#and how other similar stories could be set in some other very different places. Or how despite the setting being very particular

[longagoitwastuesday]

Hi, can i ask you why in your opinion some people consider the moors a proper character in wuthering heights? Do you think the story would have been so different if it had been set in a different location?

I've wanted to sit on this for a bit to see if I changed my opinion/reaction, because I thought of an answer instantly. I'm going to be sincere, what I thought was "because people have not read enough (good) books".

I'm not entirely sure why people consider the moors a proper character because I don't think it works as one at all. I imagine a big part of the reason why is the appeal of the aesthetic and how powerful an impact it has had culturally and even in general in the collective imaginary, but I don't think that's exclusively due to Wuthering Heights. Trying to dig more, I'd say it's because of the importance it has for the characters, emotionally, narratively and symbolically. And, digging even more, I imagine it's due to the metaphysical bond and even ontological identification between moors and characters some people read into it.

Most if not all of these characteristics are typical of significant settings in books, though. They don't necessarily confer the settings the title of "character". And, as much abstract personality as they may have, in my opinion the moors are lacking something to be comfortable calling them so. In Wuthering Heights I'd say the house itself, Wuthering Heights, feels more like a character to me than the moors. Still, I'd say even then there's a certain something missing.

As much character or importance in ambience setting Bly Manor has in The turn of the screw, I don't think one could freely say it's a character on itself; that's sort of the situation with the moors in Wuthering Heights, I think. In comparison, Comala in Pedro Páramo, Hill House in The haunting of Hill House, Macondo in One hundred years of solitude or Vetusta in La Regenta, to name a few, feel a lot more like characters. They are books in which the settings themselves feel fleshed out with care, thoroughly developed like a character, and they even read as having a certain will of their own, as actively participating in the narrative at times. The moors in Wuthering Heights don't work that way. And it's not a bad thing. They don't have to, that's not their role.

Now, on the question about whether I think the story would be so different if set in some other location... I think the answer is both yes and no? Of course the book would never have been exactly the same had it taken place somewhere else, and the heather and in general the description of wildlife and vegetation are symbolically meaningful. But also, I didn't have a clear image of what the moors were when I first read the book. I imagined something infertile, isolated and cold, but that's it, and it worked. I didn't know how the English moors were at all.

I do think the isolation aspect is necessary to make Wuthering Heights, and I'd say perhaps even the cold and generally bad weather, but it's also true in a similarish way Pedro Páramo works with a place that is very hot. Ultimately it's up to the writer, and it will work if it's well written and well waved alongside the other parts forming the book. Wuthering Heights was waved with the moors in mind specifically, and it works. Would the story in abstract be much different if set somewhere else? Not necessarily, probably not, but it wouldn't be exactly Wuthering Heights, just as it wouldn't be if one were to change any other of its characteristics.

#The stormy windy weather works very well with Cathy's moods specifically for example but I don't think we see her be influenced or changed #by the weather the way Ana's mood is influenced by the rain in La Regenta for example. Which doesn't make the moody weather less important #It has symbolic and aesthetic aspect and in art that's very important on its own #Is the weather/wildlife/vegetation/setting important in Wuthering Heights? Yes of course #Could one set a similar story somewhere else and still be able to convey a similar effect and mood? Also yes. There are examples #I think I've talked about this before with both @faintingheroine and @13eyond13. About the importance of the setting in Wuthering Heights #and how other similar stories could be set in some other very different places. Or how despite the setting being very particular #in Wuthering Heights the story works and is very popular in other very different and at times faraway countries (such as Japan for example) #because more than the specificity of the moors the setting depends on the infertility perhaps‚ the mood it sets #and how it works with the narrative and characters‚ and mainly the isolation #One can easily translate that into something relevant to their own place and culture so to speak #I didn't want to include this (and some other things haha) in my reply to avoid making it longer still‚ but here it is just in case #Also there's an idealisation of Wuthering Heights in certain particular aspects‚which is something I talk about often with @faintingheroine #I think that too plays a role in making people consider the moors a proper character on its own #The topic is very interesting and this was fun to think about. Thanks for the question! #I hope my reply was articulated enough. I've been awake for thirty hours. I'll try to remember to come back later and give a look though #I talk too much #Wuthering Heights

[annabelle--cane]

placing my hands out placatingly, asking everyone to please be cool and not reignite og!elias burnt out gifted kid discourse. okay? okay. I think this is setting up some more sam and gwen parallels. from mag 193, we know that elias bouchard (original flavor) was told from a young age that he was smart but lazy, he was squandering his advantages, and he was wrong to envy other children because they were meaningless and he was better. he seemed to internalize this to some extent, because by the time he was in his early twenties he had no friends and no family and no real life, just the certainty that he was destined to deserve better.

I think it is reasonable to assume that gwen received similar messaging during her childhood, as she seems to be treating the OIAR the same way elias treated artefact storage (as a stepping stone job to a bigger career waiting for her up the ladder), and she takes a lot of offence when she feels disrespected. from magp 03, we know she's reticent to tell her friends that she's still working this same job, especially because the friend's party she was going to was to celebrate making partner at a law firm.

from this episode, we know that sam was declared "gifted" as a child and his parents rigorously enrolled him in every program they could find, and it started going down hill when the magnus institute rejected him (did they reject him outright or was he there for a bit and then kicked out? what he said to celia doesn't quite fit his earlier statements, but moving on). he has a lot of pent up and fixated feelings about not being chosen by them, he didn't get into oxford, he just missed the highest grades, and he's reticent to tell his parents that he's working this job, especially because he used to be at a law firm.

we know the bouchards are a wealthy and influential family, and as sam speaks with a south asian accent I think it's safe to assume that his family immigrated. of course, there's a massive amount of variation in the socioeconomic statuses of south asian immigrant families in the UK, and I don't know enough about how british gifted kids programs work to know if sam having been in a bunch of them would imply anything about his parents' disposable income, but nonetheless I still think their different backgrounds potentially say a lot about how they handle these feelings of not meeting the high standards that were expected of / promised to them. gwen is fighting to be on the same level of social status and power as her peers, and sam probably felt like he was he had opportunities for upward mobility in this brand new place but kept failing them. it's causing both of them to be very active characters, they are the two people pushing the story forward the most by far, but the ways in which they are active diverge greatly.

gwen, until recently, had felt like she was unfairly stagnating, like she was "not most people" and was cut out for better, and being constantly barred from climbing the ladder made her both resentful of lena and extremely paranoid / insecure about her own worth. now that she's starting to crack it into the "real work," it's obviously taking a great toll on her, but she doesn't want to back out, she wants to prove herself and take what's rightfully hers and not show herself to be unfit for real power. her actions appear to be guided by an ethos that her life hasn't been wasted yet, she still has time to make good, she just needs to ignore that weakness masquerading as a conscience, please god don't let her fail.

sam feels like he's made mistake after mistake after mistake and led himself to his own desperate state where he only just managed to avoid destitution because his ex was kind enough to hook him up with an emergency job that is actively destroying his physical and emotional health, and he has pinned all this frustration on trying to figure out what the magnus institute was all about and why it didn't choose him. like gwen, great things were expected of him, but unlike her he doesn't seem to still be striving for them, that dried up when he had a breakdown at his last job. now he just wants to figure it out and make sense of it, as if solving the mystery will let him fix it and undo all that time and un-waste his promised potential. his actions seem to be guided by an ethos that, even though he's already screwed everything right up, solving the ghosts that haunt his life will some how lessen their burden and maybe, just maybe, give him closure on the Flaw That Doomed Him and allow him to move past it without dragging it still forward.

#tmagp #tmagp spoilers #marina marvels at life

[gyeomsweetgyeom]

[9:13 pm] 

(cw: jaehyun drinks a beer)

Anyone looking looking at Jaehyun right now could tell he was angry. Heck, anyone with eyes would be able to simply glance at him and tell that they should steer clear of him. His jaw was clenched, his dentist probably wouldn’t be happy about the strain he was putting on his jaw, and his eyes were locked on you. You and the man who had been talking and laughing a little too much. Too much smiling, too much laughing, keeping you from Jaehyun for too long. You were only supposed to go to the bathroom then get a drink but now you’d been gone for over 10 minutes, most of that time spent with the bartender.

Jaehyun would argue he wasn’t a jealous person. He didn’t mind that you went out, other guys talked to you, that you had guy friends, because you always came back to him. You always reassured him, easing his hidden insecurities, that he was the only guy for you. But it was different now watching you laugh and look like you had no intention of leaving the bar anytime soon. You peeked a look back at Jaehyun, quickly turning and laughing along with the bartender.

The waiter came back by the table asking if everything this was still fine. Jaehyun replied coldly, eyes still locked on you that everything was fine. He tried to pull his eyes away from you, stabbing the food entirely too dramatically to distract himself from the view of you flirting a few feet away from him.

You finally said bye to the bartender, Jaehyun could tell because you wiggled your fingers flirtily before being called back by the bartender to collect a napkin that he had quickly scribbled on. His number no doubt. Jaehyun scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Here’s your beer,” you smiled, placing the bottle in front of Jaehyun as you plopped into your seat.

“I didn’t realize the bar was so busy,” Jaehyun replied nonchalantly.

“Oh, it wasn’t. The bartender was so funny and we got sidetracked,” you smile as you cut into your food. Jaehyun sends you a look asking you to elaborate, so you do. “Well, he was telling me that he really liked my shirt and that his roommate would like the shirt since their birthday is coming up so I told him about some stores that have some similar clothes. Then he started telling me some funny stories-”

“Yeah, he looked hilarious.”

“He was! He seemed really cool,” you hum before taking a bite of your food.

Jaehyun felt the annoyance and anger ease a little bit, you had come back to him but you were gushing over another guy to your boyfriend. How did that make any sense to you? Were you withholding information on purpose? Did you like the bartender that much that you had to hide it from Jaehyun? What did the bartender have that Jaehyun didn’t?

“So what, you like him now? He gave you his number didn’t he?” Jaehyun decides to bite the bullet and ask.

You reply calmly, “Well he very clearly told me he thinks that he and I could be good friends so the number was for friendship only because,” you try to fight back a smile, “he wanted to know if my friend at the table was single.”

Jaehyun chokes on his sip of beer, hitting his chest as he coughs to clear his airway. He still manages to choke out a “What?”

