#you're a good boy (credence)

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi Raven!! Easter eggs in case you didn’t notice but Rook’s bedroom in his dream on the Neige side. It has many vector redraws over Epel poses! Credit to @/MoonlightEquin1 and @/lovesfirstkiss_ on Twitter for noticing this.

I think I found the Twitter posts you're talking about (here and here for those who are interested)! It looks like Epel’s Union Jacket, Suitor Suit, Birthday Boy, and School Uniform initial artworks were used as a basis for some of the Neige paper goods shown. (nxebwbkxnskw THE SUITOR SUIT BEING USED AGAIN… First it was for “Epel”, aka actually young Marja/this grandma, now for Neige…)

This just lends credence to Vil’s belief that Epel’s cuteness could rival Neige’s… thus making Epel Vil’s secret weapon and “poison apple” to defeat Neige in book 5. Maybe Neige copies many of Epel’s poses because Rook also sees the similarities between them (this is, after all, his dream). It’s great attention to detail on the part of the devs!! And, of course, very good eye to the fans who spotted this.

OH

You know what I caught while looking around Rook’s rook for any other potential Epel card matches??? Well, besides the fact that RSA!Vil STILL wears friggin tall heels as part of his uniform?? 😭

Enhance…

IS THAT.

IS THAT CHE’NYA IN THE TOP LEFTHAND CORNER… The cat ears and the colors are too similar NOT to be???? Rook knows who Che’nya is???? Somehow??? 😭

I get why there would be photos of Neige, a celebrity, but why photos of Che’nya…Unless… Rook acquired these pictures personally 💀 Like, he snuck on over to RSA campus and hung out in the bushes taking shots of Neige AND his classmates… Or he ripped it out of the RSA yearbook that he somehow got his hands on??? (The creepy part isn’t even that Rook is the type of character to do this, the creepy part is that this is behavior that’s “normalized” for Rook so we don’t even bat an eye at it when he’s involved.)

Also?? At first I thought the others in this photo card were the Dwarves (since, excluding Che’nya and Neige, there are 7 of them), but the hair colors are nowhere near the same. But they obviously must be RSA students because of the uniforms they wear. (Is one of them Vil?) And there seems to be a… redhead…

A… redhead… prince(ss)????

RIELLE???????? HONEY… IS THAT YOU???????? Is this foreshadowing for us meeting Rielle in the Octavinelle dreams and/or in the second huge arc of the main story????? here's exactly seven of them if you ignore Che'nya and Neige, meaning this count of RSA students would be perfect for another seven books of main story... aM I REAdiNG tOO MYCh JntO TH!S?????????

I didn’t expect to fall down this rabbit hole from an Epel and Neige centered ask but here we are, I guess 🤯

[aboardthescheherazade]

is it true that they removed mentions of tintin journaling/actually mentioning his job/etc when they redrew some of the older tintin comics? i swear i remember seeing examples of that once but i have no clue where to find them again

I definitely know which post you're talking about, but I can't find it either. I'll try to compile what I remember and/or know about offhand...

For the most part, the most references to Tintin being a reporter come early on in what are considered the "newsprint editions" of the comics. The first nine albums were serialized in Le Petit Vingtieme and Le Soir Jeunesse, and these pages were later re-collected and coloured (and occasionally cut down/rewritten) for what are now known as the "Casterman editions".

Tintin being a reporter is all over Land of the Soviets, and it's introduced as early as page 1. It's the silliest album, but it's also the only album thoroughly revolving around Tintin going on a reporting assignment.

(Soviets pg. 4. By God, look at that guard in the upper right. He looks like the RESPECT! butler)

Tintin is still a reporter in Congo, but it's scaled far back in the redrawn Casterman edition. In the latter, it's kept to one mention in the very first panel, which was also turned into the first appearance of Dupont and Dupond:

(Congo pgs. 1)

Meanwhile, the newsprint edition has a scene where newspaper agents try to scout Tintin as a reporter, I guess because his stories are just that good. He ultimately declines, claiming Petit Vingtieme is paying him way more than what they offer.

(Congo pg. 17)

Now, I'd had a theory that the series just became too plot-focused to keep pausing for references to Tintin's writing, but Reddit user XenophonOfAthens made a good point about Herge being forced to pause discussion of the press and current events after the nazis shut down Le Vingtieme, thus moving Hergé and many of the same staff to the nazi-overseen Le Soir and Le Soir Jeunesse. Tintin had been introduced as Le Petit Vingtieme's boy reporter who child readers could follow along with, but now with a new (heavily monitored) publication, mentions of the "boy reporter" slowly phased out.

One of the more significant edits to Tintin's reporting comes in Cigars of the Pharaoh. Sheik Patrash Pasha originally says he's followed Tintin's adventures for "several years" and presents a then-new Vingtieme publishing of Tintin in America.

In the colour edition, he instead presents Destination Moon. This album was in production at the time of the redraws, and it was one of the first albums to be published outside of Europe...but now Tintin's reaction is especially visceral, since that album involves him going to the moon with two people he hasn't met yet.

(Cigars B&W pg. 39, Casterman pg. 15. I also gave the Sheik's servant in the latter a quick edit because it was somehow worse than the 1933 version)

The last reference to Tintin's reporting for a long while was in The Broken Ear. We are now in the Soir era:

(Broken Ear pgs. 2)

This line never made it past the newsprint version. Tintin hears the news about the museum theft, and originally, he remarks that it'll make for a nice report...but in the reprint, he's just declaring that he'll go to the museum. I feel like the wording in the original could have referred to something specific about the comic's run in Le Soir Jeunesse, but it also could have been removed under the assumption that the reader would be going into this book knowing Tintin is a reporter. He does have a notepad with him through the rest of the page, but without that context, he just seems like a busybody.

I feel like there were a lot more references to his reporting in Le Journal Tintin, which is where the comic moved its publication to. This adds credence to the possibility that readers would be picking up these books knowing Tintin was a reporter, thus it being less of a focus within each album's plot. There do seem to be little hints throughout the albums about Tintin being a reporter...one of these is a moment in Explorers on the Moon where Tintin describes the moon's surface to ground control, and as a writer myself, this to me feels like him gathering his words for a future story:

(Explorers pg. 24)

However, Tintin's reporting is brought up in an album one more time, decades later, in Picaros. Tintin is referred to as a reporter on televised news, so this is at least some confirmation that he does submit journalist work, at least off-camera or between albums:

(pg. 47)

In short, Tintin's reporting started to fade off suspiciously during an era where nazis were breathing down Hergé's neck, then got a little lost in translation, and then ultimately came back.

My theory for Tintin's reporting slowly becoming less important in the albums happened either due to 1. Hergé and co. becoming more interested in writing about other things, 2. the series being moved to a vanity publication that discussed Tintin being a reporter outside of the canon comics, or 3. it got phased out during the Le Soir era because Hergé's supervisors didn't want to promote a gonzo journalist as a hero during a time with heavy political censorship and turmoil. It's completely up in the air.

[afreakingdork]

I have a question to ask based off your knowledge on the RotTMNT characters, specifically about Donnie. In most iterations (87, 03, 12) it seemed that Donnie is the "fixer" of the family and the one that everyone else pushes to do things and make things or come up with the brainy solution. Do you think the opposite is the case for 18? They don't seem to rely on him as much b/c magic is avail. so he tries to make himself useful and then feels bad if it doesn't work. I thought it was interesting.

Well you're a talker; I am too✨ /gen /aff

So first off I gotta open with, I don't know much about the older gen shows. I've watched exactly one episode of 87, 16 episodes of 03, and threeish episodes of 12, so I'm off your word in comparison.

Rise is what I live and breathe!

I genuinely think even before mystic magic became avaliable, the others didn't rely him much. I know in Crush Too Much and Sunshine Moonshine I had segments about him building the lair, but I don't put much credence in that.

Lets talk from a canon only standpoint:

I feel like we can pull a lot from the Donnie's Gifts episode and the ongoing drill gag. The boys are happy and excited in a way that read to me that this was a sort of uncommon occurance. It might not be the first time, but it's not something that happens every day. It felt like maybe he's sprung smaller surprised gifts on them before, but the drill is a different reaction. It's big and they make regular note of it which makes me think he never really made them big things, especially for battle. Then there's the moral of Donnie's Gifts: they work good in their individual ways, 'faults' and all, which even comes back at the end of season 1 with the Shredder.

