#so if that's the original and maybe only copy nobody else get to know what made the show get canceled | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hestiviea · 3 months

Text

swap au but i can't draw

I hate when they de-age Matthew just so he can be in knives role, I hate when swapaus just change the characters and their names instead of making an actual AU of what happens when the other character's events

to me, I don't want Scott to be the one skating around Ramona's headspace

I don't want Envy to be in gideons role or add two other characters to fill in the katayanagi twin's roles

I want AUS to be its own, not some kind of copy-and-paste from the source material

My swap AU is closer to the actual source

In my swap AU,

Ramona is still skating around Scott's head space but she is the one who gets obsessed instead of Scott, Scott works as a pizza delivery man

Scott in this AU is still an autistic nerd but is clueless about everything around him, he's just keeping a cool head in comparison to the source materials, he's still the bassist of Sex Bob-Omb but doesn't reveal that to Ramona yet cause he temporarily quit after Gideon became their producer

the seven evil exes are not Ramona's version of Scott's friends cause fuck that, instead the 'seven evil exes' are more just exes that are not evil and overly obsessed with Ramona cause Gideon ain't there to join forces with them

(In my head, Gideon is the reason why most of the league even took revenge on Ramona, since he was the one that said it, katayanagi twins just followed with it cause damn do they have it rough, despite not being evil, Lucas also went with it, todd is just angry that ramona has the audacity to leave after he punched the moon for her, Matthew and Roxy are the only ones that genuinely are sad and angry)

The League of Evil Exes are just the same 5 with Lynette for support, they are not in any of the OG league's roles, they're on their own

their name will be, Vv cause V is the Roman number 5, and v as in victims

knives are the first V but she's still 17, she keeps coming back to fight Ramona until finally realising it isn't worth it

Kim is the second, they met after a Sex Bob-Omb concert, they're not Clash of the Demon Heads in a sense by the way, they're much more different, Kim explains the whole thing to Ramona, and they fight for a bit while also talking as they fight, then they stop and just decided to go out for a drink

wallace is the third and doesn't actually fight with Ramona physically, rather using psychic powers thanks to his current boyfriend, but after the fight, they're still hesitant cause it turns out that Wallace was the one that made the Vv and Ramona is genuinely jealous of Wallace but they later just become buddies

next is Lisa, at first Ramona doesn't even know what to do with Lisa, originally Ramona thinks Lisa is just a friend who is getting too close for comfort with Scott, then boom, big reveal that Lisa is actually one of the exes, they start to fight, but it ended up alright

last is envy and Lynette, the reason for this is that I like to believe that Envy was the one that wanted to take revenge on Scott, but nobody truly wanted to fight other than knives, Lynette is there to help cause they have a much healthier relationship compared to the comics, also envy's reason is cause she's jealous over Scott and ramona after hearing the fact that todd is now living with ramona and Scott is dating her

but what happened to the seven evil exes you may ask

well

Matthew and the twins would probably be the only people that Ramona talks to daily, i like to think Matthew lives nearby and that the twins are not as rich as Gideon but still have enough to have a house up in Toronto

Lucas after another flop movie (blame it on the writers, Lucas did nothing wrong) gets broke and starts to live with Ramona at first, Lucas is kinda like Kim in terms of his relationship with Scott, hot take that maybe Scott and Lucas have a better bromance than Gideon and Lucas

todd would be Ramona's roommate, but unlike Wallace, he's this self-destructive asshole that made himself sympathetic after Envy dumped him and he had nowhere else to go other than to Ramona, which just causes Ramona to feel like she's once again with a prick like Gideon

Roxy comes by every week or so to talk with Ramona and clearly is still hang-up over ramona. also has the best wlw/mlm solidarity friendship with wallace

Gideon would still be a billionaire and he's Sex Bob-Omb producer, and at one point forces them to fight against Ramona by using the glow but they manage to break free and turn against Gideon

basically yes the same thing with the comics and the anime, but Ramona is the one being paranoid and self-conscious about things but trying to act like she's not affected by this, and Ramona is the one who has to fight with Scott exes plus confront herself

and everything is not in the same chronological order as the comics

this swap au focuses on ramona and her ex, while Ramona and Scott realise why Vv was even made in the first place

young Neil, Julie, and Stacey would be Ramona's friends before Ramona gets to know the others

52 notes · View notes

ventbloglite · 1 month

Text

Any other systems* seen the Inside No.9 episode "Thinking Out Loud"? What did you think of it? You can either just quickly answer the poll, add in a comment or reblog more detailed thoughts, a combination or just ignore it I guess.

*Since this is a story dealing with a character having DID, I ask that only systems and not endoplurals answer. This is a question for those whose disorder is being presented and similar (such as OSDD systems), not for anyone who experiences plurality. Of course I can't stop you so this is here to indicate a certain level of trust.

I personally think it's one of the better portrayals of how DID works and some research was clearly done, and I'm not actually mad that the abuser was killed even though I know 'killer alter' is a stereotype I think overall the viewer is invited to be sympathetic with the system and side with them.

Run down of the episode if you need refreshing or didn't see it:

Inside No.9 is a collection of episodic tales with a variety of genres including comedy, dark, horror, fantasy and serious life events. I was weary when the twist of 'Thinking Out Loud' was that the most prominent character had DID because the way they've dealt in the other episodes with mental illnesses or breaks has been hit and miss at best.

But here's the thing - as we're introduced to the idea of the system existing, the system has done nothing wrong. The plot twist is not 'you did something awful because you're a system and now you must remember it' it's 'you, the host, need to realise that you are part of a system because we're about to be confronted with our abuser again after many years'.

The story, told in parts, is about a woman called Nadia. Nadia witnessed frequent domestic abuse against her mother which ended with said mother being murdered in front of her. Because of this, the system was created. Nadia has no idea all her life that she is a system however, simply aware of 'memory loss'. It seems other members however are somewhat or entirely aware, in particular the Gatekeeper who is not named but speaks and acts like a therapist.

It's the Gatekeeper who encourages Nadia to leave a camera running so she can catch when she switches and start to get to know the system (it seems this system communicates best when speaking out loud and each alter that fronts believes that the camera is there for different reasons, though the Gatekeeper seems to have a strong mental dialogue).

Eventually, as time before the abuser arrives is drawing short, the Gatekeeper abandons her attempts at trying to slowly ease Nadia into acknowledging her trauma and discovering the system and just tells her what is going on. That's how we get the context for the other characters, who are alters in the system. It is also acknowleged that these alters are just the frequent fronters and that there's likely more that the Gatekeeper or anyone else doesn't know about yet.

Nadia - Host, maybe the original. Diana - trauma holder, when she fronts she closes her eyes and sings Amazing Grace as this was what happened during the abuse to block out what was happening. Angel - caretaker, believes she's a vlogger and so does vlogs to the camera, very cheerful and upbeat, puts a positive spin on everything Aiden - protector, Angel's dad, possibly remembers some of the trauma Galen - persecutor, introject of the abuser but isn't a 1 to 1 copy of the abuser, believes himself to be in prison for killing his mother and father but this is his personal memories mixed with what actually happened during the abuse, speaks with a southern drawl and is the only alter with a noticably different accent, is mad that nobody appreciates what he does for the system. (memory of exact roles is a bit fuzzy there's also 'Bill' who makes a dating style video and is an old man but I forget his significance. Also note that the names are anagrams of each other! Most with 'Nadia' and then Angel and Galen. The alters present as different genders, races and ages.)

The story ends with the abuser, fresh from jail, greeting Nadia and being welcomed into her home where Galen fronts and stabs him before Nadia fronts again. The story then ends.

#DID #c did #osdd #osddid #did system #osdd system #systems in media #characters with did #character who are systems #system polls #endos dni

12 notes · View notes

esta-elavaris · 5 months

Text

Nobody Knows

Okay, starting things off with something I wrote back in 2015 for my first creative writing class at uni. It's a short horror story, the assignment was literally just "write a short story with roughly 1.5k words" bc they were great with giving us serious freedom to write what we wanted to write, and this was what I came up with. I think it was the first 'serious' original short story I wrote, I was 18/19 at the time (so, disclaimer on that score if you're going to compare it to the stuff I'm posting now at almost-27 lolol), so the quality will probably reflect that, but it has sentimental value and a bit of other meaning to me, so I'm posting it as is. Definitely a "look at what I dredged up from the archives" kinda thing rather than a "wow isn't this great?" kinda thing.

I remember I went into that first semester, looked at the people in the class around me and just thought "oh god, I am so fucking out of my league here" -- but then, three months later, my course leader (who ended up being my personal tutor in the years that followed, and my favourite teacher across my whole degree) really enjoyed it and his very kind feedback resulted in the moment where I stopped and thought "man, maybe I actually have something going with my writing". It also ended up in my uni's Eng Lit magazine, which I still have a copy of for archival purposes ✨

Plus, if I reread it too closely to edit it to the quality I like to think I can produce now, I will end up convincing myself not to post it 💀 so here! Have some baby!writer stuff.

By the time I reached nineteen, I was scared of Nobody. That was what I called him - Nobody. My own private little joke.

“Who are you talking to?”

“Nobody.”

“Who are you staring at?”

“Nobody.”

Not a lie, but not a response that would get me thrown into the nearest mental hospital. I considered that a win/win. It also described him accurately – for he didn’t seem to have a body. All I ever saw of him was shadow. Sometimes it would be clearer, forming a silhouette, and other times he’d just be an ever-shifting mass of darkness. I’d been too young to be frightened by his appearance when I first found him in my grandmother’s attic. I’d thought my cousin’s tales of hauntings in the house had always just been made up to scare me, but regardless, Nobody didn’t scare me – not at first.

By the time he did, I’d known him for a decade, and had only resented him for two of those years. The resentment began at my seventeenth birthday party. Before then, having a negative thought about Nobody was utter blasphemy in my book. I would never allow a bad word to be said about my guardian, protector, teacher and presumed imaginary friend. Not one. My mother would suggest that I was too old for this behaviour, and that it was time for Nobody to go away, only for me to go ballistic. I learned to keep him to myself after that, but my good opinion only strengthened, if anything. What could be bad about somebody, living or not, who was so willing to protect me? Who toppled over the chairs my bullies sat in? Who snuck me the answers I needed in tests? It was absurd, but I kept my mouth shut, and as far as everybody else was concerned, my imaginary friend vanished. It meant little to me – it wasn’t like any of them could see him in the first place.

