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bits-and-babs · 1 year

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ok i know it's a very specific request but can you PLEASE do a softish joel x reader where they've been partners for a while and they have a lil soft slow dance moment to Fooled Around and Fell In Love and then like.. smut. but like a softish, needy, primal sort of smut iykwim.. i just love soft joel and need more. thank you 🫡

𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 || 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Previous Joel Fics: Mule [5.1K], Atta Girl [10.2K], PlayBoy [3K], Animal [4K]

Summary: Joel’s birthday is coming up, but it isn’t something to celebrate.

Word Count: 3K.

CW: Sad, made me tear up at some points. Touches on trauma, references to gore and violence. A little artsy again. Joel feels guilty, oral (f receiving).

Tease: “Christ- I’ve been neglectin’ you, Darlin’. How could I neglect such a pretty thing?”

Brass clatters against the small wooden table beside the front door to your shared apartment, jolting you from your sleep. It's Joel's keys, and he hasn't set them down quietly to not disturb you– instead, choosing to discard them with the toss despite knowing it would make a racket.

Even in your hazy consciousness between the dreamworld and whatever the fuck this was, you had enough of an idea to understand that this was Joel's attempt to ask for help. His lack of improper communication was less about pride than stubbornness, refusing to share his pain, especially after the raging argument that had preceded him leaving the house without you.

“No, you will be staying here this time,” Joel ended his speech, explaining his next smuggling run with an admittance you hadn't heard him utter or even considered that you might hear.

"Wait-your going without me?" You ask with a scoff, expecting Joel to drop the funny joke. He's not laughing.

"I need to do this one alone," Joel insists, his voice forceful as though his decision wasn't up for debate.

You had fought with him quite loudly but not unnecessarily. You presented to him all the logical questions of what if. What if someone attacked him? What if he got hurt in the smuggling tunnels, and a stray quicker had wandered in? What if Robert and his lackeys attempted some payback for the deal that had gone wrong last week?

It had all fallen on deaf ears, Joel shouldering through the door and ignoring your yells of protest.

The shuffling of Joel's leather boots against the kitchen floor is a relief to you, indicating his safety. It also sparks an unpalatable feeling of guilt, one that settles in your stomach and curdles when you consider the reason Joel had been particularly standoffish recently.

While Joel fixes himself a whiskey, you rise from the sofa slowly in an attempt to avoid detection. You sneak a glimpse of him and find him invested in pouring the amber liquid into a chipped crystal glass. Hurrying, you use the moment of distraction to slink into your shared bedroom and make a point to avoid his gaze.

Calendars were a long-forgotten relic of the past in the Apocalypse. Who would waste precious paper that they could use for a map on something to track what day it was? Regardless, without knowing the date or even what month it was, you always know when Joel's birthday is coming up.

The days would get shorter, and the dying light of the sunset painted the clouds orange much earlier in the day. Leaves would begin their metamorphosis and fade from a vibrant evergreen to a muted, pale rust colour. They’d be littered with cracks and holes as if they were the bodies that lay slumped on the streets outside the QZ, chunks of flesh ripped from their muscles by the jaws of the infected. You were sure that the caterpillars that had no doubt left the shark-bite-like indentations in the green membrane were much less brutal.

And then there was Joel, his mood taking a brutal hit as the memories came flooding back of how he spent the final seconds of his twenty-sixth birthday clinging to his limp daughter's body and screaming into the blackness. He'd washed his hands of Sarah's blood almost two decades ago, but when he looked at his palms, they were still stained crimson.

See, Joel’s birthday was marred with death, so much so that it reeked of decay. How could it be a celebration of his life, of surviving another year, when the whole world, including his daughter, was slaughtered in the time it would have taken for the wax candles on his birthday cake to melt—had he remembered to buy it?

Of course, his forgetfulness had saved his life. The cake’s contents would have turned him into one of those things, scratching at the mossy walls of the quarantine zone with their long nails. However, you are confident that the regret of not picking up the cake box after work kept Joel awake at night as summer gave way to autumn, wondering if it would have been so much easier to succumb to the spores.

Sinking to your knees at the foot of the double bed, its threadbare sheets crumpled and pushed to one side, you duck your head beneath the wooden frame to search for an old cardboard box. So worn now, the seams were practically disintegrating. You take care as you pull it across the floorboards and dig around inside for something in particular.

It's a box of mementoes shared by you and Joel to protect the items that matter most to you. There were little pictures in frames of loved ones, items of great significance. If Joel worried he might lose his precious watch on a mission, he would often leave it here.

Gently fishing around, you finally find what you're looking for. With a delicate touch, you pull out a black cassette tape. It's dusty and unplayed for years. Across its surface lay small, holographic stickers that glint rainbow under the warm light of the bedroom. Their shapes consist of unicorns, clouds and tiny hearts, all strewn haphazardly across the black plastic surface.

The ink on the centre label is written in scratchy child's writing, the lettering large and bold until the opposite end, the letters trailing and squished to fit: To Daddy. Lots of love, Sarah and uncle Tommy xoxoxox.

Rising to your feet, you make your way into the living room. Joel has settled into the couch; his skull set back against the headrest with his whiskey resting in his lap. He opens one squinty eye when he hears your footfalls, watching you cross the living room floor to the window.

“What’re you doin’?” He mumbles, voice gruff and hoarse.

“It’s too quiet in here,” you admit, avoiding his question as you open the cassette player that lay beside the radio that Joel spent all day listening out for. You’d found the little player on a smuggling run in the city and had nearly been chomped on the arm by a runner for it. You were gonna damn well use it!

Joel's eyes burn into your shoulder blades as you swap the cassette tape inside the machine. You can hear whispers of his thoughts in the stagnant air. What is she doing? Why can't she leave me alone? Do I want her to leave me alone?

The tape feeds into the player and settles into its lot with a click. It rings out in the silent room, and it sounds like the safety catch of a gun switching off. You can almost feel how Joel tenses, his muscles primed for war.

Instead of a bullet ripping through the air, a light drumbeat trickles from the player's speakers. You carefully twist the sound dial, raising the volume so Joel can hear the percussion bleed into the guitar.

When you turn to face him, there’s this crack in the carefully cultivated mask your partner wears. A devastating pain flashes across Joel’s features and almost has you backpedalling, reaching across to the button that would cease the agonising sound of his past.

“No-“ Joel speaks up, his voice uncharacteristically emotional. You swear you hear a tremor in it, freezing your body in place when he clears his throat awkwardly as if to hide the ruin that the earthquake of emotions had surfaced. “No… I wanna hear it.”

You swallow thickly, making your way over to the slumped body of your partner as the honey-sweet voice of Elvin Bishop floats across the room. Joel’s emotions had rid him of what little energy he had left, his muscles slumped and body almost curling inwards to suppress whatever reaction threatened to spill out of him.

Taking a leap, a terrifying guess, you slowly pry the whiskey tumbler from his hand, the bronze-syrup liquid appearing as a thin film of gold in the bottom of the crystal glass. Gently, you set it aside, the quiet ‘tnk’ of the cup causing Joel’s body to jolt slightly. Always on red alert, even amid grief.

Your fingertips press into his pulse as your hands wrap around Joel’s sinewy wrists. He’s ageing, his hair greying and the skin above his veins lightly leathery to the touch, but his heartbeat is strong. It pulses heavily against your prints, screaming out just how alive he is when you drag him off the sofa.

Joel defies expectations. He doesn’t complain, doesn’t even groan in protest at the ache in his bones at having to stand again. Instead, he settles his head against your shoulder, wrapping his strong arms around you. He holds you so tight that your lungs wheeze in objection- but you don’t have it in you to complain because Joel sighs against your jugular, and it’s like the relief unwinds every rigid muscle in his body.

It can hardly be called dancing, but your body sways to the beat of the music like a pendulum. Back and forth, back and forth. Joel seems to lose himself in the hypnotic oscillation, pressing delicate kisses across the skin of your throat and inhaling the gritty cologne of apocalyptic life that you wear. You can almost hear the infomercial; “Top notes of sweat-musk and smoke from burnt corpses, base notes containing earthy soil and the metallic tang of blood. Heart notes contain devastating grief and an underlying desire to curl in a ball and die to escape this hellscape.”

Slowly, you slide your fingers into the roots of Joel’s silvering hair. He leans into your touch, groaning softly at the comfort he finds in the swirl of your fingerprints, massaging his scalp. He’s so at peace that you barely even notice him whisper the lyrics into your skin, enchanting it with the baritone of his husky voice.

“Free on my own; that's the way I used to be. But since I met you, baby, love's got a hold on me,” he murmurs, barely following the tune with how quietly he hums each syllable. You cling to him, casting your eyes to the mossy ceiling and revelling in a moment of vulnerability that Joel hadn’t afforded you in months.

“That how it happened?” You ask him with a slight teasing lilt to your voice. You may imagine the feeling of a smile against your throat, the smooth enamel of his teeth brushing the thin flesh.

“Somethin’ like that,” he mumbles, pressing another kiss to your pulse point. You’re sure he feels it flutter. Joel was never a man of many words, and knowing him as long as you have, you could be certain he would rather blow his own brains out than admit to a fairytale ‘love at first sight’ moment. His answer was the closest thing you would get to a confirmation of guilt.

You can’t help but giggle at his refusal to expose the inside of his heart to you, yet simultaneously unable to conceal his obvious adoration. His breath tickles your cheek as he exhales the carbon dioxide from his lungs. You’d breathe it in, if you could, even if you suffocated on it. A piece of you wanted every part of Joel in a desperate attempt to fill the hole in your heart left behind by your losses. By your Sarah.

Perhaps he could feel that in you because Joel pulled away from your neck for a moment, pressing his forehead to yours in the closest thing to ‘affection’ that the brutal smuggler could muster. The tip of his aquiline nose brushes up the sloping bridge of your own before pressing a kiss to your lips. Tender at first, an inevitable hunger quickly surpasses Joel’s desire to ease you with delicate kisses and sweet nothings as Elvin Bishop croons the confession that you cannot pry from your partner.

“I fooled around and fell in love….”

-✩-

It’s miserable at first. Joel’s kissing you like he needs to swallow you down to numb the pain, like those little white pills he knocks back with a shot of whiskey when he thinks you’re not looking. You find him sprawled on the sofa some days, mumbling Sarah’s name in his sleep as tears stream down his cheekbones and into the sparse hair of his beard.

It takes you both a moment, but when your back hits the mattress, something sparks up inside Joel. He abandons his distress in the bedroom doorway, planting kisses up the length of your stomach and sternum as he slots his hips between your thighs.

“Fuck, Joel-!”

“I know,” he mumbles, licking a stripe across your bare chest and swirling the tip of his tongue around your hardening nipple. “I ain’t been as attentive to my Darlin as I shoulda been.”

