#if I had no one to talk to for presumably centuries I wouldn't like to be left behind either

[akanemnon]

But they refused

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

#deltarune #undertale #utdr #crossover #crossover comic #deltarune fanart #undertale fanart #twin runes #twin runes comic #my art #frisk #chara #ralsei #hey chara your abandonment issues are showing again #but to be fair #if I had no one to talk to for presumably centuries I wouldn't like to be left behind either #Ralsei is just looking out for them #in case that whole turning to stone thing applies to them

[surielstea]

No one, But you

Based on this request.

Pairing: Cassian x Fem!Reader

Summary: Reader feels as if she isn’t cultivated enough, Cass comforts her.

Warnings: Slight insecurities | mention of a pregnant reader | pure fluff

2.1k words

The cold wind nipped at my cheeks as I walked along the cobble stones of Velaris.

My mates hand intertwined with mine, the only thing heating me up. Cassian and I were doing some last minute shopping for solstice presents, he had four bags on his right arm and in his left, his fingers were busy being intertwined with mine, refusing to let me carry anything.

Amren is the only person we have yet to buy anything for, so we had one more stop at the jewelers before going home.

It wasn't often the General of the Night Court roamed Velaris so casually, especially not with me. It was rare I went out at all, but with Cassian? That was once in a year. I was a quiet person, liked to mind my business and hated being approached by strangers. So I typically left the house with Azriel or Amren, civilians knowing better than to talk to them. But Cassian, he was a seven foot tall beacon of light practically calling people to gawk at him, and they did.

I was young, only a century or so years old and had nothing on Cassian. He'd had enough stories to fill a library, all before I was even born. We mated nearly a decade ago but still, people were lost on who I was or what I was to any of the Inner Circle. Even if I liked to keep my peace it had some negative sides too; for example, every girl I've ever met thinks Cassian is single.

Which has become glaringly obvious now that I've become attentive to it. The cashier that bagged our gifts wouldn't peel her eyes off of him, even when he was talking to me.

At another store we bumped into a gorgeous female who Cassian supposedly bedded for a few nights in his twenties.

We walked along the streets and people straight up ogled at him, ignoring me at his side. I didn't want the attention, but it'd be nice if I was at least noticed.

Palace of Thread and Jewels sat on the bank of the Sidra that was frozen over this time of the year. Cassian reached out and opened the door for me, letting go of my hand as I entered the toasty shop.

Neve, a dear friend of Rhysand's, stood behind the display of gems and jewels, she was one of the only people outside the Inner Circle who knew of me and Cassian.

"Neve, afternoon." I smile at her. "Hello you two, shopping for Amren I presume?" Her glowing eyes flash with knowing and I shyly smile. "Have the rest of them already been here then?" I tilt my head and she nods. "I'm certain it's your group that keeps my shop in business." She claims and I shake my head with a small breathy chuckle. "Though we did just get a new collection in, the delivery men were just here I have yet to even unpack the items." She admits and my brows shoot up. "We'd like to see those." Cassian's arm slings over my shoulders. She gives both of us a smile before going into the back room.

I look at the display while I wait for her to return, peering down at a pair of tear drop ruby earrings that reminded me of Cassian's siphons. They matched the wedding ring on my left hand, I twisted it subconsciously, fiddling with the red gem. Cassian seems to notice, his eyes trailing to what I was staring at.

Neve returns in a flurry of shadows, carrying a long display shelf filled with large rocks and gems, placing it on the counter in front of us. I take in the collection, eyes glancing over every glimmering stone, freshly polished and gleaming like a star. Then I halt when coming across a black diamond bigger than my fist and most likely more expensive than an entire months’ paycheck. But this is the one.

Cassian seems to get the hint. "We'll take this one." He gestures to it, learning from last time not to touch. "Splendid." Neve smiles and plucks the gem up with a gloved hand before wrapping it and placing it in an ornate box. "Anything else?" She arches a brow. "That's it—" I begin. "Those ruby earrings as well." Cassian interrupts, pointing towards the jewelry I wanted. "Cass, it's too much." I shake my head with creased brows but he only waves me off and nods his head at Neve. She smiles and fetches those from the display, placing them in their own box with a delicate white bow tying it all together.

Cassian paid without so much as a blink while I grimaced in the background, the price far more than I had in mind— and if Cassian is buying me stunning earrings just because I looked at them, it made me wonder what he got me for solstice.

I had yet to tell him I'm pregnant, planning it all out so the last gift he opens tomorrow night will be a small pink pacifier. I was nearly a month in, barely even showing so Cassian hadn't noticed. We had been trying for a child for a few months now. I've had my scent glamoured and Madja told me last week we're having a girl, I was so excited I nearly told him, nearly came home and attacked him onto the floor with the amount of pure joy I was overwhelmed with.

But I maintained it, telling the shadow singer instead— who was the only person I knew could keep their mouth shut, the spy-master happened to be awfully good at guarding secrets. Lucien found out as well, somehow able to see through the glamour on me with his whirring golden eye.

We left the shop with a farewell to Neve and I wrapped my hands around his bicep as I look up at him with a bright smile. "You didn't have to do that." I say and he shakes his head. "It's all worth it for that smile." He hums, not watching where he's going as he mindlessly stares into my eyes. "Thank you—" My words are cut off by Cassian's head whipping up and pulling me back from a group of girls who were about to run into me. "Sorry ladies," He nods, flashing them a polite smile that could easily be mistaken for something else. "We don't mind." A blonde blushes as they pass by us, giggling amongst each other. "That was weird." Cassian mumbled as he continued our walk home, pulling me along.

Was he really so oblivious to not notice that every single one of those girls were prepared to open their legs right then and there for him? So blinded that he didn't even notice the way any of them looked at him?

Something like dejection overwhelmed me, perhaps Cassian should be with girls like that, girls who radiated pure joy and high energy, not someone's who's social life consisted of a close circle of friends and occasionally a shopkeeper.

Every girl I've met who used to have a thing with my mate has always been the sheer opposite of me. Perhaps that's what he preferred, just settled on me because we're cauldron willed, mates. Sometimes I thought that fate got it wrong. He was too good, too fun and upbeat, the life of the party. I couldn't be further away from the Generals type. He needed someone who has just as much experience as him, someone who loves to go out and dance until daylight— not someone who cuddles into bed with a book and a cup of tea.

His hand squeezes mine and he tears me from my thoughts, looking up at him confused. "Did you hear me?" He asks and I curse myself. "I'm sorry," I shake my head no. "Don't be sorry. I said, do you want to grab food or are you ready to go home?" He raises a brow and I swallow. Wondering what he truly wanted.

"Is it okay if we go home? I'm tired." I admit and he nods. "Of course sweetheart." He smiles down at me, I was foolish to think he'd ever want something I didn't, foolish to think he'd ever want someone other than me, but still, those thoughts lingered in the back of my mind at a constant.

Once arriving back to The House of Mist, food is already on the table. The residence seemingly knowing my growing cravings because every dish on that table held breakfast food. "Pancakes for dinner then?" Cassian hummed and I blinked, then shrugged.

I sat myself at the table as Cassian went to our bedroom to put down the gifts. I quickly thanked the magic House for the meal and it replied by placing a plate in front of me, eager to help me in any way it can.

I stack a tower of pancakes onto my plate, then nearly drowned it in maple syrup sourced from the Autumn Court. My mouth watered at the meal and Cassian returned, freshly changed into lounge clothes before sliding into the seat beside me, plating his own meal.

"I wonder what sort of crazy gift Mor will get me this year," Cassian thought absentmindedly and I shrugged, still a little down from my lingering thoughts— though the pancakes helped. "What's got you down, my sweet?" His knee nudges mine and I glance to him, his eyes searching my features for any clue as to what's wrong.

"It's hard to explain," I shake my head, looking back to my plate. "I've got time." He excuses and a sad smile tugs at my lips. "You're just very, experienced." I try to simplify but his brows crease, clearly confused. "Forget it." I mumble, picking up my plate and carrying it into the kitchen, he's quick to chase after me.

"Talk to me sweetheart," He pleads as I place my dish in the sink. "Please." His words seem to kill any doubt I have and I turn to him, looking up, and up, into his warm, hazel eyes. "It's just, when we were out shopping today you got approached by ten different females." I explain and he blinks.

"Which is fine, I know that's not your fault but— I don't know, they all seemed so exotic and fun. Seemed like the kind of person for you." I shrug and his gaze softens. "Oh my love," He sighs, hands going to mine, guiding my palms to his jaw. "There's only one person for me," He shakes his head, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"Mates or not, I truly believe you were made for me, and I for you." He hums. "And there's something so attractive about the fact that I'm the only male you've been with." He purrs and I roll my eyes with a flush. "But if you think for even a second you're not the one for me then you've been lied to." He rules, finally pressing a kiss to my lips.

"Opposites attract right?" He arches a brow and I shake my head with a soft giggle. "You're awfully nice to me." I say with a meek voice and he presses another kiss to my lips, his mouth slotting over mine and fitting me like a puzzle piece. I smile against the action and pull back with a wide grin. "There's my pretty girl," He whispers, hands on my cheeks as his thumb brushes over my bottom lip.

"Solstice is tomorrow." He reminds and I nod. "Did you get me something special?" He flutters his lashes. My hand subconsciously goes to my stomach. "Maybe," I say evasively, twirling out of his grasp and walking down the hall. He whined and wrapped his arms around me, his heavy body being dragged along with my movements down the hall.

