said, the closest I've ever come to being like, this guy may as well just be Griffith was... Canute from Vinland Saga. When he first appears, this comparison will seem pretty shallow but just hang in there. By the time I paused in my reading (which I need to get back to) I was like, oh this is what Griffith would be like as King, cool cool.

[utilitycaster]

Hi! I absolutely love following all of your commentary, whether it be about d&d mechanics or ttrpg shows! I'm working through the Dimension 20 backlog. In one of the Adventuring Party episodes for Unsleeping City 2, the cast talked about their approach to inter-party romance, and that they avoid it for many reasons, but mainly because they are afraid of it pulling too much focus during play. This struck me as very different than CRs approach. (1/2)

Do you have any thoughts about the different approaches of these two shows to romances, and how that impacts how fans interact with the characters and ships? I don’t follow the tags for these shows usually, but it seems that CR has more fandom discussion and drama around ships, which may be more absent in D20 since romance between player characters isn’t usually an expectation. The hours of play also likely make an impact. CR has so many more episodes for relationships to develop. (2/2)

-----

Thanks! Honestly your thought here kind of sums most of it up: a 400+ hour campaign simply offers opportunities for romances to develop that a 40-ish hour campaign does not. The only D20 campaign where I recall extensive shipping was A Court of Fey and Flowers, where that was kind of the point, and there were two clear frontrunner ships that were very heavily signaled and did not conflict with one another.

I don't follow the D20 tags or fandom in the same way I do Critical Role (also I am behind on Neverafter so no spoilers), so I can't speak much to shipping culture, but I do recall that the D20 cast has, as you've said, brought up romances. Some of it is again that it pulls time and focus they don't have. Critical Role can have a date between Beau and Yasha that lasts two hours of streaming time and it's a small amount of time in the scheme of things, whereas that would be an entire episode of an (at most) 20-something episode run in D20. Brennan however has also mentioned that he has a preference for PC/NPC romances simply because NPCs can leave in a way that PCs cannot. I suspect that just carried over to how the D20 Intrepid Heroes cast prefers to play. A lot of tables don't necessarily want romance between PCs! And when D20 has had it, it's either been an expectation the cast knew about going on for that specific series (ACOFAF), something agreed upon between the cast members prior to the show as an existing relationship (Mice & Murder; this is also true of EXU Calamity), or very much in the background/in the finale (Unsleeping City's fling between Pete and Rowan).

I suspect there might be a few other reasons:

Critical Role, quite early in the run of Campaign 1, had a character confess their love for another, so I think the expectation that romance is on the table has been set in this fandom from the start.

The unedited nature of Critical Role has I think permitted people to read into OOC moments differently than in other, more edited shows, and obviously video gives you much more than simply audio to work with (though obviously this isn't a factor for D20 vs. CR)

I could be wrong because again, while I watch/listen to a bunch of actual play, I don't participate heavily in the fandoms of those other shows, but I think people have preferences for specific cast members or cast dynamics for Critical Role in a way I haven't seen for other shows and I think that colors a lot of shipping discussions. (As for why this is true, I think it's a combination of the earlier, simpler accessibility of the cast on social media early CR vs say, D20 and NADDPod - the internet climate changed drastically between 2015 and 2018 - and the larger cast size and again, longer lengths of time. For reference; when Neverafter is complete, the intrepid heroes cast will have played 117 episodes together, and with episodes mostly in the 2-ish hour range this puts them at roughly half the runtime of Campaign 1 of Critical Role)

[abookisafriend]

writing manuals

creating short fiction, bird by bird, writing down the bones, and on writing

--

creating short fiction, by damon knight: four out of five spaceships

did you feel the need for a writers' guide that comes from your corner, a place where they respect the fantastic? damon knight is a seasoned scifi writer with skills and vision, and he translates his craft as well as he can into a short, concise volume. there are examples and exercises designed to help you build your writing muscles.

especially in his analysis of one of his own stories, he focuses in on the craft with a level of concrete detail that makes the book genuinely useful, in my opinion. the only reason that this book has a lower rating than bird by bird is that i was able to easily finish bird by bird, reading with excitement, whereas damon's book is not one that i return to often and i haven't actually ever finished reading it cover to cover. it is one that i use in class, though, and there are specific sections that i highly recommend -- again, his analysis of his own story "semper fi". he also has fantastic advice on writing with the subconscious. that alone makes it worth the read.

--

bird by bird, by anne lamott: four and a half out of five torn-up manuscripts

bird by bird is, in my opinion, a justified classic. it's a writer's manual with straightforward advice and examples to lift your spirits, encourage you, and guide your practice. you won't find so many analyses of examples of fiction as in damon knight's creating short fiction, but you will find encouraging and experience-based guidance on creating a long-term writing practice. the writing is very engaging and the book is a bit of a page-turner; lamott does know what she's doing. summing it up here, there are fundamentally three main principles: you have to write a shitty first draft to get a shiny final draft; write every day; it can be as little as three hundred words. when i finished the book, i felt that i knew anne lamott.

--

writing down the bones, by natalie goldberg: four and a half out of five notebooks

this is a concise, accessible writer's manual with brief chapters you can read in an idle moment at any point in your day. it's very conversational and written with an easy manner, although the topics that the writer broaches can be quite serious. she is focused on memoir writing, but much of her advice applies generally to any narrative form. as with bird by bird, i really felt that i got to know the writer through this book. her writing is very enjoyable to read, and i would recommend the book on that basis alone. also like bird by bird, this book is enjoyable to read just as an experience in its own right; the author really does know how to write. my rating may be off a bit, however, as i haven't completely finished the book.

--

on writing, by stephen king: four out of five blood-curdling screams

i stopped reading stephen king books because he is too good at what he does and i didn't really want to be that scared. this is a good one, though.

it is half memoir and half writing advice. i would almost recommend it more for the memoir than the advice, but advice from someone like king, who is not only a skilled writer but someone who has thought about his craft, has to be worth something. he adds one thing that the other writers mentioned here generally do not: bone up on your actual mechanics and vocabulary. in other words, the basic stuff of english class.

this book takes a bit of the fear out of approaching writing and renders it a little more accessible. "remember," he will tell you, "i got rejected a hundred times before i sold my first work." his main advice, like lamott, is to write every day. i seem to recall that he even writes on christmas.

[rockinlibrarian]

For the fic writer ask game: 7, 18, 22!

Thank you for the asks! If you would like to ask from this ask game, the list is here! If you would like to ask from the music related ask game I reblogged yesterday, you can do that one, too!

So #7: How many ideas for fics do you have right now?