Then things changed. What was meant to be the best night of my life turned out to be the worst. No parents, no neighbours, no rules. Just lots of booze, music and fun. Or so I thought. The first hint that something was awry was when all of the alcohol became mysteriously unavailable to us. Packs of beer would end up in locked cabinets, with the keys nowhere to be found. Bottles of vodka would fling themselves towards the sink and smash there, any potential source of amusement quite literally down the drain.

Then came the issue of the music. My best friend spent the entire evening wrestling with the CD player, wondering why it would refuse to play certain songs (the ones I knew Nobody hated), or why the volume refused to go any higher than, a pretty pathetic, “six”. The final straw was when every guy at the party suddenly became dramatically ill. Every single one. Headaches, vomiting fits, fevers, or even just a sense of pure unease. They needed little motivation to leave such a pathetic party in the first place. Within an hour, the only guests left were my two best friends. My seventeenth birthday bash had been demoted to a sleepover worthy of a ten year old.

After that, Nobody became less of a trusted ally and more of a domineering parent. Where I used to look at my hungover friends with a smug smirk, happy that Nobody had prevented me from drinking enough to end up in that state, I now looked at them with envy. They were normal. They drank too much and endured the consequences. When they were too lazy to study for tests, they failed. Life was difficult and it was unfair and they complained about it relentlessly. But that was what made it fun. They had to think about their next move, take responsibility for themselves. If they forgot their keys, they’d be locked out – they didn’t have any ghost to open the door for them. Without the dark you find yourself unable to appreciate the light, and so life became unbearably boring. I knew that whatever was approaching me in life, it would be fine. Nobody would handle it, whether I wanted him to or not. I hated it, and I hated him for it. My life was no longer mine to control, but instead belonged to somebody who was dead. How twisted was that? Each day was monotonous, and I found myself learning little - if that - from the limited life experience I had. I made no attempt to have an eighteenth birthday party.

Spurred on by thoughts of my failed seventeenth birthday party, and non-existent eighteenth, I made my decision. On the night of my nineteenth I took a lighter to the living room curtains, setting the place on fire. In the grand scheme of things it seemed like a perfectly safe and reasonable thing to do in the name of distraction. By time the blaze was out and smoke stopped billowing out of the window, I was already down the street, peering out at my home from behind a wheelie bin to make sure that I wouldn’t be returning to the charred skeleton of the house at the end of the night. What I did return to, however, was a foreboding mass of shadow that I was too scared to tear my eyes away from. His presence had gone from endearing to terrifying in seconds flat.

My bedroom was trashed. Books were scattered on the floor, my clothes were strewn around any and every surface available. Even the door had a long, jagged splinter running up through the middle. Nobody made no move, no attempt at communication. Instead he stood stock-still in the corner, shadows bristling.

I didn’t sleep at all that night, instead sitting up in bed, staring at the void that was once my dearest companion with a sense of dread filling my chest. Hours later, when my drunkenness gave way to a fierce headache, all of the painkillers in the house had mysteriously vanished. I’d hoped it would end there, the same way arguments with my parents went. I’d lie, they’d be angry, eventually we’d all forget about it and move on. Nobody wasn’t the type to move on.

That’s where the decision to get rid of him came from. I couldn’t handle it. The constant hounding of my steps, the uncomfortable atmosphere, the lack of sleep. Sure, without him my life would be mundane and ordinary, but what was I with him? An adult with no decisive powers and an enforced bedtime.

When the day came, I kept up the façade marvellously. Nothing was out of the ordinary, and as far as he knew I was simply visiting a new friend at her apartment. Nobody didn’t show any sign of realising something was up until it was too late.

“That’s it?” I asked the ‘mystic’ dubiously as she finished burning incense and tracing odd symbols on my arms with the ash.

“That’s it,” she waved a hand “You may leave. He cannot follow.”

Nobody’s head shot up in clear alarm. His silhouette jerked towards me, but didn’t move. Couldn’t move. His head snapped between the old woman and I, almost like he was watching a tennis match, before it settled on me again and he unsuccessfully tried to move. The shadows around him spiked outwards.

“Oh, hush! You have no power here!” the old woman snapped impatiently.

I paid her as promised, but kept my gaze on Nobody. It was a weird feeling. Like seeing a caged tiger at a zoo. So much power, but no ability to use it. He’d gone from running my life, to being unable to take even a single step in my direction, all thanks to a bit of ash and some fancy words. For half a second, I faltered. I wanted to apologise to him. Pleasant memories surfaced – my toys putting on shows for me as a child, dancing on invisible strings, or even not having to pay to use the tube, as the ticket gates opened on their own upon my approach. But then the shadows spiked angrily again, and the regret was replaced by the more familiar fear.

When I walked out of that apartment, for the first time in ten years I was truly alone. I was truly free. Free to make my own decisions and live outside of Nobody’s grasp. It was then that life decided to catch up on all the years’ worth of lessons it had been unable to teach me until then. My freedom lasted four minutes. If I’d had Nobody with me, he’d have noticed the car that I failed to until it was too late, so used to not even having to look before I crossed the road. The last thing I saw was his dark silhouette, standing motionless in the window overlooking the street.

#esta's OG!fiction

12 notes · View notes

theanomily · 2 months

Text

This is a Bloodline "live react", but also not really because I'm posting my initial thoughts as I read in maybe two goes, depending on the time I can allocate to reading.

Disclaimer: The book has been out for two and a bit years. I hate surprises. Consequently, I know stuff. Specifically, I know that:

Otto "dies" // the volcano explodes. These are somehow linked?

The Queen of Shadows is a Sinistre who... exists // Raven is Nero's daughter. Again, these are somehow linked? Sidenote: hive fantasy au where there's a Nero, furan and sinistre kingdom/royalty

There's a scene in which Nero is tied to a bed?? And I think Anastasia is there?? (*squirts Mr Walden with water*)

There's some Anna kid/super-robot. I assume she wants to kill everyone (mood). Sidenote: given how similar her name is to Anastasia's, there's probably some connection there.

Ms. Leon gets her body back. Her cat's name is Kali.

Pietor has a "lurking heart."

Chapter One:

OK, opening with a scene of Nero + brandy into a flashback sequence... very Overlord Protocol. Wonder if that was intentional and if the books may be linked.

Nero is younger than I thought. Much younger.

"There's a fine line between being devoted and pathetic." Oh, I love Elena already.

Clumsy Max. That's all I have to say. See, I thought it was as he was bending to kneel when the shot happened, not bending to retrieve a fallen ring. It's kind of sweet that it's the one time we've seen him display nerves. And it killed his (finace? Girlfriend? Does the proposal count?), generating a Never Again type of instinct and the birth of the max we know and love

KILL ANASTASIA, MAX... oh, you IDIOT. Suppose plot gotta plot, eh?

Dr Higgs... why is that name familiar? Glass tanks. Did he work on Otto back in the day?

Laura seems much more bold than any other book. It's interesting, given that Deadlock has literally just happened.

Shelby's first line is an insult. Now that's the Shelby I love

This is wholesome (barring the implied make outs, of course), but Penny. What has happened to Penny?

Oh no, h.i.v.e.mind is thinking they're having a foursome, isn't he?

Chapter Two:

So Anna is Otto crossed with the Contessa. And the whole initial want to know stuff about her creator? Aka her "parents"? I'm sensing AU potential centred around a more human version of her, yearning for a family to find and slowly being driven into insanity/violence

Oh my god, max on holiday? It's him, he's being controlled by something.

I forget that Raven and diabolus are only friends/kind of close in fanfiction. I have no point to make here. It's just very jarring to read max saying to her that he'll do all the talking as though it's all a political battlefield.

Also, we should actually talk about max's daddy issues

Why is Franz a gym bro now? I suppose he inspired himself to try to attain his ninja alter ego via his newfound shooting skills. Still extremely out the blue. (Oooh, And They Were Study Buddies).

...That better not be the extent of Nigel's self-acceptance arc. Or else I'll have to dust off the old ffn account, and nobody wants that. Mr Walden, my guy, I'm counting on you.

Anna, will you take my hand in marriage?

Ouch, Zero really did just exist to be told "a copy is never as good as the original" and then to have his successor be even better than him.

Chapter Three

Excuse me, I know Otto points it out immediately, but Wing advocating for more aggression? Interesting. Makes sense in context- a simulation, in which he would have been the one getting hurt if they took a more aggressive approach. I wonder if that's going to come into play, perhaps the other way around, in a real situation?

Are they really not going to say what this security flaw is? Damn, poor hive'll never learn

Chapter Four

Why are block and tackle being nice? Wing's right, this is a complete parallel universe

..or perhaps not. Only shelby would dare picture Nero in tights.

Page 66 and hive is already fucked. What I'm hearing is Cypher was a complete amateur

CYPHER BOTS :)

Chapter Six

We are nine books in, and let's be honest. Dr Scott isn't the chief medic, he's the only medic

I forgot to jot down anything for c5, but if I forgot, then I can't have had anything particularily noteworthy to say.

Here, I do find it quite interesting that Anna referred to guns as nasty. Reminds me of those really convoluted family trees in which wing is related to otto (and, by extention, anna) via his parents working on Overlord.

Damn, looks like a united glove isn't good news at all for max right now

Also, I'm still really wondering if Mr Walden just straight up forgot about Penny

3 notes · View notes

stresslitzia · 9 months

Note

What are your thoughts on Larx/Elrena I'm curious now lol, I'm new to this blog

Allow me to preface this with the following: I was introduced to this series by a friend who only told me about Xion. I got a copy of Days as my first *played* KH game because of that, and got more attached to Larxene than anyone else. My first experience was with the GBA version of CoM several years earlier. And henceforth, I will be using Elrena as the primary name in this post, unless the statement specifically refers to her time as a Nobody.

...This post is almost 1000 words of unorganized thoughts after this point.

So.

Elrena is a character I picked up on really soon after starting my journey with this series. As in, before her origin was revealed, I was already obsessing over how she might have been before.

This meant that when the reveal actually occurred, I was thrilled. Because when KHUx rebranded, and we met Lauriam, my little singular braincell made the connection that "Hey, these characters get along like they were already friends, maybe they came from the same place."

I was revealed to be right about six months after mentioning this to someone.

Beyond that, we've got her storyline in KHUx proper. She's revealed as a very quiet, withdrawn character. Polar opposite to Larxene, though we know they're mostly one and the same. When Larxene dies in KH3, we even witness her briefly returning to the old, clearly anxiety-bearing Elrena. She becomes, quite literally, a completely different person after she disappears.

The KHWiki explains that she was chosen to be a Dandelion due to her aversion to Darkness. When she dies in KH3, Larxene releases more Darkness than ANY other True Organization member. When Lauriam asks her about Strelitzia, Elrena explains that they weren't exactly friends, but that they did talk sometimes.