He’s been trying to coerce what I got for him for days now. "You're relentless." I roll my eyes. "Just tell me." He groans and I shake my head. I've held out about being with a child for a month now, he'd have to wait one more day.

"Sorry Cass," I shake my head, leading him into our bedroom as he continues to drape himself over me. "Why don't you distract yourself by preparing for your annual snowball fight?" I offer and his arms snap away from me, scowling as I recall his losing streak.

"Maybe you'll win this year, General." I wink at him with a smirk and he grumbles a curse, flopping down onto our large bed then opening his arms for me. I smile and crawl into his embrace, allowing his large muscular arms to twine around my body as I pulled a book from my nightstand and opened to the page I was on.

Perhaps I didn’t need to be fun or exotic, maybe he liked the tranquility of all this. He pressed a reassuring kiss to arch of my neck, peering over my shoulder as he read along with me.

General Taglist: @fxckmiup @olive-main @iluvyewman-blog @gaymistakeboi @glam-targaryen @going-through-shit @fauxdette @impossibelle @amara-moonlight @webecheesy-blog @sarawritestories @tele86 @rogersbarnesxx @loviseamms

Comment a “💙” to be added to the general taglist!

Comment a “🖤” to be added to the Azriel taglist!

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #fanfic #sarah j maas #x reader #bat boys #request #acomaf #cassian x fem!reader #cassian x reader #cassian #lord of bloodshed #x you #fluff #acotar fluff #suriels tea

[essaytime]

I think the main thing that absolutely infuriates me about the "Romeo and Juliet were just dumb, horny teens" take is this implication that because they were so young, their relationship had to boil down to them being dramatic and inventing some great romance to moan about, or lust and hormones. As a teenager, it makes me want to tear the speaker apart with my bare hands. Interchangeably with stabbing, maybe.

When you look at the text, you can clearly see that there is some emotional connection between Juliet and Romeo. Their first conversation is literally a sonnet - which already indicates some sort of understanding and mutuality, and it's also beautiful poetry. They are the only characters in the entire play that they are really fully comfortable talking to. The adults are caught up in the feud, Nurse loves Juliet, but cannot understand her (and makes a dirty joke at her expense in Act I, which for a person Juliet's age would be awfully unpleasant), Romeo's friends, though I Iove them, don't get his sensitivity - Mercutio laughing at it and Benvolio worried by it - which Juliet, in turn, appreciates. They speak of each other with respect and admiration, quite unusually in Verona, where all is conflict and even Juliet's own father insults her: look at the sonnet, the balcony scene, Romeo comparing his sweetheart to the sun or a jewel (in contrast to his earlier quotes about Rosaline, which are literally a compilation of clichés stacked on top of one another). Even when Juliet awaits their wedding night, in a speech clearly centered on sexual matters, there is a visible softness and affection with which she treats Romeo ("cut him out in little stars"...). She waits for the night because it's him, not "I want to sleep with someone because I want to sleep with someone". The two genuinely care about each other, and are fond of each other. Of course, we can wonder if this love would last if they were given an opportunity to grow older, but when the play takes place, this love is there, and it's beautiful.

(Off-topic, I'd also like to note that this is an Elizabethan play that takes place in even earlier times, presumably late medieval - early renaissance Italy. They wouldn't live in the modern world where you can date many different people and settle well into your thirties or fourties. The average marriage age for girls in Shakespeare's time was about twenty, in fifteenth century Florence it was eighteen. Both of them were from wealthy families, so they'd likely be expected - even if Juliet's parents did not force her into a marriage with Paris - to marry earlier, for financial and political purposes. There couldn't be a "growing older" like we imagine it. Even their hypothetical different relationships would be early relationships for today's standards)

And it makes my blood boil when the visible genuine bond between these two is reduced to just "dumb kids being horny". The motive behind these words being partly, of course, the high-school-acquired All Required Reading is Nonsense edginess, but also a deeper issue - the inability to comprehend the fact that teenage love is also often real love.

Being capable of having deep and meaningful romantic relationships does not come baked into your birthday cake when you turn eighteen or attached to your first ever bill. Not every single feeling a teenager might harbour is at its core shallow lust and wanting to get laid. Of course, there's lots of cases of shortsighted infatuation where the pair really have nothing in common! I could name at least a few examples I have seen personally. But still, on every street and every corner of the world, and often a few metres from these pointless infatuations, teens fall in love because there's something more to it. Because they find they have a lot in common, because they get along well with each other, because they are able to see the good in the other person - their kindness, their intelligence, their enthusiasm, you name it. "Teens" including the younger teens, from thirteen to fifteen. And this love is a deep emotional bond. Sure, in most cases it will not last until death (and to be honest, relationships not working out is not really a teenage-specific phenomenon and a sign that young love of all is inherently doomed and it has to die so the curse of growing up is fulfilled), but it doesn't make it less of a love when it still remains, and it includes all the things love is about. Young couples go on dates, and have fun. They confide in each other. They support each other through hard times, they show care, they sometimes make sacrifices for their loved one's good. As any person in love does, at any age.

When I fell in love four months ago, I did not fall in love because I wanted to sleep with someone so bad. In fact, I do not want to - not for the next several years. I realise it's something I might want someday, but it's not today; and above all, I'm way too young. If anything, what I want is to kiss someone, or run my fingers through his hair, or read with his head in my lap - but it's not something I'd go out of my way and date a random person to get, come on. I fell in love because he is actually the first boy that reminds me of myself so much, the first I can understand so well. Because I also have a penchant for history and writing, I also tend to use formal and flowery language in very informal situations, I also enjoy people's attention (though I seem to worry more about being a potential inconvenience than he does), I also believe that we should judge people as individuals, because there's too much nuance in one person to make proper statements about large groups - and I find in him so many things that I can relate to, though of course I can't say I know him well enough to speak much for sure. Besides, he's simply a wonderful person, not flawless, of course, but he has a good heart. He is always kind, and well-mannered, and intelligent, and you can laugh with him. He would care if something bad happened, no matter if he says that he wouldn't. I think I know him well enough to say this at least. And if he loved me back (a thing I consider unlikely for now, but not entirely impossible), would we stay together forever? Heaven alone knows! Maybe not! It is up to the higher power. But even if we broke up, that wouldn't erase the fact that I loved him, and I would have done a lot for him, and we were able to have meaningful conversations. Just because a love isn't forever, doesn't mean it was never there.

Because - what the "dumb kids" people don't seem to grasp - teenagers are also human beings with a functioning, even if not fully developed, brain, capable of having complex feelings and thoughts just like an adult. Note that Shakespeare's leads, at least Juliet, actually do that - hence the pre-wedding night monologue, the "deny thy father and refuse thy name", her statement (I don't know the English original of that one, to be honest) that she is too soft and loving towards Romeo already, but it's because she has such profound feelings for him she can't even pretend to be strict. It's noticeable that she has some emotional maturity, at least - she shows some critical thinking abilities, she understands the consequences of many actions, she is able to see that the feud is pointless and a name is just a name. She's a teenager, and someone in their teens is also a Homo sapiens specimen, not a being from a different planet. Teens think and feel. It might not be the same reality as the adult one, and they don't deal with emotions with such ease as an adult would, but that doesn't mean they are unable to truly love and care, to enjoy talking to someone and want the best for them, like grown-ups do - as developing an affection for someone that makes you happy is a very human thing, and I can guarantee you a thirteen or fourteen-year-old is a developed enough human being to experience it.

So, to sum it up, if I hear any "Romeo and Juliet were just dumb kids being horny" on my watch, the author of this statement will presumably be mercilessly killed, and then I'll do as Fulvia allegedly did to Cicero and stab something through their tongue, except instead of a hairpin, I'll probably use one of the darts my little brother got for Christmas. They are very sharp. We have several holes in the floor already.

#and today I live up to my URL and write a full-blown essay #romeo and juliet #shakespeare #classic literature #my Romeo and Juliet rants

[fellfirst-fellharder-fight]

Round 2: Fight 2

Jonathan "Jon" Sims/Martin K. Blackwood (The Magnus Archives) vs Xie Lian/Hua Cheng (Heaven Officials Blessing)

Propaganda under the cut!

