#+ shes mostly known for being a bit of a fashion influencer who happens to be an egyptologist

[cinnabargirl]

I think we can criticise netflix's Cleopatra without falling into nazi dogwhistles

[all-risejd]

After Shine Part 1 (Damian Priest x OC) (Eventual The Judgment Day x OC)

Danika

June 16, 2018 - Dallas, Texas

She’d been back from Japan maybe five days, and was riding the uplifting high of being close enough to California she swore she could smell her momma's cooking. Tonight was going to be amazing, she could feel it in her bones, she wasn’t exactly sure why Cage had sent her on the road with his talent, when a group of them decided to work Ring of Honor, but she’d spent the last year touring with some of the most irritating bastards she’d ever met (she sort of loved it though). The move to New York almost two summers ago, alone and in the big city, had been disarming. She swore looking back she’d spent most of the first two months crying herself to sleep.

Danny Cage had been a friend of her fathers, sort of, and he’d ‘taken her in’ out of respect for how famous her dad really was. He hadn’t actually known what to do with an almost eighteen-year old girl who wasn’t at all interested in the limelight of the ring. It’s how she became an Influencer, she supposed, they traveled constantly, so she started a blog, and back then she could make little short stories with some of Cage’s younger talent. There was one man, Martinez, that she tended to stick close to. He was large and big, and just this side of dangerous, but he’d saved her ass more than once in Japan - she’d never forget the night he punched some handsy Englishman for copping a feel of her, when she’d come to collect them from a bar. 

The thing about Martinez was he didn’t want her around, not really. But she was always underfoot. She wanted him to win, he had the power and the drive, and fuck the charisma once he got stared in the ring - he was damn hard not to look at. The thing was, he was mean. And more often than not she suffered for her attempts at helping him, but there were days (sometimes even two in a row) where he would talk with her in Spanish about his home, about his familia, about who he wanted to be, and in turn she told him stories of her familia, of being adopted by a huge Latino family, and how lucky she was. Then there were rushed mornings, where she was tossing women (sometimes multiple) out of his hotel room, and running around doing last minute checks to see if he had anything, before corralling the still intoxicated, angry bull of a man toward the taxi.

“Hey, kid, you're dad’s on the phone!” Cage shouted, and motioned to his cell phone - her’s was dead.

“Thanks, Mr. Cage.” She hurried to him, around the pool, side stepping the large man in question who was drinking before ten in the morning, stretched out over a lounger, he shot her a smile, which made her blush. “Papi?” She said into the phone, a grin pulling at her face as the familiar noise of home sounded behind her.

“Hola, Danika, we are going to come tonight to the matches, Dominik wants to see you.” She smiled warmly, Cage was just going to love hosting the Mysterio familia. “How was Japan?” She launched into telling him all about the customs and their version of wrestling, and how she’d met Chris Jericho, and boy was he protective of her, she talked about the fashion and all the gifts she’d brought back for them, but mostly she asked about her younger sister Lainey, who Dominik had been visiting with while she’d been out of the country (six months in Japan was longer than she’d anticipated). 

“We are actually going to bring her with us tonight.” Danika’s heart soared damn near out of her chest. “And Cage has agreed, you need a vacation, so while we have custody of Delainey and are waiting to figure out what’s going to happen with your mom, you're coming home tonight.” She couldn’t help but grin even wider, after they talked a bit more, and she got off the phone, she wandered back to the pool, settling onto the lounge next to Martinez.

“¿Qué te tiene tan feliz, pequeña?”

She shot Martinez a look, she knew he knew English, probably more than he let on, she responded in kind, “Mi familia is coming to the show tonight, and I’m going home for a while afterward.” The man lowered his sunglasses to look her over, he shot her a toothy grin, it both unsettled her and made her want to vibrate out of her skin, “I might even miss you.” She admitted, after a long moment. 

May 21, 2020

Danika Wesson moved through her bedroom technically cleaning up, she’d finished her weekly list of projects from AEW’s Talent Development and had set up social media accounts for several new talents under him as well as worked with them to do their first videos and pictures. She herself had spent the day doing an unboxing of new Mysterio gear for YouTube. She had to have the whole bedroom cleaned and in top shape for the weekend because she was getting a weekend visit with Lainey. Now, with a pregnancy test clutched in her hand she was pulling all the laundry into her arms and headed for the bathroom she shared with Dom and Aalyah. Her room was still covered in more Mysterio merchandise than she would like, but she’d get over it. 

Living with the Mysterio’s had been… an adjustment in her youth. Now she was just the third kid in the second floor of the house who did laundry because it was Dom’s job to clean the bathroom and Aalyah’s job to vacuum their floor. “Dominik!” She called over her shoulder, Aalyah was mercifully in her bedroom ignoring them. Dominik appeared in his doorway, basketball shorts and a comfortable looking gray short sleeve shirt. “Help?” She gave him a curious look, he glanced at the maybe seven articles of clothing she was holding with a raised eyebrow. “I need your help, Dominik, in the bathroom.”

“Oh.” She watched as his eyes widened a bit, a mischievous smile on his face like he thought they were going to mess around (they were not doing anything remotely sexy with either Aalyah or Angie in the house, she had rules), then he was following behind her. She let him open the door, in their teen years they had spent a lot of time being fussed at for being in the bathroom together, and with old habits dying hard, Dominik immediately locked the door behind him as she tossed the laundry into her purple hamper. “So no period then.” He cocked his head to the side, looking down at Danika, who hadn’t really thought much about their height difference until recently. 

She cut her eyes at him, “Wow, Captain Obvious. Glad to see you have made it to the party.” She rolled her eyes, and stepped closer to him, “Do you really think I would risk moms wrath by sharing the bathroom with you otherwise.” She pinched his chest, above his left nipple, another holdover from their youth when they pushed boundaries of friendship often too far. Or at least Angie, their shared mother, had thought they were pushing boundaries back then, relatively speaking things had been pretty tame. Sharing food, Dominik reading to her while she was taking a bubble bath, tickling and shoving at each other, once they handcuffed themselves to each other, and there was a whole summer they spent reenacting scenes from Jackass.

Dominik snickered, “You could have just agreed. A nice yeah Dominik you're right I didn’t have my period this month would have been fine.” He had morphed his voice into something resembling a girl but it sounded more hilarious than accurate. 

“I don’t sound like that.” She huffed but grinned at him nonetheless, “And it’s been two months.”

“Well that’s a bit more serious than I thought.” He moved to sit on the sink, another thing Angie would have their asses for, sinks and counters were not made for butts. “Are you sure it’s not what happened when we were younger?” His voice was a bit worried now, “You went like five months without a period then had like… cyst or something.” Bless his heart, he was trying. 

She gave him an appraising look, “I mean I guess it could be but Dr. Keyes removed my right ovary and all that jazz.” She shrugged. “I have a test, figure we might as well do this now.” She brandished the test at him only for him to yank it out of her hand, he immediately tore into the box and started reading the instructions. Never let it be said Dominik didn’t love to know everything. “You gonna share with the class?” She pointed at the directions. 

“You just pee on the stick.” He shoved it back at her, “Once you do that, we just wait two minutes.”

She took the pregnancy test and narrowed her eyes at him. “I know we fucked multiple times but I dunno if I want you to hear me pee…” There was a bit of desperation edging into her voice. 

Dominik laughed, hard. “I can pee in the tub while you pee on the stick. We can pee together.”

“I hate you.” She snickered, “By all means pee in the tub, heathen.” She waited for Dominik to climb off the sink and slowly walk around her to head for the tub, he wrenched the shower open just as she pushed her yoga pants and underwear down. “How do you even…” She trailed off as she figured out how to hold the stick and not pee on her hand. Settling down over the toilet, pointedly facing away from Dom and the tub, she cleared her throat, “Together or whatever.”

It was weird. She was so relieved to drop the test in the sink and clean herself off, she closed tre toilet and sat on it, before pulling the test back into her hands, and folding her hands around it, protecting it from view, while Dom moved back to sit on the sink, his shorts back in place. “Two minutes.” He set the timer as he kicked his legs out looking like a much younger boy than the 23 year old man he was. 

“Two minutes.” She agreed, “So did you talk to Megan? Are you two gonna patch things up?”

“Negative ghost rider.” Dominik offered as he looked up toward the ceiling, “She uh, well she didn’t like me being on the road and she hated our friendship. Like how am I supposed to explain that my parents adopted you but you aren’t my sister when Aalyah introduces you as our sister to everyone.”

“Tough break, boo.” She offered almost sweetly. Megan and Dom had been on and off since they were in tenth grade. Danika was honestly happy to see her gone, not because she wanted to be Dominik’s girlfriend but because Megan had a tendency to make Dominik’s life hell. In fact Danika had only just managed to talk him out of marrying the monster the previous Christmas. 

“You get all your work done?” Dominik asked not so subtly to change the subject.

She let him have it, “You mean the unboxing for Rey and the stuff for AEW? Yeah. I got it finished.” She let out a long sigh, “I think Cody has more talent he wants me to fly out and meet.” She admitted, “So I can finish setting up the accounts and can finish getting everyone started on their socials, plus Cody wants me to do a series of soundbites for him.”

Dominik hummed, “You should have finished going to school for filmography.”

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda.” She hummed, impatiently, “How much longer?”

“Like a whole ‘nother minute.” Dominik turned his attention back to her, “Do you want kids?”

“That’s an odd question, considering we are sort of on a knife blade here.” Danika huffed, “I mean, yeah, I like the idea of kids, I don’t want kids that… I don’t want kids with someone who I’m not sure is going to be around, I don’t want a repeat of my childhood.”

Dominik was silent after that, contemplating what she had said, she would bet. He had wanted to be a dad since literally the third grade. His phone alarm went off, announcing they could look at the test, Danika didn’t move, her whole body was frozen, it felt like moving was impossible. Dominik, thankfully, grabbed the test from her folded hands. “Oh.” He whispered, before he climbed off the counter, and knelt in front of her, “Danika, am I someone who you think is always going to be around?”

She jerked the test out of his grasp and looked down, two pink lines. “Oh.” She let out a little giggle, “Well, Dominik, I think I made another one of your dreams come true.”

Dominik was silent again, “We don’t have to do this.” He cupped her face, “I want you to be happy too, we both know I’ve wanted kids since I was like seven, but…” He trailed off, “If you aren’t ready for this, then I’m not ready for this.” He assured her.

Before she could answer there was a harsh pounding on the door, “I have to pee!” Aalyah shouted.

“GO DOWNSTAIRS!” Dominik and Danika both screamed back at her.

“OH MY GOD, MOM, DOM AND DANI ARE IN THE BATHROOM TOGETHER!” 

“Dios, she gets older but does she get any more mature?” Danika hissed, but leaned into Dominik’s hands, “I want to have children with you, I’ll give you all the babies you want, I know we aren’t in love like that, but I do love you, unconditionally and forever. I know you won’t-”

“MOM!” Aalyah shouted, followed by, “MAMI!” 

“Dios.” Dominik grabbed the test and shoved it into his basketball shorts pocket, he hauled Danika to her feet, unlocked the bathroom door, and yanked it open to glare down at Aalyah, “Being the bratty little sister should end at eighteen.” He snapped, “We are both over eighteen, and can be in the bathroom alone or together if we wa-”

Angie had climbed to the second floor, and was looking between the three of them, “¿Qué son todos los gritos?”

“They were in the bathroom together, again, with the door locked.” Aalyah looked positively excited to say it aloud, Danika rolled her eyes violently from where she was hiding behind Dominik.

“Mom,” Dominik sighed, “I was helping Danika with something, yes it was in the bathroom, yes the door was locked, her belly ring got messed up, she lost the ball and we had to change it.” He offered unamused. “Now, if you could just move-'' He made to push around Aalyah, who pushed back, the jostling dislodged the pregnancy test which he hadn’t put into his pocket properly. 

Danika wanted to scream, she reached for the test at the same time Aalyah did, the younger girl snatching it out of her grasp, “OH MY GOD, YOU'RE PREGNANT!”

“Can we stop screaming?” Danika snapped, she grabbed the test and pulled it back.

Angie was talking in spanish far to fast for her to keep up with, but she caught the jist of it - Angie was bemoaning the fact that she’d let Rey talk her into adopting a street kid from the wrong side of San Diego, with a dash of the shame that Danika would bring to their name (although she largely used the Wesson last name publically, legally she had been adopted by the Mysterios, making her legal last name Gutiérrez). 

Dominik glared at Aalyah then looked directly at his mom, “Detener. Danika está embarazada de mi hijo.”

Angie looked for a moment like she’d been slapped, “You're child?” She clutched at her heart, “What?”

Dominik and Danika shared a look, with Danika shrugging her shoulders, Dominik had opened this can of worms so he could close it. “When Megan and I broke up I was heartbroken, Danika and I might have drank that bottle of tequila we told you we didn’t drink.” Her eyes widened, “And we uh, well…” He looked at Danika for support, she instead sent Jefe a text message, Rey would be home within the next few minutes, and she could tell this was going to be a fight the level of a Latino telenovela if the man didn’t come sooth his wife, quickly. “Look, before that we’d never had sex, and we’ve sort of messed around since then, but-”

“Eres hermano y hermana.” Angie looked close to tears.

“Legally, yes.” Danika agreed, “Biologically, no. We’ve tried to explain this to you multiple times. We don’t see each other as siblings, yes both of us look at Aalyah like our little sister, but Mom, we are best friends.”

Angie shook her head, “Tendrás que casarte ahora.” 

The front door opened and closed, downstairs, the alarm system pinged to let them know. “We are not getting married.” Dominik countered, irritated. “It’s not happening, we aren’t in love.” Dominik snapped, his voice going hard, “We are never going to get married.”

“Hey, now, we have an agreement about your fortieth birthday.” Danika wiggled her eyebrows at him, “If you haven’t gotten married by the time you're forty and I’m thirty-eight we will get married.”

Rey snickered as he joined them, “I remember this agreement, you two signed it in crayons.” 

Dominik looked between his father and Danika, “Ok, well, we aren’t getting married right now.”

“Why would you get married, mi hijo?” Rey looked perplexed.

Seriously, it was a wonder to Danika that they didn’t have a WWE themed reality television show. 

Aalyah chose that moment to cackle, “Because Dominik got her pregnant.”

There was a long stretch of Rey’s eyes darting between Dominik and Danika, with Angie sniffling to herself, and Aalyah pitched forward in a way that suggested she wished she had popcorn. Finally Rey cleared his throat, “What are we doing about this?”

“We hadn’t decided yet.” Dominik cleared his throat, “We were talking about our options and what we wanted to do when Aalyah started being her usual bratty self, and caused this whole argument.” Dominik explained, exasperated. 

Rey hummed, “Danika, cariño, what do you want to do?” 

“Jefe, I would like Dominik and I to talk about it privately, once we have a decision we will let you all know.” She cast her glance to Aalyah, “That’s my shirt, asshole, give it back.” 

“You’ll be too fat to wear it.” Aalyah sang as she walked back to her room.

“I thought you had to go to the bathroom!” Dominik snapped after her.

Aalyah cackled, “I never had to pee, I just heard you two talking in the bathroom and knew the door would be locked.” 

“Oh, you little-” Danika made to give chase, but Dominik caught her around her middle.

“Not so fast,” He tutted, “You're carrying my child, and I don’t want the little bean to inherit whatever ridiculous gene it is that makes you and Aalyah act like children all the time.”

“That’s rich.” Rey huffed, “You usually start their little fights.” Rey looked pointedly at Dominik, then at Angie, “We will support their choice, mi esposa, let them make it.” He took her arm and started to steer her down the stairs, “I will say, if you are going to give us grandchildren, at least let us do something Catholic for their birth.” With that Rey headed them down the stairs.

Danika growled under her breath, “Come on.” She tugged him back into the bathroom, and locked the door. She reclaimed her seat on the toilet, and motioned for him to kneel before her again, “Alright, take two.” 

He snickered, “Danika Wesson Gutiérrez, my best friend, my soulmate, my hero, and my ride or die, would you do me the honor of having my baby?”

She burst out laughing, unable to hold it in, she laughed until she felt the tears start on her cheeks, “If you ever propose to anyone let me write the script for you, boo.” She giggled, “Alright, let’s do this, we’ve always been good together, you are my knight in shining armor, I mean you did ride across San Diego to the scary part of town to rescue me, and you punched that guy in ninth grade who told me I couldn’t be a Gutiérrez because I wasn’t Mexican, and you-” 

He cut her off with a chaste kiss, just a press of their lips together, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” She nodded her head, their noses bumping, “Dominik, I’d be no one without you, I’ve always wanted to have kids, and if I were going to accidentally get pregnant, I am so glad it’s with you. Cause come hell or high water, as Uncle Adam says, we are always going to have each other's backs.” She nuzzled his nose, “Now aren’t you meant to be packing for SmackDown?”

He rolled his eyes, but stood, ruffling her red hair as he went. The both spilled back out of the bathroom, pushing at each other and laughing, until Dominik veered off into his room, no doubt to actually pack up for his and Rey’s upcoming flight. She headed back to her room, and gazed around the piles of Mysterio merchandise. Her life with the Mysterio’s might be a rollercoaster, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. She ran her hand over her flat stomach, mostly to reassure herself that there was a little baby growing in there. 

Dominik had promised her adventures, when he came to rescue her on his bike when they were eleven and thirteen (with Dominik being the older one), and he’d yet to disappoint. 