Moreso, I think Donnie doesn't share. From Donnie vs. Witch Town to Smart Lair to Man vs. Sewer, it seems like Donnie more often hogs his inventions for himself. Both for his comfort, but also to make up for how he perceives he's less than his brothers in terms of skill. All fighting equipment he makes is to compensate for his own shortcomings, his tennis ball back massager is usually only for him, and he doesn't even think to share ice from his ice machine. In fact, I think he goes so far as to punish the others if they use his tech without his permission which can be inferred from The Fast and the Furriest.

So yeah, I agree! I don't think the others rely on him.

Donnie never even gave them the chance in the first place.

Add mystic powers and that only deepened Donnie's insecurities about being less.

However, I don't think he sought validation through tech. Instead, I think he uses tech for self-improvement because he feels he isn't enough and is easily replaceable. He may want validation from a parental aged adult, but he wants it for being him. He just wants to be acknowledged in general. He wants attention and not for what he can offer. He says exactly that in Turtle-dega Nights: The Ballad of Rat Man.

So to short answer your question, I can't say if it's the true opposite since I dont know the other iterations well, but it sounds different to me!

This was fun though! Thank you for sending this over ✨

[dufferpuffer]

Finally watched Fantastic Beasts while waiting for new years and I am full of thoughts... here are my initial thoughts B^)

+ I like the super-strict direction of American wizarding society - since it was the same puritans that caused the Statue of Secrecy to be written that colonized America, I doubt many Wizards went there initially - so western Wizarding society is a newer frontier over there... and puritan ideals are stronger in no-maj society. Like real America All the wizards being constantly in no-maj clothing because they have to mingle with them to get anywhere - they have no standard clothing culture or infrastructure that allows for hidden travel like an old Floo network - that's awesome. Muggles built the (colonized) country; not a combined Muggle-Wizard history like in England.

+ I like most of the major characters. Newt was a fun 'polite trickster' who nods his head to anything people say... but then goes and does whatever the hell he wants. I like him more than movie Harry (but not book Harry). Jacob is adorable, its hard to hate the wide-eyed, overwhelmed, brave and sweet sidekick. I love him. I wanted him to be happy and full of wonder and to get his bakery. He and Newt had good chemistry tbh. All the 'fat jokes' were fucked up though, what the hell Queenie... frightens me. She's a bad bitch when she dropped her creepy cutsey flapper act and became dangerous, and her genuine desire to understand people when her powers push them away was sweet. Being deeply uncomfortable was icing on the cake. Credence is sorta cheating. His character is 'confused and abused, turns to shifty sources for help' - and then 'has lived a life of CONSTANT suffering and is freaking out in immense pain'. He's a tragic boy. You're meant to want to give him a hug and tell him it's okay... and they hit that nail on the head. Success.

- I DIDN'T like ex Auror much. Whats her name...? She wasn't very compelling. I liked that she peeked around corners and tried her best - she's cutsey in an 'anime girl' way and had a nice hat - but she seemed wasted. No chemistry with Newt, either. At least Queenie and Jacob had the decency to be weirdo's...

+ I like most of the beasts. I typically prefer when HP leans to more 'grounded' designs rather than trying to be super colourful and whimsical - I prefer Erumpants to Mooncalf - but it's all cool. I was a little disappointed by Occamy, it was my favourite creature in the book and the movie had different ideas - how DARE they not consult me >:^( Newt actually feels like he LIKES animals and is trying to do well by them with what he has, in a world that's otherwise cruel to them... that's rare for a HP thing. I like how Niffler are like... if there was another monotreme. Something between a platypus and an echidna... and yet FEELS British somehow? I could imagine that thing in The Wind in the Willows

+ I LOVED Newt's suitcase. So full of character. It seems like a very special, powerful magical item many people would want to get their hands on... yet didn't feel too overpowered? I suppose because the downside of 'can be easily closed and carried away while you're inside' is actually a steep downside - It was just cool and I liked it. I think it would have been fun if it had a bit of a mind of its own. It unclipped its own locks, but if it had a bit more of its own personality that would have been cool. :^)

But that's kinda the limit of what I liked. There was more that didn't really work, or only sorta-worked...

- What was the point of the rich Muggle guy and his politician son who was killed first, and the younger brother...? Why were they there other than to waste time that could have been spent on the anti-witch group? The Bitch, red-herring Girl and Credence worked. But all of them barely did anything. I wish they did something.

- Sometimes shit just... happened. Why did the tight-ass Muggle banker walk down to see Jacob and Newt 'steal' from the vault? How did ex-auror find them after the Erumpant? Why is the American execution system so... weird? An oddly modern looking chair that spins around over a molten metal pool, they tempt you with nice memories and then you go in the chair instead of walking in the pool... why don't they killing curse? A Potion? What was the point of their execution...? Why did Newt think to cast a revealing spell on Graves at the end?

- All the elements of the story felt disjointed. I get it, Newt's Beasts are being blamed for the destruction of the city - which is actually being fostered by Gellert's pet Obscural... it just doesn't feel like the story flows like that? Newt doesn't feel especially blamed, the beast hunt doesn't feel important beyond Newt simply caring for them... the stakes are weirdly low. The beast hunt felt like key-jangling.

- All the elements lacked punch. Breaking into a bank, being caught covered in jewels, chasing down beasts for their own safety, dodging being caught, being sold out by sleazy weird-finger guy, almost being executed - none of it felt weighty. No tension aside from when Newt's trunk was taken away and Queenie stepped the fuck up - and Credence had a big wobbly near the end.

- I have very mixed feelings about Graves. He was dull most of the time but intense when interacting with Credence. I LOVED his manipulation - the sweet-soothing, the knowing exactly what that boy needed to hear, hugging and kissing him like a father but sharply punching him in the face when he was overwhelmed - not stopping all the fatherly sweet talk for it! That barely contained violence under a perfectly acted mask - and you can see how confused Credence is by it. Graves heals his injuries, soothes him with affection he has never had - but then dishes out sharp, sudden pain... he is SCARY!

Most of the movie he wasn't much of a player in events, didn't stand out much, wasn't interesting... I just figured he was one of Gellert's followers. In a way I liked that for him. He was a small-fry trying to help by doing small-fry things.

But then at the end it is revealed he was Grindelwald. Yippee...? It never felt like there was any mystery about him. Graves was a man-in-the-shadows, using his power in America-Ministry to his advantage... and his goal seemed to be using an obscurial as a type of weapon and propaganda to Gellert's goals. I feel like that would have been a good way to set up Gellert for the next movie: arrest Graves and have him be like 'Don't you see how we suffer??? Grindelwald is right-!!!'

But no. Graves WAS Gellert. Suddenly Gellert seems... small-fry and pathetic. BUT. BUT - I definitely get why the FB Albus/Gellert ship is popular: Gellerts manipulation of Credence as an example opens SO many doors to how he and Albus' romance could have played out-!!! From the darkest abuses and control to the monster being tamed. When 'Graves' was like 'so Newt... what does this 'albus dumbledore' teacher see in you...?' man just wanted to talk about his ex lol

- My main takeaway is like... this movie was BEGGING on its hands and knees to be an 8ish episode series. An episode per beast - so re-capturing them feels like an important achievement and we fall in love with them as much as Newt does. Make sure the American-Ministry is applying constant pressure. No-Maj cult sub-plot every episode - try to build the mystery. Get us really used to Graves as a player in the story that seems both reasonable and shifty.

Episode 3: Teddy the Niffler A plot: After checking inside the wonderful case the previous episode, Jacob and Newt escape the apartment to track down the missing beasts - running into the elusive Niffler rampaging a jewelry store. As Newt doesn't know much about Muggles and their police - they are surrounded and then chased. Having learned previously that magic around Muggles is more trouble than its worth in America, Newt tries to escape with non-magical means... for the most part. While previously unsure of magic, Jacob now trusts in it - urging Newt to 'be more magical!' in their escape. (A temporary role reversal - Newt going 'I don't want to draw attention!' and Jacob going 'for gods sake man, they have GUNS!') Jacob is starting to feel his lack of magic keenly. Miraculously they are saved by mundane creatures Newt finds just as wondrous - but Jacob knows it can only mean something is very wrong... the hook for the next episode. B plot: First real look at the anti-magic house since meeting them briefly on the stairs in episode 1. It is the end of a long day making pamphlets, and the kids are being checked and ushered to bed. All the kids are creepy - especially red-herring girl - but are treated with at least some care by The Bitch... until Credence. He tries to slip into his room but is stopped. He is blamed for going out when he shouldn't, and he tries to deny it - but seems to know he will be punished, anyway. Next time we see him he is housing injuries, curled up in bed... but in the middle of the night, we see he is a liar: he HAS been sneaking out. He gets out of bed as the clock reaches midnight and goes out to meet... Graves. He seeks affection, shows his injuries, cries and is treated with comfort and care - it seems like Graves is using him to get information, but does genuinely care for the boy. (for now the viewer trusts him enough as a tough wizard cop who isn't afraid to break the law a little and has a soft heart, even to no-maj.) C plot: Ex-Auror is pissed (Queenie heartbroken) that their pet boys have escaped. Bugger. On her way out to find them again she runs into other Aurors. Graves is there. There's been ANOTHER Statue of Secrecy breach - a bunch of Muggle police. It's odd for him to be out for such a small event - but he seems worried this string of cases will get worse unless the perpetrators are caught quickly, so he is investigating. He tells ex-Auror to not get in the way and heads off in a different direction... (to see Credence) Ex-Auror almost turns around to leave the real Auror's to it... but as she discovers Newt and Jacob scurrying to their next destination she gets a burst of confidence - if she catches them it might impress Graves and might give her back her job-!