Jonathan "Jon" Sims/Martin K. Blackwood (The Magnus Archives):

they're so silly!!!!!!!! they have ruined my life with their silliness. can't believe martin spent 4 seasons pining on this pathetic little man.

martin has has a crush on Jon since about the start of the series,and when he notices that Jon is having trouble due to the horrors,he tries his best to help him out we are only sure that Jon fell in love after Martin did,but it is fairly accepted in the fandom that jon had Fallin in love with Martin at around season 3-4(?) mostly due to the point that Jon was the one to ask Martin to gouge his own eyes with him so that they would both be safe from the horrors,and it is presumably Jon that was able to acquire Daisy's safehouse (a lovely home in Scotland) and was able to convince martin to run away to a different country with him(they lived in London) not to mention that at the end of the series,Jon had decided to use himself to try to slow the apocalypse down to make it barable,but the moment martin was in danger due to that mistake,Jon switches gears and sacredixes himself,the world,and martin,just so he wouldn't have to be alone during the apocalypse if that isn't fell first,fell harder,idk what is!!

martins canonically got feelings for jon since at least the late second season, and aside from a few moments of jealousy and his very obvious doting, he manages to be pretty normal about it. jon realises he has feelings for martin and he literally never shuts up about him. finds any excuse to talk to the man despite martin (at this point) trying to cut himself off from everyone. 'hey martin this woman neither of us care about that actively tried to kill me once is in danger do you think i should save her' as if he has an opinion? and then theres of course the wonderful 'lets gouge out our eyes and run away together 💖' love confession of the century. when they do start dating jon wont stop saying 'my boyfriend 💞💞💞' with the most lovesick and proud voice

im sure you're gonna get so many submissions for them but to summarize: Martin is the one who started writing love poetry all the way back in S1 but Jon is the one who suggested they both BLIND THEMSELVES AND RUN AWAY TOGETHER in S4

Xie Lian/Hua Cheng (Heaven Officials Blessing):

Hua cheng literally fell of a building and Xie lian caught him and has been silently ping for him for thousands of years like, making statues of him, following him around in disguise, wearing a string on his finger to mimic the hair that xie lian put there once. And Xie lian once he figures it out is willing to disobey heavens direct orders to smooch Hua cheng even though he was explicitly told that Hua cheng was dangerous and not to be associated with. They make me crazy insane. Ndheuaisbdudhdjdi

#tournament bracket #tumblr polls #tumblr tournament #poll tournament #tournament poll #tumblr tourney #polls #fellfirst fellharder fight #jonmartin #jmart #tma jmart #tma jonmartin #tma #the magnus archives #hualian #tgcf #mxtx tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing

[aleksanderscult]

I rewatched the movie "Psycho" recently and this line hit me even though I'd heard it before:

Doesn't it just remind you of Aleksander?

Of how his mother was his only companion and only friend. He had a very strong, albeit toxic, bond with her that was created because of his uniqueness and loneliness. No one else was like him and even when he searched for his siblings, he didn't succeed in having them with him. Ulla turned him away and, perhaps, the rest of his siblings did so as well.

So what was left? His mother.

Did he have another choice? No. And no one wants to be left alone.

It's also interesting how he looked for her approval even after long centuries had passed. Alina heard them quarrel in Baghra's hut (presumably about the Stag and the consequences of his plan) and later he seemed very upset with her behavior.

If he didn't give a damn about her he wouldn't display such emotions. But it seems that he did care about what his mother thought of him and his ambition.

She was the only person he had to talk to and live as equals and therefore kept trying to make her understand of his desperation.

#it always struck me how he went to her hut to talk to her about his plans #because it makes me think that there's no way he would bother to go to her if he didn't care about her approval and opinion #but he wants to let her know #the darkling #baghra morozova #aleksander morozova #pro darkling #pro aleksander morozova #alina starkov #shadow and bone #grishaverse

[1863-project]

sorry if youve answered this before, i searched but didnt find anything. but i see a lot of submas stuff with the bosses having offices and doing desk work, meetings, even needing suitcases! how much of that do you think a subway boss would have, and what sort of office work? or would that go to other employees?

asking you both as someone who works/ed with trains and as a pokemon fan with ideas on how post-league battle facilities (and the battle subway in particular) are run?

Hi, anon, I'll do the best I can!

A preface: I'm actually an archivist who works in a public library. Train stuff is a hobby of mine that I'm looking to really do more of because it's been a lifelong thing for me and we now know I'm capable of operating a steam locomotive decently well so I should be allowed to do it.

In terms of paperwork, there's likely stuff you'd have to do for a battle facility - things like setting it up as either a business or a non-profit, covering your legal bases and liability things, defining rules, etc. Once that's all done and you've got your battle facility up and running, though, day to day paperwork probably wouldn't be too bad unless you had to sign off on things.

The paperwork, I suspect, has a lot more to do with their other job, which is essentially running the Pokemon equivalent of the New York City MTA. In that situation, they'd likely be working more like stationmasters.

(Pictured here is the entrance to the Grand Central Terminal stationmaster's office. It's close to the track the 20th Century Limited used to leave from.)

Generally, a stationmaster at a large station or in charge of a lot of employees would be doing the following:

Managing the employees, their salaries, their schedules, etc.

Managing public relations, including social media in the modern day unless a staff member was assigned to that (please let it be Furze, railfans love Furze)

Keeping logs - day to day schedules, any incidents that arise, etc.

In their case, since they're in charge overall, Ingo and Emmet are likely the go-tos for emergencies, like bad weather causing issues for above-ground lines, flooding from rain, etc. If you want a good example of this, look up what Hurricane Sandy did to our subway system. It...it wasn't good. Since they're also more or less in charge of the entire subway arm of the Unovan MTA, they'd likely have to go to meetings with board members, and they would probably also be the ones running the employee union since they're working on the trains like everyone else.

Presumably, they'd likely both be FRA certified to drive the trains, because we've seen them talking about driving (and actually driving in the anime), so they're qualified both as conductors and motormen (engineers). Usually we see them working either in the stationmaster's office or as conductors, but we know they can drive, too.

So...let's just hope they have vacation days. Because they'll need 'em.

#replies #Pokemon #Submas

[jpitha]

Just a Little Further 5

Part 1 2 3 4

Dinner was amazing, as always. It really helped to give a sense of family to the crew that we all ate together whenever we could. There was a real effort to make dinner a whole crew affair and you could tell that Fer'resi and Mitchel really go all out for dinner.

As much as they tried, I could tell everyone was worried about me. "I'm sorry I scared you." I said, after we all sat down. "If I knew that was going to happen, I wouldn't have touched the directory stone, honest!"

A few tight smiles across the table. Fer'resi was the only one who didn't look worried for me. He looked... jealous? "It really is amazing that it happened Melody." He took a bite of food. "I think you're the first human to ever touch a directory stone. I know that you never really used them, and any of your ships that have an addressing module have a K'laxi one with K'laxi addresses in them. I wonder if it happens when any human touches it..." He trailed off.

"But, what does that mean?" Omar asks. Omar works with FarReach on the laser batteries and also the printer - he boasts he can make anything with FarReaches help, it's pretty neat!

Fer'resi shrugged. "Without any more humans touching any other directory stones, we have no idea. This one is clearly special, maybe it would have happened to anyone who touched it."

I took another sip of my coffee, it was my own supply and it was divine. "But, what about what Captain Q'ari said? She said you said I shouted in an unknown language?"

Gene nodded here. "It was super weird. It was like you were chanting or something. We recorded it, but FarReach and Far'resi both agree it's nothing known."

"I even tried working back from the phonemes to see if we could find something shared." FarReach said. "But other than the fact that it's pronounceable by humans and presumably K'laxi, that's all we know so far. For all we know, you were shouting the terms and conditions that we had to agree to use to use the Warp Gates!" FarReach chuckled at his own joke.

As dinner wound down and Chef Fer'resi brought out some treats and nuts to chew on, Captain Q'ari stood. "Okay. Now that we've eaten and talked about what happened yesterday-" This was my first indication that it's been a day since we were on the Gate asteroid. "-It's time to discuss next steps. Commander Perinem, if you would?"

Fer'resi stood from the table and walked to the head. Behind him a screen appeared with the tablet one side, and a listing of symbols on the other. "As I had mentioned previously, we have never come across a table with so many addresses before. These-" He clicked a remote and 15 of them were highlighted. "-represent every single address that is known to us currently. They're all here on this one table. Literally centuries of work finding and deciphering the various tables we've come across in space and they're all right here." He shook his head and smiled wryly. He clicked again and the rest lit up. "Which means that these other 35 addresses - or I should say, probable addresses - represent some other points in space unknown to us. At this point, I can only recommend starting from the top and entering them into the addressing module and see where they go. We could be methodical about it. Enter one, explore, come back here, enter another, explore, come back here and so on."

There was a murmur from everyone at the table. "But this means that this mission suddenly got a whole lot longer." That was Ava Williams, who works in environmental systems. She makes sure we have air to breath and water to drink and that our waste is processed safely.

Fer'resi nodded. "Yes. If we were to continue on without a break, I estimate that going to all thirty five addresses would take 5 years or so."

Upset noises from the table.

"But, that doesn't mean we have to do them all at once." Captain Q'ari said. "We've gone from figuring that we'd have two or three addresses to explore at most to thirty five. We've officially moved beyond our original scope. Let me tell you all here, we are not going to be gone five years. We will continue with our original plan of two or three addresses and then home. Then, another exploration team can be sent out to try the others. There is no reason to expect that we'll have to try them all."

"Additionally," Fer'resi added. "Most of them I suspect will be empty systems. You notice that I've said that we K'laxi have found 15 addresses. Yet, other than K'lax we only have two colony planets. We have 5 other Starbases not counting the Joint Human/K'laxi Starbase Picaresque which means than 6 of the addresses known to us go to empty systems. It's entirely likely that the majority of addresses we have here also go to empty systems. We could visit quiet a few quickly if that's the case."

Kieran asks "So then, where should we go first?"

Captain Q'ari replies. "As Fer'resi mentioned, unless someone has a better plan, we were just going to go to the first address on the list and work our way dow-"

"No." I said, interrupting. "Start with W̷̮̱̿͝ï̵̠̜͛̀l̶̜̞͛̇Ð̵̼͕̾̇§̷̯̩̈́̔ ̷̰͚̅̋ð̴̧̞͐̕£̴̞̻̐͘ ̶͇͍̀̈́ß̵̤͇̉͗ê̵͍̦̑̈'̶̯̭̓̕m̸͉̖̂̒å̷͎̍̃ͅŗ̸͖̋͛å̷͇̘͋͆."

Everyone stopped and turned as one to look at me. I blushed a deep crimson red.

Mei'la was the first to recover. "Uh, what was that?"