[shwoo]

Grumpus Headcanons (3/3)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Here is all 1,100 words of headcanons for every Bugsnax character relationship I can think of from before the expedition. Every character relationship closer than Filbo and Eggabell, or Chandlo and Floofty, anyway. I don't think either of those pairs knew each other very well.

The Clumby and Journalist one is basically a summary of a fanfic I wrote (about what Clumby was thinking during the game's intro). The headcanon list came first, but I am very uneven about finishing things.

Relationship Headcanons

Jamfoot and Clumby He likes her and considers her a friend, but in a selfish kind of way, where he doesn't care if she's happy or not, and doesn't really respect her as a person. She thinks he's an idiot who ruined her life, and resents him for it. She also thinks that he saved her life, which is probably true, so her feelings are complicated. They do a trivia night together every couple of weeks, which Clumby enjoys but would never admit. I think that because it would be a funny thing for Jamfoot to act betrayed about if Clumby switched sides to Team Desperate Loser (that's what I call the main characters). Did trivia night mean nothing???

Bronica and Clumby Clumby had a crush on Bronica, which was part of the reason she went with her to Snaktooth. They'd already met when Clumby interviewed her, and Clumby was desperate to prove her ability to handle dangerous situations. So going on a secret expedition with her celebrity crush to a mystery death island seemed like a great idea at the time. Bronica was aware of Clumby's feelings, but she was in her 60s and Clumby was in her 20s, and Bronica saw her more as closer to her preteen granddaughter.

Bronica and Triffany Bronica nominally lived with Triffany and her more immediate relatives, but wasn't around much. She did take Triffany on some safer expeditions, and promised she'd take her along on a full adventure when she was old enough. But then Bronica disappeared. She definitely wanted to bring something back from Snaktooth for her. Probably talked to Clumby about it.

Chandlo and Snorpy From Chandlo's perspective, they got together soon after Snorpy was fired from his government job. Snorpy had just had a mental breakdown as a result of everything that was happening and dropped out of contact with Chandlo. Chandlo managed to get back in touch a month or so later, and being around him helped Snorpy feel like himself again. Chandlo deliberately didn't use the boyfriend word because he doesn't want to stress Snorpy out by moving too fast, but he assumed Snorpy did know they were dating.

Clumby and Journalist Clumby is very well-known in journalist circles, and the Journalist admires her work and considers her a big influence. They think she's a little inflexible and old-fashioned, but mostly their opinion of her is positive. Clumby thinks the Journalist is a good writer, but bad at picking what to write about. Her attitude in the opening cutscene was a bit more hostile than she usually is towards them, because she was stressed from watching Lizbert's video, but she was legitimately angry about their previous failures. The Journalist noticed that she was acting weird, but thought she was just out of coffee or something. She'd already decided to fire them by the time they insisted on going, and was trying to be nice by not telling them, since she realised she couldn't stop them. As she mentions at the end of the game, she thought they were definitely going to die, so she didn't think they'd ever have to find out.

Eggabell and Lizbert Their official status is "partners". They could get married if they want to, because homophobia isn't really a thing in this universe and any consenting adults can get marreid, but they both find the concept stifling, for different reasons. The idea of marriage sets off Eggabell's self-loathing because she associates it with going back to her old life and being alone and unfulfilled again. She's never articulated it clearly enough to notice the really obvious contradiction there. But Lizbert just really hates rules and conventions on principle.

Eggabell and Wiggle Eggabell was a fan of Wiggle's music first, and got Lizbert into it. She was also the one who wanted to be backstage for Wiggle's first farewell tour, though as Wiggle mentions during her interview, Lizbert is the one who actually broke in. Eggabell has all of Wiggle's albums, and is still kind of starstruck around her. Wiggle thinks Eggabell is very sweet, but also keeps forgetting that Eggabell actually likes her non Do The Wiggle work. She is extremely insecure about her other work.

Filbo and Lizbert Lizbert likes Filbo as much as he likes her, and she genuinely admires his commitment to making other people happy. She asked him to help with the settlement both because she wanted her friend there, and because she thought he'd be better at community stuff than she was. When Lizbert's big Gumpus Atlantis thing turned out to be a hoax, Filbo sent her a bunch of encouraging letters, though she was too mopey to look at them until Eggabell made her.

Floofty and Snorpy I think there's a lot of in-game evidence that Floofty and Snorpy used to be close, so that's not a headcanon exactly, but I also think that Floofty is three years older than Snorpy, and that Snorpy absolutely idolised them when he was younger. He grew out of that as a preteen, to Floofty's confusion. From their point of view, their little brother thinking they were cool was just an immutable law of the universe. But they stayed close for another ten to fifteen years, until their estrangement over the evil government stuff. When they do work together, they are very efficient, and tend to talk to each other in fast, incomplete sentences that confuse everyone else present.

Lizbert and Wiggle They stayed in contact after their first meeting, and related to each other's issues with getting famous and then repeatedly failing to produce a followup. They were talking soon after Lizbert's first Snaktooth trip, and Wiggle mentioned how desperate she was for inspiration, giving Lizbert the idea to start a settlement. She knew it was a big discovery, and she knew she wanted to use it to help people, but she hadn't been sure what exactly to do until then.

Triffany and Wambus They met while Triffany was studying the area near his farm as part of her PhD. She was married at the time, but no cheating was involved. Either they didn't get together until Triffany was single, or Triffany's ex did that thing where one partner wants to open up the relationship because they're bored, and the other partner reluctantly agrees, but then meets someone who actually likes them. The game already has the other heartwarming relationship anecdote that tends to show up online, with Chandlo and Snorpy, and Snorpy not realising they were dating, so it might as well also have this. I don't know if I want Triffany to have an abusive relationship in her backstory, though. But also, the idea of that happening and then Triffany meeting someone who genuinely wants to listen to her go on and on about the fall of Grumpus Rome or whatever, and won't tell her she's annoying… It's very appealing.

[klein-sodor-bahn]

Charlotte “Charlie” Borsig

My girlboss has been updated too!

A few trigger warnings: Death, shitty parents, add*ction, s*x

Charlie was born on the 13th of December 1956 in Berlin. Her father adored her to pieces but when he found out his wife was cheating on him with a another man he heavy-hearted divorced his wife. Charlie was devastated and hated her stepdad. But little Heinrich she couldn’t hate. She raised him because two years later the second divorce happened and her mother slipped into alcoholism. Charlie basically ran to household. With 16 her former stepdad offered her an internship at the Ministry of national security (better known as Stasi). She was pressured to accept it. With 18 she was deemed worthy to become a spy for the GDR (in German DDR).

One of her first missions was to Scotland and there she fell in love with the future father of her sons Mr. Campbell. On the side she gathered information on her target, but she became pregnant and received an ultimatum. Leave the kids one month after birth or risk being hunted for eternity by the KGB. Knowing what happens when the KGB is tasked with hunting someone she left Donald and Douglas with their father. When she returned home she visited her mother in hope to get some empathy. But that didn’t happen…her mother scolded her and a nasty fight broke out. Charlie then ran away to her father who immediately pulled her into a hug and comforted her. After that event she took on her father’s last name: Borsig.

The years went on and Charlie until reunification racked up 8 murders. She hated every last one of them in hindsight. The most tragic one was the death of secretary who was a lesbian pressured into an affair with her male boss, but when the wife found out she was fired immediately. In a rage that poor woman took some import documents (the company was developing weapons for the US Army) and planned to sell them to afford her cancer treatment. Charlie was sent to purchase those papers and to get some additional information started a sexual relationship with her. She know the CIA was on that ladies heels and so Charlie offered her sleep pills which she had prepped so they looked normal even tho they contained a deadly Dosis. After the fall of the GDR Charlie fell under the radar of the secret agencies. In 1995 she decides to travel to Scotland to look for her boys. Dragging along her now 30 year old half-brother Heinrich.

In a small village she bumps into Henry who offers her to stay for the night and later help with the search. And with every day this small Englishman grew on her. He was so sweet and nice. A true gentleman. Charlie who throughout the years thought she couldn’t love again slowly realizes there might be a second chance at life for her. A life away from the lies and people who could backstab her any second. A life away from the freak of a mother. A place no one knows (except Henry) what she did. And when she finally meets Donald and Douglas. Her precious boys. She bursts into tears. Donnie and Douggie accept her as their ma. And when Henry offers her to stay she jumps off the train and goes with him.

Charlie loves to flirt with Henry who turns red like a tomato. She loves him and the quiet life in Scotland. Although she has some violent tendencies pulling a gun or knife on people who mildly disrupt the peace. Beware if she starts speaking German you are fucked. She’s also a bit needy sometimes (especially if she wants cookies). She hates family gatherings with a burning passion. In Scotland she later works at the local pub. Her smoking started after she had to leave behind the twins but due to Henry’s influence it becomes less. Charlie is also a fashion chameleon. Although she mostly wears black. Her worst nightmare is that all this happiness is gone and a secret service finds her in the end. But for now she’s happy. She later marries Henry and together they adopt a little boy.

[rachel-archer]

Curious II

Alright, working title: After Shine, I haven’t started the post to AO3 yet, but I thought I’d give you guys a little bit more since I’m not sure about posting it yet...

---

Danika

June 16, 2018 - Dallas, Texas

She’d been back from Japan maybe five days, and was riding the uplifting high of being close enough to California she swore she could smell her momma's cooking. Tonight was going to be amazing, she could feel it in her bones, she wasn’t exactly sure why Cage had sent her on the road with his talent, when a group of them decided to work Ring of Honor, but she’d spent the last year touring with some of the most irritating bastards she’d ever met (she sort of loved it though). The move to New York almost two summers ago, alone and in the big city, had been disarming. She swore looking back she’d spent most of the first two months crying herself to sleep.

Danny Cage had been a friend of her fathers, sort of, and he’d ‘taken her in’ out of respect for how famous her dad really was. He hadn’t actually known what to do with an almost eighteen-year old girl who wasn’t at all interested in the limelight of the ring. It’s how she became an Influencer, she supposed, they traveled constantly, so she started a blog, and back then she could make little short stories with some of Cage’s younger talent. There was one man, Martinez, that she tended to stick close to. He was large and big, and just this side of dangerous, but he’d saved her ass more than once in Japan - she’d never forget the night he punched some handsy Englishman for copping a feel of her, when she’d come to collect them from a bar. 

The thing about Martinez was he didn’t want her around, not really. But she was always underfoot. She wanted him to win, he had the power and the drive, and fuck the charisma once he got stared in the ring - he was damn hard not to look at. The thing was, he was mean. And more often than not she suffered for her attempts at helping him, but there were days (sometimes even two in a row) where he would talk with her in Spanish about his home, about his familia, about who he wanted to be, and in turn she told him stories of her familia, of being adopted by a huge Latino family, and how lucky she was. Then there were rushed mornings, where she was tossing women (sometimes multiple) out of his hotel room, and running around doing last minute checks to see if he had anything, before corralling the still intoxicated, angry bull of a man toward the taxi.

“Hey, kid, you're dad’s on the phone!” Cage shouted, and motioned to his cell phone - her’s was dead.

“Thanks, Mr. Cage.” She hurried to him, around the pool, side stepping the large man in question who was drinking before ten in the morning, stretched out over a lounger, he shot her a smile, which made her blush. “Papi?” She said into the phone, a grin pulling at her face as the familiar noise of home sounded behind her.

“Hola, Danika, we are going to come tonight to the matches, Dominik wants to see you.” She smiled warmly, Cage was just going to love hosting the Mysterio familia. “How was Japan?” She launched into telling him all about the customs and their version of wrestling, and how she’d met Chris Jericho, and boy was he protective of her, she talked about the fashion and all the gifts she’d brought back for them, but mostly she asked about her younger sister Lainey, who Dominik had been visiting with while she’d been out of the country (six months in Japan was longer than she’d anticipated). 

“We are actually going to bring her with us tonight.” Danika’s heart soared damn near out of her chest. “And Cage has agreed, you need a vacation, so while we have custody of Delainey and are waiting to figure out what’s going to happen with your mom, you're coming home tonight.” She couldn’t help but grin even wider, after they talked a bit more, and she got off the phone, she wandered back to the pool, settling onto the lounge next to Martinez.

“¿Qué te tiene tan feliz, pequeña?”

She shot Martinez a look, she knew he knew English, probably more than he let on, she responded in kind, “Mi familia is coming to the show tonight, and I’m going home for a while afterward.” The man lowered his sunglasses to look her over, he shot her a toothy grin, it both unsettled her and made her want to vibrate out of her skin, “I might even miss you.” She admitted, after a long moment. 

Dominik

Summer Slam in 2020 might have been the proverbial start to Dominik Mysterio’s career in the WWE, but it had also been the end of his semi-normal private life. His high school sweetheart had left him shortly after because his time on the road was ‘too much’ too hard for her, and for a brief stint he’d fallen into sleeping with his best friend, Danika. He and Danika shared a set of twins, named Delarosa Analucia Raquel (they call her Rosa) and Domenico Andrés Felipe (they call him Nico), but they’d kept that largely underwraps for his career. For the first time in months Danika was at a show tonight, with both almost eighteen month olds (wearing noise canceling earphones) in her arms. He picked her out easily in the crowd, from the backroom when the camera spanned the crowd a second and third time, the babies were rocking little Mysterio onesies, with his and Rey’s logo on the chest, if they were facing forward, she was standing with Aalyah and his mom. 

Angie hadn’t been so understanding about him and Danika’s questionable relationship, Danika was almost two years younger than him, and she was probably a little less understanding now, considering Danika was pregnant again. Not that Dominik minded, he liked being a dad. Danika had skipped two grades and the pair had met in middle school, she’d supported him and his dreams from the moment they met, never once had she questioned who his real father was, nor had she asked him about Rey’s legendary matches. She was one of the few people who saw him for him. Angie had been livid, when the twins were born, that Danika and Dominik refused to get married. On the flip of that, his mother was not foaming at the mouth for Aalyah and Buddy Matthews (known as Buddy Murphy or just Murphy), there was an age gap, and they’d had a rollercoaster relationship since they got together in 2020 (although their relationship had started as kayfabe). They’d broken up for a couple of months over the summer, and Buddy had been linked to Rhea Ripley, briefly before he and Aalyah reconciled. 

Tonight - well, it was rumored to be the start of legitimate hell for him. It’s the fourth of July, they had barely made it through one of the biggest pay per views of the year - Money in the Bank, and he was already on edge because he hated that they dropped the titles after only sixty some days as champions, it was a little irritating, but as far as creative cared to explain, it was the beginning of a massive storyline for him. He caught the sweet smile of Danika on the big screen. He loved his best friend, and positively adored her. She might be the only person who openly accepted Aalyah’s odd relationship with Murphy, although he was pretty sure she’d told him off for leading Rhea on (or something along those lines). Danika wasn’t interested in the WWE or their storylines, or participating, Angie had warned her that sometimes there wasn’t an option.

Last year, he could remember taking the twins to see fireworks in whatever town they were in on the road. Danika is lucky that she can travel with them year round, she’s a tiktoker and an influencer. She’s been beyond careful of sharing too much about the twins with the world - instead she had made it a going mystery. Tonight the twins were at their first real WWE show (Danika had come most of her pregnancy, and had shown up for events a few times after that when Angie or Aalyah could watch the twins). He wasn’t looking forward to facing Judgement Day tonight. He still was a bit confused about how he and Rey had become targets for the Judgement Day, but he chalked it up to the fact that his dad and Edge (Uncle Adam) were such close legends. 

“You ok, Dom?” Rey asked from where they were watching the matches in the backroom - Austin Theory had just interrupted Bobby Lashley, and honestly Dominik sort of wanted to see them wail on each other. He gazed at his dad, watched as Rey looked around the room, obviously checking for anyone who might be bilingual before he switched languages, “Tu madre tiene buenas intenciones cuando se trata de Danika, sabes que los ama a ambos. Tal vez deberías pensar en lo que significa tener otro hijo.”

“I know she means well, and we have thought about it, right now neither of us are even remotely interested in casarse solo para apoyar la tradición.” He looked around to make sure no one had heard him, “And a third isn’t going to break the bank account, currently she makes more money than me.” Dominik murmured unbothered, he wasn’t going to marry Danika just because tradition strongly suggested it, he wasn’t going to marry her just because his mom wanted him to. Sure, there was probably honor in doing that, but Danika was more than vocal on the fact that she wanted to marry for love not obligation. Dominik watched as his father seemed to think that over, “Mamá no está exigiendo que Aalyah y Buddy se casen.” 

“That is different, I think your mom still expects him to dip.” Rey hummed, as Austin started yelling about something in the ring, his right and youth or something. Dominik pulled his phone free of his shorts pocket, he tended to wear shorts and a t-shirt over his ring gear until they were ready to go out. “What are you doing?”

“Checking on Danika.” He offered, slowly, because Damian and Finn had entered the room flanked by Rhea who wasn’t medically cleared to be back, and had arrived with street clothes on - she looked adorable in the skinny jeans and oversized black t-shirt. With no cameras on the trio they looked over friendly with one another, joking and laughing. He caught Rhea’s gaze, the woman sent him a wink, he snickered a little bit to himself. They had to hurry out of the room for an interview, so Dominik pushed his phone away, and scurried out of his over shorts.