...Something like that.

It's not quite that the movie didn't have enough time. I mainly feel like it chopped itself up poorly - a different structure would have suited it better. A little more time wouldn't hurt either, though.

[blackjackkent]

OC Codex Prompts: 3, 8 and 17 for Hector? c:

(OC Codex Prompts) for Hector Carlisle!

3. a report written by your OC’s teacher or mentor

Notes from the diary of Enric of Trielta, Silverlight Monastery, 1449 DR Gavin Carlisle's boy turns ten this week. I must confess, Moonmaiden forgive me, that I resented the responsibility of caring for the child when Gavin abandoned him on our doorstep, and certainly did not expect that, ten years on, I might take such pride to see his progress. Let this be yet another proof that no emotion need be given more credence than it warrants. Hector is, as always, an attentive student, calm and polite; he takes our guidance to heart regarding self-control and the introspection which worship of our Lady requires. He does begin to show a certain restlessness, as is perhaps to be expected at his age, when he has grown up with only a single set of four walls. In light of this, I think it best that we begin to expand his activities despite his youth. He has expressed interest in exploring the library and has been deeply excited during his chaperoned visits to pick out books; I believe that training as a scribe would serve his curiosity well - and the monastery, as well, for Brother Kendrick grows very old indeed and his sight is beginning to fail. Best he take an apprentice at once while the Moonmaiden's light still shines on him. Should he wish it, I will also recommend that he be allowed to join Brother Ventiss occasionally on his trips to the city market for supplies. While I would not generally wish Ventiss's company on anyone, I believe Hector would do well to experience a taste of the city air on occasion, that he may compare it with our own rarefied atmosphere and draw his own conclusions, whatever they might be.

8. your OC’s doctor/healer talking about their injuries

"He'll be fine," Shadowheart mutters. "You're sure?" Karlach shifts her weight restlessly from foot to foot. "Sorry. Fuck. I know you've got so much other shit on your mind, but I just-- you're sure, yeah? That bone motherfucker cut him up real bad..." Shadowheart lets out a long slow breath and, with visible effort, wrestles herself out of the swirl of dark thoughts consuming her. "Hector will be fine," she says more firmly. "Not that it wasn't touch and go there for a minute. Myrkul's attacks..." A pause. Gods, she's tired; the words come slowly, reluctantly. "It's called bone chill. A necromantic effect. It prevents healing by magical means, and it takes time to wear off." "Ah. Right. Okay." Karlach looks relieved. "Yeah - I felt that too, I think, when I got up too close. And when something makes this old girl feel cold--" she thumps at the glowing metal under her breastbone with one fist "--you know it's serious." She manages a slight, rueful smile. "You've seen it before, then?" Shadowheart hesitates. "It's... not unheard of as a tool among Sharran agents," she finally says carefully. Karlach squints at her thoughtfully. "Right," she says. "So he'll be fine?" Shadowheart can't help it - she smiles, very slightly. It's something; she'd been starting to feel like she was never going to be able to smile again. "Yes," she repeats gently. "He'll be fine, Karlach. I promise. His back will scar pretty badly, I suspect, since I couldn't heal him at once, but that's the worst of it." Karlach grins, her indomitable good humor reasserting itself at once. "Ah, well. Not so bad then," she says. "Thank the gods." "Some of them, at least," Shadowheart murmurs.

17. a description of your OC’s family by a future historian

The identity of Hector Carlisle's mother is still something of a mystery. His father, Gavin - a monk at the Silverlight Monastery northwest of Baldur's Gate - provided no information on her when he left his infant son on the monastery's doorstep in early 1439 DR and vanished into the night. The note attached to the basket holding the boy read simply, "I leave you the fruits of the peak of my folly. - G Carlisle" An unwanted fifth son of minor nobility in Baldur's Gate, Gavin Carlisle was summarily dispatched to a monastic life at the age of eighteen and never took to it particularly well. Records of his time at the monastery are fraught with reports of sneaking out, carousing, arrests in the city, and general debauchery; it is clear that the disciplinary practices of the monks had little effect on his tendency towards hedonism. Given the relatively wide casting of Gavin's proverbial net, it is impossible to make a precise assertion as to the identity of the mother of his child who would one day go on to save the city. The most pervasive theory, however, gives the role to Florence Beaumont, daughter of a milliner in the Lower City. No records exist that specifically connect Florence and Gavin romantically, but there is record of Florence dying of a nebulous "fever of the lungs" around the time of Hector's birth. She is also recorded in her father's diary as having striking bright blue-grey eyes, a feature which is also mentioned repeatedly among contemporaneous accounts of Hector's activities. Hector himself never expressed particular interest in learning of his family history. In his own eyes, the monks of the monastery - and, later, the adventuring party he became more directly associated with - were his true family.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Hello! I come from your 2019 post (that I found on a Google search while doing some research) where you "disect" bleach character's names. I also want to create a very meaningful name for my oc, but I have no clue on the language. Do you have any advice on how I could go about this? Google is no help ):

(Im so sorry i started up a draft for this what feels like forever ago and it never quite took solid form and just sat in limbo for a while. Anyway I have a samurai TTRPG campaign I'm trying to piece together and came back to the subject, so it seemed like a good time to try and finish this... )

Oh boy, so I don't really know if i'll actually be much help with this, as I'm not a native speaker so I don't have the ear for Japanese that lets me just intuit when things feel "off" or "unnatural", but I can sort of walk you through some common tropes:

One approach is to take a core word/kanji and work the name out of them, fiddling with suffixes or pronunciations until you get something that "sounds like a name." Given that a lot of anime characters don't actually have "real" names this gives you a lot of wiggle room, but also there are definitely some sensibilities that --again I'm not personally a good enough judge of-- that make certain non-names sound more or less passable than others. This can be a tricky thing to play with, but there are a few shortcuts that might help.

Several suffixes are extremely common in Japanese naming conventions and most of them are gendered. A handful of super common ones are things like....

-ko[子]: "child" but typically denotes a girl's name

-me[女]: "woman/female"

-mi[美]: "beauty/beautiful"

-ne[音] "sound" but implicitly a pleasant one, like a chime or a musical note

-ka[香]: "scent/smell" but again implicitly a pleasant one like flowers, perfumes, or incense

etc...

...for girls. Or for boys, things like...

-rou[郎]: "son"

-tarou[太郎]: "big/thick/fat son" (implying he's health/plump/robust, not obese)

-suke[佑]: "help(er)/assist(ant)" but more colloquially just denotes one who facilitates the appended thing.

-suke[助] actually a homonym/synonym for the above.

-maru[丸] lit. meaning "circle" or "whole/full/complete" (kind of functions as just "...one" in the English sense? Like the meaning "One who is XYZ" might comparably be rendered XYZmaru.)

-emon[衛門]: "defense gate" but it has a distinctly old-fashioned sound to it, and kind of evokes samurai or yakuza depending on the era.

Attached to these are a few other sort of commonalities. Ichiro[一郎], Jiro[二郎], Saburo[三郎], Shiro[四郎], Goro[五郎], etc... are common boys names that are just a # and "son" indicating order of birth...

[edit]: okay no I super underestimated how stupid long this post was gonna look in Tumblr format... Cutting here for length, more under the cut

...the -suke:"assistant" suffix is often appended to aspirational traits or values, sort of like how English Puritans had a habit of naming kids English words like, Charity, Temperance, Faith, Credence, Prudence, etc... albeit without the background radiation of the cultural baggage of the Puritans.