That's a tricky question, because I'm not sure where I draw the line between "idea" and "work in progress," because when I get an idea I tend to jot down a bit of it to get a feel for it, and then I never quite give up on it, so it's KIND OF in progress, but it's more just, there? Okay, I count seven such docs in my fic Scrivener file, "WIP"s that aren't actually "IP." (For comparison's sake, there's an additional 3 in Scrivener I can more confidently call WIPs and not just ideas, even though I haven't been working on them within the past couple weeks, and 1 that is the WIP I'm currently focusing my energies on). And I can think of three more off the top of my head that aren't in Scrivener. And I do occasionally think of one that was me jumping off with a suggestion somebody made on Tumblr once but I have NOT started in any way because I don't have the slightest idea where to begin-- it's action-based, and action isn't really my forte. But who knows, I do still think about it sometimes.

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

Huh. I don't know. Here's a whole bunch:

--Kerry suspected the reason her brother and Oliver Bird had hit it off so well was less because they were two mutant freaks with dreams of mutant liberation and more because they’d finally found, in each other, someone they didn’t have to dumb down their vocabularies for.

--“He gets to communicate with Alpha Centauri and I’m not even allowed to join the wrestling team?!”

--“I, on the other hand, have lots of common interests.” That didn’t sound as impressive as he’d meant it to.

--“We were just assaulted by your ex-girlfriend!” “Note the use of the prefix ‘ex-’! She’s very old news and will not be bothering anyone ever again. Whereas my current girlfriend will be delighted to bother us all for the rest of our lives, which is why I am here.” He paused as if to reset the mood for the grand announcement he’d intended. “It is my great pleasure to invite you all to my wedding.”

--My prior hist’ry with this one’s (forgive me) discommodius (this one is much better in context, but trust me, it's probably one of my favorite lines I've ever written EVER

--“I’ve been studying this thing for years, in person, and still can’t make heads or tails. Then I read your papers and you’re there writing it intimate love poetry from across the country.”

--“You don’t have lungs!” Oliver looked triumphant. “You must have been having a psychosomatic reaction to the impression of a smoky room which I was projecting into your mind! Write that down.”

--"I’m not the one who can’t appreciate the magnitude of scientific achievement we have here!”

--“Frank’s DEAD!” “So I heard. There’s also this obituary hanging on the wall.” “You didn’t tell me Frank was DEAD.” “He wasn’t dead last time.”

--“Please don’t swear in front of the Aslan-in-a-Bucket,” a crisp American voice interrupted from somewhere above him. “He may be just an artificial construct programmed to behave as the real Aslan, but it still feels irreverent.”

--“Pfft,” Billy said. “Who doesn’t know a ruddy Aslan-in-a-Bucket when they see one; what are they teaching you kids these days?”

--"I’m here to save you from your reckless stupidity.” “Good! I must admit my stupidity is so profound that I haven’t the slightest idea what you just said.”

Yes, that makes FOUR taken from "The Pipeweed Mafia Epic," a work that is pretty much just a long private joke between me and my friend who is the inspiration for the character speaking with the "crisp American voice" above, but I don't care, they're MY favorite lines, dangit

--“And who might you be, Mademoiselle?” “Imminently unemployed,” Sir Reginald snapped.

--“Is it possible, or am I imagining it, that we are watching an eldritch Horror play the glockenspiel?” “Ben has named her Jennifer, and she’s becoming quite adept.”

Okay, I'll shut up now. There's also a line I want to include from the Firefly fic I started writing a decade ago and still haven't finished, but I can't find it at the moment. It still makes me laugh whenever I think of it though.

This is how I count to "one."

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

It depends on the fic. For many, especially those glorified ideas, I probably don't. But others, short fiction being what it is, come in one lump and that includes the ending. The ending was actually the second thing I wrote for my current most IP WIP, "The Magic Man of Oz," and the first was the opening, because my whole drive for taking that on was to get to experiment with Oliver being the narrator, and the beginning and ending would be where his voice would be the strongest. Otherwise, I'm kind of notoriously bad at writing endings, even if I do know what HAPPENS last-- it's hard to actually end it!

[masschase]

1, 2, 7 and 10 for the boss ask meme :^]

I'm just gonna start by saying, in the unlikely event the 1 awesome person reading my SR fanfic 'Out Of Time' comes across this, massive spoilers! But I've been posting my Boss's name all over here so that ship may have sailed!

Whoo boy.

It's a secret, basically.

Her name is Cassandra Clark. Her mom was a big fan of Greek mythology and her dad "read one book on it then pretended to be". She's gone by Casey since she was a kid. She's not against Cassandra but did find the way her mom said it grating(eta: hates her mom).

In 2006 when she joined the Saints, she was a naive 15-year-old who didn't think there was any reason to keep it a secret. Because of this, all the original Saints knew (Casey but not Cassandra) (took them a fucking while to work out she was a girl though). Obviously Lin, Julius, Dex and Troy all knew up to their respective deaths.

Post-coma she decided to try her best to cut ties with her name and background for everyone's protection. So then only Johnny knew. He calls her Case. He struggles not to call her that on a weekly basis. She went by Emma for a bit. But eventually it just became Boss.

When the Saints became more famous she needed a fake name for the credit cards, and went for Blake Olivia Smith. The rest of the gang talked her down from Saint-Smith (she's a bit fucking ridiculous). She only really uses that name for shit like booking hotels etc.

In Steelport, Kinzie finds her name (again, Casey but not Cassandra) via the internet. She manages to heavily encrypt it for the Boss, as well as any trace of her real age (she pretended to be 18 when she joined the Saints). The Syndicate don't know it's an issue, or they would've got Matt on it.

The name she falsified documents for the Presidency in was Erica V. Saint. She's later very embarrassed about what the V stands for(Violence. Did I mention she's a bit fucking ridiculous?). She has to keep up that her age is 29 (it's actually 26) when she becomes President because they agreed to change the constitutional age to 28.

In 2022, there is a coup, a small bunch of rogue Zin going back in time to kill her. As a result of this; Matt finds out her real age, the Zin find out her real name, Johnny finds out her real age, and Matt finds out her real name(as does the reader). Due to the nature of time travel, it's debatable to say in what order those events occured, but that's the order I've written them in. When everything is more or less over she tells the team her full name. It's no longer a secret as of mid-February 2022. The team call her a mix of Casey/Boss/President/Emperor. Johnny still calls her Case. Matt calls her Cass.

I've played her in 3, 4 and GOOH but all the games are canon to her story (except for the reboot, haven't played it yet, but I'm not sure I could work her into that anyway).