My theory, as someone who came from a similar situation, is that she had a bad start to life. That before Daybreak Town, she may have been in an abusive situation of sorts- perhaps one she ran away from. The aversion to Darkness stemmed from such a situation. The refusal to admit that she had friends came from a need to be independent for the sake of survival. The anxiety she expresses around the Union Leaders also points to this, as does the aggression and refusal to follow orders as a Nobody.

We also see her actively interacting with more than just her default/preferred element in KH3. She makes an entire labyrinth of ice. A MASSIVE labyrinth of ice. Having the skill to do that, but not using it, is very much a trauma response- you don't show off every skill when people push you to constantly do more on account of them.

Part of this- most of this- is projection. I've seen myself in this character since day 1. She was everything I ever aspired to be. I didn't see her as a bad character, I saw her as someone who stood up for herself. Something I couldn't do.

That's one part of my thoughts. The other part is her connection with Lauriam/Marluxia in particular.

Like. We know that Elrena knew Strelitzia. There's a non-zero chance that Lauriam had been introduced to her before Strel's death, which is kinda obvious, since he recognizes her by appearance.

The fact that Elrena is the FIRST person Lauriam goes to for help, despite knowing Strelitzia's connection to the Player, is important to me. The fact that Elrena's willing to help despite "not" being friends with the deceased. The fact that Elrena knows where to find Lauriam when she has something to share about the situation is also important, since she's the ONLY non-leader, bar Player, to enter the clock tower.

Her lack of confidence when they're being sent into the Lifeboats, as well- specifically needing to be comforted, told she's worthy of survival, and being given a task to keep her grounded. The fact that she only calmed down enough to agree when she was told she was needed. The fact that the only one who registered what she needed was the older brother of the friend she never admitted to having.

More importantly, the fact that Marluxia and Larxene were very much separate from the rest of the Organization. They were all each other had. The fact that Marluxia doesn't face Sora at all after his introduction until AFTER Larxene is defeated.

The fact that Marluxia and Larxene face Sora together in the Keyblade Graveyard, that their attacks are so specifically balanced/timed that when one goes down, the other falls within a few hits. That Luxord is also there, but has a third of the HP, so most of the battle is just against those two. That their death scenes both have them remember their pasts. That Larxene, returning to herself, specifically remembers the goal she was given. That she's very clearly referring to Marluxia when she refers to her 'secret.'

These two characters literally have a bond transcending time and memory. There's been no Red String Of Fate trope done better than this.

I just.

So much of Elrena's characterization depends on the people she cares about. She won't admit that she cares about them, but they're so important to her that without them, she'd be someone completely different.

I see myself in this character. I always have. She's impacted how I interact with the world around me. The fierceness she has as a character is what's carried me out of a lot of bad situations.

I have a lot of thoughts about her. I can't put a lot of them into words. She's all I think about, but there's nothing going on inside my head half the time. Just like. a vague image of Elrena. just vibing.

I play her in my roleplay server. I have fun with her. Everyone else has fun with my depiction of her. I want to see her in KH4 and I want to see if I'm correct about how she'd respond to having her ultimate goal fulfilled. Because with the kind of anxiety she displays, she's either going to be the type to isolate, or the type to just seemingly give up when there's no more that *has* to be done.

...I just. really enjoy her as a character.

#infrequently asked questions #ramblings #Elrena and Lauriam have been my comfort characters since before we knew their names.#They are a package deal and are not sold separately

10 notes · View notes

oogaboogaspookyman · 8 months

Text

[MANUAL BLAST?]

[1]

Well hey hello there old beepin' friend

It's been a while since we last saw each other again

After everything that's happened, you still have the audacity to show your face around?

*...*

[2]

Isn't it enough having destroyed our reputation?

Aren't you satisfied having pushed her near literal extinction?

Why are you here again if you're not coming back to just apologize already at once?

*...*

[3]

Come on, buddy, it's just good ol' me, the blue blur Sonic himself!

Don't you remember the old better times before the land became a desolate scorching wasteland?

Maybe it's because of you, maybe it's your own fault it's so empty and devoid of life

*...*

(everything here is dead)

(and i don't see anybody else around to blame)

[4]

10, 9, 8, don't fill up with hate, yeah!

7, 6, 5, it's time to shine, yeah!

4, 3, 2, no better to do, yeah?

1, 0, hear the clock tick tock away, you can't run away no more

[5]

10, 9, 8, don't fill up with hate, yeah!

7, 6, 5, it's time to shine, yeah!

4, 3, 2, no better to do, yeah?

1, 0, hear the clock tick tock away, you can't run away no more...

You're too- you're too- you're too- yOU'Re too- you're too- you're tOO-

YOU'RE TOO SLOW

[FORGOTTEN REMNANT (MANUAL BLAST FAKER COVER)]

[1]

EVERYTHING AROUND ME KNOWS NOTHING BUT PURE LIES

NOBODY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SUFFER ALL THE TIME

*...*

(I WILL NOT BE REPLACED)

[2]

I AM SUPPOSED TO BE A GOD, I AM NOT A FRAUD

I'VE BEEN LABELED AS THE MONSTER FOR FAR TOO LONG

I'M THE VICTIM, TO EACH AND EVERY ACTION IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN EARTH AND YET THE BLAME IS PINNED ON ME ANYWAY

*...*

[3]

EVERY SINGLE DAY

I HEAR THEM ALL LAUGH AT MY MISERY, SPOUTING WHATEVER WORD THEY WANT

JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE ABILITY, I AM NOT DESERVING OF THEIR CRUELTY

I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, THE ECLIPSE WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN

IN THE SAME WAY YOU HAVE BROKEN ME, I'LL TEAR THEM APART

WATCH THE SUN GO BLACK

I'M GOING TO BURN EVERYTHING YOU LOVE TO THE GROUND

*...*

*:)*

[4]

*:)*

MADE A BLOODY MESS, DON'T YOU REGRET IT ONE BIT?

LOOK AT THIS DISTRESS, ARE YOU NOT PROUD OF IT?

JUST DIE

[5]

YOU JUST CAN'T SEEM TO GET IT THROUGH YOUR LITTLE MORTAL MIND

DIDN'T YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF THIS ALREADY? EVERYTHING'S ALREADY DEAD IN THE GROUND LIKE YOU WANTED

YOU'RE JUST ONE OF THOSE LUCKY LITTLE SOULS WHO ARE LABELED AS INNOCENT NO MATTER THE CRIME

*...*

(BREAK THEIR DAYS)

(COUNT THEM OUT)

(DON'T LEAVE ANYTHING TOGETHER)

[6]

ISN'T IT IRONIC HOW THE VERY REPLACEMENT FOR MY EXISTENCE IS BEGGING TO NOT BE DISCARDED ANYWAY?

LOOK AT HIM ROARING HIS THROAT AWAY, FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM LIKE I HAVE BEFORE MYSELF

*...*

(LOOK AT HIM ROAR FOR MY WISHES)

(LIKE IT'S HIS WILL FUELING THE FIRE)

[7]

I FIND IT INSULTING HOW THEY CREATED A PERFECT RECREATION OF MY LIKENESS AND CALL IT ORIGINAL

THEY TURNED MY OWN FACE INTO MY WORST ENEMY AND MADE A MOCKERY OF MY SUFFERING

*...*

(DRENCHED IN UNBOUND PRIMAL DESIRE)

MY COPY MUST PERISH

[8]

THEY NEED A MONARCH, NOT A TYRANT

THEY ALL ASK FOR THE REAL CROWN

YOUR SELFISHNESS DECEIVES NOBODY

*...*

DON'T FORGET

[9]

CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO THIS ALREADY DYING WORLD?

IT'S NOBODY'S FAULT BUT YOURS THAT EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE

JUST ACCEPT IT'S YOU WHO'S TO BLAME FOR THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS

*...*

(HATE KNOWS NO BOUNDS)

(NOONE AROUND)

[10]

IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU'RE THE ONE TORMENTING EVERYONE ELSE FOR WIELDING THE MIRROR IN FRONT OF YOU

*...*

(IT'S NOT ME WHO'S BURNED IT ALL, IT'S ALL JUST YOU, ONLY YOU RIGHT HERE)

[11]

LOOK AROUND YOU AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE OTHER THAN FIRE AND ROTTING SHELLS OF YOUR OWN KIND, DEAD BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T THINK OF MORE THAN YOURSELF

*...*

(THIS STORY DIDN'T HAVE TO END LIKE THIS BUT IT HAS NOW)

[12]

AREN'T YOU PROUD OF YOURSELF IN THE SLIGHTEST? YOU HAVE GOTTEN EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER ASKED FOR, NOW DIE IN A FIRE ALREADY

*...*

(THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO KILL)

[13]

JUST ACCEPT IT, BLAME IS YOURS

I AM NOT THE ENEMY, NO MORE

*...*

(I DON'T NEED GLASSES TO SEE IT CLEARLY, UNLIKE YOUR BLIND SELF THAT CAN'T HEAR)

[14]

JUST SEE YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR, CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND IT'S ALL JUST YOUR DOING IN THIS CARNAGE

YOUR SELFISH DESIRES LED EVERYONE ELSE TO THIS UNNECESSARY WAR IN THE BATTLEFIELD THAT USED TO BE EVERYONE'S BELOVED HOME

*...*

[15]

THESE ATTEMPTS AT REPLACING ME ARE NOTHING BUT PROOF OF YOUR OWN MALICE BORN FROM THE JEALOUSY OF MY SUPERIORITY

SURRENDER NOW, THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO TRY ANYMORE, BECOME CONSUMED BY THE FLAMES OF YOUR OWN MISDEEDS

*...*

I WILL NOT BE REPLACED!!!

BURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNINGBURNING

[16]

EVERY SINGLE DAY

I HEAR THEM ALL LAUGH AT MY MISERY, SPOUTING WHATEVER WORD THEY WANT

JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE ABILITY, I AM NOT DESERVING OF THEIR CRUELTY

I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, THE ECLIPSE WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN

IN THE SAME WAY YOU HAVE BROKEN ME, I'LL TEAR THEM APART

WATCH THE SUN GO BLACK

I'M GOING TO BURN EVERYTHING YOU LOVE TO THE GROUND

*...*

(PLEASE)

(ALL YOU'RE DOING IS FUEL THE FIRE, NOTHING MORE)

(COME ON, TRY)

(KILL ME NOW)

(YOU'VE LOST ANYWAY)

(I AM GOD)

[17]

I'm not the enemy, just doing what i'm told to do

I'm sorry for what happened, just know that you're not alone

I KNOW THERE'S NO HOPE, I'LL FOREVER BE A BEAST (I'm not hiding out of selfishness, i'm just scared for myself)

ALL I'M ASKING IS FOR ALL OF YOU TO PAY YOUR OWN SHARE (I never wanted this, i'm sorry for everything)

[end.]