But these suffixes are also often used to make unique fantasy names that are pretty distinctly not real names historically. In Shaman King, the ghost of a samurai named Amidamaru[阿弥陀丸] is just the suffix -maru[丸] slapped onto Amida[阿弥陀], the Japanese name for Amitabha[अमिताभ] the Buddha. This is absolutely not a name any real person has, but in the context of the manga you wouldn't expect to question it, although it sounds a tad silly. -maru specifically is also a common name-ifying suffix for nonhuman names, things like naval ships and swords often get names that are distinctly not human passing, but still very overtly "namey" names.

Incidentally it should be kept in mind that depending on the sort of characters and settings you're dealing with there are certain restrictions that you might want to consider. For example, the real world Japanese Ministry of Justice has maintained a list of Jinmeiyo kanji[人名用漢字] since the 1950s which dictate which kanji are permissible in the legal documenting of a person's name. For the most part this is to prevent weird or stupid rude or inauspicious names; you cannot for example name a newborn something with the kanji for death[死] or shit[糞]. But plenty of anime characters absolutely do not abide by this.

Otherwise there are some common conventions you can turn to with anime in particular, as again there is a certain affordance for nonsense.

Names with obvious color associations are super common, often by proxy of Super Sentai as a franchise and derived tropes. This can apply to either given names or surnames, and often are worked in as puns rather than kanji specific readings.

aka[赤] red

ao[青] blue

ki[黄] yellow

ha/hakku/shiro[白] white

kuro[黒] black/dark

kin/kane[金] gold

gin/shirogane[銀] silver

momo[桃] pink, but literally "peach" as momoiro[桃色]: pink color(ed)" is literally "peach colored"

which brings me to another point: Japanese names refer very heavily to plants and flowers specifically. Most common flowering plants, be they cultivated for lumber, decorative flowers, or food have some notable presence in Japanese naming conventions and can be pretty readily turned to. These tend to be predominantly girl's names either alone or as a root, but not exclusively,

sakura[桜] cherry

tsubaki[椿] camellia

azami[薊] thistle

ayame[菖蒲] iris

sumire[菫] violet

kiku[菊] chrysanthemum

etc... (although not all of these can function as names on their own without some appended suffix/prefix) But also a wide wide array of other regionally specific and seemingly more obtuse plant names pop up all the time. Also, while flowering/fruit bearing plants are very commonly evoked for their beauty as girls' names, there is also hanakotoba[花言葉] the japanese flower language, which can be a quick reference for what features might be evoked by specific flowers more generally, and for both boys and girls.

Oh and a few more general terms also show up in a lot of names, ha/ba/wa[葉]:"leaf" in names like futaba[双葉]: "Twin leaf"; [梢]: "Treetop/tip(of a branch)" [枝]: "Branch", [幹]:"(tree)trunk," etc... Not all plants as names or nonspecific plant related terms are as flashy or romantic as you might expect.

Animals are also a popular motif, but I won't get into those because that's just an endless list of like every animal... You can probably think of some really obvious ones just off the top of your head though.

Typically they stick to very general types or families of animal and of course those most obviously native to Japan, or else those with names borrowed from Chinese, both for the real and the mythic. In fantasy settings these may be evoked directly, but more realistic settings may opt to reference more menacing or otherwise less dignified animals(vermin especially) only through puns/homophones.

Domesticated animals or those with virtuous/valorous associations would be easier to accept at a glance, real or not, while those with overt negative characterizations might be a little campy. (I actually totally forgot but Hiruma[蛭魔] in Eyeshield doesn't actually "evoke" the word for leech phonetically, it just straight up IS the kanji for leech in his name. [蛭]:"Leech" + [魔]:"Demon/EvilSpirit" in fact. Like, for every test he ever took all middle/high school he just signed "LeechDemon" at the top. Neither of those are legally approved jinmeiyo kanji in the real world of course.)

Also worth noting as an extra layer in all these considerations, is that most common Japanese names will probably average 2 or 3 characters, maybe 4. A handful of names are single kanji and as you'd expect are thus very straight forward in their meaning. 5 or more kanji to a name certainly aren't impossible but they can be unusual, and I feel like they tend to appear as older, outdated, and samurai-esque names, if not just weird or ostentatiously silly.

(for example, in Bleach, Marechiyo's whole family shares the root Mare[希] and as each family member is introduced the names kind of escalate in silliness, until we get the younger son, Marejirousaburou[希次郎三郎] which even comically uses the -rou[郎]:"son" bit twice. His name literally reads as "Rare NextSon Third Son." It sounds very stupid and kind of pegs him as a spoiled rich kid. I guess in a way we sort of have a similar cliche in English about rich kids from stuffy old money having multiple middle names and "Jr." or some roman numeral tacked on.)

Rather famously there is just a random living businessman in Japanese whose given name is Taroukizaemonnoshoutokinori[太郎喜左衛門��時能] which might more readably be broken down as Tarou-kizaemon-no-shoutokinori. Written this way you might notice that basically each individual section could itself be a name by itself.

There is also supposedly some record of a meiji era citizen registered under the name Egawafujifumishigozaemon’nosuketarō[江川富士一二三四五左衛門助太郎], Egawa-fuji-i-fu-mi-shi-go-zaemon-no-suke-tarou. You may note that thoes are like 3 separate nameifying suffixes just slapped onto the end there(-zaemon, -suke, and -tarou) and the middle bit is just "1,2,3,4,5." So as I said the tendency for super long names is a distinctly silly tone.

Once again there is a distinctive kind of aesthetic or familiarity to long names that someone who knows better than me can definitely just kind of tell when a long assemblage of kanji and syllables just does not sound like a name. No advice for how to sus this out yourself, it's kind of just a matter of prolonged exposure.

On the flip side of things, it's entirely possible to write names with no kanji at all. For example, despite the very obvious evocation of cherryblossoms in Sakura's name in Naruto, her name is just written SA-KU-RA[サクラ]. If you just like the way an existing name sounds and don't want to risk implying other meanings that picking a random existing kanji writing might, you can in fact just opt out of it. It'll still carry some connotations but it at least won't look like you were trying to hone in on one reading in particular.

In some cases I also think it's just a common practice for media aimed at elementary school kids, as it foregoes excluding anyone on the basis of their reading level, where as you're less likely to see this kind of thing in manga aimed at, say, young adults.

So after hacking our way through all that... the other approach is to take a real existing Japanese name's phonetics, and find kanji that can serve as a homonym to the more conventional root in the name.

So, for example, the name Tanjirou is a real name, but it's written any of a few ways, including [丹士郎]: "Rust-Colored Samurai Son," [丹次郎]: "Rust-Colored Next Son," and [丹治郎]: "Rust-colored Peace(&order) Son," but in Demon Slayer the protagonist's name is Tanjirou[炭治郎]: "Charcoal Peace(&order) Son" alluding to his family's job as charcoal artisans and his affinity for the fire and sun elements by swapping in an unusual character with the same pronunciation. (the "peace and order" part probably referring to like a governor being a peace keeper which makes it a partial synonym with "samurai" as a part of the ruling class)

Does that all make sense? I can't tell how easy to follow any of this is for someone without a kind of cursory familiarity with this stuff...

And then surnames... I don't want to get into this oneb bcause it's just too damn big. but they do tend to follow some pretty familiar conventions used in the west. Locational surnames are common, denoting landmarks:

yama[山]: Mountain

kawa/-gawa[川]: River

mori[森]: forest

tani[��]: valley

ta/-da[田]: field

mura[村]: village

etc... Some also reference manmade landmarks like towers, temples, bridges, wells, marketplaces, etc... Or even more general elements like "stone" or "tree" without pointing to an actual singular and specific object in the landscape. These kinds of root words can then be modified by adjectives like colors, size/dimension, cardinal directions, (one of)twins, and very often eachother. (i.e. Yamada[山田], Yamamura[山村] Kawamura[川村], Yamagawa[山川], Tamura[田村], Kawada[川田], etc...) I don't really know how to cleanly or neatly break these kinds of things down into easily referenced categories... It's just kind of a broad range of things that can be applied, and that's just in regards to real names, the realm of fantasy settings, even mundane ones, opens things up substantially.

But unlike a lot of western languages, there aren't actually a whole lot of occupational surnames. i.e. things like Smith, Baker, Carpenter, Mason, Miller, etc...