You attempt to ease him down from his deprecation, to remind him he’s been suffering, but he grinds the length of his clothed cock against your weeping cunt, and it’s as though your mind stalls, your protests overridden by a sigh of relief.

“Mhmm, that’s it,” he whispers, feverish with a kind of emotional need that you rarely see in your usually animalistic sexual encounters. “That’s it.”

Joel yanks your cargo pants off your hips, hooking his thumbs beneath the waistband of the dirtied beige material to slip down your underwear too. He groans at the sight of your glistening pussy in the candlelight, sweeping his thumb through the slick mess between your folds and listening to the wet noise you make for him.

“Fuck,” he rasps, dragging the pad of his thumb over your clit and listening to you meek, watching your toes curl, “Christ, I’ve been neglectin’ you, Darlin’. How could I neglect such a pretty thing?”

“Joel, you’re hurti- Aghh-!”

You let out a strangled moan because Joel dips his face down and licks a hot stripe across the length of your cunt. It’s sloppy and desperate, and you feel the warmth of his exhale waft across your clit and spark hot embers deep in your abdomen.

Locks of Joel’s hair are wrapped tight around your trembling fingers, but Joel doesn’t relent. He drags his tongue against your throbbing clit, relishing how you taste and enjoying how the meat of your thighs muffle the music when they squeeze against his ears.

“Joel,” you beg him, voice needy and back arching against his ministrations. You want to touch him too, want to ease his own frustrations, but Joel approaches this like a punishment. He is serving time for abusing you like this, leaving you wanting beside him in bed due to what he believes is his own selfish actions in wallowing in his grief.

He lazily sinks his tongue into your entrance for a moment, lapping up more of the mess you leak across his face and groaning in delight at how your taste smothers him. He’d drown in it if you’d let him.

It takes you a moment, given he’s working you up into a frenzy, to note that Joel’s rutting his hips into the mattress in a feeble attempt to pleasure himself. He groans softly against your cunt, the vibrations stimulating you and tightening the coil settled deep in the pit of your stomach.

“Fu-uuuck, Joel-!” You keen his name, thighs thrown over his shoulders. The tip of his tongue dances slowly around the circumference of your clit once, twice, three times before swiping back and forth over it. Tears well in your eyes as he repeats the process, and you watch as the wetness on your lashes causes the image of his head between your thighs to reflect back at you like a kaleidoscope, fractured and duplicated and oh-so-beautiful.

“Mhmm,” Joel hums, his hands sliding up your ribs and squeezing at your breasts with his paws. His thumbs trace your nipples, and again your back is arching, your hips rutting against his chin and pushing your abused clit against his nose.

“Oh God, Oh God, that’s it-“ you’re telling him it feels good, but it sounds like you’re begging him to keep going, heels pushing into his back and dragging him impossibly closer to you. The aged, rotten, wooden frame of the bed creaks at your sloppy attempts to thrust against his mouth. You’re so tight, all wound up with the threat of an orgasm, and Joel is whispering against your cunt.

“Baby, come on,” he murmurs, using his thumb to swipe back and forth a little more rapidly against your clit as he eats you out, smearing your wetness over his lips and beard, “That’s it, Darlin’, that’s it.”

You wheeze out a version of his name that sounds foreign to your ears, slurring the single syllable as your orgasm blooms through you. It’s slow at first, creeping, but then it burns through you. It detonates like the bombs they dropped on Outbreak Day, devastating your nerve endings and crushing your body inwards. Joel continues to coax you through it with his tongue, and you’re feebly pushing his head away as it grows and grows, the peak seemingly nowhere in sight.

Finally, it subsides, Joel groaning loudly as he settles his head on your lower abdomen, still grinding his hips into the mattress like a schoolboy. You’re giggling through your heaving breaths, delirious thanks to the liquid warmth that settles in your bones.

“Oh fuck-“ you whisper, voice hoarse and broken from yelling out Joel’s name. He offers no vocal response, instead kissing at the junction where your thighs meet your pelvis.

The action means just as much as those three unspoken words.

END

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#joel tlou #joel the last of us #joel miller x you #joel miller #joel miller imagine #joel miller fic #joel miller x reader #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x y/n #joel x reader #tlou fanfiction #tlou smut #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us smut #1k+ club

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eros-vigilante · 23 days

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The Many References in Teniwoha's Samsa

If you haven't read "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka, the one thing you likely know about the short story is that in it a man turns into a bug. And this is enough to recognize the allusion of Samsa being named after the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, as well as the imagery of a dragging tail and onomatopoeia of "zuki". However, there are several deeper layers to Teniwoha's symbolism of themes and references to "The Metamorphosis" that add a great level of cohesion with Immiscible Discord's story. First, I would like to say that "The Metamorphosis" can be found as a free pdf online, and is a very good short story, so if you have the time and energy you should read it. This post will only be summarizing the themes that are referenced in Samsa and Immiscible Discord and will not include some of the other great commentaries Franz Kafka has. And of course, it will spoil the progression of the plot. Also, all quoted lyrics are from Amiaryllis' english cover, which is also very good and worth listening to. The lyrics will not be quoted in order.

The biggest and first theme the surrealist nature of the story expresses is that Gregor Samsa has been led to - and does - believe that his worth is tied to his ability to work. When he discovers he is a bug, he is only concerned because he is going to be late for his job if he cannot figure out how to get out of bed in his new body. He is determined to go to work because his entire family relies on his job to pay for their lives. ("i've grown monstrous down to the very core of my soul") This is comparable to Mafuyu's relationship to academics. Their mother relies on them to fulfill her dream of Mafuyu becoming a doctor, and so teaches them that nothing matters as much as this goal. Even when Mafuyu is stressed or physically ill, they push themselves to attend school, club activities, cram school, and study. Mafuyu's academic performance is their worth to their mother, as Samsa's income is his worth to his family. ("so could the bravest of souls face me and bear the toll?") When Samsa's family discovers he is an insect, they are horrified. Samsa finds this reasonable as he also considers his form monstrous. It is another theme of the story being from his perspective that he has good faith in his family to the point of seeming either naive or to have a low self-esteem. Actions that are most easily justified as disgust and hatred are rationalized by him, despite acknowledging at points that his family was not as affectionate to him after they began relying on him for money, as well as acts of physical violence such as his father shoving him back into his room.

("those painful fights, fearful nights") This is an interesting thing to compare to Mafuyu's experience of being gaslit by their mother. They believe very strongly- because they were told- that everything their mother is doing is for them, their future, and is in their best interests. This prevents them from questioning her actions and sacrificing their own desires in a self-destructive manner, which is also something Samsa does. For instance, he hides himself with a bedsheet so his sister does not have to see him when she brings him food, despite him finding this uncomfortable. ("craving any smile or attention just from you") Samsa's sister is the only one who still shows affection towards him, as she is the one who brings him food, but eventually she too festers fear towards and dehumanizes him. By the end of the story, the entire family blames their despair on him becoming an insect and no longer believe he is Gregor Samsa. The most direct reference to the story in the lyrics is when his father throws apples at him and has to be stopped from killing him by his wife, Gregor's mother. He crawls back into his room and he is locked inside. ("i beg, don’t throw those rotten apples at my chest before they lock up, lock up samsa") This could best reference when Kaito says that Mafuyu's mother is killing their feelings or true identity. Additionally, Mafuyu's mother places all blame for Mafuyu's recent behavior on Kanade's influence. And as the family plans for their life after his death, Mafuyu's mother tells Kanade that she plans to convince Mafuyu to go back to doing what she wants, no matter how extreme she must be about it. ("if it all goes to plan, then, we’ll soon rejoice") In the end, Gregor Samsa stops eating, and dies of starvation. All the while, he still thinks fondly of his family and believes they are in the right for their treatment of him. Gregor Samsa is used to form a strong representation of the extent to which Mafuyu has been gaslit. ("so please don't tell me that you'll be giving up on reality, samsa") The biggest difference (other than the bug transformation) is that Mafuyu has people who still dearly care about them, and not just for what they can provide. While all of Gregor Samsa's family abandons him, the other members of Nightcord do not abandon Mafuyu. Mafuyu has a reason to live, and people to tell them that they do not deserve to be locked away. ("i know that brilliant light will shine as the clock strikes 25")

He could already hardly feel the decayed apple in his back or the inflamed area around it, which was entirely covered in white dust. He thought back of his family with emotion and love. If it was possible, he felt that he must go away even more strongly than his sister. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful rumination until he heard the clock tower strike three in the morning. He watched as it slowly began to get light everywhere outside the window too. Then, without his willing it, his head sank down completely, and his last breath flowed weakly from his nostrils (Franz Kafka).

#mafuyu asahina #immiscible discord #mafumom #samsa teniwoha #franz kafka #prosekai #n25

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tojisbbygworl · 8 months

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Open House - Toji Fushiguro x Black!Reader - FFL Series

Summary: Toji was never one to go to open houses; he found them useless and a waste of time, money, and energy. Unfortunately for him, his lovely new wife was adamant on attending. Toji - 29, You - 26, Megumi - 9

Characters: Toji, Megumi, Yuuji

Words: 3,894

Tags: Family/Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Suggestive Content (bcs Toji can’t help himself), Toji’s a Good Dad

Disclaimer: This work is part of a Black!Reader x Toji series I started called Fushiguro Family Life. It's basically a slice of life series with you, Toji and Megumi. None of them are in order and can be read on their own unless stated otherwise.

AO3 Version

My AO3

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

authors note: Heyyyyyyy everybody! Very happy that I finally finished this. I love how it ended up and I hope y'all will like it as well! I hope Toji isn't unlikeable here, part of the reason it took so long. Where they live is not specified, but it is heavily based on American culture, so the way Megumi's school is set up is based off of American elementary schools. Okay, I think that's all. Enjoy!

“I can’t wait for my mom to see my project. Ms. Ieiri said I had the best one.”

“She only said that because she didn’t want you to cry like you always do, Miwa.”

Megumi snickered at Yuuji’s jab. They were on the bus finally going back home after a long school day. Him and Yuuji sat together, Yuuji doing most of the talking to the other students like usual.

“I can’t wait for the butterflies to hatch,” Yuuji said excitedly. “My dad’s gonna love them.”

“Butterflies don’t hatch, stupid.” Miwa threw a balled up piece of paper at him. “They sprout.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

“Hey, Megumi,” The boy looked up at the seat in front of him. Yuta Okkotsu peered down at him over the top. “Is your dad coming to see the butterflies?”

He was referring to the class project. All of 4th grade was learning about the process of metamorphosis and the school had a raffle to see which class won the opportunity to care for a bunch of caterpillars and get to see them as butterflies. Their class won and their teacher decided to showcase the butterflies at the school’s quarterly open houses.

Megumi gingerly shook his head. “Dad never comes to open houses.”

“But you were the one who watched their temperature everyday! So like, you basically made them.” Yuuji stops his argument with Miwa to interject.