“He spent most of the time gushing over my friend and his silky looking hair and his cute dimples and his hot outfit. He asked me to pass along his number in case you might be interested,” you explained.

Jaehyun was bright red now, embarrassed from having made the assumption of you flirting with another guy, red from his lack of air, red from the indirect flirting.

“So?” You question, lightly kicking his foot.

“Why would I take another person’s number? I’m your boyfriend!” Jaehyun whisper yells.

You shrug, “I don’t know, he seems really cool and he gets off soon if you want to go and chat with him.”

“Stop trying to set me up with other people while we’re on a date! We’ve been together for three years!”

“Well you seem to think I go out to restaurants and try to pick people up on dates anyway, not sure if you’d be interested in that. Like maybe you were projecting,” you continue too casually.

Jaehyun rolls his eyes, “you were looking back at me and laughing, then he scribbled something on a napkin and gave it to you. What was I supposed to think?”

“That I was making friends. I’m a cool person, people want to be friends with me, I make friends everywhere I go,” you reply.

“Of course I believe that, you’re a very cool person. I just get in my head sometimes,” Jaehyun replies quietly.

“Oh my love, I know, you get too lost in that big head too often,” you coo, reaching for his hand across the table.

“Uncalled for.” Jaehyun deadpans.

“So are you going to call him? I think you’re like way his type,” you ask teasingly.

“I’m not paying for dinner anymore and you’re sleeping on the couch,” Jaehyun tells you.

You laugh, shaking your head and narrowing your eyes at Jaehyun, “You couldn’t last an hour in bed without me.” And Jaehyun would hate to admit that you’re right.

#kpop imagines #kpop au #kpop scenarios #kpop reactions #nct #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct timestamps #nct x reader #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun fluff #Jaehyun blurbs #jaehyun x reader #jaehyun timestamps

[mikaela-the-slut-expert]

Hi! It's me again ;)

Now I have two, maybe obvious, thoughts...

1. How will Hua Cheng and Xie Lian react if the reader (assuming that the reader is a demon... Or demon and a god at the same time, for example) presents them with a paired jewelry with his ashes inside, as Hua Cheng did for Xie Lian, and reader not gonna say that the ashes are in there... Reader is just like "yes it's yours now" (personally, i see it as earrings... One is more modest for Xie Lian, and the other is brighter for Hua Cheng)

and 2. About the statues... Did Hua Cheng make statues for the reader as he did for Xie Lian? Or would he have expressed his love for him in some other way? 🤔

if you like ideas if you like the ideas, choose any of them and it doesn't matter it would be as headcannons or you write it as a story.

With love 💙💙💙

Ashes and Statues

Hua Cheng x gn!reader x Xie Lian

Ajsjsjsjns I have rabies. Are you in my head? I've been thinking about this a bunch! So I hope you like my thoughts on it. I'm sorry if the earrings one isn't exactly what you were thinking because I'm slow 😔🙏

I'm using small details of my OC simply for the fact that Xie Lian and reader are very close and always have been close

____________________________________

When Xie Lian receives your ashes it's kind of like how he received Hua Cheng's. One day he woke up and there was an earring dangling from his ear

It was only one earring

The earring wasn't gaudy or flashy. Just a clear gem hanging from his ear. It was still beautiful though

When Xie Lian asks you about it, you only say "it's yours now"

Xie Lian has known you for a long time so of course even though you're a god he knows you're a ghost too even if you don't mention it often

So he's not dumb he knows it's your ashes

Just like Hua Cheng's ring, he keeps the earring fastened in his ear and keeps it safe all the time.

Most of the time the earring is hidden behind his long hair, but he keeps the earring in anyways.

The next time he sees San Lang he isn't expecting for him to have a new earring in his ear either.

That explains why Xie Lian only has one, Hua Cheng has the other one.

While Xie Lian's earring is simple, Hua Cheng's earring is bright and has red gems.

They look similar in shape so it's obvious they're a matching set.

Apparently you said the same thing to Hua Cheng, "It's yours now, do whatever with it"

And of course like Xie Lian, Hua Cheng keeps it fastened in his ear.

They didn't know ashes could be split up, they've never seen it before until now

Now Hua Cheng is trying to figure out how to split up his ashes too, he doesn't want to leave you out after all.

All in all they love the meaning of the earrings you've given them and they're glad you trust them enough to handle them.

♡

I definitely think Hua Cheng has made statues and art of the reader too!

There are a lot of things Hua Cheng does that has to do with art so I would imagine he would include reader in that too.

I think different readers also call for different circumstances but I definitely think Hua Cheng would make statues of the reader regardless out of admiration and love

Statues have been made of you before of course, so you're no stranger to seeing them. This many though all in one place?

When you guys find the hundreds if not thousands of statues of Xie Lian. Mu Qing isn't happy when they start finding statues of you too.

The deeper you all go the more you all find.

Some statues are you by themselves, some are paired with Xie Lian.

There are many statues that depict you throughout your life.

So while Mu Qing and Feng Xin are freaking out calling out stalker stalker

You and Xie Lian are really liking these statues. They're done so well...

You guys can't help but admire them.

____________________________________

I know it's short but I hope you like it😭🖤

I haven't read the book in a long time so I don't quite remember the statue arc details.

#tgcf #tgcf headcanon #hualian #hualian x reader #hua cheng x reader #tgcf x male reader #xie lian x reader #tgcf hua cheng #tgcf hualian #tgcf xie lian

[chirpsythismorning]

Fun fact: In the original pitch for Stranger Things, El had a little brother.

After being rejected by almost 20 studios for the Montauk pilot, the Duffers were finally green-lit by Netflix. It was at this time that they began casting and then writing the first season officially, which included reworking a lot of that first episode.

This led to the removal of the brother reference, and with it, removing any sort of arc El could have had about her apparent brother.

But the thing about this moment, is that it might not have been scrapped entirely...

Going into the final season, no one can explain why or how El recognized Will back in 1x02. And while there are plenty of things on the show that are left unexplained, with a small portion likely left that way with the intention to uncover it later, what sets this moment apart from the rest is that there are very few possibilities here.

Because for starters, the story presents El's ability to see people in the void in s1 as requiring either a picture of that person for reference, or having met that person before.

But when El see's this picture of Will, she's never met him before. Or maybe she has, but we wouldn't know because they never showed us. They could have just not done this scene at all, given that it's clearly a copy/paste/edit of something scrapped from the pitch. Or they could have even still included it, but explained it.

One explanation could be that the lab had shown El a picture of Will before, similar to what they did with the Russian agent they wanted to spy on. But then that begs to question, why would the lab show El a picture of Will? Why would they want to see what he was doing? That alone is incriminating in and of itself, implying that Will is more connected to the lab than we realize.

The only other, and frankly most likely explanation, would be that El stumbled across Will at some point on her journey between escaping the lab and Will going missing. This is actually something that happens in The Other Side comic, which explores all the things Will may have experienced during his time in the Upside Down.

Though it’s worth noting the comics aren’t technically canon, and I highly doubt they would outright spoil everything in relation to Will’s time there, years before it was intended to be revealed. But still, let's humor this for a moment given that I do think Will's time in the UD is going to be very relevant in s5, which means it's highly likely they will finally address how exactly El saw him.

Basically, in the comic, Will see’s El walking through the woods, almost apparition like, glowing as she passes by, while also sporting the Benny’s burgers shirt. This means they would have crossed passed within a short span of time, between when El escaped Benny’s when the agents arrived, but before she was found by the boys.

Though it’s worth noting that we’re seeing this all from Will’s perspective. This means from the UD, Will was capable of seeing El on the other side, despite them being on different sides. And not only that, but she also looks back at him.

What confuses me about this, is that it doesn’t make sense for El to be in the woods, only to randomly decide to pop in to the void for a moment. She was trying to escape the lab and everything that came with it. I doubt she had any desire to lurk back there for some reason, not until someone encouraged her to. Not to mention, it would make no sense for her to go there and see Will if she wasn't even looking for him in the first place. And so this would mean Will and El could see each other, with Will being in the UD, and El being on the other side.

While it does seem pretty far off, given that you would think Will and El wouldn't be able to see each other from different sides, it is true in the story that El not only recognizes Will, but knows that he is in danger. She mentions that he is hiding specifically.

Which means she has likely seen him within the last 24 hours regardless.

This, in combination with Will being able to respond to El in the void at the end of the season in Castle Byers, when no one else outside of Terry and flayed-Billy have been able to, seems to imply that there is indeed something special about Will that makes him capable of communicating with El from the UD. Not only that, but El also seems to have an ability to be in this constant knowing state of how Will is doing, without even checking again to confirm. She's just certain of it. And she seems terrified about it.

Going forward, El never uses a picture of Will to find him. She never did. And more often than not, they don’t show us what she see’s either, not until the very end. And that’s the moment they reveal that he was able to communicate with her.

Again, there was really no reason to have El recognize Will. If anything it complicates things. But the fact that they chose to introduce this concept, with a scene from the original pitch that was related to El’s younger brother, with her pointing at his name cryptically, startling Benny, only to revamp it and have El not say anything at all while pointing at the picture of Will, startling Mike… It just really makes you stop and think.

Which brings me to the other aspect of this that might have people doubting, which is that El’s brother was originally younger than her.

We know Will is not younger than El, so how could this apply to him?

Well, it might be helpful to consider that in the original script, El was actually 10 years old, while the boys were always 12. Meaning that for some reason, they decided to age her up to the age of the boys, aka the same age as Will…

Ever since @erikiara80 shared this brother discovery with me, I have been sort of reeling. It then led to other little discoveries of changes they made between Montauk and Stranger Things.

It’s important to understand that the Montauk bible and the original script precedes what we ended up with in the final product, with it finally changing and evolving months, maybe even a year since that original vision. Even casting occurred before writing started for the first season. We know this because casting announcements were made in June and August of 2015, with writing not starting until August going into early 2016, simultaneously while they were filming.

And believe it or not, what I've discovered is that a lot of the changes they made between their original plans and what we see in the final product, have to do with not only Willel, but also Byler.

If you've read the original script for Montauk, you'll know that Mike's crush on Jennifer Hayes was focused on right from the jump, along with the birthmark on his face being focused on, which was the main cause of the bullying he experienced.