(TBC)

[inklingofadream]

This came up in my activity feed again, and had me thinking about ways other people think about Jon in the teen jon au. So the additional fact I have to add here is that the Strict Parent rules mostly fade out as Jon gets older and more enmeshed with Daisy, so a lot of the weirdness people see from him is put down to that enmeshment. I've known a couple sets of siblings who have SUPER low boundaries from each other, and similar stuff happens, like siblings having an outsized influence on a person's decisions, anything from personal fashion choices to romantic partners to where to live.

People see adult Jon and Daisy's dynamic and categorize it according to that scheme; it can be really hard as a friend to push back on inappropriate overreaches like that, even when the person you're talking to is being hurt by them. To dig into the personal stuff that influences my writing, one of the people I've known IRL that the reaction of others is a bit based on was severely parentified and also basically her year-younger sister's full time therapist/comfort object. As we got older I had a growing vocabulary and knowledge base that made the situation seem increasingly sinister, but she was caught in a very similar headspace to when we were in elementary school. She wasn't willing to consider that people she loved were doing something wrong, and she also wasn't positioned to see how much her growth was stunted and how absurd some of the comparisons she would make to justify it were. I babysat my brothers, sure, but she wasn't willing or able to see the difference between a few hours every Friday evening for our parents' date night and her parents having her do more to raise their kids than they did. The last time I saw her, pre-COVID, was her wedding reception. Her sister was also engaged, and the fact that it wasn't a double wedding genuinely represented a greater loosening of that relationship than I (or my mom) thought would ever happen.

So going back to the fic... people see stuff that's off with Jon and Daisy, but it can be really, really unrewarding to speak up. That's doubled here, because there's a clear reason they're so close- their parents died while they were both really young and Daisy didn't have a choice but to raise a brother who was close enough in age to be something of a peer. It feels ruder (and is harder to be listened to) when there's a good excuse. There's not much external difference between someone recoiling from you saying something isn't normal because they don't believe that and because they're being abused and are afraid of what that coming out could mean. In Jon's case, it gets twisted up in each other- he doesn't want Daisy's threat of bad things happening to anyone who tries to separate them to come to pass, but increasingly he doesn't want to be split up, period.

When the reaction is that pronounced, it feels safer to stay friends so that you can make you saying something isn't normal notable enough to pump the brakes on something really bad happening. Spoilers, but there's a reason that Basira isn't just closer to Daisy than Georgie is, she's also closer to Jon. Part of it is Daisy wanting to make an effort, but a lot of it is the same willingness to let things slide we see in canon. Georgie is both really outspoken and still close enough to the events of her Statement that she hasn't entirely recalibrated to judge risk accurately. She lays out lots of the stuff that isn't quite normal about Jon and Daisy's relationship. She's right, but it also means that Jon feels pricklier, on edge and less receptive, when she DOES see something severely wrong and talk to him about it. Jon knows he can't trust her to keep quiet; it's not a fair expectation, but it also means that when she DOES hit on something he can't just pass off as a quirk of his relationship with Daisy that's totally normal his instinct is to pull away, for everyone's safety. If Georgie can pull the thread in his excuse this time to see that it's more Daisy's decision than his, the threat of him saying she's being nosy isn't enough to keep her out of the stuff that could actually get Daisy in trouble, and Jon struggles to accept that risk just as much as Georgie struggles with staying in his life while he makes choices that she (correctly) thinks are really bad

what super weird habit/quirk does Jon have in the teen!jon universe? I mean judging by how he grew up I imagine he does Some Wild Things under the impression it’s normal

I mean I think he’s old enough and self aware enough to catch most of them and at least be self-conscious of his weirdness, but when he gets to go back to like actual school all of his classmates assume he’s deeply religious, because some of Daisy’s rules (no sleepovers, v strict parental controls on devices, etc) happen to overlap with the stock set of Strict Religious Parents Rules, just for completely different reasons

[crystal-moon-101]

It is they, the bisexual girlfriends 💗 These two were fun to make because I've been wanting to try out some other body styles to test myself, and these two both had different styles for me to work with. I hope you guys like them, and Charmcaster and Mike will be up next in the redesign/rewrite.

-Kai Green-

Kai Green be eating her greens, because this girl is ready to wreck something. I always figured she'd have a strong build due to her work and lifestyle, plus I wanted more muscle girls in Ben 10 lol. Now, a lot of us take issue with Kai due to some problematic character traits, and strange introduction timing in Omniverse, so I hope to due her some justice since she does have an interesting idea about her that could work, just not as Ben's "love interest" in my eyes...But if you still ship it, I hope you enjoy it! But I'll be keeping with my KaiXEster ship here.

Kai knew about the Plumbers and aliens growing up, due to her Grandfather being a Plumber, and while her parents weren't, none were too weirded out by the idea of aliens due to growing up with such knowledge. Thus when Ben goes through that whole wolf stuff, she never really batted at eye at this. Now she does a lot of work related to alien stuff, mostly related to culture and history, searching tombs and temples to learn more about the past of different races, including alien influence on earth before the world knew about aliens.

She wields excalibur since pulling it from the stone where it laid, and it was later discovered that excalibur was an early prototype for ascalon in Ledgerdomain.

While Ben and her have broke off, they remain on friendly terms, and now their banter is a lot more friendly without the pressure of a romantic relationship over them. Ben even goes to her for help on certain missions sometimes.

When she had been dating Ben, her and Kevin met and became good friends, and have this dynamic where they can swear and call each other names in playful banter, and will give a blunt talking to the other when they need it.

Kai knows a variety of combat styles she's learnt while travelling, and a lot of techniques that help keep her calm in stressful situations.

She's loves it when people ask her questions related to her knowledge of history and myths, and will gush on about a topic for hours if you let her.

Never one to back down from a challenge.

Has been known to dive head first into danger if it means saving someone's life, or even an artifact from breaking (may or may not be a daredevil).

-Ester-

Ester's colour pallet was a lot of fun to work with, and making her a thin twig under all that fluff was nice to play around with too. It's a shame what the writing pulled with her for her last few episodes, but she was a fun character to have when she was around. I think I'd make the kraaho like her in being long and thin, though very tall compared to her, because I kind of got tired of seeing so many buff/gorilla shaped aliens, and just wanted something a little different. But that's just me, hope you enjoy her.

Since kraaho live in magma and volcanic chambers, they tend to wear volcanic glass as jewelry and pieces on their outfit. It's common fashion for them, and Ester has made friendship bracelets for others with them.

Ester has met and befriended most of the Plumber kids, and is closest with Alan, which she originally meet when needing warmth from him, but the two get along great.

She eventually stepped down from leading her group for sometime, due to wanting to travel earth more and spend time enjoying her youth better, knowing she's not ready just yet to lead, but will do so again one day.

Ben, her and the 'Kineceleran Kids' still love to play hockey against each other, and sometimes get their other friends to join. There was once a match involving Rook, Ben, Ester, Plumber Kids, Kevin, Gwen, Julie and Kai, that was brutal but hilarious.

She lovesssssss spicy food, and will drown a lot of her food in hot sauce.

Has a bit of a soft spot for cheesy romantic films. She knows they're unrealistic, but something about them is nice to watch.

Due to her elastic like body, whenever she stretches it looks ungodly due to her being able to twist and bend in ways that don't look possible. She also once tried to copy Kevin cracking his knuckles, but this didn't work, much to her annoyance.

Both her parents died when she was young, trying to protect her group during an attack. When they were gone, the majority of her group raised her, and she calls a fair few of them her aunts and uncles. Seebik use to be her closest uncle, but it hasn't been the same since he turned to a life of crime.

-Shipping Notes-

Both Ester and Kai don't like the cold, and will both openingly complain when temperatures dip. They both like to cuddle because of this, especially Ester, and there have been many nights they fall asleep against each other.

Ester likes to follow Kai around earth during missions, and will often help her out, the two having explored many ruins and temples together during dangerous adventures.

When Ben and Julie got back together, both Kai and Ester had hooked up around the same time, and the two couples bumped into each other. Now they often go on double dates, and have great fun together.

Kai is mostly the protective one out of the two, and will go ham on someone who dares even look at Ester wrong. But that being said, Ester can get scarily protective too if you push her or Kai far enough...

Ester often has to patch Kai up from some kind of damage whenever and adventure happens, and as she stitches up a wound she gives Kai a good lecture on being careful next time, and Kai thinks it's adorable seeing her get fussy and worried.

While Ester could stretch to be tall when the two kiss, she likes to make Kai bend down to give a smooch to tease her.

[writersrealmbts]

Clearwater Springs: Part 1

Description: ot7 x reader, reader’s choice, fairy/supernatural/soulmate au. The choices you make influence the story! In this world, war-torn and ragged, you’ve been offered a home and a job working as a librarian. Will you meet your soulmates? Will you ever find the shelves behind the piles of books? Who knows.

Warnings: None

Posted: 08/29/2020

Tags: ot7 x reader, supernatural bts, 

5,111 words

A/N: Once I was actually able to write, this came out really easily. I hope you guys enjoy it and don’t forget to do the pre-chapter 2 survey (link at the end of post)! 

You stared up at the house in a bit of a daze, still untethered. Still vulnerable.

“Isn’t it magnificent?! A real masterpiece, this house.”

You glanced at your over-enthusiastic caseworker, then looked back up at the grand Victorian house, wondering if the inside matched the outside, and why such a grand house was way out in the middle of nowhere. Why its owner would offer to take in strays, misfits, and others in need of a new home after the recent war when they were obviously still doing well despite the near economic collapse.

Your caseworker was practically bouncing up to the house, making you dizzy as he jostled the itty-bitty fountain you were temporarily tied to.

But you’d been dealing with that for a month, and you were getting pretty good at walking a straight line while the world appeared to spin around you.

“Now, if you and he agree at the end of the day, you’ll be tethered to a natural spring and the creek it runs into nearby, and you’ll stay in one of the spare rooms and you’ll help him organize and keep his library, which he runs as a traditional library—when organized—for some of the locals.”

You didn’t bother responding since he didn’t seem to be looking for a response, instead heavily trodding up to the front door as he rang the doorbell.

“Also, to simulate what life will be like, I’ll be leaving you for the day once I set your fountain down in a safe spot.”

“You said,” You murmured, closing your eyes for a moment, feeling yourself swaying from side to side. As a xana, you were originally tethered to a fountain many miles away, but as the war reached that town, your fountain had been damaged and your original workplace—a large library where you specialized in the children’s section, reading to them and singing your songs—utterly demolished. Because the fountain wasn’t completely destroyed, you survived. An experimental spell and three weeks later and there you were, standing on the steps of the home of a human where you would be exchanging work for a place to sleep and food to eat. You didn’t even need that much food, about a meal a day was enough for you when your tethered place was healthy and strong and not being jerked around like a dog was playing tug-of-war with it.

The front door opened, revealing a man with pink hair. “Hello, you must be Y/n. We’ve been expecting you. Welcome to Clearwater Springs.”

“We?” You asked, glancing at your worker.

The human did as well. “You told her about the house’s haltija, right?”

You relaxed. “Oh. Just a haltija?”

“Well, he’s also half-brownie, but thankfully that only manifests in the occasional clumsy or destructive moment. He’s quite friendly, though, and very fond of the forest,” The human spoke quickly, as though afraid you would pass negative judgement on the haltija—creatures who were known for guarding and protecting—for having brownie blood—admittedly, creatures who could become troublesome when disrespected, but otherwise also keepers of the home and chore-doers for the kind.

“I’m sure he’s very kind and gentle,” You replied.

“Right. And you’re a xana?”

You nodded.

“And...I’m sorry, I’m not sure what exactly that is, other than the fact that you’re generally tied to some form of pure water, like fountains, springs, rivers, waterfalls….”

You nodded. “I’m originally from a fountain. Um...I’m not sure how to explain what I am.”

Your caseworker took that hint. “Oh! Right, well, they seem to always know virtuous hearts through some test or other—though no one ever seems to be able to pin down the test—um, they have enchanted songs that bring feelings of peace and love to the pure and could almost kill those who are impure. Um, let’s see, she has combs made of moonbeams and sunlight, respectively. Can’t completely care for babies, but once they can feed themselves she’s fine.”

You frowned, fighting yourself not to glare at him. Your species couldn’t produce milk, so in the old days—before there was formula—it was a sort of changeling situation. A Xanino would replace a human child. Terrible, but true. Nowadays, most xaninos were adopted by naiads or other nature or house spirits—because now it was scandalous to try and raise your own child as a xana.

“Oh, she has treasure, but who knows where she keeps that—”

“It’s enchanted, you’re not supposed to know where I keep it,” You muttered, even though he wasn’t paying any attention to you.

“And she can give you a drink that we call ‘Love water’. Couldn’t tell you why, and I’ve never seen her hand it out. Think that’s it. Here’s her fountain, I’ll be back at sundown.”

The human almost dropped the fountain that was shoved into his hands, and if he wasn’t so surprised you thought he might have yelled at your caseworker.

But the car peeled down the driveway again, kicking up dirt.

You stared after him, a little disconcerted. “Mages.”

“Um, well, we’ve been preparing for your arrival. We’ve gotten the basement bathroom renovated so that you can shower or bathe in the waters of your spring when you need, and your bedroom is ready for you. We thought you’d prefer to decorate it with your things...but looking back now I probably should have known you wouldn’t have many things. It’s a hard time for everyone,” The human rambled, rubbing his neck. “Oh, I’m Seokjin, by the way.”

“Oh, yes, I suppose your name would be important. I’d hate to be rude and just refer to you as ‘The Human” when you’re my boss.”

Seokjin looked startled at the title. “I’d rather think of it as a partnership. I’ve been told I shouldn’t live alone, and you needed a new home. Also, my library is out of control and I have no idea where to start—I mean, other than the new library building that we just finished. Don’t worry, it’s very close to your water source as well, but your spring is still highly protected.”

You just nodded, wondering why he didn’t stare like most humans did. You were beautiful—that was one of the key points of defining a xana: being extraordinarily beautiful. Xana’s were considered more beautiful than any other species—and only a few other species even tried to contend with it since yours was more rare, and therefore more worth the attention.

“Um, let’s get inside so I can set this down. We’ll make sure Namjoon steers completely clear of it.” Seokjin stepped back and leaned his head in a gesture that suggested welcoming you inside and to follow him.

He led the way through the entry, and then to the living room through the arch immediately to the right. He took the fountain and placed it on a table that was against the wall—out of the way of general traffic. “There. Now, Namjoon should be around somewhere. Probably the garden, he likes it out there. But for now let me show you the house, including where you’ll be staying and then we’ll go and talk about the library. There’s a lot of work that I want to do, Namjoon is heavily involved in that too. He likes books, but between us...we don’t really have the skills to put what we want into action—which is why we’re really excited that you’re here.” He started the tour.

“I’ll do my best to h-hell, what is this hell?” You said, looking at the mess. It looked somewhat like a library, except you couldn’t even see the shelves. It was just piles upon piles of books, newspapers, journals, magazines, and comic books with a thin path between it all.

Seokjin winced. “It is...mildly organized. We’ve been receiving donations. Don’t worry, there will be a bigger place, we mostly just need to pack all of this up and move it to the new facility in an...organized fashion.”

You pointed at the mix of magazines and books. “This is organized.”

“I did say somewhat, didn’t I? We had a large influx of books very suddenly. Things got very messy in the chaos of it all. I think they were sending us books from destroyed libraries.” He shrugged a bit. “Don’t worry. We’ll be helping at every turn and I’m bringing in extra workers from town as needed.”

You supposed that was supposed to be comforting, but you were staring at a nightmare of a situation. One toppling tower, and there was no navigating through.

“Hyung? Is that you?” The pile asked.

Then it was all falling over and someone was diving out while Seokjin pulled you against the wall and out of the way.

Seokjin sighed. “Namjoon. Our guest is here.”

The man with blue hair looked up, then back at his legs (which were trapped under many books), then back at you. He stared at you with big eyes, looking a little flustered.

You took a deep breath. “Well, that is exactly what we didn’t want to happen.”

“Yeah. Namjoon, didn’t we talk about not going in there?” Seokjin bent down and grabbed Namjoon under the arms and pulled him out from the pile, helping him to his feet.

“I just wanted the next book in my series.” Namjoon rubbed the back of his neck. “I was doing okay until then.”

Seokjin shook his head a bit. “Namjoonie, this is y/n. She’s the one that’s going to stay with us and help with the library?”

Namjoon was definitely already staring at you, and he looked a little flustered and red. “Hi.”

“She’s a xana. Y/n, this is Namjoon, the haltija of the house.”

“Uh, nice to meet you,” Namjoon said hurriedly.

“Nice to meet you, too,” You replied, trying for a smile, but you were pretty sure you just gave him a woozy look.

“Maybe you should lie down before we continue the house tour? He was jostling your fountain around quite a bit.” Seokjin frowned toward the front door.

Namjoon nodded. “He’s right. You need rest. I can tell.”

You shrugged. “Nah, the world is supposed to be constantly spinning.”

“Should I carry her? Should I carry you?” Seokjin asked, sounding and looking a little panicked.

You shrugged. “I’m fine. This has been my life for the past three months.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened.

Seokjin looked like he was going to have a meltdown.

“Unless you’re going to have a panic attack, in which case you may carry me if it will help you,” You said quickly, concerned with how quickly he was freaking out.

Namjoon glanced at the human, then nodded. “I think that might be the only way to stall him out. He’s not wearing his glasses.”