All Megumi could do was shrug before the bus finally reached his stop. They all waved goodbye to him as he hopped off with a few other kids. Walking down the street to his house, the smile that was on his face began to drop. While he loves his dad, he wishes he would be more involved in his schooling. On field trips he saw his friends’ parents be volunteer chaperones and whenever the school had events, like the semester kick off, their whole families would be there. His dad didn’t seem to care about those things. He only ever asked him if he did his homework, only emailed the teacher about grades, and only went to parent-teacher conferences which he despised.

His new mom, you, wasn’t really involved either. Megumi doesn’t blame you though. He’s sure you just don’t want to overstep any boundaries or make anyone uncomfortable despite his bio mom not really caring. Actually, his mom didn’t care about anything he did either. Not even his grades or behavior in school. Huh. Maybe that’s why dad divorced her.

Megumi’s got to see those butterflies no matter what it takes. He should talk to you about it. Maybe he can convince you. Because Mom and Dad aren’t going to be moved.

He sees you sitting in your car in the driveway. You usually do get home whenever Megumi does. This would be the perfect time to talk to you without his love sick dad interfering and trying to get your attention. You seemed to be eating something, so you weren’t paying attention to your surroundings. He taps on the door and you look up, frantically trying to hide your food.

When you realize it’s Megumi, you relax. You unlock your door and he opens it up. “Hey, baby,” you tell him endearingly.

He smiles widely at you. “Hey, Y/N.” He looks down at your lap to see a Chipotle bowl sitting in your lap. You were almost done with it. “You got Chipotle?”

“I had it for my lunch but I didn’t finish it,” you explain, taking another bite. “I want to eat it before your dad sees it so he doesn’t try and get any.” Megumi giggles. His dad does have a bad reputation of stealing his and your food. “You can have some, though.”

Megumi hops in the car and closes the door, taking the bowl from your hands. He eats a few bites and hands it back to you. The both of you continue to exchange the bowl, finishing it quickly. It’s when you two are at the last few bites that you speak up. “So, how was school today?”

“Really good! We got our projects back today.”

“The one where you draw the metamorphosis cycle?”

Megumi nods and swallows the food in his mouth. “Uhm, I actually wanted to talk to you about something.” You get a worried look on your face and he quickly dismisses it. “No, it’s nothing bad. I just…uhm…here.” He reaches into his book bag and pulls out a folder. In the folder, he pulls out a sheet of paper and hands it to you. Looking at it, you gasp in excitement. It was an RSVP slip for the coming open house.

“You want me to go to your open house?” You ask him happily. Megumi blushes and nods.

“Only if you want to,” he quickly says.

“Of course I do, honey!” You pulled out a pen from your purse and quickly wrote your name. And then you wrote Toji’s. Megumi’s smile dropped and he gulped. You looked over at him. “What’s wrong? Do you not want your dad to come?”

“I…I do. It’s just…dad…doesn’t want to come.”

You raised a brow. “Oh?”

Megumi scratched his head. “He thinks they’re a waste of time. He only goes to conferences and stuff.”

You get a look of realization on your face. “Oh. Is that why I never hear anything about school?” Megumi nods. You become deep in thought and your brows start to furrow. “Hmph. He won’t think that for long, Megumi. I promise.” You hand the paper back to him and he puts it in his folder, just slightly anxious about what the future may hold. But, you were very excited too. You also hand him the bowl to finish and excitedly, he takes it.

Just before his last bite, there’s a slam on his window. You and Megumi look up at the giant hand belonging to Toji. You still looked irritated.

Megumi rolls down the window. “What do you want, old man?”

“Hey, I’m still in my 20s,” he answers.

“Barely!”

“What the hell are you two doing in here, huh?” He asks. He looks down at his son’s hands. He jerks his head to the side and stares at you incredulously. “So you got Chipotle for the both of you and didn’t want to bring me any?”

You gave him a hard blink, still annoyed by what Megumi just told you. “You don’t deserve a bowl.” You say, half jokingly.

“What did I do?” He asks. You don’t answer, instead you goad Megumi to finish it and exit the car. Toji watches his son eat the last bite and smile at him, rolling the window back up and opening the door. Megumi hands Toji the trash and walks inside with his stepmother leaving his butt hurt dad in the driveway.

It’s past 9 when you enter Megumi’s room to check on him. You knock a few times to make sure he hears it just in case he has any headphones in. He does and you hear some shuffling before he finally shouts, “Come in!”

You open the door to the dark room with only his bed being lit up by his night light which you have sworn to secrecy to never tell his friends that he still needs it. You smile at him snuggled up in his sheets. “Did I wake you?” You ask him, already knowing the answer. Megumi shakes his head.

“Okay. Good night then.” You tell him, blowing him a kiss.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he tells you, ready to whip out his switch that was hiding under his pillow when the door closes. “Oh, wait, Y/N?”

You enter back into the doorway. “Yes?”

Megumi hesitates to ask you, but he gathers up his courage. “Is dad really going to come to the open house this time?” he asks.

He relaxes when you give him your sweet smile. “I promise he will,” you tell him.

With that Megumi nods and turns over leaving you to close his door and head to your own room, already knowing Toji’s going to have a time trying to wake him up tomorrow. He really thinks he’s slick pretending that he doesn’t play on his switch when he should be asleep, but you can always tell when he wakes up the next day, groggy as all hell, looking like he could drop any minute.

When you finally enter your room, your darling husband is there to await you. His large body is spread across the bed, waiting for you to get in with him. He grins at you with his hands behind his head shifting his lower body down. “Hey, beautiful,” he winks at you stupidly.

Whereas any other day you would fall for his charm, you were not amused by him. You ‘hmph’ and walk to the other side of the bed where you use all your strength to throw the rest of his big body ass on the opposite side and fall into the mattress. Toji, who was finally fed up with the animosity you’ve been having towards him all day, sits up and looks at you.

“Okay, what’s the problem?” he asks. “You’ve been mad at me since we got home. You even let Megumi eat the ice cream you said I could have.” He sounded so whiny, you couldn’t help but giggle at his ridiculousness. “So you’re just being a brat for no reason?”

“No,” you finally answer. You shift your body around to face him and he wraps his arm around your torso to kiss you. “I am upset with you.”

“But why? What did I do?” he asks.

You sigh and sit yourself up on your elbow. “Megumi told me something interesting.”

Toji began to think the worst. He thought the kid had let one of his deep dark secrets slip, like when you still lived on your own and Toji would hang onto his phone like an addict just waiting on a text from you. “Oh, yeah?” He played it off.

You nodded. “He told me you don’t like coming to fun events for school. Like field trips and parties. And open houses…” you trailed off.

Toji narrowed his eyes. “Open houses are not fun. Did he bother you about that shit today?”

You slap his chest. “He did not bother me, he asked me sweetly and I said yes.”

Toji scoffs. “Well, you have fun with that-“

“And you’re coming too.”

Toji’s jaw hangs open as he looks at you in disbelief. “What do you mean I’m coming too?”

“I signed your name up on his little RSVP paper, and-“

“Babe,” he says exasperated. You glare at him, not appreciating how much of a baby he was being. Honestly, if he was any more dramatic it would give you the ick for days. “Come on,”

“Wha-, you come on!” You say disappointed. “What is wrong with you? It’s just an open house.”

Not wanting to argue with you anymore, Toji sighs and gives up. He knows there’s nothing he could say to keep him from going, and he would hate to disappoint you any more than you already are. He kisses your forehead and holds your cheek. “Okay, baby. I’m sorry. I’ll go.”

You still weren’t satisfied. You knew he was only saying that because he didn’t want to upset you anymore, not because he had a change of heart. But, you got what you wanted, there’s no point in stretching things out. So you kissed his lips and smiled at him. “Thank you, baby.”

You were ready to sleep, but of course, he took that as an invitation. He smirked at you and leaned in for another kiss which you happily gave him. Then, he took more and more from you, squeezing you closer to him. He moved his hands down your body pushing your torso into his and sticking his tongue in your mouth. You squeal and pull away giggling at him. “Babe-,”

“Shh, come here.” He whispers, attacking your neck immediately afterwards. You stifle your moan by biting your lip. You knew you were getting worn out tonight. Good thing you don’t work tomorrow morning.

It’s the night of the open house and the school is bustling with parents, students, and staff alike. There’s a general welcome area with information about upcoming school events, and any questions that parents may have along with snack tables. You were walking right behind Megumi who was excited. Even though he was perfectly calm and walking leisurely, you could see from the small smile on his face that he was happy.

Toji could see it too. He was walking behind the both of you, not too far away. He’d never seen Megumi more relaxed or ready to leave the house before. It was weird.

Megumi led his parents to the 4th grade corridor where he pointed out various class projects that littered the walls in front of each classroom. “Mr. Geto’s class made this really cool honeycomb project. They were all given a hexagon and drew their own bees on it.” He explained to you. You oohed and aahed at everything he pointed out. He seemed to want to tell you about all the projects his friends made as well.

Before you all got to his class at the end of the hall, you looked around for your giant of a husband and found him practically dragging his feet towards you. You glared at him which made him roll his eyes and pick up the pace. Quickly you looked at Megumi sighing in relief that he didn’t notice.

“Oh, sweetie,” you say to him when you all reach Ms. Ieiri’s room. “Did you guys not have a class project? What about the metamorphosis thing?”

Megumi grins at you. “That’s on the wall inside. Our project was really cool and special. You’ll see.”

With that, you all walked inside and took your seats. Megumi sat you all around his desk, with him getting up to talk to his friends when they arrived too. Yuuji was the most excited to see him. “Megumi!” He shouted running over to him. Megumibarely had time to get up before he was practically tackled. “You’re here!”

The pink haired boy got off of him and smiled at you while holding his arms out. “Hi, Mrs. L/N.”

Miwa rears her head out of nowhere taking the hug you were going to give Yuuji. She sticks her tongue out at him. “It’s Mrs. Fushiguro now, dummy.”

“Don’t call him dummy!” Nobara, who also just walked in, scolds.

“You should hear how she talks to me on the bus,” Yuuji interjects. Megumi, quiet as ever, is just happy to be here.

So are you. The kids are hilarious and make you giggle. But you shouldn’t be getting entertained by a bunch of children, you should be speaking with your husband. You turn to talk to him, only to see him knee deep in his phone, leaning against the chair like no one’s business.

You scoff. “You could pretend to be interested,” you lean over and whisper to him.

“Hasn’t even started yet,” he responds, not taking his eyes off the screen. You roll yours. You guess he’s right, but it’s the principle of it all.

At 8:00 on the dot, Shoko claps her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Okay everyone, we’ll be starting now so please take your seats.” You give Toji a sharp glare. He glances up at you, rolls his eyes again, and puts his phone away.