This has actually been talked about recently, and some of the claims people make do fit with what I am genuinely starting to consider here, which is that the initial plan for what makes Mike an outcast shifted.

I think when they completed casting, and started actually deep diving into what they wanted this world to look like, both from a short-term and long-term standpoint, they were presented with some pretty interesting discoveries, arguably already hiding in their initial plans without realizing it.

And this is where it sort of becomes a 'chicken or the egg' situation. Because which one came first? Byler or Willel?

I can't say for certain, because obviously this is all just speculation. But in the case that Willel came first, I think Byler would come very naturally after that.

The Duffers themselves are twins. Then they hire Noah, who is a twin. Then they're thinking and planning for El's past and how her family all fits into this, and they're thinking... wait a damn minute... We could totally Star Wars this bitch!

And then when they think it couldn't get any better, they uncover another layer that they hadn't planned or really considered in their initial plans.

While Will was always going to have sexual identity issues according to the Montauk bible, meaning that the writing process for him likely involved sitting down imagining scenarios that encapsulated this arc for Will from the beginning, they were simultaneously now finding very interesting aspects of Mike's character that made it hard not to at least consider the possiblity that Mike is not exactly straight.

Just think about it. The Byers and Wheelers are basically polar opposites on the spectrum of what a family looks like. While Will's discovery and acceptance of his queerness is interesting to explore because he comes from a low-income, single-mom household, all while having been bullied for years based on his perceived queerness, he also has a mother and brother constantly reinforcing that they will accept him no matter what. They've been sort of hitting us over the head with it for years, and so it wouldn't be very satisfying for his entire arc to merely lead up to something we've known all along. It's pretty much a given at this point.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mike comes from a more upper-middle class family at the end of a cul-de-sac, more aligned with what a nuclear family looks like. Mike's family is also presented as being more conservative, and while Karen does give that very queer-coded speech to Mike in s1 (I'm convinced they only wrote this after deciding to explore queer-coding more heavily with Mike), it also comes with comments from Ted and even still Karen that hint that they are probably not as open-minded and accepting as Will's family is to him. Which means Mike's arc would be a lot more about acceptance around him from his loved ones who we have been led to believe might not be as accepting of his queerness in contrast to Will.

And so as they're putting this story together, and they're being presented with something very interesting. Two similar experiences that play out in different ways because of the characters circumstances.

Will goes missing, and his twin sister with a buzzcut pops up and has the ability to help them find Will.

This leads to several moments where El is being compared to as not only a boy, but Will as well.

Now suddenly, their initial plans to have Mike's arc be about having a girl be interested in him and to hopefully have his first kiss and feel like less of a loser, starts to look a lot like what the experience a queer kid in his position might encounter growing up in the environment that he did.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, just hear the Duffer's themselves hinting at what they initially planned for Mike and the fact that it changed.

The changes don't stop there.

Believe it or not, 'It was a seven', did not exist in the initial pitch. When the boys went outside bickering over Nancy, they leave right after that.

Another thing that changed from the first script, was Scott Clarke's introduction:

And so you might be thinking, who cares? What does that have to do with anything?

Well, it's interesting because the line we end up with on the show is arguably one of the most on the nose Twelvegate proofs to date. Mind you, this is from the first episode:

Why chuck the original version, which was arguably more interesting and fascinating in terms of it hinting at the mysteriousness surrounding this story, only to replace it with him listing off tips about their upcoming test?

Well, I think it's the irony of it all. Here Mr. Clarke is practically telling us where to look to figure stuff out for ourselves what is going on, with all the kids filing out and ignoring him...

I relate to Scott a litttle too much in this shot here, any time I try to drop Willel evidence.

And the changes go on, as they obviously would.

Things like Terry Ives not even being El's mom, but actually a man who more so aligns with the characterization of Murray.

And one very interesting one I almost overlooked was in Hopper's introduction, where instead of a kids drawing done by who we assume to be Sarah, we actually see a picture on the wall of him and his wife and daughter... Interesting that they decided to switch it something that is a lot less definitive in presenting what Hopper's past looked like...

If you've made it this far, congratulations.

If you still think I'm out of my mind, just remember that El was going to have a brother in the original script, but they scrapped the scene and gave a near identical one to introduce her connection to Will instead 😘

#byler #stranger things #willel twins #twelvegate #montauk #as you can see #i am out of my mind #and i'm okay with that #i've spent the last couple months trying to make a video going over all the willel twin evidence #and i can't decide if it's even possible to do without going over an hour #like there is just so much shit that fits too perfectly into this family being ripped apart by mind control and time shenanigans #i hope to have it done soon #trying to make it less than 20 minutes #but it's probably going to end up being closer to an hour #especially with this stuff from the montauk pitch being added to the mix now #anyways #willel and byler are the curtain behind the curtain #if you are open to one of them #you are bound to stumble across the other #and they don't want that to happen #stay tuned for the inevitable twin imagery to continue in s5 related to willel leading up to the big reveal #bc it's arguably the most consistent thing about this damn show #and tbh this all just makes the queer-coding for mike in s1 a lot more concrete to me #them exploring will's queerness through his dad's expectations for him to do more 'manly' things like play baseball #and jonathan saying he shouldn't like things just bc people telll him he's supposed to #how they connect that narratively with the boys being at a baseball field when mike's being pressured about his supposed feelings for el #with the bullies showing up and literally being homophobic seconds later #the fact that jennifer hayes did in fact exist in the original pilot and was the girl mike had a crush on #only for them to scrap that and just make it about her having a crush on will... #never once introducing this idea of mike liking her...

[elitadream]

🎆 Sing for Absolution: behind the scenes 🎆

Hello everyone, and welcome to this summary on how the story was visually built! If you happen to come across this post and would like to read (or reread) the collab @drones-of-innocence and I have created together, just click on the title above and it will take you right to it! 🤗

With that said, let's begin! :D

As some of you already know, this was an idea that Drones had for a long time. It was brought up during one of our many conversations a few months ago, in which she briefly described the plot and sent me a condensed version. I- immediately and completely fell in love with the concept, so much so that I couldn't keep still. 😂💘 I practically begged Drones to let me draw a few frames for it, and she happily gave me permission. At first, what I intended to do was make about 3 or 4 thumbnails, like I had done with One Step Closer.

I returned with 22.

And from there, we both decided "Okay. Yeah. Let's make this official. 🙌💯" LOL

What's interesting here is that, as you can see, some frames didn't make it to the final cut! 🤓 And inversely, new frames were eventually added as the collab progressed. Out of all the sketches that were either abandoned or later deemed superfluous, my personal favorite would probably have to be this shot of Kamek. 😈

From the rough thumbnails I had presented, Drones helped me select the best and most eloquent ones, and I also changed a few other things along the way. For example, one panel that was entirely redone was frame 3 (where Mario enters Peach's room), because the initial composition didn't allow for the reader to see the setting very clearly, and I felt that the establishing shot needed to be wider.

Many of the drawings were also ultimately flipped to give the visuals a more coherent direction and better flow, including this one!

I decided pretty early on that the palette should be made of cold hues, seeing as these events happen to take place at night and that a warm overlay wouldn't adequately have conveyed the more ominous and solemn tone of the story in my opinion. 🤔💁‍♀️

Oh! And I almost forgot: using cold colors for the backgrounds and characters was also very convenient because it helped make the magical effects (the fire, the spells, etc- all the bright, warm and/or complementary nuances) really stand out, which resulted in a more interesting and visually striking contrast overall. 😌🎨

As I do with all my illustrations, I started by cleaning the sketches and adding a unifying background filler for all the frames. Then, I selected the colors I wanted to use (a gradient made of a mix of navy blue and purple) and worked on each drawing individually. Even with simple tones, we can observe the sheer difference that shading makes! 👀😉

There's a visual element that appears in the story and which I had borrowed from Drones before, and that would be Peach's healing magic.^^ ✨ I remember I was fascinated by the idea when I first discovered it in Un Fiore Per Te, which had prompted me to ask her if I could feature it in a piece where the Princess is seen using said power while at Mario's bedside in one of my other tangents. 💞

I kept the effect similar on purpose in Sing for Absolution, so that the slight reference would be easier to catch! 😊

And last but not least, there's that cheeky little Fire Flower! 🤭🔥

As mentioned in a previous ask, the flower actually signifies a lot in this case as it somewhat embodies the deeply affectionate bond between Mario and Peach, glowing brighter and closing its eyes in happiness when the two are close. 💖

While admittedly not the first drawing I made in which a Fire Flower appears, the one that actually inspired both Drones and I to include this symbolic power-up in the story was one that I made all the way back in February for Valentine's Day. 🥰 The subtle yet direct reference can be spotted twice in the text, linking this piece to the collab and establishing a bit of a chronology as well. I was very honored that Drones added this small detail, and I very much look forward to working on more ideas with her in the future! 😁🤝

Big thanks once again to all of you dear friends and followers who have commented and given their thoughts on this projects. Drones and I can't thank you guys enough for your interest and enthusiasm!! 😇💗

ALSO ALSO- I have shared here my visual side of the collab's progression, but Drones intends to give her own side of the story's development soon (explaining some of the themes and narrative elements a little more in depth), so make sure to stay tuned and check her blog as well! ^-^ 💫

#Mario #Princess Peach #Mario x Peach #Mareach #concept #story #collab #Sing for Absolution #fanart #fanfic #elitadream #drones-of-innocence #creators on Tumblr

[writingquestionsanswered]

I’ve been reading some craft books and online posts about the world building because my story is an urban fantasy set in present day US, in a fictional town, and theres not a secondary world where the fantasy happens, it’s all in the real world, except the magic is a secret that only certain people know about, but all of the resources I find about world building only talk about fantastical worlds that exist by themselves and not the kind of more subtle world building that I’d have to do. Do you have any tips?

