The sickest burn I've seen lately is a fic that revolves around Hayden Pike being murdered with 'Minor Character Death' buried in the middle of the tags.
Keni
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Misplaced Lens Cap
Aqua Utopia|海の底で記憶を紡ぐ

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noise dept.
art blog(derogatory)
TVSTRANGERTHINGS

ellievsbear

blake kathryn

Janaina Medeiros
Not today Justin

#extradirty

Origami Around
$LAYYYTER

oozey mess

PR's Tumblrdome
Three Goblin Art
DEAR READER

seen from Malaysia

seen from Japan
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seen from Malaysia

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seen from Switzerland
seen from North Macedonia
seen from United States
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@objectivelyimpermanent
The sickest burn I've seen lately is a fic that revolves around Hayden Pike being murdered with 'Minor Character Death' buried in the middle of the tags.

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Name Games in Heated Rivalry (Fic)
I've been enjoying the concept of names in Heated Rivalry again recently.
Obviously, the setting of Heated Rivalry has turned names into a plot point. Hollander and Rozanov becoming Shane and Ilya is the key internal conflict of the romantic drama in the literal sense (cf. Tuna Meltdown) as well as in the metaphorical sense of growing closer as individuals. Beyond that, there's the idea of commercialisation and brand identity turning Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov into #24 HOLLANDER and #81 ROZANOV, and the topic of the claustrophobia and determinism of a brand identity that is focused on a single personality. This drives the external conflict.
Further, there's the idea of nicknames used in sport to encourage group cohesion and to signify comfortability in the locker room: Roz/Rozy is socially well-integrated, but Hollander doesn't have a common nickname. Then, nicknames and endearments in the sense of Russian diminutives to explore cultural identity, the immigrant experience, and Ilya Rozanov's complicated feelings about Russia and his family: Ilyusha, Ilyushka, Ilyushenka, etc., but also Shanya, moi pomidor, etc.
Then there's the problem of Montreal Jane and Boston Lily, where names are a subterfuge to disguise non-conformity and as an ultra-private pseudonymous identity.
As regards fic, this has formed a neat conundrum. What do fic writers call the main characters in narrative—and why?
The Moderate Stance
Most commonly, naming schema in narration follow some particular rules: 1) first names for the perspective character in reference to themself; 2) surnames for distancing behaviour when in the other's point of view or in socmed/outsider perspectives; 3) first names to demonstrate emotional intimacy when in the other's point of view; 4) full names for reference to the public personality or brand identity when appropriate (of both perspective and non-perspective character).
However, there are some interesting things to pick at here.
First names in perspective characters are the rule for the close-third person perspective that is very common in fic. English-speaking naming conventions encourage individuals regularly to identify most with personal names, and first names are often closest to 'the name with which a character refers to themself in their own mind.' Sometimes this is a nickname rather than a first name, and use of first name or nickname is used usually to indicate a character's positioning on the scales of neuroticism, self-concept, and group integration (with the group that provides/enforces the nickname), but that's uncommon in this fandom. English-speaking is a key word there. Ilya Rozanov usually uses 'Ilya' in internal monologue rather than any diminutive. I attribute this to a writer's habit and audience expectation, but I could forsee some interesting meditations on ESL integration. I have rarely seen some writers that attempt to root his lack of diminutive in his family circumstances, but not in narration. Nonetheless, I suspect use of a nickname/diminutive in narration is primarily avoided due to the informality in writing style that it suggests in English. When a diminutive is used for Ilyusha, it usually indicates a flashback to childhood, separating the child from the adult and effecting a feeling of nostalgia inherently linked to his cultural identity.