"I don't know! I just know that's the one we should start with."

"O-Okay." Captain Q'ari said. "Can you tell us why?"

"Um..." I wracked my brain. "It's the one that... feels right."

"So wait." Gene looked at the list and then back at me. "You can read them?"

"No? Er Yes? Er I don't know?" I was starting to get a headache.

"Okay then," Fer'resi said kindly. "Which one is W̷̮̱̿͝ï̵̠̜͛̀-- er the one you said?"

"5th one down."

They all stared at the entry. "I mean, maybe because we've been told to look at that one... " Mitchel says cautiously "But it does look a little different than the others. Is the text like, bolder? More prominent?"

There were murmurs of agreement.

"Fascinating." Fer'resi said, looking at it closer. "I do believe you are correct.

Captain Q'ari shrugged. "It's as good of an option as any. Maybe even better than any. Does anyone have an objection to taking Melody's suggestion."

Nobody had an objection.

"Then it's settled. Tomorrow morning, we'll put that address into the addressing module and activate the Gate.

****

The next day, after breakfast we all gathered on the Command Deck. With there being only 12 of us, there was room, though it was tight. FarReach said that they would watch the systems so that everyone could see the gate activate.

"Lieutenant Mullen." Captain Q'ari's uniform was pressed, fresh and sharp. I think she brushed her fur until it shone too. "Has your address been entered into the addressing module?"

Hah. My Address.

"Yes Captain. The entry for W̷̮̱̿͝ï̵̠̜͛̀l̶̜̞͛̇Ð̵̼͕̾̇§̷̯̩̈́̔ ̷̰͚̅̋ð̴̧̞͐̕£̴̞̻̐͘ ̶͇͍̀̈́ß̵̤͇̉͗ê̵͍̦̑̈'̶̯̭̓̕m̸͉̖̂̒å̷͎̍̃ͅŗ̸͖̋͛å̷͇̘͋͆." has been input." Funny. The more I say it, the easier it is to say. I'm still not sure what the words mean though.

"FarReach, are we ready to depart?"

"Yes Captain. All systems are green. We can leave at your command"

"Lieutenant Mullen. Activate the Gate."

Like I did the first time we arrived, I sent the hello ping to the gate. This time, with an address entered into the module, the Gate reacted differently.

The ring out in space that was attached to the asteroid started to glow. Dim at first but with a blue almost like Cherenkov radiation it started to grow in intensity. Growing almost painfully bright, the blue increased in intensity until there was a flash and a sensation of almost like being on a dinghy in heavy seas. a feeling of up and then down and..

"The gate has responded and is active. We may traverse." I said, more calmly than I felt.

Captain Q'ari nodded. "Proceed best speed, FarReach. Traverse the gate."

As we approached, it was almost like the Gate got further from us the closer we got to it. I knew it was some kind of optical illusion and our reports about Gate traversal and our own experience said it happens, but every time it's still weird to see.

We touched the gate and...

A rumble and tinkle of debris

"Hard contact!" Gene shouts, peering at his station. "We've entered a debris field."

"It's pretty messy out here" FarReach addd. "Nothing too large. I don't think we'll be damaged so long as we go slow."

"Proceed best speed then FarReach" Captain Q'ari says, stoically. "Release point defense array to destroy any debris that gets too close."

From his station on the Command Deck, Omar confirms. "Point defense aye. Free and tracking."

"Lieutenant Mullen, any contact?"

I'm scanning the area but it appears like there's nothing. "Negative contact. Active scanning with friendly K'laxi and Human signals, no reply."

As we proceed along at a very slow pace, the amount of noise from the debris field lessens until FarReach says "We have traversed the debris field. Recommend we stop and get our bearings."

Captain Q'ari nods. "Agreed. All stop relative to Gate." There is a little feeling of movement as thrusters fire and then it dissipates. "Commander Desmen. Tell us where we are please."

Um'reli Desmen is a short K'laxi with fiery red fur. She's our navigator and is extremely skilled. She's served on many K'alxi ships and this is her first tour with a joint crew.

"Aye Captain. Scanning stars for known pulsars and magnetars, one moment."

While she works, we all busy ourselves with other tasks, though I'm pretty sure we're just really waiting for word about where we are. The Captain says we can order a beverage if we want. I request some coffee and Q'ari gets tea, but everyone else abstains.

After about a half an hour Um'reli speaks up, visibly distressed. "Captain. I think I have our location narrowed down. I apologize for the delay, I ran the numbers 3 times to make sure they were correct."

"That's all right Commander. Where are we?"

She gulps. She doesn't want to say.

"Captain. As near as I can tell, we've traversed the diameter of the Milky Way. We're about 95,000 light years from home."

My head gets light. Ninety Five Thousand Light-Years from home. If we could train a camera on Earth, the light we'd just be getting now would be from before the last Ice Age. The first ever recorded houses would be busily being built.

Captain Q'ari stares at her, mouth open slightly. "Commander, are you sure?"

She nods. "Yes Captain. Within my ability to be able to measure, and confirmed with sighting of 4 known pulsars and 2 magnetars for triangulation. We're on the other side of the Milky Way."

She blinks "FarReach. Can we link home?"

A pause.

A longer pause.

"Captain Q'ari, I'm not sure. I know the coordinates of The Joint Human/K'laxi Starbase Picaresque but I don't know if we have the power to make a link that deep. It's never been attempted. I'm going to conservatively say no, that's too far to link. If we get into a bind or it's an emergency, I'd be willing to try it, but for now... I think we're stuck traveling the Gates."

Just then, my station lights up. "Contact. We're being pinged." I say, shakily.

Part 6

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans go on adventure #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and ai #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #jpitha #just a little further

[neoncoat]

TADC Theory: The Broken Videogame

So I, like many people, have greatly enjoyed The Amazing Digital Circus pilot, but it's certainly left us all with a lot of lingering questions. What is the true nature of the circus? Who made it and why? Is there any escape? Here's my theory:

So what exactly is going on?

The Digital Circus is a video game developed by the company C & A. That's obvious, but why do people keep getting trapped in it?

I think one misconception we might have is that The Digital Circus is a fishbowl experience, like the sims. Since Caine is talking to an audience behind the camera, we might presume that actual players are that audience, and the members of the circus are supposed to be NPCs, not players. It could be a bug. But I think instead that it is fully intended for gamers to play as members of the circus. Here's two reasons why:

Nobody remembers their name when they enter the circus. In the beginning of the pilot, we see that the Digital Circus is a low-rez game with compressed audio, and is running on an antique PC (unless this takes place in the 90s). Regardless, back then some games would have the option of letting you enter your name, which would act as your gamertag back before platforms like Steam or Xbox Live handled that part. Circus members/players having to pick a new name is a feature, albeit distorted through the means by which they interact with the game.

How Caine presents "Adventures." When introducing capture the gloinks, it's a big announcement with a title, clear explanations and a narrative reinforced by cutscenes. The adventure itself has a clear escalation of stakes, and a defined end-goal (defeat Gloink queen). It feels like a quest you might get in a video game.

Cain makes adventures for the players. If this was some kind of digital squid game for outsiders' entertainment, he wouldn't be building them an "exit door" adventure, or, of course, Gather the Gloinks. He's more of an insane dungeon master than Jigsaw or AM--he wants his players to have fun, but has trouble truly relating to them.

But what went wrong?

This is going to be more speculative, but here's the crux of my theory: The headset is not a VR headset, but a cutting-edge technology designed to allow players to plug their minds into a video game. Essentially direct brain to computer interface. But for some reason it's uploading users entire consciousnesses (or just the relevant parts) into the game. Maybe it was designed to work-around a technology limitation; maybe it was easier to upload your brain to the computer than download anything, so for the interest of latency, the developers just had the game make a temporary copy of you, then have you download the memories of playing the game after you were done. This could also make it so that each play session could be far quicker than a normal play session. Time could be moving much faster within the digital world.

This would explain why nobody goes looking for those trapped within the circus, and why the C & A offices are full of old computers (assuming Cain's rendition of the place isn't outdated). It could've been a bunch of employees trying out the new prototype over the course of a week, only to find it seemingly non-functional. But inside the circus, it's been decades, even centuries, with their digital copies confused and trapped in clown hell. This would explain why Kinger knows so much about the digital world, and why he's been there the longest. He could be a game developer, and therefore be one of the first to test the prototype.

Notice how the headset is resting on the desk in the final shot. If Pomni had been teleported into the game, it probably would've fallen on the chair or the floor.

It also explains why nobody can escape the Digital Circus--there's no body to go back to, and their loved ones won't look for them because their original versions went on to live full, happy lives.

Loose Ends

This theory isn't perfect, and I encourage anyone who reads this far to pitch their own ideas and counter-points for some fun and interesting discussion. Here are some flaws/loose ends in my theory:

Assuming Caine is an AI who is part of the circus, how does he know what the office looks like?

For all we know, the Circus could be running on an old computer from the 90s that employees randomly encounter. It's not unheard of for tech companies to have important systems running on old, nearly forgotten machines.

Does Caine have any relation to the company name, C & A (possibly short for Cain and Abel, from the cast of The Bible).

If that name association is correct, then where's Abel?

Cain might be lying about the exit door and his control over it. Why would the exit door be showing up all around the place? Notice how anxious he behaves after being confronted about the exit door in the beginning--he denies it's existence and gaslights Pomni ("Digital Hallucinations"). And notice how he delivers his speech about the exit doors near the end. To me, he sounds kind of awkward in his apology, and a little insincere. Like he's trying to explain something that in reality is outside of his control.