Guide: Creating a Fictional Town in the Real World

Step 1 - Choose Your Location - There are two ways to go about choosing a location for your fictional town. One is to go the "Springfield U.S.A." route, ala The Simpsons, and be vague about the specific location (borough, parish, district, county, region, state, or province) and instead give a broader geographic region... "the East Coast," "the Pacific Northwest," "Central Canada," Northern Scotland," etc. The other option is to go ahead and put your fictional town in a specific location. Just figure out where (for example, somewhere outside of Des Moines, Iowa) and go to Google Maps, click on satellite view, then start zooming in on big empty areas. Choose a place big enough to fit a town. Yes, in reality it's probably farm fields, pasture, or someone's property, but that doesn't matter. You don't have to actually show it on a map. It's just a plausible spot to build your town. Now you can measure how far it is to other places, you know what highways to take to get to it. You can even do street view to get the lay of the land, see what the landscape looks like and try to envision the buildings there. You can also use what's there to create parks, popular recreational areas, and anything else your town needs.

Step 2 - Choose Your Inspiration - Even when you're creating a fictional town, it's still a good idea to use a real town (or two, or three) from that general area as inspiration for your town. For a fictional town in Des Moines, I would zoom in on the map to find a nearby town of similar size... like Elkhart, then I can take a look around to see what it's like. Just looking at the map, I can see they have a couple of churches, a couple baseball fields, a very small main street/downtown area with a couple shops and restaurants, a post office, a few different neighborhoods, and a cemetery. This would be a great model for a small fictional town outside of Des Moines. And, as I said, you could look at a couple other sand combine them. Once you have your inspiration town/s, you can walk around on Google Maps street view, go to the town's web site, watch a tour on YouTube (if one exists), or look up pictures in Google Image search.

Step 3 - Start Planning - This is the really fun part! First, you might want to draw a basic map of your fictional town using your inspiration town/s as a guide. This doesn't have to be a pretty map... just a basic line drawing to help you envision where everything is. Think about some of the basic things this town might have, like the ones I listed in step two, and any other things you might want your town to have, like maybe a library, a hospital, a city hall, school, and maybe a movie theater. It might even be helpful and fun to put together a collage of pictures to represent your town so you've got something in mind as you write about it. You can even choose representatives for specific locations in your story, like your MC's house, school, and their favorite hangout.

Step 4 - Naming Your Town - Start by looking at the kinds of town names that surround your town. Look for common naming conventions... suffixes like -ton, -ville, -dale, -burg, -wood, -field, etc. Words in a particular language, like a lot of French-inspired town names, or towns with geographical terms (lake, hill, valley, river, canyon, gap, etc.) My guide to Naming Locations has additional tips.

Step 5 - Populate Your Town and Give it a History - Last but not least, make up a little history for your town, again, using surrounding towns as inspiration. Who founded it? When was it founded? What's the town's main industry? What are the people like in this town? What jobs do they have? What do they do for fun?

Here are some other posts that might help:

Five Things to Help You Describe Fictional Locations Setting Your Story in an Unfamiliar Place WQA’s Guide to Internet Research Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

#wqaadvice

[kimetsu-chan]

My request like usual, would be a KIMETSU NO YAIBA + TEEN!READER {Platonic}

The setting is {Reader}, a rank Hinoto who is around 13-14 years old

Now this Oneshot would be placed around a little after Kamado Tanjiro & his sister Kamado Nezuko, along with his friends join the Demon Slayer Corps

Now {Reader} has been apart of the Corps for a while, could be 2-3 years- and lately Master Kagaya has taken notice of them for their skill

Typically becoming a Hashira would take about 5 years, while gifted swordsmen take only 2- and that was about the same amount it took for {Reader} to climb up the ranks

Now before this there has already been an established relationship with them & the Hashira- somehow {Reader} has been able to build a connection with each one, even if it’s only a small amount

Hashira like Kanroji Mitsuri, Tokito Muichiro & Rengoku were one of the first to take the most liking to {Reader} with a sibling/parental-like relationship with them, of course some others like Iguro Obanai & Shinazugawa Sanemi were the more difficult ones to get along with, especially since {Reader} isn’t a Hashira [Yet] so trying to find time to atleast interact with a few of them was hard enough

Though lately as they’ve climbed up the ranks, they’ve been getting special treatment [If the Hashira don’t actively train Demon Slayers, & only during the Training Arc did that happen] for example we could take Shinazugawa Sanemi, who would drag {Reader} out between 3-4 in the morning to train with them [After forcing them to sleep in his estate, saying he “Didn’t want {Reader} stumbling around the damn place, making noise & waking him up”] & to tell you from {Reader}’s experience he does not go easy on them at any time of the day-

Or maybe for something more nonchalant, Kanroji Misturi & Rengoku Kyōjurō will drag you along with them to go into small towns, visiting local restaurants which know both, especially the Flame Hashira, for yelling “Tasty” all the time & getting weird looks or almost getting kicked out for it-or the Love Hashira for having such a large appetite, where there would be sometimes Kanroji would eat almost all of the restaurants food- [and you would be in the background eating quietly while dishes pile up around you like: 🧍🏽]

For Tokito you would mostly sit with him while he cloud-gazed, most of the time it was quiet since he could barley hold a conversation before forgetting you were even talking, or you two would make origami airplanes together & see which one’s would go the farthest on windy days. Some times he would be very blunt about your skills & even insult you [Though he shows his appreciation for you in his own ways]

And Kochō Shinobu loves to show you how her different poisons work & which are most lethal, as well as how to patch up wounds. Apparently she loves ghost stories and always tells you one-wether it’s a long narrative or not- especially if you are not of Japanese descent & also enjoys hearing of your culture’s tales & myths.

Tomioka Giyuu’s hobby is playing ‘Tsume Shogi’ which is a Japanese game similar to ‘Chess’- he would spend his time with you playing this game- even at sometimes you would get hyped up, a wild grin on your face as you made quick moves- wether that allows you to win against him or not is your decision, though if you look quick enough maybe you’ll see a glimpse of a grin cross his face-

For Iguro Obanai, he would spend his time with you reading poetry, some instances you would write your own while he criticized you harshly- or when he would shyly ask you to proofread a poem he was going to give to Kanroji-other times he would trust you enough for you to hold Kaburamaru

Then for Uzui Tengen would mostly you visiting his estate, while he ‘flashily’ dressed you up with cakey makeup [though you never had the heart to tell him it looked bad] while his three wives cooed over how cute you were & Tengen would be standing next to you saying how ‘flashy’ you looked- sometimes he would compliment your breathing style

And finally- Himejima Gyomei, the extremely religious yet kind Stone Hashira- he loves to spend his time with by playing the Shakuhachi- a type of flute for you, or maybe the both of you would find stray cats & nurse them back to help if needed so, or you would simply pet them as you explained to Gyomei what they looked like

Though all the Hashira spend their time with you in their own ways, they all have one goal in mind- make {Reader} their Tsuguko

While some Hashira already have built familial relationships with others, all would love for you to be apart of that! Each one seems to be pulling you in each direction, subtly or not so subtly suggesting if you’ll become a Hashira & to become their Tsuguko, this even caused issues with passive aggression or making others look bad, and they would try to guess who would become your teacher, especially if you used one of their breathing styles

I’m so sorry that this request is so long! I know you are busy so if this is a request that needs to be put on hold then please do so if needed! There’s no rushing, and most importantly just have fun with writing, so don’t stress over it too much ‘Kay? I tried to shorten it as much as possible😭 Have a good day!

-Straberryparfai🍦🍓

~Hashira Headcanons~

A/N: no it’s okay!! I actually heavily prefer detailed requests (if you couldn’t tell already) so I don’t mind at all! I do apologize for making you wait a week for this :( hopefully it turns out well!

I was hopefully was able to grasp what you were asking for? I wrote what I thought they would do to make you their tsuguko and their reaction to you choosing someone else, I hope that was okay!

TWs: Manipulative behavior. This might be them being borderline platonically yandere? Basically incredibly possessive over [Reader]

Oh, this would get super hectic really fast

If they are all wanting you to be their tsuguko, they are definitely going to be fighting tooth and nail against each other (except Gyomei, Giyuu, Rengoku, and Mitsuri bc they’re sweethearts)

Some people (AHEM- Giyuu, Muichiro, Obanai, Shinobu) will use underhanded tactics to get you to be their tsuguko.

Like, Muichiro would talk absolute smack about the other hashira in an attempt to get you to want to be his tsuguko.

He would also like to drag you away from whatever you’re doing to go cloud or bird watching with him.

His tactic is to spend as much time with you as your jobs would allow.

He would often call you Imōto/Otōto/Chīsana kyōdai in hopes that you’d see him as a big brother and choose him over the other hashira.

When and if you told him you chose someone else, he would pretend he didn’t hear you, or forget what you said immediately after.

”Huh? Imōto/Otōto/Chīsana kyōdai? What was that? Nevermind, let’s go train you to be my tsuguko.”

Giyuu would also talk smack, except he would be a bit more tame and selective about it.

He would specifically tell you about the things Sanemi, Obanai, and Shinobu have done to him.

He would try to convince you that they would do it to you too

Eg. complaining how Shinobu always teases him, or how Sanemi and Obanai would gang up and bully him.

He’d give you puppy dog eyes too- rlly subtle ones

If you were to choose a different hashira as your master, he’d probably be like, “Ah, I understand. Although that is a disappointment.”

Obanai’s underhanded tactics are more upper handed tactics if you wanna think about it literally-

He would wait until you were talking with another hashira (probably Giyuu-) while sitting in his favorite tree.

He would wait for the perfect moment before scooping you up from under your shoulders and bringing you to sit with him.

He may be physically weak, but he would play off his sweating as the sun being too hot.

Obanai would then start boasting about how cool it was up there and would place Kaburamaru on your shoulders so you’d be hesitant to leave.

His reaction would be more him pretending to not care less, when in reality, he’s very upset.

He feels betrayed okay?! 😭

Like, he let you hold his snake-

“Oh? Well, do what you like. I’ll just have to find someone else who is good at proofreading poems.”

The only hashira he wouldn’t dare try to steal you from was Mitsuri, of course.

If she just gave him her best pout and batted her pretty eyelashes, he’d hand you right over. Literally. (with your consent of course.)

Mitsuri would love to carry you around on her shoulders or her back.

She would tell you that you remind her of her little siblings and that she missed them, in hopes of you wanting to stay with her.

She’d be upset if you wanted to be someone else’s tsuguko, but she would support your choice no matter what.

”Hmm? Oh, that’s okay [Name]-Chan! Just promise you’ll come visit so you can try all my new recipes!”