It's very obviously implied in my fanfic that Persephone Brimstone in AOM is the rebooted universe's version of her, as she says her parents thought about a. moving to Paris, b. calling her Persephone instead of Cassandra and c. investing in good stocks (and perhaps as a result of their move, staying together). In addition she has dark blonde hair like her dad and hazel eyes like her mom whereas Persephone would have blue eyes like her dad and black hair like her mom. Also because of this:

I try to stick to the canon of them all as much as reasonably possible.

*cringes and covers face with hands* Matt Miller.

I cut my explanation of this right down:

It's extremely endgame; happens 2 years post-SRIV. She is very anti-relationship up to this point. Seeing Johnny lose Aisha made her worse but he calls her out on the fact she had a pre-existing fear of commitment.

For this character, Carlos and Shaundi also come very close to having actual relationships with her but one's doomed by actual canon and one's doomed by my headcanon (they both avoided telling each other). The weirdest thing is that in general I'm a massive GatBoss shipper, but for this character, he's much more of an older brother figure.

She becomes less naive and, obviously less mute, in SR2. She's gone from 16 to 21 without experiencing it, so everything's pretty confusing to her, and SR2 probably sees her at her most ruthless and violent. Between 2 and 3 she finally gets the money and power she desperately wants, and perhaps more to the point, a decent shrink. By the time of SRIV so much crazy shit has happened in her life that she just kind of has to roll with it. Chill in a chaotic way. But she's still prone to the more violent behaviour when her peace is disturbed.

See, Shaundi gets it.

[fuckyeahfraxus]

Oh buddy, believe me, the pain is real. I love Fraxus with all my heart, thanks to canon material not least, but this struggle has accompanied me all along the way of shipping this ship and I bet there are many other ships out there that end up having the same problems and being slandered by the fandom for the sake of stereotypes.

I must say it is interesting that you mentioned Bixfreed because from what I remember the ship suffered the same problems in fanart and fanfic; that Freed was robbed off all of his character traits and got made into the 'soft shy uwu whiny-bottom boy' while Bix got robbed off less character but still in a way of making him 'blander' so he could fit a stereotype as well. It's what turned me away from this ship completely because as opposed to Fraxus I had no 'passion' for them as a romantic ship. If this has changed or you've seen other portrayal of it nowadays then that's amazing, however! It's been years since I've looked into it so there might really be much better stuff out there by now!

Actually yes, it does seem to be an issue for gay ships involving Freed. I love to hc him as gay but I've also been drawn to Freed x female character ships, one reason being that the portrayal seemed to be much more accurate and pleasant to see/read through. But with gay ships it seems like people see a man with long hair and turn him into a wifey whereas they see Laxus (if we take Fraxus as example), who is a bulky man and powerful and aloof most of the time, and make him top-whore-beast-man without taking much else into consideration.

But Freed? Freed has not much bulk but he's all fucking muscle as well. Freed is fucking powerful as well. He's also aloof but he's become more comfortable showing other sides of his character in his path of growth.

As has Laxus- just slower.

We've talked about Blue Pegasus before. Laxus was fucking uncomfortable and awkward. He doesn't deal well with social settings, especially not one like this where you have to be a host and do flirting. Freed, on the other hand? And Bixlow for that matter? They both flourished. They enjoyed mixing drinks and be hosts. Freed has also always been the one being more comfortable with initiating touch. But he's also always been one of the only people not afraid to scold Laxus and stand up against him.

All of it forgotten because #stereotypingTM.

The fanart thing is also very true. A lot of fanart out there really has Freed look like a genderbent character and it's like they haven't looked at a single official artwork for him. Freed does have the one or other feature that would traditionally be considered more 'feminine' than 'masculine', that being the long hair and lower eyelashes. But other than those? Yea, I'd definitely agree that Freed does present rather masculine in fact! Not only in appearance but character traits as well. But he get deprived of it pretty harshly in a lot of fanart and fanfic.

And it's true enough that the comedy scenes added to the anime have made things much worse. People take these scenes that were thrown in for pure comedic effect and RUN with them, make it the only character trait that matters. Though Laxus admittedly had much less comedy scenes I've never really seen them being taken into consideration. Now I also believe that most people have watched the anime and not read the manga, so they wouldn't know that a MAJORITY of the comedic scenes for Freed do NOT appear in the manga at all.

You've successfully gotten me into this rant but sometimes this is still relevant and it needs to be said over and over again. The mischaracterization of Freed has still to be dealt with. It's also one of the reasons why we've called off Fraxus Love Fest since it seemed to become especially worse as soon as flirtation and sexual acts are involved. People also still get incredibly MAD and defensive when stating that Laxus may just enjoy getting d*ck. Also all because of the stereotypes they have in their head for manly bulk man TM.

We DO feel like it has gotten much better, at least from what we see here on Tumblr. Not sure what it looks like on the fanfiction sides, Twitter & Co but I'd imagine it's still a bit of a battlefield for Fraxus shippers like us.

i gotta say, whist fraxus is easily the most popular freed ship, and one i have always loved, recently ive started preferring bixfreed, if only due to the fact that it’s one of the only gay freed ships where he’s not made into the “flamboyant one”. thats bixlow. noone is out flamboyanting bixlow, and he never loses any masculinity despite it.

ive always hated how common it is for freed to be completely mischaracterised (not even flanderised hes just straight up not the same character anymore) in most gay ships. people seem to really love making him a “damsel in distress” type, especially with fraxus, i can only assume because laxus is so stereotypically masculine.

this really seems to only be an issue with gay ships including freed (although it is especially egregious with fraxus, and a LOT of old miraxus media. no im not getting into that.)

ive never seen a ship involving freed and a woman that has this issue. he’s almost always presented as this suave intellectual, a gentleman, someone independent, but who chooses to help others. (i personally headcanon freed to be gay so its always a little annoying seeing him being characterised so much better in many of these straight ships lol)

anyway back to bixfreed

its always fun seeing freed have to act as the straightman (lol) to bixlow, and it further helps bixlow’s own character. its so good to see a man be presented as wearing typically feminine things (his skirt and nail polish), and be so willing to be silly, to goof around, to hang off ceilings, and yet not once is his masculinity compromised.