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc theory

[perseephoneee]

This might seem kind of odd, but how about a Kai one-shot where the British male reader is the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper? Reader became a vampire in the Whitechapel District in the 1800’s and went on a killing spree, eventually being given the nickname Jack the Ripper. Fast forward a few decades, and he’s presumed dead because nobody knew he was a vampire. When some random witches find out he’s alive, he’s sent to the 1994 prison world as punishment for his crimes. He meets Kai, and they become boyfriends. This takes place before Damon and Bonnie get to the 1994 prison world. 

answering this as a headcanon bc a fic idea is not coming to me right now but I LOVE THIS CONCEPT??!

so you're a vampire (obviously), and like a lot of vampires, morality kind of becomes iffy for you

i mean why not? you're immortal. you can't be killed easily. and humans are just oh so delightful to mess with.

and "messing with them" is what you end up doing, to the point where in your hometown of Whitechapel District 1800's, they start calling you Jack the Ripper.

your crimes are infamous, you're the OG of most serial killers, and frankly you're proud of it.

you had nothing else to do with your time, so why not become famous? even if it was for murdering folks.

APPARENTLY THOUGH some people didn't like that (those people you found to suck the life out of things, no pun intended)

so when the Gemini coven heard that you migrated to their side of town, they set to make sure you wouldn't hurt anyone again.

of course, you still managed to snag a few before they whisked you away ;)

where did you go? a fucking prison world. what a joke.

enter kai parker.

your first thoughts of him? he talks too much. wayyy too much.

but also, he's a totally sociopath. physically incapable of feeling guilt (a walking DSM example). so on that ground, you kind of bond.

and through that bond, you start to actually tolerate his presence a little more. why? because he's cute, and agrees with you, something you haven't experienced in centuries.

when did you fall in love? when you both shared the same atrocious act you both committed.

"I killed my family, and let my sister escape for some reason. Maybe I felt slightly bad, but not really…it just didn’t feel–” “Poetic?” you answer, the whiskey an icy flame on your tongue as you take a sip. Kai turned to look at you with a slight grin on his face, as if, for the first time, someone heard his thoughts and truly understood them. “I get it. I killed my family after they figured out what I was doing. I thought I was doing them a favor, saving them from the world and it’s messed up morals.” “Mine just never liked me,” Kai huffed, sitting up and grabbing some discarded snack he left on the table. You were lounging around someone’s living room, a fire blistering in the darkness. “Being a siphon makes you an outcast for the good ol’ Geminis.” “Fuck the Geminis,” you laugh, turning towards your companion. “They just didn’t get the chance to hear your eloquent sense of humor.” “Finally admitting I have a sense of humor,” Kai said, throwing a chip in his mouth. “You’re growing soft on me.” “For you? Anything.”

You kissed for the first time that night by the fire, and it was the first time you’ve felt anything. 

You’ve felt glee, anger, and satisfaction but never pure happiness at the person next to you. 

Despite Kai never experiencing complete forms of love, he appreciated you all the same and was open to it. Decades spent in a prison world, made him finally okay with opening up to someone. 

It made you wish that Kai had been there all those years ago when you were first turned, because how could you have missed out on your perfect person all this time? The first person to see you and not be ashamed of what you’ve done or what you believe, to just support you wholeheartedly. 

You made a vow to never let go of him, no matter the stakes. 

So when good ol’ Damon and Bonnie finally show up, you know that you’ll hijack their ride with Kai no matter the cost. You weren’t leaving him behind.

#kai parker #jack the ripper #kai parker x reader #kai parker imagine #chris wood #chris wood x reader #the vampire diaries #tvd #tvdu #legacies #the originals #tvd fanfiction #tvdu fanfiction #my writing

[darchildre]

Sara Reads an Infuriating Book, part 1

As mentioned yesterday, I am hate-reading W Scott Poole's Wasteland. Since it turns out it's difficult to have a proper ranting conversation with people about a book that is wrong about early horror film because the people around me don't know enough about early horror film, I will be posting about it instead. (But under a cut, because people here don't need to care.)

Chapter 1!

We start off with a section about Nosferatu which is actually pretty good. Poole is weirdly insistent that a) horror is always at its root about fear of bodily death and the disturbance that comes from seeing a corpse and b) that any body that isn't under its own control (sleepwalkers, dolls, puppets, etc) is symbolically a corpse, which I don't agree with at all, but since this is a valid interpretation of Nosferatu, it's okay here.

Then we open up to discuss the death toll of WWI. This is, of course, wildly horrific, but after discussing deaths elsewhere, the section ends with a discussion of the death toll on Americans which, while still a big number, is significantly less than basically anywhere else. Poole then points out that the American horror film boom came much later than elsewhere (in the 1930s) but still insists that those films were a response to WWI. And just, I don't know man - some of them may have been but that's a pretty long gap and we were making movies in the 1920s. I also think there may have been some other terrible things in the 1930s that American film might have been reacting to sometimes.

The structure of this chapter after this is just a mess - it's like little mini essays that don't gel into a coherent whole. One of them starts off talking about Fritz Lang (not about any of his films, just about his experience during WWI) and then in the next paragraph veers off to talk about Surrealist artists and ends up with T S Eliot. There is a section about Wegener and the Golem films which is actually interesting but too short. There is a little mini section about Kafka. Basically, after the Nosferatu bit, what this chapter is mainly saying is "A lot of people had a Bad Time during WWI and then later went on to make art with disturbing themes" which is true but so broad as to be useless.

There's a brief discussion of Lovecraft - we spend some time talking about an unpublished piece of his, but none discussing any of his more well-known work presumably because it doesn't fit Poole's thesis at all. And you don't have to talk about everything but if your whole point is "all modern horror is about WWI because everyone was traumatized by the images of the battledead" and then you're going to skip over arguably the most influential horror writer of the early 20th century because the vast majority of his work is not about that, maybe you should workshop your thesis a little longer.

This is such a stupid thing to be mad about but: so there's a part of the chapter where he talks about Arthur Machen and it involves explaining who Arthur Machen was and what he wrote. That's fine. There are two kinds of people in the world: the ones who have never heard of Arthur Machen and the ones who are offended that you think they haven't read Arthur Machen. (I am the latter; we are a small minority.) But then! Poole goes on to mention that Arthur Machen wrote an extremely influential and wildly popular story during WWI that basically created a battlefield legend and that Machen later very much regretted but Poole doesn't at any time name the story! He just makes these oblique references to it! Sir, I know you're talking about "The Bowmen" and the Angel of Mons but you just told me who Arthur Machen was like I wouldn't know, so you clearly can't expect your audience to know that! Just name the damned story! I can't think why you wouldn't - you wrote a whole long paragraph about it without naming it.

Ugh. Also there's no index, which is extremely irritating to me.

The next chapter is called "Waxworks", so I'm sure we're going to talk more about things that are definitely symbolic corpses, there's no room for alternative interpretations.

#don't worry #i'm enjoying being angry at this book #also i'm making a fun list of other reading from the works cited #he makes several references to a book called shell shock cinema about german film in the 20s that i'm very excited to track down #sara reads an infuriating book

[kaibutsushidousha]

What do you think Clock Tower Headmaster Brishisan is like? Mage culture is terrible in a lot of aspects but aren't the Barthomeloi family the ones that handle the more day to day aspects of mage society while Brishisan focuses on potential threats to humanity with the Lore department.

Things still can go anywhere since the character is still just a bunch of vague mentions and all the indirect characterization that comes with being the Association's founder, but my current interpretation of Brishsan is very sympathetic.

Unreasonably long post.

1. Who? How? Why?

Their mentions are divided into instances of them caring a lot and instances of not caring. The latter is shown in the old mentions that they stay confined in the heart of the Clock Tower for years at a time, rarely ever making public appearances. The Lord system was also instituted by 11th-century Barthomeloi, with mention of Brishsan being involved aside from them taking the Lore department.

But the biggest "Brishsan doesn't care" statement is the fact that their department is in the Neutral Faction, and they're not even the head of it. While the Aristocratic and Democratic Factions have their whole ideological conflict going on, the Neutral Faction is defined by the thought of "this whole argument is silly, just leave me alone to keep doing my research". And by not being at the top of this faction, Brishsan is basically in the possible position to isolate themself from the Clock Tower politics.

All the Clock Tower nastiness seems to be things Brishsan is foreign and indifferent to. The cutthroat environment? Let Meluastea handle that for those who don't give a damn. The eugenics? Not here since the Brishsan family is still on its first head after 3000 years. The tradition elitism? Nope, we can entrust this overpowered artifact to the complete magecraft layman Dad Daybit just because he was the one lucky enough to find it.

That's all examples of the latter. Every time the text says "Brishsan doesn't care", it's all about the bad side of magecraft. Now let's talk about the good things. The former. What Brishsan cares a lot about.

A vital example of the former is the very fact the Mage's Association exists. The Age of Gods ended completely with the loss of True Ether, and no one had any way to predict Yumina would create a new Ether only 20 years later. Even then, Brishsan founded a school for arcane subjects. They wanted magecraft to be studied and remembered even after it lost its worth, presumably because they cared on a personal, emotional level about what Solomon brought to their life.

Aoko also supposes the Association was created with the intention of being the last bastion of hope for "the unknown". There's a core belief that some things are beyond human reach, and they need to stay that way. The Department of Lore applies this principle within magecraft itself, defining which artifacts and systems must remain beyond a regular mage's reach. This shows some level of care about the current state of mankind and its need to follow its natural course unconcerned by what's going on in the world of magecraft.