Speaking of food and recipes, Kyojirou would take you out to eat often simply because he like’s your presence!

He (along with Sanemi, Uzui, and Gyomei) would directly ask you to be his tsuguko.

Well, not so much ask—

“Young [Name]! Be my tsuguko! I will train you in the art of flame breathing!”

And in the case that you don’t use flame breathing, he’d train you anyways since two breathing styles is flashy.

See what I did there? 😏 I’m doing well with these transitions 🤩

And speaking of flashy, the flashiest man on the planet would declare that he “needs a flashy student” and that “a flashy slayer such as yourself needs an equally flashy master”.

Random crap basically-

He would not only do your makeup(terribly)

He would also let you practice on him!

AND SO WOULD HIS WIVES

Oh my gosh, his wives love you

that is reason enough for him to make you his tsuguko.

Even if you weren’t “flashy”.

He’d run around with you on his shoulders, tryna convince you that you could be as fast as him.

”What?! You want one of those unflashy people?? Hmph! Fine! Just don’t come begging for me when you realize I’m much flashier.”

Shinobu would sometimes join you guys in speed training, since she is also ridiculously fast, and whenever Uzui was out of earshot, she’d say how you wouldn’t want to end up with someone as loud as him.

She’d just looking out for your poor ears.

She would try to strike a deal with you.

Become her tsuguko, and she’ll teach you whatever you want to know (in extreme detail) about any poison or medicine she has created.

You get your pick on which one too

And if you so happen to choose someone else, they may mysteriously fall just ill enough to where they cannot train you.

”Oh no! ___ is sick? That’s a shame… I could train you instead, y’know?”

And for the man himself, Nemi would probably pick you up from the back of your haori/uniform and drag you along behind him.

Mans wouldn’t give you a choice.

He’d plop you down in his back garden and toss you a sword.

”Get up. You’re going to be my tsuguko.”

A/N: ILL PUT GYOMEI IN P.2 BC I EXCEEDED THE WORD LIMIT SOMEHOW—

#🍁 #hehehe #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kny #hashira #demon slayer x reader #demon slayer x you #kny x reader #kny x you #kny x y/n #demon slayer x y/n #sanemi shinazugawa #kny sanemi #gyomei himejima #kny gyomei #sanemi x reader #gyomei x reader #demon slayer gyomei #kimetsu gyomei #demon slayer sanemi #kimetsu sanemi #giyuu tomioka #kny giyuu #demon slayer giyuu #giyuu x reader #kimetsu giyuu #obanai iguro #obanai x reader #kny obanai

[claimedcrossbows]

Tyler Galpin's "Did you ever even love her?" Line Analysis, And Why It's Important to Weyler!

Y'all might wanna grab y'all popcorn for this analysis.

-

I know this has probably already been said a million times, and theorized upon but @gardenoblues and their analysis on the Tyler and Wednesday talk at the Rave'N got me thinking about a certain Tyler Galpin line.

Let me explain.

Tyler asking his dad in season 1, if he ever even loved his mom is actually so out of place considering we didn't learn ANYTHING of his mom, other than she was a Hyde, and eventually died after giving birth to Tyler, and apparently his dad and mom must've had some type of falling out.

That's all we learn in Season 1.

The reason I say it's so out of place to ask his dad in this episode or even season is because usually when writers set up a disposition, I feel it's usually followed through by the end of the episode or season. In this particular case we get no history or pay off at all of what Donovan and Francoise relationship was really like, not even a small flashback so this question seems like it was asked to early right?

So this makes me as a viewer as well as a writer ask the question.

"Why was this line incorporated into the show and why so early?"

Besides the Obvious reason, they just wanted to show some kind of drama with the Galpin household to make Tyler suspicious.

BUT

To me there's only 2 reasons this line was important enough, to be set up for Season 2 but mentioned in Season 1.

1.) This line is (obviously) going to be further delved into, giving us more of Francoise, Donovan's and Tyler's backstory in Season 2.

Yes, reason #1 could be enough to set up a One Liner so early in the first season, only to be resolved a season later. But to me, it's still a little weak that this couldn't have easily been delved into in season 1, if only just a little bit.

Which makes me think, there's ANOTHER reason, this line was used as a set up.

2.) For a motif, parallel's and indirect (covert) foreshadowing.

And what I mean by all this is, The phrase, "Did you ever even love her?" is a set up quote to be used again (A motif), by a different character, probably to the same person who asked the quote prior. Meaning at some point in S2, maybe even S3, I 100% believe this quote is going to be directed back to Tyler.

It will be a parallel because Tyler's question is now reverted directly back to him.

And I say it's indirect (Covert) foreshadowing because dramatic irony is amazing and in my opinion underused in movies or shows, because really, how ironic would it be to have someone ask Tyler the same question he asked his dad in similar circumstances?

Now, who could be asking him this question and who is it directed towards?

The first one, I'm not sure who's asking Tyler this.

But I can definitely tell you who it's directed towards.

Wednesday Addams.

Because when you think about it, from the very beginning of Wednesday's and Tyler story, all the way to the very end of season 1, Their entire relationship boiled down to the simple question.

"Did Tyler Ever Really Love Wednesday?"

I said all this to say this, that question more than likely will be asked to Tyler, just like he asked his dad, and I can't wait for the moment to happen.

*MIC DROP*

#tyler galpin #wednesday netflix #weyler #wednesday addams #wednesday x tyler #wyler #tyler x wednesday #shipping

[bread-tab]

okay random 4am rant time, don't take it too seriously, but: people need to recognize there's a difference between "bad worldbuilding" and "worldbuilding styles you personally don't like."

bad worldbuilding is, for example: internally inconsistent, bigoted, or something else that messes up the plot or characterization of the story itself. sloppy. careless.

things that are *not* bad worldbuilding:

minimalism.

i've been thinking about this in the first place because i saw a post about the Murderbot Diaries a while back (don't know who made it, don't care; this ain't personal) saying the worldbuilding in those books is bad and lazy. to me, as an avid sci-fi reader and writer, that is clearly not true. but i understood why they thought this. the series uses extremely minimalist worldbuilding which intentionally withholds a lot of detail, in a way that is consistent with the (nonhuman, robot, depressed robot) first-person POV. this could also be a feature of the author's writing style in general—i haven't read her other works—but i wouldn't bet too much on it.

the signature of intentional minimalism is that there *are* details about the speculative setting—they're just doled out very thoughtfully and sparingly. the intent is to leave you a little hungry for more. it's to make you think very carefully about the details you do have. this is best suited to stories that already have elements of psychological and/or mystery plot types. the worldbuilding you do see should still be believable, internally consistent, and have interesting implications if you think about it a bit. but you are for sure going to have to think harder to get it.

if you're not in the mood, i will concede, a minimalist style definitely comes off as a bit dry. if you are in the mood, it's relaxing.

whimsy.

this is a big one for sci-fi fans in particular. see: the constant debate about whether any particular story is "hard" or "soft" sci-fi, and whether soft sci-fi is bad, etc etc. but worldbuilding doesn't have to be realistic to be good. you're allowed to have Jedi and humanoid aliens and time travel in your sci-fi. you're allowed to have historical anachronisms and astrology and po-ta-toes in your fantasy. whether or not they're silly isn't the deciding factor on how "good" these worldbuilding elements really are.

the key thing is tonal consistency. you've got a serious high-fantasy setting with its own strict, un-Earth-like theology and magic system, and you throw Santa Claus in there? yeah, that's not gonna land well. but C.S. Lewis can get away with that in Narnia just fine. why? because the Chronicles of Narnia are whimsical children's stories with a strong Christian/Western mythological influence already, and their central conceit is a crossover between the mundane world and the magical world. of course Santa can cross over too. it's whimsical, but it's not actually random. (and if you ventured into straight-up comedy, you could get away with random too. as long as it's funny.)

the unreliable narrator.

i don't have a good example for this off the top of my head (maybe Murderbot again? idk, i'm sleepy, fill in your own) but i'll tell you how to recognize when this is done well.

by definition, an unreliable narrator has some key misconceptions about their own world. so how do you tell what's going on as a reader? how do you know the writer isn't equally confused?

you connect the dots. solve the puzzle. in practice this is similar to reading a minimalist setting—but instead of just sparse clues, you also have a boatload of red herrings. you can catch some of these misleading details by comparing them to your real-world knowledge and saying "wait, this doesn't add up." other times, the false clues intentionally trick you by subverting those real world expectations.

the trick is in the consequences. regardless of what the narrator says, their actions should still have logical consequences. there should be things going on that the POV character doesn't know about. the character will be forced to learn and adapt their narrative because of these shifting circumstances. you can catch them in a lie. the inconsistencies themselves tell a story.

...

i'm gonna stop myself there because this post is long and i oughtta be sleeping. just. this is a distinction worth making. is it really bad worldbuilding, or is it simply not the genre you're craving today? learn the difference for your own sake. you'll have an easier time realizing if a story is something you'll find enjoyable to read, regardless of its actual quality.

#long post #writing #worldbuilding #media literacy #media analysis #the murderbot diaries #the chronicles of narnia #Christianity mention #rant #sleep deprived

[accio-victuuri]

Reasons why we think the 26th bday message was from bunny laoshi. 🗒️

I know that a lot of us don’t need “reasons” to even cpn that xz made this letter, but it’s still fun to look at the clues that make the conclusion much stronger. a lot of us just knew once we read it, who the author is. as with all other candies, if you believe it, you do. if you don’t — there is no amount of evidence that will change your mind.

i’m so happy that the bday letter is back, last year was understandable (considering what was going on) so to have it this year made everyone emotional. as usual, it’s a beautiful letter. i am thankful that yibo is loved. that aside from us fans, he has someone close to him, who adores him that much to write something like that for him.

this post is only for the letter, not the bday photo/art. that will be a separate discussion.

A HISTORY,

As with most candies, context is key. We don’t usually react this much without it having some story behind it. There is almost always a pattern. The “birthday” message first popped up for Bobo’s 23rd bday. Then 24 and 26. You could say anyone can make a birthday message — but this is different. It’s way too personal and the way it’s written, to us who pay attention, is very xiao zhan. There were already CPNs for the past 2 years, so we were actually just waiting for the 26th bday letter — and boy did it not disappoint!

• They all start with saying hello to the *age* Yibo. It’s like this person wants to be the first one to greet WYB in his new year of life.