#faker sonic #fnf #spooker's banger lyrics #I WILL NOT BE REPLACED #SoundCloud

5 notes · View notes

androgynousblackbox · 5 months

Note

After all this plagirism talk, I was thinking would it be considered plagiarism if an artist copy another artist's ideas? e.g) artist A draws a character in an original designed costume and then artist B draws something similar but with a different pose and tweaks to the outfit OR copying AUs (all without credit) I've personally had this happened to me but I don't wanna jump to conclusions and would like to know your thoughts, thanks!

I guess it would highly depend on how widepsread that costume is. Like, remember when everyone did Bowzer wearing that crown that turned him into a blonde hottie? I could probably research into finding out who was the original creator of that design, but it has become so widespread that it's practically a meme at this point and the thing with memes is that everyone knows them, but not always know the origin. If we are talking about something that doesn't have that level of recognition, but the design was changed and the inspiration for that original first design wasn't already based on something else, so you could argue both artists just had the same inspiration, then that is a lot more murkier. On that case, I wouldn't bother because I already took inspiration from somewhere else. If you didn't took inspiration from something specific that is easily recognizable, wasn't a well known design, so you know for sure they couldn't get the idea from somewhere else, but they still tweaked it a little bit? It's rude, for sure, but it can be an honest mistake of them (maybe they assumed it was a common design, they found it reposted in another place with no credit or saw it one time and completely forgot from where they saw it) and not at all something malicious. The bit about copying AU is a bit confusing because, like, what do you mean? As in design? Because again, assuming that the AU is a variation of a canon and inspired by it, then I assume it could very well be the same inspiration for that other artist without ever even knowing about your work. I was in fandom that had at least five AUs all with the same concept and name, but there was enough variation between all of them that nobody would call that plagiarism. They all had just one idea in common and executed in wildly different ways. If it's execution and concept, you know your AU is the only variation like that in fandom, but you weren't credited anywhere, then I would first try to talk privately with that artist about it ("hey, I noticed that both our AUs are very similar...") and see what happens from there. If they start acting highly defensive out of nowhere, that is something rotten. Either way, you can't copyright an idea because, like I said above, everyone can have different ways to execute it.

2 notes · View notes

alfvaen · 6 months

Text

It sucks to not have things that you used to have, or not be able to find them when you know you do still have them. (This is mostly about books and music because that's mostly what I consume.) I often can get more and more obsessive and desperate when I'm just, like, "Why can't I have this thing that I used to have?"

Sometimes it's not like I even legitimately had it before. Some song I taped off the radio, and now I want a digital copy of it, and it doesn't exist anywhere. Like, where did it go?

The transition to digital has been the worst culprit--I might even still own something on vinyl or cassette, but I don't have a setup that allows me to rip it, and I only listen to stuff digitally these days, so it might as well be gone.

Canadian pop from the 80s is particularly bad for this. A lot of it wasn't, or was barely, released on CD, so vinyl rips may be the only form that exists. I used to go on Soulseek looking for this stuff, and a lot of it I gave up on. And nobody is apparently interested in re-releasing it digitally, as a lot of obscure 80s pop has been; some of this may be due to the "Canadian Content" culture where there was a sort of market for Canadian stuff that could satisfy the CanCon minimum quota for broadcasting requirements, but they didn't get a lot of support after an album or two. So maybe it got a lot of airplay on MuchMusic back in the day, but now, it's nowhere.

Out of print books are the other big thing. Some of these aren't ones I actually had, but I had this habit of picking up random first books in series from new authors, and then just never getting around to reading them for years. And now I've been trying to do that more often, and when I do find one I like, then I look for book two and nope, it's vanished. (Sometimes there's ebook versions, but I have issues with ebooks, particularly if they cost as much as a paperback used to, but you don't even have a physical copy, so screw you, I'm not paying that much.) (And don't quote the Internet Archive to me, I'm still mad at them for pretending to be a library when they're legally not. DNI if you want to argue about that.)

Or, I'm trying to do a reread of Dick Francis in order, and I run across Forfeit, which apparently I'd originally borrowed from someone else (someone I am no longer in contact with, for good and valid reasons) and it's no longer in print, why would it be in print? Except as an $8.99 ebook, screw you, that's too much. (Maybe I can Interlibrary Loan that one, because of course it's not in the local library either, probably because it's Too Old.)

And then recently I decided I wanted to do a reread of the Calvin & Hobbes books, because it's been a minute, and I go to the cramped bookshelf in the corner of the former TV room where most of the comic strip collections and such are, and they're all out of order because it's only the kids that have been reading them for some years now, but I go through them and take out the earlier ones (when the books weren't as wide) and put them in order, and...where's the first one? The one that's just called Calvin and Hobbes? Because it's not there. One of the kids must have it in their room. But I ask them (note: said kids are currently ages 15-24) and they say, "No, we've never even heard of this alleged collection. One that's just called Calvin and Hobbes? Are you sure it really exists?" And I am of course constitutionally incapable of just skipping over that one and rereading the other ones, so the project is on hold until I can find that first volume. Maybe I'll show them a picture of the cover and they'll recognize it. Maybe it will turn up somewhere (searching through horrible messy and scattered papers on one disused desk did turn up Scientific Progress Goes Boink!, for instance), but who has the energy for that kind of search in this messy and cluttered house? That one is at the library, and I put a hold on it; I'm currently "#36 on 4 copies" so probably I could get a copy in less than 7 months!

(I'm now going to proceed to rant in more specifics about the music that I can't find, but I'll put it under a cut. Clearly my hope here is that somehow this post will find its way onto the dashboard of somebody who actually has a copy or knows something about it, but my hope are not high.)

Big International Noise: Love Love Lies (song)

This is one of the ones that's bugging me the most right now. I remember this song from MuchMusic, a cool video of time-lapse night-time driving, and the song is...I dunno, "electrofunk" or something? But it has left absolutely zero imprint on the Internet. Nobody has ever posted anything about this song. No Youtube video, no nothing. Nothing on Bandcamp, nothing on Discogs. It was never a particular favourite or anything, but I liked it. And now I can't hear it outside of my own head. What the hell happened to it?

Mark Korven: Passengers (album)

This is one that I do have on vinyl (though all my vinyl is currently stored at my dad's house and he just moved into a trailer so it may be in boxes still). It was an indie album from Edmonton in 1984, before he got a major-label contract for a couple of albums, but I kind of like it, particularly the ballad "Time Heals Slow". It is my #1 candidate for vinyl ripping if I ever get a vinyl ripping setup (and now that I have both the Go Four 3 albums digitally). The opening track, "Clock On The Wall", is on Youtube, and at some point I may get a video-ripping setup working and get that one, but what about the rest of the album? (These days Korven is doing movie soundtracks, with weird instruments from all over the world; I wonder if even he has a digital copy of this album... Maybe I should email him.)

CANO: Visible (album)

CANO was a Canadian musical collective from the late 70's/early 80's. Their early albums seem to be fairly well available, but this one, their final, seems to have never had a digital release. I've seen it on cassette and vinyl, but see above.

Eye Eye: Just In Time To be Late (album)

Canadian late-new-wave album from like 1987, with two big tracks, "Out On A Limb" and "X-Ray Eyes". Those two songs are available because iTunes has their next album with those two tacked on as bonus tracks, but the original album? Nuh-uh.

The Extras: Extrapolis (album)

More Canadian pop. Their great animated video for "Can't Stand Still" is out there, but the rest of the album has also vanished. (I may have found one other random track on Soulseek but that's it. And you try searching for "Extras" and see what you find. Also sometimes it seems to be "Extropolis" instead of "Extrapolis".)

Christopher Ward: Time Stands Still (album) or Spark of Desire (album)

Christopher Ward was a musician, then a VJ on MuchMusic, then he wrote "Black Velvet" for Alannah Myles and quit to become a songwriter full-time. He did come out with a new album recently ("Same River Twice"), and those other two albums are no great shakes for random AOR pop, but dammit, I used to have them, why don't I still have them?

Shari Ulrich: Long Nights (album) and One Step Ahead (album)

Her song "Every Road" was great, and that album was out there, but these ones I only ever saw on vinyl. Again, random AOR pop, but why don't I have them???

Neo A-4: The Warmer Side of You (album)

More Edmontonians, more late new wave, where did they go?

Mrs. Torrance: I'm The Bird (album)

I taped this from the library about the same time as "So Tough" by Saint Etienne and I get them confused in my mind. They've also vanished, so they're probably also Canadian, even though I know they had a CD release at some point...

Everender: Punching Bag (song) and Pepper (song)

An Ottawa band, apparently, who may never have had an actual album release, though I don't know for sure; I got those two songs off of compilations (or maybe the same compilation?), and I loved their sound, where did they go?

Skymonters: Kings (song) and The Danang (song)

An old vinyl album that my dad had, I taped a couple of songs that I liked; I saw it once on the Internet Archive but you couldn't actually download it, so what's the point???

Eva Everything: The Right Thing (song)

This one had a great video with stop-motion effects (inspired by the techniques used to make Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"), and I taped it off MuchMusic, but did it ever get an actual release? Is it even on Youtube these days? Why can't I have it?

Mike Whitaker & Rhodri James: Monty Who? (song)

From a compilation tape made up for people from alt.callahans on Usenet back in 1991; there were a few Mike Whitaker tracks on there, but with poor recording quality (very quiet among the tape hiss) which were okay, but I'm willing to give up on. But this one had much better quality, and is a hilarious song about overpowered D&D characters from each class, to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of The Republic", and I always wanted me kids to be able to hear it. Apparently it was one one filk cassette compilation once or something, and that was it. Why????

And so on. You get the idea. I'm running out of steam here. But yeah, this crap low-key bugs the hell out of me.

The irony is, of course, that if I do finally find one of these things, I'll be like, "Cool, well done" and then it'll disappear back into my gigantic music collection and I'll listen to it once every ten years, but I'll feel better for knowing it's there.

#music #books #stuff that I can't find #Canadian 80s pop #personal frustrations #piracy

2 notes · View notes

dragoneyes618 · 2 years

Text

Madrigal Kids Singing “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”

Encanto is a Disney movie, and apparently all Disney movies are in Descendants.