I’ve seen a great deal of fanart of freed where i genuinely thought he’d been genderbent. Freed is still a masculine character, but so many fans just see his eyelashes and hair, and throughout the series mashima just fed into this, especially in the anime, with multiple “gags” of him fawning over laxus, to the point where fans started comparing him to juvia (also someone who was flanderised to the point of being unrecognisable.)

im not even sure what my point in this rant is anymore im just so tired of this mischaracterisation. you can have a character be gay without forcing stereotypes onto them so much it becomes homophobic. im BEGGING just leave this in 2016

[charles-rxwlands]

lay all your love on me

okay!! so this is my fic for @magpiencrow's 1.2k writing challenge.

this is based off of the song lay all your love on me, slowed, by putin

pairing: nikolai/reader

rating: general

tags: gn!reader w/ gn pronouns, fluff

summary: falling in love with nikolai lantsov told through several vignettes

or: mindless nikolai/reader fluff with a alina and ivan being little shits

warnings: right off the bat there's a nightmare about drowning in the ocean, and there's one (1) swear word at the end, but other than that, there's nothing

word count: 4.1k

read on ao3

constructive criticism, feedback, and reblogs are greatly appreciated !

I haven't written anything in a while, so i may be a bit rusty, but please enjoy :)

You were drowning, and also pretty damn sure you were going to die out here. Your lungs were on fire, screaming for air, but you couldn't emerge from the ocean for long enough to suck in a breath. Sure, your hand or head breached the surface every now and then, but a wave would come crashing down on you immediately after, destroying all your progress.

      The undulating waves threw you around like a football - a very pathetic one, at that. As hard as you tried to fight the current, it still insisted on moving against you (stubborn bastard), so really you weren't going anywhere. Just pathetically bobbing around in the same pathetic place. You couldn't feel your limbs - the only thing you could feel was the agonising ache in your chest. It was as if your arms and legs had frozen over along with your will to live.

      How easy it would be to just... 

...let the ocean take you...

      Suddenly, someone grabbed you by the wrist. You screamed, which was a mistake; immediately, salty seawater filled your mouth, making you gag and choke. Nevertheless, you valiantly tried to release yourself from whoever - whatever? - had their hold on you. 

      "Y/n, Y/n! Relax, darling, relax," a voice said, sounding out of breath. "It's me."

      You whirled your head around. Sagging with relief, you gasped out the name of your saviour. "Nikolai."

      "Yes. Yes, Y/n, my love, it's me. It's Nikolai," he soothed, running his hands over your wet hair.

      "Nikolai," you breathed. "Nikola-" - a wave reared up on its hind legs, ready to come crashing down onto your friend, ready to take him away - "no, no, Nikolai, NO-!"

   

You startled, eyes flying open. You were shaking like a leaf. Were you cold, or was it just the adrenaline from the nightmare still making its course? You shook your head as if to rid your mind of the dream. It wasn't real. Nikolai had saved you that night. It was fine. It wasn't real.

      But it could very well have been real, a traitorous voice in your mind whispered. Scowling, you cursed your pessimistic side. Even if a wave had separated you two, Nikolai would have fought tooth and nail to get to you again. You would have done the same. After all, you were childhood friends, and you knew better than anyone that Nikolai didn't let go of his loved ones so easily.

      He hadn't wanted you to accompany him on his journey overseas as Sturmhond. You insisted otherwise, channeling some of Nikolai's stubbornness that had rubbed off on you. ("You're not getting rid of me that easily, idiot. So let me come, unless you want me to steal your kneecaps."). 

      A half-smile appeared on your face as you thought back to the memory. Slowly, you got up from your bed. Your blanket was draped over your shoulders. You slipped out of your cabin quietly, walking down the hallway until you found yourself in front of Nikolai's room. He stirred in his sleep when you entered. The door creaked slightly, but it didn't seem like his distress was because of the noise.

      You sat on the edge of his bed. Nikolai, previously facing away, turned over to face you. His eyes were still screwed shut, eyebrows knitted together and an unhappy expression on his face. You frowned. 

      "Nikolai." you nudged him gently. "Wake up. You're okay, just wake up. It's just a dream."

      He opened his eyes, blinking at you. "Y/n?"

      "Hi," you said. A lock of golden hair fell over his forehead, and upon instinct, you reached to brush it away. He let you, not uttering any of his usual complaints. 

      "You were gone," he mumbled, undoubtedly referencing his nightmare. "I- I couldn't save you, and you were gone." 

      You shifted into a more comfortable position - your whole body was on the bed now, with your back against the headboard. He leaned his head against your chest, and you ran your fingers through his hair. "It wasn't real. It's okay. You saved me - I'm not going anywhere, 'Lai."

      "Me either," he agreed, wrapping his arms around your middle. A beat of silence. Then, "Thank you."

      You were more than content to fall asleep like this. Even if it meant waking up with an ache in your neck. Judging from the way he was curled up, practically drinking in your presence, Nikolai felt the same way.

      What a feeling it was to have found solace in Nikolai Lantsov, and to know he had found solace in you, too.

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

Nikolai's pov

Nikolai watched from the corner of the ballroom as you laughed at one of Ivan's jokes. One would say that he was scowling, but the Prince of Ravka didn't scowl. No - he was simply observing your conversation with the Heartrender with visible distaste. He was not scowling. And he was not jealous.

      You and Ivan were smiling at each other, standing by the refreshments table, mouths moving quickly, the both of you obviously interested in whatever you were talking about. You threw your head back in a laugh. You looked gorgeous. Nikolai wanted to make you laugh like that - more than he wanted to admit.

      The last straw was when Ivan lay a hand on your shoulder, and then snaked his arm around you. You didn't seem perturbed by his touch - no, actually, you leaned into it. He bent down to whisper something in your ear that made you duck your head in embarrassment and lightly hit his chest. 

      Nikolai's glare deepened, if that were even possible. Okay, fine, maybe he was jealous. Did he even have the right to be jealous, though? It wasn't as if he was dating you, as much as he'd like to be.

And oh boy, he'd like to be. 

      Suddenly, Alina appeared at his side, seemingly out of thin air. He flinched. "Alina." 

      The girl in question had a mischievous look in her eye. Her hands were clasped in front of her, the long, flowy sleeves of her dress falling just past her wrists. The bottom half of her gown was a sparkly gold, whereas the top half was a dark blue. The two colours faded into each other at the middle, creating a gradient effect. It was a beautiful dress. You had helped Alina pick it out yourself, if he remembered correctly.

      "Hello, loverboy." she poked him in the side, grinning knowingly. "How's your crush on Y/n going for you?"

      "I don't have a crush on them, Alina, for Saint's sake."

      "Oh, is that so? You do seem... ah, what was the word... utterly whipped for them, contrary to what you just said," she said, tilting her head to the side, feigning innocence.

      "Am not," he argued. "I-," Nikolai paused, taking notice of you and Ivan walking past a couple metres away. Unfortunately, you were too engrossed in your current conversation to notice him. His eyes lingered on you. He only looked away when you disappeared back into the throng of people. 