• The way it’s constructed is very similar. It starts with a recap for the year, what WYB has gained from the past and wishes for the future. I have to say that the 2020 letter was the start and then it evolved into what it is today because of the time they spent together. XZ now has more and more things to say.

• The message of growing up slowly is also there. I think XZ really wants this for him, that even if WYB had to “grow up” faster than other people his age, even if he has so many responsibilities — that he still gets to enjoy his youth. 🫶🏼

Even if you let someone else read this letter, and you tell them, “it’s from their s/o”, they will believe you. To those who look at it and think it’s an employee, i don’t even know what to say. You don’t even have to believe that it’s XZ, but it is most definitely WYB’s significant other. Look at UNIQ_OFFICIAL weibo account birthday caption, that’s what employees do.

Now onto the “reasons”. I have listed a couple and I know there might be more out there but here are the ones that made us 😭😭😭😭:

1. My absolute favorite part of the letter:

In the past year, you've gradually learned to relax while working hard and understood how to face the world with a gentler attitude. You've been willing to watch the stars while hurrying forward. You've been willing to enjoy a pouring rain happening one afternoon. You've been willing to quietly see the horizons at the other side of the sea. You've been willing to stop for a beautiful sunset.

A person who knows you will only be the one to write this. The level of understanding XZ has for WYB is just. I can’t. He really loves him. The things he decided to use : stars, pouring rain, sea and sunset is so THEM. He might as well add the moon to have the whole cpf symbol set completed. 😂😂😂

And for comparison, XZ wrote these words in his Oasis for the DC wrap-up:

There are two pictures that I really like, one is the beach outside of the Xiangshan hotel balcony, another is the scenery from the highway in the middle of the Hengdian Xianju forest where we frequently ran. These two different places and different views are both places that comforted me when I was lost and helpless. When I was down, I would sit on the balcony, and the sea breeze, the beach and the moonlight would give me the answer; when I was tired, I could rest on the path in between the forest scenes, and upon opening my eyes I would see the raindrops and the fog that would also give me the answer: in each and every moment, I chose to not complain or be negative, I put my all towards each choice and decision I make;

It’s how freakin descriptive he is. He has a way with words that make you “feel” what he is saying or even see it.

2. This part too, about stopping. Slowing down. It’s the same thing XZ said before. Plus in a couple of XZ’s videos, you will see shots of him admiring the sunset.

Time never pauses, but you seem to know the secret of making the world stop occasionally. You use your calmness and poise to welcome and get in touch with the world. Yibo, sunsets are beautiful, just like every dusk that you missed when you focused on forging forward.

AND THE “Yibo,” OMG. I can hear XZ’s voice in my head saying it. It’s too intimate. I know it’s his name but the way it’s written here — Are we even supposed to read this? It feels too personal 😭😭😭

But my answer is always, WYB wants to show off. He wants us to feel single. I’m in a long term relationship and even I felt single 😂😂😂😂

3. “The small number has changed again” referring to his age. There might be no hidden meaning, but some cpfs interpret this as the person who wrote it is older than him. Because he considers yibo’s age as “smaller” than his. Hello to their 6-year age gap. 👋🏼

4. There is 🎂 emoji in this letter compared to previous years. We think it’s because WYB is at home and they are celebrating together, no need to send a virtual cake. There is also some talk of XZ not being photographed today (8.4) on set. I won’t go to that part of Weibo but the fact that some people are nervous that he is suddenly MIA so close to Yibo’s bday is 👀

5. WYB went online for a bit, we thought he was gonna pull the same stunt he did last year and remove the automatic weibo bday post. He didn’t. What did he look at? The love letter? 🤔

6. Someone asked where was the quote “"stay cool, grow up slowly" on Baidu and the most popular answer is it’s from a book 君生我已老. We know XZ is fond of reading. I found a synopsis, and well, interpret it as you will…..

Excuse the google translate but you get the gist. It’s synopsis is also kind of similar to his drama SUNSHINE WITH ME. The part of age gap. Meeting and falling in love then having to separate, only to meet again. So if I’m to speculate that XZ got it here and liked it, maybe that’s why he chose to film SWM even if he has lots of scripts sent his way.

7. Similar with GG, who does not look at challenges in a negative way. How he regards it as a part of life and something he has to overcome.

Just regard all the adversities as the numerous mountains you have to climb and the endless waves you have to ride.

8. I don’t have to explain it that much. They both have a thing for “living with no regrets.” It’s all over their interviews.

As a young man full of mettle, you have no regrets.

I will stop right here. Again, to a lot of us, Xiao Zhan might as well sign his name at the end of the post and we would be like — Okay, we knew that. LOL.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY KING YIBO! ♥️👑

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #DONT TOUCH ME IM STILL NOT OVER THAT LETTER 😭😭😭😭

[theresattrpgforthat]

Woo, the ask box is open again!! Been wanting to ask about any alternatives to Call of Cthulhu (investigative games with the potential to be set in the early 20th century) with more open licensing, such as having Open Game Licenses or being licensed under Creative Commons?

THEME: Hackable CoC Alternatives

Hello friend! I'm excited about the new asks as well!

So as far as I know, a lot of indie designers are very happy to allow hacks and supplements done of their work, but if it isn't clear on their page, asking in a comment certainly doesn't hurt!

That being said, for this ask, I made sure to recommend games that are built on systems that have been stated to be licensed under Creative Commons or something similar.

Eldritch, by Matheus Henrique Morais.

A hack of 24XX for Cosmic Horror games in any setting. Inspired by Cthulhu Dark.

24XX is a game system that has been hacked for a number of different settings and is released under a Creative Commons 4.0 license. The base rules take up about one page, and there’s plenty of examples in other 24XX hacks of how to introduce a rule or two to help the game fit the genre you’re looking for. 24XX is also inspired by the OSR scene, so when it comes to running and designing adventures, you can design adventures for these games similar to how you might design them for other OSR games.

Haunter in the Dark, by Robot Francis.

This town is haunted. Your home is cursed. Monsters are real. Haunter in the Dark is a horror roleplaying game about a group of investigators discovering then confronting the supernatural horrors that haunt their home town. The game is powered by the Forged in the Dark engine, with rules to create your investigators defined by their relationship to the unnatural: the Descendent, the Dreamer, the Exorcist, the Scientist, the Sleuth, and the Sorcerer.

The motivations, powers, and minions of the horror are generated collaboratively by the players during the game, with players encouraged to creep each other out and brandish their character's sharp edges. The MC takes the townspeople, world, and monsters that the players depict, then twists the knife to make it worse than they could have imagined. The game helps you create an escalating mystery, followed by a climactic scene of confrontation.

This is a Forged in the Dark Game, which means it uses the mechanics familiar from the Forged in the Dark SRD. John Harper has stated that the contents of the SRD are available under the Creative Commons Attribution, and if you want to include the Forged in the Dark logo, there’s simply an attribution request to indicate it’s a logo trademarked by One Seven Design. It’s an incredibly free license, and I’m planning on writing a game in this system!

The Between, by the Gauntlet.

The Between is a tabletop roleplaying game about a group of mysterious monster hunters in Victorian-era London. They are residents of a place called Hargrave House, and their job is to investigate and neutralize monstrous threats terrorizing the city—threats that Scotland Yard won’t or can’t handle themselves. As the story progresses, they become aware of the plans of a Moriarty-style criminal mastermind they will eventually have to face in order to save Queen and country.

The Between is directly inspired by the gothic horror TV show Penny Dreadful, but also takes a lot of inspiration from British horror classics, graphic novels like From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and pulp-era stories. Mechanically, it’s Powered by the Apocalypse but also uses the mystery system from Brindlewood Bay.

Both the Powered by the Apocalypse “system” and the Carved from Brindlewood license are pretty open. Vincent & Meguey Baker do not lay claim to the 2d6 mechanics of Apocalypse World, but rather use “Powered by the Apocalypse” to signify that a game was inspired by Apocalypse World in some way. There are thousands of PbtA games out there, many of which alter what some folks may have originally thought were key parts of PbtA. Meanwhile, Gauntlet Publishing runs a Discord channel that welcomes people’s ideas that use the Carved from Brindlewood label, and creates channels for each new game that has a name and a draft ready to go.

R’LYEH, by Another Cosmic Zine.

R’lyeh is a hack of Durf.

It adapts the game’s procedures and themes into a ruleset designed for tabletop scenarios of horror, investigation, mystery and madness. 

Both this game and its predecessor are designed to be hacked and re-worked, and are licensed under Creative Commons 4.0. They are fairly rules light and would probably benefit from having some supplements and home-brew! This game looks to be somewhat indifferent to the time period it’s set in, which tells me that you can probably run it in the early 19th century with little adjustments needed.

Cthork Borg, by kumada1.

Cthork Borg is a full conversion hack that adapts MÖRK BORG to a jazz age cosmic horror setting.

Cthork Borg uses the Mork Borg Third-Party License, which is fairly permissive and allows you to reference the mechanics and rules of the game. The creator for Cthork Borg even offers up the colours used in the game so that creators can create using the same colour palette! You’ll also be able to check out some other material that’s already been made for this game on the link above, including extra classes for characters, a guide to the setting, and rules for adding animals!

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #indie ttrpg #eldritch horror #creeps and clues

[door430]

AvA 6 Theories/Thoughts

It's been a hot minute since part 2 of AvA 6 came out, but the physics video prompted a cascade of thoughts and theories that I could not get out of my head, so here we go. This is gonna be a long one.

Theory 1: The mercenaries are victims of TCO and TDL

This theory has been circulating for a bit, but there are a couple points of evidence that I want to bring up.

1 - The mercenaries look very different from any sticks we've met before, and very different from each other, so it's likely they come from different places very far away from each other. This would line up with this theory if they were forced to evacuate. Their fighting skills also explain how they were able to survive Dark and Chosen's attacks.

2 - All the mercenaries, but Agent Smith especially, seem almost like they're toying with Chosen while chasing them down. It's even brought up by DJ in the AvG Reacts video that Smith could've paused TCO at pretty much any time, as if he was just messing around. Even if the pause button only works at short range, Smith seems competent enough to be able to use it if he wanted to. He chooses to use regular attacks instead of just using pause, or even the lasso or select tools, and that seems to point towards some sort of grudge.

