#chapter 17 is already about 75% written

[bad0mens]

(Trying this style of linking because the other one always seems to default to chapter 1)

#octopath traveler 2 #hikari ku #partitio yellowil #hikartio #partikari #partkari #octopath nonsense #tales of bad0mens writes #this short chapter took so long to put together and it really shouldn't have #but I'm running into some pacing issued with the next bits that I've caused myself haha #I wrote some of the exciting scenes and now stringing them together and building up to them is the problem #but I'll get there #chapter 17 is already about 75% written #so it should go up sooner than... 1.5 months since the last one

[ariesqueencobra]

what we used to be | XV

Pairing: Eli Moskowitz x Fem!Reader

Summary: You didn't think joining Miyagi-Do would end your friendships. But thankfully, you're making new ones.

Warnings: dojo rivalry, karate training, swearing, mentions of heartbreak

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: A short chapter but its a good one! Have ch 16 done but I'm gonna give it some time to post cause then it'll give me time to edit ch 17. But we're closing out season 2 with ch 17 and season 3 is next! I already have up to season 4 planned out and a little written, still brainstorming for season 5 and even s6 lol!

Thank you to those who already reblog and comment, I see you and I love you all for it!

I don't consent to this work being copied, translated or reposted.

You frowned as another message to Aisha and Tory went unread. A few days ago, they were blowing up your phone, asking if you were okay. You were guilty that you didn’t respond, but you were going through so much heartbreak. You didn’t want to bother.

Now that you were part of Miyagi-Do and you felt happier, you decided it was time to reach out, the only thing—your friends weren’t responding.

Defeated, you walked through the dojo, phone pressed against your ear as it rang. Relief filled you when Aisha answered.

“I’ve been worried sick, you guys haven’t been answering,” you began.

Two voices scoffed.

“So now you’re worried?” Tory asked in disbelief. 

“Of course, I am,” you furrowed your brows. “You guys are my friends.”

“Funny, I didn’t know traitors are classified as friends,” Aisha accused. 

Confusion filled you. “What are you talking about?”

Tory muttered under her breath and she was annoyed, allowing Aisha to answer.

“We saw you hanging out with Miyagi-Do the other day and we confirmed with Moon that you joined,” Aisha said.

“We thought you just left Cobra Kai, but joining the enemy?” Tory questioned, disappointment filled in her tone.

“I didn’t think I was going to join Miyagi-Do,” you defended.

“So what? You accidentally joined?” Aisha scoffed. “Sorry about you and Hawk breaking up but joining Miyagi-Do is a low blow. Enjoy your new friends,” she said before hanging up. 

You stared at your phone in disbelief. 

“Everything alright?” Sam asked, holding onto the punching bag to stop it. She glanced at you with wonder, her brow raised and blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

“Aisha and Tory completely blew me off, some friends,” you shook your head. “Sorry, I know you don’t like Tory.” 

You frowned, knowing their history. But after what had happened, you didn’t like her so much either.

“Don’t apologize, if they can’t see you’re trying to be better, then that’s on them,” she shrugged before going back to her warm-ups, her punches becoming stronger. 

You shrugged off your backpack, warming up alongside her until the rest of the guys showed up. 

Mr. LaRusso was nowhere to be seen and with the summer heat, you all made it under a tree in the dojo. Still, the shade wasn’t enough to keep you from burning.

“Oh God, it’s so hot out,” Demitri gasped. “I’m sweating in places I didn’t even know had pores,” he wiped his forehead against your shoulder.

You grimaced at the sweat, shrugging him off.

“Alright guys, get out from under that tree. It’s time to work,” Sensei said. 

You all groaned as you got up, the small movement troubling in the excessive heat.

“Mr. LaRusso, it’s like 100 degrees out,” Robby complained. “Can’t we take it easy today?” He was saying what you were all thinking.

“Are you kidding? This heat wave is a gift. Today you are going to experience Shochu-Geiko,” he smiled.

You arched a brow.

“Like the car insurance?” Chris asked.

“Shochu-Geiko is a Japanese exercise where you train during the hottest days of the year,” he explained. “It’s about pushing yourself to the limit. The fight isn’t always gonna come when it’s 75 degrees and breezy.”

“Aren’t we supposed to avoid the fight?” Sam questioned.

You nodded. The whole reason you joined Miyagi-Do in the first place was to stop fighting.

“Sometimes you can’t,” he sighed. “Someday, the fight might come to you. And I want to make sure you’re ready,” he gazed hopefully. “So today, we’re gonna see what Miyag-Do is made of.”

That’s how you found yourselves formed in a circle out front. The sun beating down as Robby stood in the center, waiting for Mr. LaRusso to call out a number. 

“Two!” 

One of your classmates ran towards Robby but he punched him right in the chest, sweeping his leg and sending him to the ground.

Everyone reassembled.

“Five!”

Sam blocked Robby’s kick before spinning around and landing one straight on his abdomen. “Got you,” she smiled, their gaze lingering.

You sent Demitri an amused glance, one he didn’t match as he let out a groan.

“Alright, Demitri’s turn. Come on, Demitri get in there,” Sensei encouraged.

He reluctantly sighed before going in the middle. He raised his fists before Mr. LaRusso called a number out.

“Three!”

It didn’t take much for Chris to punch him in the stomach. 

Figuring it was just a rough beginning, you waited for the next number, which happened to be yours.

“Seven!” 

You lunged towards him. You wanted to give Demitri a chance to fight you off but it was so easy sweeping your leg and watching him fly to the ground. 

“I hate this!” Demitri groaned. 

“Alright, get up!” Sensei encouraged.

You offered your hand, helping him up. “Sorry, Demitri.”

He reluctantly forgave you, putting his weight on you as you made it back to your spots.

“Can we please take a break? This heat is brutal,” Sam sighed.

You all agreed.

“You guys want to cool off?” 

“Alright, I think I can accommodate that,” he grinned.

You were hoping for a trip to the pool, not a freaking freezer storage.

“So, you couldn’t take the heat of Shochu-Geiko, perhaps you’ll find Kangeiko more to your liking,” he smiled with that same grin from earlier.

You shivered as you stood in the middle of the room, regretting you wore a tank top today.

“There are no “geikos” that take place in a spa?” Sam asked, the cold evident in her breath.

“It’s not about the heat or the cold. It’s about adapting to the environment around you and using that to your advantage” he said. “Look around, what do you see?” 

“Frozen London Broil?” Chris asked.

You snickered.

“No, not the meat, look past that. I see the exhalation of breath,” he pointed to Sam. “The twitch of a muscle,” he glanced at Robby. “The shift of a stance,” he pointed to Demitri. “If you lean into the cold, it will heighten your senses,” he said. “And then you’ll anticipate the moment before your opponent strikes and you’ll always be ready,” he concluded.

You understood what he meant, noticing signs too.

His phone began ringing, hesitating to answer before he told you all to circle up, taking the call. 

Now ready, you stood in your place. You watched Sam move about in the circle, looking out for obvious clues. She blocked Chris’s strike before Robby’s turn. They both battled, neither hitting the other and they stopped as they got lost in each other’s eyes.

You used to look at Eli that way. Your heart ached, memories flooding through but they were interrupted when Mr. LaRusso interrupted.

“All right, let’s get Demitri in there,” Mr. LaRusso said.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” he sighed. “Literally.” 

He got kicked right in the stomach.

You sighed out in slight disappointment, knowing he had it in him.

“I can’t do it, Mr. LaRusso. Between the cold and the shouting and the hole in my sock. I’m not sure when that happened but it’s really uncomfortable,” he began complaining.

You rolled your eyes. Knowing your friend, he always had something to complain about.

“Demitri, you are the most neurotic person I know. You always expect the worst,” Sensei approached him.

Demitri sighed in agreement, a bit reluctant about it though.

“But you can use that to your advantage. It means you anticipate. Think of it like a spidey sense,” he stated.

“Actually in the comics, they call it Spider-Sense,” your friend corrected.

“Look, Demitri, this isn’t about who’s fastest and who’s strongest. It’s about instincts, using what’s in here,” he pointed to his head, your friend getting it now. 

With some confidence, he took his stance, raising his fists.

“Two!” Mr. LaRusso called out.

Demitri noticed Chris, blocking his first strike and his second before he punched him in the gut.

You cheered for your friend, and the rest of the class too.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get the next person.

“Baby steps! It’s alright!” Mr. LaRusso reassured.

You patted Demitri on the back, the rest of the class crowding around you.

~

“Sam and I are more like acquaintances than friends,” you said.

It was unexpected to have Moon reach out. Knowing your situation with Aisha and Tory and now barely knowing Sam, it was good to have a friend.

“I’m sorry about telling Aisha that you joined Miyagi-Do, I didn’t think this rivalry was that bad,” she said, frowning as she sat on her bed.

“Don’t worry about it, I guess I would’ve had to tell them sooner or later,” you shrugged, sitting across from her.

“Listen, I’m glad we’re doing this, I really meant what I said about being friends. I did want to give you space though,” she offered, tipping her head to the side.

“Thanks, Moon,” you smiled. 

It’d been a few months since she apologized before the All Valley. You never considered reaching out, still hurt that she wasn’t true to her word about showing you she was serious. But now she is and better late than never, right?

“So how are doing? With the breakup and everything?” She searched your eyes.

“Heartbreaking,” you hummed self-deprecatingly. “Eli was the first boy I ever loved, love,” you corrected. “I have karate as a distraction, but honestly, sometimes I just want to reach out,” you sucked in a breath. “Am I crazy?” You glanced at her.

“Not at all,” she shook her head. “It’s normal to experience that after breaking up. And considering how long you’ve known Hawk, your souls are connected. Best friends, boyfriend-girlfriend, first loves,” she listed, growing giddy. “I can’t imagine having a close bond with someone and it would suck to be apart even if it’s for the best,” she explained.

“That makes sense then,” you raised a brow. “The longest I spent without Eli was when he’d go to sleepaway camp with Demitri. That was only for a few weeks, this has been almost two months,” you hummed, shocked at the realization. “Thanks for being a friend,” you smiled genuinely.

“It’s nothing,” she giggled. “But as a friend, I have something I want to give to you,” she said, reaching under her bed and pulling out a wrapped gift. “I had this saved for the right moment. You’re right when you said talk is cheap,” she handed it to you. 

You hesitated, eyeing her weirdly before you took it and unwrapped the gift, finding a lime green sketchbook.

“Moon, you didn’t have to,” you gasped slightly.

“I did,” she stopped you. “I hurt you, Y/N. I destroyed your property and I can’t undo what I did, but I want us to start new,” she sincerely said.

You grinned, leaning in to hug her and you felt happy as she returned it.

“Thank you,” you beamed. “It does mean a lot.”

#eli moskowitz x reader #eli moskowitz #eli moskowitz imagine #hawk x reader #cobra kai

[lightning-chicken]

20 questions for fic writers

thanks @rainofthetwilight for tagging me in this!! i’m going to go ahead and tag @kumoriwrites, @finn-m-corvex and @mondothebombo (no pressure!). and without further ado:

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

five, at the moment

2) what’s your total ao3 wordcount?

43,430 words (a very nice number!)

3) what fandom(s) do you write for?

just ninjago! i might make stuff for other fandoms, but i’m happy just writing about the plastic lego guys at the moment

4) what are your top five fics by kudos?

in decsending order:

Putting the Puzzle Pieces Back Together - 139 kudos (woah!!)

Current Runs Thicker Than Water - 115 kudos

ERROR: Battery Low - 91 kudos

Unfamiliar, Familiar Dances - 75 kudos

Thin Ice Breaks Easily - 48 kudos

5) do you respond to comments?

yes yes yes!!!! it takes me a while, but i appreciate every single one of them, from the keysmashes to the theories <33

6) what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

(glances at the “angst” tag on all my fics) well, they all have their angsty moments, but i’d say it’s a tie between Thin Ice Breaks Easily (if you like lloyd + zane angst) and ERROR: Battery Low (if you like jay angst)! and rest assured, there’ll be angstier stuff to come >:)

7) what is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Current Runs Thicker Than Water wins that easily! bittersweet but hopeful endings are one of my favourite kinds.

8) do you get hate on fics?

thankfully not! the closest it’s been are requests to update stuff (which i’m getting round to, i swear-)

9) do you write smut? if so, what kind?

nope. not for me.

10) do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i don’t write crossover fics, but i have some au fics planned which involve events from other media!

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

again - thankfully not.

12) what’s the longest time you’ve spent working on a fic? and what’s the shortest?

longest - my wip The Enneadic Logs, by far. it’ll be around two years old by the time i start posting it!

shortest - Thin Ice Breaks Easily, because i had a deadline and i kept rewriting it ToT. but i’m happy with the final result!

13) have you ever co-written a fic?

not yet, but i’d be interested!!

14) what’s your all-time favourite ship? from every fandom?

uhhhh… i’m not an overly shippy person, so if I go by which ship i’ve written about the most, i’d say jaya.

15) what’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i’ve got a rough outline for a nyad-centric fic, but that’s very much in the drafts stage, and i don’t have a load of motivation to work on that.

16) what are your writing strengths?

i love love love going into depth with how elemental powers feel to their holders, and i’ve been told i’m great at describing that!

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue, i think? i tend to overthink it a lot, and usually i have to wait until my brain comes up with something that sounds natural. that’s the bit i edit the most!

18) thoughts in writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

already done it! there’s latin in Putting the Puzzle Pieces Back Together (for plot reasons), which was translated by the amazing @inspectorghoul :D

(i’m now realising that i didn’t translate all of it in the fic, so if anyone wants translations for stuff you can send in an ask!)