(and... uh... I'm not getting into kira kira names... that's a whole other can of worms and a very modern/recent issue, and I dunno that I know enough to really comment on it meaningfully. you can google it though and you'll find stuff even in english discussing it in some detail.)

Oh and of course the last "method" is just that some creators will just straight up lift their character names from other characters entirely. Like, in Naruto Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru are all just the names of the characters in the 19th century folktale Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari[報仇奇談自来也説話]. Like the names don't have any directly evoked meaning based on how they're written, they're just direct reference to the themes and motifs of preexisting characters. Same way Sasuke's name is just lifted from Sarutobi Sasuke[���飛佐助], popular turn of the century fictional ninja hero.

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this one. It tends to feel flimsy and shitty. The only exception being those characters that are actual in-world evocations of historical characters/figures, like Ishikawa Goemon XIII, in Lupin III, just straight up being a descendent of the legendary Ishikawa Goemon. Although in Eyeshield 21 Takekura Gen has a cool one where the name Takekura[武蔵] is written the same as Musashi[武蔵], and so he's given it as a nickname and given a reputation and motif evoking the samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

Anyway that was a lot of blustering about just to get to the point now where I can say: This all is extremely incomplete/unexhaustive, and of questionable real practical use to anyone as a guide to actually making up new names for a sort of anime/manga type setting. This really turned out to be less of a guide and more like a laundry list of just loosely adjoined/adjacent observations: Less a guide to bowling and more just a pair of bumpers to put in the gutters to help guide otherwise still utterly untrained attempts at success. It's as much as I can really muster in this regard.

[devilmass]

FIVE THINGS! | rodrick page

5 things you associate with your muse !

EMOTIONS.

001. elation - rodrick doesn't often feel his emotion's as half-lived things, he feels them full on and too - much and elation is often a part of that spectrum that he operates on for the public. it's a gimmick, but one that's deeply ingrained in him. 002. loneliness - at his core, rodrick is a very lonely guy. he pretends to be okay with that, but he also tries to forge meaningful, long term relationships in other ways. 003. fear - on a whole, rodrick is always in a state of fear that he hates. it comes in waves, and it's most often active at night, but fear is an emotion he's highly familiar with. 004. joy - it's a rarity to talk to rodrick in any state but joy. if he's actually sad, you'll never know; he's a professional at keeping his emotional range to a limit. 005. guilt - this is, by far, the thing that rodrick struggles the most with. it never leaves him. even when he's preaching, it's like a noose around his neck he can never escape.

COLORS.

001. black. 002. white. 003. red. 004. silver. 005. sludgy, ugly green.

SCENTS.

001. incense - self explanatory. 002. cigarette smoke - also self explanatory. 003. musk - home grown, straight from working hard in the louisiana heat. he smells really good naturally. 004. after shave - he shaves every single day so his face probably smells like menthol and spearmint. 005. leather - his house is full of cowboy boots, and his hat always smell like fresh leather, so he smells faintly of it.

WARDROBE.

001. cowboy hat - you'll never see rodrick without his hat on. if he takes it off, his hair is sweaty and flat so he just never takes it off. 002. cowboy boots - our preacherman is known for his boots. he has 20+ (not counting his grandfather or father's collection) pairs of boots and about half are comically bright, loud boots he wears on special occasions. 003. black, jeans. they sit high on his hips. he used to wear them loose before a snake crawled up his pantleg, now he wears them tight enough that nothing can slither up (or down) his pants. 004. black button down with lapel clips. 005. white wife beater. some are a little yellow because he's a sweaty boy, but they're otherwise very worn and white.

OBJECTS.

001. lighter. he's got an extensive collection of silver lighter holder's for his lighter and he's proud of them. 002. cadillac. if you see the blue cadillac comin', that's the preacher. 003. hankerchief. he keeps one on him and he'll pull it out to wipe the sweat off his forehead like a dandy in the 40's. 004. smokes. his back pocket has a permanent imprint from his pack in all of his jeans. all of them. 005. rosary. rodrick walks around with his rosary in his fist. if you see his fist clenched while he's walking around, it's most likely hidden inside there.

VICES.

001. smoking. 002. breaking chastity (considers his assault his fault) 003. greed. 004. wrath. 005. self flagellation.

ACTIONS.

001. rubbing his face. while he talks to people, rodrick often touches his own face (wiping his nose, pulling on his ear, scratching his jaw). 002. adjusting his hat. he often tips his head back, he'll take it off and run it over his hair to smooth it back or hold his hat against his chest, etc. 003. putting his hands on his hips. this gesture also extends to putting his hands on his lower back and on his ribs. his back hurts, leave him alone. 004. laughing with his head thrown back. he loves to laugh, make him throw his head back with laughter and you're in his good books. 005. staring. if he's really invested in what you're saying, he oftne forgets to blink.

SONGS.

001. BAD MOON RISING / credence clearwater revival. 002. I'M SHAKIN' / jack white 003. RUNS IN THE FAMILY / amanda palmer 004. BIG IRON / marty robbins 005. DON'T CRY / guns 'n' roses

[whispers-soundtrack-project]

Songs For The End Of The World

Playlist Part Five

Part One * Part Two * Part Three * Part Four

Link to the Spotify Playlist is at the bottom of the post

Sign of the Times (Harry Styles)

Just stop your crying * It's a sign of the times * Welcome to the final show * Hope you're wearing your best clothes

The Way It Ends (Landon Pigg)

You held me and taught me how * I think I am ready now * If this is the way it ends * This is the way it's meant to be

Bad Moon Rising (Credence Clearwater Revival)

I hear hurricanes a blowin' * And I know the end is coming soon * I fear rivers overflowing * I hear the voice of rage and ruin

Caught in the Fire (Klergy)

In these last days * We prayed for light * Prayed for a way out * Hear the thunder from God * In the eye of the storm * Everything is gone

Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) (Billy Joel)

I've seen the lights go out on Broadway * I saw the ruins at my feet * You know we almost didn't notice it * We'd seen it all the time on Forty-second Street

No Escape (Sam Tinnesz)

Wrestlin' with feelings we don't understand * Every single secret's blood on our hands * We're right on the edge, givin' in, givin' in * But we can pretend it's not the end

If The World Should End (Jennifer Damiano)

And the sky tonight is luminous * For all the wrong reasons * And every doorway is hiding something * And if this world should all * Come crashing down * I wouldn't care at all

Never-Ending Story (Within Temptation)

Armies have conquered * And fallen in the end * Kingdoms have risen * Then buried by sand * The Earth is our mother * She gives and she takes * She puts us to sleep and * In her light we'll awake

We Remain (Christina Aguilera)

Now, we talk about our wasted future * But we take a good look around * Yeah, we take a good look around, ooh * Yeah, we know it hasn't been for nothing * 'Cause we never let it slow us down

Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire)

Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say * Can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today? * If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away * There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave * Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you boy

[mcalhenwrites]

To go with the post about dragon lore earlier, here's a glimpse at some of the characters in The Hostile Credence. I love them so, especially Seth. The story starts with Ewan Molnar finding Niven during a war. You can actually read the prologue about that here! Ewan is the youngest of five, born to Allen Molnar and Rowena Cambers. When he takes in Niven, he spends some time searching for Niven's father to reunite them, but he never locates him. Niven is seen as an eccentric boy, but he has a kind heart and an indulgent father in Ewan (and a very indulgent grandfather in Allen). He's bullied often, but he befriends the one girl who gets into trouble the most in town: Seth Firwood. The other kids are told not to play with her, and some listen, some don't, but in a small town, your neighbors will tell your parents you're playing with the person you're not supposed to if they see you with her. Niven has no such rules. Ewan has faith in Seth, but he has plenty in Niven. Basically, "if you get into trouble with her, that was your choice, wasn't it?" Needless to say, Niven mostly doesn't, because he can't stand losing his allowance. :P Seth is fiesty. I love her so much. She's resentful of people who have more than her, her parents are quite old (she's the only infant of theirs that survived after multiple attempts too) and out of touch with her needs, and she hates authority. But deep down, she's a pretty good kid.