Theory 2: TSC and victim parallel each other

In the physics video, I'm sure everyone saw the yoyo and thought of victim with the lasso. But I'm taking it a step further and saying that they're going to be parallels of each other in AvA 6.

1 - Victim very clearly parallels the Alan we see in the first AvA. He uses the same animator tools, particularly the lasso, and he uses the same tactic of keeping his victim trapped so they can't escape. Additionally, the way he easily creates clones and lets them die seems very similar to Alan's original thoughts about stick figures - not seeing them as living things.

2 - Second also parallels Alan from AvA 1, though he seems kinder than Alan was to victim. He uses the pencil to create life just as we see Alan do with the sticks, and like Alan originally was, he seems unaware/in denial that his creations are alive. However, we see that after the workers erase the eel he created, he looks at the pencil as if contemplating the morality of creating life just to kill it.

3 - Victim and Second are often used as foils to each other in fandom works, and for good reason! Second is everything that victim couldn't have, and victim is everything Second doesn't want to be. Victim was deprived of a good life, friends, family, and powers, all of which are things Second has in spades. Of course victim would despise Second for that! On the other hand, Second is shown to be very heroic, striving to do the right thing, and in part 2, he reflects upon his actions, not just with the eel, but with his powers, too, when he discovers he has them. Victim is not heroic, kind, or self-reflective at all, setting them up as obvious foils.

Theory 3: Victim won't be redeemed

This is more of a hypothesis than a theory, but hear me out.

1 - Second is very clearly set up to be the protagonist and hero of AvA 6. If he goes through an arc of realizing the thing's he's done wrong, just like Alan did, I doubt victim's story will end the same way. Victim actively chooses to be oblivious to the consequences of his actions, and he very clearly does not want to become a better person.

2 - Victim's name is more than just a name; he sees himself as the victim in his story. In victim's eyes, Alan hurt him, therefore he has the right to hurt Alan back. He chooses not to see the horrible things he's doing because that would ruin his picture-perfect narrative where he's just a victim of his own circumstances who isn't responsible for any of the hurt he causes because Alan hurt him first. He believes every lie he tells himself.

#430 rambles #ava theory #ava the box #animator vs animation #alan becker #ava victim #ava the second coming #ava the chosen one #ava alan becker #ava tsc #ava orange #ava mercenaries #ava agent smith #ava shady #ava primal #ava hunter #ava sign #ava hazard #ava ballista #ava pixel

[orionsangel86]

I'm sorry but why do you ship them so hard? They just have 1 episode together.. I watched the sandman expecting destiel and it was literally almost nothing there. 1 episode. Idk how you guys got so much ship content out of that.

Ah nonny, I'm sorry but if you go into anything expecting Destiel you are gonna be dissappointed. Destiel is a behemouth of 12 years worth of gradually escalating gay subtext, queer coding, and romantic tropes. Destiel is the ship that people go into expecting that Tumblr exaggerated only to be blown away by how ridiculously gay it is even when it tries so hard not to be.

But remember, once upon a time people shipped Destiel after only a few moments of interaction. The first Destiel fic was written 30 minutes after Lazarus Rising aired...everything has its time.

When I joked that Dreamling was the "Destiel of Sandman fandom" I meant in terms of popularity compared to everything else about the show. The ships share some similar traits when compared on a grand scale - think ancient cosmic entity that has very strict rules slowly changes and starts to become more "human" thanks to their friendship with one dude who just so happens to be a hedonistic stubborn ass who refuses to die - but are otherwise very different.

But if you are wondering why people ship Dream and Hob so hard, well, this post goes some ways to explaining it.

But basically, look this may only be a half hour of television, but it doesn't equate in universe to half an hour of interaction. This half hour of television spans the course of 6 centuries for these two characters. There is a totally untapped potential hidden in the gaps between centuries to explore, and on top of that, the final meeting is left completely up to the imagination of the audience. Its a sandbox ship. Its a dozen fanfiction gaps laid on top of each other. It's at least 20 different prompts for fans to sink their teeth into. Its the potential. It's the what if.

Then on top of that, if you follow the comics, you know that the future Dream x Hob meetings also have a hell of a lot of potential to turn romantic. Dream going out of his way to hunt down a specific bottle of wine that doesn't exist on Earth anymore to gift it to Hob in his dreams, the very fact that he visits Hob in his dreams (hello common Destiel trope right there). They don't meet too many more times in the comics, but each time the tension is palpable. The meeting in the Kindly Ones is heartbreaking, because you can tell desperately how much they need each other at that moment, but they are both too distracted or consumed by grief and depression to truly reach out to one another. The comics never reveal why Dream sought Hob out at that point, but given everything happening to him at the time, its not hard to assume that Dream was seeking comfort from his friend - the only person he could really turn to for comfort at that point.

Then we have Hob's dream. One of the final stories in The Sandman original comic run. After everything else has happened, after the climax and all that takes place, after the smoke has cleared and you think everyone else has moved on and you are certain the ending is set in stone, you get to Hob's dream, and your mind is once again blown, and suddenly you have a thousand more questions. So many fans hopes and dreams rely on Hob's dream right now I can't even begin to express how important that particular comic issue is to me.

It's all about the potential. There is so much potential.

Plus the 30 minute scene we got was loaded full of subtext, romantic tropes, and queer coding. I dunno if you picked up on it, but I have an extremely long meta essay still in the works that goes through everything that 30 minute sequence gives us in terms of shipping fodder (I really need to finish that). Its not just the romantic tropes, the break up and make up, its the acting choices, the eye fucking, the freaking song choices in 1989 holy fuck could they be more on the nose.

Also, consider this thought experiment: Crowley and Aziraphale in Good Omens are a hugely popular ship, where their creator Neil Gaiman has confirmed that theirs is a love story. Whatever else you may believe about Crowley and Aziraphale, their story is a love story. Creator confirmed love story.

Now, Crowley and Aziraphale are the leads of Good Omens and interact throughout the entire 6 episode show. But consider the first half of episode 3. Imagine a version of Good Omens where Crowley and Aziraphale don't really interact outside of that 30 minute opening sequence. That the story was much more focused on the Them, the Horsemen, and the other characters. Imagine then seeing that 30 minute sequence which shows Crowley and Aziraphale slowly warming to each other and becoming friends over the centuries, shows them getting to know each other, do each other favours, come to each others defence, get into fights and break up with each other, only to make up later...

Would you still ship them? Even if that 30 minute sequence was all you got? I guarantee if I asked any Ineffable Husbands fan that question they would say yes. Because THAT 30 minute sequence is what solidifies the importance of their relationship and its what MAKES IT a love story.

Guess where Neil Gaiman got the idea for that 30 minute sequence in Good Omens from? Ah Neil, plagiarising his own work all these years later!

If Neil Gaiman thought that Men of Good Fortune would work well for a canonical love story in Good Omens, I wonder what he was thinking when he then adapted Men of Good Fortune for television?

THE POTENTIAL.

I ship Dreamling that hard because it has more potential than any other ship I have come across. It has 6 centuries and all the future of the Sandman show for me to explore, to tweak, to play with. Besides they just suit each other ya know? Like Dream is notoriously bad at relationships, but Hob is literally perfect for him. The more my mind dwells on how perfect Hob is for Dream the more I want to scream about it. Give the sad wet cat man a boyfriend who is literally his opposite in every way. Dream is a character looking for a reason to keep living, and Hob is a character who refuses to die. Dream is a pessimist, Hob is an optimist. Dream is afraid of change, Hob literally changes constantly with the times. Dream is desperate for love and someone to stay by his side, Hob just wants to love someone he doesn't have to eventually leave.

Let them meet in the middle.

#dreamling #destiel #the sandman #there is a destiel quote in there somewhere #they met in the middle #lol #sandman comic spoilers #dream of the endless #hob gadling #sandman meta #dreamling meta #asks

[catboybiologist]

So. This has lived on my hard drive for over a year and a half now, and in my head for much longer than that. I have the entire plot mapped out in my mind, and it's not *too* long. But it's gonna require a lot of careful writing that I think is beyond my ability, and definitely beyond my current available free time level. Maybe when I advance to candidacy, or maybe this is the story I use a portable backpacking writing setup for.

Either way. It's very deliberately allegorical, and taps into a few sci fi cliche "twists" that you're supposed to kinda figure out early on, but are used for bigger themes later.

As I said. Probably beyond my ability.

But here's how I kicked it off a while back. It has a similar "flow" to the intro of biologics, where it cuts between expository introspection and the actual events happening. Idk if that's weird, but it's what made sense to me.

Also I hate the working title I gave it, but I can't think of it as anything else now.

Symphony of the Stars

The bar I found myself in wasn't much different than millions of others like it. A couple cheap liquors that could be found anywhere, maybe a halfway decent local beer or two, and some tacky tourist paraphernalia hang haphazardly on the walls. Absentmindedly, I swirled my drink. My eyes slowly drifted through the panel windows behind the bar, and onto the orange gas giant visible through it.

That was one thing that made me partial to this little backwater- that damn view. Sure, the closer moons might advertise themselves on their intimate little peeks at the red spot, or the faintest glimpse of Jupiter's barely visible rings, but the people there... Not that I minded the workers, I'm a mechanic of sorts myself- but the miners, water pumpers, and atmospheric skimmers of Jupiter's inner moons were a particular brand of insufferable. Thinking that a couple years managing equipment in the Hellas basin made them the most rugged people on the planet, and then shipped themselves out to the furthest flung inhabited spot in the damn solar system. Joke's on them- most of them don't survive 10 years out here. The ones that make it are a different story, I'll give you that. A certain breed of person actually has what it takes to make it out here, and those people have earned some respect.

But I digress.

Callisto was a remote place, damn far from the sprawling metropolises of Mars or the more cushy mining jobs in the belt. Up until recently, it had been my own little sleepy backwater that I had used to escape my extended hours fixing ships for the harvesters on the other moons.

That was before jumping.

Callisto boasted a small engineering and research center near the south pole, most famous for getting artificial gravity fields working nearly three centuries ago. That bit of notoriety let someone set up a particle accelerator that looped the whole damn moon on its equator. Forty eight years ago, a researcher hit the right island of stability when making ultra-heavy elements, and something just... came together. The exact right amount of mass was focused in the exact right amount of space to dent space time in a perfect little way. A few measurements later, they realized that they had created the smallest documented black hole.