The use of surnames to signify distancing behaviour is an effort of narration matching dialogue and emotional development: it's a reflection of the closeness of the close-third perspective. It is less common for a perspective character to use a surname to refer to themself in fic as the author generally aims to elicit a feeling of emotional closeness between the audience and the character. Overall, use of surnames indicates the perspective character's or the diegetic writer's professionalism or their attempt to enforce professionalism and emotional distance from the surnamed character. This makes it appropriate for inset news articles in epistolary fic or portions of the narrative where Rozanov and Hollander are in denial of their romantic fate. In writing generally, use of surnames indicates an academic style more suited to analysis or reporting (as seen in essays such as these), so its use in the narrative of a perspective character also can lend this sense of examination of the surnamed character suited to the uncertainty that characterises their early romance.
First names used to refer to the non-perspective character act in the inverse of surnames used as distancing. In debt to the Tuna Meltdown, the use of first names between Shane and Ilya is intimate and vulnerable. A writer's choice to have each refer to the other by first name in internal monologue can act as a dramatic irony, especially when it is used from the early in the fic. The characters themselves need not necessarily explicate the shift for the audience to register the foreshadowing, and it can be incredibly subtle when the audience is as used to first-naming as surnaming in the greater fandom. Often, there is a revelatory emotional moment where the perspective character switches from surname to first name in reference to the other; whether this switch occurs first in internal monologue or in dialogue indicates whether an internal or an external moment acts as the catalyst in the perspective character's submission to their own feelings and to their relationship development. However, it's not uncommon for the narrative to use first names all around throughout the narrative. Sometimes this accords with a stricter or third-omniscient perspective, but sometimes this indicates a preset level of emotional intimacy in fic that focus on the dating-era or later.
Full names are used exclusively in reference to public identities, brand identities, and occasionally identity as legacy. This follows award presentation/government name format. Apart from the use in epistolary fic, often they are only used to indicate a name change: some fic have one take the other's marital name, and this is almost exclusively used for Ilya Hollander rather than Shane Rozanov to promote a found-family plot. The full formal name of Ilya Gregoryevich Rozanov is very uncommonly used, except in some political/legal/courtroom fic and some few fic that examine his relationship with his father. I have seen a few kidfic that lightly touch upon the inheritance/non-inheritance of the Ilyich/Ilyinichna patronymic in relation to rejection or reclamation of cultural identity or paternal relationship. The avoidance of full names in narrative except when being changed or assigned follows the English-speaking format; when used otherwise in general prose, it tends to indicate a form of alienness.
The moderate stance walks a general writer's-rule line that is nonetheless pretty complex in deference to the role names and their parts and their utilities play in the plot. However, there are some less common schema used in specific instances.
The Less Common Schema
Some writers enforce a contrast of naming scheme in narrative vs. dialogue to reflect the double-lives of the characters and the conflict between their inner lives and external pressures. It's also used to demonstrate the secondary relationship conflict of the acceptance of their relationship by support structures. This can mimic the meeting-the-parents scene where 'Rozanov' corrects the Hollander parents to 'Ilya,' but it's also used in plots that illustrate the secret-relationship portion of their arc when the characters are struggling to reconcile their closeness with the external perception and approval of their closeness, such as Bad Friend Hayden Pike fic, Boston Year fic, and TLG-era fic.