Niven sees that, usually, and Ewan sees it too. But then... Niven disappears. Seth is lost. Her best friend is gone. The only ally she properly has is Ewan. She wants to find Niven. Niven, on the other hand, ends up finding someone else. Someone very important: the dragon that has been missing for thousands of years, Tessa Everyone in their world has heard the stories: Tessa went missing because of a hurricane/earthquake/etc because she left her region of the deep seas to go hold tails with her girlfriend (Syra, a dragon who overlooks a series of tropical islands) while they gaze at the stars. When she disappeared, Syra searched the world, and it is said that rivers were created because Syra ripped through the land in this hunt of hers. Anyway, that's not true, and the river dragons are a bit miffed when they hear that human story. (Which does not help the rivalry some of them have with the saltwater dragons. Tessa and Vionne have quite the dislike for each other, and Vionne made catfish, which Tessa hates.) Also, it wasn't a hurricane or earthquake behind Tessa's disappearance. Tessa and Niven are close, but they travel together and make friends along the way, like a JRPG. Tessa eases the pain - or worsens it - by telling terrible jokes that she thinks humans would like, even though she's not had much interaction with humans before. She's also snippy and opinionated and really fucking hates catfish.

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Plot twist: Gerry is the dog Martin accidentally lets into the archives and decides to menace Jon on principle.

Gerry gets adopted by the Archives. He's the mascot now. Gerry belongs to everyone. Except Elias. Gerry can bite him. As a treat.

When Gerry was turned into a dog he didn't know where else to go but the institute. He hoped that Gertrude would recognize him and be able to help, but of course just his luck the old bat had died and not long ago, just long enough for a new archivist to be appointed. A useless and grumpy man who will no doubt take a very long time to develop any sort of useful abilities. So it seemed like he was going to be stuck this way for a long time.

It could be worse, the guy who had let him in seemed really nice. He'd never given any credence to the idea of animals being able to sense evil but he trusted his own instincts and they did seem to be sharper then they used to be when he was a human. So it was the big one's legs he hid behind when he was cornered, ears back and tail between his legs.

"Aww look at the poor little guy!" The handsome one cooed, Gerry had seen him before. He knew the girl, Sasha, Gertrude had spoken highly of her. The boy was a friend of hers who the old bat had thought was a bad influence, he seemed nice though, not that that might not be exactly what was a bad influence. Gertrude had always valued doing what needed to be done over being kind. "Look at him, he's all dirty and he's so scrawny. I bet he's a stray."

"That's not our affair Tim! If you want to you can take it to a shelter." the new Archivist insisted.

"Come on Jon I know you're not that heartless! Isn't he cute? We could take care of him." Sasha said giving Jon her own set of puppy-dog eyes, making the small Jon splutter.

"Out of the question! This is an archive not an animal shelter!" Jon insisted angrily.

"I'd help take care of him!" Tim and Martin said at the same time and gave each other a startled look. "Come on boss-man! It would be good for moral!" Tim added with a grin.

"Well, it certainly seems I'm outvoted," Jon huffed, shifting from foot to foot. Gertrude would have never let her assistants talk to her like that. "Fine. You'll have to get Elias' approval, but if he says it's alright, the dog can stay." Jon said, throwing his hands up rather dramatically and stomping off while Tim and Sasha cheered and Martin gave a shy smile.

"I'm going to go buy dog food and a pet bed and some toys!" Tim said excitedly.

"Wait shouldn't we tell Elias?" Martin asked looking alarmed and the other two laughed.

"Nah," Tim said with a shrug, already patting himself down to check for his wallet and keys.

"Let's see how long it takes Elias to notice," Sasha said sounding amused. They must not know about the eye, not fully. Elias would know right away, the question was if he would know who Gerry was and if he cared. "We need to name him, me and Martin while brain storm while you're away," she added giving Tim a cheeky smile while he feigned being wounded.

"You too dunderheads better come up with something good," he joked before he left.

Both Sasha and Martin started petting him then while they bounced names back and forth. They got close to his actual name at one point, suggesting naming him in honour of Gertrude, but Gerry tried not to react. He didn't want them to get his name right, it might make Elias more suspicious and he needed to stay undercover for now.

They decided on Henry, nice and simple, Gerry could learn to respond to that. And when Tim came back they set up the dog bed and gave him some food, the dog food didn't even taste that bad really, he'd definitely eaten worse things. He fell asleep while they were talking about giving him a bath and who's house that was going to be in. He was not looking forward to that.

[namazunomegami]

gosh i really love your geto stuff and i'm super glad i followed you bc then you put??? the heatwave fic on my dash?? and i???

like that's IT that's the VIBE that is MY BRAND that is my absolute favorite kind of yandere/dark relationship trope ever. so many people writing yandere!geto are locked into this exact frequency and i LOVE IIIT

so much compassion and affection and understanding. geto who knows you like the back of his own hand, knows how you tick, how to get any kind of reaction he wants out of you.

does he use this for good? for evil? YES!! all the genuinely well-meant gestures still come with a dose of condescending mother-knows-best and it's WORSE because the fact that he knows you so well, can tell you what you're thinking and how you're feeling, it lends all the more credence to the idea that he really is RIGHT.

you are his obsession. his little bug trapped in a terrarium and he is just so excited to see how you'll grow. you won't outgrow him; he controls your entire world, he will become your entire world.

the best cage is one that you don't want to escape. if you're trying to leave, he's doing it wrong! and he'll fix it right away but the dark terrible foundation will still be there.

augh. absolutely delicious. it makes for so much intensity and investment from the characters. even ordinary reactions leave you at the edge of your seat because both people in the relationship are hyperfixated and overanalyzing every last gesture, and they're RIGHT to!! it really DOES mean something because the other person is crazy obsessed, too!

like your fic where the reader runs away and geto just silently takes them back and you're just waiting for the hammer to fall... waiting. and that's exactly what geto is doing to the reader in the fic. absolute PEAK fiction. love this stuff!!! every word of it!!!

OMG!!

OH SHIT!

You have absolutely no idea how I just teared up reading all that! Honestly it means so much to me. Come here, let me give you a kith, mwah, mwah 💕

I suppose the heatwave fic is Mélange? Whatever, I'm glad you liked it and I plan to write more aphrodisiac/sex pollen fics in the future because I LOVE this trope so much. You can basically give me any character and I can come up with a plot where the character gets sex pollened lmao.

(Funny thing is, I didn't really read aphrodisiac fics before I started writing Mélange, it was my best friend who told me that I kinda subverted the trope because in most cases it's the reader who's affected by some horny substance. But I'm gonna keep my fics that way because the characters I simp for are a bit repressed emotionally and it's entertaining to write them feral.)

I think I mentioned this before, but I'm not deliberately writing Geto as a yandere. It just sorta happens. I finish a fic, reread the whole thing and "whoops, he's a yandere". But Geto cares a lot about others, sorcerers in general, Gojo, Shoko, Nanami, the twins, his makeshift family, he just wants to keep them safe but the execution of that... a bit radical, a bit absolutist, let's just say it's not the healthiest. But this aspect of his personality makes it easy to write him as a yandere.

I have some other wips where I try my best to tone it down but then the reader is the obsessive one in the dynamic lol. Like in my egyptian mythology au, he's just a guy (well, a solar deity), he's just there and tries to unravel reader's conflicting love-hate feelings towards him. And the dilf!Geto fic... oh boy, reader is borderline crazy.

In fact, I love everything you mentioned and let me add, reader and Geto in Into the Void + Atonement has a very detailed lore, enough to write a whole prequel fic but instead, I use certain elements and scenes I came up with in other fics. If I would've included the whole story it just hinders the buildup, disturbs the plot etc. But I share some important details with you 💕

Ofc, the reason they know each other on such an intimate level is because well... they know each other for at least 12 years if we look at the canon events and timeline. Reader is obviously not amongst the heavy hitters, their cursed technique is basically just tracking cursed energy. They're like a walking GPS, a locator app and... idk, I think they call them sniffdogs? Scent tracking dogs? Whatever... basically just give reader any kind of residual and they can track the source of it.

You may ask... why isn't reader using their cursed technique when they try to get away from Geto in order to know his exact location? The answer is plot convenience.

I can see several instances where reader was kinda mocked by others for being useless in battle (maybe by Gojo himself because at that time he has zero social awareness) and Geto had to intervene in order to explain that such a technique is actually quite valuable because it saves a lot of time and effort to locate a curse or a curse user. But that means that the heavy hitters must keep reader safe or at least very far from the battlefield.

Reader's parents are also non-sorcerers. So they had at least one thing they can get connected over. And in both fics I refer to that reader's parents were quite abusive and neglectful. It resulted in reader being starved for connection (hence the cursed technique's nature itself), a kind of inability to trust in others, receive and accept comfort and they’re very hyperaware of their surroundings. And Geto, who cares so much about his fellow students might have tried to change their perspective or offer some comfort and reader could have noticed when he was spiraling and do the same thing for him.