19) first fandom you wrote for?

ninjago!

20) favourite fic you’ve ever written?

i can’t choose - either ERROR: Battery Low for the poetic writing style i’m proud of, Putting the Puzzle Pieces Back Together for what’s going to happen in later chapters, or The Enneadic Logs for the sheer chaos that unfolds!

#key’s conversations #tag game #key’s fics #key’s aus #digital reflections au #putting the puzzle pieces back together #error: battery low #unfamiliar familiar dances #current runs thicker than water #thin ice breaks easily #levi tag! #mattie tag! #finn tag! #mondo tag! #ghost tag!

[itsevanffs]

For the writing ask game, 19 & 29?

19. what is your most-used tag on ao3?

'age difference', surprisingly (or not). it's currently got 8 uses, but that will be nine when i'm done with this motherfucking pornshot i'm still wrestling with.

29. what's your revision or editing process like?

so, my editing process is kind of unique, i think, in the way that it's not much of an 'editing process' at all. i tend to edit on the go, which is to say, as i'm writing i hop back to the previous paragraphs and adjust things that need to be adjusted, smooth things out that feel janky, and adjust plot beats when necessary (which includes frantically pinging my friends for kinks to include.) it's a part of the writing process. i don't actually sit down to edit.

i do have a revision process, though, and i can show you it.

----

want to know more? have a look at this ask sheet for fanfic writers, and choose a number! or, if you can't find the question you'd like, just pop me one of your own in my ask box, which is open to anons and non-anons alike.

----

the first step in my revision process, much like plotting an extremely complicated fic, is to note down every big story beat i've got. (i've been organising to rewrite/revise my fic 'in the dark', so that makes for the perfect example. spoilers ahead, mostly for published chapters.) in practice that looks like this:

this list (of which i will not show its entirety) goes to article 74, which is in fact the end of the fic. when i'm revising a fic i plan out to the precise end, and i won't move on from this planning stage until i have the end in sight. this happens with the big, complicated fics too, which is why you haven't seen any of them yet. (sorry.)

next, i digitalise the list and strip or add certain aspects. the digital list is 75 articles long, and has, among other things, 'drunken mistakes' removed, as well as some articles later in the story (around the middle) added. it's very rudimentary and not padded in the slightest, and often 'masked' so to speak since i tend to write in public:

these are all published scenes, so it's nothing you haven't seen before.

next, i go onto the detailed outline, which sections the articles/scenes into chapters. itd's revision will have 17 chapters. the summaries of the scenes range anywhere from this to this to this:

these include a short (ish) description of the scene itself, underneath a chapter (in this case, the chapter's title, too, since i have already chosen those, but in other circumstances it would just be a number), and can include offhand comments by me about, well, anything, can be detailed, and can include allusions to overarching story beats (like in 10, with tom setting lily up as complicit, which is a theme that comes back multiple times across the first half of the fic).

then i start rewriting:

this does say 'annotated' but it's not very annotated. shh don't tell my old self that, it's a secret. i start with copying over old paragraphs that i particularly like (see: opening sentence, 3rd paragraph, partly) and rework the spaces between those paragraphs to flow more coherently.

meanwhile i choose sections to 'discard':

these are scenes that i don't intend to include in the final story that i'd written before in the heat of the moment which i later felt added no meaningful contribution to the text, and at worst even ruined the pacing or undermined a theme i was trying to set up.

important: I NEVER GET RID OF ANYTHING. a collection of, like, twenty to fifty thousand words has a file size of maybe, at the absolute most, half a mB? which is nothing. for reference: cumulatively i've written almost 700k of words that i can meaningfully measure (so in my google docs alone) and, assuming i have nothing else in there and it's just writing, i've used 3.5GB of 15GB of storage. (fun fact: google docs are not the only thing i keep on my google drive! i do huge spreadsheets, have old songs on there that i haven't deleted yet, and 2.66GB of that 3.5GB is a single recording of a radiohead glastonbury performance.)

that's almost 200 stories, averaging at well over 3k a piece (i've got averages, since i'm a bit of a data freak), totalling to less than one gigabyte in storage. the original version of in the dark is my largest document file at 72,551 words and 155 pages, and it is just shy of 750KB. trust me: you have space for every story you'll ever write and then some. never ever get rid of anything you write, because one day you'll be sorry.

i've reused countless old ideas for new ones. 'at the expense of the world' is half as old as i am (wouldn't you like to know) but i only found a way to express it in a way i liked earlier last year, wouldn't you know it. so, yeah, even when i completely turn a fic upside down and shake it out, i never ever get rid of even a single word. i always keep a copy of the complete original somewhere. and i suggest you do the same! you may find yourself recycling ideas later.

but that's my revision process, which is marginally more in-depth than my editing process will ever be. hope this was at least somewhat interesting.

#ask game #ask me #writing process #in the dark (hamlet fic)

[theidiotwhowritesthings]

a fresh start literally is so well written to the point where I FINALLY FEEL LIKE THE INSERT IS ACTUALLY ME. like it’s crazy how well you write it! i was wondering if i could be added to the taglist? 🤍🙏 also that last episode of the mandalorian got me fucked up ☹️

also wanted to ask if you plan on writing more for in a perfect world, you love me (im remembering this off the top of my head rn sorry if it’s wrong 💀) IF U DOO IM LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!!

GREAT JOB ON ALL THE WRITINGS SO FARR!! ur posts always bring a smile to my face!

omgg thanks!! i always worry that i gained mild popularity just b/c it's din i'm writing for (and we're all sluts for him), so when people take the time to tell me they specifically like my writing it makes my anxious heart so happy🥺

In a Perfect World, You Love Me will have a sequel, and you got the name right! Unless I also just got it wrong i didn't double check myself lolol i'm just slow as shit and the show had to go aND BREAK MY FUCKING HEART SO NOW ALL I CAN WRITE IS SADNESS.

Although, side note, in order to offset how depressed we all are I am going to try so so so SO hard to post chapter 17 of A Fresh Start tonight. I'm like 75% done and it's already at 10k words, but I need some Din writing time to avoid thinking about that last episode🤡

#oh and i did add you to the tag list lol #the mandalorian #din djarin #a fresh start #idk if anyone wants to hear me rant on this #so i'll put it in my nonsensical tags #but i feel so strongly that the episode next week is going to give us din/bo and i do not want it #return to sender #i have such strong opinions on this #actually i have strong opinions about a lot of season 3 #opinions about din djarin too but i'm just gonna keep my mouth shut #write my little fanfic #and stay in my lane

[rythmicjea]

20 Questions (plus a bonus) for Fic Authors

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

24

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

222,958

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently: Riverdale (and I have an ongoing Zack & Cody fic) Past: Doctor Who, The Magicians, and Star Wars

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Haven't broken 100 kudos on a fic yet but I'm close!

I. My Dearest Korkie with 91

II. 6-2-4-8-4-6-3 with 75

III. Plums and Mugs with 70

IV. Casualty with 69

V. Kindness in Lies with 54

5. Do you respond to comments?

Every. Single. One. I love them. Fuck me up with questions about what you've just read. If it's not spoiler-y then I'm happy to explain. Hell, even if it might be a tad spoiler-y I still will lol.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oof... that would probably be a tie between We Had Fun (the main character just straight up kills people) or We Belong Together (where it seems like the couple doesn't actually end up together, but I promise they do!).

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I love making people cry. I used to say "if you're not crying, I didn't do my job". But um... do WIPs count if I already know how they are going to end? lol

I'm going to say for finished I Only Have Eyes For You (This will make you cry) and The Magician Queen (this is a classic Holiday Hallmark Happy Ending) For WIP (that is actually finished I'm just not posting all at once) The Suite Adult Life

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet. I welcome thoughtful critiques though!

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

LMAO. By looking at my repertoire you would think the answer is "no". However, I literally wrote a collection of short stories just to write smut. It ended up more tame than expected and very romantic. BUT I do have some pretty explicit scenes in some stories.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

No. I've just not been inspired and I tend to stay away from reeding crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No :(

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I've tried to get people to write with me.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

OMG that's like asking who my favorite child is? I mean that's just so unfair- it's Jeronica. Jughead/Veronica is my heart and soul. 80 years of sexual tension just can't be beat lol.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I hate to say it but... I don't have any. I think Not Another Riverdale Love Story (nicknamed Narwals) is the closest. But I know how it's going to end and I just posted chapter 7 and am currently working on chapter 10. OO! I know, it's pure porn. Just pr0n all day long. Rockin Around The Christmas Tree. I have two out of the four chapters posted. I have the last chapter 75% of the way finished. I just have to write smut for one pairing and then it'll be finished.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Existing dialogue and minute details. I like to use and reimagine current dialogue of the shows into my stories. And I drop blink and you miss them hints throughout.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut. I've gotten a lot of compliments but I still think I suck at it lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm pretty good at French but I love writing dialogue in another language. I don't write whole scenes in it. But I have two characters that know passible Japanese so I dropped some in a chapter. But I make sure to translate in the ending A/N.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Sailor Moon!! All the way back when NO ONE knew what fanfiction was.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh goodness... I love them all for different reasons. I think if I were to do this as Word Association it would be My Dearest Korkie. It's G-rated and less than 400 words but packs a punch! I think it really proves that a G-rated short short story can be just as good as a 300k+ multi-chapter E rated fic.

Bonus Question

21. What story of yours do you think needs more love?

The Suite Adult Life - I wrote this without knowing the show existed until I was suggested clips on YouTube. I never watched the clips, I just did one google search, read one synopsis, and one relationship timeline. Then out popped 100k+ words... I'm still kind of baffled by it lol.

Tagging- anyone else who wants to participate!

#ao3 #writing #ao3 fanfic #writers #riverdale #jeronica #vughead #Star Wars #reylo #obitine #the suite adult life #the suite life on deck #the suite life of zack and cody #cody x bailey #The Magicians #Doctor Who #the doctor and rose

[amicidomenicani]

Question Father Angelo, I apologize again  but I would like to ask you some more questions. First of all I thank you for the exhaustive answer you sent me last year concerning a question of mine, it was really helpful.  Now I am writing to you for a possible clarification regarding chapter 7 of the Acts of the Apostles. Here is the first question: why in Acts 7:14 does St. Stephen say that all the kinship of the Apostles is related to him? Why does St. Stephen say in Acts 7:14 that Joseph's entire family consisted of 75 people, while in Exodus 1:5 it says there were 70 in all? The Jerusalem Bible says that St. Stephen quotes the Septuagint where the number 75 is written (I do not understand why there is such a numerical difference) instead of 70, but I wonder how it is possible that a Jew (even if Hellenized) in front of the Sanhedrin quotes the Bible in Greek instead of the Torah in Hebrew. Does this mean that he could not read Hebrew? The New Testament has come down to us entirely in Greek, yet it tells of events that happened to Jews, so how are these inconsistencies possible? Did the Sanhedrin also accept the Bible translated into Greek instead of the original Hebrew?  The second question regards  Acts 7,16 where S. Stephen tells about the field which Abraham bought in  Shechem. In Gn 33,18-20 it is written that the field in  Shechem was bought by Jacob for a hundred denarii, not by Abraham.  Abraham in fact is reported in Gen 23:17-18 to have purchased Machpelah, not Shechem. Why this error? How is it possible that St. Stephen did not know the history of his own people and that the Sanhedrin (composed of Jews) said nothing? I asked you these two questions because some Jews use them as statements to say that the New Testament was composed entirely by Greeks who knew little or nothing about Judaism. I do not understand why the Septuagint is always quoted instead of the original Hebrew text.  I hope I have not digressed too much, I await your welcome replies and in the meantime I thank you again for all the time you dedicate to us.  I wish you a good day Father, I hope to hear from you soon.  Answer Dear Matteo, In the commentary of the Acts of the Apostles by the Dominican biblical scholar Mark Sales, regarding the number of Jews who went down to Egypt, he wrote: "In the Hebrew text and in the Vulgate, Genesis 40:27 speaks only of 70, but the Alexandrian version reports 75. The Greek translators added to the 70 of the Hebrew text the five descendants of Joseph born of Ephraim and Manasseh, mentioned in chapter 26, 28 of the book of Numbers". Carlo Maria Martini, a member of the Society of Jesus who was later Archbishop of Milan, writes in his Commentary of the Acts of the Apostles: "In composing his book St Luke often used expressions taken from the Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the 70. This is true not only for the explicit quotations from Scripture, which are very numerous, but also for the language used in the narrations. By using words and formulas that the venerable version had already endowed with a certain sacred character, the narrative was given the flavor and the course of a religious story, in which the continuation of that divine intervention in the life of the people that had been recounted in the Old Testament Bible is described" (Acts of the Apostles, Introduction, pp. 26-27). Dealing with the second question about the author of the purchase of the field at Shechem, I must underline that there have been discussions among Catholic interpreters. This discussion is also analyzed by the above-mentioned biblical scholar Marco Sales. He wrote: "Nowhere does the Scripture speak of this purchase. Abraham did buy a tomb where he was buried with Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, but this tomb was in Hebron and not in Shechem, and he bought it from Ephrom Hephteus and not from the sons of Hemor (Gen 23:16-29). It was Jacob, however, who bought a fiel

d in Shechem from the sons of Emor (Gen 33:19-10). Here again St Stephen is accused of contradicting Genesis. Various ways were tried to reconcile Genesis with the words of St. Stephen. Some resorted to a copyist's distraction, who wrote Abraham instead of Jacob: but this solution is not sufficient, since it is not possible that the error of one copyist could have passed through all the codices. Others, however, thought that St. Stephen himself in the heat of speaking had confused Abraham with Jacob, and attributed to the former what belonged to the latter. Saint Stephen, they say, was not inspired when he spoke, and therefore could well have been the victim of an error. St Luke objectively reports his speech without, however, pronouncing on its truthfulness. This solution, too, must be rejected, since, even leaving aside the praise that the Acts give to Stephen, it is not likely that the Saint Deacon could have deceived himself in a matter so well known to all the Jews, and have spoken a historical falsehood before the Sanhedrin without provoking reprimands and protests from anyone. Most Catholic interpreters therefore believe that St. Stephen is speaking here of Abraham's purchase of a field prior to the purchase of the cave in Hebron. Although Genesis does not explicitly mention this first purchase of a field at Shechem, it is presupposed by chapter 12:6-7 where it says that Abraham built an altar to the Lord at Shechem. For how could Abraham have  built an altar and protect it from defilement if he had not first become the owner of the land on which the altar stood? So he had to buy the field, and the news of this event, though not explicitly recorded in Scripture, was passed down by tradition from father to son. Saint Stephen appealed to this tradition, and no one can raise any difficulty with it. This solution is much more probable than the others, and is to be preferred". Carlo Maria Martini writes instead: "Two data are merged here, that of the tomb by Abraham in Hebron and that of the purchase of a field by Jacob from the sons of Emor in Shechem. Since Jas 24:32 speaks of Joseph's burial in Shechem, this tradition may have drawn the others together in a kind of narrative simplification". Carlo Maria Martini's hypothesis is an abstract one. The solution given by Marco Sales seems more conjectural and adherent to reality. I am pleased with your critical and careful reading of the sacred text.  With the hope that it will become your daily nourishment for eternal life, I bless you and accompany you with my prayers. Padre Angelo

[eaglefairy]

I posted 1,318 times in 2022

That's 137 more posts than 2021!