Sometimes, the first-name/surname use in narrative is touched on more explicitly: the surname is directly and textually linked to the brand identity, and the first name is linked to the private identity. The divide, if not the precise boundary, is maintained lightly in some post-marriage fic. The double-barrel Hollander-Rozanov (or sometimes Rozanov-Hollander) marital name is used as a scheme in fic where the private identites overtake the public. Often, fic choose to have Hollander and Rozanov keep their maiden names as post-marital professional names to maintain their brand identities; this usually indicates a plot where the characters become comfortable with the divergence of private/public identities post-outing. The use of the double barrel in narrative usually appears only in crackish plots.
Shane Hollander often is provided with locker room nicknames in divergent plots that focus on developing his support network: Hollzy, Holly, Hollywood, etc., with each having their own underlying issues as regards genericness/conformity, feminisation (and its intersection with homophobia and anti-Asian racism), and the conflict provided by Shane Hollander's relationship with Rose Landry. These are extremely infrequently used in the narrative of outsider characters, but most usually they are dialogue-only. Although locker room nick names for Ilya Rozanov are more common in all plots, they tend to follow this same rule.
The fandom name of Hollanov is used most often in socmed fic that examine fandom communities, but it is also occasionally referenced explicitly in casual dialogue as a Brangelina-style portmanteau. Sometimes, fic use the less common 'Rozander' in to as a meta-textual joke.
Jane and Lily are most often used in passing or in gender-swapped fic, but there is a subgenre of fic where Jane/Montreal Jane and/or Lily/Boston Lily are assumed as pseudonyms proper, usually as online handles. Jane and Lily become third (or fourth) identities in full where they are given leeway to act publicly or semi-publicly as romantic partners on social media or in WAG chats. Often these are crackish fic, and often epistolary, but sometimes they further into an examination of heteronormativity and the attempt to conform a non-normative identity under external social pressure.
Private nicknames and diminutives are used almost exclusively in dialogue, often as a third level of intimacy after surnames and first names. Russian diminutives for Ilushka indicate Shane's attempt to respect and integrate Ilyushka's Russian identity and his sacrifice thereof; Russian diminutives for Shanya indicate the same, and Ilyushka's various petnames and endearments for Shanya (moi pomidor, lyubimiy, etc.) indicate Ilyushka acceptance of the break from his cultural identity and family inherent in their relationship.
okay but some hotels requiring a minimum age of 21 for booking a hotel room has me extremely in my feelings about the idea of early days hollanov starting out in hotel rooms they weren't even old enough to book for themselves
GOD. shane's wallet drops out of his bag in the locker room one day and stuff spills out, so a couple of the guys help him gather things up, and one is just?? hold up?? 🤨 hollzy, is this a fake id???
and shane is full fawn in front of headlights freeze mode, but he's still 18/19 atp so the older guys just give him some playful nudges and maybe ruffle his hair with, "mad you can't drink when we hop the border, huh?"
and shane is just Yep. This Is For Drinking In America, Something I Definitely Do Please Don't Ask Any Follow-Up Questions Thank You.
shane is lucky it was his teammates that saw his fake id and not his mother. yuna would have gone off (probably while david was in the background reminiscing on how he used to have a fake id, too). that interrogation would have led to shane coming out right then and there with how bad he is at lying to people's faces.
(the funny thing is imagining how this would change the eventual first meeting between ilya and shane's parents. the angsty thing is imagining how this might have scared shane enough to stop hooking up with ilya instead.)
you added my tags, and now i'm adding yours!!
i do love the idea of ilya finding out about this years later! of course they have to fuck about it. they're probably trying to do some sort of lowkey roleplay about their hookup years in whatever hotel ilya books, but they're completely failing at keeping the vibes the same—the love and romance just keeps leaking through because ilya is feeling so particularly sappy about it all.