Shoko starts off with a welcome and a thank you. From then she wastes no time eager to talk about the assignments and fun projects that the kids have done. She seems like she’s rushing, and you don’t really understand why until you remember the ‘special project.’

“The children cut out, pasted, and colored in the cycle of metamorphosis which they all absolutely killed,” she starts another round of applause which everyone joined in for. Everyone except Toji.

If he looked as though he didn’t want to be there, that would be correct. He did not want to be there at all. He was looking around lazily at all the projects and Megumi’s own caught his eye every time. It was cute…but that’s all it was to him.

He really didn’t need to be here. At all. But you felt as though he did. Why? Why couldn’t it have just been you? Megumi has amazing grades, outstanding behavior, and perfect attendance. He has good friends and doesn’t get bullied, what else is there to talk about? At least, that’s how he sees it.

He’s so busy sulking that he failed to see his wife giving him a death stare. You were over his piss poor attitude and was ready to stick your foot in his ass. When Toji finally looked towards the front of the class, he saw the steam leave your ears and nostrils and gulped. You turned around and whispered into Megumi’s ear. Then, without bringing too much attention to yourself, you hit Toji’s shoulder and walk out the classroom, with him following suit.

The both of you walked a good distance from the class into the hallways where it was mostly empty. You stop to look at him and he leans against a wall. “What’s going on?” You ask him.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean why have you been so…I don’t know…disconnected tonight?” You raise your arms in frustration. “What was the point of us coming here if you’re not going to pay any attention?”

He lifts himself off the wall. “You know, that is a good question.” You fold your arms. “What is the point of bringing me here? In fact, I’m still not sure what the point of being here is either.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying that I hate coming to these things because they never talk about anything important.” He finally says. “Just things that they do for fun in class. I don’t need to know about that.”

You shake your head at him. “Why are you so disinterested in Megumi’s schooling?”

“Now you’re putting words in my mouth.” He holds his finger up at you. He thought he was making himself clear, but he’d be damned if you were going to accuse him of being a dead beat. “I care about Megumi’s education, but this other shit, cute projects and festivals, those aren’t important.”

As you try to piece together your thoughts, he finalized his opinion. “Megumi is a good student. That’s all that matters.”

Finally, you let out a sigh. “You know what, you’re right,” you start, shocking your husband. “The stuff on the side isn’t important in the grand scheme of things. But…it is important to Megumi.”

Toji opens his mouth, but quickly realizes he doesn’t have a response. “Have you looked at him at all tonight?” You ask. “Have you ever seen him so energized? He’s happy.”

Have you ever wondered why he thinks you’re so boring?” Toji jerks his head back. Where did that come from? “It’s because you’re only into the boring shit. Grades and behavior marks are boring, babe. Drawing, arts and crafts, games, music, candy, the zoo; those are all fun. And Megumi loves that, so we have to love it too.”

“I-“

“He was so excited that you were coming tonight. They have something special going on that he really didn’t want to miss. Megumi wants you here, baby. And, I bet he’ll be an angel now.”

Toji looks at the ground and thinks about what you said. You were right, Megumi was very happy tonight. And he starts to realize something; he’s only ever seen Megumi’s homework and test grades. He hadn’t seen an arts and crafts project or a drawing he made since preschool where that was all they did. Megumi thinks that- no. He knows that his father doesn’t care about that. And that thought…hurts.

He didn’t care, but he’ll start now.

“You’re right,” he tells you, even though you definitely already know. “I guess…I never liked this kind of shit when I was a kid. I didn’t really have great friends and my family never cared either.” He looks up at you. “I tried really hard to make sure Megumi didn’t grow up like I did, I think I overlooked a few things.”

“But, you’re an amazing father, baby. Megumi loves you, even though you are boring,” you jest. Toji laughs warmly and approaches you. He kisses your lips and pulls you in for an embrace.

He loves you; so much. You’re so caring and mindful of his son. He knew you would be a great stepmother. He couldn’t wait to officially give you that title when you finally said your vows only last year.

“Let’s go back before we miss the surprise.”

You gasped when Shoko finally talked about the butterfly project. They were gorgeous with orange wings and yellow tips, native to the region. They were currently inside a blue tent with the keeper. Since Megumi had the most important job as the temperature keeper, a fact that got a pat and a head rub from his father, your family, along with the Itadori’s, got to go in first.

Megumi and Yuuji couldn’t contain their excitement for a second and had to be scolded to sit down by their parents. You sat next to Toji, a butterfly landing in your locs that were currently Toji’s favorite color, Cajun Spice. One lands on Megumi’s and Yuuji’s noses, making you squeal from how cute it was and leading you to pull out your phone to take a picture. Toji pulls out his as well, snapping one of you before the butterfly has a chance to fly away. Luckily, many of them had the same idea and your hair was covered in them. You were so beautiful, they could pass for actual hair accessories. Toji took a picture of you smiling.

You all laughed when they started landing on him, the entire tent cackling when he was covered with them. His miffed face added to the atmosphere, and you took as many pictures as you could.

When it was all said and done, you all began walking back to the car. You ran to the bathroom, telling the boys not to wait up. So, it was Toji’s and Megumi walking into the parking lot.

It was quiet for a second, Toji thinking about all the ways he could make it up to his son and looking at the upcoming events flier to see one that may interest him. Suddenly, he feels a smaller body on his legs and torso. It was Megumi giving him a hug.

“Thanks for coming, dad,” he says quickly, the sound almost completely muffled by Toji’s shirt. He gets off of him just as quickly, thankful that it was too dark to see his red face. Toji thought the same.

“You’re welcome.” He says back, the both of them hopping into the car and staying quiet pretending the other doesn’t exist.

After a few minutes of silence, Megumi speaks up. “Can this please not be the only time ?” He asks his father.

Toji smiles to himself. “I promise it won’t.” With that, you finally enter the car, the 3 of you driving off happy as can be.

ending a/n: I hope you all enjoyed that! I really wanted to make it clear that Toji isn't a bad father, he does care and he cares in his own way that isn't detrimental to Megumi's being either. And, I wanted to give insight to what yours and Megumi's relationship looks like and how Toji feels about it. The next story should not take as long to come out I promise. Y'all don't understand this one was MONTHS in the making I started this series in March LMAOO! Also, I've went ahead and made a form to sign up for the taglist. It'll be open probably indefinitely as I don't see myself officially stopping the series anytime soon. If there's ever a hiatus, it'll be because I need to think of more ideas.

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#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #Toji #toji fushiguro #toji x reader #toji x black reader #toji fushiguro x black reader #toji fushiguro x reader #black reader #toji fluff

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trigun-manga-overhaul · 9 months

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I've always been meaning to ask- It's generally known that Wolfwood has a Kansai dialect in the original Japanese, which you've chosen to localize in English, but what I'm curious about is: does Livio have any sort of dialect or accent in Japanese as well? It seems the way he speaks in your translation has a some of the same quirks as Wolfwood, so that really got me curious.

Hey there and thanks for the ask!

Yes, it is 100% clear in the Japanese text that Wolfwood speaks with a Kansai accent. I remember reading in an interview long ago that Nightow imagined this accent to be southern or very cowboy in English, but I do not have it on hand so I can't back it up. Either way, we decided to go with the southern twang for Wolfwood, to ensure that his distinct speech prevails.

Now, Livio is a very interesting one with his language, as it goes through a metamorphosis during the time he has in the manga. It changes a lot, and that goes hand in hand with his character arc.

The first very obvious change that happens to Livio's speech, is his move from very polite, controlled and submissive speech as we meet him. Obviously this reflects his position as a pawn to the Eye of Michael. The key factors in this are the lack of dialect and his usage of "私, Watashi" to refer to himself.

This changes as he becomes Razlo.

Razlo's speech is pretty distinct. No, he does not have a thick Kansai dialect like Wolfwood, but he does pronounce words in certain ways. His speech is the kind that Japanese people would describe as vulgar; low class, gang-like. Razlo is a punk in every sense of the word when it comes to how he talks, both in the pronouns used towards other character, always the most hostile ones you can pick, and always speaks in a disrespectful manner towards anyone who isn't Chapel. This is also where we see "俺, Ore" used towards himself, a pronoun considered rude, or very masculine, if not used casually with your close friends.

When Livio is finally freed from Chapel and the Eye of Michael, he transforms more into his true self. He begins to use "俺, Ore" towards himself, his speech becomes more casual, occasionally playful, but also with some force. This is where it gets interesting.

Livio's speech pattern is reminiscent of the Japanese masculine stereotype of the Kyushu Danji, the macho man, or as would be perceived in the West, a core picture of toxic masculinity. However, since this is Nightow we're talking about, the idea is turned on its head.

Livio, despite being portrayed as a big, muscly, tough guy in almost every way he can be, is instead called Crybaby Livio. His emotions are on the outside, he's gentle, loving, and polite towards women. He even tries to imitate Meryl's very proper speech when he meets her, wanting to be respectful. He is everything that a Kyushu Danji isn't, yet speaks a lot like such a person when it comes to the patterns of his speech.

On the topic of this trope; Wolfwood tries his hardest to be a person like that, a Kyushu Danji, and it causes him mostly suffering. Wolfwood is indeed a victim of toxic masculinity himself, which makes it very interesting how this behavior is portrayed in the series. One suffers because of it, another turns the whole trope on its head and gives us the opposite.

Just more of those tiny Nightow things that I personally very much appreciate, especially for its time.

The short answer:

Livio does not exactly have the same written dialect in the manga like Wolfwood, however his speech is supposed to be crude, and "low class", something the Japanese often connect with the Kansai dialect. So, we decided on the team to give Livio a similar dialect to Wolfwood.

#answers #infodump

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browniefox · 8 months

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The (New) +Anima Au Guide!

A few months ago, I made a post about the basics of +anima, and now I realize it was kinda bad, so I'm making it again! So, here's a little guide to the basic world of +anima - mostly how anima work - in hopes to inspire people to create +anima aus!

What is +Anima?

+Anima is a ten-volume manga written by Natsumi Mukai. It is very good and cute, you should read it! It revolves around a world where certain people have something called an anima.

When a child is put into a life-threatening situation, there's a chance that they will get the abilities of a nearby animal - granting them wings like a bird, or tail of a fish, for example - in order to survive the situation. It's like if trauma gave you cat ears!

Nana, for instance, was running from her drunk and angry father in the woods at night, and got a bat anima. Natural anima only happen to children.

Getting an anima, or seeing someone with an anima, is rare enough that, even if people are aware of what anima are, those with bird or fish anima are often confused for angels or mermaids. Those with anima are usually treated poorly and feared as something dangerous and scary.

Those with anima are able to look like normal humans most of the time, accessing their anima and transforming back and forth at will. When appearing like a normal human, however, there is still proof of being an anima by way of a marking(s) somewhere on their body. The marking reflects the animal/trait that they have, the location usually correlates with there or how the trait shows up.