      Alina let out a triumphant 'ha!'. 

      He directed his attention back to her and glared. "Alina, I swear-,"

      "Utterly. Whipped," she mouthed.

      "I will behead you," he threatened.

      She laughed. "In all seriousness, I really don't think Y/n and Ivan like each other like that," Alina said.

      "Well, of course not," he agreed. "Y/n very clearly has eyes for me. I can't say I blame them - who could resist all this? Everyone's all over me, as I'm sure you've noticed." 

      Alina stared at him pointedly.

      "Ah, except for you, of course. You seem to be the only one immune to my charm and charisma. An odd one, you are."

       She rolled her eyes. "Why do I even bother," she groaned. "Just swear to me that you'll tell Y/n you like them soon. Within a week. Swear on... your dignity."

      "My dignity?" Nikolai drawled.

      "Yes, your dignity, because if you don't fess up soon, I'll have to tell Y/n about your crush on them myself," she grinned smugly, and darted off before Nikolai could retort. 

      He sighed. As he saw it, he had three options:

      1. Blackmail Alina (because of course she wouldn't give in to simple bribery)

      2. Get on his knees and beg Alina to not tell you of his massive crush (there! he admitted it; he had a massive crush on you! One that he'd been harbouring for just over a year now, too)

      3. Listen to Alina, and confess on his own terms

      All three were mortifying, and things he absolutely didn't want to do. However, the last was considerably easier to do, and came with the most benefits and the least consequences. You had already seen him through his most embarrassing moments (and he through yours) so even if you rejected him, the humiliation would be minimal. 

      And maybe he wanted to confess. And maybe there was hope that you liked him back. Nikolai wasn't stupid - he knew when people fancied him. He suspected you liked him back, but then again, that could've been wishful thinking, or maybe he was misreading the entire thing.

      He didn't even understand why he was so jealous of the way Ivan and you had interacted. Before he had fallen heads over heels in love with you, his childhood best friend, people flirting with you hadn't been a problem. He'd encouraged it, even. But now, bitterness flared up inside of him every time he saw someone getting a bit too cozy with you. 

      In short, his feelings for you had completely destroyed his facade of smooth, suave, sexy Prince of Ravka. And it kind of terrified him how poorly he hid it.

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

Nikolai had been acting strange lately, and it was bothering you. You feared the worst - had he finally caught on to your crush? You thought you'd been subtle until Ivan had approached you at the most recent party. Apparently, the scowl on your face as you watched Nikolai flirt with the guests had been fierce enough to kill.

      Ivan had given you (unsolicited) advice, telling you to be straightforward and direct. That was what he'd done with Fedyor, after all, and that had worked out well.

      You were pacing around your room. Ivan was perched on your bed, watching you have a borderline nervous breakdown like one would watch the view. 

      "You're enjoying this, aren't you, Ivan?" you demanded. "I'm about to make a life or death decision, and you're enjoying it."

      He chuckled. "I wouldn't call this a life or death decision, Y/n. If Nikolai rejects you, he rejects you, and it's his loss. If he reciprocates, good, and you'll be free to frolic in the meadows with him, all fine and dandy."

      You stared at him, your expression communicating, "Did you really just say that?", very clearly.

      "Okay, okay, fine, I'll be serious." Ivan relented. "Just tell him, Y/n. What's the worst that could happen?" 

      Just as you were about to respond - "Well, I don't know, what if he rejects me, things become eternally awkward between us, and our 10 year long friendship is ruined because I couldn't keep my mouth shut?" - someone knocked at the door. You opened it to find Nikolai waiting. His hair was perfectly styled, as always. He wore a dark turquoise suit jacket, and a simple white dress shirt underneath. The ghost of a smile appeared on your face; you had chosen the colour for him.

      "Hi, Nikolai," you greeted. 

      "Hello," he said. "Come on a walk with me. It's a lovely day outside, and both of us have been dreadfully busy lately - we may not get another chance to spend time together, I'm afraid."

      "Oh! Of course, just let me grab more suitable shoes- I'll be out in a minute- Ivan, move." You rummaged around your room in search of the sandals Nikolai had gifted you for your most recent birthday. Ivan flashed you a grin.

      "Tell him!" he whispered as you ducked out the door.

      You hoped you didn't seem too jittery as you took Nikolai's arm, even if your insides were filled with butterflies. He seemed deep in thought for the first few minutes of your walk. It wasn't until you were both outside that he finally spoke.

      "I hope you don't mind me asking, Y/n, but what was Ivan doing in your room?" he asked. 

      The question caught you off guard. Why was he so concerned about you and Ivan? It wasn't as if-

      Oh.

      Oh.

      "Nikolai, don't tell me- are you jealous?" you exclaimed.

      "Just answer the question, Y/n," he grumbled, which was enough of an answer for you.

      You laughed, only feeling a bit bad that you were so amused. Nikolai Lantsov, jealous. You found that incredibly funny. "Oh, I'm sorry for laughing," you apologised, even as another giggle escaped your mouth. "You don't have to worry, Ivan and I are strictly friends."

      He didn't seem convinced. "But the two of you at the party a few days ago-,"

      You cut him off. "Nikolai. I promise that there is nothing romantic going on with Ivan and I. And besides, I don't think I'm anywhere near his type."

      "Ivan likes men, Nikolai," you supplied, sensing his confusion. "Honestly, you need to keep up with gossip - he and Fedyor have been going strong for nearly three months now."

      "Oh," Nikolai said.

      "Yeah, oh."

      "And, uh, do you? Like men, I mean?" 

      You bit back another laugh. "Yes, I do. One man in particular, actually." 

      "Is that so? Care to clue me in on who this man is?"

      "You." 

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

Nikolai's pov

"You."

      As soon as that single word came out of your mouth, Nikolai's brain short-circuited, and several alarms blared in his mind. ALERT! ALERT! THE PERSON YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH LIKES YOU BACK! 

      He was too stunned to speak, which was definitely a first. So, naturally, he didn't speak, but instead leaned in to kiss you. His lips brushed chastely against yours. A pause. 

      "I- I'm really sorry, Y/n, I should have asked beforehand-,"

      "Nikolai." you took his face in your hands. "Shut up." 

      And then you kissed him, and if his brain had been short-circuiting before, this was a full blown system failure. Sparks flew inside of him, and he was acutely aware of you and you only. It was a wonderful feeling, one that he immediately missed when you pulled away.

      "Wow," you said. 

      He grinned. "I'm that good of a kisser, huh?"