oh my GOD it's years later when shane is old enough to get hotels on his own now but just still has it in his wallet because he just never thought to take it out, and i am cackling at the idea of shane in the middle of the "oh my FUCKING god" of it all just pulling a desperation play of, "i'm only seeing-well, i'm kind of-it's-it doesn't matter. i'll stop seeing him, i promise, it doesn't-"
"honey, no! i would NEVER want you to do that. that's so sad."
and shane has already very obviously been pushed to his fucking limit, so david taps in here and helps settle things down in which shane doesn't have to talk about His Special Friend (shane fully gags when yuna says this because she's over-correcting and doesn't want to assume terms until she's done a refresh on some online forums to make sure her words will be accurate) right now and can just wait until he's ready. and they love him and they'll love whoever he loves (shane is fully breaking out in hives at the L word getting tossed around like this), but they can wait until he's ready for that.
and now shane is in the position of his parents don't know WHO he's seeing, but they know he's seeing SOMEONE, and they are CHECKING IN NOW. AND THEY ARE ASKING HOW HIS PARTNER (the word they've arrived at after boyfriend, significant other, and special friend all made shane visibly nauseous) IS, AND. WELL. FUCK. HE DOESN'T WANT TO LIE TO THEM WHEN THEY'VE KIND OF MADE PROGRESS TOWARDS HIM GETTING TO LIVE HIS TRUTH.
WHICH MEANS HE CAN'T CUT THINGS OFF WITH ILYA EVEN THOUGH THAT'S HIS PANIC INSTINCT BECAUSE THEN HE'D EITHER HAVE TO LIE ABOUT IT (BAD) OR SAY HE BROKE IT OFF AND RISK GETTING ASKED FOR DETAILS (ALSO BAD).
which then offers the extremely funny possible canon divergence opportunity after the tuna melt when shane makes it to the door but then gets hit with the thought, "oh god i'm gonna have to tell mom about this." which means he's facing down either having to talk things through with ilya or talk things through with his mom, and before he's even made a conscious decision, he's already hitting a 180 because even now, ilya is the less nerve-wracking option in that equation.
ilya rozanov is living the north american dream marry a multi hyphenate forbes 30 under 30 landlord be put on anti depressants try to forget your homeland wonder forever if that neighbour down the street of your childhood home is still alive surely they wouldn’t be they were already so old when you were a boy but you will never truly know and of course we can’t forget the dog watch enraptured as your husband does housework while you drink homemade cocktails retire before forty vacation in a place so luxurious and detached from the real world that it could really be anywhere speak your native language every two weeks only to your therapist who you pay 500 CAD to every session crack open a cold one with the boys to reminisce on the good old days when you traded your body and physical health for cash like a prostitute live in fear of CTE and dementia and all the other things that even being a millionaire can’t buy you away from
oh and getting good head almost every day
“You can come out to your parents without giving them a list of all the guys you’re fucking,” says Ilya Rozanov, way too confidently for a man who has never actually met Yuna Hollander, who will Definitely Ask,
oh, shane, you are dating someone!! this is great!! can we meet him? (no) can you tell us his name or what he does for a living? (no) can you tell us what city or even country he lives in? (no) can we see a picture? (no) does he have social media? (no) so.... shane, honey, it kind of sounds like you don't have a boyfriend (yes I do, he lives in… some other part of canada, you don't know him) and maybe you're just saying that because you're not ready to date, but honey, you should date! I have a list of men here, I have a plan to get you a boyfriend, I have the NDA forms right here, we'll get you a raya account… (no!!! mom, I do have someone already, I just can't tell you anything about him, ever)
yuna: ah I see, hmm, one moment please, let me bring up an alphabetical list of all 700+ current MLH players. is it aaron a. aaronson???
shane: of course not!! mom!!!
yuna: you know what, of course not, I'm sorry and it was ridiculous of me to even think so. aaron a. aaronson is a second-rate player on a third-rate team, let me re-sort this list so that the stat leaders are at the top and start again from there, haha, here's a funny one to cross off the list right away, I guess: is it ilya rozanov???