As an anima is connected to survival, children with them usually lose their anima as they grow older and find themselves in better situations. In the manga, most of the anima are either kids or teens. There are a few cases of adults with natural anima, two being seemingly homesless men (one seems to be a rat anima, while another is a bison), and a few who are of the Native American-Coded group in the manga, the Kim-un-Kur, who are known to keep their anima through adulthood seemingly because 1. it's less ostracized against, 2. their life style probably is better with one, and 3. they're more in tune with nature and their anima.

(^this is the the buffalo anima and a crow anima)

There is also such a thing as 'fake' or 'manufactured' anima, but only in a sense. There's a way to extract the anima from a person, though if the person is not willing the anima will not remain after the procedure. When willingly extracted, however, the anima can then placed into another person, though the connection between human and anima seems to be tenuous, and the anima may choose to leave.

Outside of a 'manufactored' anima, in canon there is one instance of an anima hopping from one human to another, though in that case the anima was that of a vicious and vengeful bear.

While in-fiction it's mostly hinted at and a little vague, it seems that the anima - as in the animal power itself - seems to have some degree of sentience, as it seems its the anima that makes makes the choice when to leave the human. It seems to be that the spirit of the animal literally ends up in the human that gains the anima.

Those with anima also seem to be able to do a further transformation into a more animal-like form called metamorphosis.

As you may have noticed me doing throughout the post, those with anima are usually just referred to as ‘anima’, though the animal spirit in the is also called their ‘anima’.

In the world of +Anima, there is also a side of the continent that has big market in anima slave trade, so make of that what you will.

Anyway, I find the world of +Anima FASCINATING, please talk to me about +Anima and make aus I love it.

(These are the four main characters of the manga! Cooro (crow), Husky (fish), Senri (bear), and Nana (bat).)

#browniefox speaks #plus anima #+anima #cooro #husky #nana #senri #au

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boinin · 4 months

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I didn't want to give too much weight to Hiiragi's tarot reading schtick. Yet, it's an author insert moment, and Kaneshiro loves foreshadowing. I have a worrying feeling that these fortunes may hold true for Chigiri, Barou and Nagi.

Full disclosure: I know very little about tarot, but did some high level reading through Wikipedia and other sources.

Chigiri gets the 15th card of the Major Arcana, the Devil. In the official translation, Hiiragi notes this to represent seduction, betrayal and ruin. Oof.

The obvious connection is to Chigiri's leg—the fortune could be tied to how he was seduced by football, became addicted to it, but will subsequently be betrayed by his leg... leading to ruin.

The Devil tarot card doesn't normally show a bomb, so this is for dramatic effect. Thematically, it implies that Chigiri should find purpose (or know where to seek it) beyond football, ahead of the day his luck runs out. 🥺 Not the outcome I want for our princess, but a second ACL injury has long been speculated by fans. Chigiri himself is aware that it's a risk when playing at this level.

Barou chooses number 12, the Hanged Man. Hiiragi cherry-picks his interpretation; in addition, this card is associated with motifs of self-sacrifice, learning, and change in perspective. It can also be interpreted as a voluntary state, rather than something that befalls a person.

It's a good fit for Barou, who doesn't double down on his ego so much as grow to show why he's deserving of his nickname in the first place. Barou is a king on the pitch, and expects a level of servitude from his teammates, but not without constantly improving his own skills and talent. He's no lazy despot, though despot he may be.

The Hanged Man fortunes supports his emotional outburst during the Ubers match. Barou remarks that he needs the challenge of despair to grow. As such, the trials he puts on himself are deliberate, much like the tarot reading suggests.

Nagi gets #13, Death (because of course he does). This fortune seems to be the most thoughtful of the bunch, unsurprisingly. Hiiragi's interpretation, while intended to provoke Nagi above all, holds up well against what little I've read on tarot.

The Wikipedia page for the Death arcana had some additional nuggets of insight, or rather further ammunition for those of us manifesting a second NagiReo divorce:

Reo is frequently referred to as princely and compared to royalty in the series, with his superfluous wealth and the way he confidently takes on leadership roles among teams. His signature colour, purple, has monarchial associations due to how rare and expensive purple pigments are in nature (prior to the invention of synthetic dyes).

Of course Reo, this royal youth, opposes Nagi's desire to change... seemingly at every hurdle.

It's not deliberate sabotage though, more that they're hamstrung by their co-dependency. Unlike almost every other relationship in Blue Lock, which arose from rivalry or a shared desire to improve, Nagi and Reo's friendship is rooted in the naive promises they made before entering the programme. @thyandrawrites had a great post exploring this recently, which I recommend if you want to delve deeper into the reasons for their underperformance in the Neo Egoist league.

My take is, in essence, if these two could agree to remain friends while moving away from being inseperable on the pitch, they'd both flourish.

Back to tarot: Wikipedia also has a tidbit on reversed cards, which I understand aren't a hardwired aspect of reading tarot (it refers to physical cards that are revealed upside down after being shuffled and dealt). The interpretation Wikipedia gives of an inverted Death card is reminiscent of Nagi's status after he plays against Isagi and Bastard München.

In short: Nagireo bad for one another, and Nagi will undergo quite the metamorphosis in his journey through Blue Lock, if this fortune holds.

---

Analysis aside, I wouldn't put too much faith into what these fortunes mean for the characters. Tarot itself isn't immutable, and for every motif listed above, the characters also have other tropes influencing the paths they take. For example, Chigiri shares the whole hero/princess trope with Kunigami, which has more plot significance than his leg injury at present. Nagi embodies the role of a natural prodigy who has neither the knowledge or experience to deploy his talents consistently. Barou embodies an villain or anti-hero archetype, when juxtaposed with Isagi. Each character has more to the eye than a simple playing card can reveal which is why I'm here yapping at length about them during my lunch break

#blue lock #blue lock manga #bllk #bllk manga #episode nagi #epinagi chp 19 #hiiragi reiji #chigiri hyoma #baro shoei #nagi seishiro #mikage reo #blue lock analysis #bllk analysis #boinin talks bllk

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bloodaria · 10 months

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i thought about why the firefly man will created in secondo had his hands clasped together in prayer, and it led me to a new realisation of where exactly i’d seen something like that before -

the angels from coquilles. in coquilles, the angel maker thought he could sense evil in people and would kill and turn those people into angels, purifying them in the process.

the prisoner killed mischa and will delivered justice for that crime through chiyoh, and elevated him in the process, just like what the angel maker did to his victims (will would come to be known as the “lamb of god” who takes away your sins in the red dragon arc). another reason why the angel maker created the angels was so they’d watch over him, because he didn’t want to die in his sleep. though will doesn’t sleep under the firefly man, he spiritually died in mizumono and references to him being dead are brought up more than a few times in the first few episodes of season 3. and consider this scene just before will creates the firefly man -

jack is in the norman chapel along with pazzi. jack tells pazzi, who asks him if he’s a believer, “aren’t we all? belief comes with imagination. we also imagine the possibility that we all live on after death. will graham died. he was dead. i was dead. we didn’t imagine that”. before he says this though, he lights a votive candle. votive candles are used as divine offerings to god, and combined with jack’s words about imagining the possibility of life after death, we can see will creating the firefly man as an answer to jack’s prayer, since with this tableau, he literally created life after death.

how did will create life after death? when they first meet, chiyoh tells will the prisoner is only allowed the sound of water like what the unborn hear. the firefly is the last stage of metamorphosis from the pupal form, so the prisoner goes from the unborn stage to the mature adult stage because of will turning him into the firefly. we also see the prisoner eating snails, which as hannibal tells bedelia in contorno, is the fuel which the firefly larvae use to transform themselves into delicate creatures of such beauty.

something chiyoh also says is that will is not allowed to look at the prisoner or speak to him, saying he’s cast aside the social graces afforded to human beings by killing mischa. since chiyoh says that the prisoner is unborn directly after saying this, there is a direct link between the prisoner not being looked at, or “seen”, and his being unborn.

“belief comes with imagination”, and what is will known for? his imagination, his empathy. it’s will’s empathy which allows for the possibility of life after death. will grants his gift of being seen to the prisoner through his empathy and gives him a rebirth, just like he did with randall tier who wanted to be seen and who had his becoming when he was turned into a beast and displayed in the museum. the prisoner lived his whole life in a dark, damp prison, so with his wings and with the lights reflecting off of him and around him, will sets him free and gives him what he couldn’t have in life in death.

not only is the prisoner reborn, will is as well. will has just created the imago, the flying insect which is the final stage of transformation which he and hannibal discussed in mizumono. and think of the journey will undergoes to get to this point, it occurs entirely through water -

“he’s only allowed the sound of water. it’s what the unborn hear”.

we also see hannibal’s kitchen being flooded with blood in primavera, and a close up of will’s guts in aperitivo, which is compared to a womb in the script, while hannibal embraces him and then stabs him.

will sinks in this bloody water in primavera, and walks on its surface to get to lecter castle in secondo (walking backwards because he’s going backwards in time like when he lets the pendulum swing and recreates a crime scene - he’s recreating mischa’s crime scene, going back to when the teacup first shattered so that he can understand hannibal).

what about jack and his belief that he’s dead though? it’s in aperitivo that jack lets go of bella and puts her to sleep permanently. bella had told him before that he’s not going to go into the ground with her, so we can see this as jack beginning to accept that he belongs to the land of the living. in contorno, he tells hannibal that after he’s gone, he’ll feel alive, before pushing him out a window. coming back to the angel maker, the angel maker had cancer and would make angels to watch over him so that he doesn’t die of cancer in his sleep. bella directly compares hannibal to a cancer within jack, saying he can cut out what’s killing him. was jack as successful as the angel maker or bella in cutting out his cancer (read: not successful not all)? the evidence suggests so, since in the red dragon arc he’s again back to his old ways and back to his old dynamic with will and hannibal, making use of them to solve cases in an effort to save lives.

#hannibal #nbc hannibal #hannibal meta #will graham #jack crawford #i am so not confident about that last part of the post but w/e #long post

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carakook · 2 months

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In honor of 100 followers (I know, I’m being dramatic af, whateverrrrr) I’m making a poll to see if you guys want me to release some more fanfics! Spoiler… they’re all with Jungkook… oops. 🥲

Below you will find a cover photo for each and a brief explanation of each! (Each of these are stories I have in my drafts so… already have them ready to release for the first few chapters!)

❥Cry: Jungkook is your ex boyfriend who refuses to let you go. Your relationship ended messy and hurtful, but he regrets it so much. You remained friends, because you both still love each other despite what happened. But Jungkook never wanted to be friends. Never planned on staying friends. He wants you back badly, and he always will.