And then it just makes sense for me that reader was sent to track down Geto when he massacred the village to save the twins. And in that moment, reader is just head over heels, they view this whole mass murder as a sacrifice, revenge, a pay back for all the abuse that the twins have been through and instead of despising him, they find it comforting and even just. And then just dips with him and the girls.

So I guess their relationship had a promising start, but I believe that none of the sorcerers are capable to maintain a healthy relationship and it all boils down to the "hurt people hurt people" thing. And doing this whole cult thing makes them overmystifying each other, they no longer view themselves as regular people, more like ideas, mythological characters and such. The whole setting just twists them.

I know that culturally it would be more fitting to use characters from buddhism but there’s no such yearning and glorified suffering than in christianity.

And let me tell you, I like putting Geto into situations where he must fight for control with the reader. Like even in these fics, even during the smut they just want to control the other and willing to use anything for achieving it.

Btw, sorry for all the rambling. I just love seeing people trying to interpret my works and I like sharing some hidden details so you can come here anytime if you want to talk about them or my wips 💗 Hopefully I can start working on some wips soon, but currently I have to deal with a lot of personal issues and finals and all that kinda stuff so I'm just tired all the time. Big thank u for leaving this in my inbox, hope you have a wonderful day 💗

[writeforfandoms]

Teacher AU/Magical Accident

Any Pedro boy you please, please!

💜💜

It took me a bit to decide here but I'm gonna go with Marcus M! Tee hee hee.

Okay. Here we go. Classical magical accident au here.

You're a teacher and you work with special kids. In this case, that means the kids of Heroics. It's difficult for many of them to be in traditional school, and after a few Incidents their parents decided the best thing would be to bring a few teachers to the kids.

So you work with the kids, and you love them. You really do. They're mostly good kids, even with their tendency to think they know better and get into mischief and ignore things they don't want to do. Even with all that. They're good kids.

One afternoon you're getting packed up to leave for the weekend when you notice there's a cat. Now, normally this would not be cause for concern. Except there are no cats wandering around, and no way for a cat to get way in here.

So you pick up the cat and ask around if anyone knows this cat, is this anyone's cat? Everybody else is just as confused as you are, so you take it home with you, deciding to get it checked for a microchip later.

He really is a gorgeous cat, a deep brown almost black with big eyes. And a deep, rumbling purr. He's pretty cuddly too - more evidence that he's not a stray.

Alas, he is not microchipped, and doesn't seem to have an owner. So you hang on to him. At first it's because you're busy and don't want to take the time to drive halfway across town to the nearest animal shelter. Then it's because you enjoy having him around. You hadn't realized how lonely you'd gotten until you had company.

You found you didn't linger after classes now, spending more time at home. You slept better. You were more relaxed. All because of a cat.

But then you start hearing rumors. That Marcus Moreno himself has gone missing. There are lots of rumors flying around about where he went and what happened to him - everything from he eloped to a supervillain had taken him and was holding him ransom to he'd fallen astray of a magic spell.

You didn't give any credence to the rumors. Until you caught your cat trying to arrange pens into words.

A few exams later, more than one panicked phone call, and a late night trip back to HQ, and you discover your cat is Marcus. You've had Marcus. The entire time. Dying from embarrassment sounds like a good idea at this point.

Marcus gets turned back into his normal human self. The first thing he does is hug Missy and reassure her that he's okay.

The second thing he does is hug you, long and tight, whispering thanks and reassurance into your ear.

And after that, he makes sure you're never lonely again.

[separatist-apologist]

MB I'm not sure if you're still doing haters bookclub but boy do I have a suggestion for you. It's called Credence and mama... It's bad.

I didn't even read it, I was listening to a blogger talk about it on YouTube and I swear I was that Lisa Simpson meme of her sitting at the dinner table in shock because I could not believe what I was hearing.

I wasn't sure if I was going to answer this because I did read Credence back when I was first into booktok. I have two things I want to say about this book and then I don't think i want to talk about it again because I hated everything about it.

I'm gonna put it under the cut, though I don't discuss anything triggering. Just in case people like this book and don't want to see me complaining

Dark romance should have some element of romance to it and I feel like the booktok girly writers have forgotten that aspect in their race to write the most outlandish things they can think of for booktok clout. There was no romance among any of the men in this book and if I'm asking myself, "what do they like about her?" and the only answer is her vagina, thats...not romance. Or really even escapist fantasy because you can find that literally everywhere in real life.

The writing was predictably atrocious that even if it had been good plot wise, it's just miserable to read.

I don't think that the kind of books you read say something about you personally. I think I could have liked a book with this premise if it had been done well. the problem is was not done well and forwent anything romantic in favor of "spice" but the spice was also off-putting most of the time.

Dark romance is dark for a reason, the themes are going to be uncomfortable and its not for everyone, I acknowledge that. I still think you as an author have some responsibility to like...care? About what you're writing? To develop your characters in a way that makes ME care about them so when they DO cross a line, I am still with them.

Penelope Douglass didn't bother with any of that and in some ways the book made me feel like this was fanfiction in the way that you CAN skip over characterization at times and throw them into scenarios because the readers already have familiarity with these people and therefor relate to them. Except here I had 0 knowledge of these people and since she didn't bother giving anyone a personality outside of being unbelievably stupid/a horny old man, when they did foul and fucked up shit I was like, put them all in jail.

Credence will always have a place in haters bookclub hall of fame because it was one of the first books that made me think maybe booktok is not reading anything interesting or well-written (though it took a few more of their recommendations before I learned my lesson).

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

If people aren't mad at pride products, then how do you explain the Kid Rock Bud Light situation? That wasn't even in June!

If people aren't mad that LGBT+ people exist, then explain the 2016 Orlando Nightclub Shooting! That was obviously a hatecrime!

Just because you feel the way you do doesn't negate the actual harm put on LGBT+.

You don't have to bend the knee to us, just don't pretend like this isn't happening constantly!

1. I never said there was not hate towards LGBT people. Not once. They're still very much is. But hate towards all groups does and will always exist no matter how small

2. The Bud light situation is complicated. Dylan M. Isn't trans. He's an amalgamation of trans trended, attention seeker, clout chaser, and narcissist. Created by TikTok no less. And he's frankly a mockery of LGBT people as a whole. As Bud Light is a beer that caters to conservatives yes, they got boycott. Not because Dylan's "trans" but because like my post stated normies are extremely tired of having it all shoved in their face. Dylan was an extreme case to those people because there is an actual movent of trans activists (not all of whom are trans) pushing people mindlessly into transitioning. With no barriers. No mental health help, just strait to CSH and surgeries. Add to that people being told they are not allowed to criticize it and yes you anger people.

3. So the shooting was interesting for 2 reasons. The first being this:

Which we know good well that Muslims hate gay people..... Correction. Must middle eastern Muslims hate gay people. Secondly, there was talk at the possibility he was deep closeted gay. And considering his religious background that makes sense. things from the article actually possibly lend credence to this. The first being that he was weirdly narcissistic. As in work out all the time and admire yourself in the mirror a lot. But something else his wife brought up was that he often got excessively angry at his name. Because to him the name sounded gay. Does that prove that man way gay? No. But combining those two things feels a lot like a homophobic gay man who can't come to terms with who he is. Much like the frat boy jock types you see whom get exceedingly angry over being called gay but have a tendency to do things that are in fact kinda gay. A lot of the time that level of anger is from internalized homophobia. Can I confirm that theory? No. It's it possible though? Yes.

4. Lastly, you might not be asking people to bow to you. But a large number of LGBT people are demanding others bow down and worship them. My post never said this was all our even most LGBT people. Just a very extreme and vocal minority who demand compliance and glorifying. I can't count the number of listicles, articles, posts etc, I see of "If you are straight, you support sexual violence" or, "Cis people are boring and why it's not ok to be cis" and TikToks of youths saying, "I'm sorry but if you're not LGBTQIA2+ you can be friends with me or my friends. Straight is overrated and needs to end because it's stupid straight people are bad and climate change is killing us. #NoMoreBabies." < This being one of the worst because kids are desperate to have the attention of their peers. And more desperate to fit in. If you tell them being trans or otherwise it's the only option they'll be trans. Because they are FAR too young to understand WHAT THAT MEANS.

Again. I don't think this stuff is all anti-lgbt hate. I think a lot of it is normies tired of having it pushed in their face. And again. You might not be the one doing it. But there are LGBT people on my post who agree that it's happening. So it's not an observation unique to me.