87 posts created (7%)

1,231 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@phoenixyfriend

@bunjywunjy

@dingdongyouarewrong

@outlaw-unicorn

@chipper-smol

I tagged 1,312 of my posts in 2022

#video - 181 posts

#ace attorney - 129 posts

#art - 101 posts

#tumblr - 91 posts

#pokemon - 79 posts

#xenoposting - 75 posts

#cats - 58 posts

#music - 35 posts

#xenoblade chronicles 3 - 33 posts

#queued - 31 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#sometimes you get murdered in your office. sometimes the god pokemon kidnaps you out of your office and throws you through time and space t

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Chapter 5 finale. what the fresh fuck. Back to bullet points because there's a lot to cover here!

LANZ. SENA. ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE SUICIDE PLOY. I never thought I'd be thankful for X to appear and yet here we are.

When Mio vanished at the Homecoming I was like "damn they actually killed her" and then when N "killed" Noah I was like "OH SHIT THEY'RE KILLING THEM?!"

When I heard the disembodied voice say "we only need three more months" my immediate first thought was that the party was going to reincarnate at the start of the game, they'd jack a Levnis and/or save Guernica, and we'd resume from there. Tying in to some previous thoughts I had about how the Consuls never really seemed to take the party seriously, making me wonder if all of this has happened before and the reason they aren't worried about the party freeing colonies and stuff is because they already know they'll be defeated

The flashback sequence in the cloudy area (Memory Space lite?) had me well and truly baffled for a while lmao

When Noah pulled out the sword of origin or whatever they're calling it out of the chest of the Ouroboros I literally shrieked "THAT'S A MONADO!!" because it totally is. Look me in the eyes and tell me that's not the exact shape of the Monado II

Also M's ploy with Mio has an extremely Meyneth and Fiora feel to it, at least to me

So Z. I feel like he's...probably not actually Zanza? I don't see how he could be, though I know that 2 already did some retconning to 1 so it's not unthinkable they could do more. But the fact that he's the "creator of this world" and his real name starts with a Z and the fact that Moebius feeds on human souls much like Zanza fed on the Homs as the Bionis makes me extremely suspicious

5 notes - Posted August 17, 2022

#4

There's a lot of things I could say about all of the that that just happened but also there's a bunch of new sidequests that I want to do so instead I'll just say that seeing Eunie say "I'll never understand Moebius even if I live to one hundred" and knowing that the full High Entia lifespan is far longer than that is just...ow

5 notes - Posted August 31, 2022

#3

I was writing up my thoughts on Xenoblade 3 as a whole when I realized that I'd written a mini-essay on why I like the ending and why letting the nations stay together from the start would've been narratively and emotionally unsatisfying. Instead of trying to cram that in with the rest of my thoughts on the game, I figured I'd make it its own post (since this is much more of a meta piece than the rest of my opinions). Spoilers below the cut for the ending!

3 is a heavily thematic game.  One of those themes is that even if the future is uncertain, it’s worth fighting for anyways.  Noah and the party make that choice, and there are two options for what the narrative can do from there: it can reward them narratively for fighting a fight with an uncertain outcome (making the right choice), or it won’t.  They make the right choice, but the narrative doesn’t reward them for it.  I hesitate to call the ending of 3 a “punishment” in any sense, but narratively it somewhat is.  They make the difficult choice to continue fighting against Z, the Moebius, and the endless now, and the consequence of that is that the worlds separate and they have to leave behind the friends they’ve made form opposite nations.  Why would the narrative punish them for making the right choice?

For a second, I’m going to take a tangent here.  In her Trope Talk on magical otherworlds, OSP Red discusses some of the pitfalls of escapist stories, one being that a “happy ending” in a portal fantasy where the hero is allowed to leave their boring life in the real world forever can actually depress the audience, because we will never get that same opportunity to literally leave the dissatisfying parts of our lives behind.  It’s the same principle here.  The narrative could have rewarded the party for making the right choice by giving them a no strings attached happy ending, but that’s not how real life works.  In real life, we also don’t know if the future we are moving towards will be better than what we’re living in right now.  But unlike in Xenoblade 3, we don’t have the option of grinding to max level and beating the superbosses before moving to the future–that is, we can’t live in the endless now.  In a constructed narrative, we expect heroes to be rewarded for their good deeds because that’s a convention of storytelling: good is rewarded, evil is punished.  Good people win, and bad people lose.  But real life doesn’t work like that, and I believe the impact of the ending on the audience would have been diminished significantly if the uncertain future the Ouroboros were fighting so hard for turned out to be unequivocally good.

The other main theme of the game is about grief, loss, and accepting those things into your life, which is another message the ending conveys supremely well.  Just because everything goes back to the moment the world stopped in the beginning doesn’t mean that anything that happened on Aionios doesn’t matter.  It all mattered!  Just because something ends doesn’t mean it doesn’t have meaning while it’s occurring.  That goes for lives, events, relationships, and even worlds.  Nothing in this world is permanent, not even the world itself, and to pretend that none of it matters because it doesn’t last–to say that nothing we did on Aionios meant anything just because it’s all been erased and it’s remembered by no one–is to say that the only things that do matter are those that last forever, and that is a road that leads to nothing but grief and regret.

And besides, the game is very clear that they’ll all meet again at some point in the future.  Even if Monosoft never elaborates or tells us about the reunion from on high, that does nothing to stop us all from imagining it and writing it ourselves–giving the characters a lifetime of joy, and giving ourselves a path to hope.

6 notes - Posted September 12, 2022

#2

There's still nothing funnier to me than the victim of 3-1 being Doug Swallow, who died with a bottle of poisoned pills in his hand Died of poison? No, he was electrocuted, why would you think he was poisoned?

6 notes - Posted January 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Sometimes I remember that during all of the final battle with Volo, the "BATTLE DECIDED" splash screen never appears: not after beating his team, and not after either form of Giratina

20 notes - Posted May 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #it is. so funny to me that 'video' is one of my top tags #why do I even do that actually. I think there was a reason once but I forgot #anyway! to another year of hellsite living!

[faelicy]

Miss Faelicy I would love to get your opinion on Bingqiu.

I see people posting things like how they are "problematic" and how they don't really love each other and SQQ only feels sympathy etc. Obviously there were struggles between them as there should be (considering all that happened) and just because sqq wasn't very open and super obvious about his feelings doesn't mean they are not there..this is how I interpreted it. I would love to know your opinion

Hello! This also covers part 2 of the previous ask.

First, massive spoilers for the end of the novel. Second, a disclaimer: I despise shipwars, which I think are behind most of those comments. I hate them because it's usually all in bad faith: everyone's already committed to their interpretation of the ships, and any discussion is just a guise for justifying their preferences.

So to any readers: I don't want anything here to be used as shipwar fuel. This post is about Bingqiu's canon arc and themes. Basically, I don't know or care if Bingqiu is a good ship, but I do think it's a well-written one.

I'll start by saying directly: for most of the novel, Bingqiu is neither healthy nor romantic. And that this is not bad writing, but on purpose.

A relationship that drives one party to mental breakdown isn't healthy. A relationship where that party says it's okay to hurt or kill them can't possibly be healthy. That happened because there was something deeply wrong with their relationship, something that can't be reduced to Xin Mo, miscommunication, or LBH throwing a tropey yandere fit.

And out of all three MXTX novels, only SV lacks a love confession from the MC to the ML. Again, I don't think it's an oversight, or just because SQQ's face is too thin. There are plenty of ways MXTX could have worked a subtle one in if she really wanted to.

In my opinion, Bingqiu's narrative can be split up into four arcs: Qing Jing Peak (ch 1-27), Jin Lan City (28-43), Post-revival (29-55), and Reconciliation (56-81). Other than the first arc, where their relationship is pretty straightforward, Bingqiu spend most of the rest in direct conflict.

I'll give an overview of the arcs here, but what I truly want to say about Bingqiu starts in arc 4, so if you're impatient you can scroll down. But the overview might help add context.

Jin Lan City arc is about LBH's anger at being brutally betrayed by the one person he thought he could trust. Here he tries to force answers out of SQQ, who he believes both hates him and is a hypocrite. He's driven by a desire to return to the past, but his rage and love makes his actions contradictory: on one hand he tries to win SQQ's approval constructively, by climbing to the top of Huan Hua Palace and performing good deeds, on the other hand his belief that SQQ doesn't care about him so it's all futile anyway (reinforced by SQQ's own actions) causes him to lash out destructively, going as far as to hurt and imprison SQQ.

LBH's bitterness is portrayed very negatively, because all it does is instill despair into SQQ, until SQQ ends up believing that he's only been a blight on LBH's life, and that he must make up for it by killing himself. Whereupon LBH breaks down, regressing into a childlike state. Some might ask, why does LBH never bring up the Abyss again afterwards? It's because he gives up here. This entire arc is about getting LBH to let go of past wrongs and to stop seeking answers, whether the reader believes it's fair to him or not. Because SQQ's life is more important.

Post-revival arc then is about SQQ trying to come to terms with a blackened LBH who also loves him. Interestingly, despite SQQ's horror at realizing LBH was romantically interested in him all along, SQQ actually has a very subtle but telling secondary reaction. To explain, let's back up to the first arc.

Starting around ch 9, probably as a sign of his growing affection, SQQ begins addressing LBH as 这孩子, or "this child," in his internal monologue, instead of LBH's name. He does it once each in ch 9, 12, 17, 21, 25. However, once Jin Lan City arc starts, SQQ drops the address entirely. LBH and "child" are never brought up together except for one snarky comment on LBH's tantrum being disgracefully childish in ch 38.

At first glance this doesn't look noteworthy because LBH by this point is no longer a kid. But when LBH kisses him in ch 49, SQQ changes again: right away he returns to using "child" on LBH, and the "this child" address starts popping up at a much higher frequency. By the end of SV SQQ has referred to LBH as a child in some manner at least 35 times (yes I went and counted), with the vast majority after ch 49, and he continues to do so right into the last extra.

Why was SQQ unwilling to use this address of affection for over 20 chapters? Perhaps because he too thought LBH hated him, and couldn't bear to think about him so intimately knowing that. So SQQ immediately falling back into it the moment he learns LBH loves him is a sign of his relief. He's still dismayed at the romantic part, but though SQQ likes to deflect from his real emotions (this is the guy who focused on bad naming sense after being fatally poisoned, who cavalierly commented only after it was all over that he'd expected to die), the fact that LBH loves and doesn't hate him, means a lot.

Here SQQ's feelings towards LBH are at their most complicated. He still assumes the worst of him like in Jin Lan City, but now because of the above, also sees a lonely child whenever LBH is unhappy and lost. It's like he has two filters actively interfering with each other, "crazed criminal" and "pitiful child," and so he flip-flops between pushing LBH away and comforting him. But when LBH drags CQMS into it, and even seemingly takes advantage of SQQ's love for him, SQQ's negative image and frustration with him only grows, until he finally snaps and tells LBH to never come near him again.

At this point SQQ still believes that LBH is the same black-hearted, invincible, devil incarnate that og!LBH was portrayed to be. The Reconciliation arc starts by chipping away at this filter that's been plaguing SQQ for so long. First the revelation that TLJ/ZZL was behind the sowers, thus clearing LBH's name at Jin Lan City. Then we see how unloved he is by his own father; we see him injured and helpless and unconscious. Meng Mo yells at SQQ, reinforcing that image of a vulnerable, terrified child. So by ch 62 SQQ has thrown away the "crazed criminal" filter completely, and in that same chapter they cling to each other and finally make up. Because while it's true that the current LBH is misanthropic, antisocial, and mercurial, SQQ has also finally accepted that he's still the same LBH he'd raised and doted on, back on Qing Jing Peak.