You shrugged again, uncertain what not having glasses had to do with anything, and waited while Namjoon muttered something to Seokjin.

A couple moments later, Seokjin came over, muttering something about being sorry, then he carefully scooped you up. “Sorry, your dress is a little slippery. Silk?”

You nodded. “Yeah. My clothes just sort of...appear as I need them? Usually made of silk, but sometimes there’s a velvet cloak when it’s colder. Some linen when it’s warmer. Always dresses.”

“Cool,” Namjoon said, following the two of you up the stairs.

“I suppose so,” You replied, doing your best not to look at Seokjin. He was handsome for a human. And you’d never seen a non-fairy pull off pink hair before today. He had a sort of gentleness to his face, a softness that could easily become cold and judgemental. If that even made sense.

But honestly, there were very few things that made sense since the war had begun some ten years ago.

“Why is your hair blue?” You asked the haltija, looking over Seokjin’s shoulder as you realized you had been looking at him despite specifically thinking you shouldn’t and only noticing because his ears had started turning a violent shade of red.

“Oh...uh...we’re not really sure. It just sort of...changes now and then. A few days ago I woke up and it was this color. Before that it had been brown.”

“Did you two paint any part of the house?”

“Well, not in the same time frame as my hair color changing. And definitely not this color. Jin-hyung has this crazy theory that it’s connected to my soulmate or something.”

“You have a soulmate?” You asked, surprised.

He nodded, rubbing his left shoulder-pectoral area, which meant either his mark was located there or he had some muscle pain from his dive for freedom in the great August book-slide. “Yeah. Or...well, I have multiple sections in my mark...so, I guess I’m part of a soul-group. Probably a platonic one given my species.”

“You never know what’s waiting around the riverbend,” You replied, thinking back to Grandma Loire’s wise words when you had been fretting about the war. Granted, at that time, her words had been very wrong, but you wouldn’t begrudge the dead for their mistakes.

But also thinking about your own soulmark and the multiple parts in it. You were certain it was just a coincidence, but it was still an interesting fact that you filed away.

“You sound like a naiad,” Namjoon snorted.

“A naiad told me that. She was very wrong at the time. Told me not to worry about the battle in Manhattan.”

“Ooh,” He winced. “Very wrong.”

Seokjin held onto you a little tighter. “Where did you live before this?”

“Rocamadour. Our library was new when I started working there. Before there were a couple but they were in some towns over.”

“Where is that?” Namjoon asked.

“It’s in the Alps,” Seokjin answered, then paused at the top of the stairs. “Get the door?”

The door swung open before Seokjin had finished asking.

You craned your head to look at Namjoon, suddenly concerned with your privacy.

He held up his hands. “I can open doors and windows, I can’t see through walls. I can also hear things, if you want me to. If you want me to hear, just knock or tap your foot three times and I’ll listen.”

You nodded slightly and relaxed again.

Seokjin carried you into the room, which was painted such a calm color. The bed was a queen-size, and it was soft when he lay you in the middle of it. The top blanket was velvet-y and so, so soft.

Namjoon gave you a smile when you let out a sound of appreciation.

Seokjin smiled at you. “Well, I’m going to find out whether he’s coming back to check in on you tonight or not while you rest, then we’ll go over other things and go to the spring. Feel free to go anywhere in the house, as long as it isn’t one of our bedrooms. Mine is on the first floor, Namjoon’s is across the hall. Food in the kitchen is up for grabs unless it’s in the meal-plan that I have on the fridge. Oh, that door there leads to your bathroom, the one next to it leads to your closet, and this third door leads to your sitting room or office or whatever you want to use it for. We’ll let you nap now.”

Namjoon dipped his head as Seokjin pushed and pulled him out of your bedroom door.

You stared at the closed door for a moment, then lay back. You were still so accustomed to sleeping on your fountain or in your fountain that this felt weird. But it felt weird in a heavenly sort of way. You slid up and then managed to slide under the covers, a little excited about the silk sheets. It was so nice.

So heavenly that you woke up feeling so refreshed that it had to be illegal. Sure, you still felt a little off (because the fountain you were temporarily tethered too wasn’t the greatest), but you felt much better than before.

You slid out of the sheets, enjoying the feel of the hardwood on your feet as you cautiously checked out your bathroom, closet, and sitting room (which only had an armchair and a small sofa). Once you had tested the seats (because you had to know which would be your favorite, it was the armchair), you ventured out into the hallway.

Namjoon’s door was open, but you didn’t hear anything in there, so you decided not to bother him.

Instead, you headed back the way you had been carried, looking around for more detail.

The structure of the house, the woodwork, the moulding, the baseboards and the stairway all had a distinctly Victorian style, and all were likely original to the house. But the design was more subtle, softer, and more contemporary in the coloring and the furniture. It was a nice sort of mix that gave the house an air of elegance that was refreshing. You’d been in some victorian-style homes before and they had been so overwhelmingly Victorian that it was like you were trapped in England in that time period and about to choke on a piece of jellied eel.

You avoided the pile of books spilling out of the library (but did notice that they’d been somewhat cleaned up), and checked out the living room again with the ulterior motive of checking on your current fountain.

The style was even more contemporary there, yet still paid a nice homage to the house. A monochrome color scheme, with pops of color in some of the throw pillows and delicate accents in the artwork.

Your fountain looked cleaner than ever and had a healthy amount of water in it for once, which you honestly felt boded well for you. There even seemed to be a new coating of pebbles at the bottom of the small basin.

You flinched as a cat hopped up onto the table next to the fountain and took a drink from it. It was young, a long-haired calico, so soft and pretty looking.

You let it sniff your hand, humming softly before you carefully picked it up. You snuggled it, happy when it seemed to revel in your attention, even seeking it when you started looking over the books that were seperated from the library and on the shelf beside the fireplace. There weren’t many, but you recognized one or two of the titles, and the taste there seemed to vary widely. You figured they were probably books from both of the boys, and left them as they were to go try and find the kitchen for a glass of water.

The office was nearby, but didn’t look like it got used as an office very often, but definitely seemed to have a gaming station in one corner.

You found the billiard’s room next, noting that there was a ping-pong table folded up in a corner. It seemed pretty abandoned, clean, but not nearly as used.

Then a smell permeated the air, drawing you back toward soft noise and even softer humming, murmured conversation and the sizzling of something cooking.

You peeked into the large kitchen, smiling when you saw Namjoon reading in one corner, and Seokjin cooking at the stove. Namjoon seemed to be explaining the book to Seokjin, quietly passionate about it.

Seokjin was smiling and humming, possibly more focused on what he was cooking, but still seeming to hear what Namjoon was saying.

“Smells good,” You said quietly, slipping completely into the room. Trying not to disturb the aura.

Seokjin turned and grinned at you. “Hey! You look like you feel better.”

You nodded. “That bed is heavenly. And thank you for cleaning the fountain.”

He shrugged. “It looked like it had been neglected for a while. Namjoon found some pebbles for it as well because he read that once they’ve been exposed to the tether it can make a transition easier, theoretically.”

Namjoon looked embarrassed, rubbing his neck. “I figured it couldn’t hurt to try it out.”

“That was very thoughtful,” You told him, smiling at him as well.

He was bright red after that.

Seokjin chuckled. “I’ll have dinner ready soon. Then I thought we could head down to the new library building, and then maybe go into town. There isn’t much, but I do need to pick up some things.”

You took the seat that Namjoon offered. “That sounds like a plan. Who’s the kitty?”

“Oh, that’s Parsley. She followed us home one day and has been here ever since.” Namjoon pet the cat carefully. “She’s a good mouser, so we just sort of created a pact that as long as she keeps us pest free, we’ll keep her pest-free.”

“She’s a cutie,” You said, pressing your cheek against the soft fur and enjoying the soothing vibrations of her purr. It was just one of the many things that made you feel so comfortable here. That and both men seemed relatively impervious to your enchanting beauty, which was refreshing. It gave you hope that this would work out. That you wouldn’t always be free-floating.

“She is. Do you know anything about this bird that practically forced it’s way into our house?” Seokjin asked, pointing toward the ceiling.

You leaned to the left to look at the little black and white fluff-ball. “Was wondering when he would show up. He’s been following me for a while. Don’t know why, but he seems to have formed an attachment. Whether he feels like conversing is a completely different matter.”

“Does he have a name?”

“Not that he’ll tell me.”

Namjoon started laughing.

Seokjin gave you an exasperated look. “What do you call him?”

“Fluffball, marshmallow, cotton swab, cotton ball, cotton candy, fairy floss—he really doesn’t like that one—squishy, fluffy, Caspar, and Leo.” You shrugged. “Like I said, he won’t tell me his name. Just what his name isn’t.”

“So, none of those are his name?”

“Well, fairy floss isn’t. I’ve gotten to the point where I think he’s just waiting for someone else to settle on a name for him—preferably one he likes.”

“And until then, he’s just going to come and go as he pleases?”

You shrugged again, holding it for a while.

Namjoon was still laughing, his smile revealing some adorable dimples.

“So...is he a magical bird?”

You looked up at your feathered friend, and resisted the urge to shrug once more. “Maybe?”

Seokjin huffed. “What does he eat?”

“Haven’t the foggiest. He always leaves to eat. Sometimes I’d see him eating bird-seed, but mostly he just flies off and comes back well-fed. I think he eats insects.”

“Great. He can deal with the mosquitos.” Seokjin spared the bird a glance, then dished up the food. “The store might have some insects we can get for him, just in case. You never know. They always have weird things.”

“Really?” You looked forlornly after the kitty as it leaped off and disappeared through another doorway. “Is it a magic shop?”

“Well….”

“We told you that Jin-hyung is the only human in town, didn’t we?” Namjoon asked, eyes widened slightly. “Everyone who lives in the area is magical to some extent, except for hyung.”

You shook your head, a little stunned. “No. No you did not tell me that.”

But man was that an idea to wrap your head around.

Seokjin shrugged, having plated up the food. “This is a pretty popular place for refugees. Sort of remote and accepting of different species. A nice place to make a fresh start.”

“But...you’re the only human. Doesn’t that get...I don’t know...lonely?”

He blinked at you, then shook his head and shrugged. “No? I have Namjoonie, and now you’re here too. And yeah, I’m outnumbered, but they’ve never held my species against me. I mean, that’s probably because I did sort of pay for the whole town, which isn’t much. But more people come each day, and some people move on to other places once they’ve gotten back onto their feet. It’s like an adventure, meet some new characters, help them on their journey, then return home to sleep in a big, soft, bed with a full belly.”

And maybe the look of genuine happiness on his face was just a little too alluring.

Maybe you were just desperate to belong somewhere, because when he included you...it was like the world lit up.

And no, you were not tearing up.

His hand covered yours, warmth spreading from his touch to the mark that was hidden under the sleeve of your dress as he smiled warmly at you. “I really do hope that this place becomes your home. Everyone deserves to have a home.”

And then he was moving away, maybe not even aware that he was one of your soulmates since he was human.

“Come on, let’s eat.”

Namjoon quickly complied with Seokjin’s words, but you were slower to follow, trying to figure out how all of this had come about.

“I heard that a new van full of people arrived yesterday, so I want to see if I can meet any of them. See if we still have enough housing for everyone. That might mean a couple people staying with us in the house if there isn’t enough housing. Is that okay?”

You nodded, just following their actions, but not taking as much food as they did. Mostly because you didn’t need much food to survive, but it smelled good. So good, and Seokjin did cook it himself.

“Alright, then it’s a plan. Eat, see the new library, go to the store, meet people, come home.” Seokjin nodded firmly at the end of the list, then seemed to remember something. “And talk to your mage-handler and see about tethering you to the spring. That’s probably more important. We can do the other things tomorrow if we have to, but the tethering should be done sooner rather than later. That is, if you want to be tethered to the spring. You wouldn’t necessarily have to live here your whole life, we could always get you your own home, it would just—”

“Living here is fine, and yes, I would like to be tethered to the spring,” You said quickly, noticing how his speech was deteriorating. “I just have one question.”

“Oh?” He looked so genuinely concerned, leaning forward in his seat.

“Namjoon said you wear glasses, so...have you actually seen me?”

Namjoon snickered.

Seokjin’s ears turned bright red. “Um. Yes. Yes I can see you. I have seen you. I’m seeing you. I, um, I put in my, um, contacts. I can see you quite clearly. Also, I could see you when I was closer. Just, not after a certain distance. And yes, we do plan on actively protecting you when we go out.”

You nodded. “Just curious.”

Namjoon paused after swallowing. “The mage is back.”

Seokjin sighed. “So, town tomorrow then. I’ll go let him in. I suppose this means I need to offer him dinner?”

“That would be the polite thing,” Namjoon said, gleefully.

Seokjin muttered as he left the room.

“He’s...unusual for a human,” You commented.

Namjoon nodded. “Yeah. He is. But he’s one of the best human’s I’ve ever met. We’re really glad you’re going to stay with us, Y/n. I hope you never regret your choice.”

“I hope so too.” But you didn’t think you would.

Namjoon turned toward the door, eyes narrowed slightly before rolling his eyes. “Can you help me cover the food? Apparently Mr. Mage is insisting on doing the tethering now if you agree to it.”

You rolled your eyes and got up to help him cover all three plates and the platters and bowls with tin foil to possibly retain some warmth. You highly doubted you’d be eating again that evening since tethering made you impossibly nauseous and sleepy. “I won’t be very coherent after the tethering.”

He nodded. “We’ll make sure you get back here and into bed safely, or into the tub downstairs.”

You nodded, then followed him out to where Seokjin was listening to your mage, looking strained.

“Ah, so, have you decided whether you wish to be tethered to the spring here or not?”

“I have decided to be tethered, yes.” Anything to not be in his careless hands anymore.

“Excellent! I’ll get the fountain!”

“How about I grab it, that way your hands are free to do the actual spell,” Jin quickly intervened. “Namjoon can lead the way back to the mouth of the spring.”

You breathed a sigh of relief as the mage agreed to it. At least Seokjin would be careful.

“Alright, then lets head to this spring! I’d love to be on the road before dark.”

Namjoon’s chin jutted out slightly.

Seokjin just gave a pained smile, nodding. “Yes. Driving after dark is a pain. Namjoon. Lead the way.”

And you weren’t about to tell on Namjoon when you saw one of the floorboards pop up to trip the mage, because you kind of felt somewhat vindicated.

The forest around the house was made up primarily of spruces, firs, pines, and hemlocks with birches, oaks, and red maples popping through here and there. The path that the four of you took (with a little fluffball following overhead and a calico furball following behind curiously) was discreet, yet also fairly well-worn. As though walked often, but also well-cared for.

It was quiet, with varying degrees of density—some areas providing a wide view of the rest of the forest, and other areas being so dense that you couldn’t see a foot past the nearest tree.

Namjoon followed the path for a while, then diverged into the forest down what appeared to be a game-trail, something not walked often.

Then you could sense the water. It’s purity, it’s cleanliness. Free and untethered.

The creek was beautiful, and all of you followed it to the head of the spring.

You grinned when you saw it, a thrill going through you. It was beautiful and so clean and lovely and it was going to be yours.

Seokjin set your fountain down so that the mage could prepare the spell, then came over to you. “You’re sure about this?”

You looked into his eyes, the eyes of one of your soulmates, and nodded. “I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled, a little more carefree now.

You hoped you’d have the courage to talk about soulmates with him someday, but today you were going to have your soul ripped from a tiny fountain and sewn back into a spring. You only had so much courage.

And then the mage started the spell.

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Survey Results used for this chapter: 

Namjoon-Blue (haltija), Seokjin-Pink (human), You-Cyan (xana) 

Silk, Book-Librarian, Creek-what your water source is attached to, House/Apartment/Mansion, Style-Victorian & Contemporary, view-boreal/boreal-mix forest, calico kitty, white bird with black wings, 

Whoops-meet Seokjin first, Oh No-meet Namjoon second, LaLaLa-C (some friends, some strangers), Loyalty-Soulmate au, Black-War tore through and you're all in relief housing situation.

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Pre-Chapter 2 Survey

Next.

Masterlist.  ot7 Masterpost.

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Taglist: @missmoxxiesworld​  @bryvada​  @i-dont-even-know-fck​ @knjhe​ @alex--awesome--22  @kerikaaria​ @killcomet​ @letsreadbts​ @taestannie​

[chronicas]

The Daughters of Taphion

Crypt Guardians are the demigod Daughters of Taphion that guard the nine entrances to the Crypt, an underground cavern that serves as a prison for Crypt Demons. All of these demons are the children of the Worlds Beast, Septentria, also known as the Northern Star.

Most of the Guardians live most of their lives on the surface in the Crypt Cities and only come down into the Crypt itself if they’re summoned by Taphion. Like, for instance, if the Beast of the Crypt is born and Taphion tasks his daughters to raise it. And since said Beast is the protagonist of MotA, let’s talk about how his sisters feel about him.

The Daughters of Taphion were raised to view Crypt Demons as the enemy. The demons’ mother was imprisoned for trying to destroy humanity, and since all the Crypt Guardians are half human, they have good incentive to protect humanity. However, the Guardians aren’t a monolith, they all have different views. So let’s discuss that.