My eyes again wandered to the space in between us and Jupiter. That was the other reason I came to this bar so often. It was also the only place around where you could watch the show.

After a few times generating and collapsing this infant of a black hole, some idiot of a scientist decided that they just had to throw something into it. It wasn't much of anything, just a probe that blasted a repeating live image from its camera in all directions. And hopefully, if it survived in any identifiable form, someone would pick up on it.

Well, someone did. A little over four years later, we got a picture of a star. Real helpful- there's only a couple septillion of those out there, right? But what mattered was the timing, and the direction. The star was eventually identified as Proxima Centauri. The moment the image from the probe had been received, the receiver was exactly 4.2465433 light years away from Proxima. And the image was received exactly 4.2465433 years after the probe was thrown into the hole. Meaning that the probe was at Proxima, exactly 4.2465433 years before the image was received. And it was thrown into the hole, on Callisto.... also exactly 4.2465433 years before the image was received. One moment, Callisto. One moment, Proxima Centauri. In some unit of time that was smaller than our ability to measure, it had traveled to the next star system. It was the textbook definition of a wormhole.

And with that discovery, well....

Jupiter's red spot quivered ever so slightly. They were right on schedule, it seemed. Just need to gain a bit of mass in the accelerator, get the magnetic railgun to throw it all into the space above it....

Like fluid down a drain, the image of Jupiter swirled as a dark spot appeared in front of it. Slowly, it grew, twisting the orange and red tones of the gas giant in mosaic patterns, until the black orb stopped, hovering in the emptiness.

After the initial wormhole generation all those years ago, it was found that by nudging the mass to be a little less, or a little more, or nudging to position of the superheavy object that created it, you could target distant parts of the universe. Soon, small spacecraft were being sent to distant stars. The scientists started it, of course. Shortly afterwards, the Callisto government began lobbying to make our little outpost the first official launch point for interstellar settlement.

That was forty years ago. And at this point, the five established settlements were fairly self sufficient- they just needed occasional contact and resupplies. Every week, a wormhole would be opened to one of the colonies. And every week, a freighter would be there to make the jump through, grab what supplies it needed, leave behind a new list of requests, and then disappear again until their specific colony was contacted again in another five weeks. And every week, I would be in this same bar to watch the fireworks.

My eyes narrowed as the perfect black circle reached its stable state. I watched these things every damn week. Part of me wants to say "blink and you'll miss it", but the truth is, at this point in the process, there's nothing to miss.

One moment, a featureless orb. The next moment, a deep space freighter. No flash. No gradual fade. No coming out of a tunnel. The hole was large enough for the entire mass of the ship to fit through at once, and the jump was seamless.

And to tell the truth... I didn't like it.

Humanity had reached and settled the furthest reaches of space, because of a magic substance that broke physics, stumbled upon by accident, in a random lab, by a some guy who was just trying to whip up a new element.

It was perfect. It was too perfect. And it bothered me.

And well, that's why I was here. I'd been visiting Callisto for years, and the pressure to make jumping more and more accessible to small spacecraft was insane. Pretty soon, everyone trying to engineer or maintain any kind of ship would need to have half of a quantum physics degree, and I wanted to be ahead of the curve. So when the launch point was made official, and they called for mechanics to service the ships that made the jumps to the colonies and back, I lept at the opportunity.

But the push was always for more applications, with little thought to the physics. More jumps, more colonies, more resupplies, more energy efficiency to increase the frequency at which it could be used. Some people were interested in the mechanics of the phenomena to exploit it further, sure, but most seemed to stonewall when you questioned too far. How the hell had this been missed? Why is everyone pushing for applications, and no one freaking out over how much this broke our understanding of the universe? Is it possible to measure the unit of time that the jump occurred in? Was it below detection limits? If it was, what did that mean?

And so, here I was. Sipping some herbal thing, staring at Jupiter, and thinking a little too hard about reality.

Eh, at least I could fix that last part.

"'scuse me bartender?" I asked. "Can I get another one of these, with an extra shot in it?"

He silently nodded, and poured me the synthetic gin mixed with... well, I didn't question it much. Anything to help keep these ideas in check.

The carbon fiber fingertips of my left hand gripped the glass with their usual calculated precision, while the skin of my right idly tapped the bar. I sighed.

#sierra writes #writing #scifi #my writing #incomplete writing

[preludicrous]

why i believe the prison break storyline was also sigma's entrance exam

the long overdue post that i teased literal months before posting it (sorry i am a college student and quite overworked)

[ massive spoilers for the mersault arc of bsd, including s5e11 of the anime and recent manga chapters. ]

sigma is alive

first of all: sigma's not dead.

sigma's not dead because his character arc is nowhere near over, and from a writing perspective, it doesn't make sense to kill him without drawing that out to some kind of conclusion.

for someone who had a pretty major role in recent arcs, whose entire characterization in the story has been set up around a deep need for belonging and a "home" and people who don't want to "use" him, the plotline so far sure hasn't wrapped up his story in any satisfying way. as far as it appears right now, he just kind of... touched fyodor and died. is that really it for him?

especially after he finally starts to reject fyodor's manipulation, and finally makes choices for himself, like the choice to side with dazai?

no, i'm not convinced he's dead- bsd's very guilty of fake out deaths, and there is no reason for me to believe that sigma's actually dead when his arc is still clearly unfinished.

sigma joining the ADA makes sense

in the mersault arc, it is established that sigma wants to join the ADA. fyodor even says it point blank to him, and he doesn't deny it. he thinks about the ADA and how they're "not using dazai, and dazai isn't using them". they are a group of people who care about each other and take care of each other of their own agency, no pun intended.

as i mentioned above, sigma's entire character so far has been revolving around belonging and how he wishes to find a home. a home suited for a bizarre gifted like him with no past, who doesn't understand why he exists. in many respects, a lot of the agency members share similarities to sigma in the sense that they also didn't understand their place in the world.

atsushi's an orphan who was told he should just "die in a ditch somewhere".

dazai's an empty man who sees no purpose in existence.

ranpo was a genius surrounded by monsters, and he could never comprehend why the world was so illogical and strange.

the character whose backstory is the most similar to sigma is yosano. like sigma, she had a powerful gift. like sigma, she was used for that gift. mori took advantage of her healing to create an undead army against her will. the difference is that yosano despaired, while sigma is resentful - yosano isolated herself since there was no way for her to live without being used for her gift, while sigma is bitter regarding the unfair nature of the world that he is continually used.

in the end, yosano is found by the agency and ranpo. ranpo says this:

the ADA is a place where ability users are valued for their personhood, not their ability. for sigma and yosano, who have only ever been valued by others for their powerful abilities, the ADA is the only place they belong, the one place they can live freely as full people rather than just vessels for their abilities.

sigma wants to join. it's the perfect culmination of his arc. he'll finally have a home, a place to belong. in his first decision he makes of his own free will, he chooses to help the ADA. plus, his ability is information exchange, which couldn't be more perfect for detective work.

it ties up all the loose ends neatly.

sigma's entrance exam

so, if the title didn't make it clear, yeah. i'm pretty convinced that sigma's entrance exam was the mersault prison break. i mean, he clearly wants to join the agency, and dazai's compared him to like half of the members already.

the armed detective agency fandom wiki has some information on entrance exams. (i know, i know, not a primary source, but I don't have that much free time to go source hunting for a tumblr bsd theory...)

we also have a few example of entrance exams that we can use as a reference: namely atsushi's, kyouka's, and dazai's. from these, we can synthesize a few defining characteristics of entrance exams.

(i made a table because i'm a pretty visual person, and this is a good way for me to organize information!!! this is essentially an adapted affinity map for my fellow nerds out there)

some key elements of entrance exams administered by the ADA include:

a perceived (real or fake) threat: in atsushi's case, this was the "bomber"; in kyouka's case, the moby dick; in dazai's case, whoever was responsible for the disappearance and subsequent murder of the yokohama visitors.

the threat's victims involve civilians/innocent people: for atsushi, the terrorist had naomi as a hostage; in kyouka's case, the entirety of yokohama was in danger; in dazai's case, the kidnapping/murder victims were all civilians.

the ADA candidate MUST (is pushed/forced/pressured/required to) play a major role in the resolution of the threat: atsushi must neutralize the bomber; kyouka is the only one who can stop the moby dick; dazai plays a very large role in stopping the azure messenger.

(optional) sacrifice: atsushi jumped on a bomb; kyouka crashed her plane.

(optional) a way to ensure the candidate's safety: for atsushi, the fact that it wasn't a real bomb; for kyouka, fukuzawa's ability and demon snow.

the ADA candidate is kept in the dark: atsushi was NOT told they were completing an entrance exam, or that the ADA even had such a tradition. kyouka knew she was doing an entrance exam, but wasn't ever fully explained the stakes; i.e. nobody told her that after passing she would be able to free herself and control demon snow.

the entrance exam is administered by a more senior member: dazai or kunikida, with the approval of fukuzawa.

now consider if dazai were administering an entrance exam for sigma during the mersault prison break. let's see if the key elements are present:

the threat: fyodor

the victims: the entire world

the candidate's pivotal role: sigma must touch fyodor to learn fyodor's ability

the sacrifice: sigma risks his life and touches fyodor, despite having been told that fyodor's ability might also work through touch, i.e. he risks dying

the failsafe: n/a, as far as we know currently (i can see an argument for chuuya but i personally find that's a bit of a stretch)

the secret: sigma has not been told that this is an entrance exam (neither has the audience)

the examinator: dazai

pretty neat. at least, no inconsistencies - and, considering the bigger picture, it makes sense.

a lot of things in the mersault arc also make sense under this interpretation. why did dazai pick sigma instead of a more "useful" escape tool? for recruitment. why did dazai promise and insist upon saving sigma? for recruitment. why did dazai shove sigma off the elevator even though he knew chuuya would break their fall and they weren't going to die? for recruitment.

it feels like a much better ending for sigma than just being... dead.

screenshot compilation

conclusion

you're so right.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd sigma #bsd #bsd theory #bungou stray dogs analysis #bungou stray dogs sigma #bsd spoilers #bsd season 5