Hi, everyone! It’s Author! Yes, I know, my name is justthatgirl, but that’s a mouthful, so feel free to call me jtg, Evy, or Author! None of which is my real name. I’m going to call myself Author though, so you might get used to it. It’s nice to meet you all, and I hope if you’re not subscribed, you will be a dear and consider it. And like the episodes too please! I know that it’s really hard to remember to do that when you just wanna scroll. *speaks from experience*

*Ahem*

Moving on, let’s get into some lore about Esi and Nir’s world.

Their world is one continent split into regions - the Seaside, Woodlands, and Fieldrows. Their people are referred to as Coastal, Underbrush, and Row-ish respectively. Coastal speak Pearl, Underbrush speak Akikki, and Row-ish speak *checks notes* Chukshahem.

Underbrush tend to be very traditional and family-oriented, although tradition comes before family. Always. And that’s where our dear Nir ran into some…problems, and got themselves into a whole lotta messy stuff as a troubled teen…

That’s a story for another time!

Row-ish are an adaptable people, using tradition and modern ways to advance themselves, usually in the world of crime but anyways-

Coastal are always on the modern end of things, breaking tradition to put themselves on the top spot. Shoals, the Seaside capital, is a very sought-after place to be as a detective, because that’s where the first greatest detective came from. No, Esi doesn’t have an ego big enough to even think of that as his reason for moving there.

Now onto this whole language thing I sprung up on y’all.

All people are born bilingual. Yes, they are born that way. They can’t form coherent sentences, but you can call it…instinct. By the time they’re about two, give or take a few months, they can fluently speak Bound, a language shared by all, impossible to die. Depending on the child, it might take them a little bit longer to fully grasp the ins and outs of The Language that Separates, or their native language, as we regular people would say. 

And now you’re like - “Author, why isn’t it the other way around? Why can’t their native language be easier to learn? What’s this about language dying? Why do babies come out speaking?”

You see, my darling reader, The Language that Separates is meant to simply set them apart, to give a feeling of nationality. See, a native language can be killed forcefully. That might sound like some creepy ritual thing, but it’s as simple as shutting anyone who speaks that language out and not using it for about a month. As to why it’s harder to learn, that’s the curse of Bound. It’s harder for a child to learn a language when another is getting in the way. Babies come out speaking because that’s how their brains are wired. In their world, they do a type of ultrasound that captures sound so the parents can hear their baby babbling.

And that’s also its own story!

Now you might be wondering from past episodes, “Author, how come Esi took the news about Nir being a hermaphrodite so easily? Wouldn’t he be weirded out, or at least feel a little bit of sadness that Nir didn’t trust him enough to tell him sooner?”

The answer to that, no’errike (my friends), is that hermaphrodites are fairly common in Seaside areas. They’re not discriminated against -- unless, of course, you’re a judgmental idiot -- and it’s fairly common for them to dress as men to avoid anything inappropriate happening to them. Most of them prefer they/them to anything else, but fun fact: they also like to be called m--, it gives them a sense of warmth and…oh, guess that’s too plot relevant to be revealed. Well, the point is, Esi takes the news easy ‘cause it’s normal. Nir on the other hand…

“Normal” isn’t the word you’d use to describe it where they came from.

“Author,” you say, “Can you tell us anything else about the plot?”

Dears, I’ll tell you this. There are three organizations. One is the Sin Deckate. The others are TBD. Esi will have a new case to work on soon, I promise. I just wanted a brief respite from all the drama, so why not write some fluff? Plus, I was able to get all four of our darlings together.

As for Drew and Liliph? They are roommates and best friends, and there will be no romance between them.

Drew isn’t that sort of person if you catch my drift.

I don’t know if there will be any more important characters…I mean, the set we have right now is pretty cool.

“Author, when will we get to see Esi and Nir’s pasts?” you ask.

We’ll be getting into the deep ends of our darling detective’s past coming up. I’ve effectively titled this arc “Golden Child: Ezyn’s Past Arc.” Short, sweet, and to the point. After this one, we’ll get into my other baby’s terrible, terrible past, amazingly titled “Golden Child: Nircoel’s Past Arc.” I know, lovely. Oh, the first arc was “Golden Child: Strange Happenings Arc.”

You might be wanting to know more details about the characters' personalities, appearances, likes/dislikes, all that jazz -- and you’ll get that soon. I just need to make them some bios and ya. Hopefully get that done before Christmas. Then again, I am a S-rank procrastinator, so don’t expect much.

You might also be angrily asking, "Author!! The heck did you change your uploading times for?!?!"

T-T Forgive me, but as I am a student, it must be done. Can't be uploading in the middle of class, and doing it later in the day means I can get my life together, promote on Tapas D*scord when the episode updates, and move on with my life (:

I'll go back to the normal time around my winter break, switch back for school time, and finally return to normal when school's out again. (I don't get a spring break. In exchange, I finish school earlier than most students.) 

Fun facts: Uncensored

Esi's using a fake name (Ezryn Reich) to get around unnoticed. I mean, yeah, it's a dumb cover, but in actuality, the name Ezryn became super popular around the time he was born. Lyla, bless her soul, may she RIP, wanted her darling boy to stand out a little bit, so she removed the r. We love her for it. I mean, Esri just doesn't fit. (If there's an Esri/Ezri out there, your name/nickname is beautiful!!)

Hermaphrodites can have children and can’t spread or receive STDs.

I wrote this on a whim for a prompt, never expected it to get so big.

Coastal is based on Italian. Very, LIGHTLY based.

Akikki is based on indigenous languages. Again, very LIGHTLY based.

Row-ish is based on Finnish. You know what I’m going to say.

So don’t hate me for that, okay? I did some research for inspiration.

All my street names and even the university are clam names. Look it up.

Sin Deckate is a criminal syndicate. *hint hint*

Drew and Liliph were not planned, and neither were my babies going to uni. But Esi’s twenty and Nir’s nineteen, so it made sense for them to go. Drew is comic relief, and Liliph’s…Liliph. Trust me, they have more important roles, but this is them right now.

Detective Willis being Amaryllis was also not planned, and neither was the leader of the Sin Deckate being his twin. As someone in D*scord once put it, “A wild twin appears." So true, so true.

Khlo was just meant to be a friend, but then she ended up running a lab haha.

We stan communication and consent here, so any drama between them will be resolved quickly. I am not a fan of drawing things out longer than needed. And consent is important, we know that.

That’s all, folks!

Hope this clears up some things for you, no’errike. Thank you for sticking it out with me for so long, all the hearts, love, hugs, and kisses. (And if you’re not a fan of touching, I’ll smile as bright as I can for you.) See you in the next episode <3