And their Lord of Lore status is also reflective of that. Goredolf says they're the Lord of Lore because a civilized mage from post-AD wouldn't be able to handle it. This suggests Brishsan took over only because no one else could. It was a sacrifice of interests. Instead of studying Solomon's magecraft like they built their school for, Brishsan chose to quarantine threats to humanity. That shows how much they care about mankind's natural course, even if that course is bound to bring about the (second) end of the magecraft they clearly love.

As I interpret Brishsan, their relationship with the inevitable end of Western Magecraft is completely colored by the fact that he already lost what he loved and had 20 years to cope with that loss before it unexpectedly returned. That's what makes them different from the AoM mages who only ever knew Ether and arcana as this diminishing resource they should rush to reach the end goal with while they still can.

Brishsan feels bound by nostalgia for the glory days of Solomon, but not in an evil and unhealthy way like Chitose. Brishsan encourages the natural flow of time while struggling to make it so the things they cared about won't be forgotten, solely through making others also care about it. Waver's speeches about how he still loves magecraft despite everything is probably a thing that would resonate a lot with them.

If I had to compare my perception of Brishsan's worldview to already existing TM characters, I'd say they have shades of Mahoyo's narrator talking about modernization, and believe it or not, Fujimaru Ritsuka.

My favorite thing FGO constantly does with Fujimaru is tell them caring is optional. In Shinjuku, the Singularity is so disconnected from reality that Fujimaru can simply leave and the destruction of the planet there will have no consequences for the real world, but Fujimaru chooses to stay and save the Singularity-exclusive planet. In every Lostbelt, Fujimaru takes every possible chance to save the natives despite being there to end their world. When faced with Cernunnos and Barghest, Fujimaru makes the objectively poor choice of fighting Barghest first because otherwise, Barghest would destroy her own hometown, which would collapse with or without her. That even becomes a recurring ideological debate in Nahui Mictlan, being the subject of Izcalli's rants and Tezcatlipoca's trials, and gets special contrast with the deinos because they're a society that doesn't make Fujimaru's choice to care.

Type-Moon's narrative is constantly pointing out that nothing is eternal. Everything you know is approaching its inevitable end and in this stream of constant ends, it's easy for things not to matter. When everything is doomed, things can only retain meaning if you make the choice to care about them. That's Fujimaru's answer to the Lostbelts. That's Hakuno's self-imposed responsibility to the will of the players they defeated. That's Shiki's death-tinted worldview. And that's what I believe to be Brishsan's philosophy on the preservation of magecraft.

With Solomon being a presumably big part of their character, and the closest parallel being Fujimaru, I want to imagine Brishsan is very similar to Romani in demeanor. The only piece of dialogue we have for them is Goredolf quoting their comments on ORT, and they did feel surprisingly casual about it there. Brishsan is also very bulliable in how much they suck at making names. Clock Tower is silly but acceptable, but then we have One Radiance Thing and the whole etymology behind Daybit Sem Void. I really Brishsan coining the most stupid names imaginable keeps being a thing in the future.

2. When? Where?

Now, the previous section is a pretty substantiated inference on their personality, but when we get to the question of their role, things get a lot more substantiated. And less directly about Brishsan.

So, Brishsan can get randomly their own thing any time now. We already know what the Department of Lore does, and it is something with some level of potential for an episodic light novel series. It feels like a series Higashide would want to write since he's the SCP fan, or that Meteo would start and never continue since he's the Foreigner guy. And there's always the possibility Brishsan will be relevant in the Foreigner Ordeal Call.

But there's one place Brishsan has a mostly guaranteed role. Brishsan is a Lord, and the Lord system was presumably created for the Dismantling War. A large-scale Clock Tower conflict over whether or not Fuyuki's Greater Grail should be dismantled. We know about it since Complete Material and are clear since Adventures that this is the end point of the El-Melloi series.

Now here's the tricky part. I said above that I envision Brishsan as a distinctly Romani-like good guy. But that doesn't mean I think they're designed to be an ally. They sorta feel too overpowered to have on Waver's side from the get-go, and the person who created the Mage's Association would want to preserve magecraft where that's an option.

The conflict is supposed to split the upper echelon of the Clock Tower in two, and there are 12 Lords in total, so I expect them to start with even groups of 6. My current configuration is:

Dismantlement side

Waver: his presence here is literally the first thing about him.

McDonnel: established in Case Files as one of the good guys.

Inorai: same as above.

Riddel: hero(?) of another story.

Olga same as above (Daybit can still shoot Marisbury here just be sure).

Solonea or Jigmarie: we don't know shit about either to choose.

Preservation side

Bram: has main villain status due to personal stakes on Kayneth's situation (old man Ruffles can bite the bullet between 2009 and 2014)

Karmaglyph: Dark Waver.

Lorelei: established as a bad bitch who can't get her redemption arc before Tsuki 2.

Gaiuslink: mentioned as Lorelei's lapdog who totally won't get a betrayal arc haha *wink*.

Brishsan: explained above.

Solonea or Jigmarie: we don't know shit about either to choose.

That said, I don't think the Dismantling War will be the 3rd thing in the El-Melloi series. Case Files is 2003-4, Adventures is 2007, and Fate/strange Fake is 2009, but the Dismantling War is only 2014. I think 5 years is too big a gap for Sanda to leave unaddressed, so I expect a third El-Melloi series entry in 2011, and my copium is that this series will give the opportunity for Brishsan to be a full-on ally before taking the opposite in the ultimate conflict.

#type moon #headmaster brishsan

[actual-changeling]

why does it matter whether or not heaven cares about what aziraphale does /genq? i know why it matters in the larger thematic narrative, but why does it matter to aziraphale’s character development specifically? this isn’t something he himself is aware of. he doesnt know that they aren’t watching and they perpetuate that they are, so the anxiety seems perfectly reasonable. like heaven has cameras everywhere and just because they aren’t always looking at those cameras doesn’t mean the fear of being caught and punished is unreasonable, right?

You are a making a whole lot of assumptions here that are not inherently canon/supported by canon.

We do not know that heaven has cameras everywhere, the only cameras that we know exist are about two or three pointed at the elevator, which makes sense considering this is one of the main entrances.

Any recordings of the trial are NOT made by surveillance cameras but seem to be recorded by practically 'nothing'—aka this is how files get generated in the first place. It is not a video, it's close-ups of people's faces while they stand/sit/exist somewhere physically. It's the same system heaven uses for general storage and archiving, e.g. see how Muriel summons Gabriel's file. They pull it out of nothing.

Secondly, while we know of the existence of something called Earth Observation Files, we are never offered any details on how it functions, what exactly it records and how it records it, what it is used for, what its importance is, and who does and does not know about it. Michael and her three old, grainy pictures —hat he had to dig up and specifically look for—do not support any claims about a total surveillance system.

The globe we see angels use several times also seems incredibly limited in its usage and more like a portal to earth/decoration than anything else.

Heaven also cares FAR more about what is happening in its own halls than outside of them; otherwise they would have seen the lies Aziraphale has told throughout the centuries, and they would have been able to see Gabriel leave the elevator and enter Aziraphale's bookshop. They didn't, though, and I do not believe that they're so stupid they wouldn't remember to use their existing surveillance options to trace him.

Thirdly, Aziraphale is NOT under surveillance and he is aware of that. Gabriel writing him a note about his miracle usage is not based on surveillance, it's based on a miracle record/archive, which is presumably a branch in heaven. On top of that, when Gabriel comes to earth in 1800, he has no idea what Aziraphale is even talking about when he mentions Paris. Neither Aziraphale nor we have any evidence that Gabriel or any other Archangel has contacted Aziraphale on earth outside of ten-minute meetings in heaven every couple centuries and the occasional note. They only start checking in on him once he gets in the way of their apocalypse plans.

Meanwhile hell is stalking Crowley—canonically so—and have access to him almost everywhere. There is nothing comparable happening between heaven and Aziraphale.

In conclusion, Aziraphale KNOWS that heaven does not care about him, he has been able to do whatever the fuck he wants for six thousand years and only got suspicion directed at him when he was ACTIVELY ruining their Great Plan—and then they left him alone again. There's not even any evidence that there are any other angels on earth.

Aziraphale's anxiety is not reasonable, it is fabricated out of a need for justification for his behaviour. It is an excuse so he can keep treating Crowley like shit in the name of 'morality' and because 'heaven is watching', resulting in him prioritizing his comfort over everyone and everything else.

You think if Armageddon had never come around that Aziraphale would have EVER changed a single thing about his relationship with Crowley? The fuck he would have, Aziraphale has always been perfectly content being where they are because it was

a) not requiring anything of him

b) the easiest path for him to take

c) and also kept Crowley hoping that one day he might get more while never intending on giving him that.

The fandom has created this whole narrative of "poor poor Aziraphale is being abused by heaven and they are watching his every move :( you cannot blame him for being a toxic asshole to Crowley :( he's sooooo poor little meow meow and if you disagree you are anti-autistic and victim blaming".

I'm fucking tired of it being treated like gospel when it is nothing but personal headcanons taken too far. Look at the script book, re-watch the show, actually pay attention to what is happening and how heaven & hell function because I can guarantee you it's not like what most people think it is.

So why does it matter?