So imagine all the Descendants kids singing their parents’ songs. They make a whole production out of it. This is how they celebrate-celebrate what? The barrier going down, or somebody’s birthday, or Halloween (what other holiday would all of them celebrate?) or maybe just a party that got out of hand. (Shouldn’t have let Harry Hook near the rum.)

They’re all gathered around one central location, forming a circle. The rule is, whoever’s in the middle gets to sing.

Everyone fights to get to the middle, to get a turn in the spotlight. They will get physical-pushes and elbows and knees and scratches and crawling beneath everybody just to get to the middle. Everyone is vying for a turn in the spotlight.

Once someone actually makes it to the middle, though, everyone lets them sing, and nobody fights to get to the middle until the song is finished. Also, if that song has multiple people singing it, all the others will be let through. For instance, Harry Hook was the only Hook who made it to the middle, but once he started “A Pirate’s Life” the crowd opened for Harriet and CJ to make it through and join him.

Each child is singing the song their parents sang.

So Uma sings “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and Freddie and Celia sing “Friends on the Other Side” and so on. And then the Madrigals have their turn.

Camilo is the one who makes it to the middle first, thus enabling his siblings and cousins to join him.

What do they sing? “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” of course.

Each child says not only his or her own lines, but also the lines of their respective parents, as everyone else did. (This is the only song here that the children singing it actually sang it originally, as opposed to just copying it from their parents.) For instance, Dolores and Mariano sing Pepa’s and Felix’s lines.

Mariano wasn’t actually there for the song, so he doesn’t know his lines. Mirabel has to stage-whisper them to him. “It was our wedding day! I’m sorry, mi vida, go on....Louder! And look apologetic!”

Antonio sings the townsfolk’s lines. It looks very funny and cute for this five-year-old boy, perched atop Luisa’s shoulders, to be singing things like “He said that all my hair would disappear, now look at my head!” in his high-pitched, very off-tune voice.

Or maybe Camilo sings the townsfolks’ lines, since he can shift into whoever’s line it is that he’s singing at the moment.

Or maybe both. Camilo, morphing into Osvaldo: “He told me I’d grow a gut!”

Antonio, waving his stuffed jaguar from where he’s sitting on Luisa: “And just like he said!”

Also, they sing this after the revelations of the Encanto movie, so they all know some things they didn’t when they first sang it, and the assorted commentary is according.

Dolores: He told me that the man of my dreams would be just out of reach, betrothed to another.

Camilo: Yeah, you’d think you would have said something before he went and proposed to Isa!

Isabela and Dolores: Shut up, Camilo.

Antonio: Mama says we can’t tell each other to shut up because it’s not nice.

Mirabel: Anyway! Don’t talk about Bruno....

#encanto #we don't talk about bruno #mirabel madrigal #bruno madrigal #camilo madrigal #antonio madrigal #dolores madrigal #mariano guzman

26 notes · View notes

jeanjauthor · 10 months

Text

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dawn-of-the-flame-sea-jean-johnson/1119865599

(ETA: it's not letting me direct link, sorries...)

One of the biggest reasons why I got into writing in the first place was that I wanted to read certain stories...but nobody else was writing anything like those stories...and I realized that if I ever wanted to actually read them...I would have to @$%!@%!!! write them myself.

The Flame Sea novels is one of those series. A great story idea I had, that I had to write. It started with a basic idea of a rough-drafted story set in the future, then I had to set it aside to work on other things...then I got tapped to do a fantasy-romance crossover based on the four Greek elements for its magical themes. I was assigned Earth for my short story. So I went persuing through my WIP files (as you do)...and stumbled across the Flame Sea ideas.

The original story was set far into the future, after the Empire of the Flame Sea had collapsed due to Reasons™ (as they always do, lol), and the story was of a descendant of the ruling family that eventually was to rediscover he's actually a member of that family...but like, what's the point of rebuilding an empire that's been dead for hundreds of years?

The short story obviously couldn't be set in his era, so I bumped it back several centuries, to the height of the Empire (because the setting is just darn cool--think the ancient city of Petra and the desert-dwelling Nabateans, but like on steroids with magic, etc--and so I came up with the idea for the story Birthright (currently a novelette or whatever, available in ebook format).

But then I was asked by my editor a little while later if I wanted to do a fantasy trilogy set in the same universe, because they were re-releasing the stories that Birthright was in, but as stand-alone novelettes. So then I thought...well...how did the place come to be known as the Flame Sea, why are certain bloodlines so special, what is the covenant of blood between the gods and the specific family, what would be its birthplace...on and on and on... And that's when I came up with this trilogy.

Now, why do I bring it up? Because I have had 4 out of 5 days filled with traveling to several medical appointments this week (with only one of them scheduled for myself!) that I have had to sit through, mostly waiting on Other People, as their driver and/or designated "caretaker who has to attend the pre-op metting with the patient" dealie. And I didn't know what I wanted to read to fill out this week...until I came across my ebook copies of the Flame Sea series.

So I decided, what the heck, I'll re-read it!

...I had forgotten just how powerfully this series ended, emotionally.

I know a lot of people sneer at those who praise their own work, but I honestly don't think this applies, because it's been so long since I wrote it, I'm evaluating this story as a reader, not as the writer. I really liked how I handled the pacing, the characterization, the storytelling, the believability of X becoming Y becoming Z ... and yes, there are still secrets that have not yet been revealed. Who Ban really is, what actually happened to his companions' homeworld, and more.

I'm slowly getting healthier. I can finally write more days that not, these days (which if you knew me before I fell ill is like a frikkin' miracle, if you ask me). But it's still going to be a little while before I can focus on telling more stories set in the FlameVerse.

In the meantime, if you're interested, have a peek at the first in the trilogy. Who knows, maybe it's like a story you've been aching to read all this time, but never found something similar enough to it to satisfy that itchy need until now?

#writing #stories #fantasy #trilogy #recommended #emotionally powerful #mortals and gods #unique twist on elves #did I mention that efriit show up in it as well?#also the D&D joke of rocks fall (but only Death dies)

2 notes · View notes

rohirric-hunter · 1 year

Text

@a-lonely-dunedain Okay here’s the down low on my ex-mom and vampires.

I don’t really have an encyclopedic knowledge of her opinions on vampires, as they don’t really interest me especially (and never did), and as a child I didn’t have the right kinds of information to invite discussion on her beliefs, but what I do know for sure she believed includes:

Any story containing vampires except for Dracula is Wrong and Evil. She seemed to be under the impression that Bram Stoker made up the entire mythos wholesale. As such, all vampires ever were servants of Satan and altogether evil.

A big part of this was due to her unfortunate complete inability to grasp literary critique or tropes. Or, like, that thing that happens in fiction where it’s not meant to be a literal 1:1 representation of the real world.

Obviously the only way to keep her home safe from the malevolent forces of darkness was to banish all depictions of fictional bloodsuckers, except, of course, for Dracula, which was exempt due to being the Original. For some reason the Original is fine even when all offshoots of it are evil... somehow... I don’t get it either.

Even stories that also portrayed vampires as soulless creatures of the night were banished from the household, let alone stories with good vampires, or even vampires that struggled with their evil nature.

This included Sesame Street and by association the Muppets. I first saw a Muppets production when I was 23 years old.

Her reaction to Twilight was genuinely hilarious, though.

She seemed to attribute an almost metaphysical power to them, like they were somehow an actual entity capable of actual malevolence.

Far from halting this vampire witchhunt at actual literal vampires, this rule also included things that aren’t vampires, but which she decided were secretly vampires, most notably the Wraith from Stargate: Atlantis. I think her definition of “vampire” was different from everyone else’s.

The big elephant in the room question is how The Lord of the Rings was allowed when vampires are an established part of the lore. But maybe it’s not a question at all, given that she (sometimes. it varied) thought that nobody died in LotR. Or perhaps she simply hadn’t read the relevant lore. (I’m quite certain that she never read The Children of Hurin, as she handed me a copy of that to read when I was 12 and then had the gall to be shocked when it scarred me for life.)

And yeah, that’s my ex-mom on vampires. (My theory is that if she had found out about the vampires in LotR that would have turned out to be okay for some reason or other, because consistency warded the woman off like a crucifix wards off vampires, but I don’t have any evidence for that and it might be born of bitterness, so take it with a grain of salt.) The less funny part of all this is that because this is the environment I was raised in I, at 26 years old, still have a knee-jerk reaction of revulsion to casual depictions of vampires, which makes existing in the world kind of unreasonably difficult. (It shouldn’t be physically difficult to hand a customer a bag of Halloween candy just because it has a cartoon vampire on it, but that’s the kind of person my ex-mom wanted to raise and to some degree that is the person she raised.)

To end this post on a lighter note, her later aversion to vampires might have in part been due to what happened after my older brother read Dracula in high school: specifically, he purchased about $75 worth of fresh garlic and garlic plants and scattered them strategically about the property, planting a perimeter about the house and stashing some about every window. He also slept with a broadsword, a crucifix, and a pilfered pair of my wooden knitting needles in his bed for about 3 months before he got over it. Due to this, I was not required to read Dracula in high school, because my ex-parents were afraid I would react the same way. I can’t say for sure, as I didn’t really participate in Dracula Daily and have thus not yet actually read the novel, but I am beginning to suspect that I would not have, and that is in fact an unusual reaction to reading the novel, and maybe my brother is just really bad at dealing with horror.

14 notes · View notes

sakurarisen · 2 years

Note

2, 11, 12

Questions Often Left Unanswered: Mun Edition

2. Are there any plot tropes you are sick of/refuse to RP? If so, what are they and why?

Honestly, I dislike tropes like... A list might be easier here. XD

-Random person is so uber strong but has no idea they’re uber strong, but sure they’re the only person on the planet who can save the world literally by themselves nobody else in the plot matters in the end - If there’s ONE person with all the power who’s the only one who can do it... What’s the point in having other characters around?

-’I’m so cute, let me boss you around for no reason and be a jerk even though everyone thinks it’s cute and get away with it for being sweet’. If someone is being rude, a jerk, whatever, they need to face repercussions for it? It’s not okay to be a jerk for no reason?

-Anything with a plot where the primary focus is on cheating/characters having to ‘rekindle their love’. Hard no. Miss me on this, especially without talking about it first.

-Stalking, love triangles, forcible romances (in the vein of ‘I kidnapped you/you have to marry me because someone said so’/’I said you have to be with me only’). In my opinion, just a way to hurt someone or cause drama for no reason or rub it in someone’s face ‘neener neener I got the date and you didn’t’. There’s nothing wrong with having a wholesome friendship and relationship for once.