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Post-Tunameltdown. Ilya, buried under a pile of laundry he had prepared especially for this occasion, scrolling through Hollandry pap shots on his phone, sobbing: I told him it was hot when he folded laundry, not when he folded Landry.
i am all for possessive 'don't fuck anyone else' hollanov - possession olympics is literally my d/s tag for them - but ! ☝️ i must admit to some significant horny interest in the possession games of ilya using other men's bodies to proxy fuck shane.
maybe bc of ilya SSRI erectile dysfunction power kinking on ordering another sub to fuck shane, domming the room, controlling multiple orgasms without needing to focus on his own, knowing that all the people in the room are more interested in meeting ilya's pleasure than their own, will only move how he tells them to, that shane will perform with someone else for ilya's approval, show off how well he's been trained etc.
OR maybe bc shane expressed interest in the guy at a club and ilya's second career is drawing out shane's deep-seated desires like sucking scrumptious poison from a wound, so he looks at shane's mortified-curious face and is like. well. go ask him to fuck you then. shane: fuck you. ilya: no. go ask him. to fuck you. say hi, want to fuck me while boyfriend watches. look at him like you are sucking his cock. he will say yes. give me your drink, go now, you have 60 seconds. 59, 58..,
OR even maybe as a punishment when they haven't been able to meet up for 2 months and shane confesses to breaking the 'no touching what's ilya's' (read: shane's hole and cock) rule. and ilya is has to heave a sigh and say, my desperate slut, (without any fondness, which is rly hard. please respect his labor) and say, okay. you are going to go pick up several cocks to fuck you. guys. or girls. or both. you choose, my greedy hole. tell them your rule is your owner listens and you do not come. no kissing. i will be on headset. you narrate to me what you feel and at the end, you will tell me how much worse they are than me, how they did not give you what you need, how bad you were for thinking you could be greedy instead of being my good boy. yes?
and so on and so forth. you understand
which is to say, the proxy olympic sport of playing hard and fast bw the delicious blue lines of shane's high sex drive for ilya 'flint of desire' rozy and their joint kinking on shane's humiliation of and struggle of having to ask for sexual acts/free use/degradation/cnc/etc., to vocalize that want. the way ilya makes shane feel safe enough AND forced enough to do those things.
it's not that shane doesn't feel attraction to other people, the problem w other people is that they are not ilya!! they are not this inferno.mp3, and why would shane settle for tepid, when he has mind-blowing. so, therefore, it is ilya who makes this experience electrifying for shane. ilya who turns a mediocre soft fuck into a blistering whirlwind. ilya who makes shane's body experience erotic heights he never knew could exist, because these heights would never exist without ilya's presence, without ilya's dominance, without ilya's control over shane's sex life! i repeat: ilya is shane's erotic impetus and his relief of clear instructions!!!! and ilya knows this!!!! and that is the greatest power trip fucking ever. pure gold submission in his hands. and he gets to mold it. fucking goldsmith dom top who knows his sub's best experiences are only the best bc ilya gave them to him, so why not position other people to make sure his sub always remembers this!!! playmaker. game changer. POSSESSION! OLYMPICS!
The thing about Hollanov is that they are constantly having nasty mean sex and Shane is like, yeah. That’s great that’s normal. As long as they kiss Shane is like Okay :) Yay :) Thanks Rozanov, see you in a few months. Stands up straightens his clothes and walks out the door and that’s it. Somewhere behind him Ilya is staring at the ceiling. Reeling.
Then they go to that god forsaken cottage and they have the kind of face-to-face under the blankets condomless sex that even the Pope couldn’t disapprove of and Shane is crying. Gnashing his teeth. Losing his fucking mind. The emotional release is fucking agony. Ilya says you are perfect you are beautiful and you are MINE and Shane almost safewords. Ilya says I’m making love to you do you like it do you like it when I make love to you and the bedsheets are tangled around Shane’s ankles and he feels like he’s going to die. Ilya says Shane Shane Shane and to Shane it’s the most perverted thing he has ever fucking done.