Because it is the FOUNDATION of his character and his character development that he is creating all of those lies for his own comfort and as a way of keeping his world view intact. Part of his development in season three HAS to be that his lies are exposed as such in a way he cannot deny & that he then has to deal with the consequences of his actions.

#alex answers asks #alex talks good omens #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable wives #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #the final fifteen #good omens meta

[haggishlyhagging]

“In 2016, the Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced a twenty-year-old Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner, to six months in county jail (of which he served three) on three felony counts of sexual assault against Chanel Miller. In a letter to the judge, Brock Turner's father, Dan A. Turner, wrote:

Brock's life has been deeply altered forever by the events of Jan 17th and 18th. He will never be his happy go lucky self with that easygoing personality and welcoming smile ... You can see this in his face, the way he walks, his weakened voice, his lack of appetite. Brock always enjoyed certain types of food and is a very good cook himself. I was always excited to buy him a big ribeye steak to grill or to get his favorite snack for him. I had to make sure to hide some of my favorite pretzels or chips because I knew they wouldn't be around long after Brock walked in from a long swim practice. Now he barely consumes any food and eats only to exist. These verdicts have broken and shattered him and our family in so many ways. His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.

The myopic focus on his son's well-being—wasn't Miller's life also "deeply altered forever"?—is striking. Even more so is the (presumably inadvertent) sexual pun: "20 minutes of action"—healthy, adolescent fun. Should Brock, Dan Turner seems to want to ask, be punished for that? Then there is the food. Brock no longer loves his steak? You no longer have to hide the pretzels or chips from Brock? This is the way one talks about a golden retriever, not an adult human. But in a sense Dan Turner is talking about an animal, a perfectly bred specimen of wealthy white American boyhood: ‘happy go lucky,’ ‘easygoing,’ sporty, friendly, and endowed with a healthy appetite and glistening coat. And, like an animal, Brock is imagined to exist outside the moral order. These red-blooded, white-skinned, all American boys—and the all-American girls who date them and marry them (but are never, ever sexually assaulted by them)—are good kids, the best kids, our kids.”

-Amia Srinivasan, The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century

#Amia Srinivasan #Brock turner #male entitlement #female oppression #male rape #wealthy white male privilege #amerika

[flockrest]

eavesdropping, are we? / accepting / @gloryseized ( Link )

     "Where did you hear this from."

     The fledgling stills, blinking in unabashed nonplus, as though he had thrown out a complete non sequitur and not a perfectly reasonable question. The implications seem to seize Tulin by the wing a moment later, though; he suddenly ducks his head down, shying away from the boundary he's crossed with twiddling wingtips and averted eyes. Even so, he treads on its edges. "From you, Master Revali."

     From him. Cheeky. He's never breathed a word of those thoughts, adjacent or otherwise, to anyone or anything that would be alive enough to actively divulge them. Tulin wouldn't have any way of knowing about the knight he asks after, if not for the journal that had been returned to Revali in his first few days of roost-ridden recuperation — safekept in his absence, he surmises, by Teba. The boy's father.

     ...It shouldn't rankle him this much. A century of presumed death and a fledgling too curious for his own good — or Revali's. All but confirmed when Tulin blurts, seemingly spurred by his silence, "Sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't— I didn't know you'd still be here."

     He chuffs, not quite laughing nor scoffing. His feathers are no less ruffled for it, but therein lies the crux of everything. Nobody, really, was expecting their Champions to "be here". To come back. Perhaps this was only to be expected.

     Revali doesn't owe anyone his honesty. He hadn't back then — and certainly doesn't now, when he still finds, at times, the beginnings of far bygone names forming on his tongue or strange waves of wistfulness for an existence better left behind washing over him.

     "It wasn't difficult to dislike him," he allows, after a long stretch of folding everything back into himself.

     Tulin perks up, Windlines beneath his wings once more.

     "Speaking with him was often more trouble than it was worth."

     The fledgling nods sagely. He says, with the air of someone simply repeating something he hasn't quite digested yet, "'It's like talking to a stone.'"

     Revali smothers the sound swelling in his chest before it can pass his throat. Yes, he'd written something to that effect, hadn't he? That Tulin would recall such a line, supposedly verbatim — made all the better by the fact he hasn't made the connection yet, between this knight he naively slights and the one he's enthused at length over.

     And why would he? Or any Rito, for that matter. The blasted aches in his wings flare as his thoughts stray towards them, reminding him: a century has passed for all of them. Link, from what he's garnered in the Hylian's recent visits, is no longer even a knight. With the way he fits so perfectly into a space he’s either carved for himself or the others have made for him here, sometime in his journey before defeating Calamity Ganon…to the flock — to this flock — he is no more nor less than just Link. Champion descendant, apparently ( and isn’t that ludicrous in an entirely different sense ), but that's about the furthest they dare to reach. Sometimes, Revali wants to guide those wings to the truth.

     ( Sometimes, he wants to break this rhythm Link has created with his people, if only to have someone flounder for fragments with him. )

     "He was much like Link," Revali says, head turning away and tipping back to gaze at the skies, at nothing and everything.

     He doesn't have to see him to know that Tulin's leaned in with widened eyes, his own head tilted to the side. "Like Link? Really?"

     He doesn't repeat himself. The fledgling — as his equally tiny peers seem to like doing — always makes something of his silence, anyway.

     "Link’s lots better though, right? Master Revali?"

     He does laugh, then: a brief huff of something that might be amused. "Well, he's not any worse."

#gloryseized #( okay look i WAS gonna do monologue between rev.ali and vah me.doh but then looked at the prompt again and realised #there wouldn't be any describing it'd just be him airing feelings in a convoluted 'i'm not feeling this but if i WAS here's what i have to #say about it' way skfjldf so timeline where the champions survive and are eventually extracted from their beasts post-botw it is!! #a century of fermented feelings have just turned them way too Complicated and i hope i've conveyed that lskdfjdkf #in any case thanks for this hilary!! <3 i am always Unhinged about them ) #* ode / ic. #* ode / answer. #* ic / para. #* v / songs in the headwind. #long post cw

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

So here's a random aspect of Azarath that has literally been niggling at me for YEARS.

Specifically about Azar. Basically a minor/background character in all cases except the one where she's raising Raven and the one where she's taking out Trigon.

But I..... have done inordinate amounts of thinking about Azar, let's put it that way. (*laughs in Great Understatement and also in Nexus*)

So the great mystery about her has always been... Which Azar is it, exactly, that's speaking in Terror of Trigon? WHICH ONE IS IT?!

The two main points of consideration are:

An Azar, third Azar, granddaughter of the founder of Azarath, gave Raven the rings, Raven says she can "still feel her" spirit in them (heavily implied it's this Azar specifically in the rings based on context of discussing that the woman who raised her had given her those rings before she died), and iirc they use those same rings to channel an Azar, presumably the same one whose spirit is present and known to Raven.

The ORIGINAL Azar, the foundress herself, who speaks to Trigon as if she's known him for centuries, talking about staying one step ahead of him and following him through dimensions, and iirc said something about Since His Inception... which happened at the time of Azarath's creation by Azar the First.

So I'm going to go through why this always confused me, but spoiler alert: I finally found peace in this decade-long debate with myself by settling on all three of them being the same person reincarnated through three consecutive generations. Or at least aspects of the same person.

In Tales of the New Teen Titans #2, Raven explicitly tells everyone that the Azar who raised her was the granddaughter of the original Azar. She mentions the most recent two living for multiple centuries each (dyscalculia prevents me from remembering the exact numbers, and which one had which lifespan, but they were quite literally Centuries.)

There is, however, definite mention of them having died. People usually only do that once.

((Raven didn't get that memo.))

If you ask me, the extent of the average Azarathean life span is still up for debate. Somehow it's true in canon both that Juris "was one of [Azarath's] originals", AND that they used the secrets of dimensional travel to form Azarath a thousand years ago. So implicitly the guy's a thousand years old??? But if that's the case, why are their head spiritual and bureaucratic leaders dying after a handful of centuries?

ESPECIALLY when it's heavily implied that Azarath's existence relied on them! I still can't rationalize how it came to mind, but someone asks something to the effect of, "Wouldn't Azar dying destroy Azarath?" And Raven's response is, "There were many who studied at her side." Implying, to me, that if these people HADN'T been there, it WOULD have been destroyed! (And also that it took "many" people to replace the power of one Azar, which is just... Whew.)

But why would average everyday Azarathean citizens have a longer lifespan than the 200/300 / presumably also 400 years allotted to THE PERSON WHO ALLOWS THE PLACE TO EXIST???

It just doesn't make sense!

Unless that essential person isn't really gone.

I don't think the NTT duo had the story straight on Azarath, unfortunately. I am definitely thinking harder about this than they did.

I'm not saying this is what I think they intended.

In fact, it's probably not. Any time an Azarathean mentions death or dying, they refer to it as "ascending to another plane of existence"-- or "joining Azar", supposedly implying In An Afterlife With Her. So the textual evidence reads like they believe souls leave the physical world and enter a separate world, an afterlife, and gather with their leader.

(Gee, Azar, how come your gods let you have TWO leaderships? /ref)

So that then opens up the question of Which Azar is Leading Them?

Not only in the afterlife, but in their posthumous defeat of Trigon!

I used to assume the Azar defeating Trigon was the one who raised Raven. Lilith "channels" an Azar, and I always supposed it was Lilith's connection to Raven, which would have been especially strong after doing a dang seance to contact Raven, that allowed her to open up to Azar.