And this may piss you off, but LGBT people have been in a position of power and privilege for a number of years now. To a point many are legally and socially beyond criticism and consequence. And what was that saying neo progressives like so much? When you've been in a position of privilege, equality feels like oppression"? Hate will always exist. Always. Some will see it much more than others. But as a whole, the fact it's gotten to the point LGBT people can do sex acts in front of kids without reproach is proof enough of what I've said.

In closing, I'm not, not have I said, that LGBT people don't have hate geared towards them. Certainly they do. But in the West, LGBT are safer than in almost any other country. But media is going to media and politics are going to politic. If something can be perceived as a hate crime, certain political parties will run with it, and their allies in media will make sure it's global news. We have 300+ Mil People here. That considered, the amount of actual hate crimes are small. Which while still a bad thing, that number can not and never will be zero.

[boyakishantrinity]

"... I think that worked."

"I don't think it did!!"

Shouting into the wind, the adolescents froze as the bloody corpse that was somehow still alive rose from the rubble. Iron rebar rusted as it were imbedded into just about every section, fragments of titanium and tungsten alloyed spear and swords, all three weapons embedded into her. Several stabbed arrows of divine and hellish origin and to top of the absolute bullshit. She still had the enchanted one hit kill death arrow they'd refused to use for the last four years.

"... Nuke?"

Exasperated, with more than a tinge of genuine. Well, giving up, he turned to his girlfriend.

"Nuke."

Tossing the canister to her boy, the fusion reaction activating as the woman began to lift the rubble off her back.

"... Thermonuclear device?"

"Why can't you just die?"

"Why do you insist on attacking civilians?"

"they're not civilians."

"brainwashed."

"cretin."

"You're going to die a slave to an ideal that's not even true."

"You're a failure of society, someone who has opened arms to worse than scum."

"I thought you were the hyper compassionate healer, she who accepted any and all."

"I'm only compassionate to living beings."

Lifted by the shirt, pain left striking across the body as the two woman stared each other down.

"... Mom?"

Half delirious, the other two froze.

"... That wasn't just me?"

Holding the trigger, harpoon in hand as she scanned their faces.

"Liam. I'm not mad-"

"I think I'm bleeding."

"..."

She ripped the woman's arm off her, cracking her jaw as she turned her heel. Gripping the rubble as she threw the rock through the destroyed building.

Rebar. Iron rebar left piercing the small child, blood soaking his mouth as horns poked out his head.

"... Ignos, porpua, Wroughr."

Her hand flicked, green magic snapping towards the young man. His wounds moving to heal as she dropped to her knees.

Blood, coughing onto the floor, the young man stumbling forward as he reached for his mother.

She refused. Whispering something into his ear as she muttered to herself, striking her own face as she whispered something.

With a flash of blue, he vanished. Particles transporting up and down a layer.

"Still think you're- *wheeze* a hero?"

Blood was now bleeding cleanly through every face orifice, her sword left fused to the ground, as she stumbled to grasp onto it. Heaving, clearly on barely mana.

Nobody could live with no mana. In events of high stress, pain, or simply taking enough damage. You'll burn dangerously close to 1 mana, delirium, paranoia, all of which is generally not a good thing to have.

0.4.

0.5 was the price to heal. 0.1 was the price to transport.

0.4 points of mana, it'd take three months to heal back to 5 points of mana and then it'd snap back to my increasing pool.

"I have 0.4 units of mana."

She declared, half wheezing as she spoke. Seeming to gather her strength as she rested onto the sword.

"... I- Sister. Just. Surrender."

She looked at the man, the leader. Looking down before a smile formed.

"Sure, but I'll have to break my standards hun."

She gripped the hilt, pushing down onto the blade with what little strength she likely had.

"... Aunty. Please-"

She glared at the young woman.

"I thought I trained you to never show credence to the enemy."

The large man looked at her, with cautious eyes he lowered his jaw.

"Eleanor."

She froze, head fully snapping to him.

"Stop. You've already lost."

She dropped her hand, scratching her neck as she moved her arms and legs. Inattentiveness filling her body as she squat down on on leg and bounced up and down.

"hmm. Well."

She rested back on the pommel, twisting the end back on as she looked at them.

"No."

She raised a gun to her head, silver, size chambered. A colt revolver.

BANG.

[fangedmagick]

Dark Embrace and Diablerie (VtM Lore)

Grindelwald stole Aurelius from his happiness, away from his father; and taking him away back to Nurmengard Castle.

Waking up in his former room felt like everything before was a kind dream and he was back here, alone. But no. His Obscurus was gone, he was healed, and was just getting done with Hogwarts lessons.

Grindelwald looked down at the boy with frightening admiration mixed with disappointment. The last meeting was the boy had revealed the Qlin plot, and bought Newt and Albus some time with their plan.

In his bed, it was warm and instinctively he wrapped the covers around himself. Unable to find his wand. He prepared for his death, given he had between the darkest and powerful wizard of the age.

Instead gentle hands touched him, making him shy away. His room was just as he left it, almost untouched. Not a speck of dust.

"You no longer have your Obscurus, Credence? Dumbledore's work?"

He pried and the boy couldn't help but be afraid. And refused to give information, "I dislike muggles, but there are some good ones, like Mr. Jacob. Surely you can see that..." He was shushed and like before, much to his inner hate, obeyed and was silenced.

"No need for that now." Grindelwald's voice was alluring however, and he couldn't fight the urge to listen. Not knowing he was being spelled by a more vampiric power, Awe. "You're quite a beautiful person, Credence. You know I had thought for long nights how to kill you for betraying me, betraying your brothers and sisters, the Wizarding World."

Aurelius couldn't correct his name, he could only listen, even as his fear returned. He was almost scarily okay with dying here. The older wizard continued,

"I have not embraced for a long time. But I also couldn't find a more fitting punishment for you."

"Embraced, sir?" Aurelius finally asked, genuinely curious.

"As much as I want to take you all the way to your soul, eternity sounds more fitting a punishment." Grindelwald had no care for some vampiric laws, and he was bent on destroying this pathetic Masquerade and revealing the Wizarding World all at once. Not many know of the Masquerade.. and honestly, he doubts Credence will last a week without being either killed or worse. He was okay with that...

For now he brushed the boy's long hair away, showing the neck that pumped with life that was not mixed with the Obscurus' poison. It was almost funny given that may have been the only thing that spared Credence from this.

And he let his fangs show, press against the neck, and bite down. It was a pinch, than both felt euphoric. Grindelwald drank down the delicious blood he so craved and Credence was lost in the kiss, feeling as much pleasure from being fed on as the one that was feeding.

The young Dumbledore almost heard his dear phoenix mourn in song. Their bond severing as his heart struggled to beat against the loss of blood. He was laying in his bed, to weak to stay in his position and whispers, "please... Grindelwald.." He didn't know what he was asking. But didn't finish as he lay in his bed, Grindelwald draining him nearly dry. Barely alive.

And he bit into his own wrist without delay to admire his dying victim. And fed Credence his own vitae.

But he was not kind to his childer, no, this was a punishment. Not a blessing and he was going to stain what bit was left of the boy's humanity.

---

He woke up in his bed, not cold anymore. But there was so much hunger, he was so hungry. He looked for anything to eat. Brown eyes frantic.

And there he spotted the prize. Or what his hunger crazed mind could see as a prize. He could smell the blood in the other's veins. And didn't question about the wooden stake in the older man's chest. Or the fact that this was a person he was staring at like the other was his only salvation.

He went after the torpor traitor LaSombra, and bit into him like a natural vampire, blood pulled without savoring it. He drank and drank, even as there was no more left, and he began to taste a more delicious dark flavor, not knowing it was the vampire's very soul as he consumed it all and fell back.

He felt so satisfied, so full, so good... until he wasn't.

Death finally caught up with him and he underwent the pains and burning of his body dying, and getting rid of what no longer suits him.

The feeding sealed his fate.

And when he woke again, he took some remains of his room stuff, finding his wand was left on the table, and fled into the night. Fleeing the castle, refusing to look back out of fear Grindelwald or the Acolytes he was knew were after him.

The elder Tremere thought his little childe would not last the week. He lasted over ninety years and still is alive. Though he hides desperately who his maker was and that he committed diablerie which gained him some LaSombra power that reminds him of his Obscurus, having to learn the Masquerade on his own, territory, laws, how own power.

He survives his nights in New York, sometimes travelling to Scotland or London to visit his old homes. Preferring solitude over a coterie.