      When usually you would come up with a witty response, you just smiled. It was a smile Nikolai was pretty sure he'd die to see again. 

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

Falling in love with Nikolai had been a long process. Your simple crush developed into something deeper like a leaky faucet dripping - slowly, but steadily. And then the realisation that you were in love with him hit you like a tidal wave. Drowning you, consuming every inch of your being, but not necessarily in a bad way.

       You came to your epiphany while laying awake in bed one night after a whole day spent with the esteemed King of Ravka. It was a wonder that you'd managed to spend a whole 10 hours or so in his company without getting fed up, Tamar had teased. He did annoy you - and had today - but you bullied him back plenty enough. It was easy being with him. Easier than you were used to. 

       You loved the way his eyes sparkled after correcting someone on their use of the word 'impossible'. Loved how he devoted himself to his country so selflessly. Loved how he smiled at you so genuinely and lovingly, even when you didn't have the energy to show your love in return after a bad day. Saints, you loved him so, so much, and you were so in love with him, too, and-

       Holy shit. You were in love with Nikolai.

       You were in love. With Nikolai.

       A childish giggle bubbled up inside of you, and you sighed happily. What a feeling it was to be in love with the King of Ravka, even if he didn't know it yet. 

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

You twirled a small flower around in your hands as you walked side by side with Nikolai, your shoulders brushing occasionally. The taller blades of grass tickled your ankles, and a gentle breeze weaved through your hair. The sun peeked out from behind a few clouds, warming your face.

     Nikolai intertwined your fingers, sighing in content. He craned back his neck to meet the sunshine, eyes fluttering shut. He looked stunning, just standing there with his almost otherworldly beauty as light spilled over his fine features, highlighting every detail.

     "I'm in love with you," you blurted suddenly. "I love you, and I'm also in love with you, so. Yeah. I'm in love with you, Nikolai Lantsov."

     You gave yourself a mental round of applause for your eloquence and tact.

      He blinked. "Oh." The ghost of a smile appeared on his face, turning into a full-fledged grin when he finally processed your words. "Oh. I'm... I'm in love with you, too, Y/n L/n."

      You beamed back at him, and cupped his face in your hands. You gently ran your fingers against his cheeks, tracing a line down to the base of his chest. The fabric of his shirt was thin and soft, unlike the suffocating material his suits were made of. Lovingly, he wrapped his arms around your waist, and pulled you close. Your heart fluttered. Saints, you adored Nikolai. More than you could put into words. 

      "I love you," you whispered. "I love you so much, so intensely that it consumes me, and I'm drowning in it. But instead of it being hard to breathe, it makes breathing easier. It makes everything easier." 

      You interrupted your little speech by kissing him, just because it felt appropriate, and continued. "I was so lost without you, Nikolai. I didn't realise it, because as I've proved time and time again, I'm more than capable of holding my own-" you smirked as he rolled his eyes at the jab to his overprotectiveness "-but I was. I was a boat lost at sea, floating around in the waves, with no destination and no goal except surviving. Then you came along, and gave me solace. You were my salvation. You and your endearingly stupid jokes and your wild yet grounded behaviour. You're my anchor, Nikolai." 

      He laughed, but not in the mean way. In the happy way. 

      "I would pay you back with a monologue of my own," he said. "but all I can think of right now is how perfect you are, and how much I want to kiss you."

      Your smile widened, if that were even possible. You met him midway, lips connecting almost desperately. The only coherent thought running through your brain was 'Nikolai, Nikolai, Nikolai.'

      Nikolai.

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

"That one looks like a dragon," you said, pointing out a lumpy cloud in the sky.

      Nikolai tilted his head to the left. It was rather cute - he looked like a puppy, trying to figure out what its owner was saying. His right eyebrow curved in an upward arch (you still had no idea how he managed to raise a single eyebrow at a time), and he pouted slightly. Adorable.

      "I don't see it," he deadpanned.

      You sighed and shook your head, dismissing the cute puppy ideology. "Nevermind," you huffed. As hard as you tried to pretend you were upset with him, a smile teased at the corners of your mouth, anyway.

      "I'm sorry, darling, but I really don't!" he exclaimed, flopping back into the picnic blanket you two had laid out. Really, it wasn't even a picnic blanket. It was just a blanket. The two of you hadn't had time to find a proper one before embarking on your impromptu picnic. Nikolai, ever the improviser, had then brandished a quilt from Saints knew where. You suspected it came from Vasily's room, because who else would be pompous enough to own a red velvet blanket the size of China?

      You dramatically exhaled again. "I already said nevermind. Not all of us can be blessed with a creative vision such as mine, after all."

      Nikolai laughed. And Saints, the sound was downright melodic. You didn't even want to begin thinking about all the things you'd do to hear it one more time.

      A comfortable silence settled between the two of you. Eventually, he began stroking your palm with his callouses fingers. You bit back a smile, and linked your pinkies together. A gathering of clouds mostly covered the sun - enough to allow only a bit of warm, gold light to seep out. You wondered briefly how Nikolai looked right now, basking underneath the faint sunshine. 

      The answer came to you easily, even without looking at him: fucking beautiful. 

      However, you wouldn't give him the satisfaction of staring at him. The last time he had caught you gaping at him like a lovesick fool, he had teased you endlessly. It was ridiculous. It wasn't as if he didn't stare at you. No, actually. He stared at you all the time. In fact, he was doing it right now.

      You bit back a grin when you felt his eyes on you. But before you could tease him for it, he got up suddenly, offering you a hand.

      "Come on," he urged. "Follow me."

      "Where to?" you questioned curiously.

      He smirked. Tugged on your hand. Winked. "You'll see." 

      "Right, that's not cryptic at all," you muttered. 

      Eventually, after a minute or so of walking (and plenty of you trying to weasel more information out of him) the two of you had seemed to reach your destination. A huge tree hung above you, offering its shade. You plopped down, but Nikolai remained standing.

      Strangely, he was looking rather nervous. Repeatedly tugging at the collar of his beige button-up shirt, and kicking at the grass. 

      "Y/n, darling, don't just sit there, you're making me nervous," he whined. 

      You giggled, but stood up anyway. "I could say the same about you. What's on your mind, dear?"

      He took a deep breath, and looked you dead in the eyes. "I love you, Y/n. I love you, and I'm in love with you. I always have, and always have been. It's just- you're wonderful. And intelligent. And charming. And I am so, so glad you are my partner - in the romantic sense, and the platonic sense. If I'm being honest, I'm quite sure I'd be tearing at the seams without you to sew me back together every time I do something particularly foolish. 