Aelius, Patron of Phasespontos. She’s the oldest living Guardian, over 1000 years old and probably hates Crypt Demons more than any of her sisters. She was born into and raised by an average mortal family. She had a loving mother, a very strict step-father, and a baby brother who meant everything to her. A few years into her duties as a Crypt Guardian, a demon escaped the Crypt under her watch and ravaged Phasespontos, taking many lives in the process. Among the lives lost were her family. Which lead her to take her duties extremely seriously, blaming every demon in the Crypt for what happened.

Aristomache, Patron of Petus. The most headstrong of her sisters. Her mother was a warrior in the Machine War 800 years prior to the start of the story. Making her the second oldest. She was raised to be a fighter and she LOVES it. She views getting to fight powerful demons as more of a reward than the offerings. She doesn’t hate demons, she just views them as a challenge. She mostly viewed Aetius as another demon to fight when he was first born, but over time just saw him as more of a mini sparring partner and actually grew to enjoy his company. Meaning she’s the main reason he knows how to fight.

Aurelia, Patron of Selakros. She takes after her father more than any of her sisters. Her inhuman appearance made mortals weary of her so she was raised in the Crypt by Taphion. She rarely leaves the Crypt when she isn’t on guard duty. She’s around 800 years old, but Aristomache was a few decades older than her. She doesn’t only take after her father appearance wise, but also in her personality and beliefs. She is actually 100% for the Apocalypse happening because that would free her father from the Crypt. So she likes Aetius well enough, but mainly because she views him as a tool for Taphion’s freedom.

Agathe, Patron of Dymea. She’s more reserved than most of her sisters. She rarely speaks, but her sisters respect her as a fighter and for her wisdom. She’s considered the best magic user among the Guardians. She’s 678 years old, she’s been keeping track unlike most demigods at that age. She avoids mortals on account of being raised in the Crypt and viewed as cursed for several hundred years. She relates to the Crypt Demons more than mortals because of this and usually tries to send them back into the Crypt using clever spells instead of just flat out attacking them.

Aella, Patron of Rhodias. She lives in the wealthiest Crypt City and the benefits of it show in her arrogant personality. As a demigod, she’s treated as royalty in Rhodias. In all 500 years of her life, she’s had it pretty easy, with her duty as Crypt Guardian being the only thing she ever had to work for. She has distaste for most of her sisters and this definitely extends to Aetius, but not because she’s concerned about the Apocalypse. She mainly doesn’t like him because she thinks he’s weird and annoying.

Alba, Patron of Acida. She’s more analytical than most of her sisters. She’s about 300 years old and mostly out of touch with other people, but that doesn’t stop her from being extremely kind and empathetic when she can. She just has a hard time with being social a lot of the time. She likes to understand things in a lot of detail, her sisters think of her as a bit of a nerd (affectionate) because of it. With Aetius, she’s always nice to him, but also takes the prophecy into account and usually avoids talking to him. She and Aelius were both strongly against lying to him about his demonic origins, but for two VERY different reasons.

Aemilia, Patron of Orerna. Is the most timid of her sisters, which often leads others to perceive her as weak. However, there’s no such thing as a weak Crypt Guardian. (Regardless of what Aelius might say about each and every one of her sisters) Aemilia is on the younger side, being around 100 years old. As far as opinions on Aetius goes, she’s mostly just afraid of him. None of the Guardians have ever laid eyes on Septentria, but they all know that none of her children compare to her power, except for Aetius.

Athanasia, Patron of Solares. The second youngest, being in her 80s, but if you ask her, she’d say she’s not a day over 30. She’s the flashiest of her sisters, loving all the offerings and attention she receives as Solares’ Patron. She likes to mingle in mortal affairs a lot more than the average demigod, viewing her responsibilities as Crypt Guardian to be just a nuisance. (and she may or may not be planning to fake her death to escape said responsibilities) She honestly doesn’t mind Aetius that much, she was a pretty big influence on his taste in fashion if nothing else.

Aikaterine, Patron of Hactus. She’s the youngest Crypt Guardian, at only 38 years old. Because of her lack of experience, she’s often considered naive by her sisters. She’s the most in-touch with modern technology and is usually the one who has to educate her sisters on how to use it. Although it was a group effort to raise Aetius, Aikaterine was usually the one spending the most time with him. This easily made her his favorite sister. As close as they were, she still kept her distance from him on account of him being fated to help destroy the world.

[x0401x]

Jeweler Richard Fanbook Q&A

Simple Questions for Seigi-kun (Parts 1 and 2)

Thank you very much for these questions from several people. We had Seigi-kun take a look at everyone’s questions right away and answer as many as he could! Not all of them can be published, but please enjoy Seigi-kun’s answers!

Q.: Seigi-kun looks good with black short hair, but is there any hairstyle that he looks up to? It does not seem to have changed much from when he was a child, but there is this impression that people often do college debuts, so here goes this simple question. The photo on the cover of volume 6 was wonderful. His set-back hair looked very good on him. (Black Short Hair-san)

A.: Hello! I guess it’s the first time I was told that my hair style looks good on me aside from Nakata-san and Richard; thank you very much! As for an image I look up to, huuum, there wasn’t any in particular when I was little, but nowadays, I look up to the two I just mentioned. They’re of different vectors and just really cool! Ah… this is embarrassing, so please keep it a secret. I have the feeling that they already know, though.

Q.: Any words you want to send to your past self from before meeting Richard? (Inu-san)

A.: “Nakata Seigi, you might be reckless, but you technically haven’t done anything wrong! Probably! Hum, you’re mostly thoughtless! But you’re not mistaken! If you see someone being attacked in a park, don’t hesitate to shout and go help him! Also, you might be compensated for doing your best at cooking. Good on you.”

Eh? There’s something from Richard too? “Seigi-kun, you are already passionate enough, but make sure to take a better look at your surroundings. Make sure to cherish yourself. Also, if you get invited to work at a TV station in Shibuya, make sure to just accept it.” Ah, yeah, yeah! I’m also counting on myself for that last one.

Q.: I am a college student just like Seigi-kun. When I have free time, I play video games, read books and talk about fun things with my friends. Seigi-kun, what do you do? Do you read books about gemstones and study after all? (Anzu-san)

A.: Hello! Indeed, during my free time when I didn’t have classes, there were times when I’d do self-study and learn about stones, but when I got together with my friends in the cafeteria or lounge, we’d get roused up over trivial talk. Everyone had a rough idea of the timing they should focus on their studies, so when I think about it nowadays, that might’ve been a “let’s make racket while we can” kind of mood. Looking back on it now, it was fun.

Q.: I am bound to fail every time I make sweets. If there is any trick to making sweets, please tell me. (Satou-san from the Heavens)

A.: Aah… I feel like someone’s already asked me a similar question. Ahem. T-That’s right! First things first, let’s try to stop treating “sweets” like they’re special! I guess this is the trick I can think of. They’re simply like an arithmetic test or a chemistry experiment; it just so happens that, if you mix up the set ingredients, a chemical reaction occurs and you reach the same results. If you lead it to the decided answer, you’ll manage to make something tasty, is all. Try to stick strictly to the recipe, and if it still doesn’t turn out right, I think it’s good to do a reflection on where you might’ve gotten it wrong. Eh…? If it doesn’t go well even then…? Aah… I’m gonna leave my phone number here, so if you have anything you want to eat… Eh? Richard, you want me to knock it off? That’s right. It’s not like I always have time. I almost did something irresponsible. Sorry. I’m cheering for you! See ya!

Q.: Where do you start washing your body from? (Yukinekoya-san)

A.: I’ve never thought about that~! It’s from the hair, but that’s with shampoo and doesn’t count as my body, so… *moves his body as if scrubbing it* I start washing from the neck and ears! But what’re you gonna do by asking that?

Q.: What’s your favorite meat? (Reihenbach-san)

A.: If its for Japanese curry, pork! If it’s for Sri Lanka’s curry, fish or chicken! If it’s for sukiyaki, cattle! I love all kinds of meat! But what flashes in my mind regarding “my favorite meat” is the meat and potato stew that Hiromi used to make, so I guess it’s gotta be beef. There wasn’t much meat in it, so I was able to taste it rather well.

Q.: I am a middle school teacher; Seigi-kun, who was the teacher that left the biggest impression on you? Please leave out Richard-sensei! (Kikuchi-san)

A.: Ah, that question is relatively easy to answer. It’s someone named Yamazaki-sensei, who was my class teacher in high school. He’s a graduate from the faculty of economics at Kasaba University, and he’d compliment me at random. Like, “You sure are working hard” or, “You’re so smart”. So I got cheeky, admired him, and when I told him I wanted to be like him, he said, “Then, how about you aim for my alma mater?” and I replied with, “Yes!”… Since Kasaba is a private institution, it was just a suggestion where I was getting ahead with my feelings, but though Hiromi made a bitter face, she wasn’t against it. Maybe she thought it was better than having her son say that he wanted to start working after graduating from middle school. Sensei was transferred when I was in my first year in university, but I hope he’s doing well.

Q.: Seigi-kun, if you were to compare Richard to an animal, which do you think it would be? (Himawari-san)

A.: If Richard were an animal… I wonder which. Richard feels a bit like an animal even now, so it’s hard, but I’d say human…? No, Richard is a human being. My bad, my bad. An animal with whooshy golden hair and blue eyes… I once had the feeling that the air about him is a bit like a creature named miacis, which I saw before in some illustrated reference book. It’s an ancient animal and seems to be the ancestor of dogs, cats and the like, and its exact appearance isn’t known anymore, but when I think of it as the origin of the beauty of all the animals I like, I wonder if he wouldn’t be something along those lines… Richard, Richard? Why won’t you look at me in the eye?

Q.: Is there any time you laughed the most when you were with Richard-san? Alternatively, if there was any time where you ended up laughing without thinking, please tell me! I am rooting for you! (Heartbreak Akira-san)

A.: Eeh…? Is it okay for me to talk about this…? Ah, I’ve received permission, so I’ll say it. Erm, this is a story from when I was studying French; I suddenly felt like doing a prank when I couldn’t make any progress at all, so I asked Richard-sensei something nonsensical, like, “If you don’t mind, please say ‘steamed bun’ in a really French-like way; I think it’ll definitely sound French to me”. And then the answer that came at me was a perfectly French-styled “steamed bun”… I died of laughter. Sorry for being too descriptive with the details. If you have a French friend close to you, I think you should try to make the same request. I think it won’t sound like Japanese to you. It’s already a bit amusing just remembering it. Hey, Richard. You didn’t find it all that funny? Ah, it was funny when I rolled over laughing? Then I guess we can call it even.

Q.: What are the dishes and desserts that you want to try challenging yourself to make? (Tsugiumi-san)

A.: I get interested in the stuff that I think looks delicious, but they’re a little different from the things I decide to try my hand at making. Richard, is there anything you wanna eat? I’ve noticed this recently: I don’t have much will to make stuff only I want to eat, but if it’s something that someone important to me feels like eating, I suddenly get motivated. That’s why, if there’s… Ah, ah, why’re you punching the cushion?

Q.: Looking at Richard-san and Jeffrey-san, are there any moments or points in which you feel that they are similar? (Yoshimura-san)

A.: Yoshimura-san, hello. There are; from my perspective, there are many. There sure are, but… from the face that the person next to me is making, it seems better not to say too much about it. Let me put this one on hold.

Q.: What was your favorite school lunch menu? For lunch boxes, what were your favorite contents? (Nanatsuji-san)

A.: Hello! I used to like all the school lunch dishes, but as expected, curry was what made me happiest. As for lunch boxes, I’d mostly get an allowance to buy the sandwiches and lunch boxes I liked, and whenever I got more than 500 yen, I’d get to buy a large serving of hayashi rice and would be happy over it. After all, the servings have to be big for a school boy, if nothing else.

Q.: If you switched bodies with Richard upon waking up, what is the first thing you would do? (Sango-san)

A.: Eh...? How? Would it be magic or something? I’d probably think, “Is this a dream?” and go back to sleep. But why would I be in Richard’s body...? I wonder if my head would malfuction from talking too much about how beautiful he is and things would turn out like that. If I got cocky and tried to imitate Richard, I feel like he’d give me one hell of a cold look with those elegant eyes of his, so hum, I wouldn’t do anything, just sleep until the magic wore off. I also think that Richard would be happier when I have the face of Nakata Seigi rather than his own.

Q.: When did you get your growth spurt? (Middle Schooler-san)

A.: Does that mean the time when I got taller? I think it was either in my third year of middle school or first year of high school. It was neither too late nor early among my friends, so while not minding it much, I ended up surpassing Hiromi’s height.

Q.: Seigi-kun, hello.  ♪  Seigi-kun, what kind of fashion do you like? Where do you normally buy clothes? Also, have you changed your style or been influenced after meeting Richard? If you can, please tell us. (*^^*) (Yuriko-san)

A.: Hello! Fashion, huuh... To be honest, before I started working in Étranger, I used to feel like I only needed to keep my clothes as clean as necessary and that they were okay as long as they didn’t look sloppy, but as expected, once you enter a jewelry shop, the number of clothes with high collars increases. Then, I met Richard, and ever since I started working for him, my opportunities to wear a suit increased, but what he often tells me is, “Wear what you like however you like the most you can within the limits”, and speaking of which, I kinda seem to look up to suits with a large silhouette and felt hats, like the ones people used to wear in prewar days. I think this is probably the influence of an actor my Grandma liked. In the past, there was a black-and-white photo of him decorating the apartment where Grandma lived. It would’ve been great if I could’ve showed myself wearing a suit to Grandma.

Q.: Seigi-kun, hello! A question for you. Seigi-kun’s “senpai”, Vincent-san, is a user of Jeet Kune Do, but you are also a black belt at Karate, so I am very curious about what would happen if the two of you actually fought. Since you both master your own matrial arts, so I feel that I would be able to see a cool fight between you. Also, this is just my ponderings, but Seigi-kun, I want you to tell me, from your point of view, how strong you think Vincent-san is and what changes you have of winning. (Monaka-san)

A.: Hello! Erm, when you say “fight”, is it okay to interpret it as a head-on brawl? I think you probably do not practice any martial arts, Monaka-san, so I am going to answer based on that: martial arts abilities and fight abilities are completely different. See, the rules of each martial art are pre-determined, and if you fight within them, you won’t suffer serious injuries and you can decide who wins or loses, but there’s none of that in a brawl, so... Also, I believe both parties know that, if a person who did martial arts to some extent hits someone in earnest, it’ll result in something that can’t be undone, so I think they can’t bring themselves to throw fists with each other. But on the other hand, since we can tell to some degree that we both seem to have have this awereness, I think it’s okay if I so much as throw a paper ball at the back of his head. Vince-san might hit me back, and then I guess I’d fling a straw bag at him next. We might get along a bit better if we both let it out. Sorry that it’d be the light type! I hope this served as an answer.

Q.: A question for Nakata Seigi-kun! To be precise: is there anything that makes you go, “This is the one thing I want to tell Richard-shi!!”~? Even if it is something that is normally hard to say, you might be able to say it here. (*^^*) (Sui-san)

A.: “I’m happy when you eat my pudding; thanks! But I’m begging, for health reasons, that you’re at least careful not to eat too much...! I wanna be with you for a long time. Please. And... also... thanks for always. I’m so grateful to you that I can’t say it enough. It’d be great if I could.” This is it! Aah, that was embarrassing. Eh? “You’re always telling me that much”, you say? Is that so?

Q.: What is your favorite sweet? (Tanaka Milk Tea-san)

A.: That’s a difficult theme... I don’t seem to have any that I’m obsessed with, but anything looks delicious to me if it’s a sweet that Richard eats with relish, so I grow to like it. But when Richard doesn’t eat all of a sweet and leaves some of it, I go, “Could it be he left it for me because he thought I’d like it?” and they also turn out to be so, so tasty. Basically, I like everything. Unless I buy and eat it by myself.

Q.: Nice to meet you; as Seigi-kun faces people very straightforward and honestly, I read every volume while confirming over and over that I also want to live on facing people like that. Is there anything that the aforementioned Seigi-kun always puts in his bag? (Sumiyaki Yuuma-san)

A.: Sumiyaki-san, hello! Being told that I face people honestly is flattering. I do think it’d be great if I actually manage that, but the “honesty” I’m thinking about is my own concept of it, so it’s not like this honesty is something only comfortable for the other person. That’s why being told so makes me all the happier. Thank you. This is from after meeting Richard, but what I always have in my bag is candy. Royal-milk-tea-flavored ones. When I don’t have them, I pack in some other sweet, and just from thinking, “I’d give him this if he were here”, it kinda feels like having a fragment of him with me even when he’s not by my side, and it’s reassuring. It helps me out. Other than that, my phone. Thanks for the question!

[allscalliepsds]

RP GUIDE: TIPS FOR WRITING ITALIANS CHARACTERS!

So, from one Italian roleplayer, check this list for creating credible Italians fictional characters. I don’t know if you’re ever gonna read this post, but let’s try. Aaaand, if it works maybe one day I’ll do a list of italian faceclaims, or italian names and surnames. (Obviously, I’m not used to writing in english. Ignore my mistakes, lol)

• We have very different features. We’re not all tanned, with brown eyes and brown hair. My best friend is pale as hell and blonde like a freaking scandinavian. So we have lighter skin, darker skin, we’re tall, very short, redheads. And we have different cultures here! You can use asian faceclaims, black faceclaims, tunisian faceclaims... your character can have any kind of origin and still have the italian citienzship.