(I mean, I guess now that I'm laying out my assumptions, a woman who was powerful enough to keep a place Not Being Destroyed simply by Being Alive is probably powerful enough that she could possess whoever she wanted. But it seemed a bit like she was asking permission?)

Anyways, as summarized above, the flaw in this logic is what Azar says to Trigon. I'm currently on a tiny phone and have no spoons to go hunting down the panels, but I distinctly remember the Azar that shows up in Terror of Trigon talking about them having a looooong history. Chasing him through the dimensions, and I'm pretty sure she says something like, "for centuries", or maybe it's "millennia". Again, dyscalculia, number words are Hard. But the third Azar, Raven's mentor, only lived for... I think 200 years, according to TotNTT 2?

Honestly Terror of Trigon kind of talks like there was only ONE Azar ever. I don't think there's ever any distinction between them except in TotNTT.

Hell, I've recently been wondering, when Raven cries out to Azar as an exclamation or expletive or prayer, which one is she asking for? The original who led the Azaratheans (the most likely to be deified in this way, if you consider that the founders of a cult are usually the ones who get deified), or is she praying to the one she knew personally?

But then: When Raven said Azar was an "almost-goddess", it reads like she was talking about the one that raised her. Azar III clearly had a lot of power and a lot of religious sway over the people. She was, canonically, their High Priestess.

I like both the idea of this spiritual connection being to the original Azar AND the sentimental connection of being prayers to the woman who raised her, "the only person who treated [her] like [she] was something special."

So WHICH IS IT?

But damn it, I'm sick of trying to puzzle this out when neither feels like "the one true pure canon".

So essentially, I did... Extensive Thinking. I, uhh... let's say I looked into my heart and interrogated the "vibes" I get. And the thing is, I can't see much narrative or emotional function in them being completely different people. It just complicates things.

So they died. Hella canon. Probably an important part of Raven's backstory, losing That One Person. But what if, when one Azar died, her soul stayed to guide the Azaratheans further?

This explains why their name is apparently their title, and they don't have, say, Azar Samara and Azar Karina.

There's absolutely no evidence that the Azaratheans believe in reincarnation, in fact it's a bit of evidence to the contrary. But their souls ARE able to return to interact with the living world. This is hella canon. This is how they defeated Trigon.

(And how Phantasm v.2 happened, but that's a mess I'm not ready to untangle right now.)

Plus: Anyone who's ever read my in-depth rambles about Azarath knows I like to draw from real world anthropology and worldviews to fill in the blanks. There are multiple cultures in our real world that believe (or, believed) that ancestors can reincarnate in the bodies of their descendants. Now, I've never done a dive into these cultures specifically, but Azarath's most obvious real-world influences seem to be cultures whose worldviews include reincarnation.

So why not reincarnation within the family?

I've been writing this for an hour and I'm running out of steam, but this is the only solution I like to a canonical quandary that has bothered me for years.

At the very least, the multiple iterations, multiple bodies, might be different aspects of Azar's soul. Fragmentary reincarnation is another form real-world worldviews include, whether you want to talk about ancient practices or the modern hodge-podge spirituality in certain communities I'm in.

So yeah. I finally feel more at peace with The Great Azar Iteration Paradox.

And with Azarath on the brain, peace is pretty essential.

*Raven voice* Thank Azar.

#rhs makes yet another post about teen titans #rhs personal teen titans #new teen titans #azarath #azar #posts for the blackwinged blog #digital mirrorbooking

[rurifangirl]

Yoshima and Shou (possibly resuming Shou's diary or maybe translating It onto letters to people like xiang)

boots lkre boots lore BOOTS LORE

OKOK SO BASICALLY!! There's still a bit that I have to figure out, but I've got the main idea ready. (Also I made a mistake on the original post and It Is 'Yushima' instead of Yoshima<\3)

🕯️Yushima and Shou🕯️-

Let It be known though, that the Yushima I'm talking about Is not the current one (more on that later) but the 300 years prior one.

Yushima was a small town, situated on the seaside with a population density of a little bit over 2000 people. It's territory confined with Ryhmni and Nadaka's forest, which had been regarded as the most haunted for centuries.

While the territory itself was pretty vast, it's inhabitants mostly lived nearby water courses, as their economy and trade relied on everything It had to offer.

Anyways, the most important figure coincided with the one of the Priest.

The Priest had two figures working alongside them; they both were religious functionaries, but they also managed finances in case of the priest's sickness or inability to command. Usually,they were chosen by the importance of their family, however they had to sustain an exam in which they both had to prove loyalty to the priest and their people.

The exam took place in the summer months, and only when the first autumn leaf fell they could return back and get their verdict. If the verdict was negative however, the family of said person couldn't participate until their next heir (if they had any) reached 18 years.

If the next heir was already older, then they had to have another one; same would go for a pair of twins.

Both female and male heirs could participate,although the gerarchy was matriarchal.

For the Priest however It was quite different. They weren't chosen per se, so they were born directly in royalty.

Marriages were mostly out of conviniance, but It was preferred to marry along Yushima's borders to preserve the lineage. If a male heir was born, they were either next in line to becoming one of the two functionaries or becoming a war commander.

However, Yushima's army was never that big either. They relied on exterior protection through deals and marriages, however their fleet was slightly better, with it's commanders being chosen by the Priest herself.

The daughter had the obbligation to continue the family's tradition; she not only had to also reach 20 years of age, but had to sustain a ritual.

I will talk about Shou later but keep the ritual in mind because It Is important.

In said ritual, the priest gave her daughter a small bowl. In said bowl there was an herb mix with a few aromas; after the mixing was done, the fluid was blessed through a sentence the priest said. If everything went well, the daughter would drink It whole in two sips, no matter their personal preferences. The two religious functionaries would also assist in case of need.

Before that, I'll also add that before the daughter reached 20 years she was not allowed to leave her residence. It was thought that way so It would preserve the girl's image, and make her not have external preferences. She was forbidden to make contacts even with her people, or have friendships outside of the court's.

I'll give a few images of how Yushima used to look like, but I'll also link the Pinterest board for all places in this world (which, to fill y'all in will be called 'Aiwia'. If It will be changed I'll inform you all)

NOW ONTO SHOU THE PART THATS THE BELOVED'S!!!

Now, I've mentioned how Shou's mother had Shou unintentionally, after being tempted by a disguised demon during her stay to Rymnhi. She wasn't promised in marriage yet, as she wasn't 30, the age designed for conception. Since Yushima was in a relatively calm period of time, she wouldn't end up marrying, presumably out of fear her potential husband. As to how she made Shou her rightful heir without an husband; when she returned to Yushima, she claimed that a light came upon her, and guided her towards a lost child in Nadaka's woods.

She proceeded to reclaim the child as her own, as though a gift from the gods, to cherish and protect as her own. As we know though, that's not what happened at all. Behind closed doors, only the functionaries and a few members of the palace actually knew about Shou's nature, with however only the functionaries knowing the true story.

Shou's mother resented him, claiming that everytime he would look at him she would be reminded of his father, and even if she did try to raise him, she took It to the extreme especially when It came to his increase on non-human aspects.

Now, to reiterate a lil thing, Shou transitioned only after ,, doing some stuff, so up until that point he was regarded as a woman, and that meant doing the ritual when he reached 20 years. (Which coincidentally, Is the age in which he stopped to grow physically).

When the time came, and It was time for him to drink the bowl, all adorned and cleaned, he could not physically drink more than a sip, since he felt that fluid burning as though It was lava.

The reason as to why Is simple; it's because It was blessed, and even if his exterior body wouldn't mind that, his interior sure did. That meant he would never become a Priest, and this angered to no ends his mother.

Well, the rest Is history.

After Shou's wrath and disappereance, Yushima was left abbandoned for over two centuries, it's inhabitants fleeing after the accidental destruction. What remained was just two reliquies, a few smaller houses and the fundamentals of the palace.

A century later, a small book was found during an excurcion, that book being Shou's diary. As of now, the book is stored far away, in archives only few can access to.

However,only a few years before current events would some people, descendans of people who used to live there to try to adjust the town. Still, most of It remains to be old ruins.

📖The letters and diary📕-

I SWEAR I'll be more short on this section, but also because I haven't gotten much yet.

Shou's diary was a thing I've planned for a long time, but kind of forgot about It until some months ago. I plan for It to talk about Shou's entries up until the day before the ritual, for It to also tangle his desires and such.

I don't know when I'll put myself to actually write It, but It will come eventually. The same goes for the letters.

All of his letters are written after he leaves Yushima. He started to have contact with other local communities, often writing to them and expressing gratitudine for helping him.

He will also adress them to Xiang Qing as well, although only two will be written.

For a period of time, he changed his location not that far away from Xiang's residence, therefore asking for basic needs in exchange of work and knowledge.

However,,, things between the two didn't end on good terms, as Xiang went as far as to blackmail him when he realised who Shou was and Shou had moved back to where he came from. (Keep in mind this happends merely 10 years prior to current events so yeah pretty recent)

Also fun fact; Shou currently resides in the southern east part of Nadaka forest, whereas Yushima was located in the westerner part.

#I swear i did NOT intend to do it this long im so sorry 😭😭 #I hope this was coherent tho <\3 i still have to write the myth as to how Shou's family specifically was chosen tho the religion is fairly #simple. to sum it up they worshipped all about natural elements and had an own temple dedicated to the wheather god which was regarded as #the most important one. that's all you need to know rly everything else is in depth stuff #ruruasks #rurusocs #oc #ocs #shou #xiang qing #my ocs stuff