      And I hope you'll always be there to ground me. Because I will always be there for you. Th-there's no other way to say this, my darling, but I'd quite like to spend the rest of my life with you, so..."

      He brandished a dark blue box from his back pocket (this probably wasn't the time, but you had to mention that you could never fit something that large in your pocket. Why did men's clothing always have bigger pockets?) and got down on one knee. 

      "Will you do me the honour of marrying me, Y/n?" he finished.

      Holy fuck. Holy mother of Saints. Holy everything. Was this real? Saints. This really was real, wasn't it? Nikolai Lantsov was proposing to you.

      A sob escaped from your throat, and you nodded frantically, not wanting him to think you were upset. "Yes," you said. "Saints, Nikolai, yes."

      He smiled. You knew that he smiled a lot, but this smile was different. Usually, he just grinned or smirked in a devilish way - this was more of a beam. He looked so genuinely happy (genuinely happy, because of you!) that it made your heart soar, and you were pretty sure you fell in love with him all over again for the second time. You'd never get tired of it, though. Not when it came to Nikolai (Nikolai, your husband-to-be!). Never when it came to Nikolai.

      You soon found yourself enveloped in a hug. He spun you around, both of you laughing (and crying). When he set you down, you could have sworn you saw his eyes welling up.

      "Now, my love, those better be happy tears," he tutted.

      "Of course they're happy tears, you stupid puppy dog!" you sniffed. "I love you."

      He beamed into your hair. "I love you, too, Y/n."

      What a feeling it was to be in love with Nikolai Lantsov, and to know that he was in love with you, too.

[pikapeppa]

Will you continue the storyline of “Stormbirds and Stalkers” now that Horizon Forbidden West is out?

The short answer: no, I don't think I will.

More details below if you want a longer and more detailed answer! 😅🙏

I'm sorry for taking so long to reply to this ask! I've been playing HFW and I was planning to wait until I finished the game before answering this, but I'm like 120 hours in and only just finished Wings of the Ten so I thought I should reply 😂

Anyway, yeah, it's very unlikely that I'll be continuing the storyline for Aloy/Nil for a number of reasons. One of them is that the timeline in my Aloy/Nil series is totally out of whack with canon now. HFW takes place only a few months after the end of HZD, whereas my Aloy/Nil fics span around ~2 years after the end of HZD. I know that that's not a HUGE problem and it could be retconned, but I'm a bit of a stickler who likes to stick to canon as much as possible (VERY PROBLEMATIC for someone who writes for unfinished games series, I'll fully and openly admit), so for me, the clashing timelines breaks my brain a little.

Another problem for me specifically - again, because I like sticking to canon - is that I wrote fic in that Aloy/Nil series that had headcanons about the Utaru and Tenakth which don't fit with canon. Continuing the Aloy/Nil story that I had written would mean more retconning or trying to reconcile shit that I had written vs. what's now canon as per HFW, which is more of a headache than I'm willing to tackle.

A third reason, and probably the most important, is that... well, to be honest, I wrote as much for Aloy/Nil as I wanted to back in 2017-2018, and I don't have the urge to write them anymore. The place where their relationship was by the end of What Else Matters was quite satisfactory for me, and I had kind of run out of new ideas for them by the time I'd finished barfing those 300k+ words out onto AO3, LOL. This honestly has been one of my great pains as a relatively prolific multiship and multifandom writer: I write so much shit for each of my ships that I actually end up getting all my ideas out, like squeezing all the juice out of a lemon (SINCE I'M A SMUT WRITER, GEDDIT?? LEMONS?? ANYONE?? 😂), so I drift on to the next ship and fandom.

So, nonny, I hope this answer was... interesting? Probably disappointing, if you're someone who read and enjoyed my Aloy/Nil work and were hoping it would continue... and I'm sorry to disappoint! However, I have the feeling that there are people out there who will carry Aloy and Nil into the HFW storyline times, especially since I was recently informed that Aloy/Nil became one of the most popular pairings from HZD after the time when I stopped being super active in the fandom... go figure! 😂

Also, in case anyone is wondering: no, I haven't seen Nil in HFW, even though a couple of people spoiled for me that he is in it...? or he's mentioned or something...? But no, I haven't seen nor heard anything about him yet, so please PLEASE don't say anything if he's actually in it. I may actually block anyone who spoils me for anything else in this game beyond Wings of the Ten, bahaha. [Narrator voice: she was serious. DON'T FUCK WITH HER.]

Finally, I will say this: I may not be writing Aloy/Nil for HFW, but... Kotallo, anyone? 😏😂❤

- love from your friendly neighbourhood Pikapeppa xoxo

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

If you don't mind me coming back, I really have been going around and around on this in my brain for the past month. And now that the floodgates are open it's hard to close them.

The autobiographical focus of tumblr does bug me, but it's more as a subset of what I see outside tumblr. Autobiographical analysis is 1000% a valuable lens through which to assess art. But beyond tumblr, so much of what purports to be analysis is just straight critical opinion. "This song is good for this reason, this song is bad for that reason." And it's not to say that kind of review based analysis isn't all over the place with fiction. But the existence of space for criticism separate from review feels so much more obvious to me. And, again, maybe this is just my newness. But it's striking to me how rarely I see songs allowed to stand on their own as pieces of art. And to receive the kind of analysis that considers them independent of the listeners taste. If that makes sense. And it's especially shocking for me to struggle to find that with the Beatles, the one pop band everyone agrees is art. So even though autobiographical analysis is a perfectly wonderful way of engaging with art, I struggle with how it sometimes feels like it goes even further to undermine the songs/albums as works of art in their own right. Like the song as a piece of art is only valuable when it gives us insight into the celebrity aspect of the Beatles (this also gets into other stuff about narrative vs. music as art forms that I'll stay out of since this is probably convoluted enough as is). So when John's opinion is used as evidence of whether a song is "good" or "bad" or "as good as it could have been," it feels to me like the worst of both worlds.

Thanks for indulging me. Sorry if this makes no sense. I'm very emotional about the topic

No problem at all anon, this is actually super interesting!!

I think music has the tendency of, for lack of better term, annoying people a lot more easily than fiction. That makes sense to me; it's easy to simply not read a book you'll probably dislike whereas songs will be played in your presence whether you like it or not, for the most part. We're very exposed to music we may dislike, whereas not so much with fiction.

Music is also, in a way, a far more universal art form. A lot of people nowadays will admit they haven't read a book in years, but very few people don't listen to music, which means that more people who aren't interested in analysing music "the proper way" will be engaged in discourse about songs all the same.