• Food is important. And by saying this I do not only mean that things like pineapple pizza or carbonara with pancetta are unacceptable! I mean that we EAT together. Most of Italians families have lunch together daily, same happens for dinner. Eating means spending time with family and friends. On sundays a lot of families reunite and have lunch with other relatives like grandparents or uncles, without even being on holiday time. We do not need Christmas or Easter to have lunch with relatives. Talking more about food: every place has its own speciliaties, so look for them when creating a character.

• Talking about food, WE DO NOT SHARE PIZZAAAA! Okay, maybe we do, sometimes, but it’s different. I’ve seen a lot of American tv shows or movies where they order just one pizza for four family members. Like, what?? Here in Italy most of the times we have one pizza per person. Because Italian pizza is obviously better and lighter, so you don’t get your belly full just by eating two slices unless you’re 5 y/o.

• We might be spending a lot of time complaining about our country and what doesn’t work, but in reality we are very proud and sometimes a lot patriotic. You know what really gets me super mad? Scrolling tik tok and seeing Americans that call themselves ITALIANS just because their grandma’s uncle was from Salento. No the hell no, that’s not how it works. You’re not Italian you cunt. 

• We’re a little bit a cliché, I gotta give you that. Sometimes more than a little bit. When quarantine/lockdown started here in Italy it was sooo hard finding flour and baking powder at the supermarket. And it’s not just a Super Mario thing: we do actually say mamma mia! But we’re not all the same. Please do not consider always the same kind of relatives: conservative religious parents with that grandma that always cooks a lot of stuff and blablabla. Think out of the box!

• Talking about grandmas: if you wanna follow that cliché of the Italian grandma that cooks and makes you eat until you pass out, it’s fine. You can do this. One of my grandma is like this and even though we have lunch in like four people she’s still gonna cook for an entire army. But if you don’t wanna do that, then don’t. My other grandma does not know how to cook and so she doesn’t that much. It’s fine, no one’s gonna revoke your character’s Italian citizenship if you don’t stick to those basic clichés we’re tired of.

• Please, look for a map. Not every Italian lives by the sea, it isn’t always sunny and hot and you don’t always feel in the right mood for a gelato. The northern part of Italy is colder and there aren’t as much bathing areas. Even if your characters lives or is from Sicily ( which is where I’m from ), it isn’t sure that he’s gonna have the beach next to his house. I’m a lucky person, in jenuary from my balcony I can see the sea on my right and the vulcano Etna covered by snow on my left. But it depends, so choose a city and look for it.

• We have dialects. So, let me try to be clear. Italy is a country divided into 20 regions, okay? Sicily is a region of Italy, Lazio ( where Rome is, to be clear ) is another Italian region. The official language is obviously Italian. So since I’m from Sicily, with a girl from Lazio/Rome I’m gonna speak Italian. But, inside the regions, there are dialects. Since I’m sicilian my dialect is called siciliano, and it’s influenced from all the past invasions. Sicily was conquered by arabs, and arabs also conquered Spain which is why some words in siciliano are similar to spanish words. Even though we have dialects we can understand each other pretty well. Southern dialects are all pretty similar, for example. But I gotta be honest, I don’t understand a single words in northern dialects. If you wanna stick to that grandma cliché I mentioned before, then add the dialect to it. Grandparents speak dialects. Generally speaking, old people speak dialects way more than the younger ones. Unfortunately it’s a culture that is starting to disappear.

• Please, dress properly. You’re never gonna see a true Italian walk out of his own house in his pajamas and with slippers, that only happens in nightmares. We’re classy. And by saying this I do not mean that we dress Dolce&Gabbana and Gucci. We don’t. I mean, rich people do, they’re lucky enough. So you do not need to mention important and expensive brands. We’re not all rich. Or at least I’m not as I wish. Last thing: it’s VersacE, not Versaci.

• Italy is (unfortunately) a pretty religious country. You know, we have the Vatican here. The most common religion here is Christianity. Not everyone practise it, and not everyone goes at the Church every sunday. 

• ROME AND MILAN AREN’T THE ONLY TWO ITALIAN CITIEESSS! I know, they’re the most known, Rome is beautiful and in Milan there’s the fashion week, I get that. But Italy is full of beautiful places. Maybe you don’t wanna choose unknown little towns with less then 3.000 habitants, but be original.

• There isn’t a large representation of Italy outside our country, so you might know very few of how we live here and what our habits are. Let me do just a small list of things:

- At 18 years old you are old enough to take your driving license, your car, and to drink. Obviously do not do everything together, lol. But you can buy alcool at 18 and go to the clubs.

- We kiss. If you’re my friend I’m gonna give you two kisses on the cheeks to say hi and to say goodbye. Even if you’re not my friend but you are with my friends, I’ll do that to be polite. And sometimes It can be pretty boring, but If I’m leaving a room with 12 people I (more or less) know I’m gonna kiss all of those 12 people.

- We have school from monday to saturday, mostly from 8 am to 13 pm. So we do not spend the afternoons at school like Americans do, and we do not have all those extracurricular activities and sports.

- We do not use snapchat anymore, while I know that it’s still a thing somewhere else. And for texting we mostly use Whatsapp and Telegram. Not iMessage because not everyone has an iPhone (they cost a little bit more, here), and neither we use Messanger that much.

- We do study a lot of art, history and literature. They’re not optional subjects. And we really praise our artistic patrimony. You can’t live here and study in Italy and then don’t know how to recognize a piece of art of DaVinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli or Caravaggio. If you’re Italian you know who Dante is and that he wrote The Divine Comedy.

- I don’t know how it is in the rest of the world, but when we go out (like, at night??) we have this thing of going downtown. So you can go to a restaurant with your friends for dinner or you can go out after dinner and just meet your friends at a square, grab a beer at the nearest bar and sit on a bench or on the stairs of something that faces that square and even stay there all night. It might sound strange, but that’s how it works and in towns where there are a lot of young people or university students those squares and those bars next to them are always full of people. Here’s an example.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Now that the initial shock has worn off--mostly--I feel like I can ramble about the Supergirl comic news in a more coherent fashion.

Under a cut because there’s a good chance it’ll be long. XD 

So yeah! Tom King, writing Supergirl. Wild!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been jokingly entertaining the notion that King’s teased ‘Super’ project would actually be a Supergirl thing, but I always assumed that if it was, in fact, a Supergirl thing, it would be in the vein of Mister Miracle or Strange Adventures--a prestige, out-of-continuity take, possibly featuring an older Kara, from pre-crisis continuity. Maybe interrogating the whole, ‘her most famous story features her death’ thing. 

I never expected mainline, in-continuity, teenage Kara from him. 

As I said, wild!

Wild, because King is like. A HUGE name in comics, and his wheelhouse is primarily Sad Dads. He’s also known for making really controversial, polarizing decisions WRT characterization of fan-favorite characters. (See: Wally in HiC, Batman in Batman, etc.) 

So, like. I get that immediate ‘What?! Oh no!’

...But also...

He’s written Superman: Up in the Sky, which, barring one particular issue, is an extremely good Superman story.

(The whole premise of Up in the Sky is that Superman leaves earth to rescue an orphan girl who’s been kidnapped by aliens. The issue that’s a bit ‘yikes’ features Clark trying to reach Lois from deep space, and he can’t, so he’s imagining that something terrible has happened to her. That, I feel, is a perfectly fine, in-character reaction, and an idea worth exploring. HOWEVER, in execution, it ends up being Lois dying in several different, awful ways on-panel, which...yeah. Kinda Yikes! I can’t remember if it was terribly graphic but, still. I don’t think it needed to be seen, you know?)

So aside from that misstep? A really good Superman story.

(On the topic of King and Lois, I frequently cite his story in Action Comics 1000 as an example of a writer just being like, ‘screw it, Lois is alive 4 billion years in the future, and still with Clark.’ So I give him props for that.) 

Back to Up in the Sky--King’s referenced that in describing Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, so. That’s mostly a positive!

The ‘Tom King’ thing also starts to make more sense once you look at like, the money/sales side of things. I’ve already seen a bunch of tweets from people who are like, ‘I’ve never read a Supergirl comic before but I’m gonna get this because you’re writing it!’

Yeah. I see you, DC. I see you. XD

We’ll probably never know the behind the scenes stuff, but I gotta wonder if this wasn’t so much DC choosing King as King wanting to do this, and DC letting him.

Another valid criticism/concern I’ve seen mentioned: Another dude writing Supergirl!

Which...yeah! Kinda crummy! Would be nice to see a woman write Supergirl for more than, you know. Three issues.

(Side note, though: personally I do not ascribe to the ‘only men can write men, women write women’ thing. That’s kind of a separate topic, but I mention it here because I don’t automatically assume that a book will be better/worse based on the gender of the person writing/drawing/etc.)

(For instance! Bennett just churned out one of the worst Supergirl comics I’ve ever read so...it’s equality! Anyone can write an awful Supergirl story!)

Speaking of Bennett...

The solicit text...kinda sounds like Future State 2.0, which...

Is not promising.

It’s really weird, IMO, that DC is like...letting such similar premises happen back-to-back? 

A lot of DC books are incorporating stuff from Future State but this isn’t so much, ‘teasing out plot threads’ as like. Just doing it over again. XD

I mean. Worst thing that can happen is we get another ‘dead in the backyard with the dog.’

(I’m intensely curious about the DC editorial situation, like. Which pitch came first? Was the Future State Superwoman book always going to happen, what with FS being built from the ruins of 5G or whatever? Did King come up with his stuff at the same time FS was being developed? The world may never know...)

Given that this is King’s next big thing...kinda hoping we get some press coverage and interviews. I wanna get a better sense of like...where he’s coming from. 

Also, it means absolutely nothing re: the book, but I appreciate that King used a gif from the show to respond to some well-wishes on twitter. Specifically, the ‘thumbs up’ gif from one of the season blooper reels. Good choice, sir. 

Okay, enough about King. Let’s talk about the ONE SUREFIRE THING ON THIS BOOK.

BILQUIS. EVELY.

Wait, I take that back. TWO SUREFIRE THINGS:

BILQUIS EVELY, AND MAT LOPES!!!!!

Gosh this book is gonna be so pretty.

Like, just look at this:

Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking: that looks stunning. BUT WAIT!

BOOM. LOOKIT THOSE COLORRRSSSSS! 

Guh, it looks so GOOOOOOD. And it’s just the cover.

(I'm ignoring the sword because I need more info before jumping to conclusions, but as some sharp-eyed folks have noticed, that *might* be a red sun which*might* mean a de-powered Kara, in which case the sword could be used in self-defense. Also, give me a Super wielding a sword over a gun any dang day.)

Evely drew an AMAZING Silver Age Kara back in Sugar & Spike and had a pretty stellar run on Wonder Woman.

Fun fact I just learned from a few interviews she shared recently! Supergirl is the character that got her into superhero comics, and when Giffen was writing Sugar & Spike, he asked if there were any characters she wanted to draw specifically. She said Supergirl, so Giffen made sure she showed up in one of the issues. :D

Also from those interviews: She’s excited about the book, and enjoys working with King. It was harder to figure out the art talk in said interviews (I was using Google translate) but I think...she was saying that there’s some specific influences that folks will pick up on when the book comes out? 

Also, when asked to tease anything about the book she just said Mat Lopes colors and stars.

WOOOOO, pretty space backgrounds, yay!

It cannot be overstated, how pretty this book is going to be. 

Evely’s a little similar to Sauvage in that they both have like...an almost fairytale quality? To some of their work?

(Evely just did a Batman: Black and White story that was quite literally a fairytale.)

But Evely, I think, has a little more range, particularly in the area of expression/acting.  

And Lopes knows how to make her work shine. 

Who knows about the writing though. XD On the one hand, the bar for bad Supergirl comics is so incredibly low, but also.

...Future State.

*shudders*

TL;DR: I refuse to let myself get excited for the story side of this because you could make an IHOP-size omelet, with all the egg on my face from my Future State hopes, but if nothing else: EVELY. DRAWING. SUPER. GIRL. *wild muppet flailing* 

[ppatpranss]

GAYA SA PELIKULA EP 01 Review.

Is it even possible to already love a show so much before it even aired? It’s like craving for a food or yearning for a product you’ve never tried before. But you strangely feel so strongly for it, which is exactly what Gaya Sa Pelikula did to me.

As a fan of Juan Miguel Severo since his On the Wings of Love stint and having watched and loved his film Hintayan ng Langit, I have such high respect for him as a writer and artist. So when he started pitching the idea of a boy’s love (BL) series in the Philippines, I was already drawn to it even if I have a specific reservation for the genre and its economics (a conversation for another day). I pretty much lowkey followed the show’s development from its first pitch, the screenplays released on Wattpad, Direk JP Habac being announced as the director, Ian and Paolo being introduced as the leads, the processes in between, and everything all the way to its trailer.

The thing is, it’s so weird feeling involved in a project that’s not really yours or was not a part of. But Gaya and all the love surrounding it took me by storm. I was really nervous last Friday while waiting for its pilot, already bracing myself for a possible disappointment (you see, I’m quite the pessimist) just in case. But you know what? You shouldn’t doubt anything that is made with so much love. Gaya Sa Pelikula is exactly that and its pilot episode is brimming with it.

[WATCH EPISODE 01 HERE]

SCENE BY SCENE – EPISODE 01.

1 – The dance.

The show opens with a narration, “do you ever feel like you’re not the protagonist of your own story?” We see a gazebo lit up and two men slow-dancing, but we only see Karl’s (Paolo Pangilinan) face as he continues to talk about how it often feels like he’s a Janus character – that even if Joross or Ketchup plays the part, it doesn’t really make a difference. The script is written so there’s nothing you can do about it. As they continue to dance, Karl asks him if he feels the same way. To which, he said yes. In agreement, Karl said that he’d like to someday write or have a story he can call his own. The man then replied that he, too, would like to have his own story, specifically adding, “but I want to be in charge of the ending, too.”

Even if we don’t see Vlad’s (Ian Pangilinan) face, we all know it’s him that Karl is dancing with in this sequence. I found this opening scene very intriguing partly because it looked like a dream, and mostly because the conversation voiceover feels like it did not exactly happen on this specific scene. Having read the available screenplay on Wattpad, my instant assumption is to think of it as having a connection with Vlad’s old flame, Aldous, but it feels like a stretch for now because the trailer at least did not show him as having this much influence in their story. Besides, the Wattpad screenplays are a fictionalization of the accounts of what happened to Karl and Vlad over the sem break as told by an unreliable narrator in Karl. Hence, the Aldous factor isn’t exactly feasible for now.

So for now, I’m only going to take it as it is. I loved watching all of the emotions playing on Karl’s face especially in his eyes. His eyes were totally focused on Vlad, and in that moment you can see him slowly realizing that the person he’s been looking for is right in front of him. It is a gaze of someone who loves and a gaze given only to a beloved. The feeling consumes you so much that all you’re really left with is courage. Now that it fills up your chest, what are you going to do with it to take charge of your own story?

2 – tyl and attractions.

Karl and Vlad’s first interaction is through a loud music that prevents him from concentrating on a job that he’s been working on. It’s such a nuisance that he can’t help but go out of his unit to ask Vlad to turn down the music. Unexpectedly so, the door was open, and he saw him drunkenly dancing to tyl (by kakie). Instead of ‘seen,’ I feel like the right word to describe it was Karl being transfixed by this person so enveloped by his own world. He’s not really sure what is up with him, but he cannot help but look because he was intrigued by him. Of course, Vlad is not very welcoming and even slammed the door on his face. He didn’t turn the music down anyway and Karl ended up dancing to it in his own unit.

For a show that pays homage to a lot of Filipino rom-com, I was actually surprised that this initial attraction feels lowkey and understated, and I loved it that way. I guess we’re all in agreement when I say that a lot of our romance films have these grand moment that instantly stirs a park between a would-be pair. With Karl and Vlad, it was about the gazes. Even the eye contact on the scene the following day for their second encounter involved eye-to-eye. Makes you think a lot about how love is really about seeing.

As for the song choice, I have always liked kakie’s tyl before this series, but this specific scene amplified my affection for it. It was mentioned by Gege though, in their interview with the reactors, that Vlad was specifically listening to the song as it relates to Aldous. It makes sense now. At this point, I’m starting to feel the impending doom of whatever the character will bring, but here’s to hoping he doesn’t take too much space in Karl and Vlad’s story.

3 – Karl and his parents

On a morning call with this parents, it’s evident that Karl comes from a loving family. Both of his parents are affectionate, openly telling him that they miss him. They also express that they’re proud of him for immediately earning money from his online writing gig. It’s obvious that they mean well for him and that they are doing this family tradition to help him be more independent and get to know himself. I suppose it’s worth noting that his dad had a bit of a swipe about his Tito Santi. He starts hinting that he spent more time meeting with men than looking for a job, but his mother cut him off. That is a good way to establish what can be a problem later on when Karl slowly starts to come to terms with his sexuality.

On one hand, I find hope in the fact that they seem to be loving and accepting people. Maybe there is hope that they will wholeheartedly accept Karl as he is, or at least, his mother will. Although I can’t help but feel how conflicted things will be once this comes together with his desire to shift to Film from Architecture.

4 – Cosmic connections

Above shot is my favourite from the pilot. I find that it tells us a lot about what is yet to come for Karl’s story. In the frame, Karl and Vlad are separated by a line (this was also discussed during the Direk Takes last Saturday). Karl is perched at a sofa reflected by a mirror and we see him stressed out and preoccupied by a problem he encountered because of his online job. On Vlad’s side of the frame, he is standing next to the three standout materials that best represents Karl: his film slate keychain, his architecture materials, and a poster of CINEMA PARADISO. Upon noticing, Vlad asks, “you like movies?”