❥ It may sound toxic but this one is actually very sweet, there is some emotional shit involved, but imagine Seven MV Jungkook… that’s the kind of persistent he is. He just wants you to let him love you again, 7 days a week, forever and ever. 🥺

❥ This one was inspired by the song Cry by Cigarettes After Sex, so… be warned LMAO. My specialty is making myself cry when I write, and you too! 😃

❥(Platonic) Boyfriend: Just two besties who totally don’t want to fuck and totally don’t like each other… You and Jungkook have been best friends since your early college days. You have always been close… maybe a little too close. Your friendship often gets mistaken for a relationship or something more because of how close you are. There are no boundaries between you two; you’re constantly touching each other, have seen each other naked, and talk about sex as if it’s the weather. But you’ve never crossed that line… you both swear it’s platonic! Neither of you even like dating, so why the fuck would you date each other? (You’re both very fucking delusional.)

❥If you are tired of me making you cry, this is probably more of your speed LOL. This story does have some emotional stuff but it is no where near the level of emotion Bloom holds. It will be very fluffy and steamy, has a bit of jealousy, and you are both very in denial about each other. Jungkook in this story is a lot like a golden retriever, but also he’s a little shit. You both struggle with commitment in this story because of different reasons (apparently I like writing about people with commitment issues?), but refuse to acknowledge what the real issue is…

❥This story is also very inspired by a song called Jennie by Studio Killers, it was viral for some time on tiktok. Give it a listen! As you can tell music inspires me a lot lol. The cover photo above isn’t the official one I’ll be using, not sure where I want to go with it yet, but does give you the vibes.

❥Metamorphosis: Celeste is a single mom who had to grow up way too fast. She never planned for her life to be this way, she swore she’d get married and have a beautiful family forever… but the stars didn’t align that way. Now at the age of 24, she’s struggling to make ends meet while taking care of her 5 year old daughter Nabi, and the cherry on top is how bad her mental health has gotten. But she’s trying her best, and loves her daughter more than anything. She swore she would never even look at another man after her ex… but one night, she does something very uncharacteristic in a desperate attempt to feel something… and Jeon Jungkook, completely starts fucking her world up.

❥Full disclaimer, this is an emotional story JUST like Bloom. Lots of references to butterflies and stars, you’ll understand more as you read. Jungkook is also a sweetheart in this story (when isn’t he?), but he has a fuckboy persona. Keep in mind the word persona… in reality, he’s just as afraid of woman as Celeste is of men. They both have similar traumas in the story without even knowing it.

❥It will be very angsty and emotional, but also wholesome. I decided to go the OC route in this one because I don’t know if a lot of people could relate to rhe MC. But, I am more than happy to make it a JK x Reader story as well!! Just leave a comment if you’d rather it be like that. The cover photo seems simple but has SO much meaning behind the story… notice how there are 3 butterflies? Anyway… 😇

❥Focus on Bloom: If you haven’t already, check out my story Bloom on my page! If you guys are really loving that, I am more than happy to focus on it. But also wanted to see if anyone would be interested in anything else I have saved in my drafts. I can always release the other stories at a later time if you guys want me to focus on Bloom. The cover photo was the original photo I made when I wrote the first chapter. 😅

#bts #jeon jungkook #jungkook fanfic #18+ only #bts fanfction #bts fanfic #bts imagines #bts smut #jungkook #jungkook angst #jungkook smut #jungkook x reader #jungkook x you #jungkook x oc #jungkook x y/n #jungkook x original character

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femfaetarot · 1 year

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𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔?

let me saturate your mind with the message of spirit. let the cards communicate an experience deeper than word of mouth, something you feel, and not hear. something you understand, better than you can force. take a second, breathe, and ask that what you perceive is unwavering. look for the hidden messages tucked between the lines where spirit wishes you to explore, deeper.

everything you hear has meaning, and value. allow yourself to find that meaning, to you, and value it, for it is just for you. It is a gift. say thank you, and find something to be grateful for today. spirituality, and not materially.

feedback is most appreciated

You may be feeling overwhelmed, scared, or even challenged by something in your path. It feels too big to bare. Too strong. Too sturdy of a challenge. Call to the Elk, find these dark pieces of yourself, and release. Know that the problems you perceive are only as bad as you make them to be in your mind. There is a bright side, no matter how faint, there will always be a ray of light.

You are mighty my love, as an Elk. Bare your antlers and understand that there is a gentleness to your little doe eyes. Find the balance. Call to the spirit of Elk.

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨

The Eel and The Iris; safety XLII (reversed). Eels are furtive creatures, often burying themselves in murky depths. The idiom “slippery as an eel” refers to eel’s ability to escape from harm.

The Butterfly and The Snowdrop; Hope XLVI. Two symbols of spring, remind us that winter will soon end, and hope is on the horizon. Butterflies develops through metamorphosis, transforming from a and egg into a larva, then becoming a pupa or chrysalis, and finally, hatching into an adult. The egg stage is so humble, and the full-grown butterfly so astounding, the process can feel like magic.

Your insect is butterfly. What do you need in order to feel safe? A period of hardship is coming to a close l, and better days are ahead. Take hear in signs of the coming thaw.

I have miraculously pulled two cards for you, pile 2. Here I see that the butterfly is of extreme importance here. A period of transformation. The Eel is you, and the butterfly is the insect that will guide you.

Some situation has violated you, and has made you recluse into yourself. I see a woman, caressing gently a beautiful blue butterfly. Blue may be of significance. It does not speak, but the fluttering of its wings communicates safety. “Have hope” it says “allow me to guide you through with light and warmth.”

Change can be a beautiful thing. This sudden reclusion can be given beautiful purpose. Take this time and find love within everything that surrounds you. Engulf yourself in people, places, and things that support you. Find trust in your heart that all is well. Understand wounds will scab before they scar. Resist the urge to pick. They will scar, and then they will heal. There is peace in silence and self-acceptance. Accept this situation has violated you, and cause pain to the soul within you. Fall in love with the process, for it is the now.

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

The Quail and Gooseberry; anticipation LI. The Quail anticipates danger by hiding among low-growing vegetation. From its obscured perch, it keeps careful watch, monitoring for predators.

Your animal is Quail. How can you balance vigilance with a healthy openness to risk? There has been a thought plaguing your mind. Wether in the back of your head, or persistent like a fruit fly, it is there. An outcome you have expected is to come true. The Quail asks you to release yourself to what you know to be true. Surrender to the knowledge and prepare for the outcome in which you see clearly in your minds eye. Do not jump to conclusions, fore it may be the conclusion to a story you did not know was playing as prevalent a role in your journey as you’d imagined.

All the while, it is there

Do not, however, allow this forewarning to become the plague in which infests your mind. There is no good or bad, only what you chose to do.

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

The Eel and The Iris; safety XLII (reversed). Eels are furtive creatures, often burying themselves in murky depths. The idiom “slippery as an eel” refers to eel’s ability to escape from harm.

The Vulture and Asphodel; upheaval XIV. The vulture and indicates an upheaval regard mourning, grief, and regret. The vulture is often associated with death, and in many ways this is relevant: the harsh wounds caused by one can lead to the death of a connection, time, or love shared — but Vultures also play an important role in our ecosystem. Their consumption of Carrion prevents the spread of disease.

Your animals are Vulture and Eel. These two animals wish to bare you love and guidance. A situation has caused grief and heartache for you, dear star. A death, of any kind, is painful. A trauma has occurred recently that has left you wounded. I see someone has hurt you.

Fear not, my beautiful angels, for I have a message. Take care of yourself. It is okay to grieve, mourn, and feel violated. It is okay to just feel, and the vulture asks you to do just that. Grieve, and cleanse your wounds so you may stop this spread of disease. This cycle of hurt.

The Eel asks you to set healthy boundaries. This, although painful, is the chance of immense enlightenment. Wether or not others are accepting of the lines you draw in the sand, the Eel asks you to stand firm in yourself and keep persistent for what you know to be best for you. The Eel and Vulture stand with you, and support you in your healing.

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

The Frog and The Lotus; metamorphosis VI. This card reminds us that change is natural, rebirth is possible, and a healing balance can be achieved. The frog, developing as it does from a tiny tadpole, symbolizes transformation.

The Raccoon and Sycamore; curiosity XXXIII. The Raccoon calls us to explore a thrilling new interest, idea, or opportunity. Raccoons are intelligent creatures, dexterous, and eager. Often likened to bandits due to the mask-like markings around their eyes, they are quite loveable rascals — rarely seeking to cause harm.

Your animals are Raccoon and Frog. The message most clear is that something is ready to die. The auspicious spirit of Raccoon gives you the courage to try the little things you’ve always wanted. Explore, and discover new parts of yourself within these new hobbies you never knew existed.

The frog considers the things that need changing. What can I get rid of for the betterment of my personal change? Old clothes, habits, thoughts, and books? Toss it all out and embrace the new you. You are a butterfly.

What new hobbies or interests do you want to explore, little butterfly?

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐱

channeled song — “ moment ” by Victoria Monét

The Ladybug and Sweet Pea; Happiness XXXV. Symbols of good luck and fortune, ladybugs are wonderful insects known to keep garden pets like aphids at bay.

Your insect is LadyBug. The LadyBug wishes to bare you the news of happiness, positivity, and good luck. A great deal of fulfillment from life is on your way, and the LadyBug asks you to share the contentment from which will come into your heart during this time with others.

Do not simply give — there must be balance — but know you are blessed, and there is to be no fear of lack. You are abundant my little star! So shine! And scream from the high heavens in which the love in your heart demands.

It is also coming through that you resemble a lady bug. I’m seeing large eyes. Perhaps some significance in the face here somewhere…you are beautiful. Others view you that way.

#thirdluck #pac reading #pac tarot #pac #pick a photo #pick an image #pick a card #free tarot #free tarot readings #free tarot reading #tarot #tarot reading

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bonefall · 11 months

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Clanmew Expansion Pack: Moths and Butterflies

A guide to the beautiful fluttering insects seen in this region, and how Clan cats classify and describe them.

[ID: A cat with a butterfly on its nose]

In Clanmew, the vocabulary used to describe butterflies is massive compared to English. As a species less than a foot tall and spending their entire lives in the wilderness, Clan cats observe lepidopterians up close and far more personally than humans have done historically.

Combine this with the fact that cats are crepuscular, active in the morning and evening, and you'll realize that they encounter more moths than butterflies. While English-speaking humans tend to think of moths as being dingy and butterflies as being colorful, Clan cats don't find those categories helpful and classify them in a completely different way!

So the very first thing to know is that Clanmew does not have the same conception of "moths" and "butterflies." They have a super term, "Ffyy," and no less than 9 terms for the various groups with related behaviors.

This guide contains 51 new words for various moths and the unique behaviors of lepidopterians. Below the cut, you will find;

An overview to the 9 classifications Clan cats use, plus words for things like cocoons, metamorphosis, caterpillars, etc

A straightforward list of species, in English (Science) = Clanmew format

Expansion on behaviors of noteworthy species within their groupings

Translation trivia on Moth Flight, Mothwing, Archeye, and Mothwhisker (TC) for Better Bones.