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Why Don't You Engage In Cannibalism?
It's morally wrong.
It's unhealthy.
It's morally wrong, and unhealthy.
It's not morally wrong, but it's unhealthy.
I do not have access to human meat(s) or organs.
I haven't ever considered engaging in cannibalism.
It's against my religion.
I engage in cannibalism. I wish I did not.
I engage in cannibalism. I am glad I do.
Other (comments)
"I Want The Results" Button™
What the fuck is this question, Chara Jame ????¿???? I am putting you in a home.
...what in the ever loving FUCK-
I was curious. Can't ask these questions anywhere else.
WHY DID 15% OF PEOPLE SAY THEY DONT HAVE ACCESS TO HUMAN MEAT? THATS WHATS HOLDING YOU BACK?
Also you do. There are some freaks here, just take some nibbles of each other or something idk
This should be a study xD
okay not having access to human meat won. so
. . . What are they made of if not human meat?
The factoid I like to bring out at parties is that cannibalism can also cover consumption of human blood, not just meat, which means it's not a liquid/solid dichotomy, which means consumption of human fluids is also cannibalism. Winky face.
But also, therefore, it is possible to be a vegan cannibal if you ask permission before you consume someone's breast milk.
Funniest new HR fic concepts, part three:
We're making this interactive because I think it's funny. Have fun guessing.
I will post the specific fic to which these are referring in the reblogs in about a week. A couple of them refer to small trends, so there's a few fic that could technically be the right answer, but there is a specific one for each. Some are small parts of longer fic.
Hollanov come out via Bruno Mars music video
Ilya is a hockey player, no AU, but he also has a wardrobe full of guns and cash and fake passports like a secret agent or an assassin, which he, I reiterate, is not
Overworked and underpaid League intern discovers Hollanov stans and decides to queerbait them on the official accounts for Q1 profits and jersey sales. The League thinks this is a great idea
Dr House M.D. diagnoses Shane Hollander with a rare disease called subdrop. The only cure is Ilya Rozanov's semen
Ilya is cursed by a magical drag queen to be able only to tell the truth
Shane confronts Ilya's (probably way more than) 7 evil(?) exes
HR (Heated Rivalry) HR (Human Resources) fic
Ilya Rozanov is no longer a manwhore, but Wyatt Hayes knows that no one else can know about the Hollanov secret. He panics and tells everyone that Rozanov has found religion and sworn a vow of chastity
On pain of death, Rozanov will allow no one else to tie up his man. But it's not gay, it's a hockey thing, everyone is sure
Hollanov situationship hell as witnessed by a fraid of ghosts and (IRL) hockey player Quinn Hughes, who (IRL) does not want to see ghosts (or Hollanov)
Twitter feels vaguely happy that apparently the Rolex guy is gay
Yuna Hollander's and David Hollander's identity porn twitter feud about who loves Shane Hollander more
Shane and Rose announce their breakup online via dance video
Shane Hollander bemoans the existential pains of having a massive cock
Shane Hollander hires a sexting coach off Craigslist to improve his sexting game with Ilya. You'll never guess who it is. This is not an AU
Hayden Pike overshoots the keeping-Hollanov-in-the closet agenda by feeding Haydenov twitter
Part one, Part two
I am living for Ilya *visibly queer icon* Rozanov and Shane *dude who happens to be gay* Hollander.
Shane, who grew up loved by his parents unconditionally, has been undiagnosed with autism and has made his entire life about ice hockey, has never thought about being gay as an identity. He already has a clear identity: Shane Hollander, Japanese-American, beloved son and the country's best ice hockey player. He already experienced discrimination so he has no desire to engage in the queer community and fight against stereotypes, that do not apply to him. Nobody clocks him as gay because his interests don't suit the hateful narrative. His interests, hobbies or personality traits have never been particularly queer, so why should he make a problem out of it? He is fine and as long as nobody harms him, he feels no need to take part in public discussion, being a role model or simply being visibly queer
Ilya, on the other hand, is a victim of domestic violence, verbal abuse and childhood trauma. He lives in a country that criminalises queerness to an extent that being queer is dangerous. He is a sensible man who was called the f-slur when he was a teenager and probably also a child. His father controlled him so much that he learned not to speak or move on his own in public. He minimised his personal expression to suit his family's view on masculinity. At the same time, Ilya accepted his queerness as a major part of his personality, because casual sex has been his coping mechanism for many years, his close friends are queer, allies or women and his interest in partying fits into queer escapism. He is hyperaware of the discrimination of the queer community because it's a major realistic fear in his life.
In the moment when Ilya's no longer in active danger of being deported, he becomes the activist for queer representation in hockey. He wears make up, nail polish, dresses himself in expensive jewellery, uses hand bags and queer lingo. He can finally show his queer side. Yuna gets crazy over all the cooperation while David gives him little words of affirmation now and then. Ilya is living his queer joy, and Shane watches him from the site. Shane is Shane, dressed in the same black suit he always wears and smiles shyly when ask any questions. A reporter asks him what he's serving today and Shane just stares blankly. Then Ilya interrupts with an accent heavy "cunt".
Ilya Rozanov hypermasculinity and queer coding
I find it totally fascinating the way that Ilya’s characterization highlights the inherit contradiction at the heart of hypermasculinity. A lot of people have (accurately) observed that Ilya ‘gets away’ with a lot of behaviours which might otherwise give him away as queer because he is European and there is a certain allowance for the different cultural understandings of masculinity. This is a fair observation, but more than that I think there is a point to be made here about the way that gender norms are internally inconsistent and frequently at odds.
This is for HRPFers who also read Heated Rivalry fic: what HR fic concepts do you know/think have been carried over from HRPF fic?
For example, unexplained pussy curse, wishbabies, and the "winner's room"?