-Elemental magics = elemental areas. I.E. someone has a control of ice magic then their hometown is an icy, snow covered wonderland while fire magic means you came from a desert or a volcano. Very overdone to me.

-’Person sucked into a new world and is now the hero’. I get the desire for it and why people like this one, and I get it’s an entire type of anime and manga, that people like the fantasy of feeling like you could visit a new world.. But it’s always done the same way that I’ve seen? There’s very little in the way of differences between stories and how it happens and it’s just... Tiring, sometimes.

I have others but for the sake of saving some for future asks of this, I’ll save them. XD

11. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to RPing?

Stealing. I don’t mean ‘hey this is cool and I take inspiration to do something similar’ - That’s fine! That’s even BETTER if you’ve asked the person you’re inspired by, so you’re making something unique for you without copying them and seeing if they’re okay with that to begin with. What I mean is just blatently taking something from someone and applying it to your own portrayal word for word, or even just changing tiny details so “it’s not a direct copy I didn’t steal it!”. Yes, yes you did. That’s still stealing and it’s still beyond wrong. Don’t do this. Usually the person you’re stealing from knows and isn’t happy about it, and yes, even the ‘but I changed a detail!’ still causes harm.

Stop. It. It doesn’t make you cool to clone someone. It doesn’t make you smart or better than them, especially if you’re doing it for an extended period of time. Knock it off and be original - Do your own thing. It’s not that hard.

12. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to the fandom you RP in?

Having super overdone graphics and icons, super tiny/split icons, everything as a washed out and hard to make out PSD, etc, gushing about how much the muse is loved and how great the character is and how much they love them... And then just not rp’ing. Like maybe doing a post or two but then dropping it or abandoning the blog completely a month later. Or literally won’t do anything but look for/collect/push for ships and won’t write with anyone else who they can’t ship with. Over the top purple prose comes in second - I get why people enjoy it but I personally don’t like needing a dictionary to figure out someone tilted their hand and laughed for an entire paragraph? No shade to anyone who likes it! Y’all do you <3 I’m personally just not super into it and would rather just... Get to the point of the action?

#Questioning A Flower [Asks]#Out Of Poms [OOC]#Annjiru #Absolutely no shade to the people who actually like these things! They're just not for me #Or were used against me for the sake of manipulation and using or to 'keep me in line' - Or just because someone felt like stealing #It's not cute and not making you special don't do it #It makes you lame #As for everything else - If others like them I'm glad <3 I hope you enjoy them! I personally don't?#I do have others but I wanted to save that for in case I get more for these <3 #Thank you for the ask!#<3 Been a good distraction TWT <3

1 note · View note

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Note

Imagine if Meng Shi begged and bargained and collected favors till she was able to send her A-Yao to education with the Lan Sect, perhaps even become a cultivator with them. Would he take that change? Would he become a rogue cultivator? Would the strict rules help curb his inner muderimpuls or enrage him or teach him to hide better?

A Good Fit - ao3

“The…Lan sect?” Meng Yao said doubtfully. “Are you sure?”

“I am sure,” his mother said, her mouth tight. She looked upset, the way she always did these days when he referenced, intentionally or otherwise, the original plan that she had had to send him to join his father, sect leader of Lanling Jin. She’d raised Meng Yao on a steady diet of stories of what his life would be like when his father finally took him back the way he’d promised her he would, stories that had filled his days and nights for years and years and years, and then just last year she’d suddenly stopped talking about it entirely. It was as if the person who’d told those stories had nothing to do with her.

Meng Yao didn’t know what had happened, but he assumed it must have been pretty bad.

“It'll be a good fit,” she added.

“Then I’ll go to the Lan sect,” he said, and pretended not see the way his mother relaxed a little, relieved that he wasn’t asking too many questions. “I’ve heard they are gentlemen there, righteous but gentle; it will be the best match for my personality, I’m sure.”

A lie, of course. ‘Gentlemen’ were just as likely to come to the brothel as brutes, and they were all the same once they had a cup of wine and a beauty in their arms – Meng Yao tried not to have any illusions.

“Can we afford it?” he asked instead, since that was something he was sure his mother would have thought of, would have expected him to ask. “Gusu is so far away…”

“I have obtained a letter from the local sect recommending you to their sect leader, Lan Qiren,” she said. “He’s the one that teaches the classes – the one that sent out the summons asking the subsidiary sects to look for individuals with raw talent to join his classes and offering them an extra seat for their sects for each nameless orphan they find that lives up to Lan sect standards. Only the Heavens know why he’s doing something like that…I assume they’re trying to expand.”

That seemed like the most reasonable explanation. Meng Yao nodded. “So I’ll be traveling with the local sect?”

“That’s right,” his mother said, and raised her chin a little. “At least this much, your mother was able to do for you.”

She’d begged and bargained and traded favors for it, then, Meng Yao thought, and yet taking him along was to their own benefit: if they were looking for inherited cultivation talent sufficient for the Lan sect, then the bastard son of another Great Sect leader would be a better bet than some random nobody. She’d probably humiliated herself for nothing.

“Will you come with me?” he asked, more concerned with that – it was too easy for women of ill repute to disappear into the depths of the city if they didn’t have someone to watch out for them.

Even someone as young as he was. He wished he was older.

“You can come back to visit me during the Spring Festival,” she said, which meant no. “I’ll be all right, A-Yao.”

Meng Yao wasn’t so sure.

Still, not having him around would at least remove a visible reminder of his mother’s age – she’d been kicked out of the better brothels because of him, because no one wanted a woman who was a mother. Leaving would at least do that for her.

“I’ll write,” he finally said. “I’ll write as often as they let me.”

“And I’ll write back,” she promised him, kissing his cheek. “I promise.”

With that, Meng Yao supposed he had to be satisfied.

The Lan sect was both exactly like what Meng Yao expected and absolutely nothing at all like anything he could have dreamt.

For the first, his cynicism was almost immediately confirmed: the boys raised there were snobby as anything, looking down at the rest of them as little better than barbarians, and many of the adults were the same way. It was clear that this whole business of recruiting talented nobodies was a project of the sect leader’s – the interim sect leader, no less, not even the real thing – and nobody else’s; they were only just barely going along with it. Adding to that the fact that there were dozens if not hundreds of rules, and Meng Yao could glumly foresee a future of having his lack of knowledge held over his head as a fault, even with his marvelous memory to act as his backing.

For the second…

Well, there was Lan Xichen, who was – as unbelievable as it seemed – to actually embody all those things that people said about gentlemen, all kindness and gentleness and fierce upright pride, except only for real. There was Lan Wangji, who was basically perfect in every way and kinder than he gave the impression he was, willing to help tutor anyone who asked if only they dared disturb his solitude long enough to do so. There was the boy Meng Yao shared a room with, Su She, who’d punched the boy from the Yunping cultivator clan in the mouth for calling Meng Yao a son of a whore and pretended it was because they weren’t allowed to talk about that sort of thing, when actually it’d been because he hadn’t wanted rumors to get around that might make Meng Yao’s life harder in the future.

There was Lan Qiren, who was strict and a little boring but fair, painfully fair, handing out punishments with an equitable hand no matter that it meant that he was punishing the locals as often if not more often. It’d been his idea to bring people like Meng Yao into the Lan sect, and defending the idea was the only time he truly seemed moved to passion. Now that they’d passed the initial examination and been judged to match Lan sect standards, Lan Qiren announced, as far as he was concerned, they were Lan sect just as if they were born there, as if they’d been children of his own.

And he even seemed to really believe it, too.

Today, Meng Yao’s head was still warm from when the stern Teacher Lan had put his hand there, gentle and approving, and his ears still burning from the murmured “Well done, Meng Yao, as expected.”

“I think I would kill someone for him,” Meng Yao said dreamily to Su She, who snorted.

“You’ve got such father issues,” he said disdainfully, as if he didn’t have entire family issues. That was just Su She’s way, though – he bitched and moaned and complained without end, and he’d probably kill someone for Meng Yao if Meng Yao so much as hinted it was something he’d want. They’d made friends for a reason. “You know the bit about the poor kids being his own children is a lie, right?”

“I know which sect’s leader is my father, thanks,” Meng Yao said, rolling his eyes. “I’m well aware it’s not Teacher Lan. Like he’d ever have kids of his own, anyway.”

“That’d require noticing when someone’s flirting with him,” Su She agreed, all solemn for just a moment, and then he dissolved into sniggering giggles. Meng Yao couldn’t blame him: it was, in fact, extremely funny when women (and sometimes men) tried to flirt with Teacher Lan, mostly because of the way that he very genuinely and completely missed that that was what was happening each and every time.

“Laugh all you like,” Meng Yao said peaceably. “You’d kill for him, too.”

“Probably,” Su She agreed. “But only because of you.”

That was fair enough. After getting the lay of the land, Meng Yao had arranged for them to ‘accidentally’ be overheard by Teacher Lan while talking about the misconduct of one of the teachers who was the most biased against guest disciples, one of the ones that had been harassing Su She in particular for over a year before Meng Yao had arrived, and despite Su She’s initial nervousness about the plan, it had all gone splendidly. Sure, they’d been punished to do five copies of a treatise on upright conduct because they’d breached Talking behind the backs of others is prohibited, but the teacher in question had been sentenced to two hundred strikes with the discipline rod for abusing his position and three months of enforced seclusion to contemplate his misbehavior, and then, Teacher Lan had said, his expression dark and threatening, they could discuss what role would be the best fit in the future.

The other teachers had taken notice and shaped up very quickly, after that.

Comparatively, those five copies made in the nice cool Library Pavilion instead of having to do chores on the hottest days of summer? Practically a pat on the back for bringing it to his attention.

Su She would never have dared to raise anything if it was just him, Meng Yao thought; he had a strange fear of authority figures that combined envy and misery in an explosive combination – he would have just suffered and suffered and suffered until he’d been pushed too far and then it would have all burst out at once. He wasn’t like Meng Yao, who was unwilling to keep to his “proper” place and was more than willing to use his greater-than-average share of brains to get what he wanted, no matter what rules he broke in the process. He was the sort of person who was willing to do whatever it took to obtain his desires – no matter what it took.

Well, maybe not no matter what. He wouldn’t want to disappoint Lan Qiren too much.

(Okay, so maybe Su She was right and he had some unresolved father issues. So what if he did? Whose business was it but his?)

It’d taken Meng Yao a while to fully adjust to the Cloud Recesses.