Now I'm going to talk about what I see as the most important part of Bingqiu. Yes, despite the wall of text already.

A common sentiment of Bingqiu shippers about their issues seems to be, "SQQ is dumb and oblivious; he can't figure out what LBH needs even though he loves him because he sees LBH as a novel character," but I think the problem is far more complicated and insidious than that. If that was everything, why give SQQ the epiphany that he misunderstood LBH so early? Why have him think in ch 66 that "truthfully, he'd never really trusted Luo Binghe, and that's why he kept accidentally hurting him?" If he's already realized that he shouldn't treat LBH like og!LBH (he even meets og!LBH in ch 71 to rub it in further), why do we go another 13 chapters believing their relationship is good and well, even giving us a sweet, happy moment in ch 75, only to show LBH having the worst breakdown of the novel just 4 chapters later? Was it all just padding to demonstrate the danger of Xin Mo?

Or is there something else beneath the surface?

In ch 66, the same chapter where SQQ implies he doesn't want to accidentally hurt LBH anymore, he says something telling. When LQG is skeptical that LBH can be trusted, SQQ thinks, 家里孩子不懂事，大人不容易做, or "when your child doesn't know any better, as the adult you don't have it easy." The child here of course refers to LBH, and the adult is SQQ, who's complaining about smoothing over LBH's messes. But what is SQQ implying here?

Doesn't know any better? That's what you say about a toddler who can't think for themselves, not a grown man. LBH is 25 and SQQ thinks he doesn't know better. Doesn't know better about what? LBH's wants, his needs? His feelings? Or even what's good for him?

And then you realize that's exactly how SQQ's always treated him, like a helpless child who can't make his own choices.

It's SQQ who chooses to throw LBH down into the Abyss without trying to talk to him. It's SQQ who decides that keeping silent is the best choice. It's SQQ who believes self-destructing in front of LBH will help, who thinks that breaking off their relationship is for the better. And it's SQQ who scolds LBH into tolerating CQMS, even though they hate each other and CQMS is hostile towards him. Who forces him to leave first at Zhao Hua Temple despite LBH's pleas otherwise, who shoos him out the window when CQMS walks in on them.

Every single one of these decisions, SQQ made believing it was for the best (repair LBH's relationship with his family, help him avoid arrest, not wanting to make excuses, wanting LBH to be free of his hatred), and every single one of them only damaged LBH further. Because SQQ's never listened to him, even once. Never consulted him or considered his feelings.

(And LBH did try to bring up his feelings on one of the matters in ch 75. He insinuates to SQQ that he doesn't like LQG calling him "little beast" or "ingrate." And SQQ's response is to dismiss them entirely, saying that LQG's "not wrong.")

SQQ has always loved LBH, but he's never once respected LBH's agency or personhood. Because LBH doesn't know better and SQQ does, so SQQ must make all his decisions for him.

And this, amplified by Xin Mo, is what finally drives LBH mad in ch 79.

To LBH, the important part isn't whether SQQ loves him, which I think he knew after ch 43 (it's why he can be so daring and pushy with SQQ's boundaries). What's important is that the moment SQQ believes abandoning LBH is justified for whatever reason again, SQQ absolutely will.

Ch 80's two-way noncon (since LBH was basically unconscious and couldn't consent) tends to draw most of the attention, but I actually think that what happens afterwards is one of the most important scenes for Bingqiu. There SQQ tries to sacrifice himself a second time for LBH, drawing Xin Mo's demonic qi into his body. Yet the novel claims that SQQ's actions here are completely different than in ch 43. SQQ himself says that this time he's doing it for LBH, while last time he was doing it for himself. But can the reader see a functional difference?

There is one, in fact: it's SQQ's response to LBH's choice afterwards. LBH decides to follow SQQ in death, even though this would void the point of SQQ's sacrifice. But instead of insisting otherwise, SQQ just accepts it. Because he finally understands that whether LBH's life is worth living, whether LBH will be better off, is for LBH and only LBH to decide.

It's the first time he respects LBH's agency. And this is the only reason why he and LBH can finally begin building a healthy relationship on the mess they've had up to now.

So that's what I see as the true beauty behind Bingqiu. It's about communication and mistaken assumptions, yes, but it's also about the nature of love between parent and child. The romantic developments were left to the extras, I believe, because this was the main story MXTX wanted to tell with them. Their relationship as lovers only starts afterwards, hence why SV ends with, "the story between you and I, has only just begun." It was never meant to be a whirlwind romance where they fall in love cleanly. It might not to be to everyone's tastes, but an incredible amount of thought was put into the narrative, and that's what amazed me when I first finished this novel.

(This post went on way too long and I ended up cutting off a huge chunk of tangential stuff and how SQQ came to his realization in ch 79: he didn't do it alone. It took him seeing the LBH in TLJ and the himself in YQY for him to understand. In fact, YQY and og!SQQ's relationship has a similar parent-and-child dynamic. I've touched on it before on twitter; if there's interest I might try writing that up here too.)

#scum villain #svsss #scum villain's self saving system #sv meta #spoilers #fae's meta #translation notes

[blissbins]

Hello! I've been following Deadly nightshade for a while, and it's so interesting! I just love what you do with the plot and characters. Serously so unique and fresh. I love your writing! What was your inspiration behind the story? What is your writing process for the story like (e.g do you come up with the plot as you go vs already having the end planned out, etc)? How much would you say the story is finished (50%? 75%)? What is the easiest and what is the hardest aspect of writing this story?

Hiii, I am sorry for taking so long to answer :(

Thank you so much for the kind words and for giving my story a chance!

I love belladonnas and the concept behind them, I am very fascinated with flowers and plants that are harmful and how it can link to things that can seem good but aren't. This story grew slowly inside my head and it's a mixture of things that are very close to home and others that are very distant.

Initially, I just wanted to write about someone who looks like they have it all, and in a way they do, but there is more to it. So I would say my inspiration comes from the plant (Belladonna), Soobin himself when he dresses in turtlenecks hahahdjdjd, a few songs that I love and speak to me, and my obsession with psychological thriller books.

I really wanted to read something different, and then I thought... Wait, I can write it?!

I had the plot all written down in the first draft, but it's very straightforward like "rich omega soobin wants revenge for this and that and he goes..." I start all my fics like this, help. And sometimes I get inspiration and expand on the thought more and more until I have the first chapters.

(ps: I also have a board with all the characters and their motivations/secrets/past/etc, so I have those settled down.)

As I went on though, the story did start to live on its own and I had to make changes on the original plot, so I made another document called "Main Events", there I have all events divided by chapter. For example, Ch9 (Birthday, Yeonjun finds out, First Time/Rut, Soobin catches a glimpse of something familiar in Yeonjun's eyes)

Initially, Deadly Nightshade was supposed to end on chapter fifteen, but we are behind on events so it will probably end on 17/18.

So, while I have things planned, they change and evolve as I go on.

We have around 70% of it!

With chapter fourteenth we set the final arcs for the story, and that's why (plus my mental health) it's been harder to get through this one. I want it to be really good :(

This story brought me back into writing, and because some parts of it have been living with me for a long time, it flows nicely and I am very certain about what I want to happen, and who my characters are. So it's easy coming up with ideas, and most scenes are easy to write when I am in the mood. The hard aspect of it all is my overthinking, sometimes I want to put too much into some scenes and I have to hold back. Or in others, I think I didn't expand some thoughts enough. I am very committed to conveying emotions and the atmosphere of it all so I work extra hard in heavier scenes, therefore they are harder for me to write.

Thank you so much for asking this, it was very fun for me to answer and think back on things! Sorry again for the long wait, stay safe 💖

#writing #deadly nightshade #my asks

[twincovesgame]

General Housekeeping and FAQ!

Have a question? Thinking about sending an ask? Read this first! Thank you.

Summary: This is a game for people 17+. Demo is coming soon(ish) and the game will hopefully be released in 2022 if I can raise the money for it! 

General Housekeeping:

I addressed some of these things before the overhaul, but posts have since been deleted, so I’ll restate them here.

This is a game for adults. The rating is 17+.   

Please do not send asks with theories, headcanons, or suggestions for things to include in the game. This story is still being written and it’s generally bad etiquette to send authors this kind of thing. Here’s a post about why you shouldn’t send people actively writing something these things. 

But I 100% support the writing of fanfiction, I just won’t be reading it or reblogging it. But please, feel free to write it. 

I also love fanart, and that is far safer for me to interact with. You are free to draw fanart to your heart’s content. 

Also, please don’t send asks to tell me you don’t like something about the game or you’re disappointed about something in the game or not in the game. The game is the game, the story is the story, and the characters are the characters. They will not be changing. Unless I decide to change something. This game is in development after all.

FAQs!

Who are you!?

Sam. She/her. 30. I draw men with sharp cheekbones.

When is the game going to be released?

Hopefully sometime in 2022. However, this is all dependent on if I can raise the funds to make it. 

Is there a demo?

Not yet. I’m still in the production phase, but I hope to have a demo ready by mid to late 2021.

Do you have a Patreon/Kickstarter?

Patreon can be found here! Kickstarter coming soon.  

Are you hiring programmers/artists/writers/editors/etc?

Not right now, but I will be needing a programmer to work with me long term on bringing this thing to life, as well as an editor to catch all my mistakes (I’m sure you’ve already found a few!).\ If you think you may want to be that person, keep a lookout for an announcement on this blog or shoot me a message!

How many chapters will there be?

Right now, ten and maybe an epilogue chapter. But that may change.

How customizable is the MC?

You can pick your appearance, name, gender, and pronouns. This is now a character creator too!

Is there a non-romance route?

There is no non-romance route at this time as the game is basically a romance novel and romancing a character is 75% of the story. 

What is this game rated? Will it have NSFW content?

Right now it’s rated 17+. There is some violence, language, drinking/alcohol, and sexual content. 

#faq #twin coves game

[thecrenellations]

Return of the Thief Notes, Part One: The Book of Pheris, Volume I

Notes from my first read, October 2020. (Part Two | Part Three | TaT)

Contents:  "So, so, so” watch, Costis watch, swearing, trashing the king’s attendants, being objectively wrong, boundless enthusiasm and love 

I promise I’ve had more developed thoughts since these often incoherent ones, but I’ve enjoyed having these notes to refer to - for sentimental reasons and for  entertainment, so here they are, for others who enjoy liveblogs and/or being whisked back in time to their first read of this wonderful book.

Format: Page number. My thoughts (Context?)

Dedication, Table of Contents, Exordium:

There it is – to Sounis

Exordium – vocab #1

Interregnum?!? Alyta?

Pheris!!!

Yeah I love him from the first page

MOIRA

MOCKING COMMENTS HELP! Gen lives!

A new level of unreliable narrator

Moira, messages of Gods, Pheris, messages of __

Wtf is going on in this study? A zoo?

high king vs great king vs annux?

okie dokie dude

Chapter 1

1. Susa – Costis

2. Infirmity – who gets to be hero/tell story (I started reading right after the book launch, in which mwt spent some time talking about her writing influences and decisions connect to this question - Pheris isn’t her first disabled protagonist and storyteller, of course, but it was lovely to meet him properly directly after hearing her talk about it. Book launch foreshadowing part 1...)

Melisande?

Is this why he wasn’t taught to read?

3. Always the summer

Bees!

4. Hunting cat… hm…

Ok … shrine … 😬

5. Once again we start with a disaster or having to flee

Which Eugenides precipitated

Bite!

Little monster :(

6. Falling…

:(

7. :( :( :(

His purpose? D:

8. YIKES

Chapter 2

9. Hello there! (Gen!)

Massive chair?

10. CRACKED WATER JUG (amphora motif???)

11. Triangle from seal!

Gen that’s rude to Pheris :( (“He will fit in very well with my attendants”)

Wait. This must have happened before ACoK! (nope)

12. :(

Xikander … never made an impression before

How old is Pheris? (lol)

13. Philologos come thru!

Royal closet reappears!

14. Hello weird secondhand scene!

He is Eugenides

Marina…

15. Petrus? GALEN? OH SHIT! 

Is this why Galen was called? (nope)

16. Hell yea Petrus

Miras’ golden balls oh no

All these previously unnamed sucky attendants!

17. Ula – goddess of hearth and healing

Ok … Galen … or a god? Eugenides????? (why did these options occur to me before Mr. Shows Up At Your Bedside At Night himself)

18. Finally the attendant floor plans I crave + hunting scenes!

19. EXCUSE ME he slept through Sounis + Eddis wedding!!!

Again – high king!

20. So Ion is beautiful … hmm.

Yeah … Sejanus has facets. I like it.

21. Clearly no one would know what king would do … lol

Don’t mind me just sorting the attendants on a spectrum of awfulness!!!

22. SO SO SO – ION!!!!!

How many fucking attendants are there and how many are on my hit list!

Is “the necessaries” bathrooms or like … him stealing? (just the bathrooms ... the Gen-Pheris parallels were really getting to me at this point)

:(

23. OH MY GOD THE UNIFIED CREST

Also … frogs. Frogs.

24. Big day for Gen huh

Definitely an aura of Something as he writes about Gen

25. HELLO EVERYONE

26. Sorry Kamet, Pheris does the physical descriptions better. They’re beautiful

I’m blacking out at Eddis and Sounis

27. Jesus Christ. The bear.

Cousin time!