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"Do you believe in God? An ignorant god sees a sliver of our universe through a pinhole, and thinks it understands all that is, and all that will be. And it will. Because a god makes sense of what it sees despite what it should be. The light… It illuminates. It blinds. It thinks. And therefore, we are…" — Iron Lung Broke: Azathoth (?) is an idiot god. It is bigger than us. An extrauniversal eldritch god perceived through a gap in the universe some few space stations and ships. In an instant, anything that it did not perceive disappeared, unmade. All that was left was what that idiot god had seen because it believed that what it had seen was all that existed, and by thinking such, it made it so. Lore drop. The humans on these space stations called this apocalypse the Quiet Rapture.
Woke: Simon is an idiot god. The blood ocean is bigger than him. Simon perceives the blood ocean only through the pinhole of the flash of camera. It is an inadequate window into the environment, comprised of low-resolution frames much less useful than video or even the welded-shut porthole window. He sees little, and he understands little of what he sees, but he believes that what he does see is the whole. His world is only the dimly-lit submersible, the low-resolution black/white camera frames, the map coordinates on the control unit, and the voice of the commander over the speaker. He has been briefed little on the mission, and he does not know how the submersible works. He does know that soon he will be free. He takes control of his environment. He ekes out the construction of a crude map to delineate his world; he forces the camera to flash continually to give him light and insight into the oceans outside; he interrogates the voices to clarify his mission; and he investigates the manuals to determine the workings of the submersible and the greater scope of the situation he is in. Soon, he believes he has gained control, and he "makes sense" of his mission and his situation. However, as he becomes more afraid, rocks become skeletons become creatures, his fear consuming his reality—or perhaps manifesting his reality. He knew less than he thought. His maps are inadequate, the manuals are piecemeal, and mission control is lying to him. There is something alive in the blood ocean, and it is watching him. This is not an exploration; it is an execution. Perhaps he hallucinates, or perhaps he encounters the divine. His knowledge becomes injurious, the light blinding him. Or perhaps that injurious light is only the radioactive flash of his X-ray camera. Possibly this is literal, or possibly he is dying of radiation poisoning. It's also a metaphor for his radicalisation as a member of Eden. Bespoke: Humanity is an idiot god. The universe is bigger than it. The remains of humanity perceive the apocalypse through a pinhole, knowing little about what they call the Quiet Rapture. It has left them diminished; once a vast, spacefaring civilisation, now their reach encompasses some half-dozen space colonies. In the wake of the apocalypse, they are divided, and their inability to unify in common cause leaves them vainly spending lives and fighting a civil war between religious extremism and a purportedly communally-owned political system that endorses cruel, extrajudicial executions. They will kill any number to find out what caused the Quiet Rapture. Their mission is exploration: to find in these answers a way to "make sense" of their new universe. It is only right that humanity make itself extinct in pursuit of answers as to what has nearly made it extinct. Was it worth it? It will be. It will be. This is also a metaphor for radicalisation. Preoccupation with broad belief systems such as religion or national identity causes humans to "make sense" of what little they see by generalising and blinding themselves to diversity and nuance. Extremism is a blinding light that outshines the stars.
Stroke: The audience is an idiot god. The Iron Lung universe is bigger than us. We perceive the universe of Iron Lung through the pinhole of the camera. It is a bottle film with a single set, and the only thing we see is the interior of a small submersible. There is one main character, and often he must talk to himself. We are given many questions and few answers regarding the logic and lore of this universe. What caused the Quiet Rapture? What is the monster in the blood ocean? What is the Light? How do the blood oceans exist? What precisely is the remaining state of humanity? Why are they doing this to Simon? Nonetheless, from these questions, we, the idiot god, in an attempt to "make sense" of what we see, "make sense" of what we see, inventing a Lovecraftian universe or a surreal afterlife from spare crumbs. Convinced we are correct, we then communicate an invented cosmos as authoritative fact, utilising dated memes such as broke/woke/bespoke.
Okay, everyone. Theories on when each of them actually fell in love? And on when they realised it?
I think both of them were in love by spring/summer 2015. I think Ilya knew by mid-2016. For Shane, I would say he realised it all at once on the sofa at Ilya's place in late 2016.