(Translator's Note: I have tried to pick English words that will work nicely as warrior name prefixes, to be translated as specifically or as generically as you desire. They don't reflect cladistic accuracy.)

Types of Ffyy:

Flutter = Kffa Ffyy with large hindwings that flutter around erratically. The closest to the English image of a "butterfly." Most of these are daytime species but this also refers to moths that are drawn to flame. Species depicted: Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria)

Hawkmoth = Uff Fat-bodied ffyy that tend to be wider than they are long, with powerful wings. Fantastic fliers and important pollinators, they have several gigantic species and are beloved by Clan cats. Species depicted: Elephant hawkmoth (Deilephila elpenor)

Tortrix = Owyy Round-winged ffyy that rest with a slightly splayed pose with their wings folded down, almost resembling a turtle. Species depicted: Privet tortrix (Clepsis consimilana)

Veneer = Iff A thin, lanky ffyy that rests in a sticklike pose with a defined head, sporting big, buggy eyes and sometimes a large nose. Any moth with the characteristic eyes or nose gets brought back into this category. Species depicted: Garden-grass veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

Herald = Hawof A very unique type, it can apply to just about any type of moth but is always given to the species with significance in prophetic divination. There are some moths rarely seen in this region which appear only as heralds, thus they are named accordingly. NOTE: This is the sort of word bestowed in Honor Titles. Species depicted: Common Hairstreak, Moth Flight's moth (Callophrys rubi)

Dowd = Gyyff Stiff, fluffy moths which rest as straight as a twig, usually mimicking wood. Their heads aren't as well defined as a veneer, but they aren't as fluffy as a raoff Species depicted: Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala)

Prominent = Raoff "Lion moths," large species with fluffy antennae and big manes. Something between a dowd and a tortrix, but usually larger and fluffier. Species depicted: Muslin moth (Diaphora mendica)

Plume = Ffip Very thin, slender moths that rest in a T-pose with very interesting wing-types. Species depicted: Beautiful plume moth (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla)

Fritilary = Ffow Somewhat between a Kffa and an Owyy, refers to Ffyy with a smoother 'cape' shape when they're resting.

In addition, there are words for shapes associated with Ffyy and other insects, especially in the wings and patterns. Some of those words are;

Fluttered/Fluttering/Will flutter = Afafaf/Afafa/Afaf The erratic wingbeats of Ffyy and small birds of prey.

Hovered/hovering/will hover = Hyyffuhu/hyyffu/hyyff A very special aerial maneuver where an animal can hold their exact place in the air and move in any direction. EXTREMELY rare; only achieved by certain hawkmoths, hoverflies, and dragonflies. NOTE: The UK has no hummingbirds! Their ecological niche is occupied by hawkmoths!

Shy = Wro An emotion, but also a pose. It's when an animal shrinks back and tries to make itself smaller or more hidden, much like a Dowd or a Veneer, or the flattening of a terrified cat's ears

Cape/Humble = Froom An emotion, a shape, and a pattern that is seen on the backs of some animals, describes the way that Prominents and Tortrixes hold their wings.

Flare/Confident/Perpendicular = Akeye An emotion and a shape, describes things that 'stick up,' like the wings of Plumes and Butters. Not like "raised hackles," more like fluffing one's fur out or puffing your chest.

Caterpillar = Poog A word that comes from Parkmew! Caterpillars were significant to Park cat culture because of their old naming system-- cats were born unnamed, and were expected to find one as they grew, like butterflies.

Pupa/Chrysalis = Higab Hard, scaly insect cocoons

Cocoon = Mooun Soft, silky insect cocoons

Silk = Mirro The material that silk cocoons and spider webs are made of. Only cob spiders produce though of this material to be useful to Clan cats; they do not have access to silk moths (bombyx mori) in this part of England. Clan cats also believe that moth wings are made of this.

Chitin = Higko The material that hard pupa and insect exoskeletons are made of.

Exoskeleton = Babaak The hard shell that surrounds the meat of invertebrates such as crabs, moths, beetles; Clan cats do not think this applies to insects that 'shrivel' such as soft-bodied caterpillars.

Metamorphosed/metamorphing/will metamorph = Peb'bep'arr/Peb'bep/Peb'be To massively change between stages of life, the unique way that moths and some other insects grow.

LIST OF SPECIES

This list is arranged with several species of each group, separated by grouping. You can expect for this list to grow, if additional species are translated as time goes on!

Last update: 6/17/2023

HAWMOTH/UFF

Elephant hawkmoth (Deilephila elpenor) = Beksu

Large skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) = Skepb

Hummingbird hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum) = Lipfu

TORTRIX/OWYY

Privet tortrix (Clepsis consimilana) = Frooke

Oak lantern (Carcina quercana) = Byoff

Common footman (Eilema lurideola) = Yyowo

Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) = Oyiw

VENEER/IFF

Garden-grass veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella) = Chuo

Drinker moth (Euthrix potatoria) = Ssbwohl

Bronze alder moth (Argyresthia goedartella) = Holipo

DOWD/GYYFF

Buff-tip (Argyresthia goedartella) = Kooko

Apple leafminer (Lyonetia clerkella) = Rugna

Hazel slender (Parornix devoniella) = Geehees

PROMINENT/RAOFF

Muslin (Diaphora mendica) = Goorf

Iron prominent (Notodonta dromedarius) = Orge

True lover's knot (Lycophotia porphyrea) = Urmrri

Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae) = Genra

PLUME/FFIP

Beautiful plume (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla) = Lebl

Twenty plume (Alucita hexadactyla) = Arrffip

FLUTTER/KFFA

Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria) = Yaero

Holly blue (Celastrina argiolus) = Luya

Clouded border (Lomaspilis marginata) = Oogwo

FRITILARY/FFOW

Magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata) = Peewo

Mint moth (Pyrausta aurata) = Mwifg

Riband wave (Idaea aversata) = Fisip

HERALD/HAWOF

Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) = Ssefyy

Lunar Hornet (Sesia bembeciformis) = Offes

Death's Head (Acherontia atropos) = Wayoff

HAWKMOTH/UFF

[ID: An "Uff," 'Hawkmoth' in English. It is a large, yellow-and-pink moth. The species depicted is an Elephant Hawkmoth.]

Hawkmoths are the largest types of Ffyy that Clan cats encounter, and deeply beloved. They are considered the 'warriors' of moth-standards, large, honorable, and acrobatic. What defines an uff from other butterflies is primarily its large, bulky body. Some uff, such as the skipper, could be mistaken by outsiders as being a type of ffow or perhaps a kffa.

They are pollinators, jumping between various flowers and mostly seen in grassy, floral environments, such as meadows and moorland. The skipper in particular is one of WindClan's most common butterflies, and a favorite target for pouncing kittens.

Most of the largest hawkmoths survive the winter snug in their cocoons under leaf litter, and more specifically in ThunderClan. Being able to witness a hawkmoth emerge is sometimes taken as a little blessing, like StarClan rewarding you for staying observant on a patrol.

TORTRIX/OWYY

[ID: An Owyy, "Tortrix" in English. It is a humble brown moth with a negligible mane and round, capelike wings. The species depicted is a privet tortrix.]

Tortrixes are the largest classification of ffyy in Clanmew, with many of them being drawn to lights in the dark. They hold their wings 'humbly' (froom), tucked behind themselves and slightly angled. Many prominent share the general shape of tortrixes, but they are separated by a prominent, impressive mane.

Because they are so varied, classifying behaviors of the group as a whole is difficult. Some of them like fruit and others like leaves. Some are large and others small. Some are drab and others colorful.

Most end up named after the species of plant they like most. The Oak Lantern (Byoff) for example can skeletonize entire oak leaves! Others can absolutely mob apple trees, making them a pest to ThunderClan.

Funfact: The cartoon idea of an "apple worm" comes from some species of tortrix moths!

FLUTTER/KFFA

[ID: A Kffa, "Flutter" in English. It is an orange-and-brown butterfly, with wings that stick out perpendicular to the body. The species depicted is a sunspot butterfly.]

Dominated by strange daytime species with bright colors, these confident little creatures are defined by the angle of their wings when resting. They "Flare" out, or Akeye in Clanmew.

The Yaero (sunspot butterfly/speckled wood) is the most well-known of the flutters which isn't also a herald of some sort. These plucky bugs have short lives and spend the ENTIRE time fighting, choosing a sunny spot and engaging in clumsy aerial brawls to defend it. To be compared to a Yaero in Clan Culture is like being called 'scrappy,' fighting until you drop dead of exhaustion.

It's a VERY admirable thing to be!

PROMINENT/RAOFF

[ID: A "Raoff," or a Prominent in English. It is a very fluffy moth with a big mane. The species depicted is a male muslin moth.]

The obvious thing that sets this sort of Ffyy apart from all others is its luscious, majestic mane. Much like how the "Leopard" is a mistranslation and is a mythical composite of several animals, the Clan cat "Lion" is a composite beast whose mane comes from moths!

Thus, it is how they were named. Lion + Moth.

And, of the various raoff, the muslin (Goorf) is one of the most interesting. It comes in black or white, with many cats speaking of a herald coloration that is split perfectly down the middle with black and white. This species' name comes from "Gender + Moth." It is thought that if a pregnant cat only sees black muslins, they will have an all-tom litter. All white, and they will all be mollies. If no muslin moths are seen at all, then they will all reveal themselves to be gib.

FRITILARY/FFOW

[ID: A "ffow," or a fritilary in English. Note, this is the moment where the English names diverge the most because this is not an irl fritilary. It is a moth with a 'cape' that is both froom, and akeye. The species depicted is a magpie moth.]

A family of ffyy remarked upon for their 'savviness.' Not as 'confident' as kffa, nor as humble as an owyy, the animals in this family are typically quite interesting.

For example, the magpie (Peewo). While notably beautiful like a calico cat, it's also strangely left alone by other animals. If caught in a spiderweb, the spider will take a bite and let go. Birds leave them alone. Clan cats believe this must be because they will eat lots of unappetizing plants and become distasteful-- a clever creature!

The thought probably came from watching another ffow, the Mwifg, the "mint moth" in English. Mint is a deadly poison to Clan cats, but the creature eats it up, and goes unbothered by other animals.

So, Peewo and Mwifg are cited often as living examples of how you, "are what you eat."

PLUME/FFIP

[ID: A plume moth, "ffip," a thin insect with a T-shaped body and long legs. The species depicted is a Beautiful Plume Moth.]

Widely considered the least appealing type of moth, often clustered in reedy areas. They're known by their distinctive T-shape and long legs.

Clan Cats find it unsettling that they resemble midges, and have only two unique names within the classification; Arrffip for the 20-Plume, and Lebl for the Beautiful Plume, which resembles a mottled cat which makes it more okay to them.