Under the table is the new up on the roof!

Uh… twin imagery ….

Gen’s feet!

Jesus. The matching

28. Cleon … wtf? A cousin?

A trial for Sophos?

Show! Us! Sophos’s! Shoes!

29. If u throw things out the air shaft you might hit the king

Was it a chicken?

Lol nvm the guy at night is Gen. That is … very sweet

- Showing up at night

- Accent

- Complaining about Petrus

- Swearing

- One hand

I am judging Costis and Sophos for not describing the paneling in Gen’s room!

Chapter 3

30. Was it a chicken?

An earring huh, good hand huh

31. Literally screaming “NO!” at Gen. Don’t joke about dying! I am killed by Gen on annux day. This is. My boy. Yes he is perfect. Yes he will refuse to get up. I love him. I died on page 31

Philologos is still the best of them

32. Dancing bear indeed

Always the powdered gold

Ruby!!!!! <3

Aww a smile!!! <3

Pheris he likes you!

33. They both love invisibility and lost it … I cry

Erupt like the sacred mountain excuse me!

OR WORSE return to bed! Lol

34. He’s Eugenides when he’s talking to Attolia

Ouch hero talk

! from Irene!

My queen!

Hey Phresine!

They way we do <3 he’s hating it but he’s so comfortable with her

Sister and bro mention! C’mon!

I love them

EYEBROW

35. Honestly that’s a yes (“I have no idea what you mean, my queen”)

It’s so cute they hang out in the morning … like how long was it even since they’ve seen each other lol

:( tough walk for Pheris

Is it prophecy time?

Lol how long does this construction take?!

Also … she’s pregnant, huh? but no one knows (nope)

Is befriending someone weaponized as a prank count for Gen’s enemies to friends list?

Also SHOW ME the magus. I know he’s here!

36. Pheris excuse me, why not recreate this!

Lol cast off language of history indeed

Feel the thrum of the goddess!

EXCUSE ME… a minor goddess? Mystery goddess? Or Philia?

Oh Gen

37. Well, Gen, someone is having a worse day than you.

Damn, how far we come.

Aww Sounis, babe, I love you and so does Gen

[drawing of the four of them sitting in a row]

38. Artadorus???? Pomegranate?

39. HEIRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A friend! Also lol. Two smiles, for Pheris and Heiro..

40. Yesss Melheret joke in action.

Costis has left tho right?

Jesus, Melheret

SHE GAVE HIM A HORSE (I COULD NOT DEAL with this entire conversation, but then again I could not deal with this whole book.)

41. I love them all so much

“on that horse, you will look like a king” I can’t with her sense of humor

He sure did say that

I feel like I’m missing something with the fight on foot thing … remembering battles?

Helen called him Gen!

Sophos stop talking about yourself and bringing apricots into everything lol

Lol these bystanders don’t know how lucky they are. Nor does Pheris, yet

42. She’s protecting him

Also … Gen … you didn’t want to be a soldier.

43. Guards have capes

2 startled men … hm …

Oh Gen. The fucking brutal echoes…

44. :( :( :(

Gen tell your wife you’re sick!

The attendants are so dumb

45. So, so, so :(

Tell who? Petrus?

Wink!

Yes?

46. Bleeding! Salt! Lemon! Heck no! What is he, a piece of meat?

Oranges?

47. “savoring each bite as if it were my last” ... Same … but with this book

Hmm… Alyta! Goddess of the gentle rain! (despite this “hmm,” I did not put the pieces together)

48. Oh no Teleus! And someone?

Aw he realized <3 lemon water

49. Gen eat your broth lol

50. I love them.

Ion’s really trying to make up for what he did that one time

51. Without the approval of the great goddess HAHAHA

I love them. Cousin time! Growl?

Idk whether or not to be reassured, Gen.

Wow Cleon I do not like that. Also didn’t he die? (...)

Comma (“I am not, Eddis”)

Go smack him!

52. Gen I love you.

Helen I love you.

He’s so bad at self care but I love him

Chapter 4

55. love that our narrator just disappears and reappears

56. Attolia’s brother’s bedroom? Yikes. Ominous. A detail in a story we’ve already gotten, different every time <3

57. fucking attendants. 3 good ones. Medander you were beneath Costis’s notice before but I hate you. Costis didn’t have time for you or Xikos or Xikander and nor do I

58. interesting pawn talk!!!

59. <3 Pheris :(

The Gen comparisons though

:( :( :( :(

60. flamboyance <3

Cemphora bush

Bees

61. I love him

62. I love them

Also lol “Your majesty?”

63. Name … hm … (“I have deliberately omitted [my tutor’s] name here”)

64. more twin imagery I swear

WAIT … it was his birthday! Not just Annux day?!! Gen was born in late summer???

Attendant list thank you

65. laying it all out there, huh … (that one Gen quote)

Lol they’re the same but Pheris likes horses

66. Insellia! Hello nice to meet you

67. Gen that’s mean. (“He is hardly even half of one.”)

68. Coleus leves???

“I am Eugenides.” <3

Gen why

69. Gold cups???? Hmmmmm. Also lioness. Def invoking Costis. (they’re probably not the cups, but STILL)

Earth….

70. Moira! Hi!!! Rainbow shawl!

Like a rabbit!

Pester!

I’m … very sad he uses his Attolian accent with Helen

71. Aaah so good

Mortals

Moira knows another messenger?

Does he think he can’t die in battle?

72. hmm are they WRANGLING?! (Galen and Petrus and my Fire and Hemlock word association)

Kill that pastry Irene I love you

morning training with his … guard? (Is that the whole guard or a guard? Costis senses tingling once again.)

73. Oh gen.

Ouch! (“to send people to their deaths and not risk my own is contemptible”)

Is she implying he’s paying Therespides?

74. Interesting Cleon plan. So many doubles

OUCH. (“Only if he comes back from the dead.” I assumed Lader had died in the war; it’s a different ouch now. I love that they both accidentally say things to each other that poke old wounds, and it’s not a big deal but it’s also not dismissed! Their relationship has come so far, and I love them so much.)

75. Verimius – Lavia – Celia??? Somebody is queer in there!

A GUARD

This scene confuses me. Xortix? Layteres? Aris! but dice thing is less political … so maybe? (just wait....)

76. So many reasons to hate Medander

Hey Costis! You exist! KoA happened!

Gen is just … still so uncomfortable and miserable. He chose, he has people, but still.

RIP Clopius also WHAT

77. Lol Hilarion’s grand statements

78. Yorn Fordad Hello!

Luxurious mustache

The mighty Pents?

Besin Quedue – she’s coming 4 you watch out

79. RIP Baron Hippias

Chapter 5

80. Spring! Plays! Cenna!

81. Oh dear

Oh dear

At least they said he was pretty

83. ?!? :( wine

Uh oh. Stockpiling

85. What even.

AAAAAAAAAH COSTIS

86. Omg Irene. Hissing. I love her.

Also … Gen’s the viper

Also this scene was written by Pheris.

Damn.

87. oh no.

What better man

She fucking quoted Howl. I love them.

Also, bees (this scene killed me)

90. Falling?

Oh shit

Also … Juridius and Pheris, Susa and Costis (comparing demands for information)

93. oh my god (IT’S THE WINDOW SCENE)

Oh my god

Uh

94. She! Called! Him! Gen!

I love this and it scares me

Lol Chloe

Irene you learned from her though

95. D:

96. :(

97. water stuff

98. what the heck

OH NO (Quedue scene)

Hm

100. yikes

Omg

Wow.

102. yikes yikes YIKES

103. a blade has protruded from his chest (tbt to The Thief)

jesus

106. shit

Did Gen hit him?

108. lol Phresine

109. lol

I want genuinely every character’s reaction to this shit

Chapter 6

111. what the heck Gen.

112. like a god [crown doodle]

114. Perma?

116. Gen. Gen. Gen. Do not.

117. AAAA (god intervention)

122. Juridius to Dite

124. bye Iolanthe and Ileia! Tell us about Caeta and Silla.

125. did not expect so much Ion

Chapter 7

127. Fryst god of winter

She laughed!

They’re so married

128. OH SHIT (Costis ship is sighted and I remember what’s about to happen next)

Interesting timing

He rode the horse home?

131. Beauty and good, beauty and kind

134. The gods’ goodwill

Keep them safe <3

135. Is that his MOM?!! Wtf (it was!)

Pheris steal those earrings!!!

RING! SMASH BOX!

137. AMPHORA EARRINGS (and flowers)

138. I love Phresine

139. Why do I feel like all the game birds are pigeons

140. meanwhile Gen’s been hanging out with Kamet. Shit. I cannot.

WELCOME HOME BOYS!

HELL YEAH KAMET ATTEND THOSE MEETINGS!

RELIUS COME THRU

141. lethium soup! The reversal

Safe for you

142. of course he knew <3

143. Kamet time! I love him. We get to see Kamet!!!

Also … echo of Gen’s notes on Mede

145. very handsome. … gaycostis vindication (referring to @costis’s url at the time and this post. Little did I know what else was to come in the next chapter and then a few months later with the adaptation news...)

Do you know who I am?

Chapter 8

147. Of course he’s a cartographer

A favorite huh

148. of course she didn’t tell us his age!

149. the angsty window staring I crave

Music!

151. adventure, huh

I do have a soft spot for Melheret

152. concerned about amphora gift

153. Glad they can be well and united in spite!! (Gen and Melheret)

154. Pheris loves math and I love him

155. Hello Teleus. Hello olives

Lol Relius is not into math

156. pigeons. Inkpot!

157. yeah honestly. He tortures people. He was NOT tortured by the king

159. lol (“I have noted the elective nature of certain behaviors” ... I love Relius and Pheris.)

160. The Invitation! I <3 it

161. EXCUSE ME WHO

Legarus!

FOLKS HERE WE ARE (I cannot overstate how wonderful it was to read this page. I did not know who the poem was from, and “Someone loves me very much, even with all my faults” is even sweeter to reread, but it’s just ... his confidence is so different from the tentative consideration of a new philosophy of trust and love we see in KoA. And there is subtextual queerness in the books before this one, some more apparent and some more subtle (and what is obvious to one reader may be subtle or invisible to another, in these books especially), and there is the attendant love triangle a few chapters back, but HERE - here, Pheris acknowledges the real feeling and love in Legarus’s disastrous relationship and tells us directly that his lover was a man, here he seamlessly makes it clear how bi and poly Relius is, and he quietly ties these relationships and realities to his growing understanding of the world. It’s not subtext. And there’s a lot more to come, but this page really hit me, and sort of promised the “more to come” while assuring me that what had come before, more subtly, was there. I used to have heteronormative readings of both these books and myself, and when Thick as Thieves brought them crashing back into my heart after years away, I knew better about myself, and I saw that - or the possibility of that reading -  reflected in the new book, and it was such a good surprise. It meant a lot, and this page meant a lot, and that is why I’m writing a small essay to accompany this note.) 

Lol wow

162. Where are you traveling, man (this question remains)

163. Fuck you, Orutus

164. Stole an inkpot!

165. the map!!! (Kamet’s)

166. I love them!

167. The Math Master hmm

Am I an oracle (Nope! :) )

#there is SOME context #and some rambling #but i'm sure some of it doesn't make sense so i'm very up for explaining anything #return of the thief #the queen's thief #mwt #something i #rott spoilers #return of the thief spoilers

[fauzhee10069]

JoJolion: What actually happened in Mamezuku Rai's past? (with some villains’ theory & motivation)

The X-Files theme is playing... (& TL;DR at the bottom post)

Back in chapter 75 during Ozon Baby arc, we got a glimpse of of how Mamezuku Rai's past happened.

JJL chapter 75: Ozone’s Baby Pressure – part 3

When he was a child, his parents grew prized high-class pears which would sell for millions of yens. However, because their techniques were leaked, a competitor tied to money-lenders ravaged Rai's parents' orchard, ruining their crop and forcing them to sell the land. Unable to forgive his parents' incompetence, Rai secluded himself on a mountain slope and managed to cultivate fruits in spite of the harsher climate. He was found by Norisuke IV and then he was appointed in secret as his personal fruit grower and appraiser.

However, in recent chapter (99) of JoJolion, we’ve been told that Rai’s father just passed away.

In the flashback, Rai told that he found his parent's orchard infested with insects. After informing them, his father rushed out of the house to deal with it, but was killed by a landslide caused by a typhoon. He then attended his father's funeral. However, there was also Akefu as one of the guests in the funeral, though it seemed that no one know him (including Rai).

Back to the present time, Head Doctor Akefu as Tooru’s Stand revealed his name as “Wonder of U”. He also revealed that he was the real cause of the death of Rai's father.

JJL chapter 99: Endless Calamity – part 5

He told Rai that his father had accidentally triggered the pursuing when he rushed out to deal with the insects, causing him caught in the flow of calamity.

Therefore, in these two chapters (75 & 99), it seems that Araki retcons Rai’s backstory. In the Ozon Baby’s arc, it was told that what damaged Rai’s pear orchard was the act of sabotage by the usurpers who were connected with local money lenders to cut the pear branches. The chapter also said that it was because Mamezuku’s cultivation techniques had leaked to other people in the industry. However in this chapter 99, we’ve been told that it was the work of rock insects and “Wonder of U”.

It is as if the story has changed, but the JoJo fandom page (wiki) actually considers it as if the two events took place at different times in a row. But does this mean that Rai's pear orchard had been destroyed twice?

Rai and The Rock-Humans

Wise Anon in 4chan also suggested that the usurpers who destroyed Rai’s pear orchard could be the rock-humans as well.

