#threshold ask

(I love your fic sm shhsusgub 💖)

I loveeeeeeeee Over The Threshold ><

oh and by the way, i always think of ott when i see pompompurin and cinnamonroll next to each other in the store. which is frequent where i live lol. i think i once sent you a pic of their plushies from my main (something i never do) because i couldn't resist 😋

okay, that's all, ily bye!

- @massivelyanerd

Before I yap and yap and yap, you did indeed share your CinnaPom photo! I remember it vividly! Actually, I've received quite a lot of photos from readers who've bought CinnaPom merch because of Over the Threshold over the last two years, and it never ceases to amaze me. The thought of real people thinking of my story out there in the big wide world blows my mind. It makes me feel really connected to everyone and reminds me why sharing art matters, so thank you again. It means more than you know.

Talking of poor Pompompurin, let's discuss this little detail in chapter 16. To my knowledge, you are the first person to catch this, dear lennie, and it makes me very, very happy indeed ♥

Sometimes I question why I'm wasting my time bothering with such tiny details. I could write this story much faster if I wasn't so fastidious about these things, but I always end up persevering because I ultimately believe that even if readers don't consciously pick up on them, it'll feed into their subconscious enjoyment and absorption of the story. The shattered bottle and poor Suguru's forehead paint a picture of the kind of night he's had, even if people don't make the direct connection to Pompompurin in chapter 13.

(Speaking of, "Would he toss Suguru in favour of a new model too?" I think Satoru answered that question a thousand times over this chapter.)

I think the re-read value of Over the Threshold gets higher with every chapter, and I hope those few people who go back to read the whole thing in one sitting when they're done will see things they never noticed before. However, I'll still never know whether anyone notices most of these little callbacks to foreshadowing in earlier chapters and the references to canon that I agonise over. They're minor ornaments to the rich tapestry of the text; they're not supposed to stand out, but I trust that they're doing their job.

All that in mind, I cannot even begin to describe the joy I feel when someone not only notices them, but points them out to me! It's a throw my arms up in a cheer and run around the house moment! God, it means so much that you pay such close attention to something that I am well aware no one will ever care about as much as me. It means all my wanky artist moments were worth it!

Your comments are always rewarding in this way, and this one was no different. The airplane reference?! I cannot believe you 😭 I think my fics are probably extra enjoyable to people like you who recall moments from canon so readily. I'm really happy you felt the car scene evoked Yaga on the stairs with Satoru, and that you loved his dynamic with Ijichi. Those two relationships were so important to this chapter and they're very special to me in canon, too. This chapter in particular shares a real dialogue with the source material, and I'm so glad it was felt. Delighted to have a fellow nerd reading, hehe!

As a prize for your keen eye and memory, here's another little detail from chapter 5 that I just happened to be thinking about earlier today:

‘Careful what you wish for, Suguru.’ Satoru was grinning at him now, excitement dancing across every inch of his lovely face. ‘I’ve got a mean right hook.’ Despite the manicured hands and the unbroken nose and the delicate jewellery affixed to his ear, Suguru guessed that anyone who underestimated Satoru in a fight would probably pay for it dearly.

I published that all the way back in December 2023 after writing it with that moment from chapter 16 in mind. Even I'm impressed by my patience and restraint at this point.

- 🪅

Every single person who listens to Shameless immediately after reading the chapter automatically makes their way onto my favourite readers list. That's you, piñata anon!

Thank you for this wonderful message, ugh! I'm really riding some wild high from this chapter and I could yap about it forever, especially in relation to my choices about how to present Satoru, but I've said before that I may share some essays on AO3 when it's done. Completely self indulgent, but hopefully at least one other person will find the contents illuminating!

For now, I'll just say I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Really touched that you went out of your way to check out the highlights too! Walking SatoSugu's route through the Imperial Gardens was one of those moments where my heart felt too big for my body to contain it!

~THAT S WHY YOU ALWAYS CALL ME COZ YOU RE SCARED TO BE LOOOOVED~

KOU HAS CAUGHT UP WITH OVER THE THRESHOLD AND ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD ONCE MORE. You hate me and I love you. That's how this works. So so grateful to have you as a reader.

As for everyone else reading this, open up chapter 16 right now and get this in your ears in the aftermath. You won't regret it.

ME TOO, ANON, ME TOO ♥ I'm on cloud nine this morning, I'm so so happy it's finally out there in the world. Truly wild how much this story has come to rule my life and I'm so happy that I'm not alone with it, even after all this time.

The song is: such great heights by iron & wine

I hope you enjoy it if you choose to give it a listen someday!

This is such an Over the Threshold song. In fact, it's such an Over the Threshold song that I put it on the playlist. You're right that it isn't the type of music I'd usually listen to, but there's a lot of music on that playlist that isn't necessarily to my tastes but belongs there nevertheless! And, controversially perhaps, I like it better than the original by The Postal Service.

Anyway, you've earned yourself a fushiglow yap session below the cut, because these lyrics have no business being this relevant to Threshold SatoSugu specifically!

God, you have truly, so so sincerely changed my life with these playlists you make. I’m pretty open and flexible when it comes to music and you’ve really expanded my tastes with what you’ve chosen to share for ott.

(((As I write this I’m ~ halfway through ch. 14, maybe slightly less than half? Currently feeling mushy in a good way and uplifted about the rest of the chapter. Maybe I never had anything to worry about!)))

Anyways, thank you for everything you have put time and energy into for this fic universe, playlists included! It’s so fun to feel that much more immersed in the music and the story!

- massivelyanerd 💖

I'm very late to this, I'm sorry! I feel like I spend half my time apologising for missing messages and stuff. I forget about the existence of anything and everything as soon as it leaves my immediate field of vision. This is why Tumblr needs a "mark as unread" function because I get excited by notifications and check messages/asks when I'm not in a position to respond immediately!

Anyway, (in)appropriately ADHD ramble aside, ahhhhhh! Music ask, music ask! I have, of course, seen your comment on the chapter and I actually didn't need your marker to figure out at which point you sent this since... Well, since chapter 14 is ~like that~ but I appreciated it all the same! It makes me feel like I was sitting alongside you as you were reading, and it's always really special to get closer to readers in this way.

Firstly, thank you for all of your kind words here and on the fic itself ♥ It means so much! As for the playlist itself, I'm very interested to know if you listened while reading and, if so, did you feel like certain songs belonged to certain moments? I don't want to influence your answer (if you even have one) but I have some thoughts on the playlist myself, so perhaps I'll share those in another post if you're interested? It's been around a month since chapter 14 came out, so I think enough time has passed.

Regardless, I'm really glad you enjoyed it, but please feel free to yap at me some more if you'd like to! I'd love to hear which songs are your favourites, which are outside your usual playbook, literally anything at all you want to share! If you're interested in the fic, I'll also eagerly await any thoughts on the upcoming Something Blue, Borrowed playlist because I curated that one more carefully than any other fic playlist I've created, I think.

For anyone else reading, please take this as an open invitation to answer any of the questions I've asked here! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the playlist or a specific song or any other song you associate with the chapter/the characters/the fic in general. Reblog the post, leave a reply, send an ask, whatever you like! I know I have a couple of music related asks to respond to (and don't worry, I'll get to them!) but this is your reminder that you can always talk to Tumblr user fushiglow about music. It's always morally correct.

Thank you so much for the ask and for all the support as always ♥ I appreciate you so much!