I Still Think That My Favorite Urban Legend/folklore Fact Is That There Are Certain Areas In New Orleans

I still think that my favorite urban legend/folklore fact is that there are certain areas in New Orleans where you cannot get a taxi late at night not because it isn’t safe, but because taxi companies have had recurring problems of picking up ghosts in those areas who are not aware that they are dead and disappearing from the cab before reaching the destination and therefore stiffing the driver on the fare causing a loss for the company.

Falin, Oil on paper and digital

Muzha🎋 and Jinzha✨

i love the idea of an obliviously op reader. like a reader who is just as (if not more) powerful than those at the top of the food chain, and yet has no idea about it.

you casually bump into gojo satoru on the street and- what the fuck? you passed through his infinity? huh?

while he’s stood there having a bit of a crisis you’re on your merry way to buy some snacks for yourself.

i’m specifically thinking about a reader like this in shibuya.

passing by mahito only to point and grin at him, “cool cosplay! i don’t recognise the character, but you look great!”

he giggles, placing a hand on your shoulder in an attempt to disfigure you, to turn you into some misshapen monster that’ll join the ranks of the others-

you blink at him, tilting your head a little, only to then place your hand on his shoulder too. you stare at each other for a moment.

“that was weird. see ya!” and then you leave him there oh-so-casually.

sukuna is in disbelief when he sees you- his domain should’ve wiped out everyone in the area? who the fuck are you?

and you just stroll up to him cheerfully, “man, i love your tats! where did you get them? i’m considering getting some, but-“

he lifts his palm, you should immediately burst into flames-

“high-five!”

and then you leave him to just stand there in confusion, continuing on your way.

it’s the fact that you cannot perceive the danger you are in that makes the world around you all the less dangerous.

There’s something so important about dungeon meshi choosing falin to be their missing party member. She’s their healer. She is, in many ways, the most important member. She’s the one who ensures they all come home in one piece at the end of the day. So from a storytelling perspective, it makes sense that it would be her. It intrinsically raises the stakes by taking away the party’s ability to quickly heal.

But from a thematic standpoint it’s even more significant. Falin is the best of them. She holds them all together. There’s a reason why the party splits up when they lose her, after all. The only reason Laois and Marcille know each other is because of Falin, so by extension she’s the only reason their party exists the way it does.

There’s something almost divine about the way she’s characterized by her friends. They talk about her kindness, think of what she’d do if she were with them. You never hear anyone speak poorly of her. Everyone else has flaws. Laois struggles to connect with others, Chilchuck can’t admit when he cares, Marcille refuses to be wrong, and Senshi is very stuck in his ways. None of these are necessarily a bad thing. It just makes them complex people. But Falin is almost more of an idealized concept than a person.

And then we see Falin on screen, a mess of bones and viscera. We see her put back together with forbidden magic, her new body soaked with blood. We see that there’s something off about her, that alongside her kindness is incredible power. And everything up until that point reframes itself. Falin has always been part monster, from her compassion for the dead to her magic school hideout in a dungeon. She dies and comes back, not just changed but amplified. She’s a healer, a ghost, a monster, all tucked beneath the same skin.