Then what was the motivation of those rock-humans to destroy Rai's pear orchard, twice?

JJL chapter 99: Endless Calamity – part 5

I think it's still quite difficult to be able to really tell the motivation of Akefu/”Wonder of U”/Tooru as major antagonist lately. But what Akefu said here sounds like a declaration of war between silicon-based & carbon-based humans.

We have just been shown that Tooru is indeed a rock-human. Urban Guerrilla had also implied that the goal of the rock-humans is to be superior being and reach the peak of society (compared to those ordinary carbon-based humans).

Then in this chapter 99, we’ve been told about the reason the rock-humans are created, it is as the backup for those carbon-based being in case their existence fails. But if so, why were they created together and living together at the same period?

There is also an interesting idea by u/Mamezuku from reddit:

What if rock-women no longer exist anymore? We have never seen any rock-woman (besides the flashback), only groups of men so far. What if the Doctors are trying to use the Locacaca in order to create a legacy, a rock-baby? That's why the perfect New Locacaca is very important to the Head Doctor’s gang. Notice how the narrator specified in this very chapter how normal men can make babies with rock-women, but not vice versa. The growth process that a rock-human has to go through is extremely harsh and difficult, hence why there's not many rock-human alive. What if no rock-women survive in this generation and only rock-men are left now? This would be an awesome motive for the rock-humans (Tooru) and so far it looks like it's heading this way.

Rai and Higashikata

Another interesting thing that I saw in Rai's flashback was the Higashikata family as funeral guests.

We see that Norisuke IV along with Jobin and Hato came to the funeral, we did not see Joshu and Daiya, probably because they were too small at the time. But clearly we don't see Caato here, even in panels when Norisuke IV and Rai were having conversation. I mean, she did not appear in this flashback at all.

This implied that Caato might have been in prison by then, which means that the equivalent exchange in her infamous flashback with Jobin already happened. Jobin and Hato also seemed not much different compared to them in the moment just before Caato got arrested.

Then according to Rai’s old backstory in Ozon Baby arc, he got hired by Norisuke IV as his plant appraiser when he was around 17 years old. Let’s do a little math, JoJolion took place in 2011, Mamezuku Rai is 31 (as his name & age were written in the chapter of his first debut). 31-17 = 14 years ago, 2011-14 = 1997, it was the year Norisuke IV have recruited Rai.

Then the time when Caato got arrested, in present time, she just finished her prison term and was released from prison. She was sentenced for 15 years of incarceration. 2011-15 = 1996, it was the year Caato was caught by the police.

Therefore, the time of Rai's father's death and the destruction of his pear orchard occurred around a year after Caato was jailed. At the funeral, Norisuke IV consoled and gave him his support, he also expressed his concern regarding Rai's pear orchard and the fate of his family. It seemed that Mamezuku family was in a real trouble at that time.

Norisuke IV is the man who is able to see someone's talents precisely. Seeing Rai's talent and the trouble faced by his family at that time, he also helped Rai by inviting him to work together as a plant appraiser in his family business.

The relationship between them turns into mutualism, Norisuke IV saved Rai from poverty due to his family's bankruptcy, while Rai helps Norisuke IV advancing his business further until Higashikata family becomes more successful and prosperous.

So what did Caato have to do with all this? This brought me back to her confusing and mysterious statement during her family reunion:

JJL chapter 58: Dawn at The Higashikata House

This out-of-nowhere claim have been causing those Caatofags to speculate and support the theory regarding her involvement with the cooperation between Higashikata and Damokan Group to the extent that they set aside Jobin’s role as an active player in this shady business. Of course, I believe that Jobin was the only one who initiated the cooperation with Damokan Group secretly (outside his mommy’s influence).

But what if instead of working with Damokan Group, Caato has actually cooperated with Head Doctor’s gang? I think HD gang might have made contact with Caato. It is possible that a contact was made when Caato was in prison (given the interval from her arrest to the destruction of the Rai’s pear orchard) or maybe even prior to that.

What motivated Caato?

Perhaps to prosper Higashikata family business and get rid of their potential business rivals, including Mamezuku family. With Rai's expertise, it is very likely that one day his family will be able to rival or even surpass the success of the Higashikata family. However, by (indirectly) bringing Rai to work for Higashikata family, their business will increasingly prosper. Basically, two birds in one stone.

I always love to see Caato as a foil for Holy: if Holy is a woman who is into scientific matters, Caato could be a woman who is more into business matters. Even her design gives a little hint about that:

Caato is already considered an outsider for Higashikata family, but it is quite interesting to see her wearing one of the attributes of the family on her clothes. However she prefers to use the fruit seller mark rather than the family crest symbol, kinda implying that she no longer cared about the family but still cares about their business.

What motivated The Head Doctor’s gang?

Answering this one is quiet trickier, maybe because it’s still hard to really read their motives. I want to return to the theory of procreation above, but what is already clear is that “the rock-humans really need New Locacaca” and we already knew that the formula of New Locacaca is to plant regular Locacaca on Higashikata’s land that has the property of “equivalent exchange”. However, this formula has just discovered after the birth of Josuke as a fusion-human.

Even so, according to Makorin, the issue regarding the ability of Higashikata’s land to do equivalent exchange has long been known by the citizen and most likely the rock-humans also already knew about it. Besides, by blending with society, it is highly likely that rock-humans (particularly the HD gang) have found out about Rai's talent in horticulture. Perhaps those HD gang (Tooru) have intended to direct Rai to the Higashikata’s land and make him cultivate a whole new type of Locacaca there.

Just like Holy, the HD gang is into scientific matters too. So HD gang has devised a plan to bring Rai to the Higashikata family, namely by eliminating Rai's family’s business and making him work under the Higashikata. HD gang may have used Caato to make this happen.

How did Caato (Higashikata) and Head Doctor’s gang work together?

Seeing the contrast of their motives and the relationship between those Higashikata and the rock-humans all this time, I can’t see their relationship as in a boss/the head and subordinates. They might have worked mutually just as how we have seen Jobin and Damokan Group working together. On the rock-humans’ side, both HD gang and Damokan Group already have their respective bosses (Tooru/HD & Damo), whereas I think Caato had worked independently like Jobin.

You are right, I cannot accept the concept that is often believed by other readers, that there is a single top leader among them (especially the Caatofags). What is most appealing in JoJolion is that each individual has their own situations, motives, and needs, they also have different characters and backgrounds that shape them. However, all of that leads them to one objective: the Locacaca fruit, leading to the race of the New Locacacaca that involving various factions.

How did they meet and who initiated it first?

Because this is still purely a theory, I cannot really answer who started this cooperation. So I will answer how this could be most likely played:

Caato

If Caato was really the one who initiated it, assuming that she made contact with HD gang before she went to prison. She could simply make a call or go to wherever the HD gang was at the time.

But what if it started after she was already in prison? At this point, this will be mere speculation and hype (as a result of the limited information we have about her). The big question is how can she interact with the outside world? Caatofags often hold the idea of how OP her Stand is, mostly by comparing her Stand to D4C. The assumption that she was able to make contact with the outside world happened at the moment when Caato was able to take out her newly released cellphone despite her 15 year-long incarceration.

But since when did she have that phone? Has it been several years before (time travel)? Or did Caato always hide her cellphones in prison and replace them with the latest model every year? Assuming that in the first year of her incarceration, she was able to smuggle her phone. Of course the possibility that he could communicate with HD gang was simply by calling them.

Another bigger question is how Caato knew about Head Doctor’s gang? Could it be just a flashback that hasn't been told to us? Another speculation and hype by Caatofags is that Caato herself is a rock-human, particularly a rock-woman. This theory is also being widely discussed again after the most recent chapter 99 gives brief information about the rock-women. For me, this theory is too far-fetched (and almost bullshit).

Moreover, while this theory is still unconfirmed, those Caatofags have already made up a further theory that Caato is the top leader above all existing rock-humans (including Tooru/HD). I really wonder why Caatofags are so delusional… (and this one really sounds bullshit).

Head Doctor/Tooru

I also don't really know how Tooru got to know Caato or the other Higashikatas (or even Rai), we also need to look further into his background and backstory about it. However, being a rock-human he is, this is more possible for him. We all know that rock-humans (which are silicon-based) generally have longer lifespan than carbon-based humans. Rock-humans can live for up to 240 years. Rock-humans also grows by transformation, which causes them to be much older than what they look (example is Wu Tomoki who looks 33 despite his actual age being 70).

Therefore, Tooru himself might be much older than we think. We have seen the birth of Tooru in chapter 99, but we don't know exactly when he was born. But judging from the flow of panels, during the explanation of how a rock-woman gave birth to her baby until the baby grew up as Tooru. We can say that Tooru was born around Meiji era (1868-1912) or even 1901, the year in which Johnny died. The same year Rina was stricken with the rock-disease.

Whatever it is, this makes it even more likely that Tooru knows the history of the Higashikata family, especially if he knows the ability of equivalent exchange on their land. As a long-lived rock-human, he has many opportunities to learn many things and get as much information as possible. Also keep in mind that Tooru knows about “the saint”.

Then how did he make contact with Caato? With his Stand 「Wonder of U」, I am sure that he is able to do it, even if Caato was already in prison at the time. WOU can move through reflective surfaces while manipulating objects around it, it can also move in 2D and 3D alternately. In chapter 96, we’ve also seen that WOU is indeed capable to enter a prison as it was shown when Rai was in jail. 

With the possibility of Caato's ability to hide a phone with her Stand and WOU which is capable to move through cellphone, of course it's very possible they can communicate. Caato didn't even need to have a phone at the time, because WOU is able to move through any reflective objects not limited to cellphones. And as we have seen in the latest chapters (98 & 99) that WOU/Akefu is able to converse with Josuke and Rai.

Though I'm more convinced that Tooru is more likely the initiator, I don't really see him as the boss who's ordering Caato... or vice versa.

This is the difference that I felt when talking about Caato and Tooru (the two main villain candidates): talking about Caato is like composing a fiction where we only get a couple of sentences to develop into a few paragraphs, or even a story. Whereas talking about Tooru really feels like I'm doing an actual analysis based on some factual data, using the pictures, dialogues and information, comparing and linking several related events.

Then, what had HD gang/Tooru and Caato done to Rai and his family?

The key players who had ruined Rai's family (according to both chapters: 75 & 99) were the money lenders, the unknown usurpers/competitors, the insects (which is likely rock-animals) and The HD/WOU itself.

The insects and WOU were nothing but the work of HD/Tooru, therefore the money lenders & competitors could be the work of Caato.

However, the problem is...

It still feels strange if Rai's pear orchard have to be destroyed twice. Also, according to the chronology on his wiki page, the sabotage by money lenders happened first (because in that chapter 75, Rai's parents were mentioned as "father and mother"). After that, Rai's father died by calamity when he went to deal with the pest insects.

This chronology does not support the idea that Caato and HD gang had worked together, as if they had worked independently in ruining Rai's life.

If so, is that really what actually happened?

There is still hope, considering that Caato was in prison, which means that she had limited mobility. Therefore, the first incident of the damage to the Rai's pear orchard could have been done by Caato with the help of HD gang.

Then seeing that Rai's family was able to recover again, HD/Tooru took second action which eventually caused the death of Rai's father.

But the other last problem is why did Caato still care about helping her family business when she had been jailed (and abandoned by them)? As I said before, there are two possibilities: the cooperation happened either “before” or “after” she was jailed. Perhaps Caato already planned it before she was jailed. Whatever it is, it means that Caato had committed two sins and hid them from Norisuke IV: “murder & sabotage”, all for the sake of her family.

Perhaps the first event with money lenders happened before she went to prison whereas the second event with insects & WOU happened after that. Surely, they ruined Rai’s life twice because their main objective was "to get Rai into the Higashikata family."

Another interesting trivia is that Rai's age had actually been retconed from UJ release to the tankobon release. Originally, he was meant to be 32 years old, but Araki changed it into 31. If he was initially to be 32 years old, then he would be 17 around 15 years ago! The same year as Caato's prison sentence and what she claimed that she has role in the 15 years success of Higashikata business. No wonder she thinks that she deserve her compensation.

Also, take a note that the Caato said her controversial claim in chapter 58 whereas Rai was first mentioned in chapter 59 and debuted in chapter 64. Perhaps Araki had originally intended to involve Caato in Rai's past (although I wonder why he changed it for some reason).

I dislike the hype Caato as the main villain, therefore I often try to debunk any far-fetched theory from her supporters. But that does not mean that I shall disregard Caato’s potential role as long as the theory that support it makes sense.

TL;DR Caato might have been involved in Rai's past, she could have worked with Akefu or did it personally. This could be the answer for the "15 years" claim she said about helping Higashikata business back during the family reunion in chapter 58.

That's all I can think about Rai's past and Caato's claim, which are both confusing af.  Though it's also quite odd, if Caato is the person behind the goal of making Rai work under Norisuke IV, why didn't Jobin know Rai's identity as their family plant appraiser? Why didn't Caato tell him?

Read further:

Mamezuku Rai's past and Caato’s missing potential (invalid)

Caato’s potential role in Rai’s past

#jojolion spoilers #rai mamezuku #satoru akefu #wonder of u #higashikata family #jojo theory #tooru jojo #kaato higashikata #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo's bizarre theory #jojo's bizarre investigation #jjba theory #jjba part 8 #caato

[completeoveranalysis]

TRC Translation Notes Volume 19 (Chapter 141 - 149)

We’re catching up now! Here are the translation notes for Volume 19 by @giniroangou.