Some parts he’d figured out right away – the way they all flattered themselves as gentlemen even if they were actually little more than hypocrites (Teacher Lan and his personally taught nephews exempted, of course), which of course meant that Meng Yao’s ability to act pitiful at the drop of a hat and cleverly turn black into white made him a teacher’s pet at once. The vegetarian meals were easy enough to adapt to, given that his mother hadn’t had the money for meat all that often, and the training and cultivation and all that wasn’t any challenge for his excellent powers of retention – he had ambitions of becoming one of Teacher Lan’s aides one day, and worked assiduously towards that goal. Even waking and sleeping early, which was practically the opposite of his schedule at home, was something he could adjust to, given time and incentive.

It was his mentality that took some time to adjust.

Meng Yao had perhaps grown up with too many of his mother’s stories, painting an image of a matchless paradise – at the start, he looked at everything around him, serene and elegant but not quite as rich and shining and thought that it would do, for now. When he’d first arrived, he had had every intention of making a good reputation for himself and using that reputation to get his real father’s attention – he’d liked Teacher Lan from the beginning, despite his best attempts to not let his heart be swayed, but he’d reasoned that if a teacher was like this, then a blood-related father would be even better.

And so, for the first half-year, he’d treated his time at the Cloud Recesses…not lightly, no. He was extremely serious about making sure to get the maximum benefit he could. And yet, at the same time, he still was not really committing himself to the place.

This wasn’t where he was going to live his whole life, he reasoned; it was just a stepping stone to a better future. That meant he would exert himself to point out things that made him look good, to eliminate obstacles in his path, to win himself allies, but not bother with those longer-term problems, the ones that really ought to be fixed but which would take a great deal of effort with little reward other than annoying people.

His feeling of superiority and emotional distance lasted right up until the first discussion conference.

From a distance, Jin Guangshan was everything Meng Yao could have imagined – perhaps a little too similar to the clients that his mother often saw, a little dissolute to pull off the air of a refined scholar he affected, but wearing more gold than Meng Yao had ever seen in his life, with a retinue of servants that dwarfed the other sect’s. Each of those servants were dressed more finely than even main clan cultivators in some of the smaller sects, and though Meng Yao’s Lan sect guest disciple clothing was of such quality that he didn’t need to fear their disdain, he couldn’t help but be secretly impressed.

He'd exerted himself more than usual to trade away all of his chores and duties, freeing himself up to take on patrol duty near the Jin sect. He’d perhaps daydreamed about some sort of encounter – nothing active on his part, of course, but he couldn’t quite resist playing through some fantasy of catching someone’s eye by chance, getting called over, a “You have a familiar set to your chin, who’s your father?”, a shy halting admission, recognition, a joyous reunion…

Instead, his father spent the entire night getting drunk and cursing the Lan sect’s hospitality for not providing him with girls to go with his liquor, calling Lan Qiren a miserable prude with a stick up his ass right in front of the Lan sect disciples that clenched their fists in barely concealed rage. He’d seen Meng Yao all right, ordered him to come forward, but it’d only been to mock him in front of all of his servants – and not even for being his bastard son, no, that would involve bothering to pick him out from the crowd or to ask who he was. No, he’d mocked him simply for being one of the poor disciples that Lan Qiren had taken in, all because his accent was marked with the distinct tones of Yunping rather than the sweetness of Gusu.

“Tell me, boy,” he said, breathing fumes into Meng Yao’s face and making him feel suddenly as if he’d never left the brothel – that the Cloud Recesses had all been a vague dream, and now he’d woken up and lost it all. “How does that old fart Qiren expect you to pay him back for all he’s done for you? I heard the Lan sect includes a pretty face as one of its standard requirements…”

Meng Yao put his gaze above his father’s head and pretended to be deaf.

“It seems like rather a lot of effort,” one of his father’s attendants remarked. “Even if Second Master Lan wanted a boy to warm his bed, couldn’t he just buy one like any normal person?”

“Bah, boys,” his father said, and leaned back, waving his hands in dismissal. “Why would anyone bother with a boy when you could have a soft woman instead? Just as long as they’re stupid enough – you know, there’s nothing worse than a woman who’s talented and knows it, too smart, always trying to get above their station…”

“You’re thinking about that whore in Yunping again, aren’t you? The one that interrupted your dinner and made a scene, claiming you’d promised to take in the son she bore you?” the attendant said, laughing. “I told you, you should’ve just killed her for her impudence rather than just having her beaten and thrown out. That way the matter wouldn’t still be bothering you…”

“Go away, boy,” another servant said to Meng Yao, who was frozen stiff in belated terror, nausea churning in his stomach as he realized his mother could’ve gone out one day and never come back, and he would never have known why – or maybe it was that he’d been spending his considerable time and brain on pleasing someone who would have done that, who nearly had done that. “Your accent’s brought back bad memories, don’t you see?”

Meng Yao left.

No, to be more blunt: he fled. He ran away, hot tears filling his eyes until he couldn’t see – belly full of regret and disappointment, crushed dreams feeling like broken shards of glass in his mouth and throat.

He tried to tell himself that it was better to find out now, when they were still distant, before he'd sold his soul for the futile chance to get that horrible man's affection, but he couldn't quite throw off the shame of knowing that if he hadn't heard such a thing up front, he probably would have done that. Would have humiliated himself like that, and for what? A man who regretted not murdering his mother?

He ran right into Lan Wangji, who was also on patrol.

Lan Wangji took one look at him and grabbed his wrist, dragging him away from the main pathway and all the way to his uncle’s rooms.

Lan Qiren was still awake despite the late hour, writing something at his desk, but he set aside his brush at once. “What’s going on?” he asked, frowning. “Wangji – Meng Yao – one of you report.”

“Meng Yao was on patrol by the Jin sect,” Lan Wangji explained as Meng Yao furiously tried to dash away his tears using his sleeve.

“Who permitted that? First year disciples aren’t permitted to patrol during discussion conferences,” Lan Qiren asked, his frown deepening. “It wouldn’t be proper – ah, but no, I recall now. I suppose it was inevitable. Wangji, well done, and thank you. You are dismissed.”

After Lan Wangji left, he turned his eyes on Meng Yao.

“You volunteered, didn’t you?” he asked.

Meng Yao felt his back go cold: Lan Qiren knew, then. It had never been said out loud by anyone as far as he knew, and yet it was clear that Lan Qiren knew who his father was – and probably his mother, too.

He knew that Meng Yao was – that he wasn’t anything more than –

“You are one of my most promising disciples, Meng Yao,” Lan Qiren told him, and poured him a cup of tea from his own pot, pressing it into his hands. It was finer tea than Meng Yao had ever had in his life, full of smoke and flavor. “The rules say Be loyal and filial, but they also praise reciprocity. You have not been recognized, and have not received your forefathers’ grace. You can fulfill your obligations to chivalry through your respect for the parent that raised you.”

Meng Yao stared down at the teacup. Lan Qiren had completely misunderstood the nature of Meng Yao’s concern – he was disappointed in what his father was, not worried about not living up to his obligations of being a filial child. And yet it was a little nice to hear that as far as Lan Qiren was concerned, the rules said that he could tell his father go hang for all he cared…

And that he ought to honor his mother, which was something no one who knew her had ever said to him.

“Even if she –” His voice stuttered. “Even if she’s a…”

He couldn’t say the word.

“Appreciate the good people is not qualified by class or profession,” Lan Qiren said, and his monotone voice was blissfully without emotion, as if this were just another lesson in class, and not the deepest hurt of Meng Yao’s life. “I have never met your mother, Meng Yao, but you are a good child – diligent, organized, sincere, with good judgment, and you clearly adore her. That tells me everything I need to know.”

Meng Yao burst into tears.

Meng Yao liked Lan Xichen a lot, but he also had to admit that sometimes, the older boy was, well…

“Dumb as a pile of rocks,” Su She announced.

“Do not criticize other people,” Meng Yao said piously, but then chuckled, shaking his head. “Say, rather, that he’s naïve and sheltered, and overly inclined to believe the best in people.”

“Like I said: dumb as rocks. How many times is going to get himself swindled into being someone’s sword or shield before he figures out that the problem is him?”

“Some people don’t have the capacity to understand the depths of humanity’s foulness –”

“Yeah, dumb ones.”

“Su She, please.” Su She held up his hands in surrendered. “At any rate, if Lan-gongzi is going to keep falling for people’s tricks, it’s beholden on us to help protect him.”

“You just don’t want Teacher Lan to be sad about something serious happening to his nephew,” Su She said knowingly, but he was already nodding. “All right, what are we going to do about it? He outranks us. We can’t exactly tell him to his face that he’s being…”

He paused.

Dumb as rocks went unsaid, but then, it didn’t need to be said out loud for the meaning to be clear.

Meng Yao sighed.

“You can only trick someone so many times,” he said. “If we want to keep him from getting tricked by other people, then we have to trick him first. And better.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lan-gongzi likes to save people,” Meng Yao explained. “He really sees himself as a chivalrous gentleman – he puts chivalry first, even though Teacher Lan says Learning comes first. That’s why he always sides with whoever he perceives to be the underdog in a given situation, no matter how wrong that impression is. That’s how most of the people who’ve been tricking him have gone for it: playing the victim, appealing to his sense of righteousness, pulling the curtains over his eyes to obscure what’s actually happening.”

“Okay. So?”

“So, we’ve both got miserable backstories – you being taken from your family at a young age and then bullied, me with my mother and, even worse, father. If we get him on our side, early on, he’ll side with us over anyone else – that way we can keep him from getting roped into other people’s private grudges.”

Su She frowned. “That seems a little manipulative.”

“It’s for his own good, and that’s what’s important,” Meng Yao said, and smiled faintly. “Wouldn’t you agree, Lan-er-gongzi?”

Su She jumped, turning around just in time to see Lan Wangji, who had been standing in the shadow of a nearby tree, step out.

He had a serious expression, as always, but a thoughtful one.

Meng Yao waited patiently.

“You cannot take advantage,” Lan Wangji finally said, and Meng Yao knew he’d won the most important ally in the battle to save Lan Xichen from himself. “That would change it from a virtuous act to a selfish one.”

“Like we need anything from him,” Su She said haughtily. “Maintain your own discipline.”

“Arrogance is forbidden.”

“It’s not arrogance if it’s justified! It’s just self-confidence!”

“Do not argue with family,” Meng Yao quoted, and was pleased to see both of them drop it at once. “Listen, we all share the same goal, and we have to start somewhere, don’t we? We’re stronger together than apart. Together, we can do anything, even protect Lan-gongzi.”

That and more, he thought as the other boys nodded, following his lead. Lan Xichen is just the start.

“The Wen sect will make trouble sooner rather than later,” Meng Yao said thoughtfully, one day. His friends turned to look at him. “Yes, I’m serious.”