That gets me. I love that the first thing that Vlad noticed about Karl is his interest in film, and this is something that connects them, albeit not yet known to Karl. Vlad is a film major (an info that is yet to be disclosed in the show, which I only know because of the screenplays). So going back to the frame, there is just so much weight on the film side now that Vlad is also in the picture, and obviously the scale is about to get tipped onto it.

5 – Ate Judit (no H) and the economics of a fake relationship

As Karl tries to check Vlad’s pants for the possibility that he might have taken something from his apartment, Vlad’s sister walked in on them in a compromising situation that obviously leads to a misinterpretation.

First off, Ate Judit’s moments were really hilarious. We seriously have a lot to thank for Adrienne Vergara for making sure that her character is a mouthpiece for progressive allyship and perspective, while making sure to bring in comic relief so as not to make the show too heavy or preach-y.

A lot of things happened in the last gap of this episode.

Judit at the very least knows about Vlad. She seems to be a cool sister, but an overbearing one too. While there’s good intention on her part to express her support for this brother’s sexuality and the fact that she ‘caught’ him the act with Karl, she couldn’t leave him alone for privacy matters. Although from an elder sister standpoint, I also understand the situation especially considering that there seems to be a conflict within the family. If it’s safe to assume that Vlad’s mom cannot accept him, Judit as the elder sister tries to compensate for it. I like this dynamic and I am really interested on how this can be developed.

On the other hand, Karl is stuck to witness all of these. Suddenly, he is being completely pulled into the world of his neighbor. Last night, it was just the music and the instant attraction. But today, he was there beside him, already being oriented into his family and life issues and all the mystery surrounding Vlad. All of the build-up to the last scene was extremely amusing. Suddenly there is chaos when Vlad and Ate Judit were fighting over a phone and Karl runs to the side clinging onto his laptop for dear life. Then Vlad was walking towards him and grabbing his waste, telling his sister he’s in love with him, and calling him pancake. Vlad whispered the magic words, ‘I’ll pay for your rent this month’ and it’s enough for Karl to turn things around and tells Ate Judit, “yes, ate, we’re in love with each other.”

In true rom-com fashion, things are set. A fake relationship has been established, but I love that it is not for a petty reason as making someone else jealous or anything (though that would be fun, too). In this instance, economics is involved because the motivation for Karl’s choice is money. He needed the money not only to pay for rent, but also to prove to his parents that he is indeed capable. I think it speaks so much about the things we do not really want but had to swallow to compromise. In real life, you sometimes trade so much of your beliefs and dignity to secure a job or to earn money for your family. For the LGBTQIA+ community, as a minority group, this means needing to accept what is set aside for them—of being grateful for something small even when they deserved more, because the next job might not come if one resists.

So, it feels like such a proud moment seeing the closing remark at the end, we will take back our story. As you should.

6 – Epilogue

As Unti-Unti by UDD plays, we see Karl and Vlad in the living room. Karl is seated on the couch, while Vlad is standing a few feat away while drinking (what I assume to be) coffee. Both of them are laughing at whatever they’re watching, but then you also see them fidgeting, especially Karl. It’s obvious that they are aware of each other’s presence. At one point, Karl straightens up and glances down a little at his hands. Vlad does the same. Mirroring :)

Comments; What do I look forward to?

This specific gif is not from episode 1. It is lifted from the trailer.

This is really one of the best pilots I’ve seen in Philippine TV. It is fast paced, but also knows when to take a breath and let the elements settle in. It lays the groundwork in 20 minutes so smoothly – something that would take some shows halfway the series, or several weeks of episodes for teleseryes. All of the elements just comes together. The editing is on-point, with really good transitions and just the right amount of filler ease the viewer into the more emotionally stirring scenes. The music is not intrusive at all, finding just the right spots to highlight certain scenes. The scoring during Vlad and Karl’s kapkapan scene was made extra enjoyable because of that sort-of funky tune. Even the opening theme is so good, I sometimes find myself humming it in my head. Plus, that apartment and the overall set design is gorgeous. They’re mostly earthly tones, dominated by yellow and brown (at least in this episode) that just makes everything feel warm.

I know that this will sound biased, but I did like both of Paolo and Ian’s performances. I came into the show, of course, with a knowledge of their past acting experiences so the scale to which I measure their performances are relevant to that. I appreciate Ian’s overall veracity to make Vlad come alive. Even with a limited screentime on the first episode, he’s already coming on strong and Ian made sure that his presence is felt. Paolo did a good job as a newbie actor. I think it helps that his character is quite awkward and kind of innocent, so everything just works. I especially liked the shine in his eyes that just shows the innocence of Karl. And while I find that there’s still a lot he can improve on, especially in terms of line delivery and nuances, I think that he can eventually learn this through workshops for the next season. What’s important is he can hold his own ground.

The pilot episode really reminds me a lot of how fast rom-coms establish their stories at the first part of a movie. Several characters pop up to help the two leads build tension. Certain circumstances come up to somehow push them towards each other, often a sticky situation that they can’t easily escape from so then they would need each other. While most viewers will find these cliché and typical, that is exactly the intention. It just so happened that this time, two guys are at the center of it instead of the hetero-normative conventions of a male and female lead.

All things considered, as a rom-com, I am excited to discover if I would really end up shipping Karl and Vlad. I know for a fact that Ian and Paolo have intense chemistry. This is evident in the trailer, and even in real life, they just have such a good connection together. After watching a lot of their interviews since the pilot, one thing that really struck me is when they started talking about whether they ship the characters in the show. Thankfully, both of them said that they do so I remain optimistic for that.

The reason that I find this interesting is because I am reminded again that as much as this show is a passion project and an advocacy, it is also a story about two people falling in love. I would very much love to swoon over an on-screen couple any time, but it matters to me more to see how they arrived at the realization. I want to see what made Karl and Vlad interested in each other romantically over the course of the sem break. I expect the show to really explore this organically and lead us to see what makes them work as a couple – a couple that we can all root for. There is an obvious hint of coming-of-age for both of them, so I am interested in how they affect each other’s personal growth and how they also work on themselves individually. I expect nothing less from Severo in this regard and given that both Paolo and Ian ships Karl and Vlad, I guess it’s safe to say that I can, too, for now.

--

Gaya Sa Pelikula airs new episodes every Friday 8PM (Manila time) on Globe Studio’s Youtube channel.

[miidnightglosss]

Boston Tea Party - Part 1 (Grell Sutcliffe - Chapter 1)

There's a tradition in Boston, Massachusetts, one where every student at the end of their eighth-grade year of school throws their papers and textbooks into a bonfire and parties the night away before their souls are ultimately crushed before going through the trials of high school life. Those who still have their souls, at least.

Grell Sutcliff, 14, had decided to follow this tradition surrounded by a number of her best friends. Her bright red hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. She pulled down her black tank top ever so slightly and adjusted her white skirt accordingly. Her flip-flops lagged behind as she took a seat next to one of her best friends, Johanna West. "Are you sure you're just gonna stick with Bart Simpson over there? I know, like, thirteen other guys that are way cuter than him," Grell offered, her English accent apparent.

Johanna rolled her hazel eyes as she pushed the bright orange side of her hair (wig technically) out of her eyes. Her tan skin glowed against her sun while her eyes reflected the light. She had a fuchsia and orange split dyed wig that went surprisingly well with the rest of her somewhat toned-down clothing. Johanna had worn just a black cut-off tank top and dark denim shorts, her black Doja Cat hoodie slung over the back of her camping chair. She crossed her legs and bounced her Van-covered foot as she spoke again to Grell. "Yes, for the one-millionth time. And no amount of your criticism is going to change that.

"I'm just saying," Grell continued. "If you weren't promised to him, who would you date?"

Johanna and her boyfriend, Bart, have been promised to marry each other ever since he proposed (kind of) early last school year. They've known each other two years prior and figured "why the hell not?" They were a good pair and bounced off of each other well. Most of the time.

The two girls looked over to the rest of their group, which mostly consisted of boys. Walker Auteberry was playing football with Sebastian Michaelis, Matt Connery, and Ronald Knox.

Walker Auteberry was basically a pure athletic paragon. Tall, blond, fit. Not too terribly muscular. His curls bounced on top of his faded hair as it dissolved to match his tanned skin after a trip to Honolulu.

His face lit up with a smile, which was soon turned to shock as Sebastian tackled him to the ground. His porcelain skin and ebony hair were the perfect contrast to Walker's appearance. Sebastian was a bit leaner than Walker, but couldn't get a tan for shit. He was very punk or e-boy and often wore shades of black and gray with tiny bursts of red or purple color here and there.

Ronald Knox was a mega playboy. He also had blond, almost golden, hair with a few brown tuffs in the front that he somehow managed to pull off. His unnaturally green eyes, those similar to Grell's and William T. Spears's, were lit up with intensity as he chucked the ball over to Sebastian once more, making a touchdown. He was the preppiest among the boys.

Matt, Johanna's cousin, was somewhat of a mix between them. His blond hair had been dyed black, a bit darker than Sebastian's. He was more emo than the two. There's a difference. He wasn't putting in too much effort, but he was enjoying himself nonetheless.

Ciel Phantomhive, son to one of the richest families in Boston, sat beside his fiancee, Elizabeth Midford. Also wealthy.

Johanna smirked. "Probably either Sebastian or Ronald."

Grell furrowed her eyebrows. "What the fuck? Sebastian, hell yeah, but Ronald?"

"What?"

"They're complete dorks."

Johanna shrugged. "I have a thing for dorks."

"Then why are you with that?"

The girls looked over to Bartlomiej von Grimmelshausen, Bart for short. His family was traditionally Polish, but they were also the founders of one of the leading sportscar companies in town, Luxus. He had wavy jet black hair styled with a taper fade and ivory skin. He had around the same build as Walker but had grown a bit colder and more business-focused over the past few years. He had just thrown on a short-sleeve flannel with a white tank top underneath and a pair of black shorts. He stood alone as he fished in the nearby lake.

Johanna sighed. "I don't know. We have history and he's not someone I wanna lose."

"I ain't sayin' she a gold digga--"

Johanna playfully swatted Grell's arm. "Shut up! I'm not in it for the money."

"Then what? In my opinion, any of the other guys here would be more compatible with you."

"Right, like William?"

"Hey, now," Grell started, using her parent voice. "William's off-limits."

"Fine," Johanna finished jokingly. Jacquelyn Marek came over after a conversation with her parents at another site. All their parents were friends and they let them have freedom, but not too much. "Hey, what's up?"

Grell looked up to Jackie. She possessed auburn hair and ivory skin, much like Walker. She'd worn a yellow cropped tube top and black shorts today. She seemed distraught but tried hiding it. "Um... Yeah. Hey, do you guys wanna have a sleepover? You know, one last hurrah before high school starts?"

"Sure. It can't be at my house, though," Grell shouted. "Not after last time!"

"He gave me a weird look," Walker yelled back across the field.

"That's not a good reason to chuck a tube TV out the window," Matt replied

The girls giggled to themselves. "I'd have to ask August and Florence but they'll probably be fine with it." Johanna brushed some fallen leaves off her lap as she stood up. "I have to ask Bart something. Be right back."

Jackie moved in closer to Grell. "So when are you gonna make a move?"

Grell sighed dramatically. "I've already told you, once the time's right."

"Yeah, well, you'd better speed it up. He'll get snatched up quickly, especially somewhere as prestigious as the Phantomhive Academy. The geeky nerd bitches will be all up on him if he lets them." Jackie peered over at the adults to make sure they weren't looking and pulled out a Juul. She took a puff before offering it to Grell. "Wanna try? It's strawberries and cream."

Grell wrinkled her nose. "The fuck it is. And, no. I'm getting enough lung cancer just standing next to you." Jackie shrugged and took another hit. "What do you mean he'll get snatched up?"

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? Someone like him up at a place like that? His parents are practically begging for grandkids."

Grell gazed longingly at her crush as he sat and scribbled in his notebook. "You're being incredibly vague right now."

"But you do know what I mean, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

Grell's crush, William, was way out of her league. Just like a majority of the people in her friend group, the Spears were wealthy. Will wanted to get into his own business. So did Grell, but while she was thinking of her own fashion line, he was thinking of his own line of supercomputer androids to help humanity. His short dark brown hair was always slicked back and his icy glare could cut through stone. He had a lean build and tall figure to match his business-as-usual aura.

"If you want, I could probably spike everyone's drinks and maybe move things forward a little."

Grell whipped her head towards Jackie, eyes full of disbelief and concern with a hint of curiosity.

"I'm doing it." As Jackie skipped away, Grell couldn't find the words to stop her.

♞

A couple of hours had passed before the parents had decided to give their kids some alone time. As soon as that happened, Jackie called up a local caterer to bring the group a giant bowl of punch. While everyone was busy being preoccupied with each other, she snuck off and poured in a few tiny shots she'd smuggled from the same gas station she'd gotten her Juul.

Grell watched as Johanna and Bart played a game of Marco Polo in the lake. Johanna trod the water as Bart found her hips beneath the waves. The couple smiled having found each other and kissed, right before hearing an "ew" from Matt, and getting splashed by a wave of water. Soon it had turned into a chicken fight, Johanna and Bart versus Matt and Walker.

Grell snapped out of her trance as a red solo cup was presented in front of her. "That could be you pretty soon," Jackie reminded. Without another word, Grell shot down the punch within a few huge gulps and assisted in passing them out, throat burning.

Soon enough, everyone was holding a drink and coming back to the punch bowl for more. Fireflies illuminated the skies as everyone danced to Bottoms Up by Trey Songz.

Jackie marched on top of a stump and raised her free hand. "Attention, assholes of Boston, Massachusetts!" Everyone in the group, including a few others, looked her way. "We're now going to play Truth or Dare now. I go first. Ciel, truth or dare?"

Normally, Ciel would be one of the first to deny a game of Truth or Dare. However, he was under the influence. He shrugged, an arm wrapped around Elizabeth's waist, whose hair had now been taken out of her usual drill tails. "Truth."

"If you were to make out with one guy here, who would it be?"

Ciel eyed Sebastian up and down. "I think we all know the answer to that already." The group let out a chorus of hoots and hollers as Sebastian purred back. Lizzie lazily swatted Ciel's chest.

"Okayokayokayokay-- OKAY!" Jackie silenced them again. "You pick someone now."

Ciel looked up, down, and all-around at the group until his eyes laid on William. "You!" He pointed overdramatically. "Truth or Dare?"

William, giggling like a maniac, had chosen dare. Never took him as a happy drunk, Grell thought to herself. "I dare youuuuu--" Ciel hiccupped-- "to make out with the most attractive person here."

Grell’s cheeks flushed a bright red as she nervously laughed along with her friends, Walker finding it the most hilarious thing in the world and slapping his hand on his knee while he wheezed for air.

She realized two things: one, he could pick someone, literally anyone, but her and confirm exactly what he thought of her. Two, he could kiss her and it would be the start of something beautiful. Either way, it was totally nerve-wracking. It wasn't like Will to spontaneously make out with someone. It wasn't like Will to get drunk without him really even knowing either. It wasn't like him to get drunk.

Grell didn't realize how much she had been overthinking this entire situation until William stood right in front of her.

Shit. Seductive. Go. She tried her best to look playful and flirty despite how much she was shaking right now. She hasn't noticed how much taller Will was to her. At least a good half a foot. Grell decided that it would probably be best to just let herself loose in the moment, so she snaked her arms around William's neck as he wrapped his around her waist. They stretched ever so slightly so that their lips were inches apart until they finally collided with each other.

It was everything Grell had dreamed it would be. His soft lips seemed to fit hers perfectly. Will licked her bottom lip, asking for permission to enter her mouth. She allowed him without hesitation as their tongues wrestled with each other for a good while. Her hands tightened through his hair while his gripped her hips tightly, pulling her closer to his body. Grell could've stayed like that for the rest of eternity--

"Okay, Grell, get you some!"

Johanna laughed at her remark from behind the two as Jackie cackled along with her. William drew away from Grell and opened his eyes, leaving Grell helpless, her eyes longing and her face red.

William smirked as Walker pat him a couple of times on his shoulder and the game continued. Grell couldn't pay much attention, though. She was certain that kiss meant one thing: they were meant to be together.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

[megashadowdragon]

sanji will transform  awakening his vinsmoke alterations due to his anger over nami being hurt

Diable Jambe, although it makes Sanji stronger is more of a technique rather than a traditional power up. It’s more of a Gear 3rd rather than a Gear 2nd/4th. I believe Sanji’s next power-up will play more with the Devil theme that Oda has given Sanji. I believe Sanji will have an emotion based Hakuba like transformation, to where when he gets angry he heats up, his blood “starts boiling” and his facial expression changes. A berserk mode if you will.