VENEER/IFF

[ID: A moth with big eyes and a long nose, called an "Iff" in Clanmew, and a veneer in English. The species depicted is a garden grass veneer.]

The silliest moth of all, associated with being panicked and anxious at all times. To be compared to an Iff is to be called a worry-wart in Clanmew!

Most veneers have a big, distinct fuzzy nose, and any moth that displays the same feature gets thrown into the Iff classification. But that isn't the only way to end up in this category! Any moth with big, worried eyes goes here as well, such as the Bronze Alder Moth (Holipo).

Alderheart was compared to a holipo often. Poor guy.

There is also the drinker moth (Ssbwohl), which is known for dunking its head into dewdrops and taking a big sippy.

DOWD/GYYFF

[ID: A moth that looks like a twig, called a Dowd in English and a Gyyff in Clanmew. The species depicted is a buff-tip.]

To be considered a Gyyff, the moth must be long and sticklike. The apple leafminer (Rugna) is a good example of a moth that is not using buff-tip (Kooko) mimicry, but is still a Dowd in Clanmew standards.

The word "kooko" in Clanmew is used for harmless fibs, little pranks, and the buff-tip moth!

HERALD/HAWOF

[ID: A green butterfly with shining wings, facing the camera. It is called a Herald in English, and a Hawof in Clanmew. The species depicted is a Green Hairstreak.]

The defining example of the Herald classification is the Green Hairstreak, an iridescent green moth that lead Moth Flight to the Moonstone so many years ago. A vitally important species to WindClan culturally, a burst in its population is said to be a sign that they need to listen carefully.

Any type of moth can end up going into this category, if it becomes significant in divination. Some moths have even shifted over time out of one classification into Hawof, and back out as they stop being seen as holy in some way!

Another example of a moth of great significance is the death's head moth, called a Wayoff in Clanmew. It's a massive type of hawkmoth, and an exceedingly rare sight. It warns of grand doom, threats so large that they threaten all the Clans at once. Floods, famine, deforestation... these were all preceded by the freak sighting of a Wayoff.

Meanwhile, the Lunar Hornet, Offes in Clanmew, mimics a wasp perfectly. It's a strange creature said to be a piece of the cosmic dust between this world and StarClan, an example of the fantastic creatures they can make if they so choose. It signifies change of some sort, which a Cleric will attempt to interpret for the cat who saw the moth.

And lastly,

Translation Trivia

[ID: A cat chasing a butterfly]

Specifically for the way I have chosen to translate the names of these characters for the Better Bones AU

Moth Flight

Mothwing

Archeye

Mothwhisker

Moth Flight Hawof Faofwe (Herald + Pilgrimage)

A VERY interesting translation quirk, as her name is a remnant from Old Tribemew, one of the ancestral languages that would eventually form Clanmew!

Hawof was the ancient word for moths and butterflies, and still the word in-use in Tribemew to this day. Once they moved down from the highlands, Clanmew adopted and created several new words to describe the hundreds of new types they were seeing on a regular basis. Yet, "hawof" fossilized, coming to only describe those that were particularly holy!

"Faofwe" is another fascinating example. While it once meant 'flight' in Old Tribemew, an animal flying from one place to another, it has come to mean "pilgrimage." This is the word being used for a cat going to visit a holy location, or somewhere else that they will reach a higher religious understanding of the world.

Both of these words are sacred; the type only given to modern cats in Honor Titles.

Mothwing Beksuwesk (Elephant Hawkmoth + Insect Wing)

Sasha fled the violence of TigerClan at her first opportunity, after being trapped in the dangerous situation with no escape. After the death of her son, Tadpole, she brought her kits to RiverClan in the hopes they would be safe. Their names were Ffyy, and Yassga.

Leopardstar saw that their father was Tigerstar, and accepted... though she would change their names. They had to accept what the Clan was to decide for them.

So Yassga (Raptor, any large bird of prey) became Yi'i (sparrowhawk), and Ffyy (Any butterfly) was pigeonholed into a type of hawkmoth as Besku. She thinks of this often, that RiverClan took the name her mother gave her, that she followed Hawkfrost to the Lake, and now she is all that remains. With nothing left of her family.

Archeye Oyiwipo (Dark Arches Moth + Eye)

A simple one! He has a stripe just above one eye that perfectly resembles the tip of a Dark Arches' wing.

(note: i updated this translation from an earlier statement.)

Mothwhisker Yaerohussk (Speckled Wood Butterfly + Hussk)

Fresh from the ThunderClan Family Tree fix, Mothwhisker is a parent of Adderfang and Seedfall.

An old Oakstar loyalist, Mothwhisker was spitting from the moment he was born, clawing the nose of his Ba. On the spot, he was given the prefix Yaero, and he eventually grew into a ferocious Crusader after the death of Mapleshade's kittens and the creation of Darkstar's Commandment.

Though "Butterflywhisker" would technically have been accurate, the translator chose 'moth' for brevity. Clan cats don't distinguish between the two, regardless.

#I HOPE YOU ALL UNDERSTAND #THIS IS THE RESULT OF ME SORTING THROUGH HUNDREDS OF INSECTS #AND COMING UP WITH A UNIQUE SYSTEM OF CLASSIFICATION #IM SCREECHING #clanmew #buttterflies #moths #insects #lepidoptera #clan culture #fauna guide #better bones au

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mysebacielblog · 2 months

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Ciel is Trans Theory

I Need to point this out because. I have a hunch that Ciel is Trans, and fingers crossed I’m right. Honestly, I could be completely off base and this could be as close as Ancient Aliens is to History.

This might be an overreach but here is my case for it, as best as I can:

* Based on previous events and Chapters, Yana has shown that She Likes Playing on the concept of Gender from the Very First Arc. From the Very beginning we are introduced to a woman who is Jack the Ripper, challenging the male murder stereotype on its head, and her lover, a gender ambiguous (Later Confirmed Canonically!!) Trans Reaper Lady. Both unite from their desire, and hatred for the prostitutes who beg for abortions at her clinic. There are Already wombs being ripped out of women and we’ve just started.

* The Fact that Ciel is Dressed extremely effeminately not only for the period, even for EGL clothing standards might point to something as well. But when forced to wear a dress for the sake of a mission, he loses his mind. Although it could be a tween’s worst nightmare, how Madame Red laments to Ciel when dressing him as a girl that she always wanted a daughter feels like something.

* Ciel is always referred to as beautiful, which is not wrong for the period, but there are less masculine terms that people refer to him as.

* Yana herself says that she Over Masculinizes Ciel. Which is an interesting take for his effeminate nature of dress Vs masculine personality?

* Another hot take is that Yana Specifically has instructed in certain live action and anime for the voice actor to be a woman. I’ve seen a lot of talk on this particular conversation but none highlighting this as a clue on our Ciel’s Identity??? How??

* Mey Rin is also have been hidden as a boy with her previous life as a sniper, so this also shows that this is not out of the question either. The same reveal has happened with Doll.

* Ciel does not let anyone get close to his body. This is obviously because traumatic stress behaviors, however, similar flinching could allude to a different reason entirely.

* Our Lad introduces himself as the “Earl Ciel Phantomhive” Earl almost being apart of his first name. He’s already changed his name to hide his past. But Why?

* Let’s pretend that Ciel was in fact, born a boy at birth. If his brother and parents died, even if he was considered a “Spare Child”, (remember the British Phrase an Heir and a Spare). He would still be a legitimate hier due to his brother being unable to claim inheritance (because of his death) and pass on something to him. Even if another family member became a guardian and inherited a majority to raise our ciel, he would still be entitled to Something, and (might) even become Earl. This would Not be the case if Ciel was born a girl.

* Two Cultural similarities Japanese Manga and the Victorian period have in common are the troupe of “women disguising themselves as men”. I put this in quotes because, as Ciel described it, “the old him died in his cage,” pointing to metaphorical metamorphosis, and not simply a disguise for convient’s sake. Although it was common for (transgender men, queer cis women and/or Cis women) to take on a male position / pseudonym in order to establish a title, or a job position (typically in writing, this continued until the 1960’s). Now add on the popular manga/anime that were important in playing with perceptions of gender during Black Butler’s Debut (think Ouran High school host club), and there’s something there.

* The Fact that no one mourned Ciel’s Death was unfortunate, but a critical plot point of the story. Up until now, no one even acknowledged Our Ciel had ever Existed. Not a name, not “twins” nothing. Even though our Lad was an ill child, no one had even acknowledged he was there to begin with. Women and children were rarely recognized in Victorian culture, let alone a “Woman Child”. This culture was challenged somewhat through literature in the early ‘30’s with works from Jane Austen, ‘47 with Charlotte Brontë (who went by a pseudonym) and Lewis Carol’s Alice and the Looking Glass at the end of the century. (introducing a Girl Protag!! Gracious!). As sad as it may be, no one would really mourn an terminally ill girl compared to her family’s murder, unless having accomplished something amazing. It would be seen unfortunately as a lifted burden, and ultimately one less dowery or added expense. The fact that no one even bothered to notice our Ciel’s death or even the toll it might have on his twin is evident enough.

* The most Damning evidence I have for this theory is Lizzy’s reaction to figuring out “Ciel” was not the real “Ciel”. The immediate turn against Ciel. Why wouldn’t she even hear him out? What could have possibly turned her away like that, without a doubt in her mind, even if she had met with the Real Ciel? The fact that her reaction was not confusion but rather an extreme turn against him, she did not even think one minute to give Our Ciel a chance. And the only possible reason (combined with the fact that he was lying about not being his brother) is that if he was Not Cis. Not only would that mean that she was with the sick weaker sibling not heir to the Phantomhive legacy, but Ciel Could never conceive a family with Elizabeth, nor marry her like she would have wanted. And even if she married him, they would never be able to have children of their own (a really big obsession with British Aristocracy- modern day source: royals). All of her dreams would be shattered. And that shattering would bring her to turn instantly.

* The fact that everyone automatically assumed our ciel was real ciel, just based on saying so. Why?

* The fact that sick girls were often dressed like male counterparts to strengthen them during this era, as well as androgynous clothing for children being in fashion (because of less washing headaches and hand-me-downs)

* A smaller, minor detail is how Sebastian says “When lies become truth”. This is pointing towards both their façades but an interesting quote none the less on transitioning.

* I’m pointing to his teeny shoes with the high heels. It’s not that they’re effeminate women’s shoes that are iffy for the period, (which let’s be clear, they are) but. Look at him. Trying his best to be tall adult man. I’m pointing at his shoes.

* I might be missing a lot. Tell me if I am.

Reasons For Why I Am Extremely Wrong:

*Tanaka and Vincent referring to Our Ciel with he/him pronouns, (although I’m not sure on the original Japanese translation on chapter 131)