So I sort of think that's why? Weirdly, the way people lean hard into biographical readings on here seems to be precisely because we as a society are a bit better at fiction analysis (much closer cousin to historical analysis – and we do, both deliberately and by accident, often blur those lines around here) than we are at music analysis.

Does that make sense to you?

[lakesbian]

#This may genuinely indeed still be too vague to be useful at translating my thoughts in a useful way#it's not as though other fandoms don't have this but I feel like I see it more#It could just be that I'm in the reddit and SB-esque spaces more since those places probably trend slightly more curative and less#transformative

no yeah the specific examples Are helpful for actually parsing the specific complaint(s) here, this works. because the different fan spaces do act differently about it. to share a general bulletpointed list of my opinions:

amy is written as effectively two entirely different characters between worm and ward and people can get wildly different reads out of her worm characterization alone and wildbow's word of gods regarding worm amy at times actively contradict how he actually wrote her in worm and parahumans is a massive text, so it's a common outcome for people to A. have entirely different mental models of what the concept of "amy" actually is when discussing her and B. attempt to address disagreements stemming from two entirely different perceptions of what the character of "amy" is by making an argument that the other person's perception is Fake + Made Up, often by appealing to the idea of a singular truthful "canon" amy. i do not think this is productive because, as far as we're defining "canon" as meaning "what is depicted as true by the text and or by the author outside of the text," there are multiple "canon" ameebies, and any meaningful analysis of amy has to understand that those appearances/mentions don't form a coherent/consistent whole if taken all together

"witnessing people complaining about the undersiders being out of character if they're not written as complete pieces of shit" is a problem that can be solved by logging off of reddit and spacebattles, because those places are not good at posting about worm

haven't actually witnessed much argument over carol, either because it's more of a reddit/sb thing or because i just don't care about her enough to notice it here

i disagree about your 2nd paragraph tbh...worm fanfiction is somewhat infamous for being in very large part written by people who have never read worm or have never read worm past arc ~7--the flanderizations and fanon versions present in worm fanfiction are massively telephone-gamed offshoots based on incomplete pictures of the textual characters, to the point where they're effectively unrecognizable as those characters. it's entirely reasonable for people who have actually read the book in full & put serious thought into understanding/interpreting it to dismiss fanfiction and fanon characterizations by people who literally have not even read the book

following that--it's silly but unsurprising that r/wormfanfic reduces a character who has like. 2 million words written about her. to a simple list of rules

anyway. i'm kind of rambling because i'm sleepytired and just absentmindedly saying worm thoughts, but i think the crux of why this happens more on reddit/sb and less on tumblr is that reddit and spacebattles worm fandoms are more likely to view parahumans as like...a collection of True Facts that wildbow arbitrates as opposed to a narrative (slash narratives) that can be interacted with thru a variety of lenses. they have not heard of the concept of death of the author, i.e., not relying on the author as the Ultimate God King of interpreting meaning from the text. and they also place less focus on literary analysis (most "analysis" you see out of reddit is just Summaries) than wormblr and more emphasis on, like, using the characters like little action toys with delineated stat blocks to bonk together. so the end result is those spaces having a few very reductive misinterpreted summaries of character arcs that they take as Worm Facts (tm) as influenced by word of god. whereas, again, the tumblr side of things is a bit more into analysis of the text & notices inconsistencies in/relies less on WoG as an automatically valid reading, so you see more open discussion

It's not like this isn't a problem in every fandom, but it feels like the worm fandom is especially prone to the insistence that only one reading on the characters is the correct interpretation, and that all others that deviate from it are completely out of character.

(That there are multiple versions of some characters people are equally insistent on of course puts the lie to the above being true, but...)

Is it just me, or does the fandom really seem more insistent than most on that front?

[squid--inc--writes]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday!! How is teaching / passing on knowledge done in your world? Are there schools? Apprenticeships? And what are the popular things to learn? (Sorry, I'm new so if you have multiple WIPs, then choose any one you want :D )

- @bloodlessheirbyjacques ✨

Well I thank you for asking.

I do have multiple wips, but a majority of them either take place semi our world (so schooling would be similar but add magic and other stuff) or take place in the same universe. So I guess I'll explain the universe that has times where thats explored. (Pertains to Dresden Witch, Green team mercenaries, floating castle mercenaries, and several I either haven't named or haven't introduced on here)

So, because magic and technology are prominent points in various series (depending on where in the timeline), and the series centers on a specific planet, It ultimately starts off with various circles worshipping goddesses (the creators of the universe, who canonically, to varying degrees interact with the world physically (see Godshead, a place impossible to die or be injured, which has a number of nifty things built in over time)) the goddesses taught their creations, creations made their own gods, gods came to life, and now actively or passively teach. Many years later, people develop circles to teach those who've never met their gods, these people continue on to become powerful, and communities buold around the circles for teaching and eventually build schools. It's why, in the early days (Dresden Witches touches on this) people didn't really get accepted into a school unless they married someone a part of the community that school was built in, and even then, it was only the children of the family invited.

There were still independent teachers, people who broke off an would teacc or alloe others to apprentice then, but generally it was very much a "if your community isn't centered around magic users, you likely have an ordinary village/town." Which also, later in the timeline necessitates tinkering and creation of technology (Many people who learned to invite felt bitter at the closedness of magic users, and created schools anyone could enter; these schools were usually a "we post the time the class is, you come learn of you want" no one is forced, no testing, but you can ask for help, and buy books or read in libraries) eventually technology cracks magic, and they get integrated, around the same time people start getting snobby about education being a sign of being wealthy (general concept of the better lessons being out of harvest seasons, because teachers had more resources when people who didn't have to work were there, and also the wealthy could pay for better supplies, which is a while other topic itself) leading to a merge of concept between the isolated community magic schools becoming something one can apply for, and the open science colleges becoming a pay to play. Once again, through all of this, people freely offer education, but they often traveled a lot or were themselves isolated.

Popular magic to learn is based on where you come from. Healing magic is always popular (necromancers typically come from failed healers who show potential; side note on that, necromancers can actually have the entirety of their education and housing paid for if they work as public sector necromancers for a few decades; once again a whole other topic) the geography of a location may have changed overtime, whereas the magic schooling did not (example, trifi, as a child, went to a school that taught elemental magick, with a lot of aquatic tropes, despite being surrounded by a desert for a few hundred years, of course up until she drowned it; Venitry went to a school that worked with amplification magick, which improves any given aspect of a person, up to and including magick itself, because it was built on a mountain (which worked well with amplifying health, skin thickness, bone density, jump abilities, even flying) slowly becoming a plateau and developing a forest surrounding it).