In my opinion Thriller Bark was a huge playground for Oda to forshadow future abilities and power ups. Nightmare Luffy -> Gear 4th Luffy, Sanji bursting into flames -> Hell Memories, Franky’s docking - Franky Shogun, Robin’ Big Tree -> Mil Fleur: Gigantesco Mano, Zoro burning Ryuma -> Zoro’s future Fire technique (he showed interest in Kinemon’s teqnique) … and finally the scene is similar to sanji reminds me of  this panel):

so sanji will have a devil form which he reaches through anger there’s a tokusatsu that we know Oda likes, which would be a much more explicit inspiration for the Germa 66 : Kamen Rider. specifically the villainous organization shocker

Shocker was a terrorist organization that planned on ruling the world (in the original manga is shown that Shocker had some influences over the governments of the world), with virtually all of its members modified in some way. The founders had mostly Nazi ties

so it fits that germa66 not only references the nazis but the shocker organization from kamen rider

Shocker’s scientists performed surgical alterations that gave the subject superhuman fighting abilities. Even the most basic Shocker soldier was tougher, stronger and faster than the average human civilian. The most powerful of their forces were the Kaijin, modified humans who were combined with animal DNA and human cybernetics to create living weapons.

In an attempt to create the ultimate warriors, they were responsible for the rise of the very first Kamen Riders 1 and 2, whom defected and became the heroes who would ultimately lead to the fall of Shocker.

and sanji and his siblings were altered genetically

and the kamen riders specialty is the kamen rider KICK

In it Kamen Rider Black RX is a cyborg whose motif is a black grasshopper, which mirrors Sanji’s own epithet as Black Leg. Grasshoppers are known for their incredible spring like leg muscles that allow them to jump incredible heights which allow them to launch themselves in the air to fly. However he also has another motif and that is based on the sun. Kamen Rider Black RX is a photosynthetic warrior who is powered by the sun.

Since Kamen Rider is powered by the sun, he can set his legs and fists on fire to increase the lethality of his kicks and punches, which is basically what Sanji’s Diable Jambe does

and kamen rider black who sanji is partly inspired from had a transformation called the prince of anger which he  transformed when he reached a certain level of anger and this anger will cause him to transform and his hair to turn black ( oda has had many dragon ball references in one piece and this will be an inverted super saiyan and it fits for his hair to turn black since he is stealth BLack and his siblings have hair colors to match their epitaphs

I like to add that when Sanji was fighting with Judge and thought about their past, his Dj(Poele A Frire) glowed brighter than than usual.

against judge

against doffy

and sanjis raid suit is called stealth BLACK

stealth black references kamen rider black

plus on sanji resembling kamen rider black rx  who is solar powered

both sanjis experience as a child  and duval was a reference to the man in the iron mask .

Though based on a real prisoner in the late 1600’s who Louis XIV forced to always wear a velvet mask to hide his identity and who was made to serve other prisoners, one of the most popular versions of the story is that of Alexandre Dumas, translated into a film in 1998. The prisoner, now shown wearing an iron mask, was Louis XIV’s twin brother  

sanji had encountered the same fate as written in Alexandre DUMAS book (The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later). Declared dead for the country but condemned to wear a mask and to spend all his life in an horrible prison

and louis XIV was known as the sun king and kamen rider black rx is solar powered

and sanjis and zoros rivalry parallels inuarashi and nekomamushis rivalry ( and inuarashi is called the ruler of the day and has a group under him that reference the three musketeers by alexander dumas  (a french story ) and sanji was dressed up as a musketeer and oda said in an sbs that sanji in the real world would be french

porche-chan . tumblr . com/post/134501849916/weve-located-zoros-fashion-twinkie-everyone

We’ve located Zoro’s fashion twinkie, everyone!. One Piece, chapters 82 and 809 porche-chan . tumblr . com/post/138118772526/i-made-an-observation-a-while-back-about#notes I made an observation a while back about Nekomamushi and Zoro being fashion twinkies, but now that I think about it, Inuarashi is wearing pinstripes, which is an early Sanji trademark:

And as Wanda explains in chapter 809, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi seem to have a little bit of a volatile relationship, not unlike Sanji and Zoro:

I have no fully formed theories regarding this, really, but there doesseem to be a recent influx (i.e. since Dressrosa) of duos whose dynamics are reminiscent of Zoro and Sanji. They all seem to exhibit a rivalrous and/or combative temperament, but there is either a history or discovery of working well together. And they all share, in some capacity, characteristics relatable to Sanji and Zoro in physical appearance:

What I hope it means, though, is that we’re going to see some next level development in Sanji and Zoro’s relationship. Like, some Thriller Bark level type of stuff. porche-chan . tumblr . com/post…is-an-imposing-figure?is_related_post=1#notes Like Zoro, Nekomamushi is an imposing figure; strong, intimidating and perceptive. And like Zoro (with his naps and sake), Nekomamushi also exhibits hedonistic tendancies:

And most hilariously, they both share a general disregard for their poor, poor medical professional:

both nekomamushi and inuarashi (zoro and sanjis counterparts) losing the precise limb that could incapacitate zoro and sanjis respective fighting styles

about inuarashis similarities to sanji I have to point out that inuarashi has a group that operates under his command called the Inuarashi Musketeer Squad Among them are three minks known as the “Three Inuarashi Musketeers”, The name of the squad is a reference to the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. a french story and oda stated in an sbs that sanji would be french in the real world

and this could make three allusions/connections that sanji has to the sun since inuarashi was the ruler of the day and for why  this would happen when sanji sees nami get hurt or thinks she died or hears that she got hurt badly he will lose it ​​​​​​​

this sounds like foreshadowing imagine if the transformation and awakening of the vinsmoke genetic enhancements ( which fits given his current opponent has a spider zoan and vinsmoke enhancements include an exoskeleton  )  and his hair turning black a reverse super saiyan ( where he goes from blonde to black hair ( and oda was inspired by dragon ball z  leads to a personality change bit to allow him to hurt girls like his emotions  that would get in the way of war being suppressed   and germa66 were compared to devils with one soldier asking if they made a deal with the devil  which fits with what sanji said before and this will lead up to him actually hitting ulti and/or black maria or possibly killing someone if while in his vinsmoke form his kindness and empathy turns off ( a superpowered evil side)

there was a sword in japan called kitchen knife sword which makes me think sanji will use a sword in wano and use it @monkeydluffy19920​ 

@sanjiafsincedayone​

@pernanegra​

(also sanjis vinsmoke genetics activating when he transforms will also help him tank a bullet   given @more-than-a-gentleman​ post about parallels with sanji and bellemere imagine if nami sees sanji get shot in the head but tanks it 

[samgwrites]

Locked Doors

Fandom: The Magnus Archives

Chapter 2 of 2 What happens when your who is returned to your what.  

Read on AO3

Michael didn’t want to go to a hospital, and Jon agreed that it  would probably be best to not deal with doctors obsessing over someone who had been presumed dead for seven years. Luckily, Tim apparently knew a good amount of wilderness first aid, so after a slightly hectic few minutes trying to find the emergency kit, the current assistant was setting the former assistant’s hand in gauze while Jon had run off to inform the rest of the staff about the current situation. Couldn’t have someone accost the stranger wandering the institute, not again, even if Michael insisted that he would prefer to be out of everyone’s hair as soon as possible. 

He would prefer to just be done with the Magnus Institute. 

He peered down at Tim as the other man wrapped his hand. Tim was frowning, but the anger from earlier seemed to have vanished from his expression, replaced with a stern focus. Not exactly an approachable look, but that had never stopped Michael before.

“Can I ask you a question?” He said, leaning forward and hiss slightly as Tim tugged a bit too hard on his hand. 

“What?” Tim responded, not looking up. Michael sighed. 

“It’s sort of a weird request but… can you tell me what I look like?” This did catch Tim’s attention, and he looked up at Michael quizzically. 

“What?” Michael glanced aware under the gaze, grinning nervously.

“I haven’t exactly been able to use a proper mirror in a while… it’s been awhile since I’ve seen myself without the distortion ruining the image,” He thought for a moment. “I can’t even remember what it looked like to be honest. I mostly just remember enough neon to be nauseating,” Tim hummed, before dropping Michael’s hand and standing up. Michael frowned, realizing he might be asking too much. “It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, I know it’s weird-” Tim waved his own hand, running the other one over his face and through his hair. 

“It’s… it’s fine. I can tell you. You’re pretty average looking, I guess? You got this blond mop of hair, you’re pretty pale, greyish eyes. I knew about ten guys that could practically be your double from when I was at uni. The weirdest bit is that you don’t even look that different? 

“Your hand’s normal, far as I can tell, and your voice doesn’t give me a migraine anymore. You just look like a normal guy. The sweater is a little weird, but it’s not as flashy as I think it was,” Michael looked down at what he was wearing. They were the same clothes from his journey into the mountains, but they were definitely different. They did look older, to start. His jeans were ripped where they hadn’t been. His sweater was worn at the wrists and he figured the coat he’d attempted to lend Gertrude was frozen on a cliff somewhere. He looked back at Tim, and was startled to find the assistant staring intently at him with an odd look that he couldn’t place. Tim turned away.

“Your hand should be fine for now, it’s not a bad break. Try not to use it for awhile if you can.”

“Thank you,”

“Are you really Michael?” 

“What?”

“Are you really Michael Shelley? Or is this just some weird trick to lure us into a false sense of security. Those fucking clowns are up to something, woudn’t be that surprised if you were working together,

“The circus? No, I hate the circus-” He cut himself off. Did he hate the circus? He hadn’t actually known about the unknowing before Gertrude decided to feed him to delusion incarnate. Did he hate the Stranger, or was it simply remnants of a thing lodged into him?

No. No he hated it. He could remember that much. The distortion had wanted him to interfere, but so had he. It was a ritual, like the ones Gertrude had been after. If he could throw a wrench in its workings, then perhaps no one else would receive his fate. But that isn’t exactly how that small thought buried in his mind had been realized. His face hardened. 

“I hate the Stranger and the Spiral and every other so-called god. My name is Michael Shelley, and if that isn’t who I am then I would prefer someone to let me know now before I get any hope back. Now,” He stood, moving towards the door, “thank you so much for the first aid, but I’d really like to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Tim said, voice unsure, glancing between Michael and the door.

“It’s a wonderful idea,” Michael ground out, and left the room. He did not slam the door behind him, but the thought crossed his mind. He had never been one for slamming doors. Perhaps now was the time to start.

Seeing Elias Bouchard in the Hallway before the elevator back up to the library was a bit of a shock.

Well, not a shock. It wasn’t that surprising to see the head of an institute standing in a commonly walked area of said institute.  But Michael was not prepared for it in the least. He stumbled and felt himself pale slightly at the sight of the man standing so nonchalantly. This man was a murderer. A direct conduit of the eye.

Michael had met Elias when he’d first started at the institute. The older man had been alright, if a little bit unpleasant to be around. He was intimidating but only in the way that a university student who drinks and parties on weekends is intimidating to someone in secondary school. Which is to say, not that intimidating once you realize how much of an idiot the man is. 

The Elias standing in front of him wasn’t an idiot. He’d grown a lot around the time he became the head of the institute. He looked sharp despite his age, and his eyes bore into Michael. After a moment he smiled, and his grin was nearly reflective. 

“Mr.Shelley! How wonderful of you come back to us! We’ve missed you,” Michael had seen a hunter before. The distortion had enjoyed trapping one or two in its mazes, giggling as they would chase each other or his other prey around, not noticing that they were being devoured themselves. The expression on the other man was far more predatory than any he’d ever seen on those animalistic creatures. Michael felt his mouth go dry, but it shifted into his usual friendly workplace smile anyway. 

“Hello Mr.Bouchard,” He said, “I was actually just leaving. Wouldn’t want to be in your way,” But neither of them moved. The hallway was small, and while Michael was lanky enough that he could have definitely fit on either side of Elias, it felt as if any attempt would end poorly for him. Though he was probably just paranoid. When Elias just continued to look at him, he continued. “Actually, I did want to talk to Jon before I left, have you seen him?” 

“Oh, yes, he’s talking to Martin right now. Explaining everything so the poor man doesn’t jump out of his skin when he sees you. Wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened with Tim no would we?” The man’s tone was far too light for how sick Michael was starting to feel. “Especially now that you’ll be working together,” 

“What?” 

“Oh, well of course! I don’t blame you for not thinking of work, I’m sure your head’s still a little fuzzy, but you never actually resigned. And you’ll need work anyway to get back on your feet. The archival assistant position has actually gotten a higher salary since you’ve been gone. Now, if you could just come up to my office and sign some paperwork…” His voice turned to static in Michael’s ears. What a cruel joke. To still be trapped somewhere after finally escaping hell… but the more he thought about it, the more he sensed a lie. 

He remembered thinking about quitting back before Gertrude had started pretending to value him. He had thought a lot about finding a less high stress archiving job, maybe with more people his age, but he’d never been able to bring himself to do it. The spiral had known how the eye trapped people, not terribly unlike how it trapped people in their own broken minds. He didn’t feel that now. There was no reluctance, no hesitation. The sick feeling in his stomach was simply because this man had far too much blood on his hands for anyone to be comfortable talking to him. The eye didn’t have hold on him anymore.

Perhaps he could thank Gertrude for something after all. He grinned back.

“Actually, I’m afraid I won’t be returning to work. Seven years is quite the long vacation, and I’m afraid I’ve forgotten most of what my position entailed aside from being condescended to, and I don’t miss it. Besides, you wouldn’t want any lingering distortion to mix up your carefully organized files, right?” He leveled a stare at Elias, trying to ignore the slight way his unbandaged hand was twitching. “I’d like to find Jon now, if you wouldn’t mind.” 

“Try the kitchen,” And then Elias walked away, leaving Michael alone once more.

Jon was not in the kitchen. There was, however, a woman that he’d never seen before making tea, who jumped slightly when he opened the door. She seemed a bit younger than him, or maybe just much smaller, with brightly dyed hair wearing a graphic tea. He’d say the spiral had influenced her fashion choices, but she looked far too serious for that to be the case. 

“Ah, um, hello,” She started, “Uh… who are you? I don’t think you’re supposed to be down here,” She spoke with an unsure amount of authority. 

“I’m Michael. Michael Shelley,” He waited for the flinch or gasp of some sort, but it didn’t come. She just continued to look at him with a sort of sneering disinterest. There was something in her eye that almost seemed familiar, but he chose to ignore it. So Jon hadn’t gotten to explain things to her yet. Well. He’d love a conversation with someone who wasn’t familiar with the monster, and it wasn’t like he was lying. Not completely.

“I know Jon,” He said, trying to sound appeasing, “I needed his help with something so I thought I’d stop by,” She didn’t look convinced. 

“Not to be rude mate, but you look like you just got hit by a bus,” Michael laughed in response. 

“Honestly I feel like I might have been. I uh, had a bit of an accident this morning,” He held up his wrapped hand, “A regular one of your institute scary stories I think,” Michael could see when she closed off. They stood in silence for a moment, him smiling nervously while moving on the balls of his feet, and her holding her fresh cup of tea looking like she’d lash out if he made any sudden movements. In the end she just shook her head and sighed. 

“I think there’s a cot in the store room if you need a place to crash for a bit. Doubt anyone would try to stop you.” She said finally, before taking a long sip of tea and walking out. She might’ve mumbled something rude under her breath, but Michael just nodded absently and stood there for a minute, before turning. 

Michael didn’t care about talking to Jon now. He really needed to get out of this institute. 

Two days later, they sat across from each other at a coffee shop, both of their reflections looking perfectly natural in the well cleaned window. They had gotten chances to talk in the past couple of days, mainly right outside the institute, so it was nice to just sit in a peaceful environment. Jon had gotten himself the blackest tea that Michael had personally ever seen, and he’d gotten Michael a hot chocolate and a sandwich. Michael stared at the spiral shape of the whipped cream before breaking it with his spoon. They talked for a while, mainly pleasantries, both obviously unsure where to start the serious conversation. Jon broke the peace first. 

“Elias is sending me abroad,” Jon said and a small part of Michael panicked. 

“I’m not coming,” The words burst out of him before he could think about any other reason Jon might be telling him this.

“What? No, I didn’t mean… I wouldn’t ask you to come. I’m not that dense, I don’t expect you to come, of course not. I just…” Jon trailed off for a moment “I know you’ve been sleeping outside these past few nights.” It wasn’t Michael’s fault he didn’t have enough cash for anything more than a park bench. At least it’s spring, he’d thought. But it wasn’t like he wanted Jon to know that, even if the knowing was unavoidable. 

“I-”

“Michael,” The blond man sighed and looked down. 

“Yeah. Yeah.” 

“I didn’t want to push you, because I know this is hard,” Michael couldn’t stop the slight chuckle that escaped him. Jon smiled at him softly and continued. “You are probably going to have to reenter society eventually? Basira still has some pull with the police, I really don’t think you’ll experience too much trouble in that department. What I wanted to talk to you about is if you’d want to stay at my flat for awhile?”

“It’s fine if you don’t, I know you’re not exactly comfortable with… me… yet,” Jon held up a hand when Michael began to protest and continued, “but I’ll probably be out of the house for a month or so anyway and I’d really appreciate it if you could keep an eye on things,” They both knew that wasn’t the reason. Michael could tell that Jon simply wanted him somewhere safe and to be able to check in, and for him to feel like he was at least somewhat in control of his new normal. Perhaps not all archivists were good liars after all. “And Michael?” Jon reached over and gently touched Michael’s injured hand with his own recently scarred one. “I’d like to be friends,” Michael froze. Those words sounded so familiar. Like they were his in a distant, broken way. They felt safe. They felt true. Michael smiled, perhaps the first purely genuine smile he’d shown in the past few days. In the past few years. And he knew his answer wasn’t a lie. 

“I’d love to.”