Highlights Include: judgement from Kurogane, Lava Lamp’s vague goal, Kurogane’s love advice, Sakura is the full package!, future sight clarifications, setting Lava Lamp free, oops Eagle Vision is still a bit of a dick, interesting Fai choices, the changing future, and clarity on the power level thing! 

Chapter 141

Cover page - The official translation is actually correct on this one. Perhaps “The Short-Lived Fugitive” would sound a little better?

p.9 - For some reason they translated it differently, but when Fai quotes Kurogane he is repeating the same line that we saw spoken previously. Funnily though, this was a sentence that Fai started himself, so while he ends up quoting Kurogane as having said, “Sakura-chan is wavering,” the first part of the line was actually his own contribution (hence “Sakura-chan” instead of “The Princess.”)

p.13 - I’d like to point out that the word translated as “wish” is not the same word we tend to see used during Yuuko’s deals. Yuuko grants wishes (“negai”/願い) but Sakura and Fai are talking about desires (“nozomi”/望み). The difference in nuance is subtle enough that “nozomi” can be translated as “wish,” but it doesn’t have as strong a connection to the many other wishes we’ve seen in this series.

p.14 - Mokona is back to saying “Syaoran” with quotation marks when she talks about Lava Lamp. She speculates that he’s fallen asleep right away because he has so many things to worry about. I would interpret her lines at the bottom of the page as a reference to Lava Lamp’s worries rather than Sakura’s, though of course they apply to the entire group.

p.15 - You can remove the “I guess” from Kurogane’s line here - there’s no uncertainty in anything he says on this page.

p.17 - As with all the previous instances regarding Lava Lamp and his goal of protection, there is no pronoun in his original line. He says he’ll protect, and from the context we can guess he’s talking about Sakura, but there’s no clue in the line itself as to who or what he’s talking about.

p.21 - In case you didn’t catch this, Kurogane’s line here is the same one he says back in Acid Tokyo when he’s commenting on Fai and Syaoran both lying. What he actually says in Japanese is “doitsumo koitsumo.” It’s a difficult sentiment to fully capture in English, but it basically indicates that you’re negatively judging a group of people.

Chapter 142

p.25 - The opponent on this page specifically uses the term “good luck” rather than “pure luck,” so Fai is repeating his direct words.

p.32 - Geo doesn’t describe Eagle as the chairman of the tournament, but rather the head of the family that sponsors the tournament. ...which ultimately may amount to the same thing of course.

p.33 - The sound effect beside Kurogane (“piku”/ピク) indicates a twitching movement, implying that he registers Sakura’s response as something surprising or suspicious. While we get twin reaction shots of his face and Fai’s, their reactions end up feeling notably different because of the inclusion of that sound effect.

P.35 - “Jerks” is a bit strong, I’d say. Kurogane says “yatsu,” a rough word usually (but not always) used by men to refer to men. Its tone varies depending on the context - it can be derogatory, neutral, or even affectionate. Here, Kurogane uses the singular form rather than the plural. You could translate his line to specifically relate to Syaoran and Sakura’s situation, as follows: “There’s no way she’s going to know the true feelings of a guy who never says anything no matter how much time passes.” Alternatively, you could translate it in a more general sense as, “There’s no way to know the true feelings of a guy who never says anything no matter how much time passes.”

p.36 - Kurogane continues to use rough language, but it’s not as openly hostile as it is in the translation. I feel like they just took all the subtext of these lines and pulled it out into the open. His original line is more like, “Don’t just assume that if you keep silent no one will know something’s going on.” This helps explain why Lava Lamp seems relatively unfazed, and also gives a different nuance to Fai’s reaction.

p.37 - Eagle tells Sakura, “Your manners are perfect too.” SHE IS THE FULL PACKAGE.

p.38 - That “piku” sound effect comes back on this page, this time for Sakura - again, it’s a way to show sudden increased attention or surprise without a major physical reaction. Here it’s in response to Eagle mentioning that Sakura comes from another dimension.

Chapter 143

p.43 - When Yuuko asks if Sakura is serious, it’s more of a confirmation than a question. Then what’s been translated as Sakura saying she wants to go alone was originally, “I’m going alone.”

p.45 - What Clow told Sakura was not about responsibility but about possibility - “You can choose your future,” or in a more general sense, “Futures can be chosen.”

p.46 - Again, Yuuko isn’t fully questioning here. It’s more like she’s saying, “So you had that power too.” You could go either way on whether this is new information to her or not, but if it is something she didn’t know, it doesn’t appear to be unexpected. She also doesn’t say anything about dreams in the original text - she just refers to Sakura’s ability as “the power to see the future.”

Sakura says that Yukito can see important events that will affect the future, not that he sees everything.

p.47 - Sakura’s last lines here were mistranslated. She says, “If it’s going to turn out like that future I caught a glimpse of, I’ll part from them.” (The last word on the page is “wakaremasu”/“to part from” not “wakarimasu”/“I know”)

p.48 - I interpreted Sakura’s line a bit differently, to be, “I’ll find him… and I’ll choose a different future than the one I saw back then.” It’s a question of whether “at that moment” refers to the future that she saw or to finding Syaoran, and its placement in the sentence could connect it to either, but she says “ano toki” rather than “sono toki” which distances it from the first part of the sentence so… I’m thinking this is what it’s supposed to be. Of course, this still implies that finding him is a key to choosing a different future, it’s just not necessarily the deciding key.

p.50 - This is a bit more clear in the Japanese wording, but Eagle is basically saying that he doesn’t need Sakura to tell him anything because it’s in the nature of secrets to leak out, so he assumes he’ll get the answer eventually anyway.

p.59 - This line is a lot more open to interpretation in its original form. You could read it as a full sentence, “From now on, be free…” or as the start of a sentence, “From now on, freely…” This could be a request for Lava Lamp to stop feeling bound to her or it could be a request that he allow Sakura her freedom. The context points heavily towards the former though.

Chapter 144

p.64 - Instead of just “From now on,” Sakura says, “This very moment, and from now on.” She wants to make sure Fai knows her request starts RIGHT NOW.

p.70 - This lines come off a bit weird in the translation, like Sakura is talking about Syaoran as someone Lava Lamp doesn’t know anything about, and then a second later treating him and Lava Lamp as the same person. This was not originally the case. I would change “one” in Sakura’s first line to “the one” or “the person,” and then when she says that she’s caused pain and hardship, she starts by saying, “For you too.”

This scene also marks the first time we see Sakura use casual language when speaking to Lava Lamp.

p.75 - Eagle’s lines are a little different here. They were originally, “Those weapons aren’t what you’ve always used, are they? Why don’t you fight with the weapon you’re most skilled at? I’ll permit you to use magic or whatever too.”

p.81 - “Automata” is written with the kanji for “mechanical human” (機械人間) but the reading is given in katakana as “automata.” I would actually interpret Eagle’s line as, “Didn’t you have any of these in your world?” I feel like it’s still meant to come off as kind of condescending though.

Chapter 145

p.99 - Yuuko tells Sakura the price would be too high for her to visit any world she’s been to before: “For example, Clow Kingdom or any of the worlds you’ve passed through.” Clow is the only one she names because it was Sakura’s starting point rather than a world she passed through, but it’s certainly not the only world with a steep return price.

p.101 - A little adjustment in nuance: Yuuko says that for Sakura who hasn’t yet retrieved all of her memories, her luck is practically the only weapon she has to defend herself, so if she offers that up as a price she will have nothing left to protect her in the next world.

p.102 - The difference between “alone” and “isolation” is expressed in the Japanese text through the kanji. Both times Yuuko uses the word “hitori” but the first time the kanji is 一人, representing “one person,” and the second time it’s 独り, meaning “alone.”

Chapter 146

p.106 - Yuuko’s use of “we” here was a weird translation thing. There are no pronouns in her sentence, but it can be assumed she’s just speaking for herself.

p.110 - I am mystified by the little movement(?) arrow in the bottom right panel - it’s definitely not in the version I have.

p.119 - A small correction to Fai’s lines - he’d thought it would be all right earlier, but now there’s no time left anymore.

p.120 - Fai’s original line wasn’t about staying in Celes, but about staying in the same world for too long in general: “If I keep staying in the same world and end up meeting the awoken Ashura-ou, I’ll…” He’s thinking about his impending potential fate rather than one he’s already avoided. With these adjustments to the last couple pages, I would guess that Fai was ready to start running again under his own power and Kurogane sensed it so he grabbed Fai’s arm to keep him there.

Chapter 148

p.144-145 - You can’t tell from the translated version, but Sakura and Lava Lamp are operating at totally different emotional levels here (at least outwardly.) Sakura’s lines don’t have any punctuation at all (no exclamation points!) and her first line starts with an ellipsis (“.... Let go”).

p.152 - Big correction to this page: “But one day, if someone appears before you who surpasses the reason why the two of you were restrained in separate places all this time, that enormous magical power, you will…”

p.153 - Ashura’s line could be interpreted as a reference to multiple worlds, but on a more human level it means, “I’ve come for you, because there’s more to the world than this place.”

Chapter 149

p.168 - I believe Yuuko is describing Chii and Freya as resonating with each other rather than the feathers. Yuuko then explains that the the two feathers together contain enough magical power to surpass Fai’s halved power.

p.169 - I would put Yuuko’s line here in present tense: “The chances are one in two.” It’s not over yet!

p.174-175 - Again, there are no exclamation points on any of Sakura’s lines on these pages (or on the last page of this chapter for that matter.) There’s emphasis using bold or larger text, but I feel like the nuance is quite different. Also, her final line is, “Don’t forget, from now on the future can be changed.” That “from now on” is “kore kara mo,” indicating that she’s already succeeded in changing the future, and it’s something they can continue to do.

#The feather portal finally makes sense! #This is a GIFT #giniroangou #who is the actual best #liveblogging the reservoir chronicle #tsubasa #vol 141 #vol 142 #vol 143 #vol 144 #vol 145 #vol 146 #vol 147 #vol 148 #vol 149

[maxtothemax]

Max Einstein: Rebels With a Cause - Review

An anon reminded me the other day that I’ve been meaning to read this book, so I finally did it!

This post is going to include my annotations as well as my thoughts on the book after reading, so... it’s gonna be a bit long.

Overall impression: I didn’t like it as much as I liked the first one. This one didn’t really get any emotional reactions out of me. It wasn’t as exciting as the first one. Part of the draw of the first book was the intrigue surrounding Max herself and also the Corp, not to mention the suspense of whether Max was going to win that genius competition. I think the problem is the personal stakes for the characters weren’t high enough. Like, the Corp went the route of trying to convince Max to join them, several times, instead of straight up kidnapping her. And they did straight up kidnap her eventually, but I wasn’t worried about whether she was going to get hurt, or whether she was going to get out of it. I knew nothing bad was going to happen to her.

Even with the humanitarian crises the kids were helping out with (ex. getting clean water to communities in India), there wasn’t too much suspense with whether they were going to succeed. And yeah, I know it’s a middle grade book, but kids like reading suspenseful things just as much as anyone else, so that’s not an excuse.

It doesn’t help that none of the characters had much substance, either. The villains were all very cartoonishly evil, and other characters had like one (1) personality trait each.

TLDR: It was pretty mediocre.

Annotations

(Made a note that there were typos or other errors on pages 36, 45, 95, and 250. I could’ve missed some, though.)

OK! Let’s see if this answers any of the questions I was left with after book 1. [Update: it didn’t.]

2 - All Billionaires Are Bad. Just sayin’.

How long’s it been since the last book? A few months? More?

4 - I’m sorry? They let her teach?? At college??

5 - Well that sounds like a bad idea.

17 - Ben’s last name is Abercrombie? Did I miss that last time?

[and now that I’m thinking about it, what the fuck’s up with Ben’s backstory? He’s a 14 year old whose parents died and left him billions of dollars which I guess he has full access to but how did his parents even die? And who’s looking after him now? He’s 14!! He needs a parental figure!!]

21 - please don’t make this a romantic subplot

23 - 1. that makes absolutely no sense, wouldn’t the women just tell him to GTFO? 2. if that was gonna be an issue, why not give Max a female bodyguard?

27 - c’mon, this is a JP novel, why can’t they just find some ridiculously tough/strong teen girl and make her Max’s roommate? or have Max live somewhere else?

33 - was that necessary?

43 - Why does Dr. Z have sharp teeth?? What does he need those for??

If Max doesn’t get kidnapped at least once then What is the point??

46 - Why did the news article mention where she lives??

47 - Why are they even trying asking where Max is? That’s sketchy as hell

Ohh wait it’s Max’s friend, actually, not The Bad Guys

55 - for geniuses, they’re not all that smart

60 - OK even genius kids don’t use science talk all the time

71 - ...Are you sure the reason Einstein left Germany was because the Nazis didn’t like his science? Because, uh, he was also Jewish. That might’ve been the more pressing reason. Just sayin’.

[The book did mention that Einstein was Jewish, however the phrasing suggested more that the Nazis disagreed with his theories rather than his basic existence, so that’s not great. You can’t really ignore the historical context of Einstein’s life.]

75 - Why would you make a highly sophisticated AI humanoid robot and name it Lenard??

Also are they seriously trying to get Max to develop a crush on a robot??

77 - Update: I’m already annoyed by Lenard’s existence.

81 - One does not simply hotwire a motorcycle, James!!

86 - This book is written like a cartoon.