Lan Wangji nodded, serious as always, but Su She scoffed.

“You can’t even convince that Wei Wuxian boy to leave poor Lan-er-gongzi alone,” he said snidely. “How exactly are you expecting to bring down the Wen sect?”

“I don’t convince Wei Wuxian to leave Lan-er-gongzi alone because Lan-er-gongzi doesn’t want to be left alone,” Meng Yao said. “Obviously. Isn’t that right?”

“You should call me by name,” Lan Wangji said, which wasn’t answering the question and definitely wasn’t denying anything. “You were saying, about the Wen sect?”

Meng Yao smiled.

“What brings one of Teacher Lan’s most promising disciples to the Unclean Realm?” Nie Mingjue said, peering at him thoughtfully. “You’re at the wrong time to be one of the usual messengers.”

Meng Yao smiled at him.

“I think you’ll find that we have similar goals, Sect Leader Nie,” he said. “When it comes to making sure that certain people in our lives don’t get hurt by the bad decisions of others, I mean. In your case, it’s your younger brother, who’s a friend of mine –”

Friend, source of information, it was all about the same thing in the end. Meng Yao didn’t have real friends outside the Lan sect, but he’d been very careful to cultivate good relationships with all his most important peers.

“- and for me, well. A teacher for day, a father for a lifetime. I’m sure Sect Leader Nie can understand the importance of protecting one’s father – right?”

“You don’t need to use any sophistry on me,” Nie Mingjue said, rolling his eyes. “If you have an idea on what we can do to stop the Wen sect before they go and burn someone’s house down, I’m all ears.”

By chance, Meng Yao did.

It was a good plan, too, daring and brave in equal measure. If it worked the way he hoped it would, he’d win enough fame to get Jin Guangshan to beg for him to join the Jin sect – not that he would, of course.

Meng Yao knew what he wanted, and he knew how he was going to get it, too.

“This is a lovely house, A-Yao,” Meng Shi said, running her hand along one of the soft tapestries on the wall. “Truly lovely. Whoever you rented it from has good taste.”

Meng Yao bowed. “Thank you for the compliment, Mother. I put a lot of thought into it.”

“You own it?” she asked, surprised. “But don’t you live up the mountain, with the sect?”

“I do. This is for you.”

“For – me? A-Yao! This is too much – how much must it have cost–”

“I saved the Lan sect’s core texts from being destroyed,” Meng Yao said. “I’m an inner sect disciple now – I could ask for a dozen houses like this, and they’d grant them to me without blinking twice. Teacher Lan would insist on it.”

“Teacher Lan,” his mother murmured. “That’s the one you’ve taken to treating as your own father, isn’t it? You’ve spoken so much of him, in your letters…”

“There’s no need to scheme,” he told her. “He wouldn’t notice your flirtations, anyway.”

His mother arched her eyebrows at him.

“He’s really oblivious.”

“Still…”

“Really no need,” Meng Yao said, and couldn’t help but smile at the memory of Lan Qiren pulling him into a hug when he realized that the books – and Lan Xichen – were all safe from the Wen sect’s attempt to burn down the Cloud Recesses, and, later, again, that Wen Ruohan was dead. He may have deliberately schemed for that second hug, and he might or might not have plans for more. “He already takes me as a son.”

His mother relaxed.

“Good,” she said, and smiled herself. “So, A-Yao, was I right, all those years ago? Was the Lan sect a good fit for you?”

“Yes, Mother,” Meng Yao said. “Yes, it was.”

#mdzs #meng yao #jin guangyao #lan qiren #su she #lan wangji #my fic #my fics #a good fit

338 notes · View notes

unpretty · 3 years

Text

askdump with spoilers up to chapter 22! but also including some older ones because i keep forgetting

bramblepatch asked:

I LOVE the implication that the answer to Minnow's "cool, I wonder why there would be a door here?" is that Vaelon decided "cool, let's put a door here." Heroes Just Wanna See Cool Shit.

being able to set your own fast travel markers is the dream

@apparently-possessed asked:

I can't believe no one has commented on how Karzarul has the gall to call the Abysscale erotica scandalous. You made them to have sex with sailors you horny buffoon. You go off and find them in

Groups for frustrated sex.

No excuse my dude. They have always been the horny monster.

that was a PRIVATE INTERLUDE between a monster and several different ships worth of sailors and also sometimes other monsters and someone was INDISCREET which is RUDE and he would not have invited them if he'd known they would snitch

also tbh he was mostly offended by the implication that he was some kind of monster bimbo

anonymous asked:

"Monsters that are just slime orbs would have implications" yes, because the entire design and origin of Abysscales is completely without implications.

i find those implications less distressing tbh

@bramblepatch asked:

On rereading the last couple of chapters: as tragic as Vaelon's wish binding them all together is, it kind of seems like it might not be all bad for the world around them? Lynette already had her blessing at that point and I feel like a Sunlight Heir who didn't have that kind of persistent connection to the Hero and Monster would have the potential to go waaaay off the rails a lot more often than Heirs do anyway. Karzarul might be the one blatantly causing problems on most cycles, but having him and the Hero active when the Heir comes to power at least keeps them focused on their reincarnation bullshit...

you cannot deny that the hero does try to stop them from killing each other and also everyone else

he never said he'd succeed

@spinachwrap asked:

BIGGEST BOY It took me til chapter 20 to understand how Violet and the boys showed up and I about yelled. New! Monsters!!!

@asimovsideburns asked:

Sorry I’m just thinking about Astielle again and most if not all of Ari’s humanoid forms being at least partly imitative of someone he likes (and the others being made of what he thinks they’ll like) because moonlight is a reflection

@ephemeraltea asked:

part of what i love so much about your writing, particularly noticeable in astielle, is that you take a silly or off-hand thing and make it have true depth and emotional weight. like. collect one of everything from this open world video game. but for minnow, it's proof that she has desires outside of previous lives, that her experiences are not just slowly pixelating copies of things she's done before. this flower, i know i've seen it as me, because i have it pressed and saved at home. i have a memory of it that is only mine. and that fucking gets me!!!!

anonymous asked:

Karzarul getting all huffy about monsters naming themselves after descriptors *shakes my head* This is a TRADITION OF YOUR PEOPLE carried out EVEN TO THIS DAY *gestures to Violet who is... violet* I don't want to hear anything from you on the topic Mr. Beautiful.

anonymous asked:

RE: Karzarul getting huffy. It's probably influenced by the little Vaelon voice in the back of his head repeating "But that isn’t really a name..." over and over again, but still. I don't want to hear it from you, Mr. Beautiful!

anonymous asked:

Just from the way Karzarul responds to being told Elias died of being old with an Unconvinced Hm™ it seems like he knows about the immortality thing. But maybe they DO start aging after one (or more) of them dies?

@ceruleanvulpine asked:

RETURN OF “I WANT YOU WHATEVER YOULL GIVE ME” AHHHH

anonymous asked:

MA'AM. MA'AM HOW COULD YOU. I can't believe you did this to us VAELON NO

listen. i did it to myself also.

@punkpixieprince asked:

god even when I KNEW how it ended I still cried SO MUCH. I'm still crying right NOW. I imagined it in so many ways but honestly knowing it was an accident, that even after everything he killed her on accident, just really... destroyed me a little.

anonymous asked:

Vaelon: If I like everything *just the right amount* and not too much, then I won't want to commit suicide when it's gone. FORTUNATELY, I only have one person that applies to. And EXTRA fortunately she is now immortal. ... UNFORTUNATELY, there are now TWO people. EXTRA unfortunately, they are now trying to kill each other.

it turns out having gratitude-based cbt and existential nihilism as your religion has its limits as a depression treatment when literally no one around you has ever noticed that's what you're doing

anonymous asked:

What Vaelon Says: I don’t want any of us to be alone. What Vaelon Means: I don't want to be alone, and I don't mind leaving Karzarul alone if it means I can avoid being without one of the two people I can't live without.

vaelon has always vastly overestimated the extent to which karzarul wandered off to hang out with the many cool new monster friends his mom made him, and who he never wanted to introduce him to

anonymous asked:

Excited about the first mention of Moon priests. Also enjoy having my personal belief that the Sun priests are insufferable validated. Vaelon is STILL the only Void priest in evidence, ever. Understandable, seems like a difficult calling. *imagines poor little deluded Star priests running around in modern times being VERY WRONG*

anonymous asked:

They get a little mark on their hand to show who killed who? Does that work with people not-them? Did Leland wander around with a little sun on his hand from killing all the heirs? Is that how he's been telling everyone HE's the heir??? Did it happen to some random guardsman the first time and then Leland murdered him to try and get it himself? *chanting* Mark of Cain, Mark of Cain!

anonymous asked:

Idk if I should be happy or devastated for predicting what would happen for the most part in chapter 21 and 22. But also wth the sun on his hand???? Where are those terms and heckin conditions please tell me those were as immutable as the weapons

anonymous asked:

That Lynette died with her left hand clean makes me feel violent emotions. How many? Monsters with Vaelon’s face and deaths that Karzarul could feel. Enough to get used to it. She waited until he said he wasn’t connected to them. She spat monster like a slur. Sun circle advisors whispered in the ear of a woman who’d asked to be able to commit atrocities that her empire was the world. You’re too good at this, I don’t know if I can recover.

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

anonymous asked:

Yeah, Lynette. You never asked for help, AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM.

anonymous asked:

“Why is it always my fault?” That's a very valid question, Karzarul. I can't think of any time the other two attempted to accommodate you, other than Vaelon mentioning he started helping people because he knew it bothered you, or him taking you back to the lake when you were in visible physical distress. Even when you hadn't done anything to cross her empire, when the only thing you'd taken from her was a small amount of Vaelon's attention, Lynette blamed you.

anonymous asked:

“Of all the fucking things you could have done, You made a new one. Another fucking monster, with his face. Do you think that’s going to stop me? Or do you think you’re proving something, making me kill him? Having to see his face, again and again and again, every time I kill one of those fucking things? His face, staring back at me, every fucking time and now you’ve made another one." ...Not everything is about YOU Lynette.

anonymous asked:

I loved learning that Vaelon designed Karzarul's moon/bug motifs.

anonymous asked:

Gaslight (Karzarul about things being his fault), Gatekeep (Karzarul away from Vaelon because if you can't have him *the way you want him* nobody can have him), Girlboss (of an empire that is actually only negatively impacting your mental health and it would be better for you to ditch that gig)

karzarul just hated to see a girlboss winning 😔

#original #writeblogging #astielleblogging #astielle spoilers

182 notes · View notes