OK why does Max get to be the special one on a team of genius kids? I still don’t quite get it. (I mean, plot fuel, but I’m looking for a logical reason.)

108 - Hot take: Klaus is a spy. Or at least accidentally leaking information. Either way, I want him Gone. He’s annoying.

113 - Why aren’t any health inspectors/adults looking into the water problem?

124 - Dr. Zimm apparently has Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, and for some reason I find this unsettling.

141 - Are the villains actually that stupid?

148 - I don’t care that there’s a historical significance to the name Lenard, it’s still a dumb thing to call your teenage robot

164 - Called it! Klaus is a fucking idiot.

193 - Well that doesn’t make sense. OK kind of, but there have to be better ways to do that.

211 - So he doesn’t have a personal credit card? What a dysfunctional adult.

212 - Again, why TF does Zimm have sharp teeth?

213 - Why go through the effort of abandoning him just to capture him again?

233 - Why is Max even talking to Lenard? Why is anyone letting her do that?

Side note: what the hell kind of a name is Zacchaeus? (That’s Dr. Zimm’s first name.)

256 - I’m sorry, what the hell was that transition? You can’t just go “the bad guys showed up! Next chapter! Max wakes up from being drugged.” Where are the details??

263 - @ lenard: you are not immune to being a dumbass

266 - Kid’s a robot, why does he have opinions??

269 - God I really hope Klaus is just acting here.

270 - OK good, and now Lenard won’t be an insufferable little bitch anymore. I hope.

287 - Oh thank god they gave him a new name. Leo is so much better.

Final thoughts: I’m irritated that there was very little revealed about Max’s backstory.

And now I have to wait a while for the next book.

#they speak #max einstein #annotations #not MR related #long post

[unchartedterritoria]

Dangerous (Sam Drake x OC) - Chapter 26

*NEW CHAPTER*

Previous Chapters: Chapter 1 * Chapter 2 * Chapter 3 * Chapter 4 * Chapter 5* Chapter 6 * Chapter 7 * Chapter 8 * Chapter 9 * Chapter 10 * Chapter 11 * Chapter 12 * Chapter 13 * Chapter 14 * Chapter 15 * Chapter 16 * Chapter 17 * Chapter 18 * Chapter 19 * Chapter 20 * Chapter 21 * Chapter 22 * Chapter 23 * Chapter 24 * Chapter 25

As always, you can read the story thus far on A03  HERE

Tags: @jodiereedus22, @shambhalala, @missdictatorme

Reviews and comments are always appreciated!

Summary: Sam and Faith finally get a bead on the location of the Lincoln treasure. Sam finds out Jasper is hot on their heels and finds out in the worst way he ever wanted to. 

Faith grabbed Sam by the hand and led him down the populated corridor. The sun was at its apex of the afternoon, sending tourists off the beach and into the gallery for some respite from the overwhelming heat.

The excitement Faith felt radiated off of her and Sam felt as if he was grasping a live wire. The neon colors that had awoken within her when they had first swiped that diary in Springfield had emerged and taken hold of her again. Sam saw suspicious glances in their direction, more of them being garnered by the second as she half ran, dragging him behind her like a bored dad at Disneyland. Seeing this, he pulled her back by his side to slow their pace.

“Slow it down, you got half the place staring at you,” Sam murmured in her ear. Draping an arm across her shoulders, he kept the two of them at a steady pace as the curious faces gradually turned away from them.

The portrait of a solemn, middle-aged Dr. Samuel Mudd hung square on the wall; the man's narrow chin hid behind a scraggly beard, a vast contrast to the baldness of his head.

A printed picture hung next to it, a large hexagon building of dark red brick floating in a vast expanse of bright blue ocean.

Written over the photo display was a story that Faith now knew by heart. The plot to assassinate the head members of the Lincoln government, the failure of Atzerodt and Paine to murder Johnson and Seward. The trial that indited Mudd as a conspirator for setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Boothe.

A black and white photograph of a cement doorway stood out atop the colorful contrast of the print beneath it. A heavy door with a heavy lock stood open in the shot while a small plaque hung above its entryway. The carved words wobbled, but the sign was still legible:

Whoso Entereth Here Leaveth All Hopes Behind

“Mudd's cell,” Faith said in a small voice.

Sam's eyes scanned over the small paragraph underneath.

"It was an inactive fort, so they used it as a military prison. He helped treat prisoners and soldiers while he was here when yellow fever broke out in 1867, that's how the asshole got his goddamn pardon," His voice dropped to a growl. Frustration pulled at his eyebrows, making his eyes seem to go dark.

“Even inactive, it's massive. If it's here in Key West, how the hell did we miss it?”

“That's because it's not in Key West,” Faith told him while she read the fine print at the bottom of the glossy picture, “It's 75 miles west of here in the middle of the Gulf.”

Her heart was racing as fast as the thoughts in her head. This had to be it. She could feel it, and Sam could feel it too.

Sam's mouth began to travel a mile a minute, spewing forth plans, how to get there, how to find his millions and how to spend it.

Faith stared at the portrait of the famed Dr. Mudd.

Sam's words lost meaning for her as she stared into the dark eyes of the painting, reduced to a dull murmur in her ears. The sound disappeared entirely, as heady anger began to form in its void. A swirling eddy of dark thoughts built up a fury within her that she hadn't felt since she was a teenager, the eyes of the portrait fueled the needless fire.

You son of a bitch. Look at everything you've caused.

"Faith." Sam tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to shift her glare towards him instead of the portrait.

“Whoa, hey. What?” He questioned, pulling his hand back quickly.

“Look at everything his caused,” Faith muttered, resuming her stare at the picture of Mudd.

“All he did was fix the guys leg.”

“And that leg belonged to the guy that killed Lincoln.”

“Not his fault, he didn't pull the trigger,” Sam retorted.

“Guilty by association Samuel.”

“Just because history made him out to be a Bad Guy doesn't mean he was a bad guy.”

“You don't know that.”

Sam brought his face close to hers, his tobacco laced breath wafting up Faith's nose.

“Guess what? Neither do you,”

Faith bit the inside of her cheeks, unable to come up with a response. She could only lower her eyes in silence.

“Alright, now, let's go get this thing,” Sam declared and began to stalk down the hall, a sense of purpose in his step, towards the front doors as Faith tried to keep up with his long strides next to him. “It's a fort in the middle of the goddamn ocean so, lucky for us, there can only be so many places to hide it. We'll hit the bar, Ronni should be workin' this afternoon, she's gotta know a guy we can charter a boat from.”

"You think I'll find my answers somewhere in there?" Faith asked. As the days had turned into weeks, her original search for answers about her family had warped into this larger than life treasure hunt. She had allowed herself to get swept up into Sam Drake's world and into Sam himself. What started with dipping a tentative toe in the water turned into a swan dive into a dangerous blue abyss where the warm water churned with excitement and showed no signs of slowing down.

“They're there, and if for some reason they're not, we keep goin' til we get them,” He assured her.

"What if the treasure is there, but my answers aren't?" She asked, giving the sleeve of his t-shirt a gentle tug, bringing him to a stop.

Faith's answers had always been secondary for Sam on this adventure. Finding that treasure was his primary goal from the moment that Nathan had uttered, 'worth a shitload' and he made no qualms about it either. He wanted to be rich; he wanted a find that was all his own. Finding Libertalia was fantastic for Sam, and as much as he enjoyed sharing the adventure and the discovery with his brother, there was that selfish part of him that kept him wanting more just for himself. In his mind, Faith was just this person he was in charge of. Keep her safe and get her home. Sam hadn't counted on the llama loving, personal demons dealing, Depeche Mode dancing Faith Spencer that had emerged from that dark blue dress two months ago and boldly stole his shirt, taking a piece of his heart and a sliver of his soul with her in the process.

So the question gave Sam pause for only a moment.

“Like I said, we keep going until we get them. It'll just be easier with me being a millionaire,” Sam the corner of his mouth raised into a cocky grin.

“We keep going? We?" Faith's heart fluttered in her chest. She had resigned herself to the fact that this crazy chapter, hell it was more like an insane novel, in her life was coming to a close. The Book of Sam Drake would end with a goodbye, and she had steeled herself for it. The possibility of an epilogue to their story hadn't been a hope for her, until now.

“Yeah,” He said softly to Faith, gently taking the tip of her chin between his rough fingers and tilting her head up until her eyes met his.

“We.”

It was a simple word. Short and to the point. Faith found its meaning in Sam's warm hazel eyes where the two letters spoke volumes.

He released her chin and stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his pants.

“I mean, that is, if you can put up with me that long. I've been told once or twice that I can be a real pain in the ass sometimes,” He said with a sigh, his playful charm back front and center, stowing away his emotional side.

“Sounds like a conservative estimate,” Faith rebutted bluntly. Sam scoffed and continued towards the entrance. After a single stride, Faith grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Wait! Hold up!”

"What?" Sam said, trying not to sound too impatient.

“I never saw Robert. Gimme two seconds!” Faith said, already jogging back down the concrete corridor before Sam could protest. He eyed the front doors of the gallery a few feet away and wrapped his fingers around the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

Might as well have one while I wait, Sam thought and strode casually out through the entrance, positioning himself near the freestanding post ashtray next to the building.

Faith entered the WEIRDLY KEY WEST section of the museum again. This time, the tourist hustle and bustle had thinned out, leaving the exhibit all to herself. She headed towards the small room that held the doll, making sure to avert her eyes from the portrait of Mudd on the wall. For the next few minutes, she just wanted to revel in the quirkiness of something cool.

Faith opened the glass doors to find herself in a small room. The walls told the story of Robert, his origins and his mischiefs in the town, along with a warning: 'Beware! Ask permission of Robert to take his picture. If you don't do this, you do it at your own risk!' Faith smiled and looked towards the right where a giant blackboard stood. A layer of chalk dust coat it, little fingerprints letting the black base show through. A nub of chalk dangled from a string and magnetic metal clips dotted the boards surface, some with small pieces of paper attached. Above it all hung a sign, asking you to 'Leave a Message for Robert!' Faith smiled. Bubbly anticipation welled inside her as she began to formulate already what she wanted to write.

She finally approached the square exhibit case made of glass in the center of the room. Robert the Doll stood on a riser, bringing him to eye level. Faith had seen the Chucky movies, Annabelle and all of their horrid sequels. All of those films had been based on the doll in front of her. She had steeled herself, expecting something sinister looking and found herself to be very wrong.

Robert looked like any other doll in a museum that was made at the turn of the century. He was the size of a small child, dressed in a sailors outfit, complete with cap, and sitting up in a small wooden chair. A fabric casing simply stuffed with straw, his face was basic, and its features merely indented to define them. Small divets dotted the matte brown skin of his face where time had worn it away, giving him the likeness of a child with pockmarks. In the crook of his arm, he held a small stuffed dog with tightly curled tan fur.

Not in the least what Faith had pictured.

“Wow, anticlimactic,” She muttered to herself, studying the quality stitching that held the doll together. “No offense meant, just not at all what I pictured,” Faith apologized, taking a step back and blew out a nervous breath. “I know granting your wishes isn't your area but, if you have any influence, could you please help me find the answers about my family and why we have that Bible? I would really appreciate it.”

“I really like your little doggy by the way,” She added with a lopsided grin.

A large hand suddenly wrapped around her mouth and nose. Sam had done this to her before, which took away the startling feeling she felt the previous times. She began to roll her eyes and froze. The lingering smell of nicotine or the tangy scent of his aftershave wasn't there. Instead, the smell was sweetly astringent, bringing to mind a fruity tequila. It was also coming from a rough cloth pressed between the strange hand and her face.  

Faith clawed frantically at the hand, pulling hard, trying to scream as loud as she could. She stomped her feet blindly to make more noise and with the desperate hope of landing a foot of the man behind her but his strong upper body kept her forward. Her brain pleaded and prayed for Sam to hear the commotion. Her eyes searched for something to grab on to when a heavy mist settled in her head. Faith's thoughts became muddled as her limbs grew lead heavy. The noise from her decreasing struggle began to sound hollow. As her brain slowed and her sight darken, Faith saw a translucent reflection of the hand wrapped tight around her middle in Robert's glass case.  

The hand was deformed.

Sam checked the time on his phone. Fifteen minutes and two smokes had passed since Faith went to visit her funky doll. He contorted his face in annoyance.

"C'mon honey, it's a doll, we got a lot better things to go look at," He muttered openly to no one. He looked around the lobby of the building which had become eerily quiet as the tourists emptied back out onto the beach. He glanced absentmindedly through the doorway into the grassy courtyard. A meter long iguana dashed across the lawn, fast enough for Sam to register a whizzing by of green hues. Something didn't feel right.

She should be back out here by now, he thought, as goosebumps rippled across the back of his neck. Sam stalked quickly down the hallway, his expression darkened and his heart sped with every tourist he noticed was gone, the hall empty. Seeing the WEIRD KEY WEST sign, he broke into a sprint, calling out Faith's name. Sam strode purposefully through the exhibit.

“Faith?” He called loudly, making a beeline for the tinted window room where the doll was.

“Faith!” Sam shouted as he flung open the glass doors.

Save for the doll in his glass case and the decor on the walls; the room was empty. Sam's eyes scanned the room wildly. The writing on the chalkboard made him stop breathing, stop hearing, stop functioning except to read the words in front of him. Written in chalk, in flowing, perfect script.

I've taken your queen. Your move Mr. Drake. With kindest regards, - J.

#dangerous #My writing #sam drake fanfiction #sam drake x oc #samuel drake x oc #